Handcuffed in Housewares: Tulle and Tulips, Book 3 (2 page)

“An overeager libido.”

“I get that your date talked you into sex in public. It’s the handcuffed bit I’m not able to picture.”

“You’ve been trying to picture it?”

“I don’t like puzzles. They need to be solved.”

“Then I’ll clear it up for you since you were kind enough to save me.”

She did that thing again with her forehead where it almost looked like she was raising one brow. It made him want to smile, but the seriousness in her eyes indicated she wouldn’t share his humor.

“She said she’d always had a fantasy of dominating a man while he was tied up. In this case it was cuffs, but I didn’t have any reason to think it would bite me in the ass.” He regretted his choice, but he couldn’t change it now. He could only make sure he never repeated it. “She liked that bathroom setup. Said she’d never had sex in a bathroom. There are limited places to tie someone up in a bathroom.”

“So naturally you went with the toilet.” Impressively, the more she quizzed him the less she blushed.

“It was a strange request, but I didn’t see a reason to tell her no.”

“Because you were only interested in how quickly she would get you off.”

“Anyone would take a similar risk if they were turned on enough. As for a man—” now he did grin, “—we’re most always willing.”

“To risk your job?”

“To be tied up, play games, yes.” Leigh had helped him. Because of her he would be able to finish the Hearth and Home job. With the completion of the job he’d have a great addition to his portfolio. “Endangering my job is something I would never have agreed to. A jeopardized job puts my entire company in danger.”

Leigh nodded and handed Burton the handcuffs and skewer. “In that case, I suggest you resist a woman’s request to tie you up.”

Burton began to speak, but closed his mouth when Leigh pivoted on the ball of her sensible shoe and walked away. Anything he might say lost appeal as he studied her hourglass figure. Strong calves, a narrow waist that flared into wide hips, the woman showcased curves where others fought to lose them.

She was confident. Kind. Damn if he didn’t love that.

Chapter Two

Leigh Schyuler stood outside Tulle and Tulips Designer Weddings and smiled at the dream she lived every day. A tulip twisted in tulle had been etched on the double doors in a stunningly artistic way, and inside was a group of event planning experts who were equally artistic as they designed custom weddings of every budget for their clients.

It was a dream she had shared with Lori Mullins from the moment Leigh had heard about the new company. The women involved had become an extended family.

If she hadn’t been a part of Tulle and Tulips, if she hadn’t invested the sweat equity she had into her part of the business, she wouldn’t have recognized Burton’s dedication to his. Sure, he’d made a stupid choice. He struck her as the kind of person who would learn from it.

A part of her wondered though, because he’d been so willing to joke about the situation. To shrug off the fact that he’d been naked in his client’s place of business.

“Are you going in, or are you working from the hall today?”

Leigh turned to find Trevor Masters smiling at her. She’d heard rumors of him being unyielding in business. She could sort of see it in the way he dressed in expensive suits and the way he carried himself, clearly broadcasting his power, but then she remembered how he was with Lori. She remembered how he turned into a marshmallow as he tried to talk the woman he loved into marrying him.

“Just thinking for a minute.” Leigh smiled. “You ask Lori to marry you today?”

“Not yet.”

“You know she’s enjoying your game, right?”

“So am I.” He pulled open the door for Leigh and smiled. “But it won’t be much longer before she gives in.”

“With confidence like that I can’t doubt it.”

“You two look like you’re up to no good.” Jenny, receptionist extraordinaire, greeted them. “What are you scheming?”

“Trevor’s up to his daily antics.” Leigh smiled as she picked up her messages from her tray. “I’ve already skewered enough antics for the day.”

“There’s a story there,” Misty stated as she came out of her office and moved to stand by Leigh. As usual, she smelled like the flowers she spent so much time arranging. More common than her sweet scent was the twinkle in her eyes that hadn’t left since she accepted Jace’s marriage proposal.

“Naked man handcuffed to a toilet.” Leigh shrugged. “I picked the lock with a kabob skewer.”

Trevor, Misty and Jenny all busted out laughing. Misty recovered enough to speak before the others. “You say that like it’s an everyday experience.”

“I thought you were going to tour Hearth and Home this morning.” Jenny chuckled.

“I was. I did.”

Misty leaned against the circular receptionist desk. Jenny kicked back in her chair and crossed her arms. Trevor even settled in for the story.

“Tell us about the naked man in cuffs and the skewer.”

Leigh didn’t have anything to be embarrassed by, but thinking about Burton, about his body, had the flame of humiliation flooding her cheeks. She wanted to stop thinking about his hard, ropey muscles and the smooth glide of his skin beneath her fingers. She shouldn’t be thinking about how tempting it had been to see if the rest of his skin had been as soft. Or how non-repulsive the idea of exploring him in a public place had been.

Her cheeks burned brighter. She really should stop thinking about him. “I have clients coming in.”

“Your nine a.m. rescheduled,” Jenny said.

“Fine.” Leigh sat her bag at her feet. “I was walking through Hearth and Home with Mark. He got called away and left me to look around on my own.”

Lori stepped out of her office looking stunning in pressed black slacks, a silk blouse and sexy heels. Trevor stood taller and his eyes brightened as he watched the woman he loved cross the distance between them. When she was close enough, he took her hand in his and pressed a lingering kiss to the corner of her mouth.

Trevor looked at Lori the way every woman wanted to be looked at. He was a proud man who could easily have turned into an arrogant ass. Instead, his confidence gave him the strength to be open and honest with his thoughts and feelings.

Leigh had seen a similar confidence in Burton, as if he did more than construction. He’d held himself, even naked beneath the robe she’d gotten for him, with a power that would fit in at Trevor’s boardroom table. Powerful. Honest. Dedicated to his job. Sexy.

“Why are you all staring at Leigh? Why’s she blushing?”

“She’s telling us about skewering a naked man this morning.”

“Sounds like the stories I might have had to share not too long ago.” Lori settled into the curve of Trevor’s arm and smiled. “What happened?”

“It really wasn’t that big a deal.” Big enough that fire licked more furiously at her cheeks. “I was looking at the clocks. Mark got called away. When he left, this man called out to me.”

“The naked man?” Lori asked.

“Yes.” It wouldn’t be long before the entire staff was huddled around for the story. She needed to tell it fast so she could move on to forgetting. She wasn’t sharing the details of what Burton looked like naked. Or how she’d caught a glimpse of him in the mirrored clocks on the wall opposite them. Or how she’d been tempted for half a second to finish what his date had started. Yeah, he was bigger than she’d thought, and it wasn’t all in regard to his muscles.

“He was cuffed to a toilet in one of the showroom bathrooms. I got him a robe and picked his cuffs so he could get free.”

“So you stole for him and took a kabob skewer to his cuffs.” Lori wiggled her brows. “I should have known of these inclinations before bringing you on here.”

Leigh ignored the smirk on Misty’s face and the wiggle of Lori’s brows. Her friends had told her time and time again she needed to break out of her shell, and take more chances and worry less about the consequences. They clearly thought the naked man should have been one of those chances.

“He couldn’t exactly go to his truck in his birthday suit.” Though his nudity hadn’t seemed to bother him. “And he’d bruised his wrists trying to get out of the cuffs on his own.”

“Why was he naked in a business that’s not open yet?” Trevor asked. Thank God
somebody
was being logical.

“He’s working on the build-out. There was an issue with the plumbing last night that he went to fix.”

“Seems natural,” Jenny said. “I’m always naked when I get my plumbing snaked.”

Trevor squeezed his eyes tight, like he was desperately trying not to think about Jenny’s plumbing. Seeing the man who defined businessman cringe because of Jenny’s humor was hysterical.

“He was on a date when the call came in.”

“And the date liked the idea of sex in public.” Misty nodded. “I’ve got to say, there’s excitement to having sex where you work.”

Lori and Trevor shared a smile that said they knew what Misty meant. Leigh blocked the images that came to mind. She worked there. She’d never be able to look at the place again if she was wondering where they had done it.

“Anyway.” Leigh shook her head. “She offered sex. He went along. She locked him up, took his clothes and left him there.”

Misty laughed. “I wish I could have seen you facing down a naked man cuffed to a commode.”

“Was it more embarrassing for you or him?” Jenny asked.

“Probably me if his attitude was any indication. And now, if you’re finished getting your entertainment at my expense, I have work to do.” Leigh pivoted toward her office and walked as briskly as she could without running.

She wasn’t sure it was her friends she was running from. More accurately it felt like she was running from the images of Burton that kept popping into her head. Images and the resulting thoughts. Thoughts like how his kiss would feel and taste.

Her trip to Hearth and Home hadn’t been just about seeing a new business. It was her chance to get a sneak peek at their pricing. Desperately hoping to distract herself from her thoughts, Leigh pulled her laptop from her bag and set to work updating her database. When clients came in to talk about their registry, she needed to know the best place—budget and product wise—to take them. Her database was how she did that.

It had taken her a long time to set it up just right, but all she had to do now was input some information into a form, run a report and she would have a list of retail outlets prioritized to suit each client.

Of course, she wouldn’t need a database to tell anyone where to find a naked man. Nope. He was waiting at Hearth and Home to show people the hazards of bathrooms. Talk about your full-service store.

As quick as that Burton was back in her head.

“Leigh.”

His smooth voice that bordered on suave called to her. Tingles traipsed along her spine as quick as a chill that made her shiver.

“Earth to Leigh.” Two fingers snapped loudly in front of her nose, breaking her from her trance. “You in there?”

Shaking her head, she widened her eyes to show awareness. Jace Nichols, the head of security for Trevor’s company, stood before her. Normally dressed in a suit with military perfect pleats, the jeans and snug T-shirt were a change. That the T-shirt was short sleeved was a bigger change.

It hadn’t been too long ago that he’d only worn long sleeves in an effort to hide his prosthetic arm. Misty had wormed her way past his misconceptions and then slipped smoothly into his grizzled heart. She’d convinced him allowing people to see his prosthetic arm wouldn’t turn everyone off.

“Jace. What’s up?”

“You’re the go-to woman when it comes to knowing where to buy things.”

She pointed to a chair across from her desk. “I am.”

“Then I’m hoping you can help me.” He sat. “Misty and I just closed on a house.”

“She mentioned it a time or two.” Or three hundred. She’d especially mentioned the large backyard she intended to fill with plants and flowers.

“Well, one of the rooms is designated as her office. It looks out over the yard where she wants to grow some of her own product.” He looked around as if his fiancée might see him. “Before we move in next month, I want to find a way to bring some of that into her office.”

“Literally or visually?”

“Maybe both. I can hire someone to put in a bay window for her, but I’m not sure where to go from there. What would one put in the office to make it feminine and as pleasurable as possible to work in while keeping it functional?”

In her office across the Tulle and Tulips space, Misty had a glass wall that looked out onto the workspace where the arrangements were put together. She was constantly surrounded by her creations and Jace wanted her to have the same thing at home. For a man who’d first come across as a chauvinistic ass with a chip the size of Florida on his shoulder he was turning into a teddy bear.

“I want it to be a surprise for her though.”

“Let me think on it and see if I can feel her out for some things she might like. Do you already have a contractor?”

He shook his head. “I asked the guy who did this place, but he’s booked and is only taking on the bigger jobs.”