“Are you angry?”
“No, I’m not angry, but it makes a lot of sense. I’ve always gotten the impression that all is not what it seems with you.” He held her away from him, staring into her eyes. “No more secrets, okay? Just tell me whatever it is ahead of time and we will work it out.” He paused as a thought occurred to him. “But you do know about erotica, right?”
She punched his chest. “Yes!”
“Oww!” He put his hand to his chest. “All right. I believe you.” His arms embraced her, bringing her back to him. “Are there any other bombshells we need to discuss?”
She relaxed against him. “No, Hunter. Now you know my secrets.”
“Not all of your secrets. I’m sure there is more for me to learn about you. Understanding a woman is like catching shadows. Once you think you have them figured out, the light changes, and all your efforts vanish in the blink of an eye.”
“Eloquently put. And yes, I still have a few more secrets up my sleeve.”
He sighed into her cheek. “As long as you weren’t a man or anything like that before, I can live with them.”
“No, I wasn’t a man, just a tomboy,” she confessed with a giggle.
“Did that come from growing up with three older brothers?”
“Yeah. I used to get picked on a lot, but that wasn’t all bad. Some days were better than others and when we used to play games they would always let me win. There was this one Christmas, when we were….”
As Hunter listened to her soft voice, he felt a rush of victory as she opened up to him about her life. This was better than the nights he had spent being her bound lover. It was as if the intimacy of what they had shared was finally spilling over into their conversation. But as he considered the days and weeks to come, a strange sense of irony rolled across his mind. They had left behind the handcuffs only to embrace a different kind of bondage; one that bound the heart and not the hands. Hunter wanted to snicker as he mulled over the concept. It seemed that no matter how hard he had tried to avoid relationships here he was…beginning one with a woman he would have never pictured for himself, and considering a future he once thought he never deserved.
Chapter 15
Hunter awoke with the taste of fur in his mouth. When he opened his eyes, orange and white fluff blocked his vision. Thinking he was hung over, or worse, dying, he popped up from the bed to discover Sex Kitten curled up on the pillow next to him. Rubbing his eyes, he gazed about the blue bedroom and noted the yellow rays of light streaming in through the windows by the canopy bed. Looking over to the spot in the bed next to him, he sighed when he found Cary’s petite body was no longer there.
He rubbed the cat’s head. “Where did she go?”
Sex Kitten stretched and purred, but gave no hints as to Cary’s whereabouts.
Sitting up on the edge of the bed, Hunter ran his hands over his face, felt his five o’clock shadow, and then yawned. Standing from the bed, he searched the floor for his clothes. Finding his boxers and khaki pants, he quickly slipped them on and headed to the closed bedroom door.
Out in the small hallway that led to the kitchen, he briefly listened for any movement in the apartment, but all he could hear was the mild din of the traffic outside. Heading along the cool hardwood floor, he was making his way to the kitchen when he spotted the open door to the second bedroom Cary used as an office. Peeking inside, he spied her laptop sitting open on her desk. The faint light from the screen filled the dark room with an eerie glow.
Intrigued, Hunter made his way to the computer and glanced down at the screen. To his surprise, he found words written there, a chapter of a book. As he read the first few lines, he realized it was the story he and Cary had discussed a few nights before. It appeared as if she had found her opening. Eagerly he read the page, impressed with her ability to convey emotion. But after four pages the screen turned white again. He sighed with disappointment. It was a good beginning, a very good beginning.
Curious to see if she might have penned anything else on the computer, he pulled up her files and began perusing the titles. Knowing he was going beyond the bounds of decency, he hoped she would not mind, then again he reminded himself that she had sought out his advice for her books and maybe he could offer her more on another work. A few of the titles he recognized as Smut Slut’s published works, and figured Cary had kept some of the manuscripts in her computer after she had finished editing them.
One title caught his eye, Of Love and Bondage. Interested to see what this story entailed, he opened the manuscript and read the title page and discovered that the book was written by Smut Slut. Excited that this could be another possible title for Donovan Books, he began to read the story. He was about ten pages into it when the screen suddenly went white and the work came to an end in the middle of a paragraph.
Stunned, Hunter sat back in the chair. Why would Smut Slut send Cary something unfinished? A sickening sense of unease came over him as he sat at her desk. Quickly, he opened her e-mail page and began combing through the long list of addresses, but nowhere did he see Smut Slut’s e-mail.
Panic-stricken, he began rifling through her desk, desperate for something that would confirm his suspicions. In a bottom drawer, he found her checkbook. Lifting the black binder from the drawer, he flipped it open. The first sheet of checks had Cary’s name and Cary Anderson Editing Services written beneath it. But in the middle of the binder was a black divider and the checks listed there were for a very different business.
Cary Anderson DBA Smut Slut Enterprises
Hunter’s heart caught in his throat. All the instances of meeting Smut Slut whipped across his mind. He began to put together hints in the size and stature of the two women; their lips, voice, and delicate features were almost identical. Why had he not seen it before?
Infuriated he stood from the desk, knocking the checkbook to the floor. Right at that moment, he heard the front door of the apartment close and footfalls coming from the living room toward the hall.
Hunter thought about hiding the checkbook and not letting her know that he had discovered her secret, but then he remembered all that they had shared the night before. He had thought she was being honest with him, only to discover she had been playing him all along. He began to doubt everything Cary had told him ever since the day she had walked through his office door.
The footsteps were passing right outside of the room when they stopped. He waited as she slowly pushed the door open and peered inside. At first, when she saw him at her desk, she smiled and held up two tall paper cups from Starbucks. Then, she noticed the checkbook on the floor and her smile dropped.
“You’re Smut Slut. All this time you were pretending to be something you’re not.” His anger saturated his words. “The bondage clubs, the handcuffs…why didn’t I see it?”
She walked into the room. “I can explain.”
“Explain!” He rushed up to her and grabbed her arms. The coffee spilled to the floor, grazing his khaki pants and splashing against the blue jeans she had on. “What kind of twisted bitch are you? Do you get off leading men on? I was beginning to—” He let her go and rushed to the door.
“I never meant to lie to you,” she called behind him.
Hunter stopped at the door.
“But when I saw you at the Book Expo, I knew I couldn’t tell you the truth, so I told you to call me, the real me, and I hoped you would want Cary and not Smut Slut.” She wiped her hands over her jeans. “All the men want Smut Slut. And for once I wanted to meet a man I could be me around, and not some fantasy.”
He turned to her and for the first time noticed the coffee strewn about the hardwood floor. “Why lie to me? That first day at my office you should have told me the truth.”
She shook her head and walked out of the room. Turning down the hall, she headed toward the kitchen. He quickly pursued her and at the kitchen counter, she grabbed a roll of paper towels from the rack by the sink and faced him.
“You hit on me at the Book
Expo when you thought I was some experienced woman who would be a real tiger in bed. But I could never let you know how I really am. That Smut Slut is nothing more than a name to sell books and not a real person.” She tossed her hand in the air and stormed past him. Hunter followed her back to the office and waited in the doorway as she scattered the paper towels about the floor. “If I had shown you the real me that day we met, you would have run away. I know. Every man I wanted to be with and told the truth about me in the past ran. So, I decided not to say anything to you, to live a double life, which wasn’t easy. I had to find out if you could like me for me, or if you were just like all the others; only interested in a woman who could show you a good time.”
He shook his head as she kneeled on the floor and began to soak up the spilled coffee with the paper towels. “Cary, I wanted more than that with you.”
“Oh, come on, Hunter! You didn’t want me at all.” She stood from the floor, her jeans drenched with coffee. “I was never your type and I knew it. All you ever wanted with any woman was a quick roll in the sack and a kiss good-bye. I would have been no different. If I had approached you as Smut Slut, you would have had your night of fun and been gone in the morning, just like you’ve probably done with every other woman. But I couldn’t do that. I wanted to get to know you, and I figured if we worked together you might give me a chance.”
“But it was all a lie. Last night was a lie. Everything you said to me was a lie.”
“Last night was not a lie; that was the real me, and it was the real you.” She stomped her foot on the floor. “You know that.”
Feeling trapped, he backed out the door. “I don’t know a goddamned thing anymore.”
Heading down the hall, he went to the bedroom and quickly collected his shirt and shoes. Bolting across the living room for the apartment entrance, he paused for a split second, letting his emotions get the better of him. Hunter considered going back to her, forgiving her and starting over, but she had lied to him. Opening the front door, he hardened his determination to banish her from his heart. Once in the hallway, he slammed the door and bounded toward the elevator. Cary Anderson had been a mistake; a mistake he had every intention of putting behind him for good.
* * *
Later that morning in his office, he was not surprised when Cary didn’t appear. After their altercation, he figured she would never set foot in Donovan Books again, at least not as Cary Anderson. Smut Slut, however, still had an ironclad contract to submit two more erotica books and three romances to the publishing house.
Sitting at his desk, Hunter ran his hand over the dark stubble on his chin as he tried to come to terms with the deception Cary had been playing. Now faced with years of working with her as Smut Slut, he wondered how on earth they would ever be able to get along. The idea of seeing her again only fueled his anger, but at the same time tugged at his heart. How was he going to survive this?
“Hey Hunter, you got a minute?” Jesse asked from his open office door.
Hunter sat back in his desk chair and waved the hulking man into his office. “Sure, Jesse, what’s up?”
As Jesse’s bulky figure strode across the room, he glimpsed Cary’s desk. “Where is she?”
Hunter cleared his throat, buying time while he thought of an excuse. “Ah, she had some kind of family illness. She might be out for a few days, I’m not sure.”
Jesse raised his black eyebrows with concern. “Hope it’s nothing serious. I know she is real close with her family back in New Orleans.”
Hunter was surprised by the comment. “She told you about them?”
Jesse nodded as he rested his hip against Hunter’s desk. “Yeah, we talked for hours about our families. I told her all about my crazy Aunt Marion, you know the one who knits me socks every Christmas?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
Jesse eyed Hunter’s downturned lips. “You okay? You seem put off by something.”
Hunter debated how much he could confide in his IT expert. “Jesse, have you ever had a woman lie to you?”
Jesse’s boisterous chortle resounded about the office. “Hell yeah. Plenty of times. Every woman lies in some way or another. Mostly about their weight. I don’t know what it is, but you can spend all night making love to a woman in a hundred different ways, but the next morning put her near a scale and she acts like you’re a serial killer.”
“No, I’m not talking about that, Jesse. I meant has a woman ever been someone they’re not with you.”
Jesse took a moment, folding his thick arms over his wide chest. “Not sure I’ve run across that, unless a few of the one-night stands I had told me a fake name or something. Why?”
Hunter dragged his finger over the smooth edge of his desk, thinking of Cary’s soft skin. “What would you do if a woman was hiding their identity from you? If she was pretending to be two different women?”
Jesse smiled, flashing his bright white teeth. “Be thankful. I don’t know about you, but I have always fantasized about one woman being both sweet and innocent on some nights, and then a real sex kitten on others.”
Hunter smiled and whispered, “Sex Kitten.”
“Is something going on with you and Cary?”
Hunter’s smile washed away and he sat up in his chair. “Me and Cary, no way.”
Jesse just laughed. “Man, if I had it as bad as you, I would have done something about it by now. Having a good employee is one thing, but finding a good woman like Cary is something else.”
“What makes you think she’s a good woman?”
The mountain of a man grinned. “Come on, Hunter. You can always tell. Bad girls can’t be good, but good girls…well, they’re the best of both worlds, aren’t they?”
Wanting to avoid any further discussion about Cary, Hunter demanded, “What is it you came in to tell me, Jesse?”
“Oh, yeah.” He stood from the desk. “I got the website ready to go. You just let me know when you want to launch it. I know you have the book launch slated for early September, but I didn’t know if you wanted the website to go live then or before.”
“Let’s get it up as soon as possible.”
“You sure about that?” Jesse’s dark eyes narrowed. “Your old man will get wind of the new line before it launches.”
“To hell with what Jim Donovan thinks. It’s my company now, right?”
Jesse pounded his fist on the corner of the desk. “Damn right. Glad to hear that. Your old man’s shadow has been hanging over this place for too long.” He waved toward the bookcase of statues. “Now maybe you’ll get those creepy things out of here.” He was about to turn away when he paused. “Oh, let Cary know I’ve finished the touch ups on the cover she wanted. It’s good to go.”
“Go ahead and send it to me, Jesse. I’ll probably be filling in for her until she gets back.”
“Okay, Hunter.” Jesse gave him one last nod and walked out of the office.
As Hunter sat at his desk, he became deluged with images of Cary. The night they had spent together and the way she had made him feel. Perhaps he had been too hasty not to accept her reasoning for her trickery. Turning to his cell phone on his desk, he deliberated on whether or not to call her. As the minutes ticked by, his longing to hear her voice overwhelmed him. Disgusted, he picked up the phone.
After three rings, she answered the call. “What is it, Hunter?” Her voice was cold and harsh.
He sighed into the phone, rubbing his forehead. “I’m sorry about what happened.”
Silence filled the line and his gut twisted in suspense.
“I think it would be best if I didn’t return to Donovan Books. Consider this my resignation.”
“Cary, don’t do this,” he softly pleaded. “We have the Hot Nights line to launch and—”
“I will honor my commitment of books outlined in our contract. But I think any communication we have from now on should be strictly about business. Good-bye, Hunter.” She abruptly hung up.
Staring at his phone, Hunter
’s heart slowly sank to his knees. Now what in the hell was he supposed to do?
* * *
Later that night, Hunter was sitting on his sofa, staring at the copy of his book opened before him on the glass coffee table. Cradling the empty old-fashioned glass in his hand, he refilled his drink. Banging the bottle of vodka on the table glass, he gulped back a mouthful of the alcohol.
It had been a long time since a woman had made him feel this low. Not since Kathleen had walked out on him had he been so torn up. That was how he really felt about Cary, torn; ripped in two by her absence and the lack of her support. In a short amount of time, he had become dependent on her. With her encouragement, he had considered going back to writing. He had pulled out his manuscript and begun editing it because she had believed in his talent. The night they had spent discussing story lines had been the most fulfilling time he had shared with any woman in…he couldn’t remember how long.
“Finally found a woman I can relate to and she is….” He let the words slip from his lips. Despite all Cary had done, he could not see her as anyone other than that adorable little girl in a woman’s body. Her kisses haunted him, her girlish giggle breezed in and out of his mind, and the profound contentment he felt in her presence confused him.
The chime from his doorbell roused him from his melancholy. Rising to his feet, he went to the door, secretly hoping Cary had changed her mind. But when he opened the door, Kathleen was waiting. Decked out in a sleek, silky black dress that hugged her alluring curves, with her long brown hair draped around her shoulders and her face painted to perfection, she was as beautiful as the first day he had met her at a friend’s party.
“I thought I would find you here.”
As she walked in his doorway, she kissed his cheek.
“What is it?” He closed the door behind her. “You and Frank have another fight?”
“Not exactly.” Her attention drifted to the bottle of vodka on the glass coffee table.
The Bondage Club Page 21
