High Seduction (24 page)

“You need us back?” Tim asked.

“Nope. I'll deal with the RCMP. Only when you're on duty again? Make a note to check the narcotics.”

“Done.” Tim breathed a little easier. “Lock up tight, and we'll be back in a few days.”

Dealing with Marcus's questions had been good for him, even though he wondered at the rash of break-ins Banff was experiencing. Between the call and the fresh air, his mood had turned, and he'd lost more of his bottled frustration.

He let himself back in the house and made his way upstairs, somehow unsurprised to discover Matt waiting for him in the living room. His friend's appearance was too timely to be coincidental.

Tim slowed to a stop at Matt's deliberate throat clearing. “What?”

Matt dropped the paper he was hiding behind, folding it carefully and placing it to one side. “That woman is in love with you.”

Tim laughed, unable to remain annoyed at his friend for his obvious upcoming interference. “You're a relationship expert now?”

His friend shrugged. “She's got all the signs of it, in case you're too close to notice. She told me everything, by the way. Everything that happened back in the old days, and what she did this morning. She's in the gym working out the advice I gave her.”

“Which was?”

“That she needs to trust you all the time.” Matt rose to his feet and paced toward him. “Tim, I've been your friend for years. We've done some crazy things together, and I don't trust you just because you saved my life. You're an amazing man in so many ways. I don't think she understands how much thought and caring you put into being in charge.”

Sudden clarity struck, and Tim felt damn near light-headed with the rush of inspiration.
Holy fucking shit.
“Matt, you're a genius.”

His intense approval made Matt pause. “Well, thanks, but—”

“No, I'm serious. Damn.
Damn.
” After all his concern regarding how he was going to move them forward, the idea triggered by Matt's casual comment was like having an impossible algebra equation magically unfold before him. “You know how I asked if you'd help me give Erin a fantasy? Would you be willing to also help straighten out this mess?”

A crease formed between Matt's brows. “I don't know what more I can do than offer advice. I mean, I'm willing, but what do you have in mind?”

Tim paused, ideas rushing him, but the specifics still falling into place. “Give me a bit to work out the details, but your point is valid. She
doesn't
know everything I think about heading into a situation, sexual or otherwise. Maybe that needs to change. Maybe what Erin needs is a hands-on dose of being completely in charge, not just the bit of holding back I was doing over the last couple of months. It might be the eye-opener we both need.”

Matt clasped him by the shoulder, his smile growing firmer as he nodded. “Whatever I can do to help, I'm your man.”

Tim slapped his back earnestly, then took off to figure out exactly the right way to make his point.

Erin was going to be his because she would know one hundred percent he was not only what she needed, but what she
wanted
. Heart and soul.

No turning back. Her body, her choice—it had to be for him.

CHAPTER
25

It was one thing to know where they had to go. It was another situation entirely to convince another person to take them both there. Tim changed quickly and headed down to the workout room before Erin could vanish.

She had finished her run and was seated on the floor stretching. Her dark eyes tracked him cautiously as he headed straight across the room into her space. When he squatted and wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck, leaning their foreheads together, tension oozed out of her like a slow leak in a punctured tire.

“It's going to be okay,” he whispered. “We'll figure it out.” They weren't typical words for a vow, but it was still a promise.

Erin nodded silently, and he ignored the extra moisture welling in her eyes. A bit more space was called for, so he pressed his lips to her forehead, then stepped away.

He headed to the free weights and grabbed a couple of light dumbbells to use for warmup. “Matt's got some business to take care of this morning, so he said for us to help ourselves to breakfast. He'll be free after lunch.”

“I thought he was on holidays until Wednesday?”

Tim met her gaze in the mirrors. “He's giving us time to work this out.”

“Just like that?” Utter misery in her voice. “We can get rid of years of baggage in a moment?”

“Make a start then. Move forward.”

Erin didn't answer.

“Come and spot me while I do bench presses,” Tim requested. What he was thinking was
no more running away allowed
.

Erin moved into position, and slowly the awkwardness drifted away. For the next forty-five minutes they fell into a comfortable, familiar routine. Not as Tim and Erin who were friends and lovers, trying to find a way to deal with the past. Not as Tim and Erin who walked a fine line of excitement and needed to find a way into their future.

Just steady co-workers. People who used their bodies to do a job and needed to keep their equipment in peak working condition.

When she laughed out loud at a snarky comment he dropped, Tim smiled. The next time they both had their hands empty, she surprised him by sneaking in and curling herself up close.

“Hug attack. I like it.” He stroked her back softly as she relaxed against him, both of them slightly sweaty, but damn if he cared. It was far more important to have her cheek resting on his shoulder, rhythmic puffs of air crossing his neck as her breathing evened.

It was time.

He stole one final brief kiss before adjusting their position so he could look into her eyes. “We need to talk.”

Erin made a face. “Can I apologize first for having the worst timing ever? Here we are in the middle of a fantasy-level vacation, and I dumped on it.”

“No apologies. If anything, I'm as much to blame because we should have had this conversation back in December when I first arrived in Banff. So instead of figuring out who did what wrong, let's move on.”

“Agreed.”

He led her to the workout bench and sat her down, dragging a second bench closer so he could sit by her side. “I listened closely to everything you had to say this morning.”

“And you were pissed.”

“I was, but I'm not anymore. What I am now is confused.”

She frowned. “What part didn't make sense?”

Tim hoped like hell this was going to work. “You were afraid you'd be willing to give up all control, inside the bedroom and out. Matt made a comment when I got back that helped me realize something.”

“Matt said a lot of things this morning,” Erin muttered.

Tim laughed. “He's an opinionated bastard, isn't he?”

Her expression twisted into a wry smile. “Sly bastards. I'm surrounded by them.”

Tim caught her fingers in his. “Serious now. Erin, what happens when you give me control in the bedroom? Think it through, and tell me everything.”

She paused. “You . . . make me feel good. Take me places I can't go by myself.” He nodded for her to continue. Her pupils widened slightly, as if in remembered passion. “You push my boundaries at times, but it always ends up with me trusting that the result will be worth it. Like having sex in front of Matt. I enjoyed that so much, and I can't even explain why.”

“I still take my pleasure,” he prompted. “It's not just about you.”

“It feels like it's all about me.”

Tim waited while a soft stream of curses escaped her lips.

“And that comment proves I'm a bigger ass than I thought.” She sighed heavily before lifting sad eyes to meet his. “You just seem so damn careful and considerate all the time, but it is about both of us, isn't it?”

“Yes.” Tim lowered his volume, his voice barely above a whisper. “I think about you the entire time. I watch. I listen closely. Trying to figure out what you need—
really
need—and what's going to take us both there.” He stroked her fingers lightly, needing to touch her. “I'm selfish enough to want the result to be pleasurable for me as well.”

She turned her hands over in his and watched as he traced his thumb back and forth over the sensitive inside of her wrist. “I'm pretty sure if it were a choice between my pleasure and yours, you'd pick mine.”

“It's not difficult to want the best for you.”

Erin cupped his face with one hand and leaned in to kiss him, the moisture clinging to her lashes wetting his skin as she brushed her cheek against his.

He took her offering but didn't let it end there. He couldn't. “You were afraid the next step would be giving up all control to me outside the bedroom.”

She nodded.

They hovered on the edge of a knife blade. Could he help her understand? “Think for a moment. Think of what you said I do when it comes to the control you grant in our sex lives. What if, and I'm not asking you to become my full-time sub, but just
think
. What if you did give up control to me in all places, and all times? What do you think I would do with that power?”

Erin pulled back as he spoke, her expression changing rapidly. A second of shock, followed by bewilderment, confusion, then finally frustration. “I . . . Dammit, Tim, I don't know. I want to say one thing, and then images of what I've seen over the years invade, and I lose my mind and can't spit anything coherent out.”

He soothed her, stroking her arm carefully. “You've been to clubs, I take it, and . . . what? Read books? Seen full-time subs at their Master's feet, naked and on display during dinner parties?”

“Collared and controlled,” she offered in a whisper. “The thought gives me shivers for all of three seconds before it nauseates me. I don't want that, I
don't
. And yet . . . I do.”

“Oh, love. You've got the right idea headed in the wrong direction.” He pulled her across the short distance separating them to give her the hug she so clearly needed.

She clung to him, curling her legs up and nestling in like she was craving the contact.

They sat in silence for a good five minutes. Her breathing remained rapid, and she twitched at times while he stroked her back and caressed her softly. Their positioning wasn't sexual, but in many ways the contact was intimacy of a far greater nature than full-out sex.

His hopes rose.

“Explain. What wrong direction am I headed?” Erin asked, firmness reentering her voice.

“Your admiration for the Doms and their subs—it's the depth of the relationship that you're craving. The commitment to caring, the complete connection. However, you've also got a bit of an exhibitionist streak, if you're willing to confess to it.”

She snorted. “Fine. I like to be watched.”

“When you see subs on display, you like what that represents, but, Erin”—he tilted her head back to stare into her eyes—“you're right—you don't want that all the time. You have other needs that rise stronger when you're in public. If you were twenty-four-seven with a Dom who really paid attention, you would still not end up like those subs. That's not your fantasy—and a relationship that intensely controlled isn't right for many people. In fact, there are as many different variations as there are couples.”

“So you're saying I don't have to worry about losing my will by being involved with you?”

“I'm saying you'd never make a full-time sub of the naked variety, even though you do like to be watched. It would make it damn near impossible to pilot the chopper on rescues. You'd distract everyone.”

“Smart-ass.”

The tension was there still, but she was smiling again.

Tim went for broke. “I have a proposition. I think it will make things clearer for you.”

“Go on.”

He twisted her to face him. “I suggest that for the rest of the day, you be in charge.”

An adorable frown creased her face. “Of sex?”

“Of everything. Unless you intend to spend fourteen hours fooling around, which . . . okay.”

Erin hesitated. “Me being in charge in the bedroom doesn't do it for us. If I'm being honest. We did that for the past few months, remember?”

“Well, it didn't suck
that
bad.”

She smiled.

Tim went on. “I know what you're saying, but the experience could still be educational, if we approach it from a new angle. Don't think about the kink, consider the mind-set.”

A momentary flash of delight broke free. “I get to order you around for the entire day?”

“I'll be putty in your hands. Everything you desire from me. I'll be your magical genie, and your wish will be my command.” He waited, absolutely sure she would get the full picture without him prompting her.

The truth of what being in charge actually meant.

When her amusement rapidly faded, Tim waited to see what she'd do.

It was either the smartest thing he'd ever done, or the stupidest. The next few hours would tell.

* * *

Her head felt full of stuffing. Tim's suggestion that she take charge had been unexpected and, in a way, unwanted. Until she realized it was a serious, well-considered proposition, like everything he did.

There were far more reasons to accept the task than to turn it down.

The most important was that working through this day might somehow help them take steps to make their relationship work. She hadn't brought up old wounds for fun, or even as Matt had hinted, in a twisted attempt to tear her and Tim apart.

After last night she
wanted
them to work, but the fear that remained was too much to conquer on her own.

So she pulled herself together and took a deep breath. Refocused on what needed to happen next, as she would in a rescue situation.

She was in control? This wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last. She knew how to deal with it.

Erin found her feet, putting herself into position over him. “Challenge accepted.”

Tim leaned back. “Good for you.”

Then he sat there.

Waiting.

She laughed. He was going to take this to the extreme, was he? Put her in charge of absolutely everything? “I hope you don't expect me to tell you when you're allowed to take a piss, because you're on your own for that one.”

Amusement bloomed over his face as he pushed back his dark hair. “Acknowledged. I'm in charge of my own pissing.”

They grinned at each other for a moment, and then she stepped forward and laid a hand on his shoulder, stroking the firm muscles under her fingers. “You done with your workout?”

“Enough for today.”

She stroked him with her words now, as well as her fingers. “You want a shower?”

Tim's eyes lit up. “I thought you'd never ask.”

They linked fingers and headed off through the maze of the rental house. “I still can't believe you have random billionaires on speed dial.”

“I know lots of interesting people. Wait until we get front-row invites to a couple of rock concerts.”

She wasn't sure what to make of that comment, so she concentrated on their target instead. Considered their
plans
, since she had to make the decisions. Shower, then breakfast. Then another day in paradise . . .

Her feet stalled, and she jerked to a halt. “What about Matt?”

Tim stepped around her, pacing backward down the hall. “You need to double-check, but he said this morning that he was good with whatever we had going down.”

Of
course
he had. Great. Wonderful. Fucking
marvelous
. This changed things . . . and yet, not.

Screw it. Erin powered forward. She'd been flying missions for years. Done what needed to be done in scary, hairy circumstances. This was simply one more day, and she wasn't going to be frightened off by the fact that she now had two grown men at her beck and call.

Two men who'd fucked her senseless the night before.

She slapped down her brain before it could head further into stupid territory. Instead, she turned the stress around, and as they entered their suite she summoned up all the rules she'd used for so many years in her life.