Gentle Control (12 page)

“Oh God,” she moaned, unable to tilt into it. She was helpless to do anything but experience this.

“Oh yeah, angel,” he answered. Pulling the rock free, he dipped it in the water. A moment later, he was back, working it into the crease in her ass. She trembled as the frigid surface pressed to her anus. He didn’t try to gain entrance. In fact, he turned the stone so it lay lengthwise in her crease. Parting her. Tormenting her with the cold. She squirmed against it. Turned on. Tortured. Against any notion she might have had about the cold, her body flooded heat between her thighs. She was so wet. It could have been the water or her juices. It didn’t matter. The erotic feel punctuated her desire. She needed Josh inside her. Now.

He drove his fingers in and out of her sheath, massaging the swollen tissues.

Bumping her clit. Rubbing her g-spot. He knew she needed him—there was no disguising it in the silky slide she provided him. She jerked, screaming as her body 86

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contracted and flung her into an almost painful orgasm. The violence shook her as her muscles clenched. It drew her body taut, squeezing the stone, squeezing his fingers which continued to work nonstop, driving her higher and prolonging the spasms.

Finally, she collapsed on the slab. The leather slipped free of her grasp. Josh unlooped it and freed her feet. Gently, he lifted her into his arms and carried her into the river. Water sluiced over her body. It invigorated her from her lethargy and turned her nipples to rigid points.

He turned her to straddle him. His cock poised at the entrance to her pussy and she realized he had pulled on a condom while he tortured her. “Say it,” he murmured against her lips.

“Master,” she groaned as he slowly prodded inside her. So big, so wide, so hot. He outrivaled the rock by three thousand percent.

“Tell me how you feel.”

“Perfect. Wonderful.” She kissed his neck, sucking at the pulse throbbing there. “I love you—”

“Yes. That,” he exclaimed, driving to the hilt. “Oh, angel, take me… You have all of me.”

Their cries echoed around them as he took her to the sky again. She would have stayed there forever if she could have. But the sadness looming ahead of her was insidious. As she pressed her face to his neck, safe in his embrace, misery stabbed through her.

He stroked her arm and whispered in her ear, the words now familiar.

She’d never experience this again. Desperately, she kissed him. Silently, she told him she loved him. Would always love him. She would miss him and this was goodbye.

* * * * *

Tempest glanced around the restaurant attached to the bakery, surprised at how busy it was. Apparently, farmers came from miles around to drink coffee, chat about 87

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crops and unless she’d misheard, black bears. That didn’t instill any confidence in her, considering the time they’d spent in the woods.

Unaware of Tempest’s furtive examination of the place, Josh studied the menu. A waitress came around and filled their coffee cups. Despite her earlier declaration of need, Tempest hadn’t touched hers other than to add creamer.

Idly, she fingered the new decoration around her neck.

This was it. This was where she’d step into Josh’s past, leaving him alone to find a woman who’d fit into his future. She swallowed back her jealousy. This was the way it would be. The irony of the moment didn’t escape her. She had returned to him during breakfast in a restaurant and now she would leave him in almost the same way.

“I’m going to go to the restroom,” she murmured. “I need to, um, clean up.”

He grinned, a naughty dimple in his right cheek touching her heart. “Hurry back or I’ll order you the baked goods breakfast. Doughnuts and muffins and pie.” He took a deep breath as she stood. “Doesn’t it smell good?”

“Delicious.” Without a care for their fellow diners, she bent over him and kissed him. His eyes grew dark.

“Hurry back.”

Chains seemed to weigh her down as she headed for the front of the restaurant. She could stop now. She could stay. She took a deep breath. No, she had to get her freedom from her father before she could step forward.

She headed toward the bakery counter, which was out of sight from the restaurant’s eating area, to ask the hostess where she could hire a car.

“Tempest?”

Her head jerked up. Maggie stood at the counter, a white bag in one hand and a Styrofoam to-go cup in the other. “Why so gloomy?” the woman asked.

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“I have to leave,” Tempest admitted. “My dad called and needs me at home. His health isn’t good. Josh has to wait for his truck to be fixed so I was just coming to ask where I can hire a car to take me to the airport.”

Maggie snorted. “Nowhere around this place.”

“Oh…” Well that clinched it. A burst of happiness went through her as she realized she’d have to turn around and return to the table.

“I could take you.”

Her stomach fell.

“The Chippewa Airport is about an hour or hour and fifteen minutes from here.

There are only a few flights every day. If we hurry, we might be able to get you there in time for the next one.”

“Are you sure you have the time?”

Maggie shrugged. “It’s my day off. It’ll give me a reason to escape my husband for a few hours.”

Tempest nodded wanting to tell the woman how lucky she was to have a guy who loved her and wanted to be with her. How lucky she was that she
could
be with him.

She pulled the note to Josh from her purse. Then tried to remove the collar. Try as she might, it wouldn’t release. She sighed. She’d mail it to him after she figured out the puzzle release.

Catching the hostess, she gave her the note and asked her to deliver it to him.

Tempest brushed away a tear. Had to be like this. Josh wouldn’t listen. He wouldn’t let her go without a fight—a fight she knew he’d win, too. This wasn’t something she wanted to do. It was something she had to do. For her freedom.

She’d call her father. He’d have a ticket waiting. A bitter taste filled her mouth. She hated depending on him. She hated letting him have even this much control over her life. If she knew him—and she knew his MO way too well—he’d try to make the airline ticket an opening for suppressing her independence.

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Last time, Tempest,
she promised. If her father wanted her home, he could pay for it.

Funny, she’d never felt that way about Josh. He dominated. He didn’t oppress. He didn’t bully her. He didn’t steal her independence. In fact he seemed to like it.

She almost turned around and went back in the restaurant. The man she wanted to be with for the rest of her life was sitting in there.

“Let’s go,” she told Maggie. She had to deal with her father or she wouldn’t have a whole rest of her life. It would be a rest of “their” life and unfortunately, the other half of her “their” wouldn’t be Josh—it would be her father.

* * * * *

Josh stared at the note in his hand, sure he was reading the words incorrectly. The paper trembled as realization riffled through him. She’d left him again. Ten minutes ago, if what the hostess said was correct.

No. Denial filled him, along with image after image of the last few days. They’d been so happy together. Tempest couldn’t have done this.

He stood and tossed a few bills on the table to cover their coffee.

As he rushed toward the front of the restaurant, determination filled him. He’d stop her. They’d talk about this.
You didn’t listen last night.

She’d said she loved him, for God’s sake. That had to mean something.

There was no sign of Tempest as he reached the glass doors leading to the street.

She’d left him again. Just like before. He took a deep breath. This time would be different. He’d been heartbroken before. He’d suffered.

That wasn’t happening. He wouldn’t suffer like he did before. Not this time.

* * * * *

Tempest stood at the far side of the ballroom, trying to keep a pleasant expression on her face when all she really wanted was to find a dark corner and cry. With her luck, 90

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she’d find the dark corner occupied by an amorous couple. Wouldn’t
that
make her feel better.

“You should dance. Mingle a little.”

“Hi, Dad,” she replied without looking his direction. She really didn’t want to see his debonair tuxedo and tanned good looks. Make that his tanned, picture-of-perfect-health, good looks, she corrected.

The bastard had lied to her.

“Still angry with me?” he asked.

She glared at him. “What do you think?” Turning on her heel, she marched from the ballroom. She’d stop at a party store for booze and a bakery for the most fat-laden, sugar-coated doughnuts she could find. Perhaps a dozen.

“Tempest, stop. This minute.”

She spun on him in the quiet foyer outside. “No more, Dad. Not anymore. You lied to me again to manipulate me into doing what you want. I told you how I felt, last night and again this morning. I’m tired of you controlling my life. I’m tired of being told who I will see. Who I will
marry.
What I will look like.”

“You would look better if you’d lose weight. You wouldn’t have to settle for Phillip.

You’d be a knockout.”

She glared at him. The condemnation hurt just like it always had. Surprisingly, though, it made her more angry than anything else. The only thing she’d ever wanted from him was acceptance. She’d fought for it her whole life, never quite meeting his expectations no matter what she did.

She straightened her shoulders. Wonder filled her. She didn’t feel small and he couldn’t make her feel that way. She was a beautiful, desirable woman. She smiled, knowing he’d lost that power over her.
Thank you, Josh.

“I’m not settling for Phillip or anyone else. You’re not controlling my life anymore.”

“I suppose you want that boy.”

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“He’s a man. Not a boy. And yes, if he’d have me, I’d go with him in a second. I love him.” As much as it hurt to know Josh was lost to her, it was pretty damned spectacular to admit her feelings to someone else.

Her father’s lips pursed and he pushed a disgusted breath through his nose. “Fine.

I’m going back in there.” He glanced at his watch. “I need you for another hour, then you’re free to do whatever the hell you want to with your life.”

He took a few steps then spun on her. “What do you expect to do without my support? Without a job or prospects…and apparently without a family since you’re writing us off.”

Realization opened wide inside her. For the first time, she saw the emotionally needy man who’d used his control as a path to affection. “Dad, I’m not writing off my family.”

Misguided triumph flared in his eyes. He held out his hand. “Are you coming back inside with me?”

Ignoring his outstretched arm, she headed back into the ballroom. Oblivion at the feet of baked goods would still be there in an hour. So would this problem with her father. She fingered her collar, thinking of Josh. Somehow she would draw on the strength he’d shared with her.

* * * * *

Josh stepped from the shadows, watching his woman disappear into the party. Her father needed the crap kicked out of him. Josh’s fist clenched. How dare John insult her like he had?

Despite his irritation at having to chase after her, Josh was proud of her. Not many people would stand strong against their parent like she had. He couldn’t believe she meant to leave everything behind. It was more than he’d expected, but it worried him.

Would she want what he offered…a life bound with his? Bound to him. Bound
by
him.

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If he had his way, she’d be back in his arms and beneath him before the night was over. Especially since she loved him. His stomach knotted. He might not have his way.

She wanted independence. That wasn’t his plan. As his submissive, she’d be cherished as his ultimate treasure. All her needs would be met. But she’d also be his to command. He almost laughed when he thought of the sassy woman who’d shared most of last few days with him. She liked it when he dominated her and she would obey him, but he wasn’t fooled into thinking his feisty mate would be forced into something she didn’t want to do. She was too strong for that.

Straightening the jacket of his black tuxedo, he followed Tempest’s path into the ballroom. Unusual unease assaulted him. He wanted their paths to join.

What if she said no?

She wouldn’t. At least, he hoped not. When he’d gotten back yesterday, Keera had given him a crash course on the Strength card—more from her insistence than his desire. He doubted he’d ever be a tarot believer—it was all still hocus pocus to him—

but what she’d said made sense. He had inner strength and gentle control, which was signified by the upright card. Tempest’s father thrived on the shadow aspects of the card—manipulation and tyrannical behavior. Josh feared he might be assigning values based on what he wanted to see but Keera assured him that if he kept in mind that love would conquer antagonism he’d succeed.

Josh wasn’t so sure.

The room was crowded, filled to capacity with men dressed as he was and women wearing gowns in every color of the rainbow. Scanning the sea of bodies, he found John chatting with a group of men near the far wall. John’s eyes met his and Josh saw recognition and dread in them. It was the man’s furtive glance that directed the way to the one Josh sought.

Tempest stood, near the glass doors leading to a stone balcony that overlooked downtown Grand Rapids and its Grand River. Fairy lights reflected on the dark water below, giving it a magical twinkle.

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Josh was far more captivated by Tempest’s voluptuous curves and the way her fire-engine-red dress hugged her in all the right places. Her hair was lifted into an upswept twisty thing that exposed her slim neck and the collar he’d placed there. She fingered the links while she stared outside.