A Jade's Trick (Lilly Black's Jaded Series Book 1) (45 page)

Still blindfolded, Cain guides me to step into a dress.  He pulls it up and ties the corseted waist in the back, and feeling the abundance of leather and the boned, plunging neckline that ends below my navel ring, I know it's the gorgeous, floor length gown I noticed the first time I opened the Wardrobe. Cain offers me a chair, and when I'm seated, he brushes my hair, pulling it up into what feels like a French twist.  He places a cold, metal handle in my hand, his finger to my mouth to procure my patience, then like a prince in an x-rated fairytale, he kneels before me and kisses my feet as he puts a pair of stilettos on me. When I'm properly shod, he takes my hand.

"I haven't changed the rules," he says.  "You still have to say those three little words if you want any real power, but..."

"But..." I repeat excitedly.

"But you took a big step tonight, and I'm going to reward you," he says as I feel him place my riding crop in my free hand.  I wrap my fingers around it, and feeling the smooth diamonds against my palm sends a jolt of electricity through me.  Part of me wants to fight against this, disturbed about how he's conditioned me to accept something as a reward that should have been mine for the taking, but it's Cain who is conditioning and rewarding me, which somehow makes it okay.

He carefully removes my blindfold, and I see myself in the hand mirror.  He did an extraordinary job on my hair, but most extraordinary is what I see in the periphery.  Cain is placing a blindfold over his own eyes.  I stand, laying the mirror on the chair, and as I look down on him, on his knees with his head lowered reverently, I see that he's wearing the blindfold with the flaps over the eyes.  It's beautiful.

"Tonight, I am at your mercy, Domina," Cain says, and his words are as potent as his touch, coursing through me.  I've dreamed of this moment since we set upon the path that brought us to it, but now that it's here, I don't know how to begin. I can't fuck this up because I want surrendering to me to be more to Cain than just something he does to keep me happy.  I want him to want it, to fantasize about it, to ache for it, and just the thought of his fantasies gives me what I need.  Taking his hand, I lead him to the bondage table in the center of the room to begin the formidable task of conquering my Master.

 

There are no words to describe how it felt to have Cain on his knees, a slave at my feet, and though sated, I still feel drunk with power as we sit down at the table for dinner, already showered and dressed.  The curtains are closed, hiding the dungeon, and what we've just done is only evidenced by the silly grins on our faces as Lucy brings in the Chinese food Cain ordered. I don't think I've ever been so ravenous.

As we eat, he tells me about the interior designer he has hired to help me with the remodel.  Her name is Paige, and she is coming to meet me at the apartment tomorrow.  By all rights I should be pissed off that even though I no longer have a job, Cain is still controlling my schedule, but with free rein and an unlimited budget, it's hard to work up any respectable level of anger.  Besides, after what he just let me do, all I can think about is having a fully-equipped dungeon of my own design.  In fact, I think maybe two home dungeons are in order because I'm starting to feel like Domina could get territorial.

When we finish dinner, as Lucy clears the dishes, Cain deliberately places a fortune cookie in front of me, and remembering the last one he gave me, I open it eagerly, pulling out a little strip of white paper that says:

"Fuck you!" I say with a roll of my eyes.

"That's only two."

"You have some nerve after what we just did," I complain in frustration, but as I look into his eyes wondering how I can make him understand without having to tell him the real reason I can't say those three little words, I become confused.  He's not himself.  He seems anxious, unnecessarily smoothing out the table cloth.  Cain Ballantyne...is fidgeting? 

Then it crystallizes inside my head that I have misunderstood the fortune entirely.  Flashing my eyes at him, I'm otherwise frozen, scared as hell that fate will pick this moment to let the other shoe drop.  It doesn't.

"I love you," Cain says, his voice the sweetest sound I've ever heard, and I'm cast into a state of unimaginable bliss.  There is suddenly no one in the entire universe but us, and no three words were ever so numinous.

"I love you," I say back, and he pulls me to him, kissing me.  He folds his arms around me, my head sideways against his chest, and as I hear his heart beating rapidly, feel his warm breath atop my head, and smell his freshly showered skin, I drink in every shade of this perfect moment, my eyes filling with happy tears.  I haven't heard those words from a man since my father died, and though I've longed for them ever since, I know now that all the waiting was preparing me for this night, for this destiny, for this man.

"I love you so much, Evan," he whispers, his lips pressed against the top of my head, his voice so low, it's as if I'm reading his thoughts.

"Me, too," I breathe, nuzzling into him, and for just these few, precious seconds, I put my fear of fate aside, knowing this is the memory I will carry with me always as my life's most significant.

All the way home, I'm walking on air.  I actually said those three little words, and when I pinch myself, I don't wake up.  Now, even though we had just had hours of amazing sex, all I want to do is get Cain into our bed to make love like we did yesterday afternoon, even if Nicole is home and we have to be quiet.  When we enter the apartment, assuming that the light coming from under the guest room door means that she and Caleb are in there together, Cain and I creep down the hall as quietly as possible, but as we pass the guest room door, we hear faint sobs.

Cain's eyes flash in anger, and I have to stop him from barging in.

"What did he do to her?" He growls protectively.

"Shhh!  Whatever it was, you going in there is only going to make her feel worse," I insist, and though he protests, I give him an impatient look and push him away.  "Go!"

"Hey," I say, cracking the door.  "What happened?" 

"Nothing," Nicole says, hiding her face in her hands.

"It doesn't sound like nothing," I say as I sit beside her on the bed.

"We just...we decided not to..."

"Oh, Nic, I'm sorry." I put my arms around, letting her cry, and when she is ready, she tells me what happened.  Caleb offered to give her all that he could, but it wasn't enough.

"I can't be the other woman, Ev.  I want to.  I want to so bad it hurts, but I just kept thinking about Saturday night.  I would never be the one to go to the country club.  I would be alone on holidays - Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, too.
The harpy gets all that.  It isn't fair!"

"I know," I console her, "but there is one thing she can never have..."  She looks up at me, hopeful.  "His love.  He hasn't loved her for a long time."  I probably shouldn't have put that idea in her head, but after Cain told me he loves me tonight, I'm just not my usual pessimistic self.

"She doesn't love him either," Nicole says.  "Do you know how long it's been since he had sex?  Over a year!  He has tried so hard to keep his vows that he has never even..."

"I know," I interrupt her, "and do you know what that says about you?  This man has put everything he has to making his marriage work, and you are the only woman who has ever made him question that.  If he would get caught cheating, Nic, he stands to lose everything, yet he was willing to take that chance for you."  Her eyes light up as my words sink in.  "I still think you made the right decision.  He'll never be the man you deserve until he can walk away from his marriage."

"I know, but it's just going to be so hard, Ev.  I wish he had never kissed me."

"At least you can always go pick up a hot guy and do something about your frustrations.  Caleb can't do anything about his."

"He could pick up the Hope Diamond," she says, and we laugh.  She has stopped crying, but I know it's not over.  She's going to hurt from this for a long time, and as long as I'm with Cain, she'll always be reminded of what could have been.  And Caleb will be reminded, too.  I hope he hurts more.

"Oh, my God!" I hear Nicole call out Tuesday morning.  She wanted to use my shower because it has more bells and whistles than the guest room bath, and since Lucy is driving her back home in a little while, I let her go first.  Still in bed, I hear her and rush in to my closet to find her standing by the fainting couch holding my riding crop.  Cain brought it back from the dungeon last night because I have tasked him with finding a case for it, but it didn't even cross my mind that he would just leave it laying around in here with Nicole staying with us!

"It's not what you think," I say.

"Do you know how much this thing is worth?" 

"It was just a joke gift," I lie.

"No, it wasn't.  With this many perfectly sized and set, clear stones, this thing probably cost..."

"They're not real."  I roll my eyes.

"Yes, they are," she insists, coming toward me holding it with the studded end up.  "Look!" she breathes heavily on the stones and thrusts it is my face.  I have no idea what her point is.

"Just because they make you pant doesn't make them real, Nicole," I say dismissively.

"They're real because they don't fog up." 

"They're probably just good fakes," I say.  "I don't even think Cain would drop, what?  $10,000 on a joke?"

"Try ten times that."

"There's no way."

"Call and ask Cain," she urges me.

"No.  It doesn't matter to me," I say.

"It should, especially if you are going to just leave it laying around."
She makes a good point.
  "And if you find out for me, I won't make a big deal over the fact that this pretty much proves that the list I found in our kitchen was no joke." 

...
and then she makes an even better point.

"Fine."  I grab my cell phone and dial.

"Good morning," Cain says with a surprised,
you're up early
tone.

"Hey.  Are you alone?"

"Yes.  Why?"

"Because I wouldn't want anyone to overhear."

"I'm all ears," Cain says, expecting something much more entertaining than what he is going to get.

"Don't get excited.  I'm just wondering what possessed you to leave the riding crop laying out on the fainting couch in my closet.  Nicole found it."

"Then Nicole was nosing around because it was in its box in your lingerie drawer."

"I see."  I shoot her a dirty look.  "Well, in any case, she has agreed to keep it to herself, but she did some breathing test that made her believe the diamonds are real.  I tried to tell her..."

"They are real," Cain says, making me gasp.  "I am very serious about our equality, Evan, especially after last night."  An irrepressible smile spreads across my face.

"At least please tell me it didn't cost the $100,000 she estimated."

"I can't remember," he says stubbornly.

"Should it be in a safe somewhere?" I ask, suddenly very uncomfortable with this diamond-slathered frivolity.

"I doubt anyone would steal a riding crop, but just to be sure, I recommend that you keep it with the blindfold and tethers I gave you."  Cain laughs.

"Good idea," I say, suppressing the urge to comment on what I would like to do with the blindfold and tethers tonight.  "We can talk more about it when you get home."

"I can't wait," he says, then he closes the call.  "I love you."

"I love you, too," I whisper, turning away from Nicole to avoid the awww on her face, and mercifully, she doesn't say a thing about hearing me say the L word to Cain after I hang up.

"Nicole, you can't tell anyone anything about this or the list you found.  You know that, right?"

"I swear I'll never tell anyone," she vows, and just to drive the point home, I explain how secretive Cain is about this part of his life and how anyone privy to it has to sign an NDA.

"Did you sign one?" she asks.

"No.  He broke that rule for me, but he may want you to sign one now."

"If I do, will you tell me everything?"

"No," I say, though I'm dying to brag to someone about how incredible the sex is, particularly how incredible last night was.

"Well, I'll sign one anyway if it's important to Cain, but either way, I promise never to tell."

"And if things change between you and Caleb, that includes him, too."

"There is no way things are going to change between us...unless maybe he bought me one of those," she says indicating the riding crop as I slip it back in my lingerie drawer, wishing I still didn't know what it was worth. 

"That's something to consider," I say, winking to make it seem like a joke when, in fact, I am completely serious.  Nicole just laughs, but I can almost see the wheels turning inside her head.  Good.