Читать книгу Tied Up With Love: A feel-good, romantic comedy to make you smile - Holly Martin - Страница 13

Chapter Four

Izzy waited until he was out of sight before she breathed a sigh of relief. The chemistry between them was an almost tangible thing. Surely he felt it too. But what if the desire to straddle him in his chair or make love to him down on that rug was completely one sided. That would be very humiliating if she pursued that. Besides, what would he make of her scars? He would be repulsed by them, she was sure of that. She had vowed long ago that she would have to trust someone completely before she ever got that intimate with them. Which kind of put a one night stand out of the question. She wanted this job too. Not for the money, although that would come in handy, but because she knew she could make a real difference here and she hadn’t felt like that for a long time. She didn’t want to damage her chance of working here by jumping into bed with her boss for one night of hot, passionate sex. Although, one thing was for sure, the sex would be hot. She pushed that thought away. She was professional, she was quite sure she could do this job without thinking about ripping his shirt off every five seconds.

‘Tea or coffee?’ Ethan all but growled from the kitchen.

‘Tea, please.’

She could do this, she could work alongside him.

He came out and slammed a mug down with tea the colour of mud inside. He was clearly trying to prove a point. She took a big swig, ignoring the burning sensation at the back of her throat and then swivelled back to the computer.

‘So we have a booking at three-thirty today, I’d like to come along and see what happens.’

‘You’re the receptionist, you’re here to take calls. The men will do the field work.’

‘How very traditional. The man does the hard labour and the little woman stays at home and knits and cleans.’

He fixed her with a steely gaze. ‘You’re very welcome to come round to mine and clean if you wish, but I think we’ll stick with the phone calls for now.’

‘I’m more than happy to stay here, I’m not encroaching on your side of things. I just need to get an idea of how the other side works. I can’t answer questions or sell our product if I don’t know about it. I’ve experienced first-hand what it’s like for the woman to be kidnapped, but I need to see a successful operation rather than a bungled one.’

She watched that vein pulse in the side of his neck and strangely found a bizarre pleasure in pissing him off so much.

‘Fine, you can come, but don’t get in the way, don’t interfere.’

‘I promise.’ She smiled sweetly at him, knowing it would piss him off even more. ‘So tell me a bit more about what happens in the house, once we deliver the victim.’

He quirked an eyebrow. ‘You want to talk about sex?’

This would be the real test, to talk about this with him without actually picturing doing it with him.

‘Not specifically, not the ins and outs.’ She let that statement hang in the air for a moment and watched him shift slightly in his chair. ‘Just what it is that the couples do, are all the women tied up?’

‘Yes, pretty much.’

‘Threatened?’

‘In the same manner that you were, “Do as you’re told and you won’t get hurt.” The women know that the threat is part of the role play, that there is no real danger. We make it clear beforehand that there is to be no violence, spanking, caning or otherwise. And the wife is given a safe word. If it all gets too much then she uses this and all action will stop.’

It all sounded a bit weird to her.

‘So, the woman, she remains tied up throughout?’

‘Whilst they are having sex, that’s down to preference but for some, yes. Some women are blindfolded too.’

‘The husband, he takes the role of the kidnapper, a stranger, and forces the wife to have sex with him?’

‘Forced in the loosest sense of the word. The threat is implied but never enforced. I don’t think our business would last very long if we were encouraging husbands to rape their wives.’

‘No I didn’t mean – ’

‘I know you didn’t. Look, let me show you.’ He stood up and her heart roared.

He walked round to her side of the desk. ‘Close your eyes.’

She stared at him, doubtfully.

‘I’m not going to hurt you or even touch you. Trust me.’

Strangely, she did trust him. She closed her eyes.

‘Pretend that we’re married, that I’m the love of your life.’

She opened one eye and saw him smirk. ‘I realise that might take a little bit of imagination. Just go with it.’

She closed her eyes again and heard him kneel down next to her. When he spoke, his voice was soft and alluring. ‘You’re so beautiful. I can’t wait to get you naked underneath me. Go over to the bed and take your clothes off.’

Shit. This was so freaking hot. If it felt like this with just a few words from Ethan, who she barely knew, she could easily imagine how sexy it would be to do this with someone she loved, knowing they would never do anything to hurt her.

He shifted closer, and she felt the warmth of his skin as he leaned in to whisper into her ear. ‘If you do as you’re told, I’ll reward you later.’

If he took her hand and led her to the couch now, she couldn’t even stop him. What the hell was wrong with her? She shook her head to clear the lust induced haze that had settled on her brain and opened her eyes. He stared at her for a moment, his blue eyes were dark and unblinking and then suddenly he stood up, breaking the spell between them.

‘It’s something like that,’ he said as he returned to the other side of the desk.

She cleared her throat, determined that he wouldn’t know how much he’d had an effect on her. ‘I’m just trying to get my head around this. Women actually like this stuff?’ She was suddenly horribly aware that she sounded naïve and inexperienced. She expected him to mock her, but he didn’t.

‘Based on my experience and those told to me by men who like to boast of their sexual conquests, a lot of women like to be tied up. Men like to tie their women up, so it is mutually beneficial. I suppose it goes back to the caveman times. Women like to be overpowered. We offer to do this in a safe and controlled way. The way he looked at her then was like he was seeing right inside her. ‘I take it you’ve never been tied up during sex?’

What a personal question, but she refused to be intimidated by him.

‘I like sex Ethan, in fact I love it – ’

‘With men?’

She gaped for a second before she remembered the Bert-lesbian fracas the night before in The Frog. ‘Yes with men.’

He smirked. ‘Just checking.’

‘As I said, I like sex, I’ve never considered my sex life to be dull. Variety is the spice of life. I just… If me and you were having sex, I’d want to touch you all over and I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much if I couldn’t.’

He stared at her and she instantly regretted using him in her hypothetical sex scenario.

‘Let’s get one thing clear, Miss Franklin, we are never going to have sex. Don’t go getting any ideas after that stunt I just pulled.’

She fixed him with a look of disdain. ‘Believe me when I tell you, you are the last person in the world I would want to have sex with and if you ever try anything you will have more than a black eye to contend with. I was speaking theoretically as you are well aware, I was merely saying that touching is a huge part of sex for me. I don’t think I would like being blindfolded either, I think I’d be a bit scared by my vulnerability rather than turned on by it.’

‘I wouldn’t knock it until you’ve tried it.’

‘Sex with you or being tied up and blindfolded?’

She saw him smile as he looked down and fiddled with a stray thread on his shirt. It was the first genuine smile she’d seen from him. What a bizarre start to the day. She hadn’t known Ethan for twenty-four hours and they were discussing sex as calmly as if they were discussing their favourite pizza toppings. Still, the nature of Ethan’s business was sex, so this conversation was bound to come up at some point.

‘It comes down to trust. That’s why we only do this with husbands and wives. The theory being the wife knows the husband and trusts him completely. When you trust the person you’re with, being tied up and blindfolded can be hugely erotic.’

‘I take it you’ve tried it?’ she asked.

‘Yes. It’s not something I’ve done regularly, but one woman I’ve been with liked it.

‘Have you been tied up?’

‘No.’

‘Too emasculating for you?’

‘Something like that.’

Ethan was clearly the sort of man that wore the trousers in a relationship. She imagined the women he went for were petite, blonde, vacuous creatures who did exactly what he wanted. She was definitely not his type, something she was beginning to feel thankful for.

‘The husband sometimes takes the role of the rescuer too. We kidnap the wife and the husband will come in and save her.’

‘Really? Women want to be saved?’ Were the strong, independent women of the world merely putting on a front to cover up the fact that secretly they all liked the knight in shining armour fantasy?

‘Are you telling me you don’t want to be rescued by the handsome prince?’

‘That’s not my thing.’

‘Well for over half of our clients it is.’

‘Do you ever kidnap the husbands?’

‘No.’

‘You deal mainly with the man, when you arrange these things?’

He nodded.

‘That’s why. You’re predominantly acting out the man’s fantasies. We need to speak to them both so the experience is mutually beneficial.’

‘I don’t agree.’

‘No you wouldn’t. I’m sure in your world what the woman wants is irrelevant.’

He glared at her and for a second there was a flash of hurt in his eyes before it was replaced with his habitual anger. Thankfully at that moment there were a lot of male voices outside and suddenly the door was thrown open.

She couldn’t take her eyes off him and as the boys registered the staring competition that was going on inside the office they all fell silent.

Ethan was the first to look away as he stood up. ‘Isabelle, you didn’t really have a chance to meet these guys yesterday. Gizmo I presume you talked to on the way home, but this is Kyle.’ He gestured to Black Boots. ‘And behind Gizmo is Jim.’ Baldy peered round Gizmo’s enormous frame and gave her a wave. ‘This is Isabelle, our temporary receptionist.’

Izzy stood up, ignoring the emphasis that he had put on the word temporary. She held out her hand but Kyle immediately stepped forward and embraced her in a big hug. ‘This place looks great. Sorry about yesterday, no lasting scars I hope.’ He held her out at arm’s length to survey her.

‘I could say the same about you, sorry about your nose.’

He shrugged it off and she turned to face Gizmo and Jim. Gizmo, to her surprise, handed her a bunch of flowers.

‘I’m sorry about yesterday too, I’ve never grabbed the wrong woman before. You must have been terrified.’

‘Well I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t but it was an honest mistake, you didn’t have to do this.’ She took the flowers and smelled them obligingly. ‘They’re beautiful, thank you.’

Gizmo blushed.

‘I don’t have anything to apologise for, I’m just the driver,’ Jim said. ‘But I’m glad we finally have a woman working here to keep Ethan in his place.’

Ethan growled from behind her.

‘Ignore Ethan,’ Kyle said. ‘He’s a grumpy sod. Let’s go out to breakfast, Ethan you coming?’

‘No, and Isabelle has work to do, I’m not paying her to swan around all day, sitting in greasy spoon cafés. The van needs cleaning out so you guys need to be quick. You can bring her back something, by the size of her I’m guessing she’ll have some granola bar or a piece of wholemeal toast.’

‘Bacon and egg sandwich please, make sure the egg is extra runny.’ Izzy moved back around the desk to sit in Ethan’s chair and smiled at him as the boys left. The staring resumed for a moment or two and then he walked out, slamming the door behind him.

*

Ethan was in the kitchen when he heard Izzy come back from lunch. His heart gave a little leap and he wasn’t sure why. He checked his watch and saw she’d been gone for half an hour instead of the hour she was entitled to. She wasn’t alone.

‘I just came by to see if you were ok,’ said the other woman. ‘Those Chase men are clearly dangerous.’

‘Bex, are you on this again? Ethan might be a grumpy sod but he’s harmless,’ said Izzy and Ethan heard the squeak of his chair as she sat down.

‘It’s his brother I’m more concerned about.’

Ethan felt his hands curl into fists. He hated people talking about Gizmo. It was never anything good.

‘Gizmo is lovely.’

‘You won’t be saying that in a minute.’

‘I won’t have you spreading vicious rumours about him. This isn’t like you, you hate gossip. And this sort of thing could really damage someone’s reputation. He is not a rapist.’

‘Honey, I’m not partaking in idle gossip here, this is fact. I was worried after I left you in the pub yesterday, so I did a little research. Joseph Chase, aka Gizmo, went to prison for having sex with a minor or statutory rape. The proof is here.’

Bex had obviously handed Izzy something to read because there was a rustle of paper and Izzy went very quiet.

‘I don’t care what this says,’ Izzy said. ‘He was obviously wrongly imprisoned. I know he is innocent in this. You spend five minutes in the company of this man and you’d know it too.’

Ethan frowned. Why was she defending him? Everyone looked at the size and strength of Gizmo and decided straight away that he must have done it. No one knew him like his family did, no one believed him to be innocent.

‘Look maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. Just be careful. You’re up here in the middle of nowhere, with a convicted rapist – ’

‘He didn’t rape anyone Bex.’ Izzy’s voice had risen, her patience had clearly snapped. ‘And I’ve got work to do, so I’d like you to go.’

‘Iz –’

Ethan walked out into the office and saw Izzy jump with surprise. He looked at her, her eyes were suddenly fearful.

‘I didn’t know you were here.’

‘Evidently.’ His eyes slid to Bex who quickly closed her mouth. She recovered herself.

‘Ethan Chase, I presume, I’m Rebecca Dale – ‘

He ignored her outstretched hand. ‘I don’t care. If you’re quite finished slagging off my brother, you can leave.’

She looked startled at this but after a moment she moved to the door. ‘Iz I’ll call you later.’

Izzy nodded and Bex left.

Ethan turned back to face Izzy.

‘I’m sorry…I didn’t –’ she started.

‘What are you sorry for? For defending my brother? No one has ever done that before.’

She looked down, still clearly embarrassed. ‘I like Gizmo.’

‘He’s very likeable. However you should know that technically your friend is right.’

Izzy’s mouth fell open. He sat down opposite her with a sigh.

‘Gizmo did sleep with a minor. He was sixteen, she was fifteen. There’s only four months between them. They grew up together, were best friends, they had been going out since they were thirteen. If anything she seduced him, he was always too innocent in that side of things. Anyway, they had sex, her father found out and had him arrested. It didn’t matter that she consented, that she stood up in a court of law and said that she loved Gizmo. She was not considered to be legally mature enough to be able to consent. It was a total sham, but the judge sided with her father, made Giz out to be some sexual predator and he went to prison. We only found out later that the judge was a very good friend of her father’s.’

‘That’s horrible.’

‘It was. Gizmo stood in the dock and cried. It was heart-breaking, for all of us. I felt so bad that he was my little brother and there was nothing I could do to protect him. Initially, when the police came to arrest him I fought with them to stop them taking him. Something else your friend will probably tell you. At that stage I don’t think any of us thought he would actually go to prison over it. But he did. The press were heavily involved and even they were on our side. In the end it went to appeal and we got the conviction overturned, his record wiped clean. But that doesn’t erase the eight weeks he spent behind bars, or people’s opinion of him. Regardless that he was eventually found innocent, there will always be people that look at him like he’s some kind of paedophile.’

‘What happened to the girl?’

He smiled. ‘Gizmo married her. They’re expecting their second child in a few months. Needless to say, relations between him and his father-in-law have always been a bit strained.’

‘But surely people must see that he is innocent when the girl he is accused of raping married him.’

‘You would think wouldn’t you, but people don’t remember the victim, just the culprit. It’s a lot easier to believe that someone is guilty than it is to believe they are innocent.’ He looked at her with approval. ‘Well for most people it is.’

‘You should have told Bex all this.’

‘It was none of her business.’

‘It’s none of mine.’

‘It is when you’re defending him so vehemently.’

She looked down and that awkwardness between them returned. He stood up. ‘I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell Gizmo you know, he gets all funny about it.’

She nodded.

‘Then I’ll let you get back to work.’

*

Ethan watched Izzy run round the side of her house towards the van, dressed now in suitable kidnap attire. She was wearing black combat pants, black walking boots and a tight black hoodie. She looked like a ninja and an incredibly sexy one at that. Even more annoying was that, apart from Gizmo, everyone else in the van was openly staring at her too. Jim looked like he wanted to devour her. Ethan leaned forward in his seat, snagging Jim’s attention away from her.

‘You look at her like that again and I’ll gouge your eyes out. Do you understand?’

Jim stared at him for a second, clearly wondering if Ethan was serious. Whatever Jim saw made him get up and move to the furthest point away from Ethan, leaving the chair opposite him empty.

The van door slid open and Izzy, beaming like the Cheshire Cat, climbed in, clearly unaware that both Jim and Kyle were now too scared to even look at her.

What the hell was wrong with him? Jim and Kyle had always openly admired his women and it had never bothered him before. He didn’t want anyone looking at her like that. He didn’t want to look at her like that himself but he was damned sure no one else would ever look at her like she was a piece of meat, least not while he was around.

She looked up at him and the smile fell from her face. He couldn’t take his eyes of hers and she didn’t look away either. Gizmo took off and she lurched forward in her seat. He caught her, his hands on her arms to steady her, as he pushed her back gently into her seat.

‘Put your seatbelt on,’ he growled.

She nodded, suddenly compliant as she fumbled around with the clip.

‘When we do the collection, I want you over there out the way. I don’t want you to get involved at all. We’ll take Kirsty into the house and you can come in with us. There’ll be a short period of time where we can hang around at the beginning of the role play, sometimes the husband wants us involved, sometimes not.’

‘Involved?’ Her eyes were wide. Her innocence was achingly endearing.

‘Not in the sexual part but sometimes the husband likes to give us commands, talk to us as if it’s all part of some criminal underworld arrangement. As soon as anything remotely intimate starts, we are out of there. Our company is not into voyeurism and we certainly don’t remove any clothes, that part is all down to the husband. Once we leave them, I’ll show you around the rest of the house too.’

She nodded again, obviously taking this very seriously.

Why could he not stop staring at her?

The grey of her eyes was made up of a multitude of different shades, ranging from specks of slate grey to the lightest silver. Her eyelashes were so long, casting dark shadows on her pale cheeks and the lip she was currently chewing on he wanted to soothe with his tongue. He tore his eyes away from her, disgusted with himself for having such poor self-control. She continued to stare at him, her gaze burning into the side of his face.

‘Ethan, is that her?’ Gizmo called from the front and he stood up, glad to be away from Izzy and her incredible grey eyes.

‘Yep that’s her and the fact that she’s waving at us is quite a big clue.’

He looked back at Izzy to tell her to move but she was already unclipping herself from her seatbelt and standing up too. A nervous excitement emanated from her like a kid on Christmas morning and it made him smile, just briefly before he swapped it for his habitual scowl again.

Gizmo stopped the van and Ethan grabbed the side door and slid it open.