Bunny and the Beast [Divine Creek Ranch 22] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic)

by Heather Rainier

  “Why would she need to—never mind. Not my business. You haven’t asked me for specifics about her situation so I won’t pry into your business. Just…take care of her while she’s with you. She’s precious to me.”

  “And to me, ma’am. I promise I’ll always care about her safety.”

  Grinnie gestured for him to sit again, as if she wasn’t through with him just yet. “Twice you’ve mentioned promises. So while we’re on the subject, maybe you could share with me what your intentions are toward my granddaughter?”

  * * * *

  Forty-five minutes later, Bunny sounded like she was finishing up her preparations, Grinnie was satisfied that he had honorable intentions toward her granddaughter, and Tristan had joined them to ask him a few more pointed questions about Joseph’s interest in his sister, most specifically as to whether they were getting married.

  Grinnie frowned at her grandson. “Tristan Carrigan. Is that any way to act toward a guest?”

  Tristan shrugged and then grinned at his grandmother. “I thought when people were in love that’s what they did—get married. Bunny looked at him with big goo-goo eyes, like she was in looove. And he looked the same. If they get married can I stay here with you?”

  Grinnie tried to hide her laughter and then popped Tristan’s hand when he reached for a cookie on the plate. “You’ll spoil your dinner.”

  “You let him have one.”

  “He’s a guest, and a grown up. Besides, they won’t be eating until later. We’re going to have to work some more on your manners, I can see that right now. This is what comes from hanging out with the neighbor boys. You come home with bad manners and give me more attitude and I may have to cancel our television plans for tonight.”

  “Sorry, Grinnie,” Tristan grumbled softly. He glanced up at Joseph and said, “If you marry my sister, can I take a ride in your car sometime?” He chuckled and dodged Grinnie when she reached for him, and then doubled back and pecked her cheek while he snitched a cookie from the plate.

  “I’m ready,” Bunny said softly from the doorway, and Joseph let out a sigh of appreciation when he caught sight of her. Fresh and lovely. He looked at her with new eyes. He couldn’t help it after Grinnie’s revelation. So delicate and beautiful, yet so strong. He’d never abuse the trust he saw in her eyes but wondered if Grinnie would understand the difference between the lifestyle he offered Bunny and the fear and intimidation she’d experienced with her step-siblings. Many people might not, especially given the way that BDSM practices and the lifestyle kept showing up in the media and pop culture. He wouldn’t shy away from that conversation with Grinnie if it meant Bunny was still a part of his life.

  He went to Bunny and kissed her temple, breathing in the fresh scent of her shampoo and bodywash. “You look lovely.”

  At the door, Grinnie kissed Bunny and said, “You two have a good time and be careful.”

  Tristan crossed his arms over his chest. “What time are you coming home, Bunny? Are you watching movies with us?”

  Grinnie poked Tristan. “She doesn’t have a curfew, boy. She’s a grown adult.” Then she looked at Joseph and raised her eyebrows expectantly.

  Bunny sighed and Joseph chuckled and said, “I’ll have her home at a decent hour, ma’am. Thank you.”

  Tristan might’ve followed them out to have another look at the car but Grinnie halted him on the porch and waved.

  After making sure she was comfortable in her seat, Joseph closed the car door and went around to the driver’s side.

  As he buckled himself in, he said, “Since you’re still new to the area, I thought I’d take you someplace a little different.”

  “Not the Dancing Pony?”

  “I enjoy the Dancing Pony, but there’s another place I’d rather take you. We can eat once we get there.”

  “Where is it?”

  “Morehead. The restaurant is Chantilly’s, and the nightclub is right next door. The Twisted Bull. Of course if you’d rather stay in Divine, I understand.”

  “You just came from Morehead. It seems a waste of gas.”

  “Nonsense. Besides, I have a few friends there I want you to meet.”

  “Okay, if that’s what you want to do. On one condition.”

  He lifted a brow at her. “Making conditions already, fiammetta?”

  She nudged him with her elbow and giggled. “You’ll like this one. On the condition that you dance with me.”

  “Done.”

  “See? I’m not always difficult.”

  Joseph chuckled as he reversed from her driveway, peering through the tinted glass at the young men sitting out on the stoop of the house next door. One of them lifted a chin at the car, and when Bunny waved, he raised a hand in acknowledgement.

  “An admirer of yours?” Joseph asked, surprised by the small flare of jealousy.

  “No. Grinnie and his grandmother, Louisa, are longtime friends. He and his brother live with her, and she tries to take care of them. Thanks to Louisa, I know how to make kickass tamales.”

  He glanced at her and grinned as they cruised down the cracked pavement of her street, making a mental note to talk to her—no, lecture her—about his expectations regarding her personal safety. “Tamales? You should tell Carmen. I’ll bet she’d love to have someone in the kitchen to help her make them later this winter.”

  In his peripheral vision, he saw her watching him, a quizzical look on her face and then she said, “Thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “For assuming you’ll still be putting up with me this winter.”

  I could put up with you a long time, fiammetta. A long time. “I have a lot of confidence in you.”

  “And you don’t mind bringing me back home after our date? It seems a lot of trouble to go to, just to go on a date with me.”

  She’d already explained to him earlier in the week that, while she might spend a night at his place here and there, she couldn’t make a habit of it. Grinnie hadn’t given her a hard time, she’d said, but Bunny’s grandmother had a right to be curious. Now that he’d met Grinnie, he understood why she’d be protective.

  Bunny had also explained that her absences tended to upset Tristan’s routine. She tried to keep him on a regular schedule, and he didn’t do well when she wasn’t home in the evenings. Joseph hadn’t complained. They hadn’t discussed where she would sleep in their arrangements, and the last thing he wanted was to alienate her grandmother or her brother. Otherwise, it might jeopardize their nascent relationship. Considering what Tristan’s childhood had been like, Joseph could see where the disruption to his routine might be an issue.

  He’d never had a desire to sleep with any of his subs as a matter of habit, so it shouldn’t have bothered him. At least that was what he told himself as he tallied the number of empty guest rooms in his wing of the mansion and took note of the shabby condition of her neighborhood in broad daylight. He could just imagine having that conversation with her.

  “I’m sorry, what?” he murmured as he realized she’d asked him a question.

  “I said who is it you’d like me to meet?”

  Joseph shifted gears as he pulled out onto the state highway and smiled. “A good friend and someone I hope will be a source of encouragement for you. She was a submissive at Hazelle House for a time.”

  “Not anymore? Was she your submissive? Personally yours, I mean?” No trace of possessiveness tinged her voice, but he noticed her white knuckles as she gripped the handle of her evening bag in her lap.

  “No. She was in a relationship when she first became a member of the club, but it didn’t last. For a time, I thought I might help find the right one for her, but I think in the end, she found the right men.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “Men? Boy, what’s in the water around here?” She asked the question with a bit of a chuckle, and Joseph knew she was teasing, and he smiled along with her.

  “Her husbands, Ben Lawrence and Quinten Parks, seem to be the perfect men for her.”

&nb
sp; “Oh! I think I met them at the Dancing Pony one night.”

  Joseph nodded. “Ben is partners with Ethan Grant in the Dancing Pony, and Quinten is a silent partner. They are also involved with the Twisted Bull and Chantilly’s. Camilla runs the nightclub and employs a manager for the steakhouse.”

  “She must be a dynamo. So, she was a submissive?”

  He nodded. “Still is, and a sassy one at times. Camilla is a little reckless but sweet and definitely submissive. She can answer your questions, and once you get to know her, I’m sure you will like her.”

  “Sassy like me?” she asked.

  “Oh, no. You take the cake in that department, Bunny. No question.”

  They made the journey to Morehead, and he smiled at her rounded eyes when he pulled into the parking lot shared by Chantilly’s Steakhouse and the Twisted Bull nightclub.

  “Wow. I think I remember hearing about this place on the radio. I wish I’d worn something more western now,” she said, tugging at the just-above-the-knee-length hem of her little black dress. He couldn’t have directed her to a better choice if she’d left it up to him. The black dressy sandals she was wearing had high heels and an ankle strap. He could picture her kneeling on his bed in them with nothing else on.

  Joseph parked the car and placed a hand on her knee. “What you have on is perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing about you.”

  Bunny giggled. “Well, good then, since I’m not wearing any panties.”

  His only outward reaction was a raised eyebrow as she stifled her giggles, but inside his chest, his heart was doing flip-flops. This was what he loved about her. She kept him on his toes…and made him smile.

  After casting a brief look around the parking lot, he placed his hand on her knee. “Be still.”

  Breathlessly, she murmured, “Yes, Sir.”

  Her teeth dug into her plush lower lip, and he hardened even more as he recalled the way those lovely lips had looked wrapped around his cock several evenings before as she’d knelt next to his desk and gotten him off—and then had informed him she was going home to masturbate. He’d proved otherwise when he’d manhandled her onto his desk and taken her jeans down to give her a couple of spanks for sassing him and then had given her what her soaked pussy told him she needed most. He should’ve had a good night’s sleep after that encounter, but he’d missed her in his bed, after only one night with her.

  “The nude stockings were an excellent choice, fiammetta,” he murmured as he leaned close to her ear and tugged at her lobe with his teeth. “Place your hands on the ceiling above you. Spread your legs a bit.” She did as he asked, and after another quick glance to make sure they had no observers, he slid his hand beneath the hem of her dress.

  “Oh, Joseph—Sir!” she exclaimed as he slid his fingertips along the warm silk of her inner thigh.

  “Silence, fiammetta. Not another sound. You’re going to come for me. Hard and fast,” he said, his voice uncharacteristically husky as he rubbed her outer lips and her slick juices coated his fingers. “So wet for me, Bunny. I love that about you.”

  She panted, and her eyes widened as he dipped his finger between her slippery cunt lips, and he shushed her gently and kissed her.

  “Sweet angel, you’re coming for me, no matter whether there are people watching us or not. No, don’t look. Right now, we’re just people exchanging a kiss. That’s right. You’re caught, aren’t you? On edge, wanting me inside you, and wondering if there’s someone watching us.”

  She panted harder and arched against him, giving him greater access to her pussy, and he rewarded her with another kiss.

  Slipping two fingers inside her, he made quick work of finding her G-spot and began to thrust and rub her clit with his thumb at the same time.

  Her lips popped open, but not a sound came out, and she pressed her back against the seat.

  “That’s it. Give it to me.”

  She braced her feet against the floorboard, and her mouth opened as she rocked against his hand. Her cunt grew tighter around his fingers, and her juices wet his hand as she began grinding, and her slick flesh grew so taut he could barely continue thrusting against her, bringing her to the edge of climax. Her lips darkened with her arousal, and he imagined that her nipples and her cunt were the same exact shade at that moment. Fuck, she is beautiful.

  “Look at me,” he murmured. She turned her gaze to him, and he wanted to drown in those turquoise depths. “Silently, fiammetta,” he whispered. The only sound she made was her panting and one loud gulp as her orgasm took hold, and she froze, her eyes rolling back as she came. He continued thrusting, relishing every squeeze and tug of her supple pussy muscles.

  He kissed her rosy, hot cheek as she caught her breath, looking at him with dazed surprise, and then her jaw dropped when he lifted his soaked fingers to his lips and licked them clean. Sweet, slick, slightly salty, and so decadent. Bunny was a feast for the senses.

  “You are delicious, fiammetta. How do you feel?”

  She took a shaky breath, and her voice sounded a little rusty as she said, “Like I have no legs. Do you…” She opened her evening bag but closed it again. He realized what she needed.

  “Here, I think this might help.” He opened the glove box and handed her a travel-sized packet of tissues, and surveyed their surroundings, now slightly dimmer in the growing twilight. “For someone who claims to not be very submissive, you just conducted yourself as if you’d been submitting for much longer than a few days. I’m proud of you, Bunny.”

  “Th-thank you.” She sniffled as she completed her tidy-up, and he was surprised to see the shimmer of tears in her eyes.

  “It surprises you? That I’d be proud of you?”

  She shook her head and then nodded. “It’s nice to hear, that’s all. I-I didn’t expect to be able to make it past the first few days, much less inspire you to tell me that. I’m not…”

  “Not what?”

  “It’s nothing to do with us. I’m just not used to hearing things like that. I mean Grinnie tells me she’s proud of me, but I didn’t expect it…”

  “Your parents never told you they were proud of you?”

  “Mom did. But Dad…” She shook her head and then took out her compact to check her makeup, although she didn’t need to. She looked perfect. Flushed, post-orgasmic, and ready for a night out with him.

  “Bunny, I won’t push you to tell me your secrets. I want you to trust me with them. I don’t know why your father hasn’t given you those words, but you know I wouldn’t say them if they weren’t true.”

  “Yes, Sir.” She grinned mischievously. “Thank you, Beastly.”

  “Keeping a tally, fiammetta,” he said with a chuckle as he opened his door. “Stay put and I’ll open your door for you.”

  He enjoyed watching her as she unfolded herself from his sports car, her legs shapely and graceful in her heels, which put her just at chin level.

  “You’re so handsome in your black suit, Beastly,” she whispered as she smoothed his lapel, grinning because she knew he really was keeping count. “Sir, may I ask a favor?”

  “You may.”

  “Please don’t laugh if I bust my ass in these heels?”

  Joseph chuckled as he held out his forearm to her. “Just hold on to me, Bunny. It amazes me that more women don’t break their ankles wearing those things, but they do incredible things for your legs and your ass, which are already spectacular.”

  “Oh, Beastly,” she murmured as she walked beside him.

  “That’s three, sassy one.”

  “And the night is young, huh?” she asked as they walked down the rows of vehicles to the front door.

  Cody Welsh, the tremendously tall and bulky head of security for the nightclub, had a big smile on his face as he opened the door for them and held out his hand. “Mr. Hazelle, a pleasure to see you again. Camilla told us you would be visiting tonight, and seats are reserved for you at her table in the rear corner, sir.” He turned a courteous but appreciative gaz
e on Bunny. “Good evening, ma’am.”

  “Bunny, this is Cody Welsh. Cody, this is my girlfriend, Bunny Carrigan.”

  He wanted to laugh when Bunny gasped but didn’t show any other hint of emotion, and Cody’s eyes widened, and he said, “That’s excellent news. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, ma’am. Have you eaten supper yet, sir?”

  “We were planning to eat at Chantilly’s. Will you let Camilla know we’ll be over in a bit?”

  “Sure. And when you come over, grab me, Heath, or Spencer, and we’ll see you to the table. The club is busy tonight.”

  “So I see,” Joseph murmured as he noted Bunny already bobbing in place to the beat of the music. Several men at nearby tables were eyeing her appreciatively, and he placed a possessive hand around her hip as he directed her to the entry to the steakhouse, just off of the foyer to the nightclub.

  “Girlfriend?” she paused and whispered when they were out of Cody’s hearing range, placing her hand over his still resting on her hip.

  “Do you have any objections to me saying that?”

  “Not at all. Just surprised. You might’ve mentioned it to me beforehand, though.”

  “My apologies. It’s never been an issue before. Would you like to be my girlfriend?”

  “Yes, and what do you mean? You’ve never had a girlfriend before?” she asked in a teasing tone.

  “Not since college. I’ve never dated a sub.”

  She nodded in acknowledgement. “Only used your weapons of ass destruction on them?”

  “Exactly. See? You’re learning already,” he replied, grinning at her banter, for which he was grateful. In truth, he hadn’t given it any thought until it was time to introduce her to Cody. But he liked the way it’d felt to say those words.

  “This is fantastic,” Bunny murmured as she walked with him. “You can eat supper and then come right over and have some fun without leaving the building. Thank you for bringing me here.”