Kinky Bet (2 page)

“What? What do you mean punishment?”

Nicole smiled at her coyly. “Oh don’t worry, you’ll like it.”

“I guess I’ll just have to take your word for that.” Visions of being thrown across a gorgeous hunk’s lap and being bare-arsed spanked crossed her mind.
I’m beginning to regret that night I told Nicole about when my ex spanked me, and how much I liked it.
Erica brushed her hand across her forehead, wiping away the trickle of sweat that was heading towards her eyes. “So what happens if I do make it in time?”

“You get to take me to one of your family dinners.”

“What? You’d willingly put yourself in the path of my big brother? You told me you never wanted to see Jake again!”

“Now you know how serious I am. I know you have this bizarre idea that your brother and I would make a good couple, so even though I can’t stand him, I’ll gladly agree to have dinner with him. If it will help get you to let loose and enjoy yourself for a change. You know Jake would agree with me on that one.”

“Sure he would, although I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t like hearing that I’m throwing myself at complete strangers.”

“Oh I don’t know. This is a pretty safe environment. A public place. Loads of friends around. What’s not safe about that?”

When she put it like that it didn’t sound quite so scary. Maybe. “I guess so.”

“So what’s stopping you?”

“I’m just trying to get my head around it, Nic. Let me scope out the room and look for possible candidates.”

“Sure, fine. But don’t take too long. It’s nine forty now. Time’s a wasting.” Nicole slipped out of the booth and stood up. “I’ll leave you to do your shopping. I’m heading to the bathroom. I’ll get us some refills on my way back. Margarita again?”

Erica shook her head. “I think I’ve already had enough of those.” She laughed. “And since I could probably do with a clearer head I might just have a sparkling mineral water this time, thanks.”

“Are you sure? You seem quite partial to those cocktails. Don’t you pike on me!”

“Don’t worry. I promised I’d do it.”

“All righty then. I’ll be back soon.”

Erica leant forward in the booth and looked around at the crowd in the bar. Three men stood beside the jukebox, all sharing a joke together. After taking in their leather jackets and torn jeans, she shifted her line of vision to their faces. Um…no, the unshaved rough-edged look definitely wasn’t for her.

Next she spied a group of young suits ogling every girl who was unlucky enough to walk past them. No thanks. She definitely wasn’t into young boys. She began to despair that she wouldn’t find anyone suitable at all when the man who’d lifted his glass to her earlier walked past her booth to the other end of the bar. He sat down next to another man and slapped him on the back.

Crap, maybe he was gay. Just her luck. He was the most promising candidate so far. In fact the more she looked, the more she liked. He was tall and his broad shoulders filled out his suit just nicely. He must’ve spent a bit of time outdoors because his skin was nicely tanned, which highlighted his chocolate brown eyes—and he had that Colin Farrell eyebrow thing going for him. Erica closed her eyes for a minute, visualising the scene.

His eyes widened when she took hold of his collar, pulling herself closer to him, their lips so close she could taste the bitter tang of the Corona he was drinking. She sighed, inching nearer, her lips tingling in anticipation.

“Here’s your drink, sweetie.”

Crap. She opened her eyes, her skin burning up with embarrassment. God forbid anyone had seen her sighing and moaning with her eyes shut. “Thanks, hun,” she said, sipping her drink slowly, in an effort to calm down.
Focus, girl.
Make some normal conversation. Maybe she won’t tease you about being off in lala-land dreaming about a man you haven’t met yet. It had to be the margaritas.
My new favourite drink
. She smiled at her friend, although she should’ve been mad at her. Nicole was really pushing her limits tonight. She wondered why she was going along with it. Usually she’d have laughed it off and left early, but tonight she felt different. Sexy even. She looked at the man in question one more time and found him looking directly at her. When he saw her he smiled.

Oh. My. God.

She swore she could feel her panties dampen at the sight of his gorgeous face.

“Hey, he’s cute. You gonna do him?”

Huh?
She coughed, almost spilling her drink. “Do him? Hang on, the bet was just for a kiss. Nothing else.” She wiped up the wet spot under her glass with a napkin, willing her speeding heartbeat to slow down.

“Hey, that’s what I meant. What did you think I meant?” she said.

“Um. I guess I’m just getting carried away with nerves. I thought you were suggesting I had sex with him.”

Nicole cocked an eyebrow. “Well, that wouldn’t be such a hardship, would it? He’s bloody gorgeous.”

The scary thing was that it didn’t seem such a bad idea to her at that moment and that thought shocked her more than anything. Time to put on the brakes a little. “Hey, one step at a time. I have to build up the nerve to kiss him first.”

“Well, you’d better hurry up. You only have”—Nicole looked at her watch again—“twenty minutes left. The line at the bar was horrendous.”

Oh crap. Twenty minutes. She’d wasted all that time daydreaming and now if she didn’t get herself together she’d lose the bet. To be honest she didn’t really care about the bet, but she did want to break out of her conservative mould tonight and if it meant kissing a stranger then she was going to do it.

Maybe.

Okay, yes, she would. She’d just go freshen up one last time first. She eased her way out of the booth and stood up. “I’ll head to the ladies’ room one last time for some Dutch courage, then I’m right on it.”

Nicole placed a hand on her arm. “You’re not going to chicken out on me at the last minute, are you?”

Tempting. Tempting.
Don’t be such a baby.
“No, Nic. I’m not going to pike. Just one last pit stop to help me catch my breath.”

“You’d better hurry, girlfriend,” she said, tapping her watch. “Eight minutes to go!”

Darn. “Okay, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The blood pounding in her ears didn’t let up while she made her way to the ladies’ room. She quickly reapplied her lipstick and tidied her hair and took a deep breath to calm herself.
It’s now or never.
She walked back into the room and headed directly towards the bar looking for Mister Right Now. She looked from one end of the bar to the other.

Oh no, he’s gone!

She scanned the room in a full circle. Crap. Crap. Crap. She was too late. Nicole walked towards her, a huge smile on her face.

“Hurry up, girl. You have two minutes left!”

“He’s gone!”

“What do you mean he’s gone?”

“I mean the bastard I was supposed to kiss. He bloody well left the bar before I had a chance to have at him!”

Nicole burst out laughing.

“Oh thank you very much for your support.”

“Sorry, sweetie, but you should see your face. A few minutes ago you were looking like you were going to do a runner, but now the time is up you’re upset because your chance to be a bad girl has been taken away from you.”

Erica opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again. What was she upset about? She smiled, realising she was off the hook now, although the relief was kind of hollow. “I guess it is kind of funny.”

“Oh yeah, but not to worry. Now I get to choose your punishment.”

She shrugged. So what could be worse than kissing a stranger? “You’re just glad you don’t have to entertain my brother.”

“Well there is that.” She smiled. “But truly, I can’t wait to get started planning my winning side of the wager.”

“Should I be worried?”

Nicole just smiled at her.

Oh crap.

Chapter Two

How had she let herself get talked into this? It’s not like she couldn’t have got out of it. Nicole would have been disappointed if she hadn’t followed through, but she would have forgiven her. Eventually. So why was it that she was still there, sitting in a cab on her way to a remote retreat? Not just a retreat, apparently, she thought while re-reading the invitation in her hand. ‘
Dangerous Liaisons
is a retreat for singles or couples wanting to learn more about BDSM’.
Her invitation informed her that she was to spend the weekend training in submission. Holy hell! What had she been thinking when she’d agreed to this?

Her heart was pounding at the thought of what lay ahead of her. She’d broken down just that one time when she’d told Nicole about her relationship with her ex-boyfriend. He’d liked a little bit of bondage with their sex and, despite feeling that it was a bit too kinky to be normal, she’d liked it. A lot. They’d drifted apart, but he’d showed her a side of herself that scared her. Normal people didn’t get off on being under the complete control of another, did they? She had to admit that her strict Catholic upbringing probably played a big part in her complete rejection of the idea. That didn’t stop her from being there in the cab. It also didn’t account for how wet she’d been ever since she’d realised Nicole’s idea of a punishment involved bondage, and a lot of spanking. Nicole had told her she needed to explore her feelings to find out what she really wanted. She’d also explained that it was high time she stopped feeling guilty about something that was a part of who she was and just enjoy it.

Who would have thought her friend was a regular member of the local BDSM community? She’d never once hinted to her, but then again, Erica had hidden away in her own world for a while so Nic hadn’t had much of a chance to tell her. It was Nicole’s membership that had enabled her to get Erica a booking on such short notice. It certainly looked like the gods were conspiring to get her involved in BDSM in some way. She was terrified, but if she was honest, she was so aroused that it wouldn’t take more than a slide of a finger over her clit for her to climax hard. In fact if she’d crossed her legs and rubbed them together right then that might just have done it.

The taxi pulled into a long driveway and drove towards a large two-storey dwelling which put an end to that idea. The oak trees lining the driveway formed a leafy canopy over the road, making a tunnel effect. The house stood directly at the end of the road and resembled a Victorian mansion with lacework balconies on both the ground and first storeys.

The sun was setting over the hills behind the building, the brilliance of the light making it difficult to make out the details of the front entrance. As the car stopped Erica’s heart jumped. The door was opened by a tall man wearing a tuxedo, his face covered by a black satin hood. Erica hesitated, struck dumb at how the reality of her predicament had finally caught up with her.

“Miss Neilson?”

Maybe it was just her nervousness, but his voice compelled her to move. She jumped out of her seat and stood, not daring to take a look at her surroundings.

“Miss Neilson, this way.”

She scrambled to follow him along a pathway to the entrance. The man knocked twice on the intricately carved wood with the ornate brass knocker. It opened as he stepped back, ushering her inside. The hallway was narrow but a door appeared immediately on her right.

“Go inside the first room. There you will be given instructions for the beginning of your training.”

She turned, wanting to thank the man for his direction, but he’d already left. She knocked lightly, and the door opened under the pressure of her hand. The room was warm and inviting with a cast iron fireplace blazing with flames. She walked farther inside, spying a wide partners’ desk and several chairs. All class, taste and decorum. No kink to be seen.

From where she stood the area appeared unoccupied. Not sure of what was expected of her she made a beeline for the comfortable looking couch and sat down.

“Did I say you could sit down?”

Shit, where did he come from?
Erica struggled to stand back up, almost slipping to the floor as her dress slid on the buttery soft leather cushion.
Way to make an impression, girl
. “I’m sorry,” she said before she managed to scramble to her feet. “I didn’t realise there was anyone h—”
Oh my God it’s him.
The guy from the bar. The one who was so much like Colin Farrell he could be his twin brother. Her knees faltered as she tried to stand up straight. It was then that the penny dropped.
The bar had been a set-up
.

Nicole was a dead woman.

She struggled to get her voice to work, but since she didn’t want to come across as an idiot she’d better suck it up. “Er…here. I didn’t know there was anyone in the room.”

Good one. Now she well and truly sounded like an idiot.

The man’s expression didn’t change but she thought she detected a slight softening of his gorgeous lips. “I’ll let that one pass,” he said as he flashed her the same wicked grin she’d seen at the bar. “This time.”

Huh? What did that mean?

He stepped towards her, clasping her trembling hand in his with a firm grip. “Welcome to Dangerous Liaisons. I am Conal Brennan, the owner of this retreat and your host for this weekend.”

Oh. My. God.
That voice!
His sexy Irish brogue wrapped around her like a big woollen blanket. She gazed down at his hand, which he still had firmly wrapped around her palm. She felt a frisson of energy coil up her arm as a warming heat seeped into her chilled fingers. Wow. She couldn’t remember the last time a guy had caused such a reaction.

“Ms Neilson?”

Huh? Oops. Caught dreaming again.
“I’m sorry, I was miles away. What did you say?”

“You need to pay more attention.” His voice deepened when he was ticked off, and he certainly looked annoyed for some reason.

“I guess I should apologise again, Mr Brennan. I’m not usually this ill-mannered, but I find myself surprised that I recognise you.”

“Apology accepted. However, I have no idea what you mean. I would definitely remember meeting you before. You must be mistaken. Now we come to the formal part of this weekend. I have several papers for you to read through and a contract for you to sign.”