The Fidelity World_Nondisclosure

by Ellie Masters

  “That doesn’t explain why you ran off.”

  The heat skating through my body cooled with the realization that she hated what she’d done. There was no way I could hold her to this contract, not if she wasn’t willing. Had Infidelity been that wrong? David had said they were impeccable matchmakers, and I couldn’t have been clearer about the kind of relationship I desired.

  We’d been together less than an hour. Already, I was considering terminating our arrangement. That might not be an option. Would they force us to stay together for the entire year if Rowan and I mutually agreed to end this? There wasn’t time to wait a year for a second match, not with the obligations of the crown weighing down on me. It would be necessary to have another look at the contract.

  With that thought in my head, another more important one pushed to the surface. That night in the club, she’d had no idea who I was. Compliant and very willing, we’d hit it off until something changed.

  I cleared my throat. “Explain why you ran.” Images of holding out her shoe had me shaking my head.

  She refused to look at me and focused on her hands in her lap. “I don’t know about the contract you signed, but a clause in mine stated I couldn’t seek out any relationships while waiting for Infidelity’s match.”

  We’d been far from developing a relationship. I’d intended on nothing more than a one-night stand, one full of dominate sex that wouldn’t get me in trouble when she found out who she’d spent the night with. Women always seemed to figure that out, and those kinds of stories paid well to paparazzi hungry for a million-dollar story.

  “I still don’t understand.”

  I didn’t want her hiding anything. For this, we would have a face-to-face conversation. She tried to tug her hands out of my grip, but I held firm and asserted my authority.

  “I asked a question.”

  She bit her lower lip, and her eyes cast to the floor. “I’m not sure I understand myself.”

  “That’s not good enough, and perhaps I haven’t explained myself, but when I ask a question, I expect an answer.”

  This could very well blow up in my face, but for good, bad, or plain disastrous, I’d jumped into bed with Infidelity. This was something I needed on a gut level, and I wasn’t about to let my fantasies go without a fight. I’d asked for a submissive, and I was pretty damn sure Rowan fit that bill. Forcing the issues wasn’t an option, but that didn’t mean I would give up without a fight.

  Her eyes widened with my command.

  “Why did you run?”

  Tears shimmered in her eyes, but she held my gaze. “I’m not a submissive.”

  “Are you certain?”

  She nodded. “I’ve never done that before. It was a fantasy.”

  “A fantasy?” I needed to get to the root of her fears before I could begin to untangle them.

  “Yes.”

  “Go on.”

  “I pretended…”

  “Are you certain it was pretend?”

  Her need had risen and met mine.

  “I remember a woman desperate for me to take control.”

  She gulped. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. I felt safe, pretending and talking like I knew what I was doing.”

  “Did you?”

  “No.”

  “Well, let me remind you what you said.”

  Her cheeks flushed bright pink. “You don’t have to remind me. I remember every word.”

  “Everything?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then, I’m even more confused.” It would be easiest to show her the truth of what we could be. “Come,” I said, standing. I waited for her to join me.

  “What?” Her eyes widened, and she glanced back down the aisle.

  No one paid us any mind.

  “Unbuckle, and come.”

  “But—”

  “Stop,” I said, lacing my voice with steel. “Obey, and follow.”

  Her eyes rounded, but to my delight, she unbuckled and stood. I expected more of an argument, but Rowan kept her mouth shut and tightened her grip as I led her to the lavatories at the front of the plane, reserved exclusively for first-class passengers.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Shh,” I said. “Silence.”

  Her protests quieted as I opened the lavatory door. Before one of the flight attendants turned around, I urged Rowan inside. A man sitting on the aisle of the bulkhead row in coach saw us and gave a thumbs-up. Not that I needed the encouragement, but I appreciated his enthusiasm.

  The thing about airplane lavatories and the Mile-High Club were that both were severely overrated. Closing myself in with Rowan put us in a position where we could barely move. With no idea of how this was going to work, I found myself catching strands of her hair in my mouth as I breathed. I pulled her hair from my mouth and managed to spin her around. Our proximity forced us into a kissable embrace, but I had other aspirations in mind. She said nothing, relying upon me to lead. This, I took to be a positive sign, but I still wrestled with one question.

  “Red and green are your safe words.”

  Her eyes rounded, and her breath hitched.

  “When I ask how you are doing, you’ll reply with either red or green. Red tells me to stop, and green means you give your permission for me to continue. Do you understand?”

  She gave a slow nod.

  “Let’s try something,” I said.

  Her gaze lifted to my eyes. Her pert red lips begged for a kiss, but we had some work to do first.

  “I suppose,” she said.

  Her words sounded like defeat, exactly the opposite of what I wanted, but an eagerness in her eyes spoke volumes. Reservations filled her mind, I could see these—or at least, I’d anticipated them—but it was time to place those firmly behind us.

  I brushed a lock of hair away from her face. “We’re going to play a game.”

  “Another game?” Her brows drew together. Even as her face contorted in confusion, she was still stunning and sexy as hell. But there was a purpose to what I had in mind.

  “Truth and a Lie—only, this time, I ask all the questions. You respond by telling me if it’s a truth or lie.”

  Her mouth parted into an O of surprise.

  “If what I ask is the truth, I’m going to kiss you wherever I want.”

  With my finger pressed to the soft tissues of her chin, I tilted her head back, and swept down for a kiss. Nothing soft and gentle like before. This kiss reflected the desires she’d stirred within me at the club.

  “You decide when we stop. Are you willing to play?”

  I swept my fingers over her lips and pressed one inside. The roughness of her tongue curled around the tip of my finger, teasing me. Removing my finger, I brushed my lips against hers, savoring the contact. My dick throbbed with each beat of my heart, becoming long and hard, ready to plunge into the heat of her mouth. Whatever she chose, I would oblige, but it would be a very uncomfortable flight if I didn’t get some relief.

  “I don’t get to ask any questions?”

  “No,” I said, keeping my voice firm.

  “Why did you bring me in here? We could have done this outside.”

  “You already know the answer to that.”

  Her cheeks flushed pink. I very much enjoyed that color on her face.

  “Ready to begin?”

  Chapter 17: Mile-High

  Rowan

  I couldn’t move. The lavatory barely fit one person, let alone two, and Richard was a very large man. He had me trapped, unable to exit, not without going through him, and there would be no moving him. Not with the intensity of his entire being latched on to me. For the moment, I was at his mercy.

  I didn’t know how I felt about that, except my entire body thrummed with nervous energy.

  Another game of Truth or Lie? My lips tingled from that kiss. I wanted more, but this round of Truth or Lie found my knees knocking and my stomach doing flips.

  “How are you doing?”

  I simply sta
red until he pinched my chin and forced me to look at him. He seemed to like doing that—controlling where I looked. My preference would have been to focus on the floor. It was easier to hide from his penetrating stare than meet it.

  “Red or green? How are you doing? You must answer either red or green.”

  He’d been serious about that?

  “Um, green.”

  “Good. That makes me very happy. Now, first question.”

  My voice shook. “Y-yes?”

  “Truth or lie? You’ve never engaged in a D/s relationship before.”

  “I already told you that.”

  He shook his head. “Answer only with truth or lie. Those are the rules.”

  “Truth,” I said, not understanding why he’d asked the obvious, but when his lips pressed against mine, all thought fled.

  Warm, firm, and demanding, he stole my breath as he breached my defenses. He nipped at my lips and pushed his tongue inside my mouth where he probed and lay claim to what would eventually be his. Who am I kidding? He already had me.

  This man heated me from the inside out, keeping me in a perpetual state of simmering need. I gripped his arms, feeling the power bunched in his muscles beneath his starched oxford. I ran my hands up to his shoulders and wrapped them around his neck.

  Strong hands gripped my waist, and he yanked me against him. Like that night in the club, he wasn’t shy about letting me know how I affected him. The hard length of his erection pressed between us, making my mind spin with the need for more.

  His eyes glinted with a sharp hunger. “You taste like sin.”

  I lifted on my tiptoes, needing another taste, but he touched a finger to my lips.

  “No,” he said.

  I nearly whimpered with my distress.

  “You don’t get to kiss me. Another question.”

  “Okay,” I said, frowning. Why don’t I get to kiss him?

  “Truth or lie? You make a habit of kissing men at clubs and running off.”

  “No, I don’t do that.”

  His hand came down on my ass, a light swat but attention-getting. “You have only two answers—truth or lie.”

  “Lie,” I said and then shifted on my feet.

  The slap of his hand hadn’t hurt. It had done something else entirely, bringing a steady throb pulsing between my legs.

  “Truth or lie?” A mischievous look glinted in his eyes. “You enjoyed that.”

  “The kiss?”

  He swatted my ass, another tap, this one harder than before. It brought me up on my toes.

  “Not the kiss.”

  Averting my eyes, I tried to push away, but the lavatory seat pressed against my legs, and his arm wrapped tightly around my waist. I wasn’t moving. Neither was he.

  “New rule.” The low growl to his voice turned my insides to mush. “When I ask a question, you look me in the eye. Now, did you enjoy me swatting your ass?”

  I didn’t like this game anymore. Remembering the rules, I gave my answer because it would bring another of his amazing kisses. “Truth.”

  “Good, because I enjoyed it, too.”

  I thought he would kiss me on the lips. He did not. A chaste peck on my forehead was all I received for that truth.

  “So,” he said, “if you don’t make a habit of kissing strange men at clubs and running off, that leads me down an interesting path. Are you ready?”

  “Yes,” I said, breathless for his next question. I hoped it would be a truth. My skin burned for more.

  “You didn’t enjoy my kiss.”

  “Lie,” I said, breathing out with frustration.

  “Good, because I enjoy kissing you. Truth or lie? That night in the club, you didn’t want to have sex with me.”

  “No…yes,” I stammered, confused with the negative.

  His hand came down hard this time, eliciting a yelp from me. “Truth or lie?”

  I blinked a tear from my eye and reached around to rub at the sting of my skin.

  He gripped my wrist and pinned it to the wall. “Truth or lie?”

  Deep and powerful, his words fogged my mind and made it difficult to think.

  “You don’t want to keep me waiting,” he warned.

  Remembering his command to look him in the eye didn’t make it any easier to drag my gaze up the expanse of his chest, trail up his kissable neck, and meet the fire in his eyes.

  I answered as truthfully as I could, “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know if you wanted to have sex with me?”

  “I mean…I did, but then I didn’t.”

  He frowned. “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “I signed over my life to Infidelity, and I wanted one night that was mine. I’ve never had a one-night stand. I thought I could, but then I met you, and you had me feeling all these things. I-I wanted to know what it might be like to let go for a night.”

  “To submit?”

  “Yes. That’s the only reason I let you take me upstairs.”

  “Then, what happened?”

  “I realized it was no different from what I’d done with Infidelity. It was cheap—”

  “Cheap? Cheap what?”

  “I don’t know.” I barely understood what had been going on in my head. None of the previous months of lonely nights had brought any clarity either. Trying to sort out why I’d freaked out had kept me up more nights than not.

  I had run. From him, the situation, the pretend submission, or my concerns over safety was anyone’s guess. It was probably a mixture of all those reasons, but how did I explain that to a prince? The chances of any woman turning him down had to be next to zero, and I was pretty certain he expected complete compliance from his dates.

  I had been bought and paid for and placed in a position where the word no didn’t exist anymore. It terrified me, even as he excited the hell out of me.

  “Did you think I forced you?” He backed against the door to the lavatory, a look of mortification etched in his face. “Because I remember very clearly stopping. I’ve never, nor would I ever, force myself on a woman.”

  “No!” I said, realizing how that sounded. “That’s not what I meant. I’m sorry, I suck at this. I didn’t mean you—” I never finished my thought.

  Tears poured down my cheeks, and deep sobs racked my body as he pulled me against his chest.

  He tucked my head beneath his chin. “When the flight ends, I’ll take you to your brother. I’ll call Infidelity and explain this probably wasn’t the best match. There’s no way they could have known we’d met before.”

  Tight spaces and all, there was no way to ignore the slackening of his erection. Could I be any better at killing the mood? How stupid could I be? I couldn’t afford to have this fall apart. I needed the money, and when choosing between the lesser of two evils, a year with Richard scared me a whole hell of a lot less than a lifetime with Brent Parker.

  My tears wet his shirt, staining the crisp white fabric with my makeup.

  “I’m sorry.” I should have said something else, something that would have prevented what came next.

  He took my hand and tugged on the lavatory door. He twisted us as a unit, allowing the door to open. Without another word, I found myself back in my seat, buckled in, while the muscles of his jaw bunched.

  Chapter 18: Nothing

  Richard

  What the hell just happened? For the second time, we’d gone from hot as hell to a cold, withering nothingness in the blink of an eye.

  Bought and paid for and forced into sex—not exactly her words, but that was what they amounted to.

  I thought back to that night, worried that, in my eagerness to dominate, I’d unintentionally forced myself instead. It didn’t fit with my memory, but I’d done something wrong.

  Something horrible.

  Now, I found myself matched with a woman who couldn’t stand the idea of selling herself to a stranger and who’d already run from me once.

  Rowan’s body told a different story from the words spi
lling out of her mouth, confusing me to no end, but that night, she had definitely said no. The moment she’d spoken that word, I’d removed my hands and stepped back. What do I do now?

  Many women passed through my bed. With most, the sex was good. For some, it had been great. It had never been nuclear explosive like with Rowan, and we hadn’t even had sex yet. I couldn’t explain how I felt, except that sitting beside her and not being able to have her was the worst torture imaginable.

  She belonged to me, was a part of me—if that made any sense. Not because I was paying for her companionship, but because not having her left a gaping hole in my sense of who I was. There should be no hole. I shouldn’t feel this way about any woman, but that ache pulsed within me.

  Lost a part of her soul? That wasn’t a statement anyone tossed about without serious thought.

  “Richard…”

  I silenced her with a shake of my head.

  The flight attendant returned, and the last thing I needed was any part of this conversation reaching the wrong ears.

  “Later,” I said, perhaps a bit harsher than necessary.

  Rowan flinched and then stared out the window. Not engaging seemed to be a reflex, one I intended to change.

  For the rest of the flight, the words exchanged between us were polite but strained. I inquired about her brother, wanting to know about his situation and their relationship. Speaking about Frederick—or Freddy, as she referred to him—brightened her entire being, but it did nothing to ease the tension swirling between us. Her love for her brother wasn’t something I shared with Edmund.

  He and I tolerated each other. Some of that might have to do with the differences in our ages. I’d always been the annoying little brother. She and Freddy were twins. They had grown up in the same room, and according to her, they had been inseparable until he turned fifteen. Edmund and I’d lived in different wings of the family estate, and he’d moved out to attend boarding school when I was barely seven. We led separate lives while Rowan and her brother shared everything.

  “Why did your brother leave?” I asked, curious as to what had finally separated them.