Cardinal's Rule (5 page)

“My condo’s twenty minutes away.”

“I want to stop by there first, before we go eat.”

“Okay.”

She studied him. “No questions?”

He shrugged. She also liked that gesture from him. Easygoing. “I just figured you wanted to

make sure I didn’t have any bodies laying around.” She loved his playful smile.

He could make her laugh, too.
Bonus points.

* * * *

He still insisted on getting doors for her. More bonus points. He was a gentleman. On the way

to his condo they talked about music. She was surprised to find out he liked a wide variety of music 

from classical to heavy metal and they had many favorites in common. He loved to read, did a lot of it.

He collected Hallmark ornaments.

That last point surprised her. He nervously ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I know. My mom used to buy them, then when she got older, after my dad died, I started buying them for her because I didn’t want her spending the money on them. Then she died and I…”

He shrugged and glanced at her. “Is that weird?”

She burst out laughing again. “I’m sorry,” she said when she finally composed herself. “You

come to me for certain things,” she said, “and you’re asking me if collecting ornaments is weird?”

He smiled, then he laughed. He had a nice laugh. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I never thought about it like that.”

“I not only think it’s not weird, but I think it’s sweet.”

She watched while he drove, confident, one arm slung over the wheel, not too fast, no sudden stops, no pissing contest jumps from the line at a light.

Calm.

His condo lay in a gated golf course community. She knew it was his place because she’d seen his driver’s license when he first started seeing her, had written his address and info down for safety.

That was when she still felt super-paranoid. Since then, she’d relaxed a lot, weeded odd clients out before she ever took them on.

“I don’t golf,” he said, “but I liked the landscaping. I also didn’t want to deal with a yard or maintenance. I’m too busy normally.” He led her up to his door, unlocked it, and let her go first.

Inside, he tossed his keys on a table near the entry and flipped on the lights.

Nice.

Not a pig sty, which had been her first worry. Not anally-retentive neat, either. Lived in, clean, tidy. She never had to pay a cleaning company to come in because she had a string of clients who paid her for the privilege of doing it for her. If it wasn’t for that, her house would look about like his. Lived in, but not perfect.

He picked up a few books and his mail, which lay scattered on the coffee table. “Sorry. Wasn’t expecting company.” He offered her a slightly bashful smile.

The walls of his den were lined floor to ceiling with books. She found the kitchen clean, a

rinsed breakfast bowl and coffee mug in the sink. Counters tidy. His bedroom, also neat. Bed made, but 

not crisp, just the covers pulled up. At least he’d made the attempt.

She walked into the bathroom. Clean enough. Clothes in a hamper, towel folded and hanging

from a rod.

He leaned against the bedroom doorway. “Do I pass inspection?”

She nodded. “Actually, you do.”

“I was kidding.”

“I wasn’t.” She turned to him. “I’ll let you in on another secret very few people know. There’s a reason I haven’t let anyone into my life in the past few years. I was burned in a bad way by someone I trusted. I don’t trust easily anymore.”

“I get that.”

“Will that be a problem?”

He shook his head. “Not really. Considering I trust you not to take pictures of me during our sessions and post them on the internet later, I think we’ve already got a pretty solid foundation of trust there.”

The look on his face made her laugh again. “Okay. I promise no more über-bitch tonight. I’m

sorry.”

He stepped out of the way to let her pass as she walked back to the living room. “No, it’s okay,”

he said. “I get it.”

“You do?”

He picked up his keys and shut off the lights. “I’ve been to your place. You’ve never been here.

You wanted to make sure I wasn’t some grungy lying asshole. Or married. If I hadn’t let you come here, you would have wondered what the hell I was hiding.”

“Or who.”

“Yeah. I get it.”

She turned on him. “No,” she softly said, “I don’t think anyone can get it if they didn’t see me back then and know what I went through. Maybe…” She looked up at him. He had beautiful blue eyes.

Thank god they aren’t brown, like…
“Maybe one day, if we get to that point, I’ll let you go talk to Ross and Loren. They’ll tell you. Then you will definitely get it.”

* * * *

downtown Sarasota. He didn’t ask her where

she wanted to go, he simply picked a place. She would have been happy with something more modestly priced, but he got another A for effort.

They had a good dinner and a very long conversation about any and everything. Vanilla.

Totally vanilla.

They shut down the restaurant, and when he drove her home he walked her to her front door.

She looked up at him. “Let’s say this is the normal end of a first date. What would you do

next?”

He smiled and stepped in. She suspected—hoped—he’d kiss her. Instead, he reached for her

hand and gently clasped it in his. He lifted it and feathered his lips across her knuckles. It wasn’t anything at all like the other times he’d kissed her hand.

It felt sensual. Seductive. His eyes never left hers.

Part of her wanted to drag him inside and fuck his brains out. Maybe her body wasn’t as dead as she thought. It was the first time since her new life started that she’d felt like that.

“On a first date,” he said, “I’m always a gentleman.”

She didn’t miss the strong, dominant undercurrent in his voice, the sensual timbre normally not there when on his knees at her feet.

“What if it wasn’t our first date?” she gasped. “What if it was, like, our fifth or sixth date?”

“Do you want me to tell you or show you?”

She swallowed hard. “Show me.”

The corners of his mouth curled in a sexy smile. He stepped in, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. He didn’t maul her, he tenderly brushed his lips over hers until she
really
wanted to drag him inside and fuck his brains out.

Then he lifted his head. “I’m not going to push my luck and ask if you’d like to see what I’d do if we really got to know each other better.”

She laughed, letting her head rest on his chest.

A nice broad, strong chest.

He kept his arms around her, actually holding her and not just politely resting there. She took a minute to enjoy the feeling before stepping back and fishing around in her purse for her keys.

“Bob, thank you for tonight. I really appreciate it. I had a wonderful time.”

He took her keys from her, unlocked her door, and pushed it open before handing them back.

“Thank you for letting me take you out, Tilly. I hope you’ll let me do it again.”

For once she let her instincts dictate her next statement without the filter of her super-cautious heart getting in the way. “If you could say something to Tilly right now, not Mistress Cardinal, what would it be? A total freebie.”

He smiled and reached up, gently brushed a finger over her cheek and along her jaw. “I know

Mistress Cardinal runs a business and I respect that. But I would love to spend more time with Tilly, outside of work. I hope Tilly finds me worthy to trust me enough to let me in more often, because I think she is a beautiful woman with a spectacular heart. If Tilly ever tells me who the hell hurt her and destroyed her trust…” His face darkened. “I’d love a shot at punching the fucker. I would hope that Tilly and Mistress Cardinal both know me well enough to know that I am not a violent man.”

Her breath caught. His eyes had never left hers. She threw her arms around him again and

kissed him, hard, wanting more but sensing he wouldn’t let her rush tonight.

She let him come inside to get his collar. She started to put it on him, then hesitated. “I have a new client coming tomorrow for an initial evaluation at five. I’ll be free after six. If you’re not busy, would you come pick me up and then let me buy you dinner?”

“May I make a suggestion?”

She nodded.

“How about I bring stuff over to make you dinner?” He smiled. “Bob can cook dinner naked as

well as any boy can.”

She started laughing. “Wanting to mix business and pleasure?”

He laughed with her. “Okay, sorry. How about I cook for you and we have a nice dinner and

discussion, and then, your choice, Bob or boy can clean up the kitchen?”

“You won’t let me buy you dinner?”

He shrugged. “I’m old fashioned. Maybe once you get to know me better like that, then I’ll feel more comfortable. For now, I’d prefer to buy dinner. I can afford it.”

He was cute, a gentleman, and so far the weirdest thing about him was that he collected

Hallmark ornaments.

Well, besides the kinky shit, and that she could handle.

“What’s the dark secret in your closet?” she asked, all teasing gone. “Seriously. What is the worst skeleton in your closet that would blindside the hell out of everyone if people found out about it in the future?”

He took her hand again and kissed it. The passionate, sensual kiss of Bob, not boy. “Mistress Cardinal.”

* * * *

They agreed he would come over at six. Normally she would schedule a window of

decompression after an appointment, but if she had him coming over it would discourage Landry and his slave from hanging around.

Truth be told, she looked forward to Bob making her dinner.

She stripped and went to bed, her mind spinning and a smile on her face.

She wouldn’t—couldn’t—call it love. But she wouldn’t deny liking the feeling she got when

she closed her eyes and realized she could now clearly picture Bob’s face in her mind, especially his beautiful blue eyes.

Chapter Four

Naked except for his leather collar, the slave knelt on the hotel room floor all morning while his Master took care of business. He listened as Landry talked on the phone and coordinated with others while referring to his laptop. When housekeeping knocked, Landry invited them in. The maids

apparently fought for the right to clean their room now. Landry handed them each a twenty without bothering to pause his phone conversation.

The women grinned as they stared at slave kneeling on the floor.

He felt his face heat but he didn’t move, didn’t speak.

Master knew he despised humiliation, but slave wouldn’t fight back. He’d take it.

When Master went out the day before, he didn’t say where he was heading. When he returned

from his lunch appointment, he wore a smile but didn’t reveal any details. Since then, the slave had the distinct impression Master had a plan of some sort that he wasn’t privy to.

Landry stepped outside to continue his phone conversation while the maids vacuumed the room.

Slave remained in position, on the floor around the far side of the bed so he wasn’t visible through the open room door.

What seemed like hours later, they finally finished and left and Master returned. He sat at the table and called slave to him.

He stood and walked over to the table.

Landry pointed at the other chair, which surprised slave.

He sat.

In the month since his discovery of the information, Landry hadn’t shown slave the slightest bit of affection. Normally his sadism was tempered with equal or greater amounts of tenderness.

None of that since then. Not even a “good boy.” No kiss goodnight.

No sleeping in the same bed.

No “I love you.”

His Master had mercilessly used him for his own pleasure, blow jobs or fucking his ass, without 

allowing the slave any release. Even in public his Master treated him without any respect whatsoever, going so far as to refer to him as “slave” in front of others they didn’t work with.

This was the first time since the revelation, other than in professional situations where he had to maintain appearances, that Master had treated him remotely as an equal.

“You have an appointment today, slave,” he said. “Apparently in all these years, nothing I’ve done has made a dent in that thick damn skull of yours. Maybe seeing a different point of view will help you understand.”

His heart seized, already knowing where this was heading, horrified by the prospect.

“No, Master, please! No!”

Landry smiled, without mirth. “Oh, yes. You have two options. You go to this appointment, or you can pack what little things you have, leave me right this second and I’ll buy you a one-way ticket home, where you’d better not be when I return from this trip. Those are your only two options. No negotiations.”

The slave closed his eyes and swallowed hard, but didn’t reply.

“Since you’re not packing I take it that means you’re going to obey?”

“Yes, Master,” he softly replied.

“You brought this on yourself. On all of us. You’ve disgraced me by your actions. If you’d told me the truth at the start, we wouldn’t be here.” He stared at his slave. “Open your fucking eyes and look at me when I’m talking to you.”

The slave did. He hated the disgust on his Master’s face.

He leaned forward. “I
never
would have abandoned you, slave. I wasn’t perfect. I admitted my short-comings and owned up to them. But you left me the first time, not the other way around. I always made sure I took care of you as best I could. For you to abandon someone like that, especially someone emotionally fragile and dependent upon you…” He shook his head as he sat back. “You’re lucky I didn’t kick you out, naked, the second I found out. It’s inexcusable. It doesn’t matter how honorable your intentions.”

Master said nothing the slave hadn’t said to himself countless times over the years. But once he’d done it, it had been too late to take it back even though he knew as he flew from Florida to California that final time that he’d probably made the worst mistake of his life.