by Alice Ward
“Yep. It felt like a freight train hit me. Sorry I missed it.”
Todd slapped me on the back. “You almost caught it. You were closer than most anyone else could have been. Damn ball dipped at the last second and went just under your glove. Must have hit the very end of his bat because after it hit you, damn thing took another spin and went straight to the fence. If it had spun the other direction, we could have gotten him out, gone another inning.”
I stared at him. I didn’t remember reacting at all. I’d been so caught up with what was going on in the stands, that I didn’t recall even moving a fraction.
“It happened so fast, I don’t remember anything until I was on the ground,” I admitted.
He clapped me again. “Watch ESPN when you get home. I bet the replay will prove different.”
Feeling a bit lighter, I smiled at him. “Thanks.”
He took Katrina’s hand again. “No problem. Now, let’s get you all to your car so we can get home and get some sleep.”
***
We got home, but sleep wouldn’t be coming anytime soon. Paul Beck was waiting in the lobby to do a check of my apartment.
In the kitchen, he pulled the video back up and maneuvered his iPad until the layout was right. Then he turned and walked to the small TV hanging in the corner.
“This a smart TV?” he asked, and I nodded.
“The smartest.”
He made a noise then picked up his iPad. “Where’s your bedroom?”
I led him there, Eliana and Zoe following behind me. The housekeeper had come and gone, so I didn’t have to worry about condom foils lying on the floor.
Paul pulled up the second video and set the iPad on the bed, turning it a few inches to get the angle right. Again, he turned and walked to the television.
“Another smart TV?” he asked.
My guts churned. “Yes.”
Paul nodded. “How many more TVs you got in this place?”
I walked into the bathroom and pointed to a small screen tucked on a shelf. It was pointed directly at the bathtub and shower. The shower where Eliana had stuck her damn finger up my damn ass.
Fuck!
From how pale she looked, I could tell that Eliana understood what was going on.
“I also have TVs in the living room, office, guest bedroom, and exercise room.”
Zoe yelped and slapped a hand over her eyes. I glanced at her. “Did you sneak a boyfriend in?”
Eyes still covered, she slowly shook her head.
“Then what…? Oh…” I got it. Zoe was afraid she’d been videoed rubbing one out.
Eliana was still clearly confused. She looked from Zoe to me. “What?”
Paul barked out a laugh, then faked a cough and walked out of the bathroom.
I couldn’t stop myself. “Come on, Zoe, don’t beat around the bush. Tell Eliana about your finger painting hobby.” And once I’d started, the terms whizzed out of my mouth. “Been pearl fishing lately? Maybe tiptoed through the two lips?”
Eliana horse laughed, and Zoe finally joined in. Her hand was still over her eyes. “Stop it. This is so embarrassing.”
“Oh yeah? As embarrassing as the entire world watching your white ass humping up and down?” The deep belly laugh that surged up and out startled me.
God, it felt good to laugh.
So we did, for a long time.
When we were finally calmed down, we walked out to find Paul using electrical tape to cover up the tiny camera on the bedroom TV, and that sobered us all very quickly.
“So, that’s it?” I asked him, unable to believe it.
“I’m quite certain, Kane. I’ve done a visual and an electronic sweep and couldn’t find anything else. The TVs line up perfectly for both angles for the videos. You’ve been hacked. You need to change your wi-fi password and also use this tape to cover any cameras on your computers and phones.”
My intercom buzzed, and I groaned. “What now?” Limping over to the box, I answered, “Yes.”
“Sorry, Mr. Steele, but I have two FBI agents who say they can’t wait until morning to visit with you.”
I shot a look at Paul, but he only nodded. “Send them on up.”
***
After a round of introductions with Agents Grinstead and Mason, we settled into the living room, Eliana tucked under my arm.
“What can we do for you?” I asked to get the ball rolling.
“Agent Mason and I are dedicated to the sex unit of the cyber-crime division. As soon as we heard about what has been happening to you both, we were interested in helping. Your case is especially strange because there are two avenues the criminals took to expose you virtually.”
“What do you mean?” Eliana asked.
“One set of videos are from the past while the other set is from the present. Initially, we believed the same perpetrator was responsible for uploading both sets. Our initial theory was a jealous ex learned of your engagement, and in a fury, uploaded the tapes from the past. Then, because he didn’t feel he had harmed you enough,” Grinstead looked over at me, “he decided to harm and embarrass you both.”
I leaned forward, ignoring the pain in my thigh as it stretched. “You said ‘initially.’ Do you think otherwise now?”
Grinstead nodded. “Yes.”
“Why?”
Mason pulled a folder out of her briefcase. “Because we visited Brett Southerland, the man Ms. Anderson indicated filmed and participated in the first set of videos.”
Eliana’s hand tightened on my arm. “And?”
Agent Mason didn’t pull any punches. “And we found him dead.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Eliana
I would probably burn in hell to be pleased that Brett Southerland was dead, and I couldn’t hide the relief the news brought me.
“How did he die?” I asked, not even sure why I wanted to know.
“Bullet wound to the head.”
“So, he killed himself?” Kane asked.
Agent Mason shook her head. “There was also a shot to the heart. Both shots were immediately lethal, meaning both couldn’t have been self-inflicted.”
“He was murdered,” I surmised.
“Yes, and from the level of decomposition, his murder occurred approximately one week ago.”
I shook my head. “But that isn’t possible. The videos of Kane and me could have only happened a couple of days ago.”
“Exactly. So although Southerland could have very well uploaded the old videos, he couldn’t have been responsible for the new ones.”
“Then who? Do you think the person who did upload the new videos is responsible for his murder?”
Grinstead shrugged. “That’s a working theory, but we have no evidence to indicate that right now. Southerland was a sleaze. When we searched his home, we found hundreds of videotapes clearly labeled with the date and woman’s name. The tapes go back six years, his senior year of high school. It’s not impossible that he uploaded another woman’s videos at the same time he uploaded yours, and was found out and killed by that party. The new videos following so closely could be pure coincidence.”
“Do you believe in coincidences?” Kane asked him.
Grinstead didn’t hesitate. “No. But at this moment, we have no other leads, so all theories are open.”
“Which means that whoever is trying to torment us might not be finished. Correct?”
“Correct.”
“So what do we do?” I asked.
“What you’re doing now. Cover the cameras, turn off any listening apps. Right now, whoever hacked you could be listening to this conversation. Just because the camera can no longer see doesn’t mean the internal recorder can’t hear.”
I shivered.
Mason added, “You might not think your discussions are important, but think about this. Suppose you kiss Eliana goodbye and tell her where you’re going and when you’ll be back. You’ve—”
“I might as well have given them my calendar,” Kane fi
nished for her.
“Yes. On a silver platter.”
On the other side of me, Zoe shuddered. “This is really scary.”
Grinstead and Mason both nodded. “It is, and the problem will only grow increasingly more terrifying the more technologically advanced we become. Smartphones, smart TVs, smart cars. All of that means technology that can be hacked and manipulated.”
“This makes living on ‘Little House on the Prairie’ sound ideal,” I muttered and turned my phone over until the screen was facing down. Now, the eye on the back camera was looking at me.
I really needed some of that tape.
“Baby monitors, toys with speech recognition software, essentially anything with an operating system can be hacked, even thermostats, printers, key fobs, fancy refrigerators and toilets. And talk about scary… here’s scary. Car brakes. The wave of the future is electrical rather than mechanical brake systems. One hack, and you can’t stop your descent down a mountain.”
Grinstead leaned forward. “Medical implants are particularly vulnerable. Pacemakers, artificial hearts. When you think of all the ways we utilize radio waves and other wireless signals…” he lifted a shoulder, not needing to finish.
Zoe was right. It was very scary.
When the federal agents began gathering their things to leave, Kane walked them to the door. I heard them promise to be in contact with any new information and assure us that their tech team would be scouring Kane’s wi-fi, trying to find an IP address they could chase.
I didn’t feel confident that they would succeed.
By the time we said goodnight to Zoe, it was past midnight, and I practically staggered to Kane’s room before falling into his bed. The emotional toil of the day had sucked my energy levels dry.
After a long shower, Kane joined me, and I curled into his warmth. “I’m sorry about your leg and about you missing the road games. And about tonight’s loss and the new videos.”
He chuckled, but it sounded forced. “That’s a pretty long list of sorrys.”
“Yeah, I guess it is. But I am sorry for it all.”
With a groan, he rolled onto his side. “How sorry?”
I rolled to face him, barely able to see him in the dim light. “Very.”
His hand reached out, and his fingers pushed through my hair, closing into a fist. It hurt. It felt good. I closed my eyes as I accepted the contradiction.
In the space of a few moments, the heat in the bedroom ratcheted up a notch, and my heart began pounding harder. Even after the day we’d just experienced, I wanted him. From the way his breathing just changed, he wanted me too.
More than that, I wanted him to push me, hurt me, test the boundaries of my limits.
“You once told me there were things you wanted to do to me that I might not like.”
The fist tightened at the back of my head. “Yes.”
The fronts of our bodies were pressed together, and I felt his cock twitch as it filled with desire. For me. I shivered at the thought of him doing things that made me scream.
“Are you cold?” Kane looked concerned.
I pressed tighter against him. “No, I’m actually very warm. Hot, actually. How’s your leg?”
In the dim light, his face tightened. “It’s a bruise. My fault it’s there.”
With a finger, I traced a line down his jaw. “But I distracted you at the exact wrong moment.” The hand grew even tighter, roots pulling. The silence told me the truth, so I went on. “I want to make it up to you.”
The fingers loosened and brushed through my strands. “How?”
“I want you to do the things that I might not like to me. When you feel well enough, that is. Push me—”
I couldn’t finish because his lips were crushing mine. “You don’t know what you’re asking,” he said after he’d explored my mouth thoroughly with his tongue.
“Then tell me. No, show me. Use me. Play with me.” I paused before adding, “Make me feel things I’ve never experienced. Do you want that too?”
His erection bobbed between us.
“Dammit, Eliana,” he breathed. “You have no idea.”
I took the hand that was in my hair and lowered it to my breast. “Then I want you to, whenever you’re ready.”
His hand stayed there, his thumb brushing over my nipple until it hardened beneath his Beasts t-shirt. “I want...”
He paused and licked his lips, and I could feel the tightness, the conflict swirling around in him.
“Tell me, Kane. Tell me what you want.”
“I don’t want to scare you,” he finally admitted. “I’ve never done those things with someone I care about. I don’t want you to run away.”
My mouth went dry. What was I getting myself into? Even as worry niggled my brain, a thrill of the unknown passed through me, making me wet.
“Have you done these things with other women?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve thought about doing them with me?”
“God, yes.”
“Tell me what you want to do.” My voice was hoarse.
His fingers tightened on my nipple. “I want to do things to your breasts.”
I tried to imagine what that might be. “What things?” My heart was beating so loudly I was sure he could feel it beneath his fingers.
“Mark them.”
I laughed softly. “You’ve already done that.”
“No.” His voice was serious. “I haven’t. Not how I want. Not with my teeth, biting and sucking. Using clamps.”
My insides throbbed, my nipples grew even harder.
“Do you have clamps here?”
“Yes.”
“Will I scream?”
“Yes.”
“Will Zoe hear me?”
“Yes.”
I didn’t care. I wanted him. Wanted this. “Let’s play.”
Without another word, Kane rolled off the bed and flipped the lights on. “Where’s your phone?”
I looked at him in confusion, then understood. “My purse. On the dresser.”
As I watched, he walked over to it, his limp a little less noticeable than before. He’d taken off the ice, but a bandage was still firmly wrapped around his thigh. It was all he wore except for his boxers.
He pulled out my phone and then grabbed his from where it lay next to his keys. He gathered his laptop and iPad and strode from the room. I didn’t even need to ask him what he was doing. I knew. He was getting rid of electronic devices so our privacy would be secured. The TV was already gone. He’d asked Paul to remove it earlier.
I was already breathing easier, with the eyes and ears of the devices removed. Then he was back, and my breath grew ragged again. He carried a glass of amber liquid in his hand and a dark look in his eyes I hadn’t seen before. He shut the door. “Take off your clothes.”
Scrambling from beneath the covers, I stripped while he walked into his enormous closet. He was back a second later with the clamps and something else.
“Remember your fifty shade book?”
I nodded.
“Yellow if you come close to your limits. Red if I need to stop immediately.” His face softened. “And I will.”
I nodded. “I trust you.”
“Tell me what you want,” he said, stepping closer to me.
I was confused. I thought I’d been pretty clear. I wanted him to do whatever he wanted to me.
“I want to know what you like, not just what you can tolerate.”
“I like everything you do to me. I like you. Can we start there?”
He reached for my hand and raised it to his lips, his tongue brushing my knuckles.
“Yes, it’s a start. You need to know that I don’t consider myself to be a dominant from a pure BDSM perspective. But I like being in control. I like being focused. I like when my partner follows my rules, but only in the bedroom. When it’s what we both want.”
I nodded. “I want.”
His pupils dilated, and he leaned down to
kiss me, his teeth scraping across my bottom lip until I moaned. “An important aspect of being a good lover is wanting to give your partner as much pleasure as possible. It’s not about satisfying me. It’s about satisfying you. What do you want?”
I knew he was talking whips and floggers, stuff like that. But what I wanted went so much deeper than all that. “I want you to forgive me for being a distraction. For bringing this horror into your life. For causing you to miss the ball. To lose the game. I want you to do whatever you need to no longer feel angry with me.”
“You want to be punished?” His voice was low, primal.
“Yes.”
In reality, though, I wanted to forgive myself. Punish myself. But I couldn’t. Maybe having his hands on me would help.
“Lay back. Show me what you like.”
Resting back on the pillows, I cupped my breasts, then pinched my nipples between my fingers. A jolt of pleasure went through me, and they tightened even more than before. I rolled the hardening flesh, pulling and tugging, pushing past where I normally went when I touched myself. Kane’s eyes darkened as his pupils eclipsed the beautiful green.
“I want your teeth on me,” I said softly, twisting my nipples even harder. “Your mouth. Tongue.”
He pushed his boxers down his legs and watching his hard cock pop free proved to be a distraction. He had the most amazing body. “What do you want me to do with my mouth?”
I refocused on his eyes. “Lick. Suck. Bite.” I cupped the undersides of my breasts, squeezing. “Not just my nipples.” I traced a finger across the bottom. “Here too.”
I stared after him as he turned and walked to the bathroom. He was back moments later with a stack of towels. Was he expecting blood?
“Lift your bottom.” Raising up, I did as he asked, and he layered three towels beneath me.
“What are these for?”
He smirked. “You’ll see why later.” Then he picked up the clamps he had tossed on the bed. They weren’t shiny metal like I’d imagined them to be.
“These are rubber. We can work up to metal if you like.”
His eyes were focused on my breasts as he climbed onto the bed next to me. His lips latched onto my nipple, and I moaned. It was amazing. Wet heat paired with perfect suction, each pull of his mouth sending pleasure straight through to my groin. My back arched, feeding him more, as his teeth scraped over my sensitive flesh.
