Glancing around the room, Carter noted a few people he knew from past visits, however, none of them would be willing to fall into Chaplin’s bad graces by giving up information. And speak of the devil, the club’s owner was strolling toward the foursome and from the look on his face, Carter knew exactly what the man was about to say. In fact, he hadn’t expected any different.
“Sorry. None of my lot have seen your girl.”
Although she was still a little fuzzy-headed, Brie opened her mouth to say something, but Jase’s hand squeezing her thigh stopped her. Carter’s blank gaze met Chaplin’s as the man stood over them. “I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe her coworker was mistaken.”
“Obviously the coworker was.” He handed the photo of Nadine to Jase. “Feel free to visit my club anytime, Master Jase. Just remember—no mate of Master Carter’s is a mate of mine. Night, gents. I’m sure you can find your way to the door as soon as your subs are ready.”
As the man sauntered away, Jase raised an eyebrow at Carter. “I take it we’ve been kicked out.”
“As soon as our subs are ready,” Carter responded, knowing it really wasn’t necessary. Jase had been undercover for years and Carter had seen him in action before. The man could handle his own without trouble. “Mine’s not ready yet, and I doubt yours is either.”
“Nope.”
A few minutes passed as Carter continued to evaluate every person who walked by. He'd almost given up when he saw a woman sashaying toward them. Inwardly groaning, he fought the urge to roll his eyes. Lady Cara Webb was a bit of an enigma, and he knew he was going to catch some shit from Jordyn after this encounter, but hopefully it would be worth it. Cara was well known in underworld clubs throughout North, South, and Central America, as well as the Caribbean, but what most people didn’t know was she was an information broker. A double agent of sorts with no real alliances other than to herself. If she liked you, she’d pass intel onto you—for a price. If she didn’t, well, you were shit out of luck. At five foot five, she was slender with generous curves in all the right places. Her long, light-brown hair was thick with waves that framed her heart-shaped face, while her chestnut-colored eyes danced in delight as she focused on him, while still completely aware of everything going on around them. She was a Domme with a variety of kinks, and he doubted there was much out there she hadn’t already tried when it came to BDSM.
Carter knew the moment Jordyn spotted the thirty-three-year-old woman who was dressed in a tight, black, leather miniskirt, a black corset, and over-the-knee, leather boots. Attached to a silver chain belt around Cara’s waist was a coiled bullwhip which hung on her right hip. In his lap, Jordyn’s muscles tensed only a fraction—enough that he sensed it, but no one else did.
“Well, well, well. Carter, love, it’s been ages,” the Domme crooned, her words dripping with honey. Her speech had been honed and perfected over the years until she no longer spoke with even a hint of the Atlanta, Georgia twang she’d had up into her early twenties. Now, one would be hard pressed to figure out where she’d been born and raised.
Stepping over to his chair, she tucked herself into the corner over his right shoulder then placed a well-manicured hand on his chest, sliding it under his vest. He wasn’t one-hundred percent sure, with the music still thumping in the other rooms, but he could have sworn Jordyn just growled. “I’ve missed you. And who’s this lovely creature? I was quite enthralled with your scene. She’s absolutely luscious.”
Her fingers curled ever so slightly until her nails were gently scoring his skin in short strokes, but he knew better than to remove her hand. She had something she wanted to tell him and hopefully she did it before Jordyn started swinging. Thank God his woman was a professional, because otherwise it would have already been a bloodbath.
“Lady Cara, this is Master Jase, his submissive, Brie, and this is my submissive, Jordyn. Lady Cara is an old acquaintance of mine.”
“Tsk-tsk.” Her other hand played with his ponytail, twirling it around her fingers. “I’m far from old and I thought we’d gotten well past being acquainted by now, haven’t we? Ah, little Miss Jordyn has fire in her eyes when her jealousy rears up. She must be very explosive when you’re scening for real.”
He should’ve known that was coming—the woman didn’t miss a trick. Sure enough, Jordyn was shooting daggers at the other woman, but one had to look really closely to realize that, as Cara was. Ignoring the fact she was playing with fire, the seductress leaned down and placed her lips on his ear, licking the shell, before whispering an address, a hefty dollar amount, and a few more words so only he could hear. On his lap, Jordyn was at a near boil, and he gently squeezed her leg. To anyone else watching, they wouldn’t think there was anything suspicious about the Domme flirting with a Dom. This was the way Cara did things on a regular basis, so it didn’t look out of place. Even Chaplin had given a cursory glance as she draped over Carter, before dismissing them from across the room. If the club owner knew exactly what Lady Cara was doing when she was in his establishment, he’d probably be livid, but the woman knew who she could and couldn’t trust and Chaplin fell in the latter group.
When Cara lifted her head a few inches, Carter pulled her hand from under his vest and kissed the knuckles. “Same account?” he mumbled against her skin.
“Of course I’ll join you and your sub next time, love,” she said as her voice returned to a normal volume, answering his question. He released her hand, and she gave his ponytail a final teasing tug. “Give me a call—I’ll be in town for a few more nights.” In other words, if he needed more intel, he should call the encrypted phone number she used.
“If we get a chance, I’ll do just that, Lady Cara.”
“Wonderful. Have a good night, gentlemen . . . ladies.”
With a little smirk, she sashayed away just as she’d approached. When his gaze flitted unconsciously to her shapely ass, pain shot through his inner thigh where Jordyn was pinching his tender flesh through his leathers. Subtly grabbing her hand and pulling it from between both their legs, he returned the gesture and pinched her ass. “You’ll pay for that, Jordy.”
“Right back at ya, Sir.” Ah, there was the snarky woman he loved so much. When he got her back to the suite, damn, were they going to have fun.
As much as he wanted to get the hell out of there, he waited another twenty minutes before setting Jordyn on her feet and standing. They both feigned disappointment over their supposed lack of intel. Jase followed suit with Brie after he helped her put her panties on under the cover of the blanket. Once they were back at the resort, Carter would have one of the Trident geeks track down everything they needed to know about the address Cara had given him. How she’d known who or what they were looking for didn’t surprise him anymore. The woman would’ve made a hell of an operative if she’d taken the job offer Deimos had approached her with many years ago, but Cara never liked playing by the rules.
C
HAPTER 11
A fter changing out of their club wear, Jase and Brie joined Carter and Jordyn in their suite, along with Ian. They hadn’t discussed anything of importance during the ride back to the resort, just in case anyone had tagged the vehicle with a listening device. There had been times when Ian’s attention had been elsewhere as he’d surveilled the property surrounding the mansion from a safe distance away. Carter would check for bugs in the morning.
Brie had been very quiet and Jase was worried about her. The scene they’d done in the club was beyond anything they’d experienced before . . . at least together. Jase had gone through training, but the female sub he’d practiced with had also been new to the lifestyle. While they were friendly with each other, there hadn’t been that spark—that sexual attraction—between them that set things on fire. But holy hell, it had been there tonight between him and Brie, and he had no idea if she was now freaked out about it. She sure as hell hadn’t expected the tsunami-sized orgasm that’d hit her, nor had he. Yeah, he’d always made sure she was satisfied before he
took his own pleasure, but tonight . . . hell, tonight had gone over and beyond anything he’d experienced before, with her or any other woman, and he was worried it had scared her. Jase had wanted to ask her about it while they’d been changing, but Brie had been in a hurry to find out what intel Carter had received from the flirtatious Domme earlier.
Now, in comfortable clothing, they gathered around the suite’s dining table, which had several laptop computers, a printer, and a map of St. Lucia on it—Jase had no idea where it’d all come from, but with Carter, anything was possible. It was probably the errands he and Jordyn had run after they’d learned a visit to Perdition was in order. The spy handed both Ian and Jase a lowball glass filled with scotch, while Jordyn retrieved two bottles of water from the refrigerator for her and Brie.
“So . . .” Brie glanced at all of them. “Did we or did we not find out anything? I was a little out of it before.” A blush stole across her cheeks as she realized why she’d been “a little out of it” and that the others knew the reason, too. Thankfully, no one said anything to embarrass her even more.
The last one to sit down, Carter pulled out a chair, spun it around, and straddled it. “Well, what we learned is Jordy doesn’t like Lady Cara.”
“There’s an understatement if I ever heard one,” Jordyn scoffed.
Swallowing a sip of scotch, Ian relaxed back in his chair. “Uh, do you mind filling in the poor guy who got stuck on the boring lookout detail?”
Carter gave everyone the lowdown on Lady Cara, then continued on about the intel she’d given him. “I’m not sure how she knew we were looking for a missing woman, maybe she overheard Chaplin talking about Nadine with his staff, but she gave me an address about twenty minutes north of the club. I trust the intel is solid.” When Jordyn gave him a glare, he shrugged. “What can I say, Cara likes me.”
“Well, next time you can tell her to get her paws off my man, or I will.”
The man grinned. “I love when you get jealous, sweetheart, but we’ll discuss that in private later.” He turned an open laptop so everyone could see a picture of the property’s topography from a Google satellite. “The address Cara gave me is another private residence on three acres on the beach, as you can see. She said we’ll find who we’re looking for there and more, so I think it’s safe to assume Nadine isn’t the only one being held there. Oh, and by the way, A-man . . .” He handed Jase a piece of paper with a bunch of numbers on it. “. . . wire ten Gs to that account by noon tomorrow for the intel.”
While Jase only arched a brow as he took the paper, Brie let out a loud squeak. “What? Ten—ten thousand dollars? F-For—”
“It’s okay, Brie,” Jase said, interrupting her sputtering. “This is the way things are done in our world. The money isn’t an issue.”
“Isn’t an issue? I don’t have that kind of money, Jase. Most of what I have is tied up in Daddy-O’s. Where—”
This time, he cut her off by grabbing her hand and squeezing. “Easy, babe. I’ve got the money covered.” What he’d never told her was that the work he did for Trident and other similar companies paid very, very well. He was employed by several high-caliber companies with wealthy clients—the United States government being one of them.
Her eyes grew wider, if that was even possible, and she seemed on the verge of hyperventilating. “I—I can’t let you—
“Brie!” He barked her name in that low, commanding “Dom” tone he’d heard others use at the few clubs he’d been in. But it was the first time he’d ever had to really use it with her outside of the bedroom. As intended, it had the same effect it’d had on the subs he’d trained with—Brie immediately quieted and focused on him. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted the two more experienced Doms giving him subtle but approving nods. Taking a deep breath, he soldiered on. “Listen to me. This is not negotiable. I have the money to cover the information and under no circumstances will I allow you to pay me back.”
“But—”
He squeezed her hand again. “No buts. This is what I do for a living. Well, part of it. Intel is exchanged back and forth in my world. Sometimes I’m paid for it and sometimes the money goes in the other direction. Carter trusts this Lady Cara, and I trust him with Nadine’s life. If Cara’s intel is as good as I suspect it is, then we have a very good chance of finding Nadine very soon. To me, getting your sister back to you is worth ten times that amount of money. Understood?”
There was a long pause as she digested his words, then biting her bottom lip, she nodded. Her eyes welled up with tears of relief. “Okay. Th-thank you.”
“You’re welcome, baby.” He brought her fingertips to his mouth and gently kissed them. “Now, let’s get back to figuring what comes next.”
“What comes next is a phone call to Tampa,” Ian said, “to get some boots and toys on the ground down here—I get the feeling we’re going to need them. Since you’re writing checks, you can pay for the jet fuel and ammo.”
He snorted. “Should’ve seen that coming.”
“Yup, you should have. I may be rich, but you’re no charity case—I can’t exactly write a twatwaffle off on my taxes, now can I?”
Rolling his eyes, Jase responded, “Can you come up with another insult beside ‘twatwaffle,’ Sawyer? It’s getting annoying.”
“But I love how it rolls off my tongue. Twaaaaaatwaaaafffle.” He brought his fingers to the thumbs of both hands, then made a stretching motion as he drew the word out. “See? I love it.”
Carter chuckled. “For once, I’m glad I earned the ‘jackass’ title with you.”
The other man shrugged. “If the call sign fits . . .”
They spent the next ten minutes rehashing what they already knew, what they speculated, and what their next steps were. When Jase glanced at Brie, he noted her eyelids were growing heavy and wasn’t surprised. It’d been a long, exhausting day between running into Ian and Angie, dealing with the latter’s freak out, then the trip to Sandy Bottoms, several powwow meetings including this one, and shopping for fet-wear. Top all that off with everything that had happened at Perdition, he was amazed she hadn’t passed out yet.
Standing, he tugged on her hand. “C’mon, Brie. Let’s get you to bed before you fall asleep in the chair. There’s nothing more we can do tonight.” When she stood, he tucked her into his side and it felt . . . right. “I’ll meet you in the lobby at 0800,” he added to the others. While Ian was taking care of getting his team down to the island, Carter, Jordyn, and Jase were going to see how close they could get to the property where Nadine supposedly was to scope things out.
After everyone said goodnight, Jase and Brie followed Ian out of the suite and down the hall, stopping at the elevators as the other man continued on. Jase hoped Angie had cooled off a bit—he really didn’t want her marriage to crumble because of him. Even though Ian and Jase would never be close, that didn’t mean they didn’t respect each other. They were both cut from the same cloth—alphas who took charge and protected those they loved, even if it was with their dying breath. With their military and undercover ops backgrounds, there was a brotherhood between them that still trumped everything else. It was one of the reasons Ian had put Jase on the Trident payroll instead of kicking him to the curb after what had happened with Angie and Jenn.
Within minutes, they were back behind their closed door. Brie took a quick peek into Amy’s room and found the younger woman asleep, so she shut the door again. While she did whatever she had to do in the bathroom, Jase yanked his T-shirt over his head and tossed it on a chair, followed by his sweatpants. He kept his boxer briefs on to keep from being tempted into ravishing Brie. It’d been a very long day, and he was sure she’d be asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
While waiting for her, Jase called Jacob and filled him in the best he could. The older man offered to fly down to help look for Nadine, but Jase convinced him to hold off. If they couldn’t use him, it would be a waste of airfare for him to come over. Jase told him they were hoping t
o have Nadine back in the next day or so and promised to call him as soon as they did.
After wrapping up the call, Jase tossed the phone on the nightstand and climbed in bed. Reaching over, he peeled back the covers on Brie’s side for her and fluffed the pillows the way he knew she liked them. It wasn’t long before she exited the bathroom, shut off the overhead lights, and joined him. As she got comfortable, he flipped the switch on the bedside lamp, plunging them into darkness.
Turning onto his side, Jase found her hip and pulled her closer to him, offering her his comfort and strength. Her breath caressed his bare chest and that was all it took for him to get hard again. But he forced himself to stay in control. As much as he wanted to take her hard and fast right now, that’s not what she needed. “Are you okay, baby?”
There was a long pause as he ran his hand from her thigh to her ribcage and back again. Her voice was barely above a whisper when she finally answered him. “Not really. It’s just . . . everything. What if she’s not there? What do we do then?”
“Then we’ll turn this island upside down until we find her. Please trust us, Brie. This is what we do . . . especially Ian and his teams.” He wanted to ask how she felt about what had happened at the club, but he decided to wait and let her talk about whatever was on her mind. If she didn’t want to talk at all, then he’d hold her as she slept.
A few minutes passed, but he could tell by her breathing and tense muscles that she wasn’t asleep. He was about to tell her to try and relax when she asked, “How did you and Angie meet? I know you said you were teenagers. You went to school together?”
Salvaging His Soul Page 12
