Haunted

by Ella Ardent

  It was closed, but there was a key gleaming in the lock.

  Caitlyn smiled. She pushed her door closed so that the light wouldn’t shine into the corridor, then planned her attack.

  * * *

  It didn’t help that the only books Zach wanted to read were BDSM classics.

  It was too easy to imagine himself and Caitlyn playing these games, but that was a sign of her hold over him. He’d betrayed Luke by wanting his girlfriend, then he’d forgotten his own rules in trying to satisfy his desires.

  His need for her would pass.

  Zach had to believe that. He got another book and threw himself across the bed, trying to lose himself in fiction. He had the fire burning high and hot, just to make sure there weren’t any smoky illusions in his room.

  He thought he imagined it when he heard a key click in a lock.

  He scanned the room, and knew he was just fantasizing about going to Caitlyn’s room. After all, it was almost midnight, and the house was quiet. This is when he should have gone to her, and taught her a lesson.

  Zach grimly turned the page.

  There was no mistaking the creak of a door opening. He rolled to his feet, ready to face Luke’s ghost again. But it was Caitlyn who appeared in the doorway, Caitlyn still dressed in burgundy from dinner.

  “You wouldn’t come to the door,” she said, her voice soft with accusation. “And I need to talk to you.”

  Zach folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the pillar of the bed, trying to look unwelcoming. The truth was that the sight of her in his room was making his heart race.

  And his cock hard.

  “Nice room,” Caitlyn said. “I like the colors.” She continued toward the fireplace, then sat on the ottoman there. She ran a hand across it, and smiled. “Yours is velvet. I like that.” She laid the riding crop across ottoman, caressing the length of it as he watched. She also had a length of cotton rope, and set it on the ottoman.

  She was giving herself to him.

  Zach closed his eyes for a minute, almost overwhelmed by his lust. When he opened them, Caitlyn was taking the pins out of her hair. It had been arranged in a bun, a style that reminded him of Gibson Girls, and she shook out the loose curls as she removed the pins. Her hair fell over her shoulders, more wavy than curly thanks to the way it had been bound up, and his mouth went dry as he watched her.

  He couldn’t not watch her.

  “I think you have some things mixed up,” Caitlyn said. “And as naughty as it would be for me to correct my master, I’m going to take a chance and do just that.” She cast him a quick smile. “I’m thinking that I might need to be punished for being so bold.”

  Zach opened his mouth to argue with her, but no sound came out.

  Because Caitlyn had stood up and turned her back to him. Her dress was held closed in the back by a single hook at the back of her waist. She must have had Hunt unfasten it all, then just leave the one hook that she could reach herself.

  She flicked it open, revealing the tight laces up the back of her corset, then the dress fell to the floor in a pile of silk. She stepped out of it, and he saw that she was wearing the little laced boots that both of them liked. Caitlyn then bent over from the waist, giving him a fabulous view of her perfect ass, made even more perfect by the welts that marked it.

  His mark on her. Zach swallowed. He thought of O being branded and his heart skipped a beat.

  What if he did that to Caitlyn? He’d never wanted to do that to anyone before, much less claim a woman for the duration, but he knew that he’d love marking Caitlyn.

  Would she love it as much?

  Was that why she was here?

  Caitlyn picked up the dress. She shook it out and laid it over a chair.

  She turned to face him then, holding his gaze as she combed her hair back tightly and pulled it into a ponytail. He saw that she was still wearing the clamps on her nipples, and the little harness that locked the vibrator over her clitoris.

  He reached into his jacket pocket and turned it on, unable to resist temptation. Caitlyn swayed a little on her feet, closing her eyes in pleasure, then licked her lips.

  She picked up the length of rope and walked toward him. She stopped about four feet away and unfurled the rope, letting it fall to the floor. As she found the middle point, she spoke again. “Yesterday, you said that it was your fault that Luke died. That’s not true, Master. It was totally my fault.”

  Zach opened his mouth to argue, but Caitlyn put a finger across his lips. She then leaned closer, replacing her fingertip with her mouth.

  Her soft, sweet, alluring mouth. Zach tried to keep himself from responding, knowing she would just be encouraged by it, but failed. He inhaled sharply when she broke their kiss and she smiled. She watched the rope move through her own hands. “Luke proposed to me that night. He said he loved me.”

  “He did,” Zach managed to say.

  Caitlyn shook her head. “No. Luke never loved anybody but himself.” Zach was astonished by this, but she considered the rope, checked that she had the middle point and looped it over her neck. She moved slowly and steadily, mesmerizing him with her motions. “What you need to understand is that Luke and I used each other. It didn’t matter at first that it was just about sex. It was dangerous, fun and wouldn’t have lasted more than a couple of dates.” She passed the rope under her arms and crossed it behind her back, bringing the ends to the front at her waist. Zach couldn’t tear his gaze away, not now that he knew what she was going to do.

  She was tying herself up for him.

  “I was going to dump him the night I met you,” she confessed. “But then I realized that the only way to see you again was to see Luke again.” She smiled. “I knew with one look that you were the one for me.”

  “You tricked him,” Zach breathed past the impossible pounding of his heart.

  “No. He guessed the truth right away, then he tricked me into telling him.”

  “How?”

  “He asked my sexual fantasy. He’d tied me up a couple of times, but I wanted to be trussed tighter. I asked him to hog-tie me. He did.” She shrugged. “In fact, he did a better job than I’d expected.” Her gaze locked with his. “I made a mistake, because I moaned your name. Then he knew, and he gagged me tightly. He untied me and left then, disgusted, but I think he took a picture first.”

  Zach swallowed.

  “I was surprised when he called again, surprised and relieved because then I could see you again. I thought that knowing would bother him, but in a way, it worked for him. He knew my secret.” Caitlyn smiled. “I didn’t realize then that he knew yours, too.”

  Zach turned away from her abruptly. Could it be true? “I don’t believe it.”

  “You should.” Her voice hardened a little. “The fact is that Luke liked to fuck with people’s minds, and he loved fucking with yours. He resented that you had everything he didn’t, even though he never worked for anything.”

  That was plausible. In fact, it hung together with his memory of that last night really well.

  Maybe when Luke had been drunk, the truth had come out. Zach knew that some people showed their hidden truth under the influence, while others became strangers even to themselves.

  Caitlyn was calm, unruffled, and Zach stole a look as she passed the rope between her legs. She caught her breath as it was tugged against her puss, then turned slightly as she drew it tighter below her butt. She wrapped her wrists in the rope, winding it twice around each one, then turned to face him again, her arms straight at her side and the rope ends hanging to the floor. “I’m going to need your help, Zach,” she whispered. “Could you knot the ends together at the front for me?”

  “Why should I?”

  “Because I want you to. Because I’m asking nicely.” Caitlyn’s smile turned wicked. “Because I know just how naughty I am, so I’m tying myself up for you to punish me.” She held his gaze, then dropped her voice to a whisper. “And because if you don’t, you’ll be letting
Luke fuck with you, just the way he planned.”

  “You can’t know that.”

  “I do know it. He told me he was going to do it.” She sighed. “I didn’t think he’d succeed, because I knew you were smarter than him.” She pursed her lips. “But then, yesterday, I realized that you trusted him, and that you really were the last person in the world to know that I’ve been yours all along—signed, sealed, and delivered.” She wriggled the ends of the rope. “Please, Master.”

  “I should make you beg.”

  Caitlyn’s eyes lit. “Please, Master, tie me up so tight that I can barely shiver.” She took a step closer and her voice dropped to an urgent whisper. “Please, Master, use the roll of tape I got from Rex to gag me so securely that I can’t even whimper.”

  “You have tape?”

  “In the pocket of my skirt. A surprise from Rex. He said you liked it.”

  Zach crossed the room and picked up her dress, finding the roll of heavy black tape quickly. It was easily two inches wide and the roll had to have dozens of yards on it. It was the kind they sold at The Plume, the kind that stuck fiercely to itself but only gently to human skin.

  Never leaving a mark.

  Zach tossed it in his hand and strode back to Caitlyn. “Have you been bound like this before?” he asked as he took the ends of the rope she’d wrapped around herself.

  “I’ve seen pictures,” she confessed. “I wanted to know how it felt.”

  Zach knotted the rope around her hips. The g-string bond was an ingenious way to bind a woman, in his opinion, securing her hands by her sides and rendering her helpless with a minimum of rope. “It’s a bit of a tease for some to be bound with so little rope,” he noted and Caitlyn nodded. Her breath was already coming quickly and her cheeks were flushed.

  “In the picture I saw, her arms were bound to her waist with coil after coil of rope.”

  “From hip to bust?” Zach guessed, knowing the picture. Caitlyn nodded even as he began to truss her securely. He could feel the heat rising from her skin and her puss, and his own body responded to her pleasure, right on cue. “It works best with knots securing each round,” he said. “There’s no chance then of wriggling free.” He tied the first square knot at her back and felt her shiver. He ran his hand over her possessively, and considered again what she had told him.

  “From first glimpse?” he whispered, kissing her nape.

  “Just one look,” she confessed. “But I never dreamed you might want someone as naughty as me.”

  Zach smiled. “I think you’re perfect, Caitlyn,” he admitted. “Particularly since I’m not sure you’ll ever stop needing to be punished.”

  “I’ll try not,” she said and he slapped her butt once hard. He chose to be rough then, and bound her arms to her waist quickly and savagely, jerking her around as he made sure she felt captive. He spun her around, noted the sparkle of her eyes, and then kissed her thoroughly. She barely had time to catch her breath before he wrapped the first length of tape over her mouth and wound it around her head. He used lots of tape, four circles of it, and ensured that her ears were partly covered, too.

  “Naughty Caitlyn,” he whispered, unable to hide his admiration. “Can you scream?”

  She tried. He saw the effort she expended, then her surprise that she made only a little mew.

  “Excellent. I want you silent while you’re punished.” He ran his hand down her and pinched one of her welts, loving how she caught her breath. “Are you helpless, Caitlyn?” She struggled, then twisted free of him, running across the room. Zach stalked her, beating her to the connecting door and turning the key in the lock. She fled to the other side of the room, but there was no escape.

  He remembered then her confession of wanting to be completely captive, and had an idea. This would prove whether they could keep the flame burning after their week at Windswept was over.

  And Zach wanted it all.

  “Five more days,” he said softly, watching how eyes flashed. “You’ve been so naughty that you might not leave this room until then.” She arched her back and tried to protest, backing into the corner. He pursued her and caressed her breast, watching her response. Her nipples were tight and she was so wet. “Would that suit you, Caitlyn?” he whispered, running his hand over her head.

  She nodded, eyes shining, and Zach smiled at her for a long moment.

  Then he set to work, discipling her the way she deserved.

  Chapter Five

  The sun was shining on the day they left Windswept.

  It was odd to get back into his normal clothes, to be standing on the far side of the little building with change rooms in his jeans and leather jacket. Zach had watched the police helicopter land and take Devon away. Though he thought that was a bit extreme for a fantasy, he supposed it took all kinds.

  He was trying to check for messages on his cell phone but not finding a signal. Caitlyn came out of the women’s side of the building, looking as if she was meeting him for a coffee.

  She smiled at him and his heart clenched at all they’d done to each other.

  He wasn’t sure what happened next.

  He knew what he wanted to happen next.

  He watched Caitlyn as she chatted with a small dark-haired woman. It was Madame Amelia, also in street clothes. It kind of blew his mind to think of all those identities and fantasies intersecting in one place, and he glanced back at the manor house in the distance.

  Would Caitlyn come back to The Phoenix with him?

  There was the distinct chop of an approaching helicopter as the other two couples from the house joined them. Zach didn’t even want to speculate on what arrangements they’d made in the end. It was a big helicopter, probably because so many of them were leaving at once. As it descended, the wind whipped around them all and the beat of the rotors drowned out all other sound. Caitlyn came to Zach’s side and put her hand in his elbow. He smiled down at her, liking the lights in her eyes.

  He closed his hand over hers and gave it a squeeze. She leaned against him as the helicopter landed. He took her bag and handed her in, then they sat together inside, their legs pressed against each other. He dropped his bag between his boots and rubbed his thumb over Caitlyn’s hand. He could feel her practically bouncing beside him and on impulse, put a hand into his pocket.

  She caught her breath immediately, her gaze flying to his.

  Then she smiled, and Zach knew exactly what was going to happen next.

  He had some preparations to make first, though.

  The pilot was just closing the door when Rex strode out of the little building. They waited for him, of course, and he cast a smile over those already in the helicopter when he stepped inside.

  The other two couples clearly had no idea who he was, which made Zach smile. Rex sat down beside him and strapped in before they took off. The helicopter turned a wide arc over the island before heading back to England.

  The rotors were loud enough that conversation was impossible. Zach was content to sit beside Caitlyn, with her hand in his.

  There was a line of limousines waiting at the helipad when they landed, the one larger one driven by a familiar chauffeur. Zach waved at Rafe in his characteristic sunglasses, and guessed that Athena was the woman in the back seat. He shook hands with Rex, who then pressed a leather bound book into his hand.

  “For the flight home,” Rex said with a wink, then he was gone. Madame Amelia strode alongside him, the pair heading for the limo with Rafe holding the door.

  Zach turned the book over, aware that Caitlyn was watching.

  “Simply Irresistible,” she read, and that was the title of the book. She looked up at him. “Who’s Ella Ardent?”

  “I don’t know. It’s an advance reading copy, whatever that means.”

  “It means it hasn’t been published yet.” Caitlyn frowned after the departing limo. “Rex must have given it to you for a reason.”

  Zach read the back copy, then started to smile. “Yes, I think he did,” he sa
id, then grabbed Caitlyn’s bag. “You’ll know why when you read what it’s about.”

  * * *

  Three months had passed and Zach hadn’t called.

  He hadn’t emailed and he hadn’t stopped by the shop. The last time Caitlyn had seen him had been at the airport, when they’d come home from Windswept and gotten into separate cabs. She’d called him multiple times—still pathetic—and left messages the first few. He’d never picked up and he’d never called her back.

  It had been three long months.

  Their hot week at Windswept seemed like a distant dream.

  Maybe Caitlyn had imagined it.

  Maybe she’d been the only one who’d enjoyed the game enough to want it to continue.

  She’d even gone by his apartment, only to discover that he’d moved.

  Without saying a word.

  He was gone forever.

  In the first days, Caitlyn had been sure of Zach’s intentions, especially after they’d passed that book back and forth the whole way home, tormenting each other with hot passages. He’d made her take the vibrator off before they went through security, but it didn’t matter. She was still ready for him.

  On her return, Caitlyn had gone into a frenzy of design, creating half a dozen incredibly hot outfits that she intended to wear when he called. She’d pored over books about making corsets, and made some changes of her own. She was really proud of those garments, but they stayed in her closet, unappreciated.

  She could have put them into manufacturing and sold them in her shop, but the only customer she wanted to see them was Zach.

  It was pouring rain when she closed the shop on this particular evening, the way it could only rain in Seattle in March, and it was cold. Caitlyn shivered as she made sure everything was locked, and trudged home to her apartment. It was just two blocks, but it was far enough that she was soaked and chilled.

  Funny how rain didn’t turn her on right now.

  She emptied her mail box, sighed at the number of bills, and then pulled a fat creamy envelope from the back of the box.