The naked Sonja in my brain is now encased in my ropes with beautiful knots, perfectly placed. Her arms are folded behind her back. Her breasts are framed, begging for my attention. My cock hardens.
“Do you write under your own name?” Stone asks.
The deep voice erases my vision. Thank fuck. I’m getting ready to masturbate at the breakfast table. What is wrong with me? I have to finish eating and get out of here—away from her.
“I use a pen name.”
“What is it? Maybe I’ve read some of your books.” Amy’s excitement is adorable. “If I haven’t, I’d love to.”
“I’m so sorry.” SJ glances up from whatever she’d been staring at on her plate. “I don’t tell anyone my pen name once they know my real name. It’s the only way I can keep my work separate from my personal life. You’ve met me as, uh, Sonja, but actually, I prefer SJ. My agent used my…legal name. But since you know it, I wouldn’t be comfortable if you knew my author name.”
Did anyone else catch that hesitation? I scan the table, but there’s no reaction beyond Stone nodding in approval. Yet another reason to stay away from her. I’ve played too many hands of poker in my life not to know a bluff when I see one. She’s lying about her names or something. I’m sure of it.
“You said your editor or agent or whatever paid for you to come to Colorado. Why not pay for you to take a trip for research?”
SJ shrugs. “My books sell and I get good reviews on how I present the lifestyle in a reasonably realistic manner.”
“There’s a club in Colorado Springs. I’d be willing to take you.” Eliot smiles at her and I want to punch that grin off his face.
“No. I’ll take her.” Did that just come out of my mouth? I press my lips together to keep more dumb ideas from spewing out. Eliot and his boys would turn SJ into their plaything. And his kink—their kink—is multiple partners. Three. Four. More. That’s not BDSM so much as polyamory. Their lack of expertise in bondage, in discipline, doesn’t explain my stupid outburst.
Blue eyes blink up at me. Her rosebud lips form a perfect O. “You will?”
My dick short circuits imagining what I could do with that mouth.
“Road trip.” Stone states. “We’ll all go. We can check on Blake while we’re there.”
And with that proclamation I’m screwed. No matter how I promise myself I won’t get tangled in this woman’s web of lies—once we get inside Pandora it will take everything in me to keep my hands and my ropes off her.
Four
SJ
I can’t believe I told them I write BDSM. Where did that come from? The conversation with my uncle. And the discussion I overheard last night while they were having dinner. Some small part of me must have still been wondering about why Alex tied up my cousin. A fetish would explain it. That same small part of me doesn’t wantthisAlex to bethatAlex. And if he is, there has to be a reason. My uncle doesn’t believe there’s a reasonable explanation. Maybe I should leave now. Go back to my apartment outside of Dallas and give up ever writing a book.
A firm knock at the door to my room startles me from my place at the window. It can’t be Alex. He practically ran out of the inn after it was decided we were going to a club. I open up to find Tyler standing on the other side ramrod straight, green eyes boring into me as if he can see all my sins. The hair on the back of my neck stands up. Has he figured out I’m a liar and about to ruin Alex’s life?
“If you want to go to the club, we have to give them your information for a background check.”
I step back in silent invitation. No way I’m doing this in the hallway. “You know I’m staying here under an alias.”
He nods and closes the door behind him, but doesn’t move into the room.
“If I give you my real name, how many people will it be shared with?” I’m wringing my hands, a total tell. I force them to still. Why the hell did my uncle register me under a fake name? Another layer of complication I don’t need.
“I spent my career as an FBI agent. I can keep your real identity a secret. Only our contact at the club will know and I’ll explain the sensitivity of the information.” How is this guy who looks like an aging—in a good way—surfer able to project such an air of authority?
I clear my throat. “Sarah Jane Reading. That’s R E A D I N G.”
“Driver’s license?”
Right. He’ll need all my info. I hesitate. If Alex has shared his past with Tyler—if he’stheAlex my uncle is searching for—my Texas ID could give it all away.
“I’ll call from the office phone and bring it right back.”
My uncle’s voice echoes through my head, “I think you might owe me, don’t you?” But really, if I do this, it’s for my cousin who I love. I dig out the card proving my real identity from a zippered pocket in my bag. I hesitate as I’m about to hand it over. Tyler’s eyes have softened and he holds out an open palm. I take a shaky breath and place the card in his hand. “Guard this with your life.”
“Did Amy tell you that she used to be in witness protection? Probably not. I was her handler and kept all her secrets. Trained her to keep them too. You can trust me.”
