by Willa Okati
“I’ve not come down here to discuss that sort of booty, lass.”
“Ha, ha. Anyway, you should have seen me.” Lizzie adopted an air of babyish innocence and naiveté. “I’m so sorry to be a bother, it’s just that we were cleaning out my grandmother’s attic -- my sister and I -- and it’s an old house, it’s been there for at least two hundred years, and you know, it’s about to fall down, so we decided to make sure there wasn’t anything sentimental up there, and I found this so I thought I’d take it as a keepsake, because I thought the box was pretty, but when I opened it I found all these, and they look so old, and I wondered if they might be worth a little money, maybe?”
Killian was holding his sides with laughter, red-faced, by the time Lizzie ran out of air to go on with her run-on babble, and Roan seemed unable to stop chuckling. She wondered how much he knew about her relationship with Killian -- their come and catch-me-if-you-can games. Probably everything.
“Go on! No dealer ever believed such a cock-and-bull tale.”
Elizabeth put away her little-girl-big-eyes. “Never said I went to a dealer.”
“Who did you sell the load of rot to, then?”
She tapped her lips. “Shh. That would be telling.”
“You do like to live on the edge, don’t you, my wildling?”
“Oh, yeah.” Elizabeth relished the words. Better than caviar. “How do you like the cold iron bars?”
“I’m a bit disappointed there, truth be told. You ought to know better, you should. Cold iron’s for keeping back the Fey, not Elves.” He stopped when Elizabeth gave him a meaningful stare. “Oh. Excuse me. Yes. Ah! Ah! The iron -- it burns! Have pity on me, sweet Mistress, have pity, an’ I’ll be after doin’ anything you want.” He sank to his knees and gave her liquid doe eyes. “With sugar on top an’ all?”
Elizabeth cracked up.
“Here, now, I was in the middle of my speech!”
“A man like you only belongs on his knees for one thing, Elf.” Elizabeth licked her lips. “Eating my pussy.”
Mmm, she liked the sudden dark gleam he took on. “Is that an offer?”
“Do you want it to be?” Elizabeth trailed a fingertip down from the base of her neck through the cleavage of her breasts and over her stomach to its final stop, pushing beneath the short, short hem of her skirt to get at her cunt. She pressed the finger between her pussy lips and started drawing small circles around her eager clit, never exactly touching. She was so hot-wired she’d go off in a second, and there was no way she’d let this end so soon.
Given, with a man like Killian, one orgasm would only be the beginning…
“Ah, God, lass, you’ll kill me here,” her Elf groaned. “The smell of you is driving me wild, it is. Give me a small taste.”
“Maybe later.” As if she’d turn down another chance at his agile tongue in her pussy -- ha! She’d just make him wait until he was one-hundred-percent desperate first. Drive him all the way into “crazy.” See how Roan played along.
Speaking of whom… Elizabeth regarded the trim blond man, who sparkled with desire and knowing amusement. “You, keep yourself occupied like a nice boy until I tell you different.”
The blond sank gracefully as thistledown to his knees. “As you wish, Mistress.”
“Oh, he’s good. Nice of you to bring a friend, Killian. And who is this friend, hmm?” Elizabeth gave her dark Elf an arch look over her shoulder, and then a better look at the curves of her ass as she sashayed to the table holding two -- count them, two -- flutes of champagne and a half-full bottle. After a moment’s thought, she left the flutes untouched and carried the bottle back with her.
As expected, Killian made no answer but only stood there with his good old shit-eating grin.
Fine. She could play.
“Okay, so I’m guessing you want me to put my detective powers to work. I’m up to the challenge.” Elizabeth crossed her arms beneath her breasts, not-so-subtly pushing them up and out. She took a moment to enjoy the quick appearance of a lusty fog in Killian’s eyes before going on. “The question before us: who is this friend? First off, I’d say you two were far more than just dance partners.”
“How do you reckon?”
“You grabbed his naked cock and there was that great big show-stopping kiss.”
“Which could have been part of the act.”
“Spare me. So you and Roan are involved. Interesting. We never talked about keeping the relationship open, but it never came up. You knew I wouldn’t be angry, though, didn’t you?”
“I’d hoped.”
“You are so lucky I am who I am. Most women would be pulling your ears off right now, and hell, I’d be right behind them with a pair of garden shears to help them threaten or remove other parts of your body.”
“You really aren’t angry, though, are you?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“Now you can spare me, lass. Roan here, he intrigues you as much as I do, and he does me, doesn’t he now?”
“I’ll arrest you for over-use of a verb.”
“You’re the grammar police now, are you?”
“Shaddup.” Elizabeth turned her attention to Roan, examining his expression and searching for other telling bits of body language. As far as she could tell, he was loving this, everything from the playacting to the sight of her tits. He loved Killian too. Interesting.
She took a swig from her bottle of champagne and offered it to Roan next without wiping off the rim. “Care for a drink, big boy?”
Roan chuckled. “She’s everything you said and more, Killian. I’ll have the drink you offer, and thank you kindly, though I’d rather use my mouth for something else later… if it’s permitted.”
Elizabeth savored the feel of his hot gaze on her breasts, running down to her pussy, and then the way he turned his gaze to Killian.
Why wasn’t she mad at Killian? Simple. One man was good.
Two were better.
Livin’ la vida loca was way better than being a good girl running a rural PD. Bad girls just had so, so much more fun.
Killian’s smile was wicked. “And a fine friend he is too, isn’t he? I think you’ll be well pleased.”
“We’ll see. Right now, I’m not done playing. So zip it, prisoner.”
“You and your games. Yes, sweet Mistress. I am in your power.”
Elizabeth rattled their cage. “And don’t you forget it.” She’d built this holding cell to technically perfect if fairly illegal standards, with a few improvisations of her own. A quickie job, but not at all a bad one if she did say so herself. “You think you can get out? Go ahead and try. This bad girl’s held bigger and tougher than you,” she said, as if Killian had been challenging her, swearing he’d get free.
All part of the game.
“You’ve changed, Radiance.” Killian didn’t sound as if he disapproved. “Always strong and tougher than most women. And men, given how you ‘stack up’ against the rougher sex.” He injected his last two words with subtle innuendo. Elizabeth’s spine tingled. “As I recall, the Elizabeth I knew once had a fine way when it came to playing with fire.”
Elizabeth deliberately ignored Killian. She walked away from the cage and to the single folding chair she kept in this particular den.
“Are you afraid to meet my eyes?” Killian challenged, playing along, lightheartedly teasing as if he weren’t behind bars. “The Elizabeth I knew once, aye, and the lady I’ve met now, she wouldn’t think twice about staring me down.”
“Times change.”
“Do they really? I saw you watching me on stage tonight, Radiance. You were a woman bespelled. No fears about looking into my face then. Why now?”
Elizabeth refused to answer. Instead, she dug into the pocketbook she’d hung onto for dear life at the club -- losing the bag could have cost her her life -- and pulled out a sleek cell phone.
When she played “bounty hunter,” she didn’t like carrying anything which could leave a trail, but the phone was a n
ecessity. Not in the least bit legal, again, as she’d doctored the device to render it untraceable unless someone on the hunt for her was more of an expert at hacking than she was.
“You’re different, aye, but you’re still much the same. Cantankerous as a crow, stubborn as a jackdaw, and beautiful as a soft, plump dove. A voice sweeter than any nightingale’s.” From the corner of her eye, Elizabeth noticed Killian grasping the bars of his cage, caressing them as he would a lover’s bare skin.
She closed her eyes briefly as a thrill of sense memory washed through her body.
“Oh, now. I spy a taste of the passions I loved best,” Killian purred. He pressed against the cage, molding his muscular torso against its barrier. “You haven’t forgotten, aye? We were good together, Radiance, you and I.”
Elizabeth bit her lip sharply. She shook her head, hair swinging to and fro, tickling her cold, uncovered shoulders. The bolt-hole, located underground, had the chilliness of a cave. She could really have gone for something warmer than a cocktail dress. A shawl would have matched. Why hadn’t she thought ahead about adding the useful accessory?
Getting sloppy, she scolded herself as she focused on the cell phone. Way to get yourself in big trouble, girl. Watch it from here on out or else.
She pressed the phone’s “talk” button and started pushing buttons in no particular order.
“Who are you reporting to, Radiance?” Killian lounged against the bars, amusement infecting his question. “Does someone need to know you’ve brought us down? Somehow, I suspect you’re not after reporting to any police department. They have their ways, for sure, but cloak-and-dagger underground cages are generally not procedure.”
“Shows what you know. And it’s not your business who I’m calling,” Elizabeth said shortly, forefinger moving nimbly across the tiny keypad. “Shut up and sit down.”
“There are no chairs in here, Radiance.”
“I didn’t say you were going to sit comfortably. Now do as you’re told.”
“Or what?” Killian’s tone deepened fit to match Barry White’s on the best of his slow, raunchy songs. “Will you shoot us if we don’t play nice, Radiance? Will you be after putting a bullet in me?”
Elizabeth yanked her gun out of the clutch and pointed it nose-first at the cell. “If I have to. Now shut up. I’m being paid to bring you in, not listen to you talk all night long.”
God, but she was having the time of her life. She had Killian to thank for everything -- he’d showed her the whole world waiting outside Annandale, and taught her how to enjoy life. Helped her discover the part of herself that loved to live on the edge, and whenever he vanished, she knew he’d be waiting for her to track him down, satisfying her taste for the ultimate hunt.
“Is that a fact?” Killian replied, perfectly in the scene. “I remember how you so used to love hearing me croon in your ear for hours and hours in the dark.”
“Older times, Killian. Now I said quiet, and I meant quiet.” Elizabeth held the gun on Killian long enough to get her point across -- she hoped -- then put the safety on and laid the weapon at her feet.
She tsked again at how many times she’d slipped up so far in tonight’s role. Her choice of dress should have been something long enough to conceal an ankle sheath, or maybe slit up one side for easy access to a thigh holster.
It’d been a long time since she’d made this many mistakes, and they struck her as a bad omen. But then again, Elizabeth liked the jobs with a zing of danger. They made her feel alive.
The phone, paused for too long mid-dial, had gone back to the main screen. Elizabeth growled at the stupid piece of technology and started entering her contact’s number a second time.
“Who are you calling?” Killian wanted to know, seeming genuinely curious.
“Confidential.”
“Come now, Radiance. If you’ll be turning us over to someone, would we not have the right to know who’s interested in hunting Roan and I? Come to the point, why would anyone send a -- a -- what are you now, Radiance? A bounty hunter?”
“Couldn’t say.” Elizabeth depressed the last digit and raised her cell phone to her ear. She heard ringing on the other end.
“Couldn’t, can’t, or won’t?”
“You don’t need to know.” The ringing continued.
“Perhaps I don’t need the facts, radiance, but I’ve ever been the curious sort. Tell me the truth, now,” he coaxed in a tone that had never, in older days, failed to make her give up anything he asked for. “Who wants us badly enough to have two innocent folk hunted down like dogs?”
“Innocent? Ha! You, my friend, are many things, but innocent isn’t one of them.” Elizabeth heard a series of clicks on the other end of her connection before a computerized voice kicked in and chanted: “You have reached an number that is disconnected or no longer in service. If you need help, please hang up and dial your operator.”
Outwardly, for the sake of appearances, Elizabeth scowled, stabbing the phone’s END button to sever her call.
Inwardly, she shrugged. She’d dialed a number at random to create the illusion of reporting to a client. Wouldn’t have surprised her if she’d ended up making contact with “Joe’s Pizza Parlor.”
It was all about playing the game.
She heard Killian shift from one foot to another, curious as a cat. “Am I to take it the person after our blood isn’t panting by their phone for want of word? Interesting.”
“Not like they don’t have other things to do.” Elizabeth put on a charade of indifference. “Besides, they’ll be getting in touch soon, or I’ll be glad to track them down too.”
“And what would you do with Roan and I then?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“In part,” Killian mused. “More than less, I’d like to understand what drives you down this path, Radiance.”
Elizabeth kept a straight face as she delivered a suitable response for a real bounty hunter. “I do the job. I get paid. If everything goes right, both parties walk away happy with what we bargained for.”
“Cold, Radiance, very cold. You’ve gone and driven yourself past the point of simple toughness. You’re strong and sharp as iron nails now. A woman to be wary of.” He laughed. “I believe I like you better this way, though I loved you well enough before to offer --”
“We’re not going to talk about that.”
“Oh, yes, we are, lass. If I press my point, will you aim at me again? Will you fire?” Killian thrust his groin, fly still unlaced, against the bars of his cage. “You’re tempting as an angel, all blond and blue with your fine raven feathers of a dress. But I think you’ve fallen, aye? Crashed down to earth, broken, and rebuilt tough as this selfsame iron.” He gave the cage a light shake. “Yes, Radiance, you have changed, but I find you a fascinating new challenge and I’m well pleased.”
“Glad one of us is happy,” Elizabeth muttered.
“Pardon?”
“I know damn well you heard me.” Her cell phone rang. She switched the number after every job, so the only person who might be calling either had a wrong number themselves, or it was Joe. Elizabeth lifted the headset to her ear. “Yes?”
“Okay, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
Wonderful. Joe. In a mood. “Do you have a problem?” Elizabeth snapped. “Speaking of which, your ass is grass if you didn’t take care of things at the club, so report.”
“I ditched the damn-fool waiter’s outfit and got out of there the second you were gone.”
“You didn’t follow orders? Joe…”
“They were getting rowdy,” Joe whined. “If they’d nailed me, I’d have lost my balls.”
And that’d be such a shame. They’re probably so small he’d better hang on to what he’s got. “You think I care? In the future, you follow orders. No one saw you leave?”
“I thought you told him to pay a visit to management and secure information on all the other fine women there,” Killian remarked.
“Stop eavesdropping!”
“What?” Joe demanded. “Who are you talking to?”
“The natives are restless. Never mind them. Pop quiz: what do you do now, Joe?”
Joe snorted. “You taught me that lesson a long time ago. I’m not totally wet behind the ears.”
“No? Prove it.”
“Fine. Now our hostages are in custody, I lie low until our client makes their pickup and the scandal among the ladies at the club dies down.”
“Gold star. Just make sure you don’t go off on a wild hair for any reason at all, are we clear? I don’t want another episode like the one during your test run in Schenectady. Understood?”
“Understood,” Joe grumbled. “I’ll be a good boy. Promise.”
“We’ll find out, won’t we?”
“What did he do in Schenectady?” Killian queried. “Do you mean to say your apprentice -- I’m assuming he’s an apprentice, for you’d never take a full partner -- isn’t all he could be?”
“I told you to stop listening in.”
“You did. I chose not to obey.”
“Elizabeth, what’s up? You’re talking to them. You never talk to the bounty. What’s going on?”
“None of your business. Get underground. Don’t make contact with me or anyone else until I call you myself with the go-ahead. Clear?”
“Crystal, but I’m going to tell you flat-out that I don’t like this. Something’s off. You won’t tell me who the client is or why they want these men. You’re talking to them. Where are you? The cellar out at the old winery?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“The hell I don’t. If something happens, I need to be able to come after you.”
“I can take care of myself. Goodbye, Joe.” Elizabeth clicked her phone shut on his renewed barrage of questions and laid it on the floor next to her gun.
Killian hummed thoughtfully. “Interesting, Radiance. So secretive. So commanding, leading your soldier onward as to war. This client must either be dangerous indeed, or paying you more than a few pretty pennies to keep those sweet lips shut.” He paused. “The curiosity will drive me mad, it will. Who’s seeking us, my lady? Why should anyone want to lay hands on myself or Roan? What wrongs have we done?”