by Riley Murphy
“To Miss Reneaux?”
David’s incredulous tone had him scowling now. “Yes. The woman we hired to cover the event, remember?”
“Sure, but I don’t recall making an actual bet.” David swallowed some brandy and added, “Sure as shit there was no attraction. As I remember, she was like a little mouse. All buttoned up and distant. No wonder she hides behind that caricature avatar and is more stringent about anonymity than we are. Do you know how long it took Ted and his guys to connect the dots on her?”
Ethan waited.
“Four months. Ted said he’d never been so impressed. She buried her identity behind LLCs and dummy domain names so deep, he never would have known for sure if he didn’t call her bluff and fake her out the day we contacted her for hire.”
Ethan was surprised to hear this because Ted was pretty sure he knew exactly where Hoffa was buried, he was that good at digging. “He tricked her into admitting it?”
“Yeah. Her followers would fall over if they knew who Rita really was, I’d wager on that. The seeming wild child is the proverbial wallflower.”
Ethan recalled Colin’s sexy little moans and the feel of her cotton panties against his fingers and shook his head. His friend was dead wrong about her, but he wasn’t going to point out the fact. “It doesn’t matter now.”
Unfortunately, David wasn’t ready to let it go. “Attraction? Really?”
Damn, how could he explain other than to make the same excuse he’d be clinging to himself for the last three days? “Maybe I’m just sick of having my pick of naked, willing women.”
His friend choked. “You can’t be serious.”
He was. That was the problem. He leaned forward and retrieved his glass. With his elbows resting on his knees, he swirled the amber liquid around, admitting, “I think I am.”
“This is why you’ve been noticeably vanilla? You’re refusing to Top because you—” He stopped, scowled and then looked away. When he looked back he’d collected himself enough to say, “You do realize willing and naked is a prerequisite in a good submissive. Are you going bottom on me? Craving the switch?”
“Hell, no. I’m just— I was burnt out for a bit. With Jade, and trying to get her settled took a lot out of me. I wasn’t feeling it, you know?”
“But you are now? With?”
“Colin Reneaux.”
David’s jaw dropped. “No.”
Ethan nodded.
“Get the fuck out of here.”
“It’s true,” Ethan assured.
“We’re talking about the same woman? The one with the…” He did an air circle over his head.
“Yup.”
“But she looks like the female version of Clark Kent. You know, before he takes off his disguise to become Superman. She sports the same glasses for fuck’s sake. And don’t get me started on her skirt suits.”
Ethan tried not to react. Taking a deep breath, he held it in a moment before he let it out slowly. David’s description of a female Clark Kent was an apt one, because for the last three days all he could think about was what she looked like without her disguise. At first glance he’d likened her suit to that of armor, but the closer he’d gotten to her the more he’d been convinced the glasses, the bun and those God-awful shoes were worn to lessen her appeal to the opposite sex and distance herself from the zany Rita. That hunch mushroomed into an all-out certainty until he could think of nothing else but how soft her edges would be with her hair undone and just how high those panties went before he’d connect with skin.
“She’s special.”
David nodded in wholehearted agreement. “Yes she is, if by special you mean she’s a modern day Wizard of Oz who hides behind a curtain. She’s the incognito geek who handles an event or situation to satisfy a huge crowd of frightened misfits who have no idea who she really is. Worse, she gets handsomely paid by the cool crowd to do this. By people like us. There’s something not right about that.”
“Why did you decide to hire her instead of just a regular photographer?”
“Ah, I did mention ‘huge crowd’. They might be misfits, but even geeks can get their kink on. The resort is going to need the traffic. And after that last collaring ceremony she covered at Christmas, a fair number of people in our community jumped on her bandwagon. I won’t deny she’s got a certain rustic flair to her writing but that doesn’t change the fact that she lives vicariously through that blog of hers. Why else would she have invented the Riling Rita persona instead of going by her real name?”
Ethan glared and David held up his hand, saying, “When she turned up at my place looking nothing like her Jessica Rabbit avatar, hell, quite the opposite, Ted and I joked about us unwrapping her iron.” He put his now-empty glass down and shrugged. “But hey, even if we wanted to play with her she’s off-limits. She was hired to work for us and you know how many so-called respectable folks are dying to get a piece of us. One whiff of sexual harassment and we’d be writing checks from now until doomsday.”
That was true. Their lifestyle was a blessing and a curse. Blessing because it was one hell of a ride and a curse because the road was strewn with hazards. One wrong move and everything they’d worked for over the last ten years could be taken from them…and he’d made more than just one wrong move with Colin Reneaux three days ago.
He couldn’t hold back his grimace and David’s eyes widened incredulously.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” David shot out of his chair. “You put your hands on her?”
What could he say? He was ready to come clean when Ted walked in.
“Hang on to your leathers, boys, we’re totally screwed and I don’t mean in a good way.”
Ethan figured he had this coming. He shouldn’t have touched her, but he did and he was going to be man enough to own it. Calmly, he handed his glass to David and motioned for him to refill it. Turning to Ted he asked, “Screwed?”
Examining the jagged scar that ran from the corner of his friend’s right eye to the middle of his cheekbone, he determined, whatever the news, it was going to be dire. The puckered gift left by a devastated sub became more prominent when Ted was stressed.
“The episode at the mansion is out. It was posted to YouTube last night and by early this morning it went viral.”
Despite the bad news, Ethan was relieved. He’d expected Ted to corner him on how he’d behaved with Colin. “The episode? You mean the fights?”
Ted frowned at him. “Of course.”
David swore. “That fucking stone-cold bitch. She signed a nondisclosure, didn’t she?”
Ethan didn’t move, only nodded. He was too busy thinking.
“Well that’s the end of her.” David handed him his brandy before he shot back the contents in his own glass and made a face as if it burned going all the way down. “We’ll own her ass. Doesn’t she realize we could do the same to her?”
Ted shook his head. “I’m not so sure about that.” He gave Ethan a penetrating stare. “Didn’t you tell him?”
“Tell me what?” David looked between the two of them. “What?”
Ethan sighed. “I popped the disc out of her camera before I gave it back to her assistant.”
David collapsed into his chair. “So what happened? Did security miss a cellphone as well and some sneaky bastard recorded it? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“Not exactly.”
That pronouncement got both their attentions. Ethan waited for Ted to say more and when he didn’t David growled, “You better spit it out because I’m ready to kill someone.”
“The images came from her camera. I had it confirmed by Freddie down at Shack’s.”
“How is that possible? I have the disc.”
“I’m not sure. I visited Colin this afternoon. She’s beside herself. She’s thinking someone broke into her office and stole it. The only logical explanation is that someone got to the camera before you did that day.”
Ethan thought about that. Casper had admitted he’d been na
pping. One flash drive and the opportunity to use it? Anything was possible.
“That could have happened.” There were a number of things Ethan wanted to ask Ted now that he knew he’d been to see Colin, but he stuck with the basics. “Did you tell her it was me who took it?”
“No.”
The way he eyed him, made Ethan uncomfortable. “Why?”
“Because we may have to use her perceived culpability to our advantage.” He turned to David. ”After I had a chat with Decklan I thought it would be in E’s best interest if we let her think she owed us one.”
David pointed. “You fucked her, didn’t you?”
Ethan glared. He wasn’t sure why he was so angry at David’s accusation. Was it because the guy had overstepped his boundaries or the fact that Ethan hadn’t fucked her but he’d wanted to? Bad.
“Dave.” There was no mistaking the warning in Ted’s tone.
“What? We don’t have enough problems with the townies trying to shut us down? How much longer can we postpone the official opening? How much more lost revenue can we take before we’ll be forced to sell?”
Ted sauntered over and patted Dave’s shoulder. “Easy there, buddy. You know how I always say things happen for a reason? I believe the end is finally in sight for our troubles at The Carlyn.”
“Hallelujah!” David said to no one in particular.
Ted poured himself a brandy and mused, “You know from the very beginning I wasn’t confident that the preopening event would garner enough local revenue to impress the town council. I told you guys we needed more mainstream exposure before they’ll finally see the benefits to be gained with our venture.”
David shook his head. “Their whole town is dying. They should be kissing our feet.”
Ted grinned. “Yeah, well, you know that’s not going to happen. My thought was to bring in the visitors. Fill up the local hotels and get the restaurants cooking again and if we managed to stay on this side of the lake? They’d be happy. But one party going off without a hitch didn’t strike me as a solid way to get the point across. And now that said party went into the shitter like a guy who’d eaten four bars of Exlax because he had bad case of salmonella? I’d say I was right.” He collapsed into a seat. “Let’s face it, the worst has happened.” He turned to Ethan and sighed. “We have to work through this mess logically. This time even money can’t save us. No disrespect, E, but we can’t keep counting on you to dig us out of the toilet. We need support of a different kind.”
David smacked the side of his chair. “Precisely.”
“Now, that’s not to say we don’t need you to make a sacrifice. We do. It’s just not monetary this time.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of sacrifice?”
“Well…” Ted shook his glass, causing the liquid to slosh within. “I think since our preopening tanked we have a fortuitous opportunity at our disposal. We now have the means to stack the cards in our favor in the review department. It was risky signing Riling Rita, because there was always the possibility that she could have given us a poor review. You did the research, Dave, even you were surprised how honest she was with her grading.”
“I remember.” David nodded.
“Do you also remember the piece she did on that influential Hollywood star? She doesn’t pull any punches, that’s why her review is so important. With this in mind, I’m thinking now, on account of the riot, we’re gonna have to tip the scales in our favor if we want to get back in the town council’s good graces.”
Ethan didn’t move. “How?”
“I’m thinking…” He stared directly at him and Ethan braced himself. “I’m thinking Rita needs to do a more in-depth piece on The Carlyn. Like the one she did when she stayed on location with that Hollywood star for those two weeks. Only while she’s doing her thing at The Carlyn, you need to take one for the team and seduce her some more. Better our odds. At least until our image is improved. She’s got pull with that blog of hers and we desperately need her endorsement.”
“No.”
“She likes you and according to Decklan you already did.”
“No.”
David stood and began pacing. “T might have something here. If… Yes, if,” he spun around and faced them, “we plan it right it could work. I do agree with Ethan on one point, seducing the woman isn’t an option unless she’s into it. E’s not Caligula.” He turned to Ted. “We may be scraping bottom here, but even in your wild days you wouldn’t have done something so callous. She’s as much a victim as we are.”
Ethan hated them discussing Colin this way. He wanted to pound them, especially Ted, but he kept his expression stoic. Guarded. “What’s your idea?”
“We let her think she’s partly to blame for not ensuring the disc was properly secured and we give her an option. She helps us out by staying at the mansion with you for an uneventful ten days of togetherness. Just until we officially open to the public, so to all outward appearances it’s a budding romance. After all, we can’t have anyone crying bullshit, can we? I say, we heavily spin it as one of the Dom owners of The Carlyn has swept Ms. Rita off her feet. You can’t get better press than that. If we make it appear that she’s been tamed by one of us BDSM bad guys it couldn’t hurt, right? She agrees to a full ten days of blissful enjoyment that she may consequently ‘glowingly’ blog about or we sue her for breach of contract.”
“That sounds fair to me.”
Ethan looked from one partner to the other and shook his head. Fair? It was blatant extortion. “I’m not going to do that.”
“I’m in.” Ted raised his hand. “Give me some Alka-Seltzer. I’ll play vanilla for ten days with the popsicle.”
David didn’t hesitate to take him up on the offer. “Great, I think this is the perfect solution. I don’t think E is thinking clearly about her right now so best to have him keep his distance. With Rita’s favorable endorsement on the place our visitors will drive all kinds of revenue into the local shops and eateries in town.”
Ethan may not have liked the plan, such as it was, but what he did like was Colin Reneaux, and the prospect of spending an uninterrupted ten days with her alone? Well, that got his Dom blood pumping. And David was wrong. For the first time in over a year he was thinking very clearly. Crystal clear but not about just any woman. About Colin Reneaux.
“If she agrees to this we can’t make her do a good review. That wouldn’t be right. I’m confident if we handle things right, we’ll get the desired results. And, if anyone approaches her it’s me. Understood?”
“Sure, E,” Ted nodded.
“Yeah,” David said.
Ethan’s wheels were turning. He recalled her reasons for taking the job in the first place and decided. He might not be able to fix this current problem with his money this time, but he could assure that Colin would be paid for doing her part. “And she’ll be additionally compensated.”
Neither one of his partners looked happy about that pronouncement, but it was David that spoke it out loud, “I don’t see why that’s necessary.”
Ethan held his pissy stare. “The theft happened on our property.”
”She doesn’t know that.”
“But I do.”
“Okay, E. We’ll match the amount she was paid for the job, is that good?”
“Yes.” And aside from how relieved he was feeling at having an excuse to spend time with her, there was something else that bothered him. “Did Ms. Reneaux have a reason for not checking on the disc and the state of her camera before today? It’s been three days.”
“Ah, yes. More proof our luck is changing. Another fortuitous event saved us. The other night when they got back to the studio to drop off their stuff, her assistant had some kind of a problem. A heart attack or a stroke or something.”
Ethan shot forward. “Which was it? Did she say if he’s okay?”
Ted was halfway to his chair and stopped. “Whoa, take it easy. He’s good. She mentioned she was bringing him home or maybe she said, to �
�the home’ at the end of the week. I can’t say for sure.”
“Find out. I want to know. Also, wherever he is, send flowers from the company. If we do this thing I want Alistair on board. When we present Ms. Reneaux her options I want it to be official. If she agrees, she and I will stay at The Carlyn with no staff. Not even Decklan. And I’ll want the boat up there in case I want to take her into town.”
“You’d actually go out in public with her? She’s a little…”
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Scattered.” David finished Ted’s sentence.
“I was going to say frumpy, mousy and book-wormish.”
Ethan saw red. He scowled first at David and then Ted.
Ted laughed. “Come on, E.” He sat down and mumbled, “I’m sure she’s not half bad if you take out your contacts.”
Ethan wasn’t amused. “I don’t wear contacts.”
His friend didn’t miss a beat. “Maybe you should.” At his glare, David tried to stifle his chuckle, but failed miserably, adding, “But hey, don’t get them until you’ve had your ten days with her.”
* * * * *
Thud.
Colin winced as her purse slid from her grasp and hit the ground hard. She ignored the various items, a compact, her new double-lash mascara and an eyebrow pencil clattering across the bare oak floor and said, “You’re an attorney. Tell me, is this legal?”
“I wouldn’t have written it up if it weren’t.”
She tried not to glare, but her whole world was falling apart. And wouldn’t you know it? Ethan White was seated right beside her, perfectly content to watch it all unfold. This really aggravated the crap out of her because he’d warned her that this was going to happen. He’d even gone so far as to offer her an out before it came to this. And what had she done? Stupid, stupid, stupid. She’d refused.
“Look.” Nervously, she patted her bun, inelegantly dropped down on all fours and scrambled to collect her things. “I don’t want to go back there. I told Ted Basel and his egomaniac of a partner here…” She came up to a kneeling position and rudely nodded toward Ethan, while shoving the reclaimed items back into her bag. “No offense, but I was telling the truth. This isn’t my fault. I mean,” she stood, adjusted her skirt and plopped back into the chair, practically wailing, “how am I supposed to know what happened to that disc? I don’t even know what viral means. I swear. My at-home computer has a ragged old squirrel running on a treadmill to keep it powered up. Girl-scouts honor, the light of the tiny screen comes from a small family of fireflies, I’m pretty certain. I wouldn’t know how to upload on to YouTube. Least of all, a scene that looked as if it could rival Wise’s West Side Story. Promise.”
