Jim opened his mouth to speak but Ethan cut him off. ‘Shut your mouth before I shut it for you.’
And with this show of solidarity from Kyle, Izzy’s confidence was back.
She handed out the speech and her fingers grazed his as he took the paper. A jolt shot straight through his gut. What was it about her that made him want to grab her and kiss her? Why did his hands itch with the need to touch her? He focused on the speech. Anything to not have to think about her. It was short and concise, but made the services they offered sound alluring and enticing. She detailed the excitement of the grab, the thrill of being tied up and vulnerable, the sexual charge of being at the behest of the husband’s every whim. It was quite simply brilliant.
‘We’ll make sure we learn this for next week,’ Ethan said, standing up. ‘Is there anything else?’ He wanted to be out the office now, his every breath seemed to be filled with her.
‘Yes. I’d like us to work Saturdays as well. I will arrange the diary so that we always get a day off in the week and if you like it can be the same day each week so you can make plans. But not working weekends is suicide when it comes to a business like ours. The weekend is the time when people let their hair down, when they are most likely to do something fun. It makes financial sense to extend our diary to Saturdays too. If we get a lot of hits on Saturdays we could even charge a bit more as it would be classed as peak times.’ She reeled off her spiel quickly, knowing she could be beaten down at any second.
Ethan saw Jim snarl with disdain and he sat down and leaned over to whisper in his ear again.
‘If you say one more word, I swear I will rip out your tongue and shove it so far up your arse I could actually reattach it.’
Jim snapped his mouth closed.
Ethan looked round at the others. ‘How does everyone else feel about this?’
‘It’s a good idea,’ said Kyle, smiling with encouragement at Izzy.
No surprise there. ‘Giz, you have a child, how do you feel about spending time at the weekends at work instead of with her?’
Izzy bit her lip. She obviously hadn’t thought about this.
Gizmo looked up from the speech. ‘Yes, I have a child. A child that wants horse riding lessons, piano lessons and dance lessons. I will do anything I can to give her these things. This speech is brilliant Iz. If you think that working Saturdays will bring us more money then I’ll do it. If you think me dancing naked on the back of an elephant while we hand out leaflets will bring us more business, I’d do it in a heartbeat.’
Izzy blinked once then burst out laughing.
‘I’ll have a think about it Gizmo, but for now I think we’ll just stick to leaflets. Ethan, how do you feel about working Saturdays?’
He shrugged. ‘If that’s what the majority want to do. Are we done?’
She nodded. She explained briefly the arrangements for next week and as soon as she was finished Jim stormed to the door before Ethan even had a chance to stand up. Kyle immediately followed, obviously he wasn’t done with Jim yet. Gizmo, still smiling, sauntered out after them.
Ethan stood up but Izzy was already around the desk and closed the door to stop his escape.
‘I’ve been offered a job, a good one.’
His heart lurched, but with what he wasn’t sure.
‘I didn’t want to take it, I like it here, I feel I can make a difference. But you clearly don’t want me here. I don’t know what you said to Jim, but it obviously wasn’t complimentary. So I’m giving you an out. If you want me to leave, I’ll take the job and you’ll never hear from me again. There’ll be no compensation, no police, I can assure you of that. And because I have another job to go to, you don’t have to worry about sticking to your side of the deal. So tell me now, should I take the job or not?’
She was so desperate for some kind of validation from him. It would be so easy to tell her what a brilliant job she was doing, he had a hundred things he could say about how wonderful she was, but being nice to her would only bring them closer and he didn’t want that. He had hugged her, massaged her, spent the night chatting with her, he had bought her a sodding kitten to cheer her up, the only thing that was keeping them apart at the moment was work and he had to keep some barrier between them. He wasn’t going to sleep with her. He had lots of women he could turn to for sex but turning to someone that worked for him would be a big mistake. Plus for reasons he didn’t understand he wanted to protect her from himself. She needed someone decent to look after her and he certainly wasn’t going to be that person.
He sniffed and looked around at the gleaming office. ‘I don’t think it’s fair for you to come in here and make all these changes and then piss off before you’ve seen them through. I thought better of you than that. I thought you were the sort of person that was loyal and would see a job through to the end, not walk out just because I’m not fawning all over you like Kyle and Gizmo. It’s up to you. If you want to leave, then leave, I won’t stop you.’
She sighed and looked around. ‘I’ll get my things then.’
He watched her go into the kitchen and grab a box from the side, then she came back to the desk and loaded up two plants and a few folders.
‘So that’s it, you’re going?’
She looked at him. ‘This thing between us is unbearable. Every time you slam into the office, I hold my breath. There’s not one thing that I’ve done that you’re happy with. I feel like a puppy constantly waiting for the next beating.’
‘What do you want from me, you want me to pat you on the head and throw you a biscuit?’
She folded her arms. ‘Yes.’
‘That’s not me.’
‘Evidently.’ She returned to her packing.
He looked around the office in a sudden panic. He had to give her something. He shoved his hands in his pockets and his fingers grazed against a Galaxy bar. He pulled it out and threw it across the desk towards her. She stopped her packing and picked it up.
‘What’s this?’
‘A biscuit.’
She stared at it and then back at him. ‘You don’t want me to go do you?’
He swallowed his pride, a huge lump that stuck in his throat. ‘No.’
Those grey eyes didn’t waver from his face. ‘You have to give me something more than this.’
‘A pay rise?’
‘No.’
He knew what she wanted. He looked down at the speech on the desk and he snatched it up. ‘This is brilliant.’
Her mouth twitched into a smirk. ‘That’s good enough for me. Now be a love and put those folders in the bin outside. I’m going home.’
He picked up one of the folders from the box, it was completely empty. The second and third ones were completely empty too. It had all been a ruse. He whirled round to confront her and saw she was smiling sweetly at him from the door. She waved the Galaxy bar at him. ‘And I’m keeping this too.’
With that she walked out the door and closed it softly behind her.
He had just been played and he couldn’t help but smile about it.
Chapter Ten
‘I don’t like this,’ Ethan said, scowling.
It had been a week since the meeting and in that time Ethan had tried really hard to not be so grumpy, even passing her an encouraging smile now and again. When she had ideas he didn’t immediately say no, he talked them through with her sensibly. But now his face had the scowl back in place. The semi friendly atmosphere was obviously too good to last.
‘Why not? Handing out leaflets is not enough. Most people will just throw them in the bin. They need to be interested, they need to come to us.’
‘It’s not that, it’s a good idea. I just don’t want to tie you up. We can get an actor or a model down here to do it.’
‘What’s wrong with me?’ She wasn’t good enough. She wasn’t sexy enough to advertise his company. She felt wounded by this.
‘Nothing is wrong with you. You said you would feel vulnerable about being tied up and blindfolded. I
don’t want you to feel that way at work.’
She stared at him in shock and at this bizarre protective streak. Strangely, being tied up and blindfolded in the middle of the town square hadn’t scared her at all and that was because Ethan was going to be there.
‘You’re going to be there the whole time, right?’
He nodded vehemently. ‘I’m not leaving you.’
‘Then I know I’ll be safe.’ Izzy sat down on the chair. ‘Tie me up.’
He sighed and took the rope from the back of the van, wrapped it round her chest and tied it firmly at the back of the chair. He took the blindfold from his pocket and held it out. ‘I’m going to be right here if you need me. I’m not going anywhere.’
‘I’m fine.’
‘Very well then.’ He fitted the strap round the back of her head, his eyes looking straight into hers for a second, before he slid the mask over her eyes, plunging her into darkness.
Immediately her hearing became heightened. She could hear a child laughing nearby, a van or truck reversing and even the sound of the flag flapping above her.
Somehow she knew that Ethan had knelt down by her side and his hand was briefly in hers, squeezing it. ‘I’m here.’
She nodded and he stood and released her.
It wasn’t long before they attracted some attention.
‘Hello, what’s going on here then?’ said a man with a deep gravelly voice.
‘We’re just promoting our business, officer – here.’
Izzy heard the flutter of paper as Ethan no doubt handed over a leaflet. She bit her lip. They were bound to attract the attention of the police today, it was best to get it out of the way to start off with.
‘Professional kidnappers?’
‘More like fantasy providers,’ Ethan said, calmly. Their business was perfectly legal and legitimate, she knew that.
The mask was lifted slightly and a portly man peered at her. ‘Are you ok, ma’am?’
She nodded. ‘This was my idea.’
He shook his head. ‘Well, there’s nowt as queer as folk.’
The mask was lowered and she heard him walk away. Shortly after, she heard Ethan sigh with relief.
To her surprise, the interest didn’t stop there. There was a steady stream of people that came over to see what they were doing, some stayed to ask questions and some were obviously very keen on the idea. She could hear Ethan and the other boys all professionally explaining what they did, making it sound alluring and exciting. She was so proud of them.
And Ethan was true to his word, he stood so close to her sometimes she even felt the brush of his hands and the feel of his clothes against her own. And his heat, his dark, spicy smell was so tantalizingly close.
Intermittently, he helped her to drink from a bottle of water. Being blindfolded and so dependent on him was hugely erotic.
And just when she was starting to get hungry, she caught the whiff of fish and chips and Ethan pulled off her mask.
‘I’m going to untie you for a bit, give you a break.’ He proffered a paper parcel that smelt like heaven.
She shook her head. ‘No, we’re putting on a show here. Lunchtime is going to be the busiest time, when we can attract the most people. You need to feed me.’
He arched an eyebrow. ‘I don’t exactly have a knife or fork here.’
‘With your fingers.’
Both eyebrows shot up, but there were no more words of protest. He stood and pulled out another chair from the van and sat down opposite her. He tore the end of the parcel open and pulled out a chip. He tilted his head with a smirk and then placed the chip in her open mouth.
She chewed, his eyes burning into her as they always did. He waited patiently for her to finish then offered her another one. This time, his fingers lingered slightly as she took the chip and she licked the salt from his fingertips. He smiled slightly, his tongue running over his upper lip.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a few people were watching as Ethan offered her a piece of battered fish. She licked up the side of his thumb before she took a big bite.
He shuffled his chair closer, clearly playing it up for the small crowd that was gathering and held a chip to her mouth, running it along her bottom lip before placing it on her eager tongue.
Bite after bite and he didn’t take his eyes from hers for one second. Even though her hunger was sated, she was hugely disappointed when the food was gone. So, it seemed, was the crowd who started to dissipate after Ethan crumpled up the empty paper. But she noted that every single one of them was walking away with a leaflet in their hands. Kyle, Jim and Gizmo had done a good job there.
After giving her another drink of water, the blindfold was slipped back on.
Izzy was actually enjoying herself. Listening to the boys and their different sales techniques, the questions they were being asked, the response of the public. It was the easiest marketing campaign she had ever been involved in.
The only downside was the cold. Her hands and feet had gone numb several hours before and being unable to move meant the rest of her was now going cold too.
As Ethan was explaining to one potential customer the more kinky side of what happened in Oakwood House, she shivered.
Ethan stopped talking mid-flow and she felt him kneel down by her side.
‘Are you cold?’
‘Freezing, but I’m ok for another hour or so.’
She felt his hand in hers. ‘Your fingers are ice cold. Jesus Izzy, why didn’t you say something?’
She felt the chair being lifted and she gave a little yelp as she was swung through the air and presumably plonked down in the van as the outside world went echoey and quieter. The van engine roared to life and a few moments later she felt a breeze of hot air circulating around her.
‘Kyle,’ Ethan shouted. ‘Get a tea, a large one, extra sweet. She heard footsteps quickly retreating and then the eye mask was taken from her face. Ethan looked pissed.
‘We’re stopping now.’
He bent round her to untie her.
‘I’m fine, why are you panicking. I’m cold, not dying.’
His jaw clenched. ‘I’m not panicking, I’m just not happy about you freezing to death just so we can hand out a few more leaflets. We’ve done five hours, that’s enough.’
She opened her mouth to protest but quickly swallowed the words on her tongue when he glared at her.
As the ropes fell away and she moved her arms, pins and needles stabbed through them. Coupled with the cold, it was extremely painful. Maybe it was time to call it a day. Trying to put on a brave face, she rubbed her hands surreptitiously, when Ethan wasn’t looking. When he realised what she was doing, the habitual frown deepened. He took her hands in his and blew on them. The feel of his hot breath on her skin made her heart dance in her chest. Why was he doing that, it was so intimate?
She looked away, so she wouldn’t have to look into his eyes and saw there was still a handful of people watching them. She sighed as she realised it was all for their benefit, not hers.
‘You really do know how to put on a show.’
Ethan followed her eyes and seemingly spotted the small crowd for the first time. He turned back, clearly unperturbed and continued blowing.
‘If we were selling you as part of our package there would be a queue a mile long wanting our services. Or rather your services.’
He smirked. ‘Are you saying I should prostitute myself for the good of the company?’
‘Oh I’m sure it wouldn’t be that altruistic. I’m sure there would be a part of you that would quite enjoy it.’
‘A small part.’
‘Of course.’
She shivered again as her body slowly came back to life.
Ethan leaned out the van. ‘Come on boys, wrap it up, we’re going home.’
He took his coat off and wrapped it round Izzy as the boys scrambled into the van. Kyle passed her a cup of hot tea and Jim passed her a scowl.
‘We did well today
, you all did a fantastic job,’ Izzy said, hoping the praise would go some way to helping fix things between her and Jim.
He glared out the window and she shifted into one of the van chairs.
‘Same time tomorrow?’
Gizmo and Kyle nodded. Ethan just got into the driver’s seat and Jim continued to glare.
Ethan seemed to make a conscious effort to go the long way round in order to drop everyone else off first, even dropping Kyle off at the house next door to his before he dropped Izzy off.
He stopped the van outside her uncle’s house and turned to look at her.
‘Today was a great idea, we drummed up loads of interest.’
Izzy smiled, realising the motives behind dropping the others off first. He didn’t want them to hear the compliment. ‘You’re getting better at giving praise. We’ll work up to doing it in front of other people. One step at a time, eh Ethan?’
She opened the van door and hopped down, ignoring the scowl from him.
‘I have an idea for tomorrow’s leaflet drop, can you make your own way there tomorrow?’ he said.
‘Sure, I have my bike. Are you going to let me in on the details?’
‘Well that would spoil the surprise, but wear something sexy.’
She felt herself scowl. Was he about to get his revenge for being played the day of the meeting?
She shut the door but not before she spotted the smile from him that was pure mischief.
Wear something sexy? What did that mean?
She walked round the side of the bungalow to her house at the end of the garden, let herself in and scooped up Fang from his basket. He mewled in protest, the tiny sweet kitten was getting bigger every day and he permanently seemed to be in a bad mood, just like Ethan.
She opened her small wardrobe and surveyed the contents, she didn’t own anything sexy.
She grabbed her phone and texted Ethan. ‘It would help if I knew a few of the details for tomorrow so I can dress accordingly. What kind of sexy were you looking for? Going out on a date or slutty secretary?’
There was silence for a few minutes then her phone beeped with a reply. She opened up the text to see a photo of what looked like a porn star, lying sexily on the bed in scanty leave-nothing-to-the-imagination underwear. She burst out laughing. But she noticed he had accompanied this picture with a winky smile. Ethan Chase, grumpy arse extraordinaire, had just sent her a winky smile.
Tied up With Love Page 11
