The Exposure (7 page)

Then another e-mail from The Taskmaster had arrived and all her calm went straight to hell.

I knew you wouldn't disappoint me. Keep up the good work and I'll be in touch.

The anonymous man had taken pictures of her in her home; she didn't know why it shocked her that he knew how she'd
spent her afternoon. But it did and she found herself antsy and out of sorts. When Master V called and asked her to meet him at the club, she jumped at the chance. She hadn't talked to him since that fateful night at the club, and the way she saw it, she'd finally have the chance to grill him about what really happened. Sure it was Luke's club, but her need to get out of the house exceeded her need to keep her vow never to step foot into one of his clubs again.

She found Master V waiting for her inside when she arrived, so she didn't know what name he used to get in. She had to admit, if he was listed twice using different names, Luke had every reason to be upset. Truthfully, as soon as she'd met up with him earlier tonight, she knew it had been a mistake. He had no interest in talking and she had no interest in playing. Still, when Luke had interrupted their conversation, all she could think about was how the entire evening was just a colossal waste of time and she hadn't found anyone she wanted to scene with.

Of course, now she was going to get a different kind of scene.

The short time she'd been with Luke in the past hadn't allowed him the opportunity to do anything resembling a punishment session. And the few times she'd observed him play, either in a demo or in a public setting, he'd always been participating in pleasurable scenes.

Funny, even though she'd imagined playing with him over the years,
this
was one scenario she'd never thought of.

He stood in front of her, watching her with questioning eyes, as if he was trying to read her mind.

“Do you have anything you want to say?” he asked.

“I'm sorry for disrespecting you, Sir.”

He looked relieved that she hadn't argued. Surely he knew her better. But then again, she hadn't exhibited her best side the
few times he'd seen her as a submissive. With that thought came the determination that no matter what, she would take what he dished out and she'd be the best damn submissive he'd ever disciplined.

She bowed her head.

“Thank you, Meagan.”

Because she did Top on occasion, she was familiar with the decisions Doms faced. She had no issue with Luke's decision to call her on her disrespect and correct it.

On the other hand, she was irritated with her traitorous body for being turned on at kneeling at his feet.

“Stand up and strip,” he said.

She couldn't look him in the eye as she followed his command and folded her clothes neatly. After the photo session, it seemed too intimate to do so and she wondered if she'd feel the same if he'd had her naked in the studio.

Fuck, it turned her on being naked in front of him.

“Very nice, Meagan,” he said, but his voice was strained. “Now, go sit at the bar. I'll meet you there soon.”

Sit at the bar? What the ever-loving fuck?

Still, she'd told herself she was going to be the best submissive he'd ever punished, so she made her way to the bar and sat on one of the stools. Almost every eye was on her, but out of respect to Luke, no one touched or talked to her while she waited for him to return.

She didn't hear him come up behind her and she jumped when he placed a laptop in front of her. Maybe he was going to video something?

“I've decided your punishment is that you're going to sit naked at the bar and you're going to go through the membership
of the club, looking for duplicates like your friend V. I want everything cross-checked: names, numbers, employers, photos. Find the duplicates and forward them to me.”

He wanted her to what?

“There are faster ways to accomplish this, Sir.” She didn't want to argue, but this was borderline ridiculous. There was software he could install. Programming he could run. Anything but the way he was suggesting. “Doing it this way will take forever.”

“I'm aware of that, but I want you to do it this way. And if you don't finish tonight, I want you back here tomorrow. Naked and working. And you will sit here, checking my database until you've finished and I've approved your work.”

Forget borderline ridiculous; he'd just crossed over into completely ridiculous. There was no telling how long it would take to complete the task. “I'd rather you spank me.”

“I'm sure you would. You think I didn't see how turned on you were standing before me, naked? But I need the database checked, so that's what you're going to do.” He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I'd rather be spanking you, too. But know this, Meagan. If I got my hands on your ass, I wouldn't stop until I had you on your hands and knees, legs spread, begging me to fuck you.”

Hot. Damn. And. Yes. Sir. The visual his words brought to mind were enticing. So much more desirable than what she currently had to look forward to. If she closed her eyes, she swore she could almost feel him behind her, his warmth pressing against her. She swallowed a moan.

He chuckled. “Get to work.”

With a resolved sigh, she turned her attention away from the
man behind her and opened the listing of members, trying to work out in her head what would be the best way to go about checking everything. She decided to pull up V's information first to see if she could find the second name he was listed under.

After she'd been working a few minutes, Luke stepped away. She was surprised to find she missed his presence. Determined not to dwell on it, she refocused on the spreadsheet before her, though she felt as if she was looking for a needle in a haystack.

She scrolled through the list of addresses. Would V have listed the same one? After several minutes of looking, it didn't appear he had.

“Meagan?”

She had focused so intently on the computer, she jumped at the sound of her name. “Damn it, Sir.” She turned to face the interruption. “You scared me half to death.”

“I'm sorry. I thought you heard me.” He held out a slip of paper. “Here's the name he used to get in. Thought that might help.”

“Yes, thank you.” She looked at the paper and frowned. She didn't recognize any of the information. Interesting. But opening up the alternate name on the computer, she saw the connection. “There we have it.”

“What?” Luke peered over her shoulder.

“He listed his real name as a reference. Talk about a ‘fuck you and your security system, too.'”

“Shit.”

“Right?” She clicked through the rest of the information. V really was a disgusting pig. She felt even worse than before that she'd agreed to be with him tonight. Before she could allow herself time to think about that, she had to take care of Luke's
request. “And the thing is your staff never would have caught it. Nothing else matches. You're going to have to start collecting driver's license information, Social Security numbers, or something.”

He pulled up the stool beside her. “This is worse than I thought.”

“I have to say it and, trust me, it's not that I'm trying to weasel my way out of anything, but you need someone with a lot more knowledge and experience than me to fix this.”

“I thought we'd taken care of security when we reopened.”

“You didn't have the members reapply, or at least, I wasn't asked to. Did you have anyone run background checks?”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “Not yet. I was going to ask Jeff Parks to do it in a month or so.”

“Might I suggest you have him do it sooner rather than later?”

“Yes. Definitely.” He shook his head. “I thought it was okay to wait since almost everyone had been a member for so long. But I see now a clean sweep is in order.”

She nodded. It was scary when she thought about it. If no one had ever done a background before . . .

She didn't want to dwell on that.

“Meagan,” he said, and she lifted her head to find him holding out a robe. “You can get dressed if you'd like. I don't see the point in you doing anything further.”

“Thank you.” She slid off the stool and slipped the robe on. “And, Sir, I am sorry for how I acted. Truly. I've Topped in a scene before. I wouldn't have put up with my attitude either.”

“I appreciate you saying that.” He nodded. “I was thinking. Would you have time to have lunch next weekend before we start shooting?”

She raised an eyebrow and he laughed.

“Honestly, I just thought it'd be a good idea for us to talk. Get to know each other.” He waved toward her. “When we both have our clothes on.”

It would be dangerous to accept his invitation. She could already see how easy it would be to fall back into the schoolgirl crush she'd had on him years ago. And how much more would this grown-up Luke appeal to her?

But, on the other hand, it would be a good idea for her to get closer to Luke in ways other than photography. There was still The Taskmaster to think about, after all. She would have to keep in mind that being with Luke this time was the means to an end. Nothing more. If she did that, she should be able to have lunch with him without getting any emotions involved.

She hoped anyway. “I think that would be fine. Should we meet somewhere?”

“You could come by the house. Might be easier than going somewhere and then having to go to my place. Just do it all in one location.”

“I'll do it on one condition.”

“What's that?”

“You have to give me a tour of your house. It looked fascinating.”

His laugh was easy. “It's a deal.”

*   *   *

L
uke always regretted that he wasn't much of a cook. It wasn't because he didn't try; he did. It just seemed as though everything he cooked tasted like cardboard. Cooking should be simple. All he had to do was follow the recipe. But it never was that easy.

Before Meagan came over on Saturday, he went to the local farmers' market and got fresh produce for a salad. He had some cooked chicken left over at the house from the night before. He'd throw it all together for a quick lunch. It probably wouldn't be a good idea to eat anything too heavy, anyway.

Meagan arrived on time, stepping out of the car and looking incredible. He couldn't help but remember how she looked the weekend before, naked and needy before him. He'd wanted so badly to touch her, but to punish himself along with her, he'd given her that ludicrous spreadsheet to work with.

He shook his head and watched her walk to the door. She'd pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Interesting choice. He hadn't told her anything about the way he wanted her to wear her hair, but the ponytail worked perfectly for what he had planned for today. And unlike last week, she didn't have any makeup on. Perfect. Though he thought he might have her put on some red lipstick after lunch.

He opened the door, expecting to see her smile, and was caught off guard by her frown.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Sorry. What?”

“You look distracted and you're frowning. Is everything okay?” He moved to the side to let her pass by him and enter the house.

“Yes, just a message that came through on the way over. It's okay. I can handle it.” Her phone rang with an incoming message and she stopped to read it.

He closed the door and watched as she typed back a reply.

“Meagan,” he said softly.

“Hmm.” She didn't look up.

“Meagan,” he said just as soft, but she continued messaging. “Hand me the phone.”

Her head snapped up. “What?”

He held out his hand. “Hand me the phone.”

“I'm finished now.”

“Yes, you are. Give it to me and you'll get it back before you leave.”

“That's okay. I'm fine.”

He shook his hand. “Give it.” She sighed, but put the phone in his hand. He turned it off. “Thank you. I know it's hard to believe, but the world won't grind to a screeching halt if Meagan Bishop doesn't answer her phone or reply to a text for the next few hours.”

“I know that, you know.”

“I'm sure you do, but I'm a jealous, jealous man.” He closed the distance between them and lifted her chin so she met his eyes. God, she was gorgeous. “I only have you here with me for a few short hours. Don't make me share.”

She blinked and her cheeks turned a light pink, which made her only more appealing. “So greedy,” she said, her voice husky.

He shouldn't be touching her the way he was. She had been very clear about what she did and did not want from him. But at the moment, her eyes were dark and her lips slightly parted. When she looked at him the way she was, he couldn't keep his hands off her. “Always,” he said in agreement with her earlier statement and ran his thumb along her bottom lip.

She drew it into her mouth and nipped his fingertip, looking him straight in his eyes the entire time.

Damn, but if that didn't send sparks down his body and make his cock beg for more. “Vixen,” he said, but didn't move his finger.

“Ass.”

He chuckled and dropped his hand. “Maybe I better give you the tour before we do something we said we shouldn't.”

She looked just disappointed enough that he seriously contemplated changing his plans for the afternoon and giving her exactly what they both wanted. But no sooner than the thought came to him, he disregarded it. To do something that radical would be to follow the path that had brought them heartache all those years ago. He wanted them to start new.

Which meant he needed to take her on a tour of his house. “Come on, I'll give you the grand tour.”

The disappointment fled, replaced by curiosity, and he led her down the hall. “This part of the house you saw last week.” He walked past the bedroom she'd changed in, pointed out his bedroom, and made his way into the living room.