He was a man. His gaze wavered briefly, and the heat in his eyes grew. Though his heat was nothing compared to the furnace running through her mind.
"I believe he should be at Dan's diner right about now," she continued, "waiting for his next… er… date. If you hurry, you should catch him before he gets down to business with her."
Marcia has a meeting with you?
I have twenty minutes to get there. Which left her five minutes to free Grey, and no time to play with this guard.
You can't meet with him.
I not only intend to meet with him, but I intend to stop him.
Not alone, you won't.
The guard frowned. "How do you know all that?"
"Maybe the fairies told me," she said dryly.
"He's paying you?"
"Big dollars for a few hours work." She arched an eyebrow, letting her gaze slide slowly down his well muscled form. "If I hurry just a little, shifter, you and I might be able to have a little fun before the boss gets back."
He lowered one weapon and raised the other. Even from where she stood, it was obvious the rumors about horse shifters were true. Man, he was big.
Too big for her liking.
"Is that a yes?" she added, staring pointedly at his erection.
"I can't see how you'd know what you know if you weren't on the books," he said. He pointed his chin at Grey. "What do you intend to do?"
"Oh, lots of delicious things." She lowered her arms and lightly slapped the whip against her leg. "I usually work alone, but an audience might add to the fun. You want to watch?"
I thought the idea was to get him out of the room?
The idea is to getting him so aroused by what I'm doing to you that he's not thinking straight, enabling me to get close enough to Taser him unconscious.
Hang on, say that again? What you're doing to me? What exactly are you going to do to me?
I'm not going to let this outfit go to waste, that's for sure.
His brief smile shimmered through her mind. Remember, what you do to me, I shall do to you.
And, oh, she couldn't wait.
She tried to calm the excitement racing through her veins and said to the guard. "Why don't you drag that box you were sitting on over to that corner there?"
She pointed the whip to the corner to the right of Grey. It put the man more in front than on the side, and would keep him from seeing the Taser tucked into the back of her skirt.
"Sounds fine to me." His voice was a little roughened by desire, and she smiled, feeling better about herself than she had in months. At the very least, the last few days had proved that, despite the sexual drought, she'd lost none of her allure as a woman.
She waited until the guard had positioned himself, then strode over to Grey.
I have never seen a sexier walk, Grey commented, smoky eyes gleaming with amusement and desire.
Hush. You're supposed to be dreading what I'm about to do.
When you're looking like that? Darling, no man would be capable of dreading what's coming.
The endearment made her heart do an odd little jig. She stopped in front of him, and pressed the whip lightly against his balls. "It seems the victim desires me."
The victim knows exactly what you're capable of, and hungers for more.
She flicked the whip upwards, lightly striking his shaft. He jumped, even though he had to know she would never hurt him.
"By the time I'm finished, this will strain and quiver to sink itself into my flesh, and you will be so mad with desire you would rip out your heart if that is what I want."
Definitely. Aloud, he said, "Lady, you kid yourself."
His voice was a harsh croak, so different from the warm richness of the voice that flowed through her mind.
She glanced at the guard, eyebrow raised. "Do you think I'm kidding?"
"I think you're capable of anything." He settled back against the wall, arms crossed and obviously ready to enjoy the show. "And I don't believe you gave him permission to speak."
"You are so right." She returned her gaze to Grey. "He needs to be punished."
"Do your damnedest," Grey said flatly, his eyes gleaming with cheeky challenge.
You'll regret that. It's just a shame I have to hurry. She ran the whip up and down his cock. "I could strike this until to you bleed, but that would lessen my fun and shorten proceedings a little too much. Perhaps, then, I should try a gentler form of punishment."
"Perhaps you should," the guard agreed eagerly. "Make him experience pleasure, then make him watch someone else achieving the pinnacle he is denied."
Now there's a self-serving suggestion if ever I've heard one. She looked back at Grey. "That's sounds like an excellent idea."
His amusement flooded her mind. As long as you promise me the pinnacle later, he said, I can endure a long foreplay.
Done deal. She dropped to her knees and took him in her mouth, moving him up and down as she turned to the guard and held his gaze. His nostrils flared, and his breathing quickened, as he undoubtedly imagined her doing the same to him. Arousal and desire stung the air, so thick every breath was filled with it.
As the salty taste of Grey's semen began to touch her taste buds, she withdrew and rose. "You," she said, pointing the whip at the guard. "Come here."
She'd never seen anyone move so fast. "Kneel," she demanded, as he drew close.
He dropped to his knees, his eyes glowing fiercely as he stared up at her expectantly.
"Do not look at me," she added, flicking the whip across his cheek.
He looked down. She reached back for the Taser, and added, "Release yourself."
His thick groan was accompanied by the sound of a zipper being pulled down.
You men are all the same, she said to Grey. Put the little head in control, and common sense flies out the window.
Well, in this case it's understandable. You look like every man's vision of paradise.
She couldn't help smiling. Thanks. And I think I'll use that.
Feel free.
So she did. "Prepare to enter paradise," she said to the guard, then reached forward, tasering him unconscious.
"Guard number two down. It's safe to come in, Jack."
She turned once again to Grey, her gaze skating across his body, taking in all the damage she really hadn't allowed herself to fully see.
She touched a hand to the deep cut across his stomach—
one of many that decorated not only his stomach, but his chest, arms and legs. They'd all stopped bleeding, but the bruising underneath was just beginning to come out. Shifter or not, he'd be sore for days. "God, you really do look like shit."
Chain rattled as he tried to reach out and touch her. But the chains pulled him up short and he hissed in frustration.
"Damn it, all I want to do is fold you in my arms and hold onto you, and that's the one thing I can't do right now."
"Jack, bring bolt cutters with you." She rose up on her toes and brushed a kiss across lips that looked swollen and sore.
"What did she—he—do to you?"
He grimaced. "She took what I once denied her."
She touched a hand to his cheek, staring into the ethereal beauty of his eyes, seeing anger and something else, something that gave her heart wings. It was recognition of fate. Surrender to what was yet to be explored. "I don't understand."
"Nor should you, because not a lot is known about face shifters." He hesitated, taking a deep breath. "For a start, not all of us are fertile. Of the twenty that I work with, less than half the men have the ability to father children, and less than a quarter of the women. I'm fertile, as is Marcia. But the females of our race have an additional restriction—they can only get pregnant with another face shifter."