Crave (7 page)

“Count.” The spatula cracked across her ass with a glorious popping sound.

Smack!

“One.” Her voice trembled as she said it.

Gage struck the other cheek. It was far too white and looked lonely. Then he came back for another pop at the first side and watched her wince.

Smack! Smack!

“Two… Three.”

He put the spatula down and unzipped his jeans, releasing his straining cock. “Are you ready?” His hands rubbed along the heated expanse of her ass, loving the way she melted against him now. The tension broken, she was once again putty in his hands.

“Yes.” Linnet moaned, arching her back and spreading her legs.

Gage wanted to dive right in, but her need to be rewarded for her near perfect tolerance of his inattention outweighed anything else. She deserved more than a quick fuck over the breakfast dishes. Even if that is what he really wanted to do, right at that moment. To bury his dick inside her in the middle of her congealing eggs and thinly sliced multi-grain toast. Images of honey dripping down her pale white thighs sent his cock twitching. He knew he’d have to take her soon, before he disgraced himself standing there, letting his imagination take off without him.

“Up on the island.” He demanded. She needed this badly and he was going to give it to her. Linnet’s breakfast dishes were in the way, half-eaten, but he pushed them away. Smutty images of fucking in a platter of eggs sounded good until you got your ass cut with flying cutlery or a broken plate.

Linnet heaved herself up onto the marble island and lay down with her legs parted and her calves dangling off the edge. The lips of her pussy were pink and succulent and now they are all his. Gage’s cock throbbed in time with his heartbeat as he pulled her sweet slit toward the edge of the counter and buried his face in her folds.

The sweet and tangy taste of her was an ocean of nectar on his tongue. She was so wet already. He followed each fold, caressing her hidden recesses. He licked along the top of her pussy up to her throbbing clit. She shuddered against him as he took the erect bud between his lips.

Linnet screamed out, thrusting against his face as he sucked harder, flicking the nub with his tongue. He entered her with two fingers and he gasped, widening her legs to accommodate him.

Gage pushed his fingers in and out of her tenderly, but as he licked her beleaguered clit once again he entered her harder, with three fingers.

She moaned, arching her back, panting as he helped her climb higher and higher. She shuddered against him as his fingers brushed her G-spot, and he felt her fly apart in his arms. Linnet came, gushing sweet nectar around his insistent fingers, and he rested his cheek on the taut flesh of her stomach.

“God, Gage. That was…” Linnet gasped out, and he smiled. Her breathing was still erratic but now it was his turn.

Gage kissed the insides of her thighs and reached for the dishtowel to wipe up as he tugged her up off the island.

“Oh, I’m not done with you yet, Miss Adams. Turn around and brace yourself,” he said, smacking her ass.

She grinned at him, a saucy smile on her lips as she did what he asked. “Bad, bad Master Gage,” she said, her voice smoky in that way that made his dick harder than hell. “I should leave you with your cock in your hand for the shit you’ve handed me over the last month, bucko.” She rasped out, angling her ass upward so he could admire it. She wouldn’t leave. She wanted him inside of her just as much as he did. But first, he needed something for that sassy little rosette winking at him. He dug in his pocket and pulled out her favorite silicone butt plug wrapped in a cloth.

“Oh, I don’t think so, Linnet. I have plans for you.”

He ran his hands over the pear shape of her still pink bottom. Reaching for the butter, he swiped a nice amount and rubbed it across her puckered back entrance. His fingers moved inside of her and she clenched, fighting him at first, then yielding to his touch. He slathered the butter over the plug and slowly inserted it into her ass.

“Oh, my God,” Linnet groaned, a hoarse sound keening from her throat.

She bent over, and he positioned himself against her opening, ready to take what was his.  She was still so wet and he took full advantage, entering her pussy with one earth shattering thrust.

God she was so tight, even with him finger fucking her only minutes before.

“That feels so good, Gage,” Linnet moaned as his cock filled her empty places. The sensation of the plug and his dick make her squirm beneath him, and her breathing became erratic.

He began to move, and soon his hips had a mind of their own. Faster and faster, it became how soon he could empty himself inside of her so he could take her again. It wasn’t just the job keeping him from filling her pussy when he knew she’d want it. It was this. The power of denial. The waiting making it all the sweeter.

Her hips rocked against him, and he gripped them hard, plunging his cock into her slick channel over and over. His balls tightened, and he knew he was about to come. He reached around her and searched for her clit and found it. Still erect, he thumbed it, and she spasmed around his cock, sending bursts of electricity through his body as he came, pumping his hips in one final thrust.

She stood there, leaning against the counter, his cock still inside her, and he knew he would do anything to make her melt in his arms like that again. However long it took. And, if he was lucky, for the rest of his life.

A knock on his office door sounded, shaking Gage from his memories. That had been their last morning together. Soon after, everything snowballed into a fiery inferno of Hell, and the life he’d built was suddenly a smoking pile of cinders. There was only one way to hold onto what he loved and that was to buy Crave when Justin bailed. Fucker.

“Enter.”

His assistant Kelly swept in, a pile of papers in her hand. Clad in jeans, an old ratty Bauhaus tee and sporting black hair with pink highlights, she threw all convention to the wind. “Okay, boss. You asked me to look over anything in the database that didn’t make sense for staff or members. Seven years’ worth.” She slid her silver-rimmed glasses back from where they’d slid down her nose with an irritated sigh.

“It’s a lot of work. I know.” He grimaced. “But if we can find any irregularity that leads us to pinpoint something for the police…” Gage ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

Kelly held up her hand. “It’s no problem. I just ran it through an algorithm and did some minor tweaking.” She nibbled on her dark red lips and dumped the wad of papers on his desk.

Gage grinned, his eyes widening at the paperwork Kelly laid out in front of him.

“Look. Here’s a chart of all the employees we’ve hired in the last seven years.” She spread out the papers and showed him a neatly arranged bar graph.

“Okay. Then there’s this one.” Kelly pointed to a chart that said Members with a black tipped fingernail. “Every one of them checks out except for one. Oh. And I went back eight years. Not seven.”

“What? Why?”

Kelly narrowed her black-rimmed eyes and blinked. “How long have I been here?”

“Errrr…” Damn. He was drawing a total blank.

She whacked him on the arm with a sheaf of papers from the desk. “Look. I was there when that guy hurt Linnet. I get it. What I don’t get is what the previous owner was thinking when he just brought anyone in here with complete disregard for everyone’s safety.”

Remembered anger simmered in Gage’s veins. “Go on.”

“Okay. So as part of my algorithm, the computer matches medical records, security checks, and attendance with all of our customers and now with the new addition I just put in, our employees.”

Greek. The woman was speaking in foreign tongues.

“I know you’re going to explain that in terms even I can understand, right?”

Kelly rolled her eyes and slid her glasses back in place. “Yes, boss.” She cleared her throat. “Look at this chart.”

She waved it in front of his face until he snatched it out of her hand.

“Geez, Kelly. No more caffeine for you.”

Kelly snorted in response, waiting until his eyes passed over the page. “Well? Do you see it yet?”

“What am I looking for?”

“Oh, my God. Give me that.” She huffed, yanking back the paper. “I’m… just, oh!
Here.
” She held up the page, her finger zeroing in on two distinct points in the graph.

“These two are an employee with irregular paperwork and a guest who has managed to slip by us using something other than his real name.”

“How do you know?”

“The background checks we do go back a number of years. Criminal, credit… you name it. But this guy…” She pointed. “There’s nothing.”

“Nothing? Like just born yesterday nothing?”

“Yep.” Kelly’s eyes sparkled. “And that’s not all.” She spun another chart toward him from the sea of papers now swimming all over the top of his desk.

“This woman here. She’s been working here as a Domme for a few years. Her name is listed under Amanda Adams, but that’s not her real name.”

Gage held up his hand. “And I’ll just bet you’re going to tell me who it is, right?”

Kelly pressed her lips together and frowned. “I will, but you have to promise not to be mad.”

“Why the hell would I be mad?”

“Because the woman on that form… her name is Linnet Adams.”

***

Linnet woke to the sound of snoring. There was a weight on her body. Ryder. His arm was draped over her, the heat making her claustrophobic and edgy. She eased out from underneath him and rolled out of bed. The early evening shadows gave the room a cozy feeling, but when the cool air hit her naked skin she shivered. Her clothes were soiled, and she couldn’t very well start rummaging through Ryder’s things. She’d lost an entire day, and she had to get home and check on the cat. And then she needed to call her captain.

Speaking of that… where was her purse? There. On the dresser. He’d brought it. Appreciation for the man in the bed warmed her. He was a lot more than he seemed. Linnet quietly opened her purse and saw the line of angry texts from Jonesy. Yep. And one from the captain.

Great.

I’m fine. With Ryder. Will call when I get home.

She sent it to both of them. Let them think what they wanted. It wasn’t like the whole force didn’t see him carry her out of the crime scene yesterday. Shit. She was going to hear about that one for months.

She crept across the carpet to the bathroom, stubbing her toe. She yelped, covering her mouth to muffle the sound but Ryder still snored on.

Typical man. Would probably sleep through a band of axe murderers.

Oh, God.

It all came flooding back to her. The scene. Her name written in blood. She stared at herself in the mirror, the harsh fluorescent lighting bringing every flaw to life. Her hair, still tangled and only half dry, tumbled down, covering some of the marks on her shoulders. Her makeup had been washed away, leaving her barefaced.

The scars on her wrists were a reminder of everything she’d fought for and the woman she’d seen hanging from the cross. Each of them brought her attacker closer and closer, and it was up to her to make it right.

Would he still recognize her? There were extra curves gracing her hips, breasts, and thighs that hadn’t been there before. She wasn’t that young girl playing bondage in the corset shop, either. Nor was she the innocent young thing taking direction from Master Gage.

“You’re beautiful.”

Her eyes widened as Ryder’s voice broke the silence, interrupting the revere of her thoughts.

“I didn’t hear you get up.”

He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, tugging her close. His eyes followed her facial expressions. “Is this alright?”

Was it?

Everything had happened so fast.

She met his gaze, not knowing what she’d say until it left her lips.

“Yes.”

“You were thinking about today.”

Linnet nodded. “I was.” She turned in his arms and lifted her chin to brush her lips across his. At his swift intake of breath, her nipples tightened, and a joyful clench rushed through her lower body. She wanted him again.

“Tell me what’s on your mind.”

She dropped her arms and stepped out of his embrace.

“These scars are a roadmap to the places I’ve been. Who I’ve been.”

Ryder nodded. “They don’t define you, Linnet.”

“They do. A little.” She shook her head. “I ran. After he did this to me. There was a Dom. I loved him. But I failed.”

“How?”

She lifted her eyes to meet his. “I didn’t trust him enough to love me back.”

“Linnet…”

“I want…” He paused and closed his eyes, his lips pressed in a straight line.

“What do you want, Ryder?” She took his hand in hers and traced the lines with her finger. “I haven’t been with a man in seven years. Not since… before.”

“I didn’t realize. The times at the club…”

“How could you?”

“I want to serve you. To be by your side however you wish me to.” His steady eyes bored into hers. “Not because you order me but because in pleasing you I sometimes get a little of what I need in return. Making you happy…” He stopped, a deep sigh resounding through his chest. “That’s why I’ve been coming to Crave. The first time I saw you it was over for me.”

“Ryder…”

“It’s a choice. You are a dominant woman. I like that. It doesn’t change who I am to the outside world. It just means we would have a different balance than most.”

“You have to give me time to take all of this in.” She shivered. “If he’s out there. I need to find him.”

“Who?”

“Gage. He was my Dom. If he’s out there I have to tell him I’m sorry.”

A pensive look came over Ryder’s face. “Here. Take my robe.” He lifted a terrycloth robe from a hanger by the door and slipped it over her shoulders. “Your clothes should be out of the dryer in just a bit.”

“When did you have time to do that?” Just then the scent of something delicious wafted through the air. “Did you cook something?”

“While you were sleeping.” A small smile tugged at his lips. “Crock pots are a wonderful thing.”