Oliver (9 page)

He pressed his index finger to her lips. “Don’t be. It needed to come out. Now that you realize what you don’t want to be, we can work on reminding you of what you do want.”

I want you, Oliver
. Merideth left the words unsaid. They were impetuous, spur-of-the-moment, and came from emotion with little common sense attached. She’d made those mistakes before. Never again. This was a fresh start.

“Now.” He patted her thigh. “We have a lot to do today. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it more without a burning ass. Upstairs, clothes off, facedown on your bed. I’ll be up in a minute. You might want to put a towel under you.”

She narrowed her gaze. “So. There was a remedy after all.”

“I am a
Master
. I take my responsibilities very seriously. I never engage in any activity unless there is a safety protocol.” He lifted her from his lap and steered her toward the stairs.

Shame overwhelmed her. “I…I wish I could say the same.” She hadn’t been careful with her activities as Lady Begood. She’d continued the same games she’d played with Oliver and Lucas, expecting the same results. Not once had she truly considered the comfort and welfare of the men she’d disciplined.

“You will.” He patted her butt cheek. “Go.”

Merideth didn’t run any races going up the stairs. Walking excited the irritation, increasing the effect as her clothing rubbed over her skin. She was more than relieved to undress but counted the seconds while she lay nude on the towel, waiting for Oliver to join her. Fortunately he didn’t take long. He walked in the door with a small bowl.

“Vegetable oil,” he said. “If that doesn’t work on you, I have plain yogurt.”

Merideth nestled her head on her arms. “Tried-and-true, tested methods?”

“Safety first. I use myself first so I can understand how it feels. How much is too much. I also have associates who are willing to experiment and evaluate. We work together before we ever involve a sub. And we keep it in-house. Wouldn’t want something new to get out to the wrong crowd.”

She’d learned that the hard way. God, the mistakes she’d made.

He wasted little time smearing the oil over her skin. Relief seeped in.

“It’s possible I may have hurt someone without realizing it, Oliver. Maybe the whipping was payback. Maybe I deserved it.”

“Back to punishing yourself, Merideth? No one deserves what happened to you.”

“But if I drew first blood…”

“It’s not war or a fight.”

“Yet you and Lucas vowed to find those responsible and make them pay. If that’s not a fight, I don’t know what is. Like with everything I’ve recently discovered, I’m just saying that I might bear some fault in this.”

Sighing, he set the bowl on the nightstand, then wiped his hand on her towel before he stretched out beside her. Oliver raked his fingers through her hair and down her back. “Safety first. Turn over your client list. I’ll have my people investigate discreetly.”

She closed her eyes, afraid of seeing the disapproving scowl on his face. “I destroyed it shortly after I started working at the museum.”

He eased away. “And hid yourself away at work and home for fear you’d run into the people you’d serviced.”

Merideth nodded. Tears welled up again, escaping from under her lids. “A former client didn’t do this. I would have recognized him. I mentioned payback as a
what goes around comes around
kind of thing.”

“I see. Good. It’s one less thing to worry about.” Oliver shifted. “Roll over.”

She did so, blinking her vision clear. Horror replaced despair when she saw the loopy john in his hand.

“No, no.” He brushed the soft falls over her lips. “There’s been enough pain. Now it’s time for pleasure. Close your eyes and relax.”

Oliver kissed each lid after she’d closed them, feathery touches that felt like butterfly wings. Keeping them closed was impossible. He nuzzled over her cheek until he reached her mouth. There he plucked her lips into a gentle kiss that warmed her inside yet never demanded entrance. Part of her wanted to grab his head and deepen the kiss, but she didn’t want or need control. She needed him. Trusted him. How sweet it felt to finally let go of the ties she’d bound around her.

She gasped at the feel of the falls dancing over her nipple. Moaned when Oliver sucked the hard tip between his lips and targeted her other breast. Cried out and arched into him, grappling for a handhold when he groaned and sucked deep.

He worked one breast and then the other, never leaving either neglected long. The falls flicked back and forth down her belly.

“Spread your legs. Let me see you. Have you.” His tone was deep, husky. Like he’d die if she didn’t show herself to him.

She parted her thighs, nice and slow, like a mini peep show. His breathing became ragged, each exhalation drifting over her wet nipple. Merideth hoped he’d be as hard and wanting as she was. How long before he stripped and showed her? How long before he couldn’t bear the wait and plunged inside her? Would he?

Oliver brushed the falls over her thighs. She spread them farther apart, lost in the rush of pleasure that swelled her clitoris and had her squirming. He tickled over the tuft of hair left to guard her pussy. Her pelvis rocked on its own, seeking the touch. Then it came. The barest flick.

Merideth groaned and lifted for more.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” he whispered against her ear.

“Yes,” she hissed.

So damned good. Each gentle lash hardened her clit to the breaking point. Climax hovered on the edge, almost there but not quite.

“Imagine how it’d feel with a cock wedged inside you.”

Merideth’s body clenched.

“Hot.” He tapped her clit. “Hard.” Another flick back and forth. “Plunged to the hilt and all yours.”

Words weren’t possible. She fumbled for a handhold on his shirt, silently begging.

Oliver pulled her fingers into his and kissed each one. “Here. Let me show you.” He draped the loopy john over her belly and slipped from the bed.

She wadded the towel beneath her in clenched fists, cursing the fact he’d stopped the sweet lick of leather, praising her first sight of this god of a man returning naked from his room, big cock dressed for action. Merideth couldn’t help reaching for him, running her hands across his six-pack. Muscles quivered under her touch, empowering her in ways she hadn’t felt in a very long time.

Oliver let her play. A smile lifted one corner of his mouth. She traced the ridges and planes, marveling at his fitness, at how smooth his skin was, at how golden the bush was around his impressive erection. He was perfection.

He settled between her legs, cupped her buttocks, lifted her onto his thighs, and speared his cock into her. Merideth’s gasp echoed his hiss. Both turned into deep moans when he flicked the toy over her upthrust clit.

“I love how your muscles ripple over my cock.”

He pinched one nipple and rolled it. She writhed under the onslaught of pleasure.

“The only thing missing right now is Lucas’s dick gliding in and out of your tight little ass.”

Merideth clenched her thighs around his hips. Thinking wasn’t possible. Feeling was everything. Tight, hot pressure so intense and all-encompassing, she knew she’d touch the stars when she came.

“Want me to get him for you?” His slow, steady thrusts hit all the right places. “Could you be a good girl and keep your hands out of your pussy while I’m gone?”

Merideth didn’t lie. She shook her head. “Not when you have me so hot and close to coming.”

A shudder rippled through him. “Apparently so am I.” Wedged deep inside, he slapped the falls a little harder over her clit. “You know what happens to bad little girls.” He grinned. “And some good ones too.”

Her gaze automatically fell to the loopy john. Oliver laughed, pulled free, and had her over his lap before she knew it.

“A reminder perhaps?” He pushed one hand under her, closing his fingers over her clit. The other wielded the infernal device that she had to shamelessly admit roused her curiosity.

“Want it?” he asked.

Merideth bit her lower lip and gave a single nod.

“Since you’ve been so honest…” He gave her a light whack over her butt cheeks. Even then the sting was memorable. Another had her squirming into his fingers. A third dragged out moans. A fourth…

“God.” Orgasm shook her through four more smacks.

Oliver gave her no time to recover. The instant she went slack, he rolled her to her back and seated himself in one hard thrust after the other. She clutched his shoulders and locked her legs around his waist.

Oliver covered her mouth in a tongue-tangling kiss that wiped the rest of the world from her awareness. His thumb pressed against her clit, taking her along for the ride. She couldn’t hold him close enough, yet there was no space between them, no closer they could get.

Heat bathed his lower back. He got harder, moved faster. She matched his every stroke, as desperate to come again as he was for her to do so.

Oliver broke the kiss. Tendons strained to the breaking point in his effort to hold on for her. Silent, determined, and hers…at least for the moment. Merideth would take it. Take whatever she could get and treasure every second.

“I’m—” She couldn’t get another word out. Her orgasm was too intense.

“Me. Too.” Oliver slammed deep and came with her.

Merideth struggled to maintain a tight hold on the steering wheel of Oliver’s SUV. Her sweaty palms made it nearly impossible. His faith in her made it equally impossible to refuse.

“You can do this.” He slipped his hand over her knee. “I wouldn’t ask you if I wasn’t positive you would succeed.”

When he said it that way, Merideth almost believed it too. “I’m scared.”

“No, scared is going up the mountain in that revolving tram.” He pointed to San Jacinto looming over Palm Springs.

“It turns now?”

“Yep. I’m not very fond of that. I’ll take the back way in, thank you very much. I don’t mind long hikes through bear-infested forest.”

Merideth giggled. Oliver, who ruled the world, afraid of the tram. “It’s comforting to know you’re human after all.”

“More than you might realize.” He waved his hand toward the keys. “Let’s go. You know the way home. You’re in a high-profile vehicle and can run anyone else’s ass off the road if you want. And I promise. No cows.”

Merideth whipped her head around. “You knew.”

He grinned. “Yeah, it was in one of the reports I got last night. No
person
was hurt in your accident, just one poor old cow. Did you have a beef with it?”

She shot him the most evil glare she could muster. “Not funny. I was very upset.”

“Consider it a wake-up call.”

“Well, it was that.” Pulling in a breath, she started the engine. “Do me a favor. Let’s not tell Lucas.”

“Yet something else to keep from him?”

Merideth leaned against the headrest. Oliver was right. She needed to come clean, or else she’d never be able to move forward. “I’ll tell him everything.”

“Tonight.”

“Agreed.”

“Good. Now drive. No speeding. No road rage. It’s transportation, not a competition.” He buried himself in scrolling through items on his cell phone, trusting her to get them where they needed to go.

The crawl of traffic along Palm Canyon Drive helped her acclimate to the vehicle, but her nerves refused to settle. Darkening skies didn’t help. Merideth remembered summer monsoons, road closures, flash floods, and residents unused to driving in bad weather. Her grip on the wheel tightened.

“Tell me about Lighted Portals,” Oliver said.

Tension ratcheted a little higher. “I started a foundation for families in need with the money you threw my way.” A glance showed him still buried in his phone. “Must you throw all this at me when I’m driving?”

“Must you continue to withhold information? Light’s green.”

A beep behind her said the same thing. “How can you tell? You haven’t looked up from that thing since I started the engine.”

“I have a sixth sense.”

“Then you would have already known about Lighted Portals.”

“New phone. Got it while you were in the salon. Old one broke this morning. Dropped call. And did you miss the part where I told you and Lucas that I hadn’t kept tabs on you?”

“I got that message loud and clear. But you have your finger on the pulse of the world. You would have known about the foundation and everyone involved with it.”

Oliver snickered. “I did. I’ve donated heavily toward it over the years.”

“You bastard.” Harsh words delivered sweetly. Love squeezed her heart.

“Now, now. Don’t get my mom involved.”

She caught his grin from the corner of her eye.

“I heard about the foundation from a teacher friend of mine. A children’s author she’s fond of is a strong…”

He jerked his head up. Merideth’s heart skipped a few beats. She kept her eyes focused on the road, praying he hadn’t connected…

“It’s
you. You’re
the author. You’re Mary Wright.”

…those dots. Why had she thought she could hide anything from Oliver? She knew his reputation. The man was methodical, lethal.

“No wonder you destroyed your client list.” He twisted toward her as far as the seat belt allowed.

There was nothing to be gained by retaining the list. She and every client on it had too much to lose.

“Why in the world would you risk so much by going to an unsanctioned BDSM club?”

Merideth had asked herself that more times than she could count. “I was stupid. Craving the rush and the relief that came with it. It’s been years, Oliver.
Years
. I was tired of taking care of myself. Tired of liaisons with no fire. And yeah, I thought a thousand times over about going to Lucas. But I couldn’t hurt him again, no matter how much he was willing to try to give me everything I needed. There was no known place I could go where I wouldn’t be recognized. So I went off grid.” And paid dearly for it.

A put-upon sigh settled him back in his seat. “Our respective communities exist as safe havens for us.”

“Not when your editor decides to start frequenting them. Fortunately I saw him before he saw me.”