Soul Rest: A Knights of the Board Room Novel (34 page)

“You bite me, and I’ll beat you within an inch of your life,” he promised. He gripped her hair, used the pull on her scalp to thrust in and out. Her gaze clung to him, the plea in her eyes. Her pussy was aching, empty.

“Get me nice and slick and I’ll see where else I can put this.”

Thank God. Nothing like giving a girl a goal to distract her from the unwise compulsion to do exactly what he’d warned her not to do—use her teeth. She sucked his length, ran her tongue over him, got him as wet as she was between her legs.

She made a noise of protest as he removed himself from her lips, but his eyes flashed, telling her he’d have his way. He moved down her body, hiked her thighs up over his elbows, holding her up high, hips off the floor. He nudged her anus with his cock, telling her he might fuck her there, but in the end he pressed his thick length against her cunt, holding her gaze as he pushed deep into her snug channel, as she rested in his arms, helpless as a doll. Fucking her temporarily ended the fight, all control ceded to him as he took full possession. The man could destroy every ounce of resistance she had with his pacing, that leisurely rhythm that built her to an excruciating level of sensation. Their position gave him all the control over rhythm and force. Though she did tighten her thighs and stomach muscles and try to increase the rate of thrust, she was unsuccessful.

“Who’s in charge, Celeste?”

“You are.”

“Who?”

She met his gaze, was swallowed up in it. Inside those honey-gold depths she could trust; she could be brave. “Master.”
You’re my Master.

He began to come, his seed marking her inside, his strength holding her as he carried them both to a place where she didn’t have to think about anything else. Not right now.

“Come for me, Celeste. Come now.”

How could she resist anything he commanded?

§

When it was over, he didn’t leave her, just as he’d promised he wouldn’t. He bid her stay where she was, went into the guest bathroom and ran the water. When he returned with a washcloth, she’d sat up and was trying to get on the bed despite legs weak as noodles. He sighed, helped her get there, then promptly put her over his lap and gave her a spanking that, on top of the switch and brush, hurt like fire. She struggled and cursed him, but when he was done and laid her down on her stomach on the comforter, the fight went out of her. Especially when he used the warm cloth to clean her, and tucked her under the comforter before she could get cold.

He took the items back to the bathroom, and was in there long enough to suggest he was cleaning himself. She drew circles on the comforter, tried not to think of anything. Upon his return, he pulled back the covers, bent and brushed his lips over her sore ass. Cupping his hands under her thighs, he started eating her pussy. In no time, she was clawing the covers, on the cusp of climax once more. The man was a freaking machine, and he was going to kill her.

Confirming it, he stretched out on the bed, turned her over and made her straddle his body. Hands clamped on her hips, he lifted her up and set her on his cock, shoving up into her hard enough she gasped. He held her there, spread cunt firm against his pelvis, as he picked up the scarf he’d left on the pillow and looped it behind her neck. Twisting it over his fingers, he rested his closed hand against her sternum and brought her down so she was leaning over him, their eyes a few inches apart.

“You hold me tight inside, Celeste, and lift off of me slow. When you get to the head, you rotate your hips once, and push all the way down to the hilt again, just as slow. At my pace. You listen to my voice and follow direction. Starting now. Squeeze it and push up onto your knees.”

It required taut stomach and thigh muscles, and excellent control. She was already so close to coming from his mouth, she found her control faltered within three rounds, but he kept her doing it, kept her to his pace.

“Do you want me to let you come, Celeste?” His eyes were on fire, his mouth set in a fierce line, and from the ripple of muscle all along his body, she knew he was just as close as she was.

“Yes, Master. Please.”

“All right. I’m going to hold you just like this, Celeste. You work your hips on your Master until he comes. I want to see you working hard, your face all flushed. You rub those beautiful breasts against my chest some more. When you make me come, you can come.”

Christ. Who’d have ever thought she’d be with a male partner who’d have better control over his climax than she did? She wanted to hate him for it, and wanted to give him everything in the world to keep doing what he was doing. She couldn’t hold out. She started to shudder within seconds, and her panicked look shot to his face.

“Ask, Celeste.”

“May I?”

“Yes. Fucking yes. Come.”

They came almost at the same time, him only a hat drop behind her. He kept his fingers hooked hard into the twisted folds of the scarf, pulling her down so her face was against the side of his as her hips pistoned on him, as he gripped her ass with his other big hand and worked her on him until the full measure of the climax was so pleasurable she could have blacked out. She muffled her shrieks against his thundering pulse, and was afraid she’d maybe deafened him, but he didn’t seem out of sorts about it.

He guided her limp body into a curl against the side of his, keeping the length of the scarf wrapped around his hand like a tether. The tails of the blue fabric were in a folded line across his chest, his hip bone. She played with it, looped it around his cock and earned a chuckle.

“You leave that on me, and I’ll stick to it when I dry, darlin’. You’d take too much pleasure in pulling my skin off.”

Freeing it from his cock and her throat, he rewrapped it around her wrist, knotting it there. She left that hand resting on his chest as she listened to his beating heart. She traced the graze mark in his side, now a thin scab, caused by the same objects that had pierced Jai’s chest, killed him. “I don’t want you to go.”

“I know.” His arm tightened around her. “Believe me, darlin’, I don’t want to leave you, either. By the time I get back tomorrow night, you’ll have decided you shouldn’t have done any of this, and be pushing me away again.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry.” Didn’t change it, though.

He gave her a squeeze. “I didn’t ask for your apology, Celeste. Seems like it works out pretty well for both of us, working through that. I’ve got no complaints.” He shifted, glancing out through the sheer curtains, where night had fallen and the moon was rising. “I still owe you that dinner, but I have a feeling you need sleep more.”

“I should get up and at least say hello to Cass and Marcie.”

“No. Not tonight. It’ll keep. I think Cass and Marcie are still out dealing with wedding stuff, and Lucas understands where we’re at tonight. None of them will be surprised if they don’t see you until the morning. Though I’ll go root you up some food if you’re hungry.”

Celeste struggled with the dictates of courtesy, but in truth, she was relieved to concede the point. She wasn’t up to social chat tonight and she wasn’t hungry. Remembering he’d leave in the morning brought on a whole other set of discomfiting emotions that filled up her stomach.

“I’ll miss you.” She would, terribly, and that worried her worse.

“I’ll miss you. We’ll touch base tomorrow, don’t worry. You answer that phone when I call, even if you’ve talked yourself into a snit. Don’t make me call Lucas to make sure you’re okay. When I come back, I can bring things a lot worse than that brush.”

That gave her another shiver. He chuckled again, a bear’s growl. “Yeah, you’ll test me to the limit, won’t you? Shut up for now and let’s sleep.”

“I didn’t say anything,” she protested.

“Darlin’ you say more with your silence and your body than most women say with their mouths. Then you have that sharp-assed tongue on top of it. Lucky I’m a patient man.”

She sulked a little over that, but worried the scarf around her wrist, plucking at it. He’d kept the other end twisted around his own hand. “You’re not going to take this off?”

“No. Not while we’re sleeping. I’m making sure my sub stays right where I put her. Go to sleep. Turn it off for a while. It’s all right.” He kissed her forehead, held her close.

She closed her eyes, hoped he was right. She wanted the feeling in her gut that said things were going to get worse to be wrong. But the more he proved his worth, the more she’d push him away. She knew it. Or did she?

There was a first time for everything. She carried the hope into her dreams.

Too soon, she woke to him sliding out of the bed. A bleary look at the clock showed it was a couple hours before dawn. She knew he wanted to have time to get in before his shift, see what was happening with the case and how he could help. She knew that because he explained it to her in a murmur as he bent over her to capture her mouth in a kiss. She was still groggy, but not so much that she didn’t slide an arm around his neck, press her bare body against his clothed one and do her best to convince him to stay. He put his hip on the bed and pressed her back into the pillows as he took over the kiss, making it demanding and hot, his arm banded around her back, crushing her to his chest. He slid his other hand beneath the covers, between her legs, making a sound of approval as her thighs loosened and parted for him. He had her rubbing up against his fingers and the heel of his hand in no time. When the climax rolled through her, quiet and intense, she made tiny little feminine cries against his mouth. He massaged her through it, kept kissing her mouth, her cheek, her ear and throat.

When he drew back, he was looking at her with fierce and focused eyes that roved over her face, over her breasts that he’d exposed by pulling the covers down to her waist. He bent and closed his mouth over one nipple, suckled it to a rigid peak, then moved to do the same to the other as she curled her hand in his short hair, the back of his neck, holding him to her.

“Please don’t leave.” When he was gone, she’d start re-erecting her walls, wonder what the hell had caused her to surrender so unconditionally to him, to give up with what seemed like barely a fight. She didn’t want that to happen.

“Christ, you don’t make anything easy.” He framed her face, ran his thumb over her lips. “I need you to make me a promise, Celeste. It’s important.”

At the serious look in his eyes, she closed her hand over his to hold it between her breasts, her slim fingers sliding over his large ones. “I’m listening.”

He studied her. “It’s one thing to act out with me. It’s part of what you and I are exploring together, and I told you I have no problems with that. You’re not going to drive me away by being a brat. Understand?”

Not sure where he was going, she nodded, because she could tell he wasn’t going to continue until she acknowledged it. “But you pursuing a story lead here or getting a cup of coffee with your credit card just to prove I can’t tell you what to do?” He touched her chin with his free hand, a tender reproof. “I’m asking you not to do that. If you follow the directions I gave you, you’ll be safe here. Don’t take risks with your life just to piss me off.”

“I’m not an idiot, Leland. At least not about that.” She traced the silhouette of his face with her fingertips. Every part of her hungered for him, wanted him to stay in the bed with her. So she did her best to paste on an indifferent look, give him a haughty sniff. “And it’s not all about you, you know. I would have used the credit card or pursued the story lead because it pissed me off that a piece of shit like Dogboy was keeping me from living my life.”

His lips curved, eyes warming. “Just imagine how good you’ll feel when you hear he’s caught and going away for a long time.”

She sobered at that. “I’m not sure that will make me feel good, a teenager so messed up he’s ruined his life before it barely started, but I’ll be glad he can’t hurt anyone else.” Her fingers dropped to his shirt collar, curled around the fabric. “You be safe, too. Okay?”

She’d spent so much time around cops, but it had never hit as hard as it did now, the kind of job he did. A lot of police work could be tedious, but it could change on a dime. And he worked the most dangerous district in Baton Rouge. Yesterday he’d been right in the thick of things. For her.

“I don’t know how long you’ll put up with me,” she said, staring at his chest, “But I’m going to say it once more, just in case. Thank you for being there. For keeping me safe yesterday. And today.”

He considered her. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he dug in his pocket, stretching out one long leg to get his fingers into it. When he straightened, he clasped her wrist, wound something like a rubber band over it. Reaching over, he switched on the bed lamp so she could see it.

It was a girl’s hairband, the kind they wore around a ponytail. The band was blue with silver threading, the pair of marbleized balls that formed the clasp twisted over one another. On her thin wrist, the hold was snug but not constricting. He verified it himself by running his fingers under it, then he tugged lightly on one of the balls. When he let it go, it knocked against her wristbones, enough to be uncomfortable. She looked up at him, surprised. Leaning in, he kissed her mouth firmly, shooting her that eye-to-eye laser look of his.

“Every time you start to put yourself down, Celeste, you pop that against your wrist. That’s an order from your Master. You keep count of it, because when I see you again, I’m going to ask how many times you had to do it.”

She set her mouth in a thin line. He read her reaction, closing his hand over her wrist. When her biceps constricted to pull back, he merely increased his grip. “No,” he said.

She stilled at the look in his eye. “Why are you carrying a little girl’s hair thing around with you?” she asked, letting the reporter take precedence. It was easier than facing the other feelings.

“I picked that up on a domestic violence call. Mom tossed her little girl against the wall because she got in her way when she was high. Put her in a coma, and she died. There were other kids in the home, two boys, and the only good thing that came out of that was we were able to get them out of there. Placed with a grandmother who’d been doing her best to get custody of all the kids. The system sucks, because it took killing one of them to make it happen.”