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