Crime & Punishment 2: Master Delacroix (3 page)

Nathan’s lips twisted before he answered. “My goal is not to hurt women. My goal is to give them pleasure. For some women, that comes in the form of pain.”

Connelly thought back to all the times she’d wanted a little bite of pain with sex. If her husband had actually gone through with it, would it have really felt as good as she believed it might?

“How do you…know how far to go?”

“It’s up to the woman.”

“You say woman, but shouldn’t it be submissive?”

He took another sip of his coffee. “Not all masochists are submissives.”

Connelly frowned. “So this isn’t all lumped in together? Submissive, masochist, Dom, sadist?”

He smiled slightly. “No.” He set his cup down and tried to explain. “I am probably more dominant than sadist. I want to be the one in control. I don’t necessarily have the desire to hurt, but I do enjoy bringing women pleasure through pain, if that’s what they want.”

She had a sudden image in her head of him spanking her. Shaking it loose mentally, she continued. “My bad guy in the story I’m working on is a sadist. He lacks that internal ability to stop. Does that sound about right?”

Nathan nodded.

“Aren’t you worried that over time, what you do won’t be enough to satisfy you and you have to hurt them more to get the same rush?”

“No, because I don’t get my satisfaction from their pain. I get my satisfaction from getting them off.”

Connelly’s insides suddenly went warm. How long had it been since she’d gotten off? Forever. She needed to keep her head on task and stop fantasizing about having sex with the man. Just looking at him made her wet. How did any woman ever tell him no?

She doubted she could.

“Have you ever been to a BDSM club, Connelly?” he asked.

The sound of her name coming from his mouth made her want to melt. “No. I’m afraid I haven’t. Mostly I’m just gathering information from the Internet. Would you be willing to take a look at some of the stuff I’ve written from the villain’s point of view? Maybe offer some suggestions?”

“I would love to,” he replied. “On one condition.”

She tensed slightly. “Okay. What’s the condition?”

“That you visit the club as my guest. I would like for you to see how BDSM works firsthand.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. The invitation excited her and at the same time scared the hell out of her. “I don’t know about sex with perfect strangers,” she said slowly, unsure if she wanted to do this or not.

“You will be my guest and under my protection. No one will touch you unless you want them to.”

What if I want you to?

It would definitely add a spark of realness to her story that no amount of online research could ever get her. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, and maybe she could find out if this spark of interest in pain during sex was something she was really interested in or just a fluke.

“Oh, what the hell?” she murmured.

Nathan laughed. His smile made her stomach flutter with butterflies. God, why did he have to be so damn gorgeous?

Chapter Three

Nathan awoke from a sound sleep with the smell of sulfur and blood lingering in the air. He sniffed and stared at the darkened ceiling. It wasn’t real. It was another damn impression. Why was he getting these? What were they trying to tell him?

Sighing, he sat up and glanced at the clock. The red numbers blinked four in the morning. He lay back down and tried to close his eyes, but all he could do was replay the image of the gun and the flash of light. With a growl of agitation, he threw the covers off and swung his feet to the floor. There was no sense trying to get back to sleep.

He thought about sending his old FBI partner, Josh Barnes, a text but decided against it. Four a.m. was too early, even if he was a close friend. He could wait to talk to Josh. Maybe the FBI was working on something and the images had to do with that.

He wondered if Josh might be in trouble, then decided no. It was something else, but he couldn’t figure out what. He rubbed his hand down his face tiredly. This was going to drive him nuts.

In order to take his mind off it, he turned his thoughts to his visitor this afternoon, Connelly James. The more he talked to her, the more he liked her. His brother would call her average. Nathan found her to be quite interesting and adorable.

He’d invited her to the club after picking up on her interest in pain. She was curious, and not just because of the book. She wanted to know for herself. He wasn’t averse to playing with her either if she decided that was what she wanted to do. He could easily see himself pleasuring the cute redhead and himself in the process.

He knew from her emotions that she’d thought about it. He could sense her arousal, her curiosity, but also her trepidation.

His thoughts turned to another redhead, and sadness filled his chest. He still often blamed himself for her death. They’d have been married now about three years if she hadn’t been murdered. Might’ve even had a child. Unfortunately, all that had changed, and their life together had been cut short. All because of a sick man Nathan still had a connection with.

He blinked, then reached for his phone. That nagging he’d felt earlier… He might know what it is.

Josh answered after the fourth ring. “What the hell, Nathan? It’s four in the damn morning.”

“Yeah, I know. Connelly James. Does the name ring a bell?”

“Uh… Hell, I don’t know. It’s four in the damn morning!”

“Get past it already,” Nathan snapped. “Connelly James.”

Josh sighed. “Let me get some coffee and get to the office. I’ll look into it. Does this have to do with an impression or something?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“If this is just some curiosity, I’m going to kick your ass.”

Nathan snorted. “You would have to get here from Washington first, dickhead.”

“Hey. Atlanta is a very short plane ride, my friend.”

“Call me when you find out something,” Nathan replied, ignoring his semithreat.

“Yeah, yeah,” Josh said tiredly, then hung up.

Nathan set his phone back on the nightstand and headed for the shower.

* * * *

Connelly stared at the clothes in her closet and chewed on her thumbnail. Had she made a mistake? Could she really go to the club and do this?

“Peter!” she yelled. She knew he’d arrived already. She’d heard his car pull up and the front door close.

A few minutes later, her assistant stuck his head in the door. “Good Lord, woman. I heard you all the way downstairs.”

“Well, that was the plan,” she replied.

He walked over and plopped down on her bed. “How did your interview go yesterday?”

“It was very informative.”

“That’s it? Just informative?”

She shrugged and continued to rummage through her closet.

“What does he look like? Is he how you imagined him? Kind of vampirish?”

Connelly snickered. “If you call tall, dark, and gorgeous vampirish, then yeah.”

“And?” he pried.

“And…” She turned to smile at him over her shoulder. “He invited me to try out the club as his guest. Really see what BDSM is like up close and personal.”

“Why do I sense a problem?” he asked, his eyes dancing with amusement.

“You know me well, don’t you?” she murmured, then bit on a troublesome hangnail. “The problem is,” she said as she walked over and laid an outfit across the foot of the bed, “he’s gorgeous and intimidates the hell out of me.”

“So again, what’s the problem?” he asked.

She scowled. “You’re not funny.” She sighed and stared at the dress. “I don’t know what to wear. I don’t even know if I want to do this. It’s a sex club, Peter.”

“Yeah, so?”

“What if he wants me to have sex with him?”

“Would you have sex with him?”

She rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding? In a flat minute. It’s just the thought of doing it in front of people. I’m pretty much up for anything when it comes to sex but can’t say as I’ve ever wanted to do that.”

Peter chuckled. “Personally, I think the club would be the best place to try it out. At least in a crowd, you would have assistance if you needed it.” She gave a nod of agreement. “As for the clothes, I can help. As for
that
,” he said as he pointed toward the black dress, “no.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

He grinned. “Something with a fuller shirt to make it easier for him to get his hands up it.”

Connelly giggled and shook her head. “He did say one of the rules was no underwear.”

Her nipples beaded beneath her robe as she imagined him walking up behind her and sliding his hand under her skirt and between her legs. It had been so long since she’d had sex. Sex was all she was interested in. She didn’t want another relationship. Despite missing her husband, she enjoyed the freedom she now had.

“I say go for it,” Peter sang as a wicked grin flashed across his face. “Get dressed, and let’s go shopping. I’ll find you something that will knock the man’s socks off.”

Casual sex was the way to go for her. She could do this. Go to the club, get the lay of the land, have sex, and then move on. She could call it research. She needed to know what it felt like, right? What better way to find out?

* * * *

Nathan sat at his desk reading through the section that Connelly had sent him. It was actually well written. She seemed to have a good grasp of her villain. But then, based on her past stuff, she usually did. He made a few tweaks and offered a couple more suggestions to help better flesh out the villain’s backstory before returning it to her.

He still didn’t know if she was coming tonight. He hoped she would, but he wouldn’t ask her again. She either would or she wouldn’t. It had to be her choice.

His cell phone rang just as he clicked Send on the e-mail. He glanced at the screen and saw Josh’s name. He slid his thumb across it, opening the call.

“What did you find out?” he asked.

“No hello? How are you? Go to hell?”

Nathan grinned. “Go to hell. Now. What did you find out?”

Josh chuckled.

“Connelly James is the wife of Marvin James, one of Andre Lenox’s first victims.”

Nathan tensed at the mention of Lenox’s name. Andre Lenox was the serial killer Nathan had empathically connected with when he’d worked with the FBI. Nathan had felt everything the killer did. It had freaked him out so much he’d put up a mental block, breaking the empathic bond, and in doing so, missed the fact that the killer was after his fiancée.

He’d blamed himself for her death and left the FBI shortly after the killer was finally caught. Unfortunately not before Nathan had had to reestablish the bond, then suffer through the physical pain of the man being shot.

“Her husband was killed. She was beaten and left for dead. Her and her husband just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was before you came on to the case, but you probably saw her name in the file, which is why it seemed familiar.”

“She wasn’t at the trial,” he said.

“No. She never saw her attacker, so couldn’t identify him. Plus the prosecution didn’t need her. We caught him red-handed and found all his trophies at his house. He didn’t have a trophy from Marvin because the poor fellow and his wife were just victims of circumstance. She’d been through enough, so I got the prosecution to leave her out. Why are you asking about her?”

Nathan leaned back in his desk chair. “She came by my office today. She wanted to interview me.”

“Interview you? For what? Subs doing interviews for Doms now?”

Nathan chuckled. “No. She’s James Connelly, the author, and she’s doing a story that takes place in the BDSM community.”

“Excuse me? Did I hear you correctly? James Connelly is a woman?”

“So it would seem.”

“So what’s she like?”

“Interesting,” Nathan replied. “I invited her to check out the club, see how BDSM works firsthand.”

“Is she coming?”

“Don’t know.”

“Okay, there’s got to be more to this. You wouldn’t call me at four in the morning to find out something you could’ve looked at Google to get.”

Nathan let out a long breath. “I’m having strange visions. What are you guys investigating right now?”

“A couple of fraud cases. Why? What are you seeing?”

“Not sure yet, but it’s the same image over and over, and it always ends with a massive headache.”

“What is it specifically?”

“A gun and a flash of light.”

There was a moment of silence. “Someone getting shot.”

“Yeah, in the head would be my guess; hence the headache,” Nathan replied sarcastically. “But the question is, who, and are the flash and the gun related or separate occurrences?”

“When did they start?”

“The same day I met Connelly.”

Josh snorted. “No wonder you called me so early. Do you think she’s a part of it?”

Nathan glanced toward the ceiling and groaned. He hadn’t even thought of that. “Not till you mentioned it.”

“You’re slipping, Nathan.”

Nathan would have to agree. He squeezed his temples to ease the ache that still nagged behind his eyes. “No, I think I’m just distracted. My brother’s in town.”

“Have a drink. Relax. Whatever this is will come to you. In the meantime, you know where I am. And please don’t kill your brother. I really don’t want to have to clean up after you.”

“I probably shouldn’t drink, then,” Nathan drawled.

Josh chuckled. “Touché. When you figure it out, call me. Or call me if you don’t.”

“Will do.”

Nathan hung up the phone and set it on his desk. The club would be opening in one hour. He should probably get ready. Dee gave a quick knock before opening his door and stepping inside. “I’m headed home, sweetheart. Do you need anything before I go?”

“No, Dee. I’m fine. Thank you.”

He heard his brother call out to them from the hall, and gritted his teeth. “On second thought…” he murmured. “I think I need a drink.”

Dee giggled. “Be nice, Nathan. I think he’s really trying to make amends and understand.”

“I think he has an ulterior motive, but only time will tell which of us is right.”