Masks Read online

  “All right,” she said, taking the huge bunch of roses which were wrapped in crinkling green tissue paper. “But we can’t talk out here.” She looked around and spotted an empty classroom down the hall. “Here,” she said, leading him inside it and shutting the door. “But make it quick—I can’t leave my class alone with Zoe for too long, no matter how good she is at ‘making people mind’.” Then she blushed, realizing what she’d just said.

  “You weren’t half bad at it yourself if I recall correctly.” Mark grinned and moved a little closer. His dangerous, spicy scent filled her head just as it had that night in Zoe’s “office” and Chloe felt herself blushing harder than ever. Still, she was determined not to let him get the upper hand this time.

  “Is that why you took control so quickly? Because I was doing such a great job? Or was it just that Zoe told you what a shy little wallflower I am and the only way you’d ever get anywhere with me was if you took matters into your own hands?” She was trying to sound snarky but the words came out wounded instead.

  “Chloe, please, let me explain. It wasn’t like that.” Mark’s deep voice was pleading and he stepped forward and put one large hand over hers. Chloe felt her pulse skyrocket at his touch but she refused to show it.

  “You’ve got about three and a half minutes left and then I’m going back to my classroom before the kids kill Zoe. And I’ll only be rescuing her because I want to kill her myself,” she warned him. “So you’d better get talking. How did the two of you cook this up? Or was it just Zoe’s idea?”

  “It was her idea but I went along with it.” The look on his face was shame now, shame and regret so profound that it threatened to melt her heart again but Chloe was determined to be strong.

  “So, let me guess, you were one of her clients?” she said, putting the roses down on a nearby desk and crossing her arms over her chest.

  Mark gave a short, startled laugh. “Hell, no! She was one of mine.”

  “Excuse me?” Chloe raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief.

  “I told you I’m a computer geek, right?”

  She nodded.

  “Okay, so I have my own company—computer installation, troubleshooting, repairs. It’s called ‘Geeks for Hire’.”

  Chloe’s jaw dropped despite herself. “You’re that Mark Jacobs? But…I see your billboards driving home all the time and I’m always humming that stupid jingle you have for your TV ad…”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Mark looked pained. “Think your computer has a leak? Time to call the computer geek. Computer crashed or you lost a wire? Better call the geeks for hire,” he sang, in a surprisingly melodious baritone. “Don’t get me started on that.” He grimaced. “That was the ad people’s idea. But anyway, one day while all my guys were out, your sister called because her computer had crashed—the one in her townhouse, you know?”

  Chloe nodded stiffly, wondering exactly where he was going with this. She was almost afraid to find out.

  “So,” Mark shrugged. “I ended up taking the call myself, though I mostly run the place behind the scenes. When I got there, I saw her ‘dungeon’ room and couldn’t help asking what in the world she did for a living.” He laughed. “Man, was I surprised. Never met a real-live dominatrix before. Your sister’s really something.”

  Chloe could just imagine what had happened next. “So you went to her ‘office’ and had a ‘session’ with her and then you decided you’d like to try the other sister too, is that it?”

  Mark looked shocked. “Of course that’s not it. Look, if that’s the problem, let me assure you right now that Zoe and I have never been anything but friends.”

  “Is that right? And why should I believe you?” Chloe tapped her fingernails against her arm impatiently. After all, what man wouldn’t want to have sex with her exotic, free-spirited twin?

  “Look,” Mark spread his hands in front of him. “I think your sister’s great, don’t get me wrong. But she’s definitely not my type. Call me old-fashioned but my idea of a good time isn’t being tied up and flogged or having someone walk all over me in spike-heeled boots.”

  “No, but I guess you don’t mind tying other people up, do you?” As soon as she said it, Chloe wanted to take it back. But it was too late.

  “Honestly, that was the first time I ever did anything like that.” Mark reached for her hand again and this time Chloe let him hold it. “I swear to you,” he continued, in a low, earnest voice. “I didn’t mean for it to go as far as it did. The idea was just to get to know you a little. See…” he cleared his throat self-consciously. “It’s hard to meet women sometimes, looking the way I do.”

  Chloe wanted to say she thought he looked fine—very handsome in fact, but she bit her tongue and let him continue.

  “It’s hard until they find out who I am and what I do.” Mark sighed. “Then they’re all over me because, well, my company’s been doing okay lately. But that seems to attract all the wrong kind of women.”

  Chloe knew his company was doing more than “okay”. Geeks for Hire had recently been named one of the most successful new companies of the year in a prominent financial magazine. Mark was probably worth millions—no wonder the wrong kind of women were attracted to him.

  “Anyway,” he continued after a moment. “I got to talking to your sister and told her my predicament. I just wanted to meet a woman who wanted me for me and for once I didn’t want to have to deal with this.” He motioned to the left side of his face. “She told me all about you—how sweet you were and how totally different the two of you were and it sounded like a perfect match.” He shrugged unhappily. “So I agreed to be set up on a blind date.”

  Chloe looked down at the strong hand holding her own. “Well, you knew more than I did. Zoe told me she needed me to do her a favor and meet with a ‘client’ she didn’t want to lose. I had no idea about you being a friend of hers or being set up or any of it.” She frowned.

  Mark groaned and covered his face with his other hand. “I thought you knew—that you were just playing along. Zoe told me to call you ‘Mistress Sensua’ and that you’d be wearing a mask too.” He moved his hand and looked at her. “But I never meant for things to go the way they did but when you started acting, well, the way you were acting—the way you were touching me…”

  He shrugged and Chloe felt herself blushing again, remembering the wanton way all the wild things she had done. Things she never would have done under normal circumstances.

  “I was trying to act like a dominatrix,” she admitted, looking down at her shoes. “I didn’t have any idea what I was doing, though—Zoe threw me in the deep end to sink or swim. To tell you the truth, I was terrified.”

  Mark laughed gently. “I could sorta tell that. ‘Assume the position!’” he imitated, in a mock stern voice. He lifted Chloe’s chin so she had to look him in the eye. “That’s why I took over. Because I thought you wanted what I wanted but weren’t quite sure how to get to it.”

  Chloe pulled away from him, blinking back tears. “I guess I wasn’t sure what I wanted until…until we were actually…” She shook her head, unable to continue. “Stupid, huh?” she said with a little sob. “I can do it but I can’t say it.”

  “Look, it was my fault—all of it. I never should have assumed that you…” Mark broke off, shaking his head.

  “It doesn’t matter now anyway.” Chloe pulled her hand away and used it to swipe the tears from her cheeks angrily. “It was just a one-time thing, wasn’t it? I guess Zoe thought she was doing us both a favor. No-strings-attached, anonymous sex with a hot stranger—that’s everybody’s fantasy, right?”

  “Not my fantasy.” Mark’s voice was quiet and sad.

  Chloe looked up at him through her tears. She saw such a mixture of pain and misery on his face that it stopped her from saying anything else.

  “My fantasy was to meet a woman who wanted me for who I was, despite this,” he gestured to his face. “And not because of my company’s net worth. I wanted a woman who liked sci