Bound by Their Kisses(32)

“What in the hell are you doing? Put me down right now, Zander!” she fumed.

A resounding smack on her ass had her yelping in surprise, though not pain. He’d spanked her. He’d actually spanked her.

“Zander! You did not just spank me,” she said in outrage.

“Nope. I sure didn’t. That was Tag with that lick. You’ll know it when I spank your cute ass.” Zander sounded entirely too cheerful to her.

“Oh!” she growled out. “Put me down. I’m not playing around, guys. I mean it.”

“We mean it, too, baby girl,” Tag said in a gruff voice. “You’ve earned your punishment today.”

“Punishment? What in the hell for?” Tessa struggled but couldn’t do anything with her ass in the air and her thighs held fast with Zander’s arms around them.

Zander carried her inside the house as soon as Tag had the door open. She watched from her upside-down view as they walked through the kitchen, through the den, and down the hall. They bypassed the master bedroom to stop in front of the door at the end of the hall. She could hear one of them punching in a series of numbers on the keypad she’d noticed by the door but hadn’t asked about. She’d assumed it was to their office, but deep down she’d wondered if maybe it was to their playroom. It looked like she was about to find out.

“For being disrespectful,” Tag said. “I let it ride over the car discussion, but you continue to fight us over every little thing that we want to do for you. That’s going to stop.”

Tessa jerked in Zander’s arms as he opened the door. She couldn’t see anything around his legs beyond the thick darkness. She seethed at Tag’s words even as she worried about what the dark hid.

“This is why I knew a relationship between us would never work. You’re already trying to tell me what to do and keep me from having my own opinions. Now that I’ve given up my apartment you think you have me where you want me, at your mercy to do whatever you want with. Well, hell no! Now put me down,” she screamed.

Then the light flipped on and she realized that the door opened to a set of stairs that led downward. They had a basement. Tessa felt as if her chest was going to explode as she fought to gather enough air to scream at them to put her down. Nothing would come out. The men continued to talk as if nothing was wrong.

“If we want to buy you something sometimes, kitten, we don’t want to have to fight about it every time. Sometimes we’re going to want to surprise you with something new and if you’re going to get upset each time, we’re never going to get anywhere,” Zander was saying.

He stepped down with her still draped over his shoulder. Tag had gone ahead of them but only kept one step ahead of them as they descended. Each step was like a knife to Tessa’s heart. How could they? They knew about her past. As much as she wanted to scream for them to let her go, she couldn’t make her voice work. Her lungs burned with the need to draw in more air.

“Tessa? Are you listening to us?” Tag asked.

Zander had walked into a large room with various different types of play furniture that she couldn’t really make out in the state she was in. Then Zander walked over to what looked like a bed, and bending over, let her slip from his shoulder to the bed. Still Tessa couldn’t breathe. Spots twinkled in front of her eyes and a loud roaring seemed to build in her head.

“Fuck! Tag. Something’s wrong with her.” Zander’s voice seemed to be come from another room.

“She’s not breathing. How tight were you holding her, Z?” Tag didn’t sound much closer, and he was pissed.

Someone rolled her over and pounded on her back then rolled her back and forced air into her mouth while pinching her nose. Everything clicked and she gasped in air, coughing as she did. Her chest burned and her throat hurt as if someone had been holding it in a tight grip. She guessed that someone had been her in a panic.

“What in the hell just happened?” Tag demanded, staring down at her, his face pale and drawn.

“Look at her face, Tag. She’s scared to death,” Zander told the other man.

“Tessa. Tell us what’s wrong,” Tag pleaded.

“I can’t do this. I t–told you it wouldn’t work.” Tessa turned her head away as hot tears fell from her eyes to roll down her cheeks.

“Baby, we don’t understand. We haven’t done anything yet. You know we’d never hurt you.” Tag sounded as desperate as Zander had looked.

“Y–you’ve already s–started taking over. Telling me I can’t say no to you, and then you brought me d–down here. It’s a basement,” she cried, sniffing and hiccupping as she tried to get them to see why she was so upset.