Flora Dain - Capture

He wakes later and we start over. This time we take it slow, real slow, and my orgasms are gentle and frequent while he takes his time and loses himself in my pleasure.

As a final reward I have to lean over him and let him taste me, his tongue eager, his hunger firing yet another massive climax just as I thought I was sated and replete. To ensure my focus he barks out short, sharp commands as he does it, making me pose with my hands high over my head so he can enjoy the view.

And to my amazement it works, the harsh instructions slicing into my lazy arousal like cheesewire, making me ache, making me strain – and making me hotter than hot.

Wolfe Time just gets better.

* * *

The beach is a different place this morning, light and sunny. No seaweed draped on my boat today, but the tide is almost at its highest point. And right on cue I hear it, a low, juddering boom. The sound was terrifying in the fog. Now the sun’s out and the light dances off the rippling blue water of Darnley’s bay, but somehow the noise is just as spooky. It sounds like the hollow groan of some ailing giant.

I haul my boat down to the water, slip the painter over a rock, stow my things and a powerful torch safely out of reach of the splashing wavelets and start the engine.

It fires first time and I set off round the bay. I find it quickly, a low cave right on the waterline under the cliff overhang. It looks exciting and mysterious, the roof low over the rollers that surge inside. As I cut the engine to edge into it I hear the boom again, deafening in here.

It could be the waves. I edge along the rough rock wall and flash the torch. The waves are pounding at the far end, underneath a low ridge. As I look up a movement catches my eye and I feel my heart race. A seal? I’ve heard there are some around here, but I’ve yet to see one.

I flash the torch again but there’s nothing there. Did I imagine it? Was it just a reflection off the water? Patches of light dance all over the walls as sunlight streaming in at the mouth of the cave bounces off the wavelets I’m stirring up. It’s definitely creepy in here …

‘Hello? Anybody there?’ My voice echoes horribly all around me, drowned by another deep, hollow boom.

The cave troll, whatever or wherever he is, must be having a ball. But now I’m puzzled. The torch shows nothing but bare rock walls – no seals, no movement other than the constant waves and the light reflecting off them across the ragged seaweed fronds and the high, towering cleft that makes up the ceiling.

There’s nowhere to tie up so finally I head back round the headland to the beach to take stock. Soon it will be lunchtime, and Darnley will arrive. I may even persuade him to come out and hunt some troll with me.

As I nose the little boat into the small cove I’m careful to avoid the jagged rocks at the edges of the beach. When I finally hit the shingle I reach for my small bottle of water and drink deep, my mind still busy.

Why’s Chet so scared? Scared enough to go to all the trouble to ride over and tell me …

At that moment I glance up for the first time since I landed and I stand very still. My trainers dig deep into the shingle as the waves just fail to reach me, their reach lower with each thrust of the turning tide.

I’m staring at a pair of leather-clad legs. They’re propping up their owner as he leans back on a rock, his upper part just out of sight.

I’ve got company.

There’s no such thing as trolls …

I feel tiny hairs rise all over my back as the legs straighten up and their owner appears from behind his rock.

‘Hi, El. Long time no see.’

It’s worse than a troll. Far worse.

It’s Ryan Mitchell, my ex.

Weirdly, now also Freda’s ex. He screwed us both, in both senses, till we got wise to him. Then back in the summer he very nearly screwed my chances with Darnley.

He’s the last person I thought I’d see here.

He’s the last person I ever wanted to see again.

‘You don’t look too pleased to see me, El. Easy Street suits you, huh?’

I glare at him. ‘What do you want, Ryan? And be warned, there’s surveillance everywhere out here. If you try anything, Darnley will know. And so will about five hundred other people.’

I should know, I think bitterly.

Ryan puts his head on one side and tries his trademark shy smile. Out here in the sunshine, with his loose fair hair and his easy, weak mouth, it should give him a kind of shallow charm. But for me he long ago lost his appeal, and that was well before his crazy patent scam back in the summer nearly finished things between Darnley and me. He followed through with pap-shots of us at Camp Akela and a mystery photo from Lydia’s past. The family’s still reeling.

‘You must be crazy, coming here.’ I hold his gaze. Does he know how much trouble he caused last year? Darnley was already close to the brink. Ryan’s efforts might have failed but they sure stirred the mix.

To my fury he laughs. ‘Chill, hon. His cameras can’t see us here. We’re in the lee of the cliff. Even Darnley-hot-for-you-fucking-Wolfe can’t penetrate sheer rock. Look El, I need a big favour. This time it’s urgent.’

‘Get lost.’

‘Please, El. I’ve had a bad time lately. Been working in Vegas. It fell through.’

‘What? You double-crossed them too? That sounds dangerous.’

I’m only kidding, but now he looks scared. ‘It was. Still is. In fact I’m on the run.’

I frown. ‘So what do you want from me?’

‘I want to make a fresh start. All I need is one good product to get me back on track. But I really need your help. After this you’ll never see me again, I swear.’

I frown. ‘ My help ? Why me?’

‘Because you’re the only person I can ask. I’ve got a product ready to launch but I need to know if Wolfe’s already using it. We worked on it together for a while, before …’ He tails off.

‘Before you stole it and tried to pass it off as mine?’ I say sweetly.

‘Whatever.’ He licks his lips. ‘Anyway, my version’s still not out there so maybe he’s shelved it. That means I can use it.’

I glare at him. ‘Give me one good reason why I should trust you, after last summer.’

‘I’m desperate, El. That good enough?’ His face contracts.

I see his lip tremble and now I notice he looks thinner, unkempt. For a split second I feel sorry for him. ‘Go on,’ I say coldly.

‘He may be using it in private, like here, say. Testing it pre-launch. In that case I’ll drop it. If not, it’ll get me back on track. Be a whole lot quicker than starting from scratch and I can save a bunch of money on research and development. Please, El. All I need is for you to check a line of machine code for me so I can see if it’s a match. One line, that’s it. Not much to ask, is it?’

I roll my eyes. ‘Why me? Ask him.’

He snorts. ‘ What? You crazy? One, he’d turn me down flat. Two, he’d launch it himself. You saw his fancy footwork back in the summer. His company launched an upgrade faster than I could tell you about the original.’

He outlines what he wants me to do, his eyes wild and staring, like he’s unhinged.

I listen patiently. I once shared space with him. If he’s fallen on hard times maybe he’s stressed, while I’m on Easy Street … I look at the trainwreck of my former boyfriend and feel a twinge of guilt. ‘So what’s in it for me?’

‘For you?’ His eyes gleam. ‘Plenty. You know those shots of Lydia they’re all so bugged about? I’ve got them. I’ll give you them. Just get me that sequence.’

I stiffen. All at once this is a very big deal. That contact strip, a vital link to Lydia’s murky past, is one of the Wolfe family’s biggest skeletons and buried in their darkest closet. And he’s used a shot from it already, back in the summer – as a coded threat. He means business .