by Leslie North
“I’ve been hanging out at Club Xcite a long time. Let’s not play these games, eh?” Alex flashed him a sinister, cold smile. “I’m well aware of the activities you partake in behind closed doors. The girls that are run like chattel through here. Now, I’m in need of new sex slaves for my pleasure and you can procure them for me. Tell me when and where and I’ll pay you handsomely for your time and services.”
“How do I know you ain’t no cop?”
“You’ve seen me in the club. You know me. Have I ever reported anything I’ve seen in here?”
The manager sat back, tossing his bloody tissue in the trash as he appeared to consider her deal. “What’s wrong with your boy toy there? Can’t get it up anymore?”
Hunter tensed under the lies, but kept his gaze steadfast on the floor. Let this stupid fucker think whatever he wanted. In the end, they were all going down.
“He gets it up just fine, but won’t listen worth a damn. I’ve tried repeatedly to beat it out of him but he requires a stronger hand then mine to break him.” She gave Hunter a side glance, her pink mouth turning up into a half smile. “I’ll be sending him to a friend of mine back east to train him properly. Until I get him back, however, I need replacements. That’s where you come in.”
The guy sat silently, staring at Alex so long that Hunter thought perhaps he hadn’t heard her. Hunter ran through his head what he’d do if things went to shit. There was a gun on the floor about three feet to his right. If he dove fast, he might get to it before the guard and could shoot their way out of what was fast becoming a claustrophobic space. If not, then he’d tug Alex onto the floor with him and try to shield her body with his as best he could while they made for the door. Chances were good either way they wouldn’t make it.
Fuck.
Finally, the manager sat forward and clasped his hands atop his desk, his black gaze narrowed. Hunter’s thudding heart felt lodged in his throat, and his breath seized in his lungs, ready for action. “You’re right, mistress. You’ve proven yourself trustworthy.” He rubbed the end of his raw nose. “Present actions excepted.” He took a deep breath and smiled. “I have a new shipment coming in tomorrow night. Find an adequate safe house to keep them in and you can have first pick.”
Hunter exhaled slowly, his mind racing. This was good. Totally unexpected, but good. And Norse Security had safe houses all over the country. Surely they’d have one here in the L.A. area. He’d call the team’s resident tech guru and all-around information god, Camden, and ask him once he and Alex were safely out of here.
“Perfect.” Alex stood and tugged on the leash again, waiting until Hunter stumbled to his feet before heading for the door. “As a member of the club, you’ve got my cell number on file. Call me when the shipment arrives and I’ll give you the location.”
6
Alex managed to hide her trembling until they were safely back in the limo, but then she couldn’t stop her shivering. God, talk about an adrenaline rush. Sure she was used to playing a dominatrix in the club, but she’d never had so much riding on it before, nor had she had a slave at her feet. Speaking of her slave…
She winced as she looked over at Hunter, who was taking off his collar and rubbing the bruised flesh underneath. “Sorry about that. Guess I got carried away a bit with my role. But I was afraid if I told you too much before we went in, you’d never agree to it.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Hunter said absently, pulling out his phone to dial. He’d shifted back into the cool remote guy who couldn’t seem to care less whether she existed or not. Normally, Alex wouldn’t mind. She wasn’t in the habit of chasing men who obviously weren’t interested, but damn if she hadn’t liked having the powerful Hunter crouched at her feet. Maybe more than she cared to admit.
As they left the industrial warehouses behind and headed back toward downtown L.A. Alex pulled off her wig and glasses, doing her best to pick up tidbits of information from Hunter’s one-sided conversation. So far, she’d learned he was talking to someone named Camden and they seemed to work together at the security agency.
“Yeah, we need the nearest safe house in town,” Hunter said, staring out the window beside him and ignoring Alex completely. She couldn’t help giving him a slow once-over through the shadows. He did look fine in his tight black T-shirt and soft faded jeans, those powerful thighs and broad shoulders sparking a river of molten heat through her bloodstream. If things had been different and Bea wasn’t missing, Hunter was exactly the type of man she’d go for—tall, dark, dangerously sexy and smart. Infinitely mysterious and powerful. And surprisingly, he’d gone along with her act in the club with hardly a protest. Could it be that he secretly craved a woman to take charge in the bedroom? Through Club Xcite, she’d met a lot of men who ran multi-billion dollar companies during the day, and wanted nothing more than to remain on their knees at night. Was Hunter one of them?
He ended his call then set his phone aside. “We’ve got our safe house set up. My buddy Camden’s going to text me with the location soon.”
His assumption that she didn’t already have a plan rubbed her the wrong way. “Maybe I had one set up too.”
“Yeah?” Hunter gave her a dubious stare. “Where’d you find it? Safe Houses R Us? It’s not like there’s a listing site on the Internet, you know.”
“I know that. I’m not the ditzy blonde I play on screen.”
“No, you’re not.” His gaze turned inquiring. “Where’d you learn to use a whip like that?”
Alex crossed her arms and looked away, feeling far too exposed under his scrutiny. “Italy. I learned from a dungeon master in Florence. She was amazing. And you’ve obviously never seen my movie, Bad Cops 3: Alarmingly Armed. The production company execs were the ones who paid for all my training. My role in that film was as a dominatrix wrongly accused of murdering her sub—a famous politician.”
“Huh.” Hunter shook his head. “Guess I should pay more attention.”
“Guess you should.” She watched the passing lights for a while before asking, “So, where’s this safe house your friend has?”
He squinted down at his screen then smiled. “We can check it out now, if you want. Cam just unlocked it.”
“Is he in town?”
“Nah. He’s a computer whiz, so he can do pretty much anything with technology.” Hunter leaned forward to give the address to the driver then slumped back in his seat. “We’ll need to make a few modifications to fit our needs, but it looks like it’ll work out good. And it’s fairly close to the club, which will make transport easier.”
The thought of Bea being shuttled around to God knew where—alone, scared, quite possibly hurt or abused—made Alex’s stomach churn. “And this place is secure?”
“As secure as we can make it. I’ll add some booby traps too, to give us an extra jump if someone tries to break in.”
“Booby traps?” Alex scrunched her nose, tired and cranky now. “Sounds silly, like a bunch of high school pranks or something.”
Hunter’s expression hardened as he turned his full attention to her. “First, the traps I’ll set are nothing like childish pranks. And second, do you have any idea how demeaning you are when you say shit like that? I’m a fucking ex-Navy SEAL. I’ve lived through horrors you can’t even imagine. I’ve survived because of my skills on the battlefield. If anyone can stop a bunch of ill-trained guards and a fat-ass sex club boss, it’s me.”
Alex crossed her arms and stared out the window, feeling both ashamed over what she’d said to Hunter and admiration for his response.
They pulled up outside a non-descript white ranch-style home on a quiet suburban street a few minutes later. Alex got out without waiting for Hunter and walked around the limo to stand on the sidewalk in front of the house. It looked like something straight out of a fifties TV sitcom.
“Let’s get inside before the neighbors notice us snooping.” Hunter walked up to the door and punched a code into the tiny keypad on the wall. Soon the lock snicked open
and they walked inside. The lights must’ve been on some kind of motion detector because they came on automatically as Alex passed through the living room into the open kitchen then into a small laundry room and down the hall to the three bedrooms. He followed at a more leisurely pace, texting on his phone the whole time, messaging his buddy back in Virginia, Alex assumed.
“Cam says there’s a safe room in here too.” Hunter led her into the master bedroom with an unimpressive but clean attached bath. He pulled open the walk in closet and shoved aside the few garments hanging in there to reveal a steel door with another keypad in the back wall. “Hold this.”
Alex took the phone he handed her and watched as Hunter punched in another code. The steel door slid aside to reveal a small fully stocked studio apartment, complete with flat screen monitors on the walls, a mini-fridge, toilet, sink, cot, and cases of bottled water. It was enough for at least a month’s stay, if not longer. “Wow. Good thing I’m not scared of enclosed spaces.”
If she stretched out her arms, her fingers nearly touched the walls. Then again, a safe room wasn’t made for comfort, but for security. The shiny metal walls were bulletproof, she assumed.
“It’s bombproof too,” Hunter said, as if reading her thoughts. “Still want to go searching for something better on the Internet?”
She ignored his jab and shook her head. “No, I guess this is adequate.”
“So glad it meets with her highness’s approval.” Hunter snorted and rubbed the reddened skin on his neck again. “Excuse me if I don’t kneel.”
“You’re not going to let me forget that, are you?” Hands on hips, she stared him down across the small space. “It’s called acting. Method acting, in case you forgot. I’m good at what I do, what can I say?”
“Oh, you’re good all right.” He took a step closer as the overhead fluorescent lights flickered. “Just keep your whips and collars to yourself from now on.”
“I didn’t hear you complaining about it when you had it on.”
“Lady, I—” Hunter stepped closer, only inches away now as his heat and citrus-spicy scent surrounded her. Whatever he’d been about to say was cut off by the sound of the steel door swishing closed. Seconds later an ominous beep sounded and the lights dimmed. “What the fuck?” He texted furiously on his phone. “Thank God we’ve got service in here.”
“Hunter, what’s happening?” Alex asked, staying close to him. Small spaces weren’t her favorite thing, but she could deal. It was the thought they might be locked inside that bothered her most. Once when she’d been little she’d accidentally locked herself inside her dad’s tool shed in the back yard. Her parents had been gone at the time and the babysitter was more interested in her boyfriend than Alex’s whereabouts. By the time anyone found her she was cold and hungry and had wet herself. It had been humiliating. “Please say we can get out of here.”
“Um.” He scowled at his screen. “Cam says there’s some technical glitch on his end and the safe room is on a timer. Apparently, we’re stuck in here until six o’clock tomorrow morning.”
7
“What?” Hunter asked, realizing how ridiculous his answer sounded. “I’m telling you the truth. Cam says there’s nothing he can do about the time. It kicks on at midnight. It’s twelve-oh-five now. See?”
Alex squinted at his phone screen then sighed. “Where are we supposed to sleep in here?”
“You can take the cot against the wall. I’ll bunk down on the floor.” He shut off his phone to conserve the battery then shoved it into his back pocket. Figured they’d get stuck in here. His timing had felt off since before they’d went to that damned club tonight. There was something about Alex that seemed to get all his well-ordered plans into a snit. At least they didn’t have to worry about anyone attacking them in here. Things were locked up tighter than a drum. He checked the door and the keypad to be sure. “Are you hungry?”
“Not really. I do have to…you know.” She glanced awkwardly back at the toilet in the corner. Right. Privacy seemed to be the one thing they didn’t have in here.
He wandered back there and luckily found a pull out screen to at least make things a bit more discreet. “There you go. I’ll, uh, hang out on the other end of the room and maybe pop some popcorn. I could go for a snack about now.”
“Great. Thanks.” Her tone sounded less than enthused as she walked behind the screen. Soon, the sound of her grumbling filled the air. “Uh, I don’t supposed there’s any spare clothes in this room, is there? This cat suit is sexy, but it’s not exactly comfortable long term.”
“Let me take a look.” Hunter started digging through the plastic storage containers, glad for the distraction. Luckily, he found a bin full of plain white T-shirts, basic men’s and women’s undies, socks and gray sweatpants. He grabbed a set of things for each of them, then closed the bin and shoved it back into place. He hung her things over the top of the screen for her. “There you go. Not exactly magazine-cover ready, but they’re clean and comfy.”
While Alex took care of business at one end of the room, Hunter changed clothes at the other. Truthfully, he was exhausted. It had been a long-ass day that had started out wonky and had only gone downhill from there. Hopefully tomorrow they could start fresh and make better choices.
Once he’d pulled on his sweats and T-shirt, he folded his clothes and put them aside then opened a pack of microwave popcorn and set it to popping. Soon, the air filled with the delectable smell of butter and his stomach rumbled. He cracked open a bottled water and drank half in one long swallow before grabbing the remote for the flat screens on the wall and clicking them on. If he was lucky, maybe they could pick up some local channels at least so he could watch the news. Hunter liked to keep informed of current events. In his business, it could mean the difference between success and failure. He zipped through the security feeds then several black screens of nothing before finally finding a local network affiliate.
“Thanks for finding these,” Alex said, coming around the screen at last. She had her leather cat suit tucked under one arm and her T-shirt tied around her hips, he assumed to help keep up the too-big sweatpants she was swimming in. Still, she looked adorable and sweet and he had to tamp down the nearly irresistible urge to hug her and kiss her silly. Alex set her clothes on the end of the cot then washed her hands at the sink, drying them on a dishtowel. “That popcorn smells pretty good actually.”
“Help yourself.” Hunter’s words emerged gruffer than he’d intended, his throat suddenly constricted. He coughed and headed for the toilet himself. “Uh, excuse me a minute.”
“Sure.” Pretty pink colored her cheeks as she turned away. “I’ll, uh, get the popcorn in a bowl.”
“Sounds good.” Hunter disappeared behind the screen and leaned his head against the cool metal wall, hoping his reactions to her weren’t as apparent as they felt. Awareness and want throbbed through him like a tribal beat. He was hardly some blushing virgin, but Jesus. He’d never had such a strong need for a woman before. It felt chemical, elemental, inevitable. That last one scared him more than anything. The last person in the world he should be thinking about getting involved with was Alexandra Valentine. They were too different. Hell, they even lived on different sides of the country. They had separate careers, separate lives, separate goals and hopes and dreams. But as he stood there, listening to the sound of her soft hums as she worked in the tiny kitchenette, Hunter couldn’t help picturing her in his bed, in his life.
Sighing, he flushed the toilet then straightened his clothes before emerging from behind the screen and washing his hands at the sink. “I can make another bag of popcorn if we need it.”
“Way ahead of you, dude.” Alex pointed at the microwave where a fresh bag popped. “Take a seat on the cot and enjoy.”
As they sat there watching late-night talk shows and stuffing their faces, Hunter couldn’t remember a night when he’d had more fun just hanging out with someone than he did with Alex. Eventually, he yawned and moved to se
t the bowl aside without disturbing her. She’d fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. He’d planned on sleeping on the floor, but it couldn’t hurt anything to snooze up here, at least for a little while. Hunter grabbed the covers and pulled them up over their legs, his back resting against the metal wall and his arm around Alex as he closed his eyes and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
8
The next time Alex opened her eyes, it was to see the metal door to the safe room sliding open and the awareness of something warm beneath her cheek. She shifted slightly to look up into Hunter’s sleeping face, his quiet snores fluttering the hair near her temple. He looked so peaceful, so relaxed, so damned gorgeous her chest ached.
Which was bad. So, so bad.
This guy was here to help find Bea. He was playing the part of doting bodyguard because she was paying him to do it. Last night, at the club, he’d submitted to her demands because she’d left him no choice. Luckily, her idea had paid off and they’d gotten the club boss to agree to send over the new batch of sex slaves—a group Bea would hopefully be a part of. Alex knew that each day her friend was missing put another nail in Bea’s coffin, but she couldn’t give up. She and Bea had been through far too much together, both inside and outside this mess. Bea was one of the first people she’d met after moving to Hollywood. Bea kept her grounded, kept her true to her art form. Bea always said that the only way to give an honest performance was to become the character for a while. That’s what had gotten them into this disaster.
And if the club boss had truly bought her big, bad dominatrix act last night, then that just might be what got them out of it too.
Hunter stirred, yawning hugely before blinking down at her with drowsy, hooded eyes. “Good morning.”