Lessons for Lexi (12 page)

He stared down at her, breathing still
ragged, wiped the dribble of cum off with his finger and held it to her lips.
She licked it clean before looking up at him expectantly.
 
“Go get cleaned up.” He slumped down onto the
bed,
his breathing incredibly ragged and heard her turn on
the water in the bathroom. After a few minutes, she came out, look shy and
hesitant.

“Did I do ok?”

He smiled at the question and pulled
her into his arms, dropping a kiss on her forehead. “You were perfect.”

She gave him a shy smile, managing to
look a little bit pleased with herself.

***

Lexi woke up the next morning feeling
incredibly sore and incredibly embarrassed. JT's arm was still draped over her
back and he was still dead asleep.

The night before had been strange. For
the past two weeks, she’d been feeling constant burning in her stomach. The
more she drank and partied, the worse it got. When JT had disciplined her, the
pain in her stomach had gone away.

“Or maybe it’s just nothing compared to
what my ass feels like,” she muttered to herself before sliding out of bed. But
the fact was
,
she’d actually enjoyed it, in some small
way.

Not the pain, but the domination.
The feeling that he cared enough to stop her from being self
destructive when she didn’t know how to stop herself.
It was a heady
feeling, and oddly arousing.

She’d been sopping wet when she’d blown
him. Her only regret was she hadn’t been able to relieve the pressure from her
arousal.

JT had fixed that for her after a few
minutes of tossing and turning, when he’d pulled her against his chest and
teased her with his fingers until she climaxed, before telling her to get to
sleep.

She’d slept like a baby.

At the same time she was relieved, she
was also filled with a new worry. She was too attached to him and she couldn’t
risk becoming dependant on him. Not after everything that could happen. She
absently touched the scars on her stomach.

She knew too well what could happen.

She sighed and went to take a shower.
Not that it mattered. In a few weeks, she would return home and he would forget
about his summer fling that enjoyed being dominated.

She decided to enjoy it until it was
time to run again.

***

The next few
months numbered among the happiest in Lexi’s life. She’d calmed down
significantly, no longer drank, and had taken on a more domestic role in the
household.

JT had moved
in immediately after her last punishment and was living in the master suite.
They were still keeping their relationship from Raj and Althea, with JT
informing her that it was a complicated situation and Lexi agreeing. After all,
he didn’t even know her real name.

She regularly
snuck into his room every night, to make love until they were both exhausted,
before slipping back into her room in the morning.

She’d also
managed to make it the whole time without being put over JT’s knee once. When
he’d moved in, she’d been given a very thorough list of rules which included a
complete ban on swearing, any drinking at all, and any reckless behavior. He
made her keep the list in her nightstand drawer, along with a scary looking
wooden paddle, as a reminder of the consequences she would face if she misbehaved.

So far, the
paddle hadn’t left the drawer and for that, she was grateful. She still winced
when she thought about the whipping she’d taken from JT’s belt, and she doubted
the paddle would be much of an improvement.

“Hey,” JT
slipped through her door with an unmistakable smile on his face. “Get naked. Radford
and Althea went to the store.” He immediately started to undo his belt.

Lexi rolled
her eyes. “You’re insatiable. We did it like four times last night.” She
started to undress anyway.

He stripped
out of his shirt and kicked off his pants in record time. “Hopefully, we can
get a couple times in now. Althea takes forever at the store.” He appraised her
naked body before he lunged for her.

Lexi let out a
yelp. “Easy, I’m still a little sore from last night.” She lay back on the bed
as JT mounted her and eased her legs open.

“Sorry
sweetheart.” He dropped his mouth to hers in a kiss that took her breath away.
“You want me to kiss it better?” He whispered in her ear. He didn’t waste time
waiting for her answer. Instead, he kissed his way down her neck, before moving
over her stomach and making her gasp as his mouth settled between her legs.

“JT!” his name
was half a squeak and half a sigh. She wriggled underneath him as he sped up
the pace of his tongue, making her desperate to get away and desperate to pull
him closer. Her hands fisted in his hair as his mouth moved against her and she
let out a helpless moan.

He raised his
head for a moment and fixed her with a stern stare. “Stop wriggling.” He
pressed his mouth against her again and Lexi had to clench her teeth and fist
her hands in order to obey him.

JT demanded
obedience everywhere, including in bed. He was an aggressive, dominating man
and Lexi couldn’t believe how much she enjoyed it. The only other man she’d
ever loved, Ronnie, had been his polar opposite.

Lexi’s eyes
popped open at her last thought. She loved him. It was a thought that would
have filled most women with joy. It just filled Lexi with frozen dread. Her
stomach started to burn and her impending orgasm flittered away.

“Something
wrong, sweetheart?”
JT was watching, having noticed the way she went still.

“I’m not
feeling very well.” She pushed herself to a sit and tried to ignore JT’s stare.
The stare of the man she loved. She pressed her hand to her mouth.

“Is it your
stomach?”

She nodded,
not trusting herself to speak, and raced to the bathroom, making it to the
toilet just in time to throw up. After a few minutes of dry heaving, her
stomach finally calmed down enough for her to move away from the toilet and
lean back on the bathroom cabinet.

JT was there,
handing her a glass of water, the concern still in his eyes. “I want to know
what’s going on with you.” His tone was uncompromising and Lexi nearly
flinched.

“I have an
ulcer.” It was a half truth.

JT crouched down
next to her. “Don’t
lie
to me, sweetheart.” His tone
was gentle but firm. “An ulcer doesn’t explain all those scars on your
stomach.” He reached out and ran a hand over the faded maze of scar tissue.

Lexi just shook
her head. She couldn’t tell him, not now, not when everything was going so well
between them.

“I hate to do
this sweetheart, but I’ll paddle it out of you if I have to.”

Lexi winced. A
few swats with the evil looking paddle in her nightstand drawer would have her
spilling everything in no time. Then JT would hate her…and probably spank her
backside right off for lying to him. “JT, please,” she gave him her most innocent
eyes and prayed he’d be willing to compromise, “we have the country club dance
tonight. I’ll tell you everything after that.” She pushed herself to a wobbly
stand. “I just can’t deal with it now.”

JT crossed his
arms and gave her a stern look. For a second, she was worried that he was going
to drag her off to paddle her right then and there. Instead, he sighed.
“Fine.
We’ll talk after the dance.” His face was determined.
“But no putting it off. I swear Lexi, if you even try to stall, I’ll spank you
so hard I’ll get your entire life story out of you, understand?”

Lexi nodded,
knowing that it was no idle threat, and hoped that she would find a way to tell
him the truth without making him throw her out on the street.

***

JT smiled as
he watched Alex get ready. She was adorable when she was primping and he loved
watching her play with her hair and put on her makeup.

He was still
worried about the vomiting, and had wondered if they should even go to the
Labor Day party that night, but Alex had assured him that she would be fine.

Tonight, she
would tell him how she got the scars, and regardless of how they happened, he
would find a way to comfort her. Then, he would tell her he loved her.

It was
something he’d realized in the second week of dating her. She was unlike anyone
he’d ever met before.
Passionate, but innocent.
Intelligent but slightly naïve.
Sweet, but
spicy all at the same time.

So far, he
hadn’t told Althea that he was seeing Alex. Althea was an old fashioned woman.
She hadn’t approved of him and Faith living together out of wedlock, and she
certainly wouldn’t approve of him shacking up with someone she liked, but still
considered the help.

Once Alex was
elevated from help to fiancé, he was sure Althea would be more forgiving.

Radford and
Althea were already at the party, as they were part of the committee and had to
be there for prep. He’d offered to drive Alex, not just because he loved the
alone time, but because he wanted her there as his date. If she was going to be
the next Mrs. Hussner, the sooner she started meeting his friends the better.

“I’m ready.”
Alex stood from her vanity chair and faced him, a vision in a short, form
fitting black lace dress. She looked more beautiful than he’d ever seen her and
her face was oddly familiar. He tried to put a name to which celebrity she
looked like, but couldn’t make one come to mind.

“You look
beautiful.” He got up from where he was lounging on the bed and straightened
his tux.

She gave him a
once over. “So do you.”

He smiled and
took her hand, leading her out to the passenger seat of his car. He waited
until they were about halfway to the party before he thought it was necessary to
remind her of the rules.

“You’re going
to behave yourself tonight right?”

Alex nodded.

“No swearing,
no reckless behavior…”

She let out a
sigh. “I know JT, I know.”

“No drinking,”
he continued firmly.

She pouted.
“Come on JT, it’s a party! Everyone will be drinking.”

“
Yes,
and most people know how to stop drinking. You don’t.”
He was not compromising on the drinking. Whether Alex wanted to admit it or
not, she had a problem. She’d been clean for the past two months and there was
no way he was letting her fall off the wagon.
“So no
drinking, period.”

She let out a
frustrated huff.
“Fine.”

“I’m serious
Alex, I even see you with one drink in your hand…”

“I said fine.”

He was worried
that she was going to give him trouble over that rule, but she was surprisingly
well behaved. She walked around, sipping on a champagne glass full of ginger
ale, making chit chat with his friends and business associates, charming them
all. She was in rare form, light, funny and amazingly quick witted. She also
had an incredible grasp of politics, though her opinions fell a bit more on the
liberal side than his did.

She was
perfect and he kept her glued to his side, thrilled to show off the woman he
loved. Then, the hitch came in the evening.

“JT Hussner,”
he got an overly firm slap on the back and turned around as Alex continued
talking to his bank manager’s wife about the healing benefits of green tea.
“How the hell have you been?”

“Lucas
Berringer,” JT forced himself to smile, even though he hated the man. Lucas
Berringer was a middle aged prick who owned half of the real estate in Connecticut. He was an
incredibly unpleasant man, who was said to be ruthless with his business
associates and even his own family. In fact, JT had heard a rumor that he’d
disowned his own daughter because she refused to go into the family business. The
last thing he wanted to do was introduce him to Alex, but professional courtesy
demanded it. He tapped her on the shoulder. “Sweetheart, I need to introduce
you to someone.”

Alex turned
around and the smile immediately slipped off her beautiful face. Her hand was
clenching her champagne glass of ginger ale so hard; he was worried she would
break it.

Strangely,
Berringer was just as stricken. He recovered quicker than Alex did though. “Why
Alexandra, I never would have expected to see you here.” He made the statement
sound like an insult.

“I didn’t
expect to see you either,” Alex swallowed.
“Dad.
Or
should I call you Mr. Berringer? You did disown me, after all.”

JT’s mouth
dropped open and he watched Alex in open astonishment. He’d always thought Alex
was a blue collar girl, hiding from petty crimes or an abusive ex. He never
even considered the fact that she was what most people called ‘the lost
Berringer heir.”

“The door is
always open if you want to reconsider,” Berringer informed his daughter evenly.
“I figured you would have learned your lesson after that business at the radio
station.” His eyes were incredibly cruel and Alex let out a sharp cry of pain.
“But then again, you always were a stubborn girl, got that from your mother.”