Haunted (13 page)

Zach smiled. He wasn’t one to pass up a gift, not one that he wanted so much as this. Maybe this would be the last time. The remote for the vibrator was on the ottoman as well, and he picked it up, turning up the setting just a little bit.

Caitlyn moaned, the sound almost completely obscured by the gag.

“Are you helpless?” he whispered, sliding his fingertips over her ass. She struggled and flailed, remembering her lesson of the night before, then shuddered at the proof of her own captivity.

“Nicely done, Caitlyn,” he murmured, then picked up the riding crop. He slapped it against his palm and she jumped a little. “But so very naughty of you. Plus you came this morning with Hunt, without permission. I think this will be a long night of pain and pleasure for you.”

She groaned and wiggled her butt, lifting it in invitation the way he’d instructed her the night before. Zach smiled, certain that she was just about perfect, and set to work marking her as his own.

Luke couldn’t haunt him enough to make him surrender this opportunity.

* * *

Caitlyn was limp by the time her lover was done with her.

Even then, he apparently hadn’t enough, for she sensed that he had more plans. She was utterly submissive to his will, and let him do whatever he wanted to her. For once in her life, she was sated. Caitlyn knew it wouldn’t last. One whiff of Zach’s skin and a couple of hours sleep and she’d be ready for whatever he suggested, all over again.

As before, he was tender after the fury of their scene. He untied her with care. He took off her boots and eased off her stockings. She sighed relief when she was released from her corset and shivered when he unlocked the harness that held the treacherous little butterfly in place. He removed the gag and ran his hand over her mouth in possessive gesture that thrilled her, leaving the blindfold in place.

“Don’t move,” he instructed and she complied without a whimper. He returned a moment later and she heard the snap of cloth, then he lifted her in his arms. She kissed his shoulder, overwhelmed with gratitude to him for understanding her so well, and he stood in the middle of the room, holding her as he kissed her deeply. Sweetly. Caitlyn felt her slumbering passion stir, and knew she’d never have enough of him.

But he had had enough on this night. He set her down then, rolled her into a smooth sheet. Caitlyn didn’t have the strength or the desire to object as it was coiled around her. Maybe he was wrapping her as a gift to himself. Once her legs were surrounded by the sheet, her ankles were bound. It felt like he used a heavy rope. That rope was crisscrossed over her legs, knotted behind her knees, then again around her hips, sealing her legs together. It was knotted around her waist, and she smiled when he gave it that same decisive tug before he tied the knot.

He sat her up and crouched behind her, his breath on her neck and his knees on either side of her waist. She felt like a rag doll and leaned back, letting him see how submissive he had made her. He kissed her ear, then cupped her breasts in his hands. He captured each nipple between finger and thumb and rolled them until they tightened to peaks, making her gasp and arch her back.

“Another gift,” he whispered. “So you don’t forget you’re mine.”

Caitlyn gasped at the pinch of the nipple clamp, then bit her lip to stop her moan when the second was placed. Her hands rose to her breasts, but he chided her softly, seizing her wrists in his hands. She was stretched out on her back, her hands high over her head, and commanded to keep her wrists together.

Her puss awakened then, starting to hum as the sheet was wrapped around her torso, then behind her head and around her arms. The rope followed, and he trussed her in that pose. Her breasts were exposed, as was her face. He kissed her nipples then her mouth, then lifted her head.

She was on the bed, uncertain what he did, then her ankles were lifted high. She heard the bed creak, then felt the rope pass beneath her butt to be secured to the back of her waist. It went under her shoulders, beneath the bond at her wrists, then she was tugged into the air. She swung there, and spun upside down for a moment, until he stilled her and flipped her over again.

“Like a hammock,” he murmured, busy with the ropes to ensure she didn’t spin again. When he was done, she might have been a fly caught in a spider’s web, encased in a cocoon and unable to do more than struggle in futility.

“Are you helpless?” he whispered and she fought her bonds on cue, thrilled by her situation. He was beside her, his lips against her ear, his hands running over her trussed body with a satisfaction that proved she had power even in bondage over him.

Especially in bondage.

“Tomorrow at breakfast,” he murmured. “You will show the others the welts I have left on your butt. You will let each of them pinch one, even Stapleton and the staff.”

Caitlyn gasped. “They’ll know!”

“Yes, they’ll know that you’re a sex slave. You’ll then offer to do anything they want. You will do it loudly enough that all the staff can hear, and if the other guests decline to use you, you will beg until they agree.”

Caitlyn couldn’t believe it. Even though she was sure Stapleton had witnessed a hundred stranger things, the idea of declaring her fantasy aloud was both exciting and terrifying.

He slapped her breast that she delayed in replying.

“Yes, Master,” she whispered.

“Louder.”

“Yes, Master.” She felt him move away and realized with a shock that she hadn’t been given more instructions. “And tomorrow night, Master?”

“It depends how naughty you are, Caitlyn,” he said, a thread of amusement in his voice. “I might have to punish you by wrapping you up and giving you away.”

Caitlyn couldn’t believe it. The possibility made her mind go white with fear and she moaned without meaning to do so. She struggled anew, thrashing against her bonds, but again, couldn’t make any difference. She was panting when she stilled, practically hyperventilating when he spoke.

“It’s not up to you, Caitlyn,” he whispered, his voice sounding miles away. “You’re mine, to use for my pleasure.”

“Yes, Master,” she managed to agree, then heard the door click as he left her alone. She was never going to sleep. She was all afire from both his whipping and his promise.

And despite her trepidation, Caitlyn couldn’t imagine a better way to be.

She never wanted to leave this place, that was for sure.

* * *

Steele sat at a table in the corner of the coffee shop that Athena liked. He was so desperate for a glimpse of her that he’d do whatever was necessary to see her again, even to catch a passing glimpse of her. The woman haunted him as he’d never thought a woman could haunt him. She was his every fantasy and starred in every dream he’d had since meeting her. She was gorgeous, funny, smart, passionate, and since being kicked out of The Phoenix, Steele had realized he was never going to forget her.

He was also never going to be able to go back to vanilla sex again. No, he wanted the adventure of playing games, and he wanted to play every game there was with the dominatrix who ran the private BDSM club called The Phoenix.

The trick was that she was probably never going to willingly speak to him again. He was glad that Rex had resolved the pending crisis with Devon Nelson’s killer, and he was glad that the authorities would be picking up the villain from Windswept. He’d convinced them to ignore a great many irregularities about The Phoenix in return for Rex and Athena’s cooperation.

And now there were no excuses to call Athena. Amy had probably been reinstated, so this had been a one-time shot. She’d probably given up on him completely.

Or forgotten him.

Athena certainly seemed to have given up on this coffee shop, which she’d visited daily when he’d been under cover in her office. He sat, though, knowing he’d never be allowed to cross the threshold of The Phoenix without her permission and knowing the staff would ensure he had no chance to speak to Athena there. No, he had to encounter her outside The Phoenix, and there weren’t many places to do that.

The coffee shop was his best bet.

Steele sat back and drummed his fingers on the table, more impatient with his own stupidity than with waiting on her. He’d been an idiot to think he could fool her, and he’d only really appreciated what he’d experienced there once he couldn’t have it anymore. He supposed this was like penance, and not the worst punishment he could have earned.

No sooner had he thought as much than a black limousine pulled up outside the shop. He barely dared to hope, but the driver got out to open the back door for the occupant.

It was Rafe, Athena’s chauffeur. Steele would have recognize him anywhere.

He practically held his breath as Rafe opened the limo door, then one long female leg stretched toward the pavement.

Athena.

In shiny red shoes, their stiletto heels high enough to give a normal woman vertigo. He was hard at the sight of one calf. The woman was more sexy than should be legal. She stepped out of the car with that feline grace that drove him wild. She was wearing a charcoal and black Chanel suit, big sunglasses and her red hair was twisted up. She wore red leather gloves that matched her lipstick and her shoes perfectly. Steele watched her walk toward the door of the shop, so lithe and elegant that people stopped to stare. Rafe got the door for her, and she swept into the shop in a swirl of distinctive perfume.

He was a grown man, known for his control, and he was nearly coming in his jeans.

He didn’t think she had noticed him, or if she had, she hid it well. He waited until she had bought a pound of coffee beans, reducing the young male clerk to a blushing and stumbling mess as she did so, then rose to his feet when she turned to leave.

Steele knew then that she hadn’t noticed him because she started, just a little, when she found him right in her path. She was still wearing the sunglasses, and he hated that he couldn’t see her eyes.

“Excuse me,” she said, as if they were perfect strangers.

“I wanted to apologize,” he said.

“Oh well,” she replied, her tone dismissive as she made to step around him. He wasn’t truly surprised that she wasn’t more encouraging.

He offered the small box he’d brought. “A peace offering. Will you accept it?”

He saw her lips move to form the word “no,” and remembered the sight of that same mouth locked around his cock. The memory weakened his knees but he didn’t move aside. Her gaze flicked to the box, almost unwillingly, then she smiled.

“You remembered,” she said softly, and he knew she was surprised.

“How could I forget?”

The box was from a chocolate shop, the same shop and the same design of box as she had offered to him the first day he’d worked for her. She’d tied him up in the back of that same limo, climbed astride him and fed him the chocolates inside one at a time, kissing him around the confection as she rode him.

Athena smiled then, and Steele knew she was genuinely pleased.

He was relieved when she accepted it, tucking it into her shopping bag with the coffee.

“Thank you.”

“I think of you,” he said, losing his poise in his haste to explain himself. “A lot. I miss you.”

She studied him from behind those dark glasses, her own thoughts hidden. “Well. Things change.” She seemed saddened by that, but resigned to it as well. She eyed him pointedly and he stepped out of her path. She strode past him and he inhaled deeply of her perfume, wanting even that small memory.

Athena, though, didn’t glance back.

Which meant that Steele had to hope that he had chosen the right gift.

* * *

They were all there when Caitlyn came down to the breakfast room.

It was evident to her that the four other guests had found some point of dissent, because there was a heavy silence from their end of the table. The women ignored each other, and Caitlyn noticed that each man was more attentive to the other woman than to the one she’d initially thought was his partner. There were many poisonous glances slanted between the women, and conversation was stilted.

The sound of knives on china seemed very loud.

Zach was reading, apparently immersed in another book from the library. Caitlyn took a deep breath and approached one of the other male guests with a smile. “I’d like to show you something,” she said and he glanced up with mild curiosity. She lifted the hem of her skirt, watching his eyes widen as the length of her leg was displayed. He caught his breath when her garter came into view but she turned her ass toward him then, revealing her hip. There were half a dozen welts from the riding crop there.

“My master disciplined me last night,” she confessed, as if she was talking about the weather. The silence was thunderous and she heard a knife clatter to a plate. “Because I’m so naughty, he instructed me to invite each of you to pinch one of the welts this morning.”

The guest she spoke to inhaled so sharply that Caitlyn was surprised. She smiled over her shoulder at his dismayed expression. “Please, do,” she said. “I’m rather hungry for breakfast.”

His nostrils pinched, he glanced over the table and gave one welt a savage pinch. Caitlyn gasped as tears rose to her eyes and her voice was strained. “Thank you, sir,” she said, then turned to the other man.