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He smiled, but his eyes were now filled with a stern purpose that hadn't been there before. “I’m glad, Bluebell. I’m looking forward to getting to know you and your Little better.”

Standing and extending his hand, be waited. When she placed her hand in his, he said, “Now for the second part of our little chat.”

CHAPTER 6

Boone had never met anyone like Tildi. It was a wonder she hadn’t gotten into the kind of trouble men like Midnight brought before now. She was the poster child for sweetness and vulnerability, all wrapped up in the sexiest body he’d ever seen. She was like a pitcher of cool water about to fall off a table in front of a man just leaving from a week in the desert. She should come with a warning tag.

When he’d seen her running across the grass with her handgun bouncing alongside her own head, finger on the trigger, he had almost lost his mind. Instead, he’d lost his balance and fallen from the window like a damn new recruit. If the blast hadn’t increased his forward momentum, he probably would have broken his neck.

“We’re going to start this relationship the way I intend for it to go.” He sat back down on the boulder and, with a firm yank, pulled her face down over his knees.

“Wait!” She tried to push off his lap. “What are we doing?”

“You are lying over my lap like the naughty girl you are,” he told her, stating what he thought was more than obvious. “I am about to show you what happens when a Little girl of minethrows caution and common sense out the window and puts her safety at risk.”

Not for the first time since he’d met her, he appreciated her short skirt. She threw her hand back to try and prevent him from lifting said skirt, not that it would do her any good. When he had it shoved up to her waist, he smiled. Her lavender thong was very convenient. It meant he didn’t need to waste time pulling them down.

He took just a moment to appreciate the swells and curves of her bottom and her pale, unmarred skin. A moment was all he had, though, so he brought his hand down with a solidthwackto the dead center of her cheeks.

The yelp that escaped her was satisfying. She’d be making many of those yelps in the next few minutes and a lot of other noises, too. He didn’t have the time for a real lecture, so he made do with, “You never point a gun at anything you don’t intend to shoot. And you never, ever point it at your own head.”

Then he let his hand take over the conversation. He intended to be very thorough.

“Ow! OW!” she howled. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry! Please–ouch! Please stop! It was an accident.”

If that was supposed to be an excuse, it wasn’t anywhere close to being good enough. “Do you have any idea the number of people who wind up dead by accident?” he demanded.

“Oh! OH! OOOWWW! No! Stop! Please! I didn’t give consent.”

He didn’t even slow down. “You have a safe word, and you agreed to accept the consequences of naughty behavior. If you need to stop, the word is red. Are you using it?”

“Owie! Oh, OW!” She kicked her legs and bucked her hips, waving her bottom around to try and ease the heat in her cheeks as he rained down swat after swat. “Please stop! I’m sorry! Iwon’t ever touch a gun again as long as I live. I promise. I promise!”

Boone did not stop. He moved lower, spanking her sit spots and the tops of her thighs. He’d be able to see those even when her skirt was back in place. With one final crack to her bright red bottom, he hauled her up and set her on her feet in front of him.

She didn’t even bother to lower her skirt. Grabbing her scalded backside, she bounced up and down on her toes and stared at him with wide, tear-drenched eyes. “That hurt!” she cried.

“It was meant to,” he said. “You are going to prioritize your safety from now on, or you will find yourself right back over my knee, and next time, I’ll use my belt. Do you understand?”

Tildi whimpered and nodded. “I promise,” she said again.

He held her eyes to make sure she was serious, then held out his hand to her. She threw herself back on his lap, straddling his legs with hers and burying her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and held her while she cried out all the pent up emotions she’d been carrying. At least all she could get out in the few minutes they had.

She fit perfectly in his arms. He tried to pull his hips back in the hope she wouldn’t notice how hard his dick was.

Long before either of them was ready, he shifted her more toward his knees, though he couldn’t make himself move her from his lap. Her nose and eyes were red, but she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever known.

He needed to prepare her for the next step of their escape. After the way she reacted to their short trek through the narrow band of trees hiding Midnight’s compound from the view of fishing vessels and tourists, he had no idea how to tell her about the thirty-five mile hike through real forests containing very real animals and an active volcano or two.

At least he’d parked the jeep Sev had arranged for him about five miles down. They’d be able to drive most of the way.

When he and his team had come up with the escape plan, he hadn’t counted on having anyone with him. He had no problem with the jump as long as he had his base jumping equipment. But for Tildi? A drop from that height off a sheer cliff to a narrow strip of beach below was not going to go over well.

To be honest, he would never have subjected her to anything close to what she had coming in the next few days. He had planned his escape to the smallest detail. But he’d had no idea he would have a woman who’d been confined to tiny rooms for a year with him. Much less a Little. That could be the picture beside the term best-laid plans in the dictionary or whatever book held such things.

With no other option, he stood and put her down. “First things first.” He loped to his pack and took out the spare thermals he always kept there. “Let’s get these on you so you don’t freeze to death.”

Five minutes and a great deal of tucking and folding later, he had her in his spare set of thermals. The shirt hung down as far as her skirt, and he’d had to roll up the pants so many times they made a thick ring around her ankles. He’d also found a pair of wool socks in his bag, which was the best he could do to compensate for her shoes.