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to Julie.”
I shook her hand. “Abby, and don’t worry about it. I think we were just about finished anyway.”
“No, no, don’t stop because of me. I’m really going. And thank you, Julie. I’ll call you when I’m back in town.”
“Speak soon,” Julie said. “I won’t mention anything to Daniel, but I still think you should tell Jeff.”
My head spun to Dena at Julie’s comment. Jeff? No way, it couldn’t be. The fact that she was blond was just a coincidence. But the look on Dena’s face made me think maybe it was more. Her expression was a copy of the one Jeff had worn just the day before.
“I know I should,” Dena said. “But I can’t. I just . . . can’t.”
Julie looked just as sad. “Call me.”
The atmosphere had changed when we sat down after Dena left. Julie looked a bit shaken. She picked at the remnant of her blueberry scone.
“Everything okay?” I asked. I didn’t want to pry, but clearly something had upset her.
“Yeah. It goes back to what we were saying earlier. When you lie to yourself, you’re just playacting and it always leads to trouble.” She leaned forward with her head in her hands. “And I told her I wouldn’t tell Daniel.”
I thought that had bad idea written all over it, and even though we weren’t close, I felt I still needed to say something. “It’s none of my business, but I’m going to give you some advice anyway.”
She looked up. “I have a feeling I know what you’re going to say.”
“Then let me say it. I’d be very careful about keeping things from Daniel. It’s a slippery slope you don’t want to start down, because you’ll find you have a hard time working your way back up to the top.”
“I know. You’re right.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t like it if Daniel kept things from me. But I also gave Dena my word.”
I could almost see the emotions battling inside her as she tried to decide what to do. She sighed and I knew she wasn’t going to tell him. Her decision hung in the air for several long seconds.
“Well,” I finally said. “I can’t leave on a down note, so let me ask one more question.”
“Hit me with it,” she said, and some spark of her previous joviality returned to her eyes.
“Favorite thing Daniel wears in the playroom and you can’t say nothing. We all like our Doms naked.”
She laughed. “How did you know I was going to say that?”
“Because I know what I’d say.” I picked up the notebook and pen. “So? What’s it going to be?”
She leaned back into the chair and crossed her arms. “Give me a second. I have to think. When I tell you, will you tell me what yours is?”
“Of course.”
“Okay, it’s a tough call, but my favorite is when he wears a white dress shirt. I don’t care if it’s part of a suit or if he’s wearing it with jeans. Definitely a white dress shirt.”
I jotted that down. “You know the next question: why?”
“When we’re in the playroom and he’s wearing one and he slowly unbuttons his cuffs”—her voice had a breathy quality to it as she spoke—“his eyes are on mine and he begins to roll the sleeve up. Carefully. Methodically. All the while watching me. To see him preparing for whatever it is he’s going to do makes me all quivery inside. And then once he has it rolled up, you can see just a hint of muscle and you know that within minutes those muscles are going to be put to work for my pleasure?” She sighed. “White dress shirt. No question.”
“Damn, girl,” I said, my pen frozen in place. “That’s about enough to make me want to change my answer.”
“That’s cheating. You have to tell me yours.”
“Okay, fine. It’s his belt.”
“Belt?” she asked, wrinkling her nose. “Why?”
“Because when I’m bent over something and he comes up behind me and I hear the belt slowly slide from his pants, I know what’s coming. Sometimes he’ll have me kiss it and the smell of the leather fills my head as he steps behind me and I hear it whistle through the air.” I shivered just thinking about it. “But it doesn’t stop in the playroom. He’ll wear it the next day to work or out with the family and seeing it around his waist brings back every slap and stroke. His eyes will catch mine and he’ll give me a little smile because he knows exactly what I’m thinking.”
She fell back against her seat and sighed. “Wow, that almost has me wanting to ask Daniel to use a belt on me.”
We looked at each other, both with big grins on our faces, and before long we were giggling. When I left a few minutes later, it was with a light heart and quick feet.
I hurried back to the hotel. Nathaniel wasn’t due for another couple of hours, but I needed to work on getting my notes on Julie’s interview typed up. And I really wanted to take extra time to prepare for when he did return to the room.
The afternoon with Jeff yesterday had been more of a turn-on than I would have ever thought possible. I wanted to write down some thoughts about it as well. Being blindfolded and knowing Jeff was watching, but couldn’t touch me intimately had heightened the intensity of the session.
I wanted to show Nathaniel how much I appreciated him inviting Jeff over. And part of that would be taking extra special care to prepare for his return this afternoon.
I stepped inside and frowned. The shades had been pulled and the entire suite was pitch-black. That didn’t seem right; whenever we’d pulled the shades before, some light was always visible. It was almost as if housekeeping had replaced the draperies with heavy-duty ones.
I reached out to find the light switch when someone grabbed me around the waist and pushed me against the wall. I tried to scream, but a strong hand covered my mouth before I could get a sound out. Any move I made to escape was anticipated and rendered useless.
My heart pounded frantically as I struggled against the unyielding mass of muscle behind me. Oh, God. No.
His voice was rough. “Your safe word is red. Say it at any time and this ends immediately. Otherwise”—he bit my ear—“I do whatever I damn well want to with you.”
My mind recognized it was Nathaniel, but my body was poised to fight. He paused for a second, obviously giving me a moment to safeword. I didn’t want to safe out; I wanted to see how far he’d go. His hold loosened slightly and I took the opportunity to wiggle my arm free and swing at him.
It was a blind swing, but his grunt confirmed I’d connected with some body part. He cursed and pushed me harder against the wall. He pulled my arms behind my back, even as I struggled to resist. “You’re going to pay for that.”
So quickly I didn’t immediately realize what he was doing, my arms were tied behind my back. I twisted one way and then the other, but his bonds were sound and I got nowhere.
“Go ahead. Fight. It just turns me on more.”
“Bastard.” I kicked a leg back toward him and hit nothing but air.
His chuckle sent shivers down my spine. “Call me all the names you want—we both know this will only end up one way.” He grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled my head back. “And that’s with me fucking the shit out of you.”
“Sounds messy.”
He pushed my head against the wall. “Enough. If you say anything other than red, you’ll regret it. Understand? Nod if you do.”
I nodded. For some reason his cool reminder of my safe word seemed even scarier than if he’d said nothing about it.
He pushed a knee into my lower back and tied a blindfold over my eyes. I told myself it was okay, it was only Nathaniel, but for some reason my body still trembled.
“We’re going to walk into the living room nice and quietly. And if you know what’s good for you, you won’t fight me.”
We walked the short distance to the living room. He led me while keeping hold on my tied hands. I decided to act like I was playing along and when we came to a stop, I’d make a break for it. Just to see what he’d do.
I hid a smile. Nathaniel thought he had the u
pper hand and while I appreciated his willingness to act out my capture fantasy, I was beginning to relax with the thought that this was only a well-planned role play.
We stopped in what I guessed to be the middle of the room, near the couch. I tried to anticipate his next move, tried to decide the best time to make my break—when I heard a sound from the far side of the room that made my blood run cold and turned my feet into stone.
A cough.
