Handcuffed in Housewares (Tulle and Tulips #3)(3)
Author: Nikki Duncan

She wasn’t sure it was her friends she was running from. More accurately it felt like she was running from the images of Burton that kept popping into her head. Images and the resulting thoughts. Thoughts like how his kiss would feel and taste.

Her trip to Hearth and Home hadn’t been just about seeing a new business. It was her chance to get a sneak peek at their pricing. Desperately hoping to distract herself from her thoughts, Leigh pulled her laptop from her bag and set to work updating her database. When clients came in to talk about their registry, she needed to know the best place—budget and product wise—to take them. Her database was how she did that.

It had taken her a long time to set it up just right, but all she had to do now was input some information into a form, run a report and she would have a list of retail outlets prioritized to suit each client.

Of course, she wouldn’t need a database to tell anyone where to find a nak*d man. Nope. He was waiting at Hearth and Home to show people the hazards of bathrooms. Talk about your full-service store.

As quick as that Burton was back in her head.

“Leigh.”

His smooth voice that bordered on suave called to her. Tingles traipsed along her spine as quick as a chill that made her shiver.

“Earth to Leigh.” Two fingers snapped loudly in front of her nose, breaking her from her trance. “You in there?”

Shaking her head, she widened her eyes to show awareness. Jace Nichols, the head of security for Trevor’s company, stood before her. Normally dressed in a suit with military perfect pleats, the jeans and snug T-shirt were a change. That the T-shirt was short sleeved was a bigger change.

It hadn’t been too long ago that he’d only worn long sleeves in an effort to hide his prosthetic arm. Misty had wormed her way past his misconceptions and then slipped smoothly into his grizzled heart. She’d convinced him allowing people to see his prosthetic arm wouldn’t turn everyone off.

“Jace. What’s up?”

“You’re the go-to woman when it comes to knowing where to buy things.”

She pointed to a chair across from her desk. “I am.”

“Then I’m hoping you can help me.” He sat. “Misty and I just closed on a house.”

“She mentioned it a time or two.” Or three hundred. She’d especially mentioned the large backyard she intended to fill with plants and flowers.

“Well, one of the rooms is designated as her office. It looks out over the yard where she wants to grow some of her own product.” He looked around as if his fiancée might see him. “Before we move in next month, I want to find a way to bring some of that into her office.”

“Literally or visually?”

“Maybe both. I can hire someone to put in a bay window for her, but I’m not sure where to go from there. What would one put in the office to make it feminine and as pleasurable as possible to work in while keeping it functional?”

In her office across the Tulle and Tulips space, Misty had a glass wall that looked out onto the workspace where the arrangements were put together. She was constantly surrounded by her creations and Jace wanted her to have the same thing at home. For a man who’d first come across as a chauvinistic ass with a chip the size of Florida on his shoulder he was turning into a teddy bear.

“I want it to be a surprise for her though.”

“Let me think on it and see if I can feel her out for some things she might like. Do you already have a contractor?”

He shook his head. “I asked the guy who did this place, but he’s booked and is only taking on the bigger jobs.”

“You need someone with a smaller company. Good, but start-up.” Burton sprang to mind. He’d said he was the head contractor. If that was true, it was possible he had played a part in how Hearth and Home had been put together. He may or may not have an eye for the kind of detail Jace was asking for, but he would have been in charge of the building, paint and wallpaper. “I might have an option for you. Let me do some checking.”

Certain he was Google-able, Leigh opened a new browser and got to work searching for whatever information she could find on Burton Anderson.

Chapter Three

Monday mornings had a reputation for sucking. Mondays in May seemed to be forming a pattern. At least for Burton.

A year ago, on a May Monday, his marriage of six years ended.

A week ago, on a May Monday, he’d woken handcuffed to a commode at work.

Now, on a May Monday, he was scrambling to buy supplies for a job because one of his subcontractors had failed to show up or verify the supply order. He might have escaped detection on the security cameras at Hearth and Home, but he couldn’t shake the idea that last week’s debacle was going to come back to bite him. Nothing was going to jeopardize his company again.

“Excuse me,” he called to one of the store employees who stepped into the aisle.

“Yes, sir.” The elderly gentleman smiled as he walked toward Burton. “Can I help you?”

“I need three more rolls of two-inch, reinforced, braided vinyl tubing.” He pointed to his cart that already held everything they had. “I’m hoping you have some in the back or at another local store.”

“Sure.” The man, Jack according to his nametag, smiled. “Let me check the computer.”

Burton followed him through a few aisles to the computer. A woman walking with another woman and a man captured his attention and flashed him back a week to Leigh. It was the bun that caught his attention. It was the woman’s flushed cheeks he remembered. Her bun, that he wanted to pull her hair free from, and the sultry way her voice caressed each word. Those were the things he remembered.

His body remembered her too. His temperature shot up. Heat tingled along his wrists where she’d touched him. The bruises were almost gone, but he still felt her skin against his. Hers was a touch he’d dreamt about and woken up missing for days.

“We have what you need in stock, but it’s split between two of our other stores.”

Burton nodded at Jack. “It’ll have to do.” Even if it meant he was going to spend the next hour driving around to get it all he would have what he needed. “Can you have them pull it to the front for me?”

“Your name?”

“I know BDSM isn’t new, but can you believe we’re doing this?” A woman’s question from the next aisle distracted Burton.

Jack too. The old man angled his head and listened to see what they’d hear.

“It’s a first for me, and I’ve been at this for a long while.” Another woman said with a chuckle.

“I’ve tied women up,” a man put in, “but never in public.”

“What is it about sex in public that excites people?”

The last question stopped Burton’s heart for a beat. His head snapped up. Sultry. Caressing. Sensible. He’d only ever heard one woman speak like that.

Leigh.

“You didn’t ask your nak*d man that?”

Her what? She’d told people about him? Shit. He was going to be ruined.

“No.” Leigh answered with a huffing laugh. “But if he ever returns my call I will ask him for you, Tabatha.”

She’d called?

“Wait.” The first woman who’d spoken jumped on the thought that popped into his head. “What do you mean ‘if he calls you back’? You didn’t tell us he gave you his number.”

“He didn’t. I Googled him.”

“Why would you Google him?”

Jack returned to work, asking Burton for his name and phone number. He didn’t seem to be as interested in the conversation anymore. At least not as interested as Burton.

“Misty,” the man slipped in. “Leave her alone.”

“I will not.” Misty laughed. “Maybe he could give us some pointers.”

“OMG!” Tabatha, if he was keeping the voices straight, clapped her hands together. “You want to be the one to handcuff him next time. Or do you want him to cuff you instead?”

“You should only have to go to the customer service counter at the other stores,” Jack said. “If you need anything else, let us know.”

“Thank you.” What Burton really needed was to hear Leigh’s answer. Why had she looked him up? Why call him? Why hadn’t he gotten the message?

“Ladies,” the man injected again. He sounded calm and dominant. “Are we here to buy rope suitable for bondage games or are we here to pick on Leigh?”

“Can’t we do both?” Tabatha asked.

Burton’s admiration for the other man skyrocketed. If he could get three women who sounded like they were pretty good friends to agree to a four-way, and if he could control them, he deserved whatever they would do with him. And these women sounded like they were willing to do quite a bit.

Leigh was the shocking addition, though. She’d seemed so prim when they met. Damn if the contradictory information didn’t have him trying harder to visualize her with her hair down. Figuratively and literally.

When the image came into his head it was of her kneeling over a man while he ate out one of the other women and the third one caressed the softness of Leigh’s neck. Most men might find the idea sexy. It just pissed him off because if Leigh was going to let loose with anyone he wanted it to be him.

“He’s a contractor,” Leigh said softly. “I might have a job for him.”

“We plan weddings. Odd as they may be at times,” Misty said. “People don’t come to us for contractors.”

“No, but that doesn’t mean my clients never ask about other aspects of house planning. I’m there to guide them through setting up their home.”

If she’d called him for a job, he didn’t see a better time than now to return the call. Burton pushed the cart down the aisle and around the end. The woman he’d spotted earlier with the bun—Leigh—faced away from him. Each woman dressed with a completely different style. One in a short skirt and stilettos that made her almost as tall as the man with them and the other in a glittery top and jeans with bling on the ass pockets. None of them seemed like they would have much in common. That didn’t seem to stop them as they debated ropes and dished about the nak*d man Leigh had uncuffed.

The man said little. He seemed more content to stand back and watch the women. Not that he seemed overly interested in any of them other than the one in the short skirt.

Burton’s gaze was drawn to Leigh. She wasn’t as overt with her sexuality. In fact, the fat-legged slacks and sensible suit vest she wore were intended to hide her figure. It only succeeded in highlighting her narrow waist and making him wonder what other wonders she hid.

Even the swell of her ass was a treat for his eyes.

He moved closer, less than two feet away. He took in the three people with Leigh—the man with a hook instead of a hand and the two women who were stunning in their own ways. His eyes returned quickly to Leigh, though. To the satin smooth skin of her neck, the narrow dip of her waist and then the swell of her hips. Her slacks, like the skirt she’d worn last week, were fitted to showcase her curves.