Bondage Seduction (18 page)

“Glad to hear you’ve got your priorities in order. Take as much time as you need, Ted. Call me if you need anything.”

André had always been there for him, even when Ted had been an aloof bastard. “Thanks, André. I’ll be in touch.”

Ted turned his phone to mute as he walked through the labyrinth of hallways until he found an elevator then her room. They hadn’t parted on the best of terms and he wasn’t sure what type of reception he would receive, but he was determined to be there for her.

He pushed open the door and barely recognised her. She had a fat, bloody lip, a nasty bruise on her left cheek bone and red, puffy eyes. His heart dropped to his stomach and his knees threatened to buckle.

“Ted? What are you doing here? How did you find me?” Her voice was weak and shaky. “I…I mean, Sir.” She cast her eyes down to her bed and drew the sheet up to her chin.

“None of that.” His voice was gruff as he pulled the sheet from her hands. He knew he was fucking up his chances with her. She needed tender, loving care and he was going caveman on her ass. Ted dropped to his knees beside her bed and took her hand in his. “What can I do to help? Are you hurting?”

“A little. How did you find me?”

“I have a friend in the security business. When you didn’t call last night, I got worried and contacted him. He was able to track you down for me.” Ted realised he had a lot of friends that were there for him. He’d thought he was keeping everyone at arm’s length, but thankfully, he hadn’t succeeded. André, Nick, James, the whole lot of them, had his back.

“I should have followed your advice and had my keys in my hands, but I had my arms full and I forgot to get them out before I left the building. I knew better,” she confessed in a rush.

Tears pooled in her eyes and broke his heart. “It probably wouldn’t have mattered, little one. I should have been there to protect you and I’ll never forgive myself for failing you. I’m so sorry, Meri. I promise it won’t happen again.”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t your job to keep me safe and escort me to events. You told me upfront you didn’t want a relationship and I should have respected that and not pushed for more. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Tears started flowing down her cheeks.

“Please don’t cry, Meri. I’ve screwed this up from start to finish, but if you give me a chance, I’ll make it right. I was a total idiot. Your job was intimidating for a society-a-phobe like me. I know I’m not worthy of you, but I can promise to protect you and keep you safe.”

“What are you saying, Ted? What does my job have to do with anything?”

He saw something new in her eyes and it gave him hope. He hung his head while he searched for the words to explain his behaviour. “The problem was never you, little one. It’s been me.” He tapped the side of his head. “It’s in here and how I see myself. I’ve always felt like I let those I love down by following my interests. I assumed you’d be ashamed to admit your man was a part owner in a kink club. I figured eventually, when the thrill was gone, you’d move on and I’d be left with an aching hole in my heart.”

“Ted, I don’t care what you do for a living. I care about the man you are.” She was looking at him with love and compassion.

“I figured that out last night while I sat outside your house worried sick about you.”

“Oh, my God, Ted. You did that? I’m sorry I didn’t call you. I was feeling sorry for myself and ashamed that I hadn’t heeded your advice, been more cautious.”

“No, Meri. I should have been by your side. You shouldn’t have been alone. If you’ll give me another chance, I want to build a relationship with you. I’ve taken a few weeks off from the club. Let me take care of you. We’ll start over and see where it leads.”

“You mean like boyfriend, girlfriend?” Meri had stopped crying.

“Boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, Master, slave, Dom, sub—I’m open to any of it. I’m not going to put any limits on where this can lead. When you get released, I’ll take you home. You’re going to need help for a few weeks until you’re up and around. We’ll take that time to figure out the details.”

“You want to stay with me until my ankle heals? Ted, Sir… I don’t know what I’m supposed to call you in this situation.”

“Not Sir. Not ever again. I don’t want a casual, come and go hook up. I want us to build a life together or at least give it a damned good try. I’m Ted and after I’ve earned it, maybe you’ll accept me as your Master. And yes, Meri, I intend to stay with you or you can stay at my place. My condo is two stories though and I’m worried that won’t work with your ankle. But know this, you won’t be alone.”

Meri’s entire demeanour changed. Her smile, abused lip and all, lit up the room. He could still see physical pain reflected in her eyes, but the sadness was gone.

“There’s only one problem with that plan, Ted. My bed is a full and you won’t fit.”

He heard a splash of humour in her voice and he loved it. “Then we’ll buy a new one. You said you wanted to anyway. We’ll go shopping together and pick out a whole new set. It’ll be fun.” Normally, he hated going into stores and yet he looked forward to going with her. He’d get a scooter so she could cruise through the aisles with ease.

“You want to buy furniture with me?” Her bottom lip quivered and fresh tears pooled in her eyes.

“Yes, Meri. I think we should wait until you’re back on your feet before we start on the two point five kids, but we can get a whole house full of furniture, whatever you want, it’s yours. I’ve really fallen for you, Meri.” He looked her in the eyes and took the plunge. “I love you, Meri.”

With tears spilling down her cheeks, Meri searched his face. A smile touched her lips. “And I love you, Ted. Let’s go home.”

Also available from Totally Bound Publishing:

Desired Discipline: Bondage Wedding

Tori Carson

Excerpt

Chapter One

James faltered as he walked into the security office and saw Amanda, the dark-haired, blue-eyed temptress who had haunted his dreams for the last three months, with tears streaming down her face. As the receptionist for the kink club, DiscipliNation, Amanda was the primary reason he spent his evenings off wandering around the great hall. It was pathetic and it made him feel like a damned fool, since she barely gave him the time of day. Not that he expected anything else from a collared submissive.

“André,” James greeted the owner of DiscipliNation and nodded to Amanda. It was bad form to speak to another Dom’s sub without their permission. Though he had virtually stalked Amanda for months now, he had no idea whose collar she wore. Ashamed to be fixated with a taken submissive, he didn’t allow himself to investigate her. Except for little titbits of gossip, he knew nothing of her past. Instead, he spent every available minute of his time in her proximity.

“James, thank you for coming. We’ve got a situation here and we need your help.” The gentlemen shook hands and André waved James to a chair beside Amanda.

The office was small, not much wider than a hallway. Amanda was sitting with her back to a bank of video screens documenting the activity both inside and on the grounds of the club. Tonight, DiscipliNation was hosting a special public event. To keep security manageable, the privacy rooms were closed, thus the screens for those cameras were turned off.

As James sat down, he caught a whiff of Amanda’s perfume. It was hard to describe. Without meaning to, he leaned closer, inhaling the elusive, but alluring scent.
Damn it.
He didn’t need another reason to be obsessed with her.

“Someone’s threatening Amanda and using the club’s closed circuit video system to do it. Show him the latest picture.” André pulled James’ thoughts back to the business at hand.

His protective instincts went into hyper-drive. He’d been a bodyguard long enough to know he needed to stay detached, yet with Amanda that wasn’t going to be easy. She had the girl-next-door look in spades. Her body had delicious curves that sent his imagination working overtime. But her innocent, pixie face made him feel world-weary. Though they were only a few years apart, he felt like a dirty old man. He would gladly protect her from any threat, but how would he protect her from himself?

Amanda scooted the envelope and the eight-by-ten colour photo she’d received that afternoon towards James. The picture had been taken outside the club’s main building in an area that had been set up for fire-play. It was obvious the photo had been tampered with. Amanda’s face had been superimposed over another woman’s body. The picture was artistic in nature—red and orange flames contrasted against the grey smoke and black night. It was clear this frame of the video had been chosen with care.
Why?

As many times as he’d visited the club, he’d never spotted Amanda in a play area. It looked to him like she never ventured beyond her desk in the lobby area. He knew that couldn’t be true. Why would anyone work at a kink club and not at least occasionally enjoy the benefits the facility had to offer?

James took a closer look at the photo. While he wasn’t into fire-play, he understood the scene wasn’t one of violence. However, the words ‘
Roast Bitch’
written across the photo in red marker left little to the imagination. He doubted there would be any evidence to be garnered by the photo or envelope, but he was careful not to touch them anyway. Using the eraser head of a pencil, James removed the picture from the envelope. He noticed it was addressed to ‘
DiscipliNation, Attention: Amanda’
. “Is this the way most mail comes addressed?”

“No, some of the suppliers use my name if we’ve been working on something special, but normally mail is sent in the club’s name only,” Amanda explained.

“You said this was the latest threat, what else has happened?”
And why the hell wasn’t I notified after the first one?
Bringing it up at this point would only muddle the issue, but he did intend to make damn sure he was aware of each development from here on out.

“First, I received an email. It wasn’t such a blatant threat.” She shook her head. “I thought maybe it was a joke or something, so I didn’t tell anyone.”

“Bring it up on the laptop. He needs to see it.” André pointed to his computer lying at the end of the counter.

Amanda pulled it onto her lap and brought up her email. The image showed her face superimposed onto another woman’s body. The woman was tied to post and receiving a whipping. Across the bottom was written ‘
Let’s Party, Bitch’
.

“It was sent by a Master X. Do you know anyone who goes by that name? It sounds a little melodramatic.”

Amanda gave him a tenuous smile then shook her head. André confirmed what James had assumed. “We don’t have any members who use that name.”

“What else has happened?” He knew there was more. Amanda looked like hell. She had dark circles under her eyes and her hands had trembled as she’d logged into the computer. This had been bothering her for a while. James looked at the date on the message. She’d received it over a week ago.

“Last night after we’d closed up, I went out to my car. On the driver’s seat, I found another envelope with a picture inside. On that one he wrote, ‘
Die Slowly, Bitch’.
”

“Two things.” James held up his index finger. “Why are you walking out to your car alone at that time of the night—scratch that—morning? And two”—he held up his middle finger—“why didn’t you tell someone immediately? You can’t tell me you didn’t understand that was a threat.”

Amanda crossed her arms over her chest and with a haughty look, she shrugged. “I planned to tell André after the event tonight. But then I got this.” She pointed towards the picture.

Women…
He would never understand them. “What did you do with the second photo? It’s evidence and we’ll need it.”

“I hid it in the closet at my apartment.”

“Why did you hide it?” He had to ask. It seemed like an odd thing to do unless she had roommates or frequent visitors. Since he was going to be shadowing her for a while, he needed to know what the situation was.

“So I wouldn’t have to look at it.” Her tone suggested he wasn’t very smart if he had to ask such a question.

James felt a smile trying to break free at her logic. “Do you have any idea who is behind this?” He was glad she was at least answering his questions. In her capacity as the club’s receptionist, she’d always been a bit standoffish towards him.

Before Amanda had taken the job, submissives had volunteered to run the desk while the club was open. They were always bubbly and talkative as if they enjoyed the suspension of club protocols while they were working.

Amanda had seemed nervous every time he’d spoke with her, even though until tonight, he had gone to great lengths to speak to her using a soft, friendly voice. He wondered if her Dom kept her on a short leash—so to speak.

“I have no idea who would do this.”

James had had to strain to hear her. Amanda was speaking quietly and looking towards the ground. Was she being dishonest? It was hard to tell. She seemed naturally submissive. Perhaps she was showing respect by refusing to meet his eye.

“Who’s your Dom?” James wanted to have a few minutes in private with the asshole for not being with her while she was obviously upset. He took his role as Dom very seriously. Although he wasn’t in a committed relationship, he cared better for the women he occasionally scened with than her Dom was caring for her.

Her chin rose and her eyes flashed a spark of fire his way. “I don’t have a Dom.”