White Collared Part Two: Greed (3 page)

“Either Jaxon or I will take you,” Nick said, releasing her hand.

“I shouldn’t have told you,” she mumbled.

“Do you have a gun?” Nick asked.

She shivered. “No. I don’t like guns.”

Jaxon’s gaze burned into her. What was he thinking?

“Too bad. You’re getting one,” Nick said. “I’ll take you to the range to learn how to use it.”

She almost laughed but held it inside. “I didn’t say I don’t know how to use a gun. I said I don’t like them.”

Her daddy had put a gun in her hands and had taught her to shoot at five years old. She’d started with a BB gun and worked her way up to a rifle by the time she was eight. Won every Junior NRA event she’d entered. Her father had called her skill for making the perfect shot a “gift” because she never missed.

Damned gift turned out to be a curse.

She hadn’t picked up a gun in ten years.

Nick squeezed her hand. “Humor us. Keep it in your nightstand. That way if someone breaks into your apartment, you’ll have it with you. Unless you’d rather stay with—”

“No,” she interrupted. “I’m good. I’ll take the gun.”

She’d take a gun she’d never need over spending the night with Nick or Jaxon. She clearly couldn’t survive the temptation of either man.

Nick nodded solemnly. “I’ll get it to you by tomorrow.” He angled his body toward Jaxon and said, “Detective Lawrence called yesterday. They’d like another interview with you. I refused on your behalf.”

Jaxon played with his wedding band. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”

“That’s not the point. The more information you provide, the more they can use it against you to build their case. The Organization Against Domestic Violence has planned a march at the capital in Lansing for tomorrow. They’re using your case as an example of how society has become complacent when it comes to violence against women. District Attorney Candidate Mason Ford will be there giving a speech and forcing DA Savage’s hand. I’m meeting with a lobbyist to help counter their argument. We’ll prepare a package of educational materials on BDSM and send it to the media. While you two are at Benediction tonight, I’ll be on Channel Three as a panelist on the
Let Them Have It
program.”

Kate was impressed. The show’s host invited panelists to discuss the hot issue of the week. It usually ended with five intelligent individuals yelling at the top of their lungs, but it was the highest-rated nightly news show in Detroit.

“Are you coming with me to negotiate the terms of the funeral?” Nick asked her.

Jaxon picked up her briefcase. “Kate and I need to go over some of the protocol for this evening. I’ll take her home.”

Alone with Jaxon? Her pulse ratcheted up to supersonic speed. Didn’t they cover everything in his playroom? Or did he want to discuss last night?

Nick leaned closer to her. “Good luck tonight. If you need anything, and I do mean anything, you call me. Don’t keep secrets. I’ll pick you up in the morning, and we’ll meet Jaxon at nine at the firm to go over what you learned at Benediction.”

His head dipped toward her and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her right there in the courtroom, in front of Jaxon and everyone else.

He didn’t.

“Stay safe,” he whispered before joining Carol Patterson for negotiations.

Jaxon watched Nick walk away before turning to glare at her. Caught in his web, she was unable to look away from him as all the memories of last night crashed into her like a tidal wave.

Stay safe?

She had no doubt Jaxon would protect her from any physical danger.

But who would guard her heart?

Chapter Four

F
OR HER SAFETY,
Jaxon insisted on accompanying her up to her apartment, and, without an invitation, he followed her inside.

She locked the door and then turned, bumping into a solid wall of muscle.

The apartment seemed to shrink to the size of a closet. Jaxon stood as still as an opossum playing dead. Every rise of his chest drew her closer and closer until she could no longer identify where she began and he ended. Pressing against her, the bulge in his pants jerked as it elongated from arousal.

What was she doing? She slapped her hands on his chest and pushed. She couldn’t go down this road with him again.

But when he peered down at her with those dilated pupils and hooded eyes, as if he were picturing making a meal out of her pussy, she could almost convince herself it would be worth it.

She darted to the kitchen. “Want a donut?”

“No, thanks.” He followed her. “Kate, I’m sorry about last night.”

She didn’t look at him. Just stayed in motion. “You don’t have to apologize. You were right. It was a mistake. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get some work done before tonight. You know the way out.”

“I meant what I said.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Which part? The part about you never getting enough of my pussy or the part where you said I fucking had you?”

The sides of his lips twitched. “The part about going over the protocol for Benediction.”

Heat flamed her cheeks. “Oh.”

Taking her wrist, he steered her to the empty space behind the couch. “I’m going to teach you how to kneel. For the purpose of instruction, I’ll refer to Dominants as masculine and the sub as feminine, but it’s far more common to see the opposite at Benediction.”

“I’d read that in my research, but I find it hard to believe.” His touch scorched her skin. Was he even aware that he was stroking the inside of her wrist with his thumb?

He smiled. “Men, especially those in high-powered, high-pressure careers, use BDSM as a means to release stress by relinquishing control to another for a time. That’s why the public’s misconceptions about BDSM are absurd. Would you ever call the President of the United States submissive? Of course not. He’s one of the most powerful men in the world, but in the bedroom, it’s far more likely for a man like that to hand over the power to his partner. And if she flogged him? Would you call the First Lady an abuser?”

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Great. Now I’ve got the image of the First Lady leading the President by a leash. I’ll never view them the same again.”

Wouldn’t owning a venture capitalist firm be considered a high-powered career? If so, why would Jax choose to be a Dom? And if Alyssa enjoyed pain, did that mean he was a sadist? All these labels and boundaries confused the hell out of her.

His finger drew circle eights on her wrist, and he inched closer, grazing her breasts with the hard planes of his abdomen. “I’m not saying he
is
a sexual submissive. Just that it’s far more common than people realize. Politicians, attorneys, doctors, police officers.”

His proximity was ramping up her arousal and sending mixed signals to her traitorous body. It obviously didn’t care that Jaxon had rejected her. It still wanted him.

She
still wanted him.

In a rich, deep tone she’d come to recognize as his Dom voice, he said, “Now, there are several different slave positions, each with their own meaning and benefits. I’m not going to bother with the punishment poses since you’ll be limited to playing scenes solely with me, and you need to worry only about the ones that I prefer. The first is the display pose. Get down to your knees.”

She took a deep breath, reminding herself that this wasn’t real, and sank to her knees.

He pressed his hand on the middle of her spine. “Back straight. Spread your legs as wide as your shoulders.”

She complied, feeling a bit like she was doing yoga. Except yoga had never turned her on like this. Every command out of his mouth made her a little wetter.

“Good,” he said, stepping in front of her to observe. “Palms up on your thighs.” He smiled. “Beautiful. If you were naked, your pussy would be on display for me, and you wouldn’t be able to hide your arousal.”

The glint in his eyes told her his statement was more than hypothetical. He knew exactly what this was doing to her. “I . . . uh . . . what about my gaze, Jax?”

“Straight ahead. If I’m in your line of sight, I prefer you keep your gaze on me unless I state otherwise. At the club, you’ll observe several subs and slaves keeping their heads lowered in respect to their Master. To be safe, avoid looking any Dominant in the eyes.”

He stared at her for what seemed like forever and then circled to stand behind her again. “Next we have a variation of the pose you’re in. Rest your weight on your heels and arch your back slightly. Clasp your hands behind your back.”

Her nipples peaked against her camisole, and her core began to throb in a steady beat. If she didn’t come soon, she’d have to excuse herself to the privacy of her shower to take care of the matter.

“Lovely,” he whispered before resuming his Dom voice. “The last one is the offer pose.” He returned his hand to her back and pushed. “Bend forward and stretch yourself out with your wrists crossed. Thighs at a forty-five degree angle.”

Her heart couldn’t take another minute of this and neither could her pussy. She propelled herself to her feet. “I think we’re done for today. Thank you for training me on the poses, but it’s probably best we don’t spend any time alone together other than when we’re at Benediction. I know Nick wanted you to play chauffeur for me, but it’s not necessary. He overreacted because I’m his intern and he cares about—”

He shoved her against the back of the couch, the bulge of his erection prodding her butt. “He said he spent the night. Did you fuck him?”

Liquid heat pooled between her thighs. Curious how he’d respond, she decided to spur his ire. “What do you care? Last night you practically had one foot out the door before I’d finished coming.”

He yanked her hands behind her and pressed closer, imprisoning her. Her breath caught in her throat from the shock of his rough treatment.

Demonstrating his strength, he gripped both of her wrists with one of his large hands. The other slid under her tank and up her abdomen, between her tingling breasts, and up to her neck. He wasn’t gentle as he twisted her by the chin to look at him. “I still feel your hot pussy clenching around my cock. Smell your honey on my fingers. Not twelve hours ago, I was deep inside you. Do you know what that means?”

“Yes. I know what that means,” she said breathlessly. “Nothing. It means nothing.”

His lips curled into a snarl. “It means you belong to me. I won’t share you, Katerina.”

With Jax at her back, she didn’t know what she felt for Nick. She only knew she’d go insane if he didn’t fuck her soon.

She bucked against his hold in a half-hearted attempt for release. “I’m not a possession, a little doll you take off the shelf to play with when you get horny and then reshelf and forget when you’ve had your fill.”

He laughed and bit her earlobe, tugging on it until she cried out. “I’ll never have my fill of you. Before last night, I’d been celibate for eighteen months. I tried to be gentle with you because you deserve to be treated like the fragile doll you are. I don’t want to break you, Katerina. I thought I could be someone else for you, but it’s not in my nature anymore. That’s why I left.”

Her body turned to rubber, pliant under his hands. “And now?”

“I can’t stay away. Since you walked into the interrogation room at the police station, I’ve wanted to make you mine. My wife’s blood was still on my hands, and I was fantasizing about cuffing you to the goddamn table and fucking you then and there. Is that the kind of monster you want?”

Unlike her, he’d never taken a life. Jax didn’t know he held a real monster in his arms.

“You’re not a monster, and I’m not made of glass. You won’t break me,” she asserted, although she wasn’t as sure about her heart. “Touch me the way you want. Show me what it’s like to belong to you.”

He kicked her legs farther apart. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

She tilted her head back to rest on his chest. “I know how safe I feel when I’m in your arms, and I trust you to honor my limits. But if you’re going to change your mind again or call me a mistake, you need to walk away now. Just because I don’t shed tears doesn’t mean I’m not crying inside.”

Digging deep, she found the courage to admit the truth and laid her heart at his feet. “You leaving like that last night hurt me. I’d busted in on my best friend fucking my boyfriend and received a threatening phone call, but neither one of those things pierced my heart like you did when you walked out my door. I’m tough, Jax. I can hold my own in a fight, walk in a straight line after drinking half a fifth of gin, and fix the engine of my Harley, but damn it, I don’t think I can protect my heart from you. So I’m adding a hard limit. No changing your mind tomorrow based on some martyr complex in an effort to protect me.”

She twisted to look him in the eyes. “You asked me if I’d been touched by violence. Yeah, I have. But it’s not the violence that haunts me. It’s what happens after.”

Chapter Five

H
OLDING HER BREATH,
she closed her eyes and waited for his response. Would he accept the new hard limit?

Warm lips feathered across her mouth. “Remember your safe word?”

She met his gaze. “Gunshot or red.”

He slid his fingers into her hair close to her scalp and pulled, yanking her head back to expose her jugular. In an animalistic display of his dominance, his other hand remained wrapped around the front of her neck. He could crush her throat or squeeze it to cut off her air supply. She couldn’t fight back. He had total control.

Like the last puzzle piece locking into place, the credo “safe, sane, consensual” now made complete sense to her.
This
was BDSM. A mutual exchange of power based on trust. In handing her will over to Jax, she had to trust him to keep her safe. And she did. She trusted him with her body.

She surrendered.

A warm, floating feeling enveloped her. All her muscles relaxed, and she breathed easy.

“Good girl,” he whispered in her ear.

While normally she’d give a man hell for calling her a girl, she preened under his compliment.

Applying firm pressure to her neck, he directed her through the living room, down the hall, and into her bedroom. Before this moment, she’d thought wearing a collar and being led by a leash was degrading, but now she understood its appeal. It was more than a sign of ownership or submission. A leash would substantiate the invisible line tying her to Jax. He moved and she automatically followed.