Take the Heat: A Criminal Romance Anthology

by Skye Warren

  He paused, a chagrined expression on his handsome face. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Slowly, he peeled off his hoodie, letting it drop to the floor by his feet. Underneath, he wore a tight black T-shirt, his heavily tattooed arms now visible.

  “Nice tats,” she said. She had her whole back done with fairy wings, herself.

  “Thanks.” He looked at the floor nervously. “You need me to take my shirt off?”

  “If you want to,” she said.

  “And if I don’t?”

  “Then leave.”

  He stared at the door for a moment, then shook his head. “You promise you won’t call the cops if I stay?”

  “Shane,” she said, smiling sweetly, “if you do everything I say, not only will I not call the cops, but I’ll actually give you three hundred dollars.”

  Finally he smiled back at her, his straight white teeth showing. “All right…”

  He stripped off his T-shirt, revealing a long, lean, muscled torso with six-pack abs. Perfect.

  “Yup, you’ll do just fine,” Courtney said. “I don’t need to hold the gun on you anymore, do I?”

  “No, ma’am. I swear.”

  “Prove it to me. Get naked.”

  Shane smiled nervously, but he dropped his jeans, kicked off his boots, and finally, with a deep breath, pulled off his boxer briefs.

  His cock hung heavy and low, a nice size even if he wasn’t hard yet.

  “Scared?” Courtney asked, nodding to his cock.

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry.”

  “Well, I’m not sorry,” she said. “You deserve to be a little scared after that shit you pulled on me.”

  When he was fully naked, Courtney feigned putting the gun back into her purse. What she really did, with her other hand, was put the gun under a pile of papers by the wastebasket. It was completely hidden, not where he’d expect to find it, and still accessible.

  She wasn’t sure if that was a smart move, but now that she had him naked and willing to do anything for her, she wasn’t afraid of him anymore.

  No, if anything, now it was Shane’s turn to be scared of her.

  “So, you’ve seen my website?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. It was hot.” Shane glanced at her. “You looked…really good. Fucking sexy as hell.”

  “Thanks.” Courtney shrugged off the compliment, considering who it was coming from, but it did feel good to know she still had it. “Come on, we’re going in the back room, where I have everything set up.”

  Recognition dawned on his handsome face. “You’re going to use me for those pics, aren’t you.”

  “Yup.” She gestured with her head for him to hurry up and follow her, and he did, like a good little puppy.

  She opened the door to her back room, complete with her specialty bondage bed and chair, and the lights on metal stands, all in place, ready to go. Courtney flipped on the lights, and the room was illuminated perfectly. Along the back, sturdy shelves housed boxes of products, ready to ship.

  “Holy shit,” he breathed, taking it all in. “But if you’re in the photos, who takes the pics?”

  Courtney pointed to her three high-resolution video cameras, each set up to capture a different angle of the scene.

  “When I was still with Travis, we just filmed ourselves having fun with the toys, and took stills from the shots.”

  Shane whistled. “You’ve got videos of that stuff? Why don’t you just make a porno and sell it?”

  “It’s something to think about,” she murmured.

  The truth was, in pictures she could take her time to Photoshop them, make everything look awesome, and pick and choose the best angles and most flattering shots. She’d watched her videos, and professional adult films they were not. The photo stills that came out of them, though? Perfection (at least, once she’d edited them a bit).

  “Now,” she said, turning the cameras on, “if you need me to stop doing something, or if I need you to stop, we’ll use a safe word. What’s your safeword?”

  “I…I don’t have one.”

  “I’ll give you one. Let’s have ‘Call the cops’ be your safeword, how about that?” She smiled wryly. Fuck him and his criminal ass.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he mumbled.

  “And mine will be me shouting ‘fire.’ Got it? Keep going after I say ‘fire,’ and you officially turn into a rapist scumbag, okay?”

  His eyes widened. “I’d never do something like that. I swear.”

  “Well, it’s not like I can trust you, now is it?”

  She stripped her clothes off, all business, and shimmied into a lacy black negligee. When she turned back to look at him, his cock had gone from limp to hard, jutting out obscenely.

  “You should still be scared, by the way,” she added, nodding at his erection.

  “Okay.” He smiled, his fears clearly gone at the sight of her scantily-clad body.

  Courtney sighed and pushed him onto the bed. His chest was hard-packed muscle beneath her hands.

  “We’re going to play with some new toys. First up, this sex ramp.” She pulled the large black ramp onto the bed. “Lie down on your stomach, ass in the air.”

  “Aww, fuck me,” he groaned.

  “Later…if you’re good.”

  He sprawled on top of the ramp, and she quickly checked each of the cameras to make sure they were still in alignment from the last shoot.

  “I’m going to use these fabric cuffs on you,” she said, opening up a pair from her new shipment. “They go with the ramp.”

  He nodded, and she latched his hands to the sides of the ramp, securing the thick Velcro, and added two larger cuffs for his muscular thighs.

  “How’s it feel?” she asked, admiring the view. Damn, he looked good like that, all restrained and at her mercy.

  “I’m not safewording,” he said.

  “Good. Now let’s introduce the purple leather flogger. I’m going to make your ass nice, red, and stripy for this scene,” she said, bringing it out.

  The flogger was good quality but not too expensive—something her customers would love, especially after seeing pics of her applying it to Shane’s butt.

  “Wait—you’re going to make my ass red with makeup, right?” Shane looked back at her with an expression of concern mixed with arousal.

  Yes, definitely arousal. That was gonna make a nice pic, right there.

  Courtney laughed. “No makeup, buddy. In fact…this might hurt a bit.”

  He took a deep breath. “Yes, ma’am. I suppose I deserve it, anyway. I never should have tried to rob you. I’m really sorry.”

  “Nice. Trying to get me to go easy on you. I can respect that.” Courtney grinned and circled the bed, flinging the flogger through the air to catch a few shots of it with the strands all flying. “But it won’t work.”

  Shane shut his eyes. “Oh my God, please, just do it already.”

  “As you wish.” The flogger sliced through the air with a satisfying sound and landed directly on his ass, leaving behind beautiful red lash marks.

  “Oww!” he cried.

  “Oh come on, this is a baby whip. Seriously. Don’t be a pussy.”

  “I’m okay,” he said.

  “This one’s for holding me up, asshole.” She flogged him again, harder, and he stifled his moan against the ramp.

  Curious, Courtney leaned over the bed and felt between Shane’s young, hard body and the ramp. His cock was at full mast despite his whining. She’d whipped herself with the very same flogger when it first came in stock, so she knew it was perfect for kinky beginners.

  She flogged him again a few more times, just enough to get his ass the perfect color (and, truth be told, to appease her need for a little painful vengeance). Shane cried out with each lash, his face flushed.

  He moaned and shifted his weight against the ramp, then did it again. And again.

  “Stop trying to cheat yourself to an orgasm, mister,” she warned.

  He paused. “Sorry, ma’am.”r />
  She dropped the flogger on the bed. “Next up, the prostate stimulator for men.” She took the long, thin vibrator with the tiny egg-shaped head over to the front of the ramp so Shane could see it for himself.

  “That sounds like you want to put that in my ass,” he said.

  “I do.” She turned it on, touching the vibrating tip with her finger. Felt good!

  “Nothing goes up my ass,” Shane said, full of bravado. “Ever.”

  “Shane, if this is a hard limit for you, I’ll respect that. Just say your safe word.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

  Courtney sat down by his head and stroked his shaggy black hair. He peered up at her with those cool blue eyes of his. But they weren’t so cool now, were they? The emotion emanating from his gaze melted her resolve.

  He was aroused, but she could see he was a bit frightened, too…of what she might do to him. Now that he wasn’t robbing her, scaring the shit out of her, she held the reins. But…this wasn’t right.

  It didn’t feel right, not anymore.

  She didn’t want to feel weird about this whole thing. Yeah, he was a fuckup, but if he deserved anything, it was to go to jail for trying to rob her store, not to get ass-fucked by a sex toy instead.

  Fuck. Why did her conscience have to come into play right now, right when she thought she had it all figured out?

  “I’m sorry, Shane. I was…it was wrong of me to put you in this situation.”

  She unlatched his cuffs, and he rolled over, naked, onto the bed—wincing slightly as his freshly-whipped ass made contact with the sheets.

  “Wait—what’s going on?”

  “I’m feeling a little weird and rapey right now,” she said, shrugging as if it didn’t matter. But it did. “So just leave, okay? I’m letting you go.”

  She expected the next words out of his mouth to be another request that she not call the cops, but he said nothing. Just stared at her.

  “Lemme see that,” he said, taking the toy from her hand. “What’s it feel like?”

  “Um…well, it’s gotten great reviews on other sites,” she said. “Supposed to give you an amazing orgasm in seconds.”

  He smiled at her. “You know, I could use that three hundred bucks. Let’s give this a shot.”

  Courtney laughed, shaking her head. “I was taking advantage of you because you held me up. You’re worth more than three hundred bucks for a shoot like this, you know? But I don’t have any more to give, because the money for my calendar is already gone. Spent. I’m in the hole right now, and just struggling to get out of it.”

  “Kinda like me,” he said.

  “Yeah. Kinda like you.” She sighed and flopped back on the bed next to him.

  “I don’t care,” he said suddenly. “Let’s do it. I could use an amazing orgasm.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.” He started to lie back on the sex ramp, but Courtney stopped him and pushed the ramp off the bed. It landed with a soft whomp on the floor, out of sight.

  “All right, let’s do this,” she whispered. She raised her voice, relishing the desire written all over Shane’s face. “On your hands and knees, center of the bed, facing the camera so we can catch your expression.”

  Shane laughed and did as he was told. “Anyone ever tell you you’d make a hell of a dominatrix?”

  “All the time.”

  She lubed up the toy and slowly, ever so carefully, inserted it inside him, watching his face, listening to the beautiful groans and moans he made when she turned the vibrator on.

  “Oh my God, oh my God,” he cried. He came hard, his muscles tensing, standing out in stark relief, then relaxing completely. He fell over onto his side and looked up at her. “Wow. Just…wow.”

  “It’s gonna be a huge seller,” she said in agreement.

  “What else you got for me?” he asked, smiling in his postorgasmic haze. “I’m yours.”

  “What about helping your kid brother?”

  “Actually…it’s me who got into trouble. Gambling debts from a couple years ago. Stupid shit. I don’t do it anymore—I learned my lesson.” He paused. “I know you said the money for the calendar is already gone, but what if we worked something else out?”

  Hmm. “If you’ll be my new model, I can give you a portion of the proceeds for future sales I make using your image,” she said.

  Hell, that was better than having her mooching ex-boyfriend just take what he wanted from her bank account all the time. And it felt a lot more fair, too.

  “I could use that income to pay off my debts,” Shane said, nodding. “And…it’ll give me a chance to try and make things up to you.” He stuck out his hand. “It’s a deal.”

  Courtney grinned and shook his warm hand, relishing the feel of his smooth skin against her palm. “This…this could be good. I’m almost glad you robbed me tonight, Shane.”

  Their faces were just millimeters apart, his naked body next to hers on the bed arousing something deep and primal within her. Lust.

  “…really?” he asked.

  “It probably would have been better if you’d just asked me out instead,” she amended.

  Damn, he was cute. And if he’d asked her out, she wouldn’t have had an excuse to whip his perfectly-muscled ass, right?

  “Can I ask you out now?” he asked. His lips were so close…

  “Don’t push it.”

  She didn’t mean to, but those lips—how could she resist? “You’ve probably still got some punishment coming to you,” she warned, and dropped a quick kiss to his lips.

  He responded so eagerly, so sweetly, that before she knew it, the moment intensified, their tongues dancing together. They kissed with the awe and reverence only a new lover’s kiss can ignite.

  She pulled away reluctantly. “Before we go on, I need to finish closing up the store, and put away my gun.”

  “Thanks for not shooting me, by the way,” he said.

  Courtney nodded. “Thanks for making it up to me. But no more robbing people, okay? You’re a porn model now.”

  “Mama will be so proud.” Shane winked, and she couldn’t help but to wink back.

  Her evening had turned out way better than she ever could have imagined.

  The Bombshell

  Candy Quinn

  The visitor’s center of the prison was always a noisy place. Families came to visit, women, men, kids, lots of tears, some yelling, a few laughs even. It was a big open area where the guards watched from the sidelines, rarely needing to intervene but always a constant reminder of the fact that the men were still prisoners, even as they got a sampling of the outside world.

  There was only one visitor who came to visit Sean Flaherty anymore. The woman he had met through correspondence was nothing he had expected. Years of being locked up and without visitors had left him desperate for any outside contact, and he was prepared to be grateful for most any woman who wished to visit him.

  Yet every time she walked through that door…the only word that came to mind was bombshell.

  Years of being an inmate had left him a lot of time to hone his body to its physical peak, but he had little access to anything else that might improve his looks. His dark hair was kept trimmed at least, but without proper grooming tools he had opted to shave his old beard right off.

  Still, every time she saw him, her face lit up. As if it were she that was grateful and impressed by him. Somehow.

  She wasn’t just pretty, with sweet girl-next-door eyes and a trim waist. How could she be, when she also had such surreal breasts and a perfectly sculpted ass? Her mouth was done up with a delicious pink lipstick, and her eyelashes made her look more innocent than he knew her to be.

  She’d written him so many letters. So many filthy, tempting letters.

  Her hair fell in large, loose waves and perfectly framed her face as if she was just walking out of a magazine spread. Each step of her long, toned legs made his cock stiffen in anticipation, her skirt shrinking up her
thighs.

  But when she leaned in, and her hair tickled his face, and he smelled the coconut perfume and saw down her shirt…

  It was so many little, subtle things, and as her lips brushed against his ear, he almost felt like it was too much. The scent of her surrounding him, the way her white blouse formed a V along her cleavage just right, the fact that he could see that black lace bra beneath.

  Vivian was too good to be true.

  His fists had clenched without him realizing, and he had to force himself to relax, to tone back those powerful urges as he brought his large, tough hand to hers. Her slender digits so dainty and delightful, with beautifully made-up nails. He gave that hand a tight squeeze in his powerful grasp, and his gravelly, harsh voice rumbled out to her.

  “So fuckin’ good to see you again, Viv.” He wanted to toss her onto the table between them and fuck her then and there. Lord knows the many jealous eyes on them were thinking much the same, he told himself.

  Her smile broadened as she pulled back slightly, her deep blue eyes staring into his. “I’ve missed you.” She sounded so goddamned genuine! He couldn’t imagine a girl like her being hard up for dates outside these walls, but then…he knew her fantasies. Her desire for a real “bad boy,” not one of those pampered rich dudes who owned a bike and thought they were badass.

  Locked away for murder as Sean was, that definitely meant he qualified.

  He tugged her arm in a harsh grasp, and he lifted her hand, placing a kiss on her delicate fingers. His hard, emerald eyes stared into her blue gaze. “Damn it, Viv,” he muttered, such suppressed emotions rumbling beneath the surface. “You got no idea what it takes to resist throwing you on this table, yankin’ that little slutty skirt of yours up and takin’ a crack at that sweet cunt of yours right here and now.”

  It would’ve been simple dirty talk for most couples, but as he rubbed her fingers over the dark stubble of his jawline, she knew it wasn’t.

  A shiver of excitement went through her, and even the lacy bra couldn’t hide the stiffening of her nipples beneath the light material. She definitely didn’t use, or need, any padding.

  She lingered so very near to him, letting her sweet scent surround him before she swallowed and sat on the bench next to him. Her legs crossed, her ankle rubbing against the harsh material of his pants.