Taken in Hand (4 page)

would be sometimes to be able to let go and have someone

else make all his decisions. What a relief it would be.

What the hell?
He jerked up straight. What was he

thinking? He snapped his notebook shut. “You’ve answered

some of my questions for now. Uh, do you go to this

Dungeons place very often?”

“I go usually once a week, on Saturday nights. As my

sub, you would naturally accompany me. Will you be able to

do that, Chad?”

He raised his chin and met the professor’s eye straight

on. “Sure, why not? As you said, it’s role play, but let’s get

something straight, it will not be twenty-four-seven. In

public I do my job, but when we go to your club, you will not

take part in any trading or scenes. You will say whatever you

have to for your
friends
to accept that. In private, I do not

play any boy-toy role for your enjoyment.”

“You don’t set the terms or give me orders, and don’t

flatter yourself, Detective. Your body is nice, yes, but I don’t

think you’re strong enough to be a sub. Not my sub, anyway,

but understand, if we do this, you don’t get to make the

rules. My house, my rules, and you need to be trained

properly before I display you at my club. I have my own

reputation to consider. If you’re not willing to put yourself

under my control, this is not going to work.”

Chad made an angry sound, and Adam held up a

hand. “I have no desire for a—what was it you called it? A

boy-toy? I like men.”

They sat in silence for a long moment, staring at each

other. Chad had a feeling a challenge had been laid down

and he had no response to it.

Adam finally released his gaze and threw his napkin

on the table. “I hate to run, but I do have a class this

afternoon. If you have any other questions, you have my

card.”

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“Yeah, sure. Thanks for coming, sir.”

The second the word hit the air, he wanted to bite his

tongue. To cover, he slid out along with the professor,

though he’d barely touched his burger. He stood in front of

the man and stuck out his hand. Adam looked down at him

and smiled, taking the offered hand and holding it for a brief

moment longer than necessary before dropping it.

“I’ll wait for your call, Chad,” he said and pointed to

the gun and badge attached to Chad’s belt. “Leave those at

home.”

* * * *

Adam Morrison stepped out of the restaurant into a

cold breeze and shivered. His hand still tingled from

touching Chad Williams, even so briefly. God, the man was

delicious. From the first moment he‘d seen him from the

back standing in the entryway, he’d admired his body. He

wasn’t overly tall, only about five-ten, but he was trim and

muscular, though not in a muscle bound way. Even without

the badge and gun, he looked like a cop, with his black

pants and plain shoes, topped by a leather jacket. His bronze

colored hair was a little long for most cops he’d seen. Did

that indicate a problem with authority? When he’d first

turned around, Adam had to take a step back. He was

gorgeous, with high cheekbones, perfect, full lips, and

incredible blue eyes, the rare, pale, icy blue kind. His skin

was light and translucent. It would blush up beautifully,

showing every mark of his master’s hand.

Oh yes, he was every inch a sub, whether he knew it

or not. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t sure Chad even knew

he was gay. There had been a moment when they first shook

hands that Chad had caught and held his gaze, not looking

away until Adam challenged him by staring back at him

directly. Almost immediately, he’d lowered his gaze. Classic

sub behavior, though the man was completely unaware of it.

Adam was pretty much taken by everything about the

young man, even the way he asked his questions. Brash and

assertive, yet there was the fascination he’d shown when

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Adam explained the Dominant/submissive relationship. Just

thinking about having him naked in his home made Adam’s

cock thicken in his jeans. He’d teased Chad, watching for the

signs and finding them. Chad had a lot to learn, and Adam

was tempted to be the one to teach him. Even though he had

no desire to get into a relationship, he had a sudden image

in his mind of Chad kneeling on a pillow at his feet, those big

blue eyes gazing up at him trustingly, and Adam had to

adjust himself. This investigation might be even more than

Adam bargained for if his unexpected reaction to the young

man was any indication. He had a feeling he’d be

disappointed if he ignored his attraction.

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Sometimes his fellow officers’ sense of humor was

enough to make Chad explode. He held to what was

becoming a hair trigger temper and tossed the box of glow-

in-the-dark condoms in the trash. Where he was headed,

with whom, and why had made the rounds all over the

department since he’d met with Morrison three days ago.

He’d been smirked at, patted on the back in sympathy, and

endured off-color remarks since the word went out that his

undercover assignment was to move in with a Dom. Keeping

smart-assed answer from alienating him with his peers had

been an exercise in control.

“Chief wants to see you before you leave,” Phillips

informed him. As he walked off chuckling, he couldn’t resist

adding, “Don’t let them get to you, son. Although better you

than me. I’d look like hell in a cock cage.”

“Just how is it you know what that even is?” Chad

demanded.

“This case is giving me an education,” Phillips called

back. “You’re going to get one hell of one too.”

Chad didn’t doubt that one fucking bit. Professor

Morrison had the balls to email him a reading list, telling

him to study the lifestyle before he appeared at his

residence, along with the terse message to study well,

treating him like one of his damn students.

How Chad felt about the situation must have shown.

His chief took one look at him and shook his head. “You look

ready to explode. Maybe you’re not the right man for this

assignment after all.”

“I’ll be fine once I get away from all these assholes and

their asinine senses of humor. It’s too late to call it off

anyway. Morrison has already set the thing up, telling

everyone I’m an old friend he reconnected with recently.”

“Are you going to be able to do this?”

Chad blew out a breath. “Yeah, but you can bet your

ass I’m not going to like it. The guy’s a smug, arrogant ass.”

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“Feeling that way is going to make it pretty hard for

you to pretend to be a boyfriend let alone a sub—if I’ve got

that whole thing right.”

“Nah, I got it covered. I’ll keep my eyes down and my

mouth shut. He’ll do all the talking for me and tell me when

and how to move every minute, according to the reading list

he sent.” He shook his head and gave a short laugh. “In

private, I’ll just stay away from him to keep from punching

his lights out.”

“If you think—”

Chad held his hand up to stop the chief’s alarm. “I’m

kidding. Sorry. I won’t punch him,” he said with a laugh. “I

will stay away from him though, as much as possible. He

irritates the hell out of me. Let’s just hope this does put him

on the top of the killer’s hit list, and we get this over with

quickly.”

“I’ll be at the funeral. If I see you’re having trouble

keeping in character, I’ll pull the plug on you so fast your

head will swim,” he said in warning.

“I’ll be fine.”
God, he wished he felt as confident as he

sounded. He hadn’t read much. He’d gotten tired of having a

hard-on and having to jack off for relief.

* * * *

Chad pulled up to the house and whistled softly. The

professor lived well. He certainly lived on a higher level than

the studio apartment Chad crashed in when he dragged in

exhausted from work every night. The house was a long, low-

slung brick one story, sitting in the middle of a cul-de-sac.

The neighborhood was a good one and very exclusive. After

checking him out, Chad understood how he could afford the

luxury. College professors didn’t make the kind of money

needed to support this life style. He’d come from a wealthy

family as well as making a slight fortune on books he’d

written, along with what he pulled in with lectures. The

books were all about literary figures like Shakespeare and

Marlowe and Donne, but written with a modern, popular

appeal. One had even made the bestseller lists.

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Pulling his old duffle bag from the back seat, he

couldn’t help enjoying the thought that his country boy

manners might just be an embarrassment to the lofty

professor.

Chad came from the small town of Dacula, only a

short distance from Athens, but a world away in culture and

refinement. His family was typical middle-class, his father a

millworker and his mother a housewife. Chad had gone to

school at the University as a night student to cut expenses,

worked during the day to pay for it, and had never

participated much in campus life.

Adam—he had to get accustomed to calling him Adam,

not Morrison—had been watching for him. He opened the

door before Chad reached it.

“You’re late. You’ll have to hurry to change if we’re

going to be there on time.”

“There’s nothing wrong with what I have on for a

funeral.”

Adam, nattily dressed in a navy blue suit with a snowy

white shirt and a tie in muted shades of red, gave him a once

over, an eyebrow rising slightly. “There is. I’ve laid clothes

out for you in the guest room. You’re going to have to trust

me to know the image you must project to make this work.

You can’t look like a cop. Hurry and get rid of the gun I told

you to leave at home.”

“Just what the hell kind of body guard would I be

without a gun?” Chad shot back.

“Just how believable would you be as my sub carrying

one?” Adam countered. “Leave it here. Here is where the

danger exists, is it not?”

Gritting his teeth, Chad went where Adam directed.

The interior of the house was as elegant as the exterior, full

of dark woods and what seemed to Chad to be expensive

antiques. The room he’d been given was bigger than his

whole apartment. A tall four-post bed sat in the middle of the

room, draped with dark brown covers. He didn’t even want to

set his bag down on the gleaming wood floors for fear he’d

scratch or stain them somehow.

Seeing what was laid out for him, he had to admit, the

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clothes looked much better than what he had on. They

should have for as much as he guessed the suit, shirt,

shoes, and even socks must have cost. Definitely higher

quality than Chad was used to. They fit him, too, and he was

right. No way would the shoulder holster he’d switched to

have been invisible under the jacket. Adam had a good eye,

making Chad wonder how many men he measured by sight

alone to buy clothes for. The black suit was slim cut and fit

him like a glove. The shirt was charcoal, and the black,

textured tie was silk. The shoes were expensive Italian

loafers Chad was pretty sure cost more than his monthly

salary. They must have belonged to the professor, because

they were a little scuffed on the bottom. He kind of liked the

idea of wearing shoes that belonged to Adam, and what the

hell was wrong with him for even thinking like that?

“Satisfied?” he asked, rejoining Adam where he waited

in the living room.

“More so than before.” He straightened Chad’s tie and

tugged at the coat. “You’ll do for off the rack. He looked down

at his feet. Good. The shoes fit you. My young nephew left

them here when he last visited. I thought they might do for

you.”

“Your nephew? How old is he?”

The professor smirked a little. “Fifteen. He’s about

your size.”

Chad glared at him, but he was already turning away.