He looked up, at the folder still sitting on the corner of the desk. From here he could read the hand-lettered label on the tab: Mary Landry Mental Health Education Foundation.
Loud, tasteless, fun-loving Uncle Grif had funded a program to educate the public about mental illness and the mentally ill. He had named it after his sister-in-law, Mitch’s mother, who had spent her last years in and out of institutions, struggling for a normalcy she could never quite attain.
Mitch felt ambushed by grief for a man he’d never really known. A man he’d never have the chance to thank.
Had Uncle Grif left him these things to show how wrong Mitch had been in his judgment? Or as a way of saying he understood?
He stood and opened another folder on the desk. This one held tax forms. Despite his happy-go-lucky reputation, Grif had been a sound businessman. Just 4 Play was on solid financial footing and had increased profits every year in the three years since it had opened.
But money didn’t equal respect. In yet another folder, he’d found paperwork showing the Chamber of Commerce had turned down Grif’s application for membership, with a curt letter stating Just 4 Play did not enhance the family-oriented reputation they wanted to project.
He pushed aside the stack of files and stretched. A glance at his watch showed it was after noon. A good time to go out for a bite to eat. As Jill had pointed out, he had to eat three times a day, though sorry to say, he wasn’t having sex three times a day. Not even three times a week. And from the way Lana had acted last night, he’d be lucky if she ever had sex with him again.
Then again, would that be such a loss?
With this disturbing thought, he emerged into the main part of the store. As Jill had said, lunchtime business was brisk, with people lined up two deep at the register and more browsing in various parts of the store. He spotted Jill in a back corner, rearranging items on a pegboard.
She glanced toward him, then quickly looked away. The deliberate snub annoyed him. Just because they disagreed on how he should run his business didn’t mean they couldn’t be civil. As her boss, it was up to him to set an example. He decided to ask her if she wanted him to bring anything back for her lunch.
She was standing on tiptoe to hang something on one of the pegs when he reached her corner. “Hello, Jill.”
“Hello, Mitch.” She reached into another carton, not looking at him.
“What do you have there?” He nodded to what looked like a ball of fake fur in her hand.
“Fur-lined handcuffs.” She held up what he could see now was two circlets of black fur joined by a silver chain.
“Okay. But why fur?”
“It’s more comfortable. See?”
Before he could react, she snapped one cuff around a pole on the display and another around his right wrist.
“Hey!” He struggled against the restraint. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Just showing you how comfortable they are.” Her innocent smile failed to mask the evil gleam in her eye.
He refused to give her the satisfaction of thinking she’d bested him. He studied his cuffed wrist. The fur against his skin was cool and silky. “People actually think this is sexy?”
“It’s not the cuffs themselves that are so sexy. It’s the element of danger.” She moved closer, her voice softer, confiding. “Of risk. Of having to trust your partner completely.”
She was so close now he could see each individual eyelash, and the smattering of freckles beneath the powder on her nose. He held his breath, half-afraid she’d hear the hammering of his heart and know how she’d affected him.
“Here. You look uncomfortable.” She grasped the knot of his tie and tugged it loose, then began to loosen the buttons of his shirt. She moved slowly, focused on the task, her fingers lightly grazing his skin as she parted the starched cotton.
He grabbed her wrist with his free hand. “What are you doing?” His gaze met hers, the blue depths of her eyes pulling him in even as his mind warned him to keep his distance. “Get me out of here before someone comes along and sees us.” His voice was tight and husky, the voice of a stranger.
“Oh, no one’s paying any attention to us.” Her lips curved in a slow smile. “I thought you wanted to understand the appeal.”
She stepped back, just out of his reach, and picked up a small whip, with a fringed leather tassel at the tip. “The cuffs are like this cat-o’-nine-tails. It’s not really designed to harm.” She flicked it across his chest, the tassel barely brushing against him. “You can use it to tickle. Or perhaps more firmly.” She wielded the whip with more force this time, though still barely grazing him. “The idea is to heighten sensation.”
All thought of his surroundings faded as he watched her. His skin felt feverish, his nerves raw, tingling with awareness of her—of the smooth skin of her arms brushing him as she reached for something on a shelf, of the curve of her breast outlined by the clinging knit of her sleeveless top, of the bottomless blue of her eyes as she watched him.
He reminded himself she was doing this on purpose. She was deliberately trying to make him feel vulnerable. Trying to prove some point. He wouldn’t be swayed so easily. He forced a lightness into his voice that he didn’t feel. “Do you always break in new bosses this way?”
“I thought you wanted to understand.” She trailed the whip across his throat, tickling, teasing, stealing breath and coherent thought. “To see what it is that attracts people to these things.”
“Are you into this kind of thing? Bondage?” Heat pooled in his groin and desire lent an edginess to his voice.
She stroked the handle of the whip down her throat, a half smile on her full lips. He bit back a groan, determined to maintain control. “Maybe.” She leaned closer, engulfing him in the scent of jasmine. “That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? The experience?”
He reminded himself that they were not alone. At any moment now, someone might come down the aisle and wonder what was going on. It was important to keep his cool. Retain his dignity. And to not let Jill know she was getting to him. “I think you’ve made your point,” he said, his voice perfectly even, emotionless.
“No. I’ve only just begun.” She smiled, a secret, seductive look.
“I can see this is getting out of hand.” He struggled once more to free his wrist from the cuff. But underneath the fur was solid steel. He was held fast.
“It’s about so much more than sight. That’s why sometimes people use blindfolds. To heighten the other senses.” She took a black satin blindfold from the shelf and brushed it down his cheek. He glared at her, warning her she was taking this too far.
Still smiling, she laid aside the blindfold and reached for a small red bottle. “The sense of smell is important.” She opened a bottle and held it under his nose. A spicy fragrance replaced the aroma of jasmine.
“Or taste.” She touched her finger to his lips and he tasted cinnamon.
“And hearing.” She swished the whip past his ear. He flinched, even as heat coursed through him.
“Touch.” She trailed the whip down the center of his chest, the fringes dragging across his chest hair, tugging gently.
He fought to control his breathing, even as his body strained toward her. He couldn’t remember wanting a woman more—needing her with an urgency that defied logic. If he wasn’t held fast by the cuffs, he might have pulled her down right there in the aisle. He tried to read the expression in her eyes. Is that what she wanted, too, or was she only teasing him? Getting back at him