“As good as can be expected,” he said with a sigh. “We presented the evidence. Leboeuf and the accountant have been arrested.”
Concern overrode her earlier panic when she heard the weariness in his voice. “Have you slept?” she asked, knowing that it was early morning in Paris.
“No, I just arrived at my apartment. I thought I would sleep on the plane, but I ended up working with my banker to ensure the transfer of funds from my private accounts to the Three Kings. Everyone received their paychecks, right on time. I also had to work on hiring a private investigator to see if he can trace the embezzled funds. Perhaps a good portion of it can be recovered. I’ve just come from an all-night meeting with Monsieur Atale. I was a fool not to hire him as the executive director of the Three Kings right off the bat. He’s a good man. But I was wary of people that had worked for my father previously. I thought it was best to bring in an outsider.”
“That’s hindsight, Lucien. I know that you wouldn’t hire someone who didn’t have excellent qualifications. You can’t see the inner workings of a criminal’s mind and heart.”
Her breath hitched when he didn’t respond.
“You should rest,” she said, sensing his tension at the topic of his father and trying to turn the subject. “You sound absolutely exhausted.”
“I’m in bed right now.”
Her thighs clamped tight. She realized her instinctive reaction had come from the quiet, seductive quality of his voice.
“It’s ten until midnight in Chicago,” he murmured. “Did I catch you in the midst of your discipline lesson?”
“Yes,” she said impulsively, her brain starting to leap into panic again. Did she imagine that short pause on his end?
“Are you aroused?”
“Yes. Incredibly so,” she lied breathlessly.
“You’re lying.”
Irritation spiked through her at his quick, confident reply.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I know what you sound like when you’re edgy with lust, and I know what you sound like when you’re relaxed. Aside from seeming a little nervous, you sound to me like a woman that’s just had a nice, hot orgasm.”
Her typically glib tongue went uncooperatively numb.
“I told you I would know if you were lying,” he said mildly, a thread of humor in his tone. “How many times?”
“How many times what?” she asked, irritation at his confidence in her failure and regret at her lack of control making her tone snappy.
“How many times did you pull your hand away and try to cool off?” he clarified evenly.
“Twice,” she admitted after a pause. Her cheeks heated in embarrassment, but for some reason, another wave of lust went through her, so powerful that she placed her hand on her outer sex and pressed to staunch it.
“That’s more than I expected.”
“It is?” she asked, amazed.
“Did you imagine me telling you that you could come?”
“Well . . .”
“Elise?” he asked sharply.
She grimaced. “No. I . . . imagined that you told me I had to hang on just a bit longer.”
“But you put the vibrator on your little pussy and came anyway?”
His voice had dropped a decibel, sounding sultry in her ear. Her hand moved between her thighs. “I tried hard, Lucien. But the vibrator is very powerful. It made me think of . . .”
“What?” he asked sharply when she faded off.
“The stables. How you rode me so hard. How much I liked it.”
A rough groan made her ear and neck tingle.
“You little minx,” he mumbled tightly. “How will I ever convince you that you were wrong to goad me that way when you were inexperienced, if you keep shoving it in my face how much you liked it?”
Her pussy was growing very wet. It excited her, playing with herself as they spoke so intimately to each other while they were leagues apart.
“I can’t help it that I liked it. Do you wish I was different?”
“Don’t pout,” he chided. “You know I think you’re perfect, and you love shoving that in my face every opportunity you get as well, don’t you?” She smiled. He’d sounded amused. And extremely aroused. “I believe I told you I would punish you if you failed.”
She rubbed her slick clit with the ridge of her forefinger more rapidly.
“What will you do to me when you get back?” she asked, trepidation twining with the excitement in her voice.
“Oh, you won’t have to wait. You’ll receive your punishment now.”
That made her pause in her self-pleasuring.
“What do you mean?” she demanded. “You’re in Paris.”
“I know that. So you will administer the punishment in my place.”
He really did have an uncanny way of making her speechless.
“Open the top drawer of the bedside table. There’s a round, wooden paddle in there with a short handle. Perhaps you noticed it earlier.”
“Lucien,” she said, disbelieving at the hint of mirth she heard in his voice. “Do you have a camera set up in here? Are you spying on me?”
“Of course I don’t,” he said sharply. “Do you honestly think I’d record you without your permission?”
Her mouth fell open in surprise at the edge to his tone.
“No, I don’t have a hidden camera,” he said, exhaling and leveling his tone, as if he’d sensed her surprise. “I knew you had to get in the drawer to get the vibrator. I know what a curious thing you are. Did you see anything else in that drawer that interested you?” he asked quietly.