Re/Bound (Doms of the FBI Book 1) (18 page)

The paddle smacked against one ass cheek. Her pussy clenched, and he hissed. “I want to see those swollen breasts bouncing. Don’t stop until I tell you to.”

A glance down showed exactly how swollen they’d become. Between the ropes and the crop, he’d prepared her nicely. “Yes, Sir.”

She lifted up and slammed down. The paddle greeted her ass, urging her away and luring her back with the promise of more. Her breasts bounced wildly. The ropes controlled their movements so they didn’t hurt in the wrong ways, but they also trapped more blood in the globes. They ached with need.

The heat between her legs became unbearable. “Please may I come, Sir?”

She didn’t expect permission, but he gave it anyway. Her body bowed, and her pelvis ground down to pinch her clit between their bodies. Stars exploded.

She came down to find he had half untied the ropes wrapped around her body. She blinked as she watched the rest of the white rope disappear from her skin, leaving behind reddened grooves where it had dug into her flesh. Blood rushed into the restricted areas, lighting an unquenchable fire in her breasts and pussy.

Before she could wonder at the aftereffects, Theo flipped her onto her back. His stomach pressed against hers, but he held most of his weight on the hands he perched on either side of her head. “Wrap your legs around me.”

With effort, Darcy lifted her legs and locked her ankles around his waist. He slid a little deeper. He’d left her hands free to explore, and she caressed his chest. Muscles chiseled with an artist’s tools bunched and strained under her questing fingers. She inhaled, memorizing the way his masculine scents mixed with her feminine ones.

His lips locked onto hers, and his tongue thrust into her mouth. He nipped her lower lip. She wanted to laugh at his not-so-subtle show of dominance, but Theo distracted her with his first hard thrust.

He pounded into her body. The unfamiliar sensations caused by the aftereffects of the rope combined with the urgency created by the erotic spanking. Darcy screamed, completely blindsided by the climax that took her senses.

Chapter Nine

Malcolm stretched out a hand in search of Darcy’s warm body. She’d blown his mind last night with her willingness to accept bondage even though she professed to not like it. He’d progressed slowly with acclimating her to the feel of being restrained, and he’d begun by binding her in a relatively benign manner. Her passionate responses had only underlined the accuracy of his instincts. She could very much enjoy bondage, as long as he explained what would happen beforehand.

When she became more used to being bound and restrained, he would set up his bamboo tripod and initiate her into the delights of being bound, restrained, and suspended.

But he found only the cool sheet and empty pillow on the other half of the bed. He opened his eyes and lifted his head. Light filtered through the curtains, and once again Miss Priss was curled at his feet. His detective mind noted a lack of blinds meant she didn’t often sleep late. Damn. He’d have to change that habit.

Sitting up, he rubbed sleep from his eyes. A craving for caffeine had him throwing back the covers he’d pulled over them after Darcy had passed out from climaxing. A sharp sense of pride puffed his chest at that accomplishment. Many people went to sleep after sex. Few actually lost consciousness from the force of a large orgasm. He rummaged in his bag for clean shorts, threw his pants from the night before over those, and shoved a couple of condoms in his pocket.

The low murmur of conversation and the scent of freshly brewed coffee drew him to the kitchen. Two female voices had him frowning. Company meant his morning wood wasn’t going to see any action.

The distinct creak of her sixth step alerted Darcy that Theo had awoken. Given how hard he’d worked the night before, she wasn’t going to begrudge him the opportunity to sleep in until nearly noon. She’d already gone for a short run and cleared the rest of the leaves left by the melted snow from her two beds of lava rocks.

Her sister, Amy, glanced up from her mug, though she didn’t falter in the stirring of sugar into her coffee. Her brow arched with a silent question, and her eyes darted to the opening leading to the hall for the answer.

Darcy dreaded this moment. Amy had shown up an hour earlier, wanting to go shopping. Normally Darcy would go with her sister because it was easier to give in than to try to explain again why not having the urge to shop didn’t equal depression. Even though she hadn’t liked Scott, Amy hadn’t abandoned her when she cried for hours over losing him. Amy had been there during those dark times when Darcy hadn’t wanted to leave the house for any reason.

Theo trudged into the room. His sinfully dark hair swirled around his head, a messy testament to the wildness of their night. He gave her sister a cursory glance on his way to where Darcy stood in front of the sink. His arms closed around her waist, and he rested his head on her shoulder. She returned his embrace, and he settled in a little more.

He seemed so comfortable that she wondered if he’d fallen back to sleep. Instead he pressed a kiss to her neck. “Coffee?”

She laughed at his desperate request. “I’ll get it for you. Why don’t you go sit down at the table?”

“‘K.” He plopped down in the nearest chair, which also happened to be next to Amy. Holding out a hand, he smiled a greeting. “I’m Theo. You must be Darcy’s sister.”

Amy blinked. “She told you about me?”

“A little. Mostly I figured you were closely related because you look like sisters.”

Darcy set a steaming mug on the table in front of Theo. “Are you hungry?”

He lifted his gaze, and the look he gave her betrayed a hunger for things other than food. Her breasts tingled with remembered heat. “Just coffee for now. Let me wake up a little more, and then I’ll have breakfast.”

The sugar bowl still sat on the table from when Amy had brought it over. He reached for it, and Darcy handed him a spoon.

Amy ran her fingertip over the rim of her mug. Darcy didn’t think they looked that much alike. They shared the same blue eyes, but Amy’s lighter hair and oval face definitely set them apart. She had yet to smile at Theo. “So, Theo, Darcy tells me you two met at a convention.”

He sipped the coffee. “Yep.”

“What kind of business are you in?”

The question was logical. The convention had been aimed at small businesses looking to grow and diversify. Applying for grants and offering money or services to charity were two ways to expand a business.

“Information technology, computers, programming. Things like that.” He rubbed at the corner of his eye. Darcy recognized that Amy’s interrogation had begun. Her big sister had taken it upon herself to look after Darcy. It was nice to know someone was in her corner no matter what.

However she didn’t want Amy to ask questions. Her sister hadn’t understood Darcy’s relationship with Scott. After they’d discovered BDSM and begun practicing, it had only taken a month for Amy to shift from liking Scott to hating him. She had used any opportunity to urge Darcy to leave him.

Given that her relationship with Theo was founded on the same concepts, Amy was sure to hate him too. “Amy.”

Amy waved Darcy’s warning away. “Computer geek. I’m starting to see what you like about this guy.”

Darcy drew in a sharp breath as Amy drew the inevitable comparisons between Theo and Scott. She really didn’t need for Amy to delve deeper. If she didn’t distract her sister, things were likely to get ugly. “Amy, how about some lunch? I have leftover pizza. It’s homemade.”

Theo’s arm came around her hips, and he snuggled a hug into her waist. “That sounds great, sweetheart. I’ll have some.”

Her stress level evened out, but that didn’t mean she wanted to hear Amy’s take on the situation. Reluctantly she eased out of Theo’s hug and pulled the leftover pizza from the refrigerator. She set the oven to preheat as Amy warmed to the topic.

“Has Darcy told you about Scott, her fiancé?”

“Amy!”

Theo’s glance both reassured her and let her know he understood the situation. It looked like the caffeine had kicked in. “She has told me a few things about Scott. It’s a tragic situation.”

“You remind me of him a little,” she said.

Darcy wished Amy wouldn’t look out for her quite so vigorously. She swallowed a groan at the same time Theo laughed.

He took the spoon for another whirl around his mug. “How so?”

“You’re about the same height, you both like one teaspoon of sugar in your coffee, and you both don’t seem to mind walking around half-naked.”

Theo sipped his coffee. “Lots of men are around six feet tall. Lots of people like a little sugar in their coffee. And if it’s not cold, lots of men don’t think twice about whether or not they’re wearing a shirt, especially if they think it’s just them and their girlfriend in the house.”

His apparent nonplussed attitude amazed Darcy. She hadn’t seen him lose control of his temper before, but Scott would have told Amy to fuck off by now.

Amy rested her chin on her palm and delivered her coup de grace in a near whisper. “She’s still in love with him, you know.”

The oven timer chimed, and Darcy’s temper simmered. A red haze clouded her vision. She still loved Scott. So what? That didn’t mean she couldn’t fall in love with Theo too. Before she could throw Amy out of the house, Theo responded in an even tone.

“I expect she’ll always love him. It’s not like they broke up, Amy. She planned to marry him. When you lose someone you love, you never get over them. You just learn to live with the fact that they’re gone. It takes courage to move on with your life. I’d think you would be happy for Darcy, not sitting here, doing your best to chase away a man she’s obviously spent the night with. She’s not exactly the kind of person who leaps into bed with anyone. Did you stop to think she might care about me and I might care about her?”

He sipped from his mug as if he’d just reiterated the weather forecast for the week. His commanding presence and the sweet understanding of his words combined to make Darcy’s knees weak. She put the pizza on a sheet pan and slid it into the oven.

Amy narrowed her eyes at Theo. “He beat her, you know. Are you like that too?”

“Out.” Darcy made shooing motions in Amy’s direction. Perhaps Theo had patience with Amy, but a lifetime of being managed by her sister didn’t leave Darcy with a whole lot of residual patience where she was concerned. “I’ve told you over and over that Scott wasn’t abusive. I’m tired of explaining our relationship to you. Just go. If you’re going to be a jerk, just get out of here.”

Standing, Amy shrugged her shoulders, but she didn’t manage to hide the hurt from her eyes. “I care about you, Darcy. You’ve always been the smart one, but you’ve always lacked common sense. I just don’t want to see you hurting like that again.” While guilt pinged through Darcy, Amy lowered her gaze to Theo. “You have the same confidence Scott had, that whole air about you that screams authority and nobody’s allowed to argue with you. Can you look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t beat women?”

Theo stared at her for the longest time. Darcy wanted him to repeat her order for Amy to leave, but he didn’t. She realized he wasn’t Scott, and they didn’t share this house. Theo had no right to order anyone out of her house, and he wasn’t going to pretend like he did. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest.

Finally Theo shook his head. “No man who beats women is going to sit here and admit it to your face. Mostly they don’t even admit it when there are witnesses and video proof. I will tell you that I care about Darcy. I’m glad to see you care about her too. She needs that, but she also needs people in her life who are going to be supportive of what she wants and what she needs. I’m a Dom, which is what I think you’re getting at.”

Amy’s fist pounded the table as she interrupted Theo. “That’s just an excuse to beat up women!”

“The distinction you’re looking for, Amy, is that I would never ‘beat up’ Darcy. My personal preference is to tie her up and make her have quite a few orgasms, but she’s a little more into the masochistic aspects of it all. If she’s a very good girl and if she asks nicely, I’ll spank or flog her. Nothing happens without her consent, and she has the power to stop anything at any time.”

This argument was old, and Darcy wanted it to stop. She wished a safe word worked on her sister. In the months since Scott’s disappearance, she and Amy had slowly forged a friendship that had been absent when Scott had been around. Amy singularly objected to the entire concept. Because the topic of BDSM had disappeared with Scott, the intervening months had seen nothing but peace between them.

Amy’s fire had been lit, and it wasn’t going to go away quietly. “But you determine when it happens!”

“Well, I’m the one who has to do the work. Be logical, Amy. When you ask someone to do you a favor, isn’t it just good manners to let them figure out when it fits best into their schedule? If she wanted me to debug her computer, she’d have to wait until I had the free time. This really isn’t any different.” He leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee. If Darcy wasn’t mistaken, amusement made his eyes gleam. He actually liked the debate.

That threw Amy for a loop. For the first time ever, she faltered. It took her a minute to recover. When she did, she pinned Darcy with a heated glare. “This is so misogynistic. You’re actually waiting on him. You got him coffee, and now you’re making lunch for him.”

Darcy rolled her eyes. “I got you coffee, and I’m heating lunch for you too. You’re both my guests, Amy. I’d like it if you remembered the manners Mom and Dad taught us. Please apologize to Theo. He didn’t do anything wrong. As a matter of fact, I think he’s been pretty tolerant of your rudeness.”

The timer on the oven chimed again. She slammed the oven door open, but when she reached to get the sheet pan, Theo snatched her up and lifted her away.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

He kissed her temple and set her down near the sink. “Preventing second-degree burns, sweetheart.” With that, he grabbed the oven mitt she had neglected to use and withdrew the pan from the oven. He closed the door, set the sheet on the stovetop, and pushed the button to turn the oven off. “Why don’t you grab some plates?”

As she turned toward the cupboard where she kept the plates, she caught Amy’s startled expression. She handed Theo three plates. He used the circular cutter to divide the pie and loaded slices onto each plate.

“I’m sorry.” Amy’s apology barely made it across the kitchen, but Theo heard it anyway.

“Don’t be.” He grinned over his shoulder. “If you didn’t care about Darcy, you wouldn’t try so hard to figure out something you don’t understand. I can’t hold that against you.”

Tension eased from Darcy’s shoulders. Amy might not understand, but it appeared she was willing to give Theo a chance. And he was willing to give her a chance too.

Conversation turned to less contentious topics until Amy left. Darcy saw her sister to the door. When she returned to the kitchen, Theo was loading dishes into the dishwasher.

“Oh, don’t put them in there. It’s broken. I’ll wash them by hand.”

Theo looked from the stove to the dishwasher. Both were recent models. “Have you called the place where you bought it? I bet it’s under warranty.”

Darcy shook her head. “It probably was under warranty at some point, but Scott tinkered with it so much that I’m sure it’s void. I’m pretty sure it’s made up of three different machines by now. He felt fixing it was a personal challenge. I know I should get a new one and get rid of it, but I just haven’t been able to bring myself to do it.”