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Vanished

VANISHED

An Ellora’s Cave electronic publication in association with author:

Jaid Black

MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-84360-335-7
Mobipocket (PRC) ISBN # 1-84360-336-5
Other formats (no ISBNs): Rocketbook, HTML, Adobe

Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc., USA
Ellora’s Cave, Ltd., UK

This book/e-book may not be reproduced in whole or in part by email forwarding, copying, fax, or any other mode of communication without author and publisher permission.

Edited by Martha Punches & Cris Brashear.
Artwork by Scott Carpenter.

Warning:

The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. “VANISHED” has been rated NC-17, erotic, by two individual reviewers. We strongly suggest storing this electronic book in a place where young readers not meant to view it are unlikely to happen upon it. That said, enjoy…

Chapter 1

She’d give anything for some coffee. An oversized mug filled to the rim with the richest, hottest, blackest Columbian elixir ever to grace a coffee cup would have felt like a gift from the gods right about now. But at this point, she thought grimly, even a half-filled Dixie cup that tasted more like water than beans would be enough to make her do a cartwheel.

Lynne Temple sighed as her red SUV idled up yet another twisting, snowy mountain road. She’d been following this temporary route for over an hour now and was beginning to worry that someone had neglected to put up a very necessary sign that would have kept her from heading in the wrong direction.

A semi had jackknifed on the turnpike an hour or so before she’d gotten to it, making the lanes impassable. The police quickly threw up a temporary detour route through the rocky terrain, diverting traffic through a small coalminer town in the remote wilds of West Virginia. Not that there was much traffic in need of being diverted at eleven o’clock on a Tuesday night in a sparsely populated, rural area. Indeed, Lynne had yet to run into another pair of headlights.

For the first time since this little excursion off the beaten path began, a sense of alarm was beginning to settle in. It was pitch black outside, nothing but the SUV’s high beams to break the bleak darkness. The further she drove through the steep terrain, the thicker the wintry forests on either side of the tiny road grew. It was creepy out here, she thought, the tiny hairs at the nape of her neck stirring. Dark, remote, and creepy.

She didn’t belong in this place, she knew. Lynne felt—and was—out of her element. To a city girl from the flatlands of Clearwater, Florida, even something as simple as driving on the turnpike set her nerves on edge. The snowy mountains the turnpike cut through were steeper than she’d ever seen. The winds this high up in altitude were harsh during the winter months, beating against the SUV and making her feel as though she would be blown off the side of a cliff at any given moment. She felt no more protected from the elements than she would have felt driving a tin can with four glued-on wheels.

The turnpike had been bad enough. Driving through the bizarre little twisting road nestled somewhere up in the Appalachians was a thousand times worse.

Lynne took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, telling herself not to freak out. So it was dark outside. So the wind was moaning like a demon out of a B-movie. So the gravel road had turned to mud and slush about fifteen minutes ago…

“Great,” she muttered under her breath. “This is just great.”

She realized that she needed to turn around and follow the winding path back to some manner of civilization, but there wasn’t precisely anywhere to turn around. She could stop in the middle of the “road”, she supposed, and try to turn around that way, but with her luck she’d finally spot another vehicle while attempting the feat—as it slammed into the side of her new vehicle from out of nowhere.

At first she had assumed she was following the detour correctly, but she couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen a sign. Worse yet, she’d made more than a few turns in the past hour and now wasn’t altogether certain she could find her way back in the middle of the night. Especially when she considered that the snowfall had been light but steady, so the SUV’s tracks were probably already covered up.

What an ironic way to start her new life, Lynne considered, frowning. Thirty-four was supposed to be the year she made life happen instead of waiting for it to come to her. She could design databases from anywhere, but since her largest client was located in the capitol city of Charleston, West Virginia, she’d decided to make the move after the divorce from Steve and settle into a lazy southern house down on the river that saw all four seasons. It sounded almost idyllic compared to the humid, forever hot beach apartment crammed full of bad memories she’d vacated all of a day ago. And it could still be idyllic—if only she could find her way back to the beaten path.

Lynne’s gaze absently flicked toward the fuel tank gage. Her heart rate sped up when she saw that she was down to an eighth of a tank of gas. Great! she thought. This is just damn great. She blew out a breath, that sense of alarm growing by leaps and bounds. It was pitch black outside, the winds were moaning something fierce, she was driving up a muddy, slushy path that led only God knows where, the snowfall was picking up a bit, and now the SUV was running on fumes. She would have laughed if only she weren’t so terrified.

Clutching the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white, Lynne’s dark brown eyes widened as the narrow path she was traveling up became impossibly narrower. “Shit,” she mumbled, deciding it was way past time to turn around. The snow-capped forest to either side of the tiny road was growing thicker…and somehow a lot more intimidating.

Her teeth sank into her lower lip; perspiration broke out on her forehead. She absently tucked a rogue strand of dark brown hair behind an ear as her inner musings turned ugly. As ridiculous as it sounded even to herself, she was afraid to stop the SUV long enough to turn it around. Stopping equaled vulnerability, leaving her naked to outside attack, even if the stop would only last a few seconds.

Lynne blew out a breath, rolling her eyes at her dramatic thoughts. “You’ve watched one too many horror movies, kiddo,” she whispered as she let up on the gas pedal and slowly worked the brake. She hadn’t seen another vehicle let alone another person for miles—well over an hour ago by now. The chances of some psycho on the loose nabbing her while she did an about-face in a locked vehicle of all things was about nil to none.

The SUV came to a stop, the lack of movement underscoring the sound of the moaning Appalachian winter wind outside the barricade of the windows. She told herself to ignore it, to forget about the fact she was alone in the middle of a mountaintop forest in the dead of night, and to concentrate on getting the hell out of there.

Backing up enough to turn the vehicle around, she gasped when a movement of some sort snagged her peripheral vision. Her breathing immediately stilled. She blinked and did a double take.

“Damn, damn, damn,” she murmured as she kept turning the SUV around. She prayed she was imagining things because she hadn’t seen anyone or anything upon second glance. Just get out of here! she told herself as the vehicle straightened and she stepped on the accelerator. Now!

Flooring it, Lynne’s heart rate went over the top as she slammed down on the gas pedal. Probably not the swiftest reflex she’d ever had, for the SUV immediately went into a skid. Mingled mud and ice-slush flew up from all sides, pelting the windshield and making her heart thump like a rock in her chest.

Another movement to the left…

Lynne barely had time to register that she’d seen something when the shadow of a large man appeared from seemingly out of nowhere. She screamed as she slammed down on the brakes and veered a quick right to avoid hitting him, then screamed again when she momentarily lost control of the SUV and it went into a flat spin.

Shaking like a leaf, she tried to recover from the spin, but it was too late. Her eyes widened as the vehicle skidded off the narrow path and headed straight for the trunk of a thick oak tree. Unable to do anything besides go numb from shock, she watched in helpless horror as her brand new cherry red vehicle collided with a mighty oak, smashing the entire front end and simultaneously jarring her body. Frantic, she turned her head to the left to see if that man was still around—or if she’d imagined him altogether.

The automatic airbag in the steering column engaged and a second later she was struck in the side of the head with a life-saving device that damn near killed her. She gasped as the airbag assaulted her, her dark eyes rolling back into her head.

Please don’t let me pass out, she thought in terror as the shadow of a very real, and very large, man emerged from the forest. Oh God—oh please—I must have sustained a concussion…

Lynne’s vision began to dim at the precise moment the stranger’s form appeared in her remaining headlight and began to steadily walk toward her SUV. He was huge—at least a foot taller than her own five feet—and was wearing a one-piece jumper of some sort. His face was grim, his sharp gaze intense.

As her eyes slowly began to close, she considered the possibility that maybe the stranger was a mechanic. Mechanics tended to wear those blue issue one-piece jumpsuits. Maybe he could even help fix the SUV.

Her dulling gaze flicked toward the stranger’s vein-roped hands. Hysteria bubbled up inside of her when she saw that his hands were chained together. And, she thought, ice-cold horror lancing through her, so were his ankles…

Lynne’s heart violently pumped away in her chest even as she slipped into the black void of unconsciousness. He was an escaped convict, her mind screamed, the reality that she was about to pass out unavoidable. Oh God—

Oh please, she thought as her eyes irrevocably closed, please somebody help me!

Chapter 2

Lynne softly moaned as she tried to open her heavy eyelids. Her face scrunched up when a dull, thumping pain lanced through the right side of her brain. She groaned, her hand instinctively flying up to cover the injured area.

The events she’d undergone prior to the pain registering were slowly creeping back into her consciousness. Divorcing Steve after he’d slept with various other women, picking up and moving to Charleston, the detour on the turnpike, the fear she’d felt at being out in the middle of nowhere alone…

The skidding SUV. Colliding with a tree. The airbag engaging—

The stranger.

She stilled. The stranger. The big man wearing what she now understood to be a prison-issued jumpsuit. Oh damn—where was he now? Was he here? Had he taken her somewhere? Or was she still in the SUV, left out in the middle of a mountain winterscape with a totaled vehicle and internal injuries to fend for herself? As her belly clenched and knotted, she profusely hoped it was the latter. She had a cell phone, she recalled. Somewhere in her brand new smashed up baby there was a way to call for help.

Lynne tried once more to open her eyes, a strange nearby sound inducing her forehead to wrinkle. The steady noise was foreign, yet eerily familiar. She couldn’t place it, but realized she should have been able to.

Trees. For some reason the grating sound brought to mind trees. But what about them? Trees being chopped down maybe? No, she thought, that wasn’t quite right. Trees being—

Trees being sawed down. That’s what it brought to mind. Trees being sawed down…

Her breathing stilled.

A saw—what she heard was a saw.

She swallowed heavily, able to venture an accurate guess that it most likely wasn’t a tree currently being sawed through. Most likely it was metal, metal from two sets of shackles she remembered with crisp, dawning awareness.

Oh God, Lynne thought, her heart beating like mad in her chest, I’ve got to open my eyes and get out of here. Out of here before those shackles are completely gone and I don’t stand a chance of outrunning him!

“I was wondering when you’d wake up,” a masculine voice murmured. The sound of metal clinging against a wood floor instantly dashed all hopes of outrunning him. The shackles were off. “Might as well open your eyes. I know you’re awake.”

The knot in her belly tightened. Her breasts heaved up and down with her labored breathing. She didn’t want to open her eyes. Oh goodness, seeing the owner of the low but commanding voice would make this nightmare just a bit too real.

But it is real, an inner voice reminded her. It’s real and you better deal with it. Figure out a way to escape him, Lynne, she thought, swallowing. For once in your thirty-four pathetic years, use your damn brain!

Unfortunately her brain and her nervous system were feeling the affects of too much reality. Reality was that she had been kidnapped—there was no way a convict on the run would ever let her just up and go. Reality also dictated that the stranger hadn’t been imprisoned for a menial crime like a traffic violation. No one would bother to escape from prison if their offense was minor and they were due to get paroled in a few months.

Her breathing grew more labored as she considered the possibilities. She could only hope it was a white-collar crime, even if it was a serious one. The idea of being kidnapped by an embezzler was much more palatable than the many other scenarios pounding through her mind.

Arson. Drug trafficking. Murder…

The sound of approaching footsteps made her gasp. Her dark brown eyes flew open and clashed with very intense, and horrifically familiar, green ones. She stilled.

“Oh my God,” Lynne breathed out, her eyes round as full moons. She knew that face—even covered in stubble as it now was. Everyone in Florida knew that face. The entire state had seen it plastered all over the news. But what was a wanted fugitive who was known for stalking his prey along the Florida/Georgia border doing here, miles and miles away in West Virginia?

The stranger looming over her, the one looking more ominous by the moment, was no stranger at all. Not exactly. She recognized him all right. She even knew his name.

“You’re Jesse Redshaw,” she whispered, her voice catching in the back of her throat. She gulped, realizing as soon as the words came tumbling out that she would have been wiser to pretend she had no idea who he was.

Those intense, grim eyes of his grazed over her face, then down lower to her heaving chest. Suddenly she remembered what it was he’d been convicted of, why he was a wanted man. It wasn’t because of embezzling, or drug trafficking, or even murder—all of which seemed like more ideal crimes at the moment.

The huge, muscled man who now held all power over her was what the police in Florida called a sexual predator, Lynne thought in terror, feeling as if she might pass out for a second time. He was a sadistic, serial rapist…

His light brown head came up slowly. A jagged scar that zigzagged across the left side of his jaw became visible. That scar of his was basically what had ended up convicting him in the first place. Not too many men could claim to have a similar one. It resembled an imperfect lightning bolt.

The crew cut his hair was fashioned in gave him a rigid, merciless appearance. The snake tattoo that wound up his vein-roped arm added more menace to the overall picture. He was tall, heavily muscled, and stern looking.

His unfathomable green gaze raked over her breasts again before sweeping back up to her face.

Oh God, Lynne thought, her breathing so heavy she just knew she was close to passing out. Her worst nightmare had come chillingly true. She’d been kidnapped, had no doubt vanished without a trace to the outside world. She would never leave here untouched, perhaps not even alive.

Jesse Redshaw was a serial rapist who stood a foot taller and probably a hundred and fifty pounds heavier than Lynne. He was a serial rapist who hadn’t been able to touch a woman in five plus years—not until now, not until he’d escaped…

Lynne’s horrified gaze clashed with his frightening one. She recalled the most recent news report she’d seen on him, the one that claimed his last two victims had been found brutally stabbed and left for dead.

He was a murderer too. A rapist and a murderer. The irony that she was going to die because someone had neglected to post accurate detour signs was not lost on her.

“What are you going to do with me?” she whispered.

Chapter 3

One of his eyebrows slowly inched up as he intently regarded her face. “I haven’t decided,” he murmured. “I’ll let you know when I do.” He turned on his heel and walked to the other side of what she now realized to be a log cabin of sorts.

Lynne briefly closed her eyes, long enough to take a deep breath in an effort to keep from passing out again. Jesse Redshaw, she thought, bile creeping its way up her throat. Back in Florida he was more infamous than Ted Bundy, considered to be more ruthless too. Ted Bundy, a man who had been executed by the state in the electric chair years ago, had supposedly knocked his victims out quickly, waiting until they were dead before doing grisly things to them. According to rumor, Jesse Redshaw did those things while his prey was still alive…and cognizant of what was being done to them.

The adrenaline rush she’d initially experienced upon first recognition plummeted, leaving her numb and chilled to the bone. Her teeth began to chatter as she glanced around the cabin, noting every possible escape route. There was only one…the front door. Somehow that knowledge made her feel even more hopeless, more sunken and depressed.

The log cabin was small—very small. It was composed of only one room sectioned off into three distinct areas. Closest to the fireplace was the bedroom, which amounted to the bed she’d been laid out on plus a small knotty pine dresser. On the “far” side of the cabin, where Jesse Redshaw now stood, was the kitchen. It consisted of a miniature stove, a sink, a small, knotted pine table, and two cupboards. And, finally, the bathroom lay in the middle. It boasted nothing more than a toilet.

Sweet lord above, she couldn’t die here, she told herself, her teeth chattering away like mad. Not here. Please not here…

Lynne bolted upright in the bed, the goose-down covers she’d been swaddled in pooling around her waist. Her breasts were revealed to the chilled room, her dark rose nipples stabbing out from the cold. She gasped at the realization that she was naked, then gasped again as pain shot through her skull. She cried out as she fell backward onto the bed, the throbbing in her head too unbearable to even consider the possible ramifications inherent in the fact that her naked breasts were on display.

“Quit thrashing around,” a masculine voice growled in low tones. She felt the bed dip slightly and knew he had seated himself next to her on it. “Your head took a real beating from the airbag. It must have caused something in the SUV to gash your head too. Jarring it around like that ain’t helping.”

Lynne couldn’t have opened her eyes if her life depended on it. Her entire face was scrunched up into a frozen mask of pain, the endless pounding in her head like a migraine amplified a thousand times over. “H-Hurts,” she gasped, clutching her head. “H-Help—hurts.”

“Shh now, calm down. You’re working yourself up,” he softly drawled, his southern accent detectable.

She was worked up for many reasons. Pain was only one of them. Wondering how much more pain she would be dealt, only the next time at the gigantic man’s hands, was the major one. Fortunately, the current pain she was experiencing was far too intense to be able to dwell on any of the heinous possibilities.

He grabbed her hand and forcibly lowered it from the injury. Jesse Redshaw, she thought—Jesse Redshaw! This was like waking up to find Hannibal Lecter leaning over you with a carving knife and a bottle of Chianti.

“If you keep touching it, I’ll have to tie you down,” he murmured, making her body still for the first time. “I’ve gone through a lot of trouble to get this wound healed up—five days worth of trouble as a matter of fact—and I won’t see you undo the results.”

Lynne hysterically wondered if he was healing her up just so he could have the fun of slicing her back apart, but wisely, she held her tongue. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her eyelids briefly fluttering open. She tried to focus on his face, but couldn’t. The pain had blurred her vision. All she could register were those piercing green eyes of his staring down at her. “Sorry,” she muttered, her eyes closing again.

“Just keep your eyes shut,” he said in a quiet rumble. “I’m going to try and get some more soup down you after you rest up a bit.”

His words sparked some distant memory in Lynne—a flashback to the five days she’d spent unconscious perhaps? Small impressions, threadbare flickers of awareness:

Strong hands holding her up. Warm beef broth running down her throat. The feel of a cool rag pressing against her head followed by the pungent scent of ointment. Hot breath whispering soothing words into her ear. A rough tongue curling around one of her stiff nipples…

Lynne silently whimpered as she quickly plummeted toward inevitable slumber. She hoped she had imagined the last bit, and that Jesse Redshaw held no interest in her as a woman, or more importantly, as potential prey. She could have sworn he liked blondes. Then again, maybe the five years long dry spell of victims had made him less choosy. She prayed that wasn’t the case.

“Go to sleep,” her captor murmured, his large hands falling to the covers pooled below her navel. He slowly drew them up her body, the calluses on his fingers making goosebumps form where they raked across bared skin. “And by the way, I prefer brunettes.”

Lynne would have gasped if she’d had the energy, but since she didn’t, mentally cringing would have to suffice. She hadn’t intended to say those words about his past victims aloud—only to think them.

The last flicker of awareness she entertained before drifting off into a deep, lulling sleep was the impression of covers being swaddled around her body to warm her…

And the pad of a thumb grazing over one jutting nipple before the covers were raised to her neck.

* * * * *

When Lynne next awoke, it was to the feel of warm broth drizzling down her throat. Her eyelids tentatively fluttered, batting away at the grogginess.

He was still here, she thought, her eyes opening. Jesse Redshaw was very real and very much here.

Lynne’s gaze clashed with his. Her heart began thumping in her chest. He said nothing in response to her anxiety, just held her stare for a moment before glancing back down to her mouth and continued to feed her.

The next twenty minutes were spent like this. No words. No frights. Nothing alarming. Just the captor feeding liquid to his captive like a helpless baby bird, and the captive warily studying the grim features of the man who had, for reasons unknown, saved her life.

It was hard to credit. It was difficult to take in the fact that a man for whom killing and torturing was his chief raison d’etre in life was showing her such incredible kindness and gentleness. At least for now.

Her dark gaze nervously flicked along his face, over the scar marring his chin, then down lower to his hands and vein-roped arms. He was a strong man—very strong and heavily muscled, she thought, staring at the snake tattoo winding up his arm. But then he would have to be strong to make it this long without getting recaptured by the authorities. Especially considering the fact that he had been shackled clear up until she’d awoken the last time…however long ago that was.

Jesse Redshaw had managed to escape from custody, trek all the way from Stark County at the Florida/Georgia border to West Virginia, carry Lynne’s body to wherever they were currently holed up at, feed and care for her injuries—all while shackled. That required more inhuman patience, perseverance, cunning, and strength than she was comfortable crediting him with.

Lynne kept her mouth open, the warm liquid feeling good running down her raw throat as her gaze crept back up to his face. She recalled reading a true crime novel some years back that stated how average-looking the run-of-the-mill sexual offender was. He tended to be completely non-descript, sometimes even handsome, not at all possessing the monstrous appearance one would expect.

That had been true of Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy had been dashingly handsome with soulful eyes and an ornery grin. Jesse Redshaw was even more striking in a ruggedly masculine way. Lynne couldn’t help but wonder exactly where it had all gone wrong. Had her captor been sadistic since childhood? Had he been born evil or had he become it?

She also found herself wondering how old he was, unable to recall that particular bit of information. She could have sworn the news said he was forty, but he looked more like thirty-five. Then again, the crinkles at the corners of his eyes bespoke of maturity.

Not that it really mattered. Whether thirty-five or forty, Jesse Redshaw was still in control of the situation. And her. For now.

“How are you feeling?” he rumbled out, his gaze finding hers.

She swallowed. “Better,” she whispered. Her eyes widened a bit. “Where are we? How many days have gone by?”

He stood, the bedsprings creaking at the loss of weight. “A week,” he informed her as he strode to the other side of the cabin toward the kitchen. The muscles in his back rippled against the semi-tight jumpsuit he wore. “The first time you woke it had been five days. You slept another two.”

A week. Lynne bit down hard on her lower lip as her stomach muscles clenched. Surely her mom would have reported her missing six days ago, yet she still hadn’t been rescued. Maybe she would never be rescued. If the police were smart they’d look for her in the area where the turnpike detour had been thrown up. Then again, she drove approximately an hour away from that temporary route before crashing into the oak tree. And lord only knows where she was now. Her captor had yet to answer that question. Somehow, she nervously conceded, she doubted that he ever would.

“I was wondering…”

He cocked his head and stared at her from over his shoulder. His light brown hair had grown a bit longer since she’d last awoken. Not much, but a little. The crew cut looked a bit thicker. His face was still as grim and impassive as ever, though. A realization that made her heartbeat quicken from anxiety.

Lynne’s mouth worked up and down, but nothing came out. She was trying her damnedest to calm herself, but it wasn’t working. “I—I…”

“Yes?”

He seemed a bit impatient now. Or angry. Dear God, the last thing she wanted to do was make him angry. Firmly tampering down on her raw fear, she blithered out her question before her courage to ask it once again deserted her. “Have you decided what you are going to do with me?”

Her captor stilled from where he stood at the tiny sink. He stared at her for a long moment, his gaze raking over her, before turning to stare out the small window before him. “Yes,” he softly drawled, “I have.”

Oh damn, she thought, her breathing growing labored. She almost wished she hadn’t asked. This was it. The moment her last seven days of recovery came down to. His final decision. “Will you tell me what it is?” she whispered.

Lynne’s eyes slowly widened as Jesse Redshaw began peeling off his jumpsuit. Her adrenaline started pumping like a broken dam, worsening with every inch of bare skin and hard muscle revealed to her. First his back—a wide, chiseled back tattooed with Celtic tribal markings. Then his arms—strong, vein-roped arms that looked like they could effortlessly kill her. Then his boxer shorts—cotton and no doubt prison-issued.

Perspiration broke out on her forehead as she watched her captor step out of the jumpsuit until all he wore were those white boxers. His legs were as powerful as the rest of him, she hysterically noted.

“I’ve decided to keep you,” he murmured, his back still to her. He paused a suspenseful moment, then turned around slowly. “For now.”

Her breathing ragged, she flew up into a sitting position, heedless of her bared breasts. He was going to rape her, she realized, her eyes wide with terror. Rape her and then kill her when he got bored with her. “I want to live,” she breathed out, her chest dramatically heaving, her nipples tight now from excessive adrenaline instead of cold.

His eyebrows shot up. He opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he was about to say was forgotten when he noticed her breasts. His eyes grew immediately heavy-lidded, his penis beginning to swell against the boxers.

Lynne went with that. She was hysterical. Half out of her mind with fear and frenzy. It was easy to imagine how heroic one would behave if the situation wasn’t happening to them—a different ballgame entirely when it actually was. “I—I’ll do anything you say,” she pleaded. “Please—I…I know I can make you happy,” she said shakily.

She forced a nervous smile to her lips, threw the covers totally off of her, and spread her legs wide open for him as she turned her body to face him. Her heart was thumping so hard she felt ready to pass out yet again. She took comfort in the knowledge that he was growing very erect as he stared at her exposed labia.

Her greatest hope was that he preferred his prey alive. She needed to stall him. Somehow she would get away before he killed her, she fervently vowed to herself.

“You see,” she said quietly, nervously. “I—I won’t r-resist.”

He frowned at her. His jaw clenched. “Look, lady—”

“Oh please!” Lynne cried out as she shot up to her feet. The action made her dizzy, a bit nauseous, but she quickly recovered. She had no idea what she’d done wrong, but conceded that the mind of a sociopath wasn’t exactly normal. She needed to make him see things her way, she hysterically thought.

Not knowing what else to do, she fell down onto her knees before him, frantically pulled down his boxing shorts, and wrapped her hands around his long, thick penis. “I can learn to please you,” she breathed out. “If you’d give me a chance—” She stopped chattering long enough to swipe her tongue across the head of his cock. He hissed, his stomach muscles clenching. A good sign, she frenetically assured herself. “I can try to keep you very happy,” she shakily reiterated.

“Listen,” her captor growled. “I will decide—”

She took his tight balls into her mouth, hoping the sound of his breath sucking in meant something good. Lynne sucked on them like her life depended upon it, which it no doubt did, as her hands pumped his huge shaft up and down.

“Shit,” he hoarsely muttered.

His breathing was labored, she realized. He liked the way she was sucking his balls and masturbating him. Hope surged inside of her as she released his balls and took his cock into her mouth without missing a beat. She immediately deep-throated him, sucking him off by taking him all the way in and out, over and over, again and again.

He began to moan. His fingers wound through her hair. Hope increased in leaps and bounds.

“Faster,” he said thickly.

Lynne sucked faster. She sucked like there was no tomorrow, her every thought to please him. Her head frenziedly bobbed back and forth as she repeatedly deep-throated him. His fingers tightened in her long, dark hair as he moaned and groaned and growled.

When her jaw began to ache she ignored it. She took him deeper into her throat instead, sucking on his cock faster and harder. She had to forget the pain. She had to prove to him that she put his wants first. It was the only way to gain his trust, she reasoned. It was the only way to stall for time.

“Just like that,” her captor gritted out. He palmed either side of her face with callused fingers and threw his hips at her, screwing her mouth. He groaned long and loud as he pumped her face. “Fuck—oh shit—I’m coming.”

The sudden tensing of his entire body underlined his words. He grabbed the back of her head as his cock plunged in and out from between her suctioning lips. He came on a loud growl, his body shuddering as he spurted warm cum into her mouth.

Lynne drank all of it up, careful not to leave even one salty drop. She had no idea if refusing his cum would set him off, so the thought of not swallowing never once crossed her mind.

Even when he’d been depleted of cum and his labored breathing began to steady, she still didn’t quit sucking from the tiny hole at the head of his cock. She waited until he nudged her face away from him to stop, then watched through wide brown eyes as he pulled her up to her feet to face him.

“I need some sleep,” he said between ragged breaths. His grim, unsmiling face took on an even harsher quality than normal. “I haven’t slept in days,” he rasped.

Lynne wasn’t certain how to respond. “Then go to sleep,” she nervously whispered. She cleared her throat. “I won’t try to run.”

Jesse stared down at her for a suspended moment, his breathing growing more and more normal. “I’m real sorry to have to do this, but I can’t trust—”

“Oh please don’t,” Lynne breathed out. She realized in hysterical horror that nothing good could possibly follow a sentence like that. “I—oh goodness, I promise I won’t try to run! I promise!”

“I know you won’t,” he replied in a firm tone as he took her by the hand and led her toward the bed. “Because I’ll make sure you won’t.”

Bile began to creep its way up Lynne’s throat. She wanted to cry, but perversely, no tears would come. “Oh please don’t, sir—Mr. Redshaw. I—oh please!”

He didn’t reply.

By the time they reached the bed her teeth were chattering and her body was shaking. She stared at nothing through unblinking eyes, her mind quickly disassociating from her body. He spoke words but she didn’t hear them. Lynne felt nothing. She was lost in surreality, unable to believe this was happening to her.

“I said look at me!” Jesse snapped, shaking her by the arms. “Do you hear me? I said you’re okay.”

Lynne blinked. The words ‘you’re okay’ somehow reeled her back down to earth and sanity…at least a little bit.

“You’re okay,” he murmured, his tone a bit gentler. His intense green gaze raked over her color-drained face. “I’ve only collared you is all. So you can’t run.” He held up a chain, showing what he’d done to her while her mind had been some place far, far away.

Lynne blinked again, recognition dawning. It was a chain, just as he’d said, she thought, somewhat relieved. A chain attached to…

Her hand floated up, touching her neck. Her forehead wrinkled.

A dog collar. Good God, she was naked and wearing a dog collar. A week ago having something like this done to her would have made her bawl like a baby. Today it made her shoulders slump in relief.

“Thank you, Mr. Redshaw,” she said quietly, her head bowed. He wasn’t the only tired one. These extreme emotions she was continuously put through were exhausting.

“The name’s Jesse,” he muttered, running a hand over his stubbly jaw. “And I know yours is Lynne because I went through your purse.”

Her head came up slowly. She watched as he collapsed onto the bed and sprawled out.

“Come sleep next to me,” her captor instructed without opening his eyes. “The collar will keep you from leaving, but I still want you to rest up.”

Lynne immediately complied, giving him no reason to become angry with her. As she climbed under the covers next to Jesse Redshaw, her naked buttocks pressed against his equally naked, but flaccid penis, she found herself wondering why he cared about her health at all. In the end, she decided not to question what was presumably her good luck.

As long as she was alive, there was hope.

Chapter 4

Jesse awoke to the feel of his captive’s mouth sucking on his stiff cock. He hissed as he came fully awake, his breath catching in the back of his throat as he opened his eyes and watched Lynne’s beautiful mouth give him another one of her toe-curling blowjobs. The collar around her neck heightened his arousal, his attraction to images of female submission longstanding and undeniable.

He realized why she was sucking him off, of course. He wasn’t stupid or easily fooled.

His captive didn’t want to die. She was doing everything she could think of to try and keep him happy with her, satisfied by her. She was doing her damnedest to anticipate his needs before he even had them.

She was damn good at it. He felt lost in arousal, his thinking on par with a horny Neanderthal’s. He hadn’t been with a woman in a long, long time. So long it seemed like a lifetime ago. It was hard to focus on anything besides Lynne.

“What else do you give besides head?” Jesse murmured, his voice thick. He stared down at her from under heavy eyelids, his cock stiffer than he could ever remember it being. “I bet you have a sweet, tight pussy.”

Her dark head immediately came up. Long, shiny, chestnut-colored hair framed an exotically sexy face. Her lips were a bit red and puffy, hinting at what she’d been down there doing. Her cheeks were high, her nose small. But her best feature, in his estimation, was her chocolate brown eyes. They were round and full, giving her the look of a naпve little doe.

She wet her lips. “I—it’s tight, yes,” she whispered. “My vagina, I mean.” She cleared her throat. “Would you like to feel it?”

Guilt knotted in Jesse’s stomach, inducing a frown to mar his face. Lynne must have thought he was angry with her, for her eyes widened and she quickly shot up, preparing to straddle his lap.

His cock was so stiff it ached. His jaw was clenched, his muscles tight. He wanted inside of her cunt more than he wanted to breathe, but…

“Lynne,” he growled. “I—”

“I promise it’s tight,” she said quickly, that half-hysterical look back in her eyes. “I haven’t had sex in a really long time.” Her smile was shaky. “If you’d just give me a chance and let me put you inside me, I’m sure you’ll think it’s tight enough.”

Jesse blew out a breath.

“And if you don’t,” she added in a rush, “uh, well…I can do exercises that will make me tighter.” She bounded up on top of him without further ado and took his thick cock in between her small hands. “I promise to make you feel good,” she whispered, her eyes nervously searching his face as if waiting for an answer.

All this sweet, sexual compliance made it hard to think rationally. She was straddling his lap, her pussy hole poised at the head of his cock, her gorgeous, full breasts with distended rosy nipples revealed to him. Seeing the collar around her neck, the same one secured to a chain locked to a bolt on the floor, made his erection stiffer by the second.

He wanted to fuck her—badly. So badly his balls ached. The guilt was there, but it couldn’t compete.

“Let’s see how tight your pussy is,” Jesse said thickly. His large hands reached up and palmed her breasts. His thumbs ran over her nipples, elongating them. “Wrap it around my cock.”

Lynne immediately obeyed. He gritted his teeth as she sank down onto him, his stiff penis securely enveloped inside of the warmest, tightest, juiciest cunt he’d ever felt. He groaned as she began to slowly ride him, her pussy even more suctioning than her mouth.

She looked like the perfect little slave girl, a mental image he had a hard time not conjuring up given the situation. So sweet and sexy, so submissively docile and eager to cater to the master’s whims. He didn’t want to see Lynne in that light, for his fetish had brought enough pain to his life already, but he couldn’t help it. The desire to sexually dominate the woman who belonged to him was as intrinsic to his character as breathing.

“Faster,” he ground out. “You have to work harder than this to please me.”

Her eyes widened as she picked up the pace, instantaneously obeying him. His nostrils flared as her gorgeous tits jiggled in his palms. He leaned his head up so he could play with her nipples, flicking and licking them while she bounced up and down on his cock. He wrapped his lips around one of her nipples on a moan, the hard ride she was giving him driving him out of his mind with arousal.

Yesterday, before she’d made him cum the first time, Jesse had climbed out of his prison uniform simply because the fireplace had made the tiny cabin too hot. It didn’t take much to overheat such a small space. He hadn’t much thought about how Lynne would react to it until she’d freaked out on him, obviously assuming he meant to rape her then and there.

He had been too exhausted to stand up, let alone force sex on someone. But then she hadn’t known that.

Jesse had tried to tell Lynne that he had no intention of killing her. But every time he’d opened his mouth to speak, she had forestalled him. First with frantic words, then with a mind-numbing blowjob. After that he’d been too damn tired to say anything at all, considering he hadn’t slept more than an hour at a time while she’d been sick.

When he woke up, she had been sucking him stiff. Again, rational thought had deserted him. And now here he lay, his buxom, naked captive fucking his cock, his lips drawing from one of her long nipples. He was already this close to giving her his cum for a second time.

His head fell back on the bed, his breathing ragged. “Make me cum, Lynne,” he said hoarsely, his jaw tight. He released her breasts and put his hands behind his head as if preparing to watch a movie. “Put on a show for me. Grind your cunt hard around my cock. Make those gorgeous tits jiggle.”

Lynne closed her eyes and followed his instruction to the letter. She rode him faster—harder—bouncing away on top of him at a brisk pace that kept her breasts bobbing up and down in the way he liked.

“I’m getting close,” he rasped. “Work for it, Lynne. Earn my cum.”

She bit down onto her bottom lip and rode him so fast that even she couldn’t help but to softly moan. Jesse supposed she probably didn’t want to feel pleasure, which he could understand given her suppositions about what might become of her, but his ego very much needed her to feel it.

“You’re so sexy,” he murmured. “I love your body.” He sucked in his breath as her riding became impossibly more vigorous. “Keep those tits bouncing,” he said hoarsely.

Lynne whimpered as she fucked him, the friction she was feeling against her clit obvious. He wanted her to fuck him longer, until she couldn’t stop herself from orgasming no matter how hard she tried, but he couldn’t stave off his need for release a second longer.

Her jiggling tits. The feel and sound of her wet, warm cunt fucking him. Her flushed face. The dog collar around her neck—

Every muscle in Jesse’s body corded and tensed as he prepared to cum. “Shit,” he muttered, his eyes closing. His teeth ground together as he broke on a loud groan, hot sperm shooting out of his cock in what felt like an endless stream of seed. Lynne continued to bounce away on top of him, her luscious cunt extracting all of the cum he had to give.

When he was done, when his balls had been totally depleted, he pulled his captive’s body down to cover his as best it could, his mouth unthinkingly seeking out hers for a kiss. In her first act of defiance, Lynne turned her face away, giving him her cheek.

Jesse closed his eyes and sighed, letting it go. Her first act of defiance. And, ironically enough, the only one that wielded the power to hurt him.

* * * * *

Lynne crawled out of bed after her captor fell asleep, her chain allowing her as far as the kitchen. She stood before the tiny kitchen window, her body shaking like a leaf, as she peered out of it and into a void of snow, trees, and nothingness. She had no idea where they were, but conceded that wherever it was, it was well hidden from the rest of the world.

As far as the eye could see, there was only wintry mountaintop forest. No other cabins, no paths suggesting roads, no people, no nothing. She didn’t even see any animals scurrying around, though she guessed they were probably out there somewhere.

It’s amazing how quickly life can take a U-turn, she thought, sighing. Her hand floated up to her neck where she absently stroked the collar she wore—the collar that made escape all the more difficult if not downright impossible.

A week ago she had set out to begin a new life. She’d gotten one all right, Lynne grimly acknowledged. In spades.

This wasn’t supposed to happen, she thought sadly. Life was supposed to be better, not worse, after divorcing Steve. She had given her ex-husband ten years of her life—ten years she could never get back—only to end up a naked prisoner wearing a dog collar and a chain. She was weary and downright sick of being victimized by men.

Lynne had been raised to be a good girl who followed the rules. She had never been particularly social, had always been on the shy side, and had fallen in love with Steve most likely because he was the first man to make an effort at drawing her out of her shell.

She had been a very devoted wife. She’d been loyal, hardworking, and so submissive it made her teeth grit to remember. All that had gotten her was a cheating husband who used her timid nature against her to extract anything he wanted from her. Life at the Temple house had always revolved around Steve, never Lynne.

Turning thirty-four made something inside of Lynne wake up like a sleeping bear that had been hibernating for over three decades. Why thirty-four she didn’t know. Most people woke up around thirty or forty. At any rate, she’d filed divorce papers, told Steve to get the hell out of their apartment, and took off for Charleston the day the divorce was finalized.

Life had felt great. Lynne had felt great. Driving down the interstate to a new destiny had awakened hope inside of her she didn’t know existed. And then came the crash. And Jesse Redshaw. She sighed.

Lynne didn’t know what to make of her captor. Jesse Redshaw was a serial rapist, yes, but according to the news reports he was a sadist too. Wouldn’t a sadist have enjoyed her pain? Wouldn’t a sadist have wanted to watch her die, or at least inflict more degradation and suffering into the sexual act after saving her?

She took a deep breath and slowly expelled it. Maybe he was saving that “treat” for later. Perhaps he was savoring their time together, settling for the infliction of mental fright in the short run in order to draw the moment out. But then why would he have spent seven days caring for her, feeding her, and healing her?

Her captor was an enigma. A six and some odd foot, two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle mystery.

Lynne’s stomach growled, underscoring the fact she hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday. She opened the two tiny kitchen cupboards and sighed in relief when she saw they were still stocked half full. She hesitated for the briefest moment, wondering if eating without permission would set him off.

In the end, the hunger pangs won out. She rifled through the cupboard doors, deciding to deal with any possible repercussions later.

Lynne needed energy, which meant she needed food. Formulating escape plans was otherwise impossible.

* * * * *

When Jesse woke up later that evening, it was with the intention of setting the record straight with Lynne. He didn’t want her worried she was going to die when he knew he couldn’t do something like that to her. He doubted she’d believe him, but at least the guilt would quit gnawing at him for having said it.

He’d spent seven days nursing her back to health. The first five days had been the most grueling. Caring for a fevered woman who had suffered trauma to the head took an incredible amount of energy. Doing it while still in prison shackles had downright exhausted him.

But in those days Lynne had spent recuperating, Jesse had come to care for her in a way he wasn’t certain he could rationalize. It was the first time another person had ever depended upon him for everything—from feeding them, to dressing their wounds, to bathing them.

She had looked like a helpless little doll, an image further exacerbated by her tiny five-foot frame. The only things that looked womanly and mature about Lynne were her full, ripe breasts and hourglass figure. That looked plenty womanly. And had kept him harder than a tire iron for a solid week.

If he were smart, he wouldn’t have brought her here. He would have somehow alerted the police to the fact that an unconscious woman was lying in her vehicle and needed attended to. But the nearest hospital was at least three hours away. Hell, the nearest town, if you could call it that, was over an hour and a half away. Lord only knows how long it would have taken someone to find her—if they ever did. By then she might have died.

The decision to bring Lynne to the cabin nobody knew existed hadn’t been difficult. He was her only hope at survival. An irony, others would call it.

Now Lynne was alive and well. And Jesse wanted her to realize he had no desire to change that fact.

When he woke up, he had the best intentions. When he climbed out of bed naked and rock-hard, and saw his nude captive bent over the small kitchen table to clean it, his intentions went to hell in a heartbeat.

Shit, she looked good. Memories seized him. Vivid memories of her tight, hot cunt squeezing his cock until he spurt. Memories of her cushioned thighs straddling his lap, her sexy tits jiggling while she rode him.

“What are you doing?” Jesse murmured.

Lynne froze, her back to him. He knew the question had come out a bit gruff, but that was just how he talked. Something he hoped she got used to real quick.

“I was just cleaning up—” She cleared her throat and spoke a bit louder. “I made some dinner and was cleaning up my mess.” She turned around slowly, her sexy nude body visible to him. He wanted to run his tongue through that tiny patch of black pussy hair. “I left some of the canned stew on the stove for you…” Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened when her gaze flicked down to his hard-on. “Oh,” she whispered.

Jesse’s eyes raked over her as he walked to where she stood.

“What would you like?” she quietly asked. “Should I go to the bed or to my knees?”

Goddamn, he thought, blowing out a breath. What man didn’t want to hear the woman he was attracted to ask a question like that? Unfortunately, it made it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand…

What was the task at hand?

When he didn’t answer her right away, she must have taken that as a bad sign. Her chocolate brown eyes got that worried look in them again. Although, thankfully, not so bad as before. Maybe Lynne was a bit less anxious around him now—he hoped.

“I guess that’s not inventive enough,” she whispered. Her teeth sank into her lower lip in the most adorable way. “I guess I’m not really good at this. I can try harder—”

“Lynne,” Jesse cut in, his hand absently running over his scarred jaw. He had a task to see to here. Maybe if he turned around and quit lusting after her naked body he could remember what the hell it was. He sighed as he closed his eyes. “You’re very good at this,” he growled. “Very, very good. But we need to talk…”

His voice trailed off as he got the distinct impression he was the only one having this conversation. His eyes flew open. He grunted when he realized that Lynne had walked off. Frowning, he turned around on his heel to locate her. “I said we need to…”

Jesse swallowed roughly when his gaze found Lynne. She had crawled up onto the bed and gotten herself in the doggy position. Ass up, head down. Holy shit. “…talk,” he softly finished.

His jaw clenched as he walked towards the bed. This was too much temptation for any man, let alone one with a high sex drive who had been inside a woman only twice in seven years—and one of those occasions had been this morning. Jesse’d been totally celibate for the past five years simply because there had been no choice in prison, or none he cared to experience anyway. The two years prior to that had been spent with a dark cloud of suspicion hanging over his head, keeping every available woman in Florida, Georgia, and probably all of the USA too wary of him to even consider a date let alone sex. Except for his ex-girlfriend Jeannie. Her he had slept with once.

“I hope this is inventive enough,” Lynne whispered, snagging Jesse’s attention. “My ex-husband is the only man I’ve been with besides you,” she admitted, “and he preferred having sex with other women instead of me. So, I’m not too good at this.”

Her soft voice coupled with her blunt honesty twisted something inside of him. “Your husband was a dick,” he growled. “He deserves to have his balls whacked off—”

Jesse stopped mid-sentence when he saw Lynne’s body tense. She probably assumed he meant to cut them off himself. Shit. He kept making things worse and worse.

“Well,” she said quietly, reflectively. “I think that he probably does.”

His eyebrows rose. He found himself amused despite what Lynne thought of him. Little Ms. Docile had just given the big, bad serial rapist permission to whack off her ex’s balls. Tiny little Lynne had a mean streak. Who knew?

“Listen,” Jesse sighed, finally recalling what the task at hand had initially been. “There are some things about me you need to know. They affect you. And your future—”

“Oh goodness,” Lynne breathed out. She began wiggling her ass in a provocative way that made his cock impossibly harder. “Can’t we talk about my future, or lack of it, later?”

He frowned. That wasn’t what he’d meant.

With her head still lowered to the bed, she brought her hands around and used her fingers to spread her pussy lips apart. His muscles knotted. “Maybe it’s still tight,” she said in a hopeful voice. She hoisted her ass up higher, that sexy, hot cunt on full display.

The task at hand was immediately forgotten. Again.

“You’re killing me here,” he rasped out even as he walked to the bed and palmed the globes of her luscious, round ass. “Fucking killing me.”

“Oh I wouldn’t be stupid enough to try that,” she said with painful honesty. Not because she didn’t want to, he thought. Because she was afraid he’d live and retaliate.

She released her pussy lips. Jesse lost his train of thought, mesmerized as he watched the small, slick folds softly close. He took his hands and opened them back up again and simply stared. Goddamn, he loved her cunt.

Lynne put her hands back on the bed so she could recline on her elbows. She tugged at the chain attached to the collar to give herself more leeway, then wiggled her ass again, making his teeth grit. “Do you like to do it this way?” she asked. “I saw it in a movie my husband made me watch and I—”

“Don’t,” he said probably a bit too roughly, “talk about your ex-husband.”

She stilled. “I’m sorry.”

Jesse palmed the globes of her ass again, his breathing labored. “I love your body, Lynne. I goddamn love it.”

She probably didn’t know what to say to that, but it was just as well. Rational thought had once again deserted him. He poised the tip of his swollen cock at the entrance to her pussy. Nostrils flaring, Jesse sank into her tight cunt on a groan, seating himself to the hilt.

“You feel so good,” he hoarsely praised her as he began to slowly plunge in and out of her. He closed his eyes and savored the feeling of being inside of her. “So wet and sexy. You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever met.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Throw your hips back at me,” he ground out. “Squeeze my cock with your tight little cunt.”

She did—sweet lord how she did. He’d never felt a pussy this good. Nobody had a wet, suctioning, tight cunt like Lynne.

She threw her hips back at him in frenzied gyrations, not able to stop herself from eliciting a small groan. But neither did he want her to stop. His jaw clenched as he banged away inside of her, grinding his cock as far into her pussy as it could go.

The sound of flesh slapping against flesh echoed in the small cabin. The scent of sex permeated the air. Jesse’s fingers found her clit and briskly rubbed it. She moaned in reaction, louder and longer this time. He kept up the steady rubbing motion as he fucked her, wanting her to climax.

“Please,” Lynne gasped as she threw her hips back at him. “I think I’m about to do something and I don’t know what…oh—I don’t like this!”

Jesse’s eyes slightly widened as he pumped in and out of her. Didn’t she recognize an orgasm when it was coming? If not, her husband was a bigger loser than he’d thought. He rubbed her clit harder, fucked her harder, the sound of her moans making him growl like an animal.

“I won’t ever hurt you,” he said hoarsely as he sank in and out of her cunt. “It’s okay to let go. You’re safe.”

“I—oh God this feels weird,” she gasped.

“Go with it,” he gritted out. His jugular bulged as he plunged into her pussy in lightning quick strokes. He rubbed her clit faster, arrogantly pleased when he felt her cunt squeeze in a telling way.

“I—ohhhhhh,” Lynne moaned. “Ohhhhh.” She threw her hips back at him as she came, her pussy clenching and contracting around his stiff cock.

“Shit,” Jesse muttered as he fucked her harder. Her cunt felt so damn good, so tight and inviting. He didn’t want this moment to end, but realized he couldn’t stave off the inevitable for more than another few seconds. Not with her cunt milking him like that.

Growling low in his throat, he took her faster, violently pumping away inside of her. The sound of her suctioning pussy repeatedly enveloping him was his undoing. “I’m coming,” he panted, sinking his cock in and out. “Here I come…”

He came on a bellow, his muscles corded and slick with perspiration as he bodily shuddered. He moaned as he spurted, hot cum shooting into her tight cunt as he continued to slam away inside of her. “Lynne,” he groaned, loving the way she was throwing her hips back at him to extract all his cum. “Lynne—shit.”

When it was over, when Jesse had collapsed on the bed spent and exhausted, they both laid there strangely quiet, her back pressed against his front. It was at least twenty minutes before either of them moved a muscle, let alone spoke.

“Jesse?” Lynne whispered.

His gut clenched. It was the first time she’d ever used his first name. “Yeah?”

“Did you mean what you said? About not hurting me, I mean?”

“Yes,” he answered without missing a beat. He sighed. “Lynne, I’m not going to hurt anyone, but especially not you.”

She was quiet for a moment. “Thank you,” she said softly.

He grunted. “Let’s rest a while.” He gently squeezed her middle with the muscled arm draped over her. “We’ll talk later.”

Chapter 5

Lynne watched Jesse wolf down what was left of the beef stew before standing to go heat up another can of it. She felt in a daze from their earlier sexual encounter, her thoughts and emotions in turmoil.

Her very first orgasm. She finally knew what one felt like. It was pretty embarrassing to be thirty-four years old and admit that you’ve never experienced climax. She had been raised so damn sheltered growing up that masturbation was never a part of her sexual repertoire. She had decided that would change with everything else once she reached Charleston. She should have had her first orgasm there…not here.

Her first climax, she thought. This should have been one of the best nights of her life, but instead she felt embarrassed and ashamed. She had never orgasmed for her husband. She had, however, orgasmed for a serial rapist and killer. Not an easy thing to live with.

As a result, Lynne was torn between anger and disbelief. Anger that her first climax had occurred under horrible conditions. Disbelief that it had occurred at all. Steve had said she was frigid. Apparently she wasn’t. Still, she would have preferred to find out that particular piece of information about herself under any circumstances but the one she currently found herself in.

Her nostrils flaring, Lynne carried the pot of beef stew over to the kitchen table where Jesse sat. She dished him out a heaping helping, refusing to make eye contact as she did so.

Jesse’s eyebrows slowly drew together. “Thanks,” he muttered.

“You’re welcome,” she crisply replied as she carried the pot back to the stove and set it down with a bang.

Her captor was quiet for a long moment, though she could feel his eyes boring into the back of her. “Care to tell me what’s wrong?” he drawled.

Her back stiffened from where she stood in front of the stove. “As if you really care,” she bit out. Lynne supposed speaking to him in such a manner wasn’t the brightest move she’d ever made, but she was too upset to care. Later, perhaps while he was strangling her, she would regret it. For now it felt damn good.

He grunted. “Tell me what’s wrong, Lynne. Don’t play games with me.”

She whirled around to face him, her long dark hair cascading down one shoulder. She was tired of being scared. She was sick to death of being a victim. All of her life—all of it—if it wasn’t one man hurting her it was another. “Why did you do that to me?” she choked out. “Why?”

Jesse’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly. He didn’t pretend not to know what she was talking about. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “You deserved to have that happen for the first time with any man but me.” He sighed, glancing away. “I am sorry. For whatever it’s worth.”

Lynne blinked, surprised. She had expected him to be angry, not apologetic. Quite frankly, she didn’t know how to take the moment. And although she’d never say it aloud, the words were worth a lot. “Thank you,” she whispered, confused. She slowly turned back around, her eyes unblinking, to face the stove.

She wasn’t certain she was up to more conversation, yet couldn’t help but to wonder if this wouldn’t be the ideal time to ask the questions she needed answers to. Now, when he seemed in a good enough mood. A million thoughts competing for attention were swimming through her mind. The most prominent one, however, was whether or not he planned to let her leave this cabin—ever. She wanted to ask, but was afraid to. Strangely enough, she wasn’t so much scared of Jesse harming her for asking the question to begin with as she was afraid of his answer.

What if he said she could never leave? What then?

“I said we’d talk later,” Jesse grumbled. “It’s later. Let’s talk.”

Lynne closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. “What do you want to talk about?” she asked, her back still to him.

“You,” he said simply. “I know you must be wondering how long I plan to keep you.”

Apparently he was psychic, she thought morosely, her heartbeat accelerating. Yes, she wanted to know. But if his answer was one she didn’t want to hear…

She turned around to face him, her eyes wild. “Please,” she breathed out. “I don’t think I’m ready to talk about this yet.”

“Lynne—”

“I was supposed to start a new life,” she interrupted. She offered him a shaky smile. “I was driving toward my new life when I crashed into that tree. Now my life is being a naked prisoner wearing a dog collar and chain.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “I don’t think I can stand hearing anything more at this point.”

His eyes narrowed. “This new life. It involved a man?”

Her eyes flew open. What did that have to do with anything? “A man?” she asked, perplexed as to why the answer seemed so important to him. “No.” She slowly shook her head. “I bought my first house. In Charleston. I wanted to build my life somewhere else after the divorce.”

That seemed to appease him. “I see,” he rumbled out.

Silence.

“I didn’t kill those girls, Lynne,” Jesse said softly, surprising her. Her eyes widened. “I didn’t rape them either. I know you won’t believe me, which is why I never bothered to say so, but I’m saying it anyway.”

It was so quiet she could have heard a pin drop. She was so stunned all she could do was stand there and gape.

She didn’t know what to think of Jesse’s confession. She wanted to believe him—good God she wanted to believe him—because it gave her hope where little existed.

Hope that he meant what he’d said, that he’d never harm her. Hope that she would leave here one day—alive.

Her gaze raked over his grim masculine features. Even sitting, making no move to touch her, Jesse Redshaw looked like a larger than life vengeful god. The muscles in his arms rippled without doing anything more than moving them. He was big and huge and solid and…well, she was certain he wielded the power to take out another life. But would he was the real question.

“Every man sitting behind bars is innocent according to them,” Jesse muttered as he absently ran a hand through his short crew cut. “Hell, I know that. That’s one reason I knew nobody would ever believe me. My own goddamn lawyer didn’t believe me. So I took matters into my own hands.” His voice trailed off into a murmur, his expression far away. “I won’t spend the rest of my natural born life behind bars for things I never did, Lynne. I never claimed to be a saint.” He shook his head a bit. “But kill a woman? Physically force myself on another person? No. That I can’t do.”

Her heart was thumping so dramatically it felt like it was ready to beat right out of her chest. She didn’t know what to believe. She felt torn. He had saved her life, yes, but he was also holding her against her will. One good deed did not an innocent man make. And yet…

“What happened?” Lynne heard herself softly ask. “If you didn’t do it, who did?”

Jesse frowned. His penetrating green gaze found hers. “I don’t know. I wish I did. All I know is that it wasn’t me.”

She didn’t say anything else. She didn’t know what to say. The silence that followed felt interminable before he spoke again.

Jesse sighed, standing up and pushing himself away from the table. “I have a bondage fetish,” he tersely admitted. “Fetish is an ugly word that really means nothing more than something that turns a person on. What turns me on is sexually dominating a woman I’m involved with. No, I more than get turned on by it…I love it, crave it.”

She nervously averted her gaze.

“From the time I first snuck a dirty magazine from my old man and saw images of women tied up or on their knees submitting to a man, I knew that’s what I wanted. I can’t explain it any more than I can explain why I’m attracted to brunettes. It just is, if you know what I mean.”

Lynne glanced back to where he was standing. Her dark eyes absently raked over his powerful, nude body before finding his face.

Jesse plopped back down in the kitchen chair with a thud. “So when I grew up and developed relationships with women, I went for it. I wasn’t discreet about it either. If a woman I was dating wasn’t into that, we didn’t last long. I enjoy having regular sex too, but on an every day basis I don’t find it all that fulfilling.”

Lynne’s forehead wrinkled. She didn’t exactly understand what this had to do with the issue at hand. His next words, however, shed some more light.

“It’s a known fact to every sex crime detective in existence that the majority of sexual predators out there are drawn to bondage. Usually when these guys are arrested, the police confiscate loads of bondage magazines and bondage porn from the offender’s house.” He frowned. “I was into bondage. I wasn’t quiet about it. I resembled the sketch the police artist made. I didn’t have an alibi for two of the rapes.” He sighed. “The police put two and two together and came up with five.”

Lynne drew in a deep breath and slowly expelled it, her thoughts in chaos. She could see where the police would make a correlation like that. She could also see where it might be a faulty one. Like ice-cream and burglaries. Statistically speaking, one could argue the two are directly correlated because burglaries go up on days ice-cream sales go up. They are related, yes, but one does not cause the other. There is a third variable that comes into play and explains both: heat. Burglaries go up as weather permits the same as ice-cream sales do. Using that logic, bondage fantasies and sexual offenses were related, but you couldn’t argue that someone into bondage would also commit a sexual crime anymore than you could argue all burglars stop off for an ice-cream after stealing a TV.

Still, as much as she wished it otherwise, that didn’t make Jesse Redshaw innocent.

“How do you explain the fact there were no related murders after you were imprisoned?” Lynne whispered.

Jesse slowly shook his head. “I can’t,” he murmured, his gaze snagging hers. “And that’s why I didn’t stand a chance at getting out.” He frowned. “Maybe there were more killings and no bodies have been found yet. Maybe the guy moved on when I got arrested, figuring he better leave the state before the police found out it wasn’t me. I don’t know, Lynne. I just don’t know.”

Silence.

He stood up again, pushing away from the table. “I know you don’t believe me,” he muttered as he walked toward the tiny bedroom a few feet away. “And you don’t have to because it’s not important.”

She sensed that it was, but she said nothing. Her gaze followed him to the empty dresser that hosted nothing but the prison-issued jumpsuit and what was left of the clothes he’d cut off her to check for wounds when she’d been unconscious. She watched him put the jumpsuit on, his back muscles rippling as he bent over.

“I know the big question for you is when the hell you get out of this place. That I still have to figure out,” he said as he pulled the faded blue jumpsuit on. “You don’t know exactly where here is, but you have a good enough idea. If I let you go, I risk going back to prison which is a risk I don’t want to take.”

Lynne closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “What if I said I wouldn’t turn you in?” she asked. She opened her eyes, watching him pick up the axe he would use to chop up more logs for the fireplace. “What if I promised not to say a word?”

Jesse came to a standstill before her, the large axe resting on one shoulder. “I’d say you know what it feels like to be me.”

She shook her head. “I don’t understand…”

His gaze found hers and held it. “No matter what you do,” he said softly, “and no matter what you say, your words will never be believed.”

Her eyes widened as she watched him open the cabin door and walk out into the cold, wintry night.

Chapter 6

The week that followed was an emotionally tumultuous one for Lynne. She was coming to care for her captor and that wouldn’t do at all.

Jesse Redshaw was a man who had been convicted of doing some awful things in his life. Things so terrible she couldn’t stomach thinking about them. And yet she couldn’t deny that feelings for him were quickly developing. She couldn’t stop them no matter how hard she tried.

He was kind to her, gentle with her. He was the man who saved her life. The man who’d given her an orgasm for the first time, and many more times after that.

It was hard to reconcile her Jesse to the other Jesse, the one who was supposed to be sitting behind bars on death row in Stark County. Of course, according to the man in question, there was nothing to reconcile.

Lynne stood in the kitchen preparing dinner, her gaze occasionally flicking up to the window where she could watch “her” Jesse chop up kindling and logs. As cold as it was outside she saw sweat making his muscles glisten as he repeatedly heaved the huge axe above his head and bore down.

Jesse, she sighed. A total enigma.

Three days ago they had trekked back to where he’d hidden her vehicle under snow and brush. They retrieved her suitcases and various personal items from it, so now at least she had warm clothes. The collar and chain were always on her though. At night, he liked her to sleep nude.

She’d found a few of Steve’s old things she hadn’t realized were in the SUV, so Jesse didn’t have to choose between nudity or the prison jumpsuit anymore. Not that he minded being nude. In fact, it seemed to be his favorite wardrobe given how much of the time he spent wearing it.

One thing was for certain: he loved sex. Lots and lots of sex. Lynne had done it more times in the past week than she’d done it throughout the duration of her marriage to Steve. Every time she turned around, Jesse’d have that look in his eyes. The look that said he’d give anything to be inside of her. She supposed part of it had to do with making up for lost time, though she suspected the major part of it was simply because he liked doing it.

He seemed to revel in all aspects of sex, but she could tell he especially enjoyed performing on her orally. At least once a day, though usually right before bedtime, he would look at her as if to say, Can I? Please? The next thing she knew she’d be on her back, gasping and groaning as his mouth enthusiastically sucked on her clit.

Lynne had never told him no to sex, or even tried to tell him no to it. In the beginning her reason had been fear—fear of him becoming angry and hurting her or worse. Now she didn’t know anymore. She wanted to believe she immediately stripped down and gave him blowjobs and sex when his eyes got that heated look in them because he held the upper hand. She wanted to believe it, but didn’t know if that view of events was still accurate. It sickened Lynne to think that she could fall in love outside of two weeks—one of which she’d spent unconscious!—with a serial rapist and murderer.

But then Jesse claimed to be innocent.

She didn’t want to be one of those people who naпvely believed everything she was told, but neither did she want to be so close-minded as to not open herself up to other possibilities.

A jury had convicted him. But was the jury right?

She recalled enough about the Jesse Redshaw case to remember the fact that blood had been found at only one of the crime scenes…and that it hadn’t matched either Jesse or the victim’s blood type. Because the tiny stain had been located in the victim’s car, the prosecution had explained that away as potentially belonging to anybody who had ridden in her car and sustained a pinprick—it didn’t follow that it had to belong to the killer, they had said.

In the end, the man standing outside the kitchen window chopping wood had been sentenced to die on the basis of a scar and a draw toward bondage. Was that enough to make him guilty?

Lynne recalled the social climate in Florida at the time as well. Women were scared. Parents were afraid to let their daughters leave the house. The public wanted a conviction and they wanted it yesterday…

Did it follow that Jesse Redshaw was guilty?

Lynne’s teeth sank into her bottom lip. She just didn’t know anymore. She didn’t want to believe him simply because it made her feel better to, but neither did she want to disbelieve him simply because it was easier than giving him the benefit of doubt.

A scar and bondage. She sighed. It all came down to a scar and bondage.

Lynne had been at the receiving end of Jesse’s brand of bondage quite a few times in the past week. He hadn’t lied when he’d told her seven days ago that images of female submission made him extremely aroused. She suspected that just looking at the collar she wore made him hot.

He often held her hands above her head while they had sex. Twice, he had asked if he could tie her up. When she had told him no, he had accepted her decision with good grace, never once trying to guilt her into doing something she didn’t possess enough trust in him to do. Last night had been one of those times:

His erect penis buried deep inside of her, he gazed down at her through heavy eyelids. “Do you trust me enough yet?” Jesse murmured. He rotated his hips and plunged his stiff cock in a bit deeper.

Lynne gasped before searching his gaze. “I’m not ready. I’m confused about what I feel,” she whispered. Her eyes pleaded with him to understand. “My heart believes you but my head…”

Jesse bent his neck to kiss the tip of her nose before gazing back down at her. “Hey,” he said softly, “I’ll take whatever you can give.” His intense eyes searched hers. “And of the two, I’d rather have your heart anyway.”

Something in the vicinity of said heart wrenched. “Thank you for understanding…”

He liked bondage. He loved bondage. Jesse had never lied about that. But inflicting pain on another person? She could honestly say he didn’t seem the type to enjoy something like that. She could only recall one time he’d caused her to yelp and that had been an inadvertent elbow to the ribcage when he turned quickly, not realizing she’d walked up behind him.

He had apologized profusely. He had seemed more upset than she was.

Lynne closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was so damn confusing.

“Hey. You okay?”

Her eyes flew open. She whirled around on her barefoot heel to face him. “I didn’t hear you come in,” she breathed out.

Jesse stood a couple feet away, his naked torso glistening with perspiration, and stared at her as if trying to guess her thoughts. “You look like you lost your best friend,” he said slowly. He set the axe down next to the cabin’s front door. “Anything you want to talk about?”

She shook her head, then turned back to face the kitchen window. “I’m just thinking about things is all.”

He was quiet for a long moment. “About the rapes you mean?” he asked softly as he walked toward where she was standing.

Lynne shrugged, her back to him. “Yes. That and other things.”

Jesse sighed. He said nothing at first, simply placed his hands on her shoulders. “I haven’t given you much time to do that, have I? Think, that is.” When she didn’t say anything, he squeezed her shoulders to let her know it was okay. “Take all the time you need, Lynne. I’ll be here when you figure things out.”

Her forehead wrinkled. “What do you mean?”

“I shouldn’t be pushing you for sex,” he murmured. “Not until you know for sure that you want to have it with me.”

“You’ve never pushed me,” she whispered. “It’s not about that. It’s just that I’m so damn…confused,” she admitted.

Silence.

“At least you’re thinking about it,” he decided. “That’s more decency than anyone else has shown me.”

Lynne’s shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry I—”

“Don’t be,” Jesse cut in. “You’d be stupid not to be skeptical.” He squeezed her shoulders again, then walked away to clean himself up. “Take all the time you need.”

Chapter 7

Two nights later…

Jesse woke up in the middle of the night with a painful erection. Lying on his back, his hands propped behind his head, he blew out a breath as he and his cock stared at the ceiling.

He hadn’t made a move to touch Lynne in two days. It was the right thing to do, he consoled himself. It was the right thing to do, but the most difficult as well. Just thinking about her tight, suctioning cunt made him hard as a rock. And those nipples…

He frowned, telling himself not to go there.

One good thing had come of the past two sexless days, however. Even if she didn’t believe him about the rapes, he was fairly certain Lynne believed he wouldn’t harm her in particular. That was a good thing. A nice start.

The bad part was he doubted sexy little Lynne would start anticipating his sexual needs again like she used to, especially now that the fear of being hacked up into a million pieces was gone. He grimly conceded that he almost wished he’d let her live with her damn illusions.

But that wouldn’t have been right. Mentally, she had gone through enough already and he didn’t want to take her through more.

Jesse realized that Lynne was dealing with more than just questions about his past and whether or not he could be believed. She was also dealing with the reality of the moment, the reality of her confinement. He knew she didn’t want to be forced to stay in the cabin with him. The thing she didn’t get was that he didn’t want to keep her here against her will, either. He wanted her to stay all right, but he wanted her to stay because she wanted to—something he knew would never happen.

Caring for her all of those days, not knowing if she would live or die, had done something to him on the inside. For years he’d allowed himself to feel nothing for anyone—not since the day when Jeannie had showed up during visitation at the county jail and told him they were over. She didn’t believe him, she had said. He looked too much like the guy in the sketch, she had said. She wouldn’t testify on his behalf, wouldn’t accept his phone calls—nothing. They were over.

Watching Jeannie walk away had felt like a knife in the gut. If she didn’t believe him, he held little hope that anyone else would. And, of course, he had been right. Nobody had believed him then and nobody believed him now.

After that Jesse had closed himself off entirely. It wasn’t like it mattered anyway. In prison there was no one to get close to unless you like your bread buttered up the ass, which he didn’t. Closing himself off had been easy. Until he met Lynne.

By the time he’d gotten her out of the banged-up SUV, she had already been unconscious. Her head had taken a pretty serious hit and, given the gash in it, he suspected from more than just the airbag. He hadn’t thought she would live past the night, but she did. He’d taken good care of her, watched her as vigilantly as a guard dog, had only left her side long enough to bow-hunt for food and chop wood for the fireplace.

Two days later, she started coming-to in short, brief spells. He doubted Lynne would remember much of it, if anything at all, because the fever had kept her half delirious. She hadn’t become cognizant of her surroundings until the fifth day.

Jesse was thankful she couldn’t recall those first few days because he was pretty sure Lynne would think even less of him—assuming that was possible—if she knew he’d touched her intimately. He hadn’t penetrated her or anything like that, but he had sucked on her nipples. A pretty shitty thing to do to an unconscious woman, he realized. There were no excuses for it. The only thing he could even say in his defense was that he had felt such tender emotions toward her when he’d been caring for her, and it had been a really long time since he’d been close to a naked woman, and her nipples were so stiff and—

He sighed. There weren’t any excuses. Of all the things for a convicted rapist proclaiming his innocence to do that had to have been about the dumbest choice he’d made yet.

Jesse laid in the bed, his swollen penis throbbing for release, but he didn’t touch himself. He wouldn’t masturbate with Lynne lying right next to him because it seemed disrespectful somehow. Plus, he thought grimly, he wanted her. Not his hand. He’d had enough of his hand in prison to last a lifetime.

Shit, he needed release, Jesse thought as he got up out of the bed, his teeth gritting. He was so goddamn hard it ached.

Being as quiet as he could, he stalked off toward the cabin’s tiny kitchen and ran himself a glass of water from the sink. He gulped it down quickly, the cool liquid soothing his dry throat. Unfortunately it didn’t do anything toward quelling his raging hard-on.

“Jesse?” he heard Lynne softly call out. Her voice was groggy with sleep. “Is everything okay?”

He sighed. “Yeah. Go back to sleep,” he muttered. When he turned around, however, he saw that she was sitting up. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw his erection. He frowned, turning back around to face the sink. “Go to sleep, Lynne.”

It was quiet for a long moment; so long in fact that he thought she’d heeded his advice. He was surprised when he heard her delicately clear her throat, announcing the fact she was standing behind him without saying the words. Jesse cocked his head, looking at her from over his shoulder.

She blushed a bit, glancing away before she slowly met his gaze. “What would you like?” she quietly asked. “Should I go to the bed or to my knees?”

His hard-on started throbbing again. He blew out a breath, then turned to stare out the window. “I told you I wouldn’t hurt you, Lynne,” he murmured. “You don’t have to have sex with me to stay on my good side. You’ve been on it since the moment I laid eyes on you.”

Silence.

“What would you like?” Lynne whispered. “Should I go to the bed or to my knees?”

Jesse stilled. His head slowly came around until he could stare at her. His intense green gaze raked over her body. “The bed,” he said hoarsely.

Lynne nodded. She turned around and walked back to the bed, then climbed up on it and laid down on her back. She spread her thighs wide, waiting for him. “Do you think…” She smiled a bit nervously. “Maybe you could do, you-know-what, to me again?”

He bodily turned around to face her, his penis standing stiff up against his navel. She tended to be so genteel in her language she even had a difficult time asking him to eat her out. Nobody but nobody got him hard like Lynne. “You’re killing me here,” he said thickly as he slowly strode toward the bed. “You’re goddamn killing me.”

Half afraid she’d change her mind and half just wanting to touch her, Jesse moved to his knees in a lightning quick motion, then dove face first for her pussy to do you-know-what. She gasped, just like she always did. He groaned from around her hole, covering it with his mouth and vigorously sucking it.

“Oh wow,” Lynne breathed out. Her hips reared up a bit, offering him better access to her flesh. His nostrils flared as he sucked harder.

Jesse used his hands to spread apart her pussy lips then wrapped his warm mouth around her clit. She moaned loudly as he sucked on it, her legs shaking, already close to coming.

“Oh,” she gasped, her head falling back. She grabbed at his head, running her fingers through his hair, pressing his face closer to her pussy. She groaned as he sucked, the sound arousing him, making him growl against her clit.

Her reaction to his touch made him hope she’d want to stay with him. He knew it would never happen, but nobody said dreams were realistic.

“Jesse,” Lynne gutturally moaned. Her thighs tellingly trembled from either side of his head. He growled into her pussy as he mercilessly sucked her clit.

“Oh my God!” she wailed, her entire body convulsing as she came for him. “Oh my God! Oh my God!”

By the time she finished coming, his breathing was so labored he felt dizzy. Goddamn, but she was the sexiest woman he’d ever clapped eyes on. He stood up slowly, towering over Lynne from where she lay on the bed, his penis stiff and wanting her. She looked at him questioningly, as if wondering why he hadn’t mounted her yet.

His grim features intensely regarded her. “Are you sure you want me?” he rasped out. “Tell me now because I won’t be able to stop once I climb on top of you.”

The emotion in his voice was raw. With hope. With lust. With…vulnerability.

Lynne swallowed hard. She knew he was referring to more than sex. He was referring to everything.

“I want you,” she whispered. “I’m sure.”

She was sure. Nothing had ever felt more certain. She knew Jesse. And what’s more, she believed in him. Others might think she was foolish, but she didn’t care. Her decision had been made. She chose to place her faith in the man who had shown her nothing but gentleness, kindness, and caring—Jesse Redshaw.

His green eyes were so intense that if she hadn’t known him it might have frightened her. He came down on top of her, his big muscular body covering hers. He settled himself between her thighs as he used his callused hand to direct the head of his stiff penis toward her waiting flesh.

“I’ve missed you,” he said thickly, his eyes heavy-lidded.

“I’ve missed you too.” She smiled softly, running her hands up his hard, chiseled chest and roping them around his neck.

“Do you trust me yet, Lynne?” he murmured.

Her eyes searched his. “I do—I really do.” She knew what he wanted. And she was ready to give it to him.

A bit frightened but mostly nervous with excitement, Lynne released her hold from around his neck and tellingly placed her arms over her head.

Jesse stilled. “You’re sure, sweetheart?” he hoarsely asked. She could feel his pre-ejaculate wetting the labial fold his penis was thrust up against.

She nodded. Her heart was thumping like crazy, but she realized she wanted to do this for him. It was more than a sexual act. It symbolized total faith in her belief that he’d never harm her—or anyone else. “Completely. I’m ready, Jesse.”

He blew out a breath. “I’ve never been so hard in my life.”

It took him all of ten seconds to retrieve some rope and two t-shirts. He wound one shirt around each wrist for padding, then roped and tied them to two bedposts. The look in his eyes when he came down on top of her again was domineering, but loving. Lynne could well imagine how she looked to him—she was the embodiment of every submissive female fantasy he’d envisioned since he’d been old enough to think of such things…

A dog collar and chain was clasped around her neck, her hands were tied above her head to the posts so she couldn’t move. The position she’d been bound in caused her breasts to thrust up like two offerings, her nipples standing stiff with arousal.

Jesse lowered his face to her chest on a groan, his hands cupping her breasts together so he could suck both nipples simultaneously. She moaned softly in reaction, her eyelids drifting shut, the pleasure she felt somehow heightened by her lack of mobility.

“Oh wow,” she breathed out. She wanted him to suck harder. She lifted her chest up as best she could to let him know that without words. “Jes—Master—that feels so good,” she whispered.

He sucked on them harder, a low growl in the back of his throat as he toyed with them. He relentlessly sucked on them until they were swollen and stiff, until Lynne was gasping and groaning and wanting to be fucked.

Jesse raised his head, the sound of nipples popping from his mouth making her eyes open. He grinned down at her. “You remembered the master bit from one of our talks, eh?”

She grinned back. “I kind of like it,” she admitted, blushing just a bit.

His expression turned serious, his eyes getting that glazed-over, heated look in them again. “I love it,” he murmured. “Call me that anytime.”

His nostrils flaring, he settled himself between her cushiony thighs again, then pushed the head of his thick cock inside of her. Her breath caught in the back of her throat. “Your pussy is always so tight,” he rasped. “Goddamn, you feel good, Lynne.”

Jesse sucked in his breath as he began to slowly sink his cock in and out of her body. She moaned, her head falling back into the pillows, her breasts thrusting up again. The sound of her wet flesh suctioning him back in on every outstroke aroused her just as it always did.

“Jesse,” she whispered. “Mmmmm.”

“Mmmm is right,” he said thickly. He bent his neck and licked her nipples, teasing them with teeth and tongue. “I love your tits,” he mumbled from around one.

He picked up the pace of his pumping, plunging his cock in and out of her in faster, deeper strokes. Raising his head from her breasts, his teeth gritted and perspiration dotted his brow. “I love your cunt,” he ground out, riding her harder. “I love you, Lynne.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh Jesse—”

She might have said more, but he took her hard then, thrusting in and out of her in animalistic strokes. Lynne groaned, her legs instinctively wrapping around his hips to hold on while he rode her.

“I love you so much, Lynne,” he panted before his lips came down to find hers. “So goddamn much.”

Jesse covered her lips with his in what was to be their first kiss. His tongue thrust inside, sweeping against hers as he slanted his mouth this way and that over hers. She kissed him back enthusiastically, groaning into his mouth as he made love to her. They were intimate like that for long moments, enjoying the taste and feel of the other.

“Fuck me,” Lynne gasped, pulling her mouth away from his, wanting to feel him orgasm inside of her. She knew those words would arouse him. She knew everything that aroused him. “Please, Master,” she begged. “It makes me feel close to you.”

Jesse’s nostrils flared. He stopped thrusting long enough to come up to his knees and throw her legs over his shoulders. He plunged into her in a long, smooth stroke, her head falling back on a groan.

“Like this?” he ground out, grinding his cock into her. He rotated his hips, pistoning back and forth in fast, deep strokes. His jaw clenched as he fucked her hard, plunging in and out of her pussy like he meant to brand it. The sound of her flesh suctioning him back in echoed throughout the cabin, competing with the sound of her moaning. Unable to move her upper body, she laid there and took everything he had to give, wanting him to mate with her as hard and deep as humanly possible.

“Goddamn, I love your cunt,” he said hoarsely, his eyes shuddering as he sank his stiff cock inside of her, over and over, again and again.

“Jesse,” she gasped. The friction on her clit in this position was too much. She groaned, her eyes closing as her body prepared to cum.

“Do it, baby,” he ground out, fucking her faster, harder, deeper. “I love making you cum.”

Lynne moaned like a wounded animal, her nipples stabbing up into the air as she came. “Oh God,” she groaned, her head thrashing back and forth. Her face felt hot, her nipples painfully swollen. Not being able to move only added to it. “Jesse.”

Jesse took her legs from off his shoulders and came down on top of her again without missing a beat. His nostrils flared as he mounted her hard, pounding in and out of her pussy in branding strokes. “My cunt,” he growled. “All mine.”

“Yes!” she screamed, her muscles tensing as she climaxed again. “Oh God!”

His muscles tensed as he possessively fucked her. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he repeatedly sank into her, letting Lynne know he wanted to prolong the moment, but couldn’t.

“I’m coming,” he said hoarsely, one callused hand wrapping around a fistful of her long, dark hair. He held onto it tightly, his jaw clenching as he plunged into her pussy once, twice, three times more. “Lynne,” he gasped, his entire body shuddering atop hers. He groaned long and loud as he spurt his hot cum inside of her, his cock still violently pumping away as her cunt milked him, extracting all of his seed.

“Shit,” he rasped, bringing his strokes down in pace. His breathing was heavy, his words coming out in a long mumble. “That was the best sex ever in the history of best sex.”

Lynne smiled, pleased she’d made him feel that way, but said nothing.

When it was over, Jesse didn’t move for a long moment. He simply laid there on top of her, hugging her body close to his. He didn’t seem as though he wanted to untie her, but eventually he reached up and unwound the knots with one hand.

Lynne smiled contentedly, no longer afraid to admit to herself—or him—how she felt. “I love you,” she whispered, her unbound hands running over his chiseled back. “Very much.”

He came up on his elbows and stared down at her, his heart in his eyes. “Ah Lynne. I love you too.” He briefly closed his eyes and sighed, the defeated expression on his face causing her smile to fade.

“What is it?” she quietly asked, worry tinting the question.

Silence.

“Jesse?” she murmured.

“I can’t do this,” he said softly, coming up from his elbows. He stood up then turned away from her, his hands on his hips in a football player’s stance. “I can’t take a gift like that from you, say I love you, and then make you stay here. It’s not right.”

Lynne shot up into a sitting position. Her eyes went wide. “Jesse, don’t say that,” she pleaded in a small voice. “I don’t want to leave here without you.”

He cocked his head to stare at her. His smile was sad. “Do you know how many times I’ve fantasized about hearing you say those very words?” he murmured. He shook his head and glanced away. “I never thought I’d let you go if you said them to me, but now that you did I know I have to.”

She felt like she was going to be sick. “You don’t want me anymore?”

He turned around to face her, his green gaze intense. “Lady, I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone in my entire life.”

“Then why are you doing this?” she shakily asked.

“Because if you ever come back to me I want it to be for the right reasons.” Jesse forced a smile to his lips. “Come on, Lynne. I’ll help you get that SUV of yours running again.” He took a deep breath, then held out a hand to her. “Your folks are worried. You have things you need to do.”

Lynne’s heart felt like it might break. She missed her family, and he was right, she knew they must be sick with grief. But she didn’t want to leave Jesse either. She took his hand with misgivings, hesitantly accepting his help off of the bed.

She stood before him, her eyes searching his. “What if I decide to come back?” she asked, her voice catching.

Jesse stilled. Something in his expression told her he knew that would never happen, that once she got back to reality she’d forget about the man in the remote West Virginia cabin. And yet, despite that, he was letting her go anyway.

Because he loved her.

“You’d make me the happiest man on earth,” he murmured. His gaze gentled, the expression on his face resolved and accepting. “I want you to be happy, Lynne. You deserve it.” She could have sworn she saw a trace of a tear in the corner of his eye, but decided she might have been imagining that. “Go to Charleston and start that new life,” he whispered. “You never know where it might lead.”

Chapter 8

Three months later…

Leaving the tiny cabin on the snowy, remote West Virginia mountaintop had been the most difficult choice Lynne had ever made. And yet, it had also been the most freeing. It meant that life was up to her now, the future whichever one she chose to create.

Jesse had let her leave him three months ago. She knew he hadn’t wanted to, but neither had he wanted her to be unhappy. Unlike him, she had a life waiting for her somewhere else, friends and relatives she knew were worried sick wondering if she was dead or alive.

It had been a good three months. Seeing the people she loved again had been wonderful. She’d cried and cried when her mother wept as she threw her arms around her. She’d explained her disappearance away to everyone’s satisfaction, claiming she’d had amnesia for a couple of weeks after she’d woke up from the accident.

Working at home was good. Her house in Charleston was a dream come true. Her new life had turned out just as she’d wanted it to be.

Except for one thing: she missed Jesse. A lot.

Lynne Temple shut the door to her new black SUV and began the long hike that would take her to the tiny, remote cabin…and to the man she loved. She was nervous about seeing him again, mostly because she feared he’d used the last three months to put her from his mind. She couldn’t think of anything that would hurt worse. Especially since he’d been in the forefront of her thoughts night and day.

It was another hour before she came to the well-hidden trail that led to the cabin. It looked a bit different covered with green grass and blossoming flowers instead of snow and ice, but she’d know the trail anywhere.

Throwing her purse over her shoulder, Lynne stealthily made her way up the final incline that would take her to the cabin. Her heart began thumping wildly in her chest when she saw it, nerves and excitement mingling together.

And then she saw him, Jesse, and her heart began racing impossibly faster. He was even bigger and more handsome than he’d been since the last time she’d seen him, all rippling muscles and imposing stance. His crew cut had grown out some, she noticed. His light brown hair was almost collar-length now.

He looked so alone standing in the garden tending to his early spring vegetables that it made her heart squeeze painfully. He deserved more than this, she knew. He deserved to have a life.

“Jesse,” she whispered as she came up behind him.

His head snapped around. His eyes widened. “Lynne?” he quietly asked, his expression stunned.

Her eyes softened. His face looked so haggard, so tired.

So lonely.

She smiled tremulously. “I’ve missed you so much,” she breathed out, tears that didn’t fall stinging her eyes. “I couldn’t stand to be away from you for another day.”

Jesse searched her gaze. His expression was surprised, hopeful. “I’ve missed you too,” he murmured. His eyes lit up. “I don’t know how long you plan to visit, but I’m glad you’re here.”

“I won’t be staying long,” she informed him.

He nodded, his expression sad but accepting.

“Just long enough,” she whispered, “to help you collect your things and take you to Charleston with me. If you choose to stay with me, that is.”

He reached out to stroke her face. “I love you, Lynne,” he said softly. “I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything, but you know I can’t leave this mountain.”

“I disagree,” she said shakily. “Oh ye of little faith.”

His forehead wrinkled. “Lynne, I trust you with my whole heart. You know that.”

“Then just what do you think I’ve been doing these past three months?” She smiled at his confused expression, then pulled her purse off of her shoulder and began rifling through the contents. “’Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.’” Her eyebrows shot up as she handed him a newspaper. “Or a woman unjustly separated from the man she loves.”

Jesse slowly withdrew the newspaper from her hand. His gaze flicked from her face down to the headline. He stilled. His eyes widened in disbelief. “Is this for real?” he asked, his tone stunned.

“Oh yeah,” Lynne whispered. She smiled, beaming from ear to ear. “Very real.”

He was too shocked to do anything but stare at her. She couldn’t blame him. Jesse’d gone from being a wanted death row fugitive to a free man in the blink of an eye.

The paper told all about how she’d hired private detectives and used her computer background to do some of her own investigative work, all with the hope of finding enough holes in the “evidence” to at least get Jesse a new trial with a real lawyer representing him. She’d had to tell her family the truth of what happened when the story came out, of course. All of them had been shocked, to say the least. Stunned, but supportive. Her mother had been the first to shoo her off to the cabin, insisting she go get Jesse and bring him back.

The pay-off on her hard work and spent money had been better than she ever anticipated. The real rapist had been caught. What’s more, his blood was a positive match to the bloodstain found in the first victim’s car. Yesterday the killer with a scarred jaw so much like Jesse’s had entered a not guilty by reason of insanity plea. Whatever the outcome, Jesse Redshaw was a free man.

“You did this…for me?” he murmured.

Lynne nodded. “I wish I could say your freedom is all due to my brilliance and persistence, but…” She sighed, her smile sad. “You were right about him moving on, Jesse,” she whispered. “Police in South Carolina found four more bodies two months ago. At first they thought it was you since you were on the loose, so to speak, but the coroner came back and said it wasn’t possible, that the deaths had occurred during a time frame before you escaped.”

“I’m sorry it happened that way,” he quietly commiserated.

“Me too.” Her dark gaze found his. “But I’m so very glad you’re free.”

“Ah Lynne.” Jesse picked her up off her feet and gave her a big bear hug. He closed his eyes as he held her, slowly rocking back and forth on his heels. “Thank you,” he said a bit shakily. “This is the most incredible thing another person’s ever done for me.”

She hugged him back tightly, reveling in the feel of his hard body holding hers, breathing in the masculine scent that belonged only to him. “You are welcome,” she whispered.

Jesse blinked, then blew out a breath. He squeezed her again before setting her down on her feet. “This feels, well, strange to say the least.”

Lynne’s teeth sank into her bottom lip.

He raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”

“I was just wondering…” She cleared her throat, then spoke a bit louder. “I was wondering where you’ll go now that you can go anywhere you want.” She blushed as she glanced away.

Jesse palmed either side of her face and forced her to look at him. His green eyes were more intense than she’d ever before seen them. “Lady, you couldn’t get rid of me now if you tried.”

Lynne took a deep breath to keep from crying. “Promises, promises,” she said on a smile.

He didn’t smile back. His eyes shone though. “I think Charleston sounds like a great place to start over again.”

“It is,” she whispered. Her eyes searched his. “So, are you gonna kiss me or what?”

Jesse grinned. “Kiss you. Marry you. Get brats on you.” His eyebrows rose as he drew her into his side and began walking with her down the hill. “I told you, lady, you’re never getting rid of me now.”

Lynne smiled up to him. The brats part, or at least one brat, was taken care of already. She held back a knowing grin, deciding to tell him later. Lord knows he was dealing with enough shocks right now as it was.

She’d never felt happier or more at peace—or more sure of her future—in her entire life. Her destiny lay with Jesse Redshaw. The man she loved so much it hurt. “Don’t you want to get your things before we hike to my car?”

He stilled. They both stopped and turned around to look one last time upon the tiny, remote cabin perched in the mountains. The cabin with bittersweet memories. They’d fallen in love there, but they’d both been imprisoned there too.

Jesse slowly shook his head. He squeezed Lynne closer against him and resumed walking down the incline. “I’ve got everything I need right here.” He bent his neck and kissed the top of her head. “Now take me home so I can tie you up properly.”

Lynne chuckled. “Only if you promise to do you-know-what to me first.”

“Sweetheart,” Jesse drawled in that sexy accent of his, “I’ll be doing you-know-what to you every day for the rest of your life.”

“Promises, promises.”

Also by Jaid Black:

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