She frowned and walked over, unplugging her stepsister’s cell phone and sat back down at her desk. Nora wasn’t sure why she was holding on to Katie’s phone, but she couldn’t seem to get rid of it. When the maître d at the restaurant had handed it to Nora the week after Katie had supposedly died in a car bomb, Nora had been shocked. It was the only thing left of her sister’s. The bomb had taken care of Katie’s car and a house fire had destroyed everything else.
But it didn’t kill her.
Of that, Nora was sure. She hadn’t believed for one minute the line the Feds had given her about not being able to see the body as it had been blown into pieces. Nora had specifically told Joe she wanted Katie dead, but she wanted to see the remains. Then and only then would she believe her stepsister dead.
There was also the question as to why the Feds were involved in the first place. When she’d asked, they’d said the city and county officers didn’t have a bomb investigation squad so they were called in.
A bunch of fucking liars.
Katie was somehow still alive and probably on the run, perhaps with the help of the Feds. Nora was at her wit’s end looking for her but it looked like her search might be coming to an end. Katie wasn’t very smart and it had only been a matter of time before she showed her hand. Then Nora would make sure the job got done.
Katie would be dead, and Nora’s life would be better. Much better.
Nora swiped the screen and pressed a few buttons. An email had come in. The first few weeks after Katie died, her phone had gone off a few times and emails still came in. After word was spread of her untimely death, the calls had stopped and the emails dwindled. The phone hadn’t gone off for over a week. It had been hard to be patient, but Nora had waited this long. She could wait a little longer.
A quick look showed Katie had received an email confirming an order made the day before. Nora opened the email and smiled. Katie had finally used her account and credit card at a large online retailer to make a purchase. Nora tapped her fingernail on the oak desk before picking up the receiver of her desk phone and dialing an old friend.
“Jerry? It’s Nora Shefflin. Happy Thanksgiving.”
“Nora, I haven’t heard from you in a long time. Happy Thanksgiving. To what do I owe the honor?”
She liked a man who got right to the point. “Jerry, I need a favor. You’re still a detective with the county, right? My stepsister died a little over a month ago, as I’m sure you heard, and today she got an email confirming an online order. I think someone is using her account illegally. Can you check it out?”
“Sure. I’m actually off duty for the holiday. Do you need it today?”
Nora looked out the window of her office and over the calm waters of Tampa Bay. She needed the information yesterday. “If someone is using Katie’s credit card, I don’t want them to go on a Black Friday shopping spree. I know this is your day off, but it would mean a lot to me if you could find out what’s going on with this. I would be grateful, Jerry.”
There was a short silence. “Sure. It may take me a little longer, though, since so many people are off the day after Thanksgiving. You’re right. We can’t let some thief run up her card. Although, you know, Nora, you wouldn’t be responsible for paying the bill.”
She was well aware of that fact. The bill wasn’t her concern. “I know. It’s the principle of the thing, Jerry. I didn’t even know about the account. I should have thought to cancel her credit cards but I never got around to it.”
Jerry chuckled. “You are a principled woman. You can’t think of everything in a time of grief. You’ve been through so much. Losing your sister had to be difficult. I’ll look into it and call you back.”
Playing the bereaved sister suited her. People always wanted to come to her aid.
“I appreciate your help. Thank you. I’ll be waiting for your call.” She gave Jerry the particulars of the account and the order.
Nora hung up the phone and picked up the cell phone. She studied the wallpaper picture on the screen of Katie and her two best friends posing on a girl’s night out. They all looked young and happy, as if nothing in life could touch them. Nora had talked to those two girls at Katie’s memorial service. They’d loved her, but then everyone had loved Katie.
Nora pressed the button at the top of the phone and the screen went blank. She sat back in her chair, propping her feet on top of the desk in satisfaction.
It was only a matter of time.
Chapter Twelve
Presley was happily drifting in a dream state when a warm, male body pressed up against her back and an arm reached around her waist, pulling her close.
“This better be Channing Tatum,” she mumbled, burrowing deeper into the warm covers. It was damn cold this morning. She felt and heard a chuckle in her ear.
“Channing Tatum, huh? That’s the last time you watch Magic Mike with Eliza.”
She wiggled her bottom against his groin and found him naked and hard. He’d worked the night shift after Thanksgiving dinner last night. Seth had insisted she climb into his bed to sleep so he could cuddle with her when he got home. It looked like he had more on his mind than simply a snuggle. With any luck, he’d fuck her brains out.
His hand came down on her ass cheek smartly and she yelped as the heat pushed the sleepy fog from her brain. “Ouch! Hey, that was mean.”
She didn’t really mean it. Seth had never given her an actual spanking, but he’d smacked her bottom a few times in and out of bed and it never failed to get her juices flowing. She wondered what she’d have to do to get him to give her a real spanking over his knee, just like in one of her erotic romance books.
“You were wriggling all around and grinding up against me. That’s mean too. It’s torture to a tired man who only wants to get a few hours of sleep.”
She turned so she was facing him and reached down to encircle his cock with her hand. “This doesn’t feel like a man who wants to get some sleep. This feels like a man who wants a sex slave in his bed.”
She held her breath as she threw out the suggestion, unsure of his reaction. Seth was all alpha male in bed, but he’d very carefully stayed on the safe side of the line. She was hungry for him to take real control in the bedroom. She wanted him to give her a real spanking, and she definitely wanted to be tied up. There were so many things she’d read about that she was dying to try.
“What would I do with a sex slave?” His voice was tight and controlled.
“Anything you wanted to do. Your wish would be her command. She’d obey you in all things. In the bedroom. She’d be your sex toy.”
There was a long silence and she only heard his breath going in and out. Finally, he eased her hand off of his cock. “You know, Presley, since the moment I met you I’ve been off balance. You’re a woman who says what she wants and how she feels. Except for right now. You’re playing a game and I’m not sure I know the rules, honey. Just tell me what you want. If it’s in my power to give it to you, you know I will.”
The morning sun was starting to slant through the windows and Presley propped up a few pillows and rested back on them. He was right. If she wanted something, she needed to fucking say it. Seth was many things, but he sure wasn’t a mind reader. Not by a long shot.
“I’ve read some books,” she started, “and some of the things I’ve read seem really exciting. I’ve never met a man I’ve wanted to do these things with until you. You’re more like the heroes in the stories than anyone I’ve ever met before.”
Even in the dim light she could see the color wash over Seth’s cheekbones. “I’m not any kind of hero, honey. I’m just a guy.”
“A swaggering, alpha male who likes to be in charge kind of guy.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “I’m the first one of those you met? Welcome to Montana.”
Presley rolled her eyebrows. “Yeah, I’m getting the idea. Talking with Eliza is the only way I’ve known you aren’t a mutant from outer space.”
Seth sat up in bed. “I’
m trying not to take this personally, Presley. Are you saying we lack something in the sex department?”
“No!” Shit, she was handling this all wrong. “You’re the best lover I’ve ever had. You’re—” His grin started to widen and she realized she may have created a monster. “Stop smiling. I haven’t slept with that many men so it’s not that great of an achievement.”
Seth was still smiling and she shoved his shoulder. “I mean it. Stop it. You asshole. What I’m trying to say, and badly, is that I’d like to make things even better and experiment.”
“Honey, you are the only woman I know who would call a man an asshole and ask him to do kinky things in the bedroom all in one sentence. You’re one of a kind.”
“Will you?” She ran her toe down his calf and his cock jumped in reaction.
“Will I what?” Seth’s gaze had landed on the swell of her breasts. He was clearly distracted from the original question.
“Do kinky things with me in the bedroom?”
Seth pushed her down into the mattress, his large body hovering over hers, and his arms caging her in. Her arousal immediately went into overdrive at his display of dominance, her nipples poking through the thin material of one of Seth’s old T-shirts.
“Yes, I will. I take it you want me to take control? Give the orders? And the punishments?”
His voice deepened at the last sentence and she shivered in response, her pussy creaming at the promise in his tone. She nodded vigorously, her throat tight with excitement. Seth sat back up and she felt the loss of his body heat.
“Fine. My first order is for you to get out of bed. Stand right there.” He pointed to a spot on the floor. “Stand there and strip for your master.”
She opened her mouth but he placed his finger over her lips, shaking his head. “Sex slaves do not speak or get to voice their opinions. Their only job is to obey and be used for their master’s sexual pleasure. Stand up or be punished.”
The steel running through his voice overrode any desire to see what he’d do if she disobeyed. She scrambled out of bed, the cold hitting her as the covers slid off. Seth was fulfilling her greatest fantasy. She couldn’t wait to hand him the control and simply relax.
She stood where he’d pointed and lifted the long T-shirt over her head and tossed it away. She hadn’t put on panties last night so she was already bare to his hot gaze. He clearly enjoyed the view.
“Turn around.” She turned so she was facing the window and Seth was looking at her ass. She felt his hand caress her bottom where he’d spanked her. “It’s still a little pink from my hand. Disobedience will turn it bright red. Do you understand, Presley? Tell me what the price of displeasing me is.”
She could no longer feel the cold air. Her body was on fire. “If I displease you, I’ll be spanked.”
“Hard. With my hand or my belt. It will be my choice as you have no choices to make during sex. Turn back around.”
Presley managed to turn back around, her knees like jelly. Seth had moved so he was sitting on the edge of the bed. He pushed her legs far apart and placed her hands on his shoulders. “Balance yourself and close your eyes. Stay quiet.”
Presley squeezed her eyes shut as his hand brushed her bare mound. His fingers traced the outer lips of her cunt and then tickled the inner depths without penetrating her or touching her clit. She bit her lip to keep from begging as he explored every fold of her pussy before pressing a finger inside her.
“Tighten on it.”
Her body obeyed, not able to say no to his deep, commanding tone. She was dripping honey all over his fingers and hand, her pussy weeping with desperation. She wanted him inside her. Now.
Seth wasn’t interested in what she wanted, apparently. He took his time, pressing a second thick digit inside her and stroked her sweet spot until she had to lock her knees in place to keep from falling at his feet. His thumb casually brushed her clit every now and then and she finally couldn’t hold back her plea.
“Please!”
He withdrew his fingers, leaving her empty and bereft. “Please what, Presley?”
She kept her eyes closed but his tone was one of displeasure. Her pussy tingled at the thought that she might have earned her first punishment. “Please what, Presley?” he repeated when she didn’t answer.
She kicked her dry lips. “I’m sorry, Seth. I spoke without thought. I wasn’t trying to take control.”
“That is not what I asked you. Answer the question, Presley.”
She was going to be spanked for sure. “I was asking please so you would touch my clit. Make me come. I’m sorry.”
She really was sorry. She didn’t want to disappoint him. She peeked out with one eye and saw his expression. His jaw was tight but he didn’t seem angry. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “Is this okay? Is that what you had in mind?”
She nodded. “Yes. I need more, Seth. Be more stern. Punish me.”
Seth nodded and got up from the bed and stalked over to the dresser where he rummaged through a drawer before returning to her. He held up what looked like a bandana. “This should help keep you focused on me.”
He disappeared behind her and her eyes closed of their own accord as he wrapped the soft cotton fabric tightly around them. A few thin shafts of light could be seen around the edges but for all intents and purposes, she was sightless. She felt him move in front of her, adjusting it until he was satisfied.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Are you okay, honey? We can stop this anytime you want.”
She shook her head. “No, please don’t stop. I want to do this with you.”
His hand stroked her hair and then drifted down her body, leaving a path of liquid heat wherever it went. He traced circles around her breasts and nipples, then pinched them until they were hard. Presley’s legs were still spread wide and she shifted restlessly on her feet, needing and wanting something only Seth could give her.
“You displeased me. You asked me to take control then tried to take it back. What should happen, Presley?”
“Punishment. A spanking.”
She felt her arms being pulled behind her back and another piece of soft cotton fabric being wrapped around her wrists and tied together at the small of her back. Another gush of cream from her cunt left her in no doubt how much she loved being at his dominant mercy. She only hoped the spanking would prove to be as pleasurable as she’d built it up in her mind.
Still behind her, he pressed on her back until her head and upper torso were resting on the bed, her legs spread wide, and her ass in the air. The actuality of how submissive this position was slammed into her like the proverbial freight train. She, Presley Lawson, feminist, was about to let a man spank her bare ass for displeasing him. She waited for the guilt and shame but they didn’t show up at the party. She wasn’t ashamed. Her entire body was on fire and her heart and mind was filled with trust. Seth wasn’t going to try her order her around after this. Well, any more than he already tried. He wouldn’t think less of her.
Because this was Seth. She couldn’t do this with any other man. Stop. End of story. He was a man of his word, and if he said she could stop it any time, he meant it.
His hand was rubbing the cheeks of her ass and she silently pleaded for him to get on with it. She needed to know if she was going to like it or not. By the time his hand came down on her left ass cheek, her nerves were strung taut. He didn’t go easy on her, but smacked the bare skin as if this were a real punishment.
The breath whooshed from her body and she was about to tell him to stop when the pain turned to a delicious heat that spread through her abdomen and straight to her pussy and clit. She felt him hesitate for a moment but she arched her back and stuck out her bottom, letting him know she wanted it.
Needed it.
Four hard spanks later she was breathing hard, with honey dripping down her thighs. She had to control her instinct to beg him to fuck her. Now. Hard and fast.
She’d handed him control because she d
idn’t truly want it. She wanted him to make the decisions. It might mean at times she didn’t like the decisions he made, but that was the price of asking him to do this for her. She couldn’t beg for a dominant man and then whine when he gave her what she asked for.
Presley heard the opening and closing of the nightstand drawer and then the crinkle of a condom. She felt the brush of the hair on his legs against hers and the slide of his cock in her slit. He rubbed it back and forth a few times and his hands grasped her hips, pulling her knees up on the mattress.
“You are not to come until I tell you to.”
She nodded, her face digging into the heavy winter comforter. “Seth, um, Sir? May I make noise or speak?”
“Yes, but you may not make any request for your own pleasure. Understood? Sex slaves don’t think about their own satisfaction.”
This one does.
“Yes, Sir.”
His cock nudged her slick pussy and he slid in easily, stretching the elastic walls and rubbing over her sweet spot. When he bumped her cervix, she let out a moan of pleasure. Seth knew just how she liked to be fucked. He held her still, his fingers digging into the flesh of her hips and buttocks as he started thrusting in slow and deep. He built up speed quickly until he was pistoning in and out of her fast, riding her hard.
“Oh, oh, oh God,” she chanted. The ridges of his dick ran over sensitive spots inside her with each stoke and her body was pulled tighter than the string on his hunting bow. Her skin was damp with perspiration and she wanted to scream with the pain and pleasure of arousal. Never had he held her on the edge so long. She felt the power of her release building inside her until she was terrified of what would happen if she went over. She might not survive the fall.
“It’s okay, honey. You can do it.” Seth reached around and played with her clit. “Come for me. Don’t be scared. It’s going to be a big one, I can feel it. You know how hard you come when you delay it a little.”
His words of encouragement and his fingers on her clit were exactly what she needed. Her body exploded into a ball of fire, singeing her inside and out with the intensity. Stars shimmered behind her eyelids and her body contracted with the power of her orgasm. She vaguely registered Seth’s own release, his cock slamming into her one last time and the heat of his seed inside of the condom.
Cowboy Command Page 14