led her down the hallway. “This is a full service hotel.”
Drinks led to lobster and salad on the dining room terrace. He learned the beautiful woman was Anna, a gallery owner from St. Louis. He pretended to be Alex, an attorney from Fort Lauderdale. They passed the evening discussing art and books and travel. They discovered a mutual love of William Faulkner and Lyle Lovett. She told him she recently ended her engagement to a dentist she’d dated since her freshman year at Columbia. He told her he’d never been married. They finished their bottle of Pinot Grigio with the chocolate mousse. By the time Irish coffee was served they both knew her room would be their next stop.
Gordon was enjoying the buzz, naked in her queen-sized bed, reflecting on his amazing ability to get what he wanted. Yes, sir, he thought. Things are going to turn out just fine. He grinned as he stretched against the cool white cotton sheets and waited for Anna to join him. She stepped out of the bathroom, ambled across the room, and dimmed the lights. Gordon reminded himself to breathe. She wore a floor length black gown, gossamer sheer, with wisps of lace masquerading as thong and bra. Her hair tumbled free. She crossed to the foot of the bed and stood, letting him examine her.
“Come here.” He patted a spot beside him.
“Hush.” Anna began to sway. “It’s been a long time since the dentist.” She ran her right hand slowly from her shoulder to her hip. “Do you mind if I play a bit?”
Gordon felt his erection growing as he stared. He swallowed hard and tried to find his voice. “Baby, you do what you gotta do.”
Anna moved to unheard music. Gordon imagined a gentle samba. He pulled himself up and sat against the headboard, not wanting to miss a minute of her show. He’d play Alex from Fort Lauderdale more often if it got him this kind of action.
The wholesomeness of Anna’s earlier smile was replaced with a mouthy pout of pure seduction. Her hands traced slow circles around her barely covered breasts. “You like to watch?”
Gordon pulled the sheet back. “Take a look at this,” he said. “What do you think?”
Anna tossed her head back and smiled. “I think I feel naughty tonight. Can handle me?”
Gordon thought if his luck got any better he’d start pissing solid gold. He wrapped a hand around the shaft of his penis. “Baby, I think the question is can you handle this? Now come here.”
Anna gave a little giggle. “Not just yet.” She crossed to the bureau and pulled four long strips of red silk from her overnight case. “Watch me, Alex,” she whispered. “Watch what I can do.”
Anna glided toward him and used the silk strips as partners in her dance. Gordon was mesmerized. His erotic ballerina teased the ribbons across her body as she floated closer to the bed. She bent one perfect leg and leaned next to him. He reached for her but she turned just outside his grasp. With a smile part promise, part dare, she tied a ribbon around his left wrist, ran it through her fingers, and secured the opposite end to the wooden slat of the headboard.
“So it’s going to be like this, is it?” Gordon scooted to a full sitting position. “I’m to be your slave?”
Anna strolled around to his right side, never taking her glorious green eyes off him. “You’ll be totally at my mercy,” she teased as she secured his right arm to the headboard.
“Mmm, I like the sound of that. Will you be gentle with me?” Gordon watched as Anna tickled his feet with the remaining two ribbons before tying his ankles to the bedstead. She stepped back to examine her handiwork.
“You like to be the boss, huh?” Gordon whispered. “Remember, fair’s fair. My turn next.”
Anna stopped her carnal dance. She stood at the foot of the bed appraising her captive. The sexy tease that glowed from her eyes hardened into a calculated stare.
“Hey, just play, right? I’m not into that S and M stuff.”
Anna stood silent. Gordon tugged with his right arm, then his left. Realizing his effort was rewarded by a tightening of the silk, he felt a small quake of fear and flexed his legs. The knots pulled tight around his ankles. Anna reached forward and snapped the sheet off the bed with one powerful stroke.
“Okay, baby. Game’s over. Untie me now.” Gordon’s attempt at authority fell as flat as his disappearing erection. He jerked and pulled, flailed and kicked, cursed and spat. Anna stood mute, watching Gordon exhaust himself. In less than five minutes he was spent. A gasping naked specimen mounted to her display board. She slowly shook her head.
“I would have expected more fight from you, Gordon.”
His throat tightened. “What did you call me?”
Anna crossed to the suite’s window. She drank in the moonlight glistening across the water before she turned to sit in the rattan rocker. “Everyone knows you, Gordon. The Wizard of Wall Street.” She huffed out a small laugh. “You’ve been in all the papers.”
Gordon moved to wipe the bead of sweat rolling down his cheek only to be reminded of his vulnerable position. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“I’m someone people hire when they need something fixed.” Her posture and tone lent an authority more appropriate to a power suit than a negligee.
“Hired? You a hooker? Is that what this is? Setting me up with pictures for tomorrow’s front page?” Gordon craned his head around the room, looking for a photographer. He wished he had the sheet back. Or his erection. If he was going to be plastered across the web at least he could cast a long shadow.
Anna shook her head. A weary teacher impatient with her witless pupil. “I need you to listen to me, Gordon. Listen very carefully.”
“No. You listen to me, you cunt. Cut me loose, tell me who hired you, and maybe I won’t call the cops. How’s that?”
“You’re going to die tonight, Gordon.” Anna’s voice held as much emotion as telling him the time.
“Untie me now, Anna. Or whoever the fuck you are.”
“I said you’re going to die tonight, Gordon. And you have a choice. You can listen so you understand the particulars of your death sentence, or you can go to your grave as ignorant as you are arrogant.”
Gordon stopped protesting. He felt his tongue swell. It was hard to breathe. Everything about the beautiful Anna: her tone, her words, the way she held her body, convinced him she meant what she said. He tasted the bitter metallic undertones of terror.
He shivered, wishing he could free his arms and legs enough to curl up for warmth. “I have money. More than anyone knows. Name your price.”
“I have my price, Gordon. Your wife made the deposit yesterday.” Anna rose, crossed back to her overnight case, and pulled out another long ribbon. This one black. She sat on the bed’s edge, weaving the black silk dreamily through perfectly manicured hands.
Gordon was sweating now, chills replaced by hot flashes of fear. “Celeste sent you? Why?”
The Fixer responded with a satisfied smile. “Now, Gordon. You really don’t see how this is necessary? How dying is the only way to fix things?”
“But I am fixing things, damn it.” Gordon struggled to stay in a sitting position. His arms ached and his back muscles screamed. “That’s why I came down here, to think things through. Come up with a plan. I know she’s pissed at me. But I’m on it. There’s no reason for this.”
“Ah, but there’s every reason, Gordon. Celeste knows how clever you are. She’s had years of experience watching you spin your deceit and wiggle out of responsibility every time. You even convinced her the women you screwed so often and so openly were because she wasn’t woman enough for you.” The Fixer tossed her strawberry blonde hair behind her shoulders. “She doesn’t think that any more, Gordon.”
“Please,” he whispered. “Please don’t do this.”
“Seven are dead, Gordon. Five suicides from people who lost everything when they trusted you. One man shot his wife and twenty-three year old Down Syndrome daughter before turning the gun on himself. He invested the money that was supposed to take care of his little girl after they died with you. And you put it straight into your own pocket.”
“I can’t be held accountable for their weakness.” Gordon still hoped someone would believe that. “Investments come with risks. Everybody knows that.”
“But you never had investments, Gordon. You had schemes. Clever complicated schemes with no other
