by Black, Lena
I walk over to the glass-front fridge and open the freezer, snatching the vodka out. I walk over to the cabinet near the sink, take two glasses from the lowest shelf, and pour us a couple stiff drinks. I leave the bottle open and ready. I take his glass over to him, placing it in his line of sight, and he slowly takes it from my hand. He raises it to his lips, taking two quick swigs, and it’s gone.
Suddenly, he seems to snap out of his low state, whipping his head up to me, clarity coming back into his eyes. “Oh, Gabrielle, I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how much this must hurt you.”
I set my glass next to his on the island and tuck myself into his hard body. He wraps his arms about me as I rest my head against his wide chest. “I’ll admit, I’m shocked, confused, hurt, sad, but more than anything, I feel sorrow for your loss. I’m sure she would’ve been beautiful and kind, just like her father.”
“Oh, Elle,” he whispers, “you truly are perfection. You always put me and my feelings before yourself.”
“I have so many questions.”
“I’m sure you do…”
“But, we should get to bed and talk about it at a later time,” I say, figuring out exactly where this is going.
“Actually, Miss Know-it-all, I was going to say, I’m sure you do and I am more than happy to answer them.”
My head pops up.
“Really?” I squeak out with disbelief.
“Yes, I want to be honest with you, but there are still things that will take me time to reveal to you.”
“I understand. I have parts of me I’ve yet to show you, too, but right now, I need to know about this…Is that the reason you aren’t married to her? Or did you marry her and then divorce?”
“We broke off the engagement…Well, to be accurate, I broke off the engagement. As I’ve said before, I didn’t love her the way I was supposed to, the way I love you. When she told me she was with child, I was already in the process of emotionally distancing myself from her.
“So, when she laid the news on me, I found myself conflicted with what I wanted and what was right. I thought about my parents, their love for my sisters and I, how much I craved human connection with someone of my own blood. I wanted a family; I wanted to give my love to someone.
“But, once our daughter was gone, I saw no real reason to stay together…At least as lovers, I took care of her afterward, and we remained close friends.”
“Don’t you have any friends with a dick? Or that you haven’t slept with?” I tease, and he smirks down at me.
“You always know how to make me feel better, Elle,” he chuckles out, grazing my cheek with his thumb. “Yes, I have a few male friends whom I have no desire to screw. One of my best friends was a good friend, a good man.”
“Was?” I ask with concern.
“Mm-hmm,” He nods, “Your father, Marshall.”
“No, Damian, not now, I can’t talk about him now,” I state with my eyes shut tight, shaking my head vigorously from side-to-side.
“Ok, alright, we won’t. I promise.” He runs his fingers though my hair and then cups his hands about my face. “I know how hard it is, I understand, but I can’t possibly comprehend how hard it must be to digest all the new information about his role in your life, literally.”
I don’t want to do this now. I can’t handle it. So, I change the subject to something a bit brass, but it may just do the trick.
“Is her pregnancy the reason you had insisted on two forms of birth control during sex…? Why aren’t you strict about it with me?”
He appears stunned for a moment, but sees what I’m doing and goes with it.
“Yes, her pregnancy was the reason. We had used a condom, but it broke, and after that, I wouldn’t touch a woman carnally without a backup.
“As far as why I don’t use a condom with you, well, I want to feel you, connect with you on a deeper level. I love you, Gabrielle, and the thought of having a child with you doesn’t frighten me. The thought of sharing my life with you and our children not only doesn’t frighten me, it excites me. I can’t wait to start my life with you, Elle.”
“Damian,” I whimper, and he takes my mouth with a fury. He smashes his lips against mine so hard, my lips burn.
I break away when something dawns on me and, with a breathlessness, say, “Now I understand why you had asked me about kids when we were leaving for Seattle, before you collared me…You were making sure I was marriage material.”
“Well, Elle, when you think about it, isn’t that what everyone does? I mean, you ask questions in order to find out if someone is compatible with you, and as I want offspring someday, it seemed like a crucial inquiry to make.”
“I hate when you’re right.” I pout, and he smirks down at me.
“Then you must be spiteful all the time,” he teases with a youthful grin, the tip of his tongue pinched between two rows of pearly white teeth.
“Oh, hush,” I playfully hiss out, gently slapping him on his large bicep, “you cocky bastard.”
He nods his head and leans in, kissing me on my temple. “Well, this cocky bastard wants to go to bed and fall asleep with you in his arms.”
I glance at the clock on the wall over the sink, which reads one-forty-five.
How did it get so late?
Suddenly, I feel utterly exhausted.
We crawl into bed, spooning with my head on his outstretched arm while he rests his head on mine. My eyes become heavy, and my body sinks into the soft mattress and Hunt’s warm body. Sleep starts to take me.
“Damian?” I murmur.
“Yes, Elle?” he says, tracing the side of my face with the tip of his nose.
“What would you want?”
“What do you mean, angel?”
“Boy or girl?” I clarify.
“Oh, well, both. But, if I could only have one, I would want a girl. There’s nothing like a daughter….Especially, if she turns out like you.” He kisses my ear, and I moan, nuzzling into my nook. “I love you, Elle…Sleep now.”
“I lov…” I drift into the comforting darkness of sleep.
I wake the next morning to the sound of the shower running in the master bathroom and the sudden need to pee. I leap out of bed, ready to haul ass to the bathroom down the hall in “my” room, but it can’t wait.
Crap! I don’t want to pee in front of Hunt!
With the pinching pressure nagging at me, I realize I have no choice.
Fuck it.
I bolt into the bathroom and onto the toilet, lifting my robe only enough to do my business. My body sinks and my eyes cross as the relief rushes over me and I let out a long sigh.
I look up at the massive, all-glass shower in the center of the room and Hunt is smiling back at me.
Kinky bastard..
“Feel better?” he asks, as he scrubs his sudsy, chocolate-hued hair, amused by my current predicament.
“Yes, much, thank you…What’s up with you?” I ask, trying to make small talk in this awkward, revealing situation.
“Not much…Just hangin’ around,” he answers, glancing down at his heavy, erect cock hanging under its weight. “Would you like your daily protein shake, angel?”
I snicker and crinkle my nose. “You’re a pig!”
“I’m a man, baby, flesh and blood.” He smirks at me wolfishly, washing his tan, muscular shoulders.
Damn, he looks so good, soaking wet and sexy as fuck, while I squat over a toilet looking less than appealing. I need to wipe, but I refuse to do it while his gorgeous, scrutinizing gaze is plastered on me.
“Could…Could you turn around, please?”
“Why, Miss Hyde,” he says, his teasing voice echoing about the glass shower walls, “are you shy? Do I make you nervous?”
The playful smile on his face makes me want to hide.
“No, I would just appreciate a little privacy.”
“This is coming from the girl who only just ran in here, invading my privacy, in order to perform an act she considers private…in
front of me. Not to mention, the idea of anything between us being private is a ridiculous notion. I have done things to and with you that most people could never conceive of attempting. Why is this any different?”
“I don’t know…It just is. I really didn’t have a choice. I had to piss.”
“Gabrielle, I want you to wipe your pretty little pussy for me. I want to watch.”
“Damian!”
“It wasn’t a request. I want you to spread your legs and clean that pretty little pussy for me.”
“You’re fucking weird! Like, really twisted.”
“I’m not asking you to piss on me, Gabrielle. I want you to be comfortable with me, with yourself. Now, do as I told you.” I look away as I spread my legs, too embarrassed to stare him in the eye. “Elle, look at me.”
I whip my head about, staring at him with contempt, yet I’m aroused.
Maybe I’m just as warped as he is.
“Good girl…Now, untie your robe and open it so I can see you.”
“Damian, this is ridiculous,” I state.
“It serves a purpose. I told you why. Now, do as I told you, Gabrielle.”
I unknot the tie and open the front, revealing myself to him. I reach for the paper and clean myself off, never breaking eye contact with him. Once I’ve finished, I snap my legs shut and jump up, roughly shutting my robe closed.
The toilet is self-flushing and goes off when I stomp over to the sink to rapidly wash my hands. I don’t bother drying them off, I just make my way out of the bathroom with a determined pace.
“Gabrielle,” Hunt tauntingly calls out my name as I’m about to step out. I halt in my tracks, even though I want to run screaming. “Gabrielle, turn around.”
I spin around, peering at him with my head tilted to the side and pout. He is standing at the opened door of the shower with his arms crossed over his chest and a cocked brow. “Would you please come over here, Gabrielle?”
I casually saunter over to him and thrust my hands onto my hips. “Yes?”
Swiftly, his hand reaches out and snatches up my arm with the speed of an attacking cobra, yanking me into the shower and under the overhead spout. The warm water rains down on us, soaking my white silk robe until it clings and reveals every soft, rounded curve of my body.
He takes a step back, studying me attentively, scanning every inch of my drenched form. He stops back on my face. “Why are you upset?”
“Why do you think, Damian? I’m embarrassed. I didn’t want to do it and you insisted instead of listening to me.”
“If you had simply taken care of it, acted as if it wasn’t a huge deal, I wouldn’t have had you do it that way. I’m trying to tear down that wall you keep between us. You can’t be so timid or self-contained. Gabrielle, couples do that in front of one another. This is not a kink thing, it’s a comfort thing.”
I realize he’s right and I may have overreacted. I do have a track record of that. “I’m sorry I acted that way. It actually wasn’t too bad.”
“Perhaps, you would even go as far as to say you enjoyed it,” he says, stepping into me so our bodies graze but don’t fully touch. “I saw your arousal, Elle…Did it turn you on?”
“Yes, it did,” I reply, slumping my head down, ashamed of my reaction to his command.
“Did I ask anything of you that caused you shame?”
“No, I suppose not.”
“I mean, it’s not as if you haven’t touched yourself in front of me, legs spread eagle.”
“The nightclub,” I utter.
“Yes, the nightclub…How about last night in the car? You weren’t too timid or self-contained then, with Banks only inches away from us. Why did this bother you so much?”
I think about it for a moment and come to the conclusion that I don’t have a fucking clue.
Why did it bother me so much? Why do I fight him on matters of sex and self-exploration? Especially, when he’s opened me up, both sexually and emotionally, when he’s taught me to see myself as beautiful, as more than what I am.
“I honestly don’t know. I suppose it’s a control thing. I’m still not used to your need to dominate me, but I’m trying to learn.”
“Do you enjoy it? Do you wish to continue?”
“Yes, I enjoy it and wish to continue. And, even if I didn’t, which I do, you are a dominant man. It’s not a trait you can simply turn on and off, because it’s weaved into the fabric that makes up who you are. I would never ask or expect you to change this about yourself. However, I do wish you would ease up a bit outside of the bedroom.”
“Excellent,” he sighs and pulls me into him, planting his lips on mine, kissing me until my legs weaken and my mind goes blank.
We’re lying in bed, kissing and petting, nibbling and groping. His lips move down my neck and across my collarbone, leaving a hot, tingling trail of sensation in its wake. He adjusts his naked, hulking form over mine, shifting himself between my thighs so the hard tip of his stiff cock teases and caresses my wet lips.
I throw my arms about him, digging my nails into the taut flesh of his back, and nibble on the lobe of his ear.
“Damian? Ellie? Are you up here?” A sweet female voice suddenly calls out to us from not far down the hall.
“Is that…?”
Chapter Ten
Smoke And Mirrors
Fuck, Aubrey,” he murmurs to me. “Give us a minute. We’ll be right down,” he calls back to her.
“Alrighty,” she replies in a tone as if she knows what was about to occur.
“What is your sister doing here?” I ask with panic in my voice.
“I forgot about the plans I made with them.”
“Them? As in…”
“As in, my whole family, minus Dante and Olivia. We are going out to dinner after you’ve had a girl’s day with my mother and sisters. My father and I will meet you at the restaurant later tonight.”
“What?! I can’t deal with this today.”
“I should’ve told you, but it’s too late to back out when they’re waiting for us downstairs.”
I let out an exaggerated sigh and reply, “Alright, let’s get ready.”
I walk out of the closet, dressed and ready-to-go, fifteen minutes later. I find Hunt next to the bed, wearing a white cotton button-up open at the collar, and tan linen pants with a pair of black chucks. I giggle when I realize we match. I chose a form-fitting, white cotton eyelet dress with cap-sleeves and sweetheart neckline, paired with tan suede flats. He notices as well, casting that crooked smirk that drives me wild.
“Great minds,” he murmurs. “You look ravishing, angel, a true vision of beauty.”
I swept my honey hair into a French twist and applied only a little mascara. I’m happy with the results.
“Thanks, slick. You look quite dashing yourself.”
He struts over to me, as only he can, and takes my hand in his, raising it to his cheek. He presses it to his face and nuzzles against it. “I still can’t believe you’re here, you’re really back with me.”
“Yes, Hunt, I am, and I don’t intend on going anywhere.”
“It’s still hard for me to believe,” he murmurs, pained.
“I know, but you will.” I gently caress his defined cheek. He removes my hand, kissing the palm before taking it into his own.
“Gabrielle, I want you to do something for me…When you meet me at the restaurant, I want you to wear your collar.” I stare up at him anxiously. “Will you do that for me?”
“I’d do anything for you; you know that.” Truthfully, the idea terrifies me. When I wore it at the Opera house, I was with people involved in our lifestyle, but this will be in front of his family. I don’t understand his reasoning for this, but I’ll suck it up and do as he asks of me. “I would be honored.”
He grins down at me, releasing my hand, and heads into the closet. He returns with my white leather handbag and the solid silver collar, engraved with his name, and slides it inside, handing it to me.
“I can’t wait to see it on you,” he states, smirking that lopsided grin that drives me fucking bonkers and extends his large hand out to me. I toss my purse over my shoulder and take it, walking out of our room and down the hall toward the staircase. When we hit the top step, they spot us and rise about the large space. Each one smiles up at me and I return their warm gesture.
Once we make it to the last step, Aubrey and Keira rush me, green eyes aglitter, trapping me in their vice grip and hugging me until I can hardly breathe.
“Oh, Ellie,” Aubrey whispers in my ear, “It’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you so much. We all have.”
“Yes, Ellie,” Keira chimes in, “thank god you’re back. Take him off our hands, please.”
I giggle. “I’ve missed you all, too.”
They release their hold on me, only to push me into Vivian’s waiting arms.
“You look lovely, dear,” she says, patting and rubbing my back in that motherly way. “I’m so pleased you decided to give our Damian a second chance.”
I look back at Hunt, and he’s watching me with concern and admiration, a mix that melts my heart.
“Mother,” Damian steps in, “I think this can wait until later.”
“You’re right. We really should leave if we want to make our appointments at the spa.” She releases and holds me at arms-length, staring at me with the same icy blue eyes that sent me running from this place only months before, yet it feels like a lifetime ago. “We will catch-up then.”
“Sounds good,” I reply with a soft smile, but it’s a conversation I’m not too eager to have.
Pierce steps up behind his wife and clasps her biceps with both his hands. “Hello, Ellie dear. It’s great to see you. You’re looking very well.”
“Yes, thank you. It’s great to see you, too, Pierce.”
Hunt comes up to me and places his hand on the small of my back, rubbing the curve with his thumb.
“Are we ready to go?” he asks everyone, but his emerald eyes beam at mine.
“Yes, dear, let’s go,” Vivian answers.