Carnal Captive (39 page)

The
voice on the other end started up again. She wasn’t sure but
it might be
the man she’d known as M
aster
Jones.

“This is the only time I’m going to say it.” Her master stared at
the phone
before speaking again. “I know your goons will
look for
her. There’s nothing I can do to stop you. But if you so much as touch her
,
I’
ll
go to the authorities.
And
getting rid of
me won’t ge
t you off the hook.
I have that covered.
Yeah, I mean it.”

With that he hung up, leaned back, and
stared at her. She couldn’t speak.

“That’s it,” he said at length. “You’re free.”

Free.
The word meant
nothing and
everything.
“I don’t understand.”

Standing, he
walked over to the railing. Turning his back to her, he looked out at his world. A few moments ago she might have jumped to her feet and run. Now she
knew she had to
stay.

“I don’t trust myself around you. Last night, damn it, I could have killed you.”

“
Yes.”

“Afterward I told myself it wasn’t going to happen again
.
I know my strength
. I can
the hell control my temper
. Then you got your hands on the knife. I had to take it from you
before you hurt yourself
.” He spun toward her. “
For a moment only protecting you from your desperation mattered. Then
you stabbed me and
something
else
took over.”

Burying his hands in his back pockets, he shook his head. “I didn’t
give a damn
about you. The animal in me was screaming to be let out. I wanted to set it free.
I’d been hurt. It was revenge time.
”

“You’re scaring me.”

Shaking his head again, he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. “I
know I am
.”

Despite the fear
cl
i
ng
ing
to her, she
forced herself not to bolt
.

“That’s why
this can’t go on.”

“This?
”

Pulling his right hand free, he pressed it to his forehead. “I don’t have
all
the details worked out, but that’ll come.
Look,
you’ll never be completely free because Carnal will watch your every move.”

“Free?
” 

“They have every right to be
concerned
and pissed
which is why I need to cover my tracks
as well as yours
.”

This man was
strong
enough to hold his own against any other human being, but
they were talking a
bout an
illegal
organization
.
“What are you going to do?”
Were they really having this conversation?

His fingers left indentations in his
forehead
. “I think my best insurance
is
to prepare a document spelling out everything I know about Carnal and give it, sealed, to my attorney with the stipulation that he
hands it
to law enforcement if anything happens to me.”

To her surprise she realized she didn’t want him to come to harm—and not just because
, maybe,
he was handing her back her freedom.
Think.
“
Will
your lawyer
be
safe?”

“
Good question.
He’s a member of a
prominent
firm.
I’ll
give copies to all the partners, make no secret of what I’m doing
. Carnal Incorporated can’t get to everyone.”

“
Then y
ou’
ll
tell Carnal what you’re doing?”

“I have to.” He made a move as if to close the distance between them only to stop and stare at her.

“What?” Oh God, had he changed his mind?

“I can’t leave you out there all alone. They
might
grab
you to get to me.
”

Yes, they might.
“What if…”

“What
if what
?”

I don’t know. I’ve never done anything like this.
I still don’t believe what you’re saying.
“I could prepare my own document
for the
firm.
If I disappear—“

“That’ll trigger an investigation.”

“Yes.”

For the first time since the conversation had
begun
,
he
smiled. “Another copy of what we
each
write
s
needs to
go to my agent as a kind of double insurance. The only thing…”

“What
?”

“
You’ll never be as free as you once were
.”

Despite the knot in her stomach, she knew he hadn’t changed his mind. The longer she waited for him to continue, the more she relaxed. She could never love him. The thought was
insane
. But she was learning to trust him
—maybe more than he did her
.

“You
told me that
the most important thing in your world is being able to paint.”

“It was. I
want
that back.”

“I understand, maybe more than you’ll ever realize.”

He was wrong
.
She did understand.
Without football to give his life focus, he’d dreaded his future. That
, in part,
was why he’d
bought
a sex slave,
something
to fill his time with. Then his interest in exercise equipment had taken off. Focus
had
returned.

“Hearing me say what I did about my art is part of why you made the decision you did, isn’t it?” She fingered her collar. “There’s more to where we are right now than
you
not being able to trust your strength and temper.”

He didn’t respond for a long time
. Then:
“Let’s go inside. There’s something I need to do, for both of us.”

Chapter Twenty-nine

An hour later, she no longer wore any proof of her slavery.
After he’d unlocked her collar and cuffs,
they’d gone outside and dropped them in the garbage can.

Back in
his office
, they’d made more decisions. At first she’d let him do most of the talking but the woman she’d always been came back to life. She’d
agreed with
Bay’s insistence that she remain in the area
so
he could keep an eye on her.
Much as she hadn’t wanted to accept his offer of enough money to get her set up in her own place, she didn’t have a choice. Carnal Incorporated had left
her dead broke
.

“It speaks to me,” he told her
after paying
her
an insane amount for the buck-in-forest painting
.
Seeing
the way he looked at it
, she believed him.

“I don’t want you leaving today,” he said when she thought all the decisions had been made. “And not until the documents are where they need to be.”

“Leave?
I don’t have a
nywhere
to go.”

“Or furniture.
Do you want any of the stuff here?” He indicat
ed
, she believed, everything within the walls
of his magnificent house
. “Otherwise we’ll have to go shopping—after we find a safe place for you to live. No more being stuck out in the boondocks like you were before.”

She agreed. Truth was, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to sleep if
her place
didn’t come with gates and guards.

“Two bedrooms,” she said. “One for sleeping, the other—“

“To set up as your art studio, I know. Shari, there’s one more t
hing we haven’t talked about
.”

“The others
.
”
S
he
hugged herself. “The women still at the training facility.”

“Not just there.”

How
many
women
had Carnal t
urned into slaves
over the years? Just asking the question made her sick at heart
.

“I’m sorry.”

He was. “We can’t help them, can we?”

“I don’t see how. Even if
law enforcement charged everyone who works for
Carnal Incorporated, I’m sure they won’t find any records.”

“And if I told the authorities what I know—“

“I’d go to prison.”

“Yes.
I feel
helpless
,” she admitted. “Almost as much as when I was captured.”

He was sitting behind his desk looking for apartment complexes on the Internet. Pushing back his chair, he stood and walked over to
the recliner where she was sitting
. She d
idn’t flinch. “You aren’t
. Look at your wrists and ankles. Touch your throat.” He did
those things
for her. “Soon you’ll pick up your brushes again, let your talent flow onto canvas.”

He was right. And, for the first time, gentle.

“Thank you
.
” Somehow she was on her feet and her arms were going around his neck. Heat touched heat.

His arms circled her waist.
“Are you sure about this?” 

“No.” She spoke to his massive chest. “I just…”

It was too late to sit down again, too late to
tell
him to put distance between them. Their relationship was deeply flawed, created by forces that made her tremble just thinking about them, but even as she
knew she could
push him away, she pressed her
self
against his strength.
Once again h
er body flamed.

Groaning, he started to let her go only to draw her close. “You
’re asking too much of me
. I’m no damn saint
, not that I have to tell you that
.”

His swelling cock had already told her that. Her
own
body
cried out.

“I need to feel like a woman
.
”
S
he touched her mouth to his chest. “To feel whole.”

A
nother
groan wrenched from him. Lifting her in his arms, he started for th
e bedroom. H
e wasn’t going to say any more
. If she didn’t want this to happen, she had to s
top him
, now.

“Letting sex happen
.
”
S
he nestled against him. “
D
oing what we want and need to.”

Entering the oversized bedroom, he lowered her to his plush bed
and
reached for the fastening on his shorts.
After stepping out of them and his briefs, he removed his shirt.
A little dried blood stained the bandage, but if he was hurting, he showed no sign.

Her
sexual
flames lapped higher, burned brighter.
Dizzy
, she sat up and yanked her shirt over her head. Before she could
deal with
her shorts, he pushed her
back
down, grabbed the waistband, and tugged
it
over her hips.

Naked. Same as him. Waiting for—what?

“I learned something,” he told her with his hand hovering over her crotch. “About what pushes you over the edge.”

Her mouth dried only to fill with saliva. “What does?”

“This.
”

His fingers blanket
ed
her pussy. Strong and warm, they promised and challenged. A sound like a bleating lamb
ran out of her, then
h
e silenced
her
by pressing his mouth to hers. The images and sensations she’d been forced to live with for too long died. Grateful
for a
brand of
freedom that had nothing to do with throwing away cuffs and collar
, she slid her hands over his chest.