But he couldn’t blame just the market downturn or the real-estate crash. Chess knew he held plenty of responsibility as well. He’d been arrogant and overconfident when he was riding the wave, purchasing too many properties on credit. When the market tanked, he was underwater in all his holdings. The malls closed down; the business parks sat empty; the condos didn’t sell. Forget selling them—he couldn’t
give
them away. The taxes alone were killing him.
Suddenly images of Mia flashed in his memory. Their time together had been amazing. He wanted to call her now, hear her voice, see her again. Just thinking about her made the humiliation facing him recede. He wanted to hold her in his arms, take care of her…
Like the way you took care of the business your father handed you? Who are you kidding, Ryan? You can’t take care of anything, not even yourself. You were a big shot, thinking you had all the answers. Well, you’re not riding so high now, are you? Mia will be lucky to be rid of you.
He’d thought the good times would never end, but he’d been wrong. And now there was hell to pay.
And so he’d pay. After all, he’d gotten himself into this mess. He couldn’t ask Mia to pay too.
He had no choice but to let her go, and soon. But he could give her one more fantasy before he said good-bye.
* * * *
Mia was only home from work a few minutes when her cell phone rang. Her heart thumped when she saw the call came from Chess.
“Ruffles.” He was already in play mode. “I want you to meet me at the club in half an hour. Don’t be late.”
She was baffled by the order. Was Restraint even open during this early in the day? “But—”
“No argument,” he rumbled. “Be there. Push the buzzer outside and someone will let you in.”
“Yes, Sir,” she murmured, her breath already choppy.
His tone changed, became more intimate. “Wear a skirt. No hose.” He waited a beat, then delivered the coup de grâce. “And no panties.”
He clicked off, leaving Mia with silence. She stood for a moment, in a fog. Immediately she snapped out of it and checked her watch. Half an hour to change and get downtown? She’d better get going!
* * * *
Exactly twenty-seven minutes later, Mia pulled into the lot outside a squat industrial building just like many others in this part of town. Her drive over had been surprisingly erotic, thanks to expectation of what Chess had planned and her pantyless state. She emerged carefully, if awkwardly, from the car and prayed there were no strong winds to alert any passersby of her condition.
There were only two other vehicles besides her own in the lot. She walked to the metal door of the building that looked so ordinary in the light of day and pressed the small button nearby.
A voice emerged from the speaker. “Yes?”
Her mouth went dry. “I, uh, I’m expected—”
“Just a moment.” The buzzer sounded, and the door unlocked, allowing Mia to open it. She stepped inside, entering a cavernous darkness. She exited the vestibule and came to the bar area, where Venetia was drying some glasses. Mia nodded a greeting when the bartender smiled and pointed to the door at the far end of room. “Right through there.”
The door led to the private rooms upstairs. Mia’s heart banged as she pulled it open.
A large suited figure stood at the top of the stairs. Chess.
He wore a brown suit and tie, a white shirt, and a trench coat. On his head sat a fedora, a type of hat that she’d seen actors wear in old black-and-white films.
“Miss Manetti?”
Mia nodded, wondering what was going on. “Yes.”
“This way, ma’am.”
She climbed the stairs, and he ushered her into a sparsely furnished room. There stood a large desk with a chair facing it. Mia felt so disoriented that she didn’t even hear what Chess said. She blinked. “Excuse me?”
He pulled a wallet from his suit coat, flipped it open momentarily, and slipped it back in his pocket before she had a chance to look at it. “Frank Ryan, ma’am, police department. I’m going to have to ask you some questions.”
“Questions?” Her brain had a hard time catching up. “I don’t—”
“First of all, ma’am, are you carrying any kind of weapons on your person?”
“Weapons? Of course not—”
“Then you won’t mind if I just check to make sure. Face the wall, please.” He spun her toward the wall, positioning her hands flat against the surface, fingers splayed. Suddenly her confusion vanished, replaced by raw lust as she became firmly entrenched in the scene.
“Assume the position, please.” He snugged up behind her, bumping her ass with his hip as he nudged her feet farther apart, widening her stance. His breath burned her ear as he whispered, “You do know the position, don’t you?”
Air hissed from Mia’s lungs, flames of need licking over her body. Her breasts grew heavy; her pussy ached. She flicked out her tongue to moisten her dry lips. “Yes, Officer.”
“All right.” His big hands moved down her arms, and heat lingered everywhere he touched. He moved from her ribs to her waist and hips. She bit her lip and almost cried when he bypassed her breasts. They needed his touch so badly.
It was surprisingly easy to get into her role, but not nearly so easy to withstand the power of his touch. Her voice shook as he went down on one knee to pat down her legs. “Please, Officer…can’t you tell me what this is about?”
“We believe you’ve been withholding important information.” His voice was uninflected, matter-of-fact.
Just the facts, ma’am.
She pressed her forehead to the wall, needing that solid surface to steady her. “What kind of information?”
“That’s classified.”
Classified?
Was he the police or the CIA? Mia couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped her. He’d seen too many thrillers and was mixing his metaphors, so to speak.
His hands stilled on her calves. “I wouldn’t laugh if I was in your shoes, ma’am. You’re in some serious trouble.
Very
serious.”
His tone of warning made her pussy melt. So did the hands creeping higher and higher under her skirt. She went still, holding her breath as his fingers skimmed the tender junction of her thighs. If he’d only move his hand one inch, just one little inch…
She almost moaned in disappointment as he got to his feet. “No hidden weapons. Hands behind your back now.”
Mia hesitated, not sure she heard him right. He gripped her wrists and moved them where he wanted them. “Behind. Your. Back.”
Holding both her wrists in one hand, Chess removed something from his jacket pocket, and a moment later Mia heard a click. Her hands were held fast. Handcuffs?
A fine mist of perspiration formed on her upper lip.
He grasped her arm and guided her to the wooden, straight-backed chair. “Sit.”
He shrugged out of the long coat and laid it and the hat on top of the desk. His dark blond hair lay slicked back the way Dana Andrews’s had been in the movie. He rested his ass on the corner of the desk and let go the weary sigh of a detective working too many hours on a case going nowhere.
“Now, like I said, lady. You’re hiding information, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get what I need.” A shiver ran through Mia.
Whatever it takes
. “So let’s just stop playing games.”
She shifted on the hard wooden seat with her hands cuffed at the small of her back, the hard metal circling her wrists. The cuffs weren’t comfortable, but neither did they hurt. They only made her aware that she was at his mercy, completely under his control. Mia shifted again, her thighs rubbing together, her pussy wet and needy.
“What, uh…” She cleared her throat. “What information, Officer?”
“It concerns a woman.”
Mia blinked.
A woman? What woman?
“I don’t understand…”
“She’s missing something.”
“And you think I have it?” Mia didn’t know how to react. Did he want her to be a hardened moll, smarting off while she cracked her gum?
You ain’t got nothin’ on me, Copper.
Or should she play the high-society grande dame?
Surely you’re joking, Officer! My lawyers will hear about this!
No. She’d play it like Laura. With honesty and dignity, so no one could doubt she told the truth.
He removed his suit jacket, tossed it on the desk, and watched her through narrowed eyes as he unbuttoned his shirt cuffs and rolled them up his arms. “You might not have it, sister. But I think you’ve got a pretty good idea what happened to it.”
“What’s gone missing? Money? Jewelry?”
Chess moved to the front of the desk, directly across from Mia. “Something a lot more important than that.” As he looked down, towering over her, he reached up to loosen his collar and untie his brown necktie with the diagonal red stripes.
“First I want to tell you a little story. So you understand why I care so much about this case.” His collar lay open now, his necktie in hand. “Because this woman, you see, is someone who’s always put other people first.”
When he approached her and slipped behind the chair, Mia twisted in her seat, panicked. “What are you doing?”
“Shhh.” Chess covered her eyes with the necktie, tying it around her head like a blindfold. He murmured in her ear. “Calm down. I just want you to listen and not be distracted by anything else. Just listen to my story.”
“Like I said, this woman has always taken care of other people. Her brother and sisters, her mother. And now that her family responsibilities have eased, she still takes care of others. Now it’s her profession.”
Mia’s heart stopped. He was talking about her. That
she
was missing something. But what did he mean? Had she failed to please him in some way?
Thanks to the “blindfold,” he’d submerged her in darkness. His velvety voice caressed her. “But she doesn’t realize that there’s a problem.”
“Problem…?” Her voice was a thread of sound.
“Yes.” She heard the rustle of his clothing, smelled his spicy aftershave as he came near. She even felt the heat of his body, though he didn’t touch her. “In her rush to take care of everyone else’s needs, she’s forgotten to take care of her own.”
Mia’s breath grew shallow as Chess placed his hand on her left knee. “What can you tell me about that, Miss Manetti?”
She licked her dry lips. “There’s not a lot to tell, Officer.”
“Try.” His other hand settled on her right knee, and she gasped when he thrust her legs apart. Cool air teased the tender lips of her pussy. She knew he had crouched in front of her and could see everything.
His voice was soft and coaxing. “What was it like after Grandma Carlino died, Mia?” He’d stopped pretending they were speaking about a third party.
“I told you how my mother worked extra shifts at the hospital. After Grandma died, it became my job to hold it together at home.”
Chess brushed his palm along her thigh. Though his touch shot sparkles up to her core, it comforted her as well. It was easier to talk about those difficult, painful times when she couldn’t see him.
“What’s that mean?”
“Well, I took care of meals most nights, tried to keep the house neat, tried to keep my brother and sisters from killing each other.” She shivered as she felt him slowly moving her skirt higher on her thighs. “All in a day’s work.”
“You were just a kid yourself.”
“There was no one else to do it.”
Mia kept her tone matter-of-fact, but in truth it hadn’t been easy.
“It must not have given you much time for extracurricular activities or friends,” he said.
“My friends understood. I managed.” She bit her lip hard when he skimmed his thumb along her inner thigh.
“You managed. But it couldn’t have been much fun. I’m sure your siblings appreciated everything you did.”
“I doubt it. I was so bossy to them. Always bugging them about their chores, doing their homework, and not watching so much TV. I’m pretty sure they hated my guts.”
His hand paused, warm on her thigh. “I’ll bet they didn’t.”
“Oh, I don’t know. We had some pretty loud screaming matches.”
“Didn’t your mother back you up?”
Mia hesitated. “My mom was… I don’t know what the right word is. I guess you could say…detached.” She’d feel disloyal saying this in any other situation, but it was safe this way. Her words would be swallowed up in the darkness. “She just wanted to come home from work to peace and quiet. Didn’t want to hear about any problems.”
“I see…” He once again inched her skirt up her thighs.
Mia spoke quickly. “It was hard for her. She had all us kids to worry about. I don’t think she ever got over my father leaving us. She was so unhappy.”
So unhappy
. That’s what they all were.
“Poor Mia. And you felt responsible for everyone, didn’t you? Your mother as well as your brother and sisters.” The skirt was now all the way to her hips. He held her thighs apart with his large hands, and she knew he was staring at her creamy pussy. Her nipples chafed against her bra; her clit was so swollen it tingled. She twisted her sweaty hands in the cuffs, the metal unyielding, but not hurting. She was helpless, completely in his power.
And she loved it.
He pulled her closer to the edge of the seat, and his cheek brushed the inside of her thigh. Mia tensed, her legs trembling, her fingers scrabbling uselessly for a hold on the wooden seat. Chess blew a stream of warm breath over her clit, and Mia came hard. Sparklers whirled behind the blindfold, and she clenched her teeth to hold back a cry as the spasms rocked her.
He dotted her thigh with soft kisses while she slowly came down, as limp as a rag. Chess helped her to stand and unlocked the handcuffs. He massaged her arms and shoulders, then gently rubbed her wrists.
“All right?”
“Yes.”
When he touched the makeshift blindfold, Mia’s hand flew up to cover it. “Please. Leave it.”
Chess let his hands fall to her hips as Mia smoothed the silky fabric of the tie, enjoying its feel.
His hips bumped against hers, the ridge of his cock prodding her. They were pelvis to pelvis, breasts to chest as he turned her and slowly backed her up to the desk. He boosted her onto it and said, “Lie back.”