Command (Changing Roles Book 1) Page 14

  Two murders within the span of a month. Not good. I needed to contact Pete. This required more than a simple police investigation. A task force needed to be formed.

  Jake continued, his fingers pressing against the wood grain of the table, tendons straining at the backs of his hands. “It begins the same. A takedown scene in the woods. Looks like the girl is consenting at first. Then it turns violent.” A tick in his jaw. “The end is the same.” He flipped the tablet over, face up, so I could see the screen.

  I averted my gaze. Couldn’t afford a meltdown in public. Was this a test? Or his sadistic form of punishment? I locked eyes with him, met his anger with a rising fury that he would expose my vulnerability in such a public place. Did he want me to become catatonic? Already a tingling stirred in my belly, spreading outward.

  His lower lip curled in. “Both begin on the grounds of the Edge. I know Thomas, and he doesn’t run that kind of place.”

  I held up a hand. Not just to stop him. I didn’t think he’d been setting me up. It probably didn’t even occur to him to consider my trigger. “Who’s Thomas?”

  “He owns the Edge, and he’s going to go ballistic when I show him this.”

  “And these are the woods you recognized in the video with Elizabeth?”

  “Yeah.”

  How many times did he go to this club? Warmth spread in my belly, replacing the cold chills, thinking about how a scene would play out with him. I was strong, trained in the art of evasion and self-defense. I knew how to take down criminals. He’d have to run fast to catch me. I was a great sprinter. Then he’d have to fight hard to subdue me. We’d struggle. Who would win?

  “Kate?”

  I shook my head. “What?”

  “Focus.”

  I had been, just not on what he was saying. “Okay, so whoever’s doing this is a member or has access to the grounds.”

  Jake nodded. “Exactly, which is why you’re coming with me.”

  We’d already talked about how that wasn’t possible. “The Edge doesn’t allow Dommes.”

  He kept his gaze steady, focusing on my eyes. “You’re coming as my sub.”

  I didn’t dare break the heated contact of his gaze. Anger burned there, but so did a more primal emotion: lust.

  I could have handled the idea if not for the battle raging between us. He would demand true submission. He’d put it out there with that claiming kiss. My body responded to his touch, that I couldn’t hide, but there was a truth I had to keep hidden.

  Elizabeth Westmoreland’s murder was my case. The pretense of submission to gain access to the Edge? Was it worth it? He wanted me, but not to help with my case. The desire flashing in his eyes made that clear.

  The moment he touched me, my mind sparked with need and my body melted with desire. Etched deep into my psyche, submission and surrender flared when he came close. How would I hide my secret while pretending to be the very thing I never wanted to ever be again? Even if it was to help solve a murder.

  Words spoken so calmly were weighted with consequence if I didn’t set boundaries.

  His finger swiped the screen, stopping the video. “Same story. Same ending. You have no choice. You’re coming as my submissive. We have less than a week to prepare.”

  I stood and stepped away from the table. “This is my investigation. I decide, not you.” I needed to define my area of control. In this case, I was the detective. He had no training in police investigations. This was my area of expertise, something he couldn’t dominate.

  His eyes narrowed and creased the skin at the corners. “I don’t think you understand.”

  “No, you don’t get it.”

  He didn’t know what he asked. The price to my psyche to dip back into a submissive role would rake my soul. Like most men, all he cared about was his dick. And I was crazy to even be considering it.

  “Give my apologies to Bryce. Whatever you and your pal, Kevin, have cooked up, whatever you think happened in that scene, you’re wrong. Bryce will never lodge a complaint against me. My submissives are loyal.”

  I spun on my heels and walked out of Stripes as fast as tight white leather and heels could carry me.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kate

  I repeated the mantra, I am a Domme, I am a Domme, as I raced out of the club. Adrenaline pumped in my veins, unrestrained by my usual strict control. Jake’s words echoed in my head and permeated to the deepest recesses of my mind, poking holes in the barriers I’d erected years before. Long-buried desires awakened and burst forth, drowning me in compulsions I didn’t want to face. A pulsating need exploded, like a coil wound too tight.

  Submit? To him? God yes, I wanted that, but no way in hell could I go there.

  My fingers clenched as the throbbing between my legs rippled and spread. He claimed with that kiss, then pursued with those words. Eventually, he’d catch me.

  Then what?

  The strength of his personality matched mine, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t beat him. Did I want to? I should. A shudder of suppressed need rolled through me, casting doubt on my resolve.

  Jake and his you’re-coming-with-me proclamation made me want to scream. A curse welled up inside me and spewed from my lips. Because, God help me, I wanted to say yes. So fucking tempting to slip back to that place in my head. But if I got into my submissive headspace, I didn’t know how that would affect my focus. I had a case to solve, and all this was one big distraction.

  Caged in the strength of his arms. His hands wrapped around my neck, directing my every move. He’d restrain me, and I would pulse with freedom. Under his hands, I would fly.

  Oh hell, my stomach rebelled. No way could I fall back into that role. Which meant…which meant if I was even considering this—

  Moisture pooled deep in my cheek pockets. A sudden rush of saliva. No, I refused to lose it. Not out here where the ever-present Stripes security cams would have the privilege of watching me puke. I had more dignity than that, and I wasn’t going to admit he’d gotten under my skin. Did he watch me even now?

  I hurried to my dad’s Hemi ’Cuda, anxious to be done with this disastrous night.

  A blur of movement in my periphery had me spinning around. A strong arm pinned me against the frame of my car. I went to block it, lifting my leg to knee my attacker, when I recognized Jake. Hell, I didn’t need him chasing me down. I’d just run from him.

  “Shit, Kate. Get your head out of your ass.” A hand slapped down on the other side of me, effectively blocking me in. Steel-blue eyes simmered with an angry passion. “Are you so fucking scared of what’s brewing between us that you’ll let killers run free just to get away from me?” His chest pumped, expanding with each breath.

  I ducked, but he pressed a knee between my thighs, spreading my legs and leaning his body in close.

  I’d been caught.

  God, the pressure he applied to the apex of my thighs lit me up like a firecracker. An unexplainable need to rub up against him rushed through my body, and it was all I could do to resist the urge to hump his knee like a cat in heat. He pinned me in place. I hated his power over me, damn him to hell, but I reveled in it as well.

  “You can’t run from this.”

  “I’m not…running.”

  “Liar.” His eyes flared, and his lower lip curled inward. He licked it, his tongue tracing the fullness of it.

  I hoped that had been in preparation to kiss me.

  So fucking tempting.

  The corners of his lips curved up, and my gaze snapped to his eyes. His attention was locked on my lips, and that had me moistening mine in preparation of what I hoped would soon follow. His pupils dilated. Holy shit. This situation was fast spiraling out of control. Blackness filled the blue rim of his irises, and he leaned forward. His lips kissably close.

  “For a Domme, why are you so afraid?”

  He leaned his whole body inward, pressing his knee deeper into the V between my legs, increasing the pressure against my sex. Bastard was doing t
hat on purpose.

  I loved it and gasped with the fiery sensation building in my core.

  He rocked his hips forward, the sensual roll grinding against me. Impossible to hide the long, thick length of his rising interest. His hardened cock pressed between us and moved with each slide of his hips. I placed my hands on his shoulders, not to push away, but to feel the dips and valleys of those muscles I’d long imagined tracing with my fingers.

  Since it was clear he wasn’t going to let me go anytime soon, I was going to take advantage of this moment.

  Take control, as it were.

  A groan escaped his lips when my fingers massaged the thick muscles of his shoulders.

  He tilted his head forward, letting his forehead rest on mine. His low, throaty whisper set my body to trembling.

  “When are you going to stop fighting me?”

  My skin inflamed with each pulse of his breath. I let my hands wander down from his shoulders across the defined ridges of his chest. “I’ll never stop fighting. I can’t.”

  He stilled, as if considering my words, then huffed a laugh. “Well, I’m good with that. I like a challenge.” His arm dropped, releasing one side of the cage, but I was by no means free. Then he traced the corner of my jaw, his gaze lingering on my lips the entire time.

  Frustrated, I jerked away, but he snagged my chin and caught me, forced me to face him. My fingers by now had meandered down to his waist and hovered over the button of his fly.

  He leaned forward, frustratingly close to my lips. “We can have fun with this, Kate. It doesn’t have to be all business.”

  Another grind of his hips trapped my hand. As he pressed his lips to mine, I cupped the hard length of his erection straining against the fabric of his pants. His tongue invaded my mouth. Like a conquering marauder, he came to seek, to claim…to take everything. He slammed his hips into the palm of my hand, kissing me perhaps as he hoped to one day fuck me.

  As I might one day allow.

  Instead of stiffening in his arms, I responded to his touch and melted into his embrace, surrendering to the demand he made of me. I wanted this as much as I feared it.

  I hoped his need revealed the type of Master he would become and, with that thought, I let him sweep me away. I needed strong. I needed fierce. I needed a man who could command with the force of a true dominant.

  Fear still lurked at the edges of my mind. I couldn’t afford to slip too far into submission. I’d done that once before, and I didn’t know how to stop once I truly gave in. I didn’t want to lose myself again.

  He lifted his lips from mine. “We’re done fighting over who’s in charge.”

  My heart thudded in my chest. I wasn’t quite ready to commit to this, so I pulled back from him.

  His fingers stroked the angles of my jaw. “Look at me.”

  Power flooded his voice, and I found myself compelled to obey, loving the warmth and energy of his words. My gaze lifted to his.

  “Say yes,” he said.

  He waited while I swallowed, wanting him to kiss me again, wondering if he could feel the thunder of my pulse beating in my throat. Surely, he felt the reverberations of my surrender and already knew the answer.

  Searching his eyes, I found uncertainty filling their depths, and that made me waver. His hesitation had cost him the moment. I clenched my jaw and gave it to him straight. “For the case, Jake, I’ll do what I must. But don’t confuse what must happen for anything real. I’m a Domme, not some weak-willed submissive who will come when you call.”

  I shoved him hard in the solar plexus, pushing him off me. Never had I been so reluctant to send a man away, but I had no choice. Another kiss or roll of his hips, and I would find myself responding to the snap of his fingers.

  He stumbled back, lifting his hands up and away with each step. Jake, with his safety rules, would never touch me unless, and until, I said yes.

  Quickly, I slid into my Barracuda and turned the key. The heavy rumble of the motor drowned out further conversation. Our gazes locked as I backed out my badass car. His stare burned a hole in my back as I floored it, tires squealing, out of Stripes’ parking lot. My heart thudded the entire time with the remembrance of his hands on me.

  I clenched my jaw, and by the time I made it home, I’d worked up a raging headache. When I collapsed on the couch, I was drained, empty of all thought, and aching with a newfound need.

  Images of Jake swirled in my mind. His eyes, hard and certain, held me in a smoldering promise of “what-ifs.” The sensuous roll of his hips kept me hypnotized, wondering what it would be like to be trapped beneath him, caged and subdued, while he took everything he desired.

  The dips and valleys of his muscles would crowd close while he lowered himself. He’d lick a path of conquest up my throat. Suck and bite on a trail of supremacy to my jaw. Finally, his lips would hover over mine and our eyes would lock. My skin would be so hot it would feel like it had gone up in flames. His hips would press hard and demanding, his legs forcing mine to part. Heavy with need, the long length of him would demand entrance, ready to possess. He wouldn’t ask. He wouldn’t need to. As he claimed with his kiss, he’d take every part of me.

  A strangled cry burst from my throat. My hands clenched around my ribs, and I sobbed at the desperation of my fantasy, because in it I hadn’t fought back. If I was going to fantasize about the man, I needed to at least try to resist.

  It was past time for bed, but I was too keyed up to sleep. I checked my messages on my cell phone. Five waited. I played the first one, putting the phone on Speaker, desperate for a distraction while I made some tea, something to settle me down.

  “Kate, it’s Pete. They’ve asked my division to work the Westmoreland case, so good news…we get to work together again. But that’s not why I’m calling.” His voice paused, the pitch stuttered. “I’m free tomorrow night and, well, I wanted to know about that thing we talked about. Would it be a good time to go to your club? I’ve been reading a bunch online and…shit! Call me back before I lose my nerve and chicken out.”

  I smiled at his hesitation. Introducing him to Stripes would be my pleasure. Many people didn’t understand BDSM. The community broke down almost every barrier regarding sex. However, there was another side—an intimacy so profound it was only understood by those within the scene.

  Sex was just the tiniest sliver of the psychological interplay between a submissive and a dominant. The emotional release of a well-played scene was sometimes more cathartic than the physical orgasm. I had accomplished that with Bryce this evening, and Tyler the night before. Two wonderfully magnetic men who’d found bliss at the end of my whip if not within my arms.

  I had challenged them, forced them out of their comfort zone, but because of the trust I earned, both granted me the gift of their surrender. Like Bryce had said, that slice of existence between agony and euphoria was a place of bliss where the day-to-day hassles of the world shut the fuck up. One step away was the closest I allowed myself to get. Unless I allowed Jake to take me there.

  The question staring me in the face was whether I could trust him. Should I? I wanted to, but the last time I’d allowed myself to trust, I’d given it to the wrong person and almost died. What I couldn’t trust was my judgment. Which was why I had vowed to never again submit to a man. Jake challenged my premise and made me question everything. If I allowed him close, if I put myself in a position of risk, I might discover I’d been wrong. I knew my heart. The Mistress of Pain was armor I wore to hide what I desired above all else.

  The question I needed to answer was whether I was willing to expose my heart.

  I played the next message, a woman’s voice, frantic and rushed. “Miss Summers, please, I beg of you, find my daughter’s killers.” The whining voice of Mrs. Westmoreland drove needles into my brain. “The cops don’t understand. Not like you. Please…” The call ended in a trail of sobs.

  My heart hurt for the woman, but I was too tired to let my empathy spill for her. I hoped that didn�
��t make me a bad person.

  The mayor’s voice followed on the next message. “Miss Summers, please forgive my wife. She is not herself. I promise neither of us will bother you outside your work. Please consider working on the police investigation. There is a tactics meeting in the morning at the station.” He gave details of the time and place, and I wrote them down.

  The next message had my heart pounding in my throat. The deep male voice was undeniably Jake’s. He had to have called right after I stormed out of the club and our kiss in the parking lot. The man didn’t know how to leave a girl alone.

  “You can’t run from this. I want this. I want you. Don’t let that scare you. There’s something between us. It’s not going away until we explore it. I know what you need. You’ve been hiding as a Domme for too long. Meet me at the club tomorrow night. Bring your limits list. I have a proposition—a give-and-take, so to speak. Something to help you see what I know is true. Something to show you can trust me to be the Master you need. Tomorrow, ten p.m. Don’t wear the wig. You can wear your usual outfit—” The message cut off.

  The sultry tones of his voice swirled in my mind. What a confident bastard. If I did this, it was going to spread like wildfire at the club and hurt my reputation. He should know this. What was his plan for that?

  The final message played. Him again. His voice rushed. “Damn recordings never give enough time. Come to me, Kate. If all you can handle is what it takes to solve your case, then I agree up front. But during the investigation, give yourself to me. When it’s over…you walk away…no questions…no demands…nothing. I’ll relinquish my authority over you. If that’s what you choose. But until then, you’ll submit to me.”

  There were no more messages. Thunder beat in my chest. He certainly didn’t hide what he wanted.

  I deleted the first three messages. My finger hovered over Jake’s first message, intending to delete it too. I replayed it instead, then listened to his second message as my insides quivered. The low, throaty promise evoked a deep longing. It ripped through my mind and settled in deep, lodged in the most primitive parts where free will battled with desire—and lost. The thrilling prospect of answering his demand had me leaning toward the phone even as fear thumped beneath my breastbone.