Only through the ninety percent willpower and ten percent not wanting to get caught in this embarrassing situation had Kathryn managed to figure a way out of her current predicament. Without calling Jake. Strumming her fingers along her legs—the ones she was knotted to—she passed the eternity of time until her rescuer arrived mentally rummaging through the pages on his desk.
There was a corner of a receipt that she’d ignored the first few passes, but now zeroed in on, making out a single word at the top. Jewelers.
A jewelry store? With her lips and nose, she managed to slide several pages covering the small receipt to the side. The sum total at the bottom of the receipt had to rival that of a car. Or her engagement ring.
A reminder popped up from Jake’s system. The word kitten was too alluring to pass up.
Punishment be damned. I’m going in.
Shamelessly, Kathryn bowed to press her nose to double-click the mouse, first opening the invitation, and then the attachment. The architectural drawing that opened up wasn’t what she expected. It was, for the most part, a big black box with sleek lines. Five stories tall with dark glass surrounding the three highest floors.
A dark, haunting building, it looked like it could have been designed by Peter Zumthor. Beautiful and elegant, it reminded her of Kunsthaus Bregenz, a building that she’d obsessed over for years that was home to a museum in Austria. It ranked at the top of her bucket list, next to Zambia and Fiji. If the drawings were for a secure facility, it was one hell of a posh one.
“Yoo-hoo!” came a booming voice.
Startled, Kathryn hurriedly reshuffled the pages on the desk with a few hearty blows, and smashed her nose into the mouse to clear the screen. Traces of snooping—gone.
Her partner in crime had unfettered access to the place, to come and go as he pleased. Which happened to be the same person who would both have her back, and under the right circumstances, disavow any knowledge of her. But he didn’t need to see this. And if any part of that receipt was showing, he’d notice.
“Up here,” she shouted.
The loudness of several heavy steps closed in on her just in time. Kathryn wiggled her fingers, staving off the climbing pins and needles. Her arm was falling asleep, and her bladder was giving her warning signals.
“Where?” he called out, sounding farther down the hall.
“Over here,” she called out, her tone ringing of guilt. “In Jake’s office.”
Though Julian walked to the door, he made barely a step inside before halting to a dead stop. Her threatening squint, along with the loud long huffs shooting from her nostrils, should have been enough of a warning for him to tread lightly. They weren’t.
Rather than rush to her rescue, her best friend held up his phone.
She heard several clicks, and then the silence of what had to be video mode. Julian prowled around her with slow, calculated strides. Paparazzi filmmaking at its finest. Even from behind, she could hear the snickers—the oohs and oh yeahs—as he captured every square inch of the bind she was in, wrapped and knotted like a shibari birthday gift.
“Julian,” she said with equal parts fury and bashful pleading. “You know I’m going to kick your ass as soon as I’m free.”
“Ha,” he said. “Big talk from a woman decked out in macramé. It’s like knitting gone wrong. But at least you’re dressed.”
“Dressed? What does that have to do with anything? We’re both nurses. You might not be straight, and I know boobs are a gay man’s kryptonite, but you can’t tell me a little nudity would keep you from helping me.”
Julian pondered her words as he continued filming. “Help you, yes. But I wouldn’t have been able to get all this amazing blackmail material if you were nude. It’s fucking fabulous.” He zoomed in on her face. “True confession—exactly how bad were you, you dirty little girl, to get punished like this? And how long has Jake left you here?”
Regret filling every inch of her body, Kathryn let her head fall forward with a sigh, building up the strength for the moment of truth. “Jake didn’t do this.”
Clasping the phone to his chest, Julian glared at her as his voice shot up an ear-piercing two octaves. “You’d better not be cheating on my man, Jake!”
Kathryn gave her best friend of a decade a deadpan look. “Look, Sherlock, let’s get a few things straight. First of all, Jake is my man, so keep your mitts to yourself and your fantasies locked away.”
Waggling his brows, Julian huffed out, “Fine. I won’t tell you about any of my smoking-hot firefighter dreams.”
“Got my own, thanks. And second, I would never, ever, not in a million years, cheat on Jake. Not only am I not a cheater, but he has more stamina than an entire stable of thoroughbred stallions, causing me to tap out on more than one occasion. And third, if I were the cheating type, I’d sure as hell be smart enough, and respectful enough, not to do it in the man’s own damn home.”
After two seconds of a stare-down, Julian leaned in, hushing his tone. “Are you saying you’re in a thruple? No judgment.” His eyes widened as he anticipated her response.
Exhausted and still unable to wriggle her way free, no matter how much she tried, Kathryn blurted, “For the love of God, Julian, I did this to myself.”
He lifted a brow as he eyed the ropes. Remorseful, he shook his head with a pathetic you poor dear look of pity. “Worst cry for help ever.”
“So much for no judgment,” she said, scoffing while barely holding back a laugh. “I was trying something I saw on YouTube and got stuck. Just help me get out of these.”
Julian pocketed his phone and reached out to help. Tugging at an extra-tight knot, he asked, “Why didn’t you call Jake?”
She cringed. “Because I didn’t want him to know I’ve been messing with his stuff.”
Julian’s busy fingers stopped at those words, and he took two large steps back. “We have now come to the point in the conversation where we discuss payment.”
Helpless, Kathryn asked, “What do you want?”
“Dinner.”
Easy enough. “Done.”
“In Vail.”
There was always a catch.
Of course. The high-end ski resort. The one he always wants me to go to, but the reality of me and my clumsy ass on skis forces my repeated decline.
“Fine,” she said with a huge sigh. “You’ve got me over a barrel. Just hurry up before Jake gets home.”
“Too late,” said the low, disapproving voice at the door.
Looking up, Kathryn shrank a little inside her own skin. The thundering of her heart left her breathless, frozen in place. Her voice caught in her throat, weak as she stumbled over half-formed words and met his hard stare. The storm of Jake’s dark hazel eyes.
With his arms crossed, every tight muscle was strained as he looked down, working his way across her body. It wasn’t the ropes that made her feel trapped and caught. Heat rose in her cheeks, along with the plea of forgiveness in a bashful smile.
“Julian,” Jake said, never moving his hungry gaze from hers. Without looking down, he fished out his wallet and held up his black card. “Dinner’s on me if you’re out of my house in under one minute.”
Snatching the card and hurrying out, Julian asked over his shoulder, “What’s my budget?”
“Paris. Now get the fuck out of here.”
How Kathryn heard the pounding of Julian’s fast-paced steps over her own heartbeat was a mystery. But she heard them echoing down the stairs, through the house, and straight out the front door. For all she knew, Julian would be in France in time for dinner.
Abandoned, she was left with nothing but her runaway pulse, her panting breath, and Jake’s smoldering gaze as he scanned every square inch of her. For as well as she knew this man and those eyes, the intensity of this stare was different.
Raw. Penetrating. Dark.
The feel of her own clothes burned beneath his stare. She needed them off. Now. If only she could talk. Her weak attempts started as whimpers, which erupted in a moan as she struggled ineffectively against the ropes.
In two long strides, Jake towered over her as he looked down with menacing desire and enough of a devilish half smile, her whole body shivered under his penetrating gaze. He leaned in, locking his hands on the arms of the chair as he reclined it. From some deep spot in his chest, he grumbled low with a sound of pure approval.
“Playing with string, kitten?”
Her indecisive words stopped short as he retrieved a knife from his desk’s bottom drawer. A six-inch blade.
“Don’t know?” he asked when she couldn’t come up with an answer. Two fingers slipped between different areas of rope and skin. “Don’t move.”
As if that is even possible.
In a sharp burst, he sliced the rope, freeing a small part of her wrist. “Too tight,” he muttered as he set the blade back on his desk.
If Kathryn could make a noise, she’d be stammering. But despite her mouth opening and closing several times in a row, no words came out. Nothing but a few desperate huffs, followed by a lick, a bite of her lower lip, and pure anticipation of his lips landing on hers any second now.
Instead, Jake’s cruel mouth moved past her ready one, a breath away from her ear. Low and growling, he asked, “Is this what you need?”
Slamming her eyes shut, she realized she didn’t know. Wasn’t sure.
Yes? Maybe?
“You’re not answering,” he murmured against her neck.
“I . . .” She paused as the heat of his mouth moved across her breast, penetrating her thin bra like a hot knife through butter. There was no way to get free. Nothing she could do. She was trapped. His captive. Forced to submit. “I don’t know,” she lied. His mouth moved across her body, and she soaked in every heated breath.
His fingers slid between her legs, beneath her soaked panties, and sliced a straight line up across her folds. Waiting for them to make their way inside her was no use. He pulled them away.
“Ahh,” she cried. Her nipples tightened. Her entire body clenched, aching and desperate for relief. She needed him. Needed more . . . more . . . more.
Jake painted her own wetness across her lower lip, then licked it off before letting her suck away what little remained on his tongue. “Your ready little pussy says otherwise. Yes or no, kitten? Or do I have to paddle it out of you?”
“Paddle?” Her voice cracked as her wide eyes met his devilish ones.
He arched a brow. “So, you like that idea too?”
Kathryn pushed past her panting enough to give several vigorous nods, but Jake shook his head.
“Not good enough.”
He took a step back, saying the words with almost callous disregard for the flurry of heat building within her. The weeping between her thighs. The raw need to have him. Now.
“Please,” she begged.
“Please?” He let the word fall flat between them. “Please won’t cut it this time.”
Ripping his shirt over his head and removing his pants, he revealed every line and curve of his cut abs and carved thighs, freeing his hard, jutting cock. The naked man before her again dimmed his gaze, hardening it in a way that struck her core like flint against steel.
“For the next hour, only three things can move past your lips,” he said gruffly as he moved in. “Yes, sir. Your safe word. And my cock. Do you understand?”
She barely managed to answer with a staggered breath. “Yes, sir.”
His hard gaze fell on her, its intensity filling her core with heat. When he tightened his grip on her hair, her mouth opened in response, and he pushed his hips forward until his dick touched her lips. Her tongue tasted the savory wetness of his strained tip, giving it several long licks.
“Take more,” he said, driving her mouth to swallow his staff, but not all the way. With one hand guiding her head, he gave her just enough that she ached for him in the back of her throat.
Sucking hard, she craved him. More of him. All of him.
Her body rocked, taking in every thrust and movement of his thighs and hips, restricted only by the tethers of the ropes. This was a dominance. A freefall into submission where her surrender was unconditional, leaving behind nothing but whimpers and hums against his cock.
Her nails dug into the arms of the chair. She gripped and fought for his release more than her own. The deeper she sucked him in, the more he let go. She drove the pace and depth. Kathryn controlled the rhythm. But Jake controlled her.
“That’s it, kitten. Make me come.”
Another few thrusts, and his groans became long and strained, cutting through the air as the heat of his climax emptied into her throat.
His release was bittersweet against a storm of desire that tightened her nipples and ached in her core. She wanted her clothes off and the ropes gone, but she’d settle for satisfaction. And she didn’t care how she got it. If it meant dry-humping the full-grain leather on his high-back chair, she was getting it, and she was getting it soon.
Kathryn twisted her arms, desperate to be free.
“Did I say you could move?”
She froze.
“Spread your legs.”
She inched them open, and Jake’s lips curled, but not into a smile. His expression was far too sinister for that. He leaned over, speaking to the skin of her neck as she felt him unbutton her shirt.
“Wider,” he said, nipping her neck. “And what do you say?”
At his words, she forced her thighs apart, stretching her denim shorts in a vain attempt to expose herself. “Yes, sir.”
Jake reset several knots, undoing and refastening them. Creating works of art as he secured her legs to the arms of the chair. He was hard again. And he continued taking his sweet damn time.
Torturing me.
“Don’t. Move.” In an instant, Jake painted on a remarkably evil grin and left the room.
Actually left. The. Room.
What in the actual fuck? An uncontrolled, blood-curdling scream flew from her lips. “Reddddd!”
Nothing but Jake’s hand appeared in the door with a blindfold dangling from it. “You sure about that?” Not waiting for a response, he swaggered back in. “I didn’t think so.”
With a single swift move, he reclined the chair before covering her eyes. The cool satin cloaked her in darkness, amplifying each sensation as much as the dominant rumble of his voice. His words were hot against the insides of her legs. “Have you had enough?”
“Yes,” she said with a sigh.
“Hmm?”
“Yes, sir,” she said, tensing so she didn’t squirm.
A coldness touched her thigh, just below the leg of her shorts, and she heard the rip of the cloth as it was cut from her body. With two more swift slices of the blade, her panties were gone.
Kathryn shivered, thrilled at the knife play. Should I add that to my preference sheet?
All rational thought was swept away as two fingers teased her entrance, then pressed in and out as his tongue swiped her clit. And then it was gone, replaced by the full thrust of his hard cock, pounding hard as his grip tore into her thighs.
If he’s not careful, he’ll break the chair. Me and the chair. But I don’t want careful. I want more. And that’s saying a lot considering the man is balls deep, and I can feel the full thickness of him from my spread-eagle thighs to the back of my throat.
“Is my kitten ready to come?”
No. Ready was an hour ago. Kitten is about to explode.
But all she could utter, breathy and pleading, were the words, “Yes, sir.”
“Not until I say,” he said firmly, thrusting hard enough to light every cell in her body on fire.
Even behind the blindfold, her eyes slammed shut. Kathryn tensed, trying anything to avoid falling over. Biting her lip. Holding her breath. Her body was on the brink of shattering into a hundred million pieces.
Jake slammed into her, over and over, until nothing else mattered—nothing existed but her racing heart and the wild sensations coursing through every part of her body at once. And him.
“Now!” he cried out as their orgasms collided, tearing her so completely apart in the strongest climax of her life.