Surrender (26 page)

Ohmygod.

His words echoed in my head.

Punish yourself
.

That was what I’d been doing. I’d been punishing myself. All this time. Yes, that was what I’d been doing—telling myself I didn’t deserve to be happy, to be free, to be loved.

I didn’t have to do that?

But I’d killed my father. I’d planned it out.

Kam stood. “Abigail, you didn’t kill your father. Someone else did.”

“What?” My heart stopped. “Someone else? How could someone else have killed him? Who? And how would you know?”

Kam paced in front of me, back and forth, fingers raking over his shaved head. “I didn’t want to tell you. I wasn’t sure it would help.” He stopped and gazed down at me. “But seeing you like this . . . It has to be better than letting you believe you did it.”

My mind was spinning. Round and round, thoughts whipping and whirling, too fast to grasp. “Who? How?”

He knelt again, this time on both knees. “I got a message. On the way here. It was from Stephanie’s attorney. Your brother confessed. To several crimes. Your father’s murder was only one of them.”

My brother? He killed my father?

Could it be true?

“My brother?” I echoed. “How? He was just a boy.”

“I don’t have all the details. But I was told his statement is completely believable. And he was able to back it up with some kind of evidence.”

“Maybe he’s confessing to protect me?” I reasoned, trying to sort things out. “What evidence could he have?” Joss had been so young at the time. Could a boy his age be capable of killing? And if he had done such a thing, could he have hidden his guilt from everyone all this time?

No. He couldn’t.

Unless . . .

Maybe?

Yes. He could if he was . . . if he was the kind of man I hadn’t wanted to believe he might be. A man like our father. A man who felt no guilt.

Suddenly images flashed through my mind, and all the pieces fell into place. I’d been blind to the truth. I had blinded myself.

I clapped my hands over my mouth again. “Ohmygod,” I said through my splayed fingers. “I didn’t want to believe he . . . I wanted him to change, to become the man I thought he could be. But I was just fooling myself, wasn’t I?”

“You love him.” Kam stood, placed his hands on my shoulders. It was a good thing he did that. I wasn’t feeling very sturdy. His touch steadied me, gave me strength. “When you love someone, you want to believe the best.”

“Yes, you do, you want to believe the best. But if you truly love someone, you can see them for what they are, not what you want them to be. No matter how painful it is. My brother is a liar, a thief, an addict, and . . . a murderer. How many other crimes has he confessed to, Kam?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is you are innocent. You’re free.”

“Free?” I whispered, barely able to comprehend it.

Free of regret?

Of fear?

Of guilt?

I looked into Kam’s eyes.

Happiness was right here, within my reach. All I had to do was accept it. All I had to do was find the courage to say yes.

I could do that!

Who would have ever imagined that sorrow and blackmail would lead to this?

It was a miracle. For both of us.

Out of the ashes of our tragic pasts had bloomed a perfect love, a love that would heal us and make us whole again. And all I had to do was say one word and it was ours. A lifetime of love. A lifetime of giving. And a lifetime of surrender. “Yes, Kameron Maldonado,” I said, with my heart in my throat. “I will marry you.”

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H
e had his quarry.

There. That one. The lush blonde in the black dress. She was perfect. Just the right combination of sweet temptation and seductive siren. Long legs. Full tits that made his mouth water. A hundred carnal promises glittering in her eyes.

Another man stepped up to her and set a hand on her shoulder. Her gaze flicked to the man, then back to Talen. Her lips curled in a sultry half smile.

His cock hardened.
Let the games begin.
Energized by the challenge, he waved the waitress over.

“A bottle of champagne. To that woman. In the black dress.” Then he leaned back in his seat and waited, watching her every move as the bottle was delivered and as the waitress told her who had purchased it.

She smiled in his direction, then excused herself from the man who had thought he’d be fucking her tonight. Her glass in one hand, the bottle in the other, she crossed the crowded bar, collecting stares from admiring men and glares from women along the way. She moved with the smooth fluidity of a dancer. Her hips swayed seductively. Her shoulders were back, her full breasts pushed out.

Stunning.

“Hello,” she said, smiling down at him as she approached his table. “Thank you for the champagne.” She set the bottle on his table. “I couldn’t possibly drink this whole thing by myself, so I thought I’d come over and share some with you.”

“Thanks. Please, sit.” Pushing his full glass aside, he motioned to the waitress. “May I have an empty champagne glass, please?” he asked her.

“Sure. Can I get you anything else?”

Talen looked at his new companion. She shook her head. “No, thank you.”

“I’ll be right back.”

He turned his attention back to Blondie.

“I’m Angela.”

“Angela.” He extended a hand, and she placed hers in it. Her grip was neither too tight nor too loose. “Tage Garner.”

“It’s good to meet you, Tage Garner. Thank you again for the champagne. It’s delicious.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” Lips. She had very nice lips. He could imagine them circling his cock while he fucked her mouth.

Peering over the rim of her glass, she sipped. “Have you been to this club before?”

“No. I just joined.”

“You’ll love it. I’ve been a member for about a year. I’m here at least twice a week.”

“Dom or submissive?”

“Oh, submissive. Most definitely.”

He felt himself smiling. “I was hoping you would say that.”

“Were you?” She tipped her head. “You know, I haven’t had very much of this champagne yet, only a few sips. We could take this party somewhere private if you like.”

That sounded like a great idea.

When the waitress stepped up, he accepted the glass and the bill. After signing for it, he escorted his quarry to his newly leased private suite upstairs. As they climbed the steps, he admired her fine ass as it swayed back and forth in front of him. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on it. On the rest of her, too.

Upstairs, she allowed him to steer her toward his suite with a hand on the small of her back. Beneath his fingertips, he felt her muscles flex as she responded to his touch.

This was going to be fun.

Inside, she walked straight to the center of the room, turned so her back was to him, reached around, and dragged the zipper of her dress down, exposing a deep vee of smooth skin.

“Are you sure you haven’t had anything else to drink?” he asked. He hadn’t noticed any signs of intoxication, but he wasn’t so lost in need yet that he’d be willing to ignore the first rule of D/s. Safe. Sane. Consensual.

“Nothing else. Just a few sips of champagne.” She pulled the garment down to her waist. She wasn’t wearing a bra.

“Limits?”

“None.” The dress slid to the floor. She wasn’t wearing panties either.

His cock twitched at the sight of her beautiful body. “None?”

Slowly, she turned to face him. Her lips were curved into a semi-smile once again. Her eyes were downcast, as a submissive’s eyes should be. “I have been a submissive for a long time, trained by some of the most demanding, sadistic doms around. I can handle
anything
.”

His balls tightened.

He had found his dream sub. But was she wife material?

Smiling to himself, he decided he would put her to the test. He knew exactly how he wanted to test her first. He unzipped his pants.

Her little pink tongue darted out, swiped across her lower lip. Yes, that was exactly what he was thinking. He stepped up to her, close enough to reach, grabbed a handful of silky blond hair, and said, “Suck my cock. Hard.”

“Yes, master,” she murmured, then eagerly opened her mouth for him.

“Oh damn,” he growled as he rammed his cock deep into her mouth, then withdrew, only to thrust deep again. Over and over. She took him easily, greedily. Her little tongue cushioned the bottom of his rod as he glided in and out. The head of his cock hit the back of her throat, but she didn’t gag, she didn’t pull away. No, she opened to him, taking him to the hilt, slurping and sucking until he was seeing stars and on the verge of coming.

Mere seconds before losing control, he jerked out of her mouth. There was so much more to do yet, pleasures to explore, limits to test. He couldn’t let it end so soon.

“You’ve been well trained,” he said as he tucked his still-erect cock back inside his pants and zipped up.

She placed her hands at her sides and kept her eyes downturned. “Thank you, master. It’s my pleasure to serve you.”

“Hmmm.” His body thrummed as possibilities whirled around in his head. A submissive with no limits could be rather useful to him. His gaze meandered around the room. Having just leased the room, he hadn’t set up some of the bigger pieces yet. The St. Andrew’s cross was waiting to be assembled. Same with the large table he liked to keep in the center of the room. For now, he would have to make do with the bench. There was plenty of fun to be had with that.

He positioned her as he wanted, kneeling, legs spread, chest and stomach resting on the upper support. Ah, perfect. Now he had full access to that ass he’d admired earlier. “Safe word?” he asked as he cuffed her wrists and ankles in place.

“Red is fine.”

“Red, it is.” He stepped back to admire the view. How he wanted to bury his rod deep inside her. She was clean shaven everywhere. Her folds glistened with her juices. She was wet. Wet and ready. He went to his storage cabinet and gathered a few things—dildo, condoms, lube. He wasn’t in the mood for discipline. Just fucking. Lots of fucking. His eye went to her puckered anus.

There. He would take her there.

“Anal?” he asked.

“Love it.”

His whole body tightened. Could this woman be more perfect for him?

He unwrapped a condom and rolled it onto the dildo. Then, without warning, he shoved it into her cunt.

She shuddered with pleasure. “Thank you, master,” she whispered, hips rocking forward to take the toy deeper. It plunged to the entry of her womb. He left it there and switched it on. “Ohhhhhh,” she mumbled. “Thank you.”

Damn that was a pretty sight. Once again he stepped back to admire her. Her legs were long and lean, her stomach flat, breasts full and natural, ass round and firm. Her smooth skin was starting to shimmer with sweat as the toy buried in her pussy made her insides burn for him.

He was burning for her, too.

Working quickly, he rolled on a rubber. Then he squirted out some lube onto his fingers to test her anus.

Two fingers in. Oh, she was tight but willing, giving just enough resistance. As he plunged his fingers deeper, the ring of muscles tightened around them. Damn.

He couldn’t wait.

At his withdrawal, she whimpered. The sound sent a wave of heat blazing through him. It was sweetly seductive. He had to hear it again.

He smoothed some more lube around her anus. Slowly. He entered her slowly, inch by inch. Oh, it was hell. And heaven. Both. As he drove deeper, his body tensed more. By the time his stomach was resting against the pillow of her ass cheeks, he was sure his hair was singed, he was so hot. “Damn.”

Her muscles tightened, and a pulse of carnal heat blasted through his center. Just as slowly, he withdrew, letting her body caress him as he pulled out. She was perfect. Completely and utterly perfect. This once wouldn’t be enough. He had to have her again. In the ass. In the pussy. In the mouth. Anywhere and everywhere.

“Meet me again,” he said. To his own ears, he sounded breathless.

“When?”

“Soon.” The tip of his cock still remained inside. This time, he thrust quickly inside, driving deep.

She cried out. “Yes!”

“Yes,” he echoed as he jerked back to thrust deep. “Yes,” he repeated as he buried himself in her ass. “Damn. Damn.”

“Master,” she said. She whimpered. The sound nearly sent him over the edge. “Please. May I come? Please.”

“Not yet.” He pounded into her with no mercy, and she took him, rocking back to meet his forward thrusts. His fingers dug into her hips. The soft flesh of her ass rippled with each impact. The sound of skin striking skin and husky, fast breathing was like a symphony. This was fucking at its finest. This was what he couldn’t live without, would not live without. Faster, he fucked her. Harder. Each stroke amped up his temperature higher, raised his heart rate. He was spiking a fever, hot and tight everywhere, balls ready to explode.

Her cry as she lost control echoed through the room and sent him careening over the edge. His orgasm blasted through his body like a nuclear explosion. His voice joined hers as he shouted in ecstasy, pounded away the last pulse of carnal pleasure. When he was spent, he withdrew, removed the condom and the toy from her pussy.

“Thank you, master.” Her whole body trembled, he noticed, as he unbuckled her wrist and ankle cuffs. Once he had her completely free of the bindings, he helped her turn around and sit. For the first time since they’d entered the room, she lifted her eyes to his and smiled. “I look forward to serving you again soon?” she asked.

“Yes, very soon.” And often, he hoped.