by Sky Corgan
“Well, it looks like we'll have plenty to eat for the rest of your stay,” he joked, brushing past me to set the bags in the kitchen. I could only assume that we'd be eating what he brought the next day.
“How was work?” I followed behind him.
“Long and stressful. If someone had told me in the beginning that being a lawyer was going to be this hard, then I might have chosen a different career.”
“Of course it's not easy.”
I sat Liam down and made him a plate before joining him at the dinner table. The smile on his face made me want to never leave. Everything I did, he appreciated, the same as he always had.
“So, how did it happen that you ended up in my bed last night?” Liam asked the question I had been dreading answering all day long.
“It's been so long since I've been here.” I changed the subject.
“Yes, less than a month is an awfully long time to be away,” he teased.
“Does that mean you wish I would have stayed away longer?” I shot him a playful glare.
“Well, if a few weeks away will make you lose your way and end up in my bed, then I wonder what a few months will do.” Liam glanced up at me as he took a bite of asparagus. “All joking aside, though, what was that all about?”
“Oh, Liam,” I sighed. “It's really been . . . I don't know.”
Even though I knew I shouldn't disclose too much, I ended up pouring my heart out. I told him everything. Not surprisingly, by the time I finished talking, Liam's face was red with anger.
“You stay with me. That's what you do,” he said as if it was the only option.
“You know I can't. Both of our families are depending on this marriage.”
“I don't understand why they can't merge without the marriage. This is 2017 after all, not the old days where arranged marriage was common.”
“I think it's mainly a trust thing. I don't know. Both of our parents are old-fashioned.” I had lost my appetite, but not before I devoured all of my asparagus and most of my steak. It was the first real meal I'd had since before the BDSM school.
“Don't they even care what you want?”
“No. They don't,” I replied plainly.
“So, what are you going to do? As much as I want to force you to stay here, I know I can't.”
“I guess I have to go back.” I shrugged, standing to take both of our plates to the kitchen since neither one of us seemed to be in the mood to eat anymore.
“I don't understand why you'd want to go back to someone like that. It sounds like he wants to corrupt you.”
“Maybe he does. Like I said, I don't know.”
“I mean, do you even like the guy?”
“He's not all bad.” I felt a knot forming in my stomach. Talking about Jack with Liam made me incredibly uncomfortable.
When I was done with the dishes, I went to take a shower and change into my pajamas. Then I curled up next to Liam on the sofa to watch television.
“Over five hundred channels and nothing on any of them,” he commented as he flipped through the channels, looking for something we'd both enjoy.
Liam paused on one of the adult channels that was playing a BDSM special. My stomach turned at the sight of a woman who was bound to a St. Andrew's Cross. A man in a full leather outfit was slapping a riding crop against her nipples.
“So, this is what he wants to do to you, huh?” Liam asked.
“Change it, please.” My voice was small and uneasy.
“Why? If you go back to him, you'll have to learn about it sooner or later.”
“Well, I'm not with him now.”
Liam kept his eyes on the television. The woman whimpered with each slap across her breasts, and I couldn't tell if Liam was enjoying watching it or not. “I could teach you, you know?” he suggested.
“What?” My eyes widened in disbelief, hoping he was joking.
“That's what he sent you away for, wasn't it? So you could learn to be like that girl?”
I hesitated, “Well, yes.”
“I can teach you, if you want. It wouldn't be much different than learning it from a stranger. In fact, it would be a lot safer.”
“What happened to you being worried about Jack perverting me?” I smirked at him.
Liam's expression was serious. “If he's going to send you off to learn such inappropriate things, then I'd rather it be with someone that you know and trust.”
“You know it wouldn't work out.”
“Why? Because you wouldn't want to go back to him.” The look that he gave me was incredibly intense, and I felt weak beneath his dominant gaze. Slowly, he leaned forward, and I was so captivated by him that I couldn't move. Liam's lips touched mine with a softness so sincere that I knew he could never inflict pain upon me. I should have rejected him, but my mouth moved of its own accord, worshiping his lips as he gently placed a hand behind my neck to draw me closer.
It felt like forever before he pulled away, leaving us both breathless. Almost instantly, I regretted my actions. That wasn't a kiss between two best friends. It was so much more, and I knew that it couldn't happen again.
In a second, I was on my feet. I had to get away from him, lest I was drawn in for another heated kiss. My body desired him so much at that moment—and my heart even more. If I stayed with him, it would destroy everything.
“Melita,” he called to me as I rushed into the guest bedroom, grabbed my cell phone, and dialed Jack's number.
“Where were you? I tried to call you earlier.” Jack sounded agitated, but I ignored him.
“I need to come back to New York tonight.”
CHAPTER THREE
It was beginning to feel like I spent more time in airplanes than on solid ground. Back and forth, here and there, I was really racking up the frequent-flier miles. I could only hope that this would be my last time on a plane before I got married—if I even was still going to get married.
Life was so uncertain. Between things going horribly wrong with my fiancé, and my overwhelming feelings for my best friend, I was beginning to wonder how much my family's ambition really mattered to me. We had more money than we could ever possibly need. It was just greedy to want more, especially for them to be willing to sacrifice me for it.
I came to the conclusion that things could only go one way. Either Jack would agree to teach me about BDSM himself, or we wouldn't marry. No more sending me off to strangers. No more pushing me into Liam's arms.
As Jack had feared, we had already started off on the wrong foot, and I wasn't sure how to fix it, or even if it could be fixed. All that we could do was try at this point. But if he wasn't willing to give, then neither was I.
Jack's bodyguard greeted me at the NYC terminal, and I did my best to smile. This man wasn't the one that had wronged me, and he deserved none of my discontent. I would save that for Jack.
When I stepped into the limousine, Jack was waiting for me. It wasn't like the first time when I was excited to see him. This time, all I felt was dread. He kissed me on the cheek and told me that he missed me, and at that moment, I realized that the sentiments were not returned.
“We need to talk,” I began, my voice showing no signs of warmth.
“I'm sorry about the school not going well,” he apologized. “It's important that you be able to please me—”
“Oh shove it,” I cut him off. “You pretend like this marriage is all about you. Well, it's not. You don't realize how hard this has all been for me. I had to leave my home, a life that I love, a man whom I love, just to come be with you.” The words came out as sharp as daggers, but the only person they were cutting was me. It sounded like a stranger's voice, telling me of all I had lost. “And now you want me to become some sex puppet just so that pathetic little shit between your legs will be happy.”
Jack's mouth was agape when I finally finished, and I wanted nothing more than to jump out of the moving vehicle and end it all. There had been no filter between my mouth and my brain when I spoke. I had los
t all politeness, all the courtesies that had been painstakingly ingrained into me throughout the years, and now, I wasn't sure what was going to happen.
“I'm . . . I'm sorry,” Jack stuttered, not knowing what else to say.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. “If you want me to learn BDSM, you're just going to have to teach me yourself. There's not going to be anymore sending me off.”
“Alright,” he agreed finally. “You seem really upset right now. Let's just get you back to my parents' house, and we'll talk about this more tomorrow.”
When Jack's parents greeted me at the door to their mansion, I tried to show them the utmost respect. Luckily, it was late, and no one was in the mood for conversation. With a quick goodnight, I went up to the guest room and laid across the bed, just wanting to sleep so that I could start the next day anew.
During the daytime, I did my best to play the happy charade around Jack's mother. She didn't ask why I had returned so early from my 'vacation,' and I was thankful. Apparently, I was entitled to the same level of discretion they gave Jack.
When Jack got off work, he swung by the mansion for a family dinner. I was quiet, as usual, observing more than I was speaking. Nothing seemed to have changed since I was gone. Jack and his father talked about business, while Jack's mother wanted to discuss my wedding dress, which she had taken the liberty of picking out herself.
I could not care less about the wedding. All I wanted was for it to be over so that I could go back to college and continue on with my life, pretending that Jack was somehow a part of it.
After dinner, Jack asked me if I wanted to go back to his place for a while. Part of me wanted to say no. I was scared of what he wanted to talk about after my outburst in the limo. My courage had sailed away on the morning breeze, and all I had been left with was numbness. Still, I knew that discussing what had happened was unavoidable, and it was better to get it over with so that hopefully the awkwardness between us could die down a bit.
I stared out the passenger's side window of the Lamborghini as we drove to Jack's mansion, avoiding conversation as best I could. He made some comment about the weather, and I grunted in reply, knowing that my childish actions were only adding to the tension between us.
When we got to Jack's mansion, he walked me inside to the living room. “Would you like something to drink?” he asked.
“Water,” I replied, taking a seat on one of the plush recliners.
Jack returned with two bottles of water, handed one to me, and then sat down on the sofa across for me, running his hand through his hair, looking more nervous than I had ever seen him before. “You're still pissed at me, aren't you?”
I sighed. “I don't know.”
“I really thought that you would learn something from the school,” Jack began, and I could tell that he didn't know where he was going with it.
“I did learn something from the school. I learned that you don't know anything about me, and that you didn't care to learn anything about me before you sent me there.”
“That's not exactly what I meant.” Jack scratched the back of his neck. The pained look on his face was exquisite, as if he would rather be anywhere else than discussing this with me now.
“I also learned that this arranged marriage isn't as important to me as I once thought it was.”
“Melita, I'm sorry. I don't know how many times I can say it. Why don't we start over? You're going to be my wife, and we need to make this work.”
“Jack, aren't you the least bit worried that we're going to get married, and you're not going to be happy? That neither one of us are going to be happy? Doesn't that bother you at all?”
“Of course it bothers me.” He leaned back against the sofa. “I want this to work out for us—want us both to be happy.”
“Then how do we get there from here? Because I'm not happy, and I know that you're not happy either.” My tone softened.
“I don't know.” He shook his head in frustration. “I'm not used to . . . girls like you.”
“And I'm not used to guys like you, so that makes us even. We need to find some middle ground.”
“I know. What do you suggest?”
I thought about it. “Well, tell me what's important to you, and I'll tell you what's important to me. Maybe we can start from there.”
“I'm not sure what you mean.”
“Well, for instance, you said that me learning about BDSM is important to you. But it's important to me that you be the one who teaches me. I'd also like to know why it's so important to you. You've been incredibly vague.”
“It's not something I like talking about,” Jack admitted.
“I'm going to be your wife. That means not keeping secrets from each other.”
“It's just.” He sighed, running his hands through his hair again. I could tell that even mentioning it made him uncomfortable. “Would you be open to having sex before the wedding?”
“Yes, but only if you're willing to tell me.”
Jack nodded, avoiding my eyes as he contemplated it. “Alright. I'll tell you after we have sex.”
A ball of nervousness began to build inside my stomach, wondering when he would actually want to have sex. The thought of sleeping with him before the wedding was a bit daunting, but if it helped to strengthen our shattered relationship, then I was willing to give it a go. Even though I wasn't particularly pleased with Jack right now, I still found him incredibly attractive, lust-inducing even.
“Jack, how many girls have you been with?” I asked curiously.
My question seemed to startle him, and he hesitated before answering, “Four.”
There was no way that was an honest answer. Jack Kemble, multibillionaire sex symbol who dated dozens of Hollywood starlets, couldn't possibly have ever only had sex with four women.
“Really?” I couldn't hide the disbelief from my voice.
“Really.” He was dead serious. “Does that make you feel any better about me? I'm sure you think I'm vile and impure.” His eyes darkened.
“I never said I thought you were vile and impure.” I tried not to be offended.
“What do you think of me, Melita Rickard?” Jack pierced me with his gaze, and I knew that the mood for the rest of the evening depended on what I said next.
I searched for the right answer, but nothing came to mind, so I decided to go with honest instead, whatever the consequence would be. “I think you're one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen. I think you're charismatic and kind. But I also think that you're not as confident as you let on.”
He smirked. “You're a good judge of character. Now, let's take care of that virginity problem.”
I wasn't sure if I was ready, but I had already told Jack that I wouldn't make him wait, so there was no point in postponing it. Quietly, he stood and offered me his hand, and I allowed him to lead me down the hallway to the dungeon. For a moment, I thought about hesitating, but when he opened the door, I stepped inside, taking in the disconcerting ambiance.
Everything was exactly how I remembered it. Not a chain had been tampered with, or a paddle removed from the wall.
I turned, and my breath hitched as I realized that Jack was standing right behind me, so close that we were practically touching. His blue eyes enveloped me as I looked up at him, and before I could even remember to breathe, Jack's lips were touching mine. His kiss was surprisingly sweet and gentle for all his unpleasant intentions, and I found my body relaxing.
“Are you scared?” he asked after pulling away.
“No.” I couldn't tell if I was lying or not, but I chose not to be afraid.
“Good.” Jack pushed my long black hair away from my shoulders and urged me to tilt my head so that he could kiss my neck. The fluttery kisses that he placed on my skin were soft and affectionate, far too delicate for a man who only wished to inflict pain upon me.
His hands fell to the front of my blouse, and he began unfastening the buttons one at a time. I stood, frozen like a statue,
trying to enjoy Jack's touch but so overwhelmed by the suddenness of everything that was going on. When my blouse was fully unbuttoned, I helped to shrug it off onto the floor. Without hesitation, his hands went to unbuckle my belt next, and with that task finished, he unfastened my jeans.
“Take your shoes off,” Jack whispered before stepping away from me.
I watched him undress as I slipped out of my ballerina flats and pulled my jeans down the rest of the way. Jack's lean muscular body was appealing to the eyes, hairless and fit. While he wasn't broad like Liam, I found his swimmers build very attractive.
There was no shortness of loving kisses as our bodies came together. The only thing separating us was our undergarments, and I could feel Jack's cock pressing hard against his boxers.
He reached around me and unclasped my bra, pulling it down over my arms and tossing it haphazardly onto the pile of my clothing. I felt no shame being exposed to him, though I still yearned for the warmth of his body to cover me.
For a moment, Jack stared at my naked breasts, and I blushed, though I wasn't sure why. It was still hard for me to believe that he had only been intimate with four other women, but if it were true, then that would explain the look of appreciative wonder on his face.
I gasped as Jack wrapped his arms around me and hoisted me into the air, burying his face between my breasts while he carried me to a black leather upholstered saw horse in one corner of the room. Lost in the moment, I ran my hands through Jack's hair, enjoying the feel of it between my fingers as I tilted my head back, fully exposing myself to his torrent of lustful kisses. He fondled my breasts roughly, teasing my nipples between his fingertips while he took turns with them, sucking and lapping.
“Oh, Jack,” I whispered, wanting so much more.
To my disappointment, he pulled away then, rushing to grab some padded manacles that hung from the ceiling. I watched curiously as he came back to me, pulling them along. Jack grasped my wrists one at a time and fastened them into the cuffs.
“I'm going to raise you up,” he explained.
“Alright.” I was too excited to object. While the idea of learning BDSM from the school had been daunting, learning it from Jack was somehow arousing. His lessons seemed purely hands-on.