His Gift (A Dark Billionaire Romance Part 3)

by Dark, Aubrey

  “Then this—all of this—”

  “It’s okay,” I said, smiling weakly. “It’s more than okay, actually. It’s awesome.”

  “I really am glad you like it.”

  “It was very sweet of you.”

  “It took me a while to put together the show, but it was well worth the effort.”

  “Wait.” I said. Shock ran through me. “Back up a second. You put together the show? As in, set up all of the paintings and decided on the layout?”

  “It’s one of my hobbies, setting up shows. I did a great Dali exhibit once in Barcelona.”

  “So you actually did everything here?” I was astonished.

  “Didn’t you wonder where I was going in the mornings? Or that I’d taken some of your paintings? Did you really not notice that?”

  “I thought you had to do, you know, work. Businessman stuff. And they’re not my paintings, I mean, you gave me the canvases and paint and everything, so technically—”

  “I hate business,” Jake said. “I really have no head for it.”

  “Shut up,” I said. He couldn’t be serious.

  “It’s true. The key is to hire assistants who run my business better than I could and pay them well.”

  “And what do you get a salary for?” I teased.

  “For coming up with all of the good ideas. Like this.”

  “This gallery? You think a gallery with my art is going to be profitable?”

  Jake smiled and put his arms around me. He kissed the top of my head. Immediately I felt a warmth spread through my chest. I leaned against him, hugging him tightly. He cared. He cared about me.

  “I hear we’ve already got an offer on the next painting from Unknown. She’s a quite renowned art collector in Manhattan. A cool hundred grand, which is more than I’ve ever heard for a new name in the business.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously. Unknown might have to make some more paintings.”

  “Is that so? I think I can persuade Unknown to get back into the studio.” I thought of what we’d done to create that painting, and I flushed. Jake saw my pink cheeks and brushed them with his thumb knowingly.

  “There’ll never be a painting quite like that first one,” Jake said, smirking.

  “I’m sure we’ll think of something,” I said, my heart filled to bursting.

  “Are you ready to go back into the crowd?” Jake asked.

  I nodded. Now that I knew he cared, now that I knew he was behind me at every step, I felt like I could handle anything that the world could throw at me.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After the show, we headed back to the house. Jake didn’t waste a moment before taking me directly to the mirrored room.

  Now, as though seeing it for the first time, I walked around, looking at the art painted on the walls. There was darkness there, but a darkness that hinted at something underneath.

  Something burning to get out.

  “Lacey, don’t make me have to spank you before you climb up on the bed.” His voice smiled with a warning.

  “I only wanted to see your art.”

  “There will be plenty of time for that,” he said. “Now come.”

  He opened the cabinet on the side of the room. I saw a flash of leather: whips, rods, crops. Everything that he could use on me. Goosebumps ran down my arms. But what he took out was different.

  I stared at it for a moment before realizing what it was.

  “A… a collar?”

  “I want you to put it on yourself,” he said.

  It wasn’t a question. It was a command. But when he lifted the collar up for me to take, I saw in his eyes a flash of indecision. Before he could take it back, I reached out and took the collar.

  The black leather was smooth, surprisingly smooth, and cool to the touch. Small diamond studs edged the outside of the leather strip.

  “Matches my underwear,” I said. “Would you hold my hair up while I put it on?”

  Jake smiled, and a thought flashed through my mind: I’d passed the last test.

  His warm hands smoothed back around my neck and gathered my hair up. I put the collar on and slipped the leather strap through its buckle.

  “Not the tightest setting,” Jake said, watching carefully as I put it on. “Leave yourself a bit of give. You’ll want it.”

  I shook my hair out. Jake looked at me in wonder.

  “You approve?” I asked teasingly.

  When he spoke his voice was throaty.

  “Very much so,” he said.

  He pulled a silk tie from his jacket.

  “Is that…”

  “A blindfold.”

  “Really?”

  “I don’t want you distracted. I want you to focus entirely on how it feels. There isn’t a canvas on the ground tonight, and we’re not performing for anyone.”

  He knotted the silk tie around my head, and everything was dark. His strong hands came around my waist and lifted me onto the bed.

  “That’s why you brought me here?” I was beginning to see the real person behind Jake Carville.

  “I’m Jake out there. In here…”

  “You’re Kage,” I finished. “I understand.”

  “You don’t understand yet,” he said. He sounded like he was smiling.

  “This is the only place you let yourself go. This is how you relax,” I said.

  Blindfolded, I could only remember the way the art spattered over the concrete walls, the mirrored wall he’d broken. I remembered his face and how he’d looked at me when he first kissed me. Hungry. My heart beat faster.

  “Most people lose control. You take it.”

  “That’s true,” he said, laughing softly. “But you forgot the most important thing of all.”

  “What’s that?”

  “In here, I allow myself to get creative.”

  The handcuffs slipped over my wrists. He’d padded them with silk, and I tugged gently. The chains clinked in the darkness. I breathed in and out, trying not to let panic overtake me. I was blind and bound; there was a collar around my neck, but this was Jake’s house I was in. Jake’s room. He wouldn’t harm me.

  The chains pulled my arms out and up, and I sat up on my knees. I swayed slightly, dizzy underneath the blindfold, but the handcuffs held me tightly enough so that I wouldn’t fall.

  I could feel his breathing on the back of my neck. I strained forward, away from him, but the ties around my wrists held fast. He had me. Oh, God, he had me now, and he could do whatever he wanted with me.

  “Lacey, my darling.” He breathed the words into my ear from behind me. I gasped as his hand touched my shoulder. His fingers were warmer than his breath on the back of my neck.

  Kage.

  “Are you afraid of the dark?”

  I was terrified, but it wasn’t because of the dark. I was terrified that this would be the last night he touched me. Tonight would be over soon, and then I would have to go back to my stupid jobs and my stupid life. More than that, I was scared to even think past this moment.

  And I wondered what he would do to me now.

  His fingers slid down my back. His other hand gripped my hip. The bed moved as he shifted his weight closer to me. I gritted my teeth. I was his, but only for one more night. What would he do to me now that he knew he could do anything?

  Despite myself, I felt my body begin to respond as his hands curved down around my waist and paused there. Warmth spread between my thighs. I clenched them together tightly, trying to ignore the pulsing desire inside of me.

  Take me. Take me.

  No. This wasn’t me. This couldn’t be real. The Lacey who walked into this apartment would never have let someone put a collar around her neck. And yet here I was, with the pressure of the leather strap around my neck. With chains binding my arms out to the sides.

  Who was I?

  I jerked my head away at the sudden touch on my neck. Even in the darkness, I could tell that he was smiling behind me. The touch came again,
and this time I was prepared.

  But then his lips pressed against my neck. I tried to sit still, but he sucked at my skin and I couldn’t help the moan that tore from my collared throat.

  “Oh, Lacey,” he murmured.

  His hands came forward, sliding over my stomach and up to my breasts. Again he kissed my neck. Again I gasped. This time it was his tongue, the hot pressure sending me into near spasms as he cupped my breasts.

  I moaned as he sucked my skin and everything sank into pure sensation—

  —his muscled chest against my back, his skin hot against mine—

  —his fingers pinching my nipples so hard it sends flames racing through my nerves, his thumb rolling over the hard swollen nubs—

  —his lips taking me, his mouth possessing me, his tongue licking my skin—

  —his breath whispering softness into my ear—

  “I can’t stop myself,” he said.

  Oh God. Oh, Jake. If there was anything in the world I wanted right now, it was his cock inside of me. My body ached to take him inside, thick and pulsing.

  “Don’t try,” I rasped.

  Don’t. I didn’t want him to stop. Not now. I wanted him to do everything to me. I didn’t want him to hold back anymore. He wasn’t Jake anymore, he was Kage, and I wanted everything that he had to offer.

  Still, it was this delicious anticipation that built the pressure inside of me, that rolled over and through my nerves. His hands came down, gripping my thighs. His fingers scrabbled needily over my skin. Before I could say another word, he forced my thighs apart.

  I wanted him so badly, but I wanted him to want me the same way.

  My body recoiled, clenching together, but he was already kneeling between my legs behind me. His hard cock pressed against the small of my back. It was impossibly hot, burning hot against my cool skin. I moaned as he slid his cock down between my thighs to where I was already slick with moisture.

  “Jesus. Oh Jesus. Lacey.” His voice was a growl that sent shivers through my body. “You don’t know what you do to me.”

  What I do to you? Lord, what have you done to me? Before I came into this place, I did not know what sex felt like. I didn’t know what it felt like to be taken, possessed, by someone determined to have every inch of my body for his own.

  My fingers grasped at the handcuffs, but they were already pulled taut. My body, too, felt like it was pulled taut, waiting for his touch to send me into uncontrollable vibrations.

  I closed my eyes. It didn’t matter; the blindfold was still on, but this felt like the last decision I could make. I made it silently, the words curling through my mind and stopping before they reached my tongue.

  Take me. Take me into your darkness.

  He paused at my entrance, and then his arms came around me from behind, holding me tight. He slid into me, slowly, deliberately slowly, and stopped before he’d pierced me even halfway.

  “What do you feel, Lacey?” he asked. “Let it take you over. Whatever you feel, let yourself feel it completely. Don’t hold back.”

  I bit my lip, aching to scream. He was inside of me, yes, but now that I could feel him, I wanted more. I wanted every part of him on me, inside me.

  “I feel… you,” I choked out. “You’re so big. I want it. I want… I want you.”

  “No pain?”

  I shook my head, biting my lip. It was anguish to wait, yes, but apart from that exquisite sensation, there was no pain. Only the best kind of pressure.

  His hands cupped my breast, and then he thrust upward, impaling me. I cried out in ecstasy at the feeling of being completely filled, and then he twisted my nipple and I screamed.

  “This is much better than having you gagged, don’t you think?” Jake whispered. I couldn’t answer. I was panting, squirming, my heart pounding in my ears.

  He rocked back down, and I moaned as he thrust upward again. His muscled chest pressed against my back and the chains that were holding me creaked as he lifted my weight from the binding and let it down, over and over again.

  He moved slowly, impossibly slowly. I hated him for it, and loved him for it, because every motion of his sent slow thrills through my nerve endings. I felt his cock as it worked deeper and deeper inside of me. His fingers as they rolled my nipples, twisting and pinching to send shocks of pleasure through my chest. His mouth on the back of my neck, nibbling just above the line of the collar.

  The delicious friction of his motion built up a pressure that grew and grew, making me dizzy with anticipation. He was taking me from behind, and he hadn’t yet touched me in the front. I didn’t know what he was doing, but I trusted him, and the fear racing through my body made the sensations all the more intense.

  Again and again he thrust up into me, until his cock was slick with my juices and I was moaning and twisting at the chains. I was on the verge of orgasm when my throat was suddenly choked. I gasped, feeling the thick leather collar pull my head back.

  “Don’t you dare come without telling me,” he whispered. “You know that, Lacey.”

  “Please—” I gasped. The collar was tight around my neck. He’d hooked his fingers into the back. That’s why he’d had me leave space.

  “I’m going to ride you now,” he said. “You see how this collar pulls you?”

  I nodded, gulping.

  “I’m going to take you the way I want you,” he growled. My heart skipped as he spoke. “And when I shoot into you, then you can come. Understood?”

  “Understood,” I whispered.

  He yanked my collar back and I felt myself pulled off balance. The chains were the only things holding me up. He’d leaned back, and then—

  “AH!”

  He spanked me, and I jerked, more in surprise than in pain. His cock thrust farther into me, and then he leaned back and spanked me again.

  “God, I love the way you clench around me when I spank you,” he said. He spanked me again, and I moaned. I was so wet, so hot, and I needed him badly.

  “So tight. So sweet.”

  He thrust up and then spanked me again, rocking back. Over and over, he repeated the motions, until the red pain of the spanks turned to bright sparks of pleasure. My hips bucked back to meet his thrusts and blows in alternating rhythm.

  Oh, God, I couldn’t last like this forever.

  I was biting my lip to keep myself from climax. Every single one of his touches made the pressure build and build, and I began to moan with each thrust. He wasn’t spanking me anymore; his rhythm had grown so fast that he had to hold my body tight to keep it from rocking too far away.

  Faster and faster he moved, slamming his body into mine. His hands came around my wrists, and his legs forced my legs apart. He thrust up so hard that it took my weight off of the bed, and when I landed back he was there to meet me. His skin was slick with moisture against mine as he thrust faster, faster.

  “God, please—”

  “Oh, Lacey,” he moaned, and I could feel his cock stiffen inside of me. He jerked once, upward, groaning—

  “Ahhhh!”

  It didn’t take any time at all for me to let go. The pressure building inside of me exploded into a burst of sensation, and I screamed as I clenched and unclenched around his pulsing shaft. I could feel his hot seed spilling out as I fell over the edge into my own orgasm.

  It was dark, but I could see bursts of color in the darkness as my body uncoiled into ecstasy. My fingers gripped the handcuffs and the collar around my throat pulled tightly. Every part of my body unraveled in pleasure, the orgasm spinning through me in waves of feeling. I was dizzy with pleasure.

  My heart was pounding. All I could hear was his breaths and mine, but I felt my heart beat with a shudder of motion that pulsed through my whole body.

  Soft kisses on the back of my shoulders brought me back to the world. Jake withdrew from me, and I felt his seed spill down the inside of my thigh. I licked my lips. They had gone dry with my rasping breaths.

  Jake moved around to my front, his weight m
oving on the mattress. He uncuffed me, catching my body before I could fall onto the bed. He pushed the blindfold up over my eyes, and I blinked hard into the dazzling green irises.

  “Lacey,” he murmured. His eyes were only the slightest bit worried, but that was too much for me.

  I leaned forward to kiss him, and he pulled me fully into his arms, taking my kiss and returning it tenfold. I couldn’t breathe as his lips sought out mine, seizing them in a kiss so hard that it bruised. He pulled himself away with a sigh before planting a few more tender kisses alongside the line of my chin.

  I let him take the collar off of me. My hands were shaking still, and my fingers weren’t steady enough to unclasp the buckle. When he’d taken it off, I finally felt naked.

  He held his hand out and I took it, letting him lead me to the door in a silent reflection of the pleasure he’d given me. He’d broken me into a thousand pieces and let me put myself back together with my own desires. He’d given me more than anyone else.

  A pang of sorrow stabbed through me. I took one last longing look back at the room. The broken mirror reflecting Jake’s art. His true self. I bit my lip and forced myself to ask him the question.

  “You said that there will be plenty of time for me to see this art.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Then… then you’re not going to kick me out after this week is up?”

  He took my face in his hands and kissed me. And in that kiss, I began to cry. Because I knew that he wasn’t keeping me here as a playtoy to use for sex. There was sex, and it was fun, but there was more than that.

  “Lacey,” he said. “Look at me. Look at me.”

  I blinked back the tears and stared up into his face. My vision swam with blurry tears. But I could see his eyes, always his green eyes, gazing kindly back at me.

  “Lacey, I love you. And I want you to stay here with me.”

  “You’re sure?” I wiped away a tear. Oh, to be here with him! All of my worries dissolved into happiness.

  “I’ve never been more certain of anything else in my life. Lacey, this is sudden. I know it’s sudden. It’s sudden for me, too. But there isn’t anything I want to hold back from you. You’ve seen all sides of me, and you haven’t batted an eyelash.”