Page 14 of Property of my Boss

I need to end this. The second I get Nick in an ambulance, I need to be straight and tell Tucker exactly why I’m here. I need to tell him, and I need to get answers because if I end up screwing him in the fit of passion I feel coming, I’ll never forgive myself.

“The road is going to be bumpy,” I say, knocking into the creaking truck door as I wrap up a makeshift splint with a two by four I found in the bed of Tucker’s truck and a blanket that was tossed in the back. “This should keep your leg still as you make the ride up. It’s not far. If you feel any pain at all, tell Tucker immediately and we’ll stop the truck. Do you understand?”

“Yes, nurse.” The man rests his hand on top of mine. “I understand. Thank you.”

I nod and turn in time to see Tucker rolling his eyes as he starts the engine, and I’m further convinced now that ending this whole thing immediately is the right thing to do. My brother is right, I’m in too deep. I’ve played too hard. I’ve told this very lonely man very sick things, and now he’s bending me over, spanking my ass, and getting jealous of random men that call me pretty.

Clearly, the jeweled bra had too much power.

When we’re at the top of the hill, Tucker slows the truck to a stop and I climb down out the back of the tailgate with Atlas, who’s already bailing for his cabin on the west end of the property. I get the feeling strong emotions of any kind makes that man very uncomfortable. Maybe he had something to do with Wren’s disappearance. I hadn’t considered him until now. Maybe he and Tucker were both involved.

I make a mental note to look Atlas up online, see what I can find out, though Tucker yanking at my patient drives my focus back out of my head again and into the present.

“We’ve got to be careful,” I say, rushing toward Nick to tuck his arm around my shoulder and help him to the side porch under the American flag. “He’s injured.”

Tucker stays by my side, carrying most of the man’s weight, though he doesn’t leave without a smart-ass remark. “Guess I need to put up a notice about tree roots in the woods.”

I glare toward Tucker, then back at Nick who didn’t deserve that. “I’m so sorry. My boss isn’t used to using his manners. Can I get you some water or something to eat? I have muffins inside.” I smile, trying to lighten the mood from whatever this is to anything else. “I tried passing them off as homemade, but I got them at the bakery.”

“Muffins are gone,” Tucker groans, fiddling with something under the hood of the truck.

“What?” I narrow my gaze. “No, they’re not. I brought six of them. You ate one.”

“They’re gone.” He barely looks up as he speaks. “There are crackers in the cupboard you can give him.”

He’s talking about this man like he’s not sitting right here between us.

“Tucker,” I force a grin, “may I talk to you in the office, please?”

“No,” he nods, head still under the hood of the truck, “you may not. Thank you for asking.”

My chest tightens. What the hell is this guy trying to prove? “Tucker,” I say, trying to force a normal tone, “I really need to talk to you in the office. It’s important.”

Who the hell knows what this poor, hurt hiker is thinking? I’m sure this looks down-right barbaric from the outside. Probably because it is.

Tucker wipes his hand on a rag near the hood of the truck and glares in my direction, his eyes dark as he makes his way toward me.

I should be afraid.

He looks angry.

Why does he look angry?

“You work for me, princess,” he growls, his voice low. “That means I make the rules. Do you remember what happens if you don’t play by the rules?”

A flash of him spanking my ass warms my thoughts, though it shouldn’t. It shouldn’t warm anything. It should scare me away.

Why isn’t it scaring me away? Why are my thighs aching?

Nick is three feet from where I stand as Tucker rests his big, rough hand against my throat.

“Hey, man. Come on,” Nick says, his voice deepening as though he’s going to protect me, but he doesn’t know who he’s dealing with, and for some reason, that gets me off.

It gets me off knowing that the man resting his hand on my throat could easily hurt every single person in this campground, including me, and… that’s exactly why I’m in way over my head.

Chapter Seven

Tucker