Chapter 1
Seth
I stared at my good friend and boss, trying my hardest to not show him my I-told-you-so face. Hell, who was I lying to? I wasn’t even trying to hide it. I had tried to explain to him, countless times, that what he was requesting just wasn’t feasible. He hadn’t listened to me, just waved me off and said The Company had plenty of men who would be willing to go the extra mile, as he’d called it at the time. Sure, there were plenty of agents capable of taking all the pain I was willing to dish out to them, but what Landon, or the rest of them for that matter, hadn’t understood about BDSM was they also had to enjoy it. A person with any experience at all—and we were dealing with professionals—would recognize a sub faking it.
The funniest part was the number of agents who had thought they could fake it. I shook my head as I recalled some of the horrendous fake jobs I’d endured before convincing Landon that faking it wasn’t an option, and he didn’t have anybody qualified to fill the position of my sub on the latest assignment. I sat quietly, waiting on him to admit defeat. It wasn’t that I didn’t want the assignment, I wanted it bad. Some nut job was abducting and torturing subs from a BDSM club in Miami. He’d beaten and mutilated one so badly that he’d nearly died. On top of that, the fucker filmed the entire thing and played it for some online chat group. I wanted him wiped off the face of the earth, but I also knew we weren’t going to accomplish the job with fake subs. Did I have a better plan? No, but I was working on it. Even if the company passed on the job, I planned on working on it behind the scenes.
“Come on, Landon,” I finally said. “Please don’t tell me you’re still considering trying to get one of our guys to act the part of my sub. I know you aren’t educated in the BDSM lifestyle, but you’re asking for a square peg to fit into a round hole. Other Doms and subs will see straight through a bullshitter. We get them in the clubs all the time, people experimenting or who read that erotic romance book one time too many and decided they liked getting their asses spanked. They aren’t welcome. Experimenters get a bit more leniency, but still, it puts the entire club on edge. Our lifestyle is frowned upon enough as it is.” I leaned in and said, “Let me work on this on my own. At least let me see what I can find out before we do something stupid or, worse than that, pass on the job.”
Landon nodded as he stared back. “You think you’ve got me, don’t you? You think you’re gonna get to give me the told-you-so talk. Too bad, buddy! I studied through the employee files of different branches of The Company and I’ve found you the perfect sub.” He leaned back and grinned at me. “Apologize to me, Seth. Go ahead. I’m waiting.”
I snorted. “Riigghhtt—like that shit is in the employee files.” Fuck, was that in my file? I knew The Company made it their business to know our business, but….
“Well, they do put that information in your files. They put everything in there, Seth—from your dislike of cauliflower to the size of your dick. When they pay us as much as they do, they kinda think they own us. If you don’t like it…well, too bad. It’s just the way things are.” He rubbed his hands together and asked, “You ready to meet your new boy toy?”
“He’s here? Now?” I couldn’t help it. He’d gotten my attention. If this agent really was a sub and it turned out we could work together, we’d have a good chance of taking this guy down before anyone else lost their life.
“In the flesh,” Landon answered. “His name is Baker Daley. Get ready to fall in love, buddy. He’s a looker.”
I rolled my eyes. “It isn’t about love, Landon. I’ve explained that to you already.”
“Sure, sure. Whatever. Get ready to fall into lust, then. If I wasn’t straight, I’d want a couple of rounds with him myself.”
“You aren’t straight,” I corrected.
He grinned. “I know. And I want to go a couple of rounds with him!”
“You are so inappropriate,” I groaned.
“I know. That’s why I work for a private agency instead of the government.” He reached for the intercom button and told his secretary to send Agent Daley in.
Within a few seconds, I heard the office door open and then close. Landon promptly stood up and said, “Agent Wilkinson, this is Agent Baker Daley. He’ll be working with you on your current assignment. Agent Daley, this is Agent Seth Wilkinson. He’ll take lead.”