Love and Let Die (Masters and Mercenaries)

by Lexi Blake

  “Caveman.” She slapped lightly at his chest but there was no real intent behind it. “You know you’re kind of a Neanderthal.”

  Sometimes he envied the bastards. All they had to do to find a mate was locate a pretty female, knock her over the head and drag her away by the hair. No one thought a thing about it. The cavewoman was then expected to keep a clean cave, spit out some cro-mag babies, and make sure there was a nice sabertooth stew on when the hubby came home. He was betting cavewomen hadn’t run around becoming international information brokers with assassins after them. And they were probably damn fine at high protocol.

  “You’re wishing we were cave people, aren’t you?” Charlie asked, a little frown on her face.

  She had always been damn good at reading him. “It seems like it was probably a good time to be a man.”

  She groaned. Again, not something he would have had to worry about with someone like Amanda. She would have agreed with everything he said and then turned around and made fun of all his female friends. Charlie, on the other hand, defended his female friends and made fun of him. Somehow, he liked Charlie’s way better. Her head came off his chest as she seemed to realize something was wrong. “This doesn’t look like the way to the locker room.”

  “You’ve never been here before. How do you know?”

  She looked over his shoulder. “I made a quick trip around the place when you dropped me off.”

  Well, naturally she wouldn’t stay where he put her. Again, another point for the caveman. Still, he understood what she’d been doing. “How many ways out did you find?”

  She would need to know. After so many years of having to survive, Charlie had an ingrained need to know every escape route and possible point of ingress. What Ian had learned from years in the military and CIA, Charlie had learned in childhood.

  “Four, but I actually feel pretty safe here. It’s kind of like a fort, isn’t it? There’s the front door, though it’s guarded. Is that bulletproof glass in the doors?”

  She had a good eye. “Yes. There are only a couple of windows, but they’re all tinted and bulletproof.” He didn’t need people off the street watching his clients and friends playing. Some of his clients included very high rollers. The CIA might have paid shit, but Sanctum made its money back in droves.

  “There’s the back door with the fire escape. You keep that guarded, too. I could get out the window in the storage room,” Charlie said. “But I doubt many people could get in.”

  That little tiny thing? “It’s secure, baby. I don’t know that you could get out even if you could get it open.”

  “Trust me, I could wiggle out. I’ve gone through smaller places before.” She shivered a little.

  “Well, I think our Russian assassins probably won’t try. They would get stuck and they wouldn’t like what I would do to any body part that happened to be inside my building.” It would be fun actually. Like that Winnie the Pooh story Sean had read to Carys, only way more bloody and with Pooh Bear screaming in agony.

  “See, I always get scared when you get that look on your face.”

  “I was just thinking happy thoughts. What’s the third weak spot?” He was curious. She had a damn better eye for weakness than anyone else he knew.

  “The air ducts.”

  He breathed a little sigh of relief. He wondered where she’d found a spot high enough to get up and check out the air ducts. “They’re my escape hatch. That’s why they’re so big. They’re locked, too. I had them custom fitted with gates and electronically protected. The guy who built it for me thought I was fuck-all insane. I need to hire an engineer who won’t look at me like I’m crazy. I need a MacGyver, but I worry I would just get another Adam.”

  Two of him was too much. Why were all the creative thinkers such smartasses?

  “So I’ll say it again. We’re not going to the locker room.” This time when she said it, there was a husky, seductive quality to her voice.

  It went straight to his dick. He nodded as he walked past the bouncer who took care of the privacy rooms.

  “Number three is open, boss,” the bouncer said.

  It was a busy night at Sanctum if he had to go to three. He’d seen Jesse sneaking back with a pretty brunette named Jana, who liked it rough. Ian wasn’t going to mention that to Charlie, though. She’d handled the fact that he’d screwed Amanda pretty well. He wasn’t going to give her a rundown of what every sub in the club liked and didn’t like. “How do you know I’m not tossing you out on your lovely backside?”

  Her smile was sure as she glanced up at him. “Because I was a good girl and let you set me on fire. You owe me.”

  He did and that was just another reason to let his dick loose. A night of orgasms was one of the ways he liked to balance the equation. The subs gave him what he needed and he gave them what they needed. Oddly enough, most of the time the sex was unsatisfactory for him, a mere biological process.

  Maybe that’s the way it would be this time, too. Maybe his brain was making too much of the connection to Charlie. He’d been younger, less wise. Maybe it was just the first time he’d met someone he really sparked with. Charlie was different from anyone he’d ever met. Perhaps memory was playing tricks with him and he’d fuck her and she would be just like the other women in his life.

  Good luck with that, buddy. Because this is your dick talking and my memory is way longer than that piece of meat you call your brain. That is my pussy and I can’t wait to get back in it, so you keep right on thinking as long as you fuck her.

  Damn, even his dick had an inner monologue. That was Charlie’s fault, too. It was actually a little handy to have someone around he could just blame for everything. Usually he had to spread out the guilt, but Charlie was a one-stop blame shop. Who to blame for his solitary existence? Charlotte Dennis. Why was his left side aching a little? He’d hit a rock when he’d been forced to save Charlie. Why was the price of oil so high? No idea, but he was sure Charlie was somehow behind it.

  The door to three was obligingly half open. He was pretty sure the bouncers left them the slightest bit open because most Doms entered with a sub in their arms, and kicking the door open was the most expedient way to get in.

  The lights were on a dimmer switch. The whole room was a low amber. He tossed Charlie on the big bed and stared down at her. Her hair looked a fiery red in the low light, her skin a silky pearl. She let the robe fall open, giving him a spectacular view of her breasts.

  “Ian, are you going to make love to me?”

  Yes, this was why it was so much easier when she wasn’t talking. “Charlie, I thought we already discussed this. No, I am not going to make love to you because I don’t love you. I am willing to fuck you because you did a good job out there.”

  Even in the dimness, he could see the way she flushed. “So this is just payback?”

  His brain took back over. His dick wanted to lie. His dick wanted to tell her no, baby, this is all about you, wanting to be inside you, needing to take you. But she deserved the truth. “I want you. I won’t lie about that, but it only goes that far. We’re thrown in together until we can fix your problem, but then I do want you out of my life. I know you think you’re good for me, but I consider you responsible for some of the worst events that ever happened to me.”

  “I can make up for them, Ian.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. But this is your choice. I’ll take you back to the locker room if you would rather go there.”

  She got to her knees, shoving the robe off her shoulders and kneeling proudly in front of him. “I’m not willing to give up, Ian.”

  There was a piece deep inside him that relaxed. His dick just got harder. His eyes went straight for her bombshell body. Her breasts were a heavenly handful, her waist gracefully flowing into hips he could grip hard while he fucked into her from behind. His brain was starting to shut down, his cock hard and balls already tingling at the thought of shooting off inside her. “Then we both understand what the stake
s are.”

  “Kiss me, Sir.”

  He almost reached for her, almost covered those luscious lips with his own. He wanted to taste her, to remember what it felt like to breathe with her. But he couldn’t. He shook his head shortly. “No. I said no kissing. I meant it. Charlotte, you’re forgetting who’s in charge. I can’t allow that.”

  He needed to be in control in the bedroom with her. It was the only way to remember that she wasn’t his wife. She was the woman who had used him and left him behind to pick up her mess.

  That plump bottom lip disappeared behind her teeth as she considered what he’d said. “Then may I kiss you? I won’t touch your mouth, Ian. Just let me touch you. You’ll still be in control. You can stop me at any time. I just want to get my hands on you so badly.”

  He knew it was a mistake, but his head inclined slightly and that seemed to be all Charlie needed. She moved forward, her hands pushing at the front of his leather vest, drawing it off him. Her body was so close that he could feel the heat pouring off her. Their chests bumped together, her nipples brushing against his flesh as she pulled the vest around his body with one hand. She laid it on the bed and placed her palms on his chest, her eyes closing as if she could feel his heart beating. She might be able to. It was pounding in his body, blood racing to his cock. He wouldn’t be able to think with no blood left in his brain, but he was pretty sure in a minute he wouldn’t give a damn about thinking or making good decisions or anything except getting inside her.

  He looked down, watching the place where her breasts touched him. Her nipples were hard little nubs, the usually big areolas at their tightest point. Even with the nipples drawn in, they were still bigger than quarters. He would still have to suck hard to get them fully into his mouth.

  A shudder went through him as Charlie put her mouth on his throat, her tongue coming out to trace his Adam’s apple. She ran that hot little tongue all over his neck, stopping to suck and bite gently. His hands went to her hair, burying themselves in her silk.

  She trailed down his chest, and he fought to stay still. He closed his eyes, letting her work her magic. This was what other subs didn’t get. They allowed him to service them, but they never tried to give anything back. It wasn’t to say the sex wasn’t good. It was how he preferred it.

  Except with her.

  He growled a little when she licked at his left nipple. “Bite me, Charlie. Make me feel it.”

  He liked a bite of pain, too. Yeah, he didn’t accept it, though, from anyone but her. Years had rolled by and he’d denied himself. He wasn’t willing to do it tonight. Tonight he was going to get what he needed.

  She nipped at him, the pain flaring through him, causing another kick of his favorite drug, adrenaline. She moved to the other side of his chest, giving it the same treatment.

  He got a good grip on her hair, forcing her head up. “Don’t you hold back on me.”

  She bit down harder this time and he hissed. Yeah, that would be there tomorrow, a reminder that his woman was strong enough to mark him. He was thinking dangerous thoughts, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself.

  She moved down his body, alternately licking and biting, making his skin come to life.

  He tugged on her hair again when she moved to the floor. “Don’t you fucking dare bite me there, baby. You won’t like how I bite back.”

  There was that evil little grin that got his heart thudding. Her fingers worked the ties of his leathers, freeing him. She ran her nose along his cock. “I wouldn’t dream of damaging this, Sir. I have plans for it.”

  She did seem to as she immediately sucked his cockhead into her mouth. He dragged air into his lungs, fighting to keep control. Sex, when done properly, was pure conflict followed by perfect symmetry. Charlie would see if she could get him to blow. He would fight her on it. He could turn the tables on her and keep her on edge for hours until she was begging him.

  When the time was right, he would give in to her pleas, to the siren call of that spot between her legs where he’d found his heaven, and then they would be in perfect tune with each other.

  He loved every minute of it.

  He gripped her hair, knowing she liked the little sting to her scalp. He could smell her arousal, knew she was tangy and ripe, but he wanted to play for a while. He had her for the night. There was no mad rush. He wanted her begging before he gave her his cock.

  Her hands were on his ass, her nails sinking into his flesh. Yeah, he fucking dug that, too.

  He forced his cock in deeper. Her tongue whirled around him, encasing his dick in slick heat.

  Over and over she rolled across his cock, taking him to the edge of his control. He pulled her back, his cock hard and ready to shoot off. But he wasn’t playing that way this evening.

  “On the bed. Spread your legs.” He wanted to taste her again, to relearn how soft she was, how her cream coated his tongue.

  Charlie scrambled up, her breath hitching as she moved on the bedding. The dark color of the bedspread contrasted with her skin, making her damn near glow. She was so angelic, but he loved the devil that came out when they played. She spread her legs wide, with no self-consciousness, only a deep, obvious willingness to be pleasured.

  He took her ankles in his hands. Despite the fact that Charlie wasn’t a tiny thing, compared to him she was practically petite. He loved the way he could circle her ankle and make a fist around it. He could master her, but it took more than mere strength to get Charlie to open up. It took trust and pleasure.

  She didn’t fight him when he pushed her feet up, bending her legs at the knees and making a place for himself there. She simply allowed him to move her where he wanted.

  Damn but he liked the laser thing. He covered her pussy with his palm, enjoying the silky smooth feel of the skin. Though he would have preferred to select the technician, to make sure it was safe, he couldn’t argue with the outcome.

  He knew there was something wrong with that line of thought, but he didn’t really care. His knees hit the floor and he dragged her until her ass was at the edge of the bed, her pussy right in front of his face.

  So pretty. It was a flower that opened only for him. The petals were soft and moist. It was an edible flower and like all flowers, it needed love and affection. And a really good tonguing.

  “You’re killing me, Ian. Can’t you just get on with it?” Charlie asked.

  He lightly slapped at her clit. “Hush. I’m looking at my pussy. This pussy is mine for tonight, and I’ll do exactly what I want to do with it. If I want to sit here and stare at it, I will.”

  Because he liked to look at it. He especially liked how pink and puffy her labia was, glistening from her arousal. He barely stroked a finger across it, but Charlie nearly jumped.

  Keeping her on edge was fun. It was so much easier to hold himself back when he knew just how much it was killing her.

  Sometimes he was a dick, but he was perfectly comfortable with that. He nosed her pussy, letting her scent fill his senses. “Was there something you wanted, baby?”

  She whimpered, a sound that would have gotten him hard if he couldn’t already pound nails. “You know what I want.”

  He reached up, sliding his fingers through her labia up to the little jewel of her clit. That pearl was practically throbbing, but he wasn’t ready to let her off the hook just yet. No way. He pinched her, a nasty little tweak to her pink parts. Charlie’s body damn near came off the bed.

  “Oh, god,” she screamed out, a fresh pulse of arousal coating her flesh.

  “That’s not the way to ask for it, love.”

  Her legs stayed where he’d put them, but she was shaking. “Please, Ian.”

  Another hard twist. “What did you call me?”

  “Sir. Oh, please, please, Sir.”

  “Master in the bedroom, Charlie. Only here.” He wanted to hear the word from her lips. He’d never been anyone else’s Master. Only Sir because he’d never collared another female. Never even wanted to. He would hear his title
from her when they were alone and he was inside her.

  She sighed, as though his words had given her the pleasure she was seeking. “Master. My Master. Please, please kiss my pussy.”

  He placed a very chaste peck right over her clit. “There you go.”

  Her head was up, her eyes narrowing. “Damn it, Ian, you know that isn’t what I meant.”

  He flipped her over, neatly displacing her so her backside was available to him. He didn’t give a shit how pink it was. If she didn’t stop cursing him, it was going to be red. He laid five quick, hard slaps to the fleshiest part of her ass before flipping her back over. “Do you want me to clamp you?”

  He could tie her down and force clamps on her breasts, little alligator clamps to bite down on those pretty nipples. He could place a clit clamp on her, too. He’d seen one with a little bell attached and then he would just keep her naked and he’d always know exactly where she was.

  He wondered briefly if there was a piercing with a bell on it. Harder to remove. Maybe if he’d had her pierced before he wouldn’t have lost her the first time. He would have just followed the sound of her jingling clit.

  “Master, I promise I’ll be so good. Please don’t do whatever you’re thinking about right now.” Charlie’s eyes had gone wide.

  He shoved her legs open again, spreading his palms across her soft thighs. “If you don’t stop misbehaving, you’re in for a very long night. I had planned to fuck you a couple of times, but if you prefer, we can spend that time on discipline instead. You seem to need it.”

  Her head shook. “No, Master. No, please. I promise to be a very proper sub for the rest of the night.”

  He let his mouth hover right over her pussy, giving her his heat, letting her feel the vibration of his words. “You couldn’t behave properly to save your life, pet.”

  Thank god for that. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have the pleasure of disciplining her.

  “Please, Master.” Her voice was breathless, her skin flushed to a lovely shade of pink. “Please lick me. Please play with me. Please do whatever you desire. I’m yours.”