tatters.
Sex had never been this way with any other woman, not even his one-time fiancée. And his time with Avery was not something he would consider vanilla, either, not with her willingness to engage in carnal escapades anytime and anywhere.
Colt had spent Sunday night and all day yesterday trying not to think about Avery. He’d been able to whittle it down to only every other minute of the day that she came to mind. The short separation had been a test, to see if he could make it a day without being near her, without touching her.
Yesterday had been the longest fucking day of his life.
At points throughout the day, he had found himself making excuses for why he should go see Avery. He’d even climbed into his truck last night before he stopped himself, calling himself a fool, and a moron to act this way with her. They barely knew each other, and she was here temporarily. That meant there was no possibility of a future with her beyond her time at the cabin—at least, not a prospect of one that he could envision clearly.
Colt turned down the auxiliary road to her cabin and pulled his truck into the driveway. He snorted. Sure enough, the mountain lion—all eight feet of him—was spread out before the front door. Damn thing likely weighed a good one seventy. It lounged in the shade on the front porch. At the appearance of Colt’s truck, it lifted its head, studying him before returning to its prone position on the porch. The animals tended to hate loud noises, and would usually leave because of them. If that didn’t work, he had his loaded shotgun that he would use to attempt to scare it off.
Colt blared his truck horn, keeping his hand pressed against the steering wheel as it shrieked.
Avery peeked through the cabin’s front window with a big smile on her arresting face. That smile took Colt’s breath away. Had anyone ever shown that much exuberance over his arrival before? Not that he could recall—not even his ex-fiancée, Carly, had looked at him the way Avery did just now.
It took the mountain lion a few moments before it grew agitated enough at the noisy horn to move. Disgruntled, the golden beast rose, issued a guttural growl in Colt’s direction, and stalked away toward the cover of the forest. Colt laid off the horn once the beast had slipped into the trees and out of sight.
After the mountain lion ambled away, Avery poked her head out the front door. A current of rage that she had disobeyed him and concern for her safety had Colt shoving out of his truck. He prowled her way, his face set in a furious glower. “I thought I told you to stay inside.”
“You did, but he’s gone,” she replied, like everything was just dandy now, and she wasn’t risking her neck.
“But he could be back. You’re not out of the woods yet, babe. And I’m going to tan your fucking hide.” Colt ushered her inside the cabin by his sheer size and strength. Her gaze was wide as he hauled her up into his arms and strode over to the couch. It was as good a place as any to teach her what it meant when a sub disobeyed her Dom.
“What are you doing, Colt?” She struggled against his hold as he sat down with her. But he was stronger, and he used that strength to his advantage as he turned her over so that she was face down over his lap.
Too furious to speak, letting his actions speak for themselves, he didn’t even pull her pants down. The jeans she wore were threadbare enough that she would feel the spanking. Colt held her struggling form down, and braced a forearm low across her back to keep her over his lap. With rage and fear riding him, he whacked her bum, once, twice, three times. The loud cracks, along with the stream of oaths that poured from her mouth, were cathartic. He smacked her butt again and again, driving the point home that she wasn’t to risk herself, put herself in danger. She wriggled her torso and then her sharp teeth sank into his side.
He yelped. “Son of a bitch! What the hell?” He jostled her and dislodged her mouth. The little vixen had bitten him. There were likely teeth marks in his left obliques.
“See how you like it, being handled that way!” she shouted with a quiver in her