His hand drops away and both of them settle on my thighs as he tells me, “We really aren’t going to hurt you if you behave. We just need a place to lay low for a few hours while we wait for the heat to die down.”
I lift one brow and then look pointedly down at his hands that are wrapped around my thighs. My dress’s skirt has slid up so the lace tops of my stay-up stockings and an inch of bare skin are showing.
I breathe in deeply and catch a hint of citrus and cedar from him before breathing out, “I guess we’ll see if this is going to be a trick or a treat for me in the end, then.”
That wicked grin flashes at me and I spot a part of a dimple at the edge of his mask. Those big hands on my thighs move up slowly making me bite down on my bottom lip at the feel of it. It’s been a really long time since I’ve had a man’s hands on me and the booze coursing through my veins has me feeling reckless about it. I hold my breath the higher his hands slide, not a hundred percent sure exactly how high I want him to go butthat thought is cleared away when he goes just high enough to snag the hem of the skirt and tug it back down. I breathe out and lean back in the seat but tingles start up again as he reverses the movement and drags those hands back down to my knees and nudges them apart.
His eyes lift to meet mine but then drop down to my mouth where I’m still biting my bottom lip. I see his Adam’s apple move as he swallows and then he does a little head shake and looks all the way down to my feet and proceeds to tie both of my ankles to the chair legs. Once he’s done, he moves back and gets to his feet.
With his hands no longer on my body, all flirty thoughts flee and my head clears enough to get back into the game. I shoot nervous looks at the three of them who are now standing in a semi-circle around me and can’t stop myself from looking at my beat-up laptop sitting on the counter behind them.
Black Mask follows my line of site to look at the screensaver of a bouncing unicorn head and scoffs.
“Relax, we aren’t interested in your shitty computer.”
Some of the tension in my shoulders eases at hearing that. I can’t lose that computer. It’s my lifeline to a better future. I focus on him and ignore the others for now.
“So, what exactly do you want here, then? Do you want to rob the place? Start in the front room. There are some really pretentious paintings that are probably ridiculously overvalued. Sorry, I haven’t seen any silver cutlery you can add to your pillowcase loot bags.”
Red and Green laugh and I can see Black’s mouth twitch like he wants to join them but he fights it back.
“Like I said, we just need a few hours here and we’ll move on. We don’t give a shit about the silver or paintings…or you.”
I gasp in mock hurt. “I’ll have you know, I’m worth way more than any ugly painting!”
Black turns and stomps away. Green leans back against the counter and gives me a slow scan from my tied feet to the jauntily angled crayon tip on the top of my head with a smirk.
“You seem pretty laid back for someone in your position. You get tied up like this often?”
I narrow my eyes at him.
“We don’t know each other well enough yet for me to answer that. Ask me again before you leave.”
When he just grins at me, I sink back into the seat and let my head roll on my neck.
“It probably has to do with the three cocktails of Patrón I just had before you ruined my buzz.” I lift my head and glare at them. “Listen, if we’re just going to sit here and play the world’s most lame game of Shibari, then can one of you please pour me another cocktail? I’ll need a straw unless you want to untie one of my hands, though.”
Red cocks his head to the side. “You really aren’t afraid, are you?”
I make a ‘what can you do?’ face at him. “Look, I’ve got a pretty reliable creep-o-meter and you guys aren’t really ringing that bell. I haven’t seen your faces and as far as I know, your names are Red, Green, and Black. If you don’t slip up, I won’t know your real names and I won’t have any idea what you look like. I have no skin in whatever game you’re running tonight so you have no reason not to just leave me as is when you go. As long as you loosen these leashes a bit before you do so I can wiggle out before I starve to death, I don’t care. Now how about that cocktail?”
The two guys share a look and then shrug. “She’s not wrong,” Red says.
Green nods and goes around the counter to mix a drink for me with the bottle of Patrón and Pom juice sitting there. He digs out a straw from one of the drawers and brings the drink over to me placing the straw between my parted lips. I suck back a good portion of it before leaning back.
Green looks me over again. “I like the vibe you’ve got going on here. Blue crayon?”
“Hmm, yup, it was a cheap and easy choice. The planwasto hit a club in a bit and dance my blue ass off. Guess that’s not happening now.”
He offers the straw again and I use my tongue to wrangle it into place between my lips causing him to lean a little closer in interest.
“Sorry to ruin your night of fun.”
I shoot him a saucy wink and drain the rest of the drink.
“That remains to be seen.”
“What the fuck are you doing? Get away from her and get over here, both of you,” Black growls as he comes back into the room carrying a big black duffle bag.
