A Little Harmless Submission(11)

“Carino.”

He shook himself out of his stupor. “Doesn’t matter. I don’t think it will work.”

She cocked her head to the side and studied him again. A strand of hair had escaped the tight bun. It was long, well past her shoulders, and he started to wonder how long it was. Did it trail all the way down her back so that he could spread it out over his sheets? He could just imagine threading his fingers through it as she took his cock deep inside her mouth.

“Why?” she asked.

He shifted in his seat, trying to ease the erection the image had created. “Why what?”

She sighed. “Why don’t you think it would work? It’s a good plan. With your help, it could very well catch the killer.”

“You’re not submissive.”

The smile she offered him told Rome she thought he had just praised her. “Thanks.”

“That wasn’t a compliment. That was an observation.”

But now that he said it, he wondered. In her job, she had to be a ballbuster or people would walk all over her. He knew through his training that people in their real lives were many times vastly different than what they needed in the bedroom. He knew a few cops who were Doms, but he also knew a florist from Mokuleia who was the toughest Dominatrix he’d ever known. In her real life, she generally struck people as a very soft-spoken woman, but he knew she was sought after at the club. Most people, those who knew nothing of the life, would consider Callahan and her job and assume she was a Dominatrix. But there were little tells that hinted that she might like to play the submissive. And for some reason, an image of her popped into his head. She was on his bed, hands tied behind her back, and he was spanking her ass red. He had to bite back a groan as he tried to cover up his reaction and get rid of the idea. Try as he might, he couldn’t get it out of his head.

“It’s a role. I’ve done undercover before.” She shrugged. “And I have your help. I understand you have quite the reputation.”

The idea that she saw him as some stepping-stone was irritating. And worse, he hated that she had something in her file on him. Like he was part of the case. She reached for the bottle of wine, but he grabbed it away and set it beside his plate.

“I think you’ve had enough of that.”

She shrugged. “If you say so.”

“I do.”

Her eyebrows lifted at his tone, but he couldn’t help it. His Dom wanted out, and he wanted her under his control.

“What did your supervisor say?” he asked.

“Do you do everything by the book?”

“That answers my question. So he didn’t approve of it.”

She looked out over his small lawn. “I never said anything.”

Now she sounded a little petulant, and normally, he would have been confused by the change in her. But she was tired, and she’d had two glasses of wine. He had a feeling Callahan wasn’t a heavy drinker.

The idea of having her in the club, playing a role to capture a killer…it just didn’t sit right with him. It was odd because he’d worked undercover in Seattle PD and never had a problem with a woman putting herself in danger. If she were trained, he treated her as an equal. But he couldn’t take that chance again.

“So you’ve gone rogue?”

She snorted. “Hardly. I spent a lot of time thinking of this. I am putting myself out there to attract the killer. I might not even do that. But I could find things out that you might not be able to.”

“Are you saying you’re a better investigator than me?”

“No. But people know you’re a cop. Without knowing it, they hold back. Maybe not on purpose, but just a reflex.”

“Just because they’re members doesn’t mean they’re hiding anything.”

“I don’t mean that. But no matter how good the person is, there is always a knee-jerk reaction. You come along, they shut up.”

“And if you are thought to be involved with me, that would cause problems.”

She nodded. “Could, but I’m willing to take that chance.”

“And everyone on the island, especially this killer, knows I’m handling the case. You have the physical attributes he likes. It will definitely make you a target.”

“You’ll be there. I read your file. You’ve done undercover work before.”

“With backup. I’ve done this a lot, but we always had backup. Since you don’t have permission to do this—and neither do I—we won’t be able to have backup. No wires, no surveillance, what are we going to gain from this?”

“First, it is more to gain information that might help us narrow down the field. When people freeze up, they forget those little details. If they think I’m one of them, not connected to the police except for you, they might remember something. We have to connect these women outside the club beyond that they just knew each other. With the backup, I think Micah Ross can help us there,” she said, naming one of the owners of the club. “He used to bounty hunt. I figured we would get their approval anyway.”