Ing of Hearts

Erich Radner sat the tumbler of cut glass with its two ice cubes and three fingers of scotch on the coffee table. He turned toward the door and the expression on his face didn't betray a single thought he had as he stared at the beautiful woman who stood in the doorway of the study. "Caitlyn, it's nice seeing you again."

"You two already know each other?"

"You could say that. We were introduced at one of your charity functions, Joseph." Erich strode forward, his gait as sensual as a cat. "Caitlyn was kind enough to take pity on me."

"Is that what they call it now?" Cat's voice was hard and her eyes betrayed her anger, though she tried to hide it.

"Then that's a start. Cat will be training you. She heads King of Hearts and actually is the reason we have that special division." Joseph walked to the bar and fixed Cat her usual gin and tonic. He handed her the drink and then swept his hand toward the sitting area of the room. "Shall we sit down?"

Cat nodded her thanks, taking a sip of her drink and feeling the gin zing through her system. She sank down on the couch and crossed her mile long legs.

"I can't believe you were ever an abused wife." Erich sat across from her and his eyes lingered on her legs before they moved to her face. "I didn't think you'd put up with that from any man."

"I've never been married, Mr. Radner. What Joseph means is that I went out on my own one night. I had a client who was pregnant, very pregnant. Her husband had beaten her, leaving a black eye on her face and had broken two of her ribs. I don't take very well to men who abuse those who are less able to defend themselves so I went to talk to him."

"Caitlyn has a very forceful way with the spoken word, Erich. I've been on the other side of more than one of those kinds of conversations." Joseph chuckled but

ignored the look that Caitlyn shot at him.

"Go on, Caitlyn. What did you do?" Erich sat forward and cradling his glass in both hands. He took a small sip of the potent scotch before sitting the glass down once more on the coffee table.

"I really just went there to talk to the man, to impress upon him the legal ramifications if I could talk his wife into going to the cops. He was the one who took the first swing at me."

"You have to understand, Erich. This man was at least as tall as Caitlyn and out weighed her by about a hundred pounds. The only fat on him was the stuff between his ears."

"How did you manage to get away without being as badly beaten as his wife?"

"The thing that you should always remember, the bigger they are, the harder my knee in their groin can hurt them. He dropped to the ground and while he was screeching like a choir boy, we had a little heart to heart talk. He decided that he didn't want me coming back so he would be treating his wife with the respect she deserved." She shrugged her shoulders, the move setting her breasts to jiggling under the low cut blouse she wore. Her eyes smoldered when she saw his drop to her chest, his tongue coming out to lick his lips. She felt like a bone for a dog and the feeling did not sit well with her. Not now, after he'd ignored her for so very long.

"Wonderful. Now I can't wait to get started. When can we set up a schedule?"

"You're the boss. I'll have to work around my other cases but I'm sure we can find plenty of time on the mats."

Joseph glanced at her, his eyes showing a sudden concern. "Caitlyn..."

"No, no Joseph, I'm anxious to get started. As you said, Mr. Radner will be an asset to the firm. He should know the company from the inside out. Isn't that what you enforced with me?"

"Yes, but I'd like for Erich to be alive after your training sessions." Joseph chuckled nervously and glanced from one to the other of his guests.

"Oh, Joseph, how you go on. Mr. Radner, I'm free this afternoon if you'd like to get started."

"Oh definitely. Where will we start, weapons training?"

"No, something a bit more basic." Caitlyn smiled and Joseph sighed. He could see the evil in that smile even if Erich couldn't.

* * * *

An hour later, Caitlyn was still smiling, listening as Erich lost the expensive lunch he had shared with Joseph in some bushes in Central Park. "Oh, are you all right?" The false concern in her voice was very obvious.

Two men in jogging suits ran by, their eyes on the tall redhead with her hair in a ponytail, her body clad in short running shorts and a sport's bra, her long legs looked tanned and sleek. A sheen of sweat covered her body and made her seem to shimmer in the afternoon sun. She nodded at them then her eyes went back to Erich. He crawled out of the bushes, his face still pale, his eyes half closed.

Caitlyn handed him the bottle of water she'd bought off one of the vendors in the park. It was icy cold, condensation making the bottle wet. He ran it over his forehead before opening the bottle and taking a sip.

"Not too much, otherwise you could cramp up."

"You do this everyday?" He sat up on the grass and stared up at her, his chest still heaved from his run.

"I run ten miles in the morning." She tried to ignore the admiration in his eyes. "You'll be joining me tomorrow."

"Ten miles?" The admiration in his eyes turned to horror. "You're kidding, right?"

"Do you want to be trained for King of Hearts or not, Mr. Radner?"

"You called me Erich once, Caitlyn, can't you again?"

"No. Now, if you feel better, we should get to the gym."

"I don't want to go to the gym. I want to discuss what happened between us."

"We had a one night stand. That's it, end of discussion." Caitlyn's voice was rough and she averted her eyes when his green eyes seemed to probe too quickly. She turned away from him before he could say any more and started running.

Erich rose and groaned, then took off after her. He stumbled the first few steps until he caught his balance.

* * * *

He stared at the heavy bag she held, his arms already like noodles. He threw the punches she'd showed him and he groaned as the vibrations went up his arms and into his already sore body. Push ups, sit ups, stretching and now the heavy bag. He'd thought he was in good shape when he'd started this torture, now he wasn't so sure.

She'd done everything she'd had him do and she wasn't even breaking out in a sweat.

"Stop! You're not going to get anything out of this if you aren't paying attention."

She pushed him back away from the bag and stood in front of him. "Watch." She quickly fell into a fighting stance, one that seemed perfectly natural for her, and rose to the balls of her feet. Her body was loose, her hands in front of her, balled into fists. She'd taped her knuckles before starting him on the bag and now she slammed her fists into the bag in a quick one two punch. Each hit sounded loudly in the quiet of the gym, each one making the bag jerk.

Then she started using her feet, ending with a roundhouse kick that had Erich applauding.

"Impressive. How long did it take you to learn that?"

"Six months," She took the towel he handed her and used it on her face. "My instructor wasn't as easy on me as I've been on you."

"You've been easy on me?" Erich's voice was full of disbelief, incredulity made his eyebrows rise upon his wide forehead.

"Oh quit being such a wuss." She draped the towel over her neck and went back around the bag. "I haven't done anything to you that any other associate of King of Hearts has been through." Caitlyn looked up as she heard voices heading their way.

She smiled. "Looks like you're going to get their horror stories as well." She nodded toward the group of three girls that walked toward them. "The blonde is Cassie, the brunette is Katiya, and the one with the pink hair is Bambi. I wouldn't make fun of her hair or her name, she's a bit on the self-conscious side and takes it out with her fists."

Erich held up his hands. "I wouldn't think of it."

"Hey ladies. I'd like you all to meet our new boss, Erich Radner. Mr. Radner, this is Cassie Burke, Katiya Polineski, and Bambi Charington. These ladies were hand picked by me to work for King of Hearts."

Erich nodded to the three of them, his eyes skimming over each. All three were beautiful, curved in the right places, toned without being overly muscular. But none of them could hold a candle to Caitlyn's beauty. "Ladies, I look forward to getting to know you better and to being part of the team."

"A man on the team? Caitlyn, I never thought I'd see the day." Cassie's eyes ran over Erich. "But then again, he is on the tasty side, isn't he?" She nudged Katiya. "What you think, girl?"

Katiya shrugged. Her eyes sought Caitlyn's. "Joseph is writing us off?" Her voice was heavily accented.

"No, oh no, ladies. I'm coming in as a partner. I'm not taking over." Erich held up his hands, trying to calm Katiya down.

"He did not tell me he was doing this." Katiya spoke so softly, almost to herself.

"Katiya and Joseph ... date," Caitlyn said, glancing at the other two girls.

"It's more like they're doing the horizontal Mambo," Bambi smirked and jabbed Katiya in the ribs.

"The horizontal Mambo?" Caitlyn laughed. "Nice, Bambi."

"Thanks, I thought so. It's better than saying that they're just boinking. It's more succinct"

"Joseph and I are dating, We aren't doing the horizontal mambo or boinking."

"Now that's really too bad. That's a serious waste of some fine male ass." Both Cassie and Bambi began laughing.

Katiya stomped her foot on the wooden floor. "Enough!"

"Okay, guys, let's not pick on Katiya." Caitlyn wrapped her arm around the brunette's shoulders. "We don't want to give the new boss a bad impression. Besides, I need you to do me a favor."

"What kind of favor?" Bambi took a careful step back.

"I need someone to take Mr. Radner through a few of our work outs. I have a meeting on a case this afternoon that I can't miss."

"You want us to...exercise him?" Cassie's voice rose on the last two words. Bambi chuckled and nudged the blonde in the ribs.

"I think we could do that pretty well."

"Uh, Caitlyn..." Erich only stopped when she held her hand up.

"Girls, you know what I mean. Bambi, I need your notes on the Manchero case and I need your receipts for the dinner you took him too." She turned toward Erich. "You'll be fine with them. I'll expect you to meet me in the park at six a.m."

"Six in the morning?"

"Is there another six a.m.?" She gave him a small wave with a wiggle of her fingers then, as her girls began to circle him, she turned and walked away. The last thing she heard before entering the locker room was his offended shout of "hey!"

Cat chuckled as the door slowly closed behind her. She couldn't help herself. Payback felt pretty damned wonderful.

Normally she would end a work out with about a hundred laps in the pool but she wasn't lying, she did have a meeting she couldn't afford to miss. Cody's extremely pregnant wife was meeting her at one of the small tea houses that had sprung up on the south side.

She grabbed her shower things, pulling off her sports bra and kicking off the shorts and the tiny thong she'd worn under it. Her shoes were kicked into the locker and she stood on one foot and then the other to pull off her socks. Naked, a towel hanging over her arm, her soap and shampoo in her hand, she turned toward the showers.

Her screech of surprise was abrupt and cut off quickly. She grabbed for her towel, and dropped her soap and shampoo onto the floor. She heard the shampoo bottle crack open and sprayed her feet and the floor with the thick liquid. "What are you doing in here?" She wrapped the towel around her and tucked it in.

"You didn't mean to leave me with those sex deprived cheerleaders." His voice seemed an octave higher. After a moment, his tone was definitely not as heated as it should have been. His eyes roamed over her body and his memory added the bits the towel now covered.

"They are professional private detectives, Mr. Radner. Each one is personally trained by me to be a weapon in the defense of those that cannot defend their selves. They are not cheerleaders."

"But they damn well are sex deprived. They were on me like cheerleaders on a winning quarterback." His hand dropped to his ass to massage a particularly vicious pinch given to him by one of the three professionals.

"Mr. Radner..." Caitlyn was interrupted again.

"Erich, dammit. My name is Erich."

"Mr. Radner, you are my boss, calling you Erich would be inappropriate."

"You call Joseph Heart by his first name."

"Joseph Heart is much more to me than a boss."

"So was I." His voice became a growl.

Caitlyn felt her anger rise and tried to calm herself, counting to ten and then again when the first didn't help. "You were, as in past tense. Now you are only my boss, Mr. Radner. This is the woman's locker room. I would appreciate it if you would leave."

"Caitlyn..."

"No!" She spoke vehemently and quickly cut him off. She didn't want to hear any explanations or excuses. She just wanted him to leave before she curled up into a ball and burst our wailing in front of him. "Just leave!"

He stared at her for a moment, indecision upon his face. Then, before she could do anything to protect herself, he was on her. He pushed her against the wall and

ground his hips into hers, his mouth dropped down to find hers.

There was no hesitation in that mouth, just incredible heat between them. It was instantaneous as well as explosive. His tongue was in her mouth, his hands slid under the towel and filled with the rounded curves of her bottom. His fingers squeezed reflexively and dragged her even closer. He groaned and the sound elicited a response from Caitlyn.

She fought with herself for about five seconds before the emotions and sensations he evoked were too much for her to fight. Her hands slid up his chest, feeling the wetness of his tee shirt and then the muscles of his neck as she pushed her fingers into his hair. Her nails scratched at his scalp and kneaded like the cat she was named for. A moan sounded like a purr, deep in her throat and she ran her foot up his naked leg. She could feel the rough hair against her heel and she opened herself to him then wrapped her leg around his waist.

Her towel fell open and caught between their hips. Erich leaned back just a bit to gaze down her body. "You are as beautiful as I remember."

His words were like a bucket of ice water and crashed over her harshly. She pulled away from him and pushed him back with a harsh slap across his face. "Don't touch me." She picked up her towel and wrapped it around her once more. "Now, get out of here before I tender my resignation with King of Hearts."

Erich gazed into her eyes for just a moment and ignored the sting of heat that her palm had left upon his cheek. "I'm going, but we will have this out, Caitlyn. Don't you even think to doubt that."

"Over your dead body, Mr. Radner." She stressed his name.

He narrowed his eyes but then turned and left. The door to the locker room slammed behind him. The echoing of that door reverberated through her soul.

For the space of two seconds, Caitlyn wondered if she were going to break down, then she took a deep breath, picked up her soap and headed for the showers. No matter her feelings, she still had a meeting to go to and work to do.

* * * *

Mrs. White sat in the lounge area of the restaurant where King of Hearts had an open table. She tried to rise when Caitlyn came in, only to moan and grab her ribs.

"Don't get up." Caitlyn quickly dropped to her knees next to the very pregnant woman. "You should still be in the hospital."

"I hate hospitals." Brenda White brushed back her dark hair from her face. "I saw my husband this morning, Miss Summers. He told me he was very sorry about what happened and that he promised it wouldn't happen again." She smiled sadly. "Thank you for all your help."

"Don't lose our number, Mrs. White. You might need us again."

She smiled sadly and it gave her almost a Madonna like look. "If you will help me up, I would love to buy you lunch for your help with Cody. He is a good man Miss Summers, though it might not seem like it to you."

"Cat, please, or Caitlyn if you like. Mrs. White, did Cody tell you where he was when I found him last night?"

"He said he was in bed. With the way you're dancing around the subject, I'd say he wasn't there alone."

"No, he wasn't." She waited until they were shown to their table and given menus, then their host left with the promise of sending around their waiter. "He was with his partner's wife, Mrs. White. Now, I don't know if you want anything done about that. I have pictures that I can send to the partner if you wish. It's up to you."

"I don't want anyone to have to feel the way I felt when I found out, Cat. No, burn the photos. If Cody strays again or if he..." she paused, her hand going to her face where a heavy layer of cover up muted the looks of the bruising around her eye. "Well, if he does any more of this, then we'll take it to the next level."

"I do want to warn you, more than seventy-five percent of our clients need us for a second time. The husband beefs up his security or hires a bodyguard for himself and continues to cheat or to..." She gestured to Brenda's face. "I still think you might be better off going to the cops and writing up a report."

"No, no cops. They would put my Cody in jail."

"But it's where he belongs." Caitlyn felt her irritation level rising. She felt as if she was beating her head against a brick wall. It infuriated her that these women had so little in the way of self-worth that they would allow themselves to be abused by these men. The thought that it happened over and over until either they were dead or the men were had her ready to scream. Too many tragedies happened these days because women were pushed to the edge and felt they had no other recourse.

Brenda laid her hand on her stomach. "No. Cody is a good man, Cat. He just lost his way. You've helped him find it again." She raised her hand for the waiter and they placed their orders. "We shan't have to speak of it again."

Caitlyn made small talk with the woman over sandwiches and soup then got her into a cab. She handed her another one of her cards, this one with her personal cell number written upon the back. "If you ever need us, please, don't hesitate to call, Mrs. White."

The woman gave another of her Madonna-like smiles and Cat shut the door of the cab. She watched with a heavy heart while it sped away. Her hands were tied, but she wouldn't burn the pictures like the client asked. She'd keep them as a just in case. But for now, she had something else she wanted to see.

The trip back to the office was made in relatively easy traffic. She pulled into the parking lot and hurried into the building. She wanted to get the information she needed and be out before anyone could see her. Her office was empty, and she hurried over and booted up her computer. She easily hacked her way into the personnel files of King of Hearts.

She scanned the information and wrote down the address and got directions through one of the many search engines online. Then she deleted all signs of what she'd done and turned off her computer. She took the stairs down and stopped on the fourth floor and pushed into the public bathrooms that were on that floor. She changed her clothing once more. A skin tight cat suit went on, over which she pulled a hoodie sweatshirt and a pair of tight fitting jeans. Her hair went into a bun and she settled the hood on her head. She took the elevator the rest of the way down, carefully avoiding the security cameras in the building. All they would see would be a person in jeans. They wouldn't even get a face.

The address was a good half an hour drive from the city. She stayed with in the speed limit, finding her way easily enough. Pulling into the subdivision, she stared at the cookie cutter houses and wondered how he could live like this. Cat drove slowly by his house, startled to see a minivan pull into his driveway, a tall blonde woman get out and go around to the other side of the van, opening doors and letting kids pour out. She reached into the passenger seat, and soon had a toddler on her hip.