Savage Impulses by Danielle Dubois

would later
refuse to admit was a squeak, and she whisked the rope away from
her private parts. At least, she tried to. It caught underneath the
weight of her thigh, and, when she yanked, it hauled hard against
her, making her moan out loud.
    Jake stood in the doorway, one shoulder
hitched up on the frame, looking so handsome it took her breath
away. He looked like he had just washed, and now he was dressed
only in jeans and a blue chambray shirt, his feet bare and his
black, black hair swept back. It made him look surprisingly young,
and there was a flash of mischief in his dark brown eyes.
    “So the little miss couldn't wait for me,
could she?” he asked, a note of playful menace in his voice. “Just
couldn't keep your hands to yourself?”
    “I didn't know I was meant to,” she retorted
shakily, but she couldn't help feeling as if she had been caught
red handed. The rope fell away from her fingers, and she scowled to
make up for the red creeping up cheeks.
    He stalked over to the bed, making Marigold
feel as though she were a fawn that was being tracked by a wolf.
She sat up to face him.
    He pushed her back down with an easy
confident strength.
    Jake bent over her, and she couldn't keep
herself from putting her hands up to push him away. He laughed and
caught each of her wrists in his hands, and then he pinned them to
either side. Trying to struggle against him was like trying to free
herself from iron bands. No matter how much she writhed, she
couldn't budge him an inch.
    “I'm just going to let you wear yourself
down,” he told her. “I can keep you pinned for hours until you're
too tired to fight.”
    “And then what?” she threw back. “What
exactly are you planning to do with me?”
    His soft laugh sent tremors of desire racing
through her body. Almost against her will, she ground her hips
against the bed before she realized what she was doing.
    Jake caught her inadvertent motion.
    Instead of coming to lie on top of her, the
way she was hoping, he bent over her instead, bringing their faces
close enough to touch. When she tried to reach up for a kiss, he
pulled back. When she tried again, he did the same thing.
    She could feel a slow simmer of her temper
build up, and, when he dodged her lips a third time, she snapped
her teeth in anger. Just before she could really let go and give
him a piece of her mind, however, he pulled back to stand
again.
    “You stink,” he said calmly. “When was the
last time you even bothered to wash?”
    That, coming on top of his teasing, was all
she could take, and she lunged at him, beating at his chest with
her fists. For a moment, she thought she was making him fall back,
but then he grabbed her again. She could have howled with the
helplessness she felt and then he was turning her around wrapping
his arms in front of her.
    “You're trouble,” he told her softly. “I knew
you would be trouble from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
    “What are you going to do with so much
trouble in your arms, then?” she asked, her voice coming out
huskier than she intended. She could feel his cock stir as she
pressed her rear against him, and she did it again,
deliberately.
    “Well, first, I'm going to get you good and
bare...”
    Instead of taking her on the bed as she
craved, he shifted her wrists to one hand and his free hand went to
the fastenings at the front of her corset. He had them free in a
trice, and then he was yanking her skirt down to the floor. She was
now standing naked in front of him, and she trembled a little at
what was to come.
    “And now, I'm going to make it so that you
can't take another swing at me.”
    He reached for the length of rope on the
floor. With a few quick, fluid motions, he bound her wrists in
front of her with a long lead coming from the tie. He stepped back,
hanging on to the leash.
    When he wrapped the loose end around his fist
and tugged, she could do nothing but follow along.
    Mystified, she followed him into the kitchen,
where there was an