Taboo Desires: Dirty Forbidden Secrets Bundle (The Complete Miranda Cougar Collection)

by Miranda Cougar

  “Thank you, Miss Valerie.”

  “You’re welcome, Miss Stephaniee.”

  Eager to see her friend in person for the first time in eight months, Stephanie strode up the curved driveway towards the front door of the ordinary looking house. The house was large; all of the houses in this neighborhood were stately, but they were all still normal homes. In truth, this place was huge, but it still looked like one woman could clean the entire house by herself, if she had to. No bazillion dollar mansion staff would be needed to take care of this home. That meant she and Skylen could most likely enjoy some privacy while they vacationed here together.

  When she arrived at the front door, Stephanie shuffled through the half dozen keys dangling from the key chain. After a moment of consideration, she decided to try the key that was painted and shaped like a cute little country cottage. As her fingers gripped the key’s wide house shaped tip, she noticed tiny writing across the key’s bottom surface.

  The words read “Stephanie’s House”. Stephanie quickly slid her hands off the house key and grabbed the thick leather key chain fob, lifting all six keys up to her face. She examined each one individually. The key shaped like a car read “Stephanie’s Car”, the key shaped like a flower read “Stephanie’s Garden”, and the diamond shaped key read “Stephanie’s Treasures”.

  Stephanie caressed the kitten shaped key between her fingertips before reading it. Sure enough, it read “Stephanie’s Cat.” Oh, my god, he bought me a cat. Stephanie jumped up and down, clutching her keys against her chest. She had always wanted a cat ever since she was a small girl, but her mother had been allergic to everything cute and furry and then her tiny apartment in Mountain Peak didn’t allow pets.

  Why would I need a key for a cat? The rational part of her brain interrupted her bliss with a question. Choosing pure joy over intellectual thought, Stephanie giggled like a chubby schoolgirl and clapped her hands, eager to meet her new cat for the first time. She quickly gripped the top of her house key, slid the painted brass cottage up to the lock and opened her front door.

  Ding, Ding! The door alarmed as she pushed it open and stepped inside her new home’s tiled entryway.

  “Welcome home!” Lizbeth shouted, running towards Stephanie and holding her arms out, ready to warmly embrace her friend.”

  Stephanie giggled while embracing and patting her smiling friend on the back. “Hi, Lizbeth! Where’s my kitten?”

  “It’s good to see you too.” Lizbeth laughed, squeezing her friend tighter.

  Chapter 28

  Stephanie

  Stephanie reclined on the plush cushions of her new sky blue upholstered loveseat. Rainbow and Moonlight both purred and kneaded on her lap, warming her thighs with their approval and affection.

  “We should take a walk in your garden together; it blooms brightly at this time of day,” Lizbeth suggested the excursion from the comfort of her light brown recliner that sat caddy corner to Stephanie’s loveseat. Both Lizbeth and Stephanie could see a large swath of colorful garden flowers through the floor to ceiling windows directly in front of them.

  Stephanie lightly brushed the tips of her fingers over moonlight’s soft fur. “I’m too comfortable sitting here with my kittens to stand up. Tell me about it instead.”

  “Oh, it’s magical. It holds fragrant jasmine and lavender, blooming roses, begonia and alyssum, all beautiful. There’s even a greenhouse with orchids, farther out beyond the first gate. Skylen thought of everything when he supervised the remodel of this home for you.”

  “Wow, it does sound magical.”

  “Skylen asked me to let you know that you will be comfortable and safe here. Your private garden has its own locked gate, so you can enter and exit from either inside your house or the private pathway behind your house. The private pathway leads down past my house next door and past the other two homes on the street to the small community lake which everyone in the neighborhood has access to. Of course, since your house is at the end of the street you will have complete privacy. There’s absolutely no reason anyone should ever walk up your private path. That’s why Skylen had the locked gate installed along the path, just past my house. The key on your keychain that looks like a fence opens it.”

  “It’s good to know I’ll be safe here,” Stephanie said, now petting Rainbow’s soft fur.

  “Skylen designed the remodel of this house during his battle with the Savidge Dominatrix. Consequentially, this home was built to be a fortress. He even purchased the empty field next door to ensure that no one else built on it. I have it on good authority that he plans to turn the empty lot into a play space for your future children and their friends. It’s going to look just like a miniature kiddie fun park when it’s finished.”

  “Future children…” Stephanie giggled. “So, he has plans to marry and impregnate me?”

  Lizbeth frowned. “I can’t comment on that.”

  “Oh, c’mon, you’ve already let the cat out of the bag. When does he plan to ask me to marry him? You’re his executive secretary, so you must know his plans.”

  “He definitely has plans for children, but for marriage…I haven’t heard anything about it yet.” Lizbeth said, offering Stephanie a half smile.

  “But, he bought us this house, he made it safe for us, he bought us kittens, of course, he wants us to be married.” The words streamed out of Stephanie’s mouth, a river of emotion.

  “He bought you this house. Everything is in your name and your name alone.”

  Stephanie sat staring into her garden with a blank expression in her eyes, her lips turned down, her body completely still except for the quick pats of her hands along Rainbow and Moonlight’s backs, and the quivering of her shoulders.

  “Treats!” Lizbeth picked up the bag of cat treats sitting on the coffee table, opened it and threw a few of the crunchy nuggets past the shaggy carpet and across the tile floor. Rainbow and Moonlight leaped off Stephanie’s lap and slid across the tile flooring, pouncing on and batting around the snacks.

  Lizbeth nudged Stephanie’s feet onto the floor and sat down beside her in the loveseat. “Don’t lose hope. Just because I haven’t heard Skylen talk about having plans to marry you, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you. He’s obviously making a substantial commitment to you by building you this beautiful home, planning for your future children and paying for your tuition to college.”

  “College?” Stephanie blinked and turned to look at Lizbeth.

  “I was supposed to save this conversation for later.” Lizbeth lifted up the top of the coffee table and pulled out a small white envelope. “This envelope contains a bank receipt for $200,000. Skylen wired the money into your bank account this morning. It’s meant to pay for your tuition at any college of your choosing.”

  “What’s the catch?” Stephanie mumbled. “Wait, I know. If I agree to be his mistress, or his paid whore, or his food slut for the rest of my unmarried life then I get to keep all of this. He’s purchasing me for keeps with this house, these cats, and the college tuition. Am I right?” Moisture magnified the hurt in Stephanie’s hazel eyes.

  “That’s not his intention at all,” Lizbeth said forcefully. “He’s placed everything in your name alone because he doesn’t want you to feel indebted to him. You can decide you never want to see him again and everything he’s given you today will still be yours. Well, almost everything. If you refuse to see him again you can’t keep the cats. He says he’s keeping the cats. He loves them.”

  “He’s keeping Rainbow and Moonlight. That’s blackmail!” Stephanie shouted, simultaneously screaming out her fury and disappointment while recognizing the humor in it.” She chuckled, somewhat out of breath after screaming away the worst of her pain.

  “You have a difficult decision to make, and you shouldn’t make it on an empty stomach.” Lizbeth offered Stephanie a delicious reprieve from her emotions. “Let’s take a lunch break. I’ll call Miss. Valerie. She’ll drive us to a restaurant downtown that serves the most amazing
gourmet pizza and hot buttered cinnamon buns. All three of us can share lunch together. It’s Skylen’s treat. He thought you’d like it.”

  “Lunch sounds good. I’m starving.” Stephanie’s worn voice barely registered as a whisper. “Is Skylen still supposed to come over at 8:30 tonight for my final weigh-in?” She asked meekly.

  “He’s definitely still coming over tonight, but last minute changes to his schedule demand that he push up your weigh-in time to between 7 pm and 8 pm. I’ll update your itinerary as soon as he notifies me of his final schedule. For now, I would plan on him arriving around 7:30 pm tonight… unless you call him and tell him not to come. You do have the right to tell him not to come over. He has no business strolling in here if you don’t want him to. This is your house.”

  Chapter 29

  Stephanie

  This is my home. Stephanie was slowly becoming accustomed to calling this new house her home. And with the furry companionship of Rainbow and Moonlight it was starting to feel like the home she’d always dreamt of having as a girl. She hadn’t had the opportunity to explore the entire house yet, but she planned to remedy that tomorrow.

  So far, she’d just seen the garden, the front room, the master bedroom and of course, Rainbow and Moonlight’s room. The rest of the house still remained uninvestigated. She wished she had the time to take a tour of the entire house now, but she knew she had no time for it. Skylen would be here to weigh her in less than thirty minutes and she didn’t want to rush the exploration of her new home. She wanted to take the time to appreciate the specialness of every small detail he had put inside her new space.

  She already appreciated the specialness of her day so far. After Skylen had treated her, Lizbeth and Valerie to lunch, he treated all three women to a day at a local spa. The three friends spent the day at the ritzy downtown salon and spa swimming, receiving massages and having their hair and makeup professionally applied. All three women opted for delicately wrapped chignon hairstyles, but Valerie encouraged Stephanie to choose an intricately braided design that was far more elaborate than hers or Lizbeth’s. The design was so decorative that it took three stylists nearly two hours to complete. With her hair delicately woven into a billowing crown of waves, each black braid embedded with tiny jasmine scented white flowers, Stephanie felt like a fairy queen from the fantasy novels she used to read as a girl.

  She’d only been home now for about ten minutes; just enough time to put on the flowing powder pink strapless gown Skylen had sent over for her to wear tonight. Stephanie stood in Rainbow and Moonlight’s room watching the two kittens play with the feathers attached to their cat tree when she felt a stinging sensation on the skin of her upper arms.

  Without realizing it, she’d been clutching her upper arms and rubbing her skin raw. She decided she needed to do something physical to channel her nervous energy before she ended up completely rubbing off her top layer of skin. Watching Moonlight and Rainbow bat at each other from the perches of their cat tree gave her an idea. Carefully, she snapped little Moonlight and Rainbow into their walking harnesses and attached the long leashes, trying her best to mimic the way Lizbeth had done it earlier. Before Valerie had arrived to take them to lunch, they’d taken a quick walk through her garden and down to the end of her private walkway where the kittens had enjoyed batting around the thornless blackberry bushes that lined the sidewalk's edge.

  “C’mon babies, mama’s gonna take you for a walk.” Moonlight and Rainbow mewled as Stephanie picked up her keys and they all marched out of the house and into the garden. The night air chilled the raw hot skin on Stephanie’s arms and she was glad she’d made the decision to take the evening stroll. Moonlight and Rainbow also appeared pleased to be outside and ran ahead of her, both of them tugging on their leashes, eager to escape the confines of the garden and race down the private walkway.

  Stephanie opened her garden gate and soon she found herself reaching the second gate that led out toward Lizbeth’s house. She opened the second gate and immediately the two kittens ran ahead of her again, their tiny bodies excitedly tugging at their leashes. The pathway appeared empty and the kittens were eager to exercise their legs, so Stephanie allowed the two kittens to pull her forward, and soon she was running down the pathway past Lizbeth’s house, approaching the next house on the street.

  When they reached the sandy stucco house, without warning the kittens ran straight toward the home’s backyard and before Stephanie could scream a floppy eared grey and white pit bull ran towards the kittens and grabbed Rainbow up in its powerful jaw. “NO!” Stephanie screamed, expecting to see a rush of blood and horror as the dog ate the innocent kitten, but instead the dog kidnapped Rainbow and escaped with her through its doggy door in the fence. Stephanie bent down, scooped up Moonlight and banged her fist against the house’s back fence shouting “Help! Your dog kidnapped my cat!”

  “What’s all the screaming about?” A half-naked strikingly handsome man in his early twenties barked as he pushed open the door to the back fence. He glared at Stephanie with an exasperated look on his face as she stood in front of him clutching Moonlight against her chest.

  “Help! Your dog has my kitten! Go stop it before it kills my kitten!” Stephanie pushed her way past the handsome man and barged into his backyard searching for Rainbow. Within seconds, Valerie came running out of the house’s back French doors wearing a silk robe that barely hid the fact that she was naked underneath. “It’s okay Stephanie. Tigress is not in any danger. Raina would never harm her or Panther. She’s their surrogate mother. The kittens were abandoned by their real mother and Raina adopted them. Come inside, and you’ll see she’s taking good care of her. She’s just grooming her, that’s all.”

  Stephanie’s heart thumped against her ribs and her breath arose ragged in her chest as she entered the house. Sure enough, Valerie was correct. The large dog was indeed cuddling with the tiny kitten inside a fleece-lined bed. Relieved, Stephanie lowered Moonlight to the ground and the tuxedo kitten jumped inside the dog bed and cuddled up next to his sister.

  Valerie walked over to Stephanie and placed one hand on her upper arm, the heat of her skin burning into Stephanie’s flesh. “Now that you know your kittens are safe, I need you to promise me something.”

  “What?” Stephanie said warily.

  “I want you to promise me you won’t tell my big brother you saw Vareck and I…like this. He can never know Vareck was alone with me inside my house. You can do that for me, right?” Valerie winked with the passion of a determined woman while her hand trembled against Stephanie’s upper arm.

  Stephanie wanted to clarify the situation before she promised Valerie anything. “I take it Skylen’s your big brother, and you don’t want him to know about whatever you’ve got going on with Vareck here. Am I right?”

  Valerie lowered her hand and breathed out a puff of air. “Yes, and I'm sorry, it’s a complicated situation. Skylen made me promise not to reveal to you that I’m his little sister and that I live just two houses down the street from you. He came up with the whole silly “personal driver” farce. With everything he’s planning, he didn’t want to overwhelm you before…”

  “Before what?”

  “I’m not allowed to tell you.”

  “No one’s allowed to tell me anything.” Stephanie fumed, puffing her cheeks out like two round beach balls. “I’m fed up with it. If you want me to keep your secret about you and Vareck, you’re going to have to tell me everything I want to know.”

  Valerie narrowed her eyes and scrunched her nose in a tiny wiggle. “I think I know where you’re going with this. Are you sure you want to know about everything?”

  “I’m sure. I want you to tell me about everything Skylen’s planning.

  “Are you sure you really, really want to know?”

  “Yes, spill it, sister. I want to know everything.”

  Chapter 30

  Stephanie

  Skylen wants to marry me.

  The delicious thought in
vaded Stephanie’s head again as she felt his warm hands glide over her breasts and the plastic tape measure tighten around her chest.

  “Your chest measures 39 ¼ inches. Next I’ll measure around the fullest part of your bust to determine your bra size.”

  His hands slid upward grazing her full round breasts again and he took liberties gliding the palms of his hands up and over her nipples, hardening them and turning them into stiff peaks with his gentle pressure. He wrapped the tape measure gently, yet securely around the fullest part of her bust.

  “Your bust measures 42 ½ inches. That makes you a full C cup.”

  “Is that good?” Stephanie questioned, suddenly feeling insecure about her lack of D cups.

  “That's perfect,” Skylen said lifting the two heavy globes with his hands and bending down to lick her nipples, sliding his tongue against their pebbled surface, making her tender tissue tighten painfully hard.

  “Next I’m going to measure the beautifully sensitive curves of your belly.”

  He allowed her breasts to fall to her chest with a heavy thud and slid one hand around to the small of her back securing her in place. He slid his other hand down the center of her belly, the edge of his palm stopping just above her pubic mound. He took liberties with her body again, pressing his palm firmly into her soft pudgy flesh and shaking his hand from side to side. The jiggling motion of his hand on her belly sent ripples of pleasure straight down to her clit and then back up to her shaking breasts.