This story is thanks to Zuumi and once again my erudite editrix, shygirlwhore. Any mistakes remain my own, etc.
It features some simple, ol' fashioned M/F action, beginning with some (but not all that much) reluctance. Although this one stands alone, I may consider a sequel at some point; let me know if you'd like to read one.
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The sun was slinking lazily down the sky, disappearing behind the trees and houses on the near side of the road. Although the light was dusky in the shaded strip, the streetlights hadn't yet lit. She stood watching the house that was her target, affecting a casual manner as she waited for conditions to become ideal, leaning against a tree trunk and tugging on her legs to stretch them as if in preparation for a run.
Every few days over the last two weeks she had made sure to make herself nice and obvious in jogging around the neighbourhood at about this time of evening. Her outfit had been carefully organised to preserve the pretence: figure-hugging charcoal jogging bottoms and a zip-up navy blue hooded tracksuit top, judiciously selected without any eye-drawing white stripes or other accoutrements; soft rubber-soled running shoes. The freedom of movement and quiet afforded her by the clothes were also invaluable aids to her true goal, of course.
She judged that conditions were just about perfect at last; the shadows on this side of the street lengthened and deepened enough to break up her outline and conceal her from observation as she moved. Her dark clothing accentuated the effect. She should be nice and inconspicuous, turning from the pavement and padding silently up the path leading around the side of her target residence. She'd done this enough times before, dozens at least, to be confident in that.
As she left sight of the street, she drew her hood back momentarily to reach up and tug a sheer stocking down over her head, face and the tightly-tied ponytail of dark hair which had been strenuously wrangled during her preparations. The stocking was possibly overkill; she always made scrupulously sure that noone would be in a position to see her on a job; but she thought of it as a classic of the oeuvre. Drawing the hood back over her head sealed the deal, casting a nigh-impenetrable shade over her features.
The house was detached, generously sized and spoke of comfortable wealth, unostentatious but quietly evident. The French doors at the back made for an obvious and easy point of entry: the locks would have been surprisingly secure for an average home but she'd been expecting something like this; they were no real barrier to a few seconds of suitable tool-use. The doors glided open smoothly and silently at a light push as soon as she was finished.
There were a few other interesting little security systems in here, of course, but nothing she couldn't disarm long before any threat of alarms. Satisfied with her efforts so far she stole forward deeper into the house, in search of the anticipated treasures within. While tastefully appointed, the rear conservatory she found herself in would not have anything as valuable as what she was after. Moving softly, she opened the door into the next room.
This was much more like it: a small lounge, plushly upholstered from what she could see in the fading orange glow of the evening sun behind her. There were bookcases; shelves; a mantlepiece, all bearing numerous expensive-looking knickknacks. Her tread was silent onto the carpeted floor as she crossed the threshhold and delved into the centre of the room, considering which way to turn first. The wrong way, as it turned out.
"Well, hello there," the voice was quiet as if seeking to leave the room undisturbed in its sleepy evening setting. It was deep, a smooth growl that was unmistakably masculine. It came from her left, just where the doorway would be that led to the rest of the house's interior. Careless.
But all was not yet lost: she might not be taking anything much home from this evening's work but he hadn't seen her face, she could still get out of here without any loss. Her hand jerked reflexively toward the taser that she carried concealed against the off-chance that one of her unwitting hosts might just stumble upon her at work...
"I wouldn't do anything rash, if I were you. You see, you might have dealt with some of my more obvious security systems; rather efficiently too, I might add; but even if you left now there would be more than enough evidence to incriminate you. It's quite impressive what can be done these days with lowlight cameras, and facial recognition software. It saw right through that stocking of yours; what a quaint affectation... Zara."
She froze on the spot, paralysed with sudden numbness. She had no idea what databases this guy had managed to access, but he knew her name: her real name, not even one of the various aliases she'd used or still did use, in day-to-day life or her 'professional' concerns. For the first time since she could remember, something she'd striven against forever, someone else had her completely in the palm of their hand; the brash, fiercely independent part of her bristled. Then the calm, coolly logical, calculating part of her deflated it again.
He must have noticed the subsidence of her stance.
"Good. Now turn around here, let me get a good look at you," there was a click as he turned on a standing lamp, illuminating the clandestine scene.
She began to hate him there and then, incensed by the hold he had over her that she'd been too careless to elude, quietly fuming at being held to account like some errant, naughty schoolgirl. And yet in no analysis did she see an alternative but to obey. She turned slowly and grudgingly to face him square-on, half-heartedly knocking back her hood as she did so. Leaning back in a shadow behind the pool of lamplight he was still something of a mystery, but the confident ease with which he held himself was still plain to see.
She stood with arms petulantly crossed, a simmering glare on her face. He met it with a low chuckle and stepped forward. Plainly he had been ready to retire for the evening, if not in the act thereof: he wore a single silken dressing gown loosely gathered at the waist with its sash in a negligent bow, exposing a strip of the front of his chest. The light behind him now, it was still in shadow, but he was clearly pale-skinned. He strode up and took hold of her wrist in the grasp of long, powerful fingers.
She tensed, by reflex and only for a second but enough to be noticeable. From the smug set of his lips and the placid way he waited out her stormy little interlude she could tell that he knew he had her. Leaving it a couple of moments more to make sure the last dregs of her defiance had subsided, he gave a gentle but insistent tug to pull her arm out of its hunched, closed position across her chest and moved it down to her waist. With little point in its remaining alone, she let her other arm mirror the motion.
The softest sigh passed her lips, the faintest exhalation of resistance, crumbled.
"Good girl. Now, get on your knees."
Her temper surged back up to a seething heat as the words dropped leadenly in her ears. Who the hell did this guy think he was?
"Hang on a minute, arsehole..."
The feel of him letting go of her wrist was somehow almost as significant as when he had first taken hold of it. He remained apparently unmoved by her outburst otherwise, however.