Mastered: Ten Tales of Sensual Surrender (86 page)

Arms over her head, she peeked toward the door and then wrapped her arms around her pillow and snuggled in with a sleepy sigh. She lay there in the dim light of the new dawn and stilled as if she fell back asleep. Something was wrong. She knew it.

The dog had barked, but as quickly as she’d started up with her deep shepherd voice loud enough to wake the dead, she stopped. Must have been a squirrel outside or something.

Then the bedroom door moved. Slowly. Deliberately. Until it closed with a quiet swish. Maybe it was Burt? Yes, that was it. It was Burt just checking in on her before he left to go get breakfast. No need to be worried, right?

When the tingle wouldn’t go away, Solie forced herself to relax and drift back to sleep. Only, sleep wouldn’t come, damn it.

After half an hour of pretending to snore with no further noise or door movement, she got up and hit the shower. Since she couldn’t sleep, may as well start the day.

A quick shower and a protein shake later, with leash in hand she headed out to walk the dog.

If there were any farms nearby, she was sure she’d beat the chickens awake, it was so quiet out. The dew on the grass as she jogged began to seep into her shoes to make her socks damp. The fog was thick and the humidity felt good on her face. It was the only skin showing since she’d bundled up against the cold.

“Some summer we’re having, right, Mims,” she said to the dog. Then she laughed at herself. What a bundle of contradictions she was, well, sometimes.

“Damn. Time to go back Mims. Sorry, girl. I need to get my day started.”

Around the corner from her house, Solie ducked into the wide, clean alley that separated the townhouses. Almost to her back door she slammed to a halt.

Marcais Dupree, nutball extraordinaire, stood there in the dim light of the dawn watching her.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she snapped.

“What do you mean what the fuck am I doing here?”

“Why are you near my house?”

“I have a friend in this area. And what’s it to you. I can go wherever the fuck I want to go whenever I feel like it.”

With each word he walked closer, bowing up his chest at her, his words bitten off at the ends as if he wished he could chew her up and spit her out. His body language screamed violence and she hated that her muscles were tensed for fight or flight.

At one time, she would have never been afraid of this man.

But that was then and this was now.

Midori must have picked up her nervousness because she started to growl. The noise drew Marcais’ attention, thankfully.

“Well, have a good day. Come on, Mims.” And she walked on toward her house taking a wide berth around the man who stared daggers at her.

From behind his words punched into her back.

“So you left me for that faggot, Burt, I see.”

Left him for Burt? Was he out of his mind?

Oh yeah. Sociopath, remember? Duh.

“I didn’t leave you for anyone, Marcais. You cheated. You lied. I walked. And I have it on good authority that you’re carrying right on with your mistress; as if she was always your world, rather than your secret. So fuck you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a jog to finish and work to do.”

With that, she forced her legs to jog rather than flee, pulled her key from her sweatpants pocket before she was even close to the door, and ducked inside at record speed.

Heart pumping, she knew that she’d just defused a time bomb. The expression on his face was chilling. The anger. The malice. It didn’t make any sense, given she’d been nothing but good to the man. The fact that he was angry because he thought she’d left him for Burt was more than unsettling given it had no place in reality whatsoever. It didn’t even make any sense.

Sociopath. She had to keep reminding herself. Slipped the leash off of the dog, toed off her damp sneakers and locked every door in the house.

Yep. Time bomb all right. Now if it would just go away so she didn’t have to worry about it detonating anywhere near her.

Mac had used her considerable connections in the Army and learned that Marcais was being reassigned to Germany. Well, Germany couldn’t get here fast enough, damn it.

* * * * *

Shortly after, Burt showed up with coffee and Dunkin’ Donuts.

“Ooh, I think I’m in love,” she mumbled around a bit of carb-loaded perfection. “Timing is perfect.” She took another bite and followed it down with a gulp of strong coffee. The stuff was so hot it burned all the way down her throat, but it tasted so good she didn’t care.

She sat on the floor between Burt’s legs as they devoured the sugary goodness. As they ate, Solie told of how surprised she was when Marcais appeared like some vengeful spirit out of the fog.

“I don’t like that he’s hanging around here, Solie. You know he’s crazy as shit from his whacked out behavior with you. And if the stories his ex-wife told you are true, this man can be dangerous.”

The doorbell rang. Solie jumped.

“Okay, I really don’t like that you’re wound up so tight, woman. At all.” Burt got up off the couch and walked across the living room to open the door. A few moments later he said, “Solie, come here, darlin’.”

God, she loved when the country-boy came oozing out of his pores. Such a gentleman. Sort of.

At her man’s side, Solie smiled at her neighbor from down the street.

“Hi, Miss Solie. Sorry to disturb you this early in the morning, especially on a Saturday, but I wanted to catch you before I head out to the base.”

“No problem, Grange. What’s up?”

“Well, my wife thinks it’s nothing but I’m not so sure so I’m just gonna tell you. We’ve been seeing a black truck cruising up and down the neighborhood.”

Her stomach hit the floor.

“And it seems to slow down near your house and then keeps going. But a couple of weeks ago I noticed someone coming in and out through your back door when you’re not at home. And sometimes it’s really late at night, like two and three in the morning.

My wife figured it was your boyfriend or something. But after comparing notes, we realized that it’s not the same person.” With that he nodded at Burt.

“So, what does this person look like?” Burt asked. Solie braced herself for the reply.

“Tall, about six foot three. Big, like muscular big, not fat big. Bald. Dark skin.”

“Really?” she asked too brightly. “Well, thanks. I appreciate you looking out for me. But it’s all good. No worries.”

“Good. I was hoping everything was okay.”

“So how long are you down range this time, Grange?”

“Just a quick tour and I’ll be back in no time. It’s my last deployment before I retire and neither my wife nor I can wait.”

“I understand that, for sure. Let your sweetie know that if she needs some company while you’re gone she’s welcome to come over in her pj’s and watch corny movies with me any time. I’ll even provide the popcorn.”

“Thanks, Solie. I appreciate that, ma’am. Take care.”

The moment she closed the door, Burt wrapped her up in his arms and whispered, “I’m staying here today. You’re not going to your office across town either. It’s him, Solie. Coming in and out. Now we know why that key disappeared out of the spare key drawer.”

And why the back door had been unlocked when she was sure she’d locked it. Hell, even Mac had caught it a time or two.

“But that key isn’t missing. I just misplaced it or something.”

“Think about it, Solie. The key that you don’t use was suddenly missing from its proper spot. You only noticed because you were looking for it to give to me. After we used your own key off your key ring to make mine, suddenly, the missing key reappears out of nowhere? We brushed it off, but now we know that one of those times he showed up to bring you your mail, he snagged that fucking key. Then used his own copy to come inside and put the key back.”

She knew Burt was right. Knew it down to her toes. But denial felt like a safer place, so that’s where she decided to hang out just now.

“Uh, okay, Burt. So, why would he show himself a few houses down if he could have just come inside?”

The image of her bedroom door sliding silently closed this morning made her feel as if someone had just walked over her grave. What if…? No. No, it couldn’t have been. She refused to believe it. Burt was just being paranoid.”

“I can’t speak to the man’s motive, Solie. At all. Maybe the neighbors are right, maybe they’re not. But we’re not taking any chances. Now, get dressed and let’s go see a movie.”

“But you have work today. I have work today.”

“Unless someone is going to die if you don’t work today, you are taking the day off. And so am I.”

“Fine. But if you’re going to make me go see a movie, then I wanna see something with hot men and stuff that goes boom.

“You’re on, woman.” With a grin, Burt pulled out his mobile, made a quick call and just like that, he’d rescheduled a building walk-through and a design planning session. And none of Solie’s clients worked on the weekends so she didn’t have to call anyone.

Jogging pants exchanged for a cute skirt and sandals, hand-in-hand, they were out the door for a matinee. And Solie was so happy and comforted she stuffed the weird run-in with that guy into a sack with all the other shit that had been bugging her. In her head, she set it on fire and threw it off a cliff.

* * * * *

“I never thought I’d like a sequel better than the original but that movie was just…” Solie stopped short, whirled around to the man at her back and said, “Burt, why would you do that?”

“Do what?” he asked, helping her out of her sweater.

“That.” She pointed to Mims who had her big butt up on the couch eating dog food out of a can. “You know she’s not allowed on the couch. And to give her wet food out of a can? That’s not even the stuff we feed her.”

Annoyed, Solie bore down on her poor dog she almost felt bad when Mims cowered just a bit. She snatched the can of smelly cheap dog food and headed to the kitchen to throw it away.

A gentle but firm hand wrapped around her biceps and halted her steps.

“Solie, wait. Call 911. Now.”

“What? Why?”

“You asked why I would feed the dog on the couch. But I’ve been with you since lunchtime yesterday. The only time I left you was to get Dunkin’ Donuts super early this morning. When did you see me go buy this funky ass dog food and give it to the dog on the couch?”

Oooh, he had a point.

“Call the police, Solie. I’m going to have a look around.”

“Okay.” Her stomach dropped into her shoes. Oh God. “No problem.” This couldn’t be happening. The neighbor had told her someone had been coming in and out while she was gone. She didn’t want to believe it even though he described her ex. But then again, it could have been any other tall, buff dude, right?

Okay, stop. That thought didn’t make it any better.

She headed toward the stairs. She’d call 911, but after she got out of these high-heeled sandals and changed into something a bit more comfortable.

She turned the corner to head upstairs and ran smack into…Marcais.

A scream ripped from her throat involuntarily as she scrambled backward.

“What the fuck are you doing in my house?”

She couldn’t believe the baffled expression on his face, as if he was the surprised one. So he was off guard, eh? Good. The fucker.

When he didn’t answer, Solie moved toward the phone across the living room. “I’m calling the police right now.”

“Bitch, you pick up that phone and I swear…”

Solie’s heart lodged in her throat when two hundred and fifty pounds of solid muscle stalked her way.

Then Burt was there, standing between her and Marcais.

“Oh, I’ve been waiting for this. Take one more step toward her. Give me an excuse to kick your ass. Any excuse will do.”

Marcais might be brave enough to threaten a woman, but he wasn’t stupid by any stretch of the imagination. But unfortunately for him, he wasn’t that smart either.

He took one step toward Solie.

And in the next instant, he was flat on his back holding his jaw and his nuts.

Burton Khrys did not tolerate threats to a female. Period.

The police were on the way but unfortunately Marcais had recovered his ability to breathe before they arrived. He scrambled to his feet, backed away, and used his coat sleeve to open the door. Solie just shook her head. What point was there to making sure he had no prints on the door knob when she was looking right at him? Amazing.

And after the police came and took their statements, Burt and Solie went on a little expedition in her house trying to figure out what the hell Marcais was doing up and down the stairs.

What they found had her sitting with tears in her eyes and her mouth wide open and the sheriff was already on his way to the base to make the arrest. What the hell else had Marcais done that she was unaware of?

One thing was for sure—she couldn’t pretend all was well anymore. Couldn’t bask in her own denial. The proof was in her hand.

Cameras. Wireless little cameras.

She’d been under surveillance and hadn’t even known it.

Finally Burt pressed a shot of whisky into her left hand while he took her findings from her right hand and dropped them into a little baggie.

Burt lifted the glass that remained untouched and cool against her fingers. He tipped it up and she obediently drank it as he spoke.

“It’s a good thing he’s in jail or I’d kick his ass again. But now we know. And better to know what you’re dealing with that not.”

She emptied the glass and while her gut still burned from that first shot, Burt poured her another. She downed it without hesitation and then let her man take her to bed.

* * * * *

And he knew just what she needed. As angry as she felt over this newest betrayal of trust by someone who was supposed to have loved her, what she needed was to feel cherished and loved. And that was something Burt could give her.

“Strip and then put this on,” he said, handing her a robe identical to the one she’d worn at Twilight Teahouse just yesterday. The water is ready. So are the ropes. Are you?”