Topping the Domme (Crime and Punishment) (22 page)

He didn’t let up. He didn’t slow. He didn’t allow her to catch her breath. Instead, he forced her to take him, all of him, as he thrust into her, pushing her closer to that blissful edge. Her stomach tightened. The inside of her thighs shook. Every inch of her body burned with her oncoming orgasm.

He was going to make her come again and this one would be so much stronger than the other. With a growl, he angled his hips differently, rubbing the sensitive spot on the top of her walls and sending her soaring with a scream loud enough the whole hotel probably heard.

For several seconds, all she did was feel. It seemed as though the orgasm exploded outside her skin, blocking out everything but the exquisite throbs and tingles. Brayden followed close behind and thrust one final time as he found his own release with a groan.

Brayden was drained, but at the same time gloriously sated. Being with Karina was…well, it was damn near perfect. Reluctantly, he pulled from her moist heat and leaned down to pick her up. She hung limp in his arms, and he couldn’t help the grin that tugged at his lips as he carried her to the bed and laid her on the mattress.

He brushed her hair from her forehead. “I’ll be right back.”

He went into the bathroom and threw the condom away, then removed his clothes. He walked back into the bedroom and climbed onto the bed next to her. As he adjusted the covers, she shifted and moved to curl next to him.

Her curves were warm and fit so perfectly along his body. He put his arms around her and pulled her close. Her soft sigh made him smile as she cuddled and wrapped her arm around his chest.

“I love you,” she murmured sleepily.

Brayden glanced down at her, trying to figure out if she was awake or not. His heart soared, and at the same time, pounded out of rhythm. If she was half asleep, she may not even know she’d said it. As much as he wanted to say it back, he didn’t want to risk making her run by admitting it too soon.

With a sigh, he laid back and stared at the ceiling.

He threw his keys against the wall of his apartment and growled in frustration. He didn’t like seeing her get fucked. It should be his cock inside her, making her scream as his sharp blades sank into her flesh. He wanted to add to those scars that covered her stomach and back. He wanted to fucking finish what he’d started ten years ago.

With another growl of impatience, he stalked to the dresser and pulled out the picture he kept hidden there. It was a picture of the only girl to get away from him before he’d finished—the one girl who’d left him hanging and unsatisfied.

It was because of his anger at her that he’d begun to kill. He hadn’t meant to, but his anger and blood lust had gotten the better of him. After that, it was never enough to just hurt them. He wanted to see the light dim in their eyes. He craved seeing the body sag as the soul left it.

And it was all because of her.

Karina followed Brayden through the grocery store and grinned as she stared at his wide back. In some ways it felt so strange doing such mundane things with him; but, in others, it was nice to not have to do them alone.

She found she enjoyed arguing with him over snack foods and the fact he ate way too much sugar or his aversion to her favorite snack of Wheat Thins and cream cheese.

“The Wheat Thins are okay. The cream cheese is just nasty,” he said with a shudder.

“It’s better for you than all that chocolate you wolf down,” she replied.

“Hey, I eat salads, too. It balances it all out.”

Karina chuckled and threw some pasta into the buggy. “How much longer do you think we’ll have to be here?” she asked.

He tossed a bottle of spaghetti sauce in the cart. “Tired of me already?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…I want this over. I want to put this nightmare in the past and move on.”

“You are moving on, Kay,” he said softly as he grabbed a small box of rice. “Did you forget last night?”

“No, I didn’t,” she replied haughtily and tried to fight the blush she could feel working its way over her cheeks. “But that’s not what I meant.”

He smiled softly at her over his shoulder. “I know what you meant.”

He moved further down the aisle, and Karina followed, lost in her own thoughts. She was falling in love with Brayden, if not already completely in love with him. He hadn’t said anything about feelings or continuing things once the case was over. She needed to get back to her life, her job and hopefully soon, before she got hurt.

In the middle of unpacking groceries, Brayden’s phone rang. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out. An unknown number flashed across the screen, and he frowned. Who the hell was this? With a sigh, he slid the arrow to the side and answered the call.

“Hello,” he said.

Karina glanced up and stopped folding the bag to listen.

“Hey, Brayden. It’s Josh.”

“Hey, Josh,” he replied. “What’s going on?”

“I’ve got you on speaker. Nathan’s here as well. He wanted to talk to you.”

Brayden hit the button to put the call on speakerphone, then set it on the table.

“Don’t put me on speaker,” Delacroix said.

“Too late,” he and Karina both replied in unison.

Delacroix mumbled a couple of curse words that made Brayden grin. “You can’t keep this from Karina, Delacroix, so just spill it. What’s up?” Brayden asked.

“I didn’t have a chance to talk to you before you left last night. From now on, I want the two of you to check in with me before you leave.”

Brayden rolled his eyes. “Seriously?”

“Yes,” Delacroix replied, very serious. “He was there last night. I can pick up on his anger whenever you do a scene with Karina. I don’t think it’s jealousy, but he doesn’t like it when you fuck her.”

“Where you able to pick out who it was?” Karina asked.

“No. That’s the problem. Do you remember anything about your attacker, Karina? Anything at all, no matter how small?”

“No. I’ve tried, but… What about the other rape cases you guys were looking into?”

Delacroix sighed. “There’re very few that matched up. The ones that did were even more brutal than yours. One girl barely survived and was left blind. Like you, she remembered nothing.”

“What about the others?”

“There was only one. She died after arriving at the hospital. The doctors believed she could’ve survived her wounds, but gave up instead.”

“So he took a few years off before he started killing?” Brayden asked. “Why would he do that?”

“We don’t think he did,” Josh replied. “We started looking through missing persons for girls around the same age that matched the first three descriptions. There’re over fifty. I’m sure not all of them are his, but I bet some of them are.”

“That means there was some sort of trigger that made him change and start leaving the girls where they would be seen,” Karina said.

“But what was the trigger?” Brayden asked.

“I have a theory,” Delacroix began.

“By all means,” Karina said. “Let’s hear it.”

There was a few seconds of silence, and then… “I think he has a split personality that, at least right now, emerges when he sees Karina having sex. That’s why I can’t zero in on him. When the second personality emerges, it comes across as disembodied. If he’s been a split personality for a while, it’s possible the submissive one, or the normal one, has possibly, even subconsciously, been affecting the dominant personality’s movements.”

“This is getting into an area that is way over my head,” Brayden mumbled.

“Do you think the submissive personality has any recollection of what the other one does?” Karina asked.

“No,” Delacroix replied. “My guess is something really bad happened to this guy, and he’s taking it out on submissives.”

“That seems a little backward.” Karina pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down. “If he’s a submissive and has been abused in his past, then wouldn’t he go after Doms?”

“Not necessarily. The mind doesn’t always work the way you think it will. If he sees himself as weak and unworthy, then he’s possibly punishing all submissives for being weak, or if you want to really throw a wrench in things, maybe he and a female submissive flipped one weekend and the now female Domme beat the hell out of him. Truthfully, there’s no telling until we find him.”

Brayden glanced over at Karina, who gazed off into space, thinking. He was worried about her. So far, she seemed to be holding up well, but still… “So what’s next?”

“Karina?” Delacroix asked. “Do you think you can take more?”

She frowned. “What did you have in mind?”

“That would be up to Brayden.”

She looked up at Brayden uncertainly.

“I don’t know, Delacroix,” he said. “Maybe we shouldn’t push her like this.”

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “I can do this.”

“Good girl,” Delacroix said. “While you’re working her, Josh and I will watch the crowd. Maybe he’ll give himself away somehow.”

“From your mouth to God’s ear,” Karina murmured.

“We’ll see you at the club,” Brayden said before hanging up the phone.

Karina strolled around the club nervously, staring at every male face, dominant as well as submissive. Where was he? Why didn’t she recognize him?

She tried to think back to that night, tried to remember body movements or scars, anything that might trigger something, but it was all so hazy. She’d spent years trying to forget, and now she was trying to remember. She didn’t want to remember, but at the same time desperately wished she could. They needed to catch this guy before he killed again.

Looking over toward the bar, she caught Brayden watching her. They’d talked on the way here about what kind of scene to do. Brayden thought she should get angry with him so it would draw a lot of attention.

Karina didn’t know if she wanted to do another punishment scene. Just thinking about the one last night made her wet and anxious. Her surprising reaction to Brayden’s punishments was teaching her a thing or two about herself—like how much she enjoyed submitting to Brayden.

After her past, she would’ve never believed that. But then she had been fantasizing about Brayden for months, even before going in on this case together.

He crooked his finger, indicating he wanted her to join him. Karina lifted her chin and turned away, ignoring his obvious summons. If he was going to punish her, he would need a reason, and her ignoring him would be as good as any.