Little Red Riding Crop
Page 8

Nora buried her face in the sheets. Brad dug his teeth into the back of her shoulder. When she came, she came with a scream even the bed could not muffle. But not even her scream could cover the sound of Brad’s groan as he flinched and shuddered with his own powerful orgasm.
Passively Nora lay beneath Brad as he caught his breath before pulling slowly out of her raw body. He untied her wrists from the bedpost, unstrapped her ankles from the spreader bar. Nora rolled onto her back, looked his naked form up and down, and laughed.
“Yes, laughing at me while I’m naked,” Brad said as he looped the rope and knotted it neatly. Nora saw the amusement in his eyes. “That is sure to get you into my good graces.”
“I’m only laughing because your nickname is so appropriate...Mr. Big Brad Wolfe,” Nora said with nothing but appreciation for his big-Bradness. “Is Wolfe really your last name?”
Brad gave her a wink.
“Is Nora Sutherlin really your name?”
“Touché. So it’s been an hour. And you made me scream, you bastard. Do I win? Do I get my five minutes with the Dame?”
Brad sighed heavily.
“Talking about your one motivation for letting me beat you and f**k you won’t really get you on my good side either.”
This time, Nora couldn’t see the smile.
“Brad...you knew I was here to see the Dame. One hour with you, five minutes with her. That was the deal.” Nora raised up on her elbows, wincing at the soreness between her legs.
“The deal. Right.”
“You and me...we’re supposed to be professionals here,” she reminded him.
“I don’t f**k my clients.” Brad pulled on his pants with brisk efficiency. “Neither do you, I hear. What happened here wasn’t business.”
“Yeah...but it was a lot of f**king fun.”
Brad finally cracked a smile.
“I can’t argue with that. Okay, get dressed. The Dame’s office is opposite this one in the other hall—black door, red knob. Don’t bother knocking. Just go in.”
“Will she be nice to me?”
“Depends on her mood. I’ll see you out.”
Brad left without even kissing her goodbye. Then Nora realized how odd it was she even wanted him to. Just sex. Just a trade. Just business. Right?
Careful of her flogged back, Nora dressed in her skirt and corset and pulled on her red cloak once more. She took her time for reasons she didn’t want to consider. She needed to get this over with so she could get out of town and forget about Kingsley, about the Black Forest, and especially about the Big Brad Wolfe. She’d lay down her little red riding crop for a few weeks and come back to New York more vicious than ever.
Nora strode down the hall to the black door with red knob. After one quick breath, she turned the knob, stepped inside and felt her jaw hitting the floor.
When she finally picked it up again, she could only manage one single sentence.
“My goodness,” Nora said to The Dame, “what a big...crop you have.”
***
Brad escorted Nora to the door of the Black Forest.
“So what are you going to tell Kingsley?” he asked, running a hand up and down Nora’s arm.
“I’ll tell him the truth. I met The Dame. I talked to The Dame. The Dame promised to stop poaching King’s people if King promises he’ll stop sending spies into Black Forest.”
“Very good. What if Kingsley asks what The Dame is like?”
Nora grinned up at Brad, up at the mysterious Dame who no one ever saw but everyone had heard of.
“Like I said, I’ll tell him the truth. I’ll tell him The Dame is amazing in bed.”
“You can also tell Kingsley The Dame will send Hunt back to him if Kingsley’s willing to give the poor boy two days off a week.”
Nora nearly sagged with relief.
“You’re giving Hunt back? I’m a better lay than I thought I was.”
“Top five of my life. Definitely.”
“Thank you, Sir. You’re not so bad yourself.”
With a final grin thrown over her shoulder, Nora left the club and headed back to the real world, to the streets of Manhattan, the streets she couldn’t wait to leave behind. All the way back to her house in Connecticut, Nora thought of Brad and the brilliant ruse of The Dame--the club-owner no one ever saw but ruled her dark little world from behind the sheer curtains of Black Forest. She’d somehow earned Brad’s trust, earned a glimpse behind that curtain. And more importantly, had earned her month off, her month in Europe.
She barely slept that night while trying to decide where she’d go, what she would do with all her time off. The next morning she packed fast, grabbed her passport and decided to book a ticket at the airport. Fate would decide her next move. She’d pick a destination based on the next flight out when she got there.
At Kingsley’s townhouse, she picked up her last paycheck for four weeks and parked her car in his garage. In the cab, she told the driver to take her to JFK and drop her at any gate she wanted. Nora leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. Freedom...she’d earned a month of freedom. No boss to tell her what to do, where to go, what people to beat. Exactly what she wanted, right? So why did she feel so uneasy?
The cab jolted as it hit a bump and Nora opened her eyes.
“What happened?”
“Sorry, Miss. Construction. Had to take a detour,” the driver said.
Nora nodded and looked out the window. To her right she saw none other than the entrance to Black Forest. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat as memories of Brad inside her body caused desire to well up inside her hips and stomach.