Follow Me Always

by HELEN HARDT

  And my God, it’s beginning not in my clit but in my ass.

  Then I’m racing, crying out, speeding toward the precipice as he pumps, pumps, pumps…

  And I shatter. I break. I fucking collapse. And all the while he continues pumping, invading my body, his cock completing me. I close my eyes and see only flashes of light and color—the pleasure and emotion morphing into psychedelic visions behind the veil of my mind’s eye.

  Whether I remain quiet is a mystery. I love you, Braden! I love you, Braden! Are they words or thoughts?

  I don’t know.

  I don’t care.

  Braden sucks in a breath. “Fuck, Skye, you’re so hot. Feels so good.”

  Thrust. Thrust. Thrust.

  And then he plunges once more, so deep inside me, and I feel every contraction of his release.

  Every. Single. One.

  I open my eyes when my own climactic waves begin to subside. Braden’s eyes are squeezed shut, and he’s gripping my hips hard. I’ll have marks. Beautiful red marks.

  For a timeless moment, we remain locked together. One being. One heart. One soul.

  Until he opens his eyes and pulls away from me. “Stay put,” he says. “I’ll be right back.”

  I close my eyes once more, and a minute later, warmth slides over my ass. I open my eyes. Braden is taking care of me with a warm washcloth.

  My God, I love this man.

  “You may speak now.” His voice is husky, dark, sated.

  I open my mouth, but all that comes out is a soft sigh.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he says.

  “It was… It was…” Words float around in my head as I grasp for the right one. “Unbelievable.”

  “For me as well. I want to be the only man who ever goes inside that ass, Skye. The only man.”

  Fine with me. I don’t say it aloud, though. Is he telling me we have a future? A real future, including marriage, children, and all that white-picket-fence stuff?

  I don’t dare let myself hope.

  He rises again from the bed and releases my bindings. I rub my wrists absently.

  “Okay? Any chafing?”

  “No.”

  “How about your arms? Any pain from the stretch?”

  “No,” I say again.

  “Good.” A pause as he rakes his gaze over me. “I love you, Skye.”

  “I love you, too, Braden. So much.”

  “Thank you for sharing that part of yourself with me.”

  Thank you. He said thank you.

  I’m humbled in a new way. He’s thanking me.

  “Thank you, too,” I say. “Thank you for everything, Braden.”

  Chapter Forty

  Braden rises once more and snuffs out all the candles. Now the only light visible is what shines in from the Boston Harbor through his massive windows.

  The scent of candle wax drifts toward me. “Braden?”

  “Yes?”

  “Why isn’t candle play a hard limit for you?”

  “Because I’m very careful. It’s not play that I engage in frequently.”

  “You don’t allow it in the club, though.”

  “I don’t allow fire play in the club. Because it can lead to significant damage if not done properly. No insurance policy would cover it.”

  “Is fire play different from candle play?”

  “In my mind, yes. Taper candles made from soy wax—which doesn’t burn nearly as hot as paraffin or beeswax—don’t cause much risk if handled properly.”

  “Would you, then?”

  “Would I what?”

  “Do it for me?”

  He lifts his eyebrows. “You’re interested in candle play?”

  “The idea of hot wax on my nipples excites me.”

  “All right, Skye. For you. I’ll do it for you.”

  “But not here,” I say. “At the club.”

  “I agree. My bedroom isn’t set up for candle play.”

  I smile at him. “I’ve never seen a candle here before tonight.”

  “I got them especially for you. To give you the romantic atmosphere you deserve.”

  “And it was perfect, Braden. The whole thing was absolutely perfect.”

  “Yes, it was. You were a trouper, too. I know you experienced some pain, but you relaxed and worked through it.”

  “A little. I mean, yeah, it was painful. Quite sharp at first, but… I don’t know. The pain was always there, but it turned into pleasure. Kind of like when you spanked me. It was perfect in its pain. If that makes any sense.”

  “You like pain,” he says.

  “No. Not really. I’m not a masochist. But I like pain when it brings me closer to you.”

  No truer words.

  “When will we go back to New York?” I ask.

  “I don’t know. I want to give you some time to continue to work through things before we go back to the club.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t even talking about the club. Eugenie wants to meet with me again about a new social media campaign built around some of my hashtags. I need to talk to you about—” A yawn splits my face.

  “You’re exhausted, and frankly, so am I. You can tell me all about Eugenie’s new brainchild in the morning. After our soak in the tub.”

  “A bath?”

  He nods. “A soak will help ease your soreness.”

  “I’m not sore down there. Really.”

  “Not now. You’re still on a high from the orgasm. You will be sore in the morning. Trust me.” He brushes his lips over mine. “Now go to sleep.”

  “Mmm. Deal.” I close my eyes—

  Only to shoot them open again when my phone buzzes.

  “Ignore it,” Braden says.

  “Ha! You know I can’t do that any more than you can.”

  He chuckles. “I know.”

  I rummage the phone out of my purse on the nightstand. Tessa. At this hour? “Hey, Tess,” I say into the phone, stifling another yawn.

  “Skye?” Her voice is unusually high and squeaky.

  “Yeah? Are you okay?”

  “Not even slightly.” She chokes back a sob and then sneezes.

  I jerk upward, eyes wide. “What’s the matter? Why are you crying?”

  “Damn these allergies,” she says. “I need you. Please.”

  “Okay, okay. Calm down. What do you need?”

  “It’s Garrett. I… I slept with him.”

  “Okay.”

  “Why couldn’t you come to dinner with us? You knew what was going to happen.”

  “Tess, I—”

  “I needed you tonight.”

  “Okay, okay. Calm down.” This is all very un-Tessalike. She must have it bad for Garrett. And I’m her BFF. I should know this.

  “Where are you? I’ll come to you.”

  “At my place. He left, Skye. He fucked me, and then he left.”

  “Did you ask him to stay?”

  “I did. He said he had an early meeting in the morning. But tomorrow’s Sunday. He lied to get out of spending the night with me. How could I have been so stupid as to let him in my bed again?”

  Again, this isn’t like Tessa at all. “Are you drinking?”

  She sniffles. “A little.”

  Shit. Last time she did ecstasy. “Tell me you didn’t take anything else. Please.”

  “No. Not yet. But I’m a mess. Can you come over?”

  I’m bone tired, but… “Yeah. Sure.”

  I hate the thought of leaving Braden’s bed, but I won’t let my best friend down. I’ve done enough of that recently.

  But this is strange. Tessa doesn’t get this upset over men. What’s up with Garrett? When he broke her heart the first time, she did drugs, for God’s sake. I need to make sure she
doesn’t go down that path again. Either she has it super bad for this guy, or…something else is going on. Something I’d know about if we hadn’t been arguing.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Hang in there, okay?”

  “Thanks, Skye.”

  “No need to thank me. Get a hold of yourself, and I’ll be there soon.” I shove the phone into my purse. “Braden, I need to leave. Tessa’s in a bad way.”

  “I’ll drive you.”

  “You don’t have to. I’ll call an Uber. Besides, you gave Christopher the night off.”

  “I can drive, you know.”

  I smile weakly. “Thank you. This means a lot to me. I’m so sorry. After our wonderful night.”

  Braden dresses, and I head up to my bedroom and find something more comfortable than the green sheath I arrived in. A comfy cotton T-shirt and fleece joggers are perfect. When I descend, Braden is waiting for me at the elevator.

  Fifteen minutes later, we pull up in front of Tessa’s building.

  “You may as well go home,” I say. “I should stay with her tonight.”

  He nods. “I’ll walk you up. It’s late.”

  I kiss his cheek. “I’ll be okay.”

  “I’m walking you up, Skye. It’s not up for debate.” He slides out of the car and opens the passenger door for me.

  A few minutes later, I knock on Tessa’s door. She opens it, her face streaked with tears, and her eyes…strange, like one is looking the other way or something, but not quite.

  Again, so not Tessa. She’s fond of Garrett, but she doesn’t fall apart over men.

  “Hey,” she says weakly. “Hi, Braden.”

  “Hello, Tessa.” He walks straight into her apartment, taking command. “What can we do for you?”

  Shit. Just what Tessa doesn’t need right now. Braden Black trying to fix things. He finds solutions, but Tessa doesn’t want a solution. She wants to cry on her best friend’s shoulder.

  “Braden…” I begin.

  “Have you eaten?” he asks.

  “I had dinner with Garrett.”

  He picks up a nearly empty bottle of vodka. “How much of this have you had?”

  “Braden…” I try again.

  “A few shots,” Tessa replies.

  I grab Braden’s arm and steer him out the door. “She doesn’t need to be interrogated,” I whisper. “Please, just go.”

  He cups my cheek. “Call me if you need anything.”

  “I will.” I close the door and turn to Tessa. “Sorry about that.”

  “It’s okay. I’m sorry to ruin your evening.”

  “You didn’t.” I wish I were lying in bed with Braden, but we accomplished the task for tonight. I let out a laugh. The task for tonight.

  And now I’m beginning to feel that soreness Braden warned me about.

  Oh, well. Tessa needs me, so my sore ass can wait.

  I sit down on her couch and pat the seat next to me. “Come on. Spill it.”

  She sighs. “It’s so stupid. I went and fell in love with the jerk.”

  “That’s not stupid.”

  “Why couldn’t I meet a man like Braden? He treats you with so much respect and love.”

  “Have you forgotten he dumped me a couple weeks ago?”

  “No. But things seem fine now.”

  “They’re good, but it took a lot of work on both our parts. I even started therapy to get to the bottom of everything.”

  “I know.” She shakes her head. “I guess I just want more than Garrett wants to give right now.”

  “So you’re not in the same place. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. He did come back to you, and he’s willing to be exclusive.”

  “That’s what he says, anyway.”

  “Do you think he’s lying?” I ask.

  “I don’t know. He could be. After all, he lied about having an early meeting tomorrow.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “It’s Sunday, Skye.”

  “Braden has meetings during the middle of the night sometimes. We flew out to New York early on a Sunday morning that one time so he could deal with some kind of contract in China.”

  I wince a little. That trip had cost me Tessa. I was so absorbed in Braden and my interview with Susanne Cosmetics that I neglected to call her to break our shopping date.

  She doesn’t bring that up, though, thank goodness. Instead, she says, “Garrett Ramirez isn’t Braden Black. He’s an architect.”

  “So maybe he has a breakfast meeting with the boss. Or a racquetball date or something.”

  “Then that’s what he should have said. But what he actually said was ‘I have an early meeting tomorrow.’”

  I check my watch. After midnight. “It’s too late to order pizza. How about I run across the street to the convenience store and grab a few pints of Ben & Jerry’s?”

  She smiles. “Would you?”

  “I absolutely would. As long as you promise no more drinking. Alcohol solves nothing.”

  “I know. I know.”

  “This isn’t like you, Tessa.”

  She sighs again.

  “Are you really in love?”

  “I think so. I realize I haven’t known him very long.”

  “You’ve known him as long as I’ve known Braden, and we’re in love. Sometimes you just know.” I can’t help a smile.

  “And sometimes one person feels something the other doesn’t.”

  “Tessa, you’re a catch. We both know it, and so does Garrett.”

  “I’m not sure he does.”

  “Then honestly? He’s not worth it.” I grab my purse. “I’ll be back in a flash. Dump the rest of that.” I nod to the vodka bottle.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  I smile and leave the building. I don’t like going out alone at night, but the convenience store is right across the street from Tessa’s building. She and I go there all the time. Boy, if Braden knew I was going out alone after midnight, he’d be pissed as hell.

  I walk into the store and head to the freezer section. Only two selections. Chunky Monkey and Cherry Garcia. It’s more of a Chocolate Therapy kind of night, but any port in a storm. I grab a pint of each and head to the checkout counter—

  Addison Ames stands at the cashier.

  I nearly drop both pints.

  Do I say something? She hasn’t seen me yet. I can put the ice cream back and sneak out.

  Fuck that.

  I hold my head high and strut right up behind her. “Good evening, Addie.”

  She turns, her eyes narrow. She looks oddly unsurprised to see me. “You mean good morning, don’t you?”

  Yeah, she’s right. It’s after midnight.

  She eyes my purchase. “Trouble in paradise?”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “Looks like an ice cream binge to me.”

  “Maybe we’re going to eat it off each other.”

  She scoffs. “Braden play with ice cream? Not a chance. Besides, we’re not anywhere near your place or his. Nice try, though.”

  For your information, bitch, Braden has licked chocolate mousse and crème brûlée off every inch of my body.

  But the words don’t come. No matter how much I’d love to taunt Addie, I can’t bring myself to do it.

  Interestingly, she’s buying a pack of cigarettes.

  “Didn’t know you’d taken on the nicotine habit,” I say.

  “They’re not for me. They’re for my sister. She’s staying with me for a while.”

  “Apple?”

  “Only sister I’ve got.”

  Apple, who doesn’t drink and regards her body as a temple. Who also can’t stand Addie. Not buying.

  “Why is she staying with you?”

  “She’s having her pla
ce redecorated. Paying some ungodly amount to make it look like a dump from the seventies, apparently.”

  Ungodly amount? That doesn’t sound like Apple, either. Of course, I spent only an hour with her.

  Addie pays for the cigarettes and then waits while I pay for my ice cream.

  “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” I ask.

  “Not really. Apple can wait a few minutes for her smokes.”

  “You know what’s interesting?” I say. “We’re not anywhere near your place, either. And the last time I saw Apple, she wasn’t smoking.”

  “When the hell did you see Apple?”

  “Yeah, not your business,” I say.

  “The hell it’s not. What did Apple say to you?”

  I raise an eyebrow. “Something bothering you, Addie?”

  She lowers her eyelids slightly, almost batting them for a second. “Of course not.”

  “Really? Because I’m thinking those smokes aren’t for Apple. When did you start smoking?”

  She scoffs. “I do not smoke.”

  “And also, when did you start hanging around this part of town?” A light bulb flashes in my brain. “Which one of us are you following, Addie? Braden? Or me?”

  “I don’t have to stand here and take this.” She flounces off, heading God knows where. I don’t see her car anywhere. This is a decent area, but no single woman should be walking alone after midnight.

  “Whatever,” I murmur. I take my ice cream and head back to Tessa’s.

  Once there, I knock.

  No answer.

  “Tess?” I say, trying not to shout too loudly. It is after midnight.

  She doesn’t respond, so I turn the knob. It’s open. She didn’t lock up after I left, which is not like her at all.

  So un-Tessalike. What the hell is going on?

  I walk in. “Tess, I’m back.”

  She must be in the bathroom. I jiggle the door handle, and—

  “Oh my God!”

  Chapter Forty-One

  Tessa’s body is slumped over the toilet bowl, which is filled with vomit. Maybe that’s what she needed.

  “Tess, come on.” I jiggle her shoulder.

  She doesn’t move.

  “Tessa! Come on!”

  “What’s wrong?”

  I jump out of my skin at the voice.

  Addison Ames stands in the doorway to Tessa’s bathroom.