
Austin Malone,
Private Eye
By
Paige Tyler
Taylor Cavanaugh stared at the gold-leaf lettering on the glass door. Austin Malone,
Private Investigator, it read. If she didn't know better, she'd think she just stepped onto the set of
one of the movie studios there in LA instead of the office building whose address was scrawled
on the piece of paper in her hand. She shook her head. Even his name sounded like it belonged in
some old, black-and-white private eye movie, she thought. How could he possibly help her find
her missing sister when the LAPD and the other private investigators she talked to couldn't?
But she really didn't have much of a choice, she supposed. And it was why she had come
there, so she might as well go inside and see what this Austin Malone had to say, she told herself.
Straightening her shoulders, she smoothed her hands down the front of her jeans to wipe off her
suddenly damp palms. Opening the door, she walked into the office of Austin Malone, Private
Investigator.
And felt like she had stepped back in time. A wood desk dominated the small room, and
other than the two simple chairs positioned in front of it, the only other furniture in the office
was an old leather couch along one wall. Framed black-and-white pictures hung on the wall
above it, while next to it was a plant that obviously wasn't real. And even though it was sunny
outside, the room seemed darker than it should be. Though oldfashioned, the office didn't come
off as tacky, however. And if it weren't for the computer sitting on top of the desk, she almost
would have believed she actually was back in some private eye's office from the 's.
But the dark-haired man wearing jeans and a button-up shirt seated behind the desk
definitely didn't come out of the 's. Spotting her from the corner of his eye, he looked up
from the phone call he was taking and Taylor felt her breath hitch as his piercing amber eyes met
hers. His gaze roved from the sunglasses perched on top of her head, down past the brightly
colored tank top and finally settled on the curve-hugging jeans she was wearing. Only then did
he tell the person on the other end that he'd catch them later and hung up.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
Taylor said nothing for a moment. Austin Malone wasn't what she had expected. For one
thing, he was much younger than she'd thought he'd be, probably in his mid-thirties. And
nothing at all like she pictured a private eye would look. Maybe she really had made a mistake
and stepped onto a movie set, she thought, because Austin Malone, Private Investigator was way
too gorgeous for some Hollywood producer not to have discovered him. She liked to think she
was immune to men who were as handsome as he was, but the truth was, she was just as
mesmerized by those chiseled features and broad shoulders as any other woman would be.
Abruptly realizing that he was still waiting for a reply, she gave herself a mental shake
and walked over to the desk. "I'm Taylor Cavanaugh," she said. "Detective Ames from the
LAPD gave me your name. He said you might be able to help me."
Austin Malone didn't react to the name she'd dropped one way or the other as he
gestured to the chairs in front of his desk. "Have a seat," he said, and then waited for her to take
him up on the invitation before asking, "So, what can I do for you, Ms. Cavanaugh?"
Taylor reached up to tuck her long, dark hair behind her ear. "My sister has been missing
for three days," she said quietly. "I really think she's been kidnapped."
Austin frowned. "Since Detective Ames gave you my card, I'm assuming the police don't
share your belief that your sister was kidnapped?"
Taylor's mouth tightened. "No," she said. "They're of the opinion that Tiffany eloped
with her boyfriend, which is absolutely ridiculous."
Behind his desk, Austin Malone's frown deepened. "And why is that so ridiculous?"
"Because I know my sister!" Taylor said. "She barely knows this guy. She wouldn't just
run off and get married without telling me first."
He considered her words for a moment. "Sometimes, siblings don't know each other as
well as they think they do," he said.
Taylor felt her hackles rise. "Well, we do!" she said hotly. "My sister tells me
everything!"
Actually, Taylor and Tiffany were closer than most sisters. But that made sense
considering Taylor had been forced to raise her younger sister after their mother's death. Their
father had already left them years earlier, so at eighteen and with no other relatives, Taylor had
been both big sister and mother to her ten-year old sister. As a result, the two had become
extremely close. And even though Tiffany had moved out when she'd started college eight
months ago, the two girls still spent a lot of time together. Which was why Taylor had been so
alarmed when her sister hadn't shown up for their usual Friday dinner. It was also how Taylor
simply knew her sister hadn't gone off and gotten married to some random guy. Even so, she
shouldn't have snapped at the private detective like she had.
Behind his desk, the detective's jaw tightened. "I see," he said. "And what do you know
about this boyfriend?"
Taylor shrugged. "Not much, really," she admitted. "I don't even think you could really
call him a boyfriend. That's what the police think he is, but Tiffany hardly mentioned him, so I
assume he's just an acquaintance, someone she met in college and hangs out and studies with,
you know. If Tiffany had been dating him formally, then I would have met him."
Austin regarded her thoughtfully, his amber eyes narrowing slightly. "I have to say, you
sound more like her mother than her sister," he observed.
Taylor swallowed hard. "Our mother died when Tiffany was little, so I raised her since
she was ten," she explained.
That seemed to take Austin Malone by surprise. "I'm sorry about your mother. That must
have been tough for you."
She nodded. "It was hard on both of us, but thank you," she said, and then took a deep
breath. "I prefer not to talk about it, though. I'd rather stay focused on finding my sister. This
guy's name is Andrew Wallace and he goes to college with her. They both go to Cal State."
"And you're sure they weren't dating?" Austin said.
"Not seriously," she said. "If at all."
He let out a sigh. "So, if your sister didn't elope with this guy Andrew Wallace, what do
you think happened to her?"
Taylor lifted her chin. "Considering Andrew Wallace is missing as well, it seems obvious
that he took her."
"You mean that you think he kidnapped her," Austin said.
"Yes," she said. "It's the only thing that makes sense. Tiffany never would have gone
with him otherwise. Certainly not without telling me. I'm sure of it."
Austin was silent a moment, and then took a notepad out of the drawer. Picking up a pen,
he scribbled something on the top page. "When did you see your sister last, Ms. Cavanaugh?"
"About a week ago," Taylor told him. "But I talked to her on the phone the day before
she disappeared, and she never said anything about going out of town, which is why I know I'm
right about this."
Austin Malone sighed. "Ms. Cavanaugh, I'm not exactly sure what you'd like me to do
that the police couldn't..." he began.
Taylor leaned forward in her chair. "Please don't say you won't take the case, Mr.
Malone," she entreated before he could say any more. "The police won't even start a file until
she's been missing for seventy-two hours because they feel there's no foul play involved. And to
be truthful, I've already talked to some other private investigators. None of them would even
hear me out. If you don't help me, I don't know what I'll do. Something has happened to my
sister. I just know it."
He said nothing for a long moment, and Taylor held her breath. "All right, I'll look into
it," he said finally. "I really have my doubts, but it's your money. My standard fee is two-fifty a
day, plus expenses."
Taylor nodded. She didn't know what the going rate was for a private detective, but she
supposed that seemed reasonable enough. She'd never even gotten to a dollar amount at the other
PI firms. Not that it really mattered; she would pay any amount to find her sister. "That's fine."
Austin wrote something down on the notepad in front of him. "I'd like to take a look
around your sister's apartment, if I could," he said, glancing at her. "See if there's anything the
police might have missed."
She jumped to her feet. "Of course. I'll take you over there right now."
Austin nodded. "We'll take my car," he said, coming around the desk to head for the
door.
Taylor was caught off guard when the detective slipped past to open the door for her. The
gentlemanly gesture surprised her somewhat. It wasn't very common here in LA. Maybe the
private investigator was as oldfashioned as his office suggested. As they walked down the steps
toward the entryway of the building, she couldn't help but wonder what else about him was old
fashioned. Did he drive one of those old cars like in the movie The Untouchables? she mused.
He probably did, she thought. Maybe he even had a Fedora, too.
But to her surprise, Austin drove a very modern Jeep Wrangler, and she was almost
disappointed when there was no sign of a Fedora anywhere.
"So, did you and your sister grow up here in LA?" he asked after she had given him the
address for Tiffany's apartment.
Taylor shook her head. "Anaheim, actually," she said. "I still live down there, but Tiffany
wanted to move up here when she started college. I knew it was a mistake. If she were still
sharing an apartment with me, then this wouldn't have happened."
Austin gave her a sidelong glance as he drove. "I'm sure your sister is just fine, Ms.
Cavanaugh."
Taylor wished she could be so certain. But in her job as a social worker in Los Angeles,
she had seen way too many girls get themselves into trouble they couldn't get out of. She could
only hope her naïve, little sister hadn't done the same.
Tiffany's apartment was close to California State University, which put it right in the
heart of downtown Los Angeles, but because it was maintained by the university, it was wellkept
and in one of the better sections of town.
"Tiffany used to have a roommate, but she graduated last semester," Taylor explained as
she let Austin into her sister's apartment thirty minutes later.
Austin stood in the entryway for a moment, surveying the apartment. Though small, it
had all the amenities, including a living room, dining room, kitchen, bath, and two bedrooms. All
in all, Taylor had to admit that it was actually rather cozy. And Tiffany's scholarship easily
covered the cost.
"Does anything look out of place to you?" Austin asked as he walked into the living
room.
Taylor shook her head. "No."
She watched as Austin wandered over to the coffee table and picked up the stack of
magazines that were there. Her brow furrowed. "What are you looking for?"
He glanced at her. "Something that might give me a clue to where your sister may have
gone."
Taylor gave him a skeptical look as she walked into the living room. "By checking out
what magazines she subscribes to?"
Austin tossed the magazines back onto the coffee table. "If one of them was a travel
brochure from wherever it is that she went, then yes."
"Did you find one?" Taylor asked, hurrying over to the coffee table to scoop up the
magazines and leaf through them excitedly.
"I said, if one of them was a travel brochure," he told her dryly. "None of them were."
She dropped the magazines back on the table and gave him annoyed look. "Well, why
didn't you just tell me that, then?"
He shrugged. "I did."
Taylor made a face at his retreating back as he walked into the kitchen. She wondered if
the two hundred and fifty dollars a day she was paying him covered that dry wit of his or if he
threw that in for free.
In the kitchen, Austin had opened the door of the refrigerator.
"What are you looking for in there?" she asked.
"Some people throw out things like milk if they know they're going to be away for
awhile," he told her.
Taylor edged closer to get a better look and immediately spotted the container of skim
milk on the top shelf. "I was right!" she said. "Tiffany didn't throw out the milk, so that proves
she must have been kidnapped!"
Austin closed the door. "Or it could mean that she just didn't throw out the milk before
she left. It's skim milk, after all. The stuff can barely be called milk in the first place, so it's not
surprising that it lasts forever."
Taylor had to bite her tongue as she watched him make his way around the kitchen,
opening drawers and cabinets, and fingering through all kinds of things. She couldn't imagine
what he possibly hoped to find, but she made no comment as he continued his search.
Finally done in that room, Austin left the kitchen and headed for the bedrooms, only to
stop and turn back to Taylor when she started to follow him.
"Perhaps it would be better if you just sat out here on the couch and let me do my job,"
he told her.
Taylor bristled at the condescending tone in the private detective's voice. Folding her
arms, she lifted her chin to look him squarely in the eye. "No way!" she said. "I just met you a
few hours ago. I'm not about to let you go through my sister's personal things without my being
there."
If she thought her words would insult him, Taylor was wrong. His expression barely
changed at all.
He regarded her coolly. "Ms. Cavanaugh, you hired me to find your sister and I can't
work with you hovering over my shoulder demanding to know what I'm doing every second. If
you've reconsidered hiring me, just let me know and we can leave." When she said nothing, he
continued. "I didn't think so. Now, if you would be so kind as to go sit on the couch like I asked
you to do."
Taylor stared up at the handsome private investigator in stunned silence. How dare he
order her around like that? And in her own sister's apartment, too! She should tell him to get the
hell out, she thought. In fact, the words were on the tip of her tongue, but for some reason, she
couldn't make herself say them. Right now, Austin Malone was the only option she had for
finding her sister. Was she prepared to let him walk out the door simply because he was an
obnoxious ass? No, she could put up with his arrogance if it meant getting Tiffany back safely,
she decided.
"Fine!" she told him through gritted teeth. Turning on her heel, she stomped over to the
couch and threw herself down on it. Then, folding her arms and crossing her legs, she gave him a
glare.
Though Austin scowled at her obvious show of petulance, he said nothing, but instead
turned and walked into Tiffany's bedroom.
From her vantage point on the couch, Taylor couldn't see much of the bedroom, but she
could hear Austin moving around in there. From the sounds of it, he was looking through the
dresser. An image of Austin Malone rifling through her sister's panty drawer suddenly popped
into her head and she frowned. Without another thought, she jumped to her feet and hurried into
the bedroom.
Austin was standing beside the bed, a small, leather-bound book in his hand. Her brow
furrowed as she walked over to him.
"What are you reading?" she asked.
He looked up from the book to give her a frown. "I thought you were going to wait in the
living room."
She shrugged. "I was, but I got curious," she said. "So, what are you reading?"
"Your sister's diary," he said.
Taylor's eyes went wide. "Her what? You can't read that! It's personal!"
But Austin only turned the page and continued to read. "Of course it's personal; it's a
diary. Which means that it could give us a clue where she might have gone."
"She didn't go anywhere! She was kidnapped!" Taylor corrected. "And I really doubt
you'll find an entry in there that says Get kidnapped before lunch!"
Taylor didn't know what infuriated her more, the fact that Austin was still reading her
sister's diary, or that he was ignoring her. Refusing to put up with it anymore, she reached out
and snatched the book from his hand. He gave her an exasperated look.
"What is your problem?" he demanded. "I'm a professional and could care less about
your sister's personal life, except where it relates to her disappearance. I need to read that diary,
so give it back."
Austin reached for book as he spoke, but Taylor jerked it further away. "No!" she said. "I
told you that I don't want you reading my sister's diary!"
His eyes narrowed as he took a step toward her. "Do you actually want your sister found,
or not?"
She lifted her chin. "Of course I do," she said. "I just think it's completely inappropriate
for you to be reading her diary, that's all."
Austin scowled. "I don't have time for this," he said. "There could be something in there
that might put us on your sister's trail."
Taylor thought for a moment. She really doubted there would be anything relevant in her
sister's diary. But if Austin was right and there really were something in it that could help them
find her sister...
"I'll read through it and let you know if I find anything suspicious," she finally conceded.
Austin gave her an impatient look. "I'm not going to sit here while you read that whole
diary. Besides, you'd probably miss anything important, anyway," he said. "Now, stop playing
around and give it back to me."
When he reached for it again, Taylor backpedaled, putting the edge of the bed between
them. "I said, no!"
He swore under his breath. "Okay, that's it!"
Before Taylor could even react, Austin Malone had closed the distance between them and
plucked the diary from her hand. Infuriated, she made a grab for the book, but he tossed it onto
the bed. She immediately reached for it, but the bastard caught her arm and steered her away
from it. He was going to throw her out of the room, she realized.
"Hey!" she protested. "You can't..."
But to her surprise, Austin wasn't heading for the door. Instead, he sat down on the
padded bench at the foot of the bed and, with a yank on her arm, sent her tumbling headlong over
his knee. For a moment, Taylor was so stunned that she simply lay there with her head hanging
down and her bottom up in the air. She regained her senses quickly enough though, and when
she did, she immediately tried to push herself up off his lap. She didn't even get halfway up
before a strong hand on her back shoved her down and held her there.
Taylor had no choice but to put her hands on the floor to steady herself. Craning her
neck, she looked at him over her shoulder. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she
demanded.
"Something someone obviously should have done a long time ago!" he ground out.
Her brow furrowing in confusion, she opened her mouth to retort, only to let out a
startled, "Oh!" when she felt his hand come down on her upturned bottom. Her blue eyes went
wide. Oh my God, the jerk had actually just spanked her!
Taylor struggled like a wildcat to free herself even as his hand smacked the seat of her
jeans again. "Let me up, you...owwwww!"
"Not until we get a few things straight. If you want me to work for you, then this attitude
of yours has got to stop," he told her, punctuating the words with a series of hard slaps right on
the most rounded portion of her asscheeks.
Ouch! She couldn't believe how much the spanks stung! What was he, crazy? Did he
think she would just lay there and put with it? "My attitude!" she shrieked at him. "What the hell
are you talking about, you jerk? Let me up right now!"
That earned her a sharp smack on each jean-clad cheek and she yelped. She wanted to say
something biting right then, but the heat building up in her bottom was making it difficult to
come up with a suitable retort. She pushed against his muscular leg with all her might, but didn't
succeed in getting herself off his lap. God, she hadn't realized he was so strong!
"I'm talking about the fact that you're irritating as hell, Ms. Cavanaugh!" he told her,
bringing his hand down on her ass yet again. "You may be paying me, but that doesn't mean I
have to put up with you second-guessing me the whole time. This is my job and I'm damn good
at it. But you seem to think that you know more than I do. And despite the fact that we just met,
you seem to have an almost unnatural ability to aggravate the hell out of me. In fact, I'm betting
that I'm not the only one you annoy. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's why your sister took
off. She was probably tired of putting up with her pain in-the-butt sister!"
Austin punctuated every other word with a sharp smack, and while it stung like crazy,
Taylor was more outraged by his words than by the spanking he was giving her.
"How dare you say something like that about me!" she yelled. "You don't even know me,
you arrogant jerk!"
"No, I don't," he agreed, his hand resting on her throbbing ass. "But I do know that
you're not letting me do my job. Now, are you going to stop being such a pain in the ass and let
me do what's necessary to find your sister, or do I need to start spanking you all over again, Ms.
Cavanaugh?"
Again? Taylor thought in amazement. Her bottom couldn't take even one more smack!
But Austin must have taken her silence for resistance because he said, "I suppose I'll just have to
spank you some more then."
"No!" she squealed. "Okay, I promise I'll stop bothering you. Just let me up!"
But to her chagrin, the private detective continued to hold her in place. "Do I have your
word on that?"
Taylor seethed with anger. "Yes," she said through gritted teeth. "You have my word."
He had her word all right, she thought to herself. Her word that she would be finding
another private investigator as soon as she got off his lap!
But she didn't. Instead of telling the detective that he was fired, Taylor sat on the couch
in the living room, silently fuming while Austin Malone thumbed through her sister's diary back
in the bedroom. It wasn't that she had changed her mind about firing the private detective,
however. It was just that every time she opened her mouth to tell him that his services would no
longer be required, he would look at her with that warning glint in his eye and she would fall
silent again. And her bottom still stung way too much to chance another spanking, which is
exactly what she was sure would happen if she bothered him again.
Taylor she reached back to surreptitiously rub her sore bottom. What kind of man put a
woman over his knee and spanked her, anyway? She should have known from looking at his oldfashioned
office that he was a throwback to a bygone era. He was probably the type that thought
men were superior and that women should know their place, too. Neanderthal jerk!
At that moment, Austin walked into the living room, interrupting her thoughts. Taylor
immediately got to her feet.
"Where's my sister's diary?" she demanded. She didn't know why she was making such
an issue of it, really. If reading her sister's diary helped them find Tiffany, then what did it
matter?
Austin regarded her coolly. "I put it back where I found it."
She folded her arms. That was something, she supposed. "So, was there anything in it of
any use?"
He didn't answer right away, but continued to study her with those incredible amber eyes
of his. "From what I read, I'd say you don't know your sister as well as you'd like to think, Ms.
Cavanaugh," he said. "It turns out that she's been dating this guy Andrew Wallace since she
started going to college. And from what I read, she seems to be pretty serious about him."
Taylor was speechless. That couldn't be right. How could her sister have been dating
someone seriously for so long and not told her? "Did Tiffany say in her diary if she was planning
on eloping with him?" she asked when she had finally found her voice.
Austin shook his head. "No, but she did mention that they had talked about getting
married."
Taylor felt like she she'd just been slapped. "I can't believe my sister would go off and
get married without telling me," she said in a soft voice.
"We still don't know for sure that she did," Austin said. "It's just another possibility. I'll
make some calls when we get back to my office and see what I can dig up on this Andrew
Wallace."
Reminding herself of her earlier promise to fire the private detective at the first
opportunity, Taylor was surprised when she found herself following him to the door instead.
While she would have preferred to have nothing more to do with Austin Malone, she couldn't
ignore the fact that he was the only one actually willing to investigate her sister's disappearance.
Surely she could overlook his brutish behavior if it meant finding Tiffany, she told herself. As
much as it hurt Taylor to think about it, Tiffany very well might have gone off to get married
without telling her, but it was also still possible that her sister was in trouble. Taylor had to know
for sure.
Though the detective had said he was going to make some calls back when they got back
to his office, he had obviously decided not to wait until then because he pulled out his cell phone
and began dialing a little while after getting out onto the main road. Even as preoccupied as she
was with thoughts of her missing sister and all the things she apparently didn't know about her,
Taylor still listened intently to Austin's conversation. While she would have liked to have
interrupted him every couple of minutes to find out if he'd learned anything, she forced herself to
wait until he'd hung up the phone.
"So, what did you find out?" she asked as he put his cell phone away.
Austin gave her a sidelong glance. "Wallace used his credit card at a gas station on I---
in Baker a couple of days ago."
Taylor's brow furrowed at the name. Baker was about an hour east of LA, which put it
right in the middle of the desert. And right in the middle of nowhere. The perfect place to kill
someone and dump the body, she thought frantically.
"Was Tiffany with him?" she asked Austin. "Was she all right?"
The private detective shook his head. "I don't know if your sister was with him, but I'll
find out," he said as he pulled into a parking space outside his office. "A friend of mine at the
LAPD is faxing over Wallace's driver's license photo. As soon as I get that, I'll head up to Baker
and check it out."
Taylor nodded. "I'll go with you," she said, already reaching for the door handle.
Austin gave her a sharp look. "No, you won't," he said firmly. "You're going home. I'll
call you if I find out anything."
Her grip tightened on the door handle. "No way! I'm paying you, so if I want to go with
you, I will. And you can't stop me!"
God, that sounded incredibly childish, she thought. Right then though, she didn't care.
This was the first solid lead she had on her sister, and she was going with him to check it out,
dammit!
In the seat beside her, Austin's eyes narrowed warningly. "I thought that spanking I gave
you back at your sister's apartment was enough to get you to behave yourself, but apparently I
was wrong," he growled. "Maybe you need another. Should I give you one right here in the
parking lot, or take you up to my office?"
Taylor's blushed hotly at the thought of another spanking. "There's no way I'm letting
you spank me again!" she said.
"And there's no way I'm letting you tag along while I look for your sister," he told her
firmly. "Either you agree to let me do the job you hired me to do without this constant
interference, or I drop this case right now. After I give you the spanking you so richly deserve,
that is."
It was on the tip of Taylor's tongue to tell Austin Malone that she didn't need his help,
that with the lead he had given her, she could find Tiffany on her own, but the truth was that she
did need his help. Even if she found someone at the gas station in Baker who recognized
Wallace, she wouldn't know what to do next. Austin had contacts and resources that she didn't.
"Fine!" she snapped.
Austin inclined his head. "Good. I'm glad to see that you can be reasonable sometimes,"
he said. "I'm going to need a recent photo of your sister. Do you have one with you?"
Thinking that the private detective would need a photo if he'd agreed to take the case,
Taylor had actually brought a picture of Tiffany with her. Opening her purse, she reached inside
and took it out.
"This was taken before Tiffany started college," she said as she handed it to him. She and
her sister had gone out to Catalina Island for the day, and Taylor had taken the picture of the
other girl after they had come back from a horseback ride.
Austin studied the photo for a moment, but made no comment, other than to say that he
would show her sister's picture around at the gas station up in Baker and ask if anyone
remembered seeing her with Andrew Wallace.
"You'll call me the moment you find out anything, right?" she asked as they got out of
the Wrangler.
He looked at her over the top of the SUV. "I told you that I would," he said, and then
sighed before adding in a gentler tone, "Ms. Cavanaugh, if your sister is with this guy Wallace,
I'm sure she's just fine."
She folded her arms. "You don't know that," she insisted.
The private detective sighed again. "No, I don't," he agreed. "Which is why I'm going to
go up to Baker, and then follow it up from there. Now, why don't you go home and try to relax. I
promise that I'll call you as soon as I learn something."
Since her car was parked in that direction, Taylor fell into step beside Austin as he began
to walk toward his office. When they reached the door, she had to resist the impulse to follow
him upstairs. Since her sister had disappeared, she'd been going nonstop on nerves and
adrenaline. She couldn't imagine how she could just go home and "relax." But trailing after him
like a puppy wouldn't get her sister found any faster. And would probably only get her spanked
again, Taylor thought.
"Thank you," she found herself saying as he stood expectantly in the doorway. Then to
make sure that he wouldn't think she was thanking him for the spanking he'd given her earlier,
she added, "For taking the case, I mean."
Austin studied her for a moment in silence before he finally nodded. "You're welcome,"
he said. "Now, go home and try not to worry. I'll find her."
But as she sat in her car a few minutes later, Taylor realized that while she might be
grateful Austin Malone had taken the case, there was no way she could simply stand by and wait
for him to find her sister. She just couldn't do it. She had spent the past ten years with no one to
rely on but herself and she'd gotten used to that. Her sister might be in college now, but Tiffany
was still her responsibility, and she needed to be the one to find the girl. Which meant that
Taylor had no intention of playing by Malone's stupid rules. If he didn't want her to tag along,
then she would just have to make sure he didn't realize she was doing it. How hard could it be?
she thought. When he left for Baker, she would simply follow him.
Back in his office, Austin tossed his keys onto the desk with a sigh. Checking out the lead
at that gas station up in Baker was going to be a waste of time, and he knew it. He already had a
good idea exactly where the two college kids had been heading. So why the hell had he told
Taylor Cavanaugh he'd look into it? Because he'd never been able to say no to a beautiful
woman, that's why, he thought. And with those big blue eyes, long dark hair, and hot body,
Taylor Cavanaugh was definitely beautiful.
There was another reason why had he agreed to keep helping Taylor, though. After
reading her sister's diary, he had begun to feel a little sorry for Taylor. Tiffany had been brutally
honest in her diary, which was why he hadn't let Taylor see it for herself. While Tiffany
obviously loved her older sister, she'd written endlessly in her diary about how she felt
smothered by Taylor's overprotective attitude and constant need to run her life. And Tiffany had
apparently grown tired of what she viewed as Taylor's bitter and cynical outlook on men and
relationships. While Tiffany hadn't gone into the reasons for Taylor's attitude toward men,
Austin suspected it had to do with their father leaving them and their mother when they were
little. Regardless, from what Tiffany had said, that bitterness was the main reason she had never
mentioned her boyfriend or her plans to marry him. She'd felt that Taylor would go to
outrageous lengths to prevent her from marrying anyone.
After reading the diary, Austin felt he had a really good idea where the couple had gone.
Baker was on a straight line between LA and Vegas, and if a young couple wanted to go off and
elope, what better place to go than Vegas? He didn't know for a fact, which was why he was
going to go check out gas station lead, but he was pretty sure. He couldn't imagine how Taylor
was going to react if her sister actually had run off and gotten married without telling her.
Austin shook his head. Taylor was definitely not going to be happy. In a funny way, he
almost felt bad taking her money. Tiffany would probably be coming home on her own in a
couple of days, with her husband in tow. But Taylor had hired him to do a job, and if he didn't
do it, then she'd just find another PI that would. Possibly someone less scrupulous and honest
than he.
Of course, she was going to make him earn every penny of the money he made. He had
no doubt that he hadn't seen the last of her stubborn and irritating nature. In all the years he'd
been a private detective, and even before when he was with the LAPD, he couldn't remember
dealing with anyone who could push his buttons like that, which was saying something. The way
she had acted when she'd found him reading the other girl's diary, snatching it out of his hand
like that and then refusing to give it back to him, had infuriated him so much that before he even
realized what he was doing, he had put her over his knee and was giving her a spanking.
And she had richly deserved it, he told himself. She had quickly changed her tune once
he'd given her a dozen good smacks on the bottom. Of course, she wasn't the only one who had
benefited from the spanking. If he had thought her ass was amazing the first time he'd seen it,
he'd decided that it was even better once she was over his knee. He'd only wished she'd been
wearing a skirt instead of jeans. If she had, then he might have gotten a chance to get an even
better view. Not that the view of her jean-clad ass hadn't looked great, too. Spanking Taylor had
been arousing to say the least. Even now, just thinking about having the beautiful dark-haired
woman wiggling around on his lap was enough to get him hard all over again.
But no matter how much she had deserved the spanking, Austin was still a little surprised
he'd actually done it. Sure, he'd spanked other women before, but it had always been as a form
of foreplay, and they had asked him to do it. He'd never just grabbed a woman and pulled her
kicking and screaming over his knee for a spanking before. He wasn't exactly sure why he'd
done it. Yes, she was beautiful, and yes, she had been acting like a brat, but it was still unusual
for him to behave like a caveman.
Austin shook his head. Giving her a spanking might have been fun, and if the hard-on in
his jeans was any indication, his inner caveman would probably love to do it again, but it was
completely unprofessional. And there was absolutely no way he was going to let it happen again.
Taylor glanced at her watch with a frown. It had been almost half an hour since the
private detective had gone inside. How long could it take Austin Malone to go up to his office,
pick up a fax, and come back down? she wondered impatiently. Maybe he was still waiting for
his friend at the LAPD to fax over Andrew Wallace's DMV picture. Or maybe he had just been
giving her a story about checking out a lead at that gas station. Maybe he wasn't going to look
for her sister at all. It wouldn't be the first time a man had lied to her, she thought bitterly.
She was just wondering if she should go up to the private detective's office and confront
him when he came out of the building and walked over to his Wrangler.
"It's about time," she muttered.
Starting the car, Taylor waited for Austin Malone to pull out onto the street before doing
the same. Afraid that she would lose sight of him in the heavy LA traffic, she followed more
closely than she would have liked, but since he hadn't seen her car, she wasn't too concerned
about him recognizing her. Plus, there was so much traffic that there was no way he could
possibly notice her car behind him.
As she followed him through the city and onto the Interstate heading east, she discovered
that tailing him was a lot easier than she'd thought it would be. So, she had to run a couple of red
lights, but everybody in LA did that. It really wasn't that hard at all, she told herself again. In
fact, by the time Austin stopped at the gas station in Baker, Taylor was thinking maybe she
should have gone into the PI business, she was so good at it.
Thinking Austin might spot her if she pulled into the small gas station, Taylor decided to
pull into the parking lot belonging to diner beside it. Choosing a space from where she could see
his Wrangler clearly, she turned off the engine and sat back in her seat as the private detective
got out of his truck and went into the gas station.
From her vantage point, Taylor had a clear view of the interior of the gas station and she
could see Austin talking to the clerk behind the counter. After a moment, he showed the man
both her sister's picture and that of Andrew Wallace.
Taylor held her breath, waiting for some sign of recognition as the clerk studied the
photos. As she watched, the man pointed at Andrew Wallace's photo and gave a nod of his head.
So, Wallace had been there, she thought. Her pulse quickening, Taylor leaned forward in the
seat, wishing she could hear what the man behind the counter was saying. When the clerk had
finished, Austin handed the man Tiffany's photo. The gas station attendant stared at it for what
seemed like a full minute before he finally nodded.
She knew it, Taylor thought. Her sister was with that creep!
Over at the gas station, Austin had come outside and was walking back to his Wrangler.
As he went, he pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his jeans and dialed. A moment later,
Taylor's own cell phone rang. Startled, she jumped. Reaching into her purse, she took the cell
phone from the little pocket where she always kept it and, flipping it open, held it to her ear.
"Hello?" she said.
"Ms. Cavanaugh?" The private detective's voice was deep on the other end of the phone.
"It's Austin Malone. I just left the gas station and wanted to give you a report."
Taylor's hand tightened on the phone. "What did you find out?" she asked anxiously.
Over in the other parking lot, Austin had reached his SUV and was standing beside it as
he spoke to her. "The attendant remembers seeing both your sister and Wallace the other day.
She was in the car and looked like she was asleep from what he could tell."
Taylor frowned at that. Had Tiffany really be asleep, or had she been drugged to make
her easier to kidnap? she wondered. It wasn't that far-fetched.
On the other end of the line, Austin Malone continued and she forced her attention back
to him. "Lucky for us, the gas station attendant is the type that likes to make small talk with the
customers," the private detective said. "He asked Wallace where he and your sister were headed,
and Wallace told him they were going to Vegas."
Taylor's frown deepened. "Vegas?" she echoed. Good heavens, surely Tiffany couldn't
have gone there to get married to that creep!
"I'm headed there now," Austin was saying. "I'll give you a call when I know something
else."
He hung up before she could say anything, much to Taylor's annoyance. Muttering about
how rude the man was, she snapped the phone closed and tossed it back into her purse, not
bothering to put it back into the neat little side pocket in her haste. Over at the gas station, Austin
had gotten back in his Wrangler and was already pulling out onto the street. Remembering how
fast the private detective had driven once they'd gotten out on the open highway, she quickly
started the engine and pulled out onto the street to follow him.
By the time they drove into Vegas it had already gotten dark and Taylor was grateful for
the neon signs that lit up the strip as she followed Austin's Wrangler. Wondering where he was
going, she was surprised when he pulled up in front of one of the more expensive casino hotels
in the city. Surely this Wallace guy didn't have enough money to be able to afford a room there,
she thought. Grabbing her purse from the seat beside her, she handed the valet her car keys when
the man opened the door for her, and then hurried into the plush hotel after Austin Malone.
The private detective made his way across the marble lobby and over to the front desk.
Not wanting to get too close, Taylor stood off to the side and pretended to look for something in
her purse while Austin spoke to the woman behind the desk. Though they were speaking softly,
Taylor was able to pick up snippets of their conversation, and she was surprised when Austin
neither asked the woman about her sister or Andrew Wallace, nor showed the desk clerk their
pictures. She was even more surprised a moment later when the clerk handed him a room key.
Taylor forgot all about pretending to look through her purse to stare at Austin Malone in
disbelief. He was getting a room at one of the most expensive hotels on the strip? And on her
money, no doubt! So much for being reputable, she thought bitterly.
Taylor was so focused on her mental tirade that she didn't even realize Austin had
finished up at the front desk and was heading for the elevators. Her first impulse was to confront
him right there in the lobby, but then she thought better of it. Quickly ducking behind the huge
potted plant she'd been standing beside, she waited for the elevator doors to close behind the
private detective before coming out of her hiding place. Watching to see which floor he got off
on, she took the next elevator up.
By the time she stepped out on his floor however, Austin was nowhere in sight. Taylor
stood in the hallway for a moment, wondering how she was ever going to find out which room
he was in when she spotted one of the hotel maids. The girl was standing beside her cart of
cleaning supplies and towels, and she looked up from her clipboard at Taylor's approach.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
Taylor smiled, which was a real effort considering how furious she was. "I hope so," she
said. "A man came out of the elevator on this floor a minute ago, and I was wondering if you saw
which room he went into. He's tall with dark hair, wearing jeans and a leather jacket."
At Taylor's description of Austin Malone, a grin spread across the maid's face. "And
majorly good looking, right?" she said. "Yeah. He went into room eight-twenty-five, down the
hall on your right."
Refusing to acknowledge the maid's comment about Austin Malone's good looks, Taylor
thanked the girl, and then edged around the cleaning cart to march down the hallway to room
eight-twenty-five. Lifting her hand, she knocked on the door and didn't stop until it swung open.
When it did, she brushed past the private detective without an invitation, and then spun around to
face him just as he closed the door.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.
She glared at him. "I could ask you the same question, you jerk!" she shot back. "What
are you doing in a hotel room when you should be out looking for my sister?"
Austin opened his mouth to speak, but Taylor hurried on before he could say anything.
"You thought you could come to Vegas and stay in some expensive hotel on my money,
and I wouldn't notice when you billed me, didn't you?" she demanded. "My sister isn't even in
Vegas, is she? You made up that whole story back at the gas station. This was all some ploy so
that you could come here and gamble! You lying son of a..."
"That's enough!" Austin said sharply.
If she hadn't been so mad at him, Taylor might actually have heeded the warning glint in
his eyes, but instead, she charged on. "No, it's not enough!" she told him. "You're nothing but a
crook, and when I get back to LA, I'm going to report you for the low-life criminal you are!"
"I said that's enough and I meant it," Austin growled.
Taylor opened her mouth to hurl another set of insults his way, but all she could do was
gasp as Austin grabbed her arm and marched her across the room to the bed. He was going to
spank her again, she realized, and opened her mouth to protest even as he sat down and flung her
over one leg so that she was half draped over him and half lying on the bed.
"Let me up, you jerk!" she said, trying to push herself off the bed even as his hand came
down on her back to hold her in place.
"Not until I'm through giving you the spanking you've got coming to you, Ms.
Cavanaugh," he said. "And trust me, I'm not going to be through for awhile."
While the position she was in was better than being completely draped over his knee, it
was still just as humiliating, and the spanks, which started right away, stung just as much too,
Taylor quickly found out. She bit her lip to stifle her protests as he began to methodically apply
his hand to first one cheek and then other. She told herself that she wouldn't give him the
satisfaction of crying out. After a moment, however, the heat was beginning to build up to an
almost intolerable level and it was all she could do to keep silent. She started kicking her legs,
hoping it would relieve some of the sting, but of course, it didn't. Especially when his hand --
which felt as if it were bigger than she'd remembered -- began to focus right on those spots where
her thighs met her asscheeks.
"Owwwww!" she cried, struggling even harder against him. "That hurts!"
"Good. Maybe you'll remember that the next time you accuse me of being a criminal," he
told her. "You hired me to find your missing sister, Ms. Cavanaugh, and that's exactly what I'm
doing."
Taylor yelped as his hand came down on her sit-spots again. How the heck could the
smacks sting so much? Surely the jeans should offer more protection. But they didn't. Every
time his hand came down, it felt like her ass was going to burst into flames!
"Of course, if you hadn't followed me, then you'd be sitting in your apartment right now
waiting for me to call you with a report instead of being here over my knee. But you can't seem
to do what you're told, can you?" Austin said. "And by the way, I spotted you in my rearview
before I even got out of LA."
Taylor gasped, not sure if she was more surprised at learning that Austin had known
she'd been following him, or at the hard smack on each cheek that accompanied the words. If
he'd known she'd been following him, why hadn't he stopped and confronted her? she
wondered. The spanking he was presently giving her made it difficult to come up with an answer
to that question however, especially since the smacks seemed to be falling even harder now.
"I specifically told you to stay in LA, didn't I?" he asked, punctuating the question with a
hard smack on her jean-clad bottom. "Didn't I?"
"Owwwww!" she cried. "Yes, dammit!"
"Then why the hell did you follow me?" he demanded.
Did he have any idea how hard it was to have a conversation while getting spanked? She
wondered suddenly if anyone else in the hotel could hear her getting spanked and whether they
would call security. God, she hoped so. She'd love to see some big security goons drag him out
of there! But this was Vegas, she reminded herself. She doubted anyone would pay attention to
anything they heard.
A particularly hard smack pulled her attention back to what he was saying. "I'm still
waiting for an answer. Why did you follow me?"
"Because I...owwwww!...wanted to make sure you were...owwwww!...really going
to...owwwww!...look for my...owwwww!...sister, that's why!"
"So, you didn't trust me?" he said.
Taylor bit her lip to stifle another cry. "And I was obviously right not to, wasn't I?" She
squirmed on his lap. "Dammit, let me up!"
"Only if you agree to shut up long enough to let me explain why I checked into the
hotel," he told her.
She wanted to argue and tell him that she knew exactly why he had checked into the ritzy
hotel, but her bottom was throbbing so much that it took the fight right out of her. She didn't care
what she had to promise. Anything, as long as he'd stop spanking her.
"Okay, okay," she said. "I'll listen!"
At her words, Austin took her arm and stood her on her feet in one swift motion.
Reaching back to immediately rub her sore bottom, Taylor opened her mouth to complain about
how hard he had spanked her, but he held up a finger in warning.
"Not one word or you go back over my knee," he said. "Now, are you ready to let me explain, or
do I have to keep spanking you?"
She should tell him to go straight to hell, Taylor thought as she stood there glaring at
Austin Malone and rubbing her sore bottom. Then she should tell him that she wasn't interested
in his explanations and that she was going to find another private detective. Right before she
walked out of the hotel room. If she didn't need his expertise so badly, then she would do just
that. Though she wasn't sure how much expertise it took to drive to Las Vegas and book a suite
at one of the most expensive hotels on the strip.
"First off," Austin said, "I didn't lie to you back at the gas station. According to the clerk
there, Wallace and your sister were headed to Vegas. Secondly, I'm not paying for the suite, and
neither are you. It's complimentary. The guy that's the head of security here and I were partners
back when we were both with the LAPD. He puts me up whenever I'm in town."
Taylor felt herself flush with embarrassment at his words. Crap! Could she possibly have
made any more of a fool of herself? she wondered. But how was she supposed to have known
that Austin had gotten the room for free?
"Oh," she said in a small voice.
Austin shook his head. "You really are unbelievable, you know that?" he said. "I agreed
to take this case when most other PI's probably wouldn't because I saw how concerned you were
for your sister. And while you keep telling me that you want me to find her, you keep getting in
my way. I told you to stay in LA and let me handle this, but did you listen? No. Instead, you
followed me up here like some obsessed bloodhound."
Her color deepened even more. While the spanking had definitely been embarrassing,
being lectured was even more so. She felt like disappearing, she was so mortified. She was trying
to think of something to say to justify following him when she abruptly remembered him saying
he'd known she'd been behind him the whole way.
"Wait a minute! If you knew I was following you back when we were still in LA, why
didn't you stop me back there instead of letting me come all the way out here and making a fool
out of myself?" she said sullenly.
He clenched his jaw. "Don't blame me for making a fool out of yourself. You did that all
on your own," he told her. "And I didn't stop you because I was hoping that at some point you
would come to your senses and turn around and go back to LA!"
Taylor cringed. Oh God, he must think she was such a flake. Well, she didn't care what
he thought. She would do anything to find her sister. And now that she was here, it only made
sense she stay. "Well, I'm here now and I'm not going back until we find my sister!" she told
him firmly.
She half expected him to put her over his knee again for being so stubborn. Well, if he
tried it, then he was going to have a real fight on his hands this time, she told herself, because her
ass was still throbbing and she wasn't going to put up with it again. But to her surprise -- and
relief -- Austin held up his hands in a show of resignation.
"Fine! Do what you want! It's quite obvious you're not going to listen to anything I say
anyway," he snapped. "I'm going out to check on a lead. I'll be back."
Without waiting for a reply, Austin turned and strode toward the door. Taylor
immediately followed. "I'll go with you," she said.
Austin spun around to face her. "Like hell!" he said. "You're staying right here!"
Taylor folded her arms and gave him a defiant look. "You can spank me all you want, but
I'm still going to follow you."
The words were out before she could stop them and she could only hope he wouldn't take
her up on the spanking.
A muscle flexed in the side of his jaw, and for one frantic moment, Taylor thought he
might. But he only regarded her in silence. "You don't give up, do you?" he finally said.
Did she detect a slight hint of grudging respect in the way he'd said that? "No, I don't,"
she told him.
The private detective continued to regard her silently for another moment before he
shook his head. "Fine, you can come with me," he growled. "But stay out of the way and keep
your mouth shut."
Behind his back, Taylor made a face at the private detective as she followed him to the
door. Though she wondered where they were going, she resisted the urge to ask as they rode
down in the elevator. But as they made their way down the crowded strip a few minutes later, she
couldn't contain her curiosity any longer.
"Where are we going?" she asked him.
Austin scowled at her. "What part of keep your mouth shut didn't you understand?"
"And what part of I'm going to be involved didn't you understand?" she shot back.
He muttered something under his breath that she couldn't hear before saying, "I'm going
to check out wedding chapels, see if anyone remembers seeing your sister or Wallace."
She frowned. "Wedding chapels?" she echoed. "You can't seriously believe that my
sister came here of her own free will to marry that creep, Wallace?"
Austin gave her a sidelong glance. "Maybe you don't want to believe it, but every bit of
information I've discovered up to this point indicates that's exactly why she came here," he told
her. "Which is why I'm going to check it out."
Taylor bit her tongue. While she supposed it made sense to explore every avenue, she
couldn't help but feel they were wasting their time. Regardless of the so-called information
Austin had, there was absolutely no way her sister had run off to get married. But if she argued
with Austin about it, he would probably just drag her back to the hotel and spank her again -- if
he didn't do it right there on the street - so she resolutely kept silent.
An hour later, however, she couldn't contain her frustration any more. They had been to
almost a dozen wedding chapels, and no one remembered seeing either her sister or Wallace.
"This is a waste of time!" she said. "My sister didn't come here to get married. And even
if she did, she wouldn't do it in a place as tacky as that."
Taylor gave the brightly-painted building they had just come out of a disdainful look. A
Star-Trek-themed wedding chapel, couples could dress up in authentic costumes from the
television show and get married by none other than Captain Kirk. She wasn't even sure if
marriages conducted in a place like that would even be considered legal in most states.
"Maybe not," Austin conceded, starting down the street. "But your sister and this Wallace
kid don't have a lot of money. If they were looking to get married cheaply, this is the kind of
place they'd go. So, we have to check out all of them."
Taylor sighed, but said nothing as she fell into step beside him. This was the great
detective work she was paying for? And just how many of these ridiculous, little wedding
chapels were there in Vegas anyway? she wondered.
The next one they came to looked a lot like the place they'd just left - minus the Star Trek
memorabilia, of course -- and Taylor couldn't hide her disdain as she took in the inside of the
place. There were tacky fake flowers and plastic doves all over the place. A petite, elderly
woman came out from the back at their entrance, and she greeted them with a brilliant smile.
"Come in, come in," she said. "You two lovebirds are our first customers of the evening.
Fortunately for you, that means you're here ahead of the rush. In another hour, we'll be so
packed with couples that we'll be doing the ceremonies in groups of three!"
Taylor was so shocked that she couldn't even say anything. Who the heck would get
married there? Then her brow furrowed as she realized the woman thought she and Austin were
there to get married. She took an unconscious step back. Heaven forbid! Assuming that the
private detective would set the woman straight, Taylor waited for him to say something, but the
woman hurried on before he could speak.
"Now, we have several different wedding packages to choose from," she continued,
pointing to a poster on the wall. "There's the basic, which is the least expensive, but it doesn't
include much more than the ceremony itself. Which is why I'd suggest going with the deluxe
package. It's not that much more and it includes music, wedding cake, and a bouquet of flowers!.
Though if you want real flowers instead of the silk kind, then you'll have to pay extra. And it'll
take me a few minutes to run next door and get some. We can even provide rings if you don't
have them. At a very reasonable price, of course." She beamed at them. "And since you two
want to be sure to remember this momentous occasion, why don't we include a video of the
ceremony as well? And to make your video even better, we can include several attendees for
each of you, if you'd like. It really makes the video that much more special."
Taylor stared at the woman, aghast. She didn't know what astounded her more. The fact
that the woman was treating a wedding ceremony like the buffet bar at the local casino, or that
the woman actually thought she and Austin were a couple. They didn't even remotely look like
they were a couple! She glanced at the private detective to find him regarding her with an
amused expression on his handsome face. He thought this was funny! She glared at him before
turning back to the woman.
"Excuse me," Taylor said before the woman could say any more, which was rather
difficult because the woman could put a telemarketer to shame. "But we're not here to get
married."
The woman looked at her in confusion. "You're not?"
"No, we're not," Taylor said again. "We're here looking for my sister."
Beside Taylor, Austin pulled out the photos of her sister and Andrew Wallace and held
them out to the woman. "We think they may have come in here a couple of nights ago to get
married. Do you recognize either of them?"
The woman glanced down at the photos, and then nodded her head. "I do remember
them! Such a lovely couple." She gave Taylor a wink. "Not unlike the two of you."
Taylor frowned. The woman had barely even glanced at the pictures. "Are you sure it
was them?"
The woman smiled. "Oh yes, dear, I'm sure," she said. "Your sister was a lovely bride!
And what a charming young man she married!"
Taylor swallowed hard. The woman had to be mistaken, she thought. "How can you be
sure it was them?"
The woman laughed. "Oh, I'm wonderful with faces! But if it helps, I think she said her
name was Tiffany."
Taylor felt her heart plummet. "Could she have been coerced, do you think?" she asked.
The woman's brow knit at that. "Oh my goodness no, dear," she said. "Your sister and
her young man are very much in love. It was obvious. They couldn't keep their hands off each
other!"
Taylor was silent. The woman had to be wrong; that just didn't sound like her little sister
at all.
Beside her, Austin spoke up. "Did they have one of those videos made? And if they did,
would you happen to have a copy?"
The woman shook her head. "No, they didn't," she said. "It was obvious they were on a
budget." Then she brightened. "But I do have a picture of them." She winked again. "We always
like to take pictures of the happy couples after the ceremony. All of our packaged include a
complimentary photo, you know."
Taylor stood in stunned silence as the woman walked over to the counter and picked up
the photo album lying there. She flipped through the pages until she came to the one she wanted,
then held it out for Taylor and Austin to see.
"Don't they make a lovely couple?" the woman asked with a sigh.
Taylor stared down at the photo, her gaze going from a smiling Tiffany, who was
wearing a simple white dress and holding a bouquet of red roses, to the tall, rangy, blond-haired
man standing beside her. They both looked more like they should be going to their prom, not
getting married, Taylor thought. Oh God, what had Tiffany been thinking?
"Did they happen to mention where they staying?" Austin asked the woman.
The woman shook her head. "No, they didn't," she said. "But they did say something
about going to Mexico for their honeymoon. Someplace called San Luis...something, I think."
Taylor blinked in surprise. Honeymoon?
The woman was eyeing her and Austin thoughtfully. "Are you sure you don't want to get
married while you're here?" she asked. "Since your sister got married here, we could say it was a
referral and give you a discount. You two really do make such a lovely couple."
Taylor stared at the woman in astonishment, not quite trusting herself to speak. To her
relief, Austin answered for both of them, politely but firmly declining the offer. Thanking the
woman for her help, Austin took Taylor's arm and guided her toward the door. Which was a
good thing, she supposed, because if he hadn't, she would probably still be standing in the
wedding chapel, dumbstruck.
Though Austin released her arm the moment they stepped outside, he stayed close to
Taylor on the walk back to the hotel. While he told himself it was better Taylor knew the truth
about here sister, he still felt badly for her. He was surprised he felt anything at all for her
considering the fact she had been such a royal pain in the ass. And yet, for reasons he couldn't
understand, he felt an insane urge to comfort her. He didn't think she would be very receptive to
anything he had to say however, so he kept silent.
When they got back to the hotel, Austin started for the elevators, but Taylor surprised
him by announcing she needed a drink. He wasn't really in the mood for one, but she seemed
like she needed the company, so Austin fell into step beside her as she headed for the bar.
Spotting a secluded table in the corner, he led her over to it.
It wasn't until the cocktail waitress had brought them their drinks -- a cosmo for Taylor,
and a beer for him -- that Taylor finally spoke.
"You knew, didn't you?" she asked in a soft voice.
Austin took a swallow of beer. "That your sister and her boyfriend came to Vegas to get
married?" he asked.
Taylor nodded, sipping her drink.
"After reading in her diary how she felt about this Andrew guy, it seemed likely. And
then, once I got the lead about them stopping for gas in Baker, I was almost sure of it," he said.
"But I didn't want to tell you until I knew for sure."
Austin waited for Taylor to get upset about him hiding his suspicions from her, but
instead she merely toyed with the stem of her glass.
"How could I have been so wrong about her?" she said after a moment.
He shrugged. "Well, you're not really wrong about her," he said. "She's still your sister.
She's just making some decisions on her own. It doesn't mean she doesn't love you and still
need you."
Taylor finished her drink in one swallow and motioned to the waitress to bring her
another.
"Why wouldn't she tell me she was dating this guy and that they were going to get
married?" Taylor asked, turning her attention back to Austin. "I didn't even know she was seeing
anyone seriously."
Austin waited while the waitress set Taylor's drink down on the table and had left before
answering. "Maybe she didn't think you'd approve."
Taylor shook her head and took a small sip of her drink. At least she wasn't downing this
one as quickly, Austin thought.
"She's probably right," Taylor said. "I don't have the best outlook on marriage,
considering what happened with our mom and dad. But Tiffany's always been a lot less cynical
than I am when it comes to love"
Austin sat quietly, absently rubbing the label on the beer bottle with his thumb as he
listened to Taylor talk about what had happened with her parents and what it had been like being
responsible for Tiffany when she was barely out of high school herself. Their father had split
when Tiffany was born and their mother had passed away when Taylor was eighteen. It sounded
like it must have been tough on her, he thought to himself. There was no way he could have
raised a kid, worked a job, and gone to college at that age. He couldn't help but admire her for
what she had done.
Austin stayed silent for most of the conversation. He could tell she needed to talk to
someone, and he suddenly realized he didn't mind being that person. Every once in a while he
would throw in a supportive comment, but mostly he just listened
As she finished her second drink, Taylor glanced at her watch. She couldn't believe
they'd been sitting there talking so long. She had really needed someone to talk to though, and
while Austin wouldn't have necessarily been her first choice, she was surprised at how easy
opening up to him had been.
The corner of her lips curved into a small smile as she looked up at Austin. "Wow, I
haven't talked that much with anyone in awhile," she said. "I'm sure it's been boring, but thanks
for listening anyway."
He smiled. "It wasn't boring," he said. "I enjoyed it."
Her head had been spinning when they had left the wedding chapel earlier that evening.
She couldn't deny it anymore. Her sister had gone off and gotten married without telling her.
Even worse, it seemed like Tiffany had a whole separate life that Taylor didn't know anything
about. Learning that her sister had obviously stopped confiding in her was more than simply
painful; it felt like her heart had been ripped out.
Taylor had spent the entirety of her adult life making every decision based on what would
be good for her sister. And now it seemed that Tiffany didn't need her anymore. Though she
knew it was silly, Taylor felt lost.
She didn't even remember walking back to the hotel, but when they gotten there, she'd
realized she didn't want to go upstairs to the loneliness of her room. She had needed to talk. And
Austin had been there to listen. Even more than that, he had gotten her to talk about things she'd
never talked to anyone about, not even Tiffany. She hadn't realized how bitter she had been
about her father leaving until she had told Austin about it.
But Austin hadn't judged her, not even when she complained about feeling like her sister
had taken her granted. He had just nodded in understanding, which had encouraged her to
confide in him even more.
With Austin being so nice, Taylor couldn't help but see him in a different light. She had
always thought he was good looking, but his brusque, arrogant manner had completely turned
her off. Now that he wasn't acting all brusque and arrogant though, she was starting to notice
some of his other more attractive qualities. Like his mouth, she thought. It was wide and sensual,
and she found herself gazing at it as he talked. Then there were his hands. She had never thought
hands could be considered sexy, but somehow his were. Of course, she couldn't look at them
without remembering what they had felt like on her bottom when he had spanked her.
But for some reason, thoughts of the spankings he'd given her didn't prompt the
righteous indignation she had felt before, much to Taylor's surprise. Instead, she was starting to
feel little tingles of arousal warm her body.
Which didn't make sense, she told herself. There must be something else making her feel
that way. But very time she tried to think of what that something else was, her mind kept coming
back to the spankings. Maybe it was the two drinks she'd had, she decided. Or maybe it was
simply that Austin was being nicer to her than any man had been in a very long time. After a
moment, she stopped analyzing why she was feeling those warm, little tingles, and simply
decided to enjoy them. It had been a very long time since she'd even felt that way. Then another
thought came to her; maybe she should do something more than simply spend the night talking to
the handsome man across from her.
"You know," she said, toying with her glass as she looked up at him from beneath her
lashes. "You're actually a pretty nice guy."
Austin lifted a brow. "Is that so hard to believe?"
She laughed. "Well, considering you have this habit of spanking women all the time,
yeah."
He looked a little surprised at the direction their conversation had taken, but quickly
recovered. "It's not like I spank every woman I meet, you know."
She considered that a moment, and then leaned forward to rest her forearms on the table.
"Should I infer from that that you've spanked other women, then?"
Taylor couldn't believe she had just asked that. She wasn't used to playing the seduction
game, but it was coming more naturally to her than she would have thought. She should probably
thank the two drinks for that.
As for Austin, he seemed completely caught off guard, she noticed. The look on his face
almost made her smile.
He regarded her thoughtfully. "I have spanked a few other women, though I must admit
you're the only one I've ever spanked simply for being so infuriating."
Austin said the words hesitantly, as if worried he would offend her, but Taylor wasn't
offended in the slightest.
"I supposed I can be infuriating, that's true." She ran her fingers up and down the length
of her glass as she considered what to say next. Though she hadn't meant for the gesture to be
sexy, she couldn't help but notice that Austin's eyes followed her fingers as they moved. Was he
imagining her touching him like that? she wondered. Hmm...maybe she was better at this
seduction thing than she'd thought.
"So, if you didn't spank those other women for being infuriating, why did you spank
them?" she asked.
Austin regarded her for a long time in silence. Taylor met his gaze and let her tongue slip
out to slowly wet her lips.
"They asked me to spank them," he said after a moment.
Taylor's blue eyes went wide. She hadn't expected that. "They asked you?" she said in
surprise. "And why would they do that?"
Austin went back to rubbing his thumb up and down the label on the beer bottle. "Some
women find spanking very arousing."
Taylor blinked. It was nice to know she wasn't the only one who found the thought of
spanking arousing. Though she couldn't imagine ever having the nerve to actually come right out
and ask for one. Just the thought of doing so made her pussy begin to purr.
"They do, do they?" she said, hoping he picked up on the suggestive tone of her voice.
He studied her thoughtfully, as if he didn't quite know where she was going with all of
this. "Definitely," he said after a moment. "If done a certain way, a spanking can be a very erotic
experience."
She let a slow smile play across her lips. Just hearing him say the words was enough to
make her wonder what a spanking like that would be like. "I'm not sure I would consider the
spankings you gave me to be an erotic experience."
"The spankings I gave you weren't meant to be erotic," he said. "If I had intended them
to be sensual, the spanks wouldn't have been as hard and there would have been a lot of slow,
gentle caresses in between. It would be form of foreplay, not punishment."
Taylor caught her breath at the thought of him caressing her bottom. "Oh, I see," she said.
"I suppose that would be quite different then."
She fell silent after that, caught up in a fantasy about Austin giving her one of those kinds
of spankings. She couldn't picture actually ever doing it for real, but for some reason the image
wouldn't seem to go away. She barely even noticed he had finished his beer until he announced
that it was getting late and suggested they go back to the room. She was still lost in her daydream
as they rode up in the elevator a few minutes later.
"You can have the bed," he told Taylor when they were back in the room. "I'll take the
couch."
She chewed on her lower lip. "Are you sure you don't mind? I mean, this is your room..."
The corner of his mouth edged up. "It's fine," he said. "You can have the bed."
Taylor nodded, but she made no move toward the bed. Downstairs, she had purposely
steered the conversation toward something sexual in the hopes of seducing Austin, something
she'd never done with a man before. It had made her feel in control, powerful somehow.
Now that they were back in the room however, she hesitated for a moment. Could she
really go through with it? she wondered. It definitely wasn't like her to proposition a guy, and
yet that's what she was considering doing. If she simply dropped the idea, then she could always
tell herself later that she had wisely stopped herself from doing something she'd probably only
regret anyway. But as she watched him walk over to the couch, regret was the furthest thing from
her mind. For the first time since her sister had disappeared, she felt like she was in control of
things again. More than that though, she wanted to do something purely for herself. It had been a
long time since she'd given any thought to her own wants and needs.
Besides, the conversation downstairs had gotten her more aroused than she'd been in a
very long time, and even if she tried to go to bed now, she had no doubt those fantasies of Austin
spanking and touching her in the way he'd described would keep her awake all night anyway.
Taking a deep breath, Taylor spoke before she could change her mind. "Austin," she said
softly.
At the sound of his name, he turned to give her a questioning look.
She hesitated for a moment, her pulse suddenly racing. "If I asked you to, would you
spank me?"
Austin stared at Taylor, stunned into silence for a moment by the question, not sure he'd
heard her right. Somehow, he managed to find his voice. "What was that?"
She gave him a coy smile. "I asked if you would give me a spanking," she repeated. "You
know, like the kind you told me about downstairs."
Where the hell had that come from? Austin wondered. Sure, the conversation downstairs
had been sexually charged, but he didn't think she'd be the type of woman to actually act on
what they had talked about. She was too reserved for that, and her request had his alarm bells
going off.
"I'm not sure that would be a good idea," he said.
Her brow furrowed, something resembling disappointment in her eyes. "Why not?" she
asked.
Because if I gave you one of those spankings, I'm not sure I could trust myself to stop
there, Austin thought. And he had no idea where she intended this to go. But he couldn't very
well admit that to her, so instead, he answered her question with one of his own. "Why would
you want a spanking?"
Taylor slowly walked over to him and ran her finger down the front of his shirt toy with
one of the buttons. "Because I want to see if it can be as enjoyable and as sensual an experience
as you say."
He inhaled sharply at her touch. "Are you sure this isn't the drink you had talking?"
Taylor stopped fingering the button to look up at him. "I'm not drunk, if that's what you
mean," she said. "I had two drinks, that's all. I'm relaxed, but not drunk by any means."
Austin gazed down at her, searching her clear, blue eyes to find them as alert as always.
And with just the hint of challenge in them. No, she most definitely was not drunk, he decided.
But the drinks she'd had down in the bar had definitely loosened her inhibitions. Was this sexy
seductress the real Taylor Cavanaugh minus the wall of defenses she kept up around herself? he
wondered. Or maybe she was reeling from what she had learned about her sister and was just
acting out. It was an interesting dilemma because he had to admit, while his head was telling him
this was a bad idea, his body was already responding to her proposition.
When he didn't say anything, Taylor stepped back and put her hands on her hips, giving
him a pout. "You spanked me when I didn't want you to," she pointed out. "Why won't you
spank me now that I do want you to?"
Why indeed? he wondered. He had already decided that she wasn't drunk, and since they
had discovered her sister's whereabouts, it wasn't like he would be working for her after tonight,
so there wasn't the whole issue of it being unprofessional. And he definitely wouldn't mind
having her over his knee again. It didn't have to lead anywhere if she didn't want it to.
"I just want you to be sure that a spanking is what you really want," he finally said.
Her lips curved into the sexiest smile he'd ever seen. "A spanking is exactly what I
want," she told him. "But one with all of those touches and caresses you mentioned."
Without waiting for a reply, Taylor slipped past him to make her way over to the bed.
Austin stood where he was, trying to decide exactly how the whole thing was going to play out,
and was surprised when she unbuttoned her jeans and slowly began to push them down her curvy
hips to reveal the skimpy, black bikini panties she was wearing underneath. He stared at her,
transfixed by the way her hips rolled back and forth as she moved. Halfway down, she stopped to
give him a demure little look over her shoulder.
"Unless you'd rather that I leave them on," she said, as if unsure she should be taking off
her jeans, and then added, "I just assumed from what you said downstairs that with this kind of
spanking, they'd be coming off anyway."
Austin stifled a groan. Damn, this was a completely different woman than he'd met in his
office earlier that day. This Taylor exuded pure sexuality. Did she have any idea what she was
doing to him? He doubted she did, which only made it that much more arousing.
"Off is fine," he managed to say.
At his words, Taylor wiggled her jeans the rest of the way down, and Austin caught his
breath as her bottom came completely into view. He was right, he thought. She did have a great
ass. Not to mention long, shapely legs. And standing there with her long, dark hair around her
shoulders and wearing nothing but a snug-fitting black T-shirt and skimpy, bikini panties, she
looked very, very spankable.
He was definitely going to regret this in the morning, Austin thought as he walked over to
her. She turned as he drew closer, and he saw a hint of hesitation in her eyes.
"Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked softly.
At Taylor's nod, Austin took her hand and sitting down on the bed, guided her over his
knee in the same way he had earlier that evening. This time, however, Taylor went willingly,
even wiggling into a position to make herself more comfortable. But when he placed his hand
gently on the small of her back a moment later, he felt her tense beneath his touch. She might
want this spanking, he thought, but that didn't mean she still wasn't a little nervous at the
prospect.
Wanting Taylor to relax, Austin gently ran his hand up and down the length of her back.
He moved her long hair aside and draped it over one shoulder so that he could skim his fingers
over the curve of her neck on the opposite side before running his hand down her back. Instead
of stopping at the small of her back however, this time he moved lower, running his hand over
her panty-covered bottom and down her bare thighs before moving back up again.
Taylor let out a soft sigh, obviously enjoying what he was doing, and Austin's mouth
curved into a smile. It was difficult to believe this was the same woman who had kicked and
screamed and called him names when she'd been over his knee earlier that day, he thought as he
ran his hand lightly over her bottom again. He rather liked this side of Taylor Cavanaugh, he
decided.
But while he could caress her all night, she was over his knee because she wanted a
spanking, he reminded himself. Resting one hand on the small of her back, he lifted the other and
gave her a light smack on the ass. Compared to the spanks he had given her earlier, it was
nothing more than a love-pat, but Taylor let out a startled, little gasp all the same.
"Too hard?" Austin asked, rubbing the area of her bottom where he had just smacked.
Taylor shook her head. "No," she said. "You surprised me, that's all."
Austin's mouth quirked. Lifting his hand, he brought it down on the opposite cheek this
time. Taylor wasn't surprised at this smack, but merely tightened her muscles a little in response.
Taking that to mean he wasn't spanking her too hard, he fell into an easy rhythm, spanking first
one side and then the other. He covered her entire bottom with smacks, making sure he never let
his hand come down in the same place twice in a row. Just as her cheeks began to pinken, he
stopped and began to caress her again. He moved his hand lovingly from the sensitive spot
behind her knee all the way up to her shoulders before coming back to pay particular attention to
that beautiful ass of hers. But instead of just simply rubbing her bottom, he mingled light
caresses with firm squeezes that had her moaning within seconds.
Just when it seemed like she might melt there on his lap, Austin started spanking her
again. The smacks he gave her this time were just the slightest bit harder than the previous set,
but he only administered a dozen or so before he went back to caressing her asscheeks again.
God, she had a beautiful ass. And if possible, it looked even more alluring covered in
pink. If this were any other woman, Austin thought, he would pull down her panties and start in
on her bare bottom at this point. But Taylor Cavanaugh wasn't just any woman. Despite the fact
that she had asked him to spank her, she was still technically a client. He couldn't go any further
than this; pulling down her panties and spanking her on the bare bottom would be crossing the
line.
Not that there was any real need to pull down her panties, he decided a moment later. The
tiny scrap of material was riding up higher and higher on her ass to expose her luscious cheeks
with every smack of his hand. It was all he could do not to slide his hand between her legs and
run his fingers over the piece of cloth covering her pussy. Of course, it didn't help that she had
started to wiggle and squirm in time with the spanks. Or that she was letting out little sounds of
pleasure to go along with those wiggles.
Afraid that if he didn't get Taylor off his lap soon, he would give in to the urge and do
something he shouldn't, Austin gave her asscheeks another dozen smacks before gently, if
reluctantly, standing her back on her feet. Taylor stood gazing down at him, her full lips slightly
parted and her long hair a wild tumble about her shoulders as she cupped her now cherry-red ass.
She looked so damn beautiful, Austin thought. If he reached out, one tug would have her in his
arms, he told himself. God, he was going to need a cold shower after this if he had any hope of
ever getting to sleep that night!
Austin was going to ask her what she thought of her spanking, but before he could,
Taylor stepped close to the bed and, taking his face between her hands, lowered her head to kiss
him passionately on the mouth.
For a moment, Austin was so stunned that he didn't respond, but then desire kicked in
and he found himself returning the kiss with an ardor that matched hers. Unable to control
himself, he slid his hands up her bare legs to cup the ass he had so recently spanked and gave her
cheeks a squeeze as he pulled her closer. They were still hot to the touch, he noticed
appreciatively. Taylor moaned against his mouth, the sound more pleasure than protest he was
sure, if the suddenly urgent way she was now kissing him was any indication.
Austin groaned. Damn, she tasted sweet. Like berries, he thought, with just a hint of lime.
And something else too, something he couldn't quite put a name to. But it was intoxicating, and
he couldn't seem to get enough of it, or of her.
And yet, he knew he had to stop. Now. Before it went too far. As if she had the same
thought, Taylor lifted her head just then to gaze down at him. But to his surprise, he didn't see
hesitation in her blue eyes, or even indecision. Instead, what he saw was the unmistakable look
of desire. She wanted him as much as he wanted her.
"Austin..." she breathed, lowering her head to kiss him again even as she said his name.
Still kissing her, Austin forgot all about his misgivings and slid his hands under her shirt
to cup her breasts. Her nipples immediately pebbled beneath the satin of her bra at his touch, and
he rubbed the pads of his thumbs over the erect little nubs. Her breathing ragged, Taylor broke
the kiss to lift the T-shirt over her head.
From his position on the bed, Austin admired the half-naked woman in front of him.
While the bra she was wearing looked very sexy on Taylor, he wanted to feel her bare breasts in
his hands and taste those pert nipples of hers on his tongue. With that in mind, Austin reached
around to unclasp her bra. It fell away easily, especially since Taylor helped by pushing the
straps off her shoulders.
Naked now except for her skimpy panties, Taylor leaned into Austin's touch with a soft
moan as he took her breasts in his hands again. Neither overly large nor too small, they fit into
his palms perfectly. Rolling one nipple between his thumb and forefinger, he swooped down to
take the other turgid peak in his mouth.
Taylor arched against him, threading her fingers into his hair as he suckled on first one
nipple, and then the other before eventually kissing his way down her taut stomach to the edge of
her bikini panties. Hooking his thumbs in them, he slowly slid them down her legs until they
pooled on the floor at her feet.
"Your so beautiful," he breathed, transfixed by the neatly-trimmed curls at the juncture of
her thighs.
Reaching around to cup her asscheeks again, Austin gently pulled her closer until he
could press a kiss to her pussy. But as the fragrance of arousal met his nose, he knew that one
kiss wouldn't be enough. He had to taste her. Getting to his feet, he pulled back the blanket and
then, swinging Taylor up in his arms, set her down gently in the middle of the huge bed.
Rather than join her there right away however, Austin took a moment to strip off his own
clothes. Taylor's gaze followed his every move, roving appreciatively over his muscular chest,
taut abs, and strong legs before widening at the sight of his hard cock, he noted. His mouth
quirking, he crawled onto the bed, slowly kissing his way up the inside of one shapely leg until
he reached the juncture of her parted thighs.
Austin had no desire to rush their lovemaking. If he was going to do something this
crazy, he was going to do it right. Settling himself between her legs, he gently parted her pussy
lips with his thumbs before lowering his head to slowly run his tongue up the side of one slick
fold and down the other. Taylor moaned and threaded her fingers in his hair, silently begging
him to stop teasing her as she tried to guide his head where she wanted it, but he merely chuckled
softly and continued what he was doing.
The treasure waiting for him amid those folds was too tempting to resist, however, and
Austin finally decided to stop teasing both of them and give her what she wanted most. Parting
her pussy lips wider, he leaned forward to lick her clit with his tongue.
As if she were afraid this was just another form of teasing, Taylor's fingers tightened in
his hair, holding his head in place. Austin, however, had no intention of moving from that spot,
at least not until he had made her scream with pleasure.
Again, though, he took his time, slowly moving his tongue round and around the plump,
little nub until she was moaning. Only when she pleaded with him to go faster, did he oblige, but
just because he could tell she was so close to coming.
A moment later, he heard Taylor cry out as the first waves of orgasm began to roll over
her. Wanting to make it go on and on for her, Austin continued to pleasure her with his tongue,
slowing only after her moans had subsided and she had given his hair a gentle, little tug. Lifting
his head, Austin looked up to find her regarding him with half-closed eyes and a dreamy smile
on her face.
Pressing a gentle kiss to the inside of her thigh, Austin shifted to settle himself between
her legs. As he positioned his erection at the opening of her pussy, Taylor's hands glided up the
front of his chest to settle on his shoulders, silently urging him inside. But as hard and as hot as
he was for her, he knew he would have to take it slowly or he would explode. With that in mind,
he teased her with the head of his cock, rubbing himself along her slit.
"Please, Austin," she begged. "I need to feel you inside me. Now!"
Her words were his undoing, and with a groan, Austin plunged deep inside her in one
swift motion. Beneath him, Taylor gasped, her legs automatically going around him to pull him
in even deeper. Her pussy was so wet, he thought, And so unbelievably tight!
Afraid that if he moved too much he would come right on the spot, Austin started with
slow, shallow thrusts. But Taylor was too hot to be able to keep that up for long, and before he
realized it, he was driving himself into her deeper and faster with each subsequent thrust, sending
them both over the edge within minutes. Their mutual moans of satisfaction were the sexiest
thing he'd ever heard.
Sometime later, as their breathing returned to normal, Austin lowered his head to cover
her mouth with his in a long, drugging kiss. His arms around her, he rolled onto his side, taking
Taylor with him. Neither of them said anything. Instead, they both simply lay there, her head on
his shoulder, his arm holding her close.
While sleeping with a client was definitely wrong, Austin knew he could never truly
regret making love to Taylor this night. It had been amazing. He didn't know if she would feel
the same, though. While she may not have been drunk, she definitely hadn't been acting like
herself. And he had the sinking feeling that, come morning, she was going to be sorry she had
slept with him.
That drink she'd had must have really gone to her head, Taylor thought the next morning
because that was the most vivid dream she had ever had. Not to mention the most erotic. Just the
thought of it had her blushing. Though she couldn't possibly fathom what had made her
subconscious fantasize about Austin Malone. Images of some of the things she and Austin had
done in her dream last night suddenly popped into her head, and her color deepened. How in the
world was she going to be able to look him in the eye after having such an outrageous dream?
Rolling onto her back, Taylor glanced over at the window only to give a start. Beside the
bed, a bare-chested Austin was just pulling his jeans up over his trim hips. He glanced up, his
gaze meeting hers, and she felt herself flush. Oh God, she thought. Last night hadn't been a
dream at all. She had actually slept with Austin Malone! Oh God, what had she done?
"I didn't mean to wake you," he said.
Austin seemed to be as off balance as she was, Taylor thought. "You didn't," she assured
him, pulling the blanket up a little higher to cover her nakedness.
As much as she tried not to let it, Taylor's gaze strayed to Austin's bare chest again as he
shrugged into his shirt and buttoned it. No, it definitely hadn't been a dream; he really was that
gorgeous.
"Why don't I meet you downstairs for breakfast?" he suggested when he had finished
dressing.
Relieved at the suggestion, Taylor gave him a nod as she reached up to tuck her hair
behind her ear. She had been wondering how she was going to get out bed with him standing
there. He might have seen her naked last night, but that didn't mean she would be comfortable
with it this morning. Besides, she needed some time alone to think, and she knew she wouldn't
be doing that as long as Austin was in the room. Every time she looked at him, more memories
of their romp in bed came swirling to the surface. Sure she must be blushing like crazy, she
ducked her head so that her hair fell forward to hide her face.
"I'll see you downstairs," he said. "I'll go ahead and order some coffee."
After Austin had left the room, Taylor let out a groan and flopped back on the pillows.
What had she been thinking, sleeping with Austin? She'd never done anything even
remotely like that before. She hadn't just slept with him, she'd seduced him. And even more out
of character, she had practically begged him to spank her!
Taylor felt her face go red at the memory, not just about asking for the spanking, but
about how much she had enjoyed it. Actually, saying she'd enjoyed it was an understatement.
Her color deepened as she remembered how hot she'd gotten by the sexy combination of
stinging spanks and gentle caresses Austin had lavished on her panty-covered bottom. Even now,
she could feel her pussy beginning to tingle just at the thought of those spanks.
Of course, the tingling in her pussy could also have something to do with the fact that
Austin had totally ravished her last night as well. She'd never had a man make love to her so
thoroughly or so passionately before. If she closed her eyes, she could almost swear she could
still feel him moving inside of her.
Thoughts like that started to get her even more excited and before she even realized what
she was doing, she slid her hand underneath the blanket to begin lazily touching herself.
Oh, stop it! she told herself. She didn't have time for that!
With a groan, Taylor reluctantly dragged herself out of bed and, scooping her clothes up
from the floor where she'd discarded them last night, she padded across the thick carpet into the
adjoining bathroom. While the shower cooled her down, it did nothing to help her figure out how
she was going to deal with the embarrassing situation she'd gotten herself into. How would she
be able to even look at Austin after last night? What must he think of her? On second thought,
she didn't want to know.
Maybe the best thing to do was act as if nothing had happened between them. Hopefully
Austin would get the idea and not bring up the subject himself. Then again, she supposed the
best way to ensure he didn't bring it up would be to keep him talking about other, more
important subjects. Like her sister.
If Taylor had thought it was difficult looking Austin in the eye upstairs in the hotel room,
that was nothing compared to how difficult it was when she was actually seated across the table
from him several minutes later. She couldn't look at him without blushing from head to toe!
Thankfully, the coffee the waitress had poured as soon as Taylor had sat down gave her
something else to focus on, and she busied herself with adding cream and sugar to it. She ended
up adding too much of both, but she couldn't seem to focus on what she was doing. Setting the
spoon on the table, she picked up the mug of coffee and took a long sip before setting it back
down. Definitely too much cream and sugar, she thought.
The silence between her and Austin stretched on and on until it became so awkward that
she finally had to say something.
"I'm going to Mexico to find my sister," she announced abruptly.
Across from her, Austin looked at her in surprise, his own mug halfway to his mouth.
"Last night, you seemed fine with your sister getting married."
Taylor frowned slightly. True, they had talked a lot about the subject when they were in
the hotel bar last night, but she didn't remember ever coming out and saying that. "Well, now
that I've had a chance to think about it, I've decided I have to find my sister and try to talk some
sense into her."
He set his mug down on the table with a thump. "Don't you think it would make more
sense to wait until she came home?"
She leveled her gaze at him. "No, I don't" she insisted. "The longer I wait, the harder it
will be to get this ridiculous marriage of hers annulled."
Austin's eyes went wide. "Annulled? That's a little extreme, don't you think? Your sister
is an adult, after all."
"An adult who is obviously prone to making poor decisions. My sister is probably
already regretting marrying this creep!" she snapped, and then sighed. "And if she isn't, she
should be. Do you know how many marriages end in divorce these days? More than half. And
for a couple their age, that number is even higher."
"Not all couples get divorced, Taylor," he pointed out. "My parents have been married
for over forty years and they're still going strong."
Taylor blinked. That explained why Austin was so high on the idea of marriage, she
supposed. She took her napkin and placed it on her lap. "Then they're the exception, not the rule.
And I have no doubt they probably put a whole lot more thought into getting married than my
sister did."
He shrugged. "Probably," he agreed. "But that doesn't mean your sister's marriage won't
work out. They could be soul mates for all we know."
She frowned. "I wouldn't take you for the warm, fuzzy romantic type," she said
sarcastically. "The idea of soul mates might sound good in the movies, but this is the real world,
Austin. Tiffany and this guy are both in college. Hell, they're both freshmen! They'll have a hard
time just finishing school. How the heck are they going to support themselves with both of them
going to school? And how are they going to keep up with their classes? And what if my sister
gets pregnant?" That thought brought her to an abrupt halt. "Oh God, what if that's why they got
married? What if this creep got her pregnant?"
Austin's brow furrowed. "I read her diary, remember? I think she would have written
about something like that in there. From what I did read, your sister seems like she's a very
responsible person, so I doubt she got herself pregnant." He reached across the table to cover
Taylor's hand with his. "Tiffany didn't marry Andrew Wallace because she had to, she married
him because she wanted to, Taylor. You know, true love does exist in the world."
Taylor gazed down at his hand, so big and strong, and yet so gentle as it covered hers,
and she couldn't help but remember how those hands of his had felt on her body the night before.
And for some absurd reason, that talk of true love sounded almost possible when he said it.
Which was just foolish! Annoyed with herself for letting him get to her, she snatched her hand
out from under his.
"My sister is too young and immature to know what true love is!" Taylor snapped.
"Which is why I'm going down to Mexico to talk some sense into her!"
Austin's mouth tightened, but whether he was perturbed because she'd snatched her hand
away from his, or because she was determined to go after her sister, Taylor didn't know.
"You don't even know where your sister is," he pointed out. "How the heck do you
expect to find her?"
Taylor shrugged. "I know she's in San Luis something or other. It shouldn't be that hard
to find her in some dinky, little Mexican town like that."
"San Luis Rio Colorado," Austin told her. "And it isn't some dinky, little Mexican town.
It's a city. There's no way you'll be able to find her."
She was silent as she considered his words. He was right. She didn't know the first thing
about finding her sister. Heck, she didn't even speak Spanish! But he could find her. "You could
find her for me," she pointed out.
His eyes narrowed. "No."
"Why not?" she demanded. "I'll pay you."
"It's not about the money. It's because you're being foolish," he said. "Your sister is an
adult who got married of her own free will, and I'm not going down to Mexico to drag her back
just because you can't stand the fact that she's finally decided to live her own life and stopped
asking you for permission every time she wants to do something."
Taylor felt a little stab of hurt at his words. She didn't know what she had expected
really, but after they had spent the night together, she just naturally assumed he might care
enough to help her. Apparently, the sex hadn't been as good for him as it had for her, she thought
bitterly.
"Fine!" she snapped. "I'll go myself then!"
Without waiting for a reply, she picked up her napkin and tossed it on the table. Pushing
back her chair, she got to her feet and stormed out of the restaurant. Damn Austin Malone, she
thought. She didn't need him or his help; she could find her sister all on her own!
"Taylor, wait!" Austin called from behind her.
But she ignored him to continue across the lobby. A moment later, she felt a hand on her
arm. Eyes flashing, she spun around to glare up at Austin, all ready to argue with him, but his
next words surprised her.
"All right, I'll go to Mexico with you and help you look for your sister," he said. "But
after that, you're on your own. I'm not going to help you drag her back to LA against her will.
Understood?"
Taylor nodded, mutely, relieved Austin had agreed to go with her, but a little hurt as well.
She'd been on her own for so long that she should be used to it, but after last night, she had this
ridiculous idea that he might be someone she could actually depend on.
Though he and Taylor wouldn't need passports to get into Mexico, they would need them
to get back out. So they had to make a long detour back to LA before heading down to San Luis
Rio Colorado. While it would have been easier to drive down to Mexico directly from Vegas,
Austin was actually glad they had to go back to LA for a couple of reasons. One, he was hoping
Taylor would come to her senses and change her mind about going after her sister. And two, he
was hoping Tiffany and her husband would already be back from their honeymoon so they
wouldn't have to go chasing after the girl. He was out of luck on both fronts however, so after
dropping Taylor's car off at her apartment and picking up her passport, they made a quick stop at
his place before heading down to Mexico.
Austin gave Taylor a sidelong glance as he drove. She hadn't said a word since they'd
left LA, but simply sat with her arms folded and stared out the side window. He didn't even
know why he had agreed to go with her. Maybe because he knew that if he didn't, she would
probably end up getting herself into trouble down there. She just seemed to have a knack for that.
There was more to it than that, though. She was more than just a client now. And it wasn't just
the fact that they'd slept together, either. He'd been feeling something developing between them
since Taylor had first walked into his office, and even though he was against the idea of going
down to Mexico to chase after her sister, he was even more uncomfortable with the idea of
letting her go alone. He felt protective of her, he realized.
Austin's gaze went to Taylor again, and he wondered if he should make another attempt
to try and talk her out of going after her sister, but then quickly decided against it. Taylor wasn't
just determined, she was obsessive about protecting her sister. But after the conversation they'd
had last night, he supposed he could understand where that came from. Besides, if he did try to
talk Taylor out of it again, they would only end up getting in an argument, and he didn't really
feel like fighting with her all the way to Mexico. Then again, an argument like that might be
interesting if it led to him giving her another spanking.
As he drove, Austin let the fantasy play in his head. He cut out all the boring parts and
skipped right to the part where he pulled his SUV over to the side of the road right in the middle
of their argument. He would walk around and haul a very surprised Taylor out to the front of the
Jeep and bend her over the hood for a good, sound spanking. She would protest, of course,
saying that anyone could come by and see, but Austin would only chuckle and ignore her
complaints, saying that there was no one around for miles.
Then he would promptly spank her.
As the fantasy continued to play out in his head, Austin could imagine making Taylor as
hot and eager from the spanking as she'd been the night before. He would hold her firmly in
place with one hand while bringing the other down over and over on her upturned bottom. But
the spanks wouldn't be all that hard, and soon her yelps of protest would quickly become moans
of pleasure. That thought immediately got him hard and he had to shift in his seat to get more
comfortable.
Austin wondered if he should turn on the radio or stick in a CD to distract himself, but he
decided against it. Daydreaming about spanking the beautiful woman sitting beside him was
much more enjoyable.
Letting his thoughts flow freely, Austin pictured himself reaching around Taylor's
slender waist to undo the buttons of her jeans. And while she might not have been compliant and
willing when he first pulled her out of the Jeep a moment ago, now she would be eager, even
helping him to push down her jeans.
Abruptly remembering how incredible Taylor had looked in those skimpy bikini panties
in the hotel room the night before, Austin had to stifle a groan as he pictured himself caressing
her panty-covered bottom.
In his mind, he gave Taylor's ass a gentle squeeze and she let out a soft moan of pleasure.
Taking that as an invitation, Austin would give her cheeks another squeeze before continuing the
spanking. He'd move from one cheek to the other, the smacks firm but not overly hard, and
Taylor would push her ass up higher in the air, eager for more.
And Austin would give her more, but not before slowly lowering her tiny, black panties
to mid-thigh. Her bottom bare, Taylor would give him a sexy look over her shoulder, her blue
eyes regarding him from beneath a fringe of dark lashes. It was the same look she'd given him
after last night's spanking, and in his fantasy, Austin forgot all about continuing the spanking as
he imagined unbuttoning his jeans to free his hard cock and plunge slowly into her.
"Can't you go any faster?"
Austin was so caught up in his thoughts that for a moment he didn't even realize Taylor
had spoken.
He glanced at her. "What?" he said, his voice coming out a little unsteady.
"I asked why you're going so slow It'll take forever to get to the Mexican border at this
speed," she said, impatience clear in her tone.
Austin glanced down at the speedometer to see that while he'd been fantasizing, he had
slowed down to below fifty miles an hour. "I was just enjoying the scenery," he said.
Taylor frowned as she looked around at the open expanse of desert surrounding them.
"What scenery?" she said. "There's nothing to see."
The corner of Austin's mouth edged up as he picked up speed. "I don't know about that,"
he said. "You just have to use your imagination."
The sun was just setting by the time they arrived in San Luis Rio Colorado. Though it had
actually taken less than an hour to reach the Mexican border, they were held up by the long line
of cars crossing into the country. That had only served to make Taylor more impatient and as
she'd ranted at him, Austin had been tempted to pull over to the side of the road and drag her
over his knee right there. He had resisted the urge though, but just barely.
Once in the city, Austin pulled into the parking lot of the first reputable hotel they came
across. As big as San Luis was, it could take days to find Taylor's sister, so it made sense to
check into a hotel.
"What are you doing?" Taylor demanded when Austin told the desk clerk they would like
to check into the hotel instead of asking the man if he'd seen the two college kids.
"Getting us some rooms," Austin said. When she frowned, he added, "It's going to take
awhile to track down your sister and her husband, so we're going to need a place to stay."
Apparently that must have satisfied her because she made no other comment until the
desk clerk had handed them two room keys.
"Aren't you going to show Tiffany's picture to him?" she asked as the man behind the
counter moved off to answer the telephone, which had begun ringing.
Austin shook his head. "This place is way too pricey for two college kids on a budget to
afford," he said. "We'll ask around at the less expensive hotels."
"Dives, you mean," Taylor muttered as they walked back outside.
The city of San Luis Rio Colorado had a lot of hotels in the price range they were looking
for however, so Austin wasn't surprised when he and Taylor came up with nothing at the first
dozen they went to.
"This is getting us nowhere," Taylor said as they made their way down the sidewalk.
"We don't even know for sure that they came to San Luis."
Austin gave her a sidelong glance. "The woman at the wedding chapel back in Vegas
seemed pretty sure that's where your sister and her husband were going," he said. "But San Luis
is a big city, so like I said before, it could take a long time to find them. That's if they haven't
already headed back to LA. All we can do is keep checking out the places where they might be
staying." He paused. "Look, I could use something to eat, and I'm sure you could, too. Why
don't we take a break, find a restaurant, and then we'll check out hotels for the rest of the night?"
He thought Taylor would protest, but to his surprise, she nodded in agreement.
Remembering they'd passed a fairly decent looking cantina a couple of blocks back, Austin led
her back in the direction they had come.
The place was dimly lit inside, but since it was already dark out, their eyes adjusted to
their new surroundings quickly enough. Spotting a table in the back corner, Austin automatically
placed his hand on Taylor's back to urge her in that direction when she stopped in her tracks.
"Oh my God," she breathed. "That's her! That's my sister!"
Austin followed Taylor's gaze to the dark-haired girl sitting at one of the tables in the
center of the room. Though there was no way for him to tell if it was Tiffany or not since she was
sitting with her back to them, he definitely recognized the blond-haired man with her as Andrew
Wallace.
Without another word, Taylor squared her shoulders and marched directly over to their
table. Austin let out a groan as he followed. This was going to be ugly, he could tell already.
The couple was so immersed in each other that neither of them even noticed him and
Taylor until they were standing right beside the table. Even then, it took a moment for Tiffany to
tear her gaze away from her husband. When she finally did look up, her eyes went wide with
surprise.
"Taylor!" she gasped, jumping to her feet. "What are you doing here?"
Taylor folded her arms to glare down at her sister. "Praying that I was wrong about you
making the biggest mistake of your life," she said. "Though it looks like you already did. My
God, Tiffany, what were you thinking, running off to get married without even telling me?!"
Tiffany, who was practically a carbon copy of her sister in looks to begin with, folded her
arms, mirroring Taylor's pose exactly. "Why would I tell you when I knew this is exactly how
you would react?"
"And how did you expect me to react, Tiffany?" Taylor shouted back.
Everyone in the cantina had stopped what they were doing to stare at the two women.
Poor Andrew looked like he was torn between jumping to his wife's defense and crawling under
the table. Austin was tempted to join him under there himself. Taylor was making a complete
fool of herself, and she wasn't letting up.
"You're a nineteen-year-old college freshman," Taylor continued. "You're supposed to
be focusing on your education, not running off to marry the first frat boy who asked you out!"
Hurt flashed across the younger girl's face for just a moment before it was quickly
replaced by anger again. "Andrew isn't some frat boy I met at a party!" she said. "For your
information, he's a pre-med student and we're both carrying a four-point-o average. Not that it's
any of your business. I married him because we're in love, and nothing you say will ever change
that!"
Taylor's eyes narrowed. "In love? What the heck do you know about love? You're just a
kid for heaven's sake!"
Tiffany gave her sister a disdainful look. "I'm not a kid! I'm a year older than you were
when you made the very adult decision to raise me all on your own. So I think that makes me old
enough to run my own life. And when it comes to love, I know a hell of a lot more than you do,"
she sneered. "Tell me, sis, when was the last time you even went out with a guy?"
Austin wondered if he should step in and point out that the cantina was not the right place
to be having this conversation, but from the look on the women's faces, he knew that neither one
of them would listen to what he had to say.
Taylor flushed at the other girl's question. "We're not talking about me!" she snapped.
"We're talking about you and the mess you're making of your life. Can't you see how this is
going to play out, Tiff? He's going to use you and make you dependent on him, and then when
he gets you pregnant, he's going to leave you. Where will you be then?" She gave her sister's
husband a scathing look, before turning her attention back to the girl. "I'll tell you where you'll
be. You'll drop out of college and go to work at some minimum-wage job which won't even
cover the cost of the day-care your son or daughter will need."
Austin saw Tiffany flinch at her sister's harsh words. This was getting even uglier than
he'd thought it would. It was time for him to put a stop to it.
"I think that's enough, Taylor," he said firmly.
"This is none of your business!" she snapped, barely glancing at him before turning her
attention back to her sister. "Tiffany needs to hear this. It's obvious she's been living in a fairytale
world where she thinks all men are Prince Charming."
Tiffany looked at her sister furiously. "I'm not naïve, and I was never looking for Prince
Charming, just a good, caring partner that I can go through life with."
Taylor gave the blond-haired man a dubious look. "If he's as good and caring as you say
he is, then why did he take you to a backwater dump like this place for your honeymoon? For
God's sake, Tiffany, I'm surprised they even have running water here!"
At that, an angry mutter began to rumble through the crowd of locales in the cantina.
Shit, Austin thought. This conversation had just taken an unexpected turn for the worse. He
turned back to the two women to tell them that this had to stop immediately, but Tiffany had
already reached for Andrew's hand and was pulling him to his feet.
She glared at Taylor. "This is exactly why I haven't been able to talk to you about
anything important in years," she told her sister. "I appreciate the fact that you raised me after
Mom was gone, Taylor, but I stopped needing a mother a long time ago. I needed a friend and a
sister, and you were never either of those things. You've might have given up on love, but I
haven't. Not every man out there is like our father was. I can't believe I even have to tell you
this, but there are actually some really great guys out there. You're so bitter and cynical though,
that you wouldn't know a good man if you fell over him. Well, I'm not going to let you pull me
into that pit of despair you seem to enjoy wallowing in. When we get back to LA, I don't ever
want to see you again.
Tiffany literally pulled Andrew out of the cantina before her sister could even reply, and
all Taylor could do was watch the couple go, a stunned look on her face. Austin didn't know
what had surprised Taylor more. What Tiffany had said to her, or that her sister would have the
nerve to walk out in the middle of their argument. Her face determined, Taylor started to follow,
but Austin caught her arm.
"Let her go, Taylor," he said.
Taylor glared up at him. "Let go of me! I'm not done talking to her."
Jerking her arm out of his grasp, Taylor turned to storm out of the cantina after her sister,
but pulled up short at the group of angry looking men blocking her path.
"Excuse me," she said, irritation plain on her face.
The hair on the back of Austin's neck stood up as he suddenly realized the whole cantina
was regarding them with open hostility. He had better diffuse this quickly or things were going
to go from hostile to violent in a flash.
Austin moved to step in front of Taylor, his hands raised in a placating gesture, but she
seemed to be completely oblivious to the danger they were in. Before Austin could say anything,
Taylor stepped forward and tried to push past the men in front of her.
"Get out of my way!" she ordered. "I have to go after my sister."
That was the worst possible thing to do, of course. Austin had just enough time to grab
her and pull her back before a glass came hurtling toward them. It flew right through the spot
where Taylor had been standing and would have hit her in the head if he hadn't snatched her out
of the way.
Snarling obscenities in Spanish, a small group of the angry men charged at him and
Taylor.
Austin didn't think, but just reacted, punching anyone and everyone that got close to
them. He heard Taylor scream and could only hope that she was smart enough to stay close to
him as the whole cantina erupted into bedlam. The moment a clear space opened around them,
Austin grabbed Taylor's hand and began to drag her toward the exit. Their escape was slowed at
least half a dozen times as men threw themselves at Austin, trying to pull him down under a
wave of bodies.
Somehow, Austin kept his feet and managed to get both of them through the front door.
Outside, he could already hear the sounds of police sirens coming up the street. Still dragging
Taylor behind him, he took off at a run in the opposite direction. He didn't slow down until they
were at least four blocks away from the cantina and all sounds of the fighting had receded behind
them.
Taylor tossed her purse onto the bed the minute they walked into her room. "Can you
believe my sister?" she fumed, whirling around to face Austin. "She just walked out on me when
I was talking to her!"
Austin looked at her as if stunned by what she'd just said. "What the hell is the matter
with you?" he demanded. "You started a brawl back there that almost got us killed and all you
can think about is that your sister walked out on you in the middle of an argument?"
She was taken aback by the anger in his voice. "It wasn't an argument," she protested. "I
was just trying to make her see what a terrible mistake she's making. And as far as that fight
goes, I didn't have anything to do with that. As I tend to remember, you were doing the fighting,
not me."
"Only because you insulted them by calling their city a backwater dump, and then tried to
shove your way past them as if they didn't even exist," Austin said. "I had no choice but to fight
our way out of there."
Taylor stood for a moment, her hands on her hips as she replayed the argument she'd had
with her sister over in her head again. "I don't remember saying anything like that, and it doesn't
really matter anyway," she said. "I still need to get a few things straight with my sister."
Tiffany may have walked out on their conversation, Taylor thought, but she was far from
done with having her say. Muttering under her breath, she headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Austin asked as she walked past him.
"To find my sister," she said.
Austin grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. "No, you're not," he said firmly.
Taylor was in no mood for this. "I wasn't asking for your permission," she snapped,
trying to jerk her arm free of his grasp. "Let go of me!"
He tightened his hold on her, not enough to hurt her, but enough so that it was impossible
for her to get free. "Not until you come to your senses," he told her. "The way you're acting
now, you'll be lucky if you don't start another brawl before you get half a dozen blocks. That's
not counting what will happen if you run across any of those men from the cantina. You're not
their favorite person right now. And you're definitely not your sister's favorite person right now.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you keep trying to talk your sister out of her
marriage, the only thing you'll end up doing is pushing her away even more than you already
have."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't need you to tell me how to take care of my sister!"
she said hotly. "Now, let go of me!"
Austin clenched his jaw. "I thought we had gotten past this, but I can see that there's only
one way to get through to you," he muttered.
Before Taylor even realized what he was doing, Austin had sat down on the straightbacked
chair over by the desk and was dragging her over his knee. Though she supposed she
should have been used to being in that position by now, she found herself struggling just the
same. Putting her hand on his thigh, she tried to push herself off his lap, to no avail.
"Austin, let me up right now!" she demanded. "I don't have time for this!"
"You'll have to make time then," Austin growled, giving her a hard smack on her the
right cheek, which was quickly followed by another to the left.
"Owwwww!" she squealed. "Let go of me!"
"Not until I get you to see what a fool you've been acting like," he told her, peppering her
bottom with rapid-fire spanks that quickly had her squirming all over his lap.
"Austin, please!" she begged. "That stings!"
But he ignored her protest, delivering another set of sharp smacks to her jean-clad bottom
before finally setting her back on her feet. Taylor immediately reached back to cup her throbbing
bottom. While he might not have given her that many smacks, the ones he'd had administered
had been hard enough to make her ass feel like she'd sat on a red-hot stove.
"Now, you listen to me," Austin said. "If you continue to fight your sister on this, you're
going to lose her for good. She's an adult and she doesn't need you or anyone else telling her
how to run her life."
Taylor glared up at him. "And I don't need you telling me how to deal with my sister! If I
want to go after her, I will!"
Austin said nothing for so long that Taylor thought he might grab her and spank her
again, but instead, he just shook his head.
"Do whatever the hell you want, because I'm done with this whole thing," he said.
Brushing past Taylor, Austin strode over to the door, only to turn back around once he
had yanked it open.
"I didn't really want to believe it, but Tiffany is right about you," he said. "You are bitter
and cynical. And it's probably going to cost you your sister. And you know, she's right about
something else, too. You really wouldn't know a good man if you fell over him."
With that, he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Taylor stared at the door, unable to believe Austin had just walked out on her, too. And
after saying all those nasty things about her on top of it. She really shouldn't be surprised, she
supposed. After all, he was nothing more than a private detective she had paid to find her sister.
Sleeping together hadn't changed any of that.
But just because she knew that, it didn't make it hurt any less. Taylor felt tears starting in
her eyes. Austin's harsh words, along with the argument she'd had with Tiffany, were suddenly
just too much for her. It felt like everyone was just ganging up on her, and right now all she
wanted to do was just flop down on the bed and cry.
She frowned suddenly as a noise outside the door caught her attention. Maybe that was
Austin coming back to apologize to her, she thought. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Taylor
started for the door, only to gasp when it burst open.
Two Mexicans stood there, one short and stocky, the other taller and whipcord lean, and
she immediately recognized them as some of the men that Austin had gotten into a fight with
back at the cantina.
What could they possibly want with her? she wondered. Suddenly, Austin's words came
back to her. You're not their favorite person right now, he'd told her. Oh no!
Austin regretted what he'd said the moment he had stormed out of Taylor's room. But
he'd just been so damn frustrated with her that he knew if he didn't get out of there, he might say
something even more hurtful, and he hadn't wanted to do that. So, he had come down to the
hotel bar to have a drink and clear his head. But the whiskey he'd ordered still sat untouched in
front of him, and as he gazed down at the amber liquid, he asked himself why he cared so much
about a woman who irritated him like she did. Not to mention one with so much baggage. She
was stubborn, controlling, cynical, and just all-around infuriating. But she was also beautiful and
sexy, and underneath all those layers of protection that she'd wrapped herself in, there was a
woman who just really needed to be loved.
Taylor had built her entire adult life around taking care of her sister, and now she was
probably starting to realize that her sister didn't need her in that way anymore. That had to be
tough for Taylor to take, and it was likely that she wasn't ready to accept it yet. He wouldn't be
surprised if she tried to talk to her sister again as soon as she could. That thought suddenly made
alarm bells go off in his head. What if Taylor had gone after her sister on her own? San Luis
wasn't necessarily a bad town, but there were plenty of places a person wouldn't want to stumble
into this late at night. And he hadn't been kidding when he'd said the locals back at that cantina
didn't think too much of her right now. If she ran across any of them in the wrong situation, she
could be in for a lot of trouble.
Swearing under his breath, Austin left the bar and quickly made his way back upstairs to
Taylor's room. When he reached it however, he found the door ajar. Frowning, he slowly pushed
the door open.
"Taylor?" he called, and then froze.
Taylor's small, neatly-furnished hotel room looked nothing like it had when he'd last
been inside it. The blanket was half off the bed, the lamp was on the floor, and the straightbacked
chair he'd sat on when he had spanked her before was lying on its side.
His gut clenched. What the hell had happened in here? His first thought was that Taylor
had thrown a tantrum and trashed the room, but that didn't fit with her personality. She might
yell and scream, but she wasn't the type to do this. Which meant someone else must have. Had
that someone grabbed Taylor? Dammit, he should never have left her alone!
Cursing his own stupidity, Austin turned on his heel to head down the hallway only to
jerk to a halt when he realized there was a little boy standing across from Taylor's room.
"Are you looking for the woman?" the boy asked in Spanish.
"Si," Austin said. "Do you know where she is?"
The boy shook his head. "No, but a man told me to give this to you when you came
back."
As he spoke, the boy held out a folded piece of paper. Austin eyed it for a moment before
reaching out to take it. As soon as he did, the boy bolted, running down the hallway as fast as his
legs would take him. Austin waited until the boy had disappeared around the corner before he
unfolded the piece of paper.
We have your mujer, the note read. If you want her back, you will come to the old,
abandoned building two streets down from the cantina you were in tonight. Bring money.
Austin balled the paper in his fist. Shit! he thought. He had known those guys at the
cantina were trouble, but the thought that they might retaliate in some way hadn't even crossed
his mind. Because he'd been too preoccupied with Taylor, he thought. And now, they had taken
her.
He wondered if he should go to the local police, but then quickly decided against it. They
would probably tell him that he was overreacting and that his girlfriend was out getting drunk
somewhere. Wait until morning, they would say. Well, he didn't have time to wait. Which meant
he would have to do this himself.
Of course, he would have felt a hell of a lot more confident about walking into this if
he'd had a gun, Austin thought as he hurried down the back stairs and out to his Wrangler. But
the border patrol tended to frown on that sort of thing, so he hadn't brought it. Then again, he
hadn't thought he'd need it since he was on the trail of a couple of runaway college kids.
He didn't have a weapon though, which meant he would have to improvise. That was
usually something he was good at, but all he could seem to focus on at the moment was Taylor
and what those bastards might be doing to her. If they had hurt her, he would kill them.
It wasn't hard to figure out which abandoned building the note had been referring to since
two men were standing guard outside the front entrance. Austin shook his head. Despite what the
note had said, he was starting to doubt these guys were really after money. It seemed more likely
they just wanted to get their hands on the guy who had embarrassed them back at the cantina.
With that thought in mind, there was no way he was just going to walk in the front door. Turning
down a side street, he parked alongside the curb.
Getting out of the SUV, Austin cautiously made his way down the street and around to
the back of the building. To his relief, there weren't any guards posted there. Careful to stay to
the shadows, he cautiously made his way over to the row of windows along the back wall.
Trying to look through the window was risky and it meant that someone might see him, but he
wanted to make sure that Taylor was inside.
The windows were dirty and he had to wipe one of the panes clean before he could see
anything at all. What he did see when he finally managed to get the glass clean made him go
cold. Taylor was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, her wrists bound behind her back, a
cloth gag stuffed into her mouth. A man stood in front of her, and in the half light, Austin
recognized him as one of the men he had gotten into the scuffle with back at the cantina.
Two more men came into view behind the first just then, and Austin swore under his
breath. With the guards out front that made it five to one in their favor, he thought. If he had any
hope of getting Taylor out of there, then he was going to have to come up with a plan, and a
damn good one at that.
Taylor had put up a fight back at the hotel, but in the end, she'd been no match for the
two men. One had grabbed her from behind to clamp a hand over her mouth, while the other had
captured her flailing legs in the curve of his arm to help carry her bodily from the room. She'd
been too frightened to give much thought to where they were taking her, but she vaguely
remembered being carried down a flight of stairs and dumped in the back of a car, where the two
men had kept her subdued while a third did the driving. Then it was into some old building,
where they had pushed her down onto a chair, tied her wrists behind her back and shoved a gag
into her mouth.
Unable to even ask what they wanted with her, Taylor could only sit there trembling with
fear. She desperately wished that one of the men would say something, but they simply eyed her
coldly and talked amongst themselves in Spanish. Though she spoke a little of the language, they
were talking way too fast for her to understand what they were saying. From the way their eyes
kept straying to her though, it was obvious she was the topic of their conversation. Then again,
maybe it was a good thing her Spanish was so poor because she had the feeling she didn't really
want to know what they were saying.
Abruptly, the door opened and a tall, broad-shouldered man strode into the building. The
other men fell silent at his entrance, Taylor noticed. Which meant that he was probably the leader
of their little gang. As he came to a stop in front of her, she recognized him as the man who had
thrown the first punch at Austin in the cantina earlier that night. From what Taylor could
remember, Austin had slugged him pretty hard. If the big bruise that was covering half the man's
face was any indication, the blow must have done a lot of damage. Even with one of his eyes
swelled almost shut, she could still tell he was furious. And the look he gave her was enough to
make her tremble.
Even as terrified as she was, Taylor tried hard to give him a defiant look above the gag,
but her show of bravado must have only amused him because he chuckled.
"You don't have much to say now, do you, chica?" he said in heavily accented English.
"But back in the cantina, you had a lot to say, no?"
As he spoke, he reached out to run a finger down her cheek. His touch wasn't gentle, and
Taylor instinctively jerked away from it, but he only caught her chin in his hand and held her
still. Though she tried, she couldn't stifle the little whimper that escaped her lips. These men
could do anything they wanted to her, she thought, and there was nothing she could do to stop
them.
The man grinned down at her. "Well, you messed with the wrong hombres, chica, and
now it is payback time."
Taylor's mouth went dry. Oh God. They were going to kill her, she thought. All because
she'd called their town a backwater dump. That was crazy!
"But first," her captor continued. "We have to wait for your man to get here."
She blinked in surprise, which made him chuckle again.
"You didn't think we forgot about him, did you, chica?" the man snarled. "He made a
fool of us in front of the whole cantina. We're going to make him pay for that, and then we're
going to make him watch while we have our fun with you." An evil laugh rumbled deep in his
chest. "You're going to be sorry you messed with us, chica."
Giving her chin a rough jerk, he walked off to go talk to the other men on the far side of
the room.
Taylor felt sick. She didn't know what terrified her more, the thought of what the men
were going to do to her, or of what they were going to do to Austin.
That realization surprised her a little. Yes, she and Austin had slept together, but she
hadn't been aware she had begun to feel something for him. When had she started to care for the
private detective so much? she wondered.
A thought suddenly occurred to her then. What made the Mexicans so sure Austin would
come looking for her? For all she knew, Austin might have left and gone back to LA after he'd
stormed out of her room. She had said some pretty nasty things to him tonight; she honestly
couldn't blame him if he had gone back to the states. Even so, she felt a tightening in her chest at
the thought he had just up and left her all alone in a foreign country. If he had though, then he
would be safe. That was something at least.
Taylor swallowed hard as something else occurred to her. In the past hour, she had just
alienated the only two people in the world who cared about her. If something did happen to her,
would either of them even miss her? The thought that they probably wouldn't hurt more than
anything else and she had to fight back tears.
Of course, even if Austin hadn't left, there was nothing to say he could even find her. She
had to accept the fact that she was on her own.
But what could she do? She was obviously no match for all of these men, but that didn't
mean she was just going sit there and wait for them to do whatever it was they were going to do
to her. Knowing it was probably futile, she began to try to work her wrists free of the bonds.
Keeping one eye on the men, she jerked on the ropes as hard as she could. But after several
minutes, all she had succeeded in doing was chafing the skin on her wrists raw. It was no use; the
ropes were tied too tightly for her to ever be able to get loose.
Taylor blinked back tears of frustration. She was going to die here in this abandoned
building, she thought, all because she had made some snide comment in a fit of anger. And the
worse part was that neither her sister nor Austin would ever know how sorry she was for the
hateful things she had said to them. If she got out of this, she would do things differently, she
promised herself.
Taylor was so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn't hear the soft crackling sound
behind her. Her gaze went to the men, wondering if they had heard it, but they were still talking
amongst themselves. Maybe she had just imagined the noise, she told herself. But then she heard
it again, even louder this time. What was that? she wondered.
Tied with her hands behind her back like she was, Taylor couldn't turn around very far in
the chair, but what she saw made her eyes go wide. Wisps of smoke were curling through the
gaps in the wallboards. In seconds, flames appeared to work their way up the wall behind her.
She watched in horror as smoke began to cloud the room. Oh God, the building was on fire!
Terrified, Taylor jerked her head back around to look at the men, hoping they'd seen the
flames too, but they seemed to be oblivious. What the heck was wrong with them? Didn't they
smell the smoke? Silently cursing the gag in her mouth, she tried to make some noise around it.
But it took forever for the men to hear her muffled cries, and when they finally did, they stared in
wide-eyed shock before they all turned and bolted from the building.
They'd left her there to die! Not that she should be surprised, since they had been going
to kill her anyway, Taylor thought bitterly. Fighting the surge of panic that threatened to take
hold of her, she once again went to work on the ropes that bound her wrists, this time with even
more frenzy. She didn't care how much the ropes dug into her wrists, she just had to get out of
there!
But Taylor had barely started to struggle when she felt strong hands grabbing her arms.
Startled, she jerked her head around to see which of the men had come back for her, and was
stunned to find Austin crouched down behind her chair. He was untying her!
Austin wasted no time untying the ropes that bound Taylor's wrists. As soon as he got
them off, she reached up to pull the gag from her mouth. A moment later, she was out of the
chair and in his arms.
"Oh God, Austin," she said, her words muffled against his shirt. "I thought you'd left
me!"
Austin stared down at the top of her head in disbelief. Had she really thought he would
just leave her in Mexico? Knowing then was not the time to get into a lengthy conversation with
her about it, he set her away from.
"Come on," he said. "We need to get out of here."
Taking her hand, Austin quickly led her back the way he'd come. He hadn't really
wanted to start the fire, but he'd needed a distraction to get the men out of the building, and
setting the fire had been the only way he could think of to do it. And when it came right down to
it, he knew he would do anything to save Taylor's life.
By the time they jumped through the back door he had come in, the flames were already
engulfing most of the building. He didn't let Taylor slow down for even a minute, though.
Instead, he pulled her as fast as she could run until he got back to his SUV.
Putting her in the Wrangler, Austin hurried around to the other side and jumped in. While
the men might have run, that didn't mean they wouldn't come back, and he didn't want to be
there if they did.
Austin gave Taylor a sidelong glance as he drove. She was huddled on the seat trembling,
her arms wrapped around herself as she stared straight ahead.
"Did they hurt you?" he asked.
She shook her head. "N-no."
Thank God, Austin thought.
"H-how did you find me?" Taylor asked, turning her head to look at him.
He glanced in the rearview mirror to make sure no one was following them. "Those
bastards left a message saying they had you and that they wanted me to meet them with money."
Austin waited for Taylor to say something in reply, but she made no comment.
"Did you really think I'd left you?" he asked after a moment.
Taylor was silent for so long that Austin didn't think she would answer, but then her
shoulders lifted in a little shrug. "Yeah," she said in a small voice.
Austin had no reply to that. He shouldn't be surprised to hear she would think that, he
supposed. Taylor didn't think much of men, and that obviously included him. He didn't know
why he'd ever thought there could be any kind of future with her.
The silence stretched out for miles, and the farther they drove, the harder it was to break
it. Taylor knew she should say something to Austin, but she just didn't know how to begin.
Should she just tell him that she was sorry? But what would she apologize for first? For telling
him that her relationship with her sister was none of his business? Or for starting the argument in
the cantina? Or for simply getting him involved in this wild goose chase to begin with?
But one look at Austin's clenched jaw made Taylor doubt he would accept her apology
anyway. She had almost gotten him killed, not once, but twice. Why would he want to have
anything else to do with her once they got back to LA?
That thought made her extremely sad. For the dozenth time, she wondered what it was
about him that had her wishing things could be different. She considered and discarded a lot of
reasons one after another. She certainly hadn't liked him when they'd first met, but when she'd
been sitting there tied to that chair, she had finally realized how important he had become to her.
He was the guy she had been looking for her whole life. Which was kind of funny, considering
she hadn't even known she'd been searching.
Austin was the first man she had ever allowed to get close to her, the first man she felt
she could one day come to trust completely. The first man she could see herself sharing her life
with. But after the way she had acted, she knew she had ruined any chance she might have had
with him.
Taylor was so lost in thought that she didn't even realize they had gotten back to LA until
they stopped in front of her apartment building. She and Austin both sat there in silence. Though
she wanted to say something, part of her wished he would make it easy on her by saying
something first. When he didn't, she opened the door and stepped out.
"Taylor."
At the sound of her name, hope surged within her and she turned to look at Austin
expectantly.
"You should do yourself a favor and go see your sister," he said, his gaze fixed straight
ahead. "Soon, before it's too late."
Taylor waited for him to say more, but he didn't. Not trusting herself to speak, she only
nodded as she closed the door. A moment later, Austin put the SUV in gear and drove away.
Taylor didn't think she had ever been as miserable as she was watching those tail lights
disappear.
It took some time, but in the end, Taylor took Austin's advice and went to see her sister.
Of course, it took a week for her to finally get up the courage to do it. Taylor tried to tell herself
it was because she wasn't sure if her sister had gotten back from Mexico yet, but the real reason
she hadn't gone to see Tiffany sooner was because she was afraid her sister would slam the door
in her face.
Even now, standing on the doorstep of her sister's apartment, Taylor wondered if she
should knock on the door or not. Telling herself to stop being such a chicken, Taylor took a deep
breath, lifted her hand and knocked. From inside, she could hear laughter, then her sister calling
out.
"Coming!"
A moment later, a smiling Tiffany opened the door. Her sister's smile promptly faded
however, when she saw Taylor standing there.
"I was wondering when you'd come by," Tiffany said coolly.
Taylor winced. "May I come in?" she asked.
Her sister folded her arms. "That depends," she said. "Are you here to tell me what a
complete mess I've made of my life again?"
Taylor felt her face color. While she knew she deserved her sister's animosity, it still
hurt. "No," she said quietly. "Actually, I came to tell you that I know I've been a complete bitch
and I'm sorry."
Tiffany studied her in silence for a moment, as if deciding whether to believe her or not.
Finally, she let out a sigh.
"All right. Come in then," her sister said, taking a step back so that Taylor could enter.
"But if you start in on me again for marrying Andrew, then you're out of here. Got it?"
Taylor nodded, relieved that Tiffany had agreed to let her in at all. Andrew, who had
been standing in the middle of the living room, eyed Taylor coldly as he walked over to Tiffany.
"Do you want me to stay?" he asked Tiffany.
Tiffany shook her head. "No, you go to class," she said, glancing at Taylor. "I can handle
my sister."
Andrew hesitated, but then finally nodded. "Okay," he said. "I'll call you on break."
Slinging the backpack he held over one shoulder, Andrew bent his head to give Tiffany a
kiss on the lips. Then, sending a glare Taylor's way, he left the apartment, closing the door
quietly behind him.
Taylor reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "I wasn't sure if you'd still be living
here, or if you'd moved in with Andrew," she said.
The other girl shrugged. "He had a roommate and I didn't, so it made more sense for us
to live here."
Taylor nodded. Suddenly remembering the package in her hand, she held it out to her
sister awkwardly. "I got you a wedding gift," she said.
Taylor hadn't known what to get the newly married couple, but then she'd remembered
the woman at the wedding chapel in Vegas saying that each couple received a complimentary
wedding picture, so she had decided on a sterling silver frame and gotten their names engraved
on it, along with the date.
Tiffany looked surprised that Taylor had gotten anything at all, but a small smile curved
her lips as she reached out to take the neatly wrapped present. "I'd like to wait until Andrew gets
back from class so we can open it together, if that's okay?"
Taylor nodded. "Of course. That's a good idea." She watched as her sister placed the
package on the living room table. She had rehearsed a whole speech in her head, but now that
she was there, she couldn't remember any of it. Finally giving up on the prepared speech, she
just decided to say what was in her heart.
"Tiff, I really am sorry for following you down to Mexico, and for saying all those
terrible things to you, and for...well, for everything." Taylor grimaced. "Actually, I have a lot to
apologize for, but mostly I want to say how sorry I am for the horrible things I said about
Andrew."
Tiffany looked at her. "Andrew and I love each other, sis," she said. "He's sweet and he's
caring, and he makes me laugh." She smiled. "He makes me happy, Taylor."
Taylor's lips curved. "I can see that," she said, and then added, "Now. I only wish I could
have seen it earlier, before I did all that crazy stuff."
Tiffany was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry, too," she said, and then added, "For the
things I said to you in that cantina down in Mexico. And for running off to get married without
telling you."
Taylor bit her tongue and forced herself to take a deep breath. A part of her wanted to
scold Tiffany for keeping so much of her life secret, but Taylor didn't want to start another
argument. "It was probably best that you did," she said. "I would have tried to talk you out of
marrying Andrew. You were right when you said I have issues with men. I do have issues with
them, and I sure as heck don't know the first thing about love."
Her sister's brow furrowed. "That's just because you haven't met the right man yet."
Taylor said nothing. She had the feeling she had met the right man, only he didn't want
anything to do with her.
"Speaking of men," Tiffany said as she sat down on the couch. "The guy who was with
you in Mexico; is he your boyfriend?"
Taylor swallowed hard. She had tried hard not to think of Austin since he'd left her on
the front steps of her apartment building all those nights ago. But he was in her every waking
thought, and a good many of her sleeping ones as well. She had almost called him a hundred
times, and even went so far as to drive by his office just on the off chance she might see him. But
she had told herself it was pointless. A guy would have to be crazy to want to have anything to
do with her.
Realizing her sister was still waiting for an answer, Taylor shook her head. "No, he's just
a PI that I hired to find you," she said softly.
Her sister regarded her in silence for a moment. "He's not just a PI, is he, Taylor? I can
tell. You like him, don't you?"
Taylor knew she should lie and tell her sister she was wrong, but when she opened her
mouth to deny it, the whole story came tumbling out instead. Of course, she didn't mention the
spankings Austin had given her, but by the time she was done, there were tears in her eyes as she
finally put a name to what it was she'd been feeling for the past few days. She could scarcely
believe she was going to say the words, but they came out anyway.
"I think I might have fallen in love with him," she finished softly.
Hadn't she made enough of a fool out of herself? Taylor wondered. Obviously not, she
thought, or she wouldn't be standing outside Austin Malone's apartment in the middle of the
night.
The moment she had told her sister she thought she might be in love with Austin, Tiffany
had insisted Taylor go tell him how she felt right away. After two days of her sister's constant
nagging, Taylor had finally agreed.
But now that Taylor was actually on his doorstep, she was rethinking her decision. It was
a Friday night, for heaven's sake. Austin could be out on a date. Or even worse, what if he had
brought a date home? Oh God, for all she knew he already had a girlfriend. The fact that he had
slept with her didn't mean anything. She'd never thought to ask if he had a girlfriend, and he
certainly hadn't said. Her heart clenched at the thought that he might already be taken. But now
that she was here, she couldn't just walk away, she realized; she had to know for sure.
Lifting her hand, Taylor knocked on the door, and then stood chewing on her lower lip
while she waited for Austin to answer. And then waited some more. Maybe he wasn't home, she
thought. Maybe he really was out on a date. Stop it, she told herself. More likely, he just hadn't
heard her knock. She hadn't done it very loud, after all. Lifting her hand, she rapped her
knuckles on the door again, harder this time.
Beneath the door, she saw the glow of a light, and then heard a muttered curse, followed
by Austin's strong voice. "I'm coming already!" he called. "Don't you know what time it...?"
The door swung open.
Austin stared at her, the rest of what he'd been about to say trailing off. "Taylor!" he said
in surprise. "It's two o'clock in the morning."
Taylor's pulse skipped a beat at the sight of him standing there in just a pair of pajama
bottoms. God, even with his hair tousled from sleep and looking all bleary eyed, Austin was the
most gorgeous man she'd ever seen.
She glanced down at her watch in surprise, and then gave him a sheepish look. "I-I'm
sorry," she said, finally managing to find her voice. She hadn't realized it had taken her so long
to work up the courage go see him. "But I had to see you," she said, and then, before he could
say anything, added, "Can I come in?"
He ran his hair through his hair. "Uhm, yeah, sure. Of course," he said, and then stepped
back so that she could enter.
Taylor let gaze wander curiously around the apartment. When they'd come by to pick up
his passport before going down to Mexico, she hadn't come inside, and she noticed that while the
place looked totally masculine, it was nice. And it suited him.
"Did something happen with your sister?" Austin asked as he closed the door.
Taylor whirled to face him. "Tiff? No, my sister's fine," she said, and then added, "Better
than fine, actually. I took your advice about going to see her. Things are really good between us
again."
The corner of Austin's mouth edged up. "Good. I'm glad."
Taylor chewed on her lower lip. Just as she had done before she'd gone to Tiffany's, she
had prepared a speech and practiced it several times on the way over to Austin's apartment. She
needn't have bothered though, because now that she was standing in front of him, she couldn't
seem to make the words come anyway. It didn't help that Austin was waiting expectantly for her
to explain what she was doing at his apartment in the middle of the night.
"So, what did you want to see me about then?" he finally asked when she said nothing.
"Uhm..." Taylor stammered, her face coloring. "Actually, I wanted to...to give you this."
Reaching into her purse, she took out an envelope and held it out to him. Austin eyed her
curiously, but said nothing as he took the envelope and opened it. He stared down at the check
for a moment, and then frowned.
"You came over here in the middle of the night to give me the money you owe me for
finding your sister?" he asked incredulously.
Taylor nodded. She had been carrying around the check in her purse for days now, trying
to come up with the gumption to hand deliver it to his office so that she could see him.
"Yes," she said, then, "No! I mean..." She shook her head. This wasn't going right at all.
"I made a mistake coming here. I'd better go."
Her face red with embarrassment, Taylor ducked her head and started for the door, but a
gentle hand on her arm stopped her. Austin's other hand slipped under her chin, his fingers
gentle as he tilted her face up to look at him.
"Something obviously brought you here at two o'clock in the morning. Something
important," he said softly. "Why don't you tell me what it is, Taylor."
Taylor's breath hitched. She could barely think with Austin standing this close to her,
much less speak. But he was right. She did have something important to say, she just had to get it
out.
She lowered her gaze just so that she wouldn't have to look into those soulful, golden
brown eyes of his. "I was wrong to let you leave the other night without telling you how I feel
about you," she said, the words coming out in a rush. It was all out of context and not at all how
she'd rehearsed it, and she doubted it even made much sense.
Austin moved his hand to gently cup her cheek, tilting her head a little more so that their
eyes made contact again. "And how do you feel about me?" he asked softly.
Taylor opened her mouth, but couldn't find the exact words to express how she felt. "I
don't know for sure," she let out on a soft breath. "But I do know I've felt miserable since that
night you dropped me off at my apartment." She reached up to cover his hand with hers. "I know
I can be stubborn and irritating and a pain most of the time, and I wouldn't blame you if you
don't ever want to see me again, but I was happier during those few days I spent with you than
I've been in a very long time."
There it was, she'd said it! It wasn't some romantic declaration of love, but it was as
good as she could do right then.
Taylor held her breath, waiting for Austin to say something in return, but he simply stood
there gazing down at her. In fact, he was silent for so long that she was beginning to fear she'd
made a terrible mistake. She was just wishing that the floor would open up and swallow her
when he finally spoke.
"If it makes you feel any better, I've been feeling pretty miserable myself this past
week," he said. "I thought we had a connection from the moment we first met, Taylor. And when
we made love in Vegas, I thought I'd finally met the woman I wanted to be with forever."
Her pulse skipped a beat. While his words were exactly what she wanted to hear though,
she couldn't help but frown a little as a thought occurred to her. "Then if that was how you felt,
why did you just drive off without saying anything that night we got back from Mexico?"
The corner of his mouth edged up. "Probably for the same reason you didn't," he said. "I
didn't have any reason to think you felt the same, so why put myself out there and say
anything?"
Taylor gave him a sheepish smile. "That was my excuse, too," she said softly. "I really
am sorry about the way I treated you. You were only trying to help and I was completely awful
to you. Can you forgive me?"
Austin drew her close to gaze down at her. "Of course I can forgive you. And just so you
know, you weren't completely awful to me. At least not that night in Vegas."
She felt herself blush at the memory. She had relived that night so many times in the past
week, and each time it had made her feel only more miserable. But now, the thought of it made
her feel giddy with joy. She had no idea that loving someone could feel so wonderful.
"So," Austin continued. "Now that we both got that out of the way, where do we go
next?"
She ran her hands up his bare chest to wrap her arms around his neck. "I'm probably not
the best person to ask," she admitted. "I don't have much experience with relationships. What do
you think we should do?"
He brushed her hair back from her cheek. "Well, I think we should take it step by step,
and the first step should start with this."
As he spoke, he lowered his head and kissed her tenderly on the mouth. Taylor melted
against him, parting her lips under his with a moan. With a soft growl, Austin slid his hand into
her hair and pulled her deeper into the kiss. God, how she had missed him!
Taylor would have been completely happy to spend the rest of the night kissing right
there in the entryway, but Austin apparently had other ideas. He lifted his head with a groan.
"Maybe step two should take place in the bedroom, if that would be okay with you?" he
said.
That was definitely okay with her, Taylor thought. Giving him a smile, she nodded and
let him lead her toward the bedroom.
"What exactly is step two, by the way?" she asked teasingly.
Coming to a halt beside the bed, Austin turned to give her a look that made her heart
flutter. "How about I give you a spanking like the one I gave you in Vegas?"
She felt her face color. "A spanking?" she echoed. "Really?"
His mouth twitched. "Really. If you want one."
Giving him a naughty, little smile, Taylor undid the buttons on her jeans and slowly
wiggled out of them. She couldn't believe how much she had changed since meeting Austin. If
someone had told her that she would go from walking into a private detective's office to falling
in love with him in a mere two weeks, she would have told them they were crazy. But she did
love him. And the funny thing was, it didn't seem crazy at all.
The end.

