“Grrr,” Maxine growled. Of course, he pulled a fast one yet again. “He really did say that, didn’t he?”
“Have another glass of champagne,” Sophie winked. “Then let’s get you down to alterations—we only have a few days before your party!”
Alterations! Of course. Declan kept the staff on that night just to accommodate Drew and Maxine. But just as she’d raised the flute to her lips, she immediately returned it to Sophie’s hand.
Fuckballs.
“I’m…hic…sorry, Miss…hic…Turner…but…I have the…hic…ups!”
# # #
By the time Maxine finally met up with Drew again in yet another luxurious salon, it was nearly eleven-thirty. Feet dragging along beneath her, she wondered how she could possibly manage to walk out of the store, let alone play out a punishment scene that evening. What troubled her most, though, was the fact that Drew didn’t seem to be in one bit of a hurry.
Ever so casually, he lounged on the couch, one leg resting upon the silk cushion beside him. As he raised his hand, smiling all the while, he beckoned Maxine with his finger. “So rumor has it that you found a dress, little one?”
Although she wasn’t sure if kisses were technically permissible at that moment—she still had trouble figuring out when play began and ended—she leaned in for a quick buss of his lips. Much to her surprise, he returned her affection.
“I really do hope that you approve, Kind Sir,” Maxine said as she settled under the crook of his arm.
“I’m sure I’ll absolutely love it,” he said without further thought. “But…the night is still very young in this town…”
Yes, as she had discovered alongside Drew, New York just didn’t sleep. Regardless of her exhaustion, she knew she could force herself to remain awake for him. They hadn’t spent any real time together in days. She missed him. Terribly.
“And I’ve still got a few surprises up my sleeve.”
Turning in his embrace, she swung her arms around his neck. “James Andrew McKenzie, what on earth are you up to now?”
Fingers tracing over her eyes, he whispered, “Close these, Maxine Elizabeth Kirk.”
She could feel him digging into his pocket for something, but with that rushed another realization in her submission. While they hadn’t had the chance to scene much yet, she was already beginning to learn to pay attention to all of her senses, especially when one was impaired.
“Settle, Maxine…” he warned her, and then eased her back from his lap. “Now. I got you a little something to go with your outfit next weekend.”
“Drew…” her breath caught as his name left her lips.
Palms open, he held a small box from Jacob & Co., and Maxine immediately recognized the name. Again, her knowledge of high-fashion and accessories was born of watching countless awards show previews with Ben, but she knew that Jacob was indeed the jeweler to the stars.
Hands trembling, she reached down and merely caressed the lid, which Drew finally tugged away. Nestled inside, a pair of glittering emerald teardrop earrings, set in platinum and encrusted with diamonds, sparkled in the dimly lit lounge.
“I wanted to get you something to match your ring,” he said.
“Oh…” Beyond the extravagance that his gift to her beheld, she was moved most by his sentiment. Fingers still shaking, she was almost afraid to touch them, as if they belonged to someone else—someone who was truly worthy and beautiful enough to wear them. “Drew, that’s just so…so very sweet of you.”
“I hope they match the gown you’ve chosen,” he said.
“They do indeed,” she said. And if they hadn’t she would have gone back to the dressing room and started over just to find a dress that would accommodate her jewelry.
“Want to try them on?” he said, lifting her hair back from her shoulders so that she could attend to her ears.
Maxine fastened one, then the other, and forced herself to stand from the couch to find a mirror. Sitting down at a small vanity, she could see Drew standing so very close behind her. When she leaned in to take a closer look at the gorgeous baubles adorning her ears, she gasped. She felt like an actress wearing jewelry on loan for the Oscars—she’d have to hand them back over to Jacob himself in the morning.
“Exquisite,” she whispered as she held her hair up from her neck. “Drew, this is just so perfect.”
“Well, that’s how our weekend will be, Maxine—perfect,” he said. “And I can’t wait for you to meet the rest of my family.”
“Your father is utterly delightful,” she smiled in the mirror at his adoring reflection. “I’m looking forward.”
“Looking forward to meeting Papa Kirk, too.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “With or without his shotgun.”
Swiveling on the stool, she spun around to look him in the eyes. “You’re ready?”
“Yeah, little one, I am,” he said with certainty, taking her hands and helping her to stand. “But for right now, you still have a few…ahem…tasks to attend this evening.”
Now, it had to be midnight. But Drew clearly had designs on continuing their play long after the new day struck upon the old clock. Cinderella clearly had to return to her reality…only this time, she had the pleasure of heading home with the Prince.
“Well, let me get my coat on, and we’ll go…”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and stood as still as a statue. She could feel his eyes narrowing upon her as she shifted in her own stance. Something wicked was spinning through that dirty mind of his.
“Who said anything about leaving?”
“Um…well…” She looked around the empty salon. The door was indeed secure. But there had to be some sort of security cameras in operation.
And guards to man them…
“Drew…I mean…Sir…we…here?” Oh, she hated when she lost her cool with him. It only served to arouse him to a deeper, darker level. Which she enjoyed. In the privacy of one of their own apartments!
From the inside of his jacket pocket, he retrieved a thick envelope, reminiscent of an invitation to some swanky party. He placed it in her hands, then took a step back, smirking with that devilish grin all the while.
“Sending you on a bit of a scavenger hunt this evening, Maxine,” he explained. “There’s your first clue. Read it…”
Read it…read it, Maxine! But all she could manage at that moment, as her heart climbed into her throat, was “…and weep?”
Chapter Seven
“And weep?” Drew practically choked on the words. “What a mouth you have, Sassypants! Oh, we can certainly find a way to make you weep. But right now, I don’t know which lesson we need to explore next with you—you need help in so many areas.”
Maxine dropped her head in shame, but she couldn’t shake her wondering over who might still in that damn store with them. “Just can’t behave tonight, Sir.”
“Damn right, you can’t,” he agreed. “But we’ll work on that.”
“Sorry, Sir…”
Drew leaned back against a small, antique occasional table as if he needed the support and slumped his shoulders. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. That’s all I hear from you, Maxine,” he taunted. “You love the rewards, but you don’t want to work for them. Typical only child.”
“Hey, I work very hard!” she broke from the scene to shoot back at him.
“I’m sure you do—at the office. But certainly not in your submission,” he said. “Right now, for example. You’re not minding your manners.”
Oh, shit! She forgot the ‘Sir.’
“Sir!” Maxine smacked herself in the head. “Sir, Sir, Sir!”
“Listen, we’ve only got until four this morning, and you’re wasting a colossal amount of time already,” he continued. “I’ve cleared security out of the store with a bribe to keep this from my father. They’ll be back once the bars close.”
Stunned by the revelation that Drew just paid off the evening security team, Maxine shook her head. Her jaw fell open, mouth gaping in
shock…with a trace of amusement curling her lips. He planned to play in the store!
“Now, back to your scavenger hunt…my petite scavenger...”
Eyes following each meticulously handwritten letter of her name upon the envelope, Maxine thought out loud, “How did you have time to put it together, Kind Sir?”
“You really think it took that long for my fitting?” he asked. “I’ve had the same measurements for years, and they’re on record here at the store. All I had to do was phone in my order, and try on my tux. As usual, it was perfect. Spent the rest of my time preparing. And I had all of it mapped out in advance.”
Maxine still couldn’t get over the notion that men actually owned tuxedos. Back in Pennsylvania, monkey suits were merely rented for the purposes of weddings and proms. No one ever really had anywhere fancy to go.
“Thank you, Sir,” she was quick to answer him that time. “I appreciate your extraordinary efforts to entertain me this evening.”
“See,” he said, now striding toward her. As he lifted her chin, he held those big green eyes with his own. God, they were prettier than any emerald. However, he couldn’t allow her beauty to sidetrack his game. “You understand the rules here, Maxine. You just enjoy defying me.”
Drew was on to something there. Fun was indeed to be had when she displeased her Master. In reality, Maxine strove for perfection. In fact, Judy once told Maxine that she was harder on her own self than she and Tom could ever be. However, the consequences that awaited her when she chose to disobey Drew tempted her like the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.
“Quite astute strategy for a novitiate in her submission, though,” he said.
“Thank you again, Sir…”
“Oh, I didn’t say it was a good thing, Maxine. Truth is, you’re just presenting additional challenges to yourself,” he continued. Yes, she was Topping from the bottom, and she had no idea what the hell that even meant yet. “Now, open that envelope before I get angry.”
As her fingers slipped into the crease of the heavy linen paper, she muttered, “Thought you already were, Sir…”
“Slightly disgruntled,” he corrected her as she tore rather hastily into the envelope. “With impatience rising. Read it out loud…”
“Dearest little one,” she began. “Tonight you shall embark upon another adventure in your submission with a scavenger hunt throughout the store.
“You shall follow the clues and collect the items I have chosen for your playtime this evening, and return them to me here in the salon. You will begin in women’s accessories on the second floor.
“Just left of the handbags and right of the shoes, you’ll find something silky along with your next clue.
“Complete this entire assignment within sixty minutes, and you shall receive a reward. Otherwise, you will face the consequences. Fondly, Drew.”
“Got it?” he asked as he pulled out his phone to start the stopwatch. He wasn’t kidding about her time constraints. How she hoped she could manage to fulfill her duties…or maybe not…
“Yes, Sir,” she said. “Do I get a map?”
“Maxine…” he pointed toward the locked salon door.
Rushing along, she muttered, “Oh, Sir…”
“Get moving…” he commanded. “Time…is ticking.”
# # #
Maxine had never been inside a store after it had closed, and the quietude left her feeling absolutely rattled. She could hear every sound, from the escalators churning to the wind picking up outside. Her heart pounded inside her chest.
With every step, she sensed that someone was going to jump out from behind one of the counters to scare her. She hoped no one had ever died on the premises because that just increased the chances of paranormal activity. She’d watched enough Ghost Hunters with Ben to terrify herself quite nicely that evening. There was always a woman in white lurking in the shadows of these old buildings.
Nearly tripping over her own two feet as she jogged from the escalator, she squinted to read the signs marking each department. Wallets. Key chains. Handbags! Woo-hoo, she found it!
“To the left…to the left…to the left…”
She spotted the envelope immediately and headed toward her target—a two-tone gray, silk and cashmere scarf from Loro Piana, with a cool price tag of three-thousand dollars. Suddenly, her dress seemed a bargain. Luxurious to the touch, the scarf was certainly beautiful, with shimmering threads woven throughout, but she’d never fork over more than five bucks for a mere wrap.
However, she didn’t have a second to spare over how much money Drew had already dropped that evening. Now, she understood why he was so insistent that he cover his bill. He was busy collecting expensive gifts for her, and he certainly didn’t want his parents to know or to have to pay for her presents.
Moving onward, she ripped open the next envelope, simultaneously making her way back to the escalators for her next steps in this journey.
Follow now, little one, down to the first floor, where you’ll find costume jewelry near the 54th Street door…
With her luck, there would be several doors on that damn side of the building, but she hustled herself along, huffing and puffing as she skipped down the moving stairs.
Oh, he certainly was a Kind Sir, though. So far, he made this all impeccably easy. The 54th Street exit was clearly marked, and she found costume jewelry right along that wall. Now, all she had to do was find the note.
A medium sized, perfectly square gift box with the name of one Oscar de la Renta embossed upon the velvet lid sat on the counter beneath the next envelope.
The gift inside, however, only confused her further: A pair of long, tasseled earrings with threads of pure silk wrapped by a gold mesh cap. Drew knew damn well she’d never choose something so ostentatious, and he’d already presented her with the gorgeous emeralds she still wore. This set, with all apologies to Mr. de la Renta, were cumbersome and gaudy. Her own grandmother would never have worn those two curtain tiebacks upon her ears. Curiously, she’d also noticed they were clasp earrings. Drew knew her ears were pierced.
This night was just getting stranger by the minute. Anxiety returned to her once more, but just as she was about to read his next missive, a loud thud throttled her fears into overdrive.
Immobile, she stood in her place, hoping she couldn’t be seen. Was someone else in the store? Trying to break in? Gulping and gasping, she struggled to swallow her fears…
As she slowly turned around to try to catch a glimpse as to where the noise came from, a familiar voice boomed over the PA system.
“Don’t worry, Maxine,” Drew’s words soothed. “Just a homeless man, pounding on one of the windows. There’s a gate, and it’s locked. He can’t get in. And I can see all from my vantage point…”
Drew. Drew…! Even if she called his name, he would never hear her. Where the fuck was he? He had to be watching her on the damn security cameras. He was probably so thoroughly enjoying himself up there, laughing as she ran around aimlessly trying to solve the puzzle of his little game.
“Don’t worry, little one,” he continued, mind reading once again. “You won’t be returning to the first floor anytime soon. Read your next clue. Time is ticking…”
Now you must climb back up to floor number two…and search once again for your new pair of shoes…
As frightened and furious and flustered that all of this left her, Drew got major boyfriend points for his adorable, albeit piteous, attempts at rhyme scheme. Then again, she was the writer in the relationship.
Back to shoes, she clomped along, and decidedly, she started with the highest and priciest selection offered at McKenzie’s.
“Look for spikes,” Drew whispered into the microphone again. “You’ll learn how to walk in those…before I teach you to crawl…”
With his voice alone, he could arouse her, and she found her panties growing damper by the second. Yes, she only had an hour—and she had no idea how many tokens he’d chosen for her to find that eveni
ng—but she couldn’t help dawdling in her own desires for just a moment.
Shoes…shoes…where the fuck were the shoes? This little game just transcended from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Meanwhile, Drew wore a wicked smile as he sat behind the security desk two floors above, zooming in on Maxine’s tight little ass with the camera as she bent over in search of the next card.
“So hot…” he murmured into the mic, clutching his cock right through his jeans. “I mean…cold…frigid. Glacial, Maxine. You’re in the wrong section.”
“Fuckballs!” she screamed, and while he couldn’t hear her, he could still read those plump, pouting lips.
“And mind your mouth,” he said. “Sassypants.”
Onward, she scrambled toward the Louboutins. Right in the middle of the display, she found the shoebox with her next note. Arms now filling, she struggled as she attempted to slice open the sealed flap.
“May I make a suggestion?” Drew called out. “Go behind one of the registers and grab a shopping bag. It’ll make your life easier…for now…”
For now…oh, what did he plan to do to her that night? She couldn’t wait to find out, but even more, she wanted this damn wild goose chase to end. Five days and too many hours had passed since they’d had any sort of sexual contact. She was horny for him. And Maxine needed him soon.
However, she dutifully obeyed Drew and scrambled to find the closest sales counter, where she tossed everything into a large McKenzie’s bag, then turned her attention to her next clue.
I know you’ve got a lot of stuff, but head to leather and find the cuffs…
Cuffs? Oh, fuckballs, they were going to delve into bondage again.
The leather section was actually easy to navigate, and she uncovered rather quickly the two thick Balenciaga leather bracelets in dark gray, embellished with a bright gold buckle and two button studs. She was quick to note how nicely they matched the scarf, but inwardly, she groaned. She hated restraints. She couldn’t touch him—couldn’t hold him as closely as she wanted.
Into the bag, she dropped the cuffs, then tore into his next note.
WRAPPED: The Manhattan Bound Series, Book Two Page 11