CHAPTER 1
Geneva reached for the statue without recognizing it until the weight of it in her grasp
brought it all back. It was her work, "Bound Man." Carved from heavy ebony, the
curls of wood had littered her studio for weeks as she worked to bring the form out of the
chunk of dense material. The form that finally emerged was that of a perfect specimen,
tall, well muscled, male, straining against the ropes binding him to the St. Andrews
Cross. Undeniably male, the erection made that obvious. Her model was Jordan Mitchell, it
had been ten years, and still she thought about him way too much. Bound Man had been
modeled on his superb body. It was one of the best pieces she had ever created. Running
her fingers over the smooth cool surface made them itch to create again.
Geneva denied the urge, carefully setting the statue back on the mantle. She swallowed
hard, pushing down the need. She had work to do, work that paid the bills. Work she was
contracted to perform. She turned to her laptop and carefully entered the information
about the carving into the estate inventory list of Alicia and Richard Tyler. Her program
wanted to know whom the artist was, she entered: Unknown, even though her initials were
carved in the base. She had no idea how the Tylers had acquired her sculpture. Yes, she
had sold it years ago to one of her art professors and supposed she had kept it. She
hadn`t thought about it. After all, it was from a period in her life she had left behind
for good reasons, but damn, it was downright freaky finding it here.
The statue was not the first thing she had come across that made her wonder about the
Tylers. There was something about the house itself, she had experienced, a couple times, a
very strong sense of deja`-vu. It even had her humming the lines of the old Crosby,
Stills, Nash and Young song, "We have all been here before." It had to be the
combination of weird death, alternate sexuality, and being alone in the almost spooky
mansion. She`d been on edge for a couple of days now. Although, she thought to herself, it
might just be due to the fact that a heavy planter had almost killed her the first day she
arrived at the estate.
Maybe not really almost killed her, but the damn thing had come out of nowhere and
shattered at her feet. If she hadn`t stepped away from the porch to look up at the balcony
when she did, it would have landed on her head. She literally shook herself to bring her
back to the present.
Was there anything quite so intimate a stranger could do to another than to inventory
their estate? It meant going through all the drawers, all the closets, cupboards, nooks
and crannies of a life. Geneva hadn`t been in the house for an hour and a half before
coming to the conclusion the deceased couple had been heavily into BDSM, and that was
before she found her own erotic art.
First there were the books. Here and there among the many volumes on all kinds of new age
subjects were books on the BDSM lifestyle, she recognized a few of the older titles. There
wasn`t a lot of overt stuff, but the signs were there, once the idea had been planted. She
recognized things. Things like strategically placed plant hangers with extra heavy-duty
hardware to hold the not so heavy planters. Although she had to admit she had not come
across any obvious items like whips, chains, cuffs and other toys she would have expected
to find. Someone, Anthony Caldwell she imagined, had been here before her and removed
those incriminating objects. She couldn`t blame him, who would want the world to know his
relatives not only enjoyed kinky sexuality, but also lived their lives around it?
The huge master bedroom had held even more evidence, eyebolts on the wall, in the exposed
beams of the ceiling, and cleverly concealed in the floor. There the closets had been
suspiciously empty, she couldn`t help wondering about what had been removed. She knew the
Tylers had been in their sixties, they probably had a treasure trove of BDSM toys acquired
over a lifetime of involvement in the scene. Whoever had done the quick and dirty clean up
hadn`t been thorough enough, at least not thorough enough for someone who knew what to
look for once her suspicions had been aroused. Attorney Caldwell, a straight-laced guy if
she had ever met one, probably thought he was doing it for the best reasons, and maybe he
was. There was no need to have a lurid story about his clients and a BDSM lifestyle played
out in the local press. The deaths themselves were spectacular enough.
Well, it was none of her business. Geneva had been hired to appraise the real property
and contents of the Tylers` estate so their will could be probated. She had been promised
first shot at handling the estate sale if Caldwell was happy with her work. Now that would
bring in a tidy little sum and really help her business, Boulet`s Antiques.
Getting the job in the first place was kind of odd, but she wasn`t going to complain. She
had taken courses including real estate studies so she could expand that area of her
business. But, she hadn`t done any advertising yet so the phone call from Caldwell had
taken her by surprise. She`d jumped at the job. Once Caldwell was satisfied she was
bonded, he`d met with her and given her keys to the front gate, the house and out
buildings. He had warned her about the abundance of erotic art the couple had collected
over the years. He wanted to make sure she would not be offended before he let her sign
the contract. She had started working on the place two days ago and hadn`t thought of much
else since then.
Her phone rang, interrupting her study of a French Provincial mirror with a decidedly
suggestive border carving on the mahogany frame. She looked at the screen and saw her own
number at the store displayed.
"Bridgett?" She answered the phone.
"Yeah, hey, Boss, how`s things at the estate?" Her assistant and friend asked.
"I`ve got a couple here interested in the armoire, you know the chestnut one."
"Right." She was looking at herself in the mirror while her hand rubbed the
smooth breast of a wood sprite. "What`s the problem?"
"What do you think? The price." Bridgett laughed. "They want to know what
you`ll take for it."
"Attitude?" she asked.
"Tourists, not pushy, very interested, no problem with yours truly, in fact I think
the guy is quite charmed." Bridgett giggled.
"Well, that`s worth something I guess." Geneva said. Bridgett was a Goth girl,
lots of black, lots of piercing and electric blue highlights in her hair for the last
month or so. "I tell you what, you decide, nothing less than fifteen hundred dollars,
and make sure they know they pay for any shipping and insurance."
"Oooh, Boss, I think the responsibility might go to my head. Okay, I`ll take care of
it." She shot back. "So, uh, have you come across anything interesting?"
"First, don`t call me Boss, but yeah." She knew what Bridgett was asking about.
She had made the mistake of letting her in on the Tylers` penchant for collecting antique
erotica. "I`ll fill you in when I get back. I should be there right around closing. I
need to do up a deposit so I can get some money in the bank." She suddenly realized
she was hearing a car or something in the drive outside. "Hey, I`ve got to go,
someone is in the drive."
"Okay. Don`t worry about things here, we`re both having a good day. I`ll see you
around five or so."
Geneva got to the front door in time to see a pick-up truck swing around the circular
drive and head back toward the gate. The brake lights came on and the truck slowed, then
turned into the short drive leading to the burnt out shell of the guesthouse.
Damn, Geneva thought to herself, another gawker. I thought I locked the gate this
morning. She pushed her glasses back up in place and closed the door behind her. Actually
it was nice to get out of the stuffy house since it was a beautiful day. She arrived at
the pick-up as the driver was rummaging behind the seat for something.
"Hey," she said. He jumped as if he`d been struck by lightning, bumped his head
on the edge of the truck door, and turned to her swearing a blue streak.
"Jesus, lady, you scared the hell out me. Where the fuck did you come from?" He
rubbed his head and glared at her. He was a young man, dressed in blue jeans, a black
t-shirt, leather vest, and lots of metal, on his clothes and in his skin.
"This is private property," she informed him.
"No shit!" He started patting his clothes. "That`s probably why the gate
was locked huh?" He finally found what he was looking for and handed her a business
card. "Butler`s Industrial Cleaning, we`re there for the big jobs." Smaller
letters on the bottom let her know that "Crime Scene clean-up is our specialty".
"Some lawyer and insurance guy is supposed to meet me here to get an estimate on
cleaning up this place. Man that hurt!" He went back to rubbing his head. "Is
there any blood up there?" He bent over and she was able to see a good-sized bump
swelling under his black hair.
"No, but you`re going to have a nice size lump."
"Well, you shouldn`t be sneaking up on people you know." He looked at her
again. "I`m Ernie."
"Sorry, Ernie, I didn`t know I was sneaking. I`m Geneva Boulet, I`m doing an
appraisal of the estate, probably for the same attorney you`re supposed to meet here. How
did you get through the gate?"
"I picked the lock. It only took me a couple of minutes."
"Do you think that`s a good idea, Ernie?" She shook her head. "I mean,
you`re trying to get a job right? Is a lawyer going to be impressed with your lock picking
skills? Now, that`s what I call sneaking."
"Just practicing," he muttered.
"Practicing?" she asked, but was stopped from going further by the big black
Mercedes that quietly rolled into the drive.
"Don`t say anything about the lock, okay?" He said quietly with a touch of
panic in his voice. "My uncle will kill me if we don`t get this job."
"Geneva, I see you`re hard at work." Anthony Caldwell spoke with a big blustery
voice. "And you must be from Butler`s cleaning." The big man in the dark suit
turned to Ernie. He stopped short when he got a good look at the boy, his hand pulled
back. He was obviously not sure about shaking hands with the tattooed pierced young man
facing him. "How did you get in here?"
"I let him in," Geneva said, not quite sure why, but she didn`t want the boy to
get in any trouble. "He was waiting at the gate, I heard his horn."
"I`m from the cleaner." Ernie quickly dug another card out of his pocket and
handed it to the attorney. "I`m Ernie Butler, my uncle owns the business. I handle
the crime scene clean-up."
"Okay, well, Ernie Butler, what do you think?" Caldwell`s jovial voice was
back. He swept his hand up to indicate the guesthouse.
"I haven`t had a chance to look around yet. I`m just getting my stuff." He went
back to the truck, and got a flashlight, clipboard, calculator and slung on a tool belt.
"Where`s the insurance guy? They usually like to be right here when we make an
estimate since they end up paying for it."
"He`s on his way, he called to let me know he`s running late. You can get started
I`ll be up at the house with Ms. Boulet."
Great, thought Geneva, just what I need Anthony Caldwell looking over my shoulder while I
inventory erotic art.
"I see you`ve finished with the downstairs." Caldwell was standing much too
close for comfort. "You haven`t run into any problems, or anything I should know
about have you?"
"No, although you were certainly right about all the erotic art, the upper floors
seem to be full of it." She stepped back. "Most of it is good quality antique
items, with a modern piece here and there."
"We shouldn`t have any problem selling this stuff huh?" He almost leered at
her. "I mean there is always a market for this kind of perversion right?"
"Perversion?" She echoed his odd choice of word. "I`m not sure I`d call
the collection perverted."
"Well, I`m just not sure this is the type of thing a young single woman should be
dealing with." He reached for the Bound Man sculpture. "This is well…" He
was actually blushing, but didn`t set the sculpture down. "Graphic, to say the least,
and I wonder if you`ve given thought to your reputation in the community if word got out
you were handling the sale of pornographic art."
"Mr. Caldwell, please, don`t worry about that. I`m sure the sale of the estate can
be handled discretely." She took a deep breath. "I`m a professional dealer in
antiques and I`m certainly not worried about my reputation. Except as a dealer, I want to
be able to get the best price possible for the, um, artifacts of the Tyler estate."
She walked to the head of the stairs and turned to the man, he was engrossed in the
statue, running his fingers over the carving, stopping short of the bold erection. He
licked his heavy full lips, and it gave her a little shudder.
"C`mon downstairs and you can go through my inventory on the laptop. I think you`ll
be happy with the estimate of value that`s come in so far." She couldn`t help
wondering just what was going on with the man. Maybe he had a few issues with his own
sexuality. He was certainly affected by the statue. In a way, Geneva guessed she couldn`t
ask for more in the way of a reaction to her art, even if it did give her the willies.
"Your program came up with these estimates?" He asked as he looked at the
figures on the screen.
"Yes, they are preliminary, based on photos and my descriptions. I log on and the
company that sold me the program comes up with estimates based on current prices from
stores and auctions all over the world."
"Wait! You log on? You mean this is going out all over the Internet?"
"No, it`s merely going to the company I`ve contracted with. It`s a very secure site.
It has to be, their business and reputation depend on it." Damn she wished she hadn`t
told him that. "You don`t need to worry, it`s a well established business that
guarantees privacy. They don`t post the items I send in, they merely do a search. It`s
all-automatic, I don`t even think people see the objects. It`s all done by the words you
enter into your search description. It`s the accepted way to value just about anything
anymore."
"Yes, but, you guaranteed me privacy when we talked about this job, and now I find
the information is out there on the Internet?"
"Look, Mr. Caldwell, there just isn`t another way to do this anymore without a lot
of traveling, phone calls and personal inquiries. This is a lot safer than dragging
pictures all over the place. I`d be inundated with offers and collectors trying to get in
here and buy it all up if I did it that way." She flipped open her briefcase and
grabbed the cord she needed to connect the laptop to the phone line. "Here, I`ll log
onto the site and you can check it out yourself and see what you think. You must use
on-line legal research and other services right?"
"Well, yes, but I don`t use them myself. You`re going to have to show me how to do
this."
Geneva sat next to him and showed him how to navigate the site she used once she logged
on. She shuffled her chair back a couple of times to avoid his thigh that seemed to want
to rest against hers.
After twenty minutes or so he sat back and sighed. "Alright I guess. It looks to me
like they do guard your privacy." He took a deep breath. "I`ve got to tell you
why I seem like such a nut on the privacy thing. I would be in any case, I take client
confidentiality very seriously, any ethical lawyer does. But, in this case it`s even more
important. Alicia Tyler was my aunt and Richard was once the chief counsel of the law firm
I now own. He sold the whole practice to me years ago when he retired. I had no idea they
were involved in this perverted type of sex stuff." There was that word again, and
Geneva knew she had been right about relatives cleaning out the house. "So it`s my
own reputation I`m worried about, I mean what would the people in this town think of me if
they knew my aunt and uncle were involved in…" He looked around as if to make sure
nobody was there to overhear him and lowered his voice. "Sadomasochistic sex stuff?
It could destroy my legal practice."
"Mr. Caldwell, did you clean out the closets and drawers in the master
bedroom?" She couldn`t help asking.
"Yes, I did." He almost squirmed. "I just didn`t want you, or anyone else
seeing all those … those things," he finally settled on as a description for the sex
toys he had gotten rid of.
"Well." Something inside her couldn`t help making him squirm a little more.
"You know, those sex toys and aids, are potentially worth a lot of money, don`t you?
Especially the leather items that I`m sure must be there."
"Really? Even used?" Oh she had hit it right. Caldwell`s greed was at war with
his worry about reputation.
"Well, not the real intimate objects like…" She hesitated. "Dildoes."
He actually sputtered and she rushed on. "Or other things like that, but, if their
collection of leather toys is anything like their collection of art objects I`m assuming
they bought only the best, and those things don`t come cheap. You know, a good whip made
from kangaroo hide can be worth a thousand dollars."
"Well, I`ve got all that stuff boxed up in private storage."
"Look, it may not even be worth doing anything with, after all, the real-estate
alone the Tylers have here is worth well into the high six figures and maybe even over a
million dollars. The leather toys aren`t much when compared to that. Maybe the dump is the
best place for them, or an incinerator."
"Well, I don`t know about that." He actually rubbed his hands together,
reminding her of Scrooge McDuck. "If they are worth money I don`t think they should
be thrown away."
Ahh. She knew she was right, he wouldn`t be satisfied until he got every penny he could
from handling this estate. If he was the only surviving relative he stood to inherit over
a million dollars. "I`ll tell you what, I`ll have the boxes brought back over here
and you can go through them, maybe we can do it together, then we can decide if it`s worth
trying to sell the stuff."
There was no way she was going to have Anthony Caldwell on hand for that little bit of
work. Now she wished she hadn`t poked at him but there was just something about his
stuffed shirt attitude that rubbed her wrong.
"Well, maybe I can get that young man, Ernie to bring the boxes back over here for
us. After all, the cleaning service does claim to be confidential on the crime scene end
of things." He walked to the front window of the house. "Yes, it looks like a
couple of trips would do it in that pick-up of his."
A couple of trips? Geneva thought there must be a lot of boxes.
"I suppose he`ll want some kind of payment for doing it, after all it isn`t really
part of the cleaning service." He grumbled to himself.
"Yes, he probably will, but I bet you can get him to do it cheaply, and I bet he`ll
keep his mouth shut. He doesn`t even have to know what`s in the boxes does he? Are they
sealed up?"
"What? Cheaply? I bet I can." Caldwell focused on the one issue.
"And they are sealed up? Right?" she asked again.
"Yes, they`re all taped up. Do you think we can trust him?"
"Yeah, I do." She didn`t mention the lock picking, figuring she could use it
herself to make sure Ernie Butler kept any information he might come up with to himself.
Maybe not real ethical, but neither was picking locks. After all, Butlers Cleaners was
also a bonded company. "What?" She suddenly realized Caldwell had asked her
something.
"How about we go get a little lunch somewhere? You`ve got to eat right?"
"I`ve already eaten, I brought a lunch and enjoyed it out in the gazebo. The grounds
are a great place to take a break for a picnic lunch." Maybe she should go to lunch
with the guy. There was potential here for a lot of business, but there was something
about him that just turned her off.
"Ahh, well maybe some other time."
"Sure," she answered. "Well, I should get back to work here, I can finish
the upstairs guest rooms if I keep at it."
"I`m going to see if the insurance investigator has shown up yet."
"Investigator? Why an investigator?" She wanted to send him on his way, but her
curiosity got the best of her.
"Well, there`s some question as to the manner of death, as you can imagine. So
before the insurance company pays out any death benefits, they want to make sure
everything is as it seems."
"As it seems?" She couldn`t help parroting his manner of speech. "I mean,
well, didn`t Alicia Tyler kill herself? So there wouldn`t be any death benefit involved
right?"
"Well, yes she did but the death benefit comes from Richard`s death. He died of
natural causes, he was quite ill you know. She killed herself after he died. His policy
names me as beneficiary if Alicia should die within seventy-two hours of his death."
He paused. "It`s a common clause in a will you know." Caldwell was looking at
everything but her while he talked. "Well, that`s neither here nor there for your
work. I think I`ll go now." Suddenly he couldn`t get out of there fast enough.
Very strange she thought. He`s so concerned with confidentiality but he`d just divulged
some information he really shouldn`t have. Everybody in town knew Alicia had killed
herself after her husband died, but not everyone, in fact, she bet, nobody knew Anthony
Caldwell stood to inherit everything from the estate, life insurance included. Well, back
to work. Like he said, none of that was here nor there as far as she was concerned. She
wondered just what that meant, neither here nor there? What an odd man.
A couple hours later she finished with the guest room upstairs and decided to take a
break. She grabbed a bottle of water and a lone cookie left over from her lunch and headed
out onto the front porch. It wrapped around the building and she wandered to the south
side so she could enjoy the early spring sun while she relaxed.
The grounds were immaculate with flowerbeds everywhere just waiting for the earth to warm
up. She slowly ate the cookie, making it last, and sipped at the water. The sunshine
flooding the porch was like a warm caress. Her body sank into the soft cushions, and she
couldn`t help but be aware of a soft sensuality creeping over her. Dealing with the erotic
art, books and her own work had opened doors she had kept firmly locked for years. There
was something about the house, it was permeated with sex. She closed her eyes to let the
sun bathe her face and never realized she fell asleep.
* * * *
"Would you hurry it up?" Jordan struggled against the leather ties that held
him in place against the St. Andrews Cross. "You know I hate to be tied up like
this."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Geneva said as she studied the carved figure that was
almost finished. "You just hate being all tied up and at my mercy don`t you? Hold
still!"
"Gen! C`mon, you promised only a half hour this time!"
"Well, it might have been just a half hour if you`d been able to keep this thing in
the shape I needed it in." This "thing" had wilted and while still engorged
his cock had a definite droop to it.
"Right," he said. "You try staying excited for forty five minutes. I
thought you were going to work in the nude?"
"Uh-uh, if I did that you know I`d never be able to stick to the plan. I need to get
this done. I`ve got to turn it in to get my semester grade." She approached his bound
body. "I`ll tell you what though, I`ll bet I can get it into the condition I need
it."
She sank to her knees and proceeded to lick, kiss and enjoy his growing erection while he
tried to do everything he could to thrust himself into her mouth. He was soon thick and
hard, pulsing with need. She lost herself in the taste and sensations of needy cock in her
mouth and throat.
"Gen!" he gasped. "You better stop!"
Oh she didn`t want to, but she could hear the urgency in his voice. She stood, leaned in
and kissed him so he could taste himself on her lips while continuing to play with his
hard slick heat. "I`d better stop huh? Or what? Are you gonna be a bad boy and squirt
all over me?"
"Bad boy, hell," he hissed. "Untie me and I`ll show you how bad I can
be."
"Oh no, I don`t think so." She stepped back. "Is this what you want?"
She pulled her t-shirt up and off. "You want to get a hold of these?" She
offered her breasts to him. "Oh they feel good, nice and soft and look at my nipples,
Jord, all stiff for you." She pinched and pulled on them stretching her breast out.
"Oh, yeah, baby, I do want them. I want to do all kinds of things to them." She
stepped in and fed him a nipple. Heat zinged through her, making her pussy throb with the
need to be filled with his cock.
"How about this?" She stepped out of her jeans and turned to him, and slid her
panties down over her ass. "You want this? You love my ass don`t you? You want to do
all kinds of nasty hurting things to that, too, don`t you?"
"Gen, you`re driving me nuts!" He renewed his struggles, but she had made sure
he was securely anchored. "You know you`re going to have to untie me at some
point." He tried to maintain a stern demeanor. It was hard for him, though, as she
stood in front of him and teased her shaved pussy so he got a good look at her own wet
pink inner flesh. It was only a matter of straddling his hips because of the tilt of the
cross he was bound too and she was able to take all his heat into herself. She reached for
his nipples and twisted them. His cock pulsed inside her, getting even larger. She teased
him, hurting his nipples while slowly riding him.
"Watch baby, I`m going to make myself come." She reached for her pussy and
spread her lips so he could see her swollen clit peek out of the juicy folds. She rubbed
it just right, so the orgasm was right there, coursing under her skin. It only needed his
pain to make it just right. She used her free hand to torment a nipple and she came down
hard, filling herself with his cock as she came. His hurt made the orgasm gush. She could
feel her juices squirting out around his pussy stretching cock. When it was over she
slumped against him, she made her muscles slowly squeeze and release him. She eased off
his flesh, grabbed the camera and took some photos so she had enough to finish up the
sculpture without another posing session.
Then she went to her knees and took him into her mouth again, all of him holding her
breath while she swallowed around his throbbing heat. She loved to feel him come in her
mouth. Loved to make him lose it and he did it for her. Lost himself in the hot sucking
need to come. She reached for his balls and squeezed them just right. She wasn`t going to
let him come without hurting. It made it better for both of them. She got it all, every
drop, letting him watch her clean him with the tip of her tongue. She loved being a slut
for him. She kept nursing at him until the knocking that refused to stop interrupted
them…
* * * *
She came awake, confused, disoriented; her skin flushed from the heat of the sun, her
body was tingly and shivering at the same time. She realized the knocking she had heard in
the dream was actually coming from around the corner, probably at the front door. She
blushed as she realized she had just experienced one hell of a sex dream, she had even had
the big "O" which she hardly ever had in a dream. Wow! She hadn`t had a dream
about Jordan in a long time. It had to be the statue. It made her a little sad to realize
she`d never had sex like that, in real life, without Jordan, not in the ten years they`d
been apart.
"Hello?" A voice she thought belonged to Ernie shouted.
"I`m out here on the porch," she answered. "I`ll be right there, hold on a
minute would you?" She was caught between the real world and the dream world she had
inhabited moments ago, still disoriented, still flushed from the sexuality. She heard
steps coming toward her, and realized it was more than one person. Damn! I hope that isn`t
Caldwell, I don`t think I can deal with him… Oh My God! She sat in the chair. No fucking
way! Jordan Mitchell was walking toward her while she could still taste him on her lips.
Was she still dreaming? Everything took on a surreal air, it could not be true. This could
not be happening.
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