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  A Little Tied Up

  ISBN 978-1-60592-095-5

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  A Little Tied Up Copyright 2010 Karenna Colcroft

  Cover Art by Fiona Jayde

  This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any existing means without written permission from the publisher. Contact Noble Romance Publishing, LLC at PO Box 467423, Atlanta, GA 31146.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

  Book Blurb

  Nolie is happy in her marriage to Joseph, but things have become a bit stale in the bedroom. When Joseph suggests role-playing, Nolie is skeptical at first, but then agrees, expecting an exciting time. What she doesn’t expect is how much she’ll learn about herself and her marriage through the experience.

  * * * * *

  “Do you ever get bored with us?”

  Nolie looked up from the newspaper. She was certainly bored with that; same old bad news, same old editorial opinions. But bored with Joseph? “No, of course not. If I was bored, I wouldn’t still be married to you, would I?”

  “You might be. Sometimes people get used to things and just kind of settle in.”

  What had brought this on? Their marriage was fine. They rarely disagreed about anything, and she loved him as much as she had the day they’d walked down the aisle. Only their sex life had gotten a little stale, but that happened to all married couples, didn’t it?

  “Of course I’m settled in,” she said. “That’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re married. Settle in, make a family, have kids if you’re so inclined. Are you bored?”

  “Not bored, exactly.” Joseph sat across from her. “When was the last time we made love?”

  “I don’t know. Last week? You’ve been working overtime, and then I had to do report cards. So yeah, I guess it’s been a while, if that’s your point.”

  “It’s been more than a while if you can’t even remember the last time we did it. That’s what I mean. Our sex life was hot as hell when we were first married, but the last year or so it’s more like an afterthought.”

  He had a point, but they both worked full time and had other responsibilities. Sex wasn’t that important.

  Wait a minute. Sex wasn’t important? All those women’s magazines she read said sex should be one of the things a couple stayed focused on. The way to connect, to keep the intimacy intact. She agreed with the advice when she read it, but apparently she didn’t agree with it in practice. Maybe something did need to change.

  “I miss sex with you,” Joseph said. “I miss lying in bed with you for hours without thinking about work. I miss fucking you so hard you scream. I want those things back.”

  “What do you suggest? We can’t just quit our jobs and fuck all day.”

  “No, but we can do things to spice it up. Make sex more interesting and maybe we’ll make time for it more often. I think making love is something a couple should find time for, don’t you? Instead of just waiting for the time to show up?”

  Exactly what they’d been doing. If time allowed, sometimes they had sex. Sometimes they just slept. But what could they do to spice things up? “Okay, I agree with you. Did you have something in mind?”

  “Role-playing.”

  “Yeah, okay. What are we going to do, go out and buy cute little costumes? Sorry, Joseph, not interested.”

  “It doesn’t have to be costumes. Think about it, Nolie. Isn’t there some fantasy you’d fulfill if you could? Hot little cheerleader with the football coach or something like that?”

  “Hardly. The only thing I ever fantasize about –” She snapped her mouth shut. She’d never dared mention it to him before; should she tell him now? Gathering her courage, she nodded and released a sigh. “Okay. Sometimes when I’m . . . well, when I’m alone, I think about what it would be like to be kidnapped.”

  “Really? Tell me more.”

  “Kidnapped by a sexy man who wants to use me for his own pleasure. Tied up, maybe. Fucked within an inch of my life.” Her pussy tingled at the thought.

  “Damn, I never realized you had such a wild side. Kidnapped, huh? I think we might be able to arrange that.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Sure. Why not? If it turns you on, I’m all for it. Add a little spice to our lives, right?”

  Spice. Right. What on earth was he talking about? He couldn’t be thinking about getting someone to kidnap her. They’d never talked about bringing other people into their sex life, but it was tacitly understood they'd remain monogamous. “I don’t know if I’d like that.”

  “Even if I was the sexy kidnapper?”

  “Ah.” She relaxed. “But I’d recognize you, wouldn’t I? That would defeat the purpose.”

  “Not at all. That’s why they call it role-playing, honey. I play the part of the nasty, mean old kidnapper, and you play the part of the poor, defenseless woman who’s scared and turned on at the same time. It’s a game. Are you up for it?”

  Was she? Trying something new could be fun. The idea sounded a little weird, but she knew other people did it, and she was definitely curious about whether mild, mellow Joseph would be able to act like a “nasty, mean old kidnapper.““Yeah, I’m up for it. When and where?”

  He stood. “Not telling. I’ll make plans, but I won’t let you in on them. You won’t have any idea when your ‘kidnapper’ will strike. So be warned and be ready. Oh, and one more thing.”

  “What?”

  “When we do this, you have to promise that no matter what I do or say in the game, you’ll remember that I love you and I’m doing it because I want you to have your fantasy. Kidnappers have to be mean, right? I might say or do things I wouldn’t usually say or do, but it’s all part of the game and doesn’t mean anything at all. Promise?”

  “I promise. What if you go too far?”

  “I won’t. But if you feel uncomfortable after you’ve given it a chance, just tell me enough’s enough and we’ll end the game. Say it just like that, though, okay?”

  “Enough’s enough. Got it.”

  “Good.” He came around the table and gave her a kiss, pouring more passion into the act than he had in weeks. “I’m off to work. See you this afternoon. And remember, be ready.” He walked away.

  How could she be ready when she didn’t know what she was supposed to be ready for? But that was the point, wasn’t it? Something unexpected, something exciting. Nolie made up her mind to be patient. As difficult as that would be.

  * * * * *

  A week later, she was still waiting. Joseph hadn’t mentioned their conversation at all. And they hadn’t made love since the morning he’d brought the subject up. Two ships in the night, as the cliché went. They’d barely even been in the house at the same time. Parent-teacher conferences were in full swing at the school where Nolie worked, and she’d had to stay well past suppertime the past few nights to accommodate the schedules of working parents. Joseph had been working overtime again, and a couple of nights he hadn’t even gotten home until after Nolie was in bed. So much for spicing up the marriage.

  Friday afternoon, for the first time that week, Nolie got home before dark. Inside, she kicked off her shoes and sat at the computer to check her email. Glass broke at the back of the house.

  It sounded like a window. One in the dining room by the deck, maybe. What the hell? A storm raged outside. Maybe a tree branch had bashed against the side of the house. Nolie got up and went into the dining room to investigate. A man wearing a ski mask and mirrored sunglasses stood beside the broken glass of the sliding door that led to the dec
k. Before Nolie could run, he grabbed her. “You’re coming with me, bitch.”

  His voice was little more than a low growl in her ear, but she recognized it. So this was Joseph’s plan. He’d better be planning to replace the glass in the door, too.

  “Please don’t take me,” she begged, playing along. “I don’t care if you rob us blind, but leave me here.”

  “Fuck, no. You only got one thing I want, lady. I came for you. I’ve been watching you.” He yanked her hands behind her back and slapped a pair of handcuffs on her.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “Don’t ask questions.” He dragged her out the door onto the deck. “Hmm. Maybe I should blindfold you so you don’t know where I’m taking you. Wouldn’t be good for me if you could lead the cops right to me. That’s if I let you go.”

  He really seemed to be getting into this. So was she, to her surprise. His forceful demeanor turned her on.

  He took a silk scarf out of his pocket. “Stand still.”

  “You don’t have to blindfold me. I won’t tell anyone where you take me, I promise.”

  “You’d better shut up, or I’ll gag you too.” He tied the scarf around her head, covering her eyes. “Can you see anything?”

  Only the ground immediately in front of her, under the edge of the blindfold. It didn’t seem worth mentioning. “No.”

  “You’d better be telling me the truth.” He gripped her arm tighter. “Come on.”

  “I can’t see where I’m going. What if I fall?”

  “Don’t.”

  Her excitement inched up a notch. Even with the possibility she might get hurt, he hadn’t come out of character. If she didn’t know better, she would have questioned his identity, but she’d heard that growling voice before. Not in a long time, though. It was the voice he’d used when they had sex, before they'd allowed real life to intrude and make things stale.

  He dragged her along. She could see just enough to avoid tripping over anything. Had he tied the blindfold that way on purpose?

  They reached a car and he shoved her inside. “Buckle up, bitch. I wouldn’t want you to die before I get a piece of your ass.”

  “How can I buckle up? I can’t move my hands.”

  Roughly, he pulled the seatbelt across her and she heard it snap into place.

  “There," he said. "Now shut up.”

  He slammed her door and after a few seconds she heard the driver’s side door open. He got in, started the car, and backed down the driveway. The tires squealed as he pulled away from the house.

  She had no concept of where he was taking her; with her eyes covered, she didn’t even have enough sense of direction to figure out where he was going. Only the familiar whine of the engine, with the occasional slight click that they’d been meaning to have checked out, let her know that she sat in her own car. Eventually they stopped moving and he cut the car off. She heard him moving around and then the driver's side door slammed hard enough to rock the vehicle. Nolie waited for him to open her door, but several minutes went by. Where had he gone?

  She shivered. He couldn’t have just left her there. Until now, the game had been exciting, but now she felt completely vulnerable, wearing handcuffs and a blindfold and sitting alone in the car. Where the hell had he taken her anyway? For all she knew, there could be dozens of people looking at her right now. The thought turned her on more than she’d expected. She had known she had a little bit of exhibitionist in her; before she and Joseph married, she’d loved going out with him to bars and clubs wearing the most revealing outfit she could find. But then she’d been able to see people’s eyes on her. Now she just assumed. And even the thought aroused her.

  Finally, the car door opened. “Get out,” her “kidnapper” growled.

  “I can’t unbuckle the belt any more than I could buckle it.”

  His open hand caught her across the face. The slap didn’t hurt; it wasn’t a true blow, more of a warning. The lightest touch.

  “I thought I told you to shut up.” He reached across her and released the belt.

  “Now, listen carefully. You’re going to walk with me. You will not speak. You will not try to get away. You will do exactly what I tell you. Got it?”

  “Got it. And if I do that, you won’t hurt me?” She hoped she sounded frightened. Being left in the car alone had given her a little boost in acting scared.

  “I’ll have to think about that.” He grabbed her arm and pulled. “Get the hell out of the car.”

  She got out carefully. Without her hands to help her up, she almost fell backward. He caught her and yanked her to her feet.

  They went inside. Inside what, she had no idea. The door seemed to be one of those pull-from-the-outside, push-from-the-inside deals a lot of public buildings had, but that didn’t give her any real clue as to where they were. She looked out the bottom of the blindfold. Public building with ugly carpeting. He wouldn’t take her out anywhere like this, would he? The only logical place for them to go would be a hotel. That would certainly explain the carpet. After a few yards, they stopped. She heard something slide, a key card, maybe. Light flooded the floor as a door opened and she was shoved inside. She stumbled against the wall, banging her elbow. “Ouch!”

  The door slammed behind her. “Are you—look, I told you to shut up.”

  He’d almost slipped, almost fell out of character and asked if she was okay. She was torn between being glad he’d kept the game going and disappointed he hadn’t been concerned enough to actually finish the question. But that would have broken the mood.

  “Do you want the blindfold off?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Too fucking bad. I want to get this damn mask and sunglasses off, and I’ll be damned if you’re going to see my face. Then you’d just be able to tell everyone who kidnapped you.”

  “But I told you I won’t tell anyone anything. Please. I want to see what you look like.”

  “Not a chance. Maybe after I decide what to do with you. Now get in here.”

  He pulled her across the floor. She caught sight of a tattered bedspread. Yep. Hotel room. For a minute, she thought he was going to knock her down onto the mattress, but instead he reached behind her and unfastened the handcuffs.

  “Don’t get excited. I’m not letting you go.”

  That was why she was getting excited, because he wasn’t letting her go. Even the fear added to her arousal. This was exactly her fantasy. Joseph had put everything together perfectly.

  But she didn’t want the blindfold on anymore. She reached up to pull it off, and he pulled her arm behind her back again.

  “I told you, don’t take that off.”

  “Please. I want to be able to see. If you’re going to do anything to me, I want to at least know what’s coming. I won’t tell anyone anything. You even said you might not let me go, so if you don’t let me go I won’t be able to talk to anyone.”

  “Good point. Fine, but so help me, if you make any wrong move it’ll be all over.”

  It could have been a threat, if she’d thought there was the slightest chance Joseph would hurt her. As it was, she took it as a warning that their game would be over if she stopped playing along. As if she would. This was incredibly hot. Held against her will by a man who’d watched her, planned this so that he could fuck a total stranger just because he thought she was sexy.

  She sighed with pleasure. She could almost forget this was her husband and believe it was a stranger, a strong criminal. But not quite. And somehow, the fact she knew it was Joseph just made it better. She’d told him her deepest, darkest fantasy, and because he loved her and wanted to spice things up, he’d gone to all this trouble to fulfill it.

  Just for her. Now that was love.

  But his actions were far from loving. He whipped the blindfold off her eyes. He had removed the sunglasses, though he still wore the ski mask. Through the opening in the mask, Nolie could see Joseph’s warm blue eyes. If she’d had
any doubt about who her captor was, those eyes reassured her.

  She looked around. As she’d suspected, they were in a hotel room. The bed was a king-size, piled high with pillows. Two desks and a bureau sat against the wall opposite, with a large mirror atop the bureau. The mirror had possibilities, depending on what Joseph chose to do with her. Someone had angled it to reflect the entire bed. The windows were covered by dark drapes. She took a step toward them, thinking to regain her bearings, but Joseph grabbed her around the waist.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “I wanted to look out the window.”

  “Fuck, no. You think I’m stupid, bitch? Bad enough you’re seeing me. What? You planning on leading the cops to me later? Fat chance!”

  “What are you going to do with me?” Damn it, she sounded too eager. Which would have been fine, but she was playing the part of a kidnapping victim. She should sound scared, begging, pleading for her life, not flirtatious and excited. She would have to watch that.

  “You make me tired, you know that? All those times I watched you walking around your house, you looked like such a sexy woman, but you never shut up. Maybe I should just gag you so I don’t have to listen anymore.”

  Ah, better. She hated having anything other than food in her mouth, unless it was something she put there herself. Like his cock. He knew it, too. “No, please. I wouldn’t be able to breathe.”

  “I guess that might be a problem. I wouldn’t want you to die or pass out before I get to have fun with you. So if you don’t want to be gagged, try keeping your mouth shut, unless I tell you different. Got it?”

  Nolie opened her mouth to answer, then thought better of it and nodded. Joseph probably wouldn’t gag her, since he knew how she would react, but he was so into his character she wasn’t totally sure anymore what he would do. Her predictable husband had become completely unpredictable.

  She liked it.

  “Good. Maybe you’ll get out of this in one piece.” He went to the headboard of the bed. “Fuck. Why do hotels always make these things solid? How the hell am I supposed to tie you down if there’s nothing to tie you to?”