Play With Me (Pleasure Playground) (12 page)

“Did they turn out okay?”

Chase minimized whatever he’d been working on and slowly swiveled in his chair. The look in his eyes took her breath away. The hard planes of his face stood out strong, and his lips were compressed in a near frown, but if the eyes were the window to the soul, then Chase was the big bad wolf and he wanted to eat her.

“They are perfect.” He pushed back from the desk and stood. Immediately Eve’s gaze was drawn to the bulge straining at his crotch. Heat suffused her face at the fact her pictures had turned him on. This was very cool indeed. “Come here. I’ll show you.”

He held out his hand for her, and she moved forward. The second she placed her hand in his, he jerked her forward and into his arms. Eve lost her balance, but Chase caught her effortlessly. Crushed against the heat of his chest, she had the overwhelming urge to burrow in.

She breathed deeply, hoping to calm her racing heart, and instead got a noseful of his decadent scent. The rich musk of sex with a subtle hint of pine soap underneath. Eve rubbed against him. The hard ridge of his erection pressed against her served as the perfect reminder of how much he wanted her.

Her pussy clenched for more. Sore muscles be damned, she ached for him to take what he needed. In fact, the image of him bending her over the desk, flipping up her skirt, and fucking her mercilessly from behind would have brought her to her knees had he not been hanging on to her.

“Eve, look at me.”

She tilted her head back and met his gaze. Molten heat met ferocious need. Her pussy squeezed in response. Everything from the way he held her to the fierce look in his eyes spoke to something deep inside her. The part better left alone. She knew now there would be no escaping without a broken heart. She only hoped there’d be enough of her left to put the pieces back together.

Chase leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. A small groan sounded at the back of her throat as roaring heat raced into her. With his tongue, he traced the soft skin of her mouth, and she eagerly opened to his exploration. But it was when he slid his hand into her hair and grabbed a fistful and pulled just to the point of tiny tingles racing along her scalp that did her in.

He shifted his long body against hers until his knee pressed between her thighs. Moments later he pushed against her covered mound, the pressure barely glancing across her clit. Fire raged through Eve from Chase’s touch. The man had a way of teasing her that drove her insane. Her nipples ached with every brush of fabric, and it wasn’t long before she wanted to come again.

He bit down on her bottom lip, sending fresh jolts of pain and pleasure to every erogenous zone on her body. Eve gasped, grasping his biceps in a tight grip.

Chase jerked away from her. “No, don’t touch me. I don’t have enough control for that right now, and trust me, darling, you aren’t ready for what I’m feeling right now.”

Disappointed, Eve allowed her arms to slide down her body, away from the contact she desperately needed. She pursed her lips and didn’t even bother to hide the longing she felt.

“Don’t look like that or I’ll start to believe you’re an insatiable minx.”

“Who’s an insatiable minx? Eve?” Murphy strode into the office carrying an armful of bags from the Chinese restaurant next door.

“Saved this time. But don’t think I’m going to forget about that pout. I think a nice red ass would clear that right up,” Chase whispered in her ear.

“I was about to show Eve some of the shots from today.” Chase quickly sat in his chair and pulled her down onto his lap.

“Masterpieces, I’m sure.” Murphy settled the bags on the coffee table and moved in behind Chase’s chair. “Let’s see ‘em.”

Chase swiveled the chair to face the monitor and clicked the mouse to enlarge the image he’d hidden earlier. An oversize, up-close shot of her naked and bound on red silk sheets filled the screen. A low whistle from Murphy sounded near her ear.

“Gorgeous.”

Murphy’s compliment warmed her insides, even though it was clearly Chase’s talent in capturing a subject at the perfect angle and all the other factors he considered that made her look so good. And yes, even she thought she looked good. She imagined having this photo hung at the foot of her bed. Something for her to look back on and remember after this was all over.

“What do you think, beautiful?”

“I think you are the most talented photographer in the world. I don’t know how you did it, but you made me look so…”

“Submissive.”

Chase murmured his agreement. Eve swore the air in the room thickened and tension seeped from both men. Not to mention the erection poking her in the butt seemed to keep growing.

She moved the word submissive around in her head, trying to come to terms with it. She’d never thought to apply that word to herself. In everything she’d studied, she’d preferred to simply label herself kinky.

Chase scrolled through a few other pictures, which she barely noticed. She was still back on what they’d called her. It didn’t seem to work, yet when she looked at the photographic evidence, she couldn’t deny that she looked different.

Peaceful.

When was the last time she’d applied that word to her life? Maybe never. Even before her parents got sick, they drove her mad with their selfish ways. Eve squeezed her eyes shut and fought back the tears suddenly threatening to fall. How could she think of her dead mother like that?

She’d never understood what kept them together to the very end though. Her father had been absorbed in his life. His work, his hobbies, and his mistresses.

Eve struggled in Chase’s lap. She needed to get out of here before she started to fall apart.

“Stop.”

Eve stilled at the firm command. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, she held her breath and counted to five before exhaling a long, slow breath.

“You’re shaking. What’s wrong?” Chase wrapped himself around her and spun the chair around so she had to face Murphy.

“Nothing. I—I—”

“If you tell me you’re fine, I will turn you over my knee and paddle your ass until you can’t sit down for days.”

Eve blinked at the pressure in her eyes, but nothing helped. Murphy pulled her from Chase’s lap and into his arms, where she burst into tears.

Murphy knew the second she would lose it. What had triggered the outburst, he had no idea. He carried her to the couch and sat down. With her cradled against his chest, he waited out the tears. Chase gave him a questioning look, and he shrugged. What could he say? It was possible she hadn’t fully recovered from the scene and seeing the pictures had brought a flood of emotion crashing down on her.

Eve shuddered violently in his arms with full-blown racking sobs. Whatever she’d held pent up inside had desperately needed to come out. Now they just needed to find out what it was.

He brushed his hand across the top of her head and placed a kiss at her ear. “Let it all out, Eve. I’ve got you.”

And the sudden realization that he didn’t want to let her go hit him like a sucker punch to the solar plexus. But did he know her well enough to keep her?

He’d been so certain before, and look how great that had turned out. Eve wasn’t like
her
though. She wasn’t sophisticated and manipulative. In fact, he’d never met a more down-to-earth woman in his life. Everything about her screamed practical, except for the damned shoes. She had been torturing him for months with her goddamned fuck-me shoes. Dozens of them. He wondered if she even realized that four-inch heels put her at the perfect height to be bent over a desk and fucked from behind.

He did. And he’d had the hard-ons to prove it.

Of course now he also knew she had more secrets than why she wore sexy heels and incredible lingerie. They’d touched on something deeper, and now he had to know what.

Several long minutes later her sobs had decreased to sniffles, and he pointed to the box of tissues on the cabinet behind Chase. His friend grabbed it and came around the desk. When Chase settled on the couch next to him and placed a hand at the small of her back, Murphy had to bite back a satisfied smile.

The bastard wasn’t as cold as he wanted everyone to believe. The destruction left behind in the wake of their previous relationship had affected him, and everything leading to tonight had colored his behavior. Murphy’s inclination was to push Chase. To force him to see what Eve could be to them, but deep down he knew he’d have to wait him out. Forcing Chase to do anything was out of the question.

Murphy passed a tissue to Eve and waited for her to pull herself together. She needed to be calm before they questioned her. Instinct told him she’d try to run—an option neither he nor Chase would allow.

Long moments passed where the only sound came from the last of Eve’s sniffles and the hum of Chase’s computer. For Murphy, fatigue had begun to set in. With his head resting against the back of the leather sofa, it would be easy enough to fall asleep where he sat. Eve had quit squirming, and her breathing had settled into a steady rhythm. He suspected she’d fully recovered and was now afraid or embarrassed to make a move.

When her stomach rumbled, he lifted her from his chest and stared into her red-rimmed eyes. “You’re hungry.”

She nodded.

The seat cushion shifted, and Chase moved toward the bags of food. He removed container after container along with the plates and silverware Murphy had requested from the restaurant. He’d wanted Eve to know he had more style than to make her eat out of containers.

Ideally he would have bundled her into his car and taken her to their condo. That image made him smile. She was far too skittish at the moment to be dragged off for more kinky adventures. He’d at least give her a minute or two.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was thinking about what I wanted to do with you.”

Her face perked up. “Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not yet. Turn around and get some food. We have time for that later.”

She stared back at him for a few more minutes. Probably trying to figure out what he was up to. Eventually she scooted from his lap and took a spot between Chase and him on the couch.

“What kind of Chinese do you like? I pretty much got a little of everything.”

“Any orange chicken?”

“Ahh, a woman after my own heart.” Chase spoke up and handed her the extra-large container he’d been holding.

“It’s his favorite.”

“Oohh, mine too. This and a little fried rice and I’m in heaven.” She scooped food onto her plate and settled back in her seat. Murphy glanced at Chase over her head and nodded his assent.

“Eve, why do you live in that building?”

Eve froze, fork halfway to her mouth.

Curious, Murphy watched her body language carefully. One of the first things he’d learned when he entered the scene was the importance of body language. All the hype given about safe words and shit was exactly that. Hype. Often a submissive became too far gone in a scene to utter the safe word, or too damned stubborn.

He’d met many a bratty and willful sub more determined to impress him with how far she’d be willing to go, rather than actually taking the time to really get to know him so they’d both benefit. It depressed him how many women couldn’t wrap their heads around the fact that their pleasure was his pleasure, and it was his duty and right to give it when he deemed it appropriate.

It had been that guiding principle that had led Chase and him not only into the scene, but in the search for a submissive to share.

Eve stared into her food. She’d stopped eating, and based on the way she fidgeted with the fork, he’d guess she was lost in some sort of memory. Longing to touch her, he reached out and stroked her hair. The soft strands caressed his fingers. His cock tightened and strained against his pants. It seemed no matter what they did, she aroused him.

“The building belongs to my stepfather.” Her answer came out on a hoarse croak. “When he got sick, it kinda became my responsibility.”

Ah… Now they were getting somewhere.

“Is he…” Murphy hated to ask the question.

Eve shook her head furiously. “Oh no, he’s still alive and for the most part well. About six months ago I moved him into a local assisted-living facility. He has Alzheimer’s.”

Chase and he both nodded. She’d spoken the words calmly enough, although the frown lines on her forehead made him curious. There was definitely more to her story.

Presuming they were satisfied, she returned to her meal and they all finished in silence. When all the food and drink had been consumed and Chase’s office restored to order, Murphy pulled Eve between them.

“You certainly don’t offer much detail about yourself, do you?”

She blinked up at him. “I didn’t think it mattered here. I do my job, whatever that may be, then I go home to my personal life and trudge through that.”

“See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Why are you trudging along? Honestly, Eve, that doesn’t sound fun at all.” Murphy reached for another lock of her hair and twirled it between his fingers. He needed to stop thinking about sex, but he couldn’t stop touching her.

“Today was the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” she whispered.