“She’s not in there.” I spin around in the middle of the dirt, desperately hoping to see her. My blood is boiling, and my heart thuds with fear and fury in equal parts. “Get the others. Search everywhere! Tent to fence line. Now.”
“Where are you going?” he calls after me as I jog away from him.
Not seeing any signs of Reese, I run faster. My legs pound the earth as I sprint past supply crates, tents, and startled soldiers toward the main gate. I know her, know exactly how that beautiful, stubborn,recklessbrain of hers works. And I knowexactlywhere she’s headed.
The village. Alone.Or she might as well be.
A caravan of Humvees with softly rumbling engines waits in a short line at the gate. My already racing heart catches in my throat. I run past them, anxiously looking into each, searching desperately for her. Every heartbeat thunders with fear. Fear that I’m too late and she’s already driving into the desert.
I spot her through the windshield of the Humvee two cars away, and the thudding in my chest stops dead. She’s in the passenger seat, her eyes blazing with that reckless fire that has always drawn me in and infuriated me beyond belief.
Acting without thought, I tear open the door, ignoring the driver’s confusion.
Startled, Reese gasps, “What are you do?—”
“Get out of the car,” I bark. Reese glares at me, lips curling with that stubborn, fiery defiance, not making the slightest effort to follow my demand. “Get out. Now.”
The driver looks at Reese, nervous. “Ma’am, is he a problem?”
I level a glare sharp enough to slice through steel. “I’m going to beyourfucking problem if you don’t shut the fuck up and mind your business.”
“Christopher!” she snaps, lifting her hand and gesturing for the driver to stand down. “I’m going.”
I step closer, planting my hands on the doorframe and leaning into the Humvee. Lowering my voice and speaking with deliberate calmness, I repeat my command, “Reese, get out of the fucking car.”
She stiffens. “No.”
Without hesitation, I reach into the SUV, swoop my arm around her waist, and yank her from the front seat. Her body twists as she fights, but I’m stronger and faster. Before she can react, I hoist her over my left shoulder. She thrashes, screaming and cursing, as I slam the door shut behind me.
She writhes in my grip, her voice growing sharp and venomous. “Put me down!”
I keep walking toward the camp, glaring at every soldier who dares so much as glance in our direction as we pass.
“You never listen,” I growl, my voice full of a decade’s worth of emotion. With my left hand tightening aroundher thighs, my right hand settles on her ass to still her. “You never have, though.”
“Chris…” she gasps when my hand squeezes her round cheek.
“Even when you were mine, you needed constant reminding.” My hand connects with her ass, and she lets out a surprised yelp. I give another sharp spank, but instead of protest, a low grumble comes from her lips. “Yeah…” I murmur, pressing on and pacing across the camp. “I remember exactly what kind of Daddy you need.”
My hand comes down hard—again and again—the sting blooming across my palm and heat radiating from her skin. All the fire drains from her mouth with every spank, venomous curses fading into breathless silence until she stops struggling.
“And I remember exactly how red this little ass needed to be before you’d apologize for misbehaving.”
Chris shifts me higher on his shoulder, his forearm tensing around the back of my thighs, locking me in place. “Did you learn nothing?” His voice is deep and commanding, vibrating against my body. Another spank lands across my ass. “I don’t care what you saw out there,” he growls. “It’s not worth going alone anddyingfor.”
Twisting in his grip, I start to argue, but the moment my mouth opens, another searing handprint burns across my skin. My hips buck involuntarily, a strangled sound slipping past my lips.
He knows. God, he knowsexactlywhat he’s doing.
“You don’t get it,” I grit out, breathlessly. “You don’tknow?—”
Chris’s hand lands again, sharp and unrelenting. The impact cracks through the stillness like a gunshot, and my body jolts against his shoulder. My ass is already on fire, but that doesn’t stop him. I clench my teeth together when heswings again, an uncontrolled groan rattling from me when his hand makes contact.
Oh God…
The way my body is betraying me is humiliating. My ass burns, but there’s a different heat swelling lower and deeper. One I wish I could pretend doesn’t exist. The ache for him I’ve buried for years is awake again. And now it’s fucking ravenous.
His palm presses over the thin material of my pants before another firm smack makes me bite the inside of my cheek. My thighs tense, squeezing together, trying to quell the aching throb between them. But that movement only makes it worse.
