Devoted: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella (10 page)

She laughed. “No. Don’t be silly. I was going to rent a car.”

“I would prefer to drive you.”

“Okay.”

He was either falling deeper into her web or she was getting closer to him. It didn’t matter tonight. Tonight, all that mattered was she was here.

“So, how are you really feeling? Will told me I should give you something if your muscles start to ache.” It was the only damn reason he hadn’t attacked her in the shower. Sometimes it took a few hours for the pain to set in. He didn’t want to give her more. He could wait.

Her hand went to his thigh as she moved slightly away from him so she could look at his face. “I feel great. I feel better than great. I am tired though. Long day. Maybe we should turn in.” She frowned. “I don’t have a toothbrush.”

Oh, she of little faith. “I had one delivered along with the prescriptions Will called in for you if you need them. One’s for pain and the other is an anti-inflammatory.”

“I don’t need them.” She sat back and it was the first time since the shower that she hadn’t been touching him. “Where do you want me to sleep?”

“You can take my bedroom.” He probably wouldn’t sleep at all. He would sit out here and work. It was what he usually did at night. He would sit in his perch high above the city and work until it was almost dawn. “The bed is very comfortable.”

“But you won’t be in it.”

This was the moment he’d been waiting for, kind of dreading and desperately anticipating all at the same time. “Not if I think I could hurt you.”

She huffed a little and stood up. “I’ll be back.”

He reached out and gripped her wrist. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To find a doctor who will write me a note so you’ll have sex with me.”

He couldn’t help but smile at that. She was pouting like a kid who’d lost her favorite toy. This was why he’d pushed her to cry in the shower. He needed this Amy back. His Amy. He’d hated how polite and courteous she’d been when they’d been in public. Oh, she’d allowed him to handle some things, but her smile hadn’t reached her eyes and not a single sarcastic remark had passed those luscious lips of hers. It was wrong and counter to everything he’d come to know about her.

This Amy boldly told him what she wanted and was willing to do whatever it took to get it.

This Amy wanted him.

“I think I can handle this without a note.” He needed to make her understand. “I wasn’t turning you down, pet. I was attempting to be a good Dom. If you’re telling me you need comfort and affection more than you need rest, I will reevaluate my stance on our sleeping arrangements.”

She stopped for a moment. “I feel fine. The ER trip was overkill. I’m going to feel so much worse if you don’t want me.”

One of the things he’d come to adore about her was the fact that she’d been crazy honest with him when it came to sex and what she wanted out of D/s.

At least it felt like honesty. Her desire and arousal and completion had felt so real to him. More real than anything he’d had in forever. He didn’t want to think about the rest of it. He wanted to sink into her.

Wasn’t all of this a fantasy anyway? Playing took them out of their real lives and into something else.

“I want you so badly I can barely breathe.”

She frowned. “Then why won’t you touch me?”

“I’ve touched you.” He could still remember how soft she’d been against his fingers.

“Not the way I want.”

“I told you, I was trying to be a good Dom. I want to be that for you.” He meant it. He took the class seriously, the lifestyle seriously. He wanted to be a good Dom and that meant putting her needs first.

All of them. Except his real name and real employer. He’d been honest about his occupation. He truly was a software developer.

Guilt swamped him but he told himself he would tell her the truth once he’d settled on a plan. It was too early to give himself away.

She pulled his T-shirt over her head and he realized she hadn’t been wearing any underwear. Yeah, he might have neglected that but she hadn’t said a thing. She’d been sitting there for an hour with nothing but his old T-shirt covering that gorgeous body of hers. “I want to be a good sub. I want to please my Dom in more ways than simply obeying him. Flynn, I loved what happened between us in the shower. I can’t tell you how much, but there was something missing because you didn’t let me give back to you.”

His whole body tightened and he reached over for the remote. On the big screen, Dart was saving his city, but there were more important matters to attend to and he didn’t want her thinking about anyone but him. He flicked the TV off and then reached for the lamp.

He hadn’t closed the shades so the lights of the city filtered in through the room.

She smiled and he could see the way her nipples had tightened. “Wow. That is quite a view. It’s like we’re out in the open.”

“But we’re not. The windows are coated. It would be hard to see inside even if a helicopter flew by.” He liked the idea of taking her this way, with the night and the city all around them. He kind of liked the idea that someone out there could be watching them, seeing her and knowing she only belonged to him. “Have I told you how fucking gorgeous you are? Don’t move. Just stand there for a moment. I didn’t get the chance to properly look at you earlier.”

He liked her like this, with her hair all wavy and a little out of control.

She smiled, but even in the low light he could see the way she blushed. “I need a flat iron. You had everything else I would use on my hair except that.”

“You don’t need it. You look stunning without it. You’re always so carefully made up. Don’t get me wrong. You’re beautiful like that too, pet. But seeing you without makeup or your hair done is a revelation. Turn around for me.” He sat back, enjoying the way the moonlight made her skin glow.

Her back was as lovely as her front, her hair touching her shoulder blades. “My hair isn’t usually this long. I think it’s a minor rebellion on my part. My parents firmly believed that I should always present myself as professionally as possible, and part of that was keeping my hair neat and fairly short. They also insisted on me playing field hockey at prep school because they thought it would keep me out of trouble and away from boys.”

He had to grin at the thought. “Please tell me that led to some exotic experimentation.”

Her head turned and he could see the glint of humor in her eyes. “There’s nothing quite like a girls’ field hockey team on the road with a hidden stash of vodka. I learned how to kiss on that trip.”

Fuck, he loved how open she was. She wasn’t telling him because she was trying to seduce him. She was telling him because she talked too much, as though everything spilled out of her because she’d waited too long to tell someone.

“My swim team did not have the same fun,” he admitted. “But I’ll have to thank whoever taught you how to kiss because she did a phenomenal job.”

Even in the moonlight he could see the way she blushed. “God, I can’t believe I told you that. I’m such a moron. It’s not like we had a relationship or anything. We played around, I guess. We were all lonely girls.”

He was going to put a stop to that. He stood and moved in, letting his hands find her shoulders, his lips the nape of her neck. Such soft skin. Warm and inviting. “Hush. I want to hear all your stories. Especially the ones that involve sexual experimentation. I wouldn’t care if you’d had a girlfriend before. I won’t care how many men you’ve been with or what kind of crazy shit you did in your youth. I only care that you’re here with me now. I care that whatever experiences you had before made you the lovely woman you are today. So I’ll thank the girl who taught you to kiss and whatever lovers taught you to ask for the things you want. Do you have any idea how sexy that is to me?”

“I like being able to speak my mind. It’s hard where I work. A woman in my position is supposed to always be in control. I can’t show anger or sorrow or anxiety. I definitely can’t say what I want to say.”

He slid his hands down her arms. “You can with me. There’s nothing you can’t tell me. I was an asshole that first night because I knew you were important. That’s not who I really am. I’m not saying I won’t be possessive, but I won’t judge you, Amy. I want to play and relax and get to know the real you.”

“Then let’s play because I need it. I think I need it more than I could have imagined.”

He felt the same way. Standing here in the quiet of the night with her naked and trusting made him feel ten feet tall. It made the rest of the world dissolve away. He didn’t have to worry about Chase or the business or even what would happen later. There was only the here and now, and that meant having her in every way.

“I want you to undress me.”

She turned and her hands immediately went to the bottom of his T-shirt. He’d put it on after the shower, along with boxers and a pair of sweats he’d hoped would hide the monster. They’d simply tented and showed off how aroused he was. That was all right now that they’d sorted through how the evening would go.

She dragged the shirt up and over his outstretched arms and then paused, staring at his chest.

Damn but that made him feel good. He didn’t care if she watched the guy on TV as long as she looked at him like that.

“Touch me.”

Her hand came up and she placed her palm on his chest and sighed, as though she reveled in the contact. One day he was going to have her hard and fast, but he gritted his teeth because today was not the one. Today she got to explore and he got to endure.

She ran her hands over his chest, her palms soft against his skin. Everywhere she touched him, his skin seemed to come to life. She took her time, very likely enjoying some revenge on him for everything he’d done in the shower with her. After he’d spanked her and made her come, he’d taken forever washing her hair and soaping her body.

He’d never spent so much time on a woman before. Sex had been good, but that single shower with Amy had been the most intimate experience of his life.

He wanted to continue it.

“Why haven’t you been married, Flynn?” She asked the question as she walked around him, placing those sweet hands of hers on his back. “Or have you and you didn’t mention it?”

Her hand ran down his spine and it took everything he had not to shiver. They were like butterflies running over his flesh. “I was engaged. It didn’t work out.”

“Oh. Can I kiss you? Your skin, I mean.”

“Amy, touch me with anything you like, pet. It’s very unlikely that I’ll ever tell you not to touch me. It would be very specific play and it would be about discipline, not because I don’t want you.”

He could feel her smile against his skin before she kissed his spine. “Not one of those cold, controlling Doms, are you?”

“Well, you’re not exactly the type of sub who would respond to rigidity. I think they matched us quite well.” If he put aside the fact that she owned a rival corporation, he would say they were perfectly matched. She needed attention and affection, and a routine that involved both. She needed someone who would take care of her when she wasn’t having to take care of everything else.

He needed to be needed. He needed a woman who wanted him for something more than money and power, who put up with his quirks and shook him out of his single-minded focus on work.

Like she was doing now. He didn’t want to think about anything but how good her lips felt on his back.

“I still talk to my ex. He’s my friend. I hope that won’t be a problem.”

Her male model ex? “How close are you?”

“As close as a girl and her gay best friend can possibly be.” She moved around again, looking up at him. “You did that very well, Sir. Not even a hint of violence.”

It was so nice to be able to punish her when she was bratty. Even as he smiled, he reached out and tweaked her nipple with a nasty twist. He was perfectly satisfied when her eyes flared and her breath hitched. “Watch it, pet. I’m enjoying this play. I don’t want to have to stop it for another spanking. And yes, I’m much happier knowing he’s gay.”

She gave him a brilliant smile. “I would like you to meet him. He’s coming back in town in a few weeks. Maybe we can have dinner.”

It was nice that she was thinking of their future. “Of course. Now take these off me. They’ve gotten far too tight.”

Her eyes came up, wide and innocent even as she slipped her fingers under the waistband of his sweats. “So I shouldn’t expect to have dinner with your ex?”

So she wanted to play it that way? “No. I haven’t seen her in years and that’s a good thing. Are you going to explore or should I kiss you and take you to the bedroom?”

He didn’t want to talk about Jenna with her. It would lead to a discussion of his father and money and where he’d gotten his, and he didn’t want that tonight. He wanted to forget about everything that might come between them and concentrate on what brought them together.

“I think I’ll explore.” She dropped to her knees, dragging the sweats down with her. She left him in nothing but his boxers. Her head came up, eyes finding his. “Have I told you how beautiful you are, Sir?”

No woman had ever told him that before. He’d been told he was hot. Sexy. Never beautiful. It was funny what a simple word could do to him. He put a hand on her hair. “No and thank you, pet. I very much appreciate the way you look at me.”

An impish grin lit her face. “I’ve found the most beautiful men are also the most in need of affirmation.” She pulled down his boxers and his cock sprang free. “Let me affirm that this is a gorgeous piece of male equipment.”

It was definitely the neediest part of him. “Touch it.”

“With pleasure, Sir. I do believe you said I could touch you anywhere I liked and with anything I liked.” She leaned forward and suddenly her lips were on his cockhead. “I think I’ll explore like this.”

He damn near came when she ran her tongue over the head of his dick. Heat flashed through him like a lightning storm. His hands curled into fists because he wanted more than anything to reach for her hair and force her to take him deep.

Instead he watched her. She moved her hair to the side and he could see the way she rolled her tongue over him. She licked the stalk of his cock, from the head to right where the base met his balls. They felt heavy and drawn up, waiting to shoot off.