and the time stretched ahead even longer than before. Now she understood what the guard meant — there wasn’t a damned thing to do here but rest. And whatever rich, merry criminals did when they held evening parties.
She flopped back on the bed and let her mind drift to Blaze. What was he doing right now? Raging, wanting to tear apart the countryside looking for her, no doubt, but he couldn’t do a thing until SHADO located this place.
Closing her eyes, she recalled the last time he’d made love to her. How hesitant she’d been and how he’d pushed past her barriers like always, cutting through them as though they were tissue paper. The man was one hundred percent raw alpha, knowing no sexual boundaries, with very little on his taboo list. It scared her some, but did she really want to change anything about him?
Unbidden, the image came to her. The woman on her knees, his cock sliding down her pretty throat, the other Dom fucking her from behind. The ecstasy on Blaze’s handsome face…
Unzipping her pants, she parted her legs and pushed a hand inside, brushing her throbbing clit. “Oh, God.” Her pussy was so wet and hot, needing. That one moment, etched into her brain, had changed her whole world despite her attempt to fight it. Wasn’t it wrong to be turned on by watching your man dominate another woman?
Rubbing her nub with slow strokes, she envisioned the scene with herself included. On her knees servicing Blaze’s hot Dom friend while the other sub did the same to Emma’s man. Both of them deep-throating the hard, silken rods, faces buried in their groins. Being owned.
Emma’s desire spiked, and she arched her hips to plunge a finger into her channel — just as the lock scraped in the door. She barely had time to jerk her hand from her pants as it opened and a guard, a different one, stepped inside, closing it behind him and arching a dark brow.
Busted. Her face flamed and she scrambled for something to say, but her mind blanked as she studied the newcomer. This man was older, maybe a couple of years younger than Blaze, thirty or so. His rich chocolate brown hair matched his eyes and was pulled back into a ponytail. His shoulders were broad and muscular, his black T-shirt clinging to his chest and washboard abs. The shirt was tucked into his fatigues, which hugged his long thighs and cupped his sex invitingly. For a long moment, she stared at him, wishing this man wasn’t her enemy. What a waste.
“I’ve brought your clothes for tonight,” he said in a smooth whiskey voice, placing a shopping sack on the dresser. His sexy lips curved upward. “I was going to ask whether you needed anything, but it looks like you found it.”
She pushed up to a sitting position and yanked her shirt down to cover her open pants. Jesus, how embarrassing. “I’m good, thanks. Unless you’ve got a cell phone I could use to call my boss so he can rush right over and ram his boot up your collective asses.”
“Ouch, that doesn’t sound like fun. I’ll have to pass.” He gave her a heart-stopping smile that warmed his eyes. And made him appear to be something more than a disgusting antigovernment militant freak. In fact, he looked downright charming.
People had said that about Ted Bundy, too.
She waved a hand at the sack. “What kind of party is this? Your boss wasn’t very forthcoming about the particulars, and I don’t like surprises.”
Moving a few steps closer, he crossed his arms over his chest and stood with his boots braced apart. “Well, Miss Foster, your day seems to be full of them with more on the way. I’m not supposed to tell you anything, but if you take a peek in the sack I believe that will answer your question.”
“Why are you being so nice?”
“Why shouldn’t I be?”
“You work for Dietz, and he’s a traitorous, murdering bastard. Apples and trees, as they say.”
“If you want your curiosity satisfied, look in the sack. It’s not complicated.”
Suspicious, she rose and walked over to the dresser. With a glance at him to make sure he hadn’t moved, she pulled apart the handles of the sack and saw a bundle of black clothing. On top rested a pair of slip-on high-heeled shoes. Really high. Grimacing, she lifted them out and held them up. “I’ll never be able to walk in these without getting a nosebleed. Couldn’t he have sent a nice pair of flats?”
“He likes for the women who attend his parties to dress in a certain style. High heels are his thing.” The man shrugged.
“Great,” she muttered, setting the shoes on the dresser. Next, she fished out a pair of black pants. They were loose, palazzo-style, very elegant — something she’d be thrilled to have occasion to wear if circumstances were different. She laid them out on the bed and returned to the sack, lifted out the long-sleeved blouse… and gaped in astonishment. “Where’s the rest of this?”
“That’s all there is, sorry.”
“You can’t be serious!” She shook the offending garment at him, incensed. “This is completely see-through! I need a top to wear under this or my bra’s going to show.”
The sympathy in his eyes seemed real as he replied. “You won’t be wearing a bra. Or panties, either.”
She blinked at him as though he’d spoken another language. “What?”
“Dietz’s orders. All of his women—”
“I am
“If it’s any consolation, I’m your escort for the evening,” he said softly, his liquid gaze sweeping her from head to toe in appreciation. “He’ll be so busy that he won’t bother you tonight except to keep an eye on your whereabouts.”
“This is supposed to comfort me? I’m going to be basically half naked in a roomful of strangers doing God- knows-what,” she said hoarsely.
“Yes. But I promise to keep everyone else away from you, make your evening — and the duration of your stay — as pleasurable as possible.”
Emma’s nipples tightened under his heated regard. There was no mistaking his meaning, or how the tone of honesty rang true in his voice. Suddenly, the double edge of his words “the duration of your stay” hit her square in the chest, and she knew what he was trying to say.
This man was an undercover agent. Not from SHADO, but from some other organization. Maybe a Fed. She wasn’t alone, and her relief was overwhelming.
“I see,” she said with a nod, but didn’t elaborate. He nodded back. They both knew Dietz could be monitoring her room, and blowing his cover would be fatal for them both. “May I have your first name, at least? Since you’re going to be my date and all.” “J.C.”
“J.C.”
“You can call me Emma.”
“Until tonight, gorgeous Emma.” He flashed her a smile and turned to go, locking the door behind him.
She lowered herself to the bed with a shaky sigh, mind whirling. Unsatisfied arousal thrummed through her body, made worse by the circumstances surrounding tonight’s command performance. The combination of danger and eroticism was a heady aphrodisiac. Not to mention the fact that her escort was a mouthwatering stick of manly candy, and one of the good guys to boot.
She wanted J.C. It was purely selfish, completely intoxicating. Would it be wrong to indulge? Would Blaze be angry, or would he understand?
Well, he might have to eat those words with a knife and fork, since he was the one who’d put all these adventurous new ideas in her head.
Grabbing a pillow, she squashed it over her face and tried to drown out her surroundings and the dilemma of this evening.
Just for a little while.
