River Walk: Ten Kinky Collaborations (10 page)

“Yes, of course. Where are my manners?” I gesture my hand toward the living room, shutting the door behind him once he’s entered, and follow him over to the sitting area. He takes a seat on the couch and settles in.

“Can I get you something to drink?” I offer.

“No, thank you, Mila. I’m fine.”

Why do I love the sound of my name on his lips?
I think I remember something from last night, but it could just be my foggy memory playing tricks on me.

I sit in a chair across from him, gawking, still confused as to why he’s really here.

“So, what
did
happen last night?” I ask, embarrassed I was too inebriated to remember.

“I saw you on the River Walk assaulting ducks with breadcrumbs. I must have startled you cause you nearly fell arse over tit into the water. Then we went for a walk so you could sober up a bit. To put it delicately, you were plastered.”

Ah. Fantastic.

I scan him up and down. I have a feeling he’s not telling me something, leaving out some crucial detail.

“Anything else?”

His lip twitches into a smirk.

“You told me how much you…pleasure yourself at the thought of our sessions together.”

Double crap.

I know he’s telling the truth because it is. And it’s not like I go around telling everyone I get off on pain and being spanked. This isn’t common knowledge. I’m mortified.

“I was completely out of line.” I lick my lips anxiously, my throat suddenly dry and tight. “I am so, so sorry, Dr. Landon. I swear…”

“Oliver,” he corrects me.

“I am truly sorry, Oliver. I know it was inappropriate. I was drunk, which I never do. I’m sorr…”

“I’m
not
sorry you told me, Mila.”

My eyes widen like two saucers.

He inhales slowly and sits at the edge of the couch, leaning in slightly.

“I have a confession myself, Mila. May I tell you my secret?” I nod my head. I can barely think let alone actually formulate words right now. “The only reason I volunteered to lead the study is because…I’m a sadist.”

“You are?” I sputter out.

“Yes. And I enjoyed spanking you as much as you enjoyed taking it. I saw how aroused you were when I would examine you. You were soaked through your tiny, white panties. Do you know how hard it was not to fuck you right on that table, not to spank you until your ass was raw and throbbing?”

I release a held breath. But, I’m still unable to speak. I can only look at him like a deer in headlights.

“Do you want me, Mila?”

What kind of question is that? Isn’t it obvious?

“Yes,” I reply honestly.

He rises from the couch and extends his hand out to me. I take hold and follow him toward the hallway leading to the bedrooms.

“Where’s your room?” he asks, glimpsing back long enough for me to point toward my door. He stops and swings it open wide.

“What are you going to do to me?” I hear the tremor in my voice.

“Everything you yearn for.” I whimper at the thought. “Now that I know your true nature, and you know mine...consider that little study a walk in the park.”

A warmth ripples up my spine, spreading through my veins. He wraps me in his arms, sets his lips against mine, and kisses me rough and deep, nipping and sucking on my bottom lip ‘til it hurts. I moan, giving into the bittersweet sting of his teeth, and throw my hands into his silky black hair, gripping a fistful when his mouth begins to trail down my neck. His hands slide down my back, firmly clamping onto my rear, and lifts me up against him. Carrying me into the room, he slams the door behind us, giving me everything he promised and more.

THE END

HOSTAGE SITUATION

CHAPTER ONE

“
It’s just another Manic Monday…
” The Bangles blared from the phone on the nightstand.

“I hate that song!” Kate Watson complained into her pillow, despite the fact that she had chosen that song for her alarm because nothing else would wake her up. To say she was not a morning person would be laughably understated.

Until recently, anyway.

Kate swatted the phone quiet and shot out of bed so fast the blanket was still wrapped around her legs when she stumbled into the bathroom. She stripped off the old T-shirt she’d slept in and hopped in the shower.

Working at the bank the last few years had become monotonous. Used to be that every morning, she’d drag herself out of bed and through her morning routine muttering, “Same shit, different day.” She had some friends among her coworkers, but most of them were closer to her parents’ age. As a single girl in her mid-twenties, she’d feigned polite interest in countless hours of conversation about spoiled grandchildren and stale marriages.

And then sweet old Walter, the security guard announced his retirement. It was time. He was almost eighty and so arthritic, Kate doubted he could even hold his gun, let alone use it. Still, she would miss the way he had greeted her every day with, “Well hey there, pretty lady.” It made her sad to imagine the bank without him.

But Friday afternoon, she caught a glimpse of his replacement.

As soon as her customer left, Kate had elbowed the teller beside her and whispered, “Um, Barb? Who is
that
?”

The older woman grinned. “That, my dear, is the changing of the guard.”

Both women eyed the way the new security guard’s tight ass filled out the khaki pants of his uniform, and how the standard-issue shirt fit snugly around his biceps. With a body that perfect, Kate was sure his face would be a disappointment. She was oh so wrong, she discovered a moment later, when the man looked over his shoulder and caught her staring. His sculpted cheekbones and chiseled jaw belonged on the covers of magazines. The hard line of his mouth softened to a slow, sexy smile before he turned back to continue his conversation with Roger, the branch manager.

After spending the weekend with that smile in her mind and her hand in her panties, Kate was so eager to get to work early she skipped her Monday-ritual Starbucks run. Sure enough, the new guy was stationed just inside the glass doors when Kate arrived. He opened the door and held it for her with a low-murmured, “Good morning.”

The way his baby blue eyes skimmed her body took her breath. It was all she could do to whisper, “Hi,” and continue walking to her station.

Ann-Marie, happily-married and heavily-pregnant, leaned over from the next teller station. “Jesus Christmas, that’s a fine piece of ass,” she muttered. “If I weren’t the fucking Hindenburg right now, I’d ask for a hall pass for that.”

Kate chuckled. “No kidding.”

“Given that you’re neither attached nor a blimp, there’s no good reason for you not to take him for a spin.”

“Shut up,” Kate grinned. “He could be married.”

“No ring.”

“I don’t even know his name.”

“It’s Glen Morin. Recent Police Academy grad. Does some kind of karate that’s not karate, I forget what it’s called.” At Kate’s look, Ann-Marie grinned and added, “I might’ve taken a little peek at his resume.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Kate laughed.

Typical for a Monday, the bank’s River Walk branch got busy quickly. The tellers handled a never-ending line of customers, so there was no time to socialize. Kate looked forward to her lunch break for the opportunity to chat with her coworkers and stare at the sexy new guard. One of her customers needed a cashier’s check in an amount that required manager’s approval, so Kate excused herself for a minute.

The manager’s office was all windows, basically just a big fishbowl adjacent to the lobby. Kate chuckled to see Roger standing at the wall of filing cabinets, searching for something. He was a nice man with five grandchildren and an infectious smile. The staff and customers loved him, but organization was not his strong suit. Kate knocked on the open door as she entered.

“Hey Roger, I need your signature on a…” She trailed off as three men in rubber Halloween masks burst into the bank pointing guns and yelling, “Everybody down!”

After a moment of frozen fear, the dozen or so customers in line dropped to the floor.

Glen reacted so fast his movements were a blur. Kate couldn’t see what he did, but suddenly one of the robbers was on the floor with Glen’s knee in his back. The robber’s gun had skidded away, but before Glen could draw his own weapon another robber — tall and skinny, wearing an evil skull mask — had a gun to Glen’s head.

“Don’t even think about it, cowboy,” he sneered and pocketed Glen’s gun.

Glen remained on his knees and raised his hands.

The robber he’d put down stumbled to his feet, straightening his grotesque vampire mask. Then he got right up in the third robber’s bloody clown face and snarled, “
Old guy
? Where’s the fuckin’ old guy? Huh?”

“I dunno, maybe he croaked. But he was here last week, I swear!”

The robber holding Glen — Kate mentally named him “Skeletor” — snapped, “Doesn’t matter. I got this guy. Do your job, morons!”

Trapped in the window-walled office, Kate and Roger had been slowly inching across the room toward the desk. Kate froze as the vampire caught sight of them and headed their way. Before Roger could reach for the alarm button under his desk, the masked man had his gun pointed at Kate.

“Try it and I’ll blow her fuckin’ head off.” The mask hid everything but his beady, red eyes and a mouth full of rotten teeth. He smelled like stale sweat and his voice sounded like twenty years’ worth of a pack-a-day habit.

Roger raised his hands. “Yes sir. I understand. Please don’t hurt her.”

At first, the robber ignored him. He used his gun to caress the side of Kate’s face. Her whole body shook as the barrel of the gun lifted her hair and he shoved his wet, nasty tongue in her ear. Then he traced her lips with the end of the gun, before he turned it toward Roger. “Stand up.
Slow
. You’re gonna open the safe, now.” He turned the gun back on Kate. “Unless you want her brains all over these nice, clean windows.”

Kate gasped a terrified sob. Outside the office, the clown-masked robber stood over all the employees and customers who were face-down on the floor. She saw Skeletor nudging Glen to the rear of the building with a gun to his back.

Roger stood as he was instructed. “I’ll open it. I’ll do whatever you say. Please, just don’t hurt anyone.”

“Hands up and walk. You first, then her. Don’t do anything stupid.”

Kate assumed the gunman wanted her to join the others on the floor. But as she began to kneel, he grabbed her hair in his free hand and yanked hard enough to bring fresh tears to her eyes. “Keep walking, bitch.”

Her legs shook as they followed Roger down the windowless hallway toward the back of the building. When they reached the safe, Glen was lying face-down on the floor with a trickle of blood at his temple and Skeletor pointing a pistol at his head. Kate was relieved to see Glen was breathing, especially since his fist was bloody and Skeletor was dabbing at a bloody lip through his mask. It looked like the robber had knocked Glen out, not shot him. She hoped that boded well for their getting out of this alive.

Skeletor gestured with his gun. “This guy got the combination?”

“Yeah.” The vampire shoved Roger toward the keypad.

Roger’s hand shook as he pressed the first three numbers. Then he hesitated, and Dracula tapped him on the skull with his gun. “We don’t got all day.”

“I’m sorry,” Roger stammered. “I’m going as fast as I can, but the safe has a timing mechanism. The combination will only work if I wait at least five seconds between numbers.” He paused before pressing the next three numbers.

Dracula made a rude noise. “Sounds like bullshit to me.”

“Nah,” Skeletor said. “I’ve heard of that.”

They all watched Roger enter the rest of the numbers. The safe opened and Kate let out the breath she’d been holding. The robbers could take what they wanted and leave, and nobody else had to get hurt.

Skeletor gripped Roger’s shoulder in a threatening way. “You better be stronger than you look, ‘cause you’re about to be doing some heavy lifting.”

Dracula shoved Kate toward Glen. “Get down and don’t move unless you wanna leave here in a body bag.”

For minutes that felt like hours, Kate lay beside Glen’s body on the floor with her eyes shut tight. The sound of her own labored breathing muffled almost all other noise. She was still aware of Roger and the masked men rushing in and out of the safe, though, and hoped it would all be over soon.

Skeletor’s voice said, “Time’s up, we gotta get outta here.”

Dracula’s voice said, “Fuck that. I ain’t leaving all this.”

“I’m telling ya—” He broke off at the sound of sirens. “
Shit!
”

Dracula poked Kate’s ribs with his boot. “Don’t make a sound, don’t fuckin’ move!”

With their arms loaded with bags of money, the two robbers and Roger headed toward the lobby, out of sight.

Kate rubbed her ribs and rolled over to check on Glen. His gorgeous blue eyes were open and seemed fully cognizant as they stared into hers. She realized he had been conscious the whole time, eavesdropping on their captors.