Blush

by Lauren Jameson

  Squinting, she saw that Declan was in the Turbo, the seat tilted back. He appeared to be napping.

  Alex pulled off his helmet, his gloves, his leather jacket, stowing them away again at her feet. He slid off the quad gracefully, then reached back up for her.

  His sure fingers unfastened the clip that held her helmet on, and then he removed the helmet itself.

  He gave her one of those looks again, the one that told her he could see things in her that she didn’t even know about herself.

  “How was that for you?” It seemed strange to hear his voice after nothing but the roar of the wind for nearly an hour.

  Maddy allowed Alex to wrap her in his arms and pull her down from the quad. She dusted her hands off on the thighs of her jeans, buying a moment, before looking up into his eyes.

  “Good,” she whispered, licking her tongue over her lips. “It was good.”

  They stood still, looking into each other’s eyes for what had to be a full minute. As if they were of one mind, they lunged at each other, lips mashing together, hands groping, hips grinding.

  Without pulling his lips away from hers, Alex cupped his hands under her ass, lifted her so that her legs wrapped around his waist. Her center pressed against the length of his erection, driving her wild as he carried her up the ramp and into the back of the car carrier.

  “Alex!” Maddy tried to keep her voice to a whisper as Alex pressed her back against the metal wall inside the truck. Holding her in place with his hips, he lifted his T-shirt over his head with one quick movement, leaving the rippled muscles of his rock-solid chest open for Maddy’s fingers to eagerly explore.

  “Hold still, damn it.” Maddy couldn’t quite hold back a giggle when her finger traced the mouthwatering planes of his hip bones, and he froze. “I can’t focus when you touch me like that.”

  “Now you know how I feel around you all the time!” Maddy could hear the breathlessness in her voice. “And why do you need to focus?”

  “Because of these.” Loosening his hold, Alex let her slip down the length of his body. Lifting her shirt so that her bra was exposed, he turned her quickly, catching her wrists in his hands.

  The coolness of the metal wall on her breasts, on her cheek made her shiver as something hard was placed around each of her wrists.

  “You had handcuffs in your pocket?” She swallowed a squeal as Alex spun her back to face him.

  “Only around you.” Sliding his hands up her torso, he strummed his thumbs over her nipples, then slid his hands inside her bra and tugged the fabric down until her breasts popped free. The underwire pushed them up like an offering, and Alex bent his head to suck one into his mouth, reaching into his jeans pocket at the same time.

  “Hold this for me, babe.” From his pocket, he pulled a small bag and a condom. He slipped the foil wrapper of the condom between her teeth, and she had to clench to keep from dropping it, effectively gagging her.

  “This is going to hurt for a minute.” Pulling on her nipple with his lips until her knees buckled with the sensation, he then clasped it in the fingers of one hand and removed something from the little velvet bag with the other.

  “What is that?” Spitting the condom out of her mouth, she tried to shy away, but pressed as she was against the metal, she couldn’t go anywhere.

  Alex held the item up for Maddy to see. It looked like a small, slender pair of silver tweezers, decorated with a dangling sapphire-blue charm.

  “Hold your breath.” Catching the distended flesh of her nipple in his thumb and forefinger, Alex slid the clamp onto the heated flesh.

  “Fuck!” Maddy forgot about Declan, outside in the car, as a sharp bolt of pain streaked through her. “Who the hell carries nipple clamps in their jeans?” She tried to slide away, to duck under his arms, but found herself trapped.

  Arching her back, she whimpered against the discomfort, pulling at her cuffs.

  “Maddy?” She heard Alex’s voice as if from far away. Her mind was consumed with the sensation of the clamp on her nipple. “What are you feeling now?”

  She stopped squirming for a second, considering. It didn’t hurt anymore . . . Well, it didn’t hurt as much. The pain had melted into an ache, one echoed in the heat between her legs.

  “It hurts. But . . . it feels good.” Alex took advantage of the fact that she was holding still to bend and suck her naked nipple into his mouth, decorating it as he had done with the first one.

  Shuddering in her breath, she glared at him. “What the hell is the point of these?”

  “You’ll see.” His hands dipped to the zipper of her jeans, unfastening them, then rolling them down over her hips. Catching the elastic at the sides of her bikini panties in his hands, he rearranged the fabric so that it rested between the lips of her labia.

  Maddy couldn’t hold back her moan when he began to toy with the elastic, working the thin cotton back and forth over her clit.

  “So wet for me. I love it.” Abandoning her panties, Alex slid two fingers inside her slick heat.

  “Shh.” A wicked grin crossed his face as Maddy cried out. “Declan might hear. He might want to come watch.”

  She pulled at her handcuffs. With her hands bound behind her back, she couldn’t do more than watch as Alex unzipped his own pants, then, retrieving the wrapped condom from where she’d dropped it, sheathed himself in latex.

  “I owe you a spanking later for dropping this.” Maddy’s eyes went round, and then he’d lifted her again, arranging her legs around his waist. Tugging the fabric of her panties to one side, he pressed the head of his cock to the slick entrance of her cunt and filled her in one hard stroke.

  “Ahh!” Maddy let her head fall back. With her hands cuffed behind her, her back arched and her breasts were thrust forward. The tips of her nipples, which burned with blue heat from the clamps, rubbed over the bare expanse of Alex’s chest and had her eyes rolling back in her head.

  “Come for me, babe, unless you want Declan to find us.” The idea made her frantic. She didn’t want the big man to walk in on this, and yet found the idea of being watched—they were nearly out in the open, after all—so, so hot.

  Her breath grew ragged, and her hips braced to accept the hard, strong thrusts of Alex’s cock. He filled her to the point of pain every time he seated himself inside of her, making her shudder in response.

  “Are you ready?” Maddy barely had to wonder what she was supposed to be ready for when Alex worked a hand in between their bodies and, with sure fingers, removed first one clamp, then the other. She heard the clinking sound of them falling to the floor instants before the blood rushed back into her nipples and set her breasts on fire.

  She buried her face in Alex’s neck to muffle the shriek. It was incredibly painful, and yet, as the sore tips of her breasts abraded Alex’s chest in time to his thrusts, she found that she wasn’t focused on pain.

  She was overwhelmed with sensation. As Alex began to thrust faster, slamming her into the metal wall, the sound echoing throughout the empty space, she felt her pleasure stretching tighter and tighter, until suddenly it snapped and sent her shooting to the stars.

  She tightened her grip on Alex’s hips with her legs, and in return he seated himself one final, vicious time, and she smelled the salt of his release on the air.

  Shuddering, he emptied himself inside her. He held her weight up, his cock still nestled inside her, until she felt the liquid heat of his semen begin to trickle out of the condom and down her thigh.

  “Damn, that felt amazing.”

  Maddy winced as Alex pulled out. He set her gently on the ground, then removed the condom and wrapped it in a tissue that he pulled from his pocket. He tossed it aside, then turned back to press a kiss to Maddy’s lips.

  “You never fail to amaze me.” He grinned as he situated her bra back in place.

  Maddy hissed as the fabric pulled tight over nipples that she knew were going to be sore for days.

  “I like that you’re going to remember me
every time something brushes over your chest for the next week.” Alex’s smile was smug, yet all Maddy could manage was a shiver as he whispered hotly into her ear, turning her and releasing her from her cuffs. He massaged her wrists, then lifted them to inspect for bruises.

  Tracing a finger quickly over the pale pink stripes, Alex bent, giving her a spectacular view of his tight ass. Though he’d just made her come, and hard, she felt her mouth water.

  She watched as he scooped up the fallen nipple clamps, then pulled his jeans back up over his lean hips.

  “Mr. Fraser?” The sound of Declan’s voice was muffled by the metal walls of the car carrier.

  Maddy’s head whipped around to look at Alex, her eyes wide. For the first time since they’d met, he looked taken aback. She couldn’t help it. A giggle escaped her lips.

  He turned to her, and a sexy, crooked grin lit up his face. Bending, he helped her step back into her jeans. “Better hurry.” Alex grinned at Maddy as he reached for his shirt and pulled it over his head. She cursed the garment as his rock-solid abdomen and ridiculously sexy tattoo disappeared beneath the soft black cotton. “Declan’s seen me naked, but I have no doubt he’d enjoy getting an eyeful of you.”

  Maddy rolled her eyes and grunted as she worked her jeans up her body. They were snug, and her skin was damp with sweat, so pulling them up her legs left her red faced and out of breath.

  If Declan saw her naked—and more important, if he were to show that he enjoyed the sight—Maddy suspected that Alex would punch his lights out.

  “When did Declan see you naked?” She could hear the steps of Alex’s right-hand man crunching over the gravel. Hastily, she smoothed her shirt down.

  Her legs were deliciously weak.

  “In the locker room, of course.” Alex grinned as the big man who seemed to keep his life running smoothly appeared, silhouetted in the opening of the car carrier. “We like to make insulting remarks about each other’s manhood while we hose off from tae kwon do. Isn’t that right, Dec?”

  Declan actually cracked a hint of a smile. “You make insulting remarks. I don’t have to. I’m secure in the size of my manhood.”

  Holy hell, the Irish giant had made a joke. Then he turned to Maddy, and his expression became unreadable.

  “You do tae kwon do together?” It seemed odd to her, that Alex would buddy up for a lesson. Though he was enigmatic, he also struck her as a bit of a loner when it came to close friends.

  A loner in the middle of a sea of people.

  “Sort of.” The two men smirked at each other for a moment. “Declan is my instructor.”

  “I see.” And she did—she saw the reason that Alex kept Declan so close. She would have, too, if she were rich as sin. The knowledge just confirmed her suspicions that the big man was lethal.

  “I was a bit worried when I saw the quad back here and couldn’t see either one of you.” Maddy bit her lip as Alex led her down the ramp of the truck. Her heart rate was still elevated, and she knew the scent of sex must have clung to both of them like a heavy perfume.

  “Well, here we are.” Alex grinned cheekily at Declan, who shook his head in resignation. Maddy was about to offer up some convoluted excuse when she realized that, if Declan had been with Alex for any length of time at all, he had to be aware of his boss’s more . . . unique . . . pastimes.

  She caught the big man’s eye, and he set his face to have no expression. She winced inwardly.

  Declan knew exactly what she and Alex had just been doing.

  “Do you require anything else right now, Mr. Fraser?” Declan pulled keys to what Maddy assumed was the car carrier from his pocket.

  “No, thanks, Dec. I’m going to drive Maddy home. I think she’s had quite enough excitement for one day.” She thought of the terrifying yet exhilarating quad ride, and then she thought of Alex pressing her up against the side of the truck, and she wasn’t sure which part was crazier.

  “In you go, babe.” Taking her by the hand, Alex pulled her away from Declan, the quad, and the truck and back to the Turbo. He opened the door for her, helped her in, and even leaned in to buckle up her seat belt. She thought about telling him that she was quite capable of doing that for herself, but really, it was kind of nice to be taken care of.

  Moments later, they were on the gravel road, heading back to Paradise.

  “You’re blushing.” Maddy squirmed in her seat, feeling Alex’s eyes on her sideways. “Tell me why.”

  “I—” She thought about telling him that it was none of his business. Then she thought about how it felt to trust him, to put herself in his hands for an hour as they rode the quad.

  She wanted to do it again.

  “Declan knows we had sex in the car carrier.” Maddy twisted her fingers together. Truth was, having sex where anyone could have seen had been pretty damn exciting, but she was still amazed by the fact that she’d done it. Hell, she’d very nearly initiated it.

  There was a moment of silence. Maddy turned and saw that Alex was trying not to laugh. A growl slipped from between her lips, and her hands curled into fists. “Why is that funny?”

  Alex managed to swallow most of his smirk, though she could still hear the amusement in his words. “Yes, I imagine he knows, Maddy.”

  She was momentarily mesmerized by the midday sun glinting off of his night-dark hair as they drove, the contrast striking.

  “What I find entertaining is that you are so sweetly embarrassed by it. Most of the women I’ve dated would have invited him on in.”

  If he was trying to shock her, he’d succeeded. Her mouth hung open, and she was at a loss for words.

  “I—you—” Maddy found she didn’t care to dwell on the women he’d dated in the past. “And . . . have you ever?”

  It was Alex’s turn to look shocked. “No! Never.” His words were vehement. “Why would you ask such a thing?”

  “Because this morning you told me that often in BDSM relationships there can be multiple partners.” She was proud that she managed to keep her voice calm. “You said you’re monogamous, and I believe you. But you also said that you’d be willing to try it if I were interested in it. So . . . have you?”

  Taking his eyes off the road for a quick second, Alex looked at her questioningly. She returned the stare. Maddy thought it was a valid question.

  “You know, for someone so sweet and innocent, you sure are curious.”

  Maddy wanted to say something sarcastic, but he was right.

  She wanted to know. She wanted to experience.

  She waited for him to answer the question.

  “Yes, I have. I’ve done BDSM scenes with another man and my sub, with another woman and my sub, depending on what the sub needs.” His voice was matter-of-fact, though Maddy jolted.

  Get used to it, Maddy. If she wanted this, then she needed to stop being such a prude.

  “But never with an employee.” He looked at her sideways to gauge her reaction as he turned the corner to her apartment building.

  Her heart was racing. This seemingly innocent conversation had evolved into something heavier. Alex’s nonchalant comments about threesomes, as if they were just a part of this “lifestyle,” had thrown her right off her game.

  It was one thing to play with Alex’s little butterfly vibrator and some scented oils in the privacy of her bedroom. Threesomes . . . scenes . . .

  What was she getting herself into?

  Maddy was silent as Alex parked the Turbo, rounded the car, and opened her door. He let her unbuckle her own seat belt this time, though he did extend a hand to help her from the low-slung vehicle.

  Her palm was clammy in his as he walked her to her door.

  “Well?” He brushed a windblown strand of her long chestnut hair back from her face. She was struck again by how gorgeous he was. Even in faded jeans and a simple black T-shirt, he exuded the power and confidence that made him a tycoon.

  A tycoon . . . and a Dominant.

  “You trusted me today, Maddy, out on
the sand.”

  She nodded, her tongue feeling swollen in her suddenly dry mouth.

  “And it was good.”

  She nodded again. She knew what he was going to ask.

  “So what do you think? Will you sign the agreement? Will you try?”

  Maddy shook, but managed to spit out the word regardless. “Yes. I’ll try.”

  Satisfaction and possession washed over Alex’s face as he brushed his knuckles over her cheek. Maddy expected him to pick her up, to take her inside, to demand that she sign the contract right that moment so they could start.

  Instead he pressed a hot, wet but short kiss to her lips, a kiss designed to leave her wanting more.

  “Hearing that pleases me more than I can say.” He nipped at her lower lip, making Maddy moan.

  “Come to me when you’re ready. But if you take longer than a week, I will come for you.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  The El Diablo Casino was busier than Maddy had imagined it would be, given that it was early evening and a weekday. She had to circle the lot several times before finding a place to park.

  Nervously, she twined her fingers in the strap of her purse as she made her way into the lobby. Though she’d gone home to change clothes before driving there and was now wearing a silk indigo-colored sundress rather than the jeans and sleeveless blouse that she’d had on, she still felt plain amid the women in rhinestones and evening gowns, feathers and sequins, leather and lace.

  But she wasn’t there to hang out. She was there to find Alex.

  Walking past the bar where he had bought her that ridiculously expensive first drink, Maddy eyed the brass and chrome elevators that could take her up to the penthouse. They wouldn’t do that unless she had the passkey to scan, though.

  She was too nervous to call Alex and ask him to come down.

  Feeling her heart rate begin to speed up, she took a deep breath, then decided to wander around the casino for a bit, buying some time until she calmed down.