Rescuing Regina Read online

  “No dungeon. No other slaves. You’re my first.” He played with the hair on the back of my neck, and every part of me stood at attention. Especially my clitoris. It was like I hadn’t masturbated at all.

  I closed the laptop. “Cole.”

  “Yes?”

  “When are we going to…you know?” His elegant fingers stroked my neck, sending tremors through my body. I twisted to face him. “You’re killing me here.”

  “Am I?”

  “If I die of lust, it’ll be manslaughter.”

  “Good luck getting a jury to convict me.” His arms went around me and he nuzzled my neck.

  “They’ll convict you.” His lips found my skin and I gasped under the sudden assault. “One look and they’ll know you’re a lady killer.”

  He kept kissing my neck, tugging the neckline aside to reveal my shoulder. I sighed and pressed back into him, awash with desire.

  “Cole, please.”

  “Please, what, Regina?”

  “Uh…”

  “Use your words.”

  “I can’t—”

  I pivoted and pressed my mouth on his. He kissed me back, a hand coming up to knot in my hair. His lips were forceful and claiming.

  Then he jerked my head back. “Enough,” he said, and stood, leaving me wet and panting.

  And bereft.

  “Cole?” I stared at his straight back, the rigid line of his shoulders.

  “Yes, Regina?”

  I blinked back tears. This was more humiliating and painful than all the past twenty-four hours put together. “Do you not want me?”

  His reaction was instantaneous. He turned and scooped me into his arms, settling back on the couch. “It’s not that, sweetheart. You’re beautiful.”

  “Then why—?” My breath caught as pain sliced through me. “Why would you make me do this, if you won’t have sex with me?” My clit throbbed unhappily.

  “Shhh, sweetheart,” he said. “It’s not you. It’s me. I just want everything to be perfect.”

  “Do I please you?”

  His arms tightened. “Yes, my god yes, you please me. You’re all I ever wanted.”

  A huge weight lifted off of me. To go from secure, independent working woman to disheveled sex object should’ve been disconcerting, but somehow with Cole it wasn’t. It was what I’d always wanted.

  “Then why?”

  “Because I want everything to be perfect. I want it to be right. I need things to be a certain way.”

  I sighed heavily. “Okay.”

  He gave me a little kiss, right below my ear. “You believe me?”

  “I do. It hurts but…I trust you. You’re the biggest control freak I know. You even fold your underwear.”

  “Not anymore. That’s your job.”

  I let out a mock groan, breaking the serious mood, at least until he kissed me again, taking my breath away.

  “Come on, little maid. Time for dinner.”

  ***

  I felt Cole’s eyes following me around the kitchen as I prepared dinner. He had a briefcase out and was looking over his papers, but every time I glanced at him, I caught him staring. I may have exaggerated the sway in my hips as I sashayed to and from the fridge and stove. I told myself it was just the high heels making me walk that way. I didn’t want to admit how much I liked his attention.

  He claimed he was attracted to me, and in this moment, I felt it. We could cut the sexual tension with a knife. Could he not feel it?

  Maybe he was a robot.

  I grumbled as I cracked eggs into a bowl.

  “What’s that, Regina?”

  “Nothing.”

  “What are you making?”

  “Brinner. Breakfast for dinner. I inventoried your pantry and we don’t have a lot of options.”

  “Make a list and I’ll go shopping.”

  “You don’t want to send me to the grocery store looking like this?” I gave a half curtsy. “The town thinks I’m crazy anyway. I’ll tell them it’s research for my psych degree.”

  “I don’t want anyone looking at you but me.”

  “I’m used to it. I grew breasts when I was thirteen. Men noticed.”

  “I don’t need to be reminded of that,” he muttered.

  Hmmm.

  I turned back to the sausage frying in the pan. “Is that why you won’t fuck me? Some sort of penance for lusting after me when I was underage?”

  Goading him worked. He replaced his work papers and closed his briefcase with a snap.

  “No. And watch your language. I won’t tell you again.”

  He seemed frustrated. Good.

  I set the plate down. “You can start eating. I’m not that hungry.”

  “You need to eat.”

  “I’m only hungry for one thing.” I gave him a pointed look.

  “Suit yourself,” he said, and tucked in. Unbelievable. I was flouncing around his house like Mr. Walton’s wet dream and Cole was ignoring me. Ignoring me! I stomped back to the skillet, hell bent on burning his eggs.

  “Regina, I think those are done.”

  “Another minute.” I headed to the pantry.

  I returned to Cole waiting for me beside the stove, arms crossed over his chest as he glared at me. The burner was off, and a blue haze hung over the kitchen.

  Perfect.

  “Are you in the habit of leaving the stove while it’s on?”

  “Maybe. I get distracted.”

  He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the kitchen table. I made him force me over his knees, gritting my teeth so I didn’t cuss him out.

  Drat. I didn’t think this part of the plan through.

  “I think you need a lesson in safety.”

  “You can’t spank me for burning dinner!”

  “I’m not going to spank you.”

  “Then why am I ass up over your lap?” A resounding smack on one cheek reminded me not to swear.

  “Bottom up,” I said hurriedly. “Derriere. Bum, rear, rump, buttocks, tuckus.”

  “Are you done?”

  I thought a second. “Patootie.”

  “I’m not spanking you.”

  “You’re not?”

  “No.” His hand roamed between my legs. “I’m giving you an orgasm.”

  “What!” I tried to rear up and strong hands held me in place. I could only kick my legs as he anchored my wrists in the small of my back. “This is not okay.” At that moment, an orgasm via Cole seemed worse than a spanking.

  “Shhhh.” He ran his free hand up my thigh.

  “Relax, Regina. Submit to me.” Long, capable fingers brushed over my panties. Slowly, oh, so slowly, one finger slipped under the gusset and stroked the wetness there.

  “Cole.” I jerked.

  “Be still.” He leaned on my back as his finger conducted a symphony around my clit, settling into the perfect spot.

  I couldn’t speak any more. I held my breath. Everything in my being focused on the feather-light touch.

  “This is how I’m going to treat you,” he said in a low, smooth voice. “Every time you act out, I’m going to give you what you need. It may be a spanking, it may be quiet time in the corner to think on what you’ve done.” I whimpered, and thrashed a little, but he reaffirmed his hold of my wrists and pressed his arm against my back. His other hand never stopped the light, fluttering touch against my clit.

  “I’m in control. I make the decisions. You comply. And whether you’re good, or naughty, you are mine.”

  At the last phrase, everything in me clenched, and I orgasmed hard.

  “Good girl.” He rubbed circles on my bottom as I lay limp over his lap.

  “Oh my god. That was…I think I drooled on your floor a little.”

  He released my wrists and helped me up. My body still tingled from his touch, and a part of me wanted to sink into his arms.

  It was getting harder and harder to hate him.

  “Feeling better?” he asked, setting me on my feet.

  “Y
es, sir.”

  He chuckled and chucked me under the chin. “I knew that would get you to mind.”

  “More,” I breathed.

  The world tilted as Cole upended me over his shoulder, and carried me in a fireman’s hold to the bedroom. I kicked my legs happily until he set me down and I noticed he was scowling.

  “Regina, did you make the bed this morning?”

  “Yes,” I defended myself. Of course, I’d rumpled things a little when I had happy time, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

  I didn’t need to. “You played with yourself.” His long fingers smoothed over the coverlet.

  I didn’t know how he guessed these things, but I couldn’t deny it. “So?” I went with brazen attitude. “I have needs.”

  Cole moved in a blur, and I ended up face down, half over his lap, half on the bed. My face pressed into the bed as he cupped between my legs.

  “This is mine. Your orgasms are mine.” His fingers, so gentle minutes ago, penetrated me, quick and hard. My body was primed so it didn’t hurt, but I stilled. “You don’t touch yourself without my permission. Do you understand me? Say yes, sir.”

  “Yes, sir,” I breathed.

  “Good girl.” His thumb brushed my clit, which was already standing up and begging for another orgasm, the slut. A few seconds of touching and my hips jerked, begging for more. He swatted the back of my thigh. “Did I say you could cum?”

  “No, sir. It’s just...you’re good at this. Most men couldn’t find their way to the clitoris with a GPS.”

  “Is that so?” He sounded amused. His fingers did another swirl over my sweet spot.

  “God, yes.” Another pass and he dipped a finger inside me. I went limp. He added fingers and fucked me with them until I shuddered apart yet again.

  I still wanted more.

  “Amazing. In the past ten minutes you’ve given me more orgasms than all my other lovers combined.”

  He chuckled and wiped his wet fingers on the back of my thigh. “I’m glad to be of service. What do you say?”

  “More please.”

  Another slap, this one to my ass. “What about ‘thank you’?”

  “More like ‘spank you’...ow!” I winced as he smacked me again, harder. “Thank you, thank you. Now will you fuck me?”

  “No. Bedtime.”

  “What?” I raised my head to glance at the clock. “It’s eleven pm!”

  “We have to be up at four thirty.”

  “WE?!?”

  “Yes. It’s in your schedule.”

  I grouched as he made me brush my teeth and prepare for bed. Cole made these ordinary tasks thrilling somehow. His height, his scent, the way he leaned against the door watching me, his t-shirt riding up just enough for me to see a strip of hard muscled ab—his proximity alone turned me on like the most potent foreplay. By the time we got to bed, I was gagging for it.

  “So we’re sleeping together again? I thought last night was a one-time thing.”

  “I only have one bed.”

  “You know, if we’re sleeping together...we may as just sleep together.” I waggled my eyebrows.

  “No sleeping together. Just sleep.” He picked me up and put me in bed before climbing on the either side.

  “Is your plan to make me so horny I’ll do whatever you say? Because it’s working.”

  “I just gave you an orgasm.”

  “Exactly. I’ve gotten two and you’ve had none.”

  He rolled me to my side facing away from him, and tucked himself to my back. “You’re welcome. Go to sleep.”

  We lay like that for a moment, me enjoying the warmth seeping into me from his long, hard body. I pressed back into him.

  “Sheriff Townsend,” I purred, wiggling my rear. Your…baton…is sticking me.”

  “I don’t have a baton.”

  “Oooooh, lucky me.”

  “Regina.”

  I leaned into him. “Will you just fuck me already?”

  He raised himself up on an elbow, looking down on me. He was disappointed. I could tell that even in the dark.

  “No,” he said finally. “Go to sleep.”

  “I don’t want to sleep. I want you to skewer me with your man meat.”

  Instead of laughing, he rolled to his back and groaned.

  “Cole? Are you okay?”

  He stood up with his pillow.

  “Please, Regina, just go to sleep.”

  Growling, I switched on the bedside light. I was so horny I was angry. If I wasn’t angry, I’d be crying, because I was in this beautiful man’s bed and he still wasn’t willing to sleep with me. I was that repulsive.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? I swear, you have the strangest sense of honor. I am in your bed, we’ve been to kinky town and back, but we’re not allowed to have sex? It’s not like we’re both virgins.”

  He blew out a breath. “Actually—”

  “What? You are still a virgin? Oh my god, Cole.” My mouth fell open and I couldn’t say anything else.

  He ran a hand over his head.

  I found my voice. “Are you crazy? You’re twenty-eight! Wait…” I felt a little shot of horror. “Are you saving yourself for marriage?”

  “I was.”

  “Geez,” I cast about for what to say. It was inconceivable to me that the hottest man I’d ever met had never done the nasty. Women all over Licking Hole would mourn if they knew. “You really took those Sunday school lessons to heart.”

  “It’s not that. I’ve done other things, just not sex. But I made a decision that when I had sex, it’d be with someone special.”

  Of course. Cole was just the type to make a vow like that.

  “So you are waiting for marriage.”

  “No. Just for the right one.”

  The right one, I realized with a pang. He was trying to tell me, nicely, I wasn’t the one. It hurt more than I thought it would.

  “It doesn’t have to be on my wedding night,” he continued. “I just want it to be right. Is that strange?”

  “No, it’s cool, Cole, I get it. It is so…you. You always have a plan.”

  He sat back down on the bed. “I didn’t think it would take this long.”

  “You’ve dated before, right?”

  “Yes, and I’ve fooled around. But I stopped when I realized I might be sending mixed messages. Then with the election, and my career—I haven’t done much dating in the past few years. So it hasn’t been an issue.”

  Except for storing up so many kinky fantasies that he blackmailed the first woman he could into carrying them out. Not that I was complaining. After my initial shock, I was actually enjoying it.

  Too bad kinky degradation was all I was going to get.

  “Well, whoever the lucky lady is, she’s in for a treat!” I said with mock cheeriness.

  “Regina—”

  I cut him off. “You know, I am really tired. And we have to wake up in five hours. Time for bed, Virgin-Boy.”

  I flipped to my side, turned off the bedside light, and squeezed the pillow with all my might.

  He said he was willing to fool around. Some perverse part of me wanted to see how far I could get him to go.

  Deep down, I knew this was a game to him. A way to sow his wild oats. When it came to oat sowing, Cole Townsend was overdue. But the Cole Townsends of the world did not belong with a girl like me. I could play this game, and have some fun.

  But it would never be real.

  Chapter Six

  Five am comes really early in the morning. After burrowing under the pillows for an extra twenty minutes, Cole had to drag me out of bed. He had already shaved and showered, smelling fresh, clean and manly.

  He made me make him breakfast.

  “You’re chipper,” I muttered, watching him eat.

  “I’ve been up a while. I went for a run.”

  “You were running? Why? Was a big dog chasing you?”

  He didn’t laugh. “I take it you don’t exercise.”

&nbs
p; “I didn’t get these curves from just sitting on my ass. Oh, wait, yes I did.”

  “Won’t be doing much of that anymore.” He rose to leave. “Do you have your schedule?”

  “Yes. I’m oiling all the floggers today, and polishing the torture rack.”

  “I don’t have either of those…yet. I’ll be gone till late afternoon today, so behave. Or else.”

  A little thrill went through me. “Or else what?” I shouted after him.

  “Or else I’ll add a morning run to your schedule.” He crooked a finger at me and I followed him to the bedroom, complaining all the way.

  “Cole, I can’t go running. They don’t make sports bras in my size. My boobs will bounce up and hit me in the face. Probably knock me out, or give me a black eye or something.”

  Cole stopped at the foot of the bed. He snapped his fingers and pointed to a spot on the floor in front of him.

  I went, kvetching all the way. As soon as I got close, he reached out and pulled me across his lap. Three hard slaps on my rear penetrated through my pajamas.

  “That’s for getting yourself off yesterday. From now on, I’m the one that gives you orgasms.”

  I waited until he turned his back to stick my tongue out at him. He returned with the maid costume.

  “No, not that again—”

  “Regina.”

  “Fine.”

  “I’m headed out now. Be good.” He kissed the side of my head and a little thrill went through me, even as I stood there gritting my teeth. “If you touch yourself when I’m gone, I will get a belt for you.”

  “A belt?”

  He pulled out his phone and showed me a picture of a metal chastity belt. The fact that he had a picture ready and waiting told me he still had a whole kinky checklist to work through.

  The thought made me kinda excited.

  “You better delete that before going to work. What if someone sees it?”

  He chuckled. “You better worry about the pictures I have of you on my phone.”

  “Cole! That’s blackmail,” I whined, as if everything he’d done so far was above board.

  “Will it work to get you to behave?

  “Maybe.”

  He waggled a finger. “I need all the help I can get with you.”

  “Fine,” I muttered. “It’s your reputation. I’ve got nothing to lose.”