The Game (16 page)

Insane. And all because I had been speaking to Riley at the fundraiser? Had she seriously
taken a stab in the dark and turned me into public enemy number one from that brief
meeting?

I wanted to see Riley. I needed to. If I went home to my empty apartment alone, I
would fall apart. If I went to him, he would piece me back together.

I craved him like a drug. I had just seen him Tuesday night, but already I felt drawn
to him like a magnet. Was it healthy?

Chapter Eighteen

It took me over an hour to work my way through the city streets to his house. When
I pulled in, I was wrung out, physically and mentally. Exhausted from the stress of
worrying all day, crying in the car, and then driving through traffic.

Riley came outside before I exited my car. He pulled my door open, took my hand, and
led me inside. After he shut the front door, I fell apart, tears running down my face
with renewed force.

Riley pressed me against the door, practically holding me up with his body. He cupped
my face, tipped my head back, and kissed my forehead. “Shh, baby. I’m so sorry.” He
held me close.

His actions only made me feel worse. He was too sweet. I needed to have a tantrum
and scream. He held me together instead. In fact, he finally swung me up into his
arms and carried me through the foyer and toward the living room where he deposited
me on the couch in his lap.

“You look nice,” he commented, pointing to my skirt, undoubtedly trying to distract
me.

I tired to smile. “Thanks.”

He must have been home a while. He was already dressed in jeans and a designer T-shirt.
His feet were bare. Also, we were alone. Thank God.

The house smelled fantastic. Whatever Justine had made for dinner would be amazing
if I could ever bring myself to taste or swallow.

I inhaled long and slow. Spices… Beef?

“Roast.” Riley smiled. “She makes the best roast I’ve ever eaten.”

“I’m sure she does,” I muttered.

He held me at arm’s length and tugged my suit jacket off. Why I was still wearing
it? I’d been hot since I’d left the office, but my brain hadn’t been running on all
four cylinders.

“What did she say?”

“She said it was awful and she would redo it herself.”

He flinched. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

I shook my head. I wouldn’t joke about something this important. I’d poured my soul
into that project for weeks. It was excellent. I deserved to present it. And now it
was never going to happen. “Shit.”

“What else?”

I pressed against him and scrambled to get off his lap. I needed to pace and think.
“I have to quit.”

“No. You most certainly do not.” He stood, looming over me.

I nodded. “I don’t have any other choices. I can’t work under her. She’ll ruin me
a little more each day.”

“You can’t let that bitch control you. You have to stick up for yourself. You’re a
strong woman. Besides, you aren’t alone.” He grinned. “You have me.”

“You can’t waltz in and make this right, Riley. It’s not an option. If you throw your
weight around to help me out, no one will ever consider anything I do to have any
merit.”

He frowned at me. “I won’t let her ruin you.”

“You don’t have any choice.”

“I have lots of choices.”

“Not if you want to continue seeing me. I need you to let me handle this. If you want
to be supportive and stand by my side and listen to me rant and rave, that’s fine.
You can’t interfere. No one will take me seriously if my boyfriend fights my battles.”

He smirked, one side of his mouth curling. And then he tucked his lips between his
teeth, fighting a larger grin.

“What?” I cocked one hip out and dared him to make light of this.

“Boyfriend?”

Had I said that? God. Yes. I had. “Whatever,” I muttered, dipping my face to hide
my flush. If he thought it was a joke, I would die on the spot.

Riley stepped into my space and lifted my face with a finger under my chin. “Am I?”

“What?”

“Your boyfriend?”

“No. I mean, yes.” I shook my head, freeing myself from his finger. “I don’t know.
Are you?”

Riley closed the inches between us and cupped my face again. He lowered his mouth
to mine and kissed me gently, taking his time, teasing my mouth until I opened for
him.

When I leaned into his chest and fisted his shirt with both hands, he broke the kiss.
He tucked my hair behind my ear. “Does this mean you’ve decided to be mine?”

“Pardon?”

“My submissive. I assume if you’re thinking of me as your boyfriend, you’ve had enough
time to think about our weekend together and come to the conclusion you’d like to
submit to me.” He shrugged. “We haven’t discussed any of the details. And I’m sure
you have questions. But I’ve been holding my breath all week waiting for you to say
something.”

I gasped. He was waiting on me? “Say something? About us?”

“Of course.” He leaned back, grabbing my shoulders.

I swallowed. “I’m sorry. I’ve been so preoccupied with my job, I haven’t stopped to
consider you were waiting on me. I didn’t realize…”

“Hush. I’m not mad. I never said anything specific. And you aren’t obligated to make
any sort of decision about us right now.” He squeezed my shoulders and glanced down
at my body. “God, Cheyenne. I want to possess you. I want you to turn your will over
to me. It kills me that you’ve spent the last four days fighting this battle—which
I caused by the way—alone.

“I don’t want you to be alone. Ever. I know I was an ass when we first met. I deserve
your hesitation. But, baby, you’re exactly the woman I want in my life. You’re so
fresh and pure and perfect in every way. I want to come home at night and know you’ll
be here—willing to submit to me.

“I want to worship your body and make you scream. I want that every day. Not just
on the weekends. I want to wipe your tears and listen to your heart and be there for
you.”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I was shocked. He was serious. It was so
soon.

Sure, our weekend was made of magic. I couldn’t deny that. He made my body hum. Even
when I wasn’t with him, he made me want things I’d never considered. He’d had that
effect over me for the last six months, not just the last two weeks.

Where was my head? I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d spent the last four days worrying
about my project and my new boss. But it was also undeniable that I had been the one
to call him my
boyfriend
. He’d wrapped me around his finger and made me his on Friday night before the weekend
had hardly begun. Didn’t he know that?

“I’m yours, Sir.” The words slipped out without my permission. They weren’t untrue.
What did it matter? I ducked my head in a sign of submission.

I was frazzled and confused. What my heart wanted to do right that second was submit
to Riley. Let him take control. If he ruled my body, he would ease my distress. It
had worked before. And it felt amazing.

Perhaps it was unconventional. It was certainly not something I’d ever in my life
considered as a viable possibility. But that was before I’d met David Riley Moreno.

Before his bitch of an ex-fiancée had interrupted our drink to fill me in on the finer
details of my date.

Before one of my best friend had dragged me to a fetish party and led me down a path
I hadn’t fully understood.

Before Riley took me under his wing and patiently taught me how to submit.

Now? Now I was a different woman with different needs. And what I needed was for the
Dom to take away my problems by replacing them with his demands. It was only for the
night. Tomorrow I would have to drag myself out of bed and return to the real world.
But if dominance and submission provided me with this escape, I was one hundred percent
willing.

He smiled at me. Without a word, he reached for the buttons on my blouse and undid
them all, slowly, never letting his gaze leave mine. When he pushed the silky white
material over my shoulders, I shuddered.

This was it.

Something about tonight was so much more poignant than any of our previous encounters.
We were no longer experimenting, testing each other out, going for a drive. This was
serious.

His brow was furrowed, his eyes narrowed.

He dropped my shirt on the coffee table and then lowered the zipper on my favorite
power skirt. At least he didn’t rip it off me. It was the most expensive outfit I
owned.

He leaned down and tapped one leg and then the other until I stepped out of the skirt.

As I stood before him in nothing but my navy heels and my matching white bra and panty
set, I pulled my shoulders back and grasped one wrist with my other hand behind my
back.

It came natural tonight. I needed this. I needed to submit. I needed him to control
me. Everything. From when and what I ate to when and where I slept. I needed him to
fuck me or not fuck me. I needed him to make the decisions.

It calmed me. Soothed.

Riley circled around me, trailing around my belly to my back with one finger.

I fought against the urge to squirm and remained as still as possible.

“I love how sexy you are in your bra and panties, especially these unending matching
lace sets you have, but I like your bare skin even better.” He grabbed the clasp at
my back and popped my bra loose. It fell around my arms and he nudged my hands apart
for a moment to remove the lace.

He rounded to the front again and cupped my breasts with his palms, teasing the tips
with his thumbs. “Yeah. So sexy. I love the way your nipples stand erect for me even
more.” He leaned forward and blew across them.

I jumped, but he pinched both tips sharply. “Stay still.” He flattened his palm on
my belly and eased it down until his fingers dipped into my panties and teased the
hair growing in above my pussy.

I inhaled sharply and swayed forward when he let his middle finger dip into my folds
and drag across my clit. A moan escaped my lips.

“That’s my girl. I love how responsive you are. And I love that you left this for
me to shave.” He cupped my pussy to emphasize his words.

I swallowed at the thought of him shaving me again. I should have been used to it,
but it was just so damn intimate, and he did it so reverently…

Wetness slipped from my folds to soak my panties.

Riley stepped closer and dipped his hand deeper until he reached inside me with two
fingers.

I rose onto my tip toes and leaned toward him, almost unable to keep my balance.

“My girl is so wet. You like it when I shave you, don’t you?”

“Yes, Sir,” I managed to whisper. My stomach was a bundle of knots. I had never been
more aroused. Not even during any of our encounters in the last week. I was putty.
The way he mastered me slowly, deliberately, with a calm force that couldn’t be denied…

It was so fucking hot, I was about to explode.

He removed his hand and stepped back to run both hands through his hair as if he’d
committed an offense. “We need to discuss this. I can’t continue to dominate you without
negotiating. I can’t believe I’ve been so negligent for as long as I have. It’s inconsiderate.”

I widened my eyes. Negotiate? Was he kidding? As long as he fucked my troubles away,
anything he wanted was fine. I was in no mood to negotiate anything.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he stated.

“Like what?” I was confused.

“Like you don’t care about making sure your needs are met and not exceeded. You must.”

“I trust you.” I did. Implicitly.

He shook his head. “You can’t. It doesn’t work like that.”

“It does for me. You’ve rocked my world. Nothing you’ve done has made me want to turn
and run. And as far as your character is concerned, you have Amy and Cade to vouch
for you. If you were an ax murderer, one of them would have told me.” I smiled, hoping
to dispel his sense of doom. I wanted his hands back on me.

Riley stepped farther away. “Come. Sit at the table. Let’s eat. We can talk while
we eat.”

“Eat?” He wanted me to do what? Chew? Swallow? I shook my head. No way could I accomplish
that simple task, not with my pussy pulsing with need and my clit begging to be wrapped
in his lips. I could come standing there under his scrutiny. Eating wasn’t on my short
list—no matter how good the house smelled.

He chuckled, grabbed my forearm, and led me toward the table. “Yes. Eat. It’s when
you put food in your mouth, chew, swallow, repeat.”

“I’m aware of the steps,” I mumbled. “I’m just not all that interested right now.
How about later?”

Riley smiled indulgently as he pulled out a chair and pointed. “Put your sweet ass
in the seat, baby.”

I sat, mostly because I didn’t see any other option.

Riley left me there, wearing only my heels and panties, and stepped into the attached
kitchen. I watched his fine ass in his perfect-fitting jeans while he swayed with
each step. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t bring myself to give up the view,
even if it did make my current plight that much worse.

Moments later, he returned with a huge pot. He set it in the middle of the table and
dropped the pot holders to the side. And then he grabbed a bottle of wine from the
corner where it had been chilling on ice. I hadn’t seen it.

He poured me half a glass and did the same for himself. “I think you’ll like this
one. It’s one of my favorites.” He lifted my glass and held it to my lips, tipping
it back just the right amount to provide me with the perfect sip.