Clayton's deep, calm, even voice continued on. Her cell phone was squeezed to her ear and it sounded as though the tall, sexy man was in the car next to her.
"Now I'm telling you Katy, that wherever you think you're headed tonight it won’t be safer than turning around with Angel and coming to stay with me tonight. I guarantee you."
She looked out into the now inky blackness of the forest again and quailed. She had planned to drive all night to the Canadian border and then change vehicles as soon as she crossed over, but she knew no-one north of the border; it would be just her and some money and an account number in the Cayman Islands. She would be more starkly alone than ever before.
Angel stood by her car; a figure of infinite patience.
"If you don't come then I'll be forced to call the authorities for your own safety." Clayton added.
"That would not make me safer." She said in a low, quavering voice. "You have to let me go. Please."
There was a silence. Katy strained to hear with all her being.
"I can't." He said. "And I won't. Now you have your choice. I suggest you ride with Angel and let my people go out to pick up your car."
She gave no answer. The feeling of being cornered was suffocating, but the idea of giving in to Clayton Hargrave and accepting his protection was dizzying.
Continue on into the forest, alone, knowing that the police would soon be after her with all of what that entailed, or get into Angel's car and drive back to his secure mansion on the seafront and spend the evening with easily the most attractive man she had ever met, a man she had almost given herself to just a couple of hours ago…
Clayton waited. He was sure of the outcome and he was never wrong about these things.
"I'll take my chances." She said in a voice barely above a whisper.
The billionaire didn’t move, didn’t breathe; this answer was strictly not an option.
********************
An hour later Angel's car was passing through the automated front gates of the Beechwood Cove estate. When Katy had said she would take her 'chances', Clayton had almost panicked, but after a short pause she had continued. 'I'll take my chances with you for now Hargrave.' She made it sound like a death sentence. 'I need a place to stay for tonight but this doesn’t mean I'm working for you.'
Clayton had breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
The distraught woman had passed the gates of the Beechwood Cove estate a couple of times in her year long stay in Lovett, but she had never been inside. It took a while before the house came into view on the long, winding drive from the entrance, but when it did, the property was breathtaking. Outside lighting made the house appear surreally beautiful and the view out onto the water was magical.
"I see your boss likes to keep a low profile." She said sarcastically. "Does he think that keeping his shopping mall sized house lit up like the fourth of July is a good way of protecting his privacy?"
Angel grunted.
"Anybody comes within two hundred yards of this property will already have been on camera for five hundred yards. Clay doesn’t want to be invisible, he just likes to be left alone. "
"Is that a fact."
"Surely is. Especially when he's feeling the love."
There was a weird silence.
"I hope you're not talking about me there." Katy said. "I'm grossed out enough already by your bosses stalker personality, don’t make it any worse."
Angel pulled the car into one of the many parking bays.
"Ain't no other ladies allowed on the premises tonight Ms. Maldon." He looked at her with just a shade of a mischievous smile on his handsome lips. "I'd say you better watch your ass in that big house tonight. You may be safe from everything outside those gates, but it's what's inside those doors you should worried about."
Angel's large presence had felt comforting up to this point, now he was just being creepy.
"Don’t worry about me big guy." She said. "Your boss may be a big shot to you but he's just another client to me."
"Is that a fact." Angel quit the engine and turned fully to his passenger. "Well just so you know, Clay and I go back a long way. All the way back to college when we bunked together. I used to look after the little punk even back then, and I always knew he'd make good. I've never and I mean never, not even in the military, met anyone more determined, more clever and more downright obstinate than that guy."
"You don't know me yet." She said defiantly. She was here, but she was here because Hargrave wanted something and that meant bargaining power. She wasn't out for the count yet.
Angel grinned widely.
"I like your style Ms. Maldon, but guess what, so does Clay. As soon as I laid eyes on you this afternoon I knew what I was in for. Clay was always very particular about his women. As good looking a boy as he is, there were always sorority girls, cheerleaders, you name it, all running after him, but he never had an interest. God, it used to make me mad sometimes to see him pay those hot little mamita's no attention at all because he would have spotted some nerdy little bookworm computer geek like you buried away in the college library, or glued to a computer terminal in the lab all day long. I don’t know what he sees in women like you." He paused. "No offence of course."
"None taken."
"I've only seen him with three women in all the time I've known him and compared to them you are the closest to what he's looking for that I've ever seen."
Angel hadn't stopped staring at her all the time he was speaking. Katy was trying to stay calm, keep her head on her shoulders but she was beginning to feel as if she was floating. It had been one hell of a long day and now this hulking human brick wall was telling her details about the emotional and sexual life of his boss, insisting that she was somehow his ideal woman.
What the hell was this really all about?
"Is this a joke?" She said, trying to bring herself back down to earth. "I mean, really, where's the camera? Trust me Angel, I'm nobody's dream girl and certainly not your boss's."
"I didn't say dream girl Ms. Maldon; ideal fantasy fuck would be closer to the truth."
Katy's mouth dropped open. Angel was still grinning like a stupid, immature little boy playing a game. The crudeness of his words were lost in the infuriating playfulness of his smile.
"I… but I… I'm just…"
"I know." Angel said. "A geek, a nerd, a high IQ bookworm with an attitude that stinks and a life that looks like it's about to go down the toilet. I don’t get it either. Add to it this goddamn secret life you have and bingo, Clayton Hargrave is well and truly fucked. I've never seen anyone tick all the boxes like you have. I swear to you, I don't know what he would have done if you hadn't agreed to come back here with me. You could have ended up in the damn trunk of the car and that's one scenario even I never want to see play out."
The implied threat put Katy back on the offensive.
"I don’t get it Angel, why the hell are you telling me all this? What's it to you who your boss takes to bed?"
Angel leaned in close to her and his expression changed from playful to deadly serious.
"I'll tell you why Katy, because this guy is like a little brother to me and if you fuck with him I will personally take you apart."
Katy drew back from the menacing stranger in shock. She had expected to feel safe and protected on Hargrave's property, not threatened and cornered by him and his closest buddies from college. Maybe this was just one more mistake in a day littered with bad decisions.
"I'm no threat to him." She said hastily. "None at all."
"We both know that ain't true. You're on the run for a reason and those two cops had no business at your place today. You're trouble. I can smell it. Now Clay, he thinks he can save you. He thinks you're this nice geeky girl with a fighting spirit and a boat load of secrets he can unlock like some kind of mystery game, but he's taken it too far this time. I want you gone by tomorrow. One way or the other. You give him what he wants and then you get the hell out of here."
&
nbsp; "I wish I knew what he wanted. I'd give it to him already, right now just to make him leave me alone for Christ's sake."
"Then we don’t have a problem. I'll tell you what he wants. You tell him everything there is to know about you and that will get him off, big time. He wants to know what makes you tick. He wants to know your deepest, darkest, sickest secret and then once you've told him everything, confessed all your girl sins to him, then he can fuck you until you scream for him to stop. Then and only then, will that be enough. Me entiendes guapita? Do you understand me?"
Katy had gone pale. She looked up at the house and imagined the full force of what was waiting for her there inside. It seemed there was no way back from here, no way out, but the craziest thing of all? She didn't want to back out now. As scared and confused she was, she wanted to be there, in that house, with him and give him not only what he wanted but a whole lot more than even he had bargained for. If that was possible.
And for one night only.
Then she would get back to her real world; alone, anonymous, untraceable, unbreakable. Nadia Komerov, still free, still strong and needing no-one to take care of her.
"Don’t worry." She said with a new determination. "One night's all I’ll need. He'll be satisfied."
"Completely."
"Completely, deeply, absolutely. Don’t worry Angelito, I want to get just as far away from your boss as you want me to be."
"I seriously doubt that." He said and then put his hand to his earpiece. "I've got the package outside Clay. You want me to send it on in?" He nodded his head and then looked back to Katy. "You're up." He said and then gave her a more serious look. "Don't screw up Maldon or you might find someone worse than the cops looking for you if you do."
He leaned roughly across her and flung the door open.
"You got twenty-four hours to do what you gotta do. Now get out of my car."
********************
Katy walked the brightly illuminated wooden staircase towards a vast decking area to one side of the house. Her secure Blackphone had been buzzing in her bag throughout the journey from the woods to Beechwood but she had studiously ignored it. She was tempted now to throw it out into the sea together with any other device that connected her to the identity she was on the brink of annihilating. Except that throwing it away might just land it on the rocks below, ready to be gathered up by Hargrave's staff and then well and then potentially cracked by his technology. She would have to keep it for now.
She was still wearing her running clothes and her legs felt weak beneath her.
When she got to the top of the staircase she was surprised to see that the deck was as homely and welcoming as a family home. She had expected something more austere from the sharply dressed and weirdly obsessive billionaire.
He was standing with his back to her on the other side of the deck taking a call.
"I thought our security was iron clad, the best there is, I don’t see how anything like this could even happen." His deep, velvet smooth voice carried easily through the evening air and sounded annoyingly familiar already. She didn't want familiarity. Not with him, not with anyone.
He turned around and stopped speaking when he saw her.
"Ms. Maldon. I'm so glad you could make it." He said with the sexiest of half smiles she could have imagined.
"You're shitting me, right?" She said.
He smiled a little more, only adding to his sexiness and then spoke into the phone.
"I'll be in touch Dale, keep me posted on the security breach."
He put the phone away and directed himself to Katy.
"Are foul language and verbal aggression part of your psychological defense mechanism Ms. Maldon? Or is that your actual personality?"
"Psychoanalyst as well as military hardware tycoon. Is there anything you aren't good at? Or is that just a massive superiority complex you have?"
He smiled. This was going to be good.
"You've been doing your homework I see."
"If you want to call a ten minute Google search homework, then yes, I did some homework. Something tells me the research you did on me took a little more than an internet connection."
"Dear oh dear, we are a bit grumpy this evening, aren't we Ms. Maldon?"
"I'm standing in the sweat pants I went for a run in three hours ago and I'm a prisoner in your, admittedly gorgeous, home; should I be singing choruses from the Sound of Music?"
"You really are something." He said with obvious pleasure. "I've never met one quite like you before."
His use of the word 'one' brought Katy back to reality. This wasn't a fantasy date with a supermodel rich enough to outbid Bill Gates, she was here under duress to stay one step ahead of the Russian Mafia, the police and the FBI, and if that wasn't enough she would soon have one of the smartest men she had ever met digging into her past for his off the wall sexual gratification. Add to this the insane best friend outside who essentially had her on the clock with a mission to satisfy all of his boss's perverted needs within the next twenty-four hours and the atmosphere became something less than romantic.
She put her hand to her forehead and looked around the deck, over into the house and then back out over the dark ocean.
"Clayton…" It was the first time she had said his name.
"Katy?"
"Clayton, I don’t feel so good…" The room began to spin around her, the feeling of disorientation making her nauseous. Had she moved far enough away from the steps she had climbed to get to the deck yet? Jesus, she would break her neck if she fell back down there.
She felt the ground go from under her feet and saw blackness; the inky darkness of the clouded night sky above them seemed to move in slow motion and then her vision was filled with two most beautiful eyes she could imagine.
For a moment she didn’t recognize them.
The black night was replaced by soft light and soft, warm, comforting interior colors. She was indoors.
"Where am I?" She said looking up into the eyes still gazing down at her.
"It's okay." The voice was so deep, so soft, so comforting and powerful. "It's okay. I've got you. Everything is okay. You're safe here. Everything is okay."
She shook her head and looked into those beautiful eyes again, so dark, so brown, so profound and intense, and then recoiled. They were piercing eyes, not soft; inquiring, watching, not caring.
Recognition returned and she looked around at the immense living room that dwarfed her entire house on the hill.
"It’s okay." Clayton repeated. "Nothing can happen to you here. I've got you."
She pushed herself up from the couch he had laid her on.
"I'm sorry." She said. "I don’t know what happened just there… it's been a long day."
"it's okay." He said, and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. The gesture was intensely caring and personal, but also so very sensual. A vibration of incredible attraction ran through her. They had been so close again; he had lifted her in his arms and for a moment had stared into her eyes with such concern.
Maybe giving in to him wouldn’t be so bad after all.
"I need to clean up." She said. "If you don’t mind. Is there somewhere…"
"Of course there is. I'll bring you to your bedroom and you can freshen up there. Take all the time you need."
Your bedroom. He had said your bedroom. As ridiculous as it was she felt a sting of disappointment. Wasn't she his dream girl? No, that wasn't it. What had Angel said; ideal fantasy fuck? If that was the case then wouldn't he just take her to his bed and use her until she screamed like Angel said he would?
"Thank you." She said. "We have a lot to get through tonight. I won’t take long."
She watched for a reaction to her words and if they hadn't been so close together and so alone in that vast room, it would have been impossible to see.
But she did see it. She was sure of it. He wanted her in a way the he didn’t even realize yet. No matter how smart this guy thought he was, she was
still on step ahead and she would use it. Her survival depended upon it.
Clayton swallowed hard and then stood up quickly. The truth was that her sudden willingness to comply, right there in his living room, had threatened to give him a hard on like an Apollo moon rocket and he needed to get moving or make a fool out of himself. It didn't happen like this. Involuntary erections were not part of the plan. He needed to be in control while she broke down and revealed herself to him. Then, and only then, would the relationship become physical. After that it would be intense and something neither of them would ever forget.
"Step this way Ms. Maldon." He said and put his hand out to take hers. Katy didn’t move.
"That's not my real name." She said and watched him go rigid with anticipation in front of her.
"May I call you by your real name?" He said softly, his dark eyes revealing little of the excitement he was feeling.
"Maybe." She said as she took his hand and stood up, holding his gaze. "Or maybe you need to earn that." She watched him swallow hard again and then turn quickly to lead her down the hall.
"I look forward to earning that privilege." He said.
Katy trailed along like a rag doll in tow to a bear. It was like nothing she had ever experienced with any other man before. Again. She had always met men on equal terms, strictly eye to eye, word for word, deed for deed and dollar for dollar - but for Clayton Hargrave she was turned on to the core just thinking about being his rich man's plaything.
When they had met earlier that day she had been in complete control of her world and he had just been a prospective client who needed her expertise, but now that she knew more about his particular tastes and motivations she could see that she had been as innocent as a lamb playing with a lion's mane. It had taken him only a matter of hours to strip her down to her address, her phone number and even her real name for Christ's sake. Step by step he was taking away all of her protections and barriers, all of the walls she had set up around her to keep the world out.
His Secret Desire Page 6
