Your To Take - Connaghers 03 (7 page)

Chapter Eight

As soon as she stepped outside into the waiting room, Jesse
shot to his feet. He rushed toward her, hovering close but hesitating.
As
though I might rebuke him.
She wrapped her arm around his waist, and he
collapsed against her, his shoulders shaking.

She rubbed his back in gentle circles. “What’s wrong?”

“Please don’t send me away!”

“Of course not. That’s why we’re here. Victor’s going to
help me so I can take better care of you.”

“He didn’t tell you to get rid of me?”

Victor let out a low, rumbling chuckle. “I expected you to
know Vicki better than that, Jesse. If you tell her to do something she doesn’t
want to do, you’d better have a good head start on her.”

Clutching her tighter, Jesse didn’t laugh. Throat aching,
Vicki pressed her cheek to his. “Nobody’s going to take you away from me unless
you want to go.”

He drew tighter, vibrating with tension, pressing his body
against hers desperately, because Victor had stepped closer. Victor reached out
and gripped Jesse’s chin, forcing his head up to met his gaze. She had to bite
her lip to keep from jerking Jesse away protectively. Victor knew exactly what
he was doing, not fumbling around in the dark like a scared novice.

“My family is the most important thing in the world to me.
If you’re hers, then that makes you mine too.” Smiling at the stunned look on
Jesse’s face, Victor released him. “She’ll protect you, and I’ll protect her.
There’s no reason to be afraid of me, because she’ll tack my hide to the side
of VCONN if I even think about hurting you. Welcome to the Connagher family,
Jesse.”

He straightened, his eyes flaring with surprise. “What?”

“She told you to call her if you needed help. So now you can
call me too.” Victor offered a business card. Hesitantly, Jesse reached out to
take it, as though he thought her brother might snap his head off. “That’s my
personal number. Tomorrow, we’ll sit down and talk about what kind of job you
may want, although…”

Dark eyes gleaming, Victor turned to Vicki and she groaned
out loud. “I know that look, V. What are you thinking?”

“Let’s go upstairs and talk to Shiloh. I think we might be
able to do something very interesting indeed to launch your line.”

“I don’t even know what I’m going to call it yet.” She kept
her arm around Jesse’s waist as they walked out of Victor’s office and headed
for the elevator. Nobody looked at her strangely, least of all her brother. It
simply felt so good to touch Jesse, to feel him against her side and see the
light in his eyes every time he looked at her. “I still need to design the
signature gown. I had a new idea for Jesse today, but I never planned to
include men’s wear.”

Victor opened the door to his penthouse suite and waved them
inside. “That actually fits into what we’ve been talking about.”

“What have we been talking about?” Shiloh Holmes—soon to be
Connagher—rose as they entered the main living room.

It was impossible not to smile when Shiloh entered a room.
She brightened the area around her and lightened everyone’s spirits, but most
of all, Victor’s. The hard edge of gloom in his eyes that had made Vicki worry
for him so much had softened into the same kind of glow that came into Mama’s
eyes anytime she talked about Daddy, even though he’d been gone for years.

“Your idea for building interest in Vicki’s line.”

Victor took his fiancée in his arms and kissed her with so
much passion that Vicki had to turn away for a moment. Unfortunately, she
turned toward Jesse. As though he felt the power of her gaze, he whipped his
head around. His eyes gleamed, deep, inviting pools of blue-green. She started
to drown in conflicting emotions. Desire. Worry. Fear. Her heartbeat thudded in
her ears and she swayed, unconsciously pulling him closer.

At Mal’s booming hello from the hallway, Vicki jerked back,
her cheeks heating. She couldn’t even seem to control herself in front of other
people. Meanwhile, Jesse took one look at the statuesque black woman and darted
behind Vicki. His palm burned through her shirt, heating her back.

Mal took one look at the man hovering at Vicki’s back and a
huge smile broke across her face. “I knew it.” She hugged Vicki and gave him a
slap on the shoulder. “Good for you, hon. If you need help housebreaking him,
you give me a call.”

He muttered beneath his breath. “I’m not a dog.”

With a low, wicked laugh, Mal stepped around her and leaned
in close to Jesse. “If I tell you to heel, you will.”

He tipped his chin up and broadened his stance, but he
didn’t take his hand off Vicki’s back. “No, I won’t. Not for you.”

A sharp thrust of emotion tore through her. Rage, jealousy,
she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she didn’t want Mal touching him, or
Jesse doing anything for her. She moved closer to Jesse, putting her body
between them. “He’s mine.”

“Of course he is, hon,” Mal drawled, not at all fazed by the
sharpness in her voice. “But do you know what he likes? Can you take care of
his needs, whatever they are?”

She started to open her mouth, but Mal cut her off.

“If he needs you to put a collar on him, strip him naked,
and force him to sleep on the floor at your bedside, can you do it? If he needs
you to pick up a paddle and whip him until he can’t sit down, will you do it?
And that’s just getting started.”

Vicki felt him hovering at her back, nervous, yes, but
terribly eager, his muscles tight, his heat rising until her own shirt stuck to
her skin. Her stomach churned with anxiety. Her mind felt jammed full of
images: Jesse naked, bound, begging, helpless, crying, screaming…
for me
.

A shudder wracked her shoulders. “Do you need stuff like
that?”

He pressed his face against her neck, burying his nose in
her hair. “I don’t know.”

But his erection burned like a steel rod against her ass.

She lifted her gaze to Mal’s face, thoroughly prepared for a
smug I-told-you-so look, but the other woman only nodded solemnly. “People
think it’s all fun and games being a Dominant, but it’s not. We have a huge
responsibility not only to keep the submissive safe but to also learn what they
need and then, we have to
provide
it, no matter what that need requires.
It’s your job to help him find out what he needs. You have to push his limits,
explore his fears and his desires, and those desires will not always coincide
with yours. If you care about him, you’ll make sure he gets those needs met.
Your boy claims he doesn’t know what he wants, but I guarantee he’s got a few
things in mind that will knock you reeling, and you haven’t even gotten started
yet.”

Shaken, Vicki turned her attention to her brother, checking
to see his reaction. He nodded as solemnly as his friend, his eyes dark and
grim. “When I first met Shiloh, she scared me shitless.”

“Aw, poor baby.” Shiloh turned away from her glowering
Master and offering a hand to Jesse. “Let’s all get comfy before we scare the
big bad Dominants too much. By the way, are you a model?”

He took a hesitant step toward the other woman, but stopped
to check Vicki’s reaction. “No, I’m not a model.”

She tried to smile for him, but her lips felt too tight and
cold. He sat beside Shiloh, who pulled Victor down on the sectional beside her.
Jesse nodded and answered whatever questions they asked him, but he kept an eye
on Vicki. She had a feeling that if she tried to sneak out of the room, he’d
throw himself in her path and wrap his arms around her legs.

What the hell have I gotten myself into?

“More fun than you can possibly know right now,” Mal said.
At the look on Vicki’s face—she hadn’t meant to say anything out loud—Mal
laughed. “You’re scared right now and rightfully so. We’ve all been there. But
the way that boy looks at you… Honey, you’re going to have a wonderful time
exploring each other’s limits. He’d cut off his own dick if you told him it
offended you.”

“I don’t want that kind of responsibility.”

“Too bad,” she replied in a breezy voice, locking arms with
Vicki to lead her over to the couch. “You’ve got responsibility in spades now.
I’ve got a package of literature I’ve been saving up in case you ever called.
We can stop by my office on the way out. Besides, you’ve got nothing to worry about,
not with the best Mistress and Master of Dallas sitting here ready and willing
to answer any question you can possibly throw at us.”

“Later.” Shiloh sat forward, her eyes bright with
excitement. “Jesse’s agreed to do a commercial for you on VCONN.”

“What?” Vicki narrowed her gaze on him. “I don’t like that
idea.”

He paled, but Shiloh snorted, unworried about her
hesitation. “He’s gorgeous, Vicki. Why on earth wouldn’t you use him?”

“That’s exactly why. I don’t want to
use
him.”

Everybody looked at each other for a few seconds and then
burst into laughter.

Victor fought to contain the grin twisting his mouth.
“That’s sort of the point, Sis.”

“Use me.” Jesse ground out, his voice harsher than usual.
His eyes glowed with heat and Vicki forced her gaze to remain locked on his
face and not wander lower. “I’d love to help you in any way I can. Shiloh has a
great idea to promote your line, and it’s something I can do for you. I want to
do this so bad. Please, Vicki, use me.
Please
.”

When he begged like that, a warm ripple of desire crested
inside her. She took a deep breath and concentrated on pushing that need away.
“I haven’t even heard the details yet.”

“I’ve received at least three calls a day—and up to as many
as ten or more—since I wore your gown at our premiere of
America’s Next Top
sub
. So, build on that interest. Build on the success of our show and
create a very hot commercial in that theme.”

“My line is for professional business women. You know, stuff
we could wear to the office, not…”

“Latex and leather?” Shiloh smiled, not offended. “Look, I
get what you’re saying. I don’t wear BDSM to work, either, and I work for the
sexiest cable channel in Texas with the meanest Master at its helm. Think about
that dress you created, though. How sexy it was without being blatant. Nobody
knew that the unusual back had been designed specifically because Victor likes
to leave his V on my back. Nobody knew his marks were hidden beneath the
material, until he chose to give them a peek.”

“And look at yourself, hon,” Mal said. “Ever since I’ve
known you, you dressed like a lawyer. Conservative and stylish, but with a
little flare that said nobody had better take you for granted. Nobody at your
firm suspected you might be a Dominant, but we did.”

“I still don’t know why you could see it and I had no idea.”

“Didn’t you?” Victor kept his voice soft, but his eyes
drilled into her, demanding the truth in that annoyingly protective—and
right—big brother way of his. “You never felt like something was lacking? You
weren’t bored by the standard dating scene? Even with Elias, didn’t you wonder
why you two had to fight so much, even in the bedroom? Because don’t tell me
you two were slow and tender lovers.”

She tried to be nonchalant, but she was afraid her emotions
were as transparent as a window sheer. “I can be tender.”

“So can I, but it’s usually after I’ve used my riding crop
on Shiloh. What do you need before you can be tender, Sis?”

Vicki stared at him and hoped she didn’t look as stricken as
she felt. Her heart hammered and sweat tickled between her breasts.
Making
love to you has always been like wrestling a hungry crocodile.

“That’s for her and Jesse to figure out, later,” Shiloh said
firmly. “Right now, we need to define the angle for the commercial. Do the
other items in your line have a sexy or BDSM component that we can flirt with?”

“Not really.” Vicki rubbed her temple to ease the pressure.
Stress headaches were a bitch, and right now she had so many worries and ideas
crowded inside it felt like her skull was going to explode. “The gowns are all
sexy, and even the business wear is stylish with a twist, but BDSM? I wasn’t
thinking about that angle at all. Sort of like my life, I guess. I was too busy
being a professional business woman to think about anything else.”

Gentle hands closed on her shoulders. Jesse had slipped off
the couch to stand behind her. His long fingers kneaded carefully yet with
enough power to remove the kinks from her muscles winching tighter as her blood
pressure mounted from the stress.

She closed her eyes and sank into the exquisite feeling of
having someone take care of her. Elias wasn’t a touchy-feely kind of guy.
Giving back rubs or holding hands while watching a zombie movie weren’t things
that would even occur to him. Touch by touch, Jesse was insinuating himself
into her life, making himself indispensable.
Necessary.

The thought probably should have scared her to death, but it
felt too damned good to worry. She hadn’t had to ask. She’d never have to ask
for Jesse to do something like this, some small deed to take care of her and
ease her burden, because he’d known, and he hadn’t waited for permission.

Relaxing in the feel of this man’s hands gliding over her
shoulders, she saw Jesse dressed in the elegantly old-fashioned formal shirt
with full sleeves and large cuffs. Remembering the way his eyes had gone dreamy
when she’d mentioned her brother’s collar, she mentally corrected the design by
adding an elaborate cloth about his neck. Not a tie, but a cravat. One that she
could take off.

One that I can tie him up with.

Her eyes flew open. “I’ve got it! Do you have a scarf I can
borrow a minute?”

Shiloh disappeared into the bedroom and returned with a
ladies scarf. “It’s silk, which isn’t ideal for bondage, if that’s what you’re
thinking of.”

Accepting the scarf, Vicki stood up and turned around. She
didn’t have to tell Jesse to come to her. He saw the invitation—the order—in
her eyes. Immediately, he came around the couch and halted in front of her, his
eyes bright.