by Anya Summers
Ophelia's temper, the one she'd been trying to leash, exploded. "What I witnessed in your fucking dungeon today wasn't love, Zoey, it was lust, pure and simple. If that's how you get your rocks off that's fine, but don't sugarcoat it. If you really want to know what I think, it's that you are infatuated with the idea of him and are enjoying sex on the wild side. You have turned your back on the people who love you, and all for a man you hardly know."
"Like you know anything about it, you never experience life at all, Lia. I'm very proud of your dedication to your studies and your academic accomplishments, but you don't live in the real world. You know nothing of my relationship with Declan and are not in any position to comment on the matter, or dictate to me how I am to live my life."
"And you think that what you were doing downstairs in your fiancé's dungeon qualifies as love?" Ophelia snorted, exasperated at her sister. Why wasn't Zoey seeing her side of things? Gone was the sister she'd looked up to, strived to be more like, and failed miserably on all accounts. She felt like she was arguing with a virtual stranger. As though her sister had gotten on that plane two weeks ago and was never coming back. Ophelia felt the loss of it, of who they had been, so keenly that her eyes stung from unshed tears.
Zoey's face hardened; there was a flicker of disappointment in her eyes mingled with sorrow, and then it was gone. "What I do or don't do with my fiancé is my business, not yours. I'm sorry that it upsets you, truly I am. I wish that you were happy for me. That you could accept my relationship with Declan and that it will be a permanent part of my life. I'm not giving him up just to soothe your ruffled feathers. The house in Burbank is yours. After my niece or nephew is born, I will visit, and pack up anything I want to keep and have shipped over here."
"So that's it. Thanks for coming Lia, but I'm leaving you, too," Ophelia spat, shaking, with a horrible sinking feeling that she was in the wrong here somehow, but couldn't see her way out of the volatile mess.
"I think it's best if you leave and go home, Lia. Eat up. I will have a ticket waiting for you in Edinburgh, and will have Jared drive you to the train station."
Ophelia retreated on the inside. The carefully guarded control that had slipped under Tobias's firm touch slid back into place like at the click of a button. Zoey didn't want her here and planned to shut her out of her life. So be it. Ophelia would get along just fine without her.
"Don't bother coming home, Zoey. There's no point. And I seem to have lost my appetite. If Jared is ready, I'd like to leave now." Lia gathered what few belongings she had, stuffed them in her carry-on, and grabbed her purse.
Her sister nodded stiffly. The hurt in Zoey's eyes was a tangible thing, but Lia turned away from it, needing to lick her own wounds first—which meant getting separation from this place and the people in it, all of them. If Zoey was going to cut Ophelia out of her life just because she questioned her life choices, then it was better she made a clean break. Her sister was kicking her out of her life, not the other way around, but why did she feel like she was the one who was wrong?
Chapter Eight
Tobias and Declan spent the better part of the afternoon studying the schematics Tobias had drawn up. Lia's little infiltration of the club at the worst possible time had hit home for both of them that the club need more security, pronto. Due to Declan's forthcoming wedding, he had wanted to decrease the possibility of any wedding guests inadvertently accessing the dungeon level, and any Dungeon Club visitors venturing up from below decks so to speak. Some of Declan's board members wouldn't understand his lifestyle and would make things difficult for him if it was discovered, which Tobias understood. He didn't publicize his involvement with Dungeon Pleasures in Pasadena. That was why he'd hired Bret Moore to serve as the business manager for DP—so that his name wasn't bandied about freely, and so the upper-crust elite clientele of his securities firm, Forward Vision, had never heard of it.
"Looks good," Declan commented, smiling as he stared down at the blueprints on his desk.
Tobias stood on the opposite side, glad he thought so. "I can have my secretary send the papers over and work can begin in two days' time, as soon as my team arrives."
"Good enough. And thank you, by the way, for solving the situation with Zoey's sister today. Zoey was near inconsolable over the debacle, so much so we had to stop the scene and leave it unfinished. She still hasn't discussed it with me any further than that."
"That was rough." Rougher still on Ophelia, who seemed sheltered and not a little distanced from the rest of the world. It was why she had stood out to him on that night at his club; she had seemed like a little lost waif, her eyes wide with wonderment and shock, unsure of whether to run and hide, or join in the fun. Tobias had bet she would have run. Before the idiot had assaulted her, he'd been considering approaching her himself. When she'd vacated her spot at the bar, he'd followed—just in case she changed her mind and turned back, he'd be there to swoop her up. He'd been furious when that asshat had grabbed his little bird and attempted to assault her.
"You and Ophelia seemed to hit it off with each other," Declan stated rather nonchalantly, pulling him out of the past, but he didn't fool Tobias. His friend had outfoxed and out-maneuvered too many hot bedded boardrooms for Tobias to think that he wasn't implying more than he said and was digging for information.
"Your point being?" Tobias wasn't going to deny that there was a relationship with Lia, but nor would he confirm it. Their relationship was still too new at this point, and he wasn't entirely sure what it was yet exactly. However, he knew that all he had to do was think about her and his body vibrated with the anticipation of seeing her again and what would transpire between them.
"So it's like that. I see." Declan chuckled, shaking his head. "Good, you need a sub of your own. You have for some time."
"It's not like anything." Tobias bristled, unsure himself whether their relationship was anything more than merely scratching an itch. He, the army vet, with an ethereal princess who had brazened his world of BDSM and he didn't know if he could convince her to stay in it. Her aloofness, her shyness, coupled with her intoxicating passion, were a heady mixture that left him wanting more.
Declan's phone rang, and he winced. "I need to take this call. Meet you for dinner in an hour?"
"Sure." Tobias rolled his blueprint plans up into a tidy roll and then exited Declan's office as his friend negotiated in Cantonese with his one of his companies.
Tobias strode to his room three doors down from Lia's and entered. As much as he wanted to see her, make sure she had recovered from the discipline earlier today, and have a chance to discuss their relationship and test the waters a bit more by escorting her to dinner, he needed a shower in the worst way. He'd trudged through crawl spaces to find the precise locations for some of the security installations, and he was filthy. He wanted no impediments to his night with her.
Stepping into the hot spray, he considered his options where Lia was concerned. His little wounded bird certainly liked his attentions. He loved her stunned responses, the sweet mewling noises she made in her throat as he tasted her pussy or slid his cock inside her tight sheath. He'd never had a woman open so gloriously to him before in all his years as a Dom. He finished up in the shower. If he thought of her much longer this way, he'd have to masturbate before he left the water. And he wanted to hold off until he could get his little bird alone. He had legions of sensual fantasies he'd like to try with her, just to see her response. She was a total submissive at heart, even though she didn't even realize it yet.
He wondered if her reaction to the scene today had gotten her so upset because it was her sister or because she found it stimulating and was ashamed. Tonight, he'd uncover the truth of it. He'd love to put her on display as the queen and have the entire court at DP pay their toll. This amounted to every Dom in the room taking a turn eating her pussy—while the whole room watched—before Tobias took her in front of their audience.
Not every sub liked being on display that way and hav
ing an audience; for some it was a hard limit they refused to cross, but the mere image of Lia performing an exhibitionist scene like that in his club with him made Tobias's dick harden. Maybe he could convince her to have a quickie before dinner. He decided not to shave his shadow beard, he wanted to rub it over her rosy nipples and see how she reacted to the abrasion.
His mind made up, he dressed in black trousers and a casual dress shirt. Declan and his fiancée liked having semi-formal dinners. Probably helped balance things in Zoey's mind since she was so new to the lifestyle. He certainly saw the appeal as she worked her wizardry in the kitchen with Declan's cook. Leaving his room, Tobias made the short trip to Lia's room and knocked. He waited a few heartbeats and, when he didn't hear any movement beyond the door, he knocked again. Louder this time. When there was no response, he tried the handle. She could be sleeping off lingering traces of jet lag or be using the bathroom for all he knew. Hell, she could already be down in the dining room sipping on wine.
The room was immaculate. The bed had been re-made after his and Lia's sexcapades. All the hidden bondage rings had been concealed back inside their hidey holes. Tobias checked the bathroom, which had been given the same treatment as the bedroom. Baffled by her absence, the first fingers of dread touched his soul. He tried shaking off his bad feeling, but something just didn't seem right.
Then he realized what was off; her suitcase was missing. He checked the closet, and other than extra linen, it was empty. What the fuck was going on?
He vacated the room with haste, taking the stairs in his mad rush to reach the dining room. She'd just been moved to a different room, or her stuff was located somewhere he hadn't checked in the room. He didn't believe it for a second, but the lie kept him from hitting the panic button and roaring out his frustration or the betrayal riding his soul.
He reached the door to the dining room at near supersonic speed and halted on the other side. What met his gaze didn't bode well.
Declan was holding his fiancée, tears streaming from her eyes as she sobbed into his shoulder. "Sh-she said that I wasn't w-welcome in our h-home. H-how could she s-say that?"
"Shush, lass. It will be all right," Declan comforted Zoey, and lifted his gaze to Tobias at the intrusion.
"What's wrong?" Tobias asked. But he already knew his lust-filled brain had been a little slow on the uptake.
When that sent Zoey into even harder sobs, Declan replied, "Zoey and her sister have had a bit of a falling out, is all."
"Where's Ophelia?" Tobias muttered, his heart thumping madly in his chest.
"Gone," Declan retorted with a grimace over his features, all the while stroking his little sub's back, soothing her any way he possibly could. Tobias knew their fight had to be about the scene she'd witnessed earlier that day between Declan and Zoey.
"Fuck!" Tobias exclaimed. He'd known the minute he noticed her missing luggage that his little bird had flown the coop. At his outburst, Zoey jumped in Declan's arms and gave Tobias an interested stare. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge under her eagle-eyed scrutiny.
"Tobias, you seem like a nice guy, but if you're interested in Ophelia, I can tell you that your timing is really off," Zoey stated. He could tell she was attempting to spare his feelings and look out for her sister at the same time.
"Why do you say that?" he asked, neither confirming nor denying his interest in Ophelia. He wanted her, that much he knew; they hadn't had time to explore anything further. Granted, he'd been dreaming of her for almost two months since that first night in his loft, but that was a little detail he didn't feel like sharing with her sister.
"Because she's pregnant," Zoey blurted out, wiping tears from her face.
His world spun on its axis. Lia, pregnant? "What? How far along?"
"About two months."
Tobias leaned against the table for support as the implications sank in. Ophelia was about two months along. They'd not used protection that first night, and he had assumed when she didn't stop him that she was on the pill. Even knowing the dangers of not using a condom in this day and age with STDs, he'd been so enthralled with his little bird that he'd plundered, not thinking of the potential consequences. With his lifestyle, he had himself routinely checked for STDs, just like when he was in the military.
Holy shit! He was going to be a father. Ophelia was carrying his child. In the blink of an eye, his whole world shifted. The weight of the responsibility, having another's life completely dependent upon him, dawned. He didn't know anything about children, had never been around them for any length of time, and had kept his dalliances to women with no attachments.
"Are you okay, man? You look a little green," Declan said, with an eyebrow quirked up in question.
"Where did she go?" Tobias bit out, with anger lacing his voice. Ophelia had known, when she first saw him yesterday, that she was pregnant with his child, and had never told him. That little fucking liar. Not that he had given her a chance to inform him of his impending fatherhood, but still, he deserved to know.
Zoey was giving him that interrogator's once over again as she asked, "Why do you want to know?"
"Because I need to speak with the mother of my child," he replied, tempering his fury as his mind spun over everything he needed to accomplish before he could leave Scotland and chase after her.
"You!" Zoey squeaked, her jaw dropping open into a slack-jawed stare as his response fully dawned on her. She actually smiled at him with approval in her gaze. Tobias didn't want to read too much into her response to his admission, but it did make him feel slightly more at ease.
"Yes, and I need to talk to her. We have things to settle between us. Where did she go?" His little bird could run all she wanted; he'd bring her to heel.
"She's on a flight back home to Los Angeles."
"I understand that, but I need her address, need to know where I can find her. As you can imagine, she and I have many things we need to discuss. And if I could make one request from you, I realize she's your sister, but don't tell her I'm coming." He wanted to make sure his little bird didn't go further into hiding. Not that he couldn't or wouldn't be able to find her, but he wanted every advantage on his side, which meant keeping her in the dark about the fact that he was tailing her until he had her within his sights.
"You didn't know until I just told you, did you?" Zoey probed, her gaze wise beyond her years as she studied him. She was the perfect match for his buddy Declan.
"No, I didn't," Tobias admitted, feeling his chest expand with glowing warmth as the shock of his impending fatherhood wore off and was replaced with hope for the future.
"Have a seat, we need to talk. There are things about my sister you need to understand." Zoey gestured to the table just as Mrs. Stewart rolled in a cart loaded with dinner.
He'd listen, gathering whatever information Zoey could tell him about her sister, and then he'd create a plan of attack. It was what had made him so valuable in the military, his ability to assess a situation and understand the best course of action to achieve success. His little bird wasn't getting away from him next time. He'd bet his life on it.
Declan clapped his shoulder. "Congrats, man!"
Tobias nodded, unable to voice his feelings as they swirled in his heart.
They sat, and Zoey proceeded to describe the events surrounding her parents' deaths and the effects it had had on Ophelia.
When Tobias finally reached her, he was going to tan her hide to a ruby red; she wouldn't sit pretty for a week.
"So you see, that's her normal response to things, to shut down emotionally. If you still want to get involved with her after hearing all of this, then I give you my blessing," Zoey said.
"Thanks. I plan on it. Oh, and Zoey, again, please don't tell her I'm coming. I want it to be a surprise."
Chapter Nine
Ophelia worked to resume the threads of her life after another thirty hours' worth of travel, followed by subsequent jet lag that felled her like Paul Bunyan chopping down
a redwood tree. She'd slept from one sunrise to the next, and awoke resigned to her fate.
Her sister wanted to move on, fine. Lia would, too. And as for her dalliance on the wilder side, Ophelia had made up her mind that she'd had her fun, it had been exciting at the time, but now she was going to be a mother and it was time she started acting like it. Her first order of business had been to move her bedroom into the master bedroom. The one her parents had slept in and which had remained something of a mausoleum over the last six years.
If the house was hers, then it stood to reason that she could make whatever changes she wanted and felt were necessary for herself and her baby. She'd been able to fend off Lucy, who was threatening to storm her house any day now. Ophelia had begged her to stay away, lying to her with the excuse that she'd picked up a flu bug on her travels and would call her when she felt better.
Instead of dealing with her inner turmoil, Lia hauled furniture, boxed up mementos, and rearranged the entire house. It was as if being pregnant had ignited a fervent desire for order and structure, to arrange her world as she saw fit. They'd never disposed of a single item that had belonged to their parents, not even their clothes, the bulk of which still hung inside the walk-in closet or were folded up in dresser drawers doing nothing but collecting dust. Both she and Zoey had been too young, she believed, to even consider parting with anything that had once been their parents'. Except, in the end, they had turned the master bedroom into almost a shrine to their existence. The grief mingled with guilt that was always so near whenever she thought of them seemed to pour out and lighten in some respects as she packed up what she wanted to keep, thinking her child would want to have pictures of his or her grandparents one day. Then she created boxed piles of things to donate. Her parents would approve of their clothes going to homeless shelters and those in need. She turned a section of the living room into a storage area, piling up the boxes of things she planned to get rid of as she purged the house.