by Maren Smith
“Well,” Marshall said cheerfully, pretending not to notice. “This may not be the ideal place, but you came at a good time, I didn’t have any submissives that need tending to.” He winked. “Yet.”
“I’m not a submissive, sir,” Terri snapped.
Nick could tell she was barely holding back her rising contempt for this man and his facility, and he hoped this meeting with Marshall would at least help her to focus on their case.
“I never implied that you were, Officer. Please let me introduce two among my chief of staff. Nate and Tara, this is Master Jackson and Master Eric.”
The first of the two men stepped forward, extending one burly arm to catch Nick’s hand in a firm shake. He wore his black t-shirt as tight as a second skin, with the white words ‘Chief of Security’ emblazoned across his chest. The man looked as if he bench-pressed tour buses every day before breakfast.
“Jackson is my head of security,” Marshall explained, before extending an arm to include the other man, “and Eric has graciously—”
“He threatened to fire me,” Eric corrected with a smile.
“—albeit reluctantly,” Marshall smoothly continued, “volunteered to help keep track of all the added security and to provide anything either you or the other officers might require. Should you have any questions regarding the Castle or its workings, please don’t hesitate to ask him. He will be working closely with Master Grimsley, who oversees the Little Maids program, so between the two of them, someone should be available for whatever you need, whenever you need it. I just wanted to introduce you all before we got down to business.”
“Thank you very much.” Nick nodded, keeping a close eye on Terri. She gripped Champ’s leash tightly, turning her knuckles white, and her jaw was clenched tight. Situations where she felt uneasy were hard for her to deal with cordially. They would be lucky if her mouth didn’t get them kicked out of this place altogether. “It’s nice to meet you, gentlemen. Tara and I are glad to be on board, and we want to do everything possible to help keep Grace and everyone else here safe.”
Neither man spoke, and although Eric never stopped smiling, that smile fell far short of his eyes. Nick sensed reserve in their stares.
Marshall cleared his throat. “That’s what we all want. Thank you, gentlemen,” he dismissed his two employees with a nod, but although Jackson, Eric, and Grimsley all retreated, they didn’t leave the hall. They took up sentry positions by the door instead. “Allow me to apologize for their lack of interaction. We aren’t used to opening our doors to law enforcement. I know that there are uncertainties on your end as well, but I could not let my cousin be taken care of by strangers when I have my own resources at my fingertips.”
Nick had to hand it to the guy; he imagined he would do the same thing in his shoes. While they were pretty certain the killer would follow her here, it was understandable for Marshall to believe she was safe.
“None of that matters now. We are here to do a job, and we need to know the best ways to go about it,” Terri spoke up.
Marshall leaned forward and lowered his voice. “All that I ask, Officer O’Connor, is that you do your best to blend in and refrain from infringing on my guests’ privacy. My employees and I are happy to cooperate as long as you can abide by those two rules. Do you think you can manage that?”
She hunched her shoulders the slightest bit, but Nick saw it and Marshall hadn’t blinked so there was no way he missed it either. Terri’s resolve was melting and she dropped her gaze. Nick was stunned. She never relented like that. She may keep her mouth shut and avoid confrontation, but she never allowed someone to best her.
Nick turned toward Marshall and the other man smirked. He knew exactly what he was doing to her, and he was enjoying doing it as much as Nick was enjoying watching it. He could stand to take a lesson or two from Master Marshall, it seemed.
“The master keycard,” Marshall said, handing Nick a credit-card-sized electronic pass card that looked exactly like every other hotel room card he’d ever received. One side had a black electronic strip; the other side was nothing but a photograph of dark-stone castle walls. “Simply tap this to the latch of any locked door handle, and you’ll gain access. I would prefer, for insurance purposes, that you have a Castle employee with you any time you do guest room searches. I don’t yet know who that will be, but—”
“What the—” Jackson suddenly said, capturing everyone’s attention as the door he’d stationed himself at suddenly bumped into his back.
“Well, look what I just caught!” Eric crowed, wrenching the door fully open and grabbing.
A startled shriek accompanied the eavesdropping woman he’d jerked into the hallway. Short and blonde, she nearly fell over her own feet before Eric got a better grip on her. Just as quickly, Jackson shut the door, sealing her in with them. Nick’s hand was on his hip, where his holster should have been if only he weren’t dressed as a butler. Terri made the exact same movement. She also caught a tighter hold on her leash as Champ stood up, ears perked and muscles tensing as he waited for a command to act.
The blonde woman squeaked, her eyes huge. That she looked more embarrassed than scared went a long way toward convincing Nick she probably wasn’t the mafia assassin they were looking for. In fact, something about her tickled his memory. She looked an awful lot like one of the newly hired submissives they’d just led out of this room some minutes before. Some of the tension he hadn’t realized was pinching his shoulders eased. He didn’t know what had brought her snooping back to spy on them, but she definitely wasn’t one of the bad guys.
Coming to the same realization, it was Grimsley who marched forward to take the woman by the ear. “I’ll take care of this.”
But Marshall stopped him. “Wait… as much as I would like to, we can’t fire her,” he said, and then sighed. “If we turn her loose now, there will be no keeping this quiet. If this… Carmen ‘The Butcher’ is here, not only would he know, but all of our guests and future guests would as well.”
“There goes our billing as a safe place to explore BDSM.” Jackson frowned.
“Not to mention our investigation,” Nick growled, following the consequence that mattered the most to him.
“We could arrest her,” Terri suggested. “We can’t hold her indefinitely, but it could give us a few days. Unless you want to press charges, but I don’t think there’s anything you can stick her with that she can’t bond out of, and then you’re back to not keeping this quiet.”
“She’s been through orientation, though, hasn’t she?” Marshall asked. “So she’s signed the confidentiality clause. Legally, she can’t say anything anyway.”
“That’s no guarantee,” Jackson said dryly.
“No kidding,” Eric agreed. “She’s listening at keyholes. Her morals are already questionable. You really think the threat of legal action will be enough to hold her to what she signed?”
“I won’t say—” the eavesdropper tried to say, but Grimsley twisted her ear, bringing her dancing right up onto her toes.
“Silence,” he told her sternly.
A wry smile twisting his lips, Marshall turned to Eric. “Did you, or did you not, tell me you wanted no part of babysitting the bomb-sniffers?”
All right, that was insulting. Nick couldn’t blame Terri for stiffening over that.
“We do not need babysitting,” she said through her teeth. “It’s not the first time we’ve been undercover, either.”
“It’s your first time here,” Marshall pointed out. “And rather than recruit someone else whom we will then have to share the details of our dilemma with, why not use the volunteer who already knows?”
He rolled his hand in the wide-eyed eavesdropper’s direction, and Nick followed. He stifled his groan; Terri didn’t.
“From now on,” Marshall said magnanimously, “consider our new friend…” Pausing, he turned to the woman. “What is your name?”
“Eden,” she squeaked, her eyes wide with fear.
; “From now on, consider our new friend, Eden, your own personal escort. Do what you feel you need to, search anywhere and everywhere, but I ask that she be with you if you enter any employee’s or guest’s private rooms. If you fail to honor my request, then I will have you both removed from the premises.”
Nick could see Terri trembling with all the comments Marshall’s high-handedness was sending straight to the tip of her tongue. He caught her arm when her mouth opened. “You’re the boss,” he said. He was pretty sure whatever she had to say wouldn’t have been half that diplomatic.
“Splendid,” Marshall said, because he was the boss and he knew it. Just like he knew exactly what he was doing to Terri. “Well, if there are no more questions or concerns, I won’t keep you folks any longer. I know you have business to tend to during your stay, but do feel free to explore all we have to offer here. There is something for everyone, I can assure you.” That part he said straight to Terri, smiling as he did so. Nick didn’t doubt for a second that it was because he too could sense the unspoken comments gathering on her tongue and was mildly amused by them.
On the one hand, Nick had to admire that kind of confidence in one’s own dominance. On the other, it kind of annoyed him because it was all aimed at his submissive—er, his partner, he mentally corrected himself.
“Thank you,” Terri said, in the same tone one might use to address the rattlesnake curled up in one’s boot. “That won’t be necessary, however. This trip is strictly business.”
Chapter 5
The miracle of getting her out of the short hallway before she said anything more would go down as one of his prime accomplishments. Only one man followed Nick out the door—Master Eric, the man who would be their liaison for the duration of this investigation. Nick followed Terri, deep in thought about how he was going to change her attitude about the Castle. He was itching to explore and wanted to get the most out of their time here. And God help him, the only person he wanted to explore it with was his bratty little partner. The more they were willing to experience, the more access they would have to the different areas of the Castle. Not only that, but her sass made him ache to spank her daily. Between the kink friendly atmosphere, their cover story as a married couple exploring the lifestyle, and her sexy as fuck Little Maid’s outfit, the urge was now impossible to ignore. His cock and his palm ached with need.
Terri walked off as soon as Eric opened the door. He exchanged a knowing look with Nick, who held up the map Grimsley had given him earlier.
“The 101 classes take place through there.” Eric penned a quick X over a portion of the second floor. “There is a schedule posted on the wall just outside the doors and there is an information packet in your room. I believe there is a spanking class first thing tomorrow morning.” The last bit was said with a knowing wink.
Nick looked back and forth between Eric and Terri, who was about to disappear around the corner with Champ at her side. “Do you think it will work?” he sighed.
“No better way to get through to a stubborn submissive, if you ask me.”
“And if she isn’t truly a submissive?”
Eric chuckled. “Then I have lost my touch, and I have no business working at a place like this any longer.”
Smiling at the self-assured response, Nick nodded and shook Eric’s outstretched hand, hoping against hope that his assumptions proved to be correct. They didn’t call him a Master for nothing. Every pore in his being exuded the aptness of the title. It seemed they all had an uncanny way of reading people, and Nick decided to follow his lead. “Here goes nothing.”
Eric nodded, clapping him on the back supportively. “Keep your head up, my friend, and don’t hesitate to ask questions. She will come around. Her submissive side may have gotten shoved down deep, but it’s in her heart. Once there is a strong, trustworthy Dom around, they can’t hold it at bay any longer.”
Nick nodded and jogged after Terri, who had rounded the corner and was leaning against the wall, pouting. He was glad she hadn’t gone too far and gotten herself lost.
“Couldn’t get out of there fast enough, huh, brat?”
“Are you kidding me? That so-called Master Marshall is an arrogant, misogynistic asshole.”
“Watch your mouth,” he hissed.
Terri glared, but grudgingly acquiesced. “Fine. He is an arrogant, misogynistic butthole. Better, sir?” she responded with saccharine sweetness.
“Much, thank you.” Nick refused to let her smartass demeanor faze him. “Think whatever you want about Master Marshall, but unless you think he’s the killer, keep it to yourself. Let’s go grab some food from the café and we can talk more in our room. And if you want, we can tuck in for the night, and get out of these ridiculous costumes.”
Her eyes brightened for a moment, then she sighed. “But I didn’t bring anything to change into.”
Nick smiled widely, allowing his eyes to sparkle with mischief, as he wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Even better.”
Terri’s jaw dropped open, and her face flamed with a mixture of haughty anger and a touch of embarrassment. Without responding, she stomped off. Nick simply crossed his arms over his chest and waited. She had a terrible sense of direction and the stairs to the first floor were in the opposite direction. It took about ten steps before she stopped. Her fists tightened, and she stomped in place for a moment, throwing a silent hissy fit. Nick laughed out loud when she turned to face him again, her cheeks as red as the bright paint on her lips.
“You know how cute you look stomping around in that sexy outfit?”
“I. Hate. You. I. Hate. You. I. Hate. You,” she chanted through her clenched teeth as she made her way past him in the correct direction.
Nick reached out and grabbed her elbow, tugging her back toward him. He lowered his head to speak quietly into her ear. “You’re making it really difficult to be professional right now, brat. All I can think about is what I know lies beneath this costume, and if you aren’t careful, I’m going to have to figure out a way to get you out of this snit you are in.” Her body shook against him and goosebumps appeared on her skin. She wasn’t as unaffected by everything as she was letting on. With an evil grin, he decided to go one step further. “I promise you, we would both enjoy my efforts.”
She leaned back into him and the tension left her. Kissing the pulse point on her neck, he waited for the faint moan she was never able to hide when he brushed his lips over that spot.
“You aren’t playing fair,” she whimpered.
“And you have been?” he questioned, his hold on her still tight. “Prancing around in that hot little outfit, with that naughty little attitude, and then telling me to stay professional and focused on the mission? That’s not exactly fair either, is it?”
“The outfit is not my fault,” Terri grumbled.
“Maybe not, but your attitude is. It’s one of the things I have always loved about you, but right here, right now, you can’t imagine the things it is doing to me and making me want to do to you in return.”
Her knees bent as if she couldn’t bear the weight of his words.
“So, you might want to behave, because if you don’t, I make no promises about what my next move will be. Understand, little one?” He waited for her to nod and nuzzled her one more time before releasing her, but only far enough to slide his hand down her forearm.
Her eyes opened wide as his warm hand engulfed hers, and she looked down at their entwined fingers before looking back up at him, surprise and confusion etched in her features.
He winked and leaned in to lay a gentle kiss on her raspberry-red lips.
“We’re married,” he reminded her with a wink. “And maybe, I just want to touch you right now.”
Her throat contracted, and he could see the pure want in her eyes.
“Do you think they have room service?” she whispered, her eyes closed as she leaned in for more.
“I’m sure they do. They have everything else,” he stated dryly. “But right now, we are going
to grab some coffee and a quick bite at the café.”
Terri’s answering whine matched the way he was feeling, but he stayed firm in his plan. Room service was the last thing they needed right now, unless she really wanted to end the night flat on her back with his face buried between her legs, and a red hot ass to boot. Pushing out the dirty thoughts that kept coming, he started toward the café, light headed from his own lust.
The café was surprisingly quaint with a vibe that was more hometown diner than luxurious Scottish castle, but somehow it still worked. The only offerings were sandwiches, coffee, and soft drinks, but that was fine with Nick. There was a full buffet in one of the dining rooms if they needed something more substantial. Out of habit, he scanned the room before they entered. There was a man dressed like some sort of Greek warrior seated at a table near the door, but other than that, the place was empty. Maybe the other vacationers were all still busy working up an appetite.
Turning to Terri, he gave a slight nod to let her know it was clear and jerked his head toward a set of tables on the other side of the room. “Go grab a seat. I know what you want.”
Terri smiled and did as she was told. The first sign of something other than attitude from her was encouraging, but he knew it was more to do with the circumstances of the interaction than any major change of heart on her end. She had told him once before that it made her feel taken care of when he ordered for her. She was a creature of habit in all aspects of life, but especially with her food. She liked what she liked and she stuck with it. The same applied in the bedroom. He had always enjoyed that little quirk of hers but now, looking back, he could see it might have been the downfall that made her seem unapproachable with his own bedroom proclivities. He grinned to himself. Maybe it was time to shake things up a bit, he thought as he headed to place their order.
He ordered their lunch and joined her at the table. Champ sat sentry next to her, his body rigid and his ears perked up at attention. No doubt he was confused as to why they weren’t giving him some freedom to do his searches.