Uncommon Romance (17 page)

She nodded. “But only for play. Not as part of a commitment.”

“Why not?”

The same reason she’d never gotten married. As clichéd as it sounded, she just hadn’t met the right person. “I don’t know.”

“Do you want to?”

“Maybe, some day. With the right person.”

Hollis dropped her hands. “Isn’t that sweet. Reeva is rubbing off on you.”

“Have you?”

Hollis laughed, a brittle, dry sound that communicated everything except amusement. “Once. It was…interesting.”

Before she could ask any further questions, Hollis circled her body and snaked her arms around her waist to palm her breasts. “Wait right here. I’ll be back.”

Jude heard Hollis’s soft footsteps as she crossed the room, followed by the sound of the door opening and then closing. She shifted her stance into a military at-ease pose. With her hands clasped together behind her and her legs spread slightly, she was more comfortable.

She hoped the shades were closed but couldn’t be sure. They had been when she’d stripped, but after Hollis had applied the blindfold, she’d heard too many sounds to keep track of everything that had happened in the room. For all she knew, the blinds were open and an audience was seated on bleachers outside the window.

Her nipples perked at the thought. Something else to explore. She’d never been a fan of audiences in the past, but tastes change, and her body definitely liked the idea of others watching her with Hollis.

The door opened and closed again, but Hollis didn’t speak. Rather, Jude hoped it was Hollis. It would be difficult to explain her current position to anyone else. She waited a few moments, straining to hear even the slightest sound. It had to be Hollis. Anyone else would have gasped or yelled or said something. Wouldn’t they?

This was a test, she was sure of it. She wouldn’t blow it by calling out. Hollis would speak when she was ready. Jude started to count. She reached four hundred and twelve before Hollis broke the silence.

“You’re very good.” Hollis’s voice caressed her. “So beautiful, so controlled.”

Jude felt the moment that Hollis stepped near her. Her body recognized her energy and reached out for it.

“You’re back.” Her voice was breathless to the point of embarrassing, but all Jude could focus on was the promise of Hollis’s body so close to her own.

“Did you miss me?”

“Yes.” She didn’t even try to hide her arousal. Hollis dismantled her without even trying. She didn’t mind sharing.

“I brought you a present. Spread your legs.”

Jude stepped out wide, opening herself with the stance. She heard a tinkling noise, like an empty drink glass with only ice left in the bottom. Then she felt it, something so cold it felt like fire being pressed between her lips and up into her cunt.

She gasped and clenched to keep it in place. The sensation of being penetrated and burned flashed through her like a wildfire.

“Okay?” Hollis asked. She played in Jude’s folds, rolling her fingers and knuckles through the wetness. It was the first truly intimate touch since Jude entered her office, and the sensation overwhelmed her.

“Yes.” She forced the answer. Hollis liked her questions to be answered.

“Good girl. Can you hold it there?”

“Yes.” Another stilted answer was all she could manage.

“Excellent.” Hollis moved her fingers to her clit, circling easily to awaken the parts of Jude that threatened to freeze and burn to ash at the same time. “Can you come?”

Come? Jude hadn’t even thought about it. She’d been so focused on controlling the slippery, melting cube inside her that the rising tide of arousal had built without her recognizing it. Her body responded though.

“Yes, please.”

“Whenever you’re ready.” Hollis continued to play with her clit without urgency. Her fingers slipped smoothly through the growing wetness, drawing Jude’s clit out until it was fully exposed and hard.

The careful, steady touch drew Jude higher until finally, blessedly, her orgasm washed over her. Every ounce of control drained from her muscles as she rode her release through to completion. She felt what was left of the ice cube slide out of her as she slumped against Hollis. She didn’t have the strength to stop it.

The bright light from the fluorescents overhead blinded her when Hollis removed the blindfold. She blinked to give her eyes opportunity to adjust.

Hollis smiled at her, a smirking satisfied smile that said she was well pleased with herself. Jude hoped that satisfaction extended to include her.

“Thank you.”

Hollis nodded. “You should get dressed. I’m sure you have homework to finish tonight.”

Jude nodded, too. This part of their relationship was odd to her. As familiar as the actions were, something about Hollis watching her gather herself to leave unnerved her.

As she was about to go, Hollis stopped her at the door. She placed a simple, chaste kiss against Jude’s cheek and said, “Thank you. I enjoyed tonight.”

Jude nodded once more and stepped out the door, unsure exactly which part Hollis had enjoyed.

Sweat rolled down Jude’s back and saturated the waistband of her federal-issue gym shorts. Her heart pounded as she gulped air. She’d been warned. Squad mates who’d previously attended the FBI anti-terrorism training session had told her it wouldn’t be all book learning. They hadn’t, however, prepared her for the sadistic instructor whose singular goal was to make Jude’s lungs bleed. She’d been there for just over a week, and Hollis seemed to enjoy making her suffer during class almost as much as after hours in her office.

Seven miles, for fuck’s sake. When she chased perps, which wasn’t very often, they ran for a block or two. Half a mile, tops. They didn’t race full out through the woods, over trees, splashing through streams for seven fucking miles. She was here to learn how to catch terrorists, not rabbits.

For now, though, she’d settle for catching her breath.

“Move it, people.” Hollis smiled. “Get a drink of water and let’s go. The American people don’t want to waste their tax dollars paying you to breathe.”

Jude pictured Hollis in a leather corset snapping a whip at their heels. It wasn’t an entirely unpleasant image, even if the timing was crap. Forget the fact that they were surrounded by Jude’s classmates. The brutal, slipping-toward-middle-age truth was she was too damn tired to enjoy the fantasy.

“You’re staring again.” Reeva handed her a cup of water and collapsed on the grass next to her. “And you have a little drool right there.” She pointed at Jude’s chin.

Jude swiped her hand over her mouth and chin just in case Reeva wasn’t kidding.

“Thanks.” She took a long drink, then poured the rest over her head. If the ice-cold water didn’t cool her down, nothing would.

“Show of hands, people.” Special Agent Hollis dangled a pair of handcuffs from her finger. “Who here has actually cuffed a perp?”

Jude raised her hand reluctantly. She was probably the only person in the group to have done a lot of things, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be singled out. She had the sinking feeling that, with the admission, she’d volunteered for something.

“Really? Lassiter’s the only one?” Hollis raised a brow and snapped the cuffs through the air to Jude, the chrome winking in the sunlight. “Bring your roommate with you.”

“Great,” Reeva mumbled under her breath as she followed Jude to the front. “I get to be strapped to your work-experience ass.”

A trickle of sweat threatened to fall into Jude’s eyes, and she hiked up her shirt to wipe her brow. The cool breeze against her skin was a revelation. She took her shirt off completely, used it to towel her hair to spikey submission, then tossed it to the side while she waited for directions. She doubted the FBI would approve of her change in wardrobe, but she wasn’t a federal employee so she was willing push it. What was the worst that could happen? Special Agent Hollis would punish her?

Hollis’s gaze lingered on Jude’s abs. The run might have turned her into a sweaty, heaving wreck, but what she lacked in cardiovascular endurance, she more than made up for in muscular definition. She tightened her stomach. If Hollis wanted to stare at her for the remainder of class, Jude was fine with that.

“Lassiter, pretend you’re an agent and cuff her.”

“How ’bout I just
be
a detective and do it anyway.” Jude turned to Reeva without waiting for a response. “Turn around, hands on the back of your head, fingers interlaced.”

Like most people, Reeva did as she was told, and Jude snapped the handcuffs home on one wrist, guided both arms down behind her back, and secured the other side. She spun her around and stood, hand reflexively positioned low on Reeva’s bicep. She didn’t actually think Reeva would try to run away, but you can’t undo almost twenty years of training and practice.

“Good.” Hollis unlocked Reeva. “This time trade positions.”

“Really?” Being restrained wasn’t new to Jude, but she only yielded to those who proved worthy. So far, Reeva hadn’t demonstrated the appropriate amount of strength to make Jude willing to slip into that role.

Hollis regarded Jude, her face placid, almost bored. “Really.”

“Turn around, and put your hands behind you?” Reeva sounded uncertain. Until that point, the prescribed script had been words on a test, and she clearly struggled to get them in the right order.

“Yeah, about that,” Jude took a step back, “I don’t think so.”

“Huh?” Reeva reached for Jude’s wrist and Jude slapped her hand away.

“Not everyone goes down easily.” Jude smiled at Reeva and took another step away. She felt bad for making things harder for her roommate, but not bad enough to acquiesce.

“No, not everyone does.” Hollis spoke from behind her, her lips close to Jude’s ear, her breath hot and teasing against Jude’s neck. “But eventually,
everybody
goes down.”

Before Jude could spin around, Hollis twisted her arm behind her, pressing her fingers high between her shoulder blades, and kicked the back of her knee, forcing her to the ground. Jude landed hard, her face muffled in the grass. “Fuck,” she groaned.

Hollis twisted the arm a little higher and pressed her knee into Jude’s back. The sudden pressure was sharp and wicked. Jude gasped, relishing the aggressive touch. It’d been forever since someone had commanded her attention through brute force, and the sensation was delicious.

The cutting edge of metal bit into Jude’s wrists when Hollis snapped the cuffs in place, cinching them down tighter than any law-enforcement agency allowed. Jude struggled, pushing up against Hollis, knowing she couldn’t get away, but testing her boundaries anyway. Hollis shoved her down roughly, mashing her cheek into the sod. The rich, earthy scent of grass soothed her, a direct counterpoint to the harsh command Hollis issued. “Stay down.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Jude stopped squirming and held her body rigid, the urge to obey too deeply engrained to suppress. She averted her eyes, out of habit rather than need. She hadn’t been able to see more than a glimpse of Hollis since she’d forced her to the ground.

“Good girl.” Hollis rubbed her thumb lightly over the skin just above the handcuffs—a touch too intimate to be unintentional.

Jude remained facedown for the remainder of the training session. By the time Hollis helped her to her feet and removed the cuffs, Jude’s hands were numb and her panties were soaked. She hoped her classmates couldn’t see just how excited the encounter had made her, but she doubted she was hiding it well. And, at that point, she’d have done anything the instructor asked, regardless of the audience.

Hollis held out Jude’s shirt and said, “Wait in my office.”

Jude ached to rub the feeling back into her wrists and hands, work the stiffness out of her back and shoulders. Instead, she took the offered shirt with a curt nod and turned toward the building without a word, leaving Hollis behind to dismiss the other students.

She debated pulling her shirt on as she walked, then opted against it. Since Hollis didn’t specify if she wanted her dressed or not, she ran the chance of being wrong either way, but if the decision were left to Jude, as it apparently was at the moment, she preferred fewer clothes for their meeting, not more.

Just like always, the door to Hollis’s office was unlocked. She folded her shirt and laid it on a wooden chair. Should she remove the rest of her clothing? No, she decided as she dropped to her knees midway between the door and the desk as instructed during her last visit to this office. She faced the door, clasped her hands together behind her back, and settled in to wait for Hollis’s arrival. She kept her gaze focused on the square of carpet directly in front of her. The temptation to explore the office was too great. If she allowed herself to glance around, she’d be up and snooping through the desk in moments. She did not want to be caught in that position.

That was her constant struggle, the balance between detective, the investigator who wanted to know everything, and the submissive, the woman who waited patiently, quietly, to be directed. Hollis, she was sure, would not appreciate her blurring the line between the two parts of herself by rummaging through her belongings.

When she heard the soft
rattle-click
of someone turning the knob, it could have been minutes or hours later. She’d learned long ago to surrender to the moment, allowing time to flow around her without trying to capture it or gauge the duration. She straightened her posture, wanting to impress Hollis.

“I see you’re
capable
of obedience.” Hollis skimmed one finger over Jude’s shoulders and up, teasing the surface of her hair without coming close enough to actually touch it. Without warning, she gripped a handful of Jude’s short locks and forced her head back, demanding eye contact.

Jude didn’t respond. Speaking without permission was dangerous. Not that she minded pushing buttons, but she just liked to know the results before jumping in. Until she learned Hollis’s proclivities, she would err on the side of caution.

“You can speak.”

“Thank you.” Jude tried to avert her gaze again, and Hollis gave a sharp tug on her hair. Jude wouldn’t need a third lesson. Hollis liked to be watched.

Hollis released her hair. “Stand.”

Jude rose fluidly, her movements graceful in spite of not moving for so long, first facedown on the field, then kneeling here on the carpet. She’d spent hours alone practicing how to move from feet to knees and back again. She wanted to be beautiful, and she’d been told many times that her efforts had paid off.

Hollis circled behind Jude, easing her nails beneath the edge of Jude’s sports bra. She snapped the elastic across her back and said, “Strip.”

As Jude removed her remaining articles of clothing and folded them carefully, her anticipation grew. Their last meeting had been filled with details, discussing the details, the rules, without any actual engagement. As good as she was at kneeling for long periods of time, waiting went against her nature. She wasn’t a patient woman and all the delays, the denial, made her antsy. It also heightened her pleasure, so she’d learned to wait when directed.

Hollis pulled several items out of her filing cabinet and placed them on her desk in a line. A sleek wooden hairbrush, teak perhaps; a set of clamp-style paperclips; a manila folder; and a child’s school ruler, wooden with a metal edge.

“Stand two steps from the desk, eyes on me. Bend at the waist and grasp the edge.”

Jude followed the directions precisely, measuring out two steps before moving into position. She kept her head up, unsure if she should maintain eye contact or follow Hollis’s hands as they worked to remove the metal strip from the side edge of the ruler. The steady, sure movements of her hands won out, as Jude found herself captivated, imagining the sting of the wood against her backside.

When Hollis finished removing the thin line of metal, she returned it to the desk and selected the manila folder next. She relaxed, sinking into her chair as she read, “Jude May Lassiter, homicide detective, North Precinct Portland, Oregon. Shot twice in the line of duty.” Hollis looked up, her eyes searching Jude’s body for evidence to support the information in the file. Her gaze lingered on the rough scar on Jude’s shoulder, then continued the search of her body. She wouldn’t find the one just below Jude’s left breast as long as she remained angled over the desk. “Decorated as a hero for stopping a robbery in progress, and a second time for safely negotiating the release of a family taken hostage in their own home.” She stopped reading, waiting for Jude to fill in the details.

Jude held her gaze but didn’t speak. That day had been a horrible, crazy mix-up of luck and coincidence. The only reason she was here instead of dead was because the man’s pistol jammed and she was able to tackle him before he cleared the chamber. The barrel had been pointed straight at her chest—covered in patrol-officer blue—when he pulled the trigger. At such close proximity, it would have done more than leave another scar to be catalogued in a file.

She’d been promoted to detective a week later. Her second promotion to detective investigator came after she brought in a serial rapist who had terrorized the St. John’s area for months. After that she requested the transfer to Homicide, where the victims didn’t cry when she found them.

Nothing in their exchange so far permitted Hollis to hear Jude’s accounting of that part of her life, and if she continued to stare at Jude, entitlement and demand on her face, Jude would end the scene and leave. She wanted to get laid, not head fucked.

Jude eased her grip on the desk, already mentally removing herself from the room. As she was about to straighten and retrieve her clothing, Hollis finally spoke.

“Everything in here reads like a chief’s wet dream.” Hollis closed the file and set it next to the ruler, then picked up the metal clips. “So why are you down here being such a pain in the ass for me?”

“I…” Jude flexed her fingers, her muscles aching as she renewed her grasp. What could she say in her own defense? What would be good enough? “I’m sorry.” She lowered her gaze, unable to keep her eyes forward during the apology. It wouldn’t be enough for Hollis, she was sure, but it was the best she could offer.

“You’re sorry?” Hollis was on her feet and by Jude’s side quick enough to make Jude flinch. “You disrupt my class, embarrass your classmate, and that’s all you have to say for yourself?” She spoke low and harsh in Jude’s ear, her hand bouncing the metal clips up, just barely losing contact, then grasping them tight, her fingers loose and steady. Over and over. The rhythmic clicking lulled Jude.

“Umm…” Jude wanted to speak eloquently, to defend herself. All she could do was watch the flash of metal between Hollis’s fingers.

Hollis leaned closer, her lips brushing against Jude’s neck, just below her ear. “Sorry isn’t enough. There are consequences for that type of behavior in my classroom.” She sucked Jude’s earlobe between her teeth and bit down hard.

Hollis pressed her fingertips against her shoulder, forcing her upright. She kissed and sucked her way down Jude’s chest, taking first one nipple into her mouth, a barely there open-mouthed kiss, then moving to the other. “Your breasts are remarkable.” As she spoke, she gripped both nipples between her thumbs and forefingers and squeezed.