Chapter Twenty-One
Karina awoke sometime in the early morning hours and frowned at the hotel wall. How had she gotten back? She tried to remember and could only get bits and pieces. She remembered the threesome, up until her orgasm. After that, there wasn’t much of anything.
She could remember cuddling on Brayden’s lap and a drink, then maybe being carried home, but…she suddenly noticed the arm around her waist and the warm chest against her back.
Brayden was still here with her?
She shifted slightly, moving closer to his warmth.
“Shh,” he whispered.
Karina smiled slightly. Brayden had apparently stayed to take care of her. Instead of anxiety, she felt safe. Was it because she knew Brayden so well? Was it because they were friends first?
Did it really matter?
All she knew was she’d slept in the arms of a man and didn’t feel fear. She smiled and turned to face her knight.
His eyes were closed, his dark lashes fanned against tan cheeks that were in sore need of a shave. She ran the backs of her fingers over his whiskers, enjoying the rough feel and wondering what it would be like to have those whiskers scratch at the inside of her legs.
Just thinking about it made her pussy ache, although her ass was still a little sore from the night before. Despite how nice it had been, that wasn’t something she wanted to repeat too often. She’d probably have trouble sitting most of the day.
“I need to shave, don’t I?” he mumbled.
“I don’t know. I think it’s kinda nice. It gives you that dangerous look.”
He snorted softly then opened his eyes, watching her sleepily. “You okay? I was beginning to worry about you a bit.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“It took you a long time to come down from sub-space. I’m not even sure you did completely before you crashed on the bed.”
“I think all the stress of the last few days has gotten to me.”
His lips lifted in a sleepy half-grin. “Maybe I should get you to sub-space more often.”
She winced. “Just not tonight. My ass is too sore for round two.”
Brayden chuckled and glanced at the clock over her shoulder. With a sigh, he said, “It’s nine. We need to get up and moving. The director wants a briefing at noon.”
“Why? We don’t have anything to tell him.”
“Not only that, but another woman was killed, and we’re no closer to figuring this out.” Brayden rose up on his elbow. “You were out of it and didn’t notice, but after the threesome, Delacroix was acting very strange.”
She frowned. “Strange how?”
“I don’t know really. After I took you to the sitting area, I watched him pace around the room as though looking for something.”
“Or someone,” Karina murmured. “He said he’d connected to a killer once before. Do you suppose it happened again?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Karina let her gaze drop to Brayden’s bare chest. She was naked under the covers. Apparently, Brayden had undressed her when they got back. But was he? She tried to remember how he’d felt against her when she first woke up, but couldn’t be sure.
“What are those wheels in your head turning over?” Brayden asked.
She jerked her gaze back to his as the heat of a flush moved over her cheeks. She wasn’t usually one to easily embarrass, but when it came to Brayden knowing how much she was coming to care for him, she did. And she hated it.
“Thanks for staying with me,” she said.
Brayden smiled softly and his eyes crinkled at the corners. “Anytime, kitten. Do you realize you made it through the night in my arms and didn’t once freak out?”
She grinned. “Yes, I noticed that.”
He tweaked her nose. “You’re making progress. That trip to Fiji is getting closer and closer every day.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to say she could only do that trip with him. It was Brayden she felt most comfortable with. It was Brayden she trusted. It was Brayden she wanted to go to Fiji with. Unfortunately, she hadn’t gotten any hint that things had changed for him, so, for now, she’d keep her mouth shut.
Brayden watched as sadness crept into her eyes. She tried to cover it, but it was there. What had brought it on?
In the middle of the case was not the right time to tell her he had developed feelings for her. He wanted to, but he would hold off. Being with him would mean she would have to give up being a Domme, and he had no idea how she felt about that.
She enjoyed their scenes, but did she enjoy them enough to give up control to him? Not on a twenty-four seven basis, but sometimes, and in the bedroom for sure. Karina had been through a lot. Would her past affect what she could accept in her future?
She was so stubborn, such a little fighter.
He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip, fighting his desire to kiss her. He wanted to take things slow with her. She’d slept in his arms, but sex would probably be too much too soon. He’d save that for another day.
He dropped his hand and adjusted the sheet covering her chest. “How about we get showered and go out for breakfast? Then we’ll go see Delacroix.”
“What about the director?” she asked.
“We’ll call him from the car,” he replied as he climbed from bed.
He glanced back over his shoulder to see if Karina watched him. Her gaze was glued to his bare ass, so he quickly turned back to the front and grinned. At least she was interested enough to look.
“Don’t take forever,” he called as he entered his side of the suite. “I’m starving.”
Karina fastened her seatbelt and turned the key in the ignition, while Brayden called their boss from the passenger seat of the car. While it rang, she put the car in drive and headed out of the restaurant parking lot.
“Director Nichols.”
“Hey, boss. It’s Brayden and Karina,” Brayden said.
“It’s about time the two of you called. What the hell is going on down there?” the Director snapped. “Why did the FBI put an extra detail on Karina?”
“What?” Brayden and Karina both asked in unison.
“What are you talking about?” Brayden asked.
Karina knew Delacroix had mentioned it, but she had no idea they’d actually done it.
“I got the call this morning. The FBI wanted to know what you were doing that had drawn the unsub’s attention.”
“I don’t know that we’ve done anything,” Karina tried to explain, without having to go into too much detail. “Perhaps it’s because the last girl was taken from our club.”
She glanced over at Brayden and made a face, unsure what else to say.
“When was this put into place?” Brayden asked.
“This morning,” the Director replied.
Brayden pursed his lips and nodded. Karina thought it probably had something to do with Delacroix and what Brayden considered to be his odd behavior last night. She glanced through the rear-view mirror watching various cars. A dark gray sedan caught her attention, and she snorted. Really? They couldn’t do any better than that?
“We’re on our way to talk with Delacroix and the other two agents,” Brayden said. “Maybe we’ll find out something then.”
“Keep me informed,” the Director said, and then hung up the phone.
“Well, he doesn’t sound too happy,” Karina said with a sigh as she merged onto the interstate, heading out of town toward the club.
Brayden snorted. “Caught that, did ya?”
“It was a little hard to miss,” she drawled. “I think that’s the feds behind us in the gray sedan.”
Brayden looked and nodded in agreement. “Plain, dark, non-descript car. That seems about right. They’re almost as bad as ours.”
Karina smiled. “At least we get black. Do you think that whatever it was that upset Delacroix is why the extra detail was added?”
“Maybe,” Brayden said, as he put his phone back in his pocket.
Just as he relaxed back against the seat, his phone dinged, alerting him to a text message. “What now?” he grumbled and pulled the phone back out. He stared at the screen. “It’s Delacroix. He wants to know when we’ll be there.”
“About twenty minutes,” she replied.
Brayden sent the text, and then almost instantly got another response.
“Meet him out by the pool,” Brayden said.
“Should’ve brought my suit.”
Brayden snickered. “My guess is at Club Fetish, no suits are allowed.”
Karina giggled. “Wonder if Delacroix is sunbathing in the nude.”
Brayden sent her a dark look that made her giggle all over again. “You’re not jealous, are you?”
“Keep it up, smartass, and tonight I’ll find the biggest dildo I can and add it to your ass just before I fuck you.”
She scrunched her nose at him. “That’s just wrong, Brayden.”
Brayden snickered and pointed out the window. “Exit’s coming up.”
Karina got off the interstate and headed down the two-lane road toward Club Fetish.
Karina followed an older man who’d met them at the door and led them toward the back of the house. They stepped through a glass door and onto a massive patio. Steam rose off the pool, almost obscuring Delacroix, who stood by the bar talking to one of the club staff.
He was dressed in jeans and a denim shirt. The cool wind blew his hair around his shoulders, making him resemble a pirate, at least in Karina’s mind.
Josh walked up beside her and grinned. “Nathan must be getting ready for a winter pool party.”
Karina raised an eyebrow. “Winter pool party?”
Josh nodded. “It basically amounts to an orgy in the water, but it’s fun.”
She glanced over at Brayden and smiled slightly. She had no idea Josh enjoyed the club.
Delacroix spotted them and waved. “Be right there.”
He spoke a few final words to the man by the bar, and then headed around the pool to join them. “Frank on his way?”
Josh nodded.
“Will the agents who are following me be joining us too?” Karina asked sweetly.
Josh and Brayden snickered.
“Good morning, pet,” Delacroix said with a wicked grin, ignoring her question. “How’s your ass?”
Karina scowled, but wasn’t really angry. “Sore, thank you very much.”
“It’s always nice to know there’s a reminder of my presence the next day.”
“You’re a sick man, Nathan,” she growled, making him chuckle.
“Aren’t all sadists a little sick?”
“You’re more than a little, but you never answered my question. Why did you have me followed?”
Delacroix motioned for them to take a seat at one of the tables at the far side of the patio that got the most sun. Although cool, a warm front promised a much nicer day than what they’d had lately.
“I told you the last time we all met up that I was going to add an additional detail to you,” Delacroix explained. “You shouldn’t be surprised.”
“But why?” she asked.
“What happened last night, Delacroix?” Brayden asked.
At that moment Frank walked outside, interrupting their conversation. “Delacroix,” he called. “Tell them how much that damn sedan stands out.”
“If you’re talking about the one that’s following me, I agree, it stands out,” Karina said.
Delacroix chuckled.
“And before he answers your question, he has to answer mine.” Karina turned to glare at Delacroix, daring him to argue.
“Fair enough,” he said tiredly. “I think I connected with our killer last night.”
All four eyes stared at him in stunned silence, and then they all began to speak at once. Delacroix held up his hand, silencing them.
“After we were finished…” Delacroix said, giving Brayden a pointed look. “I felt anger. A lot of it. Violent anger. I tried to pinpoint who it was, but couldn’t. It could’ve been anyone in that room.”
“That’s all? Just anger?” Brayden asked.
Delacroix nodded. “For now, that’s all. Sometimes, that may be all I get, or it could escalate.”
Karina shook her head. “So, what you got was just a disembodied emotion? How do you know it was directed at me? Maybe it was someone else. Do you have any idea how many of the female subs glared at me in jealousy last night?”
Delacroix grinned. “There’s a difference between jealousy and the kind of anger I felt. What I felt was…evil. In my gut, I know it was him.”
Karina stared at Delacroix, and then turned to Brayden. Inside she was quaking like a scared little girl. Had he really been that close?
Brayden covered her hand with his. “We’re not going to let him get you, Kay.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she murmured, then turned back to Delacroix, removing her hand from under Brayden’s.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want his touch. She did, but right now she was too freaked out.
“Do they have to follow me even when Brayden’s around?” she asked.
“Yes,” all four men replied at once.
“How are we explaining this to my boss?” she asked. “He doesn’t know about the rape, and I want to keep it that way.”
“Right now, the only ones who know about the rape are us,” Josh said. “As for your boss, all he has to know is the killer goes after sassy subs. You’re being sassy in an attempt to lure him, therefore, the extra detail.”
Karina nodded. The lie wasn’t really far from the truth. They did know he went after sassy subs, and she was definitely that, although her sassiness was more her natural personality as opposed to a front. When had this gone from a simple surveillance and intelligence gathering op to a bait and trap? With her as the bait?
Chapter Twenty-Two
Karina pinned her hair on top of her head and studied herself in the bathroom mirror. If the man Delacroix felt was the man who’d raped her, how had he recognized her? She looked so different now.
Back then her hair was black and shoulder length. Her eyes were a much more vibrant color, due to contacts. She had black fingernails and a lip piercing. She leaned closer to the mirror and fingered the small scar on her lower lip where her attacker had pulled her piercing out.
She could still remember how bad that had hurt.
With a sigh, she moved back and pulled a couple of tendrils out to hang at her temple. Was it the scars he noticed? Did he recognize his own handiwork?
The fact he had been that close made her shiver.
She looked down and began to search through her make-up bag for her lipstick. Anything to take her mind off the cold fingers of dread that snaked up her spine.
Brayden walked up behind her, making her jump in surprise. She watched through the reflection in the mirror as Brayden reached up and pulled her hair free of the clip. The curls spilled around her shoulders and she frowned.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I like it better down,” he said simply.
Her lips twisted. “Is this at all negotiable?”
He shook his head and grinned. “When you work, you can do what you want with your hair. When we go to the club, you do what I want.”
“Well, aren’t you the bossy one,” she drawled.
“Dom,” he replied as he reached out and began to rub her shoulders.
Karina sighed and let her head drop forward. “That feels nice.”
“How are you holding up?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“You’re tense, Kay,” Brayden said, as he continued to knead her shoulders. “You need to relax.”
“You got a magic wand that could make that happen?” she asked.
“As a matter of fact…”
The sexy timber to his voice made her nipples harden so fast it caught her breath. Glancing down at her breasts, she stared at the hard pebbles
poking through the satin of her yellow baby-doll nightie she planned to wear tonight. The heat of a flush moved over her cheeks at the knowing grin Brayden flashed at her through the reflection of the mirror.
Interestingly enough, the thought of having sex with him in her hotel suite—alone—didn’t make her shake in fear. It made her burn, inside and out.
“If you’re talking about the one between your legs,” Karina began. “Shouldn’t we hold off on that till we get to the club?”
“Are you afraid to have sex with me here, Kay?” he asked, his fingers still working the tight muscles of her shoulders.
“Surprisingly…no.”
“Why?” he asked, as he worked his fingers lower.
“I trust you.”
“Good,” he whispered, then placed a kiss on the sensitive spot below her ear.
Goose bumps worked their way over her arms at the warm feel of his lips and breath against her neck. He slid his hands farther down her back, working the kinks from the lower curve. Although truthfully, at the moment, Karina wasn’t sure she had a tight muscle in her body.
The feel of Brayden behind her had taken care of that.
“That’s better,” he whispered. “Much more loose.”
He placed another kiss on the side of her neck. Karina let her head fall back as a soft sigh escaped her lips. Brayden’s hands slowed, his touch becoming more sensual. He slid them under the skirt of her nightie and up over her ass. When he moved them around to her lower stomach, Karina didn’t have the desire to stop him.
He worked his lips over her neck and shoulder, biting softly at her flesh before gently sucking. She fisted her hands, unsure what to do with them. Part of her wanted to grab his hands and lower them between her legs. Another part wanted to turn and rip his clothes off. To her amazement, there wasn’t any part of her that wanted to run.
He kept one hand around her waist and he moved the other to cup her mound. Karina moaned softly and jerked her hips toward his touch, but his hold around her waist kept her from going too far or moving against him like she wanted. He slowly circled her opening with the tip of his finger.
“You’re wet, kitten,” he whispered, then pressed his hard cock into her hip. “Feel what you do to me?”
Topping the Domme (Crime and Punishment) Page 14