She nodded and sashayed back into the living room, singing as she went, making him smile.
Toughen up, Hazelle. A Dom doesn’t let their sub dazzle them into a simpleton.
He could just imagine what Hector would think of Bunny. He already knew Juno would love her.
When he returned to the living room, she was sitting obediently with the heating pad over one shoulder and tilted up along her neck on one side.
“Do you want to alternate hot and cold? I can put together an ice pack for you.”
She shook her head, without showing any signs of pain, and said, “It’ll make my neck stiffen up. The heat helps a lot. Thank you.” She accepted the coffee cup and saucer he offered to her.
He seated himself in the occasional chair next to the love seat she sat on because he needed to talk to her first. If she was next to him, he’d reach for her, but he wouldn’t do that until he’d ascertained she wasn’t fronting about the pain. She picked up the remote and reduced the volume of the music.
He said, “I feel responsible for what happened downstairs.”
She thinned her lips and shook her head. “You have nothing to apologize for. He was a first-class jerk. And…”
“What?”
“He’s the kind of guy I’d previously imagined filled clubs like yours, manhandling women and doing whatever he wanted to them.”
Joseph sipped his Irish coffee. “Men like him don’t belong in a club. They belong behind bars. I’ll be contacting the owner of the previous club he was a member of to let him know. And…I should’ve done a background check on him.”
Her eyes rounded a little bit. “You do background checks on all of your members?”
“As a matter of routine, yes, unless they’re moving to the area and have a membership in good standing where they came from.” He and the advisory board would be revising that policy in the future.
“I can understand why some of the Doms seem as though they want to keep their subs close.”
“Earlier you said you don’t know me well enough yet. What would you like to know?”
“Um…do you have any siblings?”
He smiled, not surprised she’d ask about his family first. “No. I’m an only child, but I have many cousins.”
“Are you parents still alive? Still together?”
He nodded. “Yes, and yes. They would like you.”
She blushed, and her eyes sparkled at his words. “Where do they live?”
“After my father retired, my mother wanted to return to her home in Italy, so they live there most of the year, in a small villa on the seaside. It’s a beautiful little place. You would like it.” He’d never introduced any of his submissives to his parents. Why did it suddenly seem like such a great idea? No doubt his mom would set eyes on Bunny and claim her on the spot.
“Were you born in Italy?”
“No. I was born here in the States. My father is ex-military, a retired colonel in the Air Force. My mom has lived all over the world, as have I until I went off to college.”
“That explains where the Italian endearment came from.”
Joseph chuckled. “Yes, I heard my father call her that on more than one occasion. He was good with languages, and so was I.”
“Where did you go to school?” She looked down at her hands, and her expression became guarded.
“I’m a Harvard graduate with a master’s in business finance. Besides operating Hazelle House, I did my research and made some excellent investments. I’ve done well.” He leaned forward and touched her knee. “I wasn’t raised with wealth, nor was I born with a spoon in my mouth. I enjoy having Hazelle House and living this life, but I also know what it’s like to live in base housing that is one step away from condemnation. All of this”—he waved a hand around the room—”makes life comfortable, but it doesn’t define me, and I don’t want it to in your eyes, either.”
Her warm hand covered his, and she smiled. “That’s pretty freaky, you know.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Your pretty face tattles on you.”
She snorted. “Grinnie used to tell me years ago, ‘Just try and tell me a fib, Bunny girl. All I have to do is look in your eyes.’ And she was usually right. What is your full name?”
“Joseph Priestly Hazelle.”
“Priestly?”
“It’s a family name,” he murmured, happy to see the sparkle back in her eyes. “What’s your full name?”
She shook her head. “You’ll laugh.”
“Come on, it can’t be worse than Priestly.”
“Bunny Bloom Carrigan,” she said quietly, and her cheeks did, indeed, bloom with color as she said it. “My mother said sentimentality came honestly to her since her family roots are all Irish. She was a lovely person.”
Was.
“I’m sorry,” he said, squeezing her hand in his. “Recently?”
With a shake of her head, she said, “When I was in high school. She complained of a bad headache one morning. I got a call to come to the office later in the school day and my father was there waiting for me. Told me she’d had a stroke, and she was gone. Just like that,” she whispered. “With all the secretaries and the principal standing there gawking.” She shook her head and then bit her lower lip as she gazed at him. “He wasn’t the kind of man to stay single long. He remarried three months later, and I gained a stepmom and five step-brothers and sisters,” she added, scrunching up her shoulders and shaking her head.
That was a lot to sort out, and he planned to.
“How’s your neck?” he asked huskily.
She switched off the heating pad and laid it aside. “Better,” she said and then demonstrated that by cautiously turning her head from side to side and up and down. “It might stiffen up a tiny bit by morning, but I’ll call my massage therapist and get in to see her.”
“Here, let me,” he said as he got up and moved over to the couch cushion beside her. He motioned her to turn so she faced away from him. She hesitated for a moment, but when he smiled at her, she turned without further question.
“Tell me if anything I do hurts.”
She nodded and then quickly added, “Yes, Sir.”
Glad she couldn’t see the grin on his sappy face, he began to gently massage her well-defined shoulders. As she relaxed into his touch, he moved farther down, massaging the tight muscles around her shoulder blades and then upward. He used a careful touch on the back of her neck, watching for hints of discomfort. Her breathing slowed after a time, and she loosened up. Her appreciative moan sent a lance of need to his cock as he slid his fingers up into her hairline.
He began plucking the pins holding her tremendous mass of curls in place, gathering them in his palm as he encountered them. “You have so much hair, fiammetta.” I want to drown in it.
“Sorry, it’s a mess to deal with sometimes.”
“But it’s beautiful,” he murmured, pressing a thick lock to his nose and breathing in her sweet, slightly herbal scent.
“It wouldn’t behave when I was styling it earlier, so I just pinned it all up to control it.”
His body shook with his chuckling. “Perhaps I should do that with you when you won’t behave.”
She giggle-snorted. “You could try, Beastly.”
“Beastly?”
“Yeah, I just made it up. It’s your nickname from now on. Priestly sounds so staid and well…boring. But Beastly spanks bad girls’ heinies.” Her shoulders bounced with her laughter, but when he leaned forward and lightly bit down on her neck, she squealed. The sound started out playful but ended a little breathless, and he was encouraged. He gave her just a few more gentle squeezes to make sure she wasn’t tightening up after their brief play and then reached for the remote on the coffee table.
He flipped through the satellite music channels until he found what he wanted, turned up the volume, and then stood and held out his hand to her. “Come here.”
While “Let It Be Me” by Ray LaM
ontagne played, he held her close, and they swayed to the slow, soothing rhythm. He smiled, unsurprised she was familiar with the song when she began to sing along. Her voice had a sexy rasp to it as she sang softly, her hands stealing around his waist so she was against him from her forehead to her toes, as if she’d been molded just for him.
She went silent as the vocalist sang the last refrain, and he leaned down to kiss her, taking her warm lips and drinking in her sweetness, and the pliant sensuality of her body. Her soft moan against his lips sent a keen vibration through him that went straight to his cock, and he wallowed in her acceptance as she tightened her hold and kissed him back.
Her lips were tender and a brighter shade of rose when he released her. “Is your grandmother expecting you home tonight?”
The gulp was audible as she shook her head. “I told her I was staying over with a friend. She’s at home with Tristan.”
“Am I your friend, Bunny?”
Blinking her beautiful eyes, she said, “It’s a good way to start, don’t you think? I would want a lover to be my friend first.”
“I want to be your lover…and more, fiammetta.”
Her answer was her kiss.
Chapter Ten
Bunny slid her fingertips up into the short hair at his nape, returning his kiss, and then winding her arms around his neck when he reached down and gripped her thighs and lifted her to him.
She rubbed her nose against his and giggled. “I better be careful. The air is thin up at this altitude. I feel faint.”
“I’ll take care of you, fiammetta, until you adjust,” he said as he rubbed her nose back. “I can show you a clean bill of health from my doctor, and I’d be happy to use condoms if you’d prefer.”
“Somehow ‘happy’ and ‘condom’ don’t fit well in the same sentence,” she murmured, relieved he’d brought up the subject. “Condoms would probably be best. I’m on the pill and have been for several years. I need to find a doctor in Divine, though. That’s been on my list of things to do since we moved here. I don’t have any medical records with me to prove I’m clean.”
His gray gaze seemed to see beneath the surface, and she wanted to cuddle closer when he brushed one of her wild locks of hair over her shoulder and then caressed her cheek. “I didn’t expect you would. This isn’t a transaction where I provide proof and so do you before we move forward. I wanted to reassure you out of respect. I can recommend an excellent doctor, or you could ask Violet Tyler if you’d rather. I wouldn’t take you to my bed if I thought your sexual habits were questionable, but I am curious about something.”
“What?” she asked, dimly aware he was carrying her across the cavernous space of his bedroom.
“How long has it been since you had sex?”
“Four years,” she whispered against the tanned column of his neck, flushing as she remembered that mistake. The last guy she’d dated seriously was probably part of the reason she’d distrusted Joseph. Talk about controlling.
“That long? You must’ve lived among blind men prior to moving here.”
“Just no one I wanted to be with.”
“So full of mysteries,” he murmured.
She could tell by his tone he was smiling, but he didn’t press her for more information, and damned if that didn’t make her want to pour out all her secrets to him.
He stopped beside a tall window and looked out, and she sighed with pleasure as he slowly rocked her back and forth. It was late, and the full moon was making its descent. She could remember rolling her eyes when reading passages in romance novels that spoke of the heroine melting in the hero’s arms, but that was just how it felt as he held her.
He clutched her to him and groaned. She felt how hard he was through the layers of clothing, and her pussy responded with a warm ache growing outward from her center.
After squeezing her still-tingly butt cheek, he placed her on her feet and set about unbuttoning her shirt, sliding it down her arms, and then lifting the camisole over her head. Kneeling in front of her, he unbuttoned her jeans and tugged them over her hips.
She placed her hands on his to halt his progress. “This isn’t very Dom-like behavior, with you kneeling in front of me. Aren’t I supposed to be the one kneeling and doing all the work?”
Joseph’s chuckle had an edge to it that sent all of her nerve endings on alert. “You’ve been reading too many romance novels, Bunny. I’ll get to the more ‘Dom-like’ later, but I’m quite comfortable here. I may be kneeling in front of you, but I still get to do what I want, namely this.”
He yanked the jeans and her panties down to her knees, and then he wrapped his hands around her butt cheeks, squeezed hard, increasing the burn from her paddling. He dove in, latching his mouth and tongue onto her pussy and eliciting a sharp cry from her.
His deep rumble of approval vibrated through her pussy and sent shivers up her spine as he held her tightly to his mouth, allowing her no escape, no respite from the sensations rocketing through her.
‘Oh, Joseph!” she cried out into the darkness, grasping his shoulders, hoping he’d hold her up since she was hobbled in the jeans and could only balance on her toes curled up in the long, silky fibers of the rug underfoot.
His hand slid up her spine, and the heat from it was a shock against her cool skin. She moaned when he wrapped his hand in her hair and tugged gently, just enough to let her know who was in control but not enough to hurt her.
“Yes,” she murmured as he latched onto her clit and licked at her opening, the erotic, wet sounds setting her cheeks aflame as he discovered firsthand how soaked she was for him.
He supported her lower back, and she tilted into him as the tightness in her cunt began to build. How quickly he had her on edge.
“More, Joseph. Please! Please!”
He growled in enjoyment and slid his other hand up her torso to cup one of her breasts as he steadied her and licked her to the most ferocious orgasm she’d had in a long time.
“I’m coming! Don’t stop! Don’t stop!” Her fingers scrabbled at his shoulders, when she tried to maintain her balance as her world went a little topsy-turvy. Still quaking with her climax, she arched when her backside came into contact with the cool suppleness of leather.
Blinking, she looked around her and realized he’d laid her out, still panting and twitching, on the curved divan in front of the tall window. Illuminated by the moon, his tan skin turned a burnished silver as he stripped from his shirt and then removed his belt and wallet and laid them aside. He loosened his pants, letting them slide to the floor. His boxers were a black knit fabric that absorbed the light. She reached out so she could help remove them to see what was beneath because she wanted him. Now. Her cunt clenched as if in agreement, but he backed away and chuckled as he toyed with the waistband.
“Greedy, fiammetta?”
“Mmmm, very. Come here, Beastly.”
“I intend to spank you for giving me that nickname…one of these days. I’ve never been nicknamed by a sub,” he said, reaching into the night table drawer for a condom.
“I’m not much of a sub if I’m not afraid to nickname you, now am I—Beastly?”
His laughter echoed through the large bedroom, and the sound gave her a tremendous sense of accomplishment. “You are one-of-a-kind, woman.”
“What say you fuck your one-of-a-kind woman, hmm?” she murmured, spreading her legs wide for him in wanton invitation while he sheathed himself.
He was on her in an instant but not thrusting wild inside her. No, he maintained control better than that. Some part of her had known he would. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have showed such complete trust in her incitement of him.
Lifting her hands, he curved them back behind the upper edge of the divan. “Your hands go here.” His eyes glittered silver in the moonlight, and she nodded as she felt the handholds he was indicating.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and moaned as her slick pussy made contact with his hard, hot length. Flexing her hips, she did h
er best to entice him, a sense of vulnerability striking her as the head of his cock aligned with her opening. Joseph could do as he wished to her. He studied her face and then leaned forward to kiss her. His lips were as gentle as his first thrust was fierce. He pinned her to the divan and impaled her on his cock. Except for the fine tremble in his breathing, and the telling way his eyes rolled back, he held perfectly still.
She lost control then, thankful for the anchor of the handholds as she moved beneath him as much as he’d allow, bringing herself to orgasm and imploring him to fuck her as he held still, groaning with passion.
“Fuck, I love the way your cunt feels, squeezing me as you come. One more, fiammetta.”
“Fuck me, please, please!” She needed him to move. She tightened her thighs and struggled against him, feeling the climax coming with certainty but needing him to move.
“One more,” he growled and popped her ass cheek, hard.
She froze, the cry stuck in her throat, as the orgasm boiled through her until she could barely breathe, the climax building to greater heights as he began to gently thrust, keeping it rolling on and on.
“Very nice, sweet angel, very nice,” he murmured, gently biting down on her shoulder as his thrusts became harder and harder until she thought she’d explode. She couldn’t possibly have more orgasms inside of her, but he proved it, bringing her to the edge and pushing her over again and again.
“Sweet, strong, fiery little one,” he whispered as she finally settled, feeling limp as a noodle. “Now that I’ve gotten you warmed up a little…”
Wha?
He withdrew, and she gasped at the shock of his loss and chuckled when he had to pry her fingers from the handholds. He turned her so she was now positioned facing the top curved edge of the divan, her chest braced on its luxurious padded surface, looking out at the moon. He helped her to find the handholds once more and then came crashing down on her, his hot chest over her cooling, slick back. A split second later, his cock rammed home, thrusting over and over as he fondled her clit.
“Oh no, I can’t. No more.”
Bunny and the Beast [Divine Creek Ranch 22] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) Page 11