Undercover Submission (8 page)

Kennedy wrinkled her nose in confusion. “Parties? What parties?”

“The Halloween parties. Five of them, to be exact. The first one is a week from Saturday, on October fourth. Then there’s a party every Saturday until the last one, on Halloween, which is a Friday this year. They’re all costume parties; the first four are preliminaries for the best costume contest, and the winner will be announced on October thirty-first.”

“Wow, five parties for Halloween thrown by one couple. That’s…interesting.”

Grace laughed. “You mean excessive. I can hear it in your voice. Toffer loves Halloween. And it’s sort of special to us.”

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“Oh.” Kennedy waited for Grace to elaborate, and when she didn’t, Kennedy picked up the papers in the box. “I’ll just go to work now. I’ll see you at lunch?”

“Absolutely. We have our first meeting with the caterer today. So come hungry.”

Kennedy went down the hall to her own office, sliding behind the desk and powering up her computer. She set her papers down and flipped through her calendar. When she got to October, she made it through all the dates, then frowned.

Grace hadn’t told her about the parties, and that raised a huge question as to why. She thought Grace would have delegated the task of picking out a caterer to Kennedy long before now. Instead, Grace had set it up herself and invited Kennedy to lunch to help critique possible menu choices.

What did that mean, exactly? Was Grace upset with her? No, that couldn’t be right.

Things had been going fine, and if they hadn’t, she knew Grace would let her know. So why were the parties such a huge secret?

She tried to put the questions out of her mind as she worked on reviewing the letters Grace wrote yesterday. Grace took her fan letters very seriously, and she read and answered each one she received, even though Kennedy did proof them and get them ready for the author’s signature. She printed out twenty of them before lunch, put them back in the folder, and took them down the hall to Grace’s office.

She wasn’t there, so Kennedy put them in her inbox. She sniffed the air in appreciation. Lunch was obviously being served, and it smelled delicious. She went down the hall to the kitchen, stepping inside the doorway and stopping dead in her tracks.

Cedric sat at the table, his gaze trained on the spot where she stood.

“Hello, Kennedy. Hungry? I know I’m starved.” The look he gave her let her know exactly what he was hungry for. Her nipples tightened and she let out a soft moan. “Nice to see you too. I’ve been in London for a while. I love London; still it’s always nice to come home.”

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“I imagine so.” She looked around for everyone else and noticed they were alone.

“Welcome home.”

“Thank you, slave girl. How are you?”

“Where is everyone?”

“Answer me.” His look drilled her to the floor, zinging her with bolts of pleasure. She lifted her thumb to her mouth and chewed on the nail.

“I’m fine,” she said, lowering it when she realized what she was doing. “Sir.”

His lip curled up slightly; then his mouth flattened into a line again. “Everyone’s outside sampling ham, turkey, green beans, potatoes, and various treats made with pumpkin and nuts and other Halloweeny ingredients.”

“Maybe we should go join them.”

“Not yet.” Why wasn’t she moving? Just because he was staring at her?

“Cedric, I --”

“I did a lot of thinking in London, about us, and how I could claim you as mine.”

I already am yours. “It won’t work. You know it won’t.”

“Why don’t you put your hands over those hard nipples and tell me again it won’t work. Or try and forget about that wet pussy between your legs. I know my cock’s hard, thinking about you sucking it.”

“I’m going outside now.” She started for the third-floor deck, stopping as his words wrapped around her.

“Kennedy, in the end, you’ll beg for us to be together. After I collar you, after I snap the lock in place, it’s never coming off.”

“No.”

“Yes, I’ll have the only key, and you’ll wear it everywhere, so every person on the planet knows I own you.” He was behind her now, his hands on her hips, his breath hot on Undercover Submission

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her neck. He pulled her next to him and she felt the hard ridge of his cock against her ass.

“Who do you belong to?”

“You.” She whispered the word, praying he didn’t hear it.

“That’s right. Your body knows, and that’s what answered. Now we just have to convince your brain.”

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Schedule book signing at store in Beverly Hills Call warehouse to make sure Grace gets the extra books she ordered to use as giveaways from her Web site

Pick up costumes for party

Personal to-do list:

Edits, edits, and more edits

Buy batteries for BOB

Try and stop thinking about Cedric, and how he makes me feel

“You’re going as a cat and dog?” Kennedy put the costume bags on the chair beside Grace’s desk.

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“Toffer thought it was would be fun. I wanted to do something more traditional, something that would show we were a couple. He says everyone knows that, and this would throw them for a loop. Did you look at your costume?”

“Yes, I did. I’m not so sure about the corset.”

Grace laughed, then put down her pen. “Do you know who you’re dressing as tonight, then?”

“Oh yes, it had a little card on it. I would have left it at the store if the clerk hadn’t told me you threatened death if I didn’t bring everything home.”

“Yes, I did order him to make sure it came home with you. And you know, I could get used to ordering people around. It’s sorta fun.”

“Is there some point to this costume?” Kennedy sat down in the other chair and glanced at the clock. It was after four, and Grace was still at her desk.

“I’ll come down and help lace you up before the party starts. And I’m warning you, if you lock me out, or refuse to cooperate in any way, I’m sending Toffer down, and you won’t be happy with the way he’ll help. I guarantee it.”

“Threats from my employer. Interesting.”

“Threats from your friend,” Grace countered, rearranging things on her desk, a sign she was done for the evening. “I want you to have fun tonight, so be a good girl and play along.”

* * * * *

Getting into the corset had been torture, with Grace pulling on strings until Kennedy thought she would burst. And then Grace had pulled more.

She didn’t want to hurt her friend’s feelings, but she didn’t plan on staying long. It was hard to enjoy a party when you couldn’t breathe.

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Kennedy scanned the crowd to see if she could discern which partygoer was Cedric.

Since everyone wore a mask, it was hard to determine. There were lots of pirates, witches, and superheroes. There were also famous people from history and mythology. Zeus, Henry the VIII, and Napoleon were all in the running for best costume, as were Helen of Troy and Martha Washington.

Grace, in her cat suit, looked very impressive. Kennedy felt like a wallflower in the group of mostly couples. She nibbled from some of the treats, and after an hour of feeling as if her breasts would pop out of her southern belle costume, she decided it was time for her to go.

First, though, she had to find Grace. It would be easier to just disappear, except Grace would be furious with her. She finally found her near the stairs, a worried look on her face.

Grace and Toffer were the only mask-less people at the party.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t find the prizes Toffer gave me to hold on to for the winner. I think I left them upstairs by the side of the bed. If I leave to look for them, he’ll know I misplaced them.

Would you go for me?”

“Sure. It’s the scepters, right? Two of them?” Kennedy thought it had been a good idea for each costumed champion to get a scepter for winning that week. Then, on Halloween, the ultimate victors would be crowned.

“Yes, thank you.” Grace leaned closer. “Although I love getting spanked, I’d rather not have it happen tonight.”

Kennedy hugged her and started for the stairs. She didn’t think Toffer would spank Grace with all these people around; then again, you never knew. At the stairs that led to the fourth floor, and Toffer and Grace’s bedroom, a guard stood ushering people back the way they’d come. When he saw Kennedy, he stepped aside and indicated she should go up.

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Interesting. He didn’t even ask her what she was doing, or where she was going. She needed to report that to Grace, let her know the guard would let people pass. As she neared the top of the stairs, though, a nagging doubt tickled the back of her mind. He was turning others away, sending them back downstairs. Why would he let her pass?

She stepped into the bedroom and stopped near the bed. She’d been in this room before, when Grace had given her a tour. The space was enormous, and the huge bed took up a great deal of one wall. What struck her tonight, though, were the candles. Big, fat white candles set in various points around the room that provided the only light.

“You know what I always thought Rhett’s problem was?” Kennedy swirled toward Cedric’s voice, her hoop skirt arcing out. “He wasn’t dominant enough. He let Scarlett get away with murder.”

He sat in a chair, one ankle draped across a knee, with a cheroot hanging from his mouth. His costume was perfect, a man’s suit from the Civil War era, form fitted to his muscular body.

“Cedric.”

“Not tonight. Tonight I’m a southern gentleman, ready to take his lady in hand.”

Her chest rose painfully against the tight corset, which she knew thrust her breasts out.

“So, you’re saying if Rhett had been a Dom, Scarlett would have behaved?”

“What he should have done, in my book, was spank her that first day he met her, when she threw her little temper tantrum about Ashley Wilkes.” He stood and crossed to her quickly, pulling her into his body with one muscular arm. “Just like I’m going to spank you, for denying us the pleasure we could have together.”

He stepped back and shrugged out of his jacket, throwing it onto the bed. As he rolled up his sleeves, all she could think was how dashing he looked, and her excitement level kicked up. Once more wouldn’t hurt, would it? She’d been craving him for weeks now, wearing out the batteries in her vibrator as she dreamed of submitting to him.

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She was so weak. Her pussy throbbed with need, and in her mind she could see herself walking down the stairs while her soft folds screamed for his touch.

“Take off the dress and the pantalets. Leave on the corset and the hoop,” he said around the cheroot he chewed.

“And if I don’t?” She would, of course, but if he wanted a southern brat, he was going to get one.

“Then your bottom will be redder than the flesh of a watermelon. Obey me.”

She glared at him, ready to play his game tonight. “No.”

He grasped her wrists and pulled her close, their faces inches apart.

“You will mind me.”

“I’ll do no such thing,” she said in a fake southern accent she knew was horrible. “You can kiss my grits.”

She expected him to get angry, to throw her on the bed, and somehow lift the skirt over her head so he could spank her bottom. Instead, he held her close, his hands tightening on her wrists. “I can wait all night. You will do as I say.”

His fake southern accent was better than hers, sending chills up her spine.

“Cedric, I --”

“Stay in character. Obey me, Scarlett.”

She sighed, then put her forehead on his chest. She could hear his heart beating steadily under his bones and muscle.

“Rhett, please don’t punish me.”

“Do as you’re told and it will be much easier for you.” He released her wrists and moved back to the chair he’d been sitting in. “Skirt, bodice, and pantalets. Right now.”

Her hands went to the bodice, unlacing it slowly. She loved the way he watched her, his need seeming as great as her own. She undid the bodice quickly, letting it drop before her Undercover Submission

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fingers worked the hooks on the skirt, thankful for the modern fastenings. She stepped out of it gingerly, keeping one hand on the bed so she didn’t topple over.

It was harder to take down the lace undies, though, with the hoop ring still around her waist. When she bent over, one breast popped out of the corset, a ring hanging down from her nipple.

“Beautiful. Take the other one out.” She put her hand inside the corset, freeing her other breast. Her breath came easier, and she licked her lips in anticipation. She finally stepped from the undies, then stood, nervous energy shooting through her body.

“Come to me.” When she was in front of him, he reached below the chair and pulled out wrist cuffs. He made quick work of strapping them to her body, then used lanyard hooks to attach the cuffs to the hoop skirt.

“You’ve been a bad girl. And what happens to bad girls?”

“They get punished.”

“That’s right.” He stared at her breasts, pushed himself closer, then captured one in his mouth, tugging at the ring, nibbling on the tight bud with his teeth. She moaned under his touch as he moved to the other one, giving it the same, sweet torture.

If this is punishment, I’ll be bad the rest of my life. He suckled each nipple again, licking them both before tucking them back into the corset. Then he stood and led her to the French doors.

“We’re going outside? Isn’t it a bit cold for that?” He ignored her and led her to the deck, stopping just in front of the railing. “Someone’s going to see me. We should go back inside.”

The chances of being caught were slim, she knew, since they were four stories up. Still, that chance was always there. Someone walking in the gardens, or near the pool, could look up and see her, standing there half-naked. She was so busy concentrating on her fear of discovery that she didn’t realize he’d attached the cuffs to chains secured to the railings.