Blushing Violet (5 page)

Opening her eyes a slit, she stared at him in wonder. The smile that curved his lips warmed her to her toes and when he pulled back the blanket to clean her with a warm washcloth she blushed.

His laugh startled her and she looked up even as she squirmed beneath his touch. Her pussy was hypersensitive and his efficient cleaning was at once too much and just right.

“What’s so funny?” she grumbled and pulled the blanket around her.

“I find it amazing that during sex you can be utterly uninhibited, but afterward you blush just as heavily as if I’d never seen you impaled on my cock.”

Much to her chagrin, she felt another blush burn her cheeks and cursed her pale skin. It wasn’t fair. If he blushed she would never be able to tell because of his natural bronze coloring. And such lovely skin it was, dark and smooth. Now that she thought about it, she really hadn’t gotten to see much of his skin at all. He’d kept his clothes on, only pulling down his pants enough to stuff his erection into her. She would love to see the total package.

He tossed the washcloth on the hearth and leaned over, giving her a kiss of such gentle intensity that she felt like purring. The warmth of the fire at her back was nothing compared to the warmth of his body. They lay there like that for a long time, just looking at each other and occasionally reaching out to touch one another. She felt more relaxed than she had in a long time. The top of his shirt gaped open, revealing a tantalizing hint of bare bronze chest.

She frowned up at him and he arched his brow. “I never got to see you naked,” she said with a small pout.

He reclined on his side next to her, idly twirling a strand of her hair. Oh God, her hair. She reached her hand up and groaned at the feeling of it sticking up all over the place. There wasn’t a gel or hairspray strong enough in the world to keep her curls under control. She must look like an electrified poodle.

He chuckled again and she glared at him while trying to smooth her hair down and keep hold of the blanket. “How am I supposed to convince you to have a second date with me if I didn’t have something to tempt you back with?”

She stared at him. Was he serious? Nothing to lure her back with? For the love of God, he just gave the most amazing orgasm of her life, ate toasted marshmallows with her, and rocked her to the core of her soul and he wondered if she would want a second date.

The tip of his finger was cool over her mouth as he outlined her lips. “Don’t look so shocked. You are a rare and amazing woman. So full of quiet strength and purpose.”

At once embarrassed and pleased, she pushed his hand away and sat up, tugging the blanket securely around her chest. “You don’t know me very well.”

“You’re right, I don’t.” He traced his finger along the edge of the blanket over her chest and her skin erupted in goose bumps. Despite having had an orgasm to end all orgasms not ten minutes ago, her body heated as his pupils dilated. “Tell me about yourself.”

“Uh,” she tugged the blanket up higher and leaned back, “well, I’m a massage therapist at the Volun’s Spa. In fact, I have to be there at seven a.m. tomorrow to open.” He continued to watch her with that focused intensity that made her all too aware of being naked beneath the blanket. Nervous energy had her babbling again. “I have a dog named Adam who has issues about going to the bathroom alone. Speaking of which, I should probably get home before he takes out his displeasure on my rug. I mean he has a doggy door but he just won’t go poop outside unless I’m there. Can dogs be anal retentive?” She closed her mouth so quickly she almost amputated her tongue. Which, judging by what she had just babbled out, would have been a blessing. Shit, did she really just tell this gorgeous sex god that her dog was anal retentive?

His lips twitched and he coughed into his hand, clearly trying to hide the fact he was laughing at her. That did nothing for her self-esteem and she suddenly felt very vulnerable with just the blanket around her.

Glancing at the clock behind him, she jumped to her feet and tugged the edge of the fabric up almost to her chin. “Damn, I had no idea it was so late. I’ll be lucky if I get four hours of sleep before I have to get up for work.”

His full lips firmed into a line, but he let her scurry off to try to find her clothes. She managed to locate her dress, but her thong was nowhere to be seen. A quick glance over her shoulder showed Carlos watching her. Even across the enormous room she swore she could feel the heat of his gaze. If she didn’t get out of here right now she may never leave. The thought of facing him first thing in the morning, with the bright light of the sun and no makeup put an extra urgency in her step. No way she was letting him see her without makeup. When she wasn’t wearing mascara her eyelashes all but disappeared and she looked like an albino.

After slipping the dress over her head, she quickly located her shoes by the front door. She was so engrossed with jamming her foot into the cute sling-back heel that she didn’t notice Carlos was standing next to her until she stood and narrowly avoided bashing him in the face with the top of her head.

“Oh!” She jumped back and wacked her elbow on the door handle. “Shit!”

“I’m sorry, are you all right?” When she tried to pull her arm away he gave her that look that she had come to associate with his Dom side and she meekly let him examine her.

“I’m fine. It’s my fault. I’m sorry I’m so clumsy. You should have seen me when my mom tried to make me take ballet in the tenth grade. I ended up at the back of the class by myself because I kept kicking other girls. Not that I really liked the class anyway, I mean I would have rather taken karate but my mom said it wasn’t ladylike. As if walking around in a leotard with a class full of camel toes was ladylike.” His eyes glittered with suppressed mirth and she forced her chattering mouth to shut.

When she was nervous there was no such thing as TMI.

He made a little choking sound as she brushed past him to retrieve her purse. By the time she returned his face was once again schooled into his usual handsome self, but she could still see his lips twitching. “Thank you for the lovely evening, Carlos.”

Pulling a jacket over her shoulders, he slipped on a black leather trench coat that fit his body perfectly and probably cost more than her entire living room set. “I’m walking you to your car.” His tone left no room for argument and she swallowed her automatic refusal to accept help. It was one a.m. in downtown Detroit. No matter how posh this section of the city was, she’d be an idiot to walk to her car alone.

As they strolled down the hallway, he slipped his hand into hers and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. Her insides turned to goo and she had to bite back a happy giggle. This man had some powerful mojo. He managed to fuck her silly.

The doorman followed them out and watched them walk down the street together to the parking garage. Carlos moved with a confident grace that she wished she could emulate. Even if she wasn’t prancing in heels, she would never be able to pull off a walk like that. He moved as if he owned the world, and he probably did.

Hunching her shoulders against the wind that iced up her skirt and reminded her she wasn’t wearing any underwear, she hustled after him then slowed down as she realized he would see her car. Her faithful automobile hadn’t seen a showroom floor in twelve years and had the rust spots to prove it. No car got through close to a dozen Michigan winters without some salt damage and hers had more than its fair share.

They entered the parking garage and she tried to think of some way to ditch him before he saw her car. She could afford a new one, but she tried to pay for everything with cash. Her parents had lived above their means on credit for most of their lives and had the bills to prove it. It was through their hard lesson that she learned to budget and save for a rainy day.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice that he had stopped walking until he tugged at her hand. Turning to him with a questioning look, he pulled her into his arms. Even in the harsh fluorescent lights of the parking garage he looked too handsome for words. His dark hair was mussed, but instead of looking messy he looked like a sultry cover model for a men’s magazine. The soft brush of his lips over hers tingled all the way through her body and seemed to infuse her with heat.

His hand slipped from hers and he captured her wrists. The feeling of being restrained by him made her pussy clench and a little trickle of moisture wet her inner thighs. He opened her mouth with the press of his tongue and gave her a deep kiss, which stole the breath from her body. She literally forgot to breathe, deemed it unimportant, as he kissed her.

Nipping at her lower lip hard enough to sting, he pulled back and released her hands. “There, that’s how I like to see you.”

“What?”

“You were worrying about something so hard you were going to give yourself a headache. I like you like this.” His fingertips trailed along her face, leaving a path of warm fire in their wake. “Soft and open to me without negative thoughts shadowing those beautiful eyes.”

She ducked her head and slipped her hand back into his, leading him down the rows to her car. Maybe he was right. Maybe she did spend too much time wrapped up in her own head. But how in the world was she supposed to break a bad habit that was as much a part of her as her red hair and her freckles?

They reached the rear bumper of her white Cavalier and Carlos laughed.

Stung, she hunched her shoulders and said, “What’s so funny?”

“This.” He spun her around and pointed at her bumper sticker. In sparkly pink letters against a black background it read “Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies.” with a picture of Darth Vader in an apron holding a tray of cookies.

Shaking her head, she couldn’t help but grin. “That would be Bethany, my best friend. She keeps trying to get me in touch with my dark side.”

His grin grew bigger. “Really?” He slowly licked his lower lip and tugged her against him. The press of his erection against her made all the blood in her body rush to her clit in a womb-clenching throb. “What a coincidence, I want to help you get in touch with your dark side too.” The leering wiggle of his eyebrows made her laugh despite the sexual heat he was putting off.

“Should I start calling you Sith Lord Carlos?”

A predatory gleam came to his eyes as he dug his fingers into her hips. It didn’t hurt, but it made her aware of how much stronger he was than her. “I like that idea.” He nuzzled his cheek against her neck. “Oh the deliciously bad things I am going to do to you. By the time I’m done you’re going to be begging to join the Dark Side.”

She was saved from embarrassing herself by throwing him down on the ground and ripping his clothes off by someone’s car alarm going off a few rows over. They jumped back from each other and Carlos ran his hand through his hair while giving her a wicked grin.

She fiddled with her car alarm and disabled it with a perky chirp. “Well, thanks for the…uh…everything.”

“Thank you.” He put his hands into his pockets and gave her a look filled with heat. “Did anyone ever tell you your eyes are the color of high-quality jade?”

His remark was so unexpected that she paused halfway into her car and stared at him. “No. They’re nothing special.”

“Whoever told you that was obviously jealous. You’re eyes are amazingly beautiful.” He gave her a wink and wave as he walked back toward the parking lot entrance.

Turning on her car, she stared at her stunned reflection in the rearview mirror as the engine warmed up. A hint of pink still colored her cheeks and her makeup had smudged a bit. The lipstick that she had so carefully applied was long gone and a faint hint of beard burn colored her jaw. Looking into her eyes, she tried to see what Carlos had seen. Her sister had always called her eyes the color of split pea soup or dirty dish water.

Could he be right? Could Penny have been jealous? The thought was so foreign, so outside of how she saw the world that it seemed impossible. Penny was perfect, the head cheerleader, the stunning prom queen, the president of her sorority. She had married the perfect man, lived in the perfect house, and drove her perfect Mercedes. There was no way Penny ever envied anything about her.

Turning on the stereo, she carefully checked her mirrors before pulling out. The last thing she wanted to do was run over the one man in the world that made her feel alive.

Chapter Five

At the ungodly hour of nine a.m., Morgan pounded on the door to Carlos’ apartment. When no answer came, he juggled the coffee and bag of doughnuts he brought as a bribe and leaned his elbow onto the doorbell.

And kept it there.

His gut clenched at the thought of Violet answering the door, but he had to know what happened between them last night.

Two minutes later, a very bleary-eyed Carlos clad only in a pair of black boxers answered the door with a snarl. “What!”

Bumping past Carlos, Morgan strolled into the apartment and dumped the insulated cups and doughnuts on the dark granite countertop of the island in the kitchen. Carlos followed not too far behind, lured by the scent of fresh coffee from the café downstairs. Handing him his cup, Morgan took a seat on the counter and ignored Carlos’ grumble.

“So, how was your date?” All night he had been distracted by thoughts of Carlos and Violet together. No matter what he tried to do to get his mind off them, he couldn’t help but imagine what they were doing while he was trying to finish up a project. His gut would clench when he thought of Carlos touching her, then his cock would get hard as he imagined her reaction. When he found himself painting Violet into a piece of commercial work he was doing for a car company, he gave up and went to bed where he proceeded to masturbate to fantasies about her more than once.

Despite his rampant curiosity, and a healthy dose of jealousy, he had managed to keep from banging on Carlos’ door at the crack of dawn.

Carlos closed his eyes and let out a long, slow breath. “She is…amazing.”

He waited for Carlos to continue, but his best friend chose to dig through the bag of doughnuts instead. “And?”

“A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.” Carlos tossed a blueberry doughnut at him and took a chocolate one for himself.

Morgan snorted and said from around a mouthful of doughnut, “Since when has anyone accused you of being a gentleman?”

Carlos narrowed his eyes and shook his chocolate-glazed doughnut at Morgan. “You just want to know so you can use the information on your date tonight.”

A weight lifted from his heart. “You think she still wants to see me?”

Carlos gave him a glare. “She didn’t cancel her date with you when she got home, did she?”

“Nope, and I checked my email right before I came to see your pretty face.”

Giving him a snarl, Carlos mumbled something that didn’t sound like a compliment from around a mouthful of doughnut. Good, maybe Carlos could get a taste of the jealousy that was eating him all last night. He immediately felt bad for wishing foul things on his best friend, but at the same time couldn’t argue with how much knowing she still wanted to see him filled him with pleasure. Despite Carlos’ way with women, and his ability as a Master, she still wanted to see what he had to offer and that meant he still had a chance.

The glare Carlos continued to give him did nothing to sink his mood. “Can’t you give me any hints? Anything she likes?”

Clearing his throat, Carlos moved behind the edge of the counter and adjusted himself. His voice was rough when he answered. “She likes to scream when she comes.”

“Asshole.” Morgan chucked the remainder of his doughnut at Carlos’ head. “Did you do any D/s with her?”

Carlos’ voice was still rough as he said, “She’s submissive to the bone and has a very kind heart, but no, we didn’t do much.”

Morgan put on a mock horrified expression. “Master Carlos went vanilla?”

“I didn’t say that.” He contemplated the last of his doughnut. “Once I got her into the right headspace she responded beautifully, as if she was born for it.”

Now it was Morgan’s turn to hop down from the counter as his pants tightened around his erection. A true submissive. Doms dreamed of finding a woman like her, and spent lifetimes searching. She was the ultimate prize. All that stood between her and him was his best friend.

Shaking away the pang of guilt mixing with his elation, he tried to keep his voice casual. “Did you show her your dungeon?” Each man had converted the fourth bedroom of their apartment into their own private playroom. Morgan had partied with Carlos and their subs more than once in his playroom and was intimately familiar with his toys. The thought of Violet spread open on the St. Andrew’s cross made his cock twitch.

Carlos took a drink of his coffee then gave him a smug grin. “No. I’m afraid we didn’t make it any farther than the hallway.”

Morgan’s grip on his coffee tightened until the cup made a warning squeak. “Tell me everything.”

“Nope. You’ll have to figure her out on your own.”

“Awww, come on, man! Just one hint!” Morgan tossed the half-empty cup into the garbage next to the stainless steel fridge. His nerves were so on edge that he was afraid he was going to spill it all over himself if he tried to drink it. He felt as if he were back in high school, getting ready to go on his first date. Well, maybe not exactly like that. He never wished for his first dates in high school to end up with a girl chained spread-eagle to the wall while he fucked her.

Carlos grunted and tapped his finger against his lip in a mock contemplative pose. “Well, I guess I could tell you one thing.”

Trying to appear casual and failing miserably, Morgan made an impatient gesture.

Carlos rolled his eyes. “She likes the finer things in life. Upper-class all the way.”

Morgan rubbed the scruff on his chin and quickly rearranged his plans. He was going to take her to a Red Wings game and then to a nice but casual Greek restaurant that he loved. If she had refined tastes like Carlos said, he’d better step his game up. God knows Carlos oozed class and Morgan was going to be damned if he didn’t show her just as good a time as Carlos did.

Mind focused on the future, Morgan pulled out his phone and began to scroll through the numbers. “Thanks, man,” Morgan said and headed for the door.

Carlos arched a brow and crossed his arms over his chest. “Where are you going?”

“Gotta go. Things to do, women to woo.”

As he closed the door he thought he heard Carlos laughing, but wasn’t sure.

* * * * *

Violet opened the door for her elderly client and smiled down at her as the white-haired woman handed her a five-dollar tip. “Thank you, Mrs. Slivok, I’ll see you next week!”

Already walking straighter, Mrs. Slivok nodded. “You’re a miracle worker. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“You’d be making Jason a very happy man.” Jason was the resident hunk of the spa that all the older women swooned over. He was happily married and Violet adored his sweet Filipino wife, but it didn’t stop anyone with estrogen in her body from melting beneath his smile.

Speaking of which, when Violet turned around she spotted Jason at the receptionist’s desk trying to avoid the bleach-blonde massage therapist plastered to his side. Calling her a therapist was kind. Bethany, the spa’s receptionist and Violet’s best friend, referred to her as Wendy the Cock Wrangler. Bethany insisted that most of Wendy’s male clients left after less than twenty minutes with her, sweaty and smiling. Violet didn’t know if she believed that, Bethany had a tendency to exaggerate, but she did know Wendy was a world-class bitch and saw Jason’s refusal to cheat on his wife with her as some kind of fucked-up challenge.

The shapely woman was brushing some imaginary lint off his broad shoulder as he tried to talk on the phone. Bethany was doing her best to run interference from her seat at the glass and chrome front desk. She tried to move the big black leather chair she was seated in between Jason and Wendy, but Wendy merely moved over to the other side and continued to paw at Jason.

Though Bethany was short, she reminded Violet of a tough little housecat who didn’t realize she wasn’t a panther. Bethany was Chaldean and her Middle Eastern heritage showed in her nutmeg-brown skin and impossibly thick curly black hair that fell in ringlets to her waist. It especially showed when she switched to Arabic to call Wendy several unflattering phrases that she had taught Violet. Bethany and Violet seemed like an odd combination of best friends on the surface, but they had immediately clicked when they met four years ago and Violet valued her friend’s honesty and had learned to deal with her lack of tact.

Spray-tanned and cosmetically enhanced, Wendy grated on every one of Violet’s nerves. It wasn’t just the fact that she constantly threw herself on Jason, it was also the way she treated the other female employees of the salon. It also didn’t help that Wendy bore a resemblance to the nurse that Dr. Kenny had dumped her for. They were cut from the same cheap and tacky cloth.

In Wendy’s world you were either someone that had to be sucked up to, competition that had to be eliminated, or so beneath her that you weren’t even worth noticing. Violet knew which category she fell into. It was apparent in the way that Wendy refused to move when Violet tried to get past her to fill out her client’s information in the computer. Clearing her throat, Violet said in a loud voice, “Excuse me.”

Wendy glanced over her shoulder with her overinflated upper lip lifted in a sneer. Instead of moving out of the space between the big receptionist area and the wall, she pressed herself against Jason. Bethany chose that moment to give another push with the back of her chair, which turned Wendy’s glare from Violet to her. “Your last appointment for the day canceled, Vi, and a package came while you were with Mrs. Slivok.”

Jason hung up the phone and Violet moved to the other side of Bethany and dug a bottle of water out of the small fridge beneath the desk. She didn’t hear what he said, but Wendy’s fake laughter grated in her ear. She stood back up and found Jason safely on the other side of the desk, close enough to the men’s room so he could make a break for it if Wendy came after him.

“Talked to Mr. Volun yet, Jason?” Mr. Volun was the owner of the spa and Violet had been nagging Jason to talk to him about Wendy’s behavior. So far Jason had refused, claiming that they would never believe him because he was a guy and Wendy made the spa a lot of money, especially with her male clientele.

Violet was to the point where she was going to complain if he didn’t. It wasn’t right and she was never the kind of person that could stand idly by when someone else was being hurt.

Without looking up from his mail he muttered, “No.”

His one-word answer was abrupt, bordering on rude, and she blinked at him in confusion before Bethany said in a chipper voice, “Here’s your package, and it came with a note.”

Before she could say anything, an elegant box wrapped in royal-blue paper with a gold bow on top was thrust into her hands. Bethany handed her a cream-colored envelope with her name done in elegant cursive on the front.

Shaking the box gently, she asked, “Who brought it?”

“Some older guy in a really nice suit with a ruby pinky ring too big not to be real.” Bethany twirled her chair around to face her as Wendy tried to pretend not to be interested.

“Huh.” Placing the box on the counter, she opened the envelope and pulled out a thick sheet of cream paper.

My Blushing Violet,

Thank you for one of the best nights of my life. When I told you that you had beautiful eyes, you seemed to doubt me. I hope you’ll wear my gift and remember that I never lie.

Carlos

A giddy happiness filled her and she giggled as she reread the letter again.

He thought her eyes were beautiful.

“Well?” Bethany tried to snatch the letter from her but Violet held it to her chest. “What is it?”

“Remember the date that I went on last night? It’s from him.” While she hadn’t filled Bethany in on all the details, she had enjoyed being able to share her excitement with her.

“Ohhhh.” Bethany’s dark eyes glittered with excitement. “The Sith Lord?”

Wendy made a snort of disgust but Jason finally looked up from his mail with a small smile. “Sith Lord?” he asked and arched his eyebrows.

Ignoring all of them, she carefully slid the bow off the box and opened the lid. It revealed a large black velvet case with an elaborate H embroidered on the front in gold thread.

“Holy shit,” Bethany whispered. “Is that from Hendricks?”

Wendy peered over her shoulder and said in a dismissive tone, “It’s probably just a knockoff. No guy buys you a present from Hendricks and doesn’t give it to you himself.”

Violet swallowed and toyed with the small gold catch on the box. “Maybe he just liked the box and reused it.”

“For the love of God, open it already,” Bethany said as she hit a button on the phone and sent an incoming call to voice mail.

She lifted the lid and gasped. Inside, nestled against white silk, lay a necklace and pair of earrings made of green jade interspaced with creamy pearls. The apple-green stone glowed in the overhead lights and Bethany stood from her chair to look. “Wow.”

Unable to form a coherent sentence, Violet stroked her fingers over the beautiful jewelry. She had never owned anything nearly as gorgeous as this. The centerpiece of the necklace was a single creamy pearl as big as her thumbnail.

Glancing up at Bethany, she caught Wendy’s stunned expression before she narrowed her lips into a thin line and stomped down the hall. Jason leaned on the counter and let out a low whistle. “That’s beautiful. This guy must really like you.”