Page 46 of Longing for Liberty

THIRTY-SIX

STATE NEWS: EXPERTS SAY THE STATE COMMUNITIES HAVE STRENGTHENED FAMILIES IN WAYS NEVER SEEN BEFORE!

A week passed of living with Amos Fitzhugh.

I missed Jeremy so much that a physical pain punctuated my gut when I let myself think of him.

It was the same feeling I had for years after losing the children.

A sharp pang at first that dulled into a heavy pressure until I was able to force myself to calm down.

Every morning I went down slightly after the usual pickup time to get my basket from Kathy.

We both feigned boredom and disinterest. She didn’t follow me out again and didn’t give me anything else, but I was dying to talk to someone.

Did she know anything about Rebecca or Jeremy?

Were they okay? They had to be. They were fine. I would keep telling myself that.

During the day, I cleaned like normal. My body was at the beck and call of Mr. Secretary both day and night. Where I once thrilled at his attention and touch, I now resented it, finding myself exhausted from pretending and not having the option to say no.

After dinner, Amos allowed me to leave for a walk around the block. I cherished those walks, my faux freedom outside of the sterile penthouse prison.

In between all of that, I watched and learned.

He took his laptop with him every time he left.

He closed it every time he stopped working, but he left it on the table while he went to shower and at night to charge.

And the worst thing I discovered, the thing that kept me up at night racking my brain, was that he used both his fingerprint and a password to access the laptop.

I nearly spiraled with hopelessness when I saw him do that, but I reminded myself I had a creative mind and not to give up.

As he worked at the table, reading documents and sending emails, I mopped behind him.

When he’d lean back to read, I began counting in my head.

I wanted to see how long it would take for his screen to time out and require his fingerprint and passcode again.

It took a while for him to have a pause long enough, but he began getting texts on his phone at one point, pulling his attention from his screen.

I counted to one hundred and twenty-four before the screen darkened in warning and then went to the eagle screensaver.

I’d probably been counting too quickly, and the timeout was two minutes.

I began to formulate a plan. It would be tricky.

It required distracting him enough to forget he’d accessed his laptop, enough to forget to close it.

I only had one tool at my disposal—one thing that just happened to be his biggest weakness.

I thought about the Dutch sisters. It was time to lure Amos Fitzhugh into the woods.

* * *

The day finally came when I felt ready. He was working from home, and I chose one of my flowing dresses. One of the items included in my new wardrobe was a black lace bra and underwear set. I assumed he knew about them, and I expected him to request that I wear them, but he never did.

Hours before, in preparation, I had set my purse on the table.

Now, I sauntered up to him while he read something on his laptop, a small wrinkle of concentration in his brow.

I usually let Amos be the initiator since he seemed to enjoy dominating, so I hoped my forwardness wouldn’t raise suspicion.

I lifted my skirt and stepped over his lap, sitting to face him.

Amos pulled back his head to look me in the eye.

I gave him a shy smile and took off his reading glasses, turning to set them down and “accidentally” touching the mouse pad to keep the screen on.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your work,” I said, slowly circling my hips against his crotch.

“Liberty.” His voice was deep. “This is a surprise.”

I bit my bottom lip. “I’ve been wanting to ask you something, but I’m worried what you’ll think of me…”

His hands went around my waist and gripped. “Ask me.”

“I was wondering when you might want to…” I took his hand and shifted it behind me, pressing his fingers to the plug in my backside. I slightly gasped and closed my eyes. “Have me here again.”

He inhaled through his nose, and his eyes sharpened. “I did that as a punishment. I didn’t think you’d want that again.”

I circled my hips, giving him my coyest expression. “Maybe you can pretend I’ve been bad.”

His eyes widened, and I moved both hands behind his neck as he kissed me hard. I moaned and breathed into his mouth. My heart was erratically pounding, making me lightheaded.

“You’ve been working so hard,” I said against his lips. “I have a surprise for you.” I began to stand, keeping my eyes locked on his as I reached behind me and brushed my fingers over the mousepad again. “Will you go to the bedroom and wait for me?”

I took his hand and gave him a little smile, earning that small smirk as I gently pulled him to his feet and turned his back to the computer.

Shock went through me as he let me lead him away from the laptop without closing it.

It felt like blood was going to explode from my arteries and veins with how hard it was pumping.

When we got to his bedroom, I nodded toward the second bedroom where I kept my things.

“Stay here and get the oil ready. I’ll be back in two minutes. No peeking.”

“Hurry,” he growled, pulling me momentarily into his embrace to press his hardness against me.

“ Mmm , Amos. I’ll be quick, I promise.” I gave him a playful push into the bedroom and shut his door.

I sprinted on bare feet back to the dining area and unzipped my purse, digging my hand in.

I had a plan that if he came out and caught me, I’d say I was getting my lipstick.

I pulled out the thumb drive and pushed it into the left side where I’d seen the port.

My hands were shaking so hard that it took several tries to line it up.

What would happen? Was I supposed to click something?

Despite working on a computer for my career, I was not tech-savvy.

But it turned out the drive knew what to do on its own.

The moment I clicked it in, a download icon flashed on the screen, moving super fast.

Holy shit!

My breathing was too loud. I was practically wheezing.

I raced back to the second room and yanked the dress over my head.

The bra was already on. As I shimmied on the panties, I called out, “Almost ready!” And then I stepped into a set of three-inch black high heels I’d never worn.

My ankles wobbled as I tried to rush and forced myself to slow down.

Oh God, oh God, oh God.

I opened his door to find him on the bed, completely naked, oiling himself. Relief washed through me. He really was that easy to distract, and he really did trust me. It was confounding but also deeply satisfying to know my work had paid off.

“Liberty…”

I spun slowly, letting him see the cheeky lace underwear, before facing him again.

He got up from the bed and backed me into the wall, taking my throat in my hand.

“You’re nervous,” he said. “I can feel your pulse racing.”

“I am,” I admitted. “I didn’t know if you’d be okay with me being so…you know.”

His hand moved up from my throat to my jaw, gripping me tightly. “You’re a bad girl distracting me from my work.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” I whispered, pressing my hips into him and earning a growl.

“You will be.”

An hour later—the longest hour of my life—I pecked Amos on the mouth as he lay there with an arm over his head, breathing hard.

“I’m going to clean up.”

He nodded, and I walked naked from the room, not rushing until the door closed behind me.

I felt like I might puke as I got to the laptop and saw the “Download Complete” message.

I touched the mousepad, and it disappeared.

Just as I was about to reach for the thumb drive, I heard the bedroom door open, and I spun to see Amos coming out of his bedroom down the hall in his boxers.

My entire insides plummeted, and I did the only thing my brain could think of. I pushed my purse over to cover the external hard drive, and I dug out my lipstick, turning and propping myself against the table.

“What are you doing?” he asked, looking me up and down.

I held up my lipstick. “I feel naked without it.” My hand shook as I opened it and dabbed my bottom lip. He approached, and my whole body prickled with hot fear. Amos leaned to the side, looking at his computer, and I held my breath as he shut the laptop and then took my face in my hands.

“I hope you don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed about telling me you want me.”

I managed a small smile. “You’re…okay with that?”

“More than okay.” He kissed me hard, and I moved the hand I was leaning on down the side of the laptop, desperate to get the thumb drive out before he saw it.

I let out a moan as I tugged the device out, covering the possible sound, and then pushed it under my purse.

With one last tug of my bottom lip between his teeth, he pulled back and gave me another once over before heading back to his room to dress.

I moved quickly, putting the drive into my purse and zipping it shut, then going to the back room to get dressed again.

My mind buzzed, wondering if there would be any message when he opened his computer again, any signs of a download.

I needed to get rid of the thumb drive as soon as possible, but if I left right now, it might seem suspicious.

I went to the utility closet in the hall and began feeling the bottles of detergents and sprays.

Yes!

As Amos came out, rolling up his shirt sleeves, I shook the bleach and looked at him.

“I need to run down for a new bottle. I’ll be right back.”

“I can call someone to do that,” he told me, but I shook my head and smiled, going up on my toes to kiss him before I grabbed an old rag from the shelf and closed the utility door.

“You’re such a gentleman, but I need to stay active.”

He patted my bottom, and I went to the table, taking my purse and exiting the penthouse.

It was too soon to feel relief or elation, even though the hardest part was over. There was still a chance I’d be caught. I held the bottle of bleach with the rag and let myself focus on each thrum-thrum-thrum of my heart in my ears.

The maid’s room was practically empty, and to Kathy’s credit, her face did not change from its usual grumpy expression when she saw me. She glanced down at my hand.

“Bleach?”

“Yes,” I said, setting it on the counter along with my purse, which I unzipped to pull out my lipstick for a reapplication. I casually tossed the rag on top of my purse. “And two newer rags if you have them. Mine are threadbare.”

“You know you can just call down, Libby,” she told me as she went to a side shelf and took a new bottle of bleach. “I’ll send up whatever you need.”

“Mr. Secretary graciously offered the same thing, but I need to stay active and agile.”

“Hmph.” She set the bleach heavily on the counter with two white cloths.

I reached down for the old rag, and as I did, I pinched the thumb drive inside of it, setting it on the counter like nothing but trash.

“God bless,” I said, putting my purse back on my shoulder and turning to leave with my items.

“God bless,” she responded to my back in a bored tone.

That part was done. I could only hope she moved quickly to get it to someone else in case Amos was realizing at this very moment that he’d been hacked. I didn’t think he’d immediately suspect me, but the blame would eventually make its way to me.

I moved with leaden feet back to the building to meet my fate, knowing if it were my time to go, I’d be thankful I’d at least done something.