Chapter Two
Jake woke, disoriented, his neck and head hurting like hell. He shook his head to clear it and looked up at the ceiling, then lifted his head, his spy senses on full alert. Tia stood before him, leaning against the wall, her black hair cascading over her shoulders in loose curls. Her long fingers paged through a magazine, which was a strange contrast to how she was dressed.
She had stripped down to a bra, panties, and black thigh-high stockings. So beautiful, those long legs, that creamy few inches of bare skin between her stockings and panties calling to him like a siren’s song. The bra and panties were black, gauzy things that revealed as much as they hid. Her firm breasts thrust forward as she drew in a deep sigh, the nipples pert, ready for his mouth or clamps.
He went to say something and realized he couldn’t. His mouth wouldn’t open. What the hell? He then tried to move his arm to see to whatever was wrong with his mouth and realized she had him bound to her bed and gagged—probably tape. He hated tape. He wished she’d thought ahead and used a ball gag instead. Not that he’d ever tried one. He usually did the gagging. The binding.
He wiggled his wrists—more tape. No way was he escaping this easily. But did he want to?
He glanced down. A cool breeze over his thighs told him he was naked, and a test of one foot revealed she’d bound his legs, too. He broke out into a cold sweat. The idea of being made to submit scared the hell out of him but also excited his wildest dark side. His cock went from flaccid to semi-hard in a nanosecond, and it would just be moments before she had him fully aroused. She had said he would regret what she had planned. He’d soon find out if he did or if he wanted more. Right now, he wanted every twisted thing she had to give him.
“Ah, you’re awake.” Tia tossed the magazine on the desk next to her. “We have unfinished business.” She ran her finger up the bottom of his foot. It tickled and he jumped. “I didn’t realize you were ticklish, Jake.”
Neither did he. She strutted like a cat, slow, ready to pounce, stopping at his hip. Her smile was slow, calculating. Then she wet her bottom lip with her tongue, so subconsciously seductive. His cock jumped. “I see this excites you. I know it’s not your style, the Dom that you are. I told you that you’d regret what I had planned. And there’s a reason for it.”
He didn’t want a reason. He wanted her to fuck him. Now. He was more than ready. She ran her finger along the length of his thigh, and his leg trembled. She stopped at the edge of his groin, her fingers just shy of his dick. He willed that hand closer. To grab him. Stroke him.
“Offering me two orgasms isn’t enough, not when you failed to give me an orgasm most times we played. You did give me more than most men, though.”
He shook his head. That wasn’t right—she’d come several times. He didn’t leave his women begging, unless work called, and she was the only one who had suffered that fate. But then he thought back and remembered that he had questioned her response—it hadn’t seemed right. But she said she had come, so he believed her. Obviously, she was a hell of a liar. A plus in this career.
“Yes, I came for you occasionally, but never a proper orgasm. One with you inside me, not just your hands or your tongue. I want to come around your cock. I’ve never been able to do that, and I was so close when you left me last month. I want it badly, as you can see.”
Well, that wasn’t right. Jake struggled a bit, trying to get her attention. He was more than game to give her a proper orgasm. She needed to set him free. Let him use his hands, his tongue to heighten the sensation. Then he’d fuck her until America could hear her shout with ecstasy. But she had lied…did she fake them? If so, she was getting a paddling. He expected honesty in bed. It was the only place he could somewhat afford it and not fear dying.
“I know what you’re thinking. You see, I fake an orgasm very convincingly. If I know it’s going nowhere, why bother making the man feel less than he is? And you are one of the hottest catches in D.C. I had to fake it.” Her hand ran up his abs, over the defined muscles, her fingers like fire that branded him, making her mark along every dip in his body. Then she leaned in and kissed his stomach, right above his navel. He closed his eyes against the shock of her lips on quivering muscles.
“I know you want to help. But you see, I don’t think you can. I think I need to push the boundaries a bit for it to happen. I’m a switch, you know. I prefer to be submissive, but I’ll go Domme if I have to.” She ran her finger along his jaw and then traced them over his lips, her touch electrifying through the tape. Her brown eyes glittered in the dim candlelight. “You are the first who’s brought me close. So, so close. That last time, when you bound me, I would have come, if you had taken the time to finish.”
He moaned against his tape in protest. Damn it, he had wanted to finish. But he hadn’t wanted to work courier duties for the rest of his life as punishment. More importantly, the situation was dire. Chase didn’t nine-one-one him to the airport unless he was desperate to get Jake in the air.
Tia trailed a blood red fingernail down his chest. She leaned in, smelling of flowers and woman, and her hot tongue lapped his nipple. The touch was electrifying. He moaned again as she drew in his small, tight peak and sucked, the pleasure growing to a fire that spread to his loins. His dick bobbed, thickening, beckoning to her lips.
“Oh, someone likes that. I don’t have any clamps, or I’d give it a try, to see if you like the sweet pain I enjoy under your touch.” She ran two fingers over his abs, stopping short a breath away from the base of his throbbing shaft. “Your cock is magnificent, Jake. Long, thick. But it’s the man behind the cock that makes a woman come. I know you have the skills. You’re a legend at the club.”
He didn’t agree with the legend part, but skills he definitely had. Right now, he would gladly die trying to make her come.
She planted more kisses, each one hotter, wetter than the last as she worked her way down until he arched off the bed, needing her mouth on his dick. But Tia didn’t do that. Giving head was the one thing she negotiated out of every time they played. He’d been fine with it, but today he needed her sweet, red mouth to suck him. He deserved it.
She laughed softly at his eagerness and stood, her hand still only a breath from girthing his shaft, pumping him. He could almost feel her touch, how her soft hand would hold him, stroke the hard length. “I couldn’t let word get out that I was a frigid bitch for not coming properly. I don’t think I could survive that.”
Jake would never tell.
“Ah, you’re so hard now. What a naughty boy you are. You must be thinking of all the delicious things I want to do to you.” She kicked off her shoes, climbed on the bed, and straddled him so her ass was inches from his face.
The panties she wore were sheer and defined her ass perfectly, the smooth globes firm, inviting, perfect for spanking. She deserved a good spanking after doing this to him. One that would make her cry and beg for forgiveness, just the way she liked. He moaned. He longed to taste her. Anywhere.
And then she inched backward, her pussy hovering above his face, the scent of her arousal heady, like the sweetest perfume France had to offer. “We’ll have to use sixty-eight this time, Jake. I’ll suck you, and you can owe me.” She chuckled at her joke. His cock jerked at the thought of a good sucking, especially when her mouth had been denied to him from day one.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t take a chance of you screaming. Or hollering. And the thought of you not speaking turns me on.”
He could see that. Her panties were soaked through, her inner thighs damp with her juices. She shifted, and he realized the panties were crotchless. He moaned in frustration, his fingers aching to slide into that gap. Her pussy peeked out of the slit, the lips bare of hair, moisture glistening. He could almost taste her, and his tongue tapped the back of his teeth, eager to burst out.
Her lips gave him the whisper of a kiss on the tip of his cock, and he thought he would die, right there. Yes, death would be sweet, especially when she sucked him in deep, to the back of her throat. Jesus. She worked her way back up his erection, and he worried she’d suck his soul away. If he had a soul. His bones melted, and nothing was firm on his body except for his throbbing dick, his balls so tight.
Over and over, his shaft went deep into her mouth and retreated. He held his breath to force the orgasm away. It barely worked, so he went to the mental land of knot tying, this rope over this section, tie it off. Cowboys needed knots. Spies did, too. She kissed the tip again, her tongue sweeping his slit, then rimming his corona. Fuck the knots. If he had known her mouth was this lethal, he would have begged her to renegotiate the no blowjob limit.
“Such delicious wetness, just for me.” She lapped up the bead of pre-cum seeping from his slit. It should be impossible for his balls to tighten more, but they did. He jammed his heels into the mattress.
“Now, now, you may not come. As much as I love your taste, your punishment is that you can’t come at all. Not in my mouth. Or my ass. Or in my pussy. You’ll stay here, nice and hard, until you learn your lesson.”
Jake had learned his lesson. He’d never do it again. The bindings held him tightly as he struggled. He just wanted to shove cock somewhere, anywhere—her ass, her mouth, her pussy—and come. And then make her come with him.
“So eager. I love that.” She slid her leg off, and her pussy left his view. He struggled again, wanting to grab her hips and plant her on his face and tongue her to death.
“Since you’re so eager for me, I think I should find a different way to heighten my needs.” She climbed off the bed and strutted to the end. She put one foot on the bed and slid a hand down her flat stomach, slipping those long fingers into the front of her panties.
“Mmm. So wet.” Her fingers glided the length of her slit, and damned if it didn’t excite him when one digit appeared out the crotchless area to then be inserted deep inside her pussy. Her other hand cupped her breast through the bra, also sheer, the nipples’ hard peaks against the black gauze. So fucking beautiful. Hot.
“My nipples are hurting from the pain, wanting your tongue so badly. I remember how you sucked them. You have a special thing you do with your tongue that drives me mad. I wish I could untape you.”
Untape me! Jake was afraid he’d suffocate, unable to get enough air through his nose to stop the heaving. He swallowed, every nerve on alert.
“I’m imagining your cock inside me. I guess I’ll have to use two fingers. Or three.”
She eased another in, and Jake jumped, his dick so hard he thought it would break and fall off from the strain. His balls were definitely blue from pain. Maybe purple. Please fuck me.
“Do the crotchless panties excite you? They excite me. This is my first pair. I bought them earlier today, in a boutique. I never dreamed I’d get to use them so quickly.”
She fingered herself for a moment, her eyes closed, so damned beautiful, her dark hair tumbling over her shoulders in lose curls, breasts rising and falling with her increased breathing. Then she met his gaze with a feral look, her eyes glazed with lust.
“I think I’m ready. I’ll just ride you if that’s okay. Don’t come. I know you’re so close. But don’t come.”
Thank fuck, she was going to ride him. Jake strained on the bed, wanting to scream “Be my guest.” Anything as long as she sank him home, hard. She retrieved a condom from her handbag, took the foil off, and climbed between his thighs. The look in her eye was one of lusty devilment.
She started to roll the latex over his shaft but instead, opened her mouth and sucked him in deeply, seating the head in the back of her throat. He jumped, wanting to arch deeper, to make love to that beautiful mouth, her lips so red around the base. But then she withdrew, sucking him hard the entire length, her tongue running up the underside. She released his cock with a growl and smiled. “Delicious.”
He wanted to sob as she rolled the latex on, so glad to be close to having her pussy on his shaft. Maybe she’d let him come then. He wanted her to lean into him and hold him just a little, to feel her silky skin caress his chest. He never realized what his subs missed when he bound them. He was probably a bad Dom in that respect—but at this point, he didn’t care. He just missed feeling her skin against his, her intense heat, her hair against his cheek.
She straddled his hips and positioned her pussy over his cock, the opening in her crotchless panties held aside with her long fingers. “I like the idea of being partially dressed for this. It feels very exciting, so naughty. Do you like what you see, too, Jake? My pussy is so wet, so eager. I bet I’ll come this time.”
Yes, he wanted that. He wanted her to come properly so she’d set him free and let him make love to her the way she deserved.
She grabbed the base of his cock and held him firmly in her grasp, rubbing the head in her wetness, along her slit. She must have thought him properly lubed because she pressed him to the entrance of her tight, soaking wet sheath. She went slowly, and he almost came watching his cock disappear, inch by inch, her treasures hidden behind that black gauze.
Her hand gripped the base of his shaft tighter and warned, “No coming. You’ll pay if you come.”
He wanted to pay, anything, if she’d just let him come. She gave an experimental rock of her hips, and Jake sighed behind his tape as her pussy muscles contracted, hugging his shaft.
“So very nice, Jake. I love your cock. It’s so thick. I love a thick one. I don’t care as much about length, but you’re more than generous in both respects.”
He arched his hips, trying to thrust into her harder, faster, and she laughed. “Always wanting to be the Dom, set the pace. You’re not allowed to do that today. You lay there and let me make love to you.”
Make love. He loved those words from her mouth. He’d never been attacked like this, and he should feel dirty or used or something, but instead, he felt like perhaps he’d finally found a woman who was more than he could handle in bed. And it excited him to the point that he tossed his head back and tensed, heels digging in to the mattress, fists balled, fighting to keep from coming as she had commanded.
“Good boy.” She stopped sliding on his cock and sat totally still. She slipped her other hand inside her panties and rubbed, strumming her clit at a furious pace. “I had better get to work if I want to match you, orgasm for orgasm.”
The feeling passed for Jake, and his balls went from blue to frozen ice. They hurt bad. They’d probably shatter if she licked them with that hot tongue. With her head flung back, she slid up his cock again, sinking him deep, then rocking so hard her clit and fingers hit his pubic bone. He liked that and groaned through the tape.
Jake watched her closely, noting her increased breathing, now labored, her face intent, concentrating, her shoulders tense. Her pussy milked him, the quivering intensifying. She was close, beautiful in her growing ecstasy.
But then she froze, opened her eyes and looked at him as if her world had come apart, in a bad way. Her thighs trembled next to his, and she looked vulnerable, scared. So unlike Tia. So unlike the tough girl that had taken him down and bound him that he trembled a bit, too.
“Red,” Tia whispered. He wondered if she even knew she had said her safeword. She was in control. She didn’t need it. But the fear in her voice put him on edge. He wanted his arms free, to hold her. To find out what was wrong, because the Tia he knew never, ever safeworded out of anything.
“I’m sorry. This isn’t going to work. Damn it.”
The look of vulnerability passed, and she slid off his cock. He wailed under the tape. If she’d just release him, he could find out what she needed. Take her higher. He knew the secrets. He was man enough. But she was muttering to herself, looking confused. Scared, even a touch pissed. She yanked the silver dress over her head, contorted herself to zip it up the back, and slipped her feet into her shoes.
No, no, no. You can’t leave!
“I’m sorry to do this to you. I’m going to have to call your work wife to come let you go. I saw you with her, in the lobby. I saw how you looked at her, like she was the best thing since sliced cheese. Maybe that was my problem tonight, knowing deep inside that this—you and I—was futile. If I call her, that will probably get you into some trouble, but if I let you go…” She looked away. “We both know you’ll want more from me than I can give you right now. I just can’t do this.”
Then she leaned in and kissed the tape over his lips, her finger trailing along his jaw. “I wish things could be different. When we get back to D.C., I’ll pay the punishment for what I’ve done to you, when you’re over your crush on Blondie. However you want, whatever fantasy you want. I’ll give you an entire weekend. But I can’t tonight.”
She picked up the phone and dialed. Kate must have answered, because she said, “I have your gentleman friend in my room, tied to my bed. If you want him back, you’ll have to come get him.”
She gave the room number, then she hung up and left without looking back. Jake wanted to spank that tight ass bright red first and then spend the night taking care of the lust she’d wrung from him, making her come, over and over. Damn that bitch.
But then he closed his eyes and groaned. The only good thing about Tia was she had made him forget about Kate for a short period of time. And unfortunately, Kate was going to love this.
****
Jake sat in Chase’s office Thursday morning, waiting for his friend and boss to get off the phone. His week had sucked, big-time, and it was only a matter of time before Chase either ribbed him beyond belief about Paris or pulled a gun and shot him dead. It all depended on what Kate had to say, and when it came to Chase, she couldn’t lie for beans. She’d fold her hand without blinking twice, and they’d both swing from the gallows.
Paris. He fucking hated Paris now. He’d expected Kate to laugh, to poke fun at him when she came to untie him from Tia’s bed. Instead, she had cleared the room, put her gun in her shoulder holster and sighed, looking all sorts of sad.
“You’ve had one shitty night, Anderson,” she’d informed him. No shit, was Jake’s thought.
Kate had left, returned with something in her hand and tossed a sheet over his flaccid cock. Then she waggled his phone in her fingers. “Gotta take one. I can’t on my phone, not now, since things have changed between us. You know Chase will go through my phone and find it and assume the worst.” She took a photo. “But you can show this one to him when things are right again. He’ll love it.”
Then she had removed the tape from his mouth, her beautiful face so close to his. “I suppose you don’t want to tell me about this.”
“No.” Oh, hell no.
So she untied him and tossed his clothes on the bed. “I’ll see you back at the room.”
“I can’t.”
She frowned. “Where you gonna go, then? Chase set this up for us to look married.”
“Then I’ll tell him we had a marital spat. Unless you’re willing to let me make love to you like we’re married, I suggest you let me go. Because if I go back, I’ll cross that line with you, sick or not. I can’t take much more.”
And Kate had looked even sadder but nodded. He had spent the night walking the streets of Paris, wondering how the hell his life had turned to shit, all the while thinking of a certain siren in black thigh highs and crotchless panties that drove him to want to jump into the Seine.
The rest of the trip was awkward, and he would have given anything at that point to just finish the run alone. His heart ached, his ego ached, and between the images of Kate and Tia, he had gotten very little sleep. Once they landed stateside, Kate had gone home and he’d gone on to California for a surveillance job and a visit with his brother, Aaron, then another job in Vegas. Now he was home, and he could just imagine what Chase would say. And he hoped Chase had nothing to say about how he felt about Chase’s wife.
Chase finally hung up the phone and looked at Jake, every bit as dark and dangerous as Kate liked to describe him. His friend deserved the moniker dark and dangerous. Chase had been special forces in the service, trained as a sniper, and had been honorably discharged when an injury kept him from doing his job. He was bad-assed, the best damned boss Jake ever had, and a hell of a friend. A much better friend than Jake.
“You look like hell, Jake. Bad flight?”
“Yeah. Bad week.” Jake frowned. Might as well find out now if he lived or died. “What did Kate tell you?”
“Kate didn’t tell me anything. She’s, uh, not speaking to me right now.” Chase’s neck reddened under his shirt collar, and he tugged at it uncomfortably.
Jake’s protective, partner side reared its ugly head, grew fangs, and he narrowed his gaze. Kate didn’t give the silent treatment unless things were beyond dire. She was too bubbly for games like that. “What did you do?”
“I have overstepped in my micromanagement of her life. That’s what she handed me for a formal sentence.” Chase shifted and wrapped a paper clip around his finger, a sign the man was seriously stressed. “I sort of planned her pregnancy.”
“Kate’s pregnant?” Jake’s mind flew to Paris, how ill she had been, and then to a month earlier when he’d— “Jesus, how far?”
He must have looked scared shitless, because Chase shook his head. “Almost three months. I took her to the doctor this morning. She was pregnant before your birthday.”
“I can’t believe—how could you let me join you and your pregnant wife?” A part of him deep inside howled with the injustice of it all, the agony. His love for her suddenly felt so dirty, as if he’d forced her and her unborn child to do something very corrupt. Wrong.
“I wasn’t sure. I had hoped, because we had a month before our honeymoon, then that long weekend to, uh, get things made. What was I supposed to say when she wanted to celebrate your birthday that way? ‘Uh, love, you might be pregnant, so…’”
That’s it. Chase was crazy. “If you had told me, I would have told her no, I had other plans.”
“I didn’t want you involved. She’s mad enough at me. Imagine if you knew?”
Jake didn’t even want to go to the thought of Kate’s wrath, but at the same time, he wished he’d known. Because knowing might have spared him of loving her. “Why would you take this choice from her? I know you don’t like surprises, but this is…bad. Deal-breaker bad.”
Chase looked haunted. “If she’s pregnant, I can’t send her out on dangerous missions. She can do courier runs and easy, simple assignments. Stay in the lab, create her evil scientist experiments. She’ll be safe.”
Jake got that. Kate had almost died on a previous mission, taking a bullet meant for him. Control freak Chase had been barely sane throughout the whole thing. But that didn’t excuse him—it was still wrong.
“Why not just talk to the general about this? He loves you, Chase. She’s probably more valuable to him in the lab than in the field, anyway.”
Chase’s aunt and uncle had raised him since he was one. Unfortunately, Chase’s uncle was also the big boss and more of a hard-ass than Chase ever dreamed of being. But Jake had seen how happy the older man had been to see Chase married to a good woman. Hell, everyone in Chase’s inner circle had been thrilled. Kate was so good for him.
But Chase’s face paled at the idea of talking to the general. His jaw twitched. “He had no problem sending her off to die before. What’s to stop him now?”
“You weren’t married to her then, and Kate is carrying his equivalent of a grandchild.”
Chase looked away, his expression unreadable. Jake sighed. One tightly wound clock, his buddy. “Okay, so back to you and Kate. Do you even want a child? Does she?”
“We never discussed kids. Never, and that was stupid on my part.” Chase sighed. “I admit it. I fucked up. I didn’t plan that far. After she was shot, I simply wanted her out of the line of fire, and this is the plan I came up with. I can’t lose her, but I may have just done that.”
Yeah, he may have just lost her. Big-time. Kate would be pissed as hell.
“You better hope she didn’t smuggle C-4 home from the lab, because if I were her, I’d wire your ass straight to hell.” Jake shifted in his chair, hating himself, hating Chase. The man planned everything, down to the minute detail. Jake couldn’t believe he didn’t think past Kate’s safety to the dynamics of bringing a kid into the world, especially the spy world.
But maybe love did that to a man. When he was in love, eons ago, he would have done anything for…her. He brushed that aside. Knowing Kate, she was more upset about Chase’s boundary crossing than the kid at this point. Jake wanted to go to her, he wanted to stay for Chase, he wanted… He wanted it all to stop.
The pain in his usually stoic friend’s eyes was too much to bear, though. Chase loved her, had waited a year for her to give him the time of day. And Jake had watched him suffer after her injury as he battled demons to proclaim that love. Chase didn’t admit feelings easily. So Jake said, “She’ll make a wonderful mother.”
“Yes, she will.”
“And you’ll be a great dad. Your kid will have the busiest schedule on the playground.” God help the kid. Chase would have him or her enrolled in college at birth.
“Probably.”
There was a sliver of hope in his sad smile, one that made Jake wish things were back to normal. Now it looked more and more like their triangle of friendship had shattered, forever.
Then the mask of doom Chase wore as armor returned, and he was all business again. It was always unnerving to watch the mask fall, since Jake was one of the privileged few to be allowed on the inside of his life, his feelings. But now Chase was all boss, which was what he did best. “Which brings me to why you’re here.”
“Yeah, I figured this wasn’t a therapy session.” And thankfully, not a firing squad, since Kate must have found out she was pregnant before she spilled the beans on Paris.
Chase removed the paperclip from his finger and folded his hands on his desk—never a good sign. The paper clip meant Chase was hurting. Folded hands meant Jake would suffer. “You have a new partner to train.”
“Fuck that.” Jake shook his head, feeling as if he’d been handed an entirely different death sentence. “I don’t want another partner.” He was done.
Chase arched a brow. “You don’t get a choice in the matter.”
“I know you get off on making my life miserable, but training your wife was hard enough. Just let me go solo until she pops out your kid.”
“If Kate ever talks to me again, she’ll be pregnant until she hits menopause.” Chase buzzed out to his secretary, telling her to “send her in.”
“Her? Christ, Chase, no. Not no. Fuck no.”
Chase ignored Jake. He was good at that. “I think this partner will suit your needs, though. She has quite a bit of training. You’ll like that. Less work on your side.”
“I don’t want a new partner.”
A breath later, the door opened. Tia walked in, so beautifully exotic, even in casual wear, her dark hair tumbling down around her face, her shoulders. And suddenly in his mind, she was in black crotchless panties, a bra, and thigh-high stockings again.
Jake sucked in a breath, and the fact that air came though his mouth meant he wasn’t taped to her bed, she wasn’t hot for him, and this wasn’t Paris.
Chase beckoned to Tia, who had frozen in the doorway. “Jake, meet your new work wife. Tia Richards.”