by S. J. Maylee
“She’s not going to let this go.”
“She needs to.” They both needed to let go.
“Go talk to her. It’s cruel for you to let her go on like this. End it or start again.”
“You’re right.” He slid his phone in his pocket. “I’ll find her and make her see ending it was the only way.”
“Good luck.” Gavin patted him on the back and pushed him to the door.
****
Liz walked into Tommy’s pub in Evanston the same time she did every day. This time, she didn’t stop for a beer at the bar. She walked right to the back of the pub. She didn’t walk into the private room like she did last week and she wouldn’t try to break into the little dungeon either. Her journey stopped at the back wall, near the door to their private room, just outside of where she wanted to be. Standing there with her eyes closed and with all her heart, she asked her Aidan to come back to her.
Conversations from different parts of the bar drifted to her. Bottles from the bar clanged together. Searing scents of sausages on the grill top had her stomach grumbling.
Maybe she was going crazy. Had those few days even happened?
“Yes,” she whispered. She caressed her scarf along her cheek. Her Aidan was real. She stared down at her feet and then rocked back and forth.
“What are you doing here?” Aidan’s deep voice floated across her shoulders.
Her breath caught in her throat. “Is it really you?” She didn’t dare turn around. Instead, she wanted the possibility to last.
“Elizabeth.”
She turned at his use of her full name. “How are you here? I’ve been looking for you every day since you left.” She gasped for her next breath.
“You shouldn’t be here.” He shook his head and kept his distance from her. “You need to move on and stop coming to my place. It’s not what you need.”
“If that’s what you believe then you don’t know shit about what I need.” She took a step forward and pushed at his shoulder. “How could you walk away from me? How could you leave me alone?” Her voice cracked but she stood her ground and looked directly into his eyes.
“I made sure you were well taken care of.”
“Bullshit,” she yelled.
He took her elbow and pulled her into the backroom. “Keep your voice down.”
She yanked free from his hold once he closed them in the room. “Why did you leave me?” She covered her face. “You must think I’m weak.”
“No.” He widened his stance. “Look, you’ve been through enough. The last thing you needed to deal with when the dust cleared was a man who scared you. I wanted peace for you and I can’t provide it.”
“That’s not true.” She shook her head and held her hands out wide. “You were the only thing I needed and you left.” Pressing her lips together, it took her full concentration to keep the tears in check.
“See, this is what I’m talking about.” He stepped in close and brushed away the one tear she couldn’t keep caged. “All I bring you is pain and fear.”
“That’s not how I see it. You took those things away.” She grabbed his shirt in both hands. “I’ve never been as scared as I was during those couple of days. In the middle of it all, I was okay only because of you. And then you left. How could you leave me?” She hung from him and wished he’d give her an answer to convince her he’d never leave her again.
“I didn’t leave. I’ve been watching you, making sure you’re okay.” He brushed her hair from her face.
“Then you can see I hurt.” Her shoulders rose as a deep chill settled in her soul.
“But I saw you when I opened the closet.” Pain etched across his face.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll never forget the horror on your face. I never want to see that look on your face again.”
“Hold up.” She held up her hands. “I thought we were going to die. I’d been contemplating coming out, taking the gun, and killing him.”
“I told you not to come out.” His eyes widened and his hands clenched on her shoulders.
“I know, but I couldn’t sit there and let him hurt you. And then it was over. You … you took care of everything. It was a lot to process.” She blinked several times as the memories floated through her thoughts. “I thought I was going to lose you and that I’d be dead next.”
“I did something you never should have seen.” He closed his eyes.
“No, you did what you had to.” She caressed his face.
He pulled her hands from him and set her back a step. “You don’t owe me anything. I know we’d made promises to each other but it’s okay. You don’t have to keep any of them.”
“Can’t you see I trust you? I miss you?”
“No, I don’t believe you’re being honest with yourself. I will not make you stay with me out of obligation. Maybe you don’t see it now, but you’re scared of me. It’s okay. I understand.”
“I’m not scared of you.” She pulled the scarf free from around her neck. The room had become too warm. “Don’t you get it? I’m not scared of the things you can do or the things you’re capable of. I see you. I see the whole you and I’m falling for you because of the way you make me feel.” She swiped at her eyes. “From our first beer, I knew you were my one and you kept proving it to be true.”
“I don’t deserve you.”
“Bullshit,” she whispered.
“Don’t do this.” His focus landed on the round table.
“You’re the one who’s scared, Aidan. I’m your happily ever after. I’m the one you’ve been waiting for.” She stormed over to the mini dungeon at the back of the room and opened the door. “I know how to prove it to you.” She didn’t wait for him. If she was going to convince him, she’d have to take a leap. She prayed she wasn’t about to embarrass herself. One article at a time, she stripped down to her bra and panties.
“This isn’t necessary.”
“I want you to tie me up like you wanted to the first time I was back here.” She climbed onto the padded table, laid down with her arms stretched to the corners at one end, and brought her ankles up close to her ass at the opposite end. “Don’t you want me?”
“Elizabeth.” He locked the door and came swiftly to the table. His touch landed on her thigh as he stepped between her spread legs. “I want too much from you.”
“Show me what you want.” She grabbed his hand and pulled it to her breast. “Take what you want.” She licked her bottom lip. “I’m yours, Sir.”
“I’ve thought of little else than you these last few weeks.” His fingers dug in and squeezed but then he let her go. “Please sit up. You’re playing with fire.”
She allowed him to pull her to sitting. “Why are we still talking about this? I can see the effect I’m having on you.” She rubbed over his jeans, caressed his cock, and flexed her finger tips on the underside.
His moan told her she was breaking through. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“I need you to show me the way, Sir. I’m lost without you.” She pressed her hand over his heart.
He clasped his hand over hers. “I was just trying to do right by you.”
“Wish we could go back to the bar the night we met. I would have stayed in the bathroom with you.” She reached for him. “You are all I ever needed.” She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and scraped her teeth over it as she let him go.
He pressed his hand over her warm pussy. “This panty covered slit keeps me up at night.”
“Aidan, you are my hero. I wouldn’t be alive without you. I’m not living without you. I need you, Sir. Please.”
His fingers worked over her pussy as she talked. “I want more from you than you should have to give.”
“I want to give you everything, Sir.” She unclipped her bra and tossed it aside. “Please take it. I need you to take it. Make me whole again.”
He claimed her mouth. She pushed her tongue along his as they dueled. He pulled back and nipped
her lip and then delved inside. With every swipe of his tongue, she could feel the wet heat building inside her.
“You want to be at my mercy?”
“Oh gosh yes.” She laid back and put her wrists at the corners. “I’m so yours, Sir.”
“Look at me,” he said.
She found his gaze and held it. “I’m yours.”
“Give me one word to stop our play, your safe word.”
“Tub.”
He held still. “Explain that to me, please.”
“It was the moment you allowed me to stop and think things through. It’s when I started falling in love with you.”
“Tub.” He drew a circle around her knee and gave it a delicate kiss. “Take off those panties.” Over the next few minutes, several things changed. He opened a few of the lockers, only to slam one after the other and then silk ties were wrapped around her wrists and ankles. He secured all four to loops at the corners of the table.
Her eyes drifted closed as he bound her. Everything came to the center. She had everything she ever needed, she made her own choices and had a man who she knew loved her. He hadn’t said it but she knew it with everything within her and with his actions he was proving it to be true. She fell in love with him all over again. “I love you.”
He finished pulling off his shirt and found her gaze. “What did you say?”
“I love you.” She forced herself to say no more and waited for his response.
His gaze darkened and his eyebrows furrowed. The world seemed to stop spinning as she waited, then it was all stripped away. He unbuttoned his fly and kicked off his shoes. “I won’t fight this anymore.”
“It’s too damn hard to fight.” The weight of world lifted away.
“I’ve been watching you at my old place.” He circled her navel.
She tugged on her bindings. “Where were you?”
“I moved across the street.”
“You shit!”
He slapped the inside of her thigh. “Watch your mouth.”
“Sorry, Sir.” A blast of heat hit her core and her cheeks hurt from her wide smile.
“The first time I found you at my old place, I decided to watch to make sure you were safe but then I started to schedule my day around your visits.”
“You were right across the street this whole time.” She squeezed her eyes closed and the tears flowed freely.
“I almost lost a client today.” He kissed the spot he’d slapped. “I wouldn’t meet with him during the time I knew I’d see you.” He kissed her tears. “I don’t work without you either.”
“Tell me you won’t leave me again, Sir.”
“Leaving you is like fighting gravity. No matter what I do, I keep getting pulled back to you and, now that I’m here, I won’t be able to let you go. You are my life.” He kissed her navel. “You are the one I’ve been waiting for.” He knelt between her legs and licked through her pussy.
She arched her pelvis and pressed her knees farther open.
“This belongs to me.” He sucked her clit into his mouth.
“Yes.” She blew out a breath. “What else belongs to you, Sir?”
He pushed several fingers inside her center. “Mine.” He stroked along a spot inside, creating a flash storm of pleasure.
“How do you do this, Sir?” Bliss in a dozen different colors swirled around her.
“Don’t you dare come.” He pulled from her and thrust his tongue inside.
“Sir!” She screamed.
When he finally came up for air, “I could eat you all day long. Damn, you taste good.”
She was so wet, so open.
“Tell me what you want.” He fingered her slit. “What do you want me to do next, my dirty girl?” He thrust his fingers deep inside her heat. “Tell me exactly what you’re craving.”
“I want you to fuck my pussy with your gorgeous cock.” She licked her lips. “Sir.”
“That’s my good girl.” He stroked himself several times and aligned himself with her entrance. “Tell me again who you belong to.”
“You, Sir.”
He claimed her pussy, binding them together. Stroke after stroke, he removed all doubt. They were one. The slapping of their bodies sang out like an addictive love song. Her pleasure turned white hot and she squeezed him with all her strength, giving him no choice but to find release with her.
He collapsed over. Sometime later he untied the bindings and carried her to the bench. She cuddled into his side as he draped a blanket around her.
“Before the day I met you, I didn’t know I needed someone. I didn’t know I’d need it to be you.” He kissed the top of her head. “You know, every day we were apart, something made me think of you. Some days it was a broken piece of glass, a bottle of beer. Yesterday, it was my bathtub.”
“Because you belong with me.”
“I do.” He dragged his finger along her jaw line.
“Now that I know you, life isn’t living unless it’s with you.”
“I love you.” He kissed her. “It will take me a lifetime to show you how devoted I am to you.”
“Sir, that’s all I need.”
Epilogue
Several weeks later
“Would you stop fussing? You look gorgeous.” Aidan took a peek out of the bathroom. “Besides you really shouldn’t look this good.”
“Why?” Liz fussed with her hair.
“It takes away from the bride.”
“I’m not prettier than Emily.” She adjusted the straps on her little dress.
“Whatever, you’re the prettiest girl here.” He caught her gaze in the mirror and winked.
“Come over here and I’ll tell you a secret.” She tucked her hair behind her right ear.
“Is it about Ethan and Nadia eloping?”
“Everyone knows that.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “And it’s not the secret.”
“I knew it was a mistake to let the two of you get so close.” He straightened his tie.
“Stop it. Okay. I’ll tell you, but this stays between us or until she starts showing.”
“They’re pregnant?” His gaze drifted off. “No shit.” A smile grew from somewhere deep inside.
“You want kids of your own someday too, don’t you?” Her eyebrows rose up and he could see her whispering “Please, please, please.”
“I do.” He continued on before she could say anything. “We’ll for sure talk about this more but come on. They’re leaving any minute.” He looked out again.
“They’re not leaving until we get back out there.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the bathroom. “Emily wants to thank you again for letting them stay at your place in Morocco.”
“I’ve already told her it wasn’t necessary.” He’d hoped by now the villa would be clear of the slavers. She didn’t ask, but he knew it weighed on her. The last time he’d spoken to Clair about it, she’d asked if he wanted her to slow the slavers or find out just how deep the rabbit whole went. He didn’t like admitting she had the right approach.
“And it’s what I keep telling her.” She turned to him. “Admit it. You like how my girlfriends adore you.”
“We owe them a lot. It’s because of them we met when we did.” He came to stand behind her. The reflection in the mirror took his breath away. He pulled her hair back and kissed her neck.
“Yes, the first time we were in a public bathroom together.”
“The first time I tried to see your panties.” He pulled her against his cock. “You got me so hard in that bathroom.”
“I remember.” She reached back and stroked him. “You’re just as hard now. I think I need to take better care of you.”
“You took pretty good care of me this morning.” He sucked on her neck with the same intensity she had on his cock that morning.”
“You’re going to leave a mark.” She rubbed her ass on his dick and moaned in her silky way, making him think of nothing but her.
He came up for air. “Woman,
you drive me crazy.”
“I should probably tell you, you won’t be seeing my panties tonight either.”
“Please, tell me more.” He squeezed her hips.
“Do you remember why you couldn’t answer my question the night we met?” She leaned back against him.
“Are you going commando?” He could practically feel himself drooling. Damn, he loved this woman.
“Maybe.”
“You tease.” He tugged on the hem of her dress. “Do you know how I handle naughty teases?”
She widened her legs and leaned forward on the counter. “Oh gosh, tell me you spank them.” She stuck out her ass.
He flipped up her short flowing skirt. “Damn right I do.” He smacked her ass and then grabbed it as he sucked on her shoulder. After smacking her ass again, he dragged his fingers through her slit. “You like being naughty.”
“I do, Sir. I like being your naughty girl.”
“I wonder what else I could get you to say yes to.” He grabbed her ass and then stepped back. Waiting was no longer an option.
“Are you done messing around?” She shook her ass.
“I am.” He tugged on her hand. “I have a question to ask you.” She’d taken a risk to get them back together and now it was his turn. He got down on his knee and pulled out the ring.
She gasped and turned.
“I know it got all tangled, but baby, you possess me. It doesn’t matter if it’s not easy. I just know I need you in my life. I need every second I can get with you.” He kissed her knuckles. “Tell me you’ll always be mine.” He held up the ring. “Marry me?”
“Yes,” she screamed. “A thousand times yes.”
He’d never forget her bright smile. The happiness was pure and matched his own. “You, my sweet, were worth the wait.”
The End
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