Blindfold: The Complete Series Box Set (56 page)

“Did I hurt you, baby?” He brushed his fingers across my cheek.

I smiled as I shook my head. “Only in a good way.” I reached up and wrapped my fingers around his. “I'll be feeling you inside me through the whole reception.” I drew his hand to my mouth and kissed his fingertips. “I guess that'll have to be enough to get me through until we make our escape.”

He sucked in a breath as I scraped my teeth across the top of his middle finger. “You really want me to punish you, don't you?”

I gave him a mischievous smile and darted out my tongue, touching it against the pad of his finger.

He rocked back on his heels, watching me for a few seconds before he moved up to the seat next to me. He turned our hands so that our fingers laced between each other, but he didn't speak.

Based on the thoughtful expression on his face, I had a feeling he was trying to decide on my punishment. My stomach twisted in a good way. In the time we'd been together, Ash had shown me that, even if uncomfortable at first, in the end, I would enjoy being punished. He never hurt me, never made it so that it was something I dreaded, no matter how it started.

He slid his hand into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out my panties. I started to reach for them, but when his fingers curled more tightly around them, I dropped my hand and waited.

“I don't think you deserve to have these back.” One corner of his mouth tipped up in a partial smile. “That's your punishment.” He put my panties back into his pocket. “You're going to spend the rest of the night without them. Every time we dance, every hug, every greeting. When I take off that garter.” His eyes flicked down to my leg. “You'll know that I could slide my fingers inside you, right there in front of everyone.” He leaned over and brushed his lips against my cheek. “And if you're good, maybe I'll do just that.”

Fuck.

***

Ashford Lang was pure evil.

We'd been at our reception for nearly two hours, and the entire time, he'd been tormenting me. Whether it was his hand sliding down my back just enough that his fingers were brushing the top of my ass while we shared our first dance, or trying to eat while he kept leaning over to whisper all of the wicked things he wanted to do to me, he appeared to be thoroughly enjoying my discomfort.

Now, the meal was done. We'd cut the cake and stuck to our promises not to shove anything into each others' faces. We'd had our first dance, and then I'd danced with my father and each of my brothers while Ash took turns dancing with my mother and Isadora. I'd thrown my bouquet, and intentionally aimed it at Isadora, earning a good-natured glare from Ash.

He'd been true to his promise when he'd taken off my garter. Keeping my dress discreetly at my knee, he'd reached higher, ignoring the whistles and cat-calls, as well as not-so-subtle threats from my brothers. He'd used one hand to work down the garter, while his other went higher between my legs, lightly brushing his fingertips across my sensitive skin. It had been all I could do not to moan right there.

Much to my brother's embarrassment, Vic caught the garter, and I was pretty sure that Ash had thrown it at him intentionally. When I'd seen the sideways look Vic had thrown Rachelle's way, though, I made a mental note to thank Ash for it.

Now, we were at the part of the night where we were supposed to go around and greet people. We hit my extended family first, aunts and uncles, cousins and second cousins. Both of my parents had come from relatively large families, so there were a lot of them.

Because Ash and Isadora didn't really have any family, we'd forgone the traditional sides of the church, encouraging people to sit wherever they wanted. Most of Ash's invites had gone to the staff, Phenicie-Lang employees and other business contacts. There were a few exceptions, such as Agent Marcum and Jefferson Sinclair, who we'd both wanted to invite.

Standing with Isadora and Colton right now were another pair Ash and I had invited for our personal connection.

Dominic Snow was CEO of Winter Enterprises, the company that had been responsible for sending me to Isadora. Specifically, it had been Robson Findlay who'd done it, and he was here too, but Dominic and his gorgeous wife, Aleena, were connected to us in other ways too.

Over a year ago, Dominic had started a charity called In From the Cold that worked on finding and rescuing victims of human trafficking. At first, he'd specifically focused on babies who'd been sold on the black market – like he'd been – but the charity had expanded to include other aspects of human trafficking as well. Aleena worked with him as his personal assistant, which is how they'd met, and it had been she who'd come to see Isadora after the kidnapping had gone public.

Isadora had already decided she wanted to become a victim's advocate, but Aleena's visit had solidified things for her. Now, in addition to her college courses, she volunteered at In From the Cold.

But it hadn't only been my new sister-in-law Aleena had spoken to.

Ash threw Phenicie-Lang behind the charity while I'd taken a job as an on-staff therapist. It wasn't the easiest job in the world, and there were days I came home from work devastated by the horrors people had recounted. But Ash was always there, ready to give me whatever I needed.

“Congratulations!” Aleena gave me a hug to go along with her warm smile. Dominic offered his own greeting, but only shook my hand. He wasn't the sort of person who touched casually.

Well, except his wife. He always seemed to be touching her. Holding her hand. His hand on the small of her back. Arm around her shoulders. I knew they'd gone through a lot to be together, and the similarities of their relationship to Ash’s and mine went deeper than even that.

While Aleena and I had only known each other for a year, there were aspects of our friendship that made us much closer than we would've been without them. Mainly, she and I were both still relative novices in the world our husbands had brought us into. She and I shared things that neither of us could share with other friends. Things others wouldn't understand.

Like the way pain could turn to pleasure, enhance intensity. How surrendering control could be freeing. The way punishment could be a good thing. How being submissive didn't have to mean humiliation. How a lover could be rough, fierce, but then gentle when it was all over.

Though neither of us ever considered sharing, the four of us would often see each other at Olympus, sit together during the entertainment. A couple of times, we'd gone so far as to engage in some slight exhibitionism, being a bit more open about touching, but we'd never let it get to a place where things would be awkward between us. I was grateful for that because, as close as Isadora and I were, the things Ash and I did...not something one shared with one's sibling.

“You look amazing,” Aleena said. She stepped back into Dominic's waiting arm, and he wrapped it around her waist, his hand resting on her hip.

I knew the two of them had gotten a lot of shit when they'd first started out together. Partly because she was his assistant, but there'd been some people who'd been mortified, not by his being her employer, but by the difference in their social status...and their race. Now, the novelty seemed to have worn off and most people barely even gave them a second glance anymore. And the ones they did get were almost always admiration. They were a gorgeous couple.

Almost as gorgeous as their daughter.

“Did you bring Carly?” I asked.

Aleena shook her head. “She's got a new tooth coming in, poor thing.”

“Speaking of, I'm going to go call Leann and see how things are going.” Dominic kissed the top of Aleena's head before heading towards the lobby.

Aleena shook her head as she watched him go, love shining on her face. “I swear, her teething bothers him more than it does her.” She turned back to me. “If he does this with every kid, he's going to drive himself nuts.”

“Every kid?” I raised my eyebrows. “Are you...?”

She flushed prettily. “No. Not yet. But we're trying for a second.”

“That's wonderful!” I pulled her into another hug, and then handed her off to Isadora who offered her own congratulations.

As I stepped back to Ash's side, something occurred to me. I tried to keep it off my face, but I knew I hadn't succeeded because Ash leaned down to speak quietly.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded. I could feel the flush creeping up my neck and hoped most people would think it was from being overheated. I was hot, but that wasn't what was making me blush. I turned and put my lips against his ear.

“I was just thinking how that might...complicate things.”

He gave me a puzzled look and I knew I was going to have to say it.

“Being pregnant. And what they do...what we do...”

His eyes widened, and he glanced down. “You're not...?”

I shook my head. “No, but I want kids, and you said you do too.”

“I do.” His lips twitched, and I knew he was trying not to laugh. “I guess we'll have to ask them when the time comes. Or buy a really good lock.”

I glared at him and he broke, chuckling. It was a low, warm sound, one of his genuine laughs that I always loved to hear. He pulled me into a hug and kissed the tip of my nose.

“Don't worry about it,” he said. “We'll figure it out when we need to. Together.”

Together. I put my head on his shoulder. I liked the sound of that.

***

We'd been debating over our honeymoon for months. Ash wanted it to be a surprise. I wanted to have some say in where we went. The one thing we agreed on, however, was that neither of us wanted to spend our wedding night traveling, even first class. We didn’t want to be exhausted when we arrived wherever it was we were going.

So Ash decided that we needed a wedding present to ourselves, in addition to our honeymoon. He already had a private jet that he used for work, but he wanted something better for our trip. Better turned out to be a slightly bigger airplane...with a bedroom in the back. It wasn't very big, mostly taken up by the bed, but that was what we wanted it for anyway.

“I don't think I'll ever get used to this,” I said as I followed Ash into the plane.

“Being my wife?” he teased.

I rolled my eyes. “Being rich. I know you want me to think of it as 'our' money, but being able to personalize a plane with a queen-sized bed just so we can travel in a bit more style is crazy.” I glanced over at him and grinned. “And where is it we're going again?”

We'd come to a compromise about the surprise thing. I'd given him a list of the top places I wanted to go someday, and he would make the final arrangements. That didn't keep me from trying to figure it out though. I especially liked to use it when we were in the playroom. It'd triggered some of Ash's more...interesting punishments.

“Cute.” He gave me a sideways look. “You're just lucky I was already planning on telling you our itinerary, or I'd be taking it out on your ass.”

I almost told him to do it anyway, but I wanted to know our destination even more than I wanted to continue flirting. “So which is it? France? Italy? England? One of the other places?”

He nodded a greeting at the flight crew, and led me back to a pair of side-by-side seats. We settled in and buckled up as the crew moved around, getting us ready.

“Yes.”

I blinked at him, then realized he was answering my question. “Which one? I gave you a list of ten places so I'd be surprised no matter which one you picked.”

As the plane began to rumble down the runway, Ash reached over and took my hand, a pleased expression on his face. “All of them.”

I stared at him. I couldn't have understood him correctly. Ten different places all over the world, and not just in Europe either. The Bahamas. Alaska. Brazil. I shook my head.

“Another good thing about owning a private plane with a bedroom,” he said. “Makes scheduling a ten-destination honeymoon much easier.”

“But...we don't...I mean...work...” I was aware I was stammering, but I couldn't stop myself.

“Relax,” he said. “I've got it covered. Besides, we're not doing long periods of time in each place. And we're mostly going to be sleeping while we travel.” His eyes darkened as his fingers tightened around my hand. “Sleeping and...other things.”

Heat spread through me as I listened to him talk about everything he had planned. As we waited for the all-clear from the captain that we could move back to the bedroom, Ash told me each stop, what specific sites he wanted us to see. And when he finished, he looked over at me, a strange, vulnerable look on his face.

“Is all this okay?”

A surge of love went through me, and I knew that question was more than four simple words. He was asking about control, if this was one of those decisions I wanted a say in.

But he was also worried that I wouldn't like his surprise. Not just because of the control issue, but because Ash was actually a lot more vulnerable than people knew, especially when it came to relationships.

“It's perfect.” I raised our hands and kissed his knuckles.

“You're perfect.” He bent his head and pressed his lips to my forehead.

I was pretty sure I dozed off at some point after that, because the next thing I knew, I was being carried. I hovered there, half-in, half-out. Ash set me on the bed and I felt the soft cotton of expensive sheets beneath my hands. Then my dress was sliding off and I was left completely bare.