Auctioned to the Gentle Dom [The Spectrum Auctions 5] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Doris O'Connor

  Logan shook his head and smiled.

  “None taken, as long as you don’t make a habit of it, girl. Carry on, you were saying…”

  “Well, I really don’t want that money. It reminds me too much of my old life, but if I could use it for good. Do you think they’d be interested? I could help out with running the sanctuary and we could expand, and…” She stopped speaking and her cheeks heated under his amused regard. “I’m jumping ahead of myself, aren’t I?”

  “Perhaps a little, but it sounds an excellent use of your money to me. I’ll put you in touch with the right people.”

  “Thank you, Sir, and maybe Jenkins could work there, too?”

  “They’re always looking for help, so I can’t see why not. Now, as fascinating as this all is, my cock and I have other needs right now.” He winked at her as he said that, and pointed to the floor. Lindsey immediately scrambled to her knees to await instructions, and he grinned.

  “Good girl. I want you to crawl up to our bedroom, strip and wait for me there, got that?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He waved his hand and she dutifully crawled ahead of him. He watched her crawl up the stairs, her short skirt giving him delightful glimpses of her wet, bare cunt, before he headed toward the cellar and his toys.

  Time to have some real fun.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Three weeks later, Lindsey smiled to herself as she climbed into her car with Sir’s lunch. She was gloriously happy, so much so that she had to pinch herself at times. They had fallen into a comfortable Dom/sub relationship that extended far beyond the bedroom. While Sir didn’t micromanage her life for her—far from it—she had to fulfill certain obligations. Bringing him his lunch wasn’t one of them, but after a particularly long session in the shower, when Sir had joined her and not only turned her ass a nice shade of red but also given her several mind-blowing orgasms, he’d been running late for work and forgotten the lunch she’d prepared for him the evening before.

  She still got an extraordinary amount of pleasure from cooking for him, especially as he’d admitted that Elena had been no cook. It might be silly, but she had jumped for joy inside at that. Anything she could do for him that his late wife hadn’t been able to made their relationship different and that had to be a good thing. Lately, she’d found Sir watching her with an odd expression on his face, which made her heart beat faster. His eyes shone with some deeper emotion that she hesitated to put a name to, because she’d be devastated if she got it wrong, but nonetheless it filled her with warmth. The fact that he didn’t seem capable of not touching her had a lot to do with that feeling of contentment, too. Little, affectionate gestures that made her feel truly cherished.

  After much discussion, they’d set a date for the wedding, too. It was just two weeks away and would take place in the club, much to Mama’s silent disgust. At least she had stopped scrutinizing Lindsey for bruises every time she saw her, and while she could still be frosty to Logan, she’d relaxed in his presence.

  A black seven-seater car changed lanes abruptly behind her, and she frowned into the rear view mirror. With the blacked-out windows, she couldn’t make out the driver, but the fine hair on her neck rose. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen that car, and coupled with the mysterious silent phone calls she’d been getting this past week, it unnerved her a little. She was probably just being paranoid. After all, there had to be hundreds of nondescript people carriers in London, and last they’d heard Montgomery had left the UK in a huff. He was really the only person she could think of who might want to intimidate her, hence she hadn’t mentioned any of that to Logan.

  Nonetheless she breathed a silent sigh of relief, when she pulled up outside Festher’s Veterinary Surgery and there was no sign of any ominous motor vehicle. Putting all thoughts of Montgomery firmly from her mind, she pushed open the door, crossed the busy waiting area, and smiled at Bridget.

  The older woman looked up, a deep frown on her lined face.

  “He forgot his lunch, would you believe, Bridget? Is he about? Not in surgery right now, is he?”

  Bridget shook her head and lowering her voice, begged Lindsey to step closer.

  “Not anymore, no. He lost a patient today, and telling the family was rather traumatic. He’s in his office, and, well, he’s not in the best of moods. It’s probably just as well you’re here, because he needs cheering up. If he swears at one more vet nurse, I fear we’ll have a mass walk-out soon.”

  Lindsey winced, but forced a smile on her lips for the worried-looking woman.

  “Okay, leave it with me. I see what I can do.”

  “You’re a star, Lindsey. I’ll make sure no one disturbs you, though I don’t think anyone would dare go near him anyway at the moment.”

  “That bad, huh?”

  Bridget nodded and Lindsey pushed through the door marked Private with a heavy heart. No vet liked losing a patient, Logan more so than most. Thankfully it didn’t happen often, but when it did, the dark cloud of depression tended to pull him under and turn him into a bear with a sore head.

  There was no sound to be heard from the door guarding his office, which no doubt meant he was brooding, staring out of the window, like he was wont to do.

  She lightly rapped her knuckles against the wood, and when there was no response, she knocked harder.

  “I told you, I don’t want to be disturbed. Whatever it is it can wait. Go away.”

  The gruff tone of his voice tore at her heartstrings, and ignoring his command, she tried the door handle. As she might have guessed he’d locked it. Before she could announce who she was, the door unlocked and a furious-looking Logan towered over her.

  “I fucking told you I…Lindsey…what are you…”

  Running a hand through his hair in an agitated manner, he stared at her as though he’d never seen her before, and getting on tiptoes, Lindsey dropped a kiss on his jaw.

  “Hello to you, too, Sir. You forgot your lunch.”

  To prove her point, she held up the Tupperware box, containing his chicken salad, and when he still didn’t move, she gave his chest a little shove to get his attention.

  “Are you going to let me in, or…?”

  Wordlessly Logan stepped to the side, and when he locked the door behind her again, a shiver of apprehension crawled up her spine. Her gaze automatically sought out the wedding picture of him and Elena that he kept on prominent display in his office, and she frowned when she couldn’t find it.

  Tracing the spot where it used to stand with her fingers, she eventually turned back around and looked at him. The dark look in his eyes made her heart speed up and her pussy clench, especially as he tugged his shirt out of his trousers and undid his belt buckle.

  “Sir?” That title came out as no more than a breathy whisper. Logan gave her a brief smile and crooked his finger at her in a silent command that had her feet move toward him before her brain had a chance to catch up. A whimper escaped her when he fisted his hand in her hair and, pushing her up against the door, kicked her legs apart.

  “Hands up on the door frame and don’t move, girl.” The deep growl reverberated through her, and she hastily complied as she felt him slide her dress up and out of the way. He grunted at the barrier of her knickers, and with one sharp tug, the delicate lace gave way.

  The sound of his zipper seemed unnaturally loud in the quiet room, and his harsh breaths in her ear made her even wetter for him. A sharp swat to her still-sore butt cheeks made her gasp. This was a side of Logan she hadn’t seen before. He was a man on the edge, his treatment of her much rougher than he normally was, not that her body seemed to care about that one iota. Not when he grasped her hips with one hand, pulled her head back by her hair so he could sink his teeth into the soft flesh of her neck, and pushed into her in one hard thrust that lifted her on her tiptoes. Wet as she was for him, that forceful invasion still hurt, and she whimpered her distress. Logan pulled out of her, only to thrust back in with an equal amount of force that flattene
d her breasts against the door.

  Logan grunted something unintelligible into her neck, as he used her body for his own gains.

  “Sir, please,” Lindsey gasped the words in between the pummeling she received. “Can we talk…I…”

  A particularly hard thrust lifted her off her feet completely for a second, and Logan hit a spot deep inside her that made everything south clench.

  “Yes, that….I…”

  Lust surged through Lindsey, hot, hard, all-consuming, as Logan did that again and again, taking her breath away with every move, until the world narrowed to the feel of his thick cock stretching her, filling her. The wet sounds of their frantic coupling mixed in with her panting in need and his harsh breaths, as they spiraled toward that cliff with wild abandon. When Sir came with a muffled shout into her shoulder, the twitching of his cock lodged deep inside her sent her, too, spiraling into the abyss of pleasure so intense she saw stars.

  Logan’s abrupt departure from her body brought tears to her eyes, and once she caught her breath and pulled her dress back down with shaky fingers, she turned round to find him brooding out of the window. Shoulders tense, he’d pulled his trousers back up again, and he looked utterly unapproachable. Sidestepping her ruined knickers on the floor, Lindsey gingerly made her way to his desk, and snagging some tissues from the box he kept there, she cleaned up as best she could.

  Normally she loved the marks of his possession on her body, the soreness between her legs, the feel of his cum slowly trickling out of her, but right now, she simply felt used, so she couldn’t quite keep the bitterness out of her voice.

  “Feeling better now, Sir?”

  His shoulders hunched higher, and a muscle in his jaw ticked, but he gave no other reaction, and Lindsey barely resisted the urge to throw the heavy paperweight at his back.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, and Logan finally turned around and shook his head.

  “There’s nothing to talk about. I needed to fuck. You were here. We’re all good.” His gaze briefly strayed to the container she’d put on his desk, and his harsh expression softened slightly. “Thank you for bringing me lunch. You didn’t have to do that.”

  He glanced her way again, something indecipherable crossing his features, and when Lindsey stepped toward him, he shook his head.

  “No, you better go. I’m not the best of moods, and I…fuck.” He ran a hand over his face, and when he looked at her again, he had tears in his eyes. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  “A little, but it’s okay, Sir.”

  Logan looked as though she’d punched him in the stomach when she said that. Nostrils flaring, he sucked in air.

  “I’m sorry you lost someone’s fur baby. Was it awful?”

  Logan grew unapproachable again, and Lindsey sighed.

  “You know where I am when you’re ready to talk, Sir.”

  With that she turned round, unlocked the door, and stepped through. She waited outside, just in case he’d call her back, and tears rose in her eyes when he didn’t. It meant she didn’t see Rissa approach in the narrow corridor, and almost ran into her.

  “Hey, Lindsey, whatever is the matter?”

  Sniffling, Lindsey shook her head, and the sympathy in Rissa’s warm brown eyes threatened to undo her composure completely.

  “Oh, dear, you’ve been to see him, and he’s still in a funk, I take it? Don’t take it personally, Lindsey, this has just hit him particularly hard. You see, it was a friend’s dog, a much-beloved pet, and we’d all thought he’d beaten the cancer, but it came back, and…well, the op was always going to be risky, but Duke bled out on the table.” At Lindsey’s gasp, Rissa smiled grimly.

  “Yeah, not pretty, and telling the family was even worse. They’d had such high hopes, and he feels like he let them down. This always hits him hard, and he just needs some time alone. I’ve seen him like this countless times. Just give him some space, and he’ll be mortified by his behavior once he snaps out of it. You just wait and see.”

  If the words were meant to reassure her, they had the opposite effect on Lindsey.

  “Sometimes I think you know him much better than I ever could.”

  Rissa’s eyes widened and she pulled Lindsey into a much-needed hug.

  “No, I don’t. This side of him I know, because we’ve worked closely together for some months now, but that’s all it is. You hold his heart, Lindsey, don’t ever doubt that.” Rissa pulled away when Lindsey shook her head, and the other woman stamped her foot.

  “Yes, you do. Only this morning when he came in and we had our start-up meeting, I saw him move his wedding picture. He put in his drawer, Lindsey. You know better than anyone what that means.”

  A tiny flare of hope broke through Lindsey’s current misery like a burst of sunshine on a rainy day.

  “I did see it wasn’t there,” she said.

  “There you go, chin up. Go home and wait for him. I reckon he’ll come home with a huge bouquet of flowers and eating humble pie.” Rissa laughed and winked at her. “Or as much humility as these Doms are ever capable of.”

  Lindsey did have to laugh at that, and hugging the other woman one last time, she fixed a smile on her face for Bridget’s benefit as she stepped back into the waiting room.

  “Better leave him be a while longer,” she said. Bridget sighed and consulted her computer screen.

  “Right, well, thank you for trying, Lindsey. I’ll clear his schedule for the afternoon, then.”

  “Might be best.” Lindsey agreed.

  The sun was out when she stepped out the practice, but Lindsey paid it no heed as she slid behind the wheel of her car. What now? She couldn’t go home. It would just make her feel even more miserable. Mama was out of town, visiting her sister for a few days, so it was the perfect time to go and spend the rest of the day at the stables with Millie and Jenkins.

  Mind made up, Lindsey drove off, her focus on what was to come and not the traffic behind her. So when she slowed down approaching a traffic light changing to red, the forceful shunt to her rear end caught her by surprise. The seat belt locked, and her head whipped forward, and, dazed, she looked up to find that black people-carrier behind her. Before she could respond, Montgomery appeared next to her car, wrenched the door open, and yanked her out of the car. The glint of the knife in his hand registered seconds before he sliced through the seat belt still restraining her, and Lindsey’s knees made painful contact with the asphalt.

  “Get up, bitch, you’re coming with me.”

  Montgomery pulled her to her feet with so much force it felt as though he’d ripped half her hair out. Scalp on fire and with tears blinding her vision, Lindsey screamed for help.

  “Shut the fuck up or I’ll slice your goddamn tongue off right now.” He let go of her hair temporarily, and shifted the knife to her throat. Adrenaline coursed through her at the threat, and remembering her self-defense basics, Lindsey balled her hand into a fist and punched him straight in the balls. The knife nicked her delicate skin, but she spun away from it and tried to scramble away while Montgomery gasped for breath.

  “Help, someone help!”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her scream had brought some hooded youths sprinting toward her. One was on the phone and the other shouted.

  “Oi, let the bird go, you tosser.”

  A brutal yank to her hair pulled her back toward Montgomery, and she got a brief glimpse of the insane rage in his eyes before he punched her straight in the face. Blood filled her mouth as she bit through her tongue, and Lindsey hit the ground. Her head hit something hard, excruciating pain radiated up from the base of her skull, and then nothing but blessed darkness.

  * * * *

  Logan sat at his desk, fingering Lindsey’s ruined knickers, fighting a tension headache. What the fuck had he been thinking, treating her like that? She’d have every reason to hate him after that performance. Fuck, he hated himself. The haunted look in her eyes…

  Logan picked up his phone
to ring her and promptly put it down again. What he had to say, he had to say face-to-face. Perhaps it was better to wait until they both had a chance to calm down and she would be more receptive to his apology. Then, when he told her he—

  His mobile rang at the same time as his desk phone and he frowned when he picked it up to see Mike’s number. Why on earth would Scarlett’s sub be ringing him at work? Bridget shot through his office door as though the hounds of hell were after her, and his confusion grew.

  “Sir, you need to answer your phone, now, there—”

  He put his hand up to shut the woman up and glaring in her direction swiped his phone to answer Mike.

  “Dr. Festher, is that you?”

  The fine hair on his neck stood to attention at Mike’s professional-sounding greeting, especially as he could hear the sounds of a busy police station in the back ground. It sounded as though Mike was ringing from the front desk, and he wasn’t ever on duty there.

  “Yes, Mike, it’s—”

  “Officer Mike Anderson, here, sir.” Again Logan frowned at the formality, and a growing lump of apprehension settled in his gut like lead. “I’m afraid there’s been an accident, sir.”

  “Accident?” Logan croaked that question, wanting to strangle the other man for his fucking formality. “What sort of an accident, and why are you ringing me? Damn it, Mike, drop the act and tell me.”

  “One moment, sir.” Loud rustling at the other end later and then Mike’s concerned voice was back.

  “I shouldn’t be doing this, Logan, but it’s Lindsey. She’s—”

  “What about her? Is she all right?”

  “She’s not good, Sir.”

  Pain slashed across Logan’s chest, and he dropped the phone, staring into space. No, this couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t lose her, too. The universe wouldn’t be that fucking cruel, would it? Over the rushing in his ears, he registered Mike’s voice almost shouting down the phone at him, and then Rissa was there, picking up the phone and speaking to him.