by Lexi Blake
“Alex,” she started.
He tightened the hand on her neck in warning. “That’s Master, sub. And you’ll feel the flat of my hand on your ass tonight right before you sink down to your knees and suck my cock. That’s right. You’re going to sleep in my bed tonight with my come in your belly. Still happy you walked through that door, Mandy?”
He let his mouth hover right above hers, but he wasn’t going to let their first kiss in years happen in this place. Oh, it was going to happen, but not here and not when he was thinking about punishment that wasn’t anywhere close to erotic.
There was a fire in her eyes he hadn’t seen in forever. “Yes, Master.”
He turned on his heels and forced himself to walk away, his brain warring between anger at her being in danger and a savage thrill that he had her where he’d wanted her for years.
In his power. In his bed.
* * * *
Eve watched Alex stalk up the stairs. Her hands trembled just slightly, but she had to get that under control. She couldn’t give them all away now. She hadn’t seen that much passion from Alex in years, and it scared the crap out of her.
It also got her heart fluttering, and all of her woman parts had responded in a way she’d forgotten was possible. She was standing in the middle of a dangerous operation, and she was a little worried her panties were damp. Damn.
The redhead was in front of her again, reaching for her hands, taking them in her own. “I’m so happy you’re finally here.”
This must be the mysterious Kristen. “Me, too.”
Kristen was good. She covered the shaking of Eve’s hands with her own. Eve gave her a small smile and wondered if Kristen even knew she wasn’t the woman who was supposed to be here.
“Hello.” The man who hadn’t followed the others up stared at her with a charming smile on his face. The minute Alex and the men had gone up the stairs, he’d switched from dark and broody to playboy.
He was gorgeous and far too young for her. She put him at twenty-five tops. Nope. He was a baby, despite his broad shoulders and bedroom eyes.
“Hey, Murdoch, get your ass up here,” Chazz yelled from the top of the stairs.
Murdoch winked at her. “I guess the formal intros can wait. Later, babe.”
He turned and ran up the stairs, and Eve managed not to roll her eyes. He could use a couple of seduction classes.
“Idiot. Come on, Mandy,” Kristen said. “I’ll show you the locker room and we can talk.”
Eve glanced around the space. It had potential, but no one had taken it past very utilitarian. Two women were cleaning, one pushing a mop across the floor and another wiping down tables. The one running a cloth across the table was roughly thirty, with bleached blonde hair and far too much eye makeup. She frowned Eve’s way, her painted lips turning down.
So she wasn’t welcome by everyone.
She followed Kristen along the hallway to a small room.
“That’s the men’s locker room,” Kristen said, pointing to a door on the left. “And this is us.”
She pushed through an opaque glass door and into a very bland locker room. There was a row of old school lockers and a single bench seat.
Kristen flipped her strawberry blonde hair back and sat down on the bench, crossing her very long legs. “It’s nice to meet you, Eve. I’m glad it’s you and not that bratty ho-bag. What’s up with guys? All they see is a bright smile, and they never look past a woman’s tits until they get married and then they wonder why Mary Sunshine got replaced with Sally Yells a Lot.”
Eve glanced around, trying to figure out if this Kristen person was about to get them in serious trouble.
Kristen waved a hand negligently. “No bugs in here. I check every day when I come in. Now the men’s locker room is a different story. I bugged that myself, but don’t warn your husband. We can listen in on him and the blond hottie talking about all sorts of things. Men totally gossip more than you think. We can talk freely in here as long as we’re alone.”
“How do you know who I am? And how do you know I’m not the bratty ho-bag?” Eve asked. She had to hand it to the girl. Her description was dead to rights.
She sat back and looked Eve up and down. “As to how I know you’re not who Alex thought you would be, well, I’m a smart girl. I do my research. You are Dr. Eve St. James, only child to Donald and Jennifer St. James. You were the star of your high school debate team, on the swim team, and the editor of the Madison High Examiner. Busy girl. You graduated from Yale with top honors and everyone was sure you would go on and start a private practice. How upset were your parents when you joined the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit instead?”
She wasn’t sure she liked how much Kristen knew about her. “They were horrified, of course.”
“Of course,” Kristen said with a perfunctory nod. “Your father is one of the most respected therapists in the world.”
And she’d been a profiler, a woman who dealt with the worst of the worst, the types her father didn’t really believe in helping, and she couldn’t make him understand that by catching criminals, she helped out everyone. He’d expected her to fall in line and take over his practice, but the idea of listening to overly privileged men and women complain about their nannies and kids and the horrors of being left off the maître d’s list at the latest overpriced restaurant bored her to tears. She was happier profiling for Ian and having sessions with the people who needed her most. “Yes, he wasn’t thrilled I chose the Bureau.”
“Was he happy that you married Alexander McKay? He wasn’t in your social class. Far from it, actually.”
Eve held a hand up. “Is there a reason my father’s reaction to Alex is relevant to this conversation?”
It was starting to annoy her. She felt like she was behind the redhead by more than a few steps.
Kristen gave her a bright smile. “I’m sorry. I’m going on and on. It’s just that I’ve been studying you all for a while now. I’m afraid it’s a little like meeting characters from a book you really enjoy reading.”
Eve felt her eyes narrow in suspicion. “Why have you been studying me?”
“Because I knew I would need Alex McKay if I wanted to break this story. I couldn’t go to the feds because I’m not sure that Evans doesn’t have someone on the inside. McKay only has one side to work here and that’s to take Evans down.”
Eve got the gist. “He wants revenge for what Evans did to me. You’re using that to your advantage.”
“I simply prefer that the people I surround myself with have open motives that dovetail nicely with my own,” Kristen explained. “To that end, I would advise you to keep an eye on Jesse Murdoch. I haven’t figured out what he wants yet, and that makes him dangerous in my book. Actually, you could help me with that.”
Eve let her lips curve up. “Yes, well, I think we can safely say he has an Oedipus complex.”
Kristen snorted a little, shaking her head. “You’re not old enough to be his mother. You’re barely older than me, and I’m not willing to play the cougar yet.”
“What do you get out of this, Kristen?” Eve never took her eyes off the other woman. She was usually quite good at detecting lies, and she wanted to see if Kristen had any tells.
Kristen stood, walking right up to Eve and offering her hands, proving once again that she was smarter than Eve had suspected. She held her arms out, palms up. “It’s okay. Feel my pulse. Watch my eyes. I’m not going to lie to you, but I want you to feel perfectly safe with me.”
Eve was game. She placed her fingers on Kristen’s wrists, finding her pulse quickly. “What do you get out of this?”
“I get to put on the white hat for once. I get to help out some people who I truly believe need helping out, and I might just get a little redemption. I had a job go bad on me a couple of years back and I lost someone I love very much. I want to honor his memory by being better than I was before.”
Her pulse stayed perfectly steady. There was no dilation to her eyes, and sh
e never blinked or looked away. “Why Alex?”
“Because he always wore the white hat. And because I knew damn well he wouldn’t pass up a chance to avenge you. He’s trustworthy, and I know I can count on exactly what he will do. He’s a known quantity. You’re the unknown. Why are you here?”
Eve let Kristen’s hands go. Either Kristen was a sociopath or she wasn’t lying. Sociopaths could often pass lie detector tests because they simply didn’t feel enough to show physical signs when they were lying. “I’m here to watch Alex’s back.”
“You’re not here for Evans?”
She felt a shudder go through her. “No.”
“Not even a little?”
“No.”
“Now that does surprise me.” Kristen walked to one of the lockers and worked the wheel of the lock there.
It was odd. She actually thought the other woman sounded a little disappointed. “Why is that?”
The locker came open, and Kristen pulled out her bag. “I guess I thought you would be the type of woman who would want to go after Evans.”
“I don’t want revenge.” She never really had. She’d just wanted it to be over and then she’d wanted everything to be normal.
“I wasn’t talking about revenge. I thought you would go after him so he could never do it again. So no other woman would have to go through what you went through. I guess I read too much into it. I didn’t think you would want to hide from it.”
Eve bristled a little. “I’m not hiding.”
“But you’re also not here to take out Evans. It’s okay, but you should understand that is my goal. I’m going to make sure he can’t hurt women anymore. Because it’s the right thing to do and I do the right thing now.”
“I’m not hiding.” She wasn’t hiding from anything. She was trying to rebuild her life. “I’m just here to make sure Alex doesn’t kill himself.”
“Well, as long as we understand each other. I’m sure we can get along. You watch Alex’s back and I’ll handle the investigation part on the girl end. Was that really Sean Taggart?” She glanced back toward the door. “He’s Ian Taggart’s younger brother, right? I thought he would be bigger.”
Sean was six foot three. “He’s only small compared to Ian. There’s a reason they call him Little Tag.”
“Big Tag and Little Tag. That’s cute.” She settled the bag on her shoulder. “You have to watch out for Sienna and Sage. They’re twins and they’re mean-girl subs. They’ll very likely be all over Master A as soon as they lay eyes on him. Chazz tends to use them as arm candy when he entertains. That can happen in or out of the club, which is precisely why I needed someone on the inside. He always takes bodyguards with him, but I can’t trust any of them. It was a lucky thing that his last two bodyguards ran off. No idea where they went.”
Now Kristen’s irises flared just the tiniest bit. A lie. She’d done something to force the guards to leave. Very interesting. “Yeah, I’m sure that was a lucky happenstance.”
“Hey, a girl does what a girl has to do.” Kristen shrugged and got back to her rundown. “The waitresses run the gamut from dumb but well-meaning to annoying. Bunny is exactly what she’s named for. Fluffy and sweet. Karma is all right. I think she’s probably the most self-destructive of the group. Azure is the one who gave you the evil eye as you walked in. But the one you really have to watch out for is Chazz.”
“What’s he capable of?” Eve asked.
“I think he’s capable of anything, and I’m lucky he has a thing for me or I would be screwed. The key with Chazz is to pretend like he’s the shit. The minute he knows you think you’re above him, he’ll slit your throat without a single thought. Never drop the submissive routine. He talks like a dumb shit, but he’s serious, and in his head, you’re a slave and he’s the ultimate Master and he controls everything. If he decides it’s easier to kill you than keep you, he’ll do it.”
He sounded like he had a lot in common with Michael Evans. “How has he gotten away with this?”
“I think he’s got someone on the inside who’s protecting him. A couple of cops come to the club from time to time. Chazz has his connections. Remember that. This isn’t Sanctum. This is Hell, and we all just have to try to survive. They should be done soon. I’m going to go make sure the car is ready. Meet you back at the bar.”
Kristen walked out and Eve deflated.
What was she doing? She wasn’t a field operative. God, had she made a terrible mistake?
She sat down on the bench, trying to process everything the other woman had just told her, but all she could do was think about the fact that “the big boss” would be here in a few weeks. That was what Chazz had said. If Kristen was right, Michael Evans was the boss, and he would breathe the same air as her in a matter of weeks.
You’re just a little whore. That’s all any of you are.
She shivered in the cool of the room and closed her eyes, thinking soothing thoughts. It was the only way to make the bad images go away. She deserved her peace. She deserved to have a life that wasn’t filled with the man who had raped her. She was a damn psychologist. She wasn’t some warrior princess. She’d taken plenty of self-defense classes, but she hoped she wouldn’t have to use them.
She wasn’t hiding. She was helping out. She was here because she was the best person for the job and because Alex was her responsibility.
Her brain floated back to the day she’d told her parents she was marrying Alex. She hadn’t told Kristen what their response had been. They’d been all smiles on the day she and Alex had married, but they hadn’t been happy about it. Her mother and father had planned on her marrying a doctor or a lawyer, not an FBI agent. Alex had been too rough for them, too possessive, too real.
Her parents hadn’t known about the life they’d led. She’d hidden it from them. They still didn’t know.
She wasn’t hiding.
Eve stood up, straightening her clothes. Well, what there was of her clothes. Damn it. Why had she come here?
To make sure Alex survived. That was why she was here. That was why Sean was here. No matter what that Kristen girl said, she wasn’t hiding and she had a purpose.
She glanced at the mirror, smoothing back her hair. Evans didn’t matter. Alex was the only thing that mattered.
She turned. She would figure it out later. Right now, all that mattered was getting through the next couple of hours until she could talk to Alex and make him understand that nothing had really changed between them. She’d thought about changing their contract, but that had been a mistake.
I’ll fuck you when I want, where I want, how I want, and I won’t listen to your protests. You belong to me. Mine. You’re fucking mine for however long this lasts.
Nothing had changed? He seemed to think so. He seemed to think she had a real role to play. His sub. His slave. His.
His to command. His to control. His to fuck and love and satisfy.
It was like a drug she’d managed to kick long ago. Submitting to Alex had always been a high. She hadn’t needed to think about anything when Alex was in control. She only needed to feel, to give over.
And that hadn’t gone well. That had ended in pain and misery.
No. She wasn’t going down that path. Nothing had changed between them. They were still divorced. They still had all of the same problems that had been between them since the incident with Evans. This was just a job.
She walked out the door, determined to put a good face on things, and ran straight into a nicely cut chest. She just about fell back, but two hands gripped her arms, balancing her so she didn’t fall.
“Hello again.” Jesse Murdoch loomed over her, his handsome face staring down. Sandy blond hair and ice blue eyes. He really was perfection with his sensual lips and a strong jaw, but no one had moved her since the moment she’d caught sight of Alexander McKay. No other man would ever make her heart race. No other man would ever force her pulse to pound through her body. She could appreciate them on an intellectual level, but the
re was no man for her but Alex McKay.
But she had to play a part now. She smiled up at him. He was the one Kristen couldn’t figure out. If there was one thing Eve could really contribute to the team, it was her instincts for the human psyche. But she needed him to trust her first. “Hi. Is my Master finished with the meeting?”
She wasn’t going to lead him on. He needed to know she was the “good girl.” Men would do a lot for a woman they seriously considered to be innocent and pure. Jesse had that look about him.
He smiled, but there was a sadness to it. “So you’re pretty much into him, huh?”
She put a hand on the collar at her throat. “He’s my Master. I would hope I would like him.”
“Sometimes that’s not the case around here.” He was still standing close, but something had changed. The tension was gone. He was just friendly now. “Sometimes a woman stays with a man because they don’t have anywhere else to go.”
She took particular note that he’d called her a woman and not a sub. He hadn’t followed her lead. It could mean nothing or it could mean that he wasn’t as invested in the lifestyle as he wanted them to believe. Jesse Murdoch wanted to be the white knight. He wanted to charge in and save someone. Unfortunately for him, she didn’t need saving. “I love him.”
He sighed a little. “Fine. All the pretty ones love someone else. Anyway, if you need anything, you call for me. If your man isn’t around, you call for me. Can you do that for me, sweetheart?”
“She isn’t going to do anything except to step away from you and get her ass to my side.”
There was that voice that had a direct line to all her pink parts. Alex stood in the hallway, his big body taking up all the space. Jesse was just as big, just as broad, but somehow he didn’t fill the space the way Alex did.
Eve stepped away, and the minute she came within arm’s length of Alex, he pulled her close and forced her behind him as though there was a threat just waiting to take her out.
