Provoked

by Riley Murphy

  One more reason not to get up.

  “Morning.” Charlie dug her chin deeper into the pillow and curled up with a sigh. “I’m still tired. I’ll be down soon. Is Cat up?”

  “Your sister prefers to do her sulking outdoors. Unlike you.”

  Charlie frowned, but didn’t open her eyes. “I’m not sulking. I’m recovering.”

  “And now you’re lying. Not to me, because I’m not listening to that. You’re fibbing to yourself if you believe it though.”

  Her frown deepened. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean,” her mom came and sat on the side of the bed, making the mattress dip, “me having to wake you by opening the drapes and letting the sunshine in is code for you not being ready to face the day. To my count it’s been fourteen straight days in a row you haven’t been ready to face.”

  “You’re right.” Charlie opened her eyes and when her mom motioned for her to move she rolled onto her side. It was a ritual. Her mom would rub Charlie’s back while Charlie confessed something she’d done that was bothering her, or in this case, something that was done to her, that had literally broken her heart. “I think I’m in love with a man who doesn’t love me back.”

  “I see. Was the relationship doomed from the beginning?”

  Charlie thought about Neil and her. Their beginning, and drew a fist full of blanket up under her chin, resting her jaw on it. “No, his hate kind of grew after that.”

  “Why?”

  “I made some big mistakes.”

  “Did you apologize for them?”

  She forgot about the blanket and turned around. “I tried, but he never let me. He kept telling me I was doing it wrong.”

  Her mother sat back. “Were you?”

  “No.” She thought about it and then repeated, “No, I don’t think so.”

  It was so nice to see her mom smile. When she reached out and fixed the side of Charlie’s hair, Charlie closed her eyes, and for a second she remembered what it was like to be a kid with no heartaches that couldn’t be fixed and free from all responsibilities.

  Her eyes snapped open. Neil had mentioned her needing to take responsibility.

  “Sometimes men only hear the wrong of what a woman says and none of the right. They focus in on the bad until all the good words are drowned out. Maybe you should put your apology down on paper so he’ll be forced to hear all of it.”

  Charlie sat up. “I could do that.” On impulse she asked, “Do you think I’m crazy?”

  Her mom shook her head. “Why would I think that?”

  “About me being in love.”

  “No.”

  She answered so quickly Charlie was a little disappointed. Her mom was being a mom. Supportive no matter what. Suddenly all the hope that was building within her started to fade. “Great.”

  “Charlie.” Her mom put a finger under her chin and lifted until their gazes met. “I fell in love with your dad the moment I saw him. Is that crazy?”

  “No. I guess not.”

  “Life’s tough. It’s a challenge. So think of love as your hard earned reward. Don’t let doubt take that away from you.”

  After her mother left, Charlie got dressed. She was in the process of brushing her teeth when Cat came into the bathroom and sat on the counter. “You missed a molar.”

  Charlie spit and didn’t even wipe her mouth when she looked in the mirror and said, “Har, har.”

  “So.” Cat leaned sideways, checking down the hall. Then she leaned back and kicked the door shut. “Did you get the talk?”

  Charlie nodded.

  “Did you tell mom you’ve gone to the dark side?”

  Charlie figured Cat was talking about Charlie joining her people. She shook her head.

  “Did you tell her you screwed your Master on top of his Mercedes one night and the neighborhood police caught you?”

  Charlie nearly swallowed her mouthful of water. One last spit, and then she stood. Once she’d wiped her mouth on the towel she threw the terry at her sister. “We didn’t get caught. They delivered a citation in the mailbox. And no, I didn’t tell Mom I screwed anyone. I told her…I told her…”

  “What?” Cat playfully threw the towel back with a grin.

  “I told her I’ve fallen in love.”

  Cat’s arms shot in the air like a referee officiating a touchdown. “Called it.”

  Charlie scowled. “That’s all you have to say?”

  Her sister’s hands dropped and she shrugged. “What else is there to say? Congratulations?”

  “Neil hates me.”

  Cat waved that off with a swipe of her hand and an eye roll. “No, he doesn’t.”

  “He thinks I’m scattered. His life is chaos when I’m in it.”

  Cat jumped down from her perch on the counter, and grinned. “Then you’re perfect for him. You’ll keep him busy, giving him something to fix. He’s a Dom who likes order.” Cat looked her up and down and then shook her head. “I never figured you for a woman who liked taking them, but then you are my twin, so there was a fifty-fifty chance this could happen.”

  She’d said this so matter-of-factly Charlie was bolstered. “You think so?”

  “You know what I think? We had this all backwards. You weren’t the man hater. I was. I am.”

  After Charlie and Cat had discussed what Travis had done, Cat seemed more at peace with her feelings surrounding all that. There was still something she was holding back, Charlie knew, but until she was ready to talk about it, Charlie wasn’t going to force her. She pointed right at her. “You want to know who called that one? Neil.”

  “Dammit. I missed my chance to get his help.”

  “He could still help you, no?”

  They both looked at each other. No doubt, all the implications occurring to each of them at once because they both said, “Nah!” at the same time. It was Cat who elaborated.

  “He touched your junk and everything else. Squicky.” She trembled as if she was having a seizure and then abruptly stopped. “So, we should have a pow-wow and figure out how you can get him back. I have this purple one-piece body suit that covers up everything but what it’s supposed to.”

  “Done. I’ll borrow it, but not for this. This I’m going it alone. I have the perfect icebreaker. Once I do it, he’ll never be able to walk away from me again.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  Charlie leaned around her and opened the door. “Oh, you wouldn’t like this at all.”

  “Girls!” Before she could explain her idea their mother called, “Pearl and Regina on the Skype.”

  “Why does she say that?” Cat murmured as they headed downstairs. “The Skype. Sounds fucking weird, doesn’t it?”

  When they got to the bottom Charlie pulled Cat in close and whispered in her ear, “I dare you to call her ‘vagina’ in front of Mom.”

  “Nope.”

  “Just once. If you do I’ll explain this technique Neil does with his tongue that’s—”

  “Hey Mom, did you call Regina vagina?”

  “Absolutely not. I said Regina. Didn’t I, Dan? She’s on The Skype.”

  Cat made a big ‘O’ with her mouth and the second their mother turned her attention back to the laptop on the table, Cat pointed at Charlie and mouthed, Take that, bitch.

  Charlie didn’t care that she lost the dare to her sister. For the first time in two weeks she’d didn’t feel lost or hopeless. She had a plan and a direction. Both of which promised to find Neil at the end of them.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “This is new.”

  Charlie melted hearing Neil’s husky voice over the speaker. She wasn’t sure he was going to answer when she buzzed him from the front gate. She’d almost had a mini-freak out when she realized he’d changed the code. “Hi, Neil. I’d like to see you please.” When there was nothing but silence for a few seconds she pressed the talk button and added, “Before you say no, I’ve come to apologize. You said you’d be right there waiting for
me to do it the proper way and that’s what I’m going to do.”

  Buzz.

  It was the longest ride of her life. What if he didn’t accept it or worse? What if he accepted it and still wanted her to leave?

  When his door swung open and she saw him, her heart skipped a beat. God, she’d missed him and he looked great. His hair was a little longer, his stubble a little darker… Yeah and the rest of him was just as filled out with rope-like muscles to die for as it always had been.

  “Hello, Charlotte.”

  “Hi.” He stepped aside so she could enter and suddenly everything felt weird. Her walk, breathing, what she did with her hands, so she attempted to bring back normal. “No jigsaw puzzle?”

  He shook his head.

  “How’s Jude? I know Cat would love to get the scoop on him. She’s been moping pretty good over the last two weeks.”

  “What about you?”

  She had a seat on the couch and then waited for him to do the same. He didn’t sit in the seat part of the chair opposite her, he sat on the arm, when she answered, “I was sulking.”

  “There’s a difference?”

  “Oh sure.” She made a really sad face and said, “Moping.” Then she affected a solemn face and said, “Sulking.”

  He stretched his legs out in front of him and crossed one ankle over the other, looking at her. “While you were sulking, Charlotte, did you do some thinking?”

  “Yes. I don’t like it when you call me Charlotte.”

  “That’s what you were thinking about?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “If you don’t want to call me tiger anymore, I’ll understand, but could you at least call me Charlie?”

  “You got it. Charlie it is.”

  Now she wished he’d call her Charlotte. “I was thinking about us.”

  He nodded. “Ahh…”

  “It was more like, ugh, actually. I really made a mess of things, didn’t I?”

  “Which time? The very first time when you pretended to be your sister? That had potential disaster written all over it. Maybe you meant the second time when you took off without so much as a word in my priceless car? That had disaster spelled out in block letters. Could it have been the third time you’re speaking about, when you took it upon yourself to go treasure hunting with a stolen map, key, and God only knows what else, only to wind up running straight into a bad guy like Sharp? That had disaster carved out in it with gasoline poured into the wells and the proverbial match tossed onto them. Or are you referring to the grand finale of them all, when you did the exact opposite of what I asked you to do and walked straight into trouble, nearly losing your life? Cue the marching band with a two-story banner emblazoned with the word disaster painted in glow-in-the-dark paint.”

  His gaze drilled into her and the longer he stared, the hotter-under-the-collar she became. “Look, I could give you a lot of excuses. I could blame my behavior on Cat, she’s got wide shoulders. I could lie. Hell,” she stood up and started pacing, “I could even cry.” She stopped pacing and gave him the once over. “But we both know tears don’t bother you.”

  “Not true.”

  She wasn’t fazed. “I made some mistakes, but you did too.”

  “Interesting.”

  “You walked out on me.”

  He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “I thought you came here to apologize.”

  “I came here to tell you that I’ve missed you more than anything and then you wrecked it by being an asshole.” God that felt good to say.

  “Is that the only mistake I’ve made, tiger?”

  “Isn’t that enough? Look at what I did for you.” Nothing was going the way she planned. She was going to give him the letter and they were supposed to toast each other after making love by the fire, when she showed him what she planned to unveil now.

  She undid the button of her pants so fast the zipper automatically went down.

  He sat forward. “What are you doing?”

  She stepped toward him, turned and then dropped her pants. One deep breath later and she shoved her ass right under his nose. “Do you see it?”

  While she waited there bent over, her eyes looking everywhere but back at him, it finally occurred to her. He’d called her tiger.

  Neil studied her gorgeous bottom and when his eyes landed on the tattoo, and the way she’d changed it, whatever bits of steel his armored heart had clung to, dissolved to mercury. The elegant dove in flight, now wore a leash. One end was wrapped around its neck while the other was fisted in a distinctively male hand. Above the wrist area it read:

  Master Neil’s

  His smile was lopsided, he was sure, when he grabbed her by the hips and said, “You continue to surprise me, butterscotch.” Then he leaned forward for a bite.

  “Ow.”

  “If you think that hurt wait until I do this.” He pulled her down onto his lap and nuzzled her neck. When he found a good spot he bit her there.

  “Oh, I kind of like that.”

  Of course she did.

  “Come here, tiger.” She tasted good. Like honey and lemon combined. Fitting. Sweet with a little tart. Maybe too much tart sometimes, but they could work on that. “So you think I’m an asshole?”

  “Occasionally,” she whispered. He didn’t even have to ask and she opened her legs for him.

  He continued to rub his stubble against her neck, alternately biting her silky flesh, and then licking the sting away, while his hand slipped right between her legs. She was hot and getting hotter by the second.

  “Neil…” She speared her fingers in his hair and tugged. He liked that.

  “Am I an asshole now?”

  She’d been massaging his scalp, but stopped. “W-what?”

  He slipped two fingers into her and found the spot inside that drove her crazy. “I asked,” he rubbed against it a little harder, “if you think I’m an asshole now?”

  “No!” she cried, flexing forward, and trying to ride his hand.

  He let her do it for a few seconds and then he curled down and spoke directly in her ear, “How about now?”

  “Oh God!”

  “Now?” He did everything he could to bring her to the point of orgasm quickly.

  “No. No. Oh, yes, yes!”

  She was right on the edge. Walking the line. Ready to fall over it and he took his hand away.

  “Neil!”

  She sounded so frustrated he had to fight back a grin. He dropped his forehead to hers and asked, “What about now?”

  She was trying to catch her breath. She was also clutching at his shirt and shifting her ass in a suggestive motion over his lap. The sexy action nearly killed him, but he had to start this new beginning in their relationship the right way.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Am I being an asshole now?” he repeated.

  She leaned back to study him. He knew her wheels were turning. They probably stopped on ‘be nice to him to get what you want’ a few times. She had a decision to make and he was dying to see which way she was going to go with it.

  “No.”

  He searched her face, pausing at her lips when she wet them with her tongue. Slowly he lifted his gaze, staring into her worried eyes and said, “Wrong answer. That time I was being an asshole.”

  He helped her up off his lap and then pulled up her pants.

  “That’s it? You’re sending me away?”

  Before she had a complete meltdown, he shook his head. “What’s mine I keep. You’re not going anywhere. We’re going down the hall to finish our lesson.”

  “But I have…”

  His stare did the trick. It didn’t matter what she had. It was all about what he wanted right now that was important as it benefitted both of them.

  He stood and held out his hand. When she silently placed her palm in his and dropped her gaze, he grinned. Even though he didn’t think his little butterscotch tiger fully understood the concept of what belonging to a man like him meant for a woman lik
e her, he was pleased she was trying.

  Question was.

  Would she bend, or would she break?

  Charlie was amazed. The room looked totally different to her now and yet, everything was the same. The chairs, the clean scent, and the metal stand with the cuffs dangling from it. The same, and oh so different.

  She turned to say as much to Neil, but the words got stuck in her throat. This wasn’t Neil. He was Master Neil at the moment.

  Her pulse quickened and a zing of desire shot right through to her core.

  “I want you to go to the corner. With your back toward me, while you face the wall, take down your pants and your thong. Elegantly. To the knees, no lower. If you have to open your stance to keep them there, do it.”

  Charlie’s heart hammered. She recalled the morning of the switch with Cat that seemed so long ago now, when she’d questioned the concept of a man disciplining a woman. Then she’d thought it was crazy. Now?

  “Like this?”

  “Stand up straight with your hands at your sides. I didn’t tell you to put your palms against the wall.”

  Charlie blushed, more from his firm tone than from making the mistake. She adjusted and then decided to keep her lips zipped. But when he came up right behind her and curled down, breathing right next to her ear, it was tough. Tougher still when he spoke.

  “You’ll stand like this for eight minutes. After which, you’ll pull up your pants and turn around. That’s when I’ll tell you why you were put in the corner.”

  Goosebumps, shivers, little shock-like zings of lust? She had them all spanning the eight minutes that seemed like a day, a week, a split-second when he called time.

  After she righted her clothes, she faced him.

  “Ask me.”

  All she wanted to do was get close to him. More so now than before. “Why did you put me in the corner?”

  “Because I can.”

  That statement, combined with his commanding tone, acted like a stroke right between her legs. Her breathing pattern changed and she wasn’t even sure she was in control of her own body, which made no sense.

  “Strip down and go to the cuffs.”