Hers to Choose (Cannon Cousins) (3 page)

Next thing she knew the
alarm was ringing and it was a miserable five-thirty.

***

Hair neatly braided and wearing her
insulated vest, Bryn loaded
the four wheeler in the early
light
.
Ka
-boom
sounded in the
creek bottom, soon followed by a second shot. No surprise they’d have a shot
first day out, she mused as she jostled down to the cabin. After this, though,
deer would be harder to find. They knew what gunshots meant.

It was exactly one hour
after sunrise. Overnight temperatures had dropped below freezing and white
frost coated the pastures. A spiral of smoke rose from the cabin’s old chimney,
and its aromatic scent laced the cold air.

With the breakfast warming
on the wood stove, she quickly cleared the table and crammed all the dirty
stuff into the box. She set the lunch basket on the shelf and had just finished
wiping off the table when the door opened and Dan stepped inside. My god, he
was devastating. His straw-blonde hair bristled around his orange hunting cap,
and his pale stare pinned her down with an icy look. Immediately subdued by his
powerful presence, she quickly surveyed a big hunting knife strapped to his
belt and a gleaming 30-06 rifle in his gloved hands. Her belly tightened.

“Good morning,” she said,
offering a careful smile. Did he expect her eyes to stay lowered in a formally
submissive manner? “How’re you today?”

“Damn hungry. I hope you
brought enough food.” He placed the gun on the top bunk and peeled off the
orange vest. “Not quite enough dinner last night, in case you’re still taking
notes.”

She decided she didn’t
actually like him. Anger and hostility exuded from every pore. Her body
shivered at the idea of him in control over her. But then, she didn’t have to
like him. She would serve him, and hope that his discipline didn’t cause her to
need him in some perverse way.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She
carried his hot plate to the table, burning her hands. Shit. She rubbed her
fingers on the sides of her jeans. “I’ll make extra from now on.”

“Great.” He threw his
insulated
camo
jacket on the bed, revealing the white
Thinsulate
shirt underneath that stretched tight
across his wide shoulders and brawny chest. “Alex is still in the woods. He
thinks he’s going to get another chance at that buck.” He chuckled and pulled
out a chair.

           
She caught her breath and tried to stop gaping at his physique. What the hell
was wrong with her? Was she really this starved for sex? Or were these guys
extra special hot? Uh, both, damn it. Her hands nervously smoothed her flannel
shirt.

           
“This discipline thing…I assume you know what I’m talking about?” He shoveled a
big bite of egg and biscuit into his mouth and washed it down with a gulp of
coffee. He glanced at her.
“Right?”

“Yes,
sir.”
She licked
her lips nervously. “I’m at your service.”

He paused, leveling his
icy gaze. “Your friend Wade showed me around his place. But I have no idea what
you expect. Alex says spanking, with your wrists tied. Is that the deal?”

“Yes, sir,” she said in a
low voice, lowering her eyes. “And other discipline, if it pleases you.”

His eyes glittered at her
briefly, causing her stomach to clench. She considered asking what he would
like, but she suddenly didn’t have the energy. If he’d been with Wade, surely
he had his own ideas. Her legs felt unexpectedly weak.

“We’ll get started,
then.” He continued wolfing down his breakfast.
“Soon as I
finish eating.”

Her pulse skidded in her throat.
What had she been thinking? With Ethan and their friends in St. Louis, it had
been a casual evening activity, with alcohol, music and lots of teasing.
Sometimes they partied at Wade’s dungeon. But she didn’t know this man. Maybe
her first impressions would turn out to be wrong, but it seemed to her he could
easily harbor a cruel streak. What if this turned into something she didn’t
like at all? She grabbed the broom and swept up around the wood stove, trying
not to think about it.

Dan pushed back his chair
and went to his things on the upper bunk. She felt herself retreat from his
intense stare.

“Miss McClure, come over
here.”

Her pulse thudded as she
presented herself in front of him. A brief glance up at his unsmiling face
caused her breath to catch in fear. She lowered her eyes, afraid to move.

“I give you my word that
I will only go as far as you want with this,” he said quietly. “Wade said you
needed to feel you could trust me.”

“Yes,” she replied. “I do
need that. Thank you, sir.”

He exhaled. After a
moment’s hesitation, he grabbed one of her wrists and stretched her arm to the
top of the bunk bed corner post, then pulled up the other wrist to tie them
tightly together. Her face and chest jammed against the wooden post, her feet
barely touching the floor.

His eyes narrowed as he
tapped a slender wooden paddle against his palm then gripped it so tightly his
knuckles were white. “I guess Wade knows what you like?”

She nodded. He was
obviously nervous. Her fear softened slightly.

He slammed the paddle
onto the table, making her gasp,
then
leaned toward
her, so that she could see the flinty depths of his steel blue eyes. “Then, do
you accept my authority, Miss McClure?”

“Yes,” she managed. “Yes
sir.” She tried to remember some of the appropriate language for a submissive.
“I only want to please you, sir.”

“And what’s your safe
word?”

“River,’
sir.”

“‘River.’
Anything else I need to know?”

She shook her head,
unable to speak as his hands slid around her waist to the fastener of her
jeans. Shit! He was lowering her pants. She hadn’t anticipated this, had worn
old white cotton panties. No doubt he would factor that into his opinion of
her, use it to justify greater humiliation.

Heat flared in her pussy
as he shoved the jeans down her thighs. She struggled slightly with the ties.
He had taken total control over her body. This man she hardly knew was looking
at her ass, and no matter how crazy it was, that made her wet. Suddenly she
craved whatever pain he would give her.

“For now, until I figure
out more about how to do this discipline thing,” his voice growled near her
ear, “I’m starting with ten stripes.”

Whack!
She flinched as the board burned her
skin. It caught her by surprise, caused her whole body to tense. It stung more
than she had expected.

Whack!
Whack!

He wasn’t holding back.
Her ass started to glow from his second and third hits, and her clit was
swelling up and throbbing between her clenched thighs. Heat spread from her
buttocks over her entire body. Oh shit, this was better than she remembered.

Whack!
Whack!

“Oh!” She bit her lip
harder at the involuntary cry. Sweat filmed her neck. Her buttocks quivered and
unexpected wetness surged in her crotch. She wanted to laugh and cry at the
same time. Yes, it hurt, but it also turned her on like nothing else.

Whack!
Whack!
Whack!

Her breasts crushed
against the corner post as the force of the paddle strengthened. Or maybe it
was her aroused state.

Whack!
Whack!

Stronger than the rest, the
last two scorched her ass and sent a bigger burst of cream to her
panties.  Her breath came in short gasps and her pulse raced.

She could hear his rapid
breathing behind her, knew he wanted to keep paddling her. She argued with
herself, tempted to ask for more.
More spanking, more
humiliation, more of anything.
The extremity of her sudden desire
shocked her. This man had a way about him. She wanted to grovel at his feet.

           
“Alright,” he said after a few moments. He pulled the knots loose at her
wrists.
“Another session tomorrow, Miss McClure.”

           
“Yes, sir,” she whispered. She rubbed the cord indentions on her skin then
pulled her jeans up gingerly over the tender flesh. Her clit stubbornly jutted
against the denim seam, reminding her of the insanity invading her body. She
stuffed her shirt into the pants and tried to put on a calm face as she picked
up the box of dirty dishes, although she felt certain that whatever redness now
blushed over her ass, her face was even redder.

Bryn couldn’t believe what just
happened. Her pulse kept its drumbeat in her ears as she stumbled back to the
four-wheeler. All the way back to the house her mind raced. The facts she lined
up were simple: she loved everything about what he just did to her, from his
angry expression to his strict paddling. Her ass burned and her panties were
wet.

She shoved the box of
dirty dishes onto the kitchen counter. Meaningful thought escaped her as she
slammed dishes through the hot water. Tentatively, she let her mind open to the
real possibilities. Would he only want one session a day? How far was he
willing to go? And how had she not remembered the absolute thrill of bondage
and discipline?

Perhaps more importantly,
where was Alex? She wanted him there, wanted his attention on the scene,
wanted
him to be part of the sexual tension that discipline
created. What the hell was that about?

He probably stayed away
intentionally, knowing Dan planned to spank her, knowing there would be sexual
tension. And hadn’t she already decided she couldn’t want him? It violated all
her rules. It was completely unreasonable to expect anything from Alex anyway.
He had made it clear that this was about Dan.

***

“Once I had her stretched up nice and
tight, I paddled her ass,” Dan said with a grin, clasping his hands behind his
head as he stretched out on his bunk. “I have to admit, it felt pretty damn
good.”

Alex stopped eating,
trying to repress the anger suddenly burning his skull. The image of her body
tied to that post, her panty-clad ass exposed, Dan’s strong arms delivering one
after another blow—he forced himself to swallow.

“Did she say anything?”
he finally managed, scraping up the last of his breakfast.

“That she was at my
service,” Dan laughed. “I have to give it to you. Maybe this was a good idea
after all.”

Alex didn’t reply. It had
been a desperate gamble. The scene of Dan’s apartment kept reappearing in his
mind. The big windows overlooking the city were shut off by closed curtains,
casting the room into semi-dark. Empty liquor bottles crowded the big kitchen
bar. Shoes, clothes, unopened mail, newspapers, and take-out cartons littered
the room.

He had followed Dan back
to the couch, trying not to shout. “What the hell, man? We had Oglesby today,
the whole team.”

Dan hadn’t looked up. He
sat on the couch in a bathrobe and boxers, holding his head in his hands. Alex
hovered over him. A collection of pill bottles lined up on the coffee table. He
snatched up one after the other to read labels.
Oxycodone.
Vicodin
.
Xanax.

“Goddamn, Dan, what are
you doing?”

His voice had softened as
Dan looked up. He had dark circles under his eyes, hadn’t shaved in days. His
light blonde hair had grown out from its usual short cut and matted in unruly
clumps. His eyes looked vacant.

That was when he realized
how desperate the situation had become, when he knew he had to intervene. This
idea to hunt, to give Dan a way to vent, maybe it wouldn’t work, but if it paid
off, he’d be forever grateful. What the hell ever. He had to stop seeing Bryn
in any personal way. This was part of what had to be done.

“I told her another
session tomorrow.” Dan’s voice softened. “And, you know, she said something
like ‘any kind of discipline,’ like she wanted more. I could let myself get
creative.”

Alex stood up and went to
the stove, lifting the door to the firebox and stuffing in another log. “She
assured me she’d speak up if we went over the line, with anything,” he
muttered. “That’s all I know.” 

When this idea occurred
to him, he didn’t know much about the bondage/discipline thing. And even after
his rushed survey of websites, he still didn’t know. What little he’d absorbed
from Wade hadn’t penetrated very far, except evidently there were endless
options, as long as the parties agreed to the terms. And she had agreed to what
he asked, just as Wade had suggested.

Bryn McClure didn’t look
like much in the website’s fuzzy photo. The last thing he expected was the
physical impact he felt when he laid eyes on her. She must be in dire straits
to risk what she was risking, and he felt guilty, like he was taking advantage.
The pink shut-off notices on her kitchen table had caught his eye before she
hid them. Without her financial crisis, would she have agreed to his request
for Dan’s spanking and other discipline? She said it was something she enjoyed.
He needed to keep reminding himself of that.