“I’m sorry, Hunter, I overslept,” she said as she flung open the door.
Sienna stood there. She raked a calculating gaze over Ariel from head to toe. A smirk twisted her lips. “Well, I see he’s fucking you, too.” Taking advantage of Ariel’s shock, she pushed past her and strolled into the apartment.
Ariel recovered and spun around. “What are you doing? She tightened the belt on her robe and jabbed at the open door. She saw no reason to be nice. “Get out of my apartment!”
“I came to talk to you.”
Chapter Seven
After he left Ariel, Hunter raced to the jewelry store before it closed. It testified to how lovesick he’d been that he’d gone window-shopping before he’d been sure he’d had a chance.
Before they confronted the parents, he wanted to put a ring on her finger to reinforce their commitment to each other. He and Ariel would be engaged before they ever dated, but he saw no reason to wait. They’d known each other for years, they loved each other, and he’d never met another woman with whom he was more compatible. She was the yin to his yang. The submissive to his Dominant. His. He planned to collar her before too much longer, but, for now, the ring would do.
The salesman recognized him, greeted him by name.
“I’m here for the ring.” Hunter couldn’t keep the grin from his face.
“Congratulations!”
“Thank you—but she hasn’t said yes, yet.”
Hunter completed the purchase, tucked the black velvet box into his pocket, and left the store. He had enough time to grab an hour of shut-eye before he went to get Ariel.
His mom cornered him as soon as he entered the house. “How’s Ariel?”
“She’s fine, Mom. She’ll be over later so you can see for yourself.” He gave no hints of the upcoming discussion for fear his mother would pounce and drag the details out of him. He and Ariel needed to present a united front.
On his way to his old room, he paused outside Ariel’s door and, on impulse, peeked inside. The woman he’d been meant to be with had been right down the hall for a good part of his life, and he’d been too stupid to realize it. Not that he could have done anything when he’d lived at home. Ariel had been too young then.
She wasn’t anymore.
The room’s décor was as she’d left it when she moved after college. Not too frilly, but feminine and pretty. Like she was. The space was neat as a pin, except a book lay on the floor, half hidden under the floral quilt-covered bed.
Hunter picked it up and flipped open the spiral-bound, hardcover book.
February 14
Dear Diary. The script was loopy and girlish.
Hunter gave me a valentine!!!! I WUV YOU BEARY MUCH, it said. That must mean he likes me a little, too, don’t you think?
He snapped the book closed. He wasn’t about to invade Ariel’s privacy by reading her diary even if it was a decade and a half old. But why was it on the floor under the bed? He assessed the room and noted the nightstand drawer was slightly ajar. He pulled it open and found a stash of spiral volumes like the one in his hand. He peeked inside a couple. More diaries.
He didn’t like the looks of this. He shoved the book into the drawer then charged downstairs. He located his mother in the kitchen. “The other night—what room did you put Sienna in?”
“She used Ariel’s old room.”
“It’s not my place to tell you who you can or cannot have in your home, but I found an old diary of Ariel’s beside the bed. I think Sienna read it.”
“That’s terrible.” She shook her head. “I feel responsible. I shouldn’t have invited her to the party.”
Hunter sighed. “It’s not your fault, but I don’t understand why you did invite her.”
“I thought, well, I don’t know...” His mother turned back to the cutting board where she’d been chopping vegetables. “It won’t happen again. Are you staying in for dinner?”
“No, I’m going to see Ariel.” A bad premonition insisted he seek out Ariel sooner rather than later.
“That’s a good idea.”
He kissed his mother’s cheek and left.
*****
“We have nothing to talk about,” Ariel said.
“You mean you don’t care about Hunter and me?”
Ariel laughed at the brazenness of the ploy, not fooled for an instant. Two days ago, Sienna’s words would have cut her like a knife, but after what she and Hunter had shared physically and emotionally this weekend? Not buying it. She trusted Hunter, and he loved her.
Sienna was pathetic, really. Ariel almost pitied her because she understood the heartbreak of unrequited love. But Sienna was, and always had been a witch with a capital B, so she didn’t feel that sorry for her.
“There is no Hunter and you.” Ariel flipped her hair over her shoulder and dismissed Sienna’s insinuation.
“Hunter has...special needs,” Sienna said.
Special needs. Did that mean what it sounded like? Hunter and Sienna had been an item a long time ago. Had he spanked her? He’d spanked his college girlfriend. He was a healthy, virile—very virile—thirty-two-year-old man. She’d slept with a few people, too. But all that existed in the past and didn’t come close to the intimacies with Hunter that had consumed her body, mind, and soul. They’d bared themselves to one another in a way she couldn’t imagine doing with anyone else—or Hunter having done with anyone else. Least of all, Sienna.
The other woman sidled around Ariel’s living room, her gaze dismissive. She pivoted. “That’s why we have an...open relationship. We both see other people. You can fuck him if you like, but he’ll always come home to me.”
You wish. “You’re full of crap,” Ariel retorted. “Get out of my apartment.”
“Aw...” Sienna stuck out her lower lip. “Does he wuv you beary much?” Ariel jerked. No...no, Hunter wouldn’t—
Sienna laughed. “Hunter and I have talked about your adolescent crush. You used to follow him around, hang on every word. He found it so amusing. He told me everything. The valentine you gave him. The one he gave you. Such a cute little bear. I wuv yoou...” She shrugged, eying Ariel’s robe, her bare feet. “I guess he decided to take you up on your offer.”
Betrayal hit her like a blow to the stomach, knocking the wind from her lungs. For a moment, she could only gape, her mouth working to form words that wouldn’t come. Hunter may or may not have slept with Sienna, but he’d shared with her the personal details of how Ariel had felt. He’d known of her crush and had told that bitch, had laughed with her. Her love had been real, true, and he’d treated it like a joke. It might have happened long ago, but the revelation, the pain, scissored through her as if the betrayal had occurred today.
“Get out.” Her voice came out as a hoarse choke. She was a hair away from attacking Sienna, from pounding out her hurt on the woman who’d ground her dreams into the carpeting.
Sienna must have realized it because she sidled to the door at a fast clip. Halfway out, she peered back with a smirk. “Let me know if you want to join Hunter and me in a threesome.”
Ariel lunged.
Sienna slammed the door.
Ariel dropped to her knees and sobbed. How could he have done that? She doubled over as pain racked her body.
*****
Darkness had fallen by the time Hunter drove into the lot of Ariel’s apartment and parked next to her car. No light shone from her window. Was she in bed? She needed to sleep. He hadn’t let her grab more than a couple of hours all weekend. But the uneasiness wouldn’t dissipate.
He exited his vehicle and strode up the walk. He pressed the buzzer twice. He waited. No answer. Rang again. “Ariel!”
Even if she was asleep, the doorbell should wake her up. He could hear it ring. “Ariel!” He knocked. Nothing. Uneasiness ramped up to worry. Why didn’t she answer?
He glanced back at the parking lot to verify it was her vehicle next to his. Yep. If her car was here, she had to be, too. “Ariel!” He depressed the
buzzer three times and pounded on her door.
“Go away.” Her voice, but not her voice.
“What’s going on? Open up.”
“G-go away.” She was crying. “I c-can’t talk to you right now.”
What the hell had happened? “Let me in.”
In his peripheral vision, he caught a flash of a neighbor peering through her mini blinds. Great. He moved closer to the door. “At least tell me why you won’t talk to me.”
Always trust your gut. Sometimes he hated to be right. Finding her diary on the floor had given him a bad feeling. That was all it had given him. He had no answers for why Ariel would have done an about-face in such a short period of time. He’d only left her three hours ago.
“You talked to her! You t-told her how I felt.”
“Who?” he asked, but he knew. Damnit! What had that bitch told Ariel? He rued the day their paths had crossed, that he’d allowed her into his life. Unfortunately, Sienna had remained within their social circle even after they had stopped seeing each other. His parents’ welcoming open-door policy had backfired. Now he had to repair the damage.
Ariel hadn’t answered his question. He called her name again. She refused to answer.
Words weren’t going to do the trick. Like he had at the cabin, he would have to show her to convince her. He glanced at the parking lot. He hadn’t removed his duffel from his car.
The door to the unit across the way opened. “Can I help you with something?” a man asked.
As much as he wished to avoid attention, Hunter was pleased Ariel lived in a building where the neighbors would watch out for her. “I’m Hunter, Ariel’s stepbrother. Our mother was concerned about her and sent me to check. I’m afraid she might be ill.”
“The apartment manager might be able to help.”
“Thank you.”
The apartment manager was quite accommodating. It turned out Ariel had put his name and their parents’ on the lease as emergency contacts. After he presented his identification, she gave him a key. Hunter snagged the duffel from his car and charged back to Ariel’s. He didn’t bother to knock but let himself in.
As he’d expected, she wasn’t in her tiny living room. He entered the bedroom. Weeping emanated from an Ariel-sized lump beneath the bed quilt. His chest constricted. When she hurt, he hurt. But he would fix this. He set his duffel down. “Ariel.”
“G-go a-a-way.”
“Remember what I said at the cabin? No more running,” he said in his Dom voice. “I asked you to trust me. Remove the covers, sit up, and talk to me.”
“You don’t d-deserve my trust. You betrayed it!”
Hunter flinched. He hadn’t betrayed her, but her accusation cut deep because he knew she believed it. A frisson of fear sawed through him. What if he couldn’t fix this? Couples pledged their devotion to one another all the time, yet half of all marriages ended in divorce. He and Ariel had only had a weekend to forge a relationship. “What am I supposed to have done?” he asked strongly, hiding his uncertainty.
“You laughed about me with Sienna.”
He knew he’d recognized Sienna’s hand in this. “Never. Whatever she said wasn’t true.”
“Then how did she know about the valentines we exchanged when we were kids?”
“She read your diary. She got drunk at the party, spent the night in your old room, and read your journals.”
Ariel went silent, motionless. Then her head popped out of the covers. Her teary, red eyes met his gaze.
“I would never, ever laugh about you. I never discussed the way you felt about me with anyone, and I wouldn’t give Sienna the time of day. She’s history.” He’d press his mom to ensure Sienna never set foot in the Peyton house again. He had a feeling he wouldn’t have to apply too much pressure.
“I guess I owe you an apology. I’m sorry, Hunter.”
“Sir,” he corrected.
“Sir.”
“Come here, Ariel.”
She crawled out of bed. Her silk robe gaped, and she pulled the edges together and started to tie the belt.
“Leave it,” he ordered. The robe would come off soon anyway. He wanted no barrier between them. No clothing, no secrets, no misunderstandings. But, for now, he enjoyed the peek-a-boo view. Her breasts were reddened by whisker burn, her nipples chafed. He’d fucked her so many times, his dick was sore, but it didn’t prevent the start of a hard-on now.
She stood before him, contrition and remorse written on her face. “I’m so sorry, sir.” She bowed her head.
He nudged her chin to peer into her eyes. “I don’t hold you responsible for falling for Sienna’s trickery. She seemed to have evidence to support her lies, and I don’t expect one weekend can erase years of uncertainty all at once. I love you, Ariel. Believe that. However, the next time you lock me out and refuse to speak to me, I will spank your ass until you can’t sit for a week. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.” Her eyes glowed. One day she’d find out punishment differed quite a bit from the fun and games she’d experienced over the weekend.
“Who do you belong to?”
“You, sir.”
He shoved her robe off her shoulders. He cupped one of her tits and thrummed the nipple before pinching it, not hard, but enough to make a point. Figuratively and literally. She sucked in her breath, but he read helpless desire and not discomfort on her face. Well, maybe a little discomfort. A little was good. A little discomfort would reinforce his claim.
“Bend over the bed. Spread your legs. Show me your pussy.”
Her folds, swollen from the weekend’s pleasures, glistened with new moisture. He’d spanked her more than once over that time, and her cheeks were red still, although the stripe from the belt whipping had faded. With his palm, he laid a dozen rapid, hard smacks to her derriere. She cried out and danced on tiptoe, but her pussy grew wetter.
He didn’t disrobe but unzipped his pants, rolled on a condom, and guided his cock to her wet center. Mindful of the previous workouts, he eased into her. He fucked her with slow thrusts. Her cunt gripped him as tight as ever, making his teeth ache. It was her, and only her. It would shatter him to lose her now.
With a rough hand, he manipulated her clit, driving her to the brink. And himself. “Give it to me, Ariel,” he ordered.
“Oh, sir!” she cried out, climaxing.
“Ariel,” he gritted out as his cock and balls contracted and he spilled himself.
He rested a hand on her lower back. “Stay here.” He dispensed with the condom, and, from his duffel, withdrew a stainless-steel butt-plug, the smallest one because she would be sitting on it all evening.
She peered over her shoulder, gaze riveted on the object as he lubed it. “Oh, sir, please...do I have to?” She didn’t like wearing a plug, hadn’t gotten used to it yet, which was why he’d chosen it now. And also because he needed to get his head on straight, because he wasn’t as calm as he wanted to her to think. “You need to remember what we promised. I take care of you, and you trust and obey me.”
With his finger, he lubed her passage and then, like a good girl, she accepted the plug.
He had her sit on the bed while he washed his hands and stalled for time. In Dom mode, he was confident. As the supplicant, not so much. He couldn’t imagine she would say no, but what if she did? With nothing more to do, he reentered the bedroom. “I have something else for you.”
She nibbled her lower lip. “What is it?”
He grabbed his jacket and withdrew the velvet box.
Her eyes rounded.
He lowered to one knee and opened the box. “Will you marry me?”
Ariel burst into tears and flung herself into his arms, knocking the box from his hand. “Yes! Oh, Hunter, sir, yes!”
Epilogue
Ariel shifted on the sofa cushion, trying to find a comfortable position with a hard foreign object in her ass. Beside her, Hunter wore the faintest smirk. Damn, you...sir.
In reality, she wouldn’t have it any
other way. To be loved, taken, claimed. She peeked at the glittering diamond in the beautiful setting. Engaged. They only had to pass one tiny little hurdle.
Hunter glanced at her, and then they focused on the parents sitting opposite them in the formal living room. Hunter cleared his throat. “Ariel and I wanted to speak to you both.” He clasped her hand. “I could lead up with a long preamble of hemming and hawing, but the best way is to say it. Ariel and I love each other, and we’re getting married.”
“I wondered when you’d come to your senses,” her stepmom said.
“We’re not related by blood—wait a minute. What did you say?” Hunter did a double take, glancing between his mother and Ariel.
Ariel blinked, just as surprised as he. They were fine with it? She’d prepared herself for shock, resistance.
Trudy beamed. “Oh, for goodness sake. Ariel has been crazy about you from the moment you two met, and you’ve been in love with her for almost as long.” She looked at her husband then back at them. “You were meant for each other from the start. If Jake and I hadn’t gotten married and brought you together, I think fate would have introduced you to one another.” Trudy shifted her gaze to the floor and clasped her hands. “But, in the interest of full disclosure, I, uh, should make a little confession.”
“About what?” Ariel asked.
“You weren’t coming home because you were avoiding Hunter. I knew you still loved him, and he loved you. So when you said you would attend the Valentine’s Party, I invited Sienna. I figured she would flirt with Hunter, and that it would make you jealous.”
“Mom!” Ariel and Hunter gasped.
“Trudy!” her dad chided. “You and I will have a little talk later.” Her dad’s stern glint reminded her of Hunter’s gleam when he expressed his Dominant side.
“I’m sorry. It was wrong of me,” her mom said.
Her dad shook his head. “Well, congratulations, Son!” He jumped off the couch to shake Hunter’s hand and hug him. He embraced and kissed Ariel. “I’m so happy for you, sweetheart.”
Her stepmom kissed them both. Then Hunter wrapped his arms around Ariel and pulled her against his body, hugging her the way a man hugs a woman and not his little stepsister.
Bound, Spanked and Loved: Fourteen Kinky Valentine's Day Stories Page 50