Christmas Bytes Read online

  I’m just gonna romance myself so hard tonight and all day tomorrow. Come to momma Mr. Seaton!

  Lucy headed down the hall toward the vault of safety deposit boxes to grab her purse and keys, heels swinging from one hand. She was almost at the fork in the hallway. One led way led to the back offices, where her belongings were. The other way led to the vault. She was about to turn toward the back office when she noticed a soft glow coming from the other hallway that caused her to pause.

  “What the…?” she said softly, instinct making her lower her voice before she could fully register what she was seeing.

  The baby hairs on the back of her neck stood up and the bottom of her stomach dropped out.

  Lucy was certain she had been alone for the past few hours. She had done a walk through the building shortly after the other employees had left, a habit she had formed after leaving her old job, and had been glad to find it empty.

  Maybe security was doing a walk through?

  Yeah right, she chided herself. Be real Lucy. You would have heard them from a mile away. Security personnel aren’t exactly subtle.

  Soft sounds were coming from that end of the hallway.

  There was definitely someone here. Maybe more than one someone.

  There was no rental no car here waiting for her in the employee parking lot. She mentally kicked herself for not picking up the rental car the company had budgeted into her travel expenses. The empty parking lot must have given – him? them? – the impression that the building was empty.

  Had Lucy worn her heels coming down the hallway, they would have heard her from a mile away. The sharp staccato they gave off when she walked would have been a dead giveaway to the intruders. Before they realized that they weren’t alone, she needed to duck into an empty office or into the bathroom and dial 911.

  She felt her thigh, expecting to feel the outline of her cell phone in her pocket.

  Nothing.

  Damnit! She had worn a skirt today. No pockets. Her phone was tucked into her purse. Of all the days to try to look cute… She had to get to it fast and call the police.

  Turning, nearly in a panic now, she intended to tip-toe/run as quickly as she could to her phone in the back office.

  The hallway was dark and narrow. Her arms were outstretched, feeling around like blind person for the walls and furniture. If she could move carefully, but quickly, she could make it to her phone and hide herself somewhere.

  She had forgotten that there were dainty tables scattered along the hallway. And on those stupidly dainty tables were fake flowers. In real glass vases.

  The loud crash broke the silence of the night as effectively as if she had sounded an alarm. There was a pause in the sounds she heard coming from the vault room. Without turning to look behind her, Lucy made a mad dash for the offices. If she was lucky, maybe to could get a door between her and the intruder(s) and lock it. If she was really lucky, maybe she could make it outside and flag a passing car.

  “Oomph!”

  The wind was knocked out of Lucy. She lay stunned and scared on the linoleum floor. A heavy weight was atop her, pinning her in place.

  There was a string of muttered curses as the man (she could tell it was a man from the timbre of his voice) jerked her arms to pin them behind her back.

  Lucy winced at the roughness. She inhaled to draw in a ragged breath to scream.

  Jayce

  Jayce could tell that the soft, squirming woman beneath him was working herself up to shout for help.

  Before the cry could leave her lips, he clamped a hand over her mouth, muffling the screech. He doubted that anyone was in a near enough vicinity to have heard her, but he wasn’t taking chances. He needed to get out of here ASAP.

  “Quiet!” he hissed into her ear. “There’s no need for theatrics lady. This is just a simple robbery. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

  The woman quivered beneath him. Adrenaline high, Jayce still couldn’t help but notice her shapely form. Her bottom was soft, the hips flaring out nicely. The wrists he was able to pin in one hand were small and dainty. A riot of dark curls spilled down her back, looking mussed from the tackle he had given her. The lighting was too dim for him to discern the color.

  “Stay quiet,” he repeated. “This will be over soon if you just cooperate.” He kept his hand clamped over her mouth. “Do you understand?”

  She nodded once and Jayce let the pressure of his hand ease up. He didn’t take it away completely just yet in case she decided to still try and shout for help.

  In all the years in his profession, he had never had to deal with a witness or hostage situation. His planning had always been meticulous and with little error. The blame for this royal fuck-up lay in his sense of urgency to get this job done. The eagerness he had to be done with this life to start his retirement plans.

  If he didn’t deal with this disaster carefully, there would be no retirement. There would be no salty waves and sandy beaches. No beautiful, big-breasted women bringing him cocktails and offering him pool-side massages. No hot nights of meaningless sex as a result of those imaginary massages from those imaginary women.

  Jayce snatched off his black, skull cap beanie. He made to shimmy the cap over the woman’s eyes to blind her as best he could with one free hand. As soon as he tried to tug the material over her face, the woman beneath him bucked wildly and began to scream with renewed vigor.

  Her struggles were so forceful that his grip on her loosened.

  Jayce went flying off of her, though not far, his head hitting the leg of a table. A heavy object from the table clattered and fell onto the region his solar plexus, causing a grunt of pain to escape him.

  There was a patter of bare feet and suddenly the hallway was flooded with artificial, florescent lighting.

  He groaned and tried to sit up.

  “You!” came the shrill accusation.

  It was the woman from earlier today. The one that had caught his attention. When he had left the bank earlier and returned to his temporary apartment, his dick had throbbed at the memory of her and he’d had no qualms in imagining her as he’d stroked one out. The memory of the censure in her eyes had caused ribbons of cum to coat his stomach within mere moments of recalling it. It had been so hot, but so foreign to him. He hadn’t ever experienced that kind of desire and lust before.

  She stood there now, in glorious fury, eyes blazing with fire.

  “Shit.” Still stunned from the throw, Jayce tried to struggle to his feet. “Hold on. I can explain.”

  He really couldn’t. But he was stalling for time, trying to think of any means to stop her from running and calling the police.

  He should have pegged her to be smarter than that.

  “Not a chance you bastard,” she glared at him and shook her head. Her loose tresses whipping back and forth. “I knew there was something fishy about you when you were trying to get into the bank teller’s panties at mid-day!”

  She scooped up and hurled a vase at his head, thankfully missing him, before spinning on her heel to turn in the opposite direction. Away from him. He was going to lose sight of her soon. Jayce knew that he had one last chance to stop her.

  Launching after her, he caught up to her at a rate that stunned even him. The fear of prison-time being a very real factor here. He was nearly atop her when he saw her hesitate. She glanced one way and then another, almost as if lost or disoriented.

  The hesitation cost her. Jayce pounced on her again and knocked her to the floor. This time she landed on her back, facing him, and was she more pissed off than afraid.

  Her arms went flying up and he had to block her blows. It took some maneuvering, but he was able pin her four limbs down after a heated struggle.

  “Almost made it darling,” he crooned in triumph. He used his bigger body size and weight to move her arms and legs into more manageable positions. “Now that you’ve seen me, I can’t let you just walk away so easily.”

  “Let me go you bastard,” she hissed i
nto his face. Her fear from earlier had completely vanished. Her body squirmed deliciously beneath him and he couldn’t help but give her a devil may care smile. “It’s no use! I know your name and your account information. You’re as good as screwed!”

  “Oh no sweetheart,” he flipped her over onto her stomach and pulled her arms to the small of her back. Putting his weight onto her legs, he pulled a zip tie from his back pocket. Jayce had never had to subdue a witness, but he had been trained from the beginning of his career to be as prepared as possible. “Everything you think you know about me is fake. None of the information is real and will actually lead to me. But still, I can’t take the chance of you alerting someone before I leave town.”

  She tried to look over her shoulder at him and see what he was doing. When she felt the zip tie bind her wrists tightly together, a look of panic and fear washed over her face.

  “What are you going to do? You can’t kill me. You may be a thief but murder is a whole other level,” she panted still, evidence of their earlier exertions. “Just let me go. I’ll give you a thirty-minute head start before I call the police.”

  Their eyes met and she must have read the skepticism in his.

  “I promise,” she whispered desperately.

  Her bravery impressed him. He could tell that she was terrified. Her attempts to keep a calm and reasoning tone with him and were admirable.

  “Listen miss,” he said as he shimmied down the length of her curvy body. Damn his male instincts for noticing the lush curves of her at a time like this. “There’s n—”

  “Lucy!” she shouted. “My name is Lucy. Lucinda Gideon. I – it’s my first day at this branch here in Alta Vista. Please! I have… I have a cat waiting for me at home!”

  Holding back a surge of hysterical laughter, Jayce ignored her and bound her ankles with another plastic zip tie just to be sure. She tried to wriggle away but he pulled her back into place by her ankles. Giving her generous rump a pat when he finished, he surveyed his handiwork.

  “What are you going to do with me?” came a muffled whisper from her. The woman, Lucy, had buried her face onto the floor. Fiery red curls shielding her like a curtain. He could detect a tremor in her voice this time.

  His heart clenched. Jayce didn’t want her to be scared. He may be a professional thief but he really was a decent guy deep down, he thought. He felt a prick of guilt at witnessing her fight and spirit shrink in fear at him.

  “I’m not going to hurt you.” He sighed, deciding to not to terrify her any further than she already was. He stood up above her, legs on either side her bound body. It was a beautiful site he had to admit to himself. “But I can’t leave you here. I’m taking you with me.”

  “What!?” Lucy squirmed anew. She was able to roll over onto her side and glare up at him.

  “It’s a Friday night. All bank lobbies close on the weekends. No one will come back to the bank until Monday. I can’t leave you here.”

  She sputtered in indignation. Jayce was glad to see her fight hadn’t been squashed for long. Lucy began to call him all sorts of names and make demands that her release her.

  He didn’t argue with her. She didn’t seem to get she had no leverage in this situation. Instead, he took a handkerchief from his back pocket. He was, somehow, able to shove it into her mouth amidst vehement protests and the snapping of her sharp teeth. He was lucky he didn’t lose a finger. The beanie he found lying not too far away from their struggles earlier. This time it went over her head more easily and without a fight. His hostage was silently seething. If looks could kill. He had one last glance of her intimidating glare as he pulled the fabric over her face.

  The look gave him chills… And a thrill. He thought the expression was adorable on her.

  He had been so close to being done. Knowing that the bank’s security measures, which he was familiar with, would now be changing with its merger with Granite Forge had maybe made Jayce act a little rashly. Through his own hastiness to get finished job done, he had decided to go ahead and move up the time of the break-in from Christmas to now. A whole two and half weeks ahead of schedule.

  Such rushing, he had been forewarned by his mentors, led to mistakes. Like the curvy, gorgeous woman he currently had tied up.

  Jayce looked over her trussed up squirming body. The curves of her breasts and ass pulled tightly against her clothing. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought that there was a sensual wriggle to her hips and heave of her chest as she tested the strength of the bindings.

  The sight was arousing, he had to admit to himself. There was responding jerk from his cock just from ogling her and he was none too proud about it. Never having thought he’d be much into the bondage scene, the response from his body disturbed him a bit. But there also was a quiet sensation of – distress? – that was humming through him at seeing her in this position.

  He had bigger problems to deal with than trying to deal with the conflicting feeling of desire heating up his blood versus the guilt he felt in restraining her.

  Jayce tore his gaze away and left her there, bound and trussed like a turkey, and went down to the vault room to retrieve his bag.

  He was able to, somehow by the grace of some higher power, sneak Lucy up without running into any of the other residents and neighbors. He took her up to the cushy loft apartment he had been renting for the past few months. Like his account at Alta Vista Financial (or Granite Forge Bank now), the apartment was rented under a false identify and paid through an encrypted account. Any in-depth investigation into any of the information he had given would lead investigators through an endless list of shell corporations and accounts. The end result being that he would be almost impossible to trace.

  Even the name he went by now in his profession as a thief for hire, Jayce Compton, was not really his. But it felt like it was. He had gone by that name for more years now than his the one he had been born with.

  He deposited his charge onto the sofa in an undignified heap. She bounced one the cushions and struggled to sit upright. Her dress shirt was rumpled and the pencil skirt had hiked up high on her thighs. The stockings had a few runs in them from their physical struggles and his manhandling of her. And her feet were bare. Her heels, forgotten in fray, must be back in the hallway where he had tackled her.

  What a mess, Jayce thought as he glared at her shapely limbs. He blamed them. He blamed her whole voluptuous body for the flames coursing through his veins now.

  He needed to decide what to do with her and fast. She had been right in what she had said to him earlier… He was no murderer.

  Jayce would have to think of how and where to leave her so that she would eventually be found. Way before that happened, he needed to be well the hell out of dodge. He snatched off the beanie from her head.

  Lucinda, or Lucy as he had already begun referring to her in his mind, shook her hair out of her face and resumed her glare at him. She spat out the wadded-up handkerchief into his direction. Shocked that she hadn’t immediately started squawking for help, or pleading, he studied the fire in her eyes.

  Her spunk was back.

  Good.

  “We need to figure this out darling.”

  Chapter 3

  Lucinda

  Lucy was madder than a wet hen. And probably looked as bedraggled as one as well!

  Not only was she mad at the fact that she had somehow ended up as a fucking hostage, she was especially angry at herself for having been a bit turned on during the whole process.

  Yeah… She must have a screw loose.

  The zip ties that her ankles and wrists behind her back, weren’t the most comfortable thing in the world (the leather cuffs she used to use were much better). But they still gave her the sensation of delicious pressure and confinement. She had never been very fond of being tied up, so she especially hated the fact that she was relishing the sensations now.

  Lucy struggled to not let her wayward body writhe in pleasure as she tried to stare down her would-be kid
napper at the same time. She knew if she pulled down her panties right now that there would be a pool of wetness, evidence of her arousal, plain to see. There had been times when she liked to play the submissive every now and then (with the right partner) but had always, instead, gloried more in the being the dom.

  Lucinda Gideon had once been the premier dominatrix in the city of Boston. Men and women from various, but usually lucrative, social standings had been her clients. She had wielded dominance, kindness, and the discipline they so desperately craved over them with a comforting power that they paid her handsomely for.

  That all now seemed a lifetime ago. Since that time, she had realized how very much like a black and white movie her life had become. All of it out of fear.

  Then this thieving wretch had physically overpowered and kidnapped her. His actions had caused the anxiety, the excitement, and the sweet bite of pain from being restrained to light her up like a Technicolor dream. She’d be damned though, if she would admit that to this stranger. He still posed a very real threat to her safety right now. No matter that he said he wouldn’t hurt her. She wasn’t going to believe him until he actually set her free.

  And then she would run to the nearest phone to call the police.

  “Are the ties hurting you?”

  “Yes,” she lied. They were tight and pinching her a bit, but she had been bound much tighter before. Perk of the training to become a Mistress.

  “I can’t let you go, but I can loosen them,” he offered.

  “Listen Kyle,” she huffed at him. Using his name on purpose to let him know that she knew exactly who he was. Outrage (and her pride) were getting the better of her but she was trying to keep calm. “I –.”

  “That’s not my real name,” he murmured, a triumphant little quirk to his lips. He had leaned over her and she got the impression that he was inspecting the bindings. “Since you’ve caught me, red-handed so to speak, just know that the name and account information you have won’t actually lead back to me.”