by Lea Griffith
Ruthie nodded and sighed. Nothing mattered in that moment but getting home and resting her head on her man’s chest. Pants or no pants, she was heading home.
Chapter 10
“Tell me about Naples,” Ruthie murmured.
Tobias’s heart nearly seized. His mouth dried and his hands tightened on the wheel. There weren’t words to describe what had happened to him in Naples, Italy. He’d gone there on business for the company and he’d returned…not the same. He’d been broken in some ways and re-created in others. The Tobias that had left Atlanta three years ago wasn’t the same man who’d returned.
“No,” he bit out and then winced. He wouldn’t do it.
She sighed and shifted on the leather of his passenger seat. Her jasmine scent played havoc with his mind. The robe he’d wrapped her in fell open, and the ivory of her smooth, slim thigh was exposed. His hands clenched even harder on the wheel.
The rain continued to fall, and the flashes of intense light broke the night sky. Much like the storm that raged inside of Tobias, there was no way to hide from the intensity of the one that raged beyond the safety of the car.
“Trust, Tobias,” she said softly, reaching for one of his hands and bringing it to her lap. “It’s about trust.”
His anger had a scent, he thought. Cinders and cedar. “There is no reason to—”
She squeezed his hand and then began to trace the veins along the back before twining their fingers together. Ruthie had a strength not many women could claim. But he wouldn’t burden her with this.
“There is a reason. Give it to me and let me carry it with you, Tobias. I have loved you since I painted your picture all those years ago. I loved you so much I waited for you, left when you asked me to, and returned to claim you again. I love all of you—not just the parts that are pretty and whole.”
She was trying to destroy him with her words and her acceptance. But would she let him find succor in her body once the story was told? Would she still love a man who’d killed others to stay alive?
His anger evaporated as thunder shook the world outside the car. “It’s an ugly story, Ruthie. I want to save you from it,” he told her.
She smiled. “But who will save you?”
Ruthie Copeland’s smile was what he lived for. Beyond the ecstasy he found in her body, her smile was the light in his darkness. From the moment he’d met her at the tender age of eight, his heart had recognized that all of his pain was eased by the curve of her lips.
“Maybe I can’t be saved,” he mused as he traversed the wet roads.
“Tell me what happened.”
He warred with himself, but in the end he couldn’t deny her any longer. She’d returned for him, and the least he could do was let her know everything she was getting. If she decided she couldn’t handle his truths, well, it would destroy him. But better she make an informed decision than continue on with the thought that there was good in Tobias.
The simple truth was that the only good in Tobias had always been his love for Ruthie.
“The night after you left three years ago, I went on a business trip to Naples, Italy,” he said around a deep breath. “Jeremiah and I wanted access to shipping berths in the port that would have opened up a huge deal for us with a car manufacturer. When I got there to investigate the port and meet with the seller, I was introduced to Vessi Gallo.”
“Where have I heard that name?” she wondered aloud.
“I would hope you’ve never heard that name,” he said viciously.
“But I have—it’s familiar…Maybe I’m just…”
“Just what?”
She shook her head and bit her lip. “Never mind, continue,” she urged.
He forced himself to calm down. “Vessi Gallo is an Italian businessman whose family owns rights to most of the Port of Naples. It is a huge port; billions of dollars’ worth of goods pass through its waters every year. Gallo didn’t like our American interest in his family’s business. He decided to demonstrate how little he appreciated it.”
The atmosphere in the car went arctic. He glanced at her then, and tears shimmered in her eyes. “The scar?” she questioned.
“Among other things,” he answered as he squeezed her hand again.
“Tell me,” she urged gently.
“I was Gallo’s guest for a week.” He let go of her hand, afraid the dirtiness of what happened in Italy might somehow rub off on her. “Seven days of pure, unadulterated hell. Don’t ask me to tell you any more. I won’t. Not right now.”
Her need to know it all communicated easily in the space between them. But he wouldn’t do it. That week followed him into his dreams, and he’d be damned if he’d allow it to touch her or what they were trying to build.
“You keep it locked away and it will eat you up,” she said after a long silence.
He didn’t respond, and she let it drop, picking up another topic instead.
“Who is Sol?” she asked hesitantly.
“I’m not sure, but you can bet your sweet ass I’ll be finding that out. What the hell were you thinking offering to help a man you don’t know? I don’t want you talking to him!”
Her chin notched in the air and he felt her irritation permeate the interior of the car. He pulled into his driveway and put the car in park, waiting for her answer.
Her head swiveled in his direction, the gray-blue of her eyes cutting into him. “Who are you to tell me who I can and cannot talk to?”
He sat there stunned. He didn’t have those rights. But he wanted them, and there was no time like the present to begin demanding. “The man who’s about to make you his submissive.”
“That doesn’t garner you rights to my entire life, Tobias,” she muttered, her anger suffusing her cheeks with a delicious pink color.
He’d like to see that on her ass—from his paddle. “It garners me rights to all areas of your sexual life, Ruthie. Get that now—this isn’t just play. I’m also aiming for your heart. You’re either all in or you’re all out.”
Parroting her brother’s words to him from earlier felt right somehow.
Ruthie snorted. “You’re one to talk. Tell me this, Tobias: when did you decide to go all in with me this time?”
His cock went hard. That bite of fire she carried around inside her would be a joy to tame. “When you came all over my hand in the restaurant earlier tonight.”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder, the black shadow of it calling his hands. “So my orgasm triggered all of this? My, my, my, do you do this with all the girls you fuck?”
He got out of the car, needing the momentary relief of the rain on his face to cool his anger. Tobias opened her door and helped her out before he pulled her against him. “Don’t,” he ordered as she opened her mouth again. “I don’t need your anger or jealousy.”
She pushed on his shoulders and huffed. “If you want everything from me, then I’m damn well demanding the same in return, Tobias.”
“You already have it,” he answered, and took her mouth, opening her robe and freeing his cock. “You have everything, Ruthie,” he whispered as he lifted her, settled her against his car, and plunged into her warm, wet heat.
She keened loudly and Tobias stopped worrying he’d hurt her.
“So full,” she said in a husky voice right before she bit his shoulder. “Show me I have all of you.”
Her action was a catalyst and her words were a taunt. Tobias plumped her breasts up for his mouth, holding her against the rain-splattered car with his hips as he took her in his mouth and suckled hard.
Her hands wrapped in his hair and her legs wrapped around his waist, squeezing, and he thought he’d lose his mind as she rolled her hips, taking him deeper as her pussy contracted and pulled at his hard flesh. She tugged on his hair and panted as he dove into her over and over, harder and harder. He released her breasts and stuck his face in her neck, hands grabbing the car for support as he tried to find purchase to push deeper into the woman who would save him.
/> “If you want all of me, take it,” he said at her lips. Then he plunged into her one more time, staying there as she erupted around him, triggering his release.
His back bowed, which brought their pelvises into even tighter alignment, and he roared at the sky, uncaring if anyone in his neighborhood heard.
The rain continued to fall, softer now but still determined, and within minutes they were soaked. Every drop was a benediction—a release all its own. He picked her up and slid her off his cock before he lifted her in his arms and hurried to the house.
Tobias opened the door and put her on her feet. She immediately walked down the main hall to his bedroom, discarding the wet robe as she went. Her body had him groaning. He’d just had her, and all he wanted to do was have her again.
Her hips swayed and her perfect ass flexed as she walked away from him. No hesitation. She didn’t even question if he’d changed anything in the house, just assumed he hadn’t. Or maybe she trusted him to tell her if he had.
But Tobias hadn’t changed anything about his house in the three years since he’d last had her here. The chains still hung where he’d left them after he uncuffed her that night. He couldn’t remember even entering his living room since she’d been there. The memories would have overwhelmed him—made him maddened with the need to have her.
He stood there until he heard the shower in his bathroom turn on, and then he hightailed it to his bedroom. He rested his shoulder against the door frame and just watched her bathe. The clear doors of his shower afforded him the very best picture. Jasmine floated in the heated air.
Tobias hadn’t even gotten rid of her shampoo. He shook his head. He thought he’d let her go, but the truth was looking him in the face—he’d not even come close.
“You going to stand there or join me?” she asked.
He smiled. It was uncanny how aware of her surroundings she was. Her blindness had heightened every other sense until he thought she was more aware than he was. “I’m no fool to waste a view like that—I’ll stand here.”
She laughed and finished her shower. He watched. By the time she was finished, Tobias was hard as a rock and needing relief, but something about having her here, in his space once again, was too soothing to deny.
He helped her dry off, unable to resist the temptation of touching her skin, kissing the lips he’d denied for three years, and glorying in the smell of her.
Her fingers traced a line from his sternum down, and when she pushed his pants down and circled his cock with her fist, he inhaled deeply, reveling in her presence and knowing it was right. How had he managed to stay away from her? Why had he done it?
She began to lower to her knees, but he prevented her. He just wanted to hold her, hard cock be damned. Tobias needed to feel her skin on his. That was the most important thing right now. His heart was bleeding with the knowledge that he’d hurt them both by denying what was right in front of him.
He picked her back up and headed into his bedroom. Tobias lowered them to the bed, wrapping them in the silk covers and simply holding her. Her hands moved restlessly over his torso. He played with her hair, stroking as much of her as he could reach and then starting all over again.
“I missed you,” she whispered into the semi-darkness of the room, her lips tickling his skin.
“No more,” he responded, and pulled her even closer, twining their legs together until there was zero separation. “Sleep, baby. There’s time to talk later.”
Between one breath and the next she did. But sleep didn’t come that easily to Tobias, thoughts of the earlier meetings with Dante running through his head until the scent of her skin forced them away.
He kissed her brow, squeezed her once, and finally let the darkness take him. She’d be there if the nightmares came.
His light in the dark.
Chapter 11
Ruthie woke to the scent of cedar and man. Her man. Tobias. She lay there for long moments, letting the reality sink in. She was here with him, in his bed, in his life. After so long away it was bittersweet. She’d slept like a log the entire night through, and they’d gone to bed early, around eight or so. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since she slept an entire night.
“You’re awake?”
His deep voice pulled her from her reverie. It rolled over her eardrums, sinking under her skin and making her heart beat fast. Heat pooled low and she spread her legs instinctively, her need was just that great.
All because she’d heard his voice. She had it so bad.
The covers were ripped away and Tobias was there then, settling between her legs, his skin warm and taut against her body.
“Oh my,” he said with a hum of approval as he ran a finger through her moist folds. “You are awake.”
She laughed at his lecherous tone even as her hips curled up, demanding his finger sink deeper. “I am indeed awake.”
He stilled and she reached for him. He grabbed her hand, just holding it, and the silence became consuming. “You are the most beautiful thing in my world, Ruthie.”
Her heart stopped then. She wondered if she’d pass out. To go from a hundred to zero in a split second was bound to cause unconsciousness. Tobias had a way with words. They could rip and rend or piece together in such a way the result was a masterpiece. She had no idea what this was about, but for the second time in as many days she wished she could see his expression.
He blew over her pussy and she groaned. Then his tongue traced her nether lips, and all thought vanished except getting him inside her body as soon as possible.
“Your pussy, its pink lips and pouty clit, is gorgeous. I could stare at it for hours. I could dine on it for days,” he whispered against her flesh.
A dull roar sounded in the hush of the bedroom and it startled a laugh from her. Her stomach had growled.
He chuckled and kissed her quickly before she felt him push up off the bed. “And obviously, I’m not the only one who’s hungry. Come on,” he urged, grabbing her hand and pulling her up. “Let’s eat.”
Once she was standing he slipped a T-shirt over her head. One of his, she was sure. She hadn’t left anything here when she’d departed because she’d never brought anything but the clothes on her back when she came. They had been fiercely in love three years ago, but it hadn’t been the right time to speak of moving in together.
Hell, she hadn’t even been able to get him to agree to playing her. She’d known he wasn’t giving her everything, and so thoughts of the future hadn’t come into the picture. Maybe soon they’d be at that point.
“What’d you make?” she asked as he led her into the kitchen. She smelled bacon, maybe eggs, and something citrusy.
“Bacon, eggs, and fresh-squeezed OJ,” he answered, settling her onto a bar stool.
“You cook?”
He kissed her hard before he moved away. “Woman, I cook in all the important places.”
She smiled. “Yeah? This I gotta hear.”
“The kitchen, the bed, the—”
She held up her hand and bit off her chuckle. “You’re so humble. I think I should taste said food before you go praising your own virtues,” she said.
“Open up,” he said at her ear.
Tingles shot up her spine. She did as she was told.
“You do that really well, ya’ know?” he asked.
She cocked her head. “What’s that?”
“Obey.”
Then he kissed her, and she was so glad she’d opened her mouth. It was sweet, that joining, and over far too soon.
She licked her lips. “I concur on the bed part, but seriously, my stomach is eating a hole through my abdomen, man. Food, please!”
He clicked his teeth. “Open up again.”
She did, and he placed a bite of food on her tongue. Salty, apple-wood smoked bacon floated over her taste buds. Ruthie chewed slowly, savoring the pork and humming her pleasure.
“What’s that?” he asked, a wry tone in his voice. “I can’t hear you.”
/>
“It’s not like you made the bacon,” she reminded him.
He licked her lips and did a fair bit of humming himself. “I cooked it, though, and I believe that’s the skill of mine you were questioning.”
“I stand corrected. In bed and in the kitchen, you are a master,” she said with a laugh.
He squeezed her ass, plopped another kiss on her mouth, and then set about preparing her plate. It was all very domestic, but they were doing a fair bit of tiptoeing around things. She didn’t want to disturb the peace, but he’d just hit on something she needed resolved soon.
Obey. The word whispered through her mind, and she became lost to the single memory she had of submitting to the man moving around his kitchen cooking for her. Every time he demanded something of her, her mind and body turned it sexual.
Inside the bedroom she’d willingly concede all control. Outside of it, she knew they’d fight. Ruthie realized Tobias would always have her best interests at heart, but it wouldn’t do to give him too much power. He’d go crazy with it, wrapping her in cotton batting and never letting her out of the house. He was a protective man.
The clank of silverware on a plate had the tinkle of chains reverberating in her memory. She rubbed her wrist as the memory became tactile and just that quick she was back in that night, arms raised by his cuffs and feeling his flogger bear down on her skin with a glorious heat and bite.
He picked up her wrist and turned it over. “Does your wrist hurt?”
She shook her head. “I was remembering.”
“What?” His voice had lowered and gone gravelly.
“The feel of your cuffs on my skin.”
He settled his lips on her neck and kissed his way up her jaw. “Soon, baby. First? Food. Now eat up,” he commanded.
And there was no doubt about it—he was commanding her.
Ruthie sighed, turned, and picked up her fork. The eggs were light and fluffy, perfectly seasoned, and the orange juice was the right amount of sweet and tart. The man could cook. He’d not misled her.