Tanner's Scheme

“Restroom breaks are free.” He shrugged. “So is the water. Take a bath while you’re in there. It might improve your disposition.”



Yeah, sure. Why didn’t she just do a few laps while she was at it? She wondered if she would even have the strength to carry her ass to wherever the hell the bathroom was located. Whatever he had used to knock her out with had made her weak as a kitten.



“Where is it?” She forced herself to move. Forced. Focused every ounce of strength she possessed into moving her legs, shifting her body. A person might never realize how much they used their backs, until those muscles cramped with the pain.



She hadn’t been so stiff the night before because she had worked out the soreness through the day. Now, after the enforced sleep, however long she had slept, she had stiffened to the point of agony.



No tears. She blinked back the moisture the pain of movement brought as she slid to the edge of the bed, careful to keep the blankets over vital parts of her naked body.



“Behind the curtain.” He jerked his head to the rich maroon velvet curtain hanging on the wall several feet from the bottom of the bed.



“Figures,” she muttered to herself. “Of course it couldn’t be anywhere close.”



“This far underground, pretty girl, you have to put the facilities in the best plumbable area.” There was a shrug in his voice, but the only thing that really caught her was the underground part.



As she sat on the edge of the bed she turned to stare at him in resignation. “Underground?”



He flashed his teeth. Especially those wickedly sharp incisors. “Deep underground, sugar. You got phobias?”



“If I did, I’d be screwed at this point, wouldn’t I?” Forcing amused derision into her voice wasn’t easy.



“Well, you might be screwed anyway,” he murmured. “Do you have any preferences there?”



Scheme almost laughed at the thought of that one. Oh, she had many preferences, and she was certain he could handle most of them.



“Sorry, I’ve decided Breeds are off the list this year. Try next year,” she suggested lightly.



“Let’s see if we can’t change your mind for this year first.” His smile was predatory. Almost frightening.



Scheme stared back at him in surprise.



“All this for a roll in the sheets? You killed my assassin, carted me to only God knows where, underground, so you could get fucked? Isn’t that a little extreme?”



Even for Tanner it was extreme. Even the Breed community itself recognized that their Bengal brother was a little outside of what Breeds considered normal behavior. But this was more than Scheme had expected.



“Getting fucked will be an added benefit,” he said. “Go get your bath; we can discuss terms later.”



Fine. They could discuss it later. Just chickie. Suited her. She didn’t know if she had enough mental capabilities to discuss the weather right now, let alone the terms to anything.



She gripped the sheet, intending to pull it with her as she rose.



“No sheet.” Hard. Growling. The tone had her gaze jerking back to his and then to the hand gripping the sheet through the quilt that covered it.



Now, why hadn’t she just expected that one? Son of a bitch, she was supposed to be protected from Breed kidnappings or attempted hits by Jonas. What? Did the director of Breed affairs forget to send out that memo? Tanner was supposed to be contained and his movements reported to her if he came anywhere close to her, because of his rumored declaration to see the Tallants wiped off the face of the Earth. And she was after all a Tallant. What the hell had happened to Jonas protecting her? First she had seen he had ditched that stupid party, and now this?



“Fine. No sheet.” She rose to her feet, letting the sheet and quilt slide over her body.



She had learned a long time ago not to let her own nudity distress her. No weakness was her father’s motto as well. And that meant none. He had raised her with the same iron fist that he had trained his marines with when he was in the Corps.



Holding her head high, she gave him a mocking little smile and moved without haste to the bathroom.



Suck it in, Breed, she thought with a spurt of amusement as his eyes heated and his hard body tensed. It was like teasing a hungry animal, and something inside her decided it was fitting punishment. For both of them.



Tanner leaned against the thick post of the bed, crossed his arms over his chest and watched her. Bad mistake. It was all he could do to keep the mocking amusement on his face rather than go to his knees and drool like a cur dog as she walked past.



Bengal Tigers did not drool.



But damn if she wasn’t a sight worth drooling for. Sleek, well-toned flesh, long silky hair and a grace that had him clenching his teeth to hold back a sliver of respect.



Small, high breasts, a rounded little tummy and curl-covered pussy. Most women waxed or shaved their pussies, keeping the flesh there soft and silky smooth. And Breeds had no true body hair themselves. Which meant he was fascinated by it. Loved it. He couldn’t wait to find out what those soft curls hid from his gaze, flesh only his fingers had known so far.



Long sable hair fell to her waist, tangled but silky and thick, caressing her back and hips with a flirting sexiness he found definitely appealing.



She was beautiful. Simply beautiful. And weaker than a kitten. He was going to have to have a little talk with Jackal about the strength of the dosage in that sedative. Fuck, he was a mess and he hated being a mess. Calm and controlled, that was his motto. Unless he was between a pair of beautiful thighs belonging to a hot woman. That was worth letting go of a little control. But not this much. Never this much.



Tanner sighed wearily as he heard the water running in the bathroom, before pacing to the cabinets Callan had set along the side of the cavern wall, while keeping a careful ear on Scheme in the bathroom.



She was muttering to herself. He couldn’t catch what she was saying, but if he had any parentage, it was definitely being called into question.



Shaking his head, he drew the microwave, hot plate and coffeepot from below the counter and set them in place before plugging them into the outlets set into the stone wall.



Getting electricity down here had been a pain in the ass. He bet Callan had spent three years running their asses into the ground to wire this place. It was their last safe hole—caverns so deeply imbedded beneath the ground and layered with so many different minerals and ores that even the ground-penetrating satellites above the earth couldn’t find them. There were small pockets of rough diamonds, rubies, gold and silver, iron ore and other mineral deposits that he had finally lost track of.



The caverns were unexplored, unknown, so well hidden that even the locals were unaware of them. And Callan had gone to great lengths to keep it that way. Hell, he had been working on the caverns long before he had been recaptured by the Council and taken to New Mexico.



Tanner prepared the coffeemaker quickly before pushing his fingers through his hair and grimacing at the sound of a muted feminine groan from the bathroom. Then a smile kicked at his lips as she cursed herself.



Tanner listened to the water running in the big claw-foot bathtub as he set out food for a meal. He had left her alone long enough. He needed to check on her. If a Breed had nerves, then his were rioting with concern. He could have sworn she didn’t have the energy to drag her ass into that big tub, let alone get herself out later.



He stalked to the curtain-covered entrance and jerked the velvet curtains aside, his gaze going instantly to the tub. And he swore the breath froze in his chest but flames began to lick at his balls.



Water still flowed into the deep, old-fashioned tub, hot, steamy water that had barely reached the tips of those damned luscious tits. His cock jerked, throbbed. He swore he felt cum boiling up the shaft as he stared at the hard rosy nipples bobbing in the water.



The animal growled, and unfortunately, the sound slipped past his lips.



Scheme’s lashes drifted open as the water slowly eased over those perky, berry-ripe nipples. His mouth watered. What he wouldn’t give right now to taste those sweet tits.



“Negotiations for privacy?” she murmured, her voice lazy, drowsy.



“Sure.” Damn, he could still form words. He was doing good. “Tell me why your father sent your ex-lover to kill you.”



Tallant was a dead man for that alone. There would be no way in hell that he could stop himself from killing the other man now.



Her eyes closed as she turned her head from him.



“Watch all you like.” Her lips quirked. “Exhibitionism excites me, didn’t you know that?”



Oh yeah, he knew that. He knew all the nasty erotic adventures she had experienced over the years. Knew about them and relished the thought that when he got her beneath him, he would have a woman who understood pure pleasure with a dash of the extreme.



She wasn’t promiscuous really. After Chaz St. Marks, she had chosen her lovers outside her father’s organization. Men who understood the brief affairs she was looking for, men who tried to give what she needed without asking for more themselves. He wondered if she had found exactly what it was she was looking for in those affairs. He knew that for himself, he never had. No matter how extreme, how depraved, nothing had ever stilled the hunger for her that rode him.



“You haven’t answered my question.” Anything to hear her voice. It stroked over his senses in a way that made him check his tongue against his teeth again.



Her lashes peeked open once more, giving him a glimpse of chocolate brown eyes so deep, so dark, he swore there was a chance of drowning.



“Which one?”



“Why did your father send St. Marks to kill you?”



“The assassin.” Her smile was bittersweet. Son of a bitch, she felt something for the bastard willing to kill her. “You enjoyed killing him, didn’t you?”



“What do you think?” The only sign of emotion was the slight flinch of her lashes.



“I think you enjoyed it very much. In answer to your question, he believes I betrayed him.”



“And did you?”



Her expression was weary, sad. “Perhaps I’ve just been sloppy. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past few years. I’ve become a liability.”



It wasn’t exactly a lie, but Tanner could detect a shadow of deceit. It wasn’t sitting well with him.



“So you heard everything?” she asked then.



“Pretty much.”



She didn’t say anything more. Instead, she lifted one gracefully turned ankle out of the water and used it to shut off the water.



Her expression wasn’t cold, but neither was it one of emotion. It was reflective. Almost thoughtful.



“And then you kidnapped me,” she said. “Why?”



“Some would say I saved your ass,” he pointed out.



“I’m free to leave then?”



Tanner grinned at that. “I wouldn’t go that far.”



“And why did I expect that answer?”



She was avoiding the discussion coming. He could see her need to hide from it, to distance herself from what she knew he’d heard.



“You should have guessed it,” he agreed, moving away from the entrance and stalking slowly toward her. “Sit up and let me wash your hair. It’s so damned long, it dragged the ground a time or two.”



“I can wash my own hair.”



He doubted she could wash her own face at the moment. She was stiff from the bruises and from sleeping so long. Abused muscles stiffened up after time, and he had been forced to keep her under longer than he would have liked.



“Don’t make me force you to sit up. It’s going to end in something you don’t want.”



Moving stiffly, she sat up in the tub as he collected the girly shampoo and conditioner his pride sisters Sherra and Dawn had stocked the bathroom with.



“Lean forward,” he ordered as he lifted the detachable showerhead from its holder above the tub. “Let’s see if we can’t get you cleaned up here.”