Provoked

by Riley Murphy

  His commanding tone of voice went right through her and she didn’t hesitate. To most women, this would probably seem crazy, to be awakened in the wee hours to be a man’s dry erase board, but to her it was completely normal. Somehow, someway, it had happened. She’d had the epiphany that their normal was all that mattered and she was happier for it. The way he explained it to her?

  Sometimes the best pleasures in life are found at the end of a person’s comfort zone.

  Once she accepted that, she realized he was the only one she had to please and she loved pleasing him. “You wanted my hair up?”

  “Yes. Here’s an elastic band.”

  While she gathered her curls into one bundle to tie, she watched him collect the other items he needed. Spotting the pink tape she separated her ponytail into two sections as if she was snapping a wishbone, forcing the elastic closer to her scalp, and asked, “Pink?”

  “You look like a cheerleader when your hair swings like that. I think I’m going to buy you some pom poms and,” his gaze slid over her nakedness, and then he grinned, “that’s it.” He held up the roll of tape, explaining, “I usually buy black, but a portion of every purchase of this color was being donated to a good cause the other day, so I bought a whole case.”

  She wasn’t surprised. “Do you want me up against a wall or…?”

  “I want you right where you are. Bring your arms up and clasp them behind your head. Good, now open your stance.”

  “Got it.”

  “He stepped right in front of her and looked down. “Two months ago you would have given me nothing but grief over this. I’m glad you’ve come to your senses.”

  “Cat calls it the dark side.”

  He put a finger under her chin and forced her gaze up. “What do you call it?”

  “Pleasing you.”

  “Great answer.”

  Whenever he gave her this kind of look. When his eyes got all dark and sparkled as if he’d just seen something that amazed and pleased him, she always got warm and tingly inside. Breathless too. But then when he began wrapping the tape on her the tingles turned to throbs.

  He placed the tape in a series of circles around her torso. The first was around her at upper chest level. The second was around her rib cage just below her breasts. The tightness reminded her of a tube-type bathing suit top, only there was no fabric covering her breasts. The third was a double strip of tape right at her hips. He was careful to make sure the edges on both bands met perfectly. And the fourth and fifth? One was a tape band around her upper right thigh a few inches from the top of her leg and the last was a matching one on her left leg. The fact that he was down on one knee in front of her, to put these final ones on, really got her pulse racing.

  “Not too tight?” He bent forward and placed a kiss against her, in a spot just above her navel and she nearly passed out.

  “No.”

  “I think you like this kind of bondage,” he whispered, and then before she even fully caught her breath, he made her lose it again when he touched her. One finger slid along the length of her intimate crease until he got to the spot that thrilled her. His gaze never wavered, as he pressed in, his finger gliding through her folds while he collected moisture. When he withdrew his hand he held it up. In the soft lamplight she could see the telltale glisten on his skin. “You’re drenched, tiger. Now I’m glad I bought the case. There are a thousand ways we can put this stuff to good use.”

  She closed her eyes when he trailed that wet finger over the line of tape at her hip. It wasn’t until he stood and whispered in her ear that she opened them again. “What do you say to your Master?”

  “I would love that, Master. Thank you.”

  “I’ll make sure you do. Arms down.”

  It felt odd being confined by the tape when she changed positions as the tape resettled and was a little restricting, but she didn’t complain. She stood there waiting to see what he was going to do next. With Neil there was no telling. That was one of the things she loved best about him.

  “I want you up on the desk. Don’t worry about positioning. I’ll take care of that.”

  After he helped her up, she was surprised that the tape held. But then she shouldn’t have been too surprised, Neil had a way of making things work. He brought her arms down and taped them to her hips and then he spread her legs, wide, to each corner.

  “One drawback to this stuff is that it sticks to itself, not the person, so I’ll have to wind some around the desk leg and tie you with it like a tether. And stop with the lip thing. You know that makes me nuts.”

  Yeah she did, but there was nothing she could do about it. It was an unconscious action…most times. “Maybe we should use a ball gag so I won’t be tempted to do it again.”

  He stopped unwinding the tape and narrowed a look at her. “And maybe you should listen to your Master because he didn’t ask for your opinion right now, but he will want it very much in a few minutes.”

  She mouthed the word “sorry” and then closed her eyes. Lately she just couldn’t seem to catch a break with the ball gag. It was almost as if he knew how much she liked it, so he purposely denied her whenever she made the suggestion. Hm.

  When she opened her eyes to study him her gaze narrowed. “Do you hold back from using the ball gag on me because I like it?”

  He never even looked at her. “Yes.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  He finished wrapping the tape around her left ankle until she couldn’t move it. When he was done he moved on to her right one. “Do we need to talk about the Swedish Fish again?”

  “Absolutely. I’m dying to know how my sweet tooth affects me wearing a gag. Could it be you’re afraid my teeth will fall out and render any gag you do want to use on me useless?”

  This time when he finished securing her limb, he didn’t use the small scissors he previously had used. Instead, he used his teeth. Right before he bit her instep.

  “Ow.”

  He trailed a hand up her right calf, thigh, hip, and then the right side of her torso until he got to her breast. As he plucked the rapidly hardening nipple there, he calmly spoke to her. “I mentioned the fish because we broke you of the habit of filling up on them before dinner, didn’t we?”

  That was true. Although, the method he’d used she wasn’t a big fan of. He’d made her sit down and eat a whole bag two nights in row. By the time the third night rolled around she didn’t want to look at the red devils, she was only interested in her lasagna. “Does this have anything to do with the ball gag? If it does I don’t see the connection.”

  “It has everything to do with the toys we’ll play with. You’re an addict so we need to ration you.”

  “I’m a what?”

  “Calm down. You’re stretching the tape.”

  Addict? So she liked a little sugar once in a while. What. The. Hell! “I am not.”

  “Do you know the definition? I mean the one beyond encompassing illegal substances? It reads something like an enthusiastic devotee of a specific thing or activity. You say you like the ball gag, but in fact you love it. Ergo—”

  “Ergo?”

  “Don’t interrupt. Ergo, you could become a slave to it.”

  She purposely made her voice as monotone as possible. “As opposed to a slave to you.”

  “Exactly.” He curled down and brushed the backs of his knuckles across her forehead, ending at her temple to whisper, “I was so fucking pleased to see that letter of apology on my night stand. You totally amaze me, tiger.”

  Yeah, that did it. She was back to crushing all over him. Screw the stupid fish and addict comments. Dammit.

  He stood. “Now that I know you’re paying attention. Let’s begin.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Neil loved baiting her. Charlotte was so expressive and most of the time, she’d say or do something funny. He loved when she laughed. But then other times, like now, when she went all soft and quiet on him and he knew she was digging him? That really stok
ed him.

  “You need more tape?” She groaned.

  “I’m going to make an X over your stomach. From under your left breast to right hip and then from your right breast to left hip. It will give me the four triangles I need to work through this.”

  There had to be something he and Jude were missing.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.” He held up the small plastic baggie and explained, “I’m using these for the buildings. They’re out of the Monopoly game. I don’t want to write all over you with marker if I don’t have to.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “I love puzzles. You know that.”

  “Yes, yes, I know, but why are you so concerned about finding out who burned that poor man? Did he die right away?”

  “Jorge’s not dead.”

  He’d just balanced a red hotel on one of the triangles on her stomach when her ab muscles flexed. “He’s not? Can’t you just ask him?”

  “Head down and remain still please. No, I can’t ask him. He disappeared.”

  “Oh.” She settled for a moment and then frowned. “Disappeared when? How badly was he burned? I don’t even know who Jorge is.”

  Neil saw no reason not to share what he knew. Charlotte was wicked smart. That’s why he wanted her help. He hadn’t dragged her out of bed just to be his tack board. “Up until a few months back, when I met with Maddox at Jude’s place, I’d thought he was a sub who’d chosen the wrong man to play with.”

  “The wrong man was Kelli?”

  “Yes. I figured Kelli had tied and then torched him over a lover’s spat or something. He made some comment about Jorge’s good looks so I just assumed the brutal bastard was getting his revenge. Turns out, Kelli wanted revenge over something else. Jorge is the one who told Jude about that shipment.”

  “Hm. What were you doing there that night?”

  His hand stilled. “I was invited to the wax play demonstration Max was hosting.” He thought about that night and finally let the images he’d always pushed away flood in. “I knew Kelli was doing his own wax scene for the novices. But even from across the room I knew something wasn’t right. Kelli was being a little heavy handed with the way he treated Jorge. I motioned to Butler who was monitoring the scene, but he ignored me. Then there was this crowd that gathered. They shouldn’t have been allowed to get so close. That’s when I knew they were Kelli’s guys acting as a curtain. I looked for Max or one of the other dungeon monitors in the crowd around the demonstration I’d been watching and couldn’t find one. I don’t know whether I imagined the scream or whether Jorge managed to get it out before they gagged him. All I know is that by the time I made it over there he was engulfed in flames. Not one of those men picked up that bucket of water to put out the flames. Not one. And after I did and heard Kelli gloat over how Jorge wasn’t a pretty boy any longer? I lost it.”

  Neil blinked. He’d never shared this with anyone before. “You asked how badly Jorge was burned? Bad enough that for a long time I regretted not letting him die that night.” He took a deep breath in and then slowly let it out. “As to him disappearing? He disappeared between being medivaced from here to Georgia. I had him set up to go to one of the best burn units in the country, but he never arrived.”

  Up until Neil had found out that Greyson Maddox was a mercenary for hire, he had always been hopeful that some secret agency had taken Jorge to a government facility to be cared for. Now that Neil knew the likelihood of that was slim to none, he was more determined than ever to find out what happened to him.

  There was silence for a few seconds while he placed another hotel on a different triangle, and then said, “We’ll figure this out. We’ll just start with what we know. One of these represents Kelli’s club and the other represents Max’s.”

  “They’re in the wrong place.”

  He looked up at her and noted she had her eyes closed. “What do you mean?”

  “Both of those clubs are on the bay. They need to be next to each other not opposite each other.”

  She had a good point. Which got him to thinking. “What other similarities do these clubs have?”

  Besides waterfront location, general size, and what they did there, not much until Charlotte made the observation. “Oh, and they were both recently renovated within the last couple of years.”

  Neil got out the marker and wrote that down. Although Max’s reno happened after Jorge’s accident, it was still something to note.

  “Okay, I’m going to put your family up here.”

  “I don’t want my family on my boob.”

  “I’m putting them on your chest. Above the tape. Cat’s the race car, your dad’s the wheelbarrow and your mom’s the iron.”

  “All right, but she hates doing laundry.”

  “So that’s where you get it from?”

  She scowled. “I fixed the dry cleaner situation, didn’t I?”

  Yeah, she did. She fixed them good.

  “We’ll put Pearl down here. She’ll be the thimble.”

  “Neil. Don’t put her there.”

  He eyed the gorgeous spread triangle and sighed. “I’ll tell you what I’d like to put there.”

  “Okay, but not Pearl. What are you doing?”

  “Don’t lift your head or your family will fall off.” Once he was satisfied she was going to remain still he continued drawing on her. “I’m outlining The Angels of Man Sanctuary.”

  “You’re drawing on my privates.”

  “There.” He examined the different landscape with the same info he’d previously been staring at for hours. Something was missing. “Hang tight. I forgot the last piece of this puzzle. You reminded me of it when you mentioned Jorge.”

  When he took the object out of his desk, he held it up so she could see it, and asked, “Where do you suppose I should put this thing? It was left on my doorstep the night Jorge disappeared. It had his friend’s contact information under it. I still check in once in a while to get updates. Sparse though they are.” He noted the change in her demeanor. “What’s the matter?”

  She stared at the object and then at him. “Put that with my family.”

  “You say the oddest things. Why would I do that?”

  “Because my mom’s got one just like it. Only it’s bigger. It was in the metal box we pulled out of the ground that day.”

  Neil looked at the dirty crystal and then back at her. “Did she say where she got it?”

  “No, she only said what it was. An uncut diamond.”

  *****

  Neil was getting anxious to hear back from Jude. The second he’d learned of the raw diamond and how Charlotte’s mother had one—he’d recalled Charlotte’s dad mentioning that he and Kelli had stripped the mother lode of gems out of a mine in Mexico decades ago—he knew that angle had to be explored. And since Jude was heading to that part of the country to check out the sanctuary anyway, he added that to his to-do list.

  Mexico. A sanctuary. Drugs. Gold. Gems. Trafficking. Women. Children.

  Assets that were worth more damaged than not?

  What the hell did it all mean?

  “Are you still stewing over Jude? He said he might be a day or two late getting back.”

  Charlotte was right. He needed to be patient. The answers they were looking for weren’t going to fall in their laps. Jude was working his end and Neil would continue to dig where he could. Charlotte and her sisters were safe. Her parents were good. One rotten motherfucker was dead and no kids or non-consent women would be sold in his town, on his watch, that was for damn sure.

  Maybe he’d have to let the Jorge thing go. And he’d take Maddox at his word. Kelli’s boss would be found and dealt with. If that’s the best he could hope for right now, he’d have to live with it.

  “Neil?”

  He swiveled around in his chair to greet her. Taking one look at her outfit, he threw his pen down. She’d been trying for more than an hour to get him away from his desk and he could safely as
sure her that the skintight black one piece with the plunging neckline in the back, had done the trick.

  He watched as she padded to the office window and closed the blinds. While she stretched he admired her. Her hair was up which gave him an unobstructed view of the naked skin exposed from the top of her spine to the bottom. He knew what that meant. No bra and maybe no thong either.

  “Trying to save us another citation?”

  She rolled down off the balls of her feet and turned. “You know that’s not going to happen again. But really. They had no business looking through anyone’s windows.”

  He grinned. “I heard. I’m surprised they caved on that one, though. You must have bitched up a storm.”

  “I did.” She walked toward him with an inviting smile on her face. “But why were you surprised?”

  “We were screwing against the sliding glass door. That must have been quite a show.”

  “It was after eleven o’clock on a week night. Besides it was the slider that looks out to the backyard. You tell me. Where were they standing to be so offended?”

  She had a good point. “I have no idea.”

  “It wasn’t as if we weren’t mindful of the child in the neighborhood. Eleanor goes to bed at nine.”

  He was mesmerized by the way her tits bounced as she walked the last few paces to him. He couldn’t take his eyes off of them. “Good thing you closed the blinds. Where did you get the outfit?”

  “Cat and I went shopping after we had lunch with Maxie yesterday.”

  He pulled her down onto his lap and asked, “And how is he?” Not that Neil cared one bit. He was too interested in inspecting her new purchase that was a killer. “I love this.” He ran his index finger down one side of the halter in the front. “Did it come in any other colors?”

  She caught his hand just before it descended over her left breast. “Yes, it did.”

  “Buy them.”

  She shook her head and then gave him back his hand. “Neil Cannon, are you flirting with me?”

  He put his arms around her and drew her in close. “I’m flirting with some ideas that involve that outfit. I see a picture of you undoing that halter so the whole thing drops to your feet, just before you kneel in front of me. The thought of dirt sticking to your knees is making me hard.”