by Riley Murphy
“I’m talking about this.” He took out the third book in the stack and carefully opened it. “It’s the undisputable proof that you lied to me.” Her heart hammered. Oh. My. God. He knew. He knew! “See?”
She nearly slid off the counter when he shook out the note she’d left him on the toilet paper. Had it really been just this morning that she’d penned it? She read the words: If I wanted to play a game it wouldn’t be with you. Neanderthal!
“That wasn’t very nice of me, was it?”
He slowly shook his head. Wait, why were his eyes sparkling with delight, as though he was waiting for her to— She gasped. “That’s why you made me play those games. To make me a liar.”
“Bingo. I’m framing this.”
She made a grab for it, but he held it out of reach until she finally gave up and grumbled. “You better not.”
“Don’t be a poor sport.” He neatly folded the tissue and put it back in between the pages of the book. The action only solidified in her mind that he was going to put it under glass. When he was done he looked right at her. “I can see you’re upset about this. Why don’t you tell me something about you? About your life? It will take your mind off your rather rude note.”
“No thanks. I’d rather talk about you.”
“Really?” He tilted his head and asked, “Why is that?”
“You’re interesting.” She crossed her ankles and then pointed her toes, trying to decide how much to tell him. “I guess that’s why I’m in lust with you.”
That choice phrase made him smile. “You’re enamored by me because I hold your gorgeous ass accountable.”
“No. I don’t think that’s why.”
“Okay, so tell me.”
“I love your confidence. It’s power, but not the usual kind of guy-in-your-face-I’m-stronger-than-you-are-stuff, you know?”
“Of course I know. The power that most women crave has little to do with anything physical. A woman should be eager to please her man, not because she fears him, but because she respects him. On the flipside, a man should be strong enough to protect his woman using his intellect. That’s how he’ll gain her respect.”
“Agreed. Although rubbing a woman’s nose into her written mistake isn’t using one’s intellect. I’d call that lording it over a person.” She stretched her back and then straightened the line of buttons down the front of his shirt. She probably looked like hell in it. “Doesn’t matter. Either way I think you’ve ruined me.”
He reached up and tugged on one shirt tail until it rested flat against her thigh. “How so?”
“I’ll likely be having some pretty hot fantasies about you for the balance of the year.”
“Only a year?” The look he gave her made her blush, when he leaned forward and asked, “What kind of hot are we talking?”
She stared right at him. “The bad kind. You tearing off my clothes. Overpowering me. Tying me up. Spanking, teasing, and torturing me with your mouth. I love your beard, by the way.” He never even blinked so she added, “Or maybe I’ll play a scene over in my head where you just put a collar around my neck and order me to kneel at your feet, for no other reason than you can.”
“Catherine.” He sat back with a smile on his lips. “Are you flirting with me?”
She couldn’t help it. She laughed. “Am I that transparent?”
“Absolutely.” There was a moment of silence, that wasn’t silent at all. It was filled with possibilities, promises, and desires that didn’t need a voice, only space. Did he feel it? “I’m at a loss here.”
Maybe he did. “Why?” she whispered.
“You’re like a breath of fresh air. I don’t know how to describe it any other way. Where have you been hiding, and why hasn’t some smart Dom put his shackles on you before now?”
She shrugged, unsure how to answer him. That sadness that he’d told her about earlier that sleeps? It was wide awake now. Had she called to it? Probably. It wasn’t every day that two people made a connection and here she was, facing the prospect of something special happening between them, and she couldn’t tell him why. She wasn’t even positive she had the answer. Maybe it was because they were so different. Or maybe because, if not for the twin swap, she never would have put up with him initially and vice versa, but now that they had—there was a common bond being made. He wanted a woman who was going to challenge him, and she wanted a man strong enough to draw a line in the sand and hold her to it. Suddenly she wanted to know everything about him…while she still had the chance to.
“No kidding. I don’t want to talk about me. Tell me about you. Who was your very first love?”
“Ms. Feldman.”
She shoved her hands under her thighs and hunched her shoulders forward. As planned, his gaze went right to her cleavage. Perfect. “I don’t mean first crush.”
“Natalie Feldman was the first woman I slept with so I think she counts.”
“Oh.” Charlie frowned. “Was she a neighbor?”
He grinned. “Teacher.”
Her frown deepened. “What grade?”
“Eleventh.” She was nearly blinded by his smile.
“Hmm, I would have thought you’d have been exploring sex before then.”
“I did, but not with women.” His gaze dropped to her legs as he dragged a hand up and down her naked calf. She shivered when he whispered, “Your skin is so soft. I love the marks my beard makes on the places I rub. Especially between your legs. It’s like I’m marking my territory. Now where was I?” She had no idea. “I remember. Women and girls. Although the girls were nice to practice on, they were a little skittish when it came to trying new things.” He looked up and flashed that grin again. “And you know there’s only so much missionary a young guy can take before he wants to drive a different ride.”
“Is Feldman the one who turned you on to being a Dom?”
“No.” His hand stilled, but he didn’t say anything more.
“Was she a cookie you made crumble?”
The tension eased out of him and, he sighed. “No. She was a sexy, beautiful, older woman who was into whatever I wanted to do to her. The time with her was a great learning curve for me and a good distraction for both of us, I guess. We were able to forget about all the rotten shit that weighs you down for a while.”
“Baggage?”
He nodded. “She’d just been through a stressful divorce and I had a lot of stress at home. When we got together it was fun.”
Charlie couldn’t imagine a man like him stressing out about anything. “Were your parents hard on you?”
“No. They just fought all the time. They’d have their spats and then make up, but when my dad got sick and we didn’t know about it for a long time, those were the worst days because my mom would ride his ass to get dressed and to do things. It was like she hated him and so I thought she did. I thought they were living to torture themselves or something. But then my dad died and my mom fell apart. Literally fell apart.” His tone was somber. “She passed shortly after my dad did.”
Charlie’s heart broke for him. “I’m sorry.”
“It was tough at first, but then I realized something. We come into this world fucked up and it’s the people around us who hold us together. They’re the glue. Unfortunately though, there’s nothing to say the amount you have will be the perfect amount you need. Too much and you’re smothering a person—too little and you’re abandoning them. In my mom and dad’s case, their respective glues had a chemical reaction to one another. Like oil and vinegar. But then even oil and vinegar work if you shake them up. That’s why they fought all the time. It was their normal. Not mine.”
“This is the stress you meant.”
“Yes. Self-imposed and self-indulgent. I expected them to love each other the way I saw love portrayed in movies. I thought that was real. It wasn’t until my mom broke down the day we were cleaning out Dad’s things from his dresser that I knew the truth and came face to face with reality.” His eyes were so clear. So blue wh
en he said, “You only get one chance at life so you better live it and be happy with whatever your normal is. Don’t measure yourself up against the next guy because their glue is always going to be different than yours.”
Charlie thought about that. “You became a Dom because your parents fought.”
“No.” He pulled her down off the counter and settled her on his lap. “I was born a Dom because we’re all born broken, remember?”
She loved how great he smelled. “But being dominant is a strength, not a weakness.”
He hugged her close. “It depends on how you look at it. I prefer to think it was a weakness that I turned into a strength. It’s like bone. When you fracture one, a callous is formed over the break as it heals and makes that part of you stronger. I took a facet of my personality that could have been a detriment to me, and those around me, and turned it into a tool. An important aspect of who I am and everything I hope to be.”
That last comment surprised her. “But you’re it, aren’t you? You’re filthy rich and a bigwig Dom in the club circles.”
“Filthy rich, am I?”
She leaned back and nodded. “Mansion. Hello.”
“Yeah, okay. You got me there. I am filthy rich.”
She laughed and poked him in the shoulder. “And you’re a bigwig Dom.”
“And yet I’m far from what I want to be.”
“Oh, for heaven sakes, what more do you want?”
He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I want to hear my kids shouting ‘Daddy’ on Saturday mornings when they can’t find their favorite cartoons to watch.”
Charlie rubbed her temple against his jaw and whispered back, “You’d make a great dad.”
“Thank you.”
“You’d certainly have the disciplining part of bringing a child up down pat.”
He gave her a squeeze but then it occurred to her.
“I’m a little surprised though. After your difficult upbringing I would have—”
Now he leaned back. “I never said I had an awful childhood. I loved my mom and dad and they loved me. They just had a funny way of loving each other. But now that I think about it, it was none of my business. They were entitled to love each other on their own terms without me placing limitations or stipulations on them. I just wish I had figured that out before it was too late.”
Charlie thought about the situation she was facing with her mom and realized Neil was right. Sometimes children needed to mind their own business when it came to their parents. Both she and Cat had been very vocal about wanting to get involved in helping to manage their mother’s health crisis, but their parents had shut them out of the decision making process. Instead of respecting this, she and Cat had done nothing but question it.
It wasn’t too late.
“You’re a wise man, Neil Cannon.” She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips against his neck, murmuring, “I hope you get everything you want in life.”
“You do?” He dropped his chin, angling to make eye contact with her. “How about we start with what I want right now.”
His kiss told her every dirty thing he wanted to do to her. It was hot and intense, as she clung to him, trying desperately to concentrate on the moment. But the rhetoric in the back of her mind careened forward and all she kept thinking was this was all going to end. Soon.
Suddenly, making the best of this situation was looking very bleak. Eventually she’d have to cut all ties with him and he’d never understand why.
She pulled away. Too afraid not to. He deserved better, didn’t he?
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He gave her a lopsided grin that tugged at her insides. “You won’t break my heart, tiger. It’s made of steel.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“It hasn’t broken yet.”
“I would hate—”
He put a finger to her lips before she could finish her sentence with, “to be the first”, as he dropped his forehead to hers, whispering, “Hate me tomorrow. I dare you. After what I’m going to do to you tonight, let’s see if you can.”
She rubbed her forehead against his and tried to remember why making the best of tonight was not a good idea.
Your heart is going to break.
But it would be so worth it.
She opened her eyes and stared at the pulse beat at the base of his neck. “I should get my things from the car.”
“You don’t need them.”
She angled her head so his lips could better connect with her temple, and sighed. “My pillow…”
“Would only get in the way.” He helped her to stand, before he did. Then he offered her his hand. “Tonight I’ll be the pillow where you lay your head.”
She placed her palm in his and it was too late for her to change her mind. At the moment she wasn’t even sure she wanted to anymore. Reaching the narrow set of stairs at the end of the hall, he explained that the back staircase was a quicker route up to his room. If they used the main stairs they’d have to go around to the front of the house. She half listened, her mind still reeling from the romantic picture he’d just painted with his words. Him as her pillow? Oh yeah.
That thought buoyed her some, until she couldn’t get around it. This—whatever it was taking place between them—felt different to her on some level. Before with the saddle and cuffs there’d been a dangerous excitement between them. A titillating fear of the unknown. Even with the time spent in the pool area there’d been a certain mystery. So what had changed?
When they reached the second floor she had to ask, “Neil?”
“Hmm...?”
“Right now you’re not being a Dom to me, are you?”
“I am.”
“It feels different somehow.”
He turned and took her in his arms. “It does? All you need to be certain about right now is that I want your gorgeous body wrapped around me like the sheets on my bed.” He walked them to the wall and used his body to pin her against it. “You’ll be my set of silky sheets.”
“I’ve never said this to anyone before.” She looked up, searching his eyes. “I’ve never even thought it, but I could fall for a man like you.”
He gathered her in, hugging her as though she’d given him a gift. “And if you did, tiger, I’d catch you and never let you go.”
This time when he kissed her she was lost. It was a crazy kind of magic he spun, sending her to a place where she tried to forget everything. All of it. But reality inched in until all she could think about was eventually having to leave otherwise she’d have to tell him the truth. Maybe that’s why this felt so special. So fragile and fresh. She wanted something she couldn’t have.
Him.
Maybe for all her tomorrows he’d be the one that got away, but he was here now. Today.
“Hate me tomorrow,” she whispered, thinking, love me tonight.
“You say the oddest things.”
He pressed in closer. She didn’t mind being crushed this way. Captured. She wasn’t going to complain. She just she sank her hands in his hair and pulled. Wanting—no, needing to be as close to him as possible right now.
Chapter Thirteen
Neil found himself breaking his own rules. Bad enough, but worse? He didn’t care. She was exactly what he wanted.
He thought about that and gave her some room, growling, “If we keep doing this, I’ll fuck you right here.” Not that he’d mind.
She ducked out from under his arm. “Oh no. I want you to be my pillow. I want to be your sheets.”
He turned with a smile on his lips, watching as she skipped ahead. It wasn’t until his shirt flipped up and he spied the pink stripes of the belt-marks over her tattoo that he followed behind her, calling, “I see the stripes on your ass, tiger. They’re turning me on.”
So much so that he sped up and when she stopped and swung around, they bumped into each other. Without warning he scooped her up with his hands unde
r her ass, and groaned when she wrapped her legs around him. It wasn’t much of a fall against the wall. It was more a collapse as she climbed him. He took hold of her chin and angled it to better taste her.
Just like before, she pulled her rough-rider move and drove her tongue into his mouth. Grabbing his hair, pulling it, while she tried to press her hot cunt against him.
Oh yeah. He liked this kind of needy. “Maybe I’ll let you screw me a little here before I take you to my bed.”
“Yes. Please… So nice…”
Only problem? No latex. Damn. He glanced toward his bedroom door and gauged there to be less than five feet to it. They could make it. Although if she didn’t stop rubbing that hot pussy against him like he was Aladdin’s lamp and she wanted to see the genie, it was going to be a challenge. He was going to tell her so, but then the doorbell rang followed by loud and insistent banging.
Ignore it.
He would have if her phone hadn’t started vibrating. Jesus fuck, was the whole world invested in interrupting them tonight?
“Who’s that?”
He carried her to his room, using his shoulder once he got there to flip the switch that turned on the bedside lights, before he put her down. “Here.” He dug her phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Your phone just went off. I don’t know who’s calling you.” The banging echoed louder and he scowled. “But I know who’s bothering me. It’s probably one of the guys from the shop.”
She clutched her phone to her chest without checking it and brushed her hair back from her face. “At this hour?”
“Thursday night is poker night. Jeremy must have cheated again. I steered the kid on the straight and narrow, but he keeps steering back. This won’t take long.” He raked his gaze over her from head to toe and back again. “Promise.”
By the time Neil got downstairs he had three viable options to make his guys go away. If those failed, he wasn’t above throwing money at them.
*****
Charlie checked her phone. Cat had texted a couple of times. First one said she was working out a plan. For what? Charlie had no idea. The second one said her sister had come up with the perfect solution—to what problem? Here again, she had no idea. And the third read: