“I’m sorry.” She didn’t have the strength for another word.
He stared at her with such a strange expression, something akin to tenderness if it were mixed with confusion and tinged with just a hint of rage.
“Don’t be sorry for expressing your feelings to me.” He clasped her chin in his fingers and made certain she was looking at him. “Don’t ever be sorry for that.”
His tone was harsh again, but there was something about that particular tone when he used it that made her want to dissolve into a puddle at his feet and agree to anything he asked.
“You make me feel…” She couldn’t find the right word. It was as if she suddenly needed a new language to describe the things he awakened in her. “Just…feel.”
One side of his mouth crooked upward. “Is that a problem, love?”
She thought about it for a moment before answering. “I guess not.” But she was still uneasy with how potent she found him.
“My guess is you haven’t had many people in your life that made you safe with your feelings. Probably took advantage of you and used them against you?”
She raised her brows, amazed that he’d hit the nail right on the head. This was either the world’s most perfect man, or he was one hell of a player. “How did you…”
“You aren’t that difficult to read. Besides, I pay attention. I know you, Anne, because at our center, we are the same. Not as in identical, but complementary to each other. Like two sides of the same coin. One is not complete without the other.”
She almost began crying again as his words hit a spot in her soul nothing else ever had.
“I’m going to take you back to the hotel now.”
He turned in his seat and rebuckled his belt before bringing the car engine roaring to life. She reached out to touch his arm, stopping him before he got going.
“I don’t work today.”
He stared down at her for a moment, and she felt the most decadent sense of belonging.
“I know. I’m taking you back to my room where I’m going to feed you, run you a hot bath, make certain your injuries aren’t serious, then simply let you sleep for as long as you want…while I watch you.”
He backed the car out of the parking spot they’d occupied, rolled up the windows, and turned on the AC. The tone he used told her she wasn’t going to win any argument over this, so she snuggled down into the luxurious leather and drank in the rare feeling of being taken care of and decided that it was better than chocolate, any day of the week.
* * * *
Anne slowly came awake with the sensation of fingers running through her hair. It was a truly lovely feeling, and if she was dreaming she’d just a soon go back to it, but the pain in her head mixed with the tingling realization she was in strange surroundings overrode her desire for sleep, and she opened her eyes.
“Tell me about Cole.”
She blinked Grey into focus. He was sitting in the bed beside her, his back against the headboard while he gently played with her hair. His voice once again had the strangest effect on her body—she was instantly aroused and, at the same time, pushed into this place where all she wanted to do was please him. And if he wanted to talk about Cole, much though she loathed the subject, for him, she’d do it.
“I dated him for a while after my divorce. His kids were nightmare fuel, and eventually, he broke up with me because I wasn’t willing to live in the same house with a boy who stole knives and hid them in his mattress, threatening to chop his mother into little pieces.”
She sounded more bitter than she had intended, but the entire affair was still a sore subject for her.
“Nice.” He reached beside him and brought her a glass with a peach-colored liquid in it. “Here.”
She sat up and took the drink.
“I ordered dinner. It should be here soon.”
Feeling disoriented, she pushed away her knee-jerk reaction to argue with him, to insist she didn’t need dinner, and to tell him she was going home. She didn’t want to go home. Quite frankly, she wanted to stay in his bed. Besides, she hadn’t forgotten his little mandate. If she wanted to be his submissive, letting him take care of her was a part of the job description.
“Thank you.”
His smile gave her more reward than she needed, and she was very happy with her decision not to argue with him.
“I wasn’t at all pleased with how he spoke to you, Anne. That man was unworthy of you, and it made my skin crawl when he tried to take possession of you like he had some right. I wasn’t pleased at all.”
He repeated himself and the low, dark timbre of his voice sent a shiver to her very foundation. Her go-to reply for anyone expressing displeasure with anything was to apologize. In truth, she’d probably apologize for the sun rising in the east if she felt it would make someone happy, but in the short amount of time they’d spent together, she had come to understand that an apology from her was not what he wanted. The problem was, that left her at odd ends, with no idea what response would be appropriate in this instance. In addition, something about wearing only his tee and a pair of panties had her insecurity on the rise, and she burrowed deeper under the blanket.
“You are an amazing soul, Anne. You are a gift to any man you choose to give yourself to, but you don’t see it.”
She chewed her lower lip. He was right, she didn’t see it. All she really saw when she thought of herself was how she never seemed enough for anyone. Not her mother, not her husband, not Cole—no one had ever found her anything but wanting.
He put his fingers beneath her chin and pulled her gaze up to his. The door knocked. Grey called out, “One moment,” but his gaze never left hers.
“I want to help you see it. I want you to see yourself as I do. I want you to learn how strong you are, how beautiful, and how worthy. You don’t see it now”—he brushed her bangs out of her eyes—“but I do. You don’t see how much strength is required to submit to another person, but I do, and I see that strength in you. You don’t see how all your broken edges can become perfection through submission, but I do. You don’t see now how I will complete you, because you don’t understand the meaning of true completion, but I do. You don’t see how I will fulfill all your desires, because you see submission as being about the dom’s desires, but I tell you the absolute truth, Anne, when I say my only true desire is to bring you pleasure.”
She was breathless just listening to his voice as it rolled over her skin, leaving her feeling exquisitely exposed to him, and when he brought his lips down close to hers, his warm, minty breath slid over her cheek, and she inhaled him, wanting more than anything in the world for him to complete her as he said he would.
“If you allow it, Anne, I will change your entire world, but that’s not arrogance—it’s fact. I see you for who you really are, and all I’m asking is for you to let me show you the woman I so clearly see, because, love, let me tell you, she’s extraordinary.”
She blinked up at him, not knowing how to respond, but even as she lay staring up, she felt tears welling in her eyes because her soul registered the truth of every word. Her mind didn’t understand. She grasped at words she knew, and nothing seemed enough for what she was feeling. All she knew for certain was that this man seemed to have the answers for questions she had about herself all her life, and there was no way in hell she was going to chicken out from finding out what he thought he knew.
She didn’t know him, not really. She knew the Hollywood hype, but the Grey that she’d experienced over the past two days was nothing like the Grey on the big screen or the Grey in the gossip rags. The Grey she knew was strong but kind, dominant but not an asshole like Cole had been. Grey seemed to genuinely care for her, or at least she certainly felt cared for, and most of all, she felt a level of safety she’d craved her entire life but had never come close to finding.
She stared up into his eyes, her breathing nearly stopped, her heart racing. There was only one answer she could give.
“Show me, Grey. Sh
ow me everything.”
Tears slipped down her cheeks, tears she couldn’t have held back if she tried because for the first time in her life, she felt the authentic pulse of freedom running through her veins, and it was entirely overwhelming.
He kissed her lips softly but said nothing more to her. He got up and opened the door for the room-service waiter. Anne had a momentary bout of nervousness as she realized she may know the person, and she slid under the covers while Grey accepted the food and signed for it.
“You can come out now, Anne. Your reputation has been spared.”
When he put it like that, she felt sort of bad, but this was her job, after all, and she still wasn’t entirely sure what he had planned for her, but she was reasonably sure that after he had blown through her life leaving everything rearranged, she’d still need a job.
She climbed out from under the covers, moved to the room service table, and took in the offerings.
“Wasn’t it you that said we had to keep anything between us quiet?” She grabbed a piece of bacon out from under one of the silver covers. “How’d you get them to make you bacon at this time of night? I’m impressed.”
She looked at the other foods, everything from chicken to pasta to omelets to fruit. She looked up quizzically, only to have him brush his finger down the bridge of her nose.
“You are too easily impressed. If you get this excited over bacon, how will you react when I show you my sex dungeon?” He winked.
She was sure the blood had just drained from her face and horror had invaded her senses.
“And way too gullible as well.” He pointed at the table. “Pick something and eat. We have a lot to talk about tonight, Anne.”
A shiver snuck down her spine. For the first time in a very long time, she had no idea what the future held, and she was totally okay with that.
Chapter Nine
Anne woke with a heavy weight pressing down on her body. It took a few moments for her to realize it was Grey. He pushed his fingers between hers and pinned her hands to the pillow beside her head while his mouth worked a very sensitive spot in the curve of her neck. His hair brushed over her face, and his fully-hardened lower half ground against her, making her instantly wet and needy.
“Grey.” She half moaned, while her insecurity was threatening to strangle her.
“Shhhh, baby, it’s been long enough. I need you.” He looked into her eyes. “I haven’t waited this long for a woman…”
He raised over her, and she watched his eyes move from side to side as he obviously tried to figure out the math, but she didn’t really want to think about all the other women Grey had been with before her.
“Ever. I don’t think I’ve ever waited this long for a woman.”
She swallowed.
“Grey, I’m having second thoughts. I mean what if—three days? You’ve never had to wait three days for a woman?” She pushed him away and sat up in the bed, pulling the blankets up to her neck and pushing her hair from her face over her head.
He climbed off her and strode over to the small sitting area. She watched the play of muscles along his back, loved the sexiness of his tanned skin, and wondered what he would look like completely naked. He wore only pajama bottoms, but they hung lose on him, and her imagination wasn’t strong enough to see through them and supply her mind with the much-wanted images. He sat in one of the oversized chairs like a king at court.
“If it doesn’t happen within a few hours, it probably isn’t going to.” He crooked a finger at her. “Now come here.”
He used that tone again, the one that made her skin tingle, made her brain cells start to evacuate, and was impossible to refuse. She climbed from the bed, feeling the tiniest bit self-conscious even though she had just slept all night wrapped in his arms. She was entirely covered by his tee, but she still felt a bit more displayed than she was comfortable with.
She moved in front of him and didn’t fidget while his gaze roamed over her entire body.
“Take off your panties, Anne.”
She swallowed, and a tiny burst of laughter bubbled out and floated into the room, but his scorching gaze quickly sobered her. She blinked and tried to breathe. He seemed to wait patiently as if he had no doubts she would comply.
She reached up under the tee at the back and stuck her thumbs under the elastic. She hesitated, not really sure she could do this. Pummeled with thoughts of both Frank and Cole, she remembered the disappointed looks on their faces the times they viewed her naked. She took a step away from him, but he reached out and drew her back to exactly where she’d just been.
He ran his hands down her thighs while he looked up at her.
“Either you do it, or I’m going to.”
She gathered her courage. She wouldn’t fail him at this. She reached for her panties again and, this time, just pushed them down her legs until they circled her ankles, and then he helped her step out of them.
“Good girl.” His smile was more reward than she deserved for something as simple as undressing.
Good grief, but he’s damn handsome.
“I want to look at you, Anne.”
He slid his hands along her thighs again, this time in an upward direction, catching on the hem of the tee and pulling it up high enough that she knew she was exposed to him. She put her one foot on top of the other, hoping she could somehow hide from him, but he responded by firmly separating not just her feet but her thighs so that the cool air rushed between them, cooling off her fevered skin and exposing her even more than she’d been before she tried to hide.
“Don’t ever hide yourself from me, Anne. You are beautiful, and you belong to me, and I want to see you.”
His praise slid over her like melted chocolate. She even smiled slightly from it. She’d rarely been called pretty in her life but never beautiful. It felt good.
He slid off the chair to his knees before her, and she would have taken a step back if not for the vise-like hold he had on her thighs. His hands moved up her body, his fingers digging into her ass cheeks. He pulled her closer still until his face was pressed against her, his lips right at her most vulnerable spot.
“Grey…” She wanted to stop him, sort of. It was more that she felt she should stop him.
“Shhhhh. ”
He picked up one of her legs and smoothly slid it over his shoulder, all the while balancing her with his hands, so firm and in control. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. No one had ever been this intimate with her before, and though a part of her craved it, was rejoicing at the thought of Grey buried in her pussy, licking her, eating her, there was still a very good girl at her core who was screaming how inappropriate this all was.
“Do you want me, Anne?”
His words ripped at her core. Of course she wanted him. How could he not see that? She looked down at him, on his knees before her. While she tried to push the word “yes” through her lips, he slowly dragged his finger through the folds between her thighs. She gasped.
“Do you want me?”
She nodded. It was the best she could do. She was terrified, but she wanted him desperately. She wanted to know what it was like to have a man—
“Tell me with your words, love.”
She chewed her lower lip. She couldn’t. She tried though, for him, but couldn’t make her words work.
His finger slid up inside her, and she gasped and nearly groaned at the pleasure that shot through her.
“You don’t like the way I touch you?”
She shook her head in the negative, and he smiled.
“I’m crushed.”
“No. I mean, no, I do.”
He smiled and slowly slid his finger back out.
“Then tell me you want me.”
His finger went back in, only this time it was more, felt full. He used more fingers. She was so wet, wetter than she ever remembered being in her life, but as she discovered at their first meeting, his voice alone made her wet. His touch was nearly too much. He pulled his fingers
out and slid three into his mouth and slowly sucked on them. She went dizzy and faint at the sight of him.
“You taste so damn good.” He stuck his fingers back inside her. “Tell me, Anne.”
He slowly fucked her with his fingers. Her heart raced. Her breathing changed. She would die if he stopped, she was sure of it, and knowing he would if she didn’t tell him, she finally was able to push words to the surface.
“I want you.”
“How much?”
“Desperately!” He had her at such a high level of arousal she was beginning to care less and less about her surroundings, her internal monologue, or even if the occupants in the next room could hear her or not. Her mind was melting, arousal taking over everything she was, everything she cared about.
“Do you like it when I fuck your pussy with my fingers, Anne?”
His language was shocking, but she loved it. He used the same words she thought in her most private moments, words she never thought she’d be able to say though, but right now all she cared about was Grey and his not stopping.
“Yessssssssss.” Her word came out so strong it surprised but delighted her. She liked feeling this way. This was what she dreamt of feeling, but the men she’d been with had never gotten her even close.
“You’re a good girl, Anne. You please me so much.”
He moved in and added his tongue to the mix, sliding it between her folds, and she nearly lost her mind when he sucked on her clit.
Lucas, Samantha - The Seduction of Anne Ruby [The Seduction 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 10