by Poppy Flynn
Fear’s Whisper
Club Risqué Book Two
Poppy Flynn
Blushing Books
©2018 by Blushing Books® and Poppy Flynn
All rights reserved.
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Poppy Flynn
Fear’s Whisper
EBook ISBN: 978-1-61258-854-4
Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design
This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
Poppy Flynn
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Prologue
Charlotte Chapman was a really terrible friend. There was no doubt about it. Here she was, sitting in Desirae Harper's apartment listening to her best friend tell her all about her recent engagement to the delectable Jake Blackwood, and instead of being happy and excited about Desi's news, she was…jealous?
Yep! Definitely jealous. Big, black, nasty, hateful jealous. With knobs on!
Instead of squealing with glee at the idea of the upcoming wedding, Charlotte was broodingly quiet and silently cursing her old roommate's intentions.
Instead of congratulating her, Charlotte was busy dribbling literally and figuratively at the thought of putting herself in Desi's place, and not from her mouth!
She was actively lusting over her oldest friend's fiancé. Nope, you didn't crawl very much lower than that.
And not only was she lusting, but she felt broken-hearted that now there would never be any hope of anything between herself and Jake. Not that there ever would have been, of course, but there had always been the fantasy…and the hope. A hope that had lasted twelve long years since she had first met Jake Blackwood back at university and never managed to quite get him out of her mind. A fantasy that had been fired even higher just moments ago when Jake had wrapped her up in his strong embrace, crushed her against his hard chest, kissed her cheeks and had her daydreaming about what it would be like if she could feel him like that skin against skin, if his kisses hadn't been quite so platonic…until Desi had told her she and Jake were getting married and reality had dumped her on the floor and bitch slapped her with embarrassment and jealousy.
Yes, siree! She was an absolutely lousy friend.
Six hours later, Charlotte was asking herself what kind of friend she was all over again as she walked into the hotel bar and looked around for the distinctive six-foot-one frame of Jake Blackwood, topped with thick black hair that she'd love to run her fingers through and vivid blue eyes that she could drown in forever. Jeez! She really needed to get a grip.
Desi had rung and implored Charlotte to go and check on Jake after what was possibly the shortest engagement on record and Charlotte was truly mortified at the mental happy dance she had done when Desi had explained that Jake's cousin, Joel Blackwood, the true love of her friend's life had finally come to his senses and rushed in on his metaphorical white charger to claim Desi for himself before it was too late.
Jake wasn't truly heartbroken, Desi had said, although he had seriously wanted to settle down. But that was another story.
Charlotte found Jake hunched over the bar and her tummy did an inappropriate little flip. He might not be heartbroken, but he was doing a pretty good job of looking damned dejected as he nursed what was at least his second whisky, and she couldn't help wondering if his feelings for her best friend ran deeper than Desi realised.
Charlotte bit her lip, took a fortifying breath, and smoothed down the front of her black silk wraparound dress as she made her way over to where Jake sat.
Jake sat in the hotel bar and sipped at his second whisky. He wanted to toss it back like he had the first, but he fiercely controlled the need.
He'd spoken to Desi briefly. She had wanted to come over and talk to him face to face but he'd denied the necessity.
He was glad she was happy. He was glad his cousin was happy. His inflammatory words to Joel earlier that evening had been nothing if not calculated to make Joel confront his true feelings for Desi. The plan to bait the man who was like a brother to him into taking action had worked faster than Jake could have dreamed.
So why the hell was he feeling so sorry for himself? On a logical level, Jake knew he didn't love Desi the way that she deserved, but a little, tiny part of his brain couldn't help reminding him that they'd have built a good life together, achieved a successful relationship, brought up beautiful children.
Those nasty little biting teeth of loneliness started to gnaw at the edges of his awareness once again and Jake took another sip of his drink, resigning himself to the bleak solitude that his future held.
For a few golden hours, Desi had chased away the despair that had started to grip him more and more often when he thought of the gaping void that lay ahead of him.
Now he was on his own…again. No woman stuck around long once the insidious rumours about him, borne of a gossip article almost twelve years ago, started to seep into his relationships. Despite the fact that it named no names and hadn't even been aimed solely at him, Jake battled the stigma of that story to this day since it had been written by a woman he'd been in a relationship with. A woman who had duped him, posing as a student, when, in fact, she was a reporter looking for her big break. The Blackwood's prominence had given her that break and even while his family had managed to gag the press in naming names, the association was enough to have damaged his reputation. People had long memories, as one particular, recent event had all too clearly shown. A kernel of old anger tickled his already subdued disposition and he pushed it back with a noisy exhale.
"Now that was a heartfelt sigh!" a soft, feminine voice said from behind him.
Swinging around with the sole intent of getting rid of the woman, since he wasn't in the right frame of mind for company, Jake found himself face to face with Desi's best friend, Charlotte Chapman.
He laughed humourlessly, knowing it would be rude to send her away, mindful that Desi had probably sent her to check on him.
"Mind if I join you?" she asked, and Jake wondered if it was just his imagination that her words had come out a touch breathlessly.
"Not at all," he murmured, signalling the bartender for service. He looked back at his imposed companion. She was tall and slim with long, straight hair the colour of dark chocolate, but he knew she was as vanilla as they came. There was a slight colour to her cheeks and her changeable hazel eyes betrayed her awareness of him as a man.
Jake couldn't help but quirk an eye
brow at the obvious interest she showed in him and wondered if she was aware of how transparent she was.
A rueful smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. Hell, maybe he should just take what was on offer. He couldn't claim to be immune. He had felt the tug of attraction to this woman over a decade ago and he'd felt it again when he'd seen her at Desi's earlier that evening, as inappropriate as it had been at the time.
Way back then, he'd kept his distance, knowing that Desi and Charlotte had discussed BDSM but pretty sure she'd never handle his kink.
Right now? Well, he could think of worse things than sinking himself into a hot, willing woman. Even a vanilla one. Maybe she would help him keep the loneliness at bay for a few more hours.
Charlotte sipped nervously on the white wine Jake had ordered for her and tried to settle the swarm of hornets that were buzzing about in her stomach. An expectant vibe crackled in the air between them and Charlotte wasn't sure if it came from him or from her or maybe a little bit of both. Although she was sometimes accused of being a little bit slow on the uptake, a consequence of her cloistered and restricted childhood, even she wasn't completely oblivious to the sensual speculation that gradually fired in Jake's stunning cobalt eyes.
At first, she wondered if he was drunk. She wasn't the type of woman who sparked that kind of interest in men like Jake Blackwood, but he seemed alert enough and he wasn't slurring his words or anything.
Anticipation fizzled in her veins, fuelled by her earlier fantasies of this man, and Charlotte wondered if she was brave enough to take the proverbial bull by the horns and seize the opportunity that seemed to have been plonked squarely in front of her. She knew from her college days with Desi that Jake and Joel Blackwood, as well as several of their friends, had adopted some serious fetishes. It was a lifestyle that Desi had embraced but Charlotte had never had the guts. Of course, she'd been an unsophisticated and sheltered teenager back then. Freshly liberated from a repressive and dictatorial religious cult that her susceptible mother had taken up with after the death of her father, she'd had zero interest in getting involved in anything that even remotely threatened her newfound freedom. The very idea of submitting to anyone's control had set all her inner warning bells clamouring so loudly that the noise alone terrified her.
Not that she was much more sophisticated these days, but she could put on a good show if she had to. And she'd managed to live her own life for long enough now that she understood a whole lot more about the big, wide world—understood enough about herself to know that she was her own person and that no one could take that away from her. Not unless she allowed them to.
Then again, she wasn't the kind of girl to just flutter her eyelashes, whisper sweet nothings and take a man home with her for a night of no strings monkey sex. She required slightly more in the way of commitment before she yielded to the panty shredding stage. A few dates, a complement of mutual interests, some constructive information about whether there were any mad axemen hiding in his family tree.
That said, even then, she'd never actually experienced either phenomenon. So maybe panty shredding and monkey sex required something a little more spontaneous. Or, more likely, they didn't actually exist. She liked to think that was the case, so then she could happily ignore the niggling void that kept telling her she was missing something.
Yes, she'd like to think it was all just literary hype dreamed up to sell books. But then she'd remember her college days with Desi. Her friend hadn't gone into all that much detail, but Charlotte remembered well the way Desi behaved after visiting Club Risqué with Joel. How she'd oozed serenity and a languid contentment for days afterwards. Something had to have made her that way and it sure as hell wasn't the kind of mediocre sex that Charlotte had been enjoying…or not enjoying, as the case may be.
"Charlotte?" Jake's velvety voice filtered through her musings and her eyes flew to his oh-so-pretty face.
"Penny for them?" he queried. Those piercing blue eyes seemed to see far more than Charlotte was comfortable with.
A penny for her thoughts? Just the idea of him knowing what she'd just been thinking had her colour deepening and her ears burning and Charlotte ducked her head again, unable to look him in the eye.
The soft, deep chuckle that rumbled from Jake's chest seemed to vibrate all the way down to her girly bits, and when he covered her hand with his own and stroked his thumb across the back, she couldn't help the shiver that snaked up her spine.
Charlotte kept her eyes glued to where their hands rested together on top of the bar. It was a seemingly innocuous touch but Charlotte's lips parted as she tried to find the oxygen that appeared to have fled the room and left her breathing shallow.
"So, have you come to distract me and take my mind off my woes, sweet Charlotte?"
Jake's voice was as rich and smooth as warm, melted chocolate and it seeped inexorably into her senses, making her all sweet and gooey.
"Yes," she whispered, raising her eyes back to his, regardless of the innuendo with which his words were tinged. All she knew was that he was smiling that one hundred megawatt smile right at her and it seemed to have short circuited all her good sense.
"Good!" Jake murmured, removing the wineglass from her nerveless fingers. Then he stood, drew Charlotte off her seat and took her hand. He'd led her all the way to the bank of elevators and pressed the button before any kind of caution could assert itself above the jolt of electrical awareness that had accompanied the feeling of his big hand engulfing hers.
"I-I don't think…" she stammered.
Jake silenced her with one look from those intense blue eyes. He nodded, but the words he spoke were a direct contradiction. "No, don't think."
The command in his tone had her ceding the tiny sliver of prudence that had been seeking to make itself realised, while the smoky tone of his voice stroked over her senses like a velvet glove, settling and soothing her as the lift doors opened and Jake pulled her in behind him. They'd barely closed before he backed her up against the wall, his hard body pressed against all her soft places as he buried his hands in her hair and held her still while he took her mouth in an all-out sensual assault that left her mindless to any form of reason.
And really, who the heck was she trying to kid anyway? Right in front of her stood the chance to fulfil at least a dozen of those Jake Blackwood filled fantasies that she'd indulged for so many years. Hot damn! She was already in the middle of the first. She sure as hell wasn't going to turn that down.
Jake's lips were surprisingly tender as he traced his tongue across her bottom lip. She had expected him to devour and plunder, but instead, his lips feathered against her own, sipping, nibbling and coaxing and causing Charlotte to melt against him in a way no other offensive would have achieved. It was as if he could read her mind, like he knew exactly how to play her and just as that cautious notion uncurled in her awareness, Jake fisted his hands in her hair, the light pressure making her insides quiver and her breath catch. Then he took the advantage, stroking his tongue against her own and driving all thought away once more.
As the lift doors opened on his floor, Jake swept Charlotte into his arms and strode towards his hotel room door. Looking down at her face, he found her expression slightly dazed and her pupils dilated with desire. Jake could relate; the kiss they'd just shared had been soft and almost cautious, a completely undemanding contrast to his usual dominant behaviour. And it had almost blown his socks off. The fact that his cock had raced from zero to ready to pound nails in one point five seconds from the most innocent of encounters had Jake's head spinning in astonishment. Usually, he'd have had to thrash a mildly masochistic submissive soundly with his signature single tail whip for a good ten minutes to build up that kind of response, and lately, even that hadn't been leaving him all that satisfied. But here, a simple kiss with a standard vanilla woman had left him reeling.
Renewed lust thundered through Jake's veins. If this was the result of an almost innocent encounter, he could barely wait to get his hands
on Charlotte and get down and dirty. Already, he was wondering how hard he could push. Charlotte showed classic signs of submissive behaviour; looking down when he spoke to her, automatically deferring to his authority…blindly agreeing to no strings sex, when he was pretty certain she wasn't a one-night stand sort of girl.
That thought had a tiny kernel of guilt whispering through his fantasy filled brain, but the feel of her fingers plucking open the buttons of his shirt and sneaking inside to caress his bare skin soon snuffed out that brief attack of conscience and had Jake manoeuvring Charlotte in his arms so he could reach for his key card and push open the door to his suite.
One more glance at the woman in his arms, who now had all his buttons undone and was trying her best to pull his shirt from the back of his waistband while her head dipped to nuzzle his chest, and Jake disregarded all semblance of courteous decorum and strode directly to the bedroom, not stopping until he'd deposited Charlotte unceremoniously in the middle of the huge king-size bed and followed her down without so much as kicking off his shoes.
The kiss that followed as she yanked at his shirt tails and moaned into his mouth had none of the finesse of the first. Jake thrust his hands into her hair and held Charlotte's head immobile while he plundered her lips, demanded entrance and devoured, while he ground the hard evidence of his erection none too subtly against her softness.