Choosing Rena (23 page)

She whimpered, lifting up into his
caress, wanting more.

“That’s not an answer, slave.” He
removed his touch, then stepped back until she could no longer feel
the heat of him against her.

“Please, Sir. Punish this slave. She’s
been naughty.”

“Has she?” The return of heat, as he
pressed close again, had her nodding.

“Yes. She has been outspoken, trying
to tell her Sir what to do….” She was glad she was turned away from
him, so he couldn’t see her mischievous smile. “She was even
tempted to masturbate on Saturday night after Sir left.”

The hoarse growl behind her caused
another gush of moisture. It was anything but a pleased sound. “Did
she now.” His hand squeezed one side of her ass. “She knows the
punishment for coming without permission…”

“Yes, Sir. Twenty strokes…” She
savored the feel of him against her.

“But since she didn’t actually come,
and only thought about it, twenty would be too harsh. In fact, I
admire my slave’s willpower for not fingering herself when I went
home and jerked off three times thinking of her. So perhaps a
reward is in order?”

Her heart pounded as lust rocketed
through her. What she wouldn’t have given to be there watching him
stroke himself…but knowing her, she’d have been on her knees
between his thighs before he could’ve blinked. “No, Sir. This slave
deserves to be punished – not rewarded.”

His lips brushed her ear.
“But
you
have no
say in this do you? You’re at my mercy.” He squeezed her ass again
before bending over to lick the tip of her ear. She groaned in
response.

“Yes,
Sir
.” She moaned softly as his weight
lifted off her.

“But that doesn’t excuse your earlier
demands, slave. For that alone, my slave deserves ten strokes.” He
released her ass. “Not for punishment but her own pleasure.” Her
breath caught as he picked up the ruler once more. “And mine.” His
voice grew harsh. “Now count off.”

She cried out as the left side of her
ass lit up with the most delightful sting. “One, Sir.”

Chapter
Twenty-One

Sitting down gingerly on her butt at a
table in the food court, Rena set her tray of food in front of her.
She was hungry as a wolf for obvious reasons. Her morning workout
with Jackson at Larson Securities. Even though she’d tried not to
think about the corresponding soreness between her thighs either,
she failed abysmally. A flush filled her face as she recalled what
they had done in his office. She’d never be able to look at
Jackson’s desk in the same way again. After her “punishment” was
over, he’d given her the fuck of a lifetime, while making sure his
palm was covering her mouth to muffle her screams. It wouldn’t have
done for the early morning staff to hear a woman screaming in their
boss’s office. Her face flushed with remembered embarrassment when
she’d passed Jude in the hall on her way out. The speculative look
crossing his face had her scurrying out of the building to catch
the “L” to work.

“Hey, Rena.” Hank sat down across from
her, with his own tray containing a sandwich and a large steaming
cup of coffee. That’s when she noticed her friend looked more
strained and tired than usual. The bags under his eyes and the deep
lines around his mouth weren’t normal either. He hadn’t been like
this before she’d left for the weekend.

“Hey, Hank. How’s the shift going?”
This was the first time she’d seen him today. While it wasn’t
unusual to not see him, she’d normally hear him on the radio,
joking around with the other guards. She took a draw off her soda,
reaching for her own sandwich. Biting into the thinly sliced
pastrami, pepperoni and provolone she moaned softly. She’d never
expected a sandwich to taste so delicious.

Hank gave her a tired smile. “I don’t
know. I just got here. Gonna grab a bite to eat before I start my
shift. I had some business to take care of this morning at my
lawyer’s.”

Rena swallowed her bite before wiping
her mouth on her napkin. “Hopefully it went well?”

He gave a rough bark of laughter. “As
well as can be expected when you start divorce
proceedings.”

Her stomach sank and she
set down her sandwich. “I’m sorry, Hank. I know you and Sophia were
having issues, but I was sincerely hoping you could work them out.”
Inwardly she wanted to go and track down Hank’s wife and slap her
around. The woman didn’t seem to realize the gift she had in
Hank.
No she’d rather crawl inside the
bottle.

His shoulders slumped. “You and me
both, Rena.” He dragged his hand over his face, before reaching for
his coffee. As he sipped at it, his shoulders slumped and it broke
her heart. This was not the ever-smiling Hank she knew.

She covered his hand. “Do you want to
talk about it?”

He gave a rough laugh.
“What’s to talk about? She went out with some girlfriends last
night, and fell off the wagon again. Thank God she only hit a
parked car
this
time.” His blood shot eyes met hers. “That’s when it hit me. I
couldn’t believe I actually felt relief she hadn’t hurt anyone this
time. How sick is that? I should’ve been concerned about her
welfare, instead I was relieved she only caused property damage and
not physical damage. That’s when I knew I couldn’t do it anymore.”
A haggard expression crossed his handsome face. “So I filed for
divorce today.”

“Oh Hank, I’m sorry.” She wanted more
than anything to give the gruff Italian a hug. He’d married Sophia
right out of high school, had four kids with her, and they’d even
celebrated their thirty-first anniversary this year. She couldn’t
help but feel sad for him.

He squeezed her hand. “Don’t be. She
shouldn’t be surprised when they serve her. I’ve warned her several
times. Hell, I even begged and pleaded with her to get help. But
each time she refused. I was the one stupid enough to put up with
it for nearly ten years.” He sighed. “I just kept hoping, you know.
She’d apologize then swear she’d never touch the stuff again. It’d
last for a couple of weeks, maybe a month and it’d start all over
again. First it’d be just a few beers or glass of wine, then before
I knew it she’d be on a three day bender which would end up with
her either picked up for public intoxication, or her calling me
from some bar to pick her up.” His eyes grew misty. “I can’t do it.
I still love her but I can’t live like this anymore. Not when she
cares more for the bottle than she does me. Thank God all of our
kids are grown now.”

She searched his face. “So where are
you going to stay? I’m assuming you’re giving her the
house?”

He nodded. “Yeah! Despite everything I
can’t kick her out of her home. But I haven’t really thought about
where I’m going to stay at yet. I figured a hotel for tonight and
I’ll look into apartments this week.”

As they resumed eating, she
stared at him thoughtfully. With everything that was going on with
Jackson and his stalker, they’d agreed to keep their public
appearances together to a minimum.
Not
that he’s happy about it. He’s scared something’s going to happen
to me at home.
An idea formed. She
retrieved her phone from her bag and texted Jackson with her idea.
She wasn’t surprised when he responded a few minutes
later.

Hank had just finished his sandwich
and was standing to leave when she caught his arm. “Hey, I have a
proposition for you. How would you like to stay with me until you
find an apartment?”

A perplexed look crossed his face. “I
appreciate the offer but…”

“But nothing.” She jerked him back
down into his chair. “You’d be doing me a huge favor. I kinda have
a situation. Just hear me out. It could be beneficial for both of
us.”

“Okay.” He sat back, crossing his arms
over his chest. She quickly gave him the rundown of what was going
on with Jackson, the vandalism, and now this stalker.

“So you’d be doing both me and Jackson
a favor. He’ll have peace of mind knowing there’s someone he trusts
watching my back at night and I’ll have company in the evening –
since I kinda promised my man I’d stay close to home until the
stalker is caught.”

Hank seemed to be weighing his
options. “Are you sure you want an old man around your
place?”

Rena lifted a brow. “Who’re you
calling old? Didn’t I just see you take down a man half your age
last week when he tried to lift a four hundred dollar pair of
shoes?”

She giggled as Hank actually blushed.
“Little bastard had it coming. He knocked over the cashier and
kicked one of the newbies in the nuts trying to get
away.”

* * * *

Sitting at the conference table with
Jude and Ethan, Jackson pored over the information not only Larson
Securities had come up with, but also the official police reports
for all three incidents. Jackson’s earlier good mood had vanished
in the wake of the facts the investigation had revealed.

“Okay, there has to be a
connection between the bombing, your break-in, and the vandalism
that occurred the night we went to
Pínaka
ti̱s Mi̱téras.
We just have to find it.”
Jackson ran his hand through his hair.

“Well, according to my contact down at
the courthouse, Louis Vayarti is still locked up, pending his bail
hearing.” Ethan thumbed through another folder. “And it looks like
the time frame won’t fit for the bomb threat, because you were in
the office on Friday night, Jackson, and the cleaning crew came in
Saturday morning and found the bomb. The time frame just doesn’t
fit for him to have wired the bomb, and planted it.”

Jude scrubbed his face. “Are we sure
he couldn’t have hired someone to do it?”

Ethan shook his head. “No, there’s no
certainty he couldn’t have had it done, but he’s only been in town
for about a week, according to my sources. He checked in at the
Hilton Orrington under the pretenses of tracking his mother and her
lover down.” He drew a picture out of Elizebetta Vayarti and Dieter
Schmidt enjoying an intimate luncheon and tossed it on the
table.

Jude picked it up and stared down at
the couple. “Rather striking couple, if you overlook their age
difference.” He set it aside. “So what’s the scoop on
them?”

Jackson answered. “Elizebetta came
into town earlier last week to offer Rena a job as her Head of
Security, as you’re probably aware of since you went over the
contract. What you don’t realize is there’s a will leaving the son
in charge of the trust left to Elizebetta by her deceased
husband.”

“So Sonny flew into Chicago to keep
tabs on Mommy Dearest?” Jude tapped his pen on the
table.

Ethan nodded. “According to
the hotel manager, the son checked in two days after Elizebetta
did. According to the hotel bill, there were several nights of room
service delivered to Vayarti’s suite.” He skimmed down the bill,
then looked up. “Other than the night of Rena’s attack, he has an
alibi for the nights in question for the vandalism.” A disgusted
look crossed his face. “It seems like Mr. Vayarti likes porn and
the sicker the better if the titles of these movies are anything to
go by.
Tales of Sintillation
and
Shit on Me,
Daddy?
” Ethan turned green around the
gills.

Jackson couldn’t help but stare. He
couldn’t even imagine Rena finding defecation erotic - let alone
allowing a man to crap all over her. “You’re shitting
me.”

Ethan tossed the hotel bill in his
direction. “God, don’t make bad puns about it, Playboy. While this
fucker is sick, he couldn’t be behind the attacks. He wasn’t even
in Chicago, but still in New York attending some fancy-schmancy
Wall Street Party on the day Jude’s apartment was hit. It was
written up in the papers and there were even pictures of him and
some highfalutin society chick.” Ethan’s eyes met Jackson’s. “I
think we’re going the wrong direction with this. There’s no way it
could be Louis using ‘BDSM hate crimes’ as a smoke
screen.”

Jude nodded. “Yes, I do believe you’re
right, Ethan. This doesn’t play like a jilted lover. The message
this person is sending is too raw for it to be fake.”

Jackson tipped his head
back against the padded headrest of his chair. “Then what you’re
saying is we have to dig through a city with a population of over
two and a half million people in hopes of finding the one person
who has a vendetta against BDSM
and
knows Rena? Christ what a
cluster-fuck.”

“That pretty much sums it up. Other
than Louis, I don’t know where to start as far as a suspect list. I
suppose we could look first at who has access to Jude’s building.”
Ethan shuffled through the papers again. “Since Rena checked out
the crime scene, I’d have to say I agree with her. The perp came in
through the front door, not through the balcony as we originally
thought.”

Jackson reached for the phone. “Let me
contact the security desk at the condo and get a record of all
visitors.” It only took a moment of talking to the guard at the
desk to have them faxing over the sign-in sheet for the day in
question.

Ethan just stared at him. “How the
hell did you manage that?” He stood as the fax machine
beeped.