Though his voice was calm, my hackles rose. I knew not to push when it came to the area of other men. Deep down inside I knew that Anthony would never permit me to be involved with any other man and that was fine by me. But he still wasn’t going to get me to do everything that he demanded.
I decided that looking at my new ring was more fun than arguing with Anthony. I stretched my arm out and turned it to hit the light. It truly was stunning.
Though his voice was barely above a whisper when he pulled up to the coffee shop to drop me off, I felt as if I had been doused with ice cold water when I viewed his eyes.
“We’ll discuss this matter when we are in a more appropriate setting that warrants privacy. Perhaps the dungeon my little dove? I believe that you are due a clipping of those little wings of yours that so fervently flap, uselessly trying to gain the independence that now eludes you due to the contract that you willingly signed.”
I decided saying nothing would be in my best interest and I rapidly exited the car’s enclosed casing. The enclosed casing that presented the threat of being subjected to my owner’s wrath. He was right—I had signed a contract, but I sure as hell hadn’t agreed to marry anyone. Even if it was the Governor of the great state of Kentucky. As little Ms. Sunshine had worded it.
I convinced myself that maybe he would change his mind and made my way into the coffee shop to meet with Kathy. I knew all too well that Anthony wasn’t a man who was one to give idle threats. He said what he meant and he meant what he said.
Oh well I’ll worry about it later…
I quickly made my way into the specialty coffee shop that had become a habit for Kathy and me to visit before our weekly jaunt to the public library. I never tired of that library, every week it was like going on a magical journey that never grew old. Though the edifice remained the same, the adventure was ever changing and evolving and all due to the magic of words.
I could tell that she was excited about seeing my ring. She was a great friend, always there for me and always happy to see me happy. I held a finger up motioning to her that I would be there after I got my coffee.
I could tell by the way that the barista was eyeing me that he knew who I was. I don’t think I will ever get used to people that I don’t know, thinking that they know me just because they saw my picture in the paper. I was getting a crash course on what the loss of anonymity meant for a person in the public eye. The problem was, I had much more to lose by not being able to fly under the radar. I was constantly pushing invasive thoughts of being found out from my head.
I really needed to try and talk some sense into Anthony. I was bad for his career and he acted like he didn’t even care, but I did. I didn’t want the responsibility of being at fault for ruining all that he had worked for. The best thing for his career was a woman like Julia. I cringed at the thought, because even though it was true that she fit the bill for being a Governor’s wife, my heart wrenched at the thought of him being with another woman.
“Let me see, let me see!” Kathy’s voice cut through my troubled thoughts as I made my way to our table.
“Oh girl, do you know what kind of stone that is?” she continued talking, giving me no opportunity to answer. “It’s a fancy blue vivid diamond. They are very rare and very expensive.”
“It matches Anthony’s eye’s,” I stated, without even realizing what I was saying. It was true though, the diamond had the same stunning light that Anthony’s eyes had when the lighting hit them correctly. They also had a darkened more troubling shade of blue under the right lighting conditions.
Anthony’s eye’s changed colors and they held that troubled tempest blue whenever he was angry, or whenever he was in predator mode. It never ceased to amaze me how this clean cut businessman could have such a dangerous side to him. I would forever be changed after dealing with Anthony. I would never look at people the same way again, because now I knew that the old adage ‘What you see—is what you get’ most certainly was not always the case. People were like onions and peeling back layers could most certainly get you much more than you bargained for.
The flash of camera drew me out of my thoughts. “Damn it! Let’s go to the library, I had something for you but I can’t give it to you here.” I was aggravated that the photographer had been able to flash a picture through the large plate glass window without me noticing. I would know now to sit in quiet cubbyholes in order to avoid the press.
“That is so not fair, now I’m going to wonder what it is the whole way there.”
We exited and I looked up to see one of Anthony’s drivers out front.
That’s odd, we hadn’t agreed on him sending a driver to escort me.
I pushed away thoughts that Anthony was having me watched and quickly pushed my friend into the back seat.
“Ride with me to the library and you won’t have to wait.”
That seemed to please her and she jumped in. I waited until we pulled away and I turned eyeing her with sincerity. I meant every word that I was getting ready to say to her.
“Kathy, you have been there for me when no one else was. I want to give you something as a way of saying thank you.” I made her close her eyes before I placed the diamond tennis bracelet on her arm. It suited her perfectly and was a classic piece.
I turned with tears in my eyes and hugged the woman who had been such a good friend to me in my time of need.
“I know that I haven’t always been easy to get along with, I love you Kat.”
“I love you too and thank you. I’ll treasure it forever.”
We jumped from the car and were escorted by the driver with an umbrella since it had started to rain. I smiled up at the man who was just as much bodyguard as he was driver.
“Do you want to come in too?”
He chuckled, “No Ma’am, I have a magazine. Take your time Ms. Talia and enjoy your visit with your friend.”
Kathy and I hurried inside shaking the non-existent rain from our trench coats. Due to the driver shielding us from the rain, there was no evidence of being accosted by the wet weather.
It didn’t take any time at all for us to become entrenched in the hunt for the perfect brand of literary pleasure.
“Ms. Dickenson,” I heard my name being called as the head librarian ran up to us, greeting us with a smile.
“I just wanted to personally thank you for your contribution in keeping the library wing open and avoiding budget cuts.”
“Really that would the Governor who is responsible for that Mrs. Banesley, but to be honest with you I’m very pleased to see that the library won’t be suffering any budget cuts. As you already know I am an advocate for literature and fighting against the illiteracy that threatens our youth today.”
“Call me Barbara please.” She smiled, extending her hand to me. “Well I have some work to do Ms. Dickenson, but I wanted to be sure to personally thank you—being that the Governor stated that he was pressing the issue due to the fact that the library meant so much to you.”
“Well, Ms. Banesley, you are more than welcome and please call me Talia.”
“Oh my, should we be anticipating a wedding soon?” she questioned me, as she eyed the large ring on my finger that was hard to miss. I was certain that was the reason that Anthony had opted for such a large stone.
I blushed as I spoke, “Well right now I’m just trying to get through the engagement. All of the attention from the press can be a little daunting to say the least.”
She patted my hand much as a mother would do when comforting a child and I fought the urge to let my mind drift back to a better time. Back to a time of when my mother would have been overjoyed by my engagement to a man that I had grown to care very deeply for.
We separated and made our way over to the shelves of books. I had been on a historical fiction and family saga kick lately with reading. As much as I loved romance and suspense there were times that I wanted a deeper read and I was in that frame of mind. Maybe being on the Governor’s arm was beginning to
challenge me some.
I did at times feel like I didn’t measure up to the social status of this new group that I had been thrust into. I always came back to the fact that a normal woman wouldn’t be able to accommodate Anthony’s darker sexual appetites. He had pulled me into a world where now I wondered if I would ever be able to be satisfied with vanilla sex so to speak. I knew the answer to that already, Anthony had opened a Pandora’s Box and I would never be the same—ever.
I looked down as my phone went off alerting me of a text.
“I’m watching you Talia, always watching my little Dove.”
“Is that why you sent your driver? You probably have my phone bugged too, Anthony.”
“You have a date with the dungeon later my dear. You should be very careful how you behave today.”
“Goodbye Anthony.”
“Always watching you, Talia. Always watching you...”
I felt a chill go up my spine as I thought about just how true it was that Anthony kept a close eye on me. I could feel my stomach churn in anticipation of our dungeon date. I never knew what to expect from my dark lover. He had definitely put me on guard and I would be watching my behavior today. Pissing Anthony off when he was in this frame of mind wasn’t a smart thing to do.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Talia
I hung from the chain that held my arms and wrists above my head. My toes barely touched the concrete floor giving me just enough of an anguished feeling to put me in some small state of distress. I winced as Anthony grabbed my chin squeezing it hard enough to cause tears to begin to flow down my cheeks.
“How was your day dear?” The sardonic smile clearly let me know that he was being facetious.
“My cock stayed hard as I thought about all of the ways I was going to torment you this evening.” He cocked his head and eyed me as he spoke, “I don’t think it is sitting very well with me when you tell me what you will and won’t do. Did you smile pretty for the camera today?”
“You set that up?”
“Well of course I did, love—there is nothing in your life that I don’t control. You have gained the interest of a very dangerous and powerful man. I’m certain that you have already deduced in that pretty little head of yours, that I have no intention of letting you go when your contract is up.”
He said it as more of a statement and the look on his face let me know that he meant business.
“Belt or cane?”
I shook my head and began pleading.
“Oh, I do so love it when you beg my little dove, but I’ve already informed you that those little wings of yours are due a clipping. No better way to do so than to use discipline, Talia. I guess that you are leaving the decision up to me.”
I cried out, “Belt.”
That fucking cane hurts like hell.
Anthony eyed me. “You have no idea how much information I’ve just gleaned from that one little word. We’ll use the belt tonight and save the cane for when you really piss me off. We both know with that nasty little streak of independence that you have it’s only a matter of time.”
I watched as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it to the side. I licked my lips as I eyed his thick chest and taut abs. I clearly heard the swish of the belt and it pulled me from my dream like state. I watched as he doubled it up in his fist and stood eyeing me with eyes that threatened me with a concoction of controlled pain and pleasure.
“My cock is hard just thinking about it, but the question is,” he whispered as he leaned in and got closer to my ear, “are you wet?”
“No,” I lied.
His hand went between my legs then his fingers probed and came back with the evidence which proved me the liar that I was.
Who am I lying to... him or myself?
“Liar!” he hissed as he made his way behind me and with no warning I heard the crack of the belt hit my skin before I felt it. My skin was no longer a virgin to the dark concoction of endorphins and dopamine that Anthony served up in the form of pain.
I cried out as white lightning pain coursed through my body as he landed another strike on my tender skin in a different place. Over and over the strikes hit until I craved the next sensation rather than trying to uselessly shuffle and wiggle on my toes to avoid it.
I groaned as he made his way to the front of me and grabbed a handful of hair further reprimanding me for what he termed as my behavior of a petulant child.
“You do not tell me what you will and will not do, my dove. You are my property.”
I licked my lips as tears coursed down my cheek and I shook my head yes. He had managed to do that which he desired, stop the behavior that could lead to me being independent enough to leave him when the contract was up.
As if confirming my thoughts he released me and gently tossed me on the mattress that was kept on the dungeon floor. He placed me on all fours and gently pushed the top part of my body down then pulled my ass up in the air as if he were serving himself up a delicacy that he would devour with no thought of restraint or regret.
I felt his warm tongue rake over my soaked opening before he taunted me telling me how wet that I was and how I craved what only he could provide me. His finger slid into my opening as his lips sucked and pulled bringing me right to the point of orgasm and then stopping.
I began to plead and beg, promising him that I would give him what he wanted. Knowing that he wanted all of me, no more holding back or hiding behind my walls. He wanted my heart and soul.
I clamped around his thick hard cock as he slowly pushed into my hungry opening. I begged him to fuck me relentlessly and without restraint. He felt like a forbidden and dark love that I would never be able to break free from. It was if there was an invisible cord that neither time nor space could sever.
He stopped fucking me and went back to lapping the juices he created from my body. Drinking of my essence as if he were a man dying of thirst in a desert of mundane living and I provided the flavor that saved him from such a boring existence.
This time he sucked and pulled at my swollen clit until I screamed out and felt as if I had shattered against the dungeon walls that held our deep dark secrets. I loved this man with a dark, tainted, and twisted love, but I loved him none the less.
He pushed into me this time showing no mercy as he plowed into my depths breaking all the resistance that had been directed towards him in the form of obstinate independence. It was true he owned me, I was his property to do with as he saw fit.
He pulled me into his arms and whisked me away to the place that I knew through the fog of pain as aftercare. He would do as he always did and he would safely lead me back home and into his place of refuge. He had accomplished that which he set out to do, he had successfully forged me to him in fire. In a hot molten lava that connected us in a way that could never be broken or separated because it had soldered the metal of our very beings together—it was times like these that made us one.
We were forged in fire, held together by something deeper and darker than any contracted piece of paper could ever provide. I belonged to Anthony, I was his and no amount of past pain or dysfunction could or would ever change that.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Talia
I sat at my make-up table and eyed Anthony with a bit of skepticism as he spoke. He stood behind me eyeing himself in the mirror as he finished the last details of getting dressed.
“How charming of you to agree to the coming out of our engagement. Have you seen the morning newspaper yet, my love? You’re so photogenic.”
“And you are such a conniving scoundrel.”
“I must admit that you do have a point.” He cut his eyes as he continued speaking to me, “I’m certain that you are saying that with the utmost of respect, am I correct in assuming so? I do have a cane with your name on it.”
I squirmed in my seat trying to adjust to the least agonizing position. Anthony chuckled. “Are you feeling effects of last night? Amazing how you beg and plead for me to show you mercy a
nd yet you get so wet. You are truly a contradiction in terms, my little dove.”
He raised a brow as if awaiting an answer and I in turn raised one, as if I didn’t have the answer he was looking for.
He leaned down and put a finger under my chin lifting it and looked me dead in the eye as if pinning me down. “I’m watching you my little dove, always watching you.”
“That’s fine, I’m sure that you have been around me long enough to attain the knowledge that I am not, nor will I ever be, a shrinking violet.”
I watched as he adjusted his tie in the mirror. “There is nothing better that a good fuck with a girl who has some fight.”
“A girl?”
“I like the trait of jealousy in you Talia, you wear it well. I can assure you my love, that my cock will have no part of any other woman. So the two of you have won in the area of me being a faithful fiancé.”
“You better be, because you don’t want to fuck someone else,” I hissed.
“As I said, you wear the color of green well, my love.”
“That is envy, not jealousy. You just keep your cock in your pants or all bets are off!”
“Be careful, there is no need to push the issue. I have no intention of being with any woman but you.”
“Good, I’m glad that we understand one another.”
“Get with Gretchen on the engagement party and be good today. Remember I’m always-”
“I know, you’re always watching.”
He planted a kiss on my cheek and exited the room. I couldn’t help but chuckle at how normal we appeared to the outside world but behind closed doors we were kinky as hell and loving every minute of it. I threw on jeans and a t-shirt before I headed down to the kitchen to see Gretchen.
“Hi Gretchen,” I greeted her taking a seat at the island where she had already set out my coffee and the morning newspaper.
“Let me see this,” I stated, as I picked up the newspaper. “I’m always concerned that they are going to get a picture where I have fish lips or some awful expression. I hate that I can’t control what they put in here, Gretchen.”
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