Bound to Serve (Dangerous Liaisons #1) Read online

  An outburst would only harden Frost’s resolve. She’d learned that from bitter past experience. No, if she wanted any chance of holding on to this case, she would need to treat this room as if it was a field assignment. Remain cool. Exploit her enemy’s weaknesses.

  Because Condor couldn’t be allowed to steal her case, and Jennifer Harrison, a junior agent—a fluffy, Playboy Bunny wannabe—couldn’t either. Whether Frost was doing this as a reprimand or because he really thought she couldn’t handle going after Perez, Bridget didn’t know, but she was damned well going to find out.

  She turned back to Frost, her mind made up. “It’s my beat. I stayed on this when everyone else thought he’d gotten away. I built the intel that put him in our sights now. Why are you doing this, sir?”

  He arched an imperious brow. “Agent Jamison, I don’t have to answer your impertinent question. But I will just this once,” he said, adding gently, “given your deep personal attachment to this case.”

  Deep personal attachment! Oh, shit. She tensed at the words and his sympathetic tone. This was worse than she’d realized. How did the Director know about James? They’d kept their affair, as well as its demise, a secret from everyone in the agency by pretending to be just good friends. Of course, the fact that she’d gone off the deep end after he’d been killed was no secret. Her father’s insistence that she transfer to the field agent ranks under an alias could be viewed as suspicious. It was on that basis that she’d pressed for more involvement in the case. But all anyone could have had—all anyone should have had—was at most the suspicion that there’d been more between her and James.

  “Deep personal attachment?” she asked, and she was pleased at how cool her tone sounded.

  Frost gave her a sad yet understanding smile. “You didn’t think you could keep your engagement secret from me?”

  There was no point in pretending any longer. She doubted he was bluffing, and she’d lose everything if she called him on it and lost. “If you knew, why didn’t you say anything about…”

  “Fate, in the form of a bombing, took the problem away.”

  Fury made her tense at his insensitive words. James hadn’t been a problem. Except that he’d cheated on her, lied to her. But that had been her problem, not the agency’s.

  She sighed, closed her eyes, and pushed back painful memories of their last meeting. Yes, he’d hurt her—hell, he’d betrayed her—but that didn’t mean he deserved to die. She’d bring his murderer to justice. “Well then, why are you taking me off the case? You know how motivated I am.”

  “And biased,” Frost said.

  Bridget bit her lip to keep from shouting at him. It wasn’t true, was it? Well, she had been rather single-minded.

  “You don’t have the qualifications, kitten,” Condor cut in.

  “What a crock,” she muttered as Condor’s teasing words cut through her musings. She shot a glare at the ghost agent. She wanted to smack him. The notorious agent was old school, a relic from the Stone Age, as narrow-minded as her last team leader. He was probably more apt to blow things up than investigate. From her point of view, he was the one lacking in credentials. Unless he had some special training she didn’t know about. “What qualifications do you have that I don’t possess?” she asked, challenging him.

  “Perez likes his sex with a little kink,” Condor said dryly, his eyes twinkling. “I’m a Dom by training and inclination. Whereas you…well, it’s clear how well you wouldn’t fit in as a sub. Even a fake one.”

  Heat infused her face at Condor’s plainly spoken words. The blaze spread down her body, and she cursed her red-headed tendency to blush. Condor’s seemingly fascinated gaze followed the blush down the V of her white blouse until it disappeared into no man’s land.

  Mortified, she turned her back on him, refusing to be drawn into this discussion, and refocused on the director. “Sir, don’t listen to him. I’m very qualified to lead this mission. The subject of sex doesn’t bother me. I even played Dominatrix once, if you’ll recall.” She’d actually played a small part in that mission, but she wasn’t going to point that out. “How about if I play Dominatrix and paddle Condor’s snarky ass?”

  She was well aware of Condor uncoiling from the chair. Six-foot-six inches of hot, do-me-twice spy. His sheer masculine presence said he was telling the truth about his preferences. He liked his sex with a little kink. Maybe a lot of kink.

  How could she not stare? His fluid power was spellbinding and made her core tighten. Years of celibacy had to be responsible for her lack of decorum. The first chance she had, she’d get laid. But not by him. She needed a man she could control. The playful bad boy smile on his lips made the breath catch in her throat.

  “Love, you can try to paddle my ass if you want,” he said. “But you won’t win. I’ll be bringing Jennifer as my submissive. She might not have your fire, but she knows how to behave and keep on task, sugar.”

  The cutesy nickname pissed her off almost as much as his brash reference to male domination. That “keep on task” crack didn’t set very well, either. It seemed he knew all about her misbehavior. Okay, she could work with this. Simon Perez probably did get off on denigrating women. It fit in with his sociopath profile. She didn’t think that Condor was cut from the same cloth, but from the commanding vibes he gave off, he was the kind of guy that would want to be on top. A Dom by nature and inclination.

  She rose as Condor stepped her way, and she stared him down. Most men backed down from her fierce, take-no-prisoners, glare. Condor didn’t even blink. Damn, it seemed she’d met her match. His dark, compelling eyes flared with interest, and he smiled, a gesture that turned him from fierce to devastating. Her pumps added two inches to her five-foot-six, but she still had to, annoyingly, look up to meet his hard yet playful gaze.

  “Like you’ve got the qualifications for that,” she snapped.

  “Actually I do. Care for a sample?”

  His sultry voice and teasing words were so much more effective than gruff threats ever could be. Double damn! Was he just making up this Dom pose? Every rousing feminine instinct inside her said no. With or without the case, this was for real. If she couldn’t play her part in the comfort of this office, she sure as hell couldn’t do it in the field.

  This was just for show, and if they were paired on this mission, it would be for show there, too. Sex on missions was always simulated, she reminded herself, another one of those non-fraternization rules. But this would take them into the belly of a secret organization where power and sex were one and the same. At some point, Condor would have to touch her. Maybe more.

  She glanced back at Condor and Frost. The doubt in their eyes left no doubt in her mind that she was in trouble.

  “So you get off on subjugating women, do you? How unenlightened of you, Condor.”

  “Sent anyone out for a testicular retrieval, lately?” he shot back with a quick grin.

  So he knew about that, too. The accident from her early days as a field agent had sent a suspect with roving hands to the hospital with an unusual injury. She thought she heard a chuckle beside her, and she turned to fix a startled stare at the director. Was the man who never seemed to crack a smile laughing at her? He was keeping a straight face, but there was a twinkle in his cool eyes that she’d never seen before. Well, hell, it was two against one. Bad odds. Still, she couldn’t afford to back down.

  Frost cleared his throat. “I’ve made my decision. Agent Harrison might be new, but she can follow orders.”

  She winced. Damn. She knew her insubordination would come back to haunt her, but not at this great a cost. “I can carry off Agent Harrison’s role, and I’d be of more help to Condor than a junior agent. I’m tested, sir, and I’ve learned from my mistakes. You know that with my computer skills and my photographic memory, Condor will have the edge he needs.”

  She wasn’t bragging, and Frost knew it. Her computer design skills had drawn her to the agency in the first place. Condor, for his part, had probably never
touched a computer in his life. Frost was wavering a bit, steepling his fingers together, which usually meant he was mulling things over.

  Condor stepped closer. His body heat made her burn, and his sexy earthy scent—an intoxicating mix of leather and hot man and sandalwood—wrapped around her.

  “You’d have to enter the compound nude, sugar,” Condor said. Then he added bluntly, “sex slaves at the Retreat are often kept nude.”

  The prospect of prancing around in her birthday suit in front of Condor was embarrassing and, to her shame, enticing.

  You’re the original ice queen, Bridge, and you do not get off on masterful men, so who cares.

  One of them would come out of this battle of the sexes victorious, and it would be her.

  “So? I’m not ashamed of my body, Condor.”

  He smiled. “I’m not so sure. The barbed wire suit you’re wearing says you’re hiding something.”

  “Bite me, you chromo.” His sexy chuckle made her melt inside, even while she wanted to drop him where he stood.

  “Easy, sugar. I do outrank you.” He brushed a stray tendril of hair away from her heated face. “You’d have to convincingly play my submissive lover. Bondage, discipline, the whole bit. I’d spank you for real. A hellcat like you could never pull that off successfully. Besides, I’d barely have time to train you. I’m afraid you won’t do.”

  Bridget’s breath caught as his warm, battle-scarred fingertips gently brushed her face and made heat bloom in their wake. What painful secrets did his gruff demeanor hide? You do not want to know, and you sure as hell don’t want to get close enough to try to fix him. You learned your lesson after James. She forced herself to step back. His hand fell, and she could swear she saw regret in his dark and stormy eyes. Nonsense, he was clearly trying to scare her off.

  Frost cleared his throat.

  Her flustered attention snapped back to him. How long had she and Condor been staring at each other with inappropriate heat in their eyes?

  Frost sighed and stood up. “Condor is the one with the expertise here. If he says you can be his partner, so be it. But if he says you’re not ready, you’re off, and that’s final.”

  Frozen, she watched the director leave the room. Now only Condor stood between her and her goal. There had to be a way to convince him.

  She turned and saw Condor giving her conservative attire a doubtful once over. He truly thought she couldn’t play the part, and given her attire, she couldn’t blame him. She sighed and tried to let go of her self-imposed cocoon of protection. It was time to play her last card. Time to prove to both of them that she could do this.

  She nimbly unbuttoned her suit jacket, slipped it off, and laid it on her chair, well aware that the fluorescent light above highlighted her breasts inside her white silk blouse, and the pink lace bra lovingly cupped her curves. She then unpinned her hair and let it fall so that it tumbled around her shoulders like a fiery curtain. Only then did she look at Condor, and she felt a surge of confidence at the faintest hint of surprise in his expression.

  She smiled. “Well?”

  She stepped closer to her would-be Dom, and she was startled by the banked heat of arousal in Condor’s eyes. His annoyance was just as easy to read in the hard set of his mouth, the tic in his clenched jaw. He didn’t like being manipulated.

  “I didn’t say you could come so close to me,” he said.

  She stopped and lowered her head, but she kept her eyes on him. “Yes.”

  “Yes? Yes what?”

  “Yes…sir.”

  Damn her hesitation. Submitting to him—even for this mission—was hard. Maybe too hard.

  “If this is going to work, you’ll need to learn to respond to me. To obey my every word. To do what I say.” He growled. “And to accept a punishment if you hesitate in public. And Bridget?”

  She nibbled her lip, looked at him, and watched his irises contract. “Yes, sir?”

  “I do hope you hesitate.”

  Hell, yeah. So this Dom got off on a challenge. It seemed her resistance to being dominated might actually help after all.

  She scowled at him. “No one punishes me.”

  He scowled back at her. “You think so. But I’ll whip you into shape.”

  She bit her lip at his words. Would he really use whips? Her ass felt like it was on fire, desperate to taste his touch, and she felt a blush surge through her again. She couldn’t hide it, and Condor studied her reaction with a pleased smile. Damn!

  He picked up a thick manila file. “Just so you understand, our dynamic isn’t just for show. I’m the Agent-in-Charge. You will need to take your orders directly from me, and you’ll need to obey them. Any objections?”

  It didn’t matter who pulled rank as long as she was free to do her job. “No objections. I’m sure there’s a lot I can learn from someone with your decades of field experience.”

  Condor frowned. He’d gotten the unsaid message that he was behind the times.

  He turned and stalked out of the office without a word.

  Well, hell, if this was a sample of his leadership style, it was going to be a rocky road. She gritted her teeth, shrugged back into her blazer, and ran after him, knowing, without a doubt, she was in deep trouble.

  Chapter Two

  Well, now he’d really done it. Condor stalked away from Frost’s office frustrated, with a painful hard-on, and sultry Agent Bridget Jamison hot on his heels. He could smell her cherry bark and almond scent, hear her high heels clicking as she ran after him, and it only made him harder. One strong word of objection from him and Frost might have folded like a house of cards, but no. Condor had stood there like a prize patsy and eyed her impromptu strip-tease like a starving man would a steak dinner. Obviously, he’d been working too hard.

  Between cases and his retirement plan of rehabbing his tiny south Florida chain of motels, he hadn’t had the time or inclination for sex. Unfortunately, Bridget had what it took to make him heavy with need. Her assurance that she’d take a back seat was only lip service, and they both knew it. She was a spoiled brat, the eldest daughter of the former director, and she was used to getting her way.

  Which one of them would be sorry first? Probably her, when he took her over his knee. There could be no half measures. Her submissive training had to be the real McCoy, and the thought turned him inside out. To have this opportunity to handle a tempting beauty like her was a wet dream come true. Or a trap, a little voice said, nothing but Mission Magic. He’d found her alluring from the first moment he saw her six years ago, back when she was still one of the computer nerds. But he made it a practice not to mix business with pleasure.

  You don’t do relationships for a reason, stupid, and you don’t really believe in the Dom/sub myth.

  Then there was her engagement with the reckless, now dead, young agent James Clayton. She’d sworn off not just liaisons with coworkers—as had he—but any romantic or sexual entanglement whatsoever. It was all there in her files. So what chance did he have with her? None.

  He hadn’t missed her pained expression when Bran alluded to the death of her ex. How horrible for her that his body was never found. No wonder, despite his betrayal, she saw her ex as a hero. No wonder she was so dedicated to punishing his killer.

  What would it feel like to have someone like her really care about him? Stupid question, Longtree. He could understand why she’d hoped James was alive for a while, why she needed answers, and Condor would get them for her.

  He stopped at the elevator, and Bridget thudded into him. He stifled a needy groan as her soft tits pressed against his back making him stifle a groan as his shaft throbbed. He stepped away when the elevator doors opened, and he turned to Bridget. One look at her bewitching face and he reached out to tug her inside the empty car before he could reconsider his actions. She bumped up against him, her breasts pillowed against his chest, and they both gasped in reaction. This wasn’t good. As her Dom, he had to master her and keep his mind on the mission. Anything less co
uld get them both killed.

  She had that deer-in-the-headlights look on her face again. The one that brought out his protective instincts, even while he burned to peel off her prim clothes and learn all her secrets. Not very PC, but that’s why the agency paid him so well. He understood exactly why she referred to him as a dinosaur, a Cro-Magnon man. No, a rough and simple man like him wasn’t very refined. Maybe it would be better in the end if they put a halt to this before they got in too deep.

  “Bridget, if you want to back out, you still can.”

  She placed her hands flat against his chest and pushed back in an effort to keep her distance. “And let you take over my case? No thank you.”

  Her quick refusal irritated him even more than her haughty efforts to distance herself. She tried to push him away once more, but he stood fast and maintained their intimate connection in order to reinforce his command. Did she have any idea what she was playing at? “I meant what I said. I’ll have to train you for real. Paddling, sexual submission, bondage. And it’ll start immediately. I’m giving you an easy out…take it, lady.”

  “Don’t do me any favors, Dino.”

  Enthralled, he watched her full lips curve into a naughty grin. He had plans for those kissable lips, and if she wasn’t careful, she was going to find out exactly what he wanted.

  She bit her lip. “You know, Dino the dinosaur.”

  “Oh, I know what you meant. I just haven’t yet decided what your punishment will be for calling me that.” He had to force himself not to smile when she sucked in a shocked breath and blushed. God, he was a dead man, but what choice did he have? “Fine, it’s on.” He pulled the slave bracelet out of his pocket, snapped it on her wrist in one fast motion, and watched the shock appear on her face. With a hidden mechanism, it’d be damned near impossible for her to take off. A little something of his that made claiming her feel almost real, at least to him.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You’re wearing my slave bracelet, Bridget. Let me spell it out for you, sugar. As your Dom, it’ll be my duty to take you over my knees, bend you to my will, and take you in every conceivable way.”