Freeing Her (Irresistibly Bound Book 4)

by Stone, Anna

  The woman addressed Lindsey. “A guest of yours?”

  “Yep. She should be on the list. Faith Campbell.”

  The woman scanned her tablet and handed Faith a clipboard. “Sign these.”

  Faith flicked through the papers on the clipboard. There were several pages, all filled with threatening legalese. What kind of place was this that she needed to sign her life away just to step through the door?

  Lindsey sensed Faith’s hesitation. “Don’t worry, it’s just club rules, some waivers. An NDA. The people who go here just like to know their privacy is protected, for obvious reasons.” She lowered her voice. “Don’t be surprised if you see a famous face or two inside. Just remember, what happens at Lilith’s stays at Lilith’s.”

  Faith signed the papers and handed the clipboard back to the woman. The bouncer opened the inner door for them and nodded to Faith. “Welcome to Lilith’s Den.”

  Faith walked through the door, staring around in awe. The dark club was packed with women, all of them drinking, chatting, and dancing. Most were dressed in all black, some in cocktail dresses and suits, others in leather, corsets, and sky-high stilettos. A few had collars and restraints on, wearing them as casually as jewelry.

  The club itself was so lavish. It was like she’d entered another world, one of luxury beyond imagining. The people, the drinks, the decor—it all spoke of opulence and grandeur with a dash of sin.

  A couple walked by, one in a latex bodysuit, the other wearing nothing but a thong and a thick leather collar with metal spikes. Faith gaped at her. All this kink and debauchery? It didn’t bother Faith. It was kind of thrilling.

  Clearly, she’d been spending too much time with Lindsey.

  “We’re over there.” Lindsey pointed to a dimly lit corner where her girlfriend sat with another dark-haired woman Faith didn’t know.

  They headed over to the table. As soon as Camilla spotted them, she stood up and embraced Faith warmly.

  “Lovely to see you,” Camilla kissed the air next to Faith’s cheek. “Has Lindsey told you about our party coming up?”

  “Yep. I’ll be there.” Faith never turned down an invitation to go to Lindsey and Camilla’s mansion, especially when there was a party involved.

  Lindsey introduced Faith to the woman sitting next to Camilla. “This is Vanessa. She owns Lilith’s Den.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Vanessa folded her arms on the table in front of her. “I hear it’s your first time here?”

  “Yes,” Faith said.

  “And what do you think of my little club?”

  “It’s… interesting.”

  A smile played on Vanessa’s lips. “Don’t worry, no one in here bites. Not unless you want them to.”

  Faith’s skin flushed. She sat down next to Lindsey. A few minutes later, they were joined by Vanessa’s fiancée, along with a couple of other women. Lindsey introduced them to Faith, but she was so overwhelmed by everything around her that she forgot their names. Somehow, she ended up with a cocktail in her hand.

  It wasn’t long before the conversation turned to people and things Faith knew nothing about. Her eyes drifted around the room. In one corner, a tall, curvy woman stood beside a cage, inside which another woman kneeled. Nearby, a woman was tied to a cross, another woman pressed against her, her hand up the inside of the bound woman’s top. The woman on the cross had a look of ecstasy on her face.

  Suddenly, the room felt warm.

  “See, I told you this was boring,” Lindsey said.

  Faith tore her eyes away. “Hm?”

  “Oh?” Lindsey grinned. “I thought that distant look in your eyes was because you were bored, not because you were distracted. Something catch your interest?”

  Faith crossed her arms. “No.”

  “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

  “I’m not embarrassed, because I’m not interested in any of this.” She gestured across the room. “I don’t want to be stuffed in a cage!”

  Lindsey rolled her eyes. “Do you think Camilla stuffs me in a cage? Although that might just be because she hasn’t thought of that yet.” She glanced at her girlfriend. “Anyway, all this stuff, it isn’t about whips and cages. It isn’t even about sex, or anything physical. It’s about so much more than that.”

  “I know.” Faith and Lindsey had had this conversation a dozen times before. But it wasn’t the sexual side of this kinky world that Faith was disturbed by. Although she’d been brought up to see desire of any kind as shameful, she’d gotten over it long ago. These days, she was pretty adventurous when it came to her sexuality.

  No, Faith knew all too well what these kinds of relationships were about. Submission. Power. Control. And Faith hated being controlled. She hated being powerless.

  A waitress wandered past. Faith caught her eye and ordered another drink, then changed the subject. She and Lindsey had plenty to catch up on.

  But as the night wore on, Faith’s eyes kept wandering around the club. At the far end, there was a small stage on which a near-naked woman was suspended from the ceiling, being tied up in all kinds of knots by another woman, all in front of the watching audience. Lindsey and the others were paying it all no mind, but Faith couldn’t help but stare. It was so sensual. So erotic.

  Something stirred inside her. What would that feel like? To be tied up and helpless, at the mercy of another woman? She examined the bound woman’s face. It was so euphoric. What was it about all this that could make someone feel that way?

  Beside her, Lindsey finished off her drink. Her eyes flicked to the dance floor. “Want to go dance?”

  “Sure,” Faith replied. The fact that there was a dance floor was just about the only normal thing about this club. And right now, Faith needed a dose of normal.

  Lindsey leaned over to where Camilla sat nearby and spoke quietly to her. Camilla nodded, then kissed her passionately, as if she were leaving for another country rather than just the dance floor.

  Faith rolled her eyes. Although she was happy that her friend had found love, Lindsey and Camilla had been together for a year now, and they still hadn’t left that honeymoon period. It was sickeningly sweet. Faith couldn’t help but envy them. Sometimes, she wondered if that kind of love would ever exist for her. After all, life had taught her that love always came with strings.

  Lindsey pried herself away from Camilla and pulled Faith to the dance floor. They’d had a few drinks, and Faith was feeling the buzz. She let herself get carried away by the music and the crowd, the glamour and the flickering lights. It didn’t take long before she was lost in this dark, twisted world.

  Faith’s eyes flicked over to the cage in the corner again. The woman inside hadn’t left it all night. The other woman sat perched on top of the cage now.

  Suddenly, the woman atop the cage met Faith’s eye across the room and shot Faith a smile that reminded her of a large cat.

  Faith looked away sharply, wiping her brow. She and Lindsey had been dancing for some time now, and she was starting to sweat. She leaned toward Lindsey and yelled over the music. “I’m going to grab a drink.”

  Lindsey nodded. Faith headed to the bar and asked for a glass of water. She’d had too many cocktails already. As she gulped her glass of water down, someone sidled up beside her.

  “Hey.”

  Faith turned. Next to her stood the woman who had been sitting on the top of the cage. Now, standing before Faith in impractically high heels, she seemed positively Amazonian.

  “First time here?” the woman asked .

  Faith frowned. “What gave it away?”

  “You just have that look.” The woman smiled. “Like a kid in a candy store.” She leaned down against the bar in a way that highlighted her generous chest. “I saw you dancing out there. You look like a woman who isn’t afraid to take a walk on the wild side. Want someone to show you what this place is about?”

  “Uh…” Faith had to admit, she was intrigued by everything around her. But she wasn’t interested
in this stranger.

  She glanced toward the cage where the other woman waited.

  “Don’t worry about her,” the woman said. “My girlfriend likes having another submissive to play with.”

  “What makes you think I’m a submissive?”

  The woman raised an eyebrow. “So you prefer the other end of the whip?”

  “No. I don’t.” Faith held up her hands. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m not interested. All this, it isn’t for me.”

  “If you say so.” The woman straightened up. “Come find me if you change your mind and I’ll give you a taste. Of course, I might make you grovel first.” The woman winked at her before walking away.

  Faith shook herself and finished off her glass of water. She’d wanted an interesting night out, and she’d certainly gotten that. As she turned back toward the dance floor, something caught her eye. No, not something.

  Someone.

  Standing by the bar, half shrouded in darkness, was a woman. Her blonde hair was dead straight, the sharp ends of it grazing her bare shoulders. She was dressed in a black corset of silk and lace that cinched her waist tight, along with a short leather skirt, fishnet stockings, and heels.

  Faith stared, unable to tear her eyes away. The woman gave off this unmistakable air of superiority that immediately told Faith that she was a Domme. The room was full of women like her, but this woman was different. She radiated this confidence that was so captivating.

  But that wasn’t all that drew Faith’s eye. The woman?

  She almost looked like Eve.

  It was a crazy thought. Faith couldn’t even see the woman’s face. Was this mixed up attraction Faith felt toward Eve so bad that her mind was seeing Eve everywhere?

  Suddenly, the woman turned Faith’s way. Their eyes locked.

  Faith’s heart stopped. It can’t be. The woman looked so much like Eve. Her face was expressionless, but she had a dark, overpowering look in her eyes that set something deep inside Faith’s body alight—

  “Faith?”

  She felt a hand on her arm. She spun around. Lindsey stood beside her.

  “I saw that woman hitting on you. Thought you might need rescuing.” She looked at Faith’s face, her brows drawing together. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine.” Faith glanced over her shoulder.

  The woman in the corset was gone.

  “Are you sure?” Lindsey asked.

  “It’s nothing. I thought I saw someone, that’s all.” Faith shook her head. She needed to sit down. “Come on. Let’s go back to the others. ”

  As they returned to the table, she looked back toward where the woman in the corset had been standing. There was no sign of her. Either she’d disappeared into the crowd, or she’d been no more than an apparition in the first place. Either way, one thing was certain.

  The woman hadn’t been Eve.

  Chapter Five

  A few days passed before Faith returned to work for Eve. And in those few days, Faith had thought about nothing but the woman in the corset from Lilith’s Den. In her mind’s eye, she couldn’t stop seeing Eve’s face on her.

  It was almost like Faith was hoping the woman was Eve. But that didn’t make any sense. Faith wasn’t interested in Eve. She wasn’t interested in that world of submission and power games that the woman in the corset was so clearly a part of either. So why was she obsessing about both of them?

  And why did thinking about them make her hot all over?

  Faith let herself into the house. She had a few minutes before she had to wake the twins up and get them ready for school. As she walked down the hall, she spotted Eve in the kitchen. Her hair was styled in her usual short curled bob, and she was dressed for work.

  Eve turned and spotted her. “Good morning, Faith.”

  Faith entered the kitchen. “Hi. ”

  Eve continued making her breakfast. Faith watched her as she did. Surely if she’d been at Lilith’s Den that night she’d show Faith some kind of sign. It wasn’t impossible that the woman had been Eve. If Eve swapped out her glasses for contact lenses and straightened her hair, she’d look just like her. And Eve hadn’t had the twins that night. Would she have spent one of her rare free nights at Lilith’s Den? And on a ‘ladies only’ night? Faith had no idea if Eve was interested in women. She’d been married to a man, but that didn’t mean anything. Faith herself wasn’t fussy about the gender of who she dated. Sexuality, attraction, love—it had never been one or the other to her. Perhaps Eve felt the same way.

  Eve held up the pot of coffee. “Would you like some? I just made it.”

  “Sure,” Faith replied.

  Eve got out two mugs and filled them both with coffee. She handed one to Faith. Their fingers brushed. Faith nearly dropped the cup.

  She muttered a thank you and took a sip, peering at Eve as she did so. Did Eve have a sister? An identical twin? One who was the opposite of her in every way? Well, not every way. Eve had the same domineering air. But while Eve was more likely to scold Faith for putting the milk in the wrong part of the fridge, she suspected the woman in the corset was a completely different kind of controlling.

  Could they be one and the same? Could it be that behind this mother and businesswoman was a passionate Domme dying to come out?

  Could Faith be the one to bring her out?

  Why did she want that? She’d never had such desires before, not until that night at Lilith’s Den. And seeing Eve, here and now, only made them stronger. She peered at Eve again. The resemblance was uncanny. What if they were the same person?

  And if that were the case, which was the real Eve?

  “Is something the matter?” Eve asked.

  Faith shook her head. “No. It’s fine.”

  The toaster popped. Eve plucked out her toast and began buttering it.

  Faith steadied herself. It was time for her to start the morning routine. But something held her there in the kitchen.

  She had to know.

  She cleared her throat. “So, did you get up to anything while the twins were away?”

  “What do you mean?” Eve asked.

  “You know, did you do anything? Go anywhere?”

  “I didn’t do anything unusual.” Eve narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

  “No reason,” Faith said quickly. “I’m just curious. I don’t know much about you. Like, what you do in your spare time. For fun.”

  “I work full time, and until now I’ve been raising two kids by myself. It doesn’t leave me with a lot of time for fun.”

  “Right.” This was silly. Faith picked up her mug and headed out of the kitchen.

  “What about you?”

  “Huh?” Faith turned in the doorway to see Eve looking at her, her plate in one hand and coffee in another. Her eyes were dark behind her glasses .

  “Did you do anything fun during your time off?”

  “I… Yes.” There was something suggestive in Eve’s voice. Or was Faith imagining it?

  Eve took a few steps toward her, cornering her by the doorway. Faith could feel the heat of her body. “And what did you get up to?”

  Faith hesitated. “I went to a club. With a friend. On Tuesday.” She didn’t dare be any more specific. The way Eve was looking at her made Faith feel exposed.

  “Did you enjoy yourself?” Eve asked.

  Faith’s voice caught in her throat. “Yes. I did.”

  Eve stepped closer. Faith froze. Her heart was beating so hard, she was sure Eve could hear it. Was Faith right after all? Had Eve been at Lilith’s Den that night, dressed in a corset?

  Did Eve know all about the sinful thoughts going through Faith’s mind?

  “Good,” Eve said. “With me working you so hard, you should be making the most of your days off.” She slipped past Faith, through the doorway and out into the hall. “I’ll be in the dining room if you need me.”

  Faith let out a breath. As she watched Eve walk away, hips swaying in her fitted skirt, she couldn’t help but notice h
ow much Eve’s figure was like that of the woman in the corset.

  Faith looked at her watch. It was time to pick up the twins from school. She grabbed her things and left her apartment. After finishing with the chores and errands Eve had given her in the morning, she’d gone home to have a lunch break. It was with Eve’s permission, of course. She didn’t do anything without Eve’s permission.

  She’d never had a job where she’d had to deal with this level of supervision, but she was getting used to it. The fact that she was being paid double her usual rate certainly helped. Plus, the twins were easy kids. As far as jobs went, this was a good one.

  All Faith had to do was quash the inexplicable attraction she felt toward Eve, along with her obsession with Eve being the woman in the corset from Lilith’s Den.

  Faith headed down to her car. As she passed the mailboxes for the apartment, she noticed a letter sticking out of hers. Her heart leaped. Only one person ever wrote to Faith—her sister, Abigail. She and Faith had an arrangement. Abigail would write to her one month, and Faith would send her a letter in reply the next month. They’d been doing so for years, every month like clockwork. It was the only way they could communicate without the rest of their family catching on. But it had been more than two months since Faith had last heard from Abigail. She’d been waiting for a letter for weeks now.

  She rushed over to her mailbox and yanked the letter out.

  Her heart sank. It was a phone bill.

  Faith stuffed the letter back into her mailbox, pushing her disappointment aside. She had to go pick up the twins. But as she sat in the car and drove to the twins’ school, her mind wandered back to her sister. Why hadn’t she written? There were so many possibilities, all of them awful. Was she sick? Injured? Did something terrible happen to her? Or worse—had someone else from her family found out that Abigail had been writing to Faith in secret? That would be bad news for her sister.

  There was no point in speculating. Abigail was probably just busy. After all, she was married with a family of her own now, despite being even younger than Faith. That was perfectly normal in the community her family lived in.