The Man Without Rules (34 page)

Fired

"Officer Copenhagen." Sebastian offered his hand and took a sip of his drink. He wasn't the least bit worried about hiding his drunkenness because she wasn't trying to hide how badly she wanted him.

"Nora," she said. "I'm off duty."

"Hm.
Then why are you here, if not on official business."

"Mr. Boa, sir. Should I leave?"

"No, Rachel. I think it would be best if you stayed. After all, I am being accused of a rape I didn't commit. Leaving Ms. Nora here alone with me wouldn't be a good idea, would it?"

"No, sir, Mr. Boa."

"One or the other, Rachel.
You don't need to use both."

"Right.
Sorry."

Sebastian scrutinized Nora like he wasn't sure what to do with her. Finally, he asked, "Would you like a drink?"

"Yes, please." Nora folded her hands behind her back and looked around. She still wore her uniform and it fit her curves particularly well.

"Rachel, please pour Nora a drink from the bar in my office." He lifted his glass.
"Bourbon alright?"

"That's fine."

"Bourbon, Rachel."

"Yes, sir, Mr…
Yes, sir."

"Do you play?" Nora asked, nodding to his piano.

"No. Do you?" Too many people knew the truth already, and Sebastian didn't think he could handle a request to play. Remembering the night Mariss had joined him at his mother's piano was painful.

She shook her head, looking sheepish. "I'm not musically inclined."

"Hm.
So, tell me why you're here."

Sebastian settled himself on the arm of a chair and took small sips of his drink.

"I thought that you… Well, I was hoping… You said you were cooperative on many different levels."

"Yes, but you're not here on official business. So, what brings you by?" He knew the look he gave her was smug as he lifted the glass to his lips again.

Nora frowned, suddenly angry, but before she could speak, Rachel returned.

"Here's your drink, Officer Copenhagen. Mr. Boa, would you like another?"

"Yes, please, Rachel. Nora, if there's nothing else you need, I don't see why you're still here."

Nora tossed back her drink. He shouldn't have been impressed. She worked with a lot of tough men and brought in worse as suspects in all manners of crime.

"I'm here because…" she faltered.

Sebastian shrugged. "If you can't even ask for what you want, how am I supposed to give it to you?" Yes. This felt more like what he was used to. His smugness and arrogance came flooding back. Everything of himself he'd put away because of Mariss now returned to him with easy gratification.

"You interrogated me not even an hour ago for a rape I'm accused of." He cocked an eyebrow. "If you want something from me, you'll ask for it. I won't be offering anything to you besides that drink, Officer Copenhagen."

She shuddered and he grinned. Nora's eyes went to his mouth and he scraped his teeth over his lower lip. The sexual tension in the room went from fifty percent to seventy five. He thought she was about to tell him what she wanted when the doorbell rang.

"Rachel," he said without taking his eyes from Nora. He thought she looked like she wanted to fan herself, but she shoved her hands in her pockets instead.

"Yes, sir."

Rachel opened the door.

"Who are you?" Hellena barged past her. "What's going on?"

Sebastian nodded to Nora. "Officer Copenhagen wanted something from me." Rachel brought Sebastian his new drink and took his empty glass.

"This is my new assistant Rachel. Rachel, Hellena."

"Nice to meet you," Rachel said.

"
Ja
," was Hellena's only reply.

"So, Nora.
What will it be? You're more than welcome to leave, of course. I would never force anyone into something they were uncomfortable with." He chuckled a little. "Do you believe that? This is Hellena, by the way. She works for me and we have sex rather often. Sometimes she just watches."

He gauged her reaction to that information. Some of her discomfort seemed to ease.

"Nora, I'll be frank. I can be a patient man, but I have somewhere to be this evening and I need to discuss Rachel's job with her a bit further. Is there something you want to ask me? Otherwise, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Nora nodded. "I want to fuck you," she said in a rush of words, like if she didn't just get it out she knew she wouldn't be able to.

"Of course you do." Sebastian turned from her and headed toward his bedroom. "I have one other stipulation," he insisted. "We'll be recording it.
For my own personal safety, of course."

Nora nodded.
"Of course.
Do I have your word that this won't, uh, come back to bite me later?"

Sebastian shot her a look. "Oh, yes, that would be a problem, wouldn't it? I'll give you my word, though I'm not entirely certain that you believe that I didn't try to rape anyone, so I'm not sure what good that would do." He chuckled.

"Rachel, you're free to go." Sebastian pulled his shirt over his head as his new, incompetent assistant stuck her bespectacled face out of the office door. Her cheeks flushed bright red and she
stumbled
face first into the marble floor. Rachel's thick-rimmed glasses skipped across the slick surface and hit the wall on the other side of the front hall. Her little cry of surprise and pain brought Sebastian to her side.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice laced with concern. He helped Rachel into a sitting position. Blood ran from her nose.
"Bloody hell.
Hellena, get a towel." To Rachel, he said, "I don't think it's broken."

"Oh, that's alright. It wouldn't be the first time."

"Hm.
Well, we'll get you some ice for that. Nora, if you don't mind?"

"Of course."

"Kitchen is through there," Sebastian said, pointing around the piano. "You're quite clumsy aren't you?" he asked Rachel.

"Yeah.
Sometimes.
It's no big deal though."

Hellena came back with a hand towel. Sebastian pressed it to Rachel's nose. "Hold it there," he commanded. "Tilt your head back to help stop the bleeding."

"Here's the ice," Nora said. She handed him a tied baggy she'd found in the kitchen.

"Thank you." He pressed this to Rachel's nose too, over the towel. "Do you want to go to hospital?" he asked, noting that her left eye looked like it was starting to bruise.

"No, I'm fine. I think I'll be okay."

"I'm going to send you anyway." Sebastian put Rachel's hand over the ice pack on her nose. "I'm going to call my car and have you taken to make sure you're not concussed, yes?"

"Yes, okay. Thank you, Mr. Boa, sir." Rachel heaved a heavy sigh and started to cry. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so clumsy."

"Don't cry, sweetheart." Sebastian rubbed Rachel's arm. "Stop that. You're alright."

Sebastian called his driver. "I need you to take my new assistant to hospital. Would you please come up and get her? Thank you." He hung up and said, "It's done. He'll be up in a moment.
You doing
alright?"

Rachel nodded, even though her head was still tilted back against the wall.

"Good. I want you to text me when you make it to the ER and again when you find out if you have a concussion, are we clear?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Boa.
Thanks you."

"Can't have you bleeding on the marble, can we?" he joked. Rachel smiled.

Sebastian helped Rachel to the door when his driver came for her, then turned to Nora and Hellena. Their wide eyes blinked at him like they'd never seen him before.

"What's the problem?" he
asked,
his voice dropping to an almost-growl. "Why are you two still dressed? Hellena, set up the camera in the office, yes? I'll be right there."

Sebastian went to the kitchen and looked in the refrigerator. It took him a moment to find what he wanted. He carried it into the office with him.

Hellena sat behind his desk while Nora sat in one of the other chairs. They were both naked.

"Clear the desk, Hellena. Nora, lay on top. Is the camera on?"

"Yep," Hellena answered. Sebastian shot her a look and she grinned.
"Yes, sir."

"Good." Once Nora was situated, Sebastian splayed the banana peel across her stomach and held up the peeled fruit.

"Where the hell is that supposed to go?" Nora shrieked.

Sebastian just grinned.

***

The book launch was supposed to be a role play party. Of course, seeing that a club like his - owned by a man similar to himself - was the main focus of the story, he'd been asked to dress as the main character in a three piece suit and tie. All black on red, of course.

What he hadn't banked on was that Mariss was asked to portray the main female character. Having not read the book, he hadn't expected Mariss' character to show up in a black lace corset dress that hid nothing but her breasts. And even they weren't fully covered. She by no means stood out, at least not in the manner of her dress, but he couldn't take his eyes off her. Hellena would never have worn something so revealing because of her scars.

The cream-colored breast cups stood out against her honey-toned skin with matching boning running down to her hips where it disappeared in a froth of skirts that barely covered her arse. Everything else was see-through.

Sebastian took a moment to collect himself before he walked over to the table he'd set up for them. The club was in full swing by this time of night and the table was crowded. Rachel tagged along behind him.

"I'm surprised your husband let you out of the house looking like that," Sebastian said in her ear, so she would hear him.

"I got the outfit approved before I left," she admitted.

"Of course you did. You look lovely, at any rate."

"Thanks. You look resplendent, as always."

As always.
So then, it wasn't much of a complement, was it?

There was a commotion at the front door and the three models from the shoot came in. Paul was half dressed, wearing fireman's trousers with red suspenders and a fireman's helmet.
Tattoos was
, of course, in leather pants and no shirt so his ink was on full display. His arms were wrapped in leather bracelets. A large silver cross hung from his neck and his eyes were thickly lined with dark eyeliner. The Marine was dressed like a Marine. How original.

Something brushed against Sebastian's arm and he looked down to see Eloisa standing next to him.

"Mr. H is here!" she called, referring to the character he was supposed to be portraying. "Now the party can get started." She winked at him.

Sebastian grinned. "I know nothing about this Mr. H."

Eloisa shrugged and took a drink. "That's alright. Donna, the author, has a bit of an obsession with you, so you're pretty much him. Except that he's in his twenties and has longer hair and brown eyes. She didn't want it to be too obvious." She winked.

Sebastian laughed. "No, that wouldn't do.
And the three models?
What are they here for?"

"Mariss invited them this afternoon. They're supposed to be the three strippers in the book."

"Right.
It sounds like someone has some latent sexual fantasies." Eloisa laughed at him. "Which one is the author?"

She pointed to a woman sitting on the outside of the table. She was pretty with long, chestnut hair and well done makeup. When she smiled, he could see that she was a very kind woman.

"She's not married or seeing anyone." Eloisa shrugged. "She's a great woman though. We've all enjoyed working with her."

Mariss lifted her glass into the air in an attempt to get everyone's attention. Sebastian made his way closer to them. After a moment the table went quiet, though Mariss had to shout over the rest of the noise in the club to be heard.

"First of all," she began, "I'd like to thank Sebastian for the use of his club tonight and welcome him aboard as half owner at
Red Wife Media Group
." She shot him a pointed look.

There was a round of applause and cheers. Sebastian bowed and fought to look humble and sober. "It was my pleasure," he said.

"Donna, we want you to know how much fun we've had working on your project and we hope to work with you on many more." There was more cheering. "And we wish you all the success in the world.
Alright.
Enough with the serious stuff.
Time to party!"

A loud cheer went up from the table, drawing the attention of the other clubbers.

Sebastian made nice with the partiers, signing autographs and making jokes. As the night progressed, so did his drunkenness until he forced himself to take a seat before he fell on his face. It was about that time he realized how tipsy the three models were getting.