“Which was?”
She rolled her eyes. “There was this senator cutting funding to public transportation. It meant my dad had to quit his job and find another one closer to home that paid nothing. So, I hacked the Senator’s email, found some dirt, and posted it to the New Orleans Advocate.”
Kaspar whistled. At eighteen she’d gone off-grid for a long time, before popping back up with her own business. He’d always wondered what happened.
“Anyway, they slapped my wrists then offered me a job—but I’m not telling you that.” Her gaze narrowed and he didn’t doubt she’d retaliate.
He held up his hands.
“After schooling their guys for a few years, I realized I could turn my skill set into an honest business and support my entire family. Well, except my oldest sister.” She sighed. “I had to cut her off because I’m pretty sure she’s using again and I refuse to pay for that.”
He kept his mouth shut. Family problems were complex and unique. He knew more than his fair share of it, and had handled enough drama and problems to last a lifetime.
“So…country boy, huh? Is that where your thing for tying girls up came from?”
“Not exactly.” He shifted in his seat.
“Then—where?”
It wasn’t an easy question to answer. “I’ve always had…dark tastes. I was very careful until I moved to Dallas for college, and then there were parties, a few clubs where I met people.”
“Damn. I can only imagine what that must have been like. I was just a wild child. It seemed like I was bound to fall into kink at some time.”
Kaspar turned toward the window. The BDSM community had so many tools at its disposal now. He’d been scarred, at times physically, by some of his early partners who were nothing but vultures looking for newbies to take advantage of.
“You’re lucky then that this is the first time someone’s hurt you.” He heard the intake of her breath as he stared out at the street, and knew he was being an ass. “Do you want me to call a cab for you?”
“We still have a lot of work to do,” she said.
“I thought everything was in place.” He turned toward her, just enough to glance at her and be burned by her glare.
“The tripwires are in place, but you’ve got someone scraping data on your system.”
Well fuck. Scrapers could aggregate data and send it along to a source. Meaning, someone had a real-time log of what cases were being worked, the information logged, and all of the sensitive information related to open cases.
“I thought we could work on some of it together, cut it in half, and knock it out.” She continued to scratch Toodles, no longer looking at him.
He needed to put space between them, but he needed her help more.
Chapter Five
Rosaline squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing her knuckles over her lids. Three hours staring at her screen and she still had no idea who they were dealing with. But that was probably Kaspar’s fault. She could barely wrestle her thoughts into order with him there.
What was up with the man?
Last night, he’d told her he would fuck her silly, then he’d held her all night and even made her breakfast. Now, he’d banished her to the kitchen to work, claiming he needed quiet. Was this a ruse? A game to get her cooperation? And now that she was in too deep to back out, he was finished with her? That wasn’t the kind of fucking with her they’d negotiated, and damn it, she was done chasing her own tail.
Rosaline stood, earning a glare from Toodles who’d been using her forearm as a pillow. The cat was so ugly he was cute with his one eye and partially missing ear. He looked on the outside like she felt on the inside.
“One of us has to be honest,” she whispered to the cat.
She grabbed a purple nightie from her bag and tiptoed into his bathroom. A quick change and the woman staring back at her looked nothing like a CEO. Her nerves clamored for her to stuff herself back into her blouse and slacks, but she turned a deaf ear. She’d allowed herself to be taken in, which left her open to Andy’s trust-destroying attacks, but it was past time to put that behind her.
Rosaline pushed her shoulders back and strode out of the bathroom. Kaspar was still hiding in his office, so if he wasn’t going to come out to face her, she’d go to him. Not that she’d ever been shy about going after what she wanted, but he made her nervous in a way no one else ever had.
She paused in the doorway to his office. The only lights in the room were his computer monitors and the heat lamp. He sat in his chair, hands clasped behind his head, staring at something. She edged in closer, until she could see his second monitor.
Her face stared back at her. It was an older picture, one she’d used the first year she’d debuted her company. It was hip, a little funky, and she looked every inch as young as she’d been.
Kaspar sat staring at the image for a moment before he reached out and swiped a finger across the monitor. The image crumpled into a ball and bounced into the trashcan. Another picture of her, this one from a news article she’d done a year ago. She posed in a smart suit, glasses in one hand, staring at the camera in front of a projection of a laptop. She’d talked about internet security on the personal level in that one. It had gained her a lot of popularity, especially as a woman in IT.
Again, after a few moments Kaspar dragged his finger over the screen, trashing the image.
She watched him do it time after time. They were all images easily obtained through internet searches. It wasn’t as if he’d hacked her phone or anything, and yet—these were all local files. She could see the maximized file explorer taking up one whole screen.
Kaspar had gone to Fletcher’s looking for her. He’d admitted it, and she hadn’t thought another thing about it. Should she have?
“What are you doing?” she blurted out.
Kaspar sat upright and swung to face her. He showed no surprise, no guilt—just stared at her with those dark, unreadable eyes.
“Why do you have so many pictures of me?” She crossed her arms over her chest, realizing just how exposed she was wearing nothing but lingerie.
“Why are you wearing—that?”
“I asked you first.” Was this a trap? She’d heard horror stories about girls going to hotels to meet Doms and—no, Kaspar wasn’t that kind of man. If he was, he could have done anything to her last night.
He blew out a breath and leaned back in his chair. His gaze slid away from her and the muscle in his jaw ticked. Was that a tell?
“I should never have gone looking for you,” he said so quietly she barely heard him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She took two steps toward him before her better sense kicked in, and she stopped.
Kaspar speared her to the spot with nothing more than a look. “I mean, you should want nothing to do with me. Go put on your clothes and go home.” He swung around and filled his monitors with blue bubbles, obscuring whatever else he’d been looking at.
“That’s not an answer.” What was he hiding? Chances were she’d have better luck hacking his system and finding out for herself, but damn it, she wanted him to tell her.
“That’s the answer you’re getting,” he said without turning to face her.
She stalked across the floor and yanked the rolling chair back, away from the desk, and stepped in front of him. He pursed his lips and reclined in the chair, hands on the armrests, studying her as if he was trying to decide a punishment. She resisted the urge to shiver and straightened her spine.
“I think I deserve more,” she said. More of what though, she wasn’t sure. The truth? Him? Answers?
Kaspar stood, crowding her back with his bulk.
“Precisely my point.” He cupped her jaw, squeezing and forcing her to look up at him. “You deserve more, Rosaline. Go away. Now. Find your more somewhere else.”
She jerked her face out of his hand. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“You’re wrong.” He grasped her arms, but did not squeeze.
She could feel the tremors in his muscles and see the way his arms shook, but he didn’t harm her. And he wouldn’t. That wasn’t the kind of man Kaspar was. “When you came to me, you gave me that power.”
“And you shoved it back at me.” The rejection stung, but there was something else going on here. “What crime have I committed? Why are you being such an ass?”
“You need to go.” He jerked his hands away from her as if he’d been burned. She missed the touch immediately
“I’m not going anywhere until you answer me.” She took a step toward him and he retreated one. It felt completely wrong to be the aggressor, that wasn’t how it should be between them, and yet, she wasn’t about to walk out of the apartment without a fight. For some reason—this mattered.
“Just leave, Rose.”
She chased him all the way to the futon. His calves bumped into the cushion and he wobbled. For a moment she thought he might tip over, but he caught himself.
“No, I won’t.”
He clenched his hands into fists, and unless she was mistaken, he growled at her. She was so taken aback by the animalistic sound that she didn’t react when he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her down onto the futon. One moment she was standing, the next she was flat on her back, Kaspar’s hands on her chest, pressing her down while he knelt with one knee between her legs.
Her heart hammered against her ribs, and though he’d surprised her—there was no fear. She didn’t fight back, which might have been the smart thing to do.
“You should have left. You don’t know me, Rosaline. You don’t know that I’m not a predator, that I’m obsessed with you. You know nothing about me.”
He was wrong.
Kaspar was a total predator, but in the best way possible. He was a hunter, dangerous, deadly, and determined. She’d let him hunt her any day.
Wait...had he said obsessed? With her?
All the pictures?
Knowing who she was?
Where she’d be?
Okay, that was weird.
She gulped and glanced around, noticing Mr. Toodles sitting next to Fluffy’s habitat, calmly watching them.
“What do you mean, obsessed with me?” she asked. Cats were good judges of character, weren’t they? Or was Toodles lying to her, too?
Shit. Maybe he was completely unhinged, and tried to warn her away earlier?
“I mean, since that stupid hack, I followed you. I watched what you did. I kept tabs on you.” His right hand slid from her chest to rest at the base of her throat. “See? You should have run away from me.”
She gulped down a breath, sorting through what he was saying—and not saying. While he’d been hard at work, she’d taken a quick detour through his personnel file on the police server. It was wrong, but she wanted to know more about him. The New Orleans PD had courted him hard, it wasn’t like he’d come here and got a job just to stalk her. Fletcher had introduced them, and he was one of the best judges of character. Hell, to even get into a party, a new person had to provide references, people who would vouch for him. These were not the traits of a stalker.
“You’ve had a crush on me for that long?” she asked.
He scowled, his mouth twisting into a frown she didn’t like.
Rosaline licked her lips as the pieces clicked together. His little plan wasn’t going to work. “You aren’t the stalking type. If you were, I bet you’d already have dragged me off somewhere. You’re methodical, detailed. You’d have already planned for tonight. There’d be a bunker or a house or something where you’d keep me. But you haven’t done any of that because it’s not you.” She tried to sit up, but he kept her on the mattress by the press of his hand on her neck. “You’re trying to scare me. It’s not going to work.”
Oh, she might be the bat shit crazy one, but Kaspar wasn’t a stalker.
“I’ve followed your career. Ask me anything about you—I bet I know it.”
“You didn’t know I worked for the FBI. I saw that on your face. You also didn’t know my kinks.”
His hold and voice gentled as he switched tactics. Score one for her. He hadn’t known those things. “You should leave me alone, Rosaline. I’m not the Dominant for you. I’m too demanding. I’d break you.”
“I dare you to try. Andy couldn’t. I bet you couldn’t either.” As broken as she’d thought she’d been, Kaspar had shown her those were merely bruises. She was stronger than her past. Strong enough to take him on.
***
Kaspar wanted to shake her, squeeze her, and kiss her, but instead, he stared deep into her eyes. She wasn’t scared of his admission, but he didn’t put a lot of stock in her self-preservation urges either. Rosaline felt too deeply. If he had to guess, that was why she stayed with her old Dominant so long, because she thought she loved him. And now, their brief play had forged another emotional bond she’d latched onto.
He couldn’t be a substitute for the man she’d left. Those were shoes he wouldn’t fill, but it didn’t mean the desire wasn’t there. He wanted her, and if he allowed her to keep pushing, he’d give her exactly what she asked for. And then who would the monster be? Him.
It might kill him to see the pain on her face directed at him. He’d rather preserve some kind of a friendship than go through that.
“What’s stopping you?” Her voice broke through the myriad of thoughts fighting it out in his brain.
“This isn’t how we should proceed.” Kaspar took a deep breath and sat up. Intimidating her hadn’t worked, but he shouldn’t have gone that route anyway. Rosaline was a prize fighter. She had to be to create the life she’d made for herself.
She followed, pushing herself upright, breasts thrust out and her knee slightly crooked, pressing into his inner thigh.
“Then what do you suggest?” she asked.
“Go home.”
He crawled off the futon and turned away. Mr. Toodles had taken their moment of distraction to climb back into Fluffy’s habitat once more. The cat was slowly oozing the lizard aside in a bid for the most space under the heat lamp.
“Damn cat,” he muttered and fished the feline out once again. This time he placed the lid back on the habitat, though even that didn’t seem to keep Toodles out very long.
“Why do you think he does that?” Rosaline stood next to him, staring at Fluffy, who bobbed his head as he swung it back and forth between them.
“Heat lamp.”
“Oh.”
Toodles strolled past Kaspar to twine around Rosaline’s legs. The scarred animal wasn’t big on people, but for some reason he was acting as if she opened the tuna cans.
“I’m not going home, so there’s no point in pretending you can make me.” She knelt and stroked Toodles’ patchy fur.
He could make her. He could bundle her up, take her to her condo and leave her, but he had a feeling she’d bounce back. And when she came to him again, he’d cave.
“We’re too different. You want to perform for people, you want to keep things sensual. Sexy. I can’t do that, Rose.”
“I’m not asking you to.” She straightened and turned to face him. One of her straps slipped down her shoulder, exposing the slope of her breast.
“You called red after a spanking.”
“I lost track of where and when I was. I think…I think the crowd distracted me. Spank me again.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because…because the way you looked at me in those moments after you called red—you didn’t see me. I don’t want you to go back to that place.”
“Then remind me who’s with me.”
Scratch prize fighter. She was a damn pit bull. They could argue this the whole night and she’d never give up. Was this the tenacity that had gotten her to the top? He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d had to wear a few people down.
He glanced at her, and damned if he didn’t want to touch her. Was it a good idea? He’d always been a proponent of facing his fears and getting back in the saddle, but
this wasn’t about him. It was about her. They barely knew each other. He’d have to trust her to know herself.
“I’m not gentle.”
“You’ve said that.” One side of her mouth hitched up and a smile spread slowly across her face. Damn it. She knew she’d worn him down.
“There will be marks.”
“The better to remember you by.”
“You’re sure?”
“I am.”
Kaspar wasn’t.
“Kneel on the futon,” he said.
Chapter Six
Kaspar might regret this. Scratch that, he already did. Rosaline would overcome what happened to her, and when she was ready to move on, it would be with someone else. He just wasn’t the performance player she was. He didn’t need people watching, didn’t want the distraction of others. But tonight, it would be just them.
Kaspar rolled a trunk out of the closet and placed it in front of the futon. Rosaline knelt in the middle, hands in her lap. She was fucking beautiful. Better than anything he’d imagined.
He flipped the lid up and she gasped. He’d improved on the trunk quite a bit, creating pockets on the top, and bins and containers to keep everything organized. He’d become something of a toy collector the last couple of years, which meant they had plenty of options.
If she wanted a spanking, he could deliver it in a dozen different ways.
“Why do you think you’re an exhibitionist?” he asked as he considered the trunk’s contents.
“Well…I like knowing people want me. That I’m beautiful. That they can’t take their eyes off me.”
People. They. Impersonal terms for a faceless audience. What about him? Her partner? Of course, he’d asked the question in regard to why she liked to be in front of people, so he should have expected the answer, but he didn’t like it. Then again, he didn’t have to. This was about her.
He selected a small rice paddle covered in raised bumps and tapped her thigh. “On your knees, facing the wall.”
Taming the Alpha Page 31
