Dangerously Broken (26 page)

“You’re showing it to me now. You’ve shown some of it to me every time we’ve played together. The people who think there’s some intrinsic weakness in being submissive have no concept of the strength it takes. And you have it, Summer Grace—you do. You’ve always had it. You had the strength to hide your pain. It doesn’t matter that eventually it kind of exploded. You were strong enough to keep a lid on it all that time.”

She cracked a smile. “How do you manage to make me sound so grand when I’m sitting here in tear-soaked pajamas that don’t even belong to me because a bad-tempered old cat died?”

He smiled at her, smiled at the light reappearing in her blue eyes. “I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

“Well I’ve got news for you, Jamie Stewart-Greer—there’s not going to be any ‘having’ me until I’ve had a good long shower and maybe some food.”

“Deal. But brace yourself, because I’m about to kiss the pants off you, sugar.”

He threw back the covers and pulled her into his lap, his arms tight around her slender body, his mouth coming down hard on hers.

Her lips were so damn soft. She opened to him right away, the resistance gone out of her. Her hands went to his shoulders, then his cheeks, behind his neck. She held on to him so tight—tight enough that he knew she was going to be all right—that they would be all right. And all was right with his world.

S
UMMER
TENSED
AS
they walked into her house, but Jamie had asked Duff to take Madame to a local veterinary office to have them dispose of her body, and to air out the house. She inhaled carefully, but she smelled nothing but the sultry New Orleans air and maybe some of the rosemary and hibiscus growing in her garden.

As Jamie closed the front door, she turned to him. “Jamie? Is it bad that I didn’t say good-bye to Madame? I didn’t want to come home to that—I couldn’t—but I feel bad.”

“You’re more into this spiritual stuff than I am, but don’t you think she knows you loved her? And isn’t that the only important thing—the love?”

“You’re right.” She smiled up at him as she snuggled into his arms. “I love you, Jamie.”

“I love you, baby. Love you, love you, love you,” he whispered into her hair. “And I’ll love you forever. I will. Don’t you dare doubt it.”

Her smile spread until she felt her cheek crease against his muscled chest. “Yes, sir.”

“Sassy girl.”

“But you wouldn’t have me any other way.”

“It’s true. I only want
you
, Summer Grace, exactly as you are.”

“Jamie?”

“Hmm?”

“Can it be time for that ‘having’ me you were talking about earlier?”

“I think it was you who was talking about it, my insatiable girl,” he said, but he was sliding his hand into her hair and up the back of her scalp, pulling tightly.

She sighed. “Mmm, when you pull my hair like that, I am.”

He picked her up and she laced her legs around his waist, and he kissed her as he carried her into the bedroom. Setting her down on the bed, he knelt to pull off her sandals, then her yoga pants.

“As much as I love the pretty lingerie you get from work, I think I prefer it when you go without.”

“It’s only because I didn’t have any clean stuff with me at Dennie’s.”

“Either way, it’s working for me.” He took her hand and pressed it against his erection under the denim of his jeans.

“Oh, so it is,” she agreed, her body melting.

Cupping his hard length in her palm, she remembered what it felt like to have him inside her. Her sex squeezed, ached for him.

He moaned softly, covered her hand with his and pressed down
hard
.

“Sugar, if you keep this up—not that I’m complaining—this is gonna be over before it starts.”

She bit her lip. “What if I want to put it in my mouth?”

He groaned. “Christ, you kill me.”

She looked up at him. “I haven’t even tried yet,” she said.

“Oh, you are a sassy girl. Come here and let me teach you a lesson.”

He grabbed her, and before she knew what was happening, he had her over his knee, her bare bottom in the air. He gave her a good smack, making her yelp.

“Oh, come on, sugar—that was nothing.”

“I’m a delicate flower tonight, Jamie.”

“Ah, baby.” He turned her over and lifted her into his lap. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“Jamie, it’s okay. I was joking.” She reached up and stroked his strong cheek, let her fingertips trace the metal bar through his eyebrow. “Thank you for being so sweet to me. And I love you. And I’m also needing you. Please?”

She boldly took his hand and placed it between her thighs, holding it there until he began to explore, his fingers slipping into her wet heat.

“Nice.” He smiled, kissed her lips, pulled back to whisper, “Very nice,” as he rubbed her juices over her clitoris, then began to slide his fingers back and forth over the sensitive nub. “Come on, my sugar girl. Tonight I’m going to be a service Top. I’m gonna make you come, over and over. That’s what I want more than anything—to make you feel good.”

“Jamie . . .”

“Shh. This is what will please me most. This is what I
need
. Say yes.”

What else could she do? “Yes,” she answered, a small smile on her face, her cheeks going warm. Her body going warm.

He pulled her tank top over her head and she was glad she’d tucked her bra into her purse rather than putting it on after her shower. It felt so good to be naked with him, with the man she loved, in the soft, sultry New Orleans air. He laid her back on the bed, then undressed slowly, his gaze on her face as he undid his belt, then his jeans, opening the fly just enough that she got a hint of his beautiful skin, his beautiful cock, underneath. He kicked off his big black boots, then pulled his T-shirt over his head. And in some way it was as if she’d never seen his bare torso before—he was so perfectly made she gasped, her sex clenching as she looked from his gorgeously pierced nipples to the tattooed script running up his right side. She wanted to run her tongue over the tattoo, to find the small areas where the skin was still raised with ink. She wanted to take his nipple rings into her mouth, to work them until his nipples were as hard as his cock. She wanted to trace every sleek rise and angle of his tight abs with her tongue. But for now she would focus on what he wanted to do to her. Gladly. Deliriously.

He slid the jeans down over his leanly-muscled thighs, exposing all of his golden skin, and she had to grab handfuls of the bedding beneath her to keep from reaching out to touch him. She’d never seen a more beautiful example of the male form in her life—he was pure art. Pure sex. Pure love.

Hers.

“Jamie?”

“What is it, love?” he asked as he knelt at the foot of the bed.

“I’m yours.”

“Oh, yes, you are. All mine.”

“And you are mine.”

He smoothed his hands over her calves. “Sweetheart, I am as much yours as you are mine. I have been from the start. You have my heart, which means you have all of me.” He bent and laid a sweet kiss on her ankle. “Don’t you know that, Summer Grace?”

“Yes. Just checking. No, not checking. I just wanted to hear you say it.”

“In that case you can ask anytime.”

“You’re pretty wonderful, you know that?”

His features sobered. “I didn’t, until you.”

Her smile faded for a moment. “Neither did I.”

“We need each other.”

“Yeah. We do.”

Her smile came back as he lowered his head, stretching up to kiss her lips before sliding down and down, until his lovely, sweet mouth was between her thighs. He kissed her there, too, then started in with his tongue, hitting all the right spots, taking her higher and higher. When her body tensed with her oncoming climax she expected him to halt her, to make her wait. But he only dove deeper, his fingers thrusting inside her, his hot, wet mouth sucking her flesh until she came, crying his name. But he didn’t stop, and soon pleasure crested again, and she was coming and coming. She had no idea whether it was a new climax or more of the first—there hadn’t been any time for her to separate them. Didn’t matter. It was
her
Jamie, bringing her pleasure, making her fly. Flying for the first time with nothing but pleasure and love, no pain. She didn’t need it right now. All she needed was
him
.

He took one moment to glance up at her, a sensual smile on his damp lips, then he was on her again, making her squirm. And this time it did hurt a little, she was so sensitive. But in moments she was coming again, and this time she screamed his name, her throat raw.

When she was certain she couldn’t take any more, he rose above her, guiding her to wrap her legs around him. Poised at the entrance to her body, he gazed down at her.

“Do you know what it does to me to bring you pleasure? How it fills me up? And fuck, Summer Grace . . .” He swallowed, and the expression on his face made her heart swell. “I want to do everything for you. And to you. And for us. I want to be inside you so badly it hurts. But I had to tell you how much I love you. How much I love your beautiful body. Your strength. Even the parts of you that are almost as fucked up as I am. Seriously. Maybe we’re broken together, but we can also heal together. I think this is the only way I can.”

She reached up and touched his cheek, letting her palm linger there. “I think this is the only way I can, too. You are the only man I have ever truly loved, Jamie, the only man I ever could love.”

“It’s you and me, sugar. This is what was meant to be.”

“You and me,” she agreed as he slid into her.

What she felt was more than desire, more than sensation, more than pleasure. It was all of those fused with love. Powerful. Intoxicating. And something she welcomed being lost in, drowning in—because it meant drowning in
him
.

“Love you, Jamie.”

“Love you, Summer Grace. My beautiful girl. My only girl.”

Soon she felt him pulse deep inside her, and her body answered. Together they fell over that keen edge, tangled, entwined, where flesh met flesh and heart met heart. And it was exactly right, exactly as it was meant to be. And she knew their whispered words to each other were true. Together they would heal.

*   *   *

I
T WAS THE
Saturday night after Labor Day and the weather was warm, the air heavy with the damp of the end of the summer season as Jamie drove through the city in the vintage T-bird he’d just bought. With the top down the air blew through Summer’s hair, but she didn’t care if it was a tangled mess. She laid her head against the headrest, looking up at the stars whooshing by above, her hand wrapped in Jamie’s. There was everything in the world to be happy about, it seemed.

“Jamie?”

“What is it, sugar?”

“I’m kind of surprised you managed to get away, with the motorcycle branch of SGR Motors opening Monday. You and Duff have been working so hard, I’ve barely had a chance to see you. Not that I’m complaining. I’m so proud of you guys.”

“There’s always time for a midnight picnic. Anyway, it’s a way to celebrate, just the two of us.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see,” he said, letting go of her hand to downshift, then turning onto Iberville Street.

“This is the way to the St. Louis Cemetery.”

“Can you think of a more appropriate place for us to have a picnic at midnight?”

She laughed, leaning her head back once more, closing her eyes and letting the breeze wash over her. She was dizzy with the night and the wind and love for this man beside her.

She opened her eyes when she heard the engine slow to a purr, and Jamie was parking. He shut the engine off and came around to help her out of the car, then reached behind the seat for a small picnic basket.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Not really.”

“Good. Because there’s not much aside from champagne in here.”

She shook her head, laughing. “You’re in a mood tonight.”

He leaned down for a quick kiss before they crossed the dark street. “I’m in a
great
mood.”

When they reached the back wall of the old cemetery, he gave her a boost up. She straddled the wall while he handed her the picnic basket, then held on to it while he climbed up and over. He took the basket first, then helped her down. They walked hand in hand down the rows, moving slowly, not talking, simply being together in the lovely old place that felt sacred to them both for so many reasons.

The moon was nearly full, shining like a metallic disc in the sky overhead, casting silvery light into the shadows of the aboveground tombs.

“Someone’s been here,” Summer said. “There are fresh flowers on every tomb. Weird.” She stopped in front of one of her favorites, an enormous marble mausoleum with a flat sheet of white marble to one side. Someone had already laid a blanket atop it, along with a bottle of champagne in a bucket, two crystal glasses sparkling in the moonlight, and flowers were scattered over the blanket.

She turned to Jamie. “You did all this? When did you have time?”

Jamie set the basket on the ground and pulled her into his arms. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

“Jamie.” She smiled up at him, then looked around her again, taking it in. “These are peonies and white roses—my favorite flowers. I can’t believe you went to so much trouble.”

“I’d do anything for you, sweetheart. Don’t you know that by now?”

“I do. I mean, I guess I do. But this . . .”

He stroked her hair, tucking it behind her ear. His face was soft, sober suddenly. “I mean it. I’d do anything for you.
Anything
. I want you to give me that chance.”

“What do you mean, Jamie? I’m not going anywhere.”

“Neither am I. And to show you I mean it . . .”

When he dropped to one knee, her breath stuttered.

“Ohhh.”

He held her hand, looking up at her, his eyes shining with the light of the moon and the stars. “I love you. I love you in a way I never knew I could. You are and always have been the only one for me, and I want to spend the rest of my life making you believe that, over and over, every single day.”

“Jamie.” She could barely breathe, emotion welling in her chest.

“Summer Grace. My sweetheart, my one and only girl. I want to fall asleep every night of my life seeing your lovely face before I close my eyes. And I want to wake up with you every morning. I want to be with the one woman who truly understands me. Who knows how broken I’ve been, and who’s the only one I can mend my broken self with. I want my future to be with you, no matter what else it brings. I know we can get through it together.

“Summer Grace Rae, will you do me the very great honor of becoming my wife? Will you wear my ring, and wear my collar? Will you be mine in every way possible? And will you take me as yours? Will you marry me?”

Tears filled her eyes, fell onto her cheeks. “Oh, Jamie!”

One corner of his mouth quirked. “Baby, don’t start crying before you give me your answer.”

She brought his hand to her lips, opened it and kissed his palm. “Yes, Jamie. Yes, of course. Always and forever. I’ll never belong to anyone but you.”

He pulled a ring from his pocket, a gleaming princess-cut diamond in a vintage setting that felt enormous on her small hand as he slipped it onto her finger.

“Oh my God. It’s so beautiful.”

He stood and she went into his arms. He kissed her hair, her cheeks, her temples, and finally, her mouth. He tasted like Jamie, her Jamie. Her love.
Hers
. Forever. When they pulled apart, she was half laughing, half crying.