My whole body convulsed in ecstasy, but he didn’t let me go.  He rolled me like a ragdoll onto the bed.  Even if I had been in control of myself, my body was too overwhelmed to resist and I lay quietly, shuddering as aftershocks surged through my core.  He played with my hair, whispering praises to me as he held me close.  He kissed my neck and shoulders, stroking me with calm steady hands.  Despite the fact I had had no say in my current condition, I was strangely comfortable.  His words flowed over me like ripples in a calming lake, and my heart slowed, my breathing returned to a steady rhythm. 

“You liked that, didn’t you?”  His tone was as gentle as his hands.  I nodded, my body relaxed and warm, drifting in euphoric bliss.  His cock twitched within me, still hard and hot.  “You’d like that to happen again, wouldn’t you?”  Again, I nodded.  He pushed lightly with his hips, rewarding my response.  “Every day?”  I nodded, squeezing around his shaft reflexively.  I could feel my need growing again.  He chuckled, slowly withdrawing himself from my newly revived arousal.  “I bet you would.  You’ll just have to keep being a good slave, and earn it, won’t you?”  I nodded once more, intense longing for his approval and insatiable lust driving all other thoughts away.  He watched me for a moment longer before he stood.

“Kneel on the floor at my feet, mouth open.”  He waited for me to position myself in front of him, his cock semi-rigid and tempting my continuous arousal, despite my recent climax.  His thumb rubbed my bottom lip and then pushed inside against my tongue.  I began to suck reflexively, almost purring in the pleasure of his invasive digit.  His eyes danced and I felt myself swaying under their magnetic power.  “I’m going to take your thoughts away.”

He stroked my hair with his other hand, pushing his thumb further into my mouth and brushing his cock against my lips.  “I’ll teach you that don’t need them to please me.  It’ll be one more lesson in your complete submission to me.  You like submitting to me, don’t you?”  I nodded my head and sucked harder, feeling him twitch and sigh as his length stiffened.  “No thinking.  No worrying.  When I tell you to drop, you will simply remain at my feet, ready for me to use you, even though you won’t know it’s happening.  Won’t that be nice, little slave?”  I found myself moaning in anticipation and circling his thumb with my tongue, teasing it as if it were the sensitive tip of his turgid member.  He breathed in deeply, the hand on my head gripping tightly into my hair.

“God, you’re incredible.  I’m going to use you good and hard for that.  Now drop.”  The familiar fog closed over me, deeper this time.  Instead of a misty dream, the world ceased to exist, and my body ceased to function, save to hold my place before Mike.  My jaw dropped further as I relaxed, my eyes rolling back into my head as the pleasure throughout my body grew and grew.  He pushed himself into my mouth, and I began to serve as his hole, letting him fuck my face as both our voices cried out in growing ecstasy.  His thick rod drove deep into my throat, but I was so relaxed I couldn’t gag and didn’t need to.  He controlled my head with his hand in my hair, tilting it to maximize his pleasure.  Every noise he made was echoed by one of my own, and even though I had no other stimulation, I knew I was drawing near my own peak.  At last, he cried out and thick fluid spurted down my throat.  I swallowed eagerly, gulping and extending my neck to engulf as much of his release as I could.  

I listened to his breathing, hard and fast.  He muttered under his breath as he stroked himself hard again, sliding his hand down my blouse and squeezing my breasts and nipples until he was rigid as before.  “Fucking glorious…make me cum…. can’t get enough…damn…cunt slippery…covered in my spunk…”  The words didn’t matter to me, but the absolute power and drive behind them made my heart race faster than a racehorse.  I could hear his hand beating faster.  Occasionally he thrust into my mouth again, adding to the lubrication his precum was already providing until the wet slaps splashed back onto my face.  “Such a good, obedient slave, taking my cum, swallowing my seed…now you’re going to bathe in it.”  He groaned loudly and I could feel his legs trembling before me as he held his cock firm and aimed it at my face, spraying me with his hot, thick fluid as he shouted his rapture.  “FUCK.”

There was silence then.  His breathing slowed.  The hand in my hair loosed its stranglehold, and he bent over to kiss my forehead.  “That’s my good girl,” he whispered, before he went to the bathroom.  I heard him wash his hands, zip his fly, and light a cigarette.  The smoke gathered on the ceiling as he sat on the edge of the bed, watching me.  I hadn’t moved.   My face was covered in the sticky mess, slowly drying and tightening on my skin. My knees ached and my back was going to complain tomorrow, I could tell.  Even my jaw seemed sore, not that I was complaining.  My legs dripped with juices from my own arousal, my lips swollen and thumping in time with my racing pulse.

He took a long drag, mulling over the situation as if debating a chess move, checking his watch as he retrieved my panties from the floor and stuffed them into the pocket of his coat in the closet.  He finished his cigarette, stamping the butt into the ashtray definitively.  “As much as I want to indulge myself with you again, I’m afraid Laura might not be so keen.  You have an impressive appetite, and I don’t think she appreciates it.  At least, not yet.”  His smile grew, but the pleasure in his eyes was cold.  Seeing the malicious glee, even for a second, sent a chill down my spine.  It was the first time I had felt truly wary of him, but with my next breath, the hesitation was gone, as was any hint of dark intentions within him.  He smiled and helped me to my feet, then swatted my behind playfully as he pushed me towards the bathroom.  “Go get cleaned up.”

Mike was straightening up the bed, smoothing out the ruffled blankets and hiding any sign of our interactions.  I had just finished washing my face and was hanging the towel back up on the rack when I heard the doorknob jangle as someone tried to open it from the other side.  After checking the peephole, Mike grabbed his room key from the bedside table and unlocked the door.  Laura spilled into the room.  I caught sight of her in the mirror.  Her face was pale, her cheeks flushed, as if she’d had a bad scare.  Closing the door quickly behind her, the key she’d been trying to use dropped from her shaking hands.  Mike picked it up and put both in his pocket, concern growing on his face.  She panted, out of breath, her eyes darting wildly around the room like a trapped animal.  She was too preoccupied to notice my silent form in the bathroom.  “He saw me, I’m sure of it.” 

Mike went to her, cupping her cheek in his hand and drawing her eyes to his.  The effect was stunning to watch, how her posture and demeanor changed, how quickly she calmed, how her eyes lost focus and she melted against him.  He kissed her on the forehead, shushing her quietly and stroking her hair.  She buried her head in his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist.  It was a perfect picture of a loving embrace between a devoted couple.  “It’s alright, darling.  It’s alright.”

If I hadn’t seen the flash of Mike’s unguarded emotions minutes before, there would have been no question in my mind he was anything but the caring partner portrayed in his loving eyes as he looked down at Laura and stroked her hair.  The way his arms tightened around her, the way he leaned against her, the slight downturn of his mouth and furrow in his brow all indicated he was as concerned for her as he appeared to be.  Maybe he was.  Unlike numbers, people are able to hold myriad conflicting points of information at the same time.  They are anything but predictable, and as likely to present impossibly complicated solutions as they are to leave one’s head spinning from their simplicity.  As often as I’d encountered it in my work, and despite being a mess of a human myself, it was a concept I still had trouble grasping.

Their voices continued, lowering in volume but not intensity.  Laura seemed genuinely distressed, though I wasn’t sure exactly what had spooked her.  Mike’s responses were patient and reassuring.  I heard the rustle of clothing and saw them embrace again through the mirror.  Mike wiped Laura’s tears and they began to kiss passionately.  I longed to be on the receiving end of those lips, feel their hands encircling me with warmth and desire.  Eventually, they parted, and Laura checked to make sure the coast was clear before ducking out the door again and disappearing into the night.

Mike lit another cigarette and waited a few more minutes before calling me to come back into the main room.  The classical music broke into applause and then station identification, the voice of the announcer jarring after the soothing instrumentals.  Mike drew me close, pressing his lips to mine and my heart fluttered.  I felt myself rising up in my heels to meet his mouth eagerly.  He smiled and chuckled at my excitement to return his affection.  “Your appetite really is impressive, Ms. Lange, and shall be put to good use, I assure you.”

Mike tilted my chin up, his eyes easily holding my attention.  His fingers played over my body as he implanted his instructions.  “Listen very carefully.  You will find the man who came to your office this morning.  Seduce him.  Ensnare him with your body.  Let him use you as he wishes.”  His finger stroked my rear, caressed my chest, lovingly twirled my hair, and drove me mad with longing as he spoke.  I responded to him as if I were a puppet on strings.  His hand moved lower, slipping over the front of my skirt as the flecks in his eyes danced, intoxicating and unrelenting.  “But you will only cum for me.”

I held my breath, not daring to shift my weight against his hand for fear my heightened arousal would cascade without his permission.  My heart skipped a beat, the tension so captivating I felt as if time itself stood still, unable to proceed without his approval.  He pressed firmly against my heat, testing his control, testing my obedience, testing the limits of my body and mind to withstand the physical sensation.  I moaned plaintively but did not succumb.  He smiled widely and kissed my lips again, quickly.  “Good girl.”

Patting my bottom, he pulled one of the keys from his pocket and placed it in my hand.  “You will have to get along without me for a few days, though I expect you’ll be too busy to notice.  Here is the key to this room, should you need it to entertain your gentleman friend.”  His eyes raked over my body, and I felt as if they had physically caressed every inch of my skin as he looked me up and down.  He checked his watch and shook his head in dismay.

“It’s getting late.”  He started gathering the personal items he and Laura had left in the room - the rope, the gun from the closet, what looked like a tube of her lipstick from the bedside table.  He brought me to the door and kissed me deeply once more, then stared directly into my eyes.  “Fifteen minutes after this door closes go home and go to bed as you normally would.  You will not consciously remember anything that happened here, but you will remain obedient to all my instructions.  As far as you are concerned, after I called you for an update on the case, you fell into a deep sleep.”  Then he left.

I stood, obediently, waiting exactly fifteen minutes before turning out the light, tucking the key into my coat pocket, and driving home.  I slept better than I had in weeks, and when the sun shone through my window the next morning, I rose with a renewed vigor.  I had been pining over two parts of a couple, both equally unobtainable to me, for too long.  It was silly how much I’d been distracted from my work by Mike’s company, much less Laura’s looks.  I resolved to accomplish something that justified two people paying me to find and tail someone that I had already located.  I needed to find out who the real Mike was, and how they both knew Laura.  As much as I disliked letting my clients down, I hated them taking advantage of me even more.

It was Sunday, and most places wouldn’t be open for a few hours.  I went into the office and reviewed the file, taking notes of as many discrepancies and vital information as I could find to dig further than I had so far.  I hadn’t done a lot of background on Laura and Mike before.  They weren’t missing, and most of my job had been simply following Laura around and telling Mike about it.  Now that the second man had arrived, however, I needed to be certain there weren’t any other surprises lurking in their too perfect lives.

The marriage certificate from the second Mike had come from New Jersey, which meant that Laura had crossed the whole country to get here, and it was going to be a lot harder to find anything concrete about her in the local records.  The fact she had been tracked across multiple states by someone who had, until recently, been out of the country was a good sign, however.  It could mean that she’d hightailed it straight to California as soon as he’d shipped out, and that she had some other sort of ties here or one of her husbands did.  Her maiden name was too common to be helpful, but it would get me started when the library opened.  The county records would have to wait until tomorrow, since the government didn’t work on the weekends.

Since both men were using the same basic identity, there wouldn’t be a lot to differentiate them from each other, unless I got lucky.  I had a snapshot from the Army for the new Mike, so I could at least start showing that around town and see if he’d been up to anything shady, in addition to hiring me to find Laura.  I didn’t have a picture of the man I’d met first, for comparison, but I might be able to take one once Alice brought back my Bolsey.  I was going to have to follow both of the Mikes as often as possible from here on out.

I also needed to talk to Denny.  I wanted to flip through the mugshots down at the precinct and had heard a rumor they got approval to access the federal fingerprint archive.  It would take time, but he might be able to request copies for my trio that I could then compare to prints I acquired over the next week.

I sipped my third cup of coffee, staring at the mess of papers littered over my desk.  There was another reason I wanted to talk to Denny, too.  The bright sun filtered through the window and created a bright patch around the door out to the hall.  The door where he’d come in.  The door where we’d kissed.  The spot where I’d stood and flirted and got dangerously close to rekindling feelings neither of us had mentioned in years.  My lips curled into a schoolgirl smile as I recalled his startled reaction to my greeting yesterday, and the hunger in his response.

He was young for his position, but not by much.  He had been older than the other cadets in his class, having graduated with a degree in economics before joining the academy.  He had a brilliant mind and knew how to play politics well enough to avoid being too much in anyone’s pocket.  The men on the force liked him.  He was tough, but fair, and ran the department like a well oiled machine.  He inherently knew when something was small enough to let slide, but able to keep track of how many small things were rolling downhill so he could avoid creating an avalanche.  Washington had sent a few people to try and push him into the FBI, but he’d refused, knowing the work would turn him into a paper pusher.  He loved working the streets, and even with his extra duties in leadership still managed to find time to walk a beat when someone was laid up for a day or two.

I had respected him the moment I met him, and his good looks hadn’t hurt my interest in getting to know him.  Our mutual interest in financial affairs gave us common ground, which had built the framework for our friendship, a friendship which had lasted through my unbridled jealousy and embarrassing behavior.  I shook my head, downing the last dregs from my cup to avoid reliving the hell I’d put Denny through.  If it hadn’t been for Alice, my indiscretions would have gotten him kicked out of the Academy, too.  Luckily, the tenuous truce had carried us into our current professional relationship, which was better than most private eyes had with the cops.  We’d never officially spoken about what had happened, but I’d gotten the impression it was better that way.  If I had tried to apologize, especially back then, it would have just rubbed salt into the wounds.

I owed him.  After yesterday, I owed him even more.  After spending the day combing through dusty pages of records, tracking down and laying out most of my available cash to various informants, and spending the rest picking up his favorite apple pie from the automat, I made my way to the precinct.  The officer at the front desk was on the phone, so I slid him my license and gestured towards the back of the room, where the mugshots and hallway leading to Denny’s office were.  I couldn’t remember his name, but he’d seen me often enough he pushed my card back across the desk and nodded that I could go in.  Smiling brightly, I blew him a kiss and pushed through the swinging half doors that separated the lobby from the office.  He mimed catching it and playfully tucked it into his pocket, shooing me away before turning his full attention back to the telephone.

I grabbed the top book of photos from the stack and sat at the cool metal table, inhaling the mix of humanity that coalesced at the junction of the hallway to the administrative offices, the hallway to the holding cells, and the open rows of desks and officers.  I started glancing through it idly, watching Denny’s door more than I was paying attention to the myriad faces staring up at me.  I knew he liked to work Sundays, mostly because it was the best time to catch up on his paperwork with the least number of distractions.  I was hoping he’d chosen this one to come in, but I couldn’t tell yet if he was in his office.  There wasn’t any movement I could see through the frosted glass, but that could just mean he was stuck behind a wall of paper and wouldn’t move until he remembered he was human and had to do things like eat and drink.  I flipped the pages of the photobook slowly, not really registering any face in particular, but taking my time, just in case I felt a hunch about one of the men.  Time dragged on with no success on either front.

The smell of the pie in its white paper bag began to gnaw at my own hunger as I waited and picked my way through another book of faces.  It was nearly five, and the shift change would mean someone probably remembering I was here and giving me the boot.  I stretched, checking to make sure I wasn’t being watched closely, then picked up my peace offering and approached Denny’s door, knocking softly and trying the knob.  It turned easily, and I slipped inside and closed the door behind me.

“Just put the files on….”  He stopped speaking as he looked up.  I was not who he had been expecting, and he stood to attention quickly, like a young boy caught fooling around by a teacher.  His blush was endearing, and I laughed in spite of myself.  He frowned and I immediately regretted my chuckle.  I led with my gift in my outstretched hand, plopping it down on his desk and then perching next to it, crossing my legs and leaning back to gaze up at him winningly.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I thought you could use a break.  You work too hard.”  He pursed his lips and sat back down, pulling the bag open and shooing me off the stack of papers I’d covered.

“Some of us work for a living.”  He sounded annoyed but was mollified as he dug into the warm pastry.  “Mmm.  Thank you.”

I watched him devour the pie, pulling my handkerchief from my breast pocket and wiping his mouth when he had finished.  “My, my, but you were hungry.  How about you knock off this nonsense, and I treat you to dinner?”

He looked at me, dubiously.  I smiled again, enjoying his indecision, but knowing, ultimately, I’d hit the sweet spot – dessert first and a free meal after.  He’d never turned that scenario down as long as I’d known him.  “What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” I replied.  Though I had meant to ask him about the fingerprint files, now that I was in his presence, I felt an unexplainable warmth beginning to rise in my chest.  My hand moved over his, lightly stroking his skin as I held his gaze.  “Unless you’d like some more dessert first…”