by Deena Patel
“You’re welcome.” Arya blew me a kiss.
“Girls, as soon as we’re done, I’m going to talk to Thomas. I should never have waited so long. He’ll make sure our security is as fail-safe as possible. If the current embezzlement is somehow linked to what Dad was involved in, then this is bigger than the three of us, and our contacts, can handle.” A tremor of terror coursed down my spine as I remembered my nightmare from last night.
“The minute I confirmed the accounts existed, I sent in a request to our liaison at Regala Enterprises for a complete overhaul of the protection surrounding all of our families.”
This was getting worse by the second.
“I can’t believe you did this without telling me. The man who owns the company is sitting in the other room. Don’t you think he’s going to hear about it? Dammit, Mil. How do you think Thomas is going to react when he finds out his head of security knows more about what’s happening in my life than he does?”
I stood up as a throbbing started in my head, and paced.
“I’m sorry, Carm.”
“No, it’s not your fault. I should have told Thomas after my encounter with Christof at the gala. I’m scared and feel like a fool. I’ve spent so many years being angry at Dad and now I’m part of the same shit.”
Arya sighed. “For the record: You didn’t orchestrate this and you are nothing like your father.”
I moved to the fridge in my office and pulling out a water bottle. I opened the bottle and gulped it down, hoping my headache would lessen.
Returning to my desk, I stared at the worried faces of my best friends.
“Carm, mera behna. We’ll figure this out.” Arya’s eyes clouded with unshed tears.
My own slipped down my cheeks. “We have to, Ari. Our children can’t live with this legacy. Oh God.” I covered my face. “What’s Thomas going to think?”
Until that moment, I focused on security; now all I could think about was how our relationship was going to survive another embezzlement scandal.
“He won’t turn his back on you.”
“How do you know? He said he’d stand by me, but this isn’t something distant like an aunt who Dad swindled. It’s the woman he’s sleeping with, the woman he said…he said he wanted to marry.”
Arya and Milla glanced at each other, not hiding the surprise of my words.
“Because, I know,” Arya countered. “He loves you. He told me that himself.”
“There’s a difference between love and wanting to be together.”
“Of course he wants to be with you,” Milla chimed in. “What man submits to his woman because it’s what she needs, over what he needs, and then turns his back on her when she needs him most?”
“Carm, stop preparing for the worst. Trust in him. He won’t ever let you down again.”
I glared at them, trying to ignore their insight into my relationship as well as the hope it brought.
I squared my shoulders, inhaled deep, pushing my emotions back, and decided to stop speculating. “It’s worthless to discuss this at this point. Thomas doesn’t know what’s going on.”
Milla frowned but kept her mouth shut.
“Now to the important matter at hand. We need to get Thomas, Max, and Lex in the loop on what’s happening. Anything that involves us affects them. Then once we each get our asses handed to us, we regroup here at my penthouse.”
“Oooh, look at her being all businesslike.” Milla grinned, and the tension of the call eased. “Good job locking down those emotions.”
I couldn’t help but follow suit. My change of mood was a bit amusing, even to myself.
Arya sighed. “I suppose coming to New York makes the most sense, especially since we house everything and anything to do with MCD on the servers in the building.”
I followed her sigh with an exasperated breath. “It’s okay, Ari. I traveled by myself with seven-month-old twins across an ocean. I think you’ll be fine on a thirty-minute helicopter flight to my place.”
Milla busted out laughing and pointed to Arya. “She has you there. It’s not as if Max isn’t going to be with you.”
“Whatever,” she said, glowering. “I’m glad I’m available to lighten the mood.”
“Okay, ladies, time for me to wake the sleeping tiger.”
“Bye, love you. And remember.”
I waited for Milla to finish.
“Trust him.”
Nodding, I ended the call. I stood and walked over to the window that overlooked the harbor, and released a deep breath. No matter what I hoped, the past was always going to follow me, and now something new was sitting on my plate.
“Carmen, I taught you to deal with your childhood; now you have to learn to work through the pain all of us deal with as adults.”
Natalie’s voice echoed in my mind. She was right. I couldn’t let the past dictate how I lived my life or worry about what I couldn’t control. The first thing I had to do was talk to Thomas. If he accepted all the chaos around me, then I’d know there was real hope for a future.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Twenty minutes after my conversation with the girls, I walked toward the living room. The video chat with the girls and our discussion about Christof’s message had left me exhausted and worried, so I decided to freshen up in my room before I faced Thomas. Midway through washing my face, I realized the girls were right. If Thomas and I were going to have a remote chance of getting to where Thomas wanted us to go, I needed to give him the trust that I expected of him.
My breath hitched as I rounded the corner and looked out at the balcony. Thomas leaned against the railings on the half wall, staring out into the distance at Central Park. He’d rolled his sleeves up and undone the two top buttons of his shirt. He talked on his cell and drank a dark-amber-colored liquid.
God, I wanted to lick him from head to toe.
He turned as if sensing my presence and stared at me through the glass doors. His Dom gaze bored into mine.
All my worry and anxiety pushed to the back of my mind as arousal flooded my pussy. I pressed my thighs together, hoping to relieve the unexpected desire.
What was it about him that made my panties wet with one look?
The slight lift of his brows told me he knew what was happening to me.
He crooked a finger, telling me to join him, and without thought, I walked outside.
As I came up to him, he moved back, and I stepped in front of him. He caged my body and continued to listen to the person on the other end of the line.
“I said I’ve got it under control.”
Thomas pushed me against the railing, rubbing his growing erection into the small of my back. He pulled the phone away from his head and whispered, “Hold on tight, and no matter what I do, don’t let go.”
What did he have planned?
I gripped the concrete ledge as the excitement of the unknown filled me. I knew I should stop this, I was the Mistress, I gave the orders, but the need to see what he would do overwhelmed me.
After I’d settled my palms against the wall, he placed the receiver back against his ear and spoke. “No, I wasn’t aware of that. Give me the details.”
He trailed his hands down my stomach and pushed my yoga pants down to my knees. I looked around and saw the balconies of other buildings. Various people were engaged in different activities, from breakfast to workouts, to others gazing at the city’s skyline.
“Did you get a chance to watch it? What did it say?”
A hand came around my waist and slipped into my underwear. His fingers found my wet slit, and a hum rumbled in his throat.
Holy shit, he was going to fuck me outside, and anyone with a telescope would be able to see us.
“Send me a copy and any other information you discover,” he said as he found my clitoral nub and pinched.
I held in a scream as my core contracted. I clenched the wall, trying to keep my balance. The sting vibrating through my body felt so good. No other man made me enjoy the pain
as much as I loved inflicting it. He eased the pressure, giving me a chance to catch my breath.
But before I regained my focus, he pinched again, making my pussy quiver. I threw my head back against Thomas’s shoulder. My chest heaved, and my mind clouded with nothing but the desire for more.
“That’s new to me,” Thomas said to the person on the line.
He ground his cock against me and repeated the motion a few more times until I couldn’t hold up my legs anymore. His phone slipped, and he readjusted it on his neck and then gripped my body.
He slipped two fingers inside my weeping pussy and scissored them. I arched and cried out.
“Oh, that’s nothing to worry about it. Carmen stubbed her toe. Tell me the rest.”
What? Who is he talking to?
Before I could ask, he started working my pussy. My juices dripped out of me and down his hands. A spasm shot through me, and another followed.
Fuck. I wasn’t going to be able to go over without screaming. The contraction ignited, and my orgasm washed over me. I bit my lip to keep from making a sound, but a loud moan escaped.
My chest heaved as I came down, and his hand slipped out from between my legs. He pushed my underwear down, and the sound of a zipper lowering reached my ears. The next thing I knew, the head of his cock was thrusting inside me.
My fingers dug into the concrete of the railing as he pumped in and out again. My sex sucked him deep, and the ridge of his erection rubbed the sensitive bundle of nerves inside my tender passage. Tingles coursed through my entire body, and I began to shake.
“So the three of them were up to something without telling us?”
What? The haze I was in cleared for a second. Was he talking about the girls and me?
He thrust back in, pressing me tight against the wall.
“Yes, I believe I need to have a conversation with your sister. I’m sure you can handle Arya, and Lex will have Milla covered.”
Max? He’s fucking me while talking to Max.
My temper flared, and I pushed him, but he gripped my hair, tugging it back, and the glare he gave me said he was pissed.
“Fine, let me finish what I’m doing, then I’ll review the request with Alan.”
Thomas tossed his phone on the lounge chair behind him and then slid a hand over my stomach and up to my neck. He held me immobile. His body stilled with his cock pulsing inside my aching, swollen pussy.
“Now, Ms. Dane,” he gritted out. “You’re going to tell me everything that’s going on in your life or I will have so much detail surrounding you, you won’t be able to piss without someone being there.”
“Right now? I can’t talk right now.”
The throb of his cock in my pussy kept away any ability to discuss anything.
“I’m not moving until you tell me what’s going on.” He released my hair, and his hand came around my front. He slid a finger to each side of my screaming clit, pressing his digits together until I couldn’t breathe from the delicious pleasure-pain holding my body in a torturous state of arousal.
“Please, Thomas, fuck me first. Then I’ll tell you everything,” I begged.
He slammed into me and we both grunted. “Why won’t you trust me?”
“I’m trying,” I cried, squeezing my pussy muscles to keep him inside.
He pulled out and then surged forward as the palm holding my throat tightened and his fingers clasped a little harder. “Why won’t you give us a real chance?”
“I’m trying,” I repeated as tears rimmed my eyes as my skin prickled with fire, and all I could think of was his fucking me until I passed out.
“Bullshit. Prove it.” He started pummeling my sex, not holding back any of the anger and hurt I knew lingered underneath. “I love you. It’s my job to protect my family.”
“I know,” I conceded. “I’ll tell you everything. Just fuck me right now.”
We didn’t have any more words as our bodies took over.
His hold on my throat intensified, and my mind clouded. “Is this what you want?”
“Yes,” I gasped, and held on to the railing, letting him ride my body with abandon.
My pussy throbbed and demanded its release. I met Thomas thrust for thrust, pushing my hips back against him. All of a sudden, we both shattered, my pussy gripping his cock, milking it for every drop.
“Mine. You are mine.”
“Yes,” I moaned.
“Who is your Master?”
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t tell him that. I wasn’t ready.
“Who is your Master?” he repeated as he pumped the last of his release into me.
“Please don’t,” I begged. I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t.
“Dammit, Carmen, why won’t you submit, even when your body begs for it?”
Thomas pulled out of me, leaving me empty, and I sagged against the balcony. He walked away from me without a backward glance.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I steadied my breath, trying to make sense of what had just happened between Thomas and me. I tugged up my thong and pants, ignoring the sticky wetness between my legs, and glanced through the glass doors behind me.
Thomas stared at me with a sadness that made my heart clench. One hand was in his pocket and the other held a braided keychain, which he rubbed back and forth with his thumb.
My lips trembled.
I’d given him that during the weekend in North Dakota where we’d conceived our boys. It was also the first time that I’d given him complete submission. I’d allowed him to take charge of all things, calling him my Master.
He’d offered me so much last night, letting me push him past anything he’d ever experienced before. I wouldn’t lie to myself and say I wasn’t frightened and excited by his reaction afterward. Deep down I desired to submit to him as much as I enjoyed his submission, but by handing over that power, I was leaving myself open to having my world shatter again.
I turned, walking over to where Thomas had thrown his phone. I picked it up and turned it over in my hand.
If only Max had waited a little longer to call. Oh well, it was time to deal with the consequences of keeping Thomas out of the loop.
I moved to the balcony door, opened it, and stepped inside.
“Thomas. We need to talk.”
He didn’t acknowledge me, continuing to gaze out the window.
“Thomas. Do you want to hear about what’s going on with me or not?”
He glanced to the side and glared at me.
“Stop scowling. I need you to stay calm when I tell you this.”
“Stay calm! You told Milla to send orders to Alan about your protection before talking to me. The man in the very fucking next room. And on top of it, the request is for teams to monitor all properties belonging to you, Arya, and Milla, as well as doubling personnel to each of your private details. Something has the three of you scared shitless, and you didn’t come to me. So don’t you dare tell me to stay calm.”
Well, I technically hadn’t told Milla to do anything, she’d done it herself, but I was going to keep that to myself. I was almost positive she was in just as much shit as I was.
“Thomas, I promise I was going to tell you. Max got to you before I could come out here and start the conversation.”
“Goddammit, Carmen. You’re mine. Those boys are mine. It’s my job to make sure you’re safe. Do you know what could have happened to you at the gala if Christof decided to force you to go with him?” Thomas paced. “You should have told me about the incident, not Max.”
“I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say. This whole thing about keeping it quiet was a mistake from the beginning.
“That’s not good enough. I will not let our boys grow up without a mother as we did. Now, if I were you, I’d start talking, and you better give me every microscopic detail.”
I was willing to take the heat for keeping things from him, but the hell if I’d let him dictate to me.
I stalked over to where Thomas
stood, and poked a finger into his chest. “I’m not your submissive or your child. You don’t get to order me around.”
Thomas grabbed my wrist. “When it comes to your safety, I am your goddamn dictator. Max shouldn’t be the one telling me about this.”
I tried pulling my hand free, but he held it tight. “Your brother is worried sick. While the three of you spent the last hour and a half plotting, twenty of my top men and women showed up at his estate. Not to mention the ones sitting one floor below us waiting for my instructions. Instructions I had no idea about.”
I cringed inside. “I didn’t expect security to move in so fast.”
“How could you even question it after all that’s happened these past few years? The minute a request comes from any of you, it’s top priority.” He glared at me. “Especially ones that come regarding the mother of my children.” The vein on his forehead pulsed.
“Thomas, I’m sorry. I should have talked to you from the start. My only excuse is that I was trying to understand what was actually happening with Christof and didn’t want to add more confusion to our relationship.”
“The confusion is only on your part. I know where I stand and what I want. You need to catch up.”
I scowled at his statement and then sighed. How could I fight about something when I knew I was wrong?
Thomas cupped the side of my face. “Now tell me about the money.”
A lump formed in the pit of my stomach. “Max and his big mouth. I wanted to talk to you on my time.”
“Too late.”
I pulled out of his hold, pacing backward until I reached the couch and sat down.
Covering my face with my hands, I looked up at him. “You better sit down; this is going to be a lot to take.”
As soon as he followed my instruction, I began. I told him about the initial finance discrepancies, the meeting with Christof, the e-mail. Then what the girls and I had concluded. He remained quiet for the most part, only asking questions when he needed clarification. By the time I was finished, I felt raw and completely exposed.
“Thomas, I don’t expect you to believe me, but I had nothing to do with any of it.”