by Linzi Basset
The final link fell into place as the vision of the same woman thrashing above him in a similar fashion, flashed through his mind. The throaty whimpers that turned to catlike mewls, unraveled the memory from a monochrome to a vivid full color cinematography in his mind. The white and gold masks she respectively wore on those occasions fell away in his vision and all that remained was Paige.
Paige’s body seethed, warred with the remnants of stinging pain from the whipping. She was lost in the euphoric sensations that overpowered her body while her mind floundered in the pleasure of finally having the man she desired above all, filling her body again. She humped her hips harder against his, faster, desperate for that final surge of heat that winked at her from a distance. She shuddered, incapable of anything other than clutching and thrashing at the chains high above her head. She gasped for breath as her veins exploded with heat. Her mind froze momentarily, filling with heat as his eyes scorched her. Her back arched as she tilted her head back. A low scream crawled to the surface to escape her lips at the same time her body got caught in the claws of the strongest climax she’d ever had.
She trembled and hung in the chains, her legs feeling weak. They loosened from around his waist.
“Oh no, you don’t. What makes you think you’re done, Rose?” Ethan growled.
She lifted her head. Her breath wheezed through her lips when he yanked her hard into him, his cock pressing painfully against her cervix.
“Continue, Rose. You have a long way to go.”
Her lips parted to protest but the only sound that escaped was a hoarse cry when he began to rub her sensitized clit; hard, with deliberate slow circles that had her thrashing and riding him with the same wild abandon in no time.
Ethan had reached the end of his tether and powered into her. He lost the ability to control his raging orgasm that was now driving his feverish thrusts. Heat tickled at the back of his scrotum to irradiate the flush of arousal that blinded him. It cascaded through his veins, as his shout roared through the dungeon. A sharp pain shot through his head as he ejaculated deep inside her. Her own scream mingled with his and she too became subsumed in a wave of blissful release.
He slumped against her slack body, jerking through the final drops of his release jetting from his turgid length. Paige’s spasms caused a growl to rumble from his throat.
“Tight . . . so fucking tight.”
He hadn’t noticed that Goliath had untied her hands, until she turned a dead weight into in his arms, her arms wrapped tight around his neck.
His fingers closed around a tuft of her hair under the edge of the wig. He forced back her head with a hard yank.
“Club Pearl,” he snapped, watching her face solidify in shock. “Yes, I remember, Rose.”
“I . . .” she swallowed. She desperately tried to ascertain whether he was angry or upset, but as usual, his face was expressionless.
“Do you know how many times I’ve gone back there to look for the elusive and oh, so fucking hot, masked sub who’d managed to worm her way into my psyche?”
“Master—”
“But now I have you, Rose and you better be fucking ready for what you’ve unleashed, because know this, my luscious little rosebud,” His fingers tightened around her nape until she whimpered in pain and anticipation. His eyes scorched hers.
“You belong to me now.”
Chapter Five
Paige slammed the front door closed behind her. She sighed with relief as she slumped against the wall of her quaint home in Fort Washington, on Potomac Drive. It was close to work and she loved the neighborhood. Having the river next to her back porch had been the deal-clincher when she had been looking to buy a place, soon after she got the job at Brodie Clinic that was on the border of Anacostia Park, not too far from there.
She was still in shock that Ethan had recognized her from Club Pearl. A delighted smile curved her lips as she began brewing coffee—her energy on tap—as the nurses teased her at the clinic.
“Not very clever to drink caffeine this time of night, Paige,” she berated herself. She cleared her scratchy throat, relaxing it after speaking in British accent the entire night; another way to keep Ethan from recognizing her.
The smile stayed on her lips when she later stood on the back porch with a steaming cup in her hands, gazing at the dark shimmering surface of the Potomac River spanning in the distance. Water always managed to soothe her. Maybe because she was an Aquarian, she mused.
Ethan’s declaration of ownership was still ringing in her ears; her smile broadened. It felt wonderful to be wanted. His possessiveness turned her on.
But it won’t last, Paige. Not unless you admit to him who you really are.
Her smile slipped at the reality check. She feared that she would lose him when he did find out. Ethan Brodie wasn’t a man who tolerated deception and he would view her actions as such. She’d had sex with him three times, scened as many times, all without him knowing who she was.
“And yet I knew him. Every time. Oh lord, what a tangled web.”
Ethan had been caring and attentive after the punishment. He’d even insisted she have dinner with him at the club restaurant. He’d made it clear during the meal that he expected her to go home with him for the night. Paige hadn’t committed to it but at the same time, she didn’t decline either. She couldn’t; not when her entire being shouted, “Go!”
But, she knew it was impossible. Without her wig and makeup, he would recognize the prudish woman who was his clinic manager. Instinct warned her that it would be better if that piece of information came from her voluntarily and not as a surprise, to the very astute Dr. Ethan Brodie.
It was for that reason that she’d excused herself to go and freshen up while he was still finishing dessert. She’d been careful to appear nonchalant as she walked toward the ladies’ room, which luckily for her, was hidden just to the side of the reception area. It offered her the opportunity to slip out and leave undetected.
Paige didn’t know Ethan personally well enough to guess how he would react to such a disclosure. She suppressed the negativity that threatened to overwhelm her.
“Ahhhh.” Her yawn stretched out like the slow strands of treacle. The husky moan filled the quiet night. “Time for bed, Paige,” she puffed as she locked up.
After a quick but satisfyingly hot shower, she curled naked under the heavy duvet.
“Hmm, bliss.” She wiggled her head deeper into the pillow until she found the perfect position. “Ugh, noo,” she moaned when her eyes caught the flash of red digital numbers on her answering machine. The only person who rang her on the landline was her mother. She squinted at the machine and groaned again. “Eight missed calls?” She chewed her bottom lip, pondering whether she should listen to them or rather wait until she got up in the morning. It was already after midnight and her eyes were becoming heavier by the moment.
Paige’s mother hardly contacted her because her father got angry when she did. She was still considering her options when her eyelids lost the battle of gravity. Within seconds, she was fast asleep.
* * * * * * * *
Her mind swam with a dream of Ethan in her bed as she woke up slowly. She sighed, reluctant to lose the visual and begin her day. She yawned and blinked. Everything about her felt heavy, from her arms to her feet. She rolled her head from one side to the other, keeping her eyes closed to enjoy a final few moments of nothingness. She tried to conjure up the dream again, but to no avail. The insistent ringing of the landline penetrated her sleep induced mind.
She groaned and managed to force her eyelids open. The room was still filled with the silver beams of moonlight shining through the windows. The digital clock showed three in the morning.
“Hello,” she croaked in a drowsy voice.
“Why didn’t you return my call, Paige? Don’t you care about your brother anymore?” Her mother, Susan, bleated immediately in her ear.
“Whoa, Mom. Easy on the attack mode. Do you know it’s three in the mo
rning here?” Paige grumbled. She pushed upright against the headboard with a drawn-out groan.
“I’m sorry, Paige, but I couldn’t wait any longer. Didn’t you receive my messages?”
“I was out late and went directly to bed. I planned on listening to them but must’ve fallen asleep,” Paige mumbled, desperately trying to shake off the last remnants of sleep.
“He’s gone, Paige. Disappeared.”
“Mom, calm down. What are you talking about?”
Paige could imagine her mother hyperventilating. She was wired that way.
“Sean! Aren’t you listening to me? Your brother has disappeared!” She all but shrieked in Paige’s ear. Paige sighed. Sean was thirty-years old but to Susan Scott, he would always be her little blue-eyed boy. “I’ve been unable to contact him for the past three months.”
“You know Sean, Mom. He’s like his teenage idol in the television series, MacGyver, an adrenaline junkie. He’s probably on some mountain top where there’s no reception.”
“Three months, Paige! Not three weeks. Something is wrong. He always informs me when he’ll be unavailable. When did you last speak to him?”
Paige frowned as she tried to remember their last phone call. “I spoke to him a while ago, Mom. Probably a month or so,” she mused aloud. It wasn’t unusual to not hear from him for a month, but thinking back, she recalled that he’d been very secretive the last time they spoke. It had sounded like he was up to something. “You never know with Sean, Mom. He thrives on adventure, which was why he chose to accept the job as a pilot, guiding exotic adventures.”
“What if his plane went down? What if my son is dead and I don’t even know?” Susan wailed. Paige could hear the dry sobs croaking from her throat.
“We would’ve been contacted, Mom and besides, there have been no reports on any planes, private or public, going missing. Stop worrying. I’ll phone his boss at Extreme Adventures and pop around at his simplex.”
“You will let me know as soon as you find out anything?” Susan sniffed loudly.
“Of course, I will, Mom.”
Paige ended the call. Her mouth twisted in a bitter smile. Sean had followed her to the US as soon as he had qualified as a pilot. Strangely, her father had accepted him moving away, yet he still treated her as an alien. Non-existent.
“Aaahhh!” she vented her frustration. “I’ll be thirty-two-years old in four months and still he won’t forgive me for leaving.”
She yanked the duvet over her head and buried herself under the warm cocoon. Her mother and Sean’s troubles could wait until morning. For now, she had every intention of going back to sleep.
* * * * * * * *
Paige hesitated with the key in the lock. A premonitory chill ran down her backbone. For a second, she stood silent; listening. Something didn’t feel right. She’d always been able to sense danger before it happened. It had saved her from a couple of car accidents over the years. She glanced around surreptitiously but couldn’t detect anything untoward. The estate her brother lived on was in a quiet neighborhood and the ‘simplex’ complex he stayed in, was well guarded.
“Enough, Paige. You’re allowing Mom to get to you. Get this over with,” she berated herself irritably, unlocked the door and pushed inside.
She shocked to a halt and looked around wide-eyed. The entire place had been trashed. The sofas had been cut to pieces. Furniture was toppled over and strewn all over the place. She hesitated in the doorway, listening intently. All was quiet. Whoever had been there was long gone. She carefully stepped inside. The rest of the house was neat. Only the living rooms had been ransacked. Someone had clearly been looking for something. She phoned Sean’s cell, but it went directly to voicemail.
“Where the hell are you Sean? You better phone me when you get this. Mom is worried out of her mind,” she curtly barked into the phone.
A loud crash on the front porch shattered the silence. Paige jerked in fright. She froze where she stood in the middle of the living room, staring at the curtains that were drawn tight, like she could magically see through them. The silence in the room turned her blood cold as the chilly air crept through the door she’d left open. She heard hurried footsteps and then the sliding doors rattled, setting her heart racing.
Run, Paige. Run!
Fear seeped into her blood and paralyzed her brain, her pupils became dilated and her hands trembled. Her palms were sweaty and the adrenaline coursing through her system shut down her ability to think logically. She wanted to run but her legs were rooted to the spot.
The glass door shattered. Shards of glass littered to the floor from behind the curtains. Paige finally managed to get her legs to obey the order her brain had been screaming at it.
Run! Goddammit, Paige, RUN!
She tore through the house toward the door. A violent curse from the perpetrator sounded as he stepped inside, causing fear to surge through Paige, afresh.
Don’t look back. Just run! She screamed in her mind, curbing the desire to glance back over her shoulder. She pushed her legs harder, fumbling for her car keys.
“Don’t drop them. Just don’t fucking drop them!” Paige managed to get into the car and jabbed the key into the ignition. Jagged breaths puffed out of her throat as she gunned on the accelerator. “C’mon, GO!”
The sound of screeching tires amplified her fear. She looked into her rearview mirror. A dark figure, dressed in black, stood illuminated with the sun shining from behind. She couldn’t make out his features.
“Ah, fuck no!” Paige cried as she noticed him jumping into an approaching car. She pushed her small but powerful Mini Cooper faster.
Distance between them was all that mattered. Paige wasn’t stopping for anything and she sure as hell wasn’t taking her foot off the gas. Her eyes stayed glued to the black tarred road while the world passed in a blur of red and white lights. The hiss of the tires over the smooth tarmac was lost under the pounding bass of a Bon Jovi song on the radio.
Paige didn’t relax until she parked her car in the underground parking bay at the clinic. She gulped in deep breaths. She’d made so many turns on the way there, her head was spinning. She’d managed to lose the silver SUV that had been following her when she’d skipped a red traffic light at Capitol Hill. They’d been forced to stop, which had given her the leeway to escape.
Her legs were rubbery, but she managed to get out of the car and walked inside.
“Paige? Is everything okay?” Amber, her PA, asked worriedly when she stumbled into her office. She didn’t usually work on Saturdays but in the state of mind she was in, it was the only place that could offer her a sense of security.
“I’m fine,” Paige said in passing and walked into her office. “I could do with a strong cup of coffee please, Amber,” she requested over her shoulder. She slumped in her chair and stared vacantly out the window.
She could feel her heart beating rapidly. She concentrated on breathing exercises, to try and settle her frayed nerves. Her mind wandered back to the scene she’d run away from thirty minutes ago.
“Sean, what the fuck is going on? What have you gotten yourself into?” She mused aloud while she looked up the number of Sean’s boss.
“Yes,” a brusque voice snapped within the first ring.
“This is Paige Scott. I’m Sean Scott’s sister. Is this Brett Davies?”
“Yes, Ms. Scott. What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you can tell me where my brother is. We’ve been unable to get hold of him for a while.”
Silence met her question. Paige sat upright with her elbows on the desk. A worried frown marred her forehead.
“Mr. Davies?”
“One moment, Ms. Scott. I have thirty pilot guides working for me. I don’t know off the head where they all are.”
Suspicion boiled in her mind. She felt the same sense of premonition she’d felt outside Sean’s apartment.
“Ah, here it is. Sean is currently leading an expedition in the Arctic. It’
s a six-month trip. There is hardly any connectivity up there, obviously. But according to the coordinator’s notes, he does check in with them daily. All is well with your brother, Miss Scott. Be assured, I will rap him on the wrist for not warning you about it beforehand.”
Brett Davies sounded cordial, but Paige couldn’t shake the sense of foreboding. She sat tapping her fingers on the desk when Amber arrived with her coffee.
“Thanks, Amber. I need this.” Paige breathed in the rich, heady aroma, feeling the calming effect settle low in her stomach. It sat prettily in a white china cup, a leaf pattern in delicate milky foam atop the dark brown. She wrapped her fingers around the cup, enjoying the heat that seeped through her hands.
“Hmm,” she crooned as she sipped at the fragrant brew like it was the greatest luxury. For a few moments she forgot about her concerns for her brother.
Chapter Six
Ethan was mesmerized by the warm brown curls that tumbled in luxurious silkiness down her back. Glorious gold streaks caught the overhead lights when she tossed her head. He found it amazing how such a tint could play with the light, like peering at the sun through a jar of honey. His fingers itched to bury into the opulent tresses.
“What makes you believe there is foul play involved, Ms. Scott?” Rhone asked. His gaze was direct and searching on the woman facing him.
At the mention of her surname Ethan straightened where he’d been leaning against the doorframe since he’d walked into Precision Secure’s boardroom. He’d wondered why Lance had insisted he attend the meeting with a potential client. He usually only became involved with cases in the operational stages. When her husky voice filled his mind as radiant as a sunset, he understood why.
“We’ve been unable to get hold of him for over three months.”
He listened to every cadence. He couldn’t detect a twinge of the British accent she favored at the club. This was Paige Scott—his clinic manager, in her usual no-nonsense manner. Except, her hair wasn’t in the everyday tight bun on top of her head. He curbed the desire to walk around the table to see which version of Paige he was about to face.
