The Seduction of Destiny Rhode [The Seduction 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (16 page)

When he finished, elation swept over her. She’d done it. This mystical thing she’d craved and feared as long as she could remember. She’d done it!

He pulled her to her feet and moved them both to the bed, shoving his suitcase to the floor, the contents spilling from it as it fell. He simply held her for what seemed like forever. She snuggled deep into him, wondering how long before she could try it again.

He wrapped his arms tight around her and whispered against her ear.

“Ah, Destiny, you
do
please me.”

She closed her eyes and took his words into her heart. She felt tears well up, and it was the dumbest thing, but all her life she’d wanted to hear those words. She’d done so many things for so many people, just wanting to please them, help them, be the person they could count on, and all it had ever brought her was heartache and pain.

For Ronan, the words seemed to come easy, and what was more, the things she did to please him came easy for her. It wasn’t a hardship to please the man sexually. Quite the opposite. In fact, she loved the opportunity even to try. Her wide array of emotions were confusing. None of this made sense, but laying in Ronan’s arms and the faint taste of his cum still on her tongue, she wasn’t interested in making sense. She just wanted to stay in the moment and enjoy every second of it for as long as it could last with Ronan stroking her hair and placing kisses to the top of her head. She felt like purring like a contented cat.

“Destiny, please tell me I didn’t scare you.”

She adjusted her position, turning in his arms so she lay on her stomach and looked down into his eyes.

“Not at all.” She waited, hoping there would be more of an explanation than that.

He pushed back her hair, tucking it behind her ears.

“I’m different from most men, minx. I’m assuming that’s something you’ve picked up on by now.”

If what he meant by different was more mature, more passionate, more caring, and more understanding, then she supposed she had. It was that difference that made him so attractive.

“I have needs that ordinarily I would never ask of a woman like you—”

She opened her mouth to protest, but he placed two fingers over it, silencing her.

“By that I mean innocent and inexperienced and… You have a very thick vanilla exterior.”

“I am not
vanilla
!” He’d used that term once or twice before, and though she really wasn’t sure what he meant by it, it was beginning to sound like an insult.

He chuckled.

“So you’ve let a man tie you naked to a bed so he can lick chocolate syrup off your nipples?”

Her mouth dropped open. That sounded utterly decadent, and she was instantly aroused.

“Or by
not vanilla
do you mean you’ve allowed a man to parade you naked through a room full of people knowing you are his property and he can do with you as he likes?”

A wicked shiver snaked her spine as a darker desire opened within her.

“Have you ever had a man dominate you? And I don’t mean like that pussy husband of yours with his demands and moods. I mean the way a
man
dominates a woman with respect and care for her pleasure and safety. Have you ever given up your will to another man so completely that you couldn’t tell where he ended and you began? Have you ever allowed someone to possess your soul because you craved it, but more because you knew with him you’d be safe? I know you want it, Destiny, I can read it in your moans, in the way your body moves with mine. I hear it in everything you say, and I see it when you look at me, right before you come and you’re begging my permission, but do you think you could really handle it? Do you really think you could submit to me?”

Destiny pushed her hair behind her ears, even though it was already there. She searched her mind, trying to find equilibrium. Ronan’s voice alone, either the accent, or the tone, or the combination, was practically lethal, but when that voice says those words, how on earth was a girl supposed to think rationally?

She licked her lips. “Was that a proposal?”

She wanted to make certain he wasn’t just making a pretty speech like he’d been known to do. He smiled up at her and touched her cheek.

“That was very much a proposal. I could teach you, if you’d let me. I could help you find the appropriate place for your submissive tendencies so they would stop fucking with the rest of your life. On top of that, I’d bring you pleasure like you’ve never known. I’d satisfy everything you are until you wouldn’t be able to move.”

“And what do you get out of it?”

So far it all sounded like perfection, but it also sounded entirely one-sided. No man was that selfless, and she knew Ronan sure as hell wasn’t.

“As a natural Dominant, minx, your submission feeds me. It’s difficult to explain or to understand unless you’ve experienced it, but I crave the submission of a strong, willing woman. It’s sustenance for my soul.”

He made it sound like blood to a vampire. It was too much. She couldn’t possibly. She closed her eyes for a moment and remembered what had just happened between them. She remembered all the times they’d been together. She remembered his promise to help her fulfill her fantasies.

“What if it’s too much or I can’t do it?”

“It isn’t something you
do
, darlin’, it’s something you
are.
”

She felt like she understood that on a deeper level than she could rationalize.

“And you see this in me?” She of course already knew the answer.

“You are the most potent combination of strong, kick-ass woman and submissive I’ve ever seen, and I can’t believe my luck in having stumbled across you.” He grinned.

His words were like a pure shot of whiskey, and elation swept through her.

“Is it okay if I agree, even if I don’t entirely understand?”

“Understanding takes time. Taking the first step is a leap of faith, and I have it on good authority, you’re pretty damn good at those.”

She giggled. His words thrilled her. No one had ever recognized that before, and it warmed her heart to hear him say it.

“I think I am.” She beamed with pride, then softened to curl back into his arms.

“I don’t like labels, minx. I think they’re destructive. What we’ll share, what we’ll have, stands on its own and doesn’t need formal definition. I will always respect you, and as I’ve said from the beginning, you ever want me to go, all you need do is say so. Are we clear?” He tipped her chin up so she was looking into his eyes.

“I trust you…and more, I trust
me
.”

“Very good girl, Destiny.” He pulled her tight into his arms.

His warmth seeped into her bones. She felt like someone had uncovered the beginning of an old, decayed path and pointed it out to her. She had no idea where it led, if it was safe, or if it was even passable, but everything in her screamed out to take it, and with Ronan at her side, she knew she’d be safe.

“Yes,” she uttered softly.

It was one word.

But it was the only one needed.

Ronan kissed the top of her head and curled himself around her. Everything was exactly as it should be. It was such a surreal feeling, one she’d been having more and more ever since arriving in Florida. She really had no idea what to expect from Ronan, but what she told him was true, she trusted him, and more, she trusted herself. She could say no if he pushed her too far. She wasn’t going to be a doormat for anyone ever again. Now she simply needed to learn the difference between doormat and submissive, and she assumed that was up next.

Destiny was trying to figure out the numbers on the spreadsheet in front of her, but her mind kept wandering to thoughts of amazing sex with a gorgeous man. She checked the clock on the wall again while she sat at the heavy oak dining room table, papers and books spread all over it so that no one could have had a meal there no matter how badly they wanted it.

It was barely after nine, and Ronan said he couldn’t see her that night until after midnight. She tapped her pen impatiently against the papers before her. She was utterly disappointed that, when she found him earlier to tell him she’d have her place entirely to herself the whole evening, as Max and Austin both had plans that were going to keep them overnight, he told her he wouldn’t be able to make it. She’d been excited to have him over, but he had oh so politely turned her down. Maybe it was silly, but most times they were together it was in his room, and she had wanted to have him in her home for some reason.

Sadly, it hadn’t worked out that way, but at least she was still going to get to see him later that night, and she couldn’t wait. She got up and poured another glass of wine. She had spreadsheets to figure out, and that would keep her busy, easily until midnight. She told Aiden about her plans to turn this one building into more of an apartment setting for people who needed a place to live longer than a week and for whatever reason weren’t able to get a permanent home. As it was, it was half-full already with employees in that very situation.

He hadn’t been thrilled from a business standpoint, but he seemed to understand her need to do this and hadn’t argued, just forced her into figuring out the finances for the project on her own. It felt a bit like punishment, but at the same time he had offered her help and a computer program that was supposedly able to figure all this out effortlessly. Of course, as was her way, if there was a hard way and an easy one, she’d take the hard way every single time, hence why she was sitting there with spreadsheets, pens, pencils and a heavy-duty calculator. She was determined to come up with a way to do this and not put the hotel at risk.

She pulled the sheer fabric of the long blue dress she wore up into her lap as she sat back down, one leg beneath her, and started to stare at the numbers again. She moved numbers from one column to another and looked at the bookings they had coming up over the next three months. It amazed her how many they’d been able to grab. Aiden had gotten her hotel a write-up in a local arts-and-leisure paper, and people had been coming out of the woodwork ever since to hold luncheons, banquets, and meetings.

The knock at the door pulled her attention. She growled as she looked at the clock again and figured it was most likely her sister looking for leftovers.

“Abby, can’t you buy your own damn…”

She smiled. She blushed. She laughed at herself. “Hi.”

“Expecting company?” Ronan had his shoulder leaning on the doorframe. He was, as always, in a faded, worn pair of jeans, but tonight he had on a black button-down shirt, the cuffs rolled back to just below his elbows. She inhaled and picked up the hint of his cologne, rich and spicy.

“No.” She stood back and waved him in. “Come in.”

He sauntered in, carrying a black duffle bag on his shoulder which he placed on the floor just inside the door.

“You look positively beautiful.” His gaze roamed her body all the way to her bare feet.

“I wasn’t expecting anyone.” She fidgeted, fisting her hands in her dress.

She was wearing a very comfortable gown that she loved to laze around the house or pool in, her hair was down, and she only wore mascara. She felt a little self-conscious.

“Then I’m never telling you again when I’m coming over.” He pulled her into his arms, kissing her possessively until she lost all thought.

She loved the way he just took possession of everything she was. It was something that happened in an instant, and his kiss only confirmed it.

“Do you trust me, minx?”

She was coming to love the way he called her that, but a little shiver of apprehension broke free and slithered up her spine.

“Yes?”

He brushed his finger down her nose while she remembered their conversation of the other day, and she wondered if that’s what this trust was about.

“Hmm.” He reached down and grabbed the bag from the floor, then took her by the hand and led her to the dining room. “We may be about to find out how much.”

His smile was positively wicked, and though her nerves were attempting to draw all her attention, her curiosity was winning this battle.

“Can we clear some of this away?” He gestured to the dining table, and she wondered if he’d brought dinner.

“Ronan, I’ve already eaten.”

He started to carefully gather her work and move it to the kitchen bar.

“I’m not here for dinner, minx.”

She watched, her curiosity growing as Ronan carefully cleared off her entire dining table then took one of the chairs and turned it away from the table. He went around the room turning off her lights until they were left with minimum illumination, then pulled open the curtains on the sliding glass door. Any privacy they may have had evaporated with the maneuver.

He came back to her and tugged on her dress. “Lovely.”

She smiled, warm in his praise.

“But take it off.”

Her mouth dropped open. He pushed it closed with two fingers beneath her chin.

“Ronan, I don’t…” She looked into his eyes. He was waiting for her to deny him or challenge him in some way. She closed hers and drew a deep breath, then allowed her gown to pool at her feet.