The Virgin and the Beast (Stud Ranch 1)

I drag my worn-out ass back up the stairs for a long afternoon nap after the orgasm-a-thon. I only wake up when my door bangs open.

I blink sleepy eyes, confused when I notice dim light shining through my windows. Is it already evening?

But I jolt upright when I see the tall, hulking silhouette standing in my doorway.

“I hope you enjoyed yourself this afternoon.” Xavier does not sound happy. In fact, he sounds pissed the hell off.

I scramble back on my bed when he stalks toward me, his boots thundering against the wooden floor with each step.

How did he even know? Deny, deny, deny.

“Xavier, I don’t know what—”

“It’s Master to you,” he bites out. “I tried to do this the nice way. To let you freely roam the house. But I should know that to break a mare, you can never give them any head.”

Like he has before, he picks me up and swings me over his shoulder. He’s just come in from outside and his intoxicating scent is stronger than ever.

Damn him. I smack against his muscled back as he heads for the stairs. “Let me down! You fucking bastard, put me down this second!”

“Language.” He gives my ass a sharp smack.

I make an outraged noise and kick out. He wraps one of his huge arms like a band across my thighs, holding me in place.

“Let me down!” I scream again.

Down the stairs we go and damn him, it’s so scary I have to grab hold of his hips. Once we get to the bottom floor, though, I go back to smacking at him. “Let me go!”

When we go through the kitchen and he kicks open the back door, my breath catches—it’s the first time I’ve been outside since I got here. But then I go back to hitting and kicking out considering what limited space I have with him holding my legs down. “Let me go, you crazy bastard! Put me down!”

He ignores it all and keeps going forward.

“You want down? Fine.” The next second, I’m flying through the air and landing with an oof on a bale of hay. I roll sideways and topple to the ground, then scramble to my knees and finally to my feet, looking around to get my bearings.

I’m in a 10x10 fenced in area—no, not just a fence—the chain-link goes over the top as well.

It’s a giant cage.

With a doghouse in the corner.

My mouth drops open. Xavier is standing at the door. He’s smiling.

Son of a mother-fucking— If he thinks for one second that he’s going to—

I rush toward him but he slips out the swinging door and shuts it in my face. Then he clicks a heavy-duty padlock in place.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I scream at him. I clutch the chain-link of the door and shake it furiously. “Let me out of here!”

He glares at me. “Language.”

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!” I shout at the top of my lungs, wrenching the chain-link back and forth so hard it cuts into my fingers. I kick at it and then spin on my heel, unable to even look at him for another second. I clutch my head in my hands. He’s just locked me in what’s essentially a dog kennel.

In a fucking cage.

I’ve been living in some sort of fantasyland the past few days. This is what this was all really leading to. A dude who locks women in cages like animals.

“No more lies,” he says, sounding firm but calm from behind me. “No more hiding.”

I squeeze my eyes shut against the low rasp of his voice.