Strictly Business: Hooded Pleasures, Book 1 (14 page)

“Great.” Alex turned his attention back to his laptop as he scrambled to create the necessary code.

A few minutes later he glanced over to see Kate tapping on her cell phone. He assumed it was to Hooded Pleasures, notifying them that the situation had changed.

Definitely no appointment today.

The sadness at that fact was offset by seeing her ogre warrior swing an enormous hammer and take out a half-dozen men swarming around her.

She hadn’t had so much fun in weeks.

A few friends had come to her emergency call, honest fellows who despised jerks who exploited game bugs. They’d fought their way to the game glitch and were pushing the Punks away by killing them off one by one. Her group grew as friends called friends and challenges were issued and accepted. Soon it became a full-out war as old rivals squared off again and the opportunity for both glory and loot increased with every avatar arriving.

The battle had gone viral. In the middle of it sat Kate and her friends, guarding the chest that had, thankfully, almost been forgotten as the conflict raged around them.

Two hours into the brawl, the doorbell rang.

“Don’t move.” Alex got up and grunted. He stretched his bare arms up over his head and coughed. “I ordered us some food.” He tapped his bare torso. “Man does not code on good wishes alone.”

He rubbed his eyes as he headed for the front door and the waiting delivery man. The smell of fresh pizza wafted through the air, and Kate’s stomach growled.

She had eaten a light breakfast of fruit and cereal that morning. By now, she’d have at least nibbled on one of her snack bars or headed out from Alex’s for a hearty post-appointment meal.

He was at her side a few minutes later with a full plate and a can of soda. “Boost up your energy to full.”

She dared a glance at the delicious triangle, her mouth watering at the sight. But she’d have to wait until a break in this next wave—

“Keep on going.” Alex picked up the thin slice and offered it to her. Without taking her eyes off the screen, she opened her mouth and allowed him to feed her, the gooey cheese and pepperoni delighting her stomach.

Alex snickered when she hit the crust. “Leave me my fingers, please.” He jabbed a thumb behind him. “Let me load this up again, and I’ll get my own plate.”

She laughed and hit the key to swing her hammer again. “Thank you.” Kate smiled at him. “How’s the coding going?”

“I should have something soon enough. Jacob messaged me to say they’d take the servers down to add the patch, but not a minute before. Idiots. If you can keep teaching those guys a lesson for a bit longer—”

“Consider it done. Not getting many experience points off these kills, but they’re crawling away. Hopefully they’ll learn their lesson. Or not.”

Alex kept peeking at Kate’s activities over her shoulder and found himself constantly amazed. Her group had managed to carve out a safe zone around the flawed chest, but many of them had died and respawned, creating a time gap while they hoofed it over to where the trouble was. Then they had to make their way through the many smaller battles to return to Kate’s side, where the Bloody Punks still continued to try to take her out.

Kate was a one-woman army. Blood dripped from her wounds, but the ogre wouldn’t lay her hammer down, wouldn’t give an inch. Other players had thrown healing spells and shields over her, sometimes sacrificing themselves to keep Kate upright.

It enraged the handful of players who continued to try to overwhelm her, emboldened by the promise of never-ending loot from the malfunctioning chest.

She was having none of it.

The ogre Amazon stood her ground even as the Domme munched on pizza, slurping on her drink and laughing as the pixilated blood flowed.

Damn. She’s beautiful.

Alex cleared his throat. Now that he’d gotten over the hump in coding the patch, he had time to dwell on the lovely lady sitting beside him wearing his T-shirt with fishnet stockings and those delectable black leather pumps.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Hmm?” Kate chuckled as a short wizard began to cast a spell, his arms held high and his robes flowing around him. “Sure.”

The enchanter flew back before completing his incantations, courtesy of a spear thrown by the dwarven warrior at Kate’s side.

“How did you discover you were a Domme? I mean,” he added quickly, “I told you how I got interested in this. I’d guess it wasn’t the same for you.”

Kate turned and glared at him for a second.

His stomach sank.

The stern look dissolved into a soft, gentle smile. “I had a boyfriend in high school who loved the same type of magazines you did—but he didn’t want to be the one spanked.” She glanced back at her monitor and tapped a sequence of keys that sent her ogre charging forward. “He wanted to experiment, and I was there. It wasn’t bad at first, but it only took me a few tries to see that I wanted to be in charge. There was an emotional rush, but it wasn’t quite right. I kept correcting him, commenting as he tried to control me.” Kate gave a low chuckle that shot straight to his cock. “I guess that was my first experience with topping from the bottom.”

The massive hammer swung in a killing arc, smashing a pair of wooden shields to splinters.

“We switched back and forth for a few months and then split up over something else.” A pained look came over her face. “Someone else. Just before graduation, of course, so he could take her to the prom and leave me out in the cold.” Her finger slammed down on the space bar. “My parents consoled me with a trip to Europe so I could visit the art museums. While I was there, I visited a few…unique exhibits.”

Alex bit down on his lower lip, hoping she’d continue.

“It’s amazing what you can find if you ask around and aren’t afraid to go off the beaten path. So to speak.” She laughed. “I’d never ever—you can’t imagine what some of those places are like. Pony play, hedge mazes to play in—rooms equipped with everything you can think of and some you can’t.” Kate smiled at the images on the screen. “It took a few days to find the right person, but they let me in as a guest, let me observe. On a few occasions, I got to participate. To them, I wasn’t Katherine, the curious Canadian. They called me Kate and showed me what I could be if I wanted it badly enough.” She let out a deep sigh and Alex could only imagine at the memories he’d brought back.

“It was tempting to stay, but I knew I had to come back home. I wasn’t cut out to do this twenty-four hours a day and definitely not if I couldn’t be in charge.”

She scowled as an enemy gnome got too close and stabbed her with a dagger. Her hit points dipped only a fraction before the attacker disappeared in a bloody cartoonish smear.

“I came back and between the marriages and divorces in my family went to art classes when I felt like going. Nothing like screwed-up parents to keep you on your toes. I tried to stay on the straight and narrow, tried some vanilla relationships. They didn’t work out. I knew what I wanted.”

The hammer flew through the air to punch a tall thin elf in the face. He bounced backward and disappeared in a puff of pixels.

“I started going to a club. Amazing who you can find there.”

He nodded, afraid to speak and break her train of thought.

“Then I stopped going and began working for Wendy.”

A darkness came over her face as she frowned, her mood shifting as she remembered something.

Someone?

Alex saw Kate’s muscles tense under his white shirt for a minute before she bashed on a series of buttons, the ogre punch sending another giant flying to the side.

Kate fell silent.

He knew better than to push.

Alex studied the last few lines of code. It was a patch, and it wasn’t pretty—but it did the job. A few keystrokes sent the file off to the developers, who were probably gnashing their teeth and trying to figure out who to blame for this clusterfuck.

He made a note to charge double for this emergency fix.

Make them pay for missing your appointment.

He looked at Kate and smiled.

Maybe he hadn’t, in so many words.

Kate sighed as the announcement flashed across the screen, warning all the players to log out immediately. She tapped in her thanks to her friends and closed the chat window, began to disconnect from the game.

She was exhausted.

But in a good way.

She hadn’t had such an intense gaming session for weeks. It was good to have a goal, a proper reason to be in there.

It had been wonderful.

She rolled her neck and felt the tension in her muscles.

Ouch.

Warm hands landed on her shoulders. They began to knead and squeeze, working out the aches and pains.

“Crisis over. They’re testing the patch now, and it should go live within the hour if all’s good.” A note of pride crept into Alex’s voice. “And it will, because I know what I’m doing, and I don’t deliver anything but my best.”

Kate hummed as the massage continued, bringing her back down from her gaming high. “Hopefully there hasn’t been any real damage done. Some players might be put off by this sort of thing.”

“They’ll be back. It’s an addictive game. You might take a few days off, but no one ever really quits.” His lips brushed her ear, and she closed her eyes, the exhaustion finally breaking through the rush.

His arms went around her in a tight hug. “Thank you.”

She tried to gather her thoughts. “It was nothing. You did the coding. All I did was help the players.”

“You did more than that.” His touch disappeared.

Kate opened her eyes to see Alex in front of her, a sheepish smile on his face. “You kept me company, kept me focused by playing the game. Let me see why I was doing it, why I pushed myself to make it so right.” He slid to his knees. “Sorry about the appointment.”

She reached out and ran her finger along his leather collar, savoring the rough texture. “You didn’t notice we left this on.” She giggled. “You even answered the door with it. Bet the pizza delivery boy was impressed.”

Alex touched the collar, chuckling. “I thought he was wide-eyed at my manly physique. That should make it interesting next time I order in.” He shrugged. “Guess I’ve gotten used to it.” He locked eyes with her. “Being with you.”

Alex looked at Kate, and she caught her breath. The casual atmosphere, the gaming—it could be one of her fantasies. All that was left was for him to take her in his arms, deliver what she suspected they’d both been wanting for the past few weeks.

She hesitated, afraid to move or say anything that might break the spell.

Ask me.

Please ask me.

Alex leaned in and paused. “May I—may I kiss you, Mistress? To thank you for your help?”

Her head spun, and she made the worst decision of her life.

She nodded.

Chapter Nine

He wasn’t sure what she’d say. Part of him knew it was against the rules, and she must have known it was against the rules, but he’d asked like a good little sub, and she’d given him permission, and
oh God, she tastes so good and—

The kiss deepened as he leaned in and wrapped his arms around her, pulled her off the chair to straddle his lap as they sat on the floor.

His hands tangled in her hair as he held her tight, devouring every inch of her mouth, stealing her breath away.

She was hot, burning up, her skin scorching his as he pressed against her, reached down and cupped her ass through that silk and lace. A moan escaped her lips, and he hesitated only a second before squeezing again, snaking his fingers through those fishnet stockings that had teased him for so long.

Alex’s head spun.

His fantasy woman had just given herself to him.

And Kate was one hell of a reality to have his hands on.

For her part, she wasn’t sitting still either, letting him do all the work.

Her left hand went to the back of his neck, squeezing tight as her right hand came up to rest on his chest, one finger tugging on the metal ring hanging from the front of his collar and drawing him onward.

Kate’s hips thrust forward, colliding with his as Alex pulled her onto him, pulled her into him.

She bucked against him, and he knew, he just
knew
she was close to coming on him, with him, as he’d imagined on all those lonely nights. All he had to do was—

Kate pulled her lips free with a wet pop and looked at him with bleary, bloodshot eyes, dazed and confused. Her forehead furrowed as she glared at him.

“No.”

He flinched as if she’d slapped him, the dream scenario falling to pieces around them like a stained-glass window hit with buckshot.

She pushed him away and scrambled to her feet, brushing down the front of his T-shirt. Her hand went to her mouth and brushed her lips as if he’d scalded her.

“I have to go.” Kate spun around and ran to the couch. She snatched up her raincoat and pulled it on.

Alex watched her, still sitting on the floor.

She dug in her duffle bag and came up with the key. It flew across the room toward him, an easy catch. “I have to go,” she repeated, as if saying it twice would somehow explain herself to him.

Kate dashed from the room. A second later, Alex heard the front door slam shut.

He reached up behind him and unlocked his collar before slowly stripping it off. The leather restraint rested in his hand as he heard a car engine rev and race, signaling her departure.

Alex lay down on the ground, clutching the collar.

What the hell just happened—

Did I just screw this up beyond repair?

You have to leave him.

The tiny voice droned over and over in her mind as Kate drove back to her condo.

It wasn’t like there wasn’t precedent. Hooded Pleasures encouraged their customers to consider a change every once in a while, the chance to take a new Domme always on the table.

Becoming too emotionally involved was always a danger.

It was why the company had such a high turnover. Subs would leave to go to clubs and find a new lover; Dommes would burn out from being tempted to form a relationship and they’d quit.

Am I burning out?

She found herself in her bathroom without remembering how she got there, auto piloting back home while her mind wandered. She couldn’t recall anything after getting into the car at Alex’s place and pulling onto the street.

Kate glared at herself and shook her head.

This was dangerous territory.

It wasn’t only unsafe for her to zone out, it was for others too. If she blanked out and caused an accident or got into one—

Kate closed her eyes and shuddered.

This was unacceptable, not only as an employee but also as a sane human being. God knows she’d gotten lucky this time and not gotten anyone hurt or killed.

Next time, she might not win that particular lottery.

She pulled off Alex’s T-shirt. It lay limp in her hands, daring her to keep it as a souvenir.

Kate pressed it to her mouth.

Her imagination ran into overdrive, laying out the various scenarios she’d created with him, about him.

She could have stayed with him, had him on the floor of his living room like she’d dreamed about. Fallen asleep in his arms and woken up in time to eat cold pizza and make love again before going back online and enjoying the fruit of their shared labors.

The harsh reality crashed down on her with the intensity of a lightning bolt.

No.

He’s not for you.

You’re not good enough for him.

Kate stuffed the shirt in the garbage before stripping down. She got into the shower, turning on the cold water almost full blast.

She scrubbed her skin raw, determined to remove any last bits of Alex’s scent from her. Her mind spun the lies she needed to keep herself sane.

She’d taken advantage of him and broken her own rule.

The rule she’d been so careful to lay out to him the first time they’d met.

I will not go to jail because you can’t control yourself.

She wasn’t afraid of actually going to jail—that was an empty threat used to keep him in line. HP’s strict entrance procedures did a good job of weeding out clients who just wanted sex. The law she’d quoted him was on the books, but she couldn’t imagine a police sting operation would bust one of HP’s Doms by tricking him into having sex with a client.

The rule was there to remind both of them of the emotional barrier they had to maintain. Once you became intimate, the relationship would change, evolve into something much deeper.

Something much harder to let go when it was time to move on.

And Alex, eventually, would move on.

The aching between her legs persisted, begging for relief.

No
, she berated herself.
No rewards for breaking the rules.

Kate turned off the water and stepped out, dripping on the floor. She picked up a towel and dried herself off with as much vigor as she had showering.

Her lips tingled. She resisted touching them, reliving the experience.

It wasn’t his fault.

He hadn’t done a damned thing wrong.

He’d asked to kiss her, and she’d agreed to it, allowed him to.

It was all her fault.

All. Your. Fault.

“Damn it,” Kate announced to the empty apartment. She grabbed a robe before heading to the kitchen.

The cold coffee sloshed over the edge of the cup as she maneuvered it into the microwave. She ignored the mess and hit the keys to warm it up.

As the mug spun around and around, Kate picked up the phone and called Tracy.

“I need a break. Two weeks.”

“Sure.” There were no questions, no interrogation. “I’ll take care of the details. May Wendy call you?”

It was phrased politely, but Kate knew it wasn’t a question. Wendy would want to know what was going on, if this was a momentary break in her employment or foreplay to resignation, given Kate’s recent issues.

Wendy had handed Alex to her, and Kate had abused that trust.

“Please.” She cut the connection before Tracy could reply.

She’d screwed up big-time, and there was no going back.

No going back to Alex.

The microwave beeped.

Kate grabbed the mug and swore, the hot ceramic burning her hand. She barely got it out onto the counter before releasing it.

She turned the cold water on and let it run over her hand and swirl around the sink before disappearing down the drain.

The club.

She could always go back to the club. Or get a membership at another one. There were three clubs in Toronto, and she could easily pass the security check and afford the fees for the other two.

Kate sighed, the thought sending a chill through her bones. To walk into another BDSM club and have people look at her, ask about her, talk about her—

It wasn’t time.

If not now, when?

She screamed at her inner voice to be quiet and dumped the coffee in the sink.

There was an unopened bottle of wine in the refrigerator.

A better choice.

Kate settled herself on the sofa a few minutes later with a glass of white wine, the soft white robe wrapped around her in a tight embrace. She picked up the television remote and spun around the dial, finally landing on a marathon of cooking shows.

She didn’t need to know how to poach salmon, but it was better than trying to think about what she’d done.

The phone rang an hour later.

Kate looked at the caller identification.

Wendy.

She jabbed a finger at the phone display.

“Did he say something? If Alex—” The sharpness of Wendy’s tone cut through the air, her anger causing her to cut thoughts off in mid-sentence. “If he—”

“No,” Kate said. “It’s not him, it’s me.”

Wendy paused. “I’m listening.”

“I broke the rules.” The words sounded childish as if she were detailing a playground conflict.

“I see.”

Kate frowned at the lack of prompting. “Don’t you want to know what happened?”

“Yes.”

Kate paused for a second, gathering her thoughts. “I sort of, ah—”

Wendy laughed. “Kate, we paddle butts for a living. We put nipple clamps on our men and strap leather bands around their balls. We should be past the point of embarrassment by now, okay?”

Kate couldn’t help smiling at her wording.

It was hard to put what had happened into words, the feelings still a jumbled rush in her mind and heart.

“I kissed him.”

“You kissed each other. I’m assuming it wasn’t one-sided.”

“Alex. Oh God.” Kate shivered, unable to banish the memory fully.

“Kate.” Wendy’s sharp tone brought her back down to earth with a crash. “Did he force himself on you?”

“No. Not at all.” She couldn’t help smiling at Wendy’s wording. “He didn’t force anything. It was all on me, all my fault.” She couldn’t hold back a sigh. “He had to safe-word out of our session due to a business crisis. I stayed because it was something I could help him with.”

“I see.”

Kate flinched inside at Wendy’s curious tone. “I should have left but he ordered pizza and I was helping other players online and then we finished the job and he rubbed my shoulders and then he asked if he could kiss me and—” She paused, out of breath.

“I see.” Wendy waited a few seconds before continuing. “And then?”

“It got complicated.” She felt her cheeks begin to burn at the memory. “I broke it off and ran.” Kate shook her head. “I grabbed my equipment and ran.”

“Understandable,” Wendy said. “So you have feelings for him. Far beyond just for the job, yes?”

The directness of the question took her aback. “I—I don’t know.”

“Do you think he feels the same? Or was it a spur-of-the-moment thing, a one-time reaction to the circumstances?” Her tone softened. “These things do happen. You get all caught up in the emotions and react. People kiss all the time at big events and never think anything more of it. Could this be one of these moments?”

She couldn’t bring herself to confess Alex’s question from the previous visit.

“What if I wanted to date you?”

She had hidden behind the rules.

What if there were no rules, no contract holding either of them back?

“I don’t know,” Kate said. “I honestly don’t know.”

Kate let the dream of the two of them together drift across her mind before pushing it away.

It wasn’t for her. It could never be for her.

The silence forced Wendy to speak. “You don’t know. I bet you’re thinking you’re not good enough for him, for any man.” She paused and took a long breath before continuing. “Carl was a louse for doing what he did, the way he did it.”

Kate bit down hard on her bottom lip to keep from crying.

“That’s why you took my job offer, to keep doing what you love without any possibility of feeling for someone ever again. Now this is staring you in the face, and you’ve got to figure out what to do about it. You could quit and see if he’s serious about wanting you, all of you, not just the Domme side. But you’re worried about if he rejects you, doesn’t want you outside of the sessions. A kiss is one thing; an ongoing relationship a very different animal.”

Kate swallowed hard.

“You could also stay with Hooded Pleasures and reject him outright, using us as the excuse. That choice I leave up to you.” Wendy continued, “You’ve got to make the call. I won’t fire you and make the decision for you or make you stay and take the blame for it.”

Tears broke free and rolled down Kate’s cheeks as she listened.

“Look into your heart. Tell me what you want to do,” Wendy said. “I leave it totally in your hands, in your control.”

“Two weeks. Give me two weeks clear and free.” Kate twisted the wineglass by the slender stem. “Let me figure myself out without worrying about my other clients. It’s not fair to them if I’m all over the place mentally.”

Wendy hummed her approval. “All right, then. Two weeks off. I’ll send Danielle around to Alex and your other customers for the next two sets of appointments. We’ll tell them you’re ill. You take your time, clear your mind. We’ll talk at the end of your ‘hiatus’ and see where you want to go with this.”

Kate snorted. “Alex isn’t going to buy that I’m sick. It’s only been a few hours since I left him. Since—”

The memories flashed bright and clear in her mind’s eye, desire shooting through her like a lightning strike.

“We’ll deal with Alex,” Wendy replied. “Whether he buys it or not isn’t your problem. You take care of yourself, and we’ll talk about it later.”

“Thank you.” Kate sighed. “I don’t mean to be trouble.”

Wendy giggled, easing the tension. “You’re just human, Kate. Think of it as a test for both you and Alex. He’s new to this. Maybe he imprinted onto you like a lost puppy, falling in love with his first Domme. Don’t forget you’re the one who’s giving him his first real experience. In a situation like that, I can see him falling in love with the image, not you. Not Kate.”