Surrender Your Heart (8 page)

“I can’t…”

“Yes, you can.”

With the toy
inside, my mouth on her, she is completely at my mercy. This time, she cries
out when her body gives in to the inevitable. We’re getting there.

* * * *

“You didn’t have
to drug and kidnap me for this,” Penelope says, ruefully, after I’ve given
sight and freedom of movement back to her. She’s not moving much, anyway,
letting me embrace her without any resistance. Her body is warm and pliant
against me, and incredibly arousing, but it’s not the time. Not yet.

“But I did,” I
whisper.

One day, she’ll
know the whole story, but until then, I enjoy this bit of power play. I have to
be careful of shifting dynamics though. Already, I stayed longer than I
intended to.

“Crazy bitch.”
This time, it sounds oddly affectionate.

“Careful. You
don’t know what I’ll do the next time your hands are tied.”

Her answer is a
soft, knowing smile.

“Enjoying your
time-out so far?”

“I’m getting
used to it.”

Well, I’m not
used to it yet, the shifting of gears. It seems like even with all the locked
doors and ties, nothing is completely for certain. That bothers me, especially
since I made a lot of promises to her about loosening the rules. It will all be
better once the deal is done, and I send Colette on her way safely.

She has accepted
the ticket which is officially not from me, but a friend with a vacation home
nearby. I don’t know a lot more. For security reasons, we don’t communicate in
detail via email. I’m a bit concerned. If there was nothing to talk about, she
might have said no to the offer…then again, maybe she really does need a
vacation.

Penelope reaches
for me as I move away, pouting. “Don’t go. I think I owe you.”

“No you don’t.
You can barely keep your eyes open.”

“I’m sure I’ll
sleep better if you stay,” she argues. “Carter. Please.”

I don’t turn
around. Once on the other side of the door, I take a deep breath and lock
behind me.

It seems like we
both have some adjusting to do.

Chapter Eight

I crawl into her
bed in the early morning, before sunset, after some lonely, restless and
uncomfortable hours. She’s barely awake the first time she comes, shuddering
against my tongue, unable to keep in the helpless needy sounds. The second time
it’s my thumb against her clit, my fingers pressed deep into her triggering her
orgasm.

“Let me,” she
begs. “I need to touch you. Please.”

I let her,
because her request doesn’t come from a need to take control, on the contrary.
All according to plan, I tell myself. I also don’t have time to stand in a cold
shower all day. I let her touch me, but place my hand over hers to guide her
movements, the results quick and satisfying. We don’t need to go into depth.

Today, we have
the luxury of staying in bed a little longer. I reflect on the past few days,
worries, surprises.

I suppose
Penelope does too.

“Thank you,” she
says, startling me. This is an odd point in our relationship I honestly hadn’t
planned for.

“You don’t need
to thank me.”

“Maybe I do,”
she argues. “If I try to see things from your point of view…”

“Don’t.”

“I don’t hate
you…this. I just didn’t understand, maybe I still don’t, because it’s nothing I
ever imagined. I assume it makes sense to you somehow.”

With her naked
body this close, I’m not in the mood for philosophizing, especially with the
direction this conversation is going.

“This makes
sense, don’t you think?” I pull back the sheet, brushing my hand over her side,
her smile an indication that she’s willing to let this go for now. Good. “You
don’t have to thank me,” I say again. “This is all my pleasure. Let me see what
I can do before I have Marlene bring breakfast.”

“In here?” Her
eyes widen at the idea.

“You were the
one who asked her for tools to get prepared. I think she has a pretty clear
idea of what happens in here.” My fingertips glide over her swollen clit.
Penelope sinks back into the pillows, all concerns about Marlene forgotten for
the moment. “Speaking of which…” I can’t hide the raw lust from my voice. This,
her, all for me, is what this is all about, the reason why I was ready to go
further than ever before, circumvent every possible obstacle. “Did you like
what we did yesterday? The toy? I can get you more, if you want.”

She moans. Such
a beautiful sound, I can’t get enough of it, of her.

“I can tell you
like me talking about it,” I tease her, moving my fingers faster, over and into
her. I lean forward to kiss her deeply as she shudders underneath me.

I regret
nothing.

* * * *

When I call the
vacation home, I use the same cell phone I gave Penelope to call her mother.
Colette has arrived and will meet me tonight at the house.

“Great. I’ll
send you a car.”

“I’ll be ready,”
she says, and damn her, her tone reveals nothing about why it was so important
we talk. On the other hand, as long as we’re still talking, whatever problem
arose can be contained. I’m too giddy to let it spoil my day, and the emotion
is rare as it is.

For her studies
and book club notes, I gave Penelope a laptop, just the bare bones, no internet
connection. I can feel her mellow, in every gaze, every interaction, but I
still need to monitor her communication. It’s only been days. I can’t be sure
she wouldn’t disclose anything—but I’ll let her call her parents again next
week
. I have also turned off the cameras in her rooms
which is every bit as much to make me feel better about myself as it is for her
privacy. I’m certain she’ll be fine.

Gillian calls me
to inform me that all ducks are in the row, and our temporary competitor has
decided to pull out of the deal. So it’ll be me and Marcus Wellington, and we can
bring down the offer even lower. I intend to do right by the business and its
employees, the ones that didn’t actively cover up his crimes, but he’ll be
confronted with numbers that’ll hurt. I’m looking forward to that.

“So you’re come
over tomorrow?” she asks.

I suppress a
sigh. I really wanted to spend more time with Penelope, but now that her trying
to run away is less likely, I have to think long-term, think of business. Once
the probation period, locked doors, is over, I could offer her a job, part-time,
as long as she’s still studying, and fulltime after that if she wants it.

“I guess you
guys need me for this.”

Gillian laughs.
“You don’t want to miss it, do you?”

“No. I’ll see
you tomorrow evening, then.”

“Looking forward
to it.”

I change out of
my business clothes into a casual dress, transitions, they’re important.
Colette is a woman who has to look over her shoulder all the time. I want her
to be comfortable. Marlene will offer snacks and cocktails. Two friends
spending an evening together, that’s all there is.

I send the car
to pick her up, not liking the tension that has gripped my body—I can’t think
too much about Penelope either, our earlier activities. Once I’ve dealt with
Colette and
Wellington
, I think
I need a real vacation, somewhere with no cell phone access. Maybe I can take
Penelope out on the yacht for a few days, visit another island—or maybe there
is no place for me, anywhere, to get away.

I can’t wait for
this day to be over.

Colette has been
here before, so she’s not overly impressed by the size of the premises or how
many doors and hallways we need to pass before arriving at the bar.

“As always, an
elaborate set-up,” she remarks.

“Only the best
for my guests. You’re enjoying your vacation?”

“You know I’m
not here for a vacation, though, thank you, Carter. I appreciate this.”

“You should take
advantage. How about a cocktail?”

“No thanks. A
beer will be fine.”

I have Marlene
bring her an imported brand, Colette’s favorite, and mix a Martini for me.
“That would be all,” I tell her when she brings the drinks to the table. “I’ll
close up here later.”

“As you wish.
Good night Ms. Forbes. Ms. Grady.”

I detect a hint
of disapproval, which almost makes me laugh. Colette and I, that was a long
time ago, and didn’t last long. She has the hots for a detective back home. A
guy. Well, each to her own.

“You wanted to
see me,” I begin once Marlene has left.

She studies me,
curious, then takes a look around and I wonder what she’s looking for. “I’m a
bit worried,” Colette says, taking a swig from the bottle. “I wanted to make
sure it’s all in my head.”

“What is all in
your head?”

“I talked to a
friend of mine recently...He’s got a new case, a woman disappeared from her
apartment? She contacted her parents, and some ‘friend’ told her friends as
well that she’s taking time off somewhere.”

“Interesting.”

“Yes, but it
gets even stranger. They’re not buying it. Then
Cam
asked me to look into a few things, and indeed, she seems to have
vanished. It’s quite puzzling.”

“I don’t know,”
I say, holding her gaze. “Maybe there is no case. What are we talking about
again?”

“You always give
waitresses $1,000 tips?”

I shrug.
“Sometimes.” I can guess where this is going, damn it, we were so careful. What
the hell did I miss? I didn’t think the FBI would get involved this early, but
it looks like I should have been a little more wary of inter-departmental
relationships.

“You know I have
a type. When they’re pleasant and doing their job well, I leave them a little
surprise. Why would that be any of your concern?”

“Come on, do you
think I’m stupid? The girl has a fairly boring life, goes to work, goes to
university, one day she gets a crazy tip—which has been confirmed by her colleague—a
few days later she decides to take a break? Something doesn’t add up. Those
$1,000 won’t last long enough for a sabbatical.”

“What are you
saying?”

Colette sighs.
“Look, you and Nick aren’t exactly incognito back home, people know you, and it
won’t take long until they make connections. I can imagine what happened. She’s
impressed with all the money and pretty things you can throw at her, you two
make an arrangement and maybe you need to come up with a story, because you
need to be discreet about this.” She takes a sip of her beer. “Come up with a
better story. There are people worried about her. They want to know where she
is.”

This is a rather
benevolent version of the story, and maybe I should go with it, but I can’t
take the risk, too much is on the line.

“That sounds
like something out of
Pretty Woman
. A nice story, but I can assure you
that’s all there is. I remember the waitress. She was cute, sexy, and I
wouldn’t have minded getting her in my bed, but I’m a bit busy here. If you’ve
been keeping tabs on me, you perhaps know that I have an important deal going
down soon. As for the girl, I hope nothing bad happened to her.”

“Yeah, you and
me both.” I hope she’s ready to let this go, but no such luck. “You’d be honest
with me, wouldn’t you? If I asked Marlene, she’d tell me there’s no one new in
the house?”

“We hire people
all the time. There’s someone new in the landscaping team.”

She makes a
frustrated sound. “There will be nothing in Penny Elliot’s apartment that
connects her disappearance to you, am I right? God, I hope I’m right.”

“I am sure
wherever Penny Elliot—that’s her name?—wherever she is, she’s safe and happy.
Maybe she had enough of the job, cashed in her last check and flew to
Europe
. Maybe I am responsible, and that
tip showed her she could do a lot more with her life.”

“I hope you
don’t forget that the more suspicious this gets, the more I’m obliged to act,”
she says.

“I hope you
don’t forget that you have a pretty good career going, and that I had a hand in
it.”

Colette’s gaze
is stormy, but she holds back any retort. “I remember,” she says eventually.

“It’s good we
cleared that up.”

“Isn’t it?”

“I have to go
back tomorrow,” I tell her, finally taking the first sip of the Martini, and
boy, do I need it. This is not good, not any of this. “You can come with me. I
think you should tell your guy there’s nothing to see here. He doesn’t know
where you are, does he?” I don’t want to have to ‘disappear’ Colette, too, that
was never in the plan.

“Of course not,”
she scoffs. “What do you think?”

There are
secrets between lovers, and then there are secrets like the ones between
friends like us. “I’m glad you came to me. You know I’ll help any way I can,
and if you want, I’ll have Linda tell one of ours to look into it.”

“That won’t be
necessary, thanks.” Colette gives me a wry grin. “Thanks for the beer…and the
vacation. I’ll head back home with you tomorrow.”

“I’m glad we
understand each other,” I say. It’s such a relief to have friends in the right
places. I’ll lay low, and neither she nor her boyfriend will dig any deeper.

To my
delight—and somewhat, surprise—Penelope greets me with a hug, obviously happy
to see my even though she had to take all meals by herself again. I can’t stay
too long either as I have to prepare for the meeting tomorrow, but we retreat
to the media room for a bit, a few minutes of news—the world outside is still ugly—and
a TV show.

“I swear to you,
once I’m back we’ll have that time to ourselves I keep promising you. Take a
little trip with the yacht.”

Penelope does a
double-take, amusement making room for her puzzled expression. I think she came
to the conclusion that after everything, she shouldn’t be surprised about the
yacht, at all.

“That would be
awesome, but I understand. I can’t even begin to imagine what all of this
costs—the money must come from somewhere.”

Of course, these
days most of the money comes from profit margins and clever investment, piling
up even if I don’t do all that much…but I guess it takes some skill to get to
where I am, and surround myself with the right people, like Nick, Marlene, and
Colette.

“We’ll be okay,”
I assure her, brushing my hand over her hair, and instinctively, she draws
closer. It’s somewhat of a miracle that she relented this easily, going from
scared and angry to getting used to a lifestyle that’s so out of her realm of
experience. I don’t take it for granted. “What did you do today?”

“You’ve been
working, so I didn’t want to be lazy either,” Penelope says. “I worked on the
paper…and really, thank you for all those resources. It’s amazing.”

“I’m glad you’re
happy.”

This year, what
she’s missing is not so bad in comparison. She’d miss study time for work
anyway, and that would be without the security of having enough money for some
time to come, and don’t forget about the sex. I’m starting to believe my own
words. We will be okay.