“Hello?” she said.
“Lynne. Girl, what the fuck are you doing?”
It took her a second to recognize the voice. Anna Beth. Ugh. “Hey, Anna Beth. How are you?” She tried to make her voice as friendly as possible. “Quite a surprise seeing you at Luke’s today.”
“Shut up, bitch. I know what you’re doing.”
Lynne’s heart pounded. How did Anna Beth know? “What?”
“Luke DeVaan thought he was so smart keeping me in his office while he talked to you after that scene. Well, the joke’s on him.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Anna Beth’s laughter sent chills down Lynne’s spine. “Sure, you don’t. Just remember, I’m the one the firm came to when they needed someone to hack into something off the record.”
Lynne didn’t have a chance to ask her what she was talking about because Anna Beth hung up. Not even stopping to think twice, she punched in the number Daniel had given her and alerted him that Anna Beth had possibly hacked into Luke’s computer and could he let Luke know?
Her strange and wonderful day became even more strange but a lot less wonderful as first Nathaniel called and then Luke. By the time she finally crawled into bed, she couldn’t shake the feeling Anna Beth was still sitting somewhere, laughing at her.
• • •
“What do I do to liars?” Simon asked.
Lynne knelt on the floor, knowing what he wanted her to say but unable to speak the words. She shook her head.
Simon grabbed her chin and made her look at him. “Tell me what I do to bad girls who lie.” When she still didn’t answer, he tightened his hold on her. “Now. Unless you want me to do this in front of the club.”
She couldn’t have that. Bad enough everyone knew she was being punished. Damned if she’d have him do it where they could watch.
“You punish them,” she said, but of course, it wasn’t enough.
“You have one more chance. Tell me where and how. Tell me what I’m getting ready to do to you.”
She swallowed. “You’re going to fuck my ass.”
“That’s right. Bad girls get their ass stretched by a big cock and then get fucked hard and can’t come.” He let go of her chin. “Go get the lube and prepare me.”
She began to rise, but he pushed on her shoulders. “Bad girls don’t get to use their feet.”
She crawled, secretly enjoying the fact that he was staring at her ass. He stood watching her when she turned around, and she was mesmerized by the sight of him stroking his cock.
“That’s right,” he said, his eyes never leaving her. “Watch as I get my cock ready to punish your ass. See how hard I am just thinking about it? Now get over here and get it nice and slick so I can push it inside that tiny hole of yours.”
But when she got ready to squeeze the lube into her hands, he took the tube from her. “Changed my mind. Go bend over the bench. I’ll take care of this.”
This time she didn’t even think about trying to walk. She crawled over to the bench and positioned herself the way she knew he wanted her. Behind her came the sounds of flesh on flesh as he stroked the lube over his cock. She closed her eyes and counted. By the time she got to fifteen, he was behind her.
“I used lube, but make no mistake about it. This is a punishment, and it’s supposed to hurt. You’ll take your fucking in stillness and silence or else I’ll repeat this punishment every day for a week. Understand?”
“Yes, Sir.” She gulped and grabbed on to the edge of the bench, willing herself to remain still.
He was hot against her backside, and she took a deep breath as he began pushing into her. He was so big and she felt so full and, like always, there was a stretching pain as he worked his way inside.
She bit the inside of her cheek because she knew she shouldn’t be turned on by what he was doing. It was a punishment and it hurt. She told herself a normal person wouldn’t be turned on. But she’d come to terms long ago with the knowledge that she wasn’t normal, and so it wasn’t all that unexpected when she felt her arousal grow. She knew she was in trouble, and it was only made worse because Simon was a sadistic Master who knew all too well how she’d react.
“Naughty girl,” he said, thrusting into her harder, chuckling as the first twitches of her orgasm rippled through her body. “Pain slut likes for her ass to be pounded. I’m going to have to be more creative when I discipline you for coming during your punishment.”
And, God help her, she thought as her release claimed her, she was looking forward to it.
Her eyes flew open and she panted in the darkness as the last traces of the dream fell away. Dammit. She wondered what Simon’s punishment would be for coming in her sleep.
• • •
The ringing of her phone woke her the next morning. She fumbled around on her nightstand to grab it, hoping to get to it before it stopped.
“Hello?” she said, without checking to see who it was.
“Lynne?” Luke asked. “Sorry to call so early. I’ve been thinking, and I had to give you a call.”
“Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”
Lynne braced herself for the worst, knowing she wasn’t going to like whatever Luke had called to tell her. “Go ahead, tell me.”
“You called last night concerned about Anna Beth hacking into my computer.”
She did not like where this was going, especially since her stomach had started to hurt. It always did that right before something bad happened. “Yes.”
“It does appear that somebody hacked into the computer. That’s what my computer security expert’s telling me. And he brought up an interesting point. Have you checked your computer to see if it’s been hacked?”
She froze. She had not. She had not even thought about it, and now she felt stupid for not doing so. “Oh no.”
“I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I wanted to alert you as soon as possible.”
“Thank you.” They were the only two words she could form at the moment. She had to get to her computer. “I’m going to check now. Thank you. Bye.”
Luke started to say something else, but she didn’t have any more time to talk to him. She hung up without listening to what he said and made her way on shaky legs to her computer. She turned it on but realized she had no way of knowing how to check to see if it had been hacked. And the last thing she would do was ask a stranger. There was no way she was going to give anybody access to her private life through her computer. The only thing she could do was wait.
Unfortunately, she was not a patient person. Her mind came up with too many things that could have gone wrong. If, in fact, Anna Beth had hacked into her computer, she had access to everything. She would know that Lynne was lying to Simon, as well as her assumed name. And since Anna Beth was a member at Luke’s club, along with Simon, Lynne was certain she would tell somebody.
She thought about confronting the woman. But what if Anna Beth had not hacked into her computer? All she would be doing was giving her more ammunition to use against her. No, she could not confront Anna Beth. All she could do was wait.
She fixed her breakfast while trying to decide what to do, if anything, about Anna Beth. The sad fact was if Anna Beth had hacked into her co
mputer, she already knew everything and there was nothing left to do. Lynne could only hope that Anna Beth had ruined her reputation so completely that no one would believe anything she said.
She was feeling better when her laptop dinged with an incoming message. She almost didn’t check for fear that it was Anna Beth. But curiosity got the better of her and she went to see who it was. Her heart leaped into her throat when she saw that it was from Simon. Surely Anna Beth hadn’t figured everything out and already e-mailed Simon.
She wasn’t sure what to think after reading his message.
Faye,
I’m sorry to do this, but some things came up and I have to cancel tonight. I promise to make it up to you. Would you like to get together before the demo for a practice run-through? The conference location has asked if we’d like a practice time the day before. That would mean an overnight trip. It’s up to you, but I