by Lilia Moon
Gabby looks horrified. “You need a dress.” She turns to Emily, appeal written on every line of her face. “All the weddings are in fine shape—please tell me we can take Scorpio shopping.”
This is going to be entirely out of control in about another millisecond. I hold up both hands. “Stop right there, people. Nobody’s dressing me up for this thing.” I’m not even sure I should go. I have shit to figure out before I walk into Harlan’s world again. Especially in anything resembling a dress.
Gabby and Emily both start talking at the same time—but it’s Leo who gets my attention, quietly and very insistently. His hand is back on my arm, and this time I can feel the Dom in him. “He’ll need you there. Whatever you need to figure out, do it with him.”
I glare at him, but there’s no heat in it. “I so need to have a chat with Sam.”
He leans back, devilment in his eyes. “He’d love to take you shopping.”
Gods. “Shopping doesn’t fix anything in my world, no matter what the rest of you think.”
Gabby looks like she wants to distract me with cookies until the nice men with the little white pills get here. “I don’t mind helping you, if you want. Leo found me this beautiful purple dress. It’s retro and it curves in all the places I do and I can’t wait for you to see it.”
Cripes. I can’t let her go alone. She’s way too freaking sweet and edible. “I’ll find something, okay?” I have a whole closet full of punk-rocker stage gear that would make Ari drool if she ever laid eyes on it. Something in there will work.
I’ll slide the skin of the old Scorpio over top of the one who got birthed in Harlan’s lap yesterday.
Just until I figure out who she is.
Chapter Forty-Two
Harlan
I feel like a Martian at a football game. This place even smells like somewhere I don’t belong.
I scowl at the perky woman in pink headed my way. There’s just no way I need help from anyone who looks that cheerfully annoying. I give her a look that would have any sub at Fettered scampering the other way.
She keeps coming, entirely unfazed by the thunderclouds on my face. “Hello, and welcome to Pretty Things, Seattle’s best boutique lingerie store. Do you need something for the special lady in your life?”
I can’t even begin to answer that. “I’ll just look around, thanks.”
She looks like she might cry any minute. “We pride ourselves on helping you pick out just the right option. Can you tell me a little about her? Size, modesty preferences, favorite colors?”
I know exactly how Scorpio likes to be spanked—and I don’t know her favorite color. I shift uneasily, wondering just how fast I can get to the door.
“Mandy, take a break. I’ll be happy to help out this gentleman.”
The voice behind me is cool, clear water—and obviously one the woman in front of me knows better than to disobey. Mandy shoots me one last pouty look and scoots, right out the front door of the store.
I turn to face my savior. She’s about my age, beautiful in a way that doesn’t remotely translate into pretty, and not making any effort at all to hide her amusement. “Sorry. Mandy’s a wonder with nervous brides, but she doesn’t have any idea what to do with a big man who just panicked.”
I have a rep to maintain. “I didn’t panic. Quite.”
She laughs, and it matches the rest of her. Classy, confident, and not remotely stuck up. “I’m Chloe, and I’ll help you get out of here before Mandy is back from her break.”
I glance around. “This your place?”
“Yes.” She nods at a big chair in the corner. “Sit there and we’ll chat.”
I drag my feet over to the place clearly designed for clods like me. “Looks like you’ve done this before.”
“A few times.” She’s got the whole calm-expert thing down to perfection. “Tell me about the person you’re shopping for.”
Someone who wouldn’t feel any more at home in this very vanilla lingerie store than I do. “She’s vibrant, alternative, slender, likes to be noticed.”
Her eyebrow goes up. “You’re observant.”
So is she, but she probably thinks of that as her job. “What else do you need to know?”
She flashes a grin, and in that moment there’s a lot more to Chloe than a classic exterior. “You want something she’ll wear underneath, something to sleep in, or something to peel off?”
Damn, I like her. “Isn’t it all supposed to peel off?”
She swoons, hand over her heart, and then winks at me. “Don’t move.”
I watch her flit, a bird landing in the pretties and lifting off again—one who knows exactly what she wants. She’s back in a couple of minutes, and I’m deeply grateful to see only a few choices in her arms. She’s not expecting me to winnow through half the store.
She holds up a long, purple sheath. “Sleek, with just a hint of lace.” She holds it out for me to feel. “The silk’s nice and thick, and it’s totally yummy to wear.”
I know quality when I feel it. I also know my sub doesn’t get to cover herself up nearly that much. Not if I’m choosing, anyhow. “There needs to be less of it.”
She chuckles and reaches for a second hanger. This one is a dark-teal teddy and far skimpier. “The woman who makes these for me is local, and I could live in this lace. Nice and stretchy and very soft.”
And very see-through, which almost has me saying yes, because I can totally imagine the outlines of Scorpio’s nipples and the texture of the lace between my hands and her skin. But Chloe is stopping me—not with her words, but with her carefully contained certainty that whatever she still has in her pile is the best choice.
I know better than to argue with that. “I like this. Now show me the one you think I should pick.”
I’ve surprised her, and she lets me see it. “This last one is more about her than about you.”
Which is why she gave me the chance to pick see-through lace first. “That’s what I’m here for.”
She holds up her last selection and I know she’s utterly, totally nailed it. She puts it in my lap and lets go, like she already knows it’s gone. “Cami and boy shorts, and probably the nicest feel of anything I have in my store.”
It’s deep purple, with a wide band of black lace that will wrap Scorpio’s breasts and silky straps that will slide off with a breath and panties loose enough to give me easy access. It will tuck away under whatever armor she wants to wear in the world. A hidden layer only the two of us know about.
That pleases the hell out of man and Dom.
Chapter Forty-Three
Scorpio
I can hear him walking up the stairs to my office. I stare at the text on my phone that invited him here, stupidly happy that he came, and very glad everyone else has taken off to start their primping for tonight.
I need to be alone with the man who totally rocked my world.
I watch him as he comes into view in my doorway, and I can’t decide whether to launch myself at him or hide under my desk. I’m some new kind of naked with him that I suspect isn’t ever going to go away, and it’s making me shy.
He smiles and comes over and sits in my sad excuse for a guest chair. “Hi.”
That totally isn’t going to work. I get up and navigate the piles that will get me to his lap, well aware I’ve got a goopy grin on my face that I can’t seem to turn off.
His arms are up and reaching for me before I land. Which is how I end up straddled over his lap instead of whatever ill-formed thing I had planned. I blink and grin at him as he drops me squarely on top of his erection and holds me tight. “Hi, yourself.”
He slides a hand under my shirt and cops himself a feel while he nuzzles into my neck.
I kiss along his jawline to his mouth, because the order of the stuff we’ve done together is seriously weird and we somehow mostly skipped this part. I nibble on his lower lip, licking up tiny tastes of him.
He groans and runs his hands up into my hair, but he doesn�
��t take control.
I’m the one who pulls his head in, deepens the kiss, asks for more of the fire he’s leashing. I can feel his cock hot and hard against my pussy and I grind into him.
He puts both hands on my ass and pulls me even tighter against him, and for one wild moment I feel who Harlan will be when he finally lets go. And then he’s tipping his forehead into my shoulder, stroking my back, quivering a little as he brings us both back to somewhere that’s clearly not headed for fast, hard sex on my office floor.
I push off his chest a little and punch him in the shoulder. “That was mean.”
He brushes some hair back behind my ear. “You started it.”
And nearly set loose an inferno. “Why’d you stop?”
He just looks at me for a minute, drinking me in, and I can hear that his breath is still hitching some.
I keep my smile to myself. My Dom isn’t as calm and cool as he wants me to believe. Somehow it makes me feel better to know he’s torturing us both. I lean in and bite his earlobe, and grin when his whole body twitches. “Someday soon, I hope you don’t.”
His hands tighten on my ass.
I squirm, because that part of me is still tender from last night.
He chuckles and rubs his hands in easy circles. “Sore?”
I have no idea how a question like that feels so intimate, but it does. “A little.” I tilt my head down. “I don’t mind.”
He tips my chin up until I meet his eyes. Asking, so gently, for the rest of it.
Damn him. “It helps me remember what it felt like yesterday. After.” When I tried to meld myself into his chest and never leave. I trace a finger over a seam of his t-shirt, so not used to feeling this shy. “Will we do stuff like that a lot?”
He blows out a quick breath and smiles at me. “Hell, no.” His hands run down my shoulders. “Punishment’s a big thing for some Doms, but I’m not one of them. Only when it feels like the best way through a big blockade, and I don’t think you have very many of those.”
His words are resonating with something I already know. “And next time I’ll trust you faster.”
The vulnerable, pleased look on his face nearly melts me where I sit.
I run my fingers along his jawbone, needing to touch. Needing to find the shape of whatever this is between us. “So what brings you to my office in the middle of the day?”
He rubs his chin against my hand. “You texted me. And I brought you a present.”
That has alarm bells going off fast and loud. I lean back far enough to give him the evil eye.
He laughs and reaches for bag on the floor that I never saw come in. I eye the elegant silver lettering on a cranberry background with every ounce of suspicion I possess. “That looks like something you should be giving to Emily. Or Gabby. Or anyone who isn’t me.”
He puts it on his lap between us, and his eyes are still holding the echoes of vulnerable.
Shit. Whatever this is, it’s big. I reach into the bag, trying not to wince as I run into silk and lace. If this is another maid costume I’m killing him dead where he sits, no matter what his eyes are saying.
He doesn’t say a word as I pull the lingerie out and let it run over my fingers. Some sort of cami with thin straps and black lace and purple silk. I try to swallow and discover I can’t. “It’s actually pretty nice.”
His laughter shakes both of us. “There’s a bottom in there too. Something called boy shorts.”
He’s pushing on me again, and I want to push back—but I can’t. He went shopping for me. I try to imagine Harlan in a lingerie store and my mind can’t compute. “Are there any dead sales ladies I need to know about?”
He grins. “Nope. I got saved by the owner. She chased away all the scary minions.”
Smart woman. I let myself finger the lace a little. I know what he’s asking of me, this man who sits me in his lap and takes so little and gives so much. “You want me to wear this for you.”
“Nope.” He brushes my cheek with his thumb. “I’d like you to wear it for you. Maybe under whatever you’re wearing to the dance tonight.”
It isn’t just for me. I’m not the only one who shifted somewhere new yesterday. It’s in his eyes.
None of which means I have to go down easy. I lift an eyebrow. “Maybe on another planet where retired punk-rock singers can be bribed.”
He grins, and there’s more than a little dangerous in it. “Oh, I brought bribery too.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the vibrating egg that spent a memorable interlude in my butt. “Turn around, drop your jeans, and point that luscious ass at me.”
I’m gaping, because this is totally my Dom and I didn’t even see him coming. “This is my office.” My empty office, but I have to have some kind of line in the sand.
He kisses my nose. “Now, beautiful.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Harlan
The sparks in her eyes are gorgeous. She’s aroused and embarrassed and slightly defiant, and she’s letting me see it all. I reach for one of her nipples and squeeze it. “If you do it fast, I’ll take out the butt plug once I’m done playing with your pussy. If you do it slow, you’ll be dancing with it in tonight.”
I totally win either way, and so does she.
She groans, but she’s already climbing off my lap, her cheeks flushed and her eyes wanting. She turns around and undoes her belt, slowly enough that I know she’s messing with me, and just fast enough to keep me from doing anything about it. Her pants hit the floor, and then she’s shimmying off her silky black panties and it’s all I can do to keep my tongue in my head.
Instead, I get smart this time and help her out of her pants and boots. Then I put my hand on her lower back. “Bend over. Hands on your desk.”
She does, and the sight of her, all wet and slick and open to me, is enough to stretch my control to the very edges. The only thing that holds me back is knowing that it would be the first time I slide my cock into her, and this isn’t the way I’ve planned it.
This is just foreplay.
I wrap my hands around her thighs and move to the front of my chair and lick my tongue all the way from her clit to the valley between her ass cheeks, and the taste of her scrambles every coherent thought I have left.
She moans and leans back into my face.
I lick again, exploring her more fully this time, moving my fingers up to pull her even more open for me.
She shudders, and I can tell her legs aren’t going to hold her up for much of this. I consider dumping her on her back on her desk, but it’s got more piles on it than I’ve ever seen in one place, and it’s probably not fair to make her come all over next week’s work.
I quiet my tongue, soothing her with my fingers while I pull some lube out of my back pocket. I slick up the plug and her ass at the same time, adding some of the juice from her pussy that smells so much better than anything that ever came out of a bottle.
I slide a finger into her ass, and when I can feel how relaxed she is, I switch it out for the plug. I need some help from her to get it in from this position, and she leans back into my pressure like a pro. I turn it gently, easing it in, not letting her take it any faster than she can easily handle. This is all about pleasure.
When it slides into place, I bend in again and lick her pussy, reveling in the taste and smell of her. There’s going to be so much more of this in my not-very-distant future, but not right now. My sub’s legs are done. “In my lap. Straddling me like you were before.”
She’s there so fast I barely have time to catch her, her eyes wide and glistening and fiercely ready.
I wrap one hand around the back of her neck and, with the other, slide two fingers into her pussy and start a hard, fast beat against the spot that I already know sends her up rocket fast. Her eyes never leave mine, even as she starts to moan and whimper and her focus totally hazes.
She pushes into both my hands as she arches, reaching for the edge I’m sending her to with every gorgeous, intense cell
of who she is. I move my fingers faster inside her and brush my thumb over her clit. “That’s it. Come for me, beautiful.”
She does, in hot, wet spurts all over my hand.
I grin and reach into my pocket and pull out the vibrator remote. I wait just long enough for her to register what it is, long enough to get my other thumb right where I want it over her clit, and then I push the button.
Her forehead lands on my shoulder as she absolutely shatters, blown into the lands where one orgasm doesn’t separate itself from the next. She rocks fiercely on my hand, even as I turn off the vibrator, needing nothing from me now except the certainty that I am holding her.
I let her ride until her rocking slows under its own steam, bringing her down to exactly the landing she wants. The panting in my ear shifts to whispering, reverent sighs, and I wrap my free hand around her and snug her into my chest as best as I can without taking away the fingers she’s still riding.
This went somewhere deeper than a plug in her ass and a quick feel at work, and I do it the honor of looking it square in the eyes and naming what I see.
There’s a door wide open between us.
Tonight we’ll see what walks through.
Chapter Forty-Five
Scorpio
I sit on my bed, buck naked, the sounds of my favorite bad-ass playlist pounding the walls of my apartment, and sigh. Even classic rock can’t pull me out of this weird place I’ve landed in.
I sigh again and turn off the music. Time to hear myself think.
There are clothes all over my apartment. I’ve emptied my closet and the spare-bedroom one that holds my retired performance gear, and I’ve found three dozen things I could wear to the dance. All of them would probably work, because, charity ball or not, this is a Fettered event and black, chains, and leather are never going to be outside the lines.
But I can’t do it.
I finger the lingerie that’s been sitting on the end of my bed for the last two hours, staring at me and daring me and keeping me honest.