by Measha Stone
She screamed out into the room, from the surprise, or the pain, it didn’t matter. Her chest heaved, her lungs begging for air, her eyes filling with more tears and her body trembling.
He held her chin between his fingers, yanking her face upward to meet his mouth. His lips crashed down over hers. The sweeping of his tongue took her mind away from the buzz of pain in her arms and focused it on him. He commanded all of her attention, all of her energy as he deepened the kiss. Both hands held her cheeks. His aftershave tickled her nose, and brought the calming sense of his presence.
When he pulled away, dilated pupils met her gaze. “I’m going to unbind you, and you’re going to get dressed. You’ll come to my office and kneel in the corner while I finish up the work I need to do. When I’m done, we’ll go home. In the morning, we will talk about your living arrangements. Until then I don’t want to hear a word out of you unless I speak to you. Do you understand? If you need me, if you need something, you’ll raise your hand and wait until I come to you. Is that clear?”
The lump that settled in her throat finally moved down enough to let her speak. “Yes, sir.” He didn’t want to talk to her. Of course he didn’t. Would she want to look at his face if he had lied and hidden so much from her? The punishment may have cleared the air, but she’d damaged them.
Maybe she wasn’t cut out for being his submissive. Maybe he was starting to realize that. Maybe she’d messed everything up beyond repair.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Are you serious? Nothing?” Bradley stared over the back patio table at Kendrick who thankfully was not accompanied by his temperamental fiancé. She had been deposited directly upstairs to be with Erin. Bradley had not had a chance to have a talk with her yet because Kendrick and Kelly showed up first thing in the morning. Kelly with an apology, and Kendrick with some information.
“Not a thing. Jonathan has been completely clean, if he is the one that’s harassing her he’s a lot smarter than I ever gave him credit for.” Kendrick hooked one foot over his knee and leaned back in the chair. “There is something else, though and that’s partly why I trekked my ass clear across town this early in the morning. Those photographs you showed me, the one’s she received? They weren’t taken on the street. They were taken from the security cameras that line the building. Freeze framed and blown up, but they were from those cameras.”
“So there isn’t someone following her around?”
“It wouldn’t appear so, but that doesn’t really mean anything. Someone could be following you around. And we have to face the fact that someone either within my security team is involved, or someone who knows how to tap into the secure camera feeds.”
“I thought that wasn’t possible.” Bradley tried not to sound accusatory. Kendrick ran the security for the whole building.
“It’s extremely difficult, almost impossible, but with the right smarts, it’s doable. I’m going back into the logs to find out who was working when these pictures were taken so I can talk to them, but I don’t think it’s coming from my guys. Almost all of them have either police or military back ground. It’s just not their thing to try and blackmail someone, and sure as fuck not someone’s woman.”
“What about Travis or John? Any chance they are trying to get back at me after they lost almost all of their shares?”
“So far I haven’t seen anything that points to either of them. Besides the letters started before you cut them off. Has she gotten anything else?”
“No. Not that she’s told me about anyway.” Bradly reached for his coffee. Erin had gotten up that morning before him and made breakfast and coffee. Things were the same as usual at least in actions, but something wasn’t right. Her eyes held a dullness to them that he couldn’t place. He tried to reassure her that the events of the night before were over. She wasn’t going to be punished anymore, and that the ban of talking without permission was completely lifted, but she only nodded and went to the fridge to get the cream for him.
He wanted her. His cock wanted her. Lying next to her all night knowing he couldn’t sink into her again until they talked didn’t stop his dick from standing ready. He could have taken her and left her wanting for an orgasm, and he wouldn’t have felt remorse for doing it. He knew she would have found fulfillment in that as well. Servicing him would have been a reward, although small, and he wasn’t ready to reward her.
His pet had taken her punishment well, hadn’t fought him on it and took more than he thought she would with that paddle. She despised the wooden paddle. Just the way her eyes widened when she saw him holding it had been enough for him to know he picked up the exactly right implement to deliver her punishment.
After seeing her at the breakfast table, he wondered if he’d made the wrong decision by not giving her a small reward after having such a rough night. At the very least, his balls wouldn’t be so damn uncomfortable.
“Everything going okay with you two?” Kendrick asked, giving him a sidelong glance. The man couldn’t ease into a topic if his life depended on it. “Erin looked a little… I don’t know. Withdrawn. Tender maybe?”
“No more tender than Kelly looked,” Bradley shot back, pouring his coffee over the rail of the patio and into the rose bushes below. If her friends didn’t stop running around her with a fucking net under her ass, he was going to start losing his patience. He’d shown enough already and it was beginning to wear him down. “But you’re right. She was a little withdrawn this morning. I promised her we’d talk after breakfast, but I wasn’t expecting you.”
“That’s my fault. I took Kelly’s phone from her, so she couldn’t text Erin and I, well, I’m so used to Kelly handling that stuff I forgot to take care of it.”
“Lost her phone did she?”
“Don’t look so smug. That girl had a whole lot to say about you on the way home last night. I know she’s just looking out for Erin, but she really has it in for you.”
“Thanks.” Bradley picked up his phone from the table top. He expected to hear back from Erin’s real estate agent soon. He wouldn’t get involved yet, but he wanted to be sure the agent had the right idea in mind about the sale. Erin hadn’t argued when he asked for the agent’s information. He took that as a good sign.
“I think she’s just intimidated. You know with the bald head, all those damn muscles, and well, you can look a bit scary when you’re in full dom mode. I’ve seen more experienced women than Kelly walk away from your scenes in the dungeon.”
Bradley had noticed that as well. He never claimed his play was light, and he never played with anyone who didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. Even with Erin he had lain it all out there for her. He was hard, unrelenting and damn demanding when it came to submission. Hard dom yeah, but he never once hid that from his partners.
“Kelly has nothing to fear from me. She’s not mine to deal with. And she should have enough faith in Erin to know she wouldn’t be doing something that she didn’t want or enjoy.”
“I told her all of those things,” Kendrick said, and nodded. “On the car ride home, on the elevator ride to our apartment. She’s a little stubborn.”
Bradley put his head back and laughed. “A little. Right.”
Kendrick took a glance at his watch. “Well, I’m going to go get my red-headed dragon and head out. I just wanted to let you know about Jonathan.”
“Thanks.”
“As much of an ass as Jonathan is, he really doesn’t stand to win anything by messing with your or Erin,” Kendrick pointed out. “But, then again, who knows with him. He’s obviously not the guy we all thought he was.”
“Erin probably felt the same way when this all went down,” Bradley mused out loud. She really hadn’t talked much about him at all when he really thought about it. Could she still be missing him? Still trying to get over him, and that’s why she went alone to meet him? After all he was the rebound guy, that’s what he’d signed up for at the beginning. Maybe things never developed past that for her as he had
hoped they would.
“I haven’t known Erin for as long as everyone else, but one thing I’ve always noticed about her is her reservation. She was always willing to jump into a fire to help someone else, but when it came to her own stuff, she pulled back. Like she didn’t want to be a bother in some way. Kelly said she’s always been that way, just kind of pushing herself into the background.”
“And when this whole mess with Jonathan happened, she did it again. Only to the extreme,” Bradley said to complete the story. His little pet wasn’t very good at hiding her feelings, so she would just hide herself instead.
“Yeah, for a while it was hard to get a hold of her and when the girls did, she would be really distant, and that was before Jonathan left. So I’m sure things were messy for a while and she was just trying to wait it out, hoping things would come out okay in the end.”
“She’s listing her house for sale.” Bradley said, and let out a breath of air.
“She moving in here permanently?” Bradley didn’t miss the skepticism in Kendrick’s voice.
“I don’t know, but for the first time in my life the idea doesn’t make me want to bar the doors and windows. You know? How can someone edge their way into your life so easily and so fucking fast?” He ran a hand over his head. Since when did he become so wishy-washy about a woman.
Kendrick laughed. “I know that look. And I sure as hell know that feeling. My advice is don’t over think it. Nothing you can do about it anyway.”
“That’s reassuring. Thanks.” He narrowed his gaze. Of course there was nothing he could about it. He’d finally found someone that he wanted to wake up next to every morning. She’d stumbled into his life, but he was damn sure he wasn’t going to let her waltz out of it.
The first thing on his to-do list for the day became completely clear. Hire a moving truck to move all of her shit into his house, immediately.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“I don’t understand.” Kelly’s thick curls swayed as she shook her head. They seemed to be having the same conversation over and over again.
“I already explained all of this, this morning.” Erin groaned while she picked the chicken out of her cobb salad. Kelly had insisted on meeting for lunch after spending a whirl wind of a morning with her.
“I wasn’t there, so explain again.” Jessica turned her phone to vibrate and placed it in the center of the table.
“I don’t think I can do this. This, you know, this thing.” Erin’s cheeks burned with a new blush. Why couldn’t they understand what she was saying without making her actually say it out loud? Didn’t they know how embarrassing it all was?
“What? Sell the house? Break up with Jonathan? Date Bradley?” Jessica sipped her diet coke. The sound of the lunch rush happening around them covered any concern that they’d be overheard.
“Yes. All of it. I mean no, not the Jonathan thing. That’s a done deal, and really it was for the best.” And for the first time, she said the words without any hesitation or conflicted feelings.
“Okay, then let’s take this all one step at a time.” Kelly pushed her chicken salad sandwich to the side and folded her hands on the table. Her signature getting-down-to-business move. “Do you want to live in the suburbs still? I mean it’s a long ass way from work, your family doesn’t live out there, and we are all in the city. You make enough money to live in the city if you want, so that’s not a reason to stay out there.” Kelly ticked off the reasons finger by finger.
“No, I don’t really want to stay out there.” Talking about her living arrangements meant dealing with Bradley. She managed to avoid him that morning, taking off for work right after Kelly and Kendrick left. He tried to waylay her, but she told him she had a meeting she couldn’t miss. It wasn’t a total lie. She did have plans to meet with a client she’d been pushing off, but she could have moved it if needed.
“Okay, so that solves the house problem. That leaves Bradley.” Jessica spoke in a hushed tone, dancing up to the subject.
“Bradley is great,” Erin said with conviction. He was. Bradley could not be more of anything that she would want in a man. He was strong; he was dependable; he was responsible, and loving, and would hold her all night and let her sob on his best shirt if she needed it. The man was downright perfect.
“I feel a but coming any second now.” Kelly said.
“Well, you don’t like him.” Erin pointed to her. Yep, use Kelly as scape goat, good plan!
“No, don’t put this on me. It’s not that I don’t like him. He’s just more than I could handle. I’m not his biggest fan at the moment, he did get my butt busted last night.”
Jessica laughed. “No he didn’t. You did that with your damn mouth.”
“Wait. What?” She still felt like an outsider.
“You didn’t tell her?” Jessica gave Kelly a dark look. “You were there this morning and you didn’t mention it?”
“When I got there she looked all puffy. She’d been crying, so I figured, you know, worry about her sore ass before mine.”
“You’re doing it again,” Erin grumbled and shoveled a piece of chicken into her mouth.
Both women at least had the decency to blush. “I’m sorry. We really do need to do better about that.” Jessica placed a hand on Erin’s arm.
“Just tell me what happened.” Erin wiped a drop of dressing from her lips and eyed Kelly.
“Well after I let the cat out of the bag—and again next time tell me first—I got a little mouthy. I might have raised my voice at Bradley, and it’s really quite possible I said he was cruel. Kendrick took exception to me saying that.”
“Cruel?” Erin clenched her hands in her lap. “He’s not cruel. I mean, it felt that way last night, but afterwards, he just held me. Let me slobber all over him, then took me home and tucked me into bed. I mean it felt a little childish, but he tucked me in, and kissed me good night. I felt more intimacy in that moment with Bradley than I ever did with Jonathan.”
When she finally finished speaking she plopped a cherry tomato in her mouth and chewed while Jessica and Kelly exchanged a glance. “But you aren’t sure if you should date him?” Kelly asked with a wrinkled brow.
“Didn’t you just hear what I said?” Erin asked with irritation. Did she really need to spell it out for them?
“This must be what’s it’s like talking to me when I’m all blubbery. Royce has the patience of a saint.” Jessica took a deep breath. “Erin, if he’s so great, why would you question dating him.”
“Because obviously he’s going to get sick of me real quick.” Erin rolled her eyes. “He’s so experienced, and I’m still getting my feet wet. I suck at this. I mean, I thought it was what I wanted. I mean it is, I think. But I suck at it.”
“At what?” Kelly asked again, blowing an errant strand of hair out of her eyes.
“This.” Erin pointed at the two of them then back at herself. “You know, being what we are.” Still seeing the confusion on their faces she hissed the word. “Submissive.”
“Oh!” Kelly slapped the table and laughed. “That’s not a problem. I mean of course you suck at it, you just started to realize what you want. It’s just that you’re new. Hell, I still suck at it sometimes. That’s when Kendrick just yanks me back into line.”
“Yeah. Royce isn’t exactly handing me any perfect sub medal any time soon. If we were perfect at it, wouldn’t it be kind of boring? Every relationship has ups and downs. Someone screws up, then it gets worked out. Vanilla or kinky doesn’t change that part. Just how it gets worked out.”
They obviously didn’t understand. Erin tried to explain it again. “A true submissive wouldn’t have lied like I did yesterday.”
“First off, there’s no such thing as a true submissive.” Kelly pointed a finger at her with dark eyes. “I hate that term. It’s not real. Everyone is different, every relationship is different.”
“Yeah, I mean Kelly would probably pee her pants if Bradley came up to her with one of his floggers
in his hand.”
“Hey,” Kelly moved her pointed finger, aiming it Jessica. “That’s not my fault, that man looks terrifying.”
Erin wanted to laugh. He did look rather scary when he was dressed for play, hell, even when he wasn’t dressed for play. His eyes portrayed so much about his intentions, and his intentions were never covered in rainbow dust. Why didn’t he terrify her when he looked at her with such intensity? Shouldn’t someone who had such fire in his expression scare her? The kinkiest activity she participated in before him was doggy style sex. Yet with Bradley, seeing him stalk her with a flogger in hand, his eyes narrowed, and his jaw set tight always melted her insides. When he called her pet or yanked on her hair, her body responded as though he’d stroked it with his hands. The harshness of his slaps, the clamps, the whippings, all drove her closer to her end than any bouquet of flowers, or kiss could possibly hope to achieve.
Something was obviously wrong with her. She’d lost her mind.
“She’s over thinking,” Kelly whispered as she sipped her drink.
“Erin, listen to us. One of us should be able to get through this part unscathed, and you are lucky to have two experienced burn victims to learn from.” Jessica patted her hand. “Don’t think too deeply about the why’s and the what if’s.”
“I wasn’t.” She tried to smile through the lie but Kelly pinched her. “Hey!”
“Well, you weren’t listening.” Kelly shrugged and pushed her soda away from her. “If I drink much more of this I’m going to blow up like a balloon.”
Erin’s phone buzzed on the table, and she hesitated before she picked it up. What would she say if Bradley asked her why she’d rushed out of the house that morning? What if he wanted to talk about what happened?
A wave of relief hit her when she read the notification reminding her of her afternoon meeting.
“What’s that about?” Kelly jerked a thumb in her direction while asking Jessica the question.