Licorice Whips (29 page)

“I’m just asking that if any of our employees ask for help that you do what you can for them?”

“And if I can’t, what? Am I going to get reprimanded again?” Nikla crossed her arms over her chest. She didn’t mind squaring off against this giant. “You’re dating her, aren’t you?”

Big Tom took a step back. “Just be a team player, Nik.”

“It’s Nikla.” She snatched her bag from the floor. “I can’t believe this. You enjoy your relationship with her.”

“We’re not dat—”

“I mean professional,” Nikla said in a smarmy tone. “See you tomorrow for my
normal
shift.”

Nikla stormed out of the recreation center and headed to her car. She wouldn’t be any good for Sweet tonight, but she promised him something special. She needed something to relax her.

****

After the second pounding on his apartment door, Sweet answered it. He found Nikla on the other side looking fit to be tied. He couldn’t focus on her outfit when he spotted the scowl ruining her beautiful face. She had her brown hair pulled up to a high ponytail. Even without a stitch makeup, her cheeks looked rosy.

“Are you okay?” He watched her for her reaction.

“Yeah. No.” Nikla breathed out in exasperation. “Are you ready?”

“No.” Sweet took a step aside. “Come in here.” When Nikla opened her mouth, Sweet cut her off. “Now!”

Nikla strolled into his apartment but stood by the door. That didn’t prevent Sweet from shutting it.

“What happened? Who pissed you off?” Sweet thought about his earlier conversation with his brother. “Did Bobbi call you?”

Nikla glared at him. “No.” She rubbed the heel of her hand over her eyes. “I’m sorry. I tried so hard not to carry this attitude here. I promised you something special and I’m messing it up.”

Sweet put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at him. Once she brought her gaze up to his face, she took a deep breath.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Work.” She shook her head. “I have a co-worker who is the aerobics instructor. Whenever she gets a wild hair, she blows off her classes and asks me to fill in for her. I always tell her yes. The one time I told her no, she ran to our manager and complained. The manager actually got on me and said I needed to be more of a team player.”

Sweet saw her eyes getting red, but it didn’t get that way from sadness. Anger dripped from every word she said. He rubbed her shoulders to calm her.

“He’s probably seeing her,” he offered.

Nikla chuckled. “I accused him of the same thing.” She ran her hand over her head. “I give and give all the time. I can’t believe someone would give me crap about not filling one shift.”

Sweet put his knuckle under her chin and raised her face. “You did nothing wrong. Your manager had no right to confront you about not filling one shift. If anything he should have talked to your coworker about missing so much of her job. Sounds like she’s not earning her pay.”

Nikla nodded and relaxed her arms.

“You want me to talk to your manager?” Not that Sweet would know what to say, but he hated seeing Nikla this upset.

Nikla blinked. “What in the world would you even say to him? ‘Hi, I’m Nikla’s Dom. Be nice to her or I’ll beat you up’?” She laughed.

“Yes.”

Her laughter died down when she noticed his face didn’t break. “No. I’ll take care of it.” She headed to his door. “Another great reason to work for myself.” When she turned to Sweet, she squeezed her eyes shut. “Sorry. I know that’s one of the rules. No talk about the suites until after the decision has been made.”

Nikla’s innocence appealed to him. He even found it cute that she held onto this problem until she saw him.

“Are you ready now? We could always stay here.” The thought of keeping her in his apartment appealed to him.

He could string her up and work her body over so that she would forget everything that happened at work.

“No. I’m a woman of my word.” She scanned his outfit.

Sweet hoped his sweatpants and t-shirt fit for whatever Nikla had planned. “I’ll drive.”

“You don’t know where we’re going.”

“You’ll give me directions.”

She nodded. “Always in control, huh?”

“You’re finally getting it.” Sweet closed and locked his door behind him. Before Nikla could take one step down, he put his hand on her shoulder. “You consider me as your Dom?”

Under his single outside light, he saw her cheeks transform to a rust color.

“It was the anger talking.” Nikla walked downstairs.

After retrieving her workout bag from her car, Sweet helped her into his truck. Once they hit the road, Nikla gave him directions to an area of Virginia Beach he hadn’t been to before. At the end of their trip, he found that she’d directed him to go to a rock climbing gym.

Sweet smiled.

“You’re okay about this?” Nikla stayed seated as Sweet parked and turned off his truck.

“This is great. I was kind of doubting you and the whole rock climbing thing.”

Nikla’s mouth hung open. “I wouldn’t lie about that.”

Sweet got out of his side first before he opened her door and helped her out.

“I hope you enjoy it. When I have a stressful day and yoga can’t calm my nerves, I do this.”

Sweet put his hand at the small of her back. Before they walked into the gym, he leaned over and whispered, “I can’t wait to see you in the harness.”

Nikla giggled as she walked inside.

The bright gym showed off bodies climbing walls with various colored rock-like pegs covering the fake walls. Grunts echoed throughout the gym with sounds of rope sliding through metal rings. Make the place darker with naked bodies and it would have been like The Dollhouse.

“I’ll rent you your gear.” Nikla started to head to the counter.

Sweet grabbed her wrist. “No. I’ll pay for it.”

Nikla strolled toward him with a smile. “I invited you to this, um—”

“Date?” he quickly supplied.

She didn’t acknowledge his word. “I’ll get your stuff. Besides, these people owe me.” Nikla moved in closer to him. She raised herself up on her tiptoes and whispered, “Let me serve you.”

Nikla’s words, her tone, and the proximity of her body caused Sweet’s to ignite. He felt his cock throbbing even after she pushed away from him.

She peered down at his feet. “Size eleven?”

Sweet smiled. “Thirteen triple E.”

Nikla blushed. “Of course. Wait right there, please. Be right back.” She headed off to the counter and left Sweet to scan his surroundings.

Sweet wondered what would make a woman tackle obstacles like Nikla had done. Had growing up with a military father made her want to push herself to do more? Whatever the reason, Sweet couldn’t deny that he found the trait attractive.

Sexy or not, he still questioned her intentions. Had she come over and pretended to be so upset about what had happened at her job so that he could soften his stance about the suite? She’d dropped the hint about wanting to be her own boss. Was that casual or on purpose?

Damn. He hated that he couldn’t trust anyone, couldn’t trust Nikla.

She trotted back to him with an armful of equipment. “Ready?”

Sweet forced a smile and accepted the gear. “Sure.”

After a class on how to protect himself and the proper climbing procedure by a man who looked like he’d been climbing mountains since Jesus’s birth, Sweet got outfitted in a harness. Sweet sat down to change shoes.

“Let me get those.” Nikla bowed at his feet.

She undid his sneakers and removed them as she stared into his eyes. Sweet liked her need to serve. The fact that she did this in public didn’t go unappreciated. His heart pounded as she removed his shoes and put on his climbing shoes.

After she outfitted him with his shoes, Sweet stood. He saw Nikla had been put into her harness as well.

Sweet grabbed her belt and pulled her forward. “Is it tight enough?”

Nikla’s body trembled. “Maybe it could be secured tighter.” She patted her thighs. “Around my legs.”

Sweet lowered himself and pulled the straps snugly against her thighs. Being so close to her pussy, he wanted so much to drag his finger in between her legs. He loved hearing her gasp.

With helmets in place, the instructor laced ropes through their harnesses and talked Sweet through his first climb. Sweet watched Nikla scale the wall on her own with an employee at the ground holding her safety line. Once she got to the top, she sat on the wall and peered down at him.

“You’re still on the ground? What? Are you scared?” Nikla laughed.

Sweet smiled at the beauty and started his own climb. He felt each of his muscles straining and trembling as he hooked his fingers and toes into each climbing holds mimicking actual rocks.

Never one to quit, Sweet had to admit that this climb kicked his ass. Each time he stopped to rest, he looked up and saw the goal: Nikla. Just seeing her brown eyes it gave him the extra boost of energy he needed to continue.

At the top of the wall, Sweet pulled himself up and sat next to Nikla. She applauded his efforts.

“I can’t believe you did it.” She put her hand on his leg.

“You thought I was going to quit?” Sweet tried to catch his breath.

“I have to admit. I bring guys here about the third or fourth date in to see if they’ll crack. If they can’t do this, they probably won’t be able to take me. Probably the same thing you do with your women and The Dollhouse.”

Sweet shook his head. “I’ve never taken a vanilla date to The Dollhouse before. You’re a first.”

Nikla smoothed her hand down his leg. “After what I’ve done, would you still consider me vanilla?”

Sweet studied her for a moment before answering. “I don’t know what to consider you.”

Nikla looked down. “Ready to come down now.”

The instructor on the ground gave her a thumbs-up signal and held onto her ropes.

She glanced at Sweet. Before making her move, she kissed one cheek then the other before landing her lips on his mouth. “Meet you on the ground.”

He watched her rappelling down the wall like an expert. When she got to the ground, he had expected her to lower herself to her knees. She didn’t. Instead she did a cutesy bow for him.

“On my way.” Sweet started his descent to meet the woman on the ground who had driven him crazy. By the time he got his feet on the ground, he wasted no time in scooping Nikla into his arms. “Ready to go.”

“Don’t you want to climb another wall?” Nikla wrapped one arm around his shoulders.

“I wasn’t asking a question.”

“Okay. Let’s go. But I don’t want to go back to your place or mine.” Nikla wriggled out of Sweet’s arms. “Let’s go to the club.”

Definitely music to his ears.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Nikla wanted to peel off her clothes in the truck as Sweet drove them to The Dollhouse. If she didn’t think they would get pulled over for Sweet’s speeding, she would have.

Just like last time, Sweet pulled into the back parking lot. After helping Nikla out of the truck, he damn near pulled her to the door. Once inside, Sweet didn’t take her to an empty room.

“Where are we going?” Nikla asked.

Sweet turned to her. “Don’t speak unless I instruct you to do so.”

The game was on. Nikla clamped her mouth shut as she passed vacant rooms. Sweet brought her to a doorway and opened it.

“Go in.” Sweet nodded toward the room.

With tentative steps, Nikla walked into the darkened room. The illuminated stage caught her attention first. The place looked like an old surgery observation room. A circular stage sat in the center with tiered auditorium seats surrounding it. A few people occupied the chairs.

The people who sat had to be the dominant ones. The people they had next to them either stood or remained kneeling on the floor. One man curled his body into a fetal position as he sobbed. In between his cries, Nikla heard him whispering, “Thank you. Thank you, Mistress.” Sweat covered his body.

Nikla didn’t know if the woman had played with him somewhere else and brought him here, or if she played with him there by her seat or maybe down at the stage.

Nikla stared at the stage and stopped moving. No. Sweet wouldn’t do that to her. He wouldn’t put her on display. She’d so wanted to drop to her knees for Sweet at the gym, but that would have been too much.

Sweet held her hand as he walked down the steps. When Nikla refused to move another step, he stopped and brought his attention to her.

“Come with me.” He tugged on her hand.

“Permission to speak.” Nikla didn’t want to upset him in front of his peers.

He took a step back up toward her but remained one step below so that he could be eye to eye with her. “What’s wrong?”

“What are you planning?” She shifted uncomfortably in her spot.

“Do you trust me?”

Nikla leaned her head back and took in a deep breath. “Oh, God.”

Sweet tugged on her hand. “Trust me.”

She nodded only because her throat had closed. Sweet led her down to the stage. He had the stage slaves cover the floor with plastic before he brought her up on the stage.

Standing off to the side, Nikla watched Sweet go to a panel behind the stage. He flipped a switch that started a loud whirring sound. Nikla glanced up and noticed a long beam lowering to the stage. Eyebolts attached to either ends of the board. A substantial chain with heavy wire interwoven through the links connected the board to the pulley system.

Sweet lowered the beam down low enough that it reached Nikla’s waist.

He took off his t-shirt. “Get undressed.”

When Nikla didn’t start stripping right away, Sweet stopped moving. It only took one look from him for her to feel compelled to strip down.

Nikla took off her jacket and shoes first. With each piece, she looked out into the audience and saw all of these strangers staring at her. Her breathing increased into a pant.

When she got down to her sports bra and thong panties she stopped. Nikla balled her hands into fists. As a way to save her, Sweet covered her eyes with a blindfold.

“Just concentrate on my voice. Nothing else is here. Nothing else matters.” Sweet rubbed her shoulders.