by Lund, S. E.
That sent a surge of desire through me. "I'm sorry," I said, feeling small. "She's very attractive."
"Kate," he said, his voice indulgent. He shook his head, smiling. "There's nothing to be jealous of. It's you I want. It's you I love."
"She's going to be your student?" I said, my jealousy slowly waning, growing smaller and smaller with each passing moment. "You'll work with her every day?"
Drake shook his head. "She came here to learn robotic surgery. That's what I'm teaching."
"So, you'll work with her."
"Kate…" He rubbed his eyes and exhaled heavily. I could tell he was getting upset, his earlier amusement replaced by frustration. "This isn't like you."
"I've never been face to face with one of your former lovers before. My green eyes got the better of me."
"I love your green eyes," he replied, his voice low. "But you have no reason to be jealous. What happened to make you feel so insecure?"
I shook my head. "It's nothing. I'm sorry," I said, and stopped myself.
"No, tell me. Complete openness, remember?"
I sighed. "When I was in the washroom, she came in with Camille and I overhead them talking about you. Sam said I was a mousy little thing and that you could do a lot better. That's what happened."
"What?" he said, shaking his head. "You are not mousy. You've got chestnut brown hair with gold highlights. You've got wide green eyes. A hot little body and make-me-delirious breasts. And I couldn't do a lot better. You're the best. The crème de la crème. Seriously. This is the wine talking."
"In vino veritas," I said, holding up my glass. "In wine there is truth. Isn't that how the saying goes?" I took a long slurp of my wine. I knew it was more than I could handle normally, but I was already past the point of no return.
"You want the truth?" Drake said, his voice quiet, deep.
I nodded and leaned in as if to hear a secret. "The honest truth, yes. Tell me, Drake. What is the truth?"
"The truth, Ms. Bennet," he said and leaned even closer. He brushed the backs of his fingers against my cheek, and then touched the scar on my bottom lip. "The unadorned truth is that I was thunderstruck that night I met you and found out who you were."
"Thunderstruck?"
"Yes. When I bumped into you at the bar, I wished that you were a sub because I thought you were perfect. Petite. Lovely. So sexy in your little black dress. Nice rack."
He grinned at that and I couldn’t help but smile back.
"Then, when I found you at your father's apartment with your knees all bloody, I thought you were a lovely little thing, one of the hired help, who coincidentally happened to have been at the same bar as me. Ethan always kept Katherine away from everyone so I didn’t think you'd be at the fundraiser. I didn’t know you were her."
I frowned, the word 'thunderstruck' bouncing around in my mind. "What does that mean? Thunderstruck?"
"I was struck," he said, a slow smile spreading on his mouth. "By the lightning bolt, as the Sicilians call it."
"The lightning bolt?" I repeated dully.
"If you read Puzo's The Godfather, you'd know that word. Michael Corleone was struck by the lightning bolt when he first saw Apollonia – his future wife. That's how I felt when Dave introduced you. I thought you were delicious looking when I first saw you, but when I learned you were Katherine… Thunderstruck. Completely infatuated. I felt actual physical despair because I couldn’t imagine that you'd be a sub and so we'd never be able to get together. Then it was you with Lara… I was smitten, Kate, and it's only become more intense the longer we're together."
It finally seeped through to my wine-fogged brain what he meant.
"Thunderstruck, hmm?" I said, my jealousy and hurt fading away, replaced by warmth for Drake and a feeling of complete and utter disgust with myself for being so petty.
"Yes, thunderstruck. I still see women, of course, but to me they're pale shades in comparison to you. You're Katherine. My delightfully disobedient and un-submissive sub-in-training. My delicious little morsel of womanhood. Who," he said when I turned my face away, my cheeks hot. "Who understands my love for Africa. Who cries during musical performances. Whose heart I'm still trying to win completely." He took hold of my chin so that I had to look into his eyes. "The love of my life."
"Oh, Drake…" Tears stung in the corner of my eyes and I felt so stupid. "You have won it."
"No, I haven't. If I had, someone's cruel and incorrect words wouldn't matter. You wouldn't be jealous."
I slipped my arms around his neck and squeezed him.
"I was worried you'd grow bored with me and she'd be there, waiting…"
"What?" He pulled back and frowned, then shook his head slowly, a frustrated grin on his lips. "How could I grow bored with you when I've barely trained you? You've barely submitted to me. I didn't think you really wanted it, so I haven't pushed. I've totally indulged you, Kate. If I wasn't in love with you, you'd be regularly on your knees to me, saying nothing, complying immediately with my smallest demand – unless you wanted a good barehanded spanking."
"If I did want to submit more, would that make you happier?"
"No, no," he said, inhaling deeply. "I'm happy with you the way you are. I don't want to change you. I want to know what you need, and then I want to give it to you exactly the way you want it. I still haven't determined how much of a submissive you are. How much dominance you need from me to be completely fulfilled. It'll take time but we have the rest of our lives."
I smiled and brushed a strand of hair from his eyes. "You really need a haircut, but I think I prefer you with your hair a bit longer."
He smiled back. "If you like it longer, that's the way it's staying. We aim to please." With that, he grinned wickedly, his eyes twinkling, and I knew what he was referring to. "You have no reason to be insecure. I'm yours completely, Ms. Bennet. What more must I do to prove it?"
"Nothing. Forget it." I sighed. "I'm tired and excited and feeling a bit vulnerable. That's all."
"We have the entire weekend to spend together. Once we find a house, we can spend some time alone or we can do some furniture shopping. Whatever you want. I promise. Tomorrow, I'm all yours. Every single inch of me." He said that with a grin, emphasizing inch. I knew what that meant.
I leaned my head against his shoulder. He knew exactly what to say to make it all seem so right. He pulled me more deeply into his embrace and I started to relax, a feeling of warmth spreading through me. He kissed me, slipping his tongue between my lips briefly, before leaving me to rejoin Michael and his resident. Claire was quick to return and sat beside me once more, taking Drake's place.
"Everything OK?" She smiled at me.
"Yes," I said lightly.
"Good. Let's go. I'm going to take you out to my favorite African fast food restaurant."
I nodded and stood, adjusting my skirt, and taking my bag. As we left the room, Drake glanced back at me, touching his lips briefly as if in a kiss. He smiled and the gesture sent a thrill through me. But I couldn't help notice how attentive Sam was, watching us both closely. She was smiling slightly, as if she was happy to be working with him again. I couldn't help it – I had these visions of her changing her mind about kink, seducing Drake, and of them getting together. She was a neurosurgical resident. Right up his alley. It made sense that people in the same field fell in love and got married. I wasn't in his field at all.
I bit back my jealousy, which rose up from somewhere deep inside despite everything Drake had said moments earlier, and left the club, following in Claire's perfumed wake.
Claire and I grabbed some chicken from a fast food restaurant in downtown Nairobi before she drove me back to the hotel. We ate in the room and then she said goodbye, promising to take me shopping on a day she had off, show me where it was safe to shop and where to buy food.
I Skyped my father before eleven as I had promised, so he got it before he went to his club, letting him know we'd arrived safely and were in our hotel. He seemed preoccupied w
ith his nomination business and looked a bit tired, but it was very early back in Manhattan.
I spent the rest of the evening alone, surrounded by the opulence of the hotel, watching cable television news, reading the daily paper. Then, I had a long bath, preparing myself in case Drake was in the mood when he returned. I didn’t expect he would be because we'd both had such a long day with the trip and the mixer, and he'd spent hours at the hospital, but just in case, I wanted to be ready.
Drake was late coming home. I was in bed reading a paperback I bought in the airport when I heard the hotel door open.
"There you are," I said when he entered the bedroom. He came right over to the bed and leaned down to kiss me. "Sorry I'm so late on our first night in Nairobi," he said as he started to undo his tie. "The patient decompensated and we had to go in and operate to remove a subdural hematoma to relieve pressure on his brain. Poor kid. Don't know why parents don’t put their kids in proper car seats. If they saw what I saw on a regular basis, they'd never get in a car without one."
I put my book down. "That's so sad. Will he be OK?"
Drake shrugged as he removed his cufflinks and unbuttoned his cuffs. "If he survives the night, his chances are good. The next few hours will be critical. It was nice to be in surgery again, but I was exhausted, so I was glad I was only watching." He finished undressing and then went to the bathroom where he washed his face and brushed his teeth.
When he was done, he turned off the lights in the rest of the suite and crept into bed beside me.
"I'm exhausted. Go ahead and keep reading if you want, but I have to crash."
"No, that's fine," I said and put my book on the nightstand. I turned off the light, a bit sad that he wasn’t in the mood. I slipped back under the covers and lay in the darkness. Drake snuggled closer to me, his arm around my waist.
"You know I wish I could fuck you, Ms. Bennet," he said, a note of humor in his voice. "But I'm afraid I'd fall asleep in the middle and since I'm such a deep sleeper, you'd be trapped beneath me all night and suffocate…"
I smiled in the darkness. At least he still had his sense of humor. "Don't worry," I said, biting back the small tinge of disappointment. "I can wait. I went a whole year without sex before I met you. What's one night?"
"Oh, God, one night is far too long…"
He pulled me more closely against him and sighed heavily. He kissed my neck, my jaw and then my lips.
"Tomorrow. I promise. I'm going to make you come four times. You're going to be sore, and so satiated that you beg me to give you a break."
I smiled and buried my head in his shoulder. He kissed me softly and then stroked my cheek. "Goodnight, my love," he said.
"Goodnight."
Then I turned over so that he lay behind me, one hand around my waist, the other hand beneath my breast. In mere minutes, I could hear he was asleep. I lay in the darkness, his warmth permeating my body, and thought about the evening. Despite being tired from all the wine, I couldn't fall asleep, the image of him in such an intimate pose with Sam at the party, how she'd leaned in close to him, all smiles, touching his arm, plaguing my mind's eye. She was beautiful, smart, and was a surgeon. She'd had sex with him before. She'd be with him more than I would be during the next few weeks while he shadowed Michael at the hospital.
I had to trust Drake that he truly wasn't interested in her. It was nothing.
CHAPTER TWO
We slept in late, and when I woke, Drake was lying beside me, facing my back, one arm curled under his head, a pillow on top to block out the light. Despite the chill from the air conditioning, he was uncovered, his body so beautiful in the morning light.
I stretched and slipped out of bed, careful not to wake him. I went to the bathroom, showering quickly. Then, I brushed my teeth and slipped back into bed beside him, my back still facing him. I pulled the sheet over my naked body and lay with my eyes open, unable to fall back to sleep, wondering what the day would bring and what Drake had planned. He'd been to Nairobi several times over the years and knew the city pretty well, thanks to the good hosting skills of Michael and Claire. He knew the tourist traps and the local hangouts. As usual, I felt in good hands with Drake. So competent. So in control.
Long moments passed as I waited for Drake to awaken, and finally, I heard the sheets rustle and he slipped his arm around me and pulled me against his body. Immediately, my body warmed at his touch, the warmth from his bare skin on mine.
"Good morning, future Mrs. Drake Morgan."
I smiled and lay on my back, turning to look in his face. "You mean Ms. Katherine McDermott, future wife of Drake Morgan, M.D."
"You're not going to take my name?" His voice was light, but there was a note of hesitancy in it. Drake was always so playful, I wasn't sure if it was mock or real.
"We never really talked about it." I watched his expression. "I always swore as a modern feminist that I'd never take on a man's name if I married."
His eyes were hooded, the slightest smile on his lips. "You don't appreciate patriarchal traditions?" I could hear barely suppressed mirth in his voice.
"I'm not a possession."
He said nothing for a moment and I waited, my breath held. The mood in the room had chilled suddenly.
I exhaled finally. "Do you want me to take your name?"
"Of course. As my slave, you must take on your master's name…"
I frowned and stared in his eyes. Then, he burst out laughing and tickled me. I squirmed under this touch, and giggled uncontrollably.
"I'm kidding," he said. "I always assumed you'd keep your own name so I was only playing around when I called you Mrs. Drake Morgan. It's the most formal thing I could think of at the time."
When he stopped tickling me, I took in a deep breath.
"I'm serious, Drake," I said and reached out to brush a hank of his hair from his eyes. "What do you want?"
"I want you to be mine completely, but that's more a matter of the mind and soul. A name is just a name and if you don't feel it, taking on my name would mean nothing."
"I thought you wanted me to remain my own woman. Those were your words."
He exhaled. "Of course I do. But one who gives herself to me completely. That's what marriage is. Complete and total exclusion of all others. We are each other's property. No one else's."
I nodded. "I will and I do."
"Good. Whatever you decide about taking my name is fine, as long as you marry me." He pulled me closer and kissed me softly on the lips. Then he pulled back. "Hey, no fair! You already showered and brushed your teeth."
I grinned and slipped my arms around his waist, nuzzling his neck, kissing the skin beneath his ear, enjoying the smooth skin of his back beneath my hands. "Early bird gets the fresh breath."
He tickled me again and I squirmed, laughing as I tried to wriggle away from him. Then he rolled out of bed and strode to the bathroom, his morning erection delicious looking. I felt a twitch in my groin at the sight of his naked butt through the bathroom doorway as he stood at the toilet. He had such a wonderful body, his muscles smooth and well-defined, but he wasn't too cut so that he looked like granite, like some bodybuilders. He had some flesh on his body, the way I liked it.
"How often do you work out?" I called from the bed.
He turned to the sink and washed his hands. "Before I met you? Couple times a week. After I met you? Zero. I'll have to use the university weight room and track if I don't want to become a fat old man."
"You'll never be a fat old man, Drake. You're too conscious of your health. Besides, I saw pictures of your father when he was in his fifties. He was still well built and trim. You'll be like him."
"Hope so."
He turned on the shower and stepped in. When he was done drying off, he returned to the bedroom and practically jumped onto the bed. He crept over and lay on top of me, his hair still damp and hanging in his eyes, his thick black eyelashes wet and clumped together. His body weight feeling very delicious, the touch of his naked skin
on mine arousing me even more, a twitch between my thighs, a surge of desire in my body.
"I hope you're not teasing me, Doctor Morgan," I said, my voice a bit breathless, "Coming back here still wet and naked and lying on top of me. I hope you intend to follow through."
He pulled away, an expression of mock-affront on his face. "Whatever could you possibly mean, Ms. Bennet? Me tease you? Not follow through? I would never be so cruel…Don't I always finish what I start?"
"You do. You always please me. I hope I always please you as well."
"You do," he said and kissed my shoulder. "But there is one thing I’d like to try that I haven’t."
My eyes widened. "And that is?"
He grinned evilly and pressed his lips next to my ear. "Big." His lips brushed my cheek, his tongue slipping out to touch my neck.
My eyes widened. "Oh, God…" I burst out laughing at that.
"Kate, don’t laugh at my desires," he said, his face suddenly serious. I immediately felt very bad for having laughed at his confession.
"I'm sorry," I said and touched his cheek. "I told you already that he won’t fit so it would be a waste of time."
He stared at me without moving.
"I tried, believe me," I said, not wanting to ruin the mood.
"You had orgasms with it."
"Yes, but that was purely clitoral," I said. "I never got him inside."
"I could get it inside of you." His eyes were half-hooded.
"No, I don’t think so. You haven't seen it. Waaay too big."
"You want a friendly wager?" he said, his voice slightly husky. "I'll bet you three free orgasms that I can get Big inside of you and make you come when I do."
I looked at him, my mouth open. I narrowed my eyes. "That's a win-win for you because you know you'll give those orgasms regardless. Besides, it would hurt."