by Ella Ardent
She also felt the temperature between them change, and it wasn’t good.
He looked back at her, his gaze hard. “He haunts me, because that’s what I deserve.”
Zach blamed himself for Luke’s death?
“But you’re wrong,” she said hastily. “You have to be.” She put her hand on Zach’s arm, but he pulled away. The rejection stung as little else could have done.
“I don’t think so.”
“I do, because you have to be talking about Luke.”
Zach’s gaze leapt to hers and Caitlyn took a deep breath.
“And I’m the one who killed him.”
“That’s a lie,” Zach said with rare heat. Caitlyn stared at him, knowing she’d never seen him angry like this, never seen him lose his temper. There was no doubt that he was convinced of his own words. “I killed Luke. He was my best friend, and he’d had my back a hundred times, but we fought.”
“That doesn’t mean…”
“I knew he’d been drinking,” Zach interrupted savagely, his eyes blazing. “I knew he’d do some dumb-ass thing, but I told him to go. I let him drive away, even though he was furious. I might as well have driven that car into the concrete pillion myself.”
“But…”
“You can’t fix this, Caitlyn. You can’t make it better. I have to live with what I said and did for the rest of my life.”
“But…”
“We’re not going to talk about it,” he said with the force of command that should have thrilled her.
But Zach put as much distance between them as possible. He rapped on the roof and commanded the driver to take them back to the house.
Then he plucked the book out of her hands and read it himself, as if she wasn’t even there.
As if he was thinking of another submissive who would take her place.
The vibrator hummed against her puss, probably because he’d forgotten about it, and Caitlyn wondered if he’d come to her that night at all.
What had he and Luke said to each other that last time that Zach felt so guilty?
* * *
It was an endless day, as far as Zach was concerned.
He wanted to pack up and leave the island right away, but that was out of the question. He couldn’t find Rex and he didn’t want to be with Caitlyn.
Well, he did want to be with Caitlyn, but he knew he didn’t deserve it.
He prowled through the whole house, discovering its every corner, but guessed there were parts of it that he didn’t even know existed. He tried the door to Caitlyn’s room again, but found it still locked, and told himself that it was better that way.
His desire for Caitlyn was at the root of everything, after all. He should learn to let her go. He’d had his one night, and it should have satisfied him.
Except it hadn’t.
In fact, a taste had only made him more hungry. He gave the remote control for the vibrator to Hunt, whose face lit with delight at the possibilities. There was no gym he could find—although he knew there had to be one hidden in the house somewhere—so he worked out in his room with obsessive determination.
It proved to be impossible to take the edge off his desire.
Let alone to eliminate his guilt.
The house made a hundred bizarre noises throughout the day, as if it really was haunted. He heard banging and fading footsteps. He was sure someone ran through the attic and heard scratching on the other side of the walls of his room, a sound that made the hair stand up on the back of his neck.
He didn’t go down to dinner, because he didn’t want to be tempted by Caitlyn.
Instead he had a tray in his room, took a long hot bath, and then climbed into bed to read some more erotica. He dozed off when it was dark outside the windows.
And then, to his dismay, he dreamed of the night he most wanted to forget.
* * *
“Hey, Zach, come buy me a drink.” Luke swaggered into the bar where Zach and his co-workers grabbed a drink on Thursday nights. He looked completely out of place in the swish bar, dressed in his jeans and leather jacket while everyone else was wearing suits. A few had loosened their ties, but it was early enough that they still had their jackets on.
Zach would leave before things got too relaxed. One drink, that was his rule. And he made it last.
Silence fell at the sight of Luke and the new arrival had everyone’s attention. Luke grinned at that, aware of his effect on others no matter how shit-faced he was. He stumbled a little on the rug as he headed for Zach. “Something fancy, buddy,” he said, a familiar edge in his voice. He spared an angry glance around the bar. “Something expensive.” He had a hard time with that last word.
“I don’t think you need another drink, Luke,” Zach said. He stood up smoothly and nodded to the waitress, leaving a twenty under his glass, which still had part of the shot of Scotch. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride home.”
“Yeah, right,” Luke sneered. “Drive me home and put me to bed, so you can play with my toys.”
Zach stiffened at that. He spared a glance to his co-workers, then laid claim to Luke’s elbow. “Come on, Luke, let’s get you home.”
“It’s early yet,” Luke said, stumbling out of Zach’s grip. “I could meet your friends, get to know them a little.” He leered at Zach. “Tell them some stories about us growing up together.” His eyes glinted. “Maybe a secret or two.”
Zach smiled thinly. “I don’t think anybody cares about the trouble we made together in primary school.” A couple of his co-workers laughed and attention turned away from Luke. Zach seized Luke’s elbow and marched his buddy toward the door, his grip uncompromising.
“Oh yeah, that’s right,” Luke said. “You like to call the shots. You like to be in charge.” They were in the parking lot and it was drizzling, though Zach didn’t stop to get an umbrella. He headed for Luke’s Mustang, which was badly parked at the edge of the lot. “Should I whimper?” he demanded. “Should I beg for mercy?” His voice rose. “Should I let everyone know how much you like to control everyone?”
“Shut up,” Zach said through his teeth, well aware that a couple of his co-workers were standing outside the bar, having a smoke. No doubt they were both watching and listening.
“It’s your big secret, isn’t it?” Luke sneered. “And I’m the only one who knows it.” He flung out a hand, lost his balance as he tugged out of Zach’s grip and fell against the car. “I could tell them all. I could blow your cover, and it would be everything you deserved.”
Zach seized Luke’s collar. “Shut the fuck up,” he snarled.
“Or you’ll gag me tight?” Luke taunted, then shook his head. “I don’t give a fuck what you like. I don’t give a shit how much money you have, or how successful you are or how many women throw their panties at your fucking car.” He poked Zach in the chest. “You can keep all your shit and collect even more, but you do not get to take what’s mine.”
“You’re talking shit,” Zach said. “Get in the car and I’ll drive you home.”
“So you can make a move on Caitlyn while I’m out cold? I don’t fucking think so!”
“What?”
Luke seized Zach’s collar. “I’ve seen how you look at her. I know what you want to do to her. But she’s mine, and she always will be.”
“Get in the car.”
Luke chuckled and fumbled with his phone. “Even better, she likes what you like, but she likes it with me.” He pressed a button and his phone chirped, then Zach’s phone buzzed in his pocket that he’d received a message. “Go ahead, look at it.”
Zach pulled out his phone and opened the message Luke had just sent him. The bottom dropped out of his world at the sight of Caitlyn trussed up tight.
And loving it.
“Just so you know,” Luke snarled. “I’m done keeping your fucking secret.”
He threw himself into the car and miraculously managed to start it. Zach was so shocked by the image—and so unable to look away from it—that he
didn’t move fast enough. But the time he snatched for Luke, the car was fishtailing across the wet pavement.
By the time, he got into his own car and followed his buddy, it was too late to pull him over to talk.
He saw the Mustang swerve to avoid the car that was moving more slowly. He saw the back tires start to skid. He heard himself shout a warning again.
And then he saw the explosion, the flames and heard himself scream.
Chapter Four
Finally.
Dagmar had summoned Rex and Amy at noon, and they confronted the caged Devon in the infirmary. He was wearing a gag and had been trussed into a straitjacket, and his ankles were shackled. It might have been overkill, but his eyes were wild and Rex knew he was really pissed.
He lunged at the bars of his cage when he saw Amy and threw his weight against them so that they shuddered. Rex couldn’t understand whatever he bellowed into the gag, but it wasn’t friendly.
Amy, to her credit, held her ground and glared back at Devon. “Liar,” she muttered.
“Call for you, sir.” Dagmar handed a phone to Rex and turned back to her team. He knew it was Athena and spoke to her about the plans for Devon, even as he watched Amy.
She was undaunted by Devon, which was admirable. She’d been impulsive, which Rex didn’t like, but he recognized that she’d acted out of her concern for Caitlyn’s fantasy. He could relate to that. She had waited for his nod of agreement.
And her submission the night before had been hauntingly sweet. He’d been moved as he seldom was, and the memory of their scene was persistent.
He wanted to do it again.
All the same, Rex knew that Amy wanted something more than being a submissive.
He terminated the call before Athena could add anything personal or emotional—or suggestive—well aware that half of the security team were listening.
“You’ve done well,” he said to Amy, and she smiled at him briefly. “The police are coming for him at the end of the week.”
“Not sooner?”
Rex shook his head, knowing that Devon was attending his words. “I suggested otherwise, to keep to the rhythm of the island.”
Amy nodded. “So the other guests don’t have their fantasies disrupted.”
“And maybe it’s time for a reward.”
Amy turned to him, her eyes alight with hope.
“You took charge,” Rex said softly. “You saved the situation.” He reached for her, sliding his fingers into her hair. Why had he ever imagined that she resembled Joanna? The similarity in their appearance was passing. The differences in their personalities was phenomenal. Amy was fearless, perceptive and more passionate that her sister by a mile.
She was, actually, more like him.
It had been hot to discipline her the night before, to know that he’d never drive the spark of defiance from her eyes. He didn’t want to change her, but he enjoyed the challenge of trying to discipline her.
Amy tipped her head back into his hand, responsive to his touch in a way that her sister had only been when Rex had disguised his identity. Amy’s gaze locked with his own, her desire for him clear. She wanted everything. She wanted more. She wanted all she could get.
They were similar in that, too. Rex brushed his lips across her mouth and felt them both shiver. He smiled down at her, knowing he’d finally found his protegé. “It’s time for a reward, Amy.”
“Anything you want, Rex,” she whispered.
“No. Anything you want.” He nodded at Devon. “We’re going to teach him what it’s like to be owned and used for the pleasure of others.”
Devon made a sound of distress, and flung himself heavily at the bars of his cage. If he thought he could break free, he had another thing coming.
It might be amusing to watch him realize that his captivity was complete and escape was futile.
“I don’t know where to begin,” Amy whispered and Rex drew her close.
“That’s why we’ll do it together.”
Devon was clearly enraged by the prospect and Amy laughed lightly. She strolled around the cage, just out of Devon’s reach, surveying him. Her steps were measured, perfectly controlled, and Rex saw the frisson of fear in their captive.
It was exciting to be dominated by a woman much smaller and weaker.
“I hope he’s a quick learner,” Amy said, her voice dark with threat. “I would so hate to have to repeat lessons.” Devon growled. “Or for our guest to miss that first available flight.” Devon thrashed around the cage and Rex smiled.
Amy was going to do very, very well.
* * *
Zach awakened with a start, his heart pounding.
He sat up quickly, certain he saw a figure before the fireplace, warming his hands. It must have been his imagination, because the shadowy figure disappeared immediately. The room was ridiculously cold. Zach got out of bed and stoke up the fire, holding out his own hands to the blaze once it was crackling.
He heard a key turn in a lock and the hair prickled on the back of his neck.
He heard a door creak as it was opened.
He spun to find the connecting door open, darkness beyond it. A moment later, light spilled into that intermediary corridor.
The door to Caitlyn’s room had been unlocked.
Zach hurried across his room, trying to not make any sound, and hauled the door to that hidden corridor open wide. He thought he heard light footsteps running up those stairs, but they were in darkness.
And he was more interested in Caitlyn’s room. He crept across the space and peered through the open door into her room.
Talk about forbidden pleasures. He should turn his back on her forever. He should walk away. He should have the sense to remember that she’d been in love with Luke, and it was some kind of twisted joke for him to pretend he was Luke and take her night after night.
But Zach couldn’t resist.
One look into the room and he thought he would explode. She was kneeling before the fire, beside the ottoman, wearing her corset, boots and stockings. There was a spreader bar holding her legs wide apart. She was gagged and blindfolded, with her wrists bound behind her back with heavy jute rope. She was bent forward, her butt facing him, and the rope from her wrists was looped through a hook in the ceiling and tugged tight. She hung there, her weight on the tips of her toes, and looked exquisite.
She couldn’t possibly have made herself so helpless alone.
Either she had gotten help, or she was a gift.
Zach didn’t much care either way.
He stepped into her room and closed the door behind himself, taking the key from the corridor side. It was an old lock, the kind that will take the key from either side. He locked the door and watched Caitlyn start as she heard it.
As he strolled closer, admiring the view, he noticed that there was a riding crop on the ottoman. It was as if someone had heard his thoughts.
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.
* * *
Cai
tlyn 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.