Beautiful Bounty(73)

***



Inside his hotel room, Nikko flicked on the interior lights, and ushered Ronnie in before him. This room was not as nice as the one he had in Spring Hill. It was a simple, typical hotel room. She heard the door, shut behind her with a soft click. She turned to him, and was about to speak, but the fury she saw there stopped her cold.

“What?” she muttered. He remained mute. He just looked at her strangely for a moment more. She stared at him with her mouth open.

“Don’t say anything,” he cautioned. He was at the end of his proverbial rope.

She closed her mouth. It was suddenly dry.

He took two steps and stood beside her. She trembled at the anger she saw. She felt his hand at the button on her jeans. He pulled the material away and she felt the waistband release. She was too dumbfounded to speak. What was he thinking? She felt a downward tug and then heard the zipper.

“What?” she whispered clearly not expecting this.

“Say nothing,” he repeated, eyes boring into hers, smoldering. He pulled her jeans down around her hips, and then she felt the cold air of the room on her exposed flesh. She stood silently, waiting. What was he thinking? He wanted to fuck? She was shocked into silence by her body’s traitorous reaction to him.

He took a step back, and then looked her up and down, blue eyes on fire, molten. She swallowed several times. She felt the excitement begin to build.

He began to walk behind her, and she felt his hands at her waist, as he gently pulled her back towards the bed.

If she had to sleep with him one more time, she thought, she would do it. In the intensity of the moment her heart raced. She felt Nikko sink to the bed behind her, and then before her mind could make sense of what was happening, he hauled her to him. She was over his knees and he had panties down, and without warning, he struck. He was spanking her. Hard! He had meant it.

“Ow,” she yelled.

“Don’t scream,” he threatened. “And, that was for drugging me,” he breathed. She began to struggle.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she cried out after the initial shock from the first strike had passed. His arm lay over her back like iron pinning her to him.

Whack, came his hand again. “That was for the barbecue sauce.”

“Ouch, Nikko, please,” she begged as her other ass cheek flamed from the intensity of the slap he gave her. She continued to struggle, but kept her voice down despite the pain and humiliation.

Whack! “That was for stealing my car,” he breathed as she cried out his name softly begging him to stop. The force of the blow took her air for a moment.

Again, his hand descended. “This was for making me worry.” She gasped and cried and took it.

Whack! “This is because I care god dammit,” and he hit her again with all the ferocity he thought she could handle. Her cheeks were on fire. She jumped each time he hit her, and by the sixth and final strike, she was crying and lay in a heap over his legs.

He slowly turned her over, and the tears he saw there were genuine. “Look at me, Ronnie,” he whispered softly, brushing the hair out of her face. She looked at him sadly, the tears streaking down her beautiful face. His eyes lost their anger, she noticed even though she couldn’t meet his gaze for long. His tone softened. “Ronnie. You deserved that.” She sniffled and nodded.

She couldn’t look at him still. She did. She knew it. His hand began to stroke her back, and still she could not meet his eyes. Guilt overwhelmed her. But when his lips brushed her shoulder, she turned and saw something strange and startling there in his eyes. She couldn’t look away if she tried.

“And that was because I fucking love you, Ronnie. God help me, but I do. I came because of that, and I was scared to death you were going to get hurt. Not for my brothers, not for the money. I came because the woman I love was putting herself in danger.” He saw her eyes go from pain to shock to surprise. He had one more thing to say. “Ronnie, baby, please believe me. I never slept with that woman.”

She saw stark, bleak desperation in his eyes. Could it be? Ronnie ran the gamut of emotions. His words. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She saw his eyes, and more than his words, she saw the honesty there. Suddenly, she didn’t feel the pain his hand evoked, and she reached her hand up to touch his face, as a single tear formed in his eye. She swallowed. He watched her.

“I . . . believe you,” she whispered. She did. But she couldn’t find the words to express what she was feeling. Her shock was just that great.

His lips descended and the kiss they shared said it all. Ronnie grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down with her to the bed. This time what they did wasn’t fast, and even though it felt like their time was running out, he wanted to show her with more than words just how much he loved her. And she let him.