Page 71 of To Catch a Sub

“Detective Inspector Ja?—”

Landon yanked on his shoes, forgoing socks, before racing out the door. “Find everything you can on Colette Beaumont.”

SIXTEEN

Colette felt oddly blank—at least emotionally. The wonderful sting from the two spanks she’d gotten was gone, and she wished it had hurt a lot more than it did.

But the fight had provided some relief, like a small pressure release valve flipped on and off, and she felt calmer than before.

As Landon pulled her into the hall, sealing the noise of the club on the other side of the door, she snapped out of her torpor.

Fear skittered down her back, and she tried, desperately, to erect her mental walls.

Landon turned left, towards their rooms, and she dug in her heels. He turned, expression unreadable as he studied her face.

She tried for a smile and arched brow. “I need a minute to get back to being Colette Beaumont, alleged jewel thief.”

The smile must not have worked, because Landon’s expression softened.

Please don’t look at me like that.

Landon hesitated, but then released her wrist to take her hand, lacing their fingers together.

He reversed course, taking them back to the junction point of the halls, where he knocked on the door of the closest playroom. When no one answered, he opened the door.

Inside was a nearly empty room with a bed against one wall, a straight-backed chair in the corner, and O rings bolted at seemingly random points on the walls and ceiling. The wall opposite the door was hidden by floor to ceiling black curtains.

She hesitated, looking at the ceiling. The idea of Landon stringing her up by the wrists so she was helpless and he could do whatever he wanted to her was delicious. And terrifying.

“No scene. Trust me,” was all he said.

And in this moment she did.

Colette allowed him to pull her into the room. They passed the chair, the bed, and when they reached the curtain wall, Landon released her. It took him a minute to find the break in the curtains, and when he pulled one side back, she was surprised to see pale light spill across the floor.

The glass door hidden by the curtains had a small combination lock keeping it closed. Landon rotated the dials, and then tugged the lock open with a soft click, before opening the door.

Colette ducked under the heavy blackout drapes, stepping out onto a small metal balcony. The floor was metal mesh covered by a large outdoor mat, so though she felt the cold of the metal against her bare feet, it didn’t hurt to stand on.

She hadn’t noticed a balcony from the street, but given the size of the building and the angle, that wasn’t surprising. The depth of the balcony nearly spanned the small lane-way between this building and the one next to it, and when facing forward, the view was an uninspiring brick wall. Landon gently cupped her shoulders, turning her to the right.

A slice of city skyline was visible, the lights glittering in the clear night.

“Is that Tower Bridge, those lights there?” She pointed.

Landon leaned down to follow her finger. “No, we’re about six miles from the city center. But see that little slice of green, closer to us?”

“Yes.”

“That’s Finsbury Park.”

“I think I went to a concert there once.”

“Probably.”

In silence, they looked at that tiny slice of the sprawling urban area that was London. It seemed far away, and unimportant.

She was nearly naked, and it was the middle of the night. Though she’d broken out in goose flesh from the moment she’d stepped out onto the balcony, it was only now that she shivered.