Capture

by Flora Dain

  His dark look gives me no clue. His expression veils as he swiftly frees himself. ‘Lick it first.’

  Hands clasped respectfully behind me, I sink to my knees and lick gently around the rim of his twitching erection. As always, arousal pounds through me as I sense something darker is happening between us, some solemn pact that has nothing to do with being engaged but an awful lot to do with complex power play.

  His low, murmured commands send shivers of heat coursing through me as he directs me to take him fully in my mouth, to tease and to work him, and finally to please.

  At the same time, somewhere deep down, I feel a tiny part of me resist, making his commands extra piquant, and my upward glances extra sharp. Does he sense my rebellion? Does it disturb him? Or provoke?

  As he swells and heats under the steady rhythm of my busy, lustful lips I find I also have a kind of control. In a way, me doing this affects him in the same way all his power play, his helicopters and his millions affect me.

  I’m a woman.

  I can reduce him to jelly by the power of my mouth.

  * * *

  As we go down to dinner I feel like a queen. The dark looks he darts at me on our way to the private dining room make me glow.

  When we come within earshot of other guests he pauses for a moment, his expression troubled. ‘Before we go in, I should warn you I hadn’t planned this.’

  I stare at him, surprised. But the touch of his fingers on mine as he takes my hand to lead me past the bowing waiters lined up near the door makes my heart sing. I can already hear chatter from the other guests and now another surprise – among them is a voice I know.

  As we walk in the first person to greet me is my best friend Billy.

  She swoops on me with a double mwah and an excited whisper. ‘Hi. How’s it going? We flew in for the Oscars. Eldon says he wants to network but I tell him he’s just a groupie.’

  Over her shoulder I see Eldon greeting Darnley, slapping his older brother heartily on the back. For the brothers it’s a golden moment. But now Billy lets go of my arm and stands back so I get a clear view round the room as she hisses in my ear.

  ‘And just look at all this. Aren’t you proud?’

  All around us huge pictures of Darnley line the walls under banners proclaiming this is a private party for a NewsPeak cover launch, hosted by the hottest new business glossy on the West Coast.

  ‘Darnley Wolfe: way to go.’

  I feel a lump in my throat so big I can hardly swallow. I glance up to see this month’s celebrity NASDAQ A-lister standing right next to me, his slanting, intelligent face creased into a rueful smile.

  ‘As I was saying, I had no warning of this. Sorry it’s short notice. They sprung it on me this afternoon.’

  He raises my hand to his lips and kisses my fingers. It’s a small courtesy from a bygone age but weirdly it seems to suit the formality of the occasion.

  The onlookers seem to feel it too.

  All around us the guests clap in polite applause.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a great honour. But it took me a while to decide to come here tonight. Not that I’m ungrateful, far from it.’ Darnley smiles round the room like he’s talking to a bunch of friends.

  His deep voice sounds mild, almost conversational. His smile is natural and easy. He’s good at this. He does it often.

  I gaze at him entranced, well aware how hard it is to talk as naturally as this to a roomful of people. I couldn’t do it in a million years. I feel ridiculously proud. Tears sting.

  Am I the only one here who knows how hard he works for success? How lightly he gives it up to help people less fortunate than himself? Tonight, to these journalists, he’s briefly a hero. To me, and to a few other people who’d never in a million years enter these rarefied circles, he’s a hero always.

  But he’s still speaking. As I tune back in to what he’s saying I realise he’s saying my name. I freeze.

  ‘… And the reason I nearly missed my own party was I wanted my fiancée here too. Because if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be here at all.’

  Now everyone claps as all eyes fasten on me. I blush furiously and look pleadingly up at Darnley.

  He grins and hugs me close. ‘Smile at the people,’ he whispers. ‘Show them you’re pleased.’ Fortified by his easy grin I smile shyly, as bashful as a bystander taken for a star.

  Luckily there are few speeches. Despite the black tie and all my bling it’s an informal, California-style buffet supper. As we circulate I meet and greet with only a touch of guilt that I’m not the techno-wizard they probably expect. I hope my blank smile as they fire questions at me about my new product plans hints that I’ve got commercial secrets to keep and not that I’m simply an idiot.

  At last I get a few moments alone with Billy and give her a hug. ‘How’s tricks? Getting paid yet?’ It’s a standing joke between us. Her internship at Lautner Wolfe is taking for ever.

  ‘Soon.’ She clears her throat. ‘Eldon wants to meet some people at the Santa Barbara Festival. And guess what? You’re coming, too.’ She glances round, her eyes shining. ‘We asked Darnley earlier and he said you’d both come. Eldon’s so excited. Silly boy.’

  I smile, happy for her. ‘How’s he doing?’

  This is a tricky topic. If Eldon’s movie career lags much longer she’s vowed to leave him. Now her little mouth gives a wry twist. ‘Nathan thinks it’s beginning to happen. He may become Eldon’s agent. And he’s excited about Darnley’s new training facility. Says Eldon could maybe do some filming there, rookie boot-camp kind of thing. And he could get walk-ons for some of the trainees as extras. Says he’ll ask around.’

  Please not. I grin and cross my fingers behind my back. The last time Eldon filmed in my class nearly finished things between Darnley and me.

  Catching his name, Eldon comes over and kisses me on the cheek. ‘Hi, Ella. You look terrific. How’s that manic brother of mine treating you?’

  As Darnley appears at my side and wraps a casual arm around my shoulders Eldon greets him warmly. ‘Yo, bro. What’s with the chilly Nor-Cal lifestyle? You should live in the sunny south. You got a thing for wild woods and cliffs, dude. It’s unhealthy.’

  Darnley grins. ‘You know me. I like some space. Come and stay with us a few days. You might even get to like it.’

  Eldon’s eyes light up. ‘I’d like that. But live there? Give me Beverly Hills or San Diego every time.’

  Billy glances at me with a sigh.

  Much later, after many hugs and promises to visit, we leave the party. Darnley is quiet, I assume with things on his mind. I’m secretly hugging myself, after securing some free copies of his cover photo from the magazine people and secretly arranging for them to be mailed to me direct.

  As the door closes softly behind us he smiles down at me and pulls me close. ‘Drink?’

  ‘Spring water?’

  His eyes narrow. ‘Try again. No, on second thoughts, I’ll choose. Champagne, I think. You go slip into something …’ he tails off with a grin and loosens his tie and I skip off to the bathroom, excitement sparking.

  When I get back, some five minutes later, he’s leaning back on a sofa, his shirt unbuttoned at the neck and his jacket flung over a chair. On a low table at his side are two flutes of champagne.

  ‘OK, hold it right there.’

  I freeze where I stand, letting his slow gaze take me in as he takes a slow sip from his glass. He makes a circling motion in the air for me to turn round.

  I’m wearing his present, the diamond thong and matching bra, if that’s what I can call the wisp of heavy, glittering lace strapped round my breasts. The slight drift of matching black lace that flutters from my shoulder is less a covering, more a seduction.

  ‘Come here.’

  I feel an instant pulse of arousal, like his deep voice snaps on some switch. We’ve been apart barely six hours. It was a treat seeing Billy again, a thrill to witness Darnley’s success, but i
t’s him I crave.

  His smile fades as his eyes darken. ‘Anyone would think you were planning to meet some jaded businessman.’ He pulls me onto his lap and folds his hands around my waist, his thumbs moving gently over the taut, sensitive skin round my navel, making me shudder. ‘Wait. You just did. So what were you doing when I called this afternoon? You didn’t pick up.’

  A tiny prickle of fear tingles all the way up my spine. I was on the beach talking to my ex … I take a deep breath and lean forward. The swollen mounds of my gem-encrusted breasts push against the soft fabric of his suit as I murmur close to his ear. ‘The first time I was parking the car. The second I was trying to lift my boat. The phone was wedged into my jeans pocket.’

  Inwardly I shudder at how easy it is to lie to someone who loves me. But if he loves me, surely he’d understand if I told him I was trying to help out my ex, to turn an enemy into a friend and get my hands on one of his family’s most dangerous secrets?

  Then again, maybe not …

  All at once I stiffen. Just under his left ear I see a smear of green paint. Slowly, I sit upright.

  ‘What about you?’ I say lightly. ‘What were you doing earlier? I thought you had business here.’

  ‘I did. And you’re changing the subject.’

  I lick my lips. ‘What kind of business? Paintballing, maybe? Before you left the complex earlier?’

  He leans back and frowns. ‘Paintballing?’

  ‘Syra says the recruits do it sometimes.’

  ‘Only in summer,’ he says softly. ‘Quit stalling.’

  ‘So … why’ve you got paint on you?’

  ‘I have?’ He frowns.

  ‘Just here.’ I touch the place, puzzled.

  His eyes grow opaque. I feel him stiffen, and then he touches his lips to mine, his grip on my waist suddenly so tight it’s almost painful.

  ‘Tell you later, maybe,’ he says softly. ‘If you’re good. For now, stay on topic. Wedged?’

  With an effort I think myself back into playtime. ‘Real tight. So tight I could hardly get my fingers in …’ I pause – and pray. Maybe I can distract him long enough to get him off the topic of unanswered phone calls and onto sex.

  But my mind is still racing. Where did that paint come from?

  And sure enough, he kisses the side of my neck as I quiver in his arms, dreading more questions, and possibly an explosion if I give the wrong answers. I feel his lips stretch on my skin in a long, satisfied smile and when he raises his head I scent victory.

  ‘Wearing your jeans too tight again?’ His voice lowers to a purr. ‘Without me there to see? Disgraceful.’ He fingers my wrist, where the heavy gold is still pressing into my slim bones. ‘These will stay on tonight. And I think maybe you should apologise for the jeans. Just a little.’

  He pushes me off his lap onto the sofa beside him. Keeping his eyes on mine and one hand on my arm, his thumb moving gently on the soft inner skin above the place where the cruel bracelet holds me trapped, he frees himself and lies back, waiting.

  Something in his look mesmerises me for a moment. His face is calm, but his smile has vanished. I could be looking at a stranger, his look stern, focused. Then the thought that I’m dressed – if that’s the word for the skimpy bling cutting into my soft curves as I kneel beside him, which is likely to have cost far more than the helicopter that brought me here – sparks something feral. I lower my eyes to the monster lurking in his lap, lean forward and lick.

  He tastes of salt and earth, of heat and fire.

  But something else has sparked between us, something that makes me uneasy.

  He’s angry.

  I know him well enough to know that if he wants to keep quiet about it, he will. Nothing I can say will wring a secret out of him once he’s decided to keep it, so I clear my mind, let my arousal do the talking and get to work. Soon the effort of riding him like I need to, of licking and savouring all the toughness and the softness of his silky manhood, fills my senses, as I arch and lean over to take him deep.

  He’s already rigid on the cushions, tendons standing out on his neck, his fists clutching the edges of the seat. As I lunge forward a third time to take him whole he grabs my hair and pulls me gently away.

  ‘Enough. Now you have to play catch up.’

  He motions me to kneel on the floor and lean back on one hand, knees splayed wide apart. His erection still mocks me from the haven of his lap. I swear he was on the cusp of completion. He’s still hard and glossy with my saliva – but now, sadly, way out of reach.

  His expression is still veiled, his manner – now I think about it – tense.

  What’s wrong? I’ve no time to think as he grins lightly. ‘Now get busy with that finger. I want to see you work yourself into the same state as me.’

  I’ve played this before, but never in diamonds. Now all it takes is the dark gleam in his eyes to send my arousal into overdrive. I splay my thighs and thrust out my breasts, leaning back on one hand while I find my softest place and begin.

  ‘Show me.’

  His low murmur fizzes though me, making me throb. Obediently I splay my hand to show him what I’m doing. The effect on him I can only guess. The effect on me is startling and instant. Arousal rages at my touch, fired past bearing by his dark, brooding gaze. From the intensity of his look I can see he’s enjoying my plight. It must be all too obvious from my parted lips and my sudden whimper as I feel my climax start to build.

  ‘You’re not to come. Do it faster.’ His deep voice flows round me, the velvet tone steel-edged as his frown stresses the command.

  ‘I … I can’t. I’ll … any second I’ll …’

  I almost do. I’m nearly there. Right this minute I’m so, so close. I’m just about to tip into some unimaginable gulf when he seizes my wrist and cuts me off mid-feel.

  ‘Enough. Now get up here and take what’s coming to you.’

  I know what’s coming. And to my utter shame, so am I, closer now than ever. As I get into position over his lap I can almost feel my tight bud waiting to burst into flower the instant he touches me. All over I stiffen, eager to begin, primed for the promise of pleasure building between my legs, poised to explode the second he starts.

  His hand lands with a massive slap that almost sends me into bliss.

  Almost, but not quite.

  ‘Next time I call you –’ his hand lands again, just as hard, and once more I jerk across his knees, yet again without success ‘– you answer first time.’ His hand crashes again, sending me closer than ever.

  This time it lingers to fondle and caress, making me writhe with longing.

  ‘A lot of people were waiting for me to agree to turn up. But we all had to wait while you –’ his hand crashes again, the sharp sting on my newly soothed flank making me writhe ‘– were playing on the beach.’

  And all at once he leans round and his fingers find their goal. Instantly I jolt into bliss, peaking for long seconds as I cry out with rapture and release.

  Overhead I can feel him laughing softly. He turns me to face him and his body clenches over me, his cock jutting against my ribcage and forcing up between my heaving breasts in a plea for attention.

  I tease him a little, relishing the feel of his hard, silky heat as he thrusts deliberately into my soft mounds a few times and then he pulls me up onto his lap. He pushes my thighs apart, grips them with both hands and splays me wide. As I wind my arms tight round his neck to pull him close he finds my mouth and surges inside me, riding me to yet another climax as he thrusts repeatedly against my throbbing, swollen softness. Gradually we slow and as we cling together almost motionless he finally comes, his orgasm glowing in my belly, his powerful abdomen rippling against mine, his arms folding me to him like he’ll never let me go.

  * * *

  After a while he stirs and takes my face in his hands. ‘Now get yourself dressed again. We’re going out.’

  ‘Now? Can’t we stay here? I was enjoying that.’

  He’s gri
nning. ‘Me too, but we have a date.’

  I lean my wrists on his shoulders, thrilling to the sparkle in his look. ‘Somewhere exciting? At this hour?’

  He kisses the tip of my nose. ‘You’ll see.’ He tips me off his lap and rises to his feet, then pulls me close as the gleam in his eyes fades and then darkens to something serious.

  I feel a ripple of unease.

  ‘Yes,’ he says softly. ‘At this hour. Full evening gown. And extra lipstick. Pile up your hair. I want to show you off.’

  Are we going to some nightclub? A dungeon? Impossible to tell from the look in his eyes. But now I’m scared. Wherever it is, it’s important to him.

  When I’m dressed I stroll into the sitting area, still fixing an earring.

  He’s on the phone, his low murmur giving nothing away. ‘She’s nearly ready. We’ll be down in a couple of minutes. Everything ready?’

  As he sees me he slips the phone in his pocket. His gaze travels slowly over me, drinking me in. My happy smile dies on my lips as I see his troubled expression.

  ‘Is something wrong?’

  ‘You really want to know about the paint?’

  ‘The paint?’ I frown, puzzled. ‘Yes. Why?’

  ‘OK then,’ he says softly. ‘This is as good a time as any.’

  ‘For what? Where are we going?’

  He touches a finger to my lips. ‘To find out about paint.’ He kisses my forehead.

  I feel a twinge of alarm as I see our hefty security detail. Bullen is driving us, fully armed. We also have another car following and two outriders on motorcycles.

  I notice other things too, like Darnley’s tux and tie are immaculate, his evening shirt spotless. Why not jeans and a jacket, like everybody wears out here? Why the glitz? We could have walked straight out of a movie.

  I have no idea where we’re heading. A nightclub? A strip joint? He says nothing helpful, just looks moodily out of the window at the endless suburbs. At last we pull up in a disused commercial area on the outskirts of town. The patchy streetlights show rusty oil drums, battered fencing. We’re outside a long, low building with peeling posters and vast shuttered windows, maybe a disused car showroom in an area fallen on hard times since the Crunch.