Cat Scratch Fever (17 page)

The strap-on was burgundy, like the corset. She took a quick look in the mirror to adjust the angle, grabbed the lube and returned to Richard.

After a proper greasing, she tested him with one finger, which penetrated easily. ‘So open,’ she purred.

‘More. Please,’ he begged as she moved the lubed finger slowly in and out. Soon another finger followed, and another.

You could have all the toys in the world – and Valerie pretty much did – but sometimes there was nothing better than this simple thing, feeling the heat from inside a man’s body while you opened him up with your fingers. ‘You’re a slut,’ she said as she worked him.

He was pushing back as best he could, wanting more, grunting inarticulately.

‘Say it. Say “I’m a slut.”’ He didn’t, at least not quickly enough for her liking. ‘Say it or you won’t get any more.’ She started to withdraw her fingers.

That did the trick. ‘I’m a slut, Mistress.’

‘Are you an ass-fucked slut?’

‘I am your ass-fucked slut.’

‘Then get ready for me to use your ass.’ Valerie eased it in, a bit at a time, to a chorus of inarticulate grunts and moans.

Once it was seated, she flicked the remote attached to the harness.

Oh my God. Two sets of vibrations, one inside her, the other working on her clit even through the leather of the harness, were doing some extraordinary things to her.

She worked in and out, varying the rhythm in response to his reactions. Her own body was shimmering with sensation, a wonderful plateau on the way to orgasm.

‘Do you want to come, clown slut?’ Stupid question. Of course he wanted to come. But it was part of the ritual.

‘Yes…if you’d like that.’

‘What would you do for me if I said you could come now?’

‘Anything!’ They always said
anything
when they were desperate to come.

‘Would you let Danny fuck you so I could watch?’

A brief hesitation and then a soft ‘Yes’.

‘Would you let me take you to a party dressed like this?’

‘Good God, yes!’ No hesitation there.

The idea – and his apparent eagerness for it – went straight to her clit. Wouldn’t that be something, to show up at one of the select LA fetish parties with Richard as her very own clown on a leash?

‘Maybe I’ll let people feed you cotton candy.’

‘Yes! Please!’

For some reason that image really got to her: Richard on his knees in a clown costume, hands clasped behind his back, eating cotton candy like he was sucking cock. Her legs were quivering. She clamped down on the toy inside her, working at it involuntarily, ready to lose her own control.

‘Come for me, then!’ she ordered. As he was coming, she threw in, ‘And will you write large cheques to the Sanctuary?’ but she couldn’t tell if his ‘Yes’ was a response or just an exclamation. And at that point Valerie was too lost in the waves of sensations pouring over her to care.

Before he left, he asked – with an attitude somewhere between the abject sub and the confident businessman – whether he could have the privilege of playing with her again.

This time, she was a little more clear-headed. ‘It’s been grand and I’d like to see you again. You make a darling clown. But I warned you before we started: I have my conditions.’

‘I meant it when I said I’d do anything.’ He smiled nervously at her raised eyebrow. ‘All right, not anything! Pre-discussed limits and all that, and I’m still not sure about Danny. But I’d go through a lot for you. Name your price!’

‘You know how much the Sanctuary means to me, Richard. Pop a nice fat cheque off to them in the morning. Then we’ll talk.’

She expected a nod, a thank-you, ma’am, some sign of compliance. Instead, he looked away for a moment before turning back to her. ‘Things are a little tight right now. I’ve got a business deal in the works that’s tying up a lot of my cash.’

Against a rush of anger, Valerie fought to maintain a stony demeanour. She knew that Richard did put a lot back into his businesses, but she also knew that he was unlikely to be as cash-strapped as all that. ‘I guess,’ she said coolly, ‘that you’re just not that interested in seeing me again. “Anything” must mean “Anything that turns you on” not “Anything that pleases me.” And that’s not the way I operate.’ She turned and stalked away.

Richard was after her in a flash, clutching at her. When she turned, he hit the floor, kneeling so abruptly that she winced for his knees. ‘No. Please, Valerie, I didn’t mean it that way. I’ll send them something tomorrow. I’m sorry, Valerie…Mistress.’

‘I haven’t given you permission to call me that out of scene.’ But her voice was gentler now. It was presumptuous, but also flattering.

‘I’m sorry. But I can hope, can’t I?’

‘Of course you can,’ she said, thinking as she did that pigs might fly someday thanks to genetic engineering, but she wouldn’t hold her breath. ‘Now get that money to them and we’ll talk about seeing you again. And believe me: I’ll be checking with Felicia to see if it’s arrived.’

He nodded, looking a little glassy eyed and frantic. ‘And once this deal goes down, Valerie, I promise I’ll take care of them properly.’

With Gabe gone, Felicia found herself with a curious energy. Somehow, he’d sated her restless desire – mostly. She still craved sex, but she figured she could probably live for a few days without crawling out of her skin.

Instead, she channelled the energy into work. Tuesday morning found her pounding through email that had piled up overnight. She followed that up by an hour of focused office cleaning, finally filing the paperwork strewn across her desk, putting the various books in order on her credenza, opening and dealing with all her mail. She even – with great regret – admitted that the aloe was a lost cause, and gave it a hero’s burial in her trash can.

She was especially glad she’d taken the time to purge and organise because, soon after she finished, Richard Enoch paid the Sanctuary a surprise visit.

Board members didn’t often come to the Sanctuary, and almost never unannounced. If they were going to make a visit, they scheduled it in advance so the staff could give them their full attention – and frantically whip into shape any areas that had fallen into disarray.

‘Richard!’ she said, holding out her hands as she met him in the gift shop. ‘So lovely to see you.’

There was something about Richard, something she’d never been able to put her finger on. On the one hand, he was a handsome older man, with silver hair and natural wrinkles around his striking blue eyes that hadn’t been Botoxed into submission. He reminded Felicia a little of George Hamilton. She’d seen
Love at First Bite
as a girl and had never lost the mild fascination with the actor. Plus, Richard was charming and attentive, remembering details about people and sounding sincere when he asked how things were going with this or that.

On the other hand, well, there was no spark, nothing that made her feel, even in her wildest fantasies, anything but calm appreciation for his looks and charm. She always sensed that he was holding something of himself back, hiding a secret. She often wondered if he were gay, and of a generation that made him unwilling to reveal the fact – if he’d even accepted it about himself.

In her previous erotically charged state, she might have felt some twinges but, right now, she felt nothing but business.

‘Felicia, you look stunning as always,’ Richard greeted her. Without making her feel slighted, he added, ‘I’m surprised not to see Katherine.’

‘She’s on a conference call with the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago and some geneticist from the Felid Taxon Advisory Group – the group that keeps the studbooks on endangered species,’ Felicia explained, leading him down the short hall to her office. ‘Lincoln Park is discussing loaning us a snow leopard to breed with one of ours. It would be a major coup for both facilities if the mating is successful.’

‘Really?’ A look Felicia couldn’t quite identify – surprise, perhaps? – crossed Richard’s craggy face. ‘I didn’t think you were prepared to take on more animals.’

‘We might have to do a little reshuffling, and the final decision will be made after we know how much money we’ve raised. Plus, when the new leopard cubs are old enough, we’ll parcel some of them out to other breeding centres.’

‘I see.’ Richard sat in her newly cleaned-off guest chair (a bit gingerly, Felicia thought, and hoped he wasn’t feeling unwell). ‘So things are going well?’

‘As well as can be expected.’ She flashed him a wry smile. ‘By that, I mean the week before a major fundraiser is always a chaotic time. All told, we’re doing quite well. We’ve sold seventy per cent of the tickets, and already received several generous pledges for the new cubs.’

‘Oh! Oh…that’s wonderful, Felicia. Congratulations.’ Richard reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket. ‘In fact, that’s why I’m here. I decided it was high time I made another donation myself. Baby cubs need new shoes, and all that.’

Felicia smiled gamely at his terrible joke. Her expression changed into a genuine grin of delight, however, when she looked at the cheque he’d just handed her. ‘Richard! This is wonderful. Thank you so much!’

He shifted in his seat. ‘Well. I’m glad I could help, given everything that’s happened recently. You know, I’d love to take a walk around the site before I go. Would it be possible for you to escort me?’

He was so delightfully formal sometimes. She really didn’t have the time, but you never said no to a board member.

As they strolled along the central green, he asked about how the sewage leak repairs were going.

Felicia gleefully swept her hand in a wide arc. ‘Look! You can barely tell where they had to dig up the line.’ Even she found it hard to believe that the leak had happened last Friday. It was only Tuesday and the place looked great. ‘You can see a few obvious lines there, and there, where they laid new sod, but those will be smoothed away by this weekend – and, once chairs are put out and twilight has fallen, no one will ever notice. I have to credit the entire staff, because everyone pitched in some major overtime, gratis, to get things cleaned up, including Lance here.’

Lance happened to be walking by with a cart they used to schlep around the pounds of meat for feeding time. She briefly introduced him to Richard, explaining Lance’s contribution of landscaping plants thanks to a connection. She watched Lance head towards the café, noting that he had an extra spring in his step. She hoped it wasn’t because he’d successfully pulled the wool over everybody’s eyes.

To Richard, she continued, ‘We’ve already sent a huge letter of thanks to the Sanitation Department, because they jumped on the problem as quickly as they could, and their guys were great.’

‘Hmm, good,’ Richard said. He sounded a little vague, and Felicia noticed he seemed to be scanning the area, as if looking for something. He glanced past the jaguar enclosure, and Felicia felt a flash of guilt. They were keeping an awful lot from the board right now. She was worried that she’d slip up and mention the vandalism. If they had any hard evidence, it would be different.

Richard seemed to shake himself out of his reverie. ‘Glad to hear everything’s pulling together. I was a bit concerned after that editorial in the paper yesterday.’

Felicia subtly steered him away from the cheetah enclosure; Caramel was still cranky and Felicia just didn’t want the reminder anyway.

‘It wasn’t the best publicity,’ she said, ‘but in the end it was pretty positive, saying they wanted us to succeed. That’s always nice to hear. As a result, some of the donors have even chipped in a few dollars to help cover the costs of the re-landscaping. This whole experience is really showing us how much people support the Sanctuary. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had an extra-successful benefit!’

‘Who would have thought?’ Richard said. ‘You certainly have a way of turning lemons into lemonade. Well, I must be off. Give my regards to Katherine, and I’ll see you Friday at the benefit.’

‘Saturday,’ Felicia reminded him.

He gave a short laugh. ‘Of course. Saturday. Take care, Felicia.’

Frowning, she watched him walk quickly away. That was strange. Such a sudden turnaround.

Oh well. Not her problem. He’d brought them a nice cheque, and she’d write up a thank-you note for Katherine to sign, and make sure she listed him in the benefit booklet – which she had to finish designing and get to Kinko’s by 8 p.m. that night. Back to work.

There was a message from Valerie Turner when she got back. More ticket sales – great! – and, she said, another fabulous idea. Oh. Dear.

Felicia considered putting off the return call, but it was possible one of the guests had bought an entire table and would have to be listed in the booklet.

‘Safari theme!’ was all Valerie said at first.

‘Safari?’ she echoed weakly.

‘African decorations, mosquito netting, jungle plants, leopard-print accents, and pith helmets as souvenirs for the guests. Maybe we could get the menus written out on huge leaves. I found my old pith helmet today, the one Horace got me before our first trip to Africa, and I knew as soon as I saw it that it was the perfect theme.’

Felicia blinked, unbelieving. This was actually a great idea if they could pull it together on time. Certainly better than the generic flowers and votives that had been what their budget seemed to dictate. She already had leopard-print cocktail napkins on order because they’d been on sale and she thought they’d be cute.

‘Mrs Turner, I love it! The only problem I see is getting what we need on time – and without spending too much money.’

‘Pish-posh, darling. You just find some mosquito netting and get me a copy of the menu so I can get it to the calligrapher I know. I’ll take care of the rest. And see if you can find some landscaper to loan us some potted palms. If not, one of my friends might be willing to clear out her greenhouse.’

All Felicia could say was ‘Thank you’.

After confirming a few details and getting some information on the latest additions to Valerie’s guest list, Felicia said goodbye.

‘Oh, one more thing,’ Mrs Turner said before she could hang up the phone. ‘Felicia, dear, did Richard Enoch talk to you about a donation?’

‘As a matter of fact he dropped off a cheque this morning – why?’

She could practically hear the shrug. ‘Oh, he mentioned he was planning to, but I thought he might have been full of hot air. Good to know he came through. Ta!’

There was something curious about this, Felicia reflected, but, if Valerie and Richard were butting heads again, it was no business of hers.

No, her business at the moment was coming up with a benefit booklet that looked vaguely safari-like without actually costing them extra money.

*   *   *

Lance pushed open the café door. Mel was sitting at a table chatting with two visitors, women in their thirties who, Lance noticed, despite their advanced age hadn’t completely let themselves go. Mel was explaining something about the fishing cats. She finished up, and the statuesque redhead and shorter curly-haired brunette thanked her, bussed their own table and walked out hand-in-hand, although not before giving Lance an appraising glance that left him slightly confused. Were they gay or not? Or maybe they swung both ways?

He would have loved some time to think about that, in private, but he had a list a mile long of things to do before the benefit that weekend.

Plus Mel was standing there, looking cute and sexy, and his brain promptly provided him with detailed memories of how cuter and sexier she looked with her clothes off and her face screwed up as she came all over his cock.

Down, boy.

‘I brought the cart; I’ll help you load it,’ he said.

‘Thanks,’ she said with a smile.

He followed her into the fridge, hoping the cold air would cool him down. They hadn’t indulged in any on-site humping, which he figured was something she wasn’t comfortable doing. They hadn’t even really talked much about the other night. He wasn’t sure what to think about that. Was she playing hard to get? Was she just professional at work?

He did entertain a small hope that the privacy of the fridge would inspire her, but instead she stopped inside, hands on her hips and her brow furrowed. ‘Is it warm in here?’

He focused. ‘It doesn’t seem as cold as usual.’

They went back out and closed the door.

‘It’s not closing all the way,’ Mel said, trying to push the door shut. It would go almost all the way – far enough that no gap was visually obvious – but the heavy door didn’t completely seal. Mel bent over and examined the floor by the opening. Lance admired her trim little butt.

‘Ah ha!’ she said. Having borrowed a knife from Gina, the café worker, she used it to pry a small rock out from the track in the wall that the door fit into. She tried the door again. This time it closed securely.

‘Good going,’ Lance said, and was rewarded with a triumphant smile from Mel.

They went back inside.

‘Um, I don’t think that was the whole problem,’ he said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Listen.’

She cocked her head, then shrugged. ‘I don’t hear anything.’

‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘There’s no hum. The fridge isn’t on.’

*   *   *

‘Is the cats’ meat OK?’ was José’s first question.

Another confab in the vet clinic, this time including Lance in the conversation.

‘A few pieces were starting to get dodgy, but we caught it in time,’ Mel said.

‘It would have been worse if we hadn’t caught it until the benefit,’ Felicia said. ‘Debbie needs to use the fridge, too, and the smell of spoilt meat wouldn’t exactly go over well with the hors d’oeuvres, not to mention that the hors d’oeuvres themselves could’ve gone bad.’

‘Not to mention the cost of replacing the meat – or treating a cat with food poisoning,’ José said. He turned to Lance. ‘Are you sure,’ he asked, ‘that you didn’t know about this?’

Lance held up his hands in a back-off gesture. ‘No way! If Just or Dog did it, they didn’t tell me about it. And
I
sure as hell didn’t do it!’

‘Anybody could get access to the circuit breaker,’ Felicia said. ‘It’s not locked. If it hadn’t been for the fact that it was only the fridge that was flipped off, I would’ve thought it was some kids messing around.’

‘The rock easily could have been an accident, if it wasn’t for the circuit breaker, too,’ Mel added. ‘The circuit breaker could have overloaded and tripped on its own, but the fact that the rock was there means neither was an accident.’

‘So what do we do?’ Lance asked.

‘We keep our eyes peeled,’ Alan said. ‘We’ve got to be extra-vigilant about everything.’

‘How about if we break down the Sanctuary into quadrants,’ Felicia said, ‘and we’ll each be responsible for one area?’

‘That’s good,’ Alan said. ‘In the morning and before you leave, at the very least, police your quadrant – check anything you can think of.’

‘I’ll make the list,’ Felicia said.

‘I’ll go feed the cats,’ Mel said. ‘There are some very grumpy kitties out there.’

And I’m going to find out who turned off the fridge, dammit, Lance decided.

*   *   *

After the fridge incident, Felicia thought she was prepared for anything. Maybe she should dig out her camo makeup, because this was war. Someone wasn’t backing down, and she was on her guard for anything.