Dangerous (The Complete Erotic Romance Novel) (28 page)

“A moment of opportunity. If you miss it, he might find himself interested in someone else.”

“How is that kismet? Kismet means you’re destined to stay together forever.”

“So, mix in some free will. You have a connection, but something will only come of it if you act on that attraction.”

Jade chewed with care. “Otherwise, he’ll think I’m not really interested.”

“It could happen. Remember Desmond?” It probably wasn’t fair to toss out the name of the former love of Jade’s life, the guy who disappeared into the blue just when she’d decided she couldn’t live without him, but Jade had been really cautious that time, too.

“Live and learn, huh?” Jade said, putting down the rest of her toast. “I dunno, Kendra. I don’t want him to think I’m a slut.”

“How could he? You didn’t bring him home last night.” Kendra went to fill the kettle, doing her best to pretend she didn’t care nearly as much as she did. “But maybe you don’t like him that much. Time will tell.”

Jade drummed her fingers on the table. “Are you going to be home tonight?”

“Absolutely. After this past week, there’s no way I’m going out to party. I’m fantasizing about a bubble bath and early to bed.”

She left out the part about tying herself up and inviting her master to let himself into the apartment and have his way with her.

“That’s not what I’m fantasizing about,” Jade said with a laugh. She sat back, eating her toast, her eyes shining. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe trying something different will give a different result. Tynan is awesome.”

Tynan. Kendra made a mental note to remember his name. “What does he do?”

“Some kind of computer stuff. He invited me to his soccer game this afternoon.”

“So, he can show off for you?” Kendra teased.

“Works for me. Then we’re going for dinner and to dance some more.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“You’re right. I’m in.” Jade finished her toast with a triumphant flourish. “Tynan did say that his roommate has gone to Chicago for the weekend.”

Kendra leaned against the counter and smiled. “Just in case you were curious?”

Jade laughed. “It was a pretty broad hint. Last night was too early, but tonight will be perfect.” She nodded, her decision made. “Unless he totally messes up, you won’t see me before morning.”

“Noon,” Kendra said. “I want to sleep in.”

“Noon,” Jade agreed. She hurried off to the shower then as Kendra made her coffee. She almost spilled the water.

Could Tynan mess up enough that Jade would come home early? Kendra didn’t think so. Her roommate had it bad. It took her about four seconds to make up her mind.

She called Reid while Jade was in the bathroom. The shower was running, the door was closed, the fan was on and Jade was singing. Badly.

“Tonight,” Kendra said when Reid answered his cell phone.

“Nine,” he replied immediately, neither surprised nor flustered. “I have some presents for you.” Before Kendra could ask or agree, he hung up.

Kendra held the phone in her hands for a long moment, savoring her excitement. He must be picking up the things he’d ordered from that fitter. What had he ordered? She was pretty sure she’d like it, whatever it was.

Best of all, she was going to love being claimed in her room.

Even if that meant she had to clean it up.

She sipped her coffee, thinking. She had to surprise Reid somehow, show him her enthusiasm and earn herself at least one orgasm.

Fortunately, she had most of the day to make her plans.

* * *

Reid found himself thinking of Miss Jones obsessively, all day long.

He couldn’t drive her from his thoughts.

And he couldn’t stop imagining how it would be to make one of her fantasies come true. He was impatient with the slow passage of time, even though he had a thousand things to do.

He walked the new house with Jackson, listening to the renovation and decorating plans with only a fragment of his attention. He mostly thought of how his new toy would look in one room or another, what color of wall paint would show off Kendra’s coloring, where he would take her and how.

He’d immediately chosen which space should become the safe room—it was a second bedroom adjacent to the master bedroom with its own en suite bath. He and Jackson reviewed how its door to the corridor would be sealed off so that the only access was from his bedroom. The master bedroom had a pair of walk-in closets and a generous bathroom, all accessed by a corridor from the corner bedroom. It would be simple to open a new door at the end of that corridor to allow access to the new safe room.

The house, by fortune or design, had many high windows that admitted light into the interior without offering a view. The chosen room had particularly small windows, but Reid suggested they be blocked all the same. The remaining windows in the house would be tinted dark, for complete privacy, so the blocked windows wouldn’t look any different. It would be impossible to locate the safe room from the exterior. Reid doubled the insulation level suggested by Jackson for the safe room, knowing how noisy Miss Jones could be. He got hard thinking of being able to enjoy her without gagging her to silence.

That mouth was enticing.

He couldn’t escape the realization he was building a custom prison, especially for her.

He couldn’t wait to use it.

He might have to work from home for a while, to make sure she was disciplined thoroughly.

That only increased his impatience.

The house was nearly perfect in Reid’s view, offering both privacy and luxury, yet not far from the amenities of the city. There was space for three staff members to live in—Jackson, Jackson’s wife who was Reid’s housekeeper, and Reid’s cook—plus an additional apartment beyond the garage for his chauffeur, Forster. The house also had two guest suites, in case he chose to entertain.

In the dining room, he could think only of Miss Jones’ fantasy of a dinner party, one she attended blindfolded and naked, uncertain which guest would partake of her favors after dinner. Reid loved the idea of seeing her aroused by the situation, but increasingly, he had no desire to share her.

He was feeling greedy about his slave, yet uneasy that her bolder fantasies might ultimately drive them apart. With Alana, he’d been the one with the bolder fantasies, so this was different. Even so, Reid had learned the destructive power of such differences.

Like all potential conflicts, this one had to be managed.

He was already fearful of losing her. He was already aware that their agreement had a ticking clock, and already agitated that it would end before he wanted it to do so. Maybe at Miss Jones’ choice.

Maybe he wouldn’t be in control.

On the one hand, things were moving very quickly, quickly enough that he should slow down the pace. He could manage the escalation to make it as powerful as possible, to ensure that the fire didn’t extinguish itself too quickly. On the other hand, there was something heady about this whirlwind exploration. Maybe that was what made it so powerful. Maybe Miss Jones and her impulsiveness couldn’t have it any other way. Maybe the change was good for Reid, too.

He’d dive in and explore every possibility, working through them. They’d either run out of electricity in a week or two, or find a deeper connection. Reid was determined this time to give Miss Jones exactly what she wanted and to do so for as long as possible.

If their partnership was doomed, he didn’t want think about that. Not yet.

If he was distracted at the house, Jackson had the grace to not comment upon it. He accepted all of the butler’s suggestions, took the bit of personal mail that had arrived at the old house and shoved it into his briefcase. There was an envelope that had come by courier, but he wasn’t very interested in its contents.

He was obsessing about Miss Jones.

He knew himself well enough to enjoy it.

In the afternoon, Reid picked up his order at Alicia’s shop and was pleased that the quality of her work had only improved. He had the items repacked, because he intended to present only certain gifts on this night.

A little anticipation made everything better.

He went to visit Leon in the hospital, bringing the other man up to date on the initiatives being undertaken at Esperanza Enterprises. He once again was subjected to the former owner’s expressions of admiration for Kendra Jones.

Reid was by now coming to agree with him about her intelligence, resourcefulness and initiative. He was polite and professional, cool to the point of indifference about the wonderful Miss Jones, because he was better at keeping secrets than Leon.

He had a leisurely dinner at the hotel, although it was an exercise in discipline for him. He wanted to rush to Miss Jones’ apartment. He wanted to know how she would prepare herself for him. He wanted to verify she hadn’t disobeyed him and touched herself. He wanted to know she was as filled with need as he was.

And then he wanted to satisfy them both.

Repeatedly.

He admitted that she challenged his expectations. He loved control. He preferred to ensure that everything was perfect. He didn’t like risk or chance or surprise. He wanted the predictability of arranging every detail himself in advance, then having events unfold exactly according to plan. In that, they were opposites, and Miss Jones’ taste for experimentation was a little unsettling. She provoked him to try new things, even as he managed each scene to ensure their mutual pleasure. She made him feel protective of her, her impulsiveness driving his need to make sure she was always safe.

As she would be when she was his helpless captive.

This night might be a precursor to a more prolonged possession.

The realization made it difficult for Reid to sit still.

He forced himself to think of the past, to try to see where he had gone wrong with Alana. The possibility of Miss Jones disappearing as Alana had struck terror through him. He would release her from their contract when he was ready, and not before.

The issue, Reid decided, had been that Alana hadn’t enjoyed their games. Miss Jones certainly did. He suspected that Alana had thought his desire for bondage would exhaust itself. He figured she’d thought a few scenes would satisfy his curiosity, then they could go back to the slow vanilla sex she liked best of all. After all, she’d had fantasies, every one of which he’d tried to make come true, and once had been enough of every option for Alana.

The problem was that a taste of bondage had only whetted Reid’s appetite for more. He loved making his partner helpless. He loved when the bonds looked rough, maybe because he knew the game wasn’t. He liked being in complete control of every detail. And he adored when his partner loved it as much as he did.

As Miss Jones appeared to do.

Was that why Alana had left him? Because she hadn’t liked the game very much? Because she’d tired of it? Of him? He’d always assumed it had been something like that, but he still wished she’d told him how she felt. If they’d talked, he would have controlled his unruly desires rather than ruin his marriage. If he’d known she found it offensive or boring, that would have killed his interest in playing those games with her.

Reid pushed aside his coffee cup. He should have paid more attention. He’d been a lousy partner when he thought about it—and he often had, over the years. He’d been confident that his satisfaction and Alana’s were the same, since they had so many other tastes in common. He should have talked to her more.

He should have asked when she didn’t raise the subject with him.

Reid had regrets, but he was a practical man. He couldn’t fix the past. He could only learn from his errors and improve the future. His mistake, in his view, had been expecting one woman to be everything. A wife was one role. A sexual partner was another. The mistake had been expecting Alana to be both.

Reid didn’t expect love and romance with Kendra; it wasn’t relevant how fond they might become of each other, or even if they didn’t. It was simpler, in his view, if sex remained a transaction. The relationship had a better chance of enduring that way, if it was only about physical pleasure. First, they’d explore one of her fantasies, then one of his, and so on until they ran out of options or interest.

That had been the plan, anyway.

He wasn’t supposed to be thinking about Miss Jones all the time.

And he wasn’t supposed to feel she and he were two of a kind, that their fantasies meshed in a strange and magical way, that there could be more to this partnership than just sex.

That was dangerous thinking, and it was an idea Reid would avoid at all costs.

All the same, he needed to make the effort to talk to her more, to find out what worked for her and what didn’t. If nothing else, that could increase their mutual satisfaction.

There was no better aphrodisiac than a woman so aroused that she could barely contain herself.

It was too easy to recall Miss Jones twitching with need, so wet and hot that it took everything within Reid to deny her the release she craved.

Tonight. Tonight he’d have her half a dozen times and diminish her hold over him.

He left the dining room in a hurry, too aroused and impatient to linger over a coffee. Back in his room, he shaved for the second time that day, and showered again. He moved quickly, efficiently, excitement making him decisive. The fake kidnapping played right to his own dreams of complete control, and he indulged himself in other scenarios.