Knot Intended (5 page)

Within seconds, the rain soaked through Nolie’s clothes. She shivered, and Joseph yanked her against him again. “Cold, bitch?”

“The rain.” Her teeth chattered, and she wasn’t sure whether it was from the chill or fear. Or both.

“Fucking deal with it,” he snarled. “You’ll be in a nice warm car in a second. Too bad you don’t get to decide where we go.” He pushed her a couple more steps, then stopped. “Hmm. Maybe I should blindfold you so you won’t know where I take you. It wouldn’t be good for me if you could lead the cops right to me. Assuming I let you go when we’re done.”

“Cops?” Nolie squeaked. Again she reminded herself she was dealing with her husband, regardless of what he pretended. He was damn sure getting into his role.

So was she. Between the fear and adrenaline coursing through her and Joseph’s aggression, she barely had to act the part of a terrified woman.

But the same things making her fear for her safety also turned her on so completely she could hardly stand it.

“Don’t even fucking think about cops or trying to get help.” He whirled her around and shoved her against the deck railing. Pinning her with his body, he pulled a silk scarf out of his pocket. A scarf Nolie recognized as one of her own. The one she’d wanted to wear that morning, as a matter of fact. No wonder she hadn’t been able to find it.

“Stand still,” Joseph ordered.

As if Nolie would have been able to move with him holding her in place. Joseph was large and strong, and Nolie couldn’t have freed herself if she’d wanted to.

“You don’t have to blindfold me,” she said, her voice cracking. She hoped Joseph wouldn’t realize how frightened she was. He hated hurting or scaring her in any way.

Then again, as much as he seemed into the game, he might enjoy knowing the effect he had on her. After all, that was his intention if he was playing the role she’d given him.

“You think I’m going to let you see where I take you?” He smacked her ass again. “I’m not stupid, bitch, but apparently you are.”

Anger surged through Nolie, cooling her arousal. How dare he call her names? He had no right, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to tolerate it.

Then she stopped herself. Of course he’d called her names. He wasn’t playing a loving husband, and a bad guy wouldn’t hesitate to use language and terms that would upset someone.

“Nothing to say?” He leaned close to her ear. “You were pretty talkative a minute ago. Bet your husband hates that you never shut up, huh? Or maybe he likes dirty talk in bed.”

“Maybe.” She didn’t have a clue how to respond to that. Joseph sometimes cut her off in conversations, so maybe she did talk too much for him. And he had never mentioned anything about talking dirty during sex.

Apparently she didn’t know as much about her husband as she thought, because the tone in which he’d mentioned dirty talk certainly implied it was something he might be into.

“Of course you don’t.” He whirled her around and held her. The sunglasses obscured his eyes, and the mask hid most of his face. Even close up, she couldn’t see anything for certain that proved this was her husband, and he was behaving more like a stranger than the Joseph she loved. But she had no doubts about who he was, no matter how he acted.

He hesitated, and Nolie suspected he was worried he’d gone too far. She searched her brain for a way to reassure him without pulling them both out of the game.

“I know a lot,” she said. “I’m not stupid. I know my husband loves me, for one thing.”

He nodded. “Yeah, well, you just go on thinking that if it makes you feel better. I need to get you the fuck out of here before someone sees. You are not getting away from me.”

In an abrupt move, he covered her eyes with the scarf and tied it behind her head. It obscured most of her vision. She could see only the deck directly in front of her feet and Joseph’s feet nearly touching hers.

“Can you see anything?” he barked.

Nolie shook her head. “No.”

“You’d better be telling the truth.” He gripped her arm and tugged her away from the railing. “Come on.”

Nolie trembled, and she froze again. She hated not being able to see. Although she trusted Joseph not to let her fall, she wasn’t entirely sure she was dealing with the usual Joseph. “I can’t see where I’m going. What if I trip over something?”

“Don’t.” He yanked her arm. “Get moving.”

She slid one foot forward, and he pulled her so she had no choice but to continue walking. As he guided her down the steps from the deck, Nolie relaxed. He was leading her. And with her gaze focused toward the bottom of the scarf, she realized she could see just far enough ahead to spot obstacles before she tripped.

She almost believed Joseph had tied the scarf that way on purpose.

Chapter Four

Joseph nudged and tugged her down the short path between the deck and the gap in the fence. He pushed her ahead of him through the gap to the driveway, then dragged her to the passenger side of a blue car.

Her
car. He was kidnapping her in her own car.

He opened the door and shoved her inside. “I’m going to have to buckle you up, bitch, since you can’t do it yourself. I wouldn’t want you to die before I have a piece of your ass.”

“You could untie my hands,” Nolie said.

“Not a chance.” Roughly, he pulled the seatbelt across her, leaning heavily on her, and she heard the buckle snap into place.

“There," he said. "Now shut up.”

He slammed her door. A few seconds later, cool air brushed against her when he opened the driver’s-side door. He shut that door as forcefully as he had Nolie’s and started the car.

She tried to calm herself as he backed down the driveway. Knowing for certain that Joseph was the man in the mask only helped a little. He was being rough and aggressive, exactly as she’d fantasized, and she had no idea what he might do next.

Although she was excited as hell, part of her wanted to call a halt to the game. She hated being so off guard and not knowing what might happen.

No. I’m not stopping. I wanted this. Joseph’s trying to make things better between us.
She had nothing to fear. Joseph would stop whenever she spoke the phrase he’d told her, assuming he remembered it when he heard it. But even if he didn’t remember that phrase, she believed she could persuade him to stop if the game became too much.

The car’s tires squealed as Joseph pulled away from the house. Surely that would attract a neighbor’s attention. Nolie had to hope that if anyone looked out a window, the heavy rain would obscure their view of anything other than her car. As long as they didn’t notice Joseph with his face obscured or Nolie blindfolded, any neighbor would see nothing unusual about her car leaving the house at this time of evening, despite the noise.

Nolie settled back as best she could and closed her eyes, which made little difference. Without sight, she didn’t have enough sense of direction to form any concept of where Joseph was going. Not that she needed to know. She trusted him, despite the circumstances.

Eventually, the car stopped. Without a word, Joseph got out and again slammed the door hard enough to rock the vehicle. Over the sound of rain against the roof of the car and distant rumbles of thunder, Nolie could hear nothing else. She waited for Joseph to come to her door, but several minutes passed without the door opening.

Where did he go?
He couldn’t just leave her there. People might see her blindfolded and bound in her car. They might not realize it was a game. Joseph wouldn’t risk someone calling the police. He had to take her out of the car soon.

She shivered. Before, the game had been exciting. Arousing. But now she felt completely vulnerable. She couldn’t exit the car on her own because her hands were secured. She couldn’t remove the blindfold to figure out where they were. Alone in the car, she would be unable to defend herself if Joseph walked away and someone else came along. Tied and blindfolded, she would be a perfect target for a predator.

For all she knew, people might already be watching her. Given how much trouble Joseph seemed to have gone to, he might have brought others into the game. He might be planning almost anything, including having an audience.

The possibility caused a wave of desire that helped to quell Nolie’s fear. Before she and Joseph had married, she’d loved going out with him to bars and clubs wearing the most revealing outfits she owned. Having others looking at her, knowing some of them wanted her but only Joseph could have her, had been a turn-on for both of them.

Of course, she’d been able to see people watching her back then. Now she could only assume and wonder.

And somehow, that made it even more exciting.

Finally her door opened. “Get out,” Joseph growled, tugging on her arm.

“I can’t unbuckle the belt any more than I could buckle it,” Nolie snapped.

She regretted her tone immediately when Joseph tapped her face with an open hand. It wasn’t a true blow. More of a warning. A light touch that didn’t hurt but cautioned her against standing up to him again.

“I told you to keep your mouth shut, didn’t I?” Joseph reached across her and released the belt. Still leaning over her, he said, “Listen carefully, bitch, and try to comprehend what I’m saying. You’re going to walk with me. You will not speak. You will not try to get away. Do exactly what I tell you. Got it?”

“Yes.” Nolie’s voice cracked again and she cleared her throat. “If I do what you say, you won’t hurt me?”

“I’ll have to think about that.” He grabbed her and yanked. “Get out of the fucking car and keep your mouth shut.”

Carefully Nolie got out of the vehicle. Unable to use her arms to help gain her balance, she stumbled and almost fell. Joseph steadied her, though he tightened his grip as he did so.

He guided her into a cement-colored building, as far as she could tell glancing out from under the blindfold. She had no clue what the building might be. The door was glass, and Joseph pulled it toward them to open it. They went through the door onto a faded red-and-tan patterned carpet. The colors and design were ugly but gave Nolie a sense of place. The only public buildings where she’d seen carpeting like this were hotels. And a hotel would be a logical place for Joseph to bring her to play out the rest of their game.

They walked up a narrow corridor, then stopped in front of a door. Joseph pulled Nolie in front of him, and she heard the slide and click of a key card. He opened the door, and light flooded the carpet.

He shoved her inside so roughly she stumbled against the wall, banging her hip and elbow. “Ouch!”

The door slammed behind her. “Are you— I told you to keep your fucking mouth shut.”

Nolie braced herself against the wall and nodded, fighting to keep a smile off her face. He’d almost fallen out of character to ask if she was okay. She should have expected he wouldn’t be able to completely hide his reaction if he suspected she was hurt.

Although his slip amused her, she was torn between being glad he’d kept the game going and disappointed he hadn’t been concerned enough to finish his question. But asking if she was all right would have broken the mood, and she didn’t want him to do that yet.

She steadied herself and stood up straighter. “Sorry. I hit my funny bone, and it really hurt. I’ll try to be quiet.”

“You’d fucking well better.” He slid his arms around her neck. “Should I take off your blindfold?”

“Yes.” She hesitated. “Please. I want to see.”

“Too fucking bad.” He pushed her back against the wall with a gentleness that belied his tone. “I want to get rid of this damn mask and glasses, and I’ll be damned if I let you see my face. You’d just go running to the goddamn cops so they can draw one of their pretty pictures and let everyone know who to look for.”

“I promise I won’t tell anyone anything.” She needed the blindfold off. Now that they’d arrived at their destination, she couldn’t take another minute of being unable to see. Joseph was definitely pushing her boundaries, but unless she wanted to call a halt to the role-play, she would have to go along with whatever he chose to do.

That didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to persuade him to let her remove the blindfold. Her pulse sped up again. He could do anything he wanted to her, and she couldn’t stop him. His taking control of her was part of the deal, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to handle not having at least some hint of what was coming. Being able to see him would help.

“Please,” she whimpered. “I want to see what you look like.”

He paused, and for a moment Nolie thought he would acquiesce. Then he moved back. “Not a chance. Maybe after I decide what to do with you. Now get over here.”

She took a tentative step. Roughly, he grabbed her again and pulled her across the floor. In front of her, Nolie spotted the hem of a slightly dingy white comforter.

Nolie thought Joseph would knock her onto the mattress, but instead he unfastened the handcuffs and dropped them on the floor. “Don’t get any ideas,” he said. “I’m not letting you go. But you can’t do what I want without your hands.”

Nolie massaged each of her wrists. The cuffs had been tight enough for discomfort, and her arms ached slightly from being held behind her for so long.

With her hands free, she would be able to remove the blindfold. She reached up, and immediately Joseph yanked her arms behind her back again. “I told you to leave the fucking thing on, bitch. Do you really want to find out what happens if you disobey?”

Nolie shuddered, and her body tingled. She didn’t know why it was so important to him that she keep the blindfold on, but the possibilities were exciting as hell. Joseph was matching her fantasy almost exactly, though she hadn’t given him all the details.

Hopefully whatever he had in mind involved fucking her. She needed an outlet for the fear and desire he was bringing up in her. Besides, being fucked hard was part of the fantasy she’d told him about. Given how into the game he appeared, surely he wouldn’t forget that detail. And for all she knew, he was as turned on as she.

The thought of him controlling her in bed, demanding what he wanted without giving her anything in return except the thrill of being taken, heated her to the boiling point.