The Seduction of Destiny Rhode [The Seduction 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (26 page)

“Did he put you on that cross thingy?” Cassidy’s eyes lit up.

“No. This wasn’t that type of place. It was more, well it was a house first of all, and there were a bunch of rooms… Honestly, I didn’t see that much of it. Ronan and I played a scene on a veranda, that was about it. Although I did meet another man there who was…he was interesting.”

Christian De La Vega was more than just interesting. He was charming and charismatic, but for whatever reason, Ronan seriously didn’t like him, and she hadn’t felt last night was the time or place to push him for more information.

“What kind of scene?” Cassidy was practically drooling.

Destiny felt heat creep up her neck, and she looked away. She wanted to tell her, she
needed
to tell someone, but it felt so awkward.

“We had sex, sort of…” She chewed her lower lip considering how much detail to give her. “Ronan had these other men fuck me while he watched, then I…well I…”

She had to consciously take a deep breath.

“I gave him oral, and there were a bunch of other people around watching and…oh my god I cannot believe I did that!”

She was smiling, though, even today, the morning after. She honestly had no regrets. It had been the most intriguing and fascinating and satisfying experience she ever had, and it was with Ronan. She’d never regret anything she did with him.

“Wow! Oh my god that is…” Cassidy placed her hand over her mouth.

“Too much?” Destiny cringed.

“No…I mean if you’re comfortable sharing, I’m good with listening. Aiden and I had a threesome once.” She beamed.

Destiny giggled like a silly teenager.

“Oh my God!”

“I know.” Cassidy smiled as if she were waiting to be crowned Miss America.

“Why do you think it is that sex seems so complicated?” Destiny flopped back in her chair. “I mean, I was raised to be a good girl, don’t get me wrong, this is
so
out of the box for me, but good God, Cas, I
loved
it!”

“I know. When I met Aiden, I hadn’t had sex in more years than I’d like to admit.”

“Me, too!” Destiny’s cheeks blazed with heat. “I mean with Ronan!
Not
Aiden…oh my God.” She covered her face with her hands, but Cassidy only laughed.

“I sort of figured that’s what you meant, Destiny.”

“I’m so embarrassed.” She shook her head.

“You just told me you were gang fucked in public, Destiny, and the confusion on Aiden embarrasses you?” Cassidy laughed more. “You’re right, sex is complicated, and we’re so hung up on it in our culture. I’ve traveled through Europe a lot since Aiden and I got together. There are so many places there where sexuality is simply embraced as part of the human experience. It’s beautiful. Aiden and I once went to a bathhouse in France where—” She blushed furiously. “It was nearly an orgy. It was so awesome.”

They both broke into another bout of laughter. It was beyond fantastic to be able to share like this with someone. Destiny didn’t realize how much she had needed it. She pushed a little further.

“Ronan is a Dom.” She stayed quiet waiting to see if that was the thing that would push things into
too weird
territory.

“I have a good friend who’s a sub! Her name’s Anne. You’d love her! Oh my God I should call her and have her and…well, ah…her Dom, come visit!”

That was the second time she’d gotten weird like that. As if there were some information she simply wasn’t permitted to share. It made her curious to know who and why, but she let it go. Whoever Anne’s Dom was couldn’t matter anyway, but she did like the idea of getting to meet another sub.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be all cloak and dagger, it’s just her Dom, he’s in the public eye so their privacy… it’s delicate and I’m not overly good at keeping my mouth shut all the time.” She laughed.

“It’s okay, no worries, I’d love to meet her, though. Honestly, Cassidy, this is all so confusing for me. I’ve never thought of myself as anything other than a good little girl who lays still on a Saturday night and lets hubby have his way… Okay, not quite that bad, but close! Then I meet Ronan, and he brings out this whole other side of me, and I
love
it.”

“And Ronan is definitely yummy!” She looked over her shoulder quickly then back to Destiny. “And if you ever breathe a word of that to Aiden, you know I’m throwing you under the bus on that one!”

She laughed, and Destiny joined her. She had never in her life shared such an easy connection with another woman. This was what she’d always hoped for with her sister, but never happened.

“This is so nice, Cassidy. Unexpected, but really nice. Thanks.”

Cassidy smiled and shrugged.

“I’m loving this, too. I don’t really know anyone here after all. If I’m honest, I’ve been sort of lonely and at loose ends.”

Destiny suddenly felt awful for not including her sooner. It was just so awkward with the whole Aiden thing.

“Hell, if I had known we’d get along so well, I’d have thrown Aiden over for you first day!”

More giggling erupted.

“I need to go see Ronan. I think I hurt him before. I just got so scared of how deeply I feel for him, and I know he’s leaving, I just…”

“You’re afraid of having your heart broken.” Cassidy gave her a soft smile that said she truly understood.

“Yeah.” There didn’t seem to be much more to say on that.

“Well go see him then. We can work out the report when you’re done. It’s not like I don’t have plenty to keep me busy…although…”

Something sparked in her eyes, and Destiny recognized it immediately. They both started laughing again.

“I’ll go find Ronan. You go find Aiden. We’ll reconvene later, much happier and sated women!”

“Oh my God, we’re terrible!”

They both stood, still laughing.

“I know, it’s kinda awesome!” Destiny hugged Cassidy, knowing the relationship between them had just shifted into something unexpected and wonderful, and she always loved it when that happened.

She left the office, nerves a bit rattled. She’d been so short with Ronan earlier, and he hadn’t deserved that. She needed to make this right with him. She’d gone into this affair with her eyes open. It wasn’t his fault her feelings were changing, and she would never ask him for more than he already told her he could give. She’d be a big girl and deal with her heart when he left, but in the meantime, she intended to enjoy every decadent moment he’d give her!

It didn’t take long to find him. He was on the ground floor of the one building they hadn’t opened for guests yet, and he had his shirt off and a sliding glass door in his hands as she walked up. The place was deserted of guests, of course, but there were about twenty of his men all working on one thing or another and the sound of power tools would make it very difficult to have this conversation.

“Ronan?” She waited.

She watched him swing the glass door around and lean it against the exterior wall of a room.

“Yeah, Des, what is it?” He was so cold it hurt her some. After the intimacy they shared the night before, she wasn’t sure she could go on hiding what she felt for him or what he meant to her. She was the one that had made the rules though, so it wasn’t fair to whine about them now.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” She waited, feeling rather conspicuous.

He sighed. “Just a sec.”

She waited while he talked with three of his men then he walked over to her. He placed his hand at her elbow and guided her around the corner and out of view from the activity going on in the interior courtyard.

“What’s wrong?” He seemed tense, and she began to reconsider this conversation entirely.

“This is a bad time. I’m not sure what I was thinking.” She tried to pull away only to have him reach out, push his hand into her hair and hold her captive.

“Is this about last night?” His tone was firm and lacking of any tenderness.

“No…not really.”

He released her. “Look, Des, this is just supposed to be fun, right? If it isn’t any fun for you anymore, no hard feelings.”

She was crushed.

“Are you…”
Breaking up with her
wasn’t the right turn of phrase, but she couldn’t think of any other way of putting it.

“You don’t want to see me anymore? Did I do something wrong last night?” She hated the needy edge her tone took on.

“Des, I already told you how pleased I was with you, but this kind of thing’s not for everybody. If you want out, you’re out.” He shrugged.

She stood there staring at him in disbelief.

“And you could walk away just like that, no big deal?” She didn’t want the answer, but she needed to hear it nonetheless.

“Sweetheart, I told you, I fuck ‘em and leave ‘em. If you aren’t having fun anymore, then it’s run its course. No big deal.”

She couldn’t breathe for a moment, but she refused to let him see how much pain he was causing her.

“Yeah.” She was dizzy. “It was more than…I mean now that I’ve had time to think about it.”

Her heart was shredding as she stood there agreeing with him while every piece of her wanted to tell him the truth, that it wasn’t too much, that it had been the night of her life and if she lay in his arms every night for the rest of her life, she’d consider herself the most blessed woman in the universe.

He reached forward and kissed her cheek. “Des, it’s fine. I’m a big boy. We had fun.”

“Uh-huh.”

She stood there staring at him in complete disconnect. How had this happened?

“Look, I’ve gotta run. We have a big day of installs.” He started to back away from her.

“Right.” She was reduced to one-word answers in fear that if she tried anything more, she’d either burst into tears or beg him not to leave her, and neither was acceptable.

“Destiny, seriously, no big deal. Okay?” He sounded reassuring.

“Sure.”

He turned and walked back toward the construction, leaving her there reeling. She couldn’t feel her feet, didn’t think her legs worked anymore, and the pain rising up from the deepest parts of her was more than she could bear.

She wanted to fall on the ground and wail in agony, but she couldn’t. She had to get out of there, but she couldn’t go back to her suite. One of the boys may be there. There was no place.

She started to move, simply away, no intention of where to go or what to do. She only knew that she had to get someplace alone, crumple to the floor and cry until her soul was empty.

Ronan threw back another boilermaker and wondered how he had fucked over his entire world so spectacularly.

“Give me another.”

Karissa put her elbow on the bar and leaned her cheek into her palm.

“Ronan, I don’t know you, but I am a good bartender, and you’re startin’ to look a little green.”

“Don’t make me disrespect a lady, darlin’, just give me another drink.”

He was in no mood for pleasantries and was thankful when she walked away without arguing with him. He couldn’t take his eyes off Destiny standing across the lobby. She wore a basic black dress with a plunging back, sleeveless and accentuated with hits of green in the belt and shoes. Her hair was up as always, and he had an enormous craving to go dishevel it. Although he had to think her horse’s ass ex would disapprove. Although with the way Oscar had been hanging on Destiny all week, riling him up was the least Ronan wanted to dish out.

Even from across the room, he could read her body like he was playing her beneath his finger. Her subtle cues rang loud and clear, and he didn’t like how relaxed her body seemed tonight in Oscar’s presence. When her mother and her ex showed up at the hotel originally, she was tense, upset. He was pretty certain she’d been crying the one time he’d found a lame excuse to make contact with her. She hadn’t reached out to him, though, and that was the thing that was killing him tonight.

“Come on, I’m taking you back to your room.” Aiden tried to grab his arm, but Ronan slid out of his hold at the last second.

“Son of a bitch. Who made you my daddy?” Ronan moved down two seats.

“Ronan, she doesn’t need you making a scene. We’ve got too many guests in here tonight.”

It was true. Over the summer her resort had really come together. Probably better than she had even dared to dream, and he was so damn proud of her.

“I’m not making a scene.
You
are!” He looked around for Karissa, who he was assuming at this point was the one who’d ratted him out, but the coward was nowhere to be found.

“Fine. No scene. Let’s just talk.”

Aiden took a seat in the barstool beside him. There was a small group of college-aged kids playing pool, and six or seven other tables filled with guests, and about half the spots at the bar itself were full as well. There was a woman sitting at the piano in the foyer playing some god-awful piece of classical music, and a line of about thirty people waiting to check in. His heart swelled with pride for all her hard work. The place was a far cry from where it had been that first day he walked in and found it a graveyard.