“I know, I know. They wait for us to come crawling on bended knee begging for another chance.”
“Exactly. She’s probably stewing in irritation that you couldn’t be bothered to call after you cooled off. Yet you expect her to show up at your party and forgive your sorry ass for trying to make her a prostitute.”
“I did not!”
“No? Who offered to pay her a hundred grand for another night in her bed?”
Harvey stared into the mirror, refusing to meet the other man’s all-too-knowing gaze. “Don’t tell her that I’ll give her ten times as much if she’ll come back and pretend to be your niece again.”
Maxwell laughed and slapped him on the back. “Your secret’s safe with me. Ready?”
It only took a few minutes to take the elevator down to the private room they’d secured for the party. Supposedly his parents had always held the annual masquerade here too, though they’d reserved the entire building, not just one room, and Maxwell assured him of the staff’s professionalism and discretion. Dark wood paneling and beams across the ceiling with a large stone fireplace on one wall gave the room an Old World feel. Opposite the fireplace, an old-fashioned bar provided refreshments.
A very tall woman with flaming-red hair greeted them at the door. “Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Caine, welcome. My name is Diana Temple, and this is my fiancé, Jackson Montgomery.”
“Ah, Miss Temple, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Maxwell inclined his head to her and shook the other man’s hand. “Harvey, she’s the mastermind behind this incredible party. Thank you for helping us pull it off so quickly.”
Harvey tried not to gawk. Diana wore a short leather skirt and tiny bikini. With a bow and arrow in her hand and a sword on her hip, she looked like an Amazonian princess. Jackson wore black dress pants, like his, but instead of a shirt, he wore a black leather harness equipped with black wings so long that feathers dragged the ground. Even more telling, he wore a heavy black leather collar around his throat.
A submissive. He had to be.
His mind trembled, even while he shook hands and thanked them for their help. Would Kelsey put a collar on him? To wear in public like this? Granted, the party was exclusive and small, but still. He’d never imagined she’d humiliate him in front of others.
Would it actually be a humiliation? The question rattled around in his mind while Maxwell took him around and introduced him to the other guests who’d arrived early. Once upon a time, he would have been outraged at the thought of letting a woman paddle him like he was a naughty toddler, but…
I’d let her do it again in a heartbeat.
“She’s not here,” he whispered fiercely to Maxwell as they paused a moment at the bar.
Unruffled, Maxwell ordered a Scotch. “She will be.”
“She’d better.” Harvey asked for a soda water with lime, though he felt like an idiot drinking it two-handed. No way he’d allow his mind to be slowed or altered in any way until he had things straight with Kelsey. “So who’s that guy? Jackson? Do you know him?”
“Do you know Donovan Morgan?”
“Of Morgan Industries? Sure.”
“Jackson’s his new corporate attorney. They were college friends and Jackson used to be a partner at some big-shot firm in Chicago, but just moved to St. Paul. Lilly, Donovan’s fiancée, told me that Jackson met Diana on a previous business trip and decided to relocate so they could be together.”
“Wow. So he gave up all that to be with her?”
Swirling his glass, Maxwell turned back to face the guests. “Wouldn’t you? For Kelsey?”
Harvey’d been willing to sign over anything he had to regain control of the company—but that determination paled in comparison to how much he wanted to make things right with her. “Yeah. What did you give up to stay with Mom and Dad?”
“Very little, really. I’d played around with the idea of opening my own restaurant someday, but I found more joy than I ever thought possible in the Caine household.”
“You have family in Scotland. I remember visiting them once, but you hardly ever see them.”
“You’re my family. I see them often enough. But I wanted to be with your parents—and you—more.”
Touched, Harvey had to clear his voice so he didn’t sound like a sap, even though he changed the subject. “Did Mom ever give you anything like that collar?”
Maxwell turned his right wrist over and showed him the cufflinks. “She gave me these the first Christmas Nathan and I were together. One’s engraved with a C, and the other an M.” Then he reached into the neck of his shirt and pulled out a necklace chain. Harvey had never noticed him wearing it—Maxwell typically dressed very formally—but his father had worn one like it as long as he could remember. “She gave me this when she accepted my service as a submissive.”
“It doesn’t look like Jackson’s collar.”
Maxwell kissed the chain and then tucked it back into his shirt. “For us, it was a sign of her ownership. In the end, that’s all a collar really is. Like a wedding ring on a woman’s finger doesn’t have to be a diamond for it to signify a lifetime commitment to each other, there are all kinds of collars.”
Ownership. The word made him shiver, his pulse quickening. Dread? Or something else?
A very familiar sexy maid walked into the room, and that something else turned into full-blown lust. He took a step toward her immediately but Maxwell grabbed his arm, holding him for a moment. “Remember two very important things when dealing with a Mistress’s ire.”
“Yeah?”
“Breathe.” Maxwell laughed and released his arm. “And grovel.”
Lilly had been right about the party. Kelsey looked around and relaxed. There might be more money represented in this room than she could even begin to wrap her mind around, but at heart, they were her people.
The man at the door wore a collar and barely took his eyes off his Mistress long enough to greet her. A few steps in, and she met another couple with a collared female submissive. Most of the guests were dressed fairly tame for a BDSM-themed party, but the vibe was undeniable. Power, give and take. Respect. Trust.
Lust.
At least when she caught sight of Harvey weaving his way toward her. She’d tried to convince herself that their affair had been just that. A one-night stand. A brief blaze of glory. She didn’t need to see him again. She most certainly didn’t need to explore any other scenes with him. Or push his buttons so she could watch him lose his shit and then punish him again. Or take him to his doctors and insist he get the care he needed.
To punish—or hold—him when he needed it.
All the reasons she’d listed about it being too soon, about how he had too many problems, and how she didn’t need such a deep, complicated relationship right now all went out the window. He looked so damned adorable—and vulnerable—tied up in Christmas lights. She got the sentiment, while she disapproved of the lack of safety concerns. Narrowing her gaze, she lifted the paddle and propped it casually over her shoulder. His nostrils flared and his eyes went heavy and dark. “How is it I see the billionaire who hates Christmas decked out in enough lights to land a plane?”
“I wanted to be sure you could find me, Mistress.”
Hardening her voice, she tapped the paddle against her shoulder. “So when I paddle you so hard one of those bulbs shatters and cuts your foolish ass, I’ll have to rush you to the ER before you bleed out.”
“I’d probably electrocute myself before I’d actually bleed out,” he said lightly, a smile flickering on his lips. “I have a few things to tell you.”
“I’m listening.”
He stepped closer, his manner hesitant. As if she might not welcome him. So she reached out with her left hand, gripped his waist firmly, and drew him up nice and close before her so he could whisper in her ear.
“I made up with my aunt. She wasn’t th
e villainess I thought. I’m going back to work at Caine Enterprises. I kept the Knightmare, but I’m having some work done on it before we sail her again. I finally saw my plastic surgeon and the first surgery is scheduled for next month. And Maxwell’s probably my father, though neither one of us needs to know for sure.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath so her voice didn’t quiver and betray her. “That’s a lot to digest, and I’m very proud of you for making such headway in taking better care of yourself, but you haven’t told me what I came to hear.”
“I thought I would tell you that upstairs, Mistress.”
She allowed her hand to slide down so she could give his ass a good squeeze. “It’d better be good.”
A clamor at the door drew their attention. She turned, but kept her arm around his waist, keeping him at her side.
“I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Morgan,” Diana said loudly. “Congratulations!”
Radiant in a stunning white gown that hugged her curves tight to her knees and then flared out in an impressive mermaid train, Lilly blew kisses to the cheering crowd. Hovering at her side, Mr. Morgan swept the long train up over his arm so she wouldn’t trip on it. As they greeted each guest personally, he kept her hand tightly in his. A very protective and possessive sub to be sure.
When they made their way to Kelsey and Harvey, she frowned a little. “Do I know you, Mr. Morgan? You look familiar.”
Lilly introduced her. “This is my friend, Kelsey Marley. Diana hooked us up a few weeks ago. Kelsey, my beloved, Donovan Morgan.”
Donovan studied her a moment. “Did you ever go to school in St. Paul?”
“One year. We moved after our first winter here.”
“You must have been in first or second grade. I remember your eyes.” He gave a sheepish look at Lilly. “She had the greenest eyes I’d ever seen.”
“The kids called me Kat Eyes.” Kelsey frowned, trying to place him. “No offense, but you’re several years older than me. I don’t see how we could have been in school together.”
Donovan nodded. “My senior year. I saw you walking to the bus stop every morning.”
“You lived on Edgerton?”
“Still do.” He smiled down at Lilly. “I hated seeing you walk so far to the bus. You were so little some of the drifts were taller than you, and it was one of the coldest winters I can remember. I wanted to drive you to school, but Aunt Bridget said it’d be creepy, unless I knew your family.”
Tears burned Kelsey’s eyes. “You.” Her voice was thick with emotion. Harvey leaned into her side and took her right hand in both of his. “You gave me the coat.”
Donovan smiled. “Guilty as charged. I couldn’t stand to see you freezing to death. I followed you home from school one day to be sure of where you lived. Then Aunt Bridget and I did a little shopping. I hope you didn’t mind.”
Mind? With a soft cry, she pulled away from Harvey and flung her arms around Donovan’s neck, accidentally thumping him in the back with the paddle. “That coat was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
He patted her on the back and shot another guilty glance at Lilly. Laughing, Kelsey planted a kiss on his cheek and backed off, holding her hands up. “Sorry, sorry, I guess I shouldn’t be hugging and kissing a man who just got married.”
Smiling through her tears, Lilly didn’t appear angry. “I knew you were the sweetest, most sentimental, tender-hearted man in the world.”
Donovan bent down and kissed her, and Lilly reached up to curl her fingers around a snug silver chain he wore around his neck. Lost in their own world, they didn’t notice when Kelsey slipped her hand back between Harvey’s bound hands and backed away.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It sucked to be jealous of a newly and very happily married man.
Keeping a firm grip on his temper, Harvey led the way back upstairs to the suite. He would not throw a temper tantrum and ruin his chance to have a relationship with Kelsey, just because another man had done something nice for her fifteen or twenty years ago. He started to get the key card out of his pocket, but with his hands tied together, he was too clumsy and dropped it.
“I’ve got it.” She bent down and retrieved the card so she could slide it into the door. “Go ahead. Unload.”
Clenching his jaws together, he waited until she passed through before following and shutting the door behind him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She gripped the paddle horizontally across the front of her body and lightly tapped her left palm. “Your hands are fisted, your voice is so hard and strangled I can barely understand you, and you can’t stop glaring. You’re mad that I hugged Donovan.”
“No.” He dropped down into a chair and buried his head in his hands, gripping his hair to keep from pounding his fists on the padded arms. “I’m mad that he did something nice for you. The nicest thing. Ever.”
She squatted down before him and carefully began unwinding the lights around his wrists. Unfortunately, that put her gorgeous breasts in his direct line of sight and he lost his train of thought completely. “That doesn’t mean you can’t do nice things for me too. It’s not a competition, Harvey.”
“Isn’t it? Will you ever forget that coat and how he made you feel?”
“No.” She smiled at the memory, her eyes soft. “But I also won’t forget the first time you let me punish you and how you allowed me to hold you beneath a pretty string of lights that you hated.”
He lifted his gaze to her face and hoped the misery wasn’t etched on his face. “I’m not a nice man.”
“I know,” she said in a light, bright voice, as if he’d said the sky was blue. “You’re spoiled, selfish, arrogant and the most short-tempered man I’ve ever met. I’m not here for a nice man. I’m here for you.”
“But I want to be nice for you. I want to be the person who gives you anything you want, but Maxwell said you wouldn’t keep his check. So I know you won’t take my money either. Or I would have bought that bar for you. Any bar. Hell, I’ll buy every bar in St. Paul if that will make you smile.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Smiling, she leaned forward and kissed his nose. “You’re going to be shocked to hear this, but I talked to my father and we’ve actually met several times. He’s retiring from country music and wants to invest in my bar so we can spend some time together. I never wanted you because you were rich.”
“I figured that out,” he said with a wry smile. “When I came back from the sea, all my so-called friends wanted to do was go with me anywhere and everywhere I went, as long as I paid the check. I offered you twice what Maxwell had already agreed to pay you, and you wouldn’t take it. I know what you went through as a kid. You know the value of money, how that much money could change your life. But it’s nothing to me. The price of an old yacht. A week’s earnings from one of my hotels. A drop in the bucket compared to all I could give you, but you don’t want any of it, do you?”
“Nope.”
“Then why would you possibly want to be with me?” To his shame, his voice broke and he ducked his head, fighting down the tears. Idiot. You already cried once in her arms. She doesn’t want a spoiled jerk of a crybaby either.
She cupped his chin firmly and dragged his face back up. Her fingers dug into his cheek so hard it shook him out of his despair. “I want you, Harvey Caine, and all your pride and temper, because you make me laugh with your scheming, manipulative ways. I like the challenge of outsmarting you at your own game, and seeing your surprise when you’ve been outmatched. I like to call you on your bullshit.
“You make me prove how strong I can be when I rein you in. I don’t need any old submissive who’s willing to drop to his knees and wait for my command. I don’t even need a masochist who’s hungry for the taste of pain, any pain, as long as it gets him off. I need you because you’re so damned needy, I can’t help but w
ant to protect you and make sure you get exactly what you need, and punish you so you don’t neglect your own health in a misguided attempt to atone for past mistakes. You especially need someone strong enough to beat some sense into you before you jump off the deep end with your latest Machiavellian plot to prove you’re the smartest billionaire Grinch in town.”
His chest ached, his heart so swollen and tender it felt like his ribs were going to pop out of place. He didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t find the words to express his overwhelming gratitude that she hadn’t been scared off with his dramatics and his very real depression and anxiety. She’d marched into the deepest, darkest place of his life, and hauled him out kicking and screaming into the sunlight.
Or at least to the Christmas lights.
She stood up slowly, drawing his gaze down the wicked sweet curves of her body. “I thought you had something you wanted to say to me in private.”
He opened his mouth but couldn’t string a whole sentence together. He wanted to say thank you. He wanted to get down on his knees and worship her for coming back. He wanted to beg her never to leave him again, that he’d pledge every dime of his fortune to making her happy. Instead, all he could manage to say was, “Mistress.”
She grinned and tossed the paddle aside. “That’ll do. Now strip and get that gorgeous ass into bed.”
The maid outfit was surprisingly hard to take off because it had so many pieces. Harvey beat her by a mile and had time to take the Christmas lights from his costume and drape them over the headboard of the king-sized bed. He lay flat on his back in the center and watched her undress, his cock already at full attention.
Finally, she got the corset top unlaced enough to pull it over her head. When she climbed into bed and lay on her side facing him, his eyes flickered with surprise. He turned to face her but didn’t touch her.
Staring into his dark eyes, she had to swallow to ease the emotion tightening her throat. “I wanted to tell you everything that night. I wanted to lie together like this and whisper all my secrets to you. I never meant to make you feel betrayed.”
The Billionaire's Christmas Bargain: Billionaires in Bondage, Book 3 Page 21