11 Your Plaything

Sofie accepted Philip's invitation to a mysterious location in the middle of the forest. It was dark, secluded and the very place the mind would scream "danger", if it wasn't for all of Sofie's preparations.

She started setting up her gear at midday and now it was 15 minutes to when Philip was due. Dozens of high-tech motion sensors lined the meadow to alert her of anything bigger than a fox. She would not be ambushed by a team. And Philip himself would not be a danger to her either; there was nothing a well-paced taser could not take care of. Short of shooting or stabbing her, that is, but she had a plan for that too.

The only thing left to do was set up the blanket, unwrap the cheese platter and wait for Philip. This was meant to be a date after all.

It was a beautiful night for it, too. The lantern placed around the blanket cast a soft light across the wildflower meadow. Leaning back on the blanket, Sofie let her fingers rake through the lush earthy grass and inhaled the faint aromas from the surrounding pine trees. Owls softly hooted in the distance. Deep in the forest and away from any other living soul, she felt like a disobedient teenager, waiting for her sweetheart in a sneaky mid-summer romance.

Fireflies were dancing over the nearby stream when the perimeter alarm silently buzzed on her wrist. Someone was approaching and it wasn't from the direction where Elandra was located; where Philip should have come from. Sofie's heart rate quickened. She wasn't really waiting for her sweetheart, was she? She was waiting for a man she didn't know. Philip could have sent a henchman to abduct her. Or worse, finish her off right here. This was the place for it, after all. Away from anyone to help. Had she been reckless?

Sofie breathed a sigh of relief. Philip stepped out from the tree line into the moon-bathed meadow. The silver light twinkled over his easy smile and made Sofie's heart skip a beat. He was even more gorgeous in his casual clothes, wearing black shirt and beige shorts. Sofie watched him closing the distance between them, when she finally remembered her plan.

"Stop right there, Philip," she issued, "and take off your clothes." It sounded harsher than she intended.

His eyebrow lifted in surprise as his smile faded.

"After what you've said on the phone," she hedged, "you need to forgive me for being cautious. You can keep your underpants on, though."

"As you wish," he grumbled.

He did not like this. Why? Wasn't he used to commands like this as an escort? Also wasn't he the one confessing to liking it, when she watched him?

"Now, turn for me so I can see you aren't hiding anything behind your back."

She was enjoying this a little too much.

"Satisfied?" he said, raising his arms to the side, biceps flexing and pecks tough.

"Almost," she smiled playfully, "Just one more question: Brandy or wine?"

"How do you know…?"

Sofie crooked her head as she beckoned him closer.

"Of course", he sighed, "You've watched me, when I was alone. Well, then. Wine, please. To go with your cheese platter." He pointed to the wooden board with grapes, Camembert, Cheddar and crackers, before adding, "I see you didn't bring knives either. Why risk it just to be civilized, right?"

"C'mon, you cannot blame me for not trusting you. We hardly know each other. And I would not have pegged you as someone insisting on conventions."

"I suppose you are right. There is something else that irks me more than butchering cheese."

"Oh yes, what is that?"

"You being fully dressed," he said casually while popping a grape into his mouth.

"Are you worried I brought a weapon too?"

"No." He relaxed back onto his elbow, looking like a roman statue, immortalized during one of their extravagant feasts. "Because I know you brought one. It's hidden in your basket. Pepper spray or a taser, maybe?"

Her face fell, how could he have known this?

"You checked on it when I approached," he added in reply to her unspoken question. "I also know that you have some sort of perimeter alarm, too."

"That is rather fanciful, don't you think?"

He crooked his head. "You knew where I was coming from before you saw me. And I deliberately did not take the direct route. So don't pretend."

He was reading her like an open book.

"I have to say, Miss Carter," he said, fixing her with an evaluating stare, "I am rather impressed. I certainly underestimated you. What are you? A police officer? Private investigator?"

Sofie felt her nerves tingling, he was getting dangerously close to the truth.

"You can keep guessing," she crooned, "or I can take my dress off. Your call."

He swallowed and raked his hand through his blond hair. The struggle visible behind his hooded gaze.

Mind over body?

"Ok you win." His black eyes found hers. "Take off your clothes."

Body over Mind! This is going exactly as planned.

Sofie perched on her knees to slide down the front-zipper of her white sundress until the fabric fell to either side. She sat back down on her haunches, her legs slightly parted.

Philip's eyes traced down her tights. He has given into temptation. Good.

"You are quite beautiful, Sofie," he breathed, more to himself than her.

Hearing her name on his lips in unhinged desire shifted something inside her. Without warning the dam holding back her own lust broke and flooded her with all the emotion that had built up since their first kiss.

She stalked over to him, on her hands and knees, slowly, her eyes never leaving his. His breathing had become rugged and he did not object when she set his wine glass aside.

His readiness bulged between her legs as she straddled him and she could not resist grinding against it. Breathing in sharply, he closed his eyes to savour the feeling.

She wanted him too. Badly. But she was here on a mission. Never forget that.

"So, Philip, are we finalizing our transaction?" she teased.

His hands moved up her thighs and cupped her buttock, sinking into her firm curves. He was lost in a different world that was orbiting around her.

"What little control I had is gone." He breathed against her lips. "I want you, Sofie." His desperate kiss plundered her mouth.

He wasn't the controlled and deliberate lover from Elandra anymore, there was a primal yearning in his touch that carried her with him, like a raging river. She reached down, dipping her hand in his pants to stroke him. The urgency of his response made her finally abandon her game. She impatiently freed him of the fabric that separated them and brought their centres closer.

"Sorry," he rasped, "I need to… But the condom... It is in my pants..."

Seeing the devastating effect she had on him turned the air between them to fire. She needed to have him.

"I have one here," she replied hastily, before ripping the foil pack and unrolling it on his length.

Sofie let her head fall back in a moan, as she made him plunged into her. Drinking in the sweet ache from his size impaling her.

He groaned. His hands grabbed her hip roughly to stop her from moving. He was fighting to hold himself in check.

Watching him, Sofie bit back another moan. Seeing him get undone so quickly was damn hot.

As he opened his eyes again his brown iris glowed amber in the moonlight. He had only managed to take the edge off his desire. But he released his grip and slowly guided her movements.

"Slow down," he growled, as she grew impatient and steadily increased the speed. "I'm not used to this."

She was thrusting, without finesse or technique. It was like serving an amateur meal to a gourmet chef. But his disapproval was overruled by carnal hunger. There was something oh so sinfully wrong about it.

He tried to still her movements again, but Sofie tilted her hips and clenched her muscles. It was devious defiance. But playing his body against his mind, gave her a salacious satisfaction.

Her movements were only minute but enough to finally push him over the edge. Deep vibrations came from his chest. He never looked more beautiful than in this moment, with the release reverberating in his body. And she never wanted him more.

"That was very wicked of you," he said with a smile as his breath calmed. "Let me repay the favor".

He gently brushed her long hair from her neck and trailed it with kisses. Her painfully unsatisfied desire rearing and making her clench around him.

"Stop Philip," she bit out. The deed was done and he needed to hold up his end of the deal. "I want the YubiKey."

The amber glow left his eyes as he scrambled out from underneath her. "No."

"What do you mean 'no'? I've delivered. I am entitled to the key."

Silence fell between them as Philip retrieved his clothes.

"You've planned this," she gasped.

The realization hit her like a brick wall. He never meant to hand out the YubiKey, it was all just a game to him. A pastime, to see how far he could go with her.

"No, I did not plan any of this." He wheeled around, anger flashing in his eyes. "I did not plan to sneak out to meet you behind my employer's back. Or loose control with you, like a teenage boy. Or being asked for payment while I am still inside you, for god's sake."

He held up a hand to silence her reply. He needed a minute to regroup.

"You really are something, Miss Carter", he grumbled, before taking a deep breath. "The deal we agreed was to have sex in my suite like a regular client, Miss Carter. So we both know it's just a one-off deal and can move on."

"You claim it is, Philip. Yet you are the one stringing me along and changing the rules. I refuse to be your plaything. This is not a game."

It damn well isn't. The information he has about MP Kerry, Ms Hunt and god knows how many other corrupt players need to be exposed.

"It might not be a game for you. But don't pretend that you are playing fair. You have an agenda here too, Miss Carter, and it does not stop with the YubiKey."

"You asked Ms Hunt about the royal commission, after you knew I was listening in."

"I am a collector. I like to show off," he said with a sly smile, "but it does not mean you can have everything I show you. I similarly refuse to be your unwitting informant. To allow you to exploit my weakness. So it would seem that going forward, one of us will not have it their way."

They stared at each other, like wildcats in each other's territory, when the harsh vibration from Sofie's proximity alert went off.

"I know who that is," he whispered. There was panic in his eyes.