Kinky Boots (Mischief Books) (8 page)

She balked, and fought back panic. ‘I can’t leave.’ The sudden rush of nerves made her knees weak, made her feel like she might hyperventilate. ‘I’m waiting for a friend. We said we’d meet here.’

‘There you are, darling! I’ve been looking all over for you.’ Finn pushed in between her and Rugby Man, who made no effort to stop him, but gave a little shrug and offered her a look that said she was a cock-tease. Then he moved to the side of the dance space and immediately began talking to a redhead with enormous tits.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Finn pulled her close, forcing the breath from her lungs. ‘I leave you alone with her for five minutes, Eleanor, and you get her into trouble. You see, this is exactly why I don’t trust you, why I keep you on a tight leash.’

‘It’s my fault,’ Jill said. ‘I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to … wait a minute.’ She stepped back and placed her hands on her hips, jostling a couple dancing behind them. ‘The last time I checked, I was an adult. I don’t have to ask permission to do what I want, and I don’t have to apologise for it.’

He reached for her, but she stepped back again. ‘You left her alone.’ It was Eleanor using her vocal cords, and the change was so swift and seamless that it startled both Jill and Finn.

‘I didn’t leave her alone.’ He shook his head in confusion. ‘I didn’t leave you alone, Jill. I was right in the next room, I just wanted you to be safe.’

‘Well, as you can see, I am safe, so you can go home and go back to sleep now. That is what you want, isn’t it?’

‘Fuck.’ He spoke between barely parted lips.‘Is that what you think I want? You think I want to sleep? If I’d been able to sleep, I wouldn’t have heard you leave, would I?’

‘You heard us leave?’ Jill yelled to be heard over the music. Another couple jostled her up against Finn, but she pushed back.

‘Of course I heard you leave.’ He jerked his head toward the bar. ‘I’ve been standing there watching you. I don’t mind you having a little fun, but when that arsehole moved in for the grope, that was enough.’ Was she mistaken, or did she sense Eleanor was quite smug about Finn’s behaviour? But then her anger took over.

‘You followed me?’

‘Hell, yes, I followed you. You can’t really believe I’d let you out of my sight, can you?’ Then he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to him close and tight, taking her mouth in a brutal kiss that ended in a sharp bite. In a move that was startlingly swift he cupped her arse cheeks and pulled her tight against him. And Jesus, he was hard, and regardless of who might be watching, she practically climbed his body in an effort to get closer. Everything inside her sparked and the sounds Eleanor was making inside her head were positively copulatory as she ate Finn’s mouth and rubbed against him. ‘I want you so bad I can hardly stand it, Jill. Don’t you know that?’

She was tempted to fuck him right there in Juno with the whole Saturday-night crowd looking on, but instead she pulled away, and it was as though she were suddenly an island in the middle of a vast ocean with a clear view all around her. ‘No I don’t know that, Finn. And we need to talk.’ For the first time she wasn’t sure who was doing the speaking, her or Eleanor, but it didn’t matter. There were too many things that needed to be dealt with if she were going to survive being possessed by a lust demon. Finn ran a hand through his already mussed hair, squared his shoulders then led her off the dance floor.

* * *

They opted for neutral ground, an Indian restaurant whose name Jill forgot even before they were seated in a cramped corner near the back, the only place free in the late-night mishmash of clubbers and pubbers. Strangely she eschewed her usual biryani in favour of chicken jalfrezi. Even as the fiery dish burned her tongue and made her eyes water, she relished all the flavours she had never experienced before, but in the back of her mind she knew that Eleanor liked Indian spices, hot and steamy. Across from her, Finn picked at his korma.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. ‘Why are we here?’ he asked.

‘Well, first of all, I’m hungry, and Eleanor was in the mood for a good curry. Secondly and most importantly, if you’re going to be Eleanor’s chaperone while she’s in residence, Finn, then we need to set some ground rules.’

He raised an eyebrow, polished off his pint of Kingfisher and motioned for the waiter to bring him another. ‘Ground rules?’

She leaned across the table and hissed at him. ‘I’m possessed, for chrissake, remember?’

He blinked.

‘And I don’t even know what that means. What little I do know is no thanks to you or your Sole Alliance mates. You ordered me home like a naughty child and sent me to bed.’

‘Jesus, Jill.’ He looked around as though he feared someone might be listening in, then leaned across so close that they nearly banged heads over the small table. ‘I’m trying to keep you safe, not punish you.’

‘I know that, really I do, but –’ she spoke between barely parted lips ‘– Eleanor’s a lust demon.’

He gave another quick glance around the room, then did his own version of talking without opening his mouth. ‘I know what Eleanor is, Jill. That’s the problem, isn’t it?’

‘No, that’s not the problem,’ she said. They paused politely while the waiter delivered Finn’s pint, and when he went off to take the order at the table next to them she said, ‘The problem is that a lust demon chose me to possess, Finn. That’s the problem. She could have chosen anyone, and she chose me because …’

‘Because?’ Finn said.

She fidgeted with her napkin, suddenly embarrassed and shy. ‘Because I’m inexperienced.’ She hurried onward, fearing that he might laugh. ‘But that doesn’t mean I’m not filled with lust, Finn, with fantasies, with desires, powerful desires. That’s why she possessed me.’

‘I still don’t see your point.’

‘The point is I want what Eleanor’s offering. I know that now. I want all that I’ve never had, all that I would never be brave enough to pursue without … well, without demon courage.’ In her head she heard Eleanor giggle softly at her turn of phrase.

‘So you want a fuck fest,’ Finn said. His jaw was set hard, his shoulders were tight and block-square.

‘I’m willing to be open about Eleanor’s desires, and about my own.’ She held his gaze. ‘What I’m not willing is to be treated like I’m under house arrest. If you don’t want to fuck me, that’s fine. But I –’

‘Wait a minute, who said I didn’t want to fuck you? I’d think it was pretty obvious how badly I want to fuck you.’

The people at the table next to them gave a quick glance and half sniggered over their bottle of white wine. Finn hissed a whisper. ‘If I were any harder, I’d be lifting the table off the floor.’

Jill choked on her water, and the couple next to them couldn’t make their efforts to pretend not to be paying attention any more obvious.

When the coughing subsided, she took a deep breath and spoke. ‘Then why did you opt for a cold shower rather than my warm bed?’

‘I thought that would be obvious too.’ If Finn had leaned any further over the table he’d have been on top of it. ‘I wanted to be sure it was you who wanted me and not Eleanor using you to get to me.’

‘Oh, it’s me all right, Finn. Eleanor may want you too, but I was there first without her, remember? And I promise you, there are things I want to do with you that don’t involve raising the table.’

His eyelids fluttered and the groan that escaped his lips was nearly painful. ‘Then why the hell are we here rather than at your place or mine?’

‘Negotiations.’ Again Jill wasn’t sure if it were she or Eleanor who had spoken.

‘Negotiations?’

‘What I want out of lust-demon possession.’

‘Jesus, you make it sound like a cruise or something,’ he said.

She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

‘All right!’ He glared back. ‘Fair enough. And it’s safe to assume that what you want involves sex.’

She nodded enthusiastically. ‘Lots of sex. Kinky sex, dirty, filthy, nasty sex, and I expect you to be more than just a chaperone and a gaoler.’

He raised an eyebrow and sat back in his chair as Eleanor took over the conversation.

‘I want a body that’s not a prison, Finn, and Jill’s is so very much the body of my dreams. And I want her amply rewarded for her generosity. There’s no need to play naïve with me, because we both know you’re not. Between the two of us, we know exactly how to reward Jill for playing host to me, and I reckon that’s the least we can do.’ The chuckle that slipped up Jill’s throat was wicked, and she felt it all the way down to her clit. ‘Oh, don’t tell me you don’t want to play with us, Finn Masters, because I know better.’ And almost, but not quite, before she knew what she was doing, Jill slid down into her seat just enough to place the sole of one sexy boot in between Finn’s legs and press it solicitously up against the delightful strain of his erection through his jeans.

He held her gaze, his eyes suddenly storm-cloud dark as she had never seen them, dark, and somehow frightening in a way that went straight to her crotch. Then he scooted forward in his seat and uttered a soft grunt as he pressed up tight against her foot. ‘Tell me what you want, Jill.’ He reached under the table and stroked her calf just above the boot with a warm hand. ‘Tell me what you want, and I’ll see that you get it.’

‘I want to be tied up.’ Jesus! Where the hell had that come from? Was she out of her mind? She figured she could blame Eleanor. Didn’t Finn say Eleanor would make sure her darkest desires were front and centre?

Finn held her gaze. For a long moment he said nothing, only studied her as though he were seeing her for the first time. ‘You’re sure?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Positive.’ And she was, though until now, she wouldn’t have known it.

Still holding her gaze, he fished his iPhone from his pocket.

‘Meinrad, close up the shop and bring the ropes. My place.’ He disconnected and turned his attention back to her. ‘Meinrad has a lot more finesse with tying people up than I do.’ Suddenly he didn’t seem to care if the people next to them heard. ‘If it were me, I’d just tie you to the bed with your knickers and shag you senseless.’

She was pretty sure that would have worked just fine for her. In fact the picture it created in her head sent a new flood of lust to her panties.

Kinky Boots was just up the street, and Meinrad was closing up shop when Finn force-marched Jill past the door and around the back.

Inside the flat, Finn locked the door behind them and guided her through the kitchen and the lounge down a narrow hall past the bathroom. ‘My bedroom,’ he said, opening a door into a room that was unusually big for an apartment tucked behind a shop in Shoreditch. The room was an eclectic hodgepodge that was probably the perfect psychological study of Finn Masters. Any other time, Jill would have loved to take it all in, but right now she couldn’t take her eyes off a very large brass bed that looked like it came straight from an American western movie. Both the headboard and the footboard were ornately twisted, finely worked brass.

He moved behind her and kissed her neck. ‘The basement is rigged for suspension, but since you’ve never been tied before, we’ll start with a nice comfy bed. Now –’ he shifted his hips against her until she could feel his hard-on ‘– take off your clothes. All of them.’

She balked. ‘And Meinrad is –’

‘Is going to see you naked, yes, Jill. By the time he’s done, he’ll be very familiar with your body.’ He nodded to her clothes. ‘Now get undressed. This is what you want, isn’t it?’

For a second, she had the strange urge to cry or to run. She did neither. She squared her shoulders and slipped the vest off over her head. As she unzipped the skirt and stepped out of it, he nodded to her boots. ‘Leave those on.’

While she slipped out of her bra and knickers, Finn stood unmoving, watching her, his eyes unreadable, the erection in his jeans unmissable. When she was naked except for the boots, he gathered her clothing and laid it across the back of a black leather settee.

There was a soft knock on the door and Meinrad entered the room with several hanks of what looked like ordinary rope. He nodded his greeting to Finn, then his gaze came to rest on Jill, and she felt her entire body blush at his inspection. ‘Turn around,’ he said.

She obeyed.

He made some sound low in his throat that could have passed as either approval or not. Then he placed a large hand on her shoulder and turned her back to face him. She noticed he wore the Kinky Boots uniform T-shirt stretched tight across his very broad chest. The shop name was punctuated by the hard pressure of nipples on muscular pecs. The black jeans he wore rode low on his hips. The wave of lust that rushed over her was staggering. How had she not noticed how sexy he was?

Then Finn moved to stand beside him, and she understood. Even though Meinrad was by far the larger man, Finn dominated the room. Finn dominated the space. Finn dominated every second of the last twenty-four hours of her life, as though he had shoved his way in and pushed everything else out. It did things to her, that thought, things that were way beyond lust, things that were a lot more frightening than being possessed by a demon. He stood gazing down at her from some neutral distance that made her feel very much alone, as though the world and everyone in it had receded, leaving her to await her fate. Eleanor was keeping a low profile.

Finn spoke without preamble. ‘Unless something’s hurting you, while Meinrad’s binding you, you’re not to speak. You’re only to move when he moves you. You’re to do exactly as he says. You’re to accept what he does to you in total passivity. Is that clear?’

‘Is he going to fuck me?’ She was embarrassed the minute she said it but it was too late to take it back.

‘If I want him to, yes,’ Finn said.

If Finn wanted him to. Dear God, what was she doing? Suddenly she felt unsteady on her feet. She didn’t know Meinrad. Not like she knew Finn. And yet the thought of the big man hammering her with his enormous cock while she was all trussed up was at least as exciting as it was uncomfortable. The thought that he would do so only at Finn’s bidding excited her even more.

‘There’ll be no safe word,’ Finn continued. ‘All you have to do is tell Meinrad to stop. Or if at any time he thinks you’re not fit to continue, he’ll stop, and that’ll be that. Are we clear?’