Leather and Sand (Riding the Line Series) (17 page)

“I got this, Hawk.”

“Dax—I can’t begin to tell you how important this is.”

“Consider it handled.”

Dax hung up the phone and fired off a few rapid texts. After he got the response he was hoping for, he smiled to himself. Dax couldn’t remember the last time things had gone so smoothly with an affiliate crew. There was an undercurrent of trust and brotherhood here with the
Natives,
one that would be all too easy to start depending on. Turtle came through immediately.
This new partnership is coming along well.

A few more minutes passed, and one of his grunts joined him on the boardwalk. Dax nodded a greeting. This one had promise. He hoped.

“Hey, boss.”

“I told you not to call me that, Slade.”

Slade shrugged. “Sorry. What do you need?”

“Take this.” Dax shoved a large wad of cash into the other man’s hand. “Use it to get a hooker. A pretty one—no trash. Make sure she’s blond.”

Slade looked completely confused. “Um, okay…”

“Have her meet you in front. No lobby, understand? A car will come to pick you up. Do everything the driver inside tells you to do. Got it?”

Slade nodded slowly. “Sure, man.”

“Slade.”

The other man paused. “Yeah?”

“Don’t fuck this up.”

Slade nodded seriously. No doubt he figured this opportunity was his chance into the club. Or out of it.

Slade departed and Dax checked his watch.
Hope the stowaway is done with her joyful
reunion.
He forced himself to walk slowly and deliberately back up to the suite even though he felt like running there. Dax checked the clock on his phone. Not even ten o’ clock. It wasn’t too late for that walk, after all. He wasn’t ready to let Rhiannon go yet, anyhow.

***

He wasn’t sure what had happened while he was gone, but Rhiannon looked as guilty as sin when he walked back into the room. Wince sat across from her, a stoic look on his face. Yeah, the kid looked tense, which definitely wasn’t what Dax had been expecting. He had pictured them talking and joking, safe in the security of their easy friendship. A friendship that had always made him envious, he realized with a start.

In fact, the last time I saw that kid put his hands on Rhiannon…

Dax had to force himself back to the present and out of the recesses of his mind, where the memories of taking her innocence were on constant replay. She had been so innocent. So passionate.

So tight and wet…

“Wince.”

“Work it out?” Wince looked relieved.

“Think so. Check in with Slade in two hours. I have a meeting at dawn.”

“I’m on it. I have some, uh, shit to do on the computer.”

Wince didn’t question him about Slade. Dax realized that he never questioned his authority when it came to club business. Wince was a good kid and Dax knew he was hard on him. Maybe he should let up on the guy a little.
That kind of loyalty is hard to come by.
He looked at Rhee and saw the hints of fatigue lining her eyes, the brilliant green softened by a sleepy glaze.

“Ready to go?”

She nodded, offering a thin smile that seemed somewhat forced. “I’m glad I came up.”

Wince nodded. “I’m glad you did too, stowaway.”

Thankfully, Dax noted, there was no tearful goodbye hug. There was only so much he could tolerate. He opened the door for Rhiannon, her tantalizing vanilla scent tickling his nostrils as she brushed past him. They walked to the van in silence. Rhee looked troubled, but he chose not to push her.
I’ll pick my battles.
Dax drove straight back to her place but then overshot it by a good mile.

“You missed my place.” The irritation in her voice was unmistakable.

“I know you’re tired, Rhiannon, but we still have to have that talk. Don’t we?”

Dax switched off the ignition and went around to open her door. She hesitated, but seeing the look on his face, Rhee apparently knew better than to argue with him. There was coastal access here—he had seen the sign the night he had forcibly escorted the stowaway to her little beach cottage. He walked them almost to the water’s edge and then he unrolled the hotel towel he carried and motioned for her to sit. He lowered his large frame next to hers, feeling her tense as his leg brushed her thigh. They sat in silence for a few awkward moments until he broke the ice.

“So,
Sabrina
, I believe you have some explaining to do.”

Chapter Sixteen

“It wasn’t easy, Dax! I was alone and—”

“You weren’t alone.”

“I
was
, Dax.”

“I asked you to stay.”

“I couldn’t. How could I?” Tears of frustration welled up. This conversation had started off controlled and careful, but it quickly became heated.

First Wince and now him!
I can’t believe they’re both on my case about leaving…I thought I was doing them all a favor!

“You could have told me. Trusted me.” He stood, pacing several feet away.

“It wasn’t a trust issue, Dax. I felt like I had no choice. I mean, you were supposed to get married and have babies with your hot, doctor girlfriend and I was just some dumb kid you made a mistake with.”

“That was
not
what happened!” he roared.

Rhee refused to back down. “What happened then, Dax Jamison? You practically told me to my face that you didn’t want me—”

“What happened?” Dax cut her off mid-sentence. His eyes had darkened ominously and Rhee found herself taking a hasty step backwards. She had seen that look before, and it made her quiver with anticipation…and fear.

“You don’t remember
what happened
, Rhiannon?”

Oh, God, his voice was low and dangerous and fuck…so sexy.

“Perhaps I should remind you.”

Dax was standing right in front of her, that tall frame and those broad shoulders making her tremble as heat bloomed in her cheeks. His voice held the promise of carnal delights that at this point were only a faded memory, conjured on lonely nights in the bath. Rhee went hot and cold as his hand came up to caress her cheek.

“Remind me?” she squeaked, her bravado quickly turning false.

“I would dearly love to remind you
what happened
, sweetheart. But first, I think you owe me an apology.” Seductive, dominant, and slightly angry…his voice took away her ability to breathe.

“Apologize? What for?”
How dare he accuse me of doing something wrong?
Leaving was the only thing I could have done!
Wasn’t it?

“For not trusting me, Rhiannon. For running off with my baby in that delectable little tummy of yours.” He trailed his finger down her collarbone and Rhee shivered as the sensitive skin there prickled in response to his touch.

Oh God, he had said “
my
baby” with such possessiveness that Rhee wondered about his intentions. Would he want a relationship with Sirena? With her?

“Dax—”

“For abandoning us.”

For a second she thought the “us” referred to the two of them. But he referred to the guys, of course. Still, the raw hurt in his voice stopped Rhee cold. There was obviously a lot she didn’t know about Dax Jamison. Rhee found herself stuttering over her words. She had been so frustrated, no, to be honest, downright
terrified
when she walked away from the club nearly three years ago. Never in her wildest dreams would she have considered that her leaving would be akin to a betrayal to the club. To him. To all of them.

“I didn’t…I mean, I never meant to abandon anyone, Dax. Things were so crazy and I thought I knew where I could find my sister…I know you wouldn’t have supported me looking for her after what had happened. And given my—my situation. Besides, a guy like you doesn’t need to be saddled with a baby. You had your own life there. We would have only continued to disrupt it.”

“Oh, so you left to protect my charmed life, huh?”

His voice, still seductive and low, now took on a cool edge as his long fingers brushed slowly down, to rest at the small of her back. Rhee could hardly take a breath wondering what he meant to do. He was certainly angry enough.
And hurt
. The words echoed in her mind but she just couldn’t believe it.
I hurt him?
By leaving?
She was still trying to wrap her head around what the implications of her insight meant.

If he was upset that I left, could it mean that he cared about me?
Maybe even…

The arrogant tone of his voice cut into her wistful thoughts.

“Well, Rhiannon, I’m sorry to say that while I’d love to
remind
you what happened between us, I think you require a little…shall we say…discipline first. Don’t you? Running off like you did was very naughty, wouldn’t you agree?”

Her belly clenched violently at the implication of those words. Rhee knew that her face was on fire and she silently thanked the clouds for covering the moon so he couldn’t see how he was affecting her.
Discipline?!
She was pretty innocent, but Rhee had skimmed enough of
Fifty Shades
to wonder just what kind of discipline the man had in mind. Was he saying he wanted to punish her? God, spank her?! She quivered with the force of her desire, at the image of herself lying prone across his lap.

“What are you saying?” Her voice was hardly more than a whisper.

“I’m saying that I’m going to do something I have wanted to do for a long time,
runaway
.”

Rhee felt the blood drain from her face. “Wh-what?”

“Come here, Rhiannon.” It was a command, one that would be obeyed even though her head screamed at her to resist.

“No.” Her voice was hardly more than a whisper, but she would be damned before she willingly submitted to a-a—spanking!

It was his move. Rhee held her breath, wondering if he was going to force the issue. And the—spanking. Oh, God! Rhee couldn’t quite look at his face, knowing that the intensity in his steely blue gaze would turn what was left of her free will to mush.
Oh my God, what is he going to do!?
She found herself staring at his hands, those large hands, fixating on the heavy steel ring he wore. And wondered how those hands would feel on her naked backside. She stifled a gasp, forcing herself to remain silent and still.

“I think a little punishment would make us both feel better, don’t you?” He pushed an errant curl behind her ear, his rough thumb grazing her cheekbone.

Shit!
This conversation was going much worse than she had expected it would go. Like a train derailing, she watched from a somewhat detached perspective. No matter what she did or said, things seemed to be getting more emotionally charged. Dax was furious, that much she could tell, even though he was obviously trying to hide just how angry he was. She had expected outrage, but this mixture of eroticism and anger—this was uncharted territory for Rhee.

Angry Dax Jamison was never good, she knew that well. Still, Rhee almost wished for him to yell, to punch something…to do anything other than this maddening dance he seemed to be doing that bordered somewhere between seduction and erotic torture.
Maybe he’s doing this on purpose,
she thought, as the unrequited ache between her legs throbbing urgently.

“How do you think it feels, Rhiannon, to find out that I have a child—a daughter—who doesn’t know I exist? Fuck, I didn’t even know her
name
until this afternoon! I think I deserve a little, shall we say, retribution, for your transgressions. I helped you. A lot. And you walked away without so much as a thank you, with my
child
in your belly.”

Dax stalked away, running his hands through his spiky, blond hair, the gesture communicating to her just how hard he was trying to hold himself in check. Rhee quivered, unable to move as he circled back. She felt like prey being hunted by a dangerous predator. He came up behind her, and she was suddenly rendered motionless. Rhee’s mouth fell open as he bent low, his breath tickling her ear. His whisper sent her pulse skittering and liquid desire pooling between her thighs. Rhee gasped aloud as she processed the words that came out of that beautiful and oh so very dangerous mouth.

“Maybe not tonight, maybe not tomorrow, but at some point, I am going to put you over my knee. Do you understand me, Rhiannon?”

Rhee was unable to move, unable to look at him.
Holy shit, he really does want to spank me.
Pull up my skirt and
—
!
Liquid silk trickled into her thong. Rhee warred with her traitorous body, but another hot rush confirmed that the idea of lying over the man’s knee was turning her on, no matter how much she tried to dissuade herself.

Rhiannon quivered in her sequined flip-flops. “I am not a child, Dax!” she hissed, summoning an inner strength she didn’t know she possessed.

His eyes blazed with blue fire. “There’s that word again.
Child.
What are we going to do about that?”

Terror rushed up to quell the ache between her legs. The spell broken, she stepped back to stare at him. “What do you mean?”

Would he—he wouldn’t try to take her, would he?
Is he so angry that he would try to punish me that way?

Dax also took a step back, pushing his hand through his hair. “I don’t know,” he said, after a long pause. Then he turned his back on her again and walked several paces away, his boots sinking into the soft sand, leaving footprints that she followed with her eyes. Unlike the footprints he had left on her bruised heart, the ones he left on the sandy beach would fade in the wind by morning.

The surging heat of the moment dissipated abruptly, leaving in its wake cold disappointment and abject fear. Rhee’s heart was in her throat. It almost sounded like he wanted a relationship with Sirena. How would that work? He wouldn’t ask for custody or something crazy like that, would he? There was no way a judge would support visitation given Dax’s questionable activities…right? Rhee coiled with tension.

I don’t know what I want either
.