Rhea studied the variety of manacles they had. An un-bidden image of Ace spread out naked on her bed flashed through her mind, and in spite of what she would everadmit, she had to say it was an incredible thought.
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Oh, jeez, don’t make him right! He would be flattered to no end to know that you really are picturing him naked.
“Some of this stuff looks like it ought to be illegal,” she said, trying to distractherself again.
Ace shrugged. “Personally, I’m not into the rough stuff, but there are all kinds out there.”
“I’m just glad I’m not one of them and that I’m licensed to carry a concealed weapon should I ever have the misfortune of meeting one in a dark alley.”
“Yeah.”Ace grabbed two pairs of velvet-lined cuffs. He held them like a man who truly had no interest in using them.
“You really aren’t into it, are you?” she asked in surprise. As gung ho and adventurous as he was in everything else, she would have thought he was a regular pornmeister.
“No. I like my sex the good old-fashioned way.Down and dirty.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “You know, there for a minute, I was starting to like you.”
“Only a minute?”
“You’re right. It was more like ten seconds.”
“Okay, for that, I vote for this.” He picked up a cat-o’-nine-tails that was made of thick leather straps.
“Fine.”She left him and went to the bustier rack, where she quickly found a frilly red number made out of satin and feathers. “What do you think of this?”
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He grinned. “I like it.”
“Good. What size are you?”
“Pardon?”
Grandma laughed. “I have his size in back.”
“No!” Ace snapped. “I only have one rule in life: no drag.”
“Why not?”Rhea teased.“You allergic to satin?”
“No, but this”—he picked up the thong part of it—“would give me a wedgie from hell. No, thank you.”
She tsked at him,then put it back.
Ace stopped as they passed a tall, thin silver canister that held several long feathers. His look turned speculative, then wicked. “Tickle your ass with a feather?”
“Excuse me?”
He cleared his throat. “Isaid, particularly nice weather?”
Rhea screwed her face up. “Oh, please, don’t tell me you’re a fan of Up the Academy?”
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Ace was stunned that Rhea knew his vague reference to the offbeat, early-eighties film. “So how many times have you watched it?”
“More than I cared to. It was my older bother’s favorite movie in high school, and I curse the day they ever turned it into a videotape.”
Ace laughed, amazed at just how much he enjoyed their verbal sparring and her unique views of the world. “Hey, I defend your brother’s taste in movies.”
“You would.” But the dancing light in her eyes said that she wasn’t as offended as she pretended.
Better still, she picked up one of the feathers and added it to the cuffs.
“You gonna let me?” he asked hopefully.
“Oh, no, you’re the slave, remember? You have to do what I say.”
“Yeah, but don’t slaves get rewards?”
“No.” She sashayed past him.
Maybe slaves didn’t get rewarded, but before they finished this detail, Ace fully intended to. He’d been too hot forthis women far too long to not at least get a small taste of that wisecracking mouth.
As for the rest of her…
Ace wasn’t the kind of man to let something he wanted get away from him, and he wasn’t about to let Rhea tie him down without both of them getting a taste of something decadent.
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Chapter Two
Rhea kept glancing up from under her eyelashes while she ate. Ace seemed incredibly focused on her.
Too focused.She was beginning to feel like a piece of prey under the hungry stare of a powerful lion.
Little did he know that this bunny, much like the one in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, had sharp, viciousteeth.
She sipped her wine. “If you’re trying to make me nervous, Ace, you can hang it up. I don’t scare easily.”
He arched a brow at her comment as he continued to watch her. “I’m not trying to make you nervous, Rhea, I’m only trying to figure you out. You’re normally so cool at work that I find it amazing how much you’re not when you’re out of theBatTower .” TheBatTower was the pet name of the BellSouth building in downtownNashville where the BAD offices were hidden under the guise of a BellSouth department door in a secured area of the building that no one but their people could access.
Rhea set her glass aside and answered snidely, “It’s all the chemicals in the air there. They solidify my blood cells until I’m nothing but a statue.”
His warm laughter washed over her. Ace was a lot easier to talk to than she would have thought. Her first impression of him when they’d met three years ago had been less than flattering.