by Amanda Boone
“Very big. Huge. Gigantic.” Thierry guided her to a less crowded spot. “We have to go upstairs and find Rosalinda. She will give you what I came for.” His dark eyes searched the room. “Do not let Rodrigo or anyone see you take it from her.”
“Sure.” Kate watched a brunette wedged between two men slapping her face and ass. “Only first tell me you’re not into this crap, because if you are . . . I’m going to work for Chanel.”
“I’m not.” He took hold of her shoulders and made her face him. “This is not what I thought, but it is important that we find Rosalinda. Please, Kate. As soon as we do, we’ll leave.”
She closed her eyes as he kissed her brow, and fought back the urge to grab his face and drag his mouth down to hers. “All right. Let’s go find this lady.”
Chapter Three
As Thierry escorted Kate upstairs, he considered throttling Rosalinda. For a year they’d communicated about the drop, but never once had she mentioned the party would be for the cartel’s perverts. If he’d known he would never have dragged his American into this.
For her part Kate seemed to be maintaining her sense of humor, although her cheeks kept pinking. When they passed the first play room on the upper level she looked and then averted her gaze, her grip on him tightening.
As a designer Thierry could not be shocked by nudity; he considered the human body his blank canvas. He also had a Frenchman’s decidedly practical attitude about sex and all its variations. Even so, some of the acts being committed in the glass-paneled rooms still startled and dismayed him.
“This is like hell,” he heard Kate murmur. “The X-rated version.”
He rubbed his hand along her spine. “Imagine they are Chinese acrobats.”
Kate peered into another room and winced. “Uh, no imagination required for that, Monsieur. Those four are Chinese, and I think that’s a trapeze.”
“Monsieur Belanger.” A tall, powerful-looking woman dressed in a skin-tight, patent leather jumpsuit emerged from one of the rooms. She kissed Thierry on both cheeks before she smiled at Kate. “How fantastic you are here.”
“Rosalinda.” Thierry felt flooded with relief. “Thank you for inviting us. Perhaps next time you could mention that the party is for your BDSM friends.”
“Now if I had told you that, you might not have come – and this was the only chance I would have to meet your girlfriend.” She looped the whip in her hands before she shouldered it. “Rodrigo and I are only just starting. Please, join us.”
Thierry followed his contact into the play room. There he saw Rodrigo lounging and drinking brandy on a red velvet settee. Behind him, two guards stood with their backs against the wall. In front of him a semi-conscious, nude man hung from a standing restraint rack. From the pink welts covering his chest and back it seemed Rosalinda had started with enthusiasm.
“My lover enjoys watching me work,” Rosalinda told Kate. “Does Thierry use whips with you, or crops?”
“His hands,” Kate said with a strained, friendly smile. “It’s so much more personal, don’t you think?”
“Perhaps.” The older woman uncoiled her whip and cracked it behind the nude man, who flinched and moaned. “But tools are sometimes more effective in provoking an honest response from a submissive.”
Thierry put his arm around Kate’s shoulders to conceal how they were shaking. “My Katrina gives me everything a man could want.” He kissed her temple, and gave the older woman a direct look. “I’ve never had a woman satisfy me as much – although I am sure you could give her some valuable tips.”
Behind them Rodrigo laughed. “So your girl can really put lead in a man’s pipe? I should like to see that.”
Rosalinda gave Thierry a tiny nod before she asked, “Do you wish to see a demonstration, my love?”
“Oh, yes.” Rodrigo leered at Kate. “Put your girl through her paces, Belanger. Make her beg for it. I like it when the pretty ones beg.”
Thierry pulled Kate up against him, covering her mouth with his to give her a slow, leisurely kiss. She gripped the front of his jacket and made a low sound, shivering in his arms. He knew she could feel his erection pressing against her belly now. When she rubbed herself against it, he broke off the kiss and stared into her darkened eyes.
“Do you want me to beg now?” she said, drawing his hand up to her breast. “Or should I wait until the Chinese acrobats join us?”
He fondled her, his jaw tightening as he heard Rodrigo chuckling. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
“I’m not.” She pushed her breast against his palm.
“Show us her tits,” Rodrigo crowed, his voice slurring now. “I want to see the color of her nipples.”
Thierry felt Kate stiffen, and glanced back at the cartel chief. “We are more inclined to privacy for skin games, my friend.”
“Nonsense.” Rosalinda gestured to the guards, who released the man from the rack. One hefted him under his arm and carried him out, while the other resumed his position behind the cartel chief. “Come, little Katrina. I will help you change into something more . . . show-worthy.”
#
Before Kate could tell the Spanish dominatrix where she could stick her whip, Rosalinda whisked her outside.
“Don’t argue,” she told Kate as she hauled her down to another room. Once inside she shut the door and locked it. “Take off your dress. Why are you just standing there? Hurry up.”
Kate folded her arms. “Go to hell.”
“Rodrigo is paranoid,” Rosalina told her. “He already suspects you. If you refuse to perform, he will have you and Belanger taken outside in the alley and shot.”
“I don’t believe you.” Kate backed away as the other woman pulled out a tiny gun and pointed it at her. “Have you lost your mind, lady?”
“Because I invited you, he’ll kill me, too,” Rosalinda told her flatly. “Now strip. If you don’t, I’ll shoot you myself. Then I can tell him I caught you spying.”
Kate slowly took off the lace dress and her thong. Once she was nude she pulled on the silk robe Rosalinda flung at her. “Spying? What the hell is going on here? You were just supposed to give me something for Thierry.”
“He will explain later.” Rosalinda tucked the gun back in her bodice. She then removed a small memory stick clipped under her thick dark mane. “Hold still,” she told Kate as she reached for her head. “The guards will not check your hair.”
Kate waited until the other woman had concealed the stick in her up-do before she said, “Look, I’m not Belanger’s lover, or part of whatever this is. I’m just a stand-in. I don’t know any spy stuff.”
Rosalinda’s expression turned bleak. “Then we are all fucked.”
“No. I’m not going to let anyone hurt Thierry.” Kate took a deep breath. “What do I need to do? Give me the crash course version.”
Rosalinda told her in succinct terms, and then added, “Rodrigo is already drunk; he can never handle too much brandy. When he passes out, the guards will take him to bed, and you and Belanger can go.”
As they walked back to the play room, Kate drew on the determination and calm she employed during fashion shows. What she had to do now seemed utterly outrageous. Buoyed by her secret love for Thierry, however, she knew she could manage it – and save them both.
Rodrigo hailed her with a happy belch. “Look at you, Katrina. Naked and all ready to play.”
Thierry came to her at once. “We’ll go now.”
“Not just yet,” she told him, giving him a fierce look before she went with Rosalinda to the restraining rack.
Kate pushed her hands into the cuffs, which the dominatrix secured around her wrists. She couldn’t help flinching as the other woman untied and opened her robe, but lifted her chin as the men stared.
“She is ready for you,” Rosalinda told Thierry. “Now come and play with her.”
Chapter Four
Kate kept her gaze locked with Thierry’s as he walked slowly over to the rack. When he slipped his hands ins
ide the robe to grip her waist, she whispered, “Do it for real, boss.”
“I can’t, not to you.” He looked miserable. “Pretend to be sick.”
She couldn’t believe he was being so prissy. On the other hand, she loved him for it. “They won’t buy that, and they’ll kill us if you don’t.”
Thierry gave her a long, silent look, and then nodded. “Forgive me, Katie.” In a louder voice he said, “I don’t care how embarrassed you are, you little slut. You’re mine, and I’m going to do whatever I want to you.”
“Please, Monsieur, don’t.” As he caressed her breasts, making it look as if he was being rough with her, Kate struggled against the cuffs.
“Stop resisting,” he grated. “You know you like it like this.”
“You’re hurting me,” she cried out, trying to sound pitiful as she looked over his shoulder at Rodrigo, who grinned as he caught her eye.
“She wants me to watch. Do her from behind, Belanger, so I can see her pretty tits bounce,” Rodrigo said.
“Next time, I will,” Thierry told him as he reached down to unzip. “This time is for me. I like to watch her cry while I fuck her.”
Kate produced a realistic whimper as she glanced down at his thick, heavy shaft. Her thighs trembled as he shifted closer, sliding it between her legs. It had been so long since she’d had sex, she felt a little worried, until he rubbed against her. She felt her own wetness gliding against him, making him slick.
“Katie,” Thierry breathed, as if they were alone. “Is this for me? Are you wet for me?”
“Well, I’m not for anyone else in the room,” she whispered back. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it.”
“Never say so,” he murmured, kissing her cheek. “I love you for this. For wanting me.”
“What are you doing?” Rodrigo stumbled over to stand by the rack, his body swaying as he peered down at their sexes. “Stick it in her, Frenchman. She needs a good plowing, eh? No more teasing her. Fuck her now.”
Slowly Thierry reached down again, and this time positioned himself against the tight ellipse of her opening.
Kate bore down on him, engulfing his broad cockhead even as she thrashed against the cuffs. “No,” she moaned, dragging in a deep breath as he worked deeper inside. “Please, please, Monsieur.”
Thierry gripped her bottom with his big hands and began thrusting gently, his body tense and hot against her naked front. Kate could feel her breasts jiggling from the rocking, pumping penetrations, and wondered how much longer they’d have to continue before Rodrigo was satisfied. Then she remembered something, something so unbelievably important that she nearly wailed.
“She wants it harder,” Rodrigo said, leaning on the rack so close to Kate that his hot, brandy-soaked breath nearly choked her. “Give it to her.”
A flood of sensation swept over Kate as the sweet friction stoked her desire and swept away the last of her doubts. Suddenly she didn’t care that four strangers were watching them, or what Rodrigo was muttering. She didn’t even care about what she had just remembered. She thought only of Thierry, and how he was inside her, and who looked as if he was in agony.
“Oh, please,” she begged him, not bothering to act now. “More. Give me more, Monsieur.”
“You want more?” He plunged deep and hard, stroking out to hammer into her again. “Here, take it. Take all of it. Yes, there. Now I have you. I have you, Kate. I own you.”
He did own her, and he always had. Even with Rodrigo and the guards and Rosalinda there watching, Kate couldn’t hold back her climax. It ripped through her, bright and hot, the pleasure so intense she thought she might lose her mind.
“You are my darling one,” Thierry said to her in French as he pounded into her, his shaft like the piston of an engine racing out of control. “I am going to explode in you, Katie. I cannot stop now.”
He kissed her a moment before he came, and groaned into her mouth as he flooded her with his seed, his thick cock pulsing with each creamy jet. The intensity of the moment made them gasp together, stunned. Out of the corner of her eye, Kate saw a guard scoop Rodrigo from the floor. The little man sagged limply as the guard carried him out.
“Such passionate lovers you are,” Rosalinda said as she reached up to release Kate’s wrists. “The poor child looks exhausted though. Come, I will show you to a room where you can rest.”
Kate didn’t protest as Thierry tucked the robe around her and picked her up in his strong arms. She hid her flushed face against his chest as he followed Rosalinda down the hall into the room where Kate had left her clothes.
“Are you all right?” he asked her.
“No.” Once he set her down on her feet she thought about telling him what she’d realized, and then decided it could wait. “Can we leave now, please?”
“You must dress, quickly,” the older woman said, scooping up Kate’s gown and flinging it at them. “Belanger, knock me out. Then go through the window, and down the fire escape. There is a car waiting at the end of the block for you.”
“You don’t belong with Rodrigo,” Thierry said as he pulled the lace dress over Kate’s head. “Come with us. We can arrange a new identity and life for you.”
“But not for my family,” Rosalinda said. “They watch them, you know, in Seville. If I cross the cartel, they will kill everyone I love. You must go now, please. Hit me, hard. Do it, Belanger.”
When Kate saw him still hesitating, she came over and punched the older woman. Everything she’d been through that night let her put her whole weight behind the blow. Thierry caught the dominatrix as she crumpled, and lowered her gently the rest of the way to the floor.
Kate shook her throbbing knuckles before she grabbed his hand. “Come on, boss. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
#
Thierry took Kate to his hotel suite, where she walked onto the balcony overlooking the city. He watched her back, frowning. She hadn’t said a word since they’d left the villa. He grabbed a bottle of single malt from the bar and two glasses before he joined her.
Outside he poured a healthy measure into one glass and offered it to her. Wordlessly she took the bottle from him, drinking directly from it for ten seconds before she passed it back to him.
He had no choice but to say the three words that no woman ever wanted to hear. “I can explain.”
“Before you do.” She reached up and removed a small object from her hair, handing it to him. “Your thing.”
“Thank you.” He closed his fist around the memory stick and then pocketed it.
She nodded. “Explain now.”
“Obviously those people are not my friends,” he said carefully. “The villa is one of many strongholds used by an international terrorist cartel. Rosalinda is an informant, and what she gave you will help us stop an attack they’re planning. But she couldn’t pass it directly to me. Rodrigo’s guards watch her closely when she is around other men. They also report everything they see to him. So it had to be a woman – you.”
She didn’t say anything for a long time. “Who is ‘us’?”
“The DGSE. It is one of the French foreign intelligence services,” he admitted. “They are working together with the British and your government against this cartel. I agreed to help arrange this drop and retrieve the plans. It took almost a year to set it up.”
“So you’re a DGSE spy.” Her voice sounded flat, almost disinterested.
“I am a designer,” he corrected. “Who sometimes helps the DGSE. Kate, it was only supposed to be a drop. I never would have brought you into this—”
Kate slapped him, almost as hard as she’d hit Rosalina. “You bastard.” She stalked into the suite.
Thierry followed her into the master bath, and frowned as he watched her strip out of the lace gown. “What are you doing?”
“I’m using your shower.” When he stepped toward her, she glowered. “Alone.”
“I know how angry you are with me,” he said. “But you don’t understand. What we did tonight
– you and I may have helped saved thousands of lives.”
“You’re still a bastard.” Kate pointed to the door. “Go find me some clean clothes I can wear.”
Thierry had a suite filled with expensive designer garments, many of which would have fit Kate perfectly. He went to his own suitcase and took out his favorite button-down shirt, which on her would be like a dress. He went back in the bath to hang it on the back of the door and then paced around the front room until she emerged.
“Kate, please.” He went to her, taking her hands in his. “I am sorry. I should never have lied to you. You were so brave tonight, so beautiful. And yes, I am a bastard, but a bastard who loves you. I did not know it until tonight, but now I do.”
Kate looked up at him if deciding whether or not to hit him again.
“I think you care for me a little, too.” Thierry seized her hand and brought it to his lips. “I will do anything to make this right between us. Please.”
Carefully she took her hand from him. “I just had bondage sex with you in front of four people, in a villa filled with perverts. Excuse me, international terrorist perverts. Your informant told me if I didn’t, we would be murdered, but that’s not why I did it.”
He sighed. “Then why, Katie?”
She jabbed her finger into the center of his chest. “I don’t care for you a little. I care for you a lot. Actually, I love you.” She shoved him hard enough to unbalance him. As he staggered backward, she advanced on him. “I’ve been in love with you for years, you conniving, cold-hearted, evil son of a bitch.”
He felt elated and dreadful all at once. “Then you will forgive me.”
“You don’t get it. Do you have any idea of the consequences involved in this? No, you don’t,” she said before he could reply. “You are completely clueless about anything but what you want and need and have to do. Thierry Belanger got what he wanted. The hell with the rest of the world.”
“No, Kate. You’re wrong.” Before he could pull her into his arms, she spun on her heel. “Kate.”