Blush (25 page)

His curiosity was piqued, and he knew that, with a little searching, he could find whatever it was that she hid from him.

That, however, wasn’t the point. He needed to hear it from her. Even if trust hadn’t been such a necessary, integral part of a Dominant/submissive relationship, ever since Lydia, it had been painfully important to him.

Without it, there was nothing, at least for him.

“Maddy, you could never disgust me, no matter what you told me. If you refuse to believe that, there’s nothing left for us.” He heard her harsh intake of breath and braced himself, waiting—hoping—for her to speak.

Instead he found only silence. His heart hurt.

He did the only thing he could to save himself—he turned to walk away. “Declan will show you out. Goodbye, Maddy.”

“Wait!”

Alex stopped, then slowly turned back around as Maddy spoke.

“I . . . Just give me some time. An hour. Can you meet me at the club in an hour?”

Alex didn’t speak, but he did nod before he again walked away.

M
addy entered the club area of In Vino Veritas with her heart in her throat.

Get it together, Maddy. You can do this.
Looking down at her new bustier, which was the color of crimson, and the matching sheer skirt, she felt her stomach do a slow roll.

This would be so much easier if she knew either way.

Crossing the room, she sat on one of the plush velvet couches where Elijah had told her that the unattached submissives tended to congregate. Once she’d gotten over the weirdness of the fact that the man had had his hands in several very intimate places on her body, he’d been easy to talk to when she’d called and asked for a favor.

Looking around at the club that was still fairly empty, she knew that it might very well be too late for her and Alex. Still, unlike her sister, she was among the living, and she’d discovered something that helped her remember that.

“Madeline.” Looking up with her heart in her throat, Maddy swallowed her disappointment when she saw that the man who had called her name was Elijah, not Alex. She forced a smile to her lips for the sake of the man who’d welcomed her back that night, though he certainly hadn’t been obliged to.

“He’s a stubborn bastard.” Holding out a hand, he helped Maddy to her feet. “But I think you’ll win in the end. Come with me. Let’s get your wine.”

Maddy took several slow, deep breaths as she followed Elijah to a back corner of the club. Her pulse beat fast enough with nerves that she felt nauseous, but she fought her way through them.

Elijah had set the scene exactly as she’d requested. The worst that could happen now was that Alex wouldn’t show up.

And if he didn’t, she would survive. She’d even come back here, to the club, after a while.

She couldn’t fool herself into believing that she wouldn’t be devastated.

“Do you want me to help you into the swing now? Or do you want to wait?” Elijah’s face was serious, but showed no judgment as Maddy searched it.

“I . . .” The thought of being bound in the swing, of being so exposed while she waited for someone who might never show up, was terrifying.

It was also the best way to prove that she was ready to trust.

“Help me in, please.” After a long, hesitant moment, Maddy reached for the sideways zipper on her skirt.

She didn’t want to hide.

This was terrifying.

“Sit on this wide part here.” Catching her by the waist, Elijah settled Maddy’s bottom into the seat of the sex swing. It swayed with her weight, the sensation disconcerting. She wasn’t entirely sure that she liked it, but she remembered Alex’s words.

My fantasy is you. You, in a sex swing, open to me.

She looked up at Elijah for courage, trying to ignore the fact that her lower half was covered with nothing more than a red lace G-string.

“Lean back.” A strap went around her torso, under her breasts. It held her in place and made her feel more secure.

Then Elijah clasped one of her ankles, lifting it up to his waist and securing it in another band. Her other leg followed, and suddenly she was suspended, the swing swaying slightly back and forth.

“Oh my God.”

Elijah chuckled as Maddy tensed with apprehension.

“This is . . .”

“Incredibly sexy.” The man looked her up and down, and Maddy thought she caught a hint of wistfulness in his gaze. It was gone before she could be sure.

“The wine is right here. I’ll have a dungeon monitor keep an eye out to make sure that no one bothers you who shouldn’t.” Elijah’s eyes flickered over the swells of Maddy’s breasts, the shadows visible beneath the sheer lace of her thong.

“If he says no to this, to you, then he’s an absolute idiot.” Nodding, Elijah walked away, leaving Maddy as alone as she could be in a public club, her legs splayed and vulnerable.

Minutes passed. To Maddy, it felt like hours. Other club members passed by, stopping to admire her, to comment on how pretty her cunt was, her breasts.

After Alex’s very public claiming of her, none of them did more than that.

As the time crawled by, Maddy checked out of her own head. Leaning back, she closed her eyes and simply let herself drift, aware of nothing outside of her own body.

She had no idea how much time had passed when suddenly firm hands clasped her inner thighs.

She jolted, the swing swaying beneath her as she struggled to sit up and couldn’t because of the way she was positioned in the swing.

“Alex.” Relief threatened to drown her. He didn’t take her into his arms like she wished he would, but still, he was here.

That had to mean something.

“What is this, Madeline?”

She winced as he used her full name, something he hadn’t done since they’d first met. Recalling how he’d opened himself to her and how she’d thrown his trust back in his face, she licked dry lips.

She would have to work for it. That was fine. He was worth it.

Reaching behind her neck, she undid the clasp of the locket she always wore. With trembling fingers, she opened it, then handed it to Alex.

Surprise flickered over his face, but he still said nothing.

“This is a picture of my sister, Erin.” She studied the sunny blonde in the photo at the same time Alex did and found that grief still ripped at her heart.

It always would; she understood that now.

But Erin would have been angry as all hell to find out that for the last two years her sister had all but stopped living along with her.

“Two years ago, the two of us were in a car accident. We were both talking; we weren’t paying attention. We crashed, and I walked away with some cuts and bruises.”

A hot tear trickled down her cheek, infuriating her. She was trying so hard to be strong, but damn it, it still
hurt.
“Erin died in the hospital the next day, from head trauma. She had a fiancé. They were supposed to get married that summer.”

Alex’s fist closed over the locket, hiding it from her view as Maddy shuddered.

“I was the one driving. It was my responsibility. I’ve carried that guilt around with me for the last year. I’ve tried so hard to run, but no matter what I do, it stays.” Though she was terrified that she’d see disgust on his face, Maddy forced herself to look into Alex’s eyes. “It’s my fault. I don’t tell anyone because I can’t handle their disgust on top of what I already feel for myself.”

Alex was silent for a long moment—too long, Maddy thought. Then he reached for her legs, tracing his fingers over the silvery scars that the accident had left.

She squirmed in the swing, suddenly desperate to cover herself, to hide from that penetrating gaze.

She cried out when, reaching above their heads, Alex twisted the swing so that she faced away from him. With a cupped palm, he spanked the curve of her ass, slow and deliberate, though she could hear his harsh breath and knew that he was holding back.

One, two . . . nineteen, twenty. Maddy’s own breath shuddered out of her lungs when, finally, Alex turned the swing back around and glared down at her, fury on his face.

“I should repeat that a hundred more times for what you’ve put me through.”

Maddy tried to catch her breath, the air rasping in and out of her lungs. Her ass was on fire, her skin too tight for her body.

“Don’t you understand yet, Maddy? I could never feel disgust for you. I love you.”

Her mouth fell open as he ground his teeth in frustration. “You . . . but you . . .” Maddy’s mind whirled. “You left me!”

“I’ve told you from the beginning what I needed, what I wanted. I don’t play at dominance, Maddy. I need your submission, and that means that I need your trust.”

Shame worked its way through the cautious joy as Alex continued to scowl, his temper up.

“Is it too late?” She heard the hope in her own words and hoped that he did, too. She didn’t know if she were truly capable of submitting to him as deeply as he needed, but she knew that she wanted, needed to try.

“That depends on you.” Releasing the swing and stepping back, Alex raked a hand through the dark tangles of his hair. “Damn it, if ever I needed a drink, it’s now.”

Her own mouth felt like cotton, so Maddy gestured to the bottle of wine that she’d requested from Elijah.

“I bought some wine, in case . . . in case.” She felt so silly, having this conversation while her legs were open wide in a display for him. “Mouton Rothschild, Bordeaux Red—1943 was an excellent vintage.”

Alex cocked his head—she’d clearly caught him off guard.

“You bought a bottle of the Rothschild? How on earth did you pay for that?” Crossing to the small table where it stood open, breathing, waiting to be drunk, Alex poured the ruby red liquid into one of the waiting glasses.

He crossed back to Maddy, held the glass toward her but just out of her reach. He was waiting for her answer.

“I scraped together my tips and asked Elijah if I could purchase just one glass of it.” It was mortifying to admit that to a man who could have purchased cases of it without making a dent in his bank account. “He gave me the bottle on the house.”

“I bet he did.” Alex’s small smirk reminded Maddy that Elijah had had his hands on her body at Alex’s request . . . and that she’d liked it.

She gulped thirstily when he finally lifted the glass to her mouth. “Aren’t you having any?”

Alex had lifted the glass to the light and seemed to be considering. “I think I will.” Without warning, he grasped the skimpy strings that made up her thong and ripped it off of her body, then upended the contents of the wine over Maddy’s cunt.

She cried out as, grasping the swing on either side of her ass, he pulled her lower lips to his mouth and licked at the crimson liquid.

“Tastes much better this way.”

Maddy’s fingers slipped on the straps of the swing as Alex began to rock her gently back and forth, licking away wine from her cleft, her clit at the same time.

“Oh my God.” Her hips arched, but she couldn’t gain any ground. All she could do was lean into Alex’s clever mouth as he sipped the wine from her flesh, then continued to taste her long after the wine was all gone.

“Damn it, Alex. Please!” Approaching the peak only to have him remove the sensation as fast as it had started, she knew that he was working her deliberately, withholding her release.

“Please, what?”

Feeling the thrust of his tongue inside her heat, Maddy felt her eyes roll back in her head. “

Say it. Say my name. Tell me what you want.”

“You!” Her cry was close to a scream, and for the first time, she didn’t care who heard. “I want you! Alex, make me come. Please!”

Holding her labia open wide with one hand, Alex closed his teeth very deliberately over her clit. Maddy sagged, then tensed as she shuddered through the long, hot orgasm.

When she was again able to see, she found Alex shirtless, his cock freed from his pants. When he saw that she was again focusing on him, he pressed his erection to her wetness and seated himself inside of her.

Something was different.

“Oh.” He wasn’t wearing a condom. Did he realize?

“I haven’t been inside a woman raw since Rae’s mother.” His teeth were clenched, his face showing that he was as overwhelmed with the sensation as she was. “But you are
the
woman. You’re mine. I’ve never wanted a woman to be a permanent part of my life, of my daughter’s life. But with you, it’s not something I want; it’s something I need.”

Setting his feet shoulder width apart, Alex pushed the swing away from his body, then pulled it back, hard. Maddy gasped as the momentum caused him to slam inside of her, hitting her womb with his length.

It felt so good. It felt right.

With Alex, she felt complete.

“I want to be a part of your life.” She moaned as he moved the swing from side to side, forcing her to twist on his cock. “I love you, Alex.”

Releasing the swing with one hand, Alex reached into the pocket where he had put her locket. He handed it back to her, twining their fingers together over the piece of jewelry as he continued to move inside of her. “You can put this back on, as long as you promise that it will remind you of happy memories, not shackle you with its guilt.”

Maddy heard his breath begin to quicken and felt the insides of her thighs begin to tighten with another impossible release. “I’ll try.” Her voice was husky, making her feel sexy in a way that she never had before.

“And you have to wear my ring, as well.” Shocked, Maddy stared up at Alex at the same time that her orgasm broke, and the bliss of what he was asking combined with the physical pleasure into the purest sensation she’d ever known.

“I will. Of course I will.” She panted, not willing to wait to get her breath back. “Anything you say. I’ve always been yours.”

As Alex grinned and lost himself inside of her, Maddy stared up at him and felt more peaceful than she’d ever been.

She never would have guessed that she’d find strength in submission, but now that she had, she was never going to let go.

M
addy wiped her damp palms against her jeans as Alex turned the Turbo off the main road and into a quiet residential neighborhood.

As she did, the glint of the ring on her left hand caught the light, and a jolt went through her. It happened every time the classic diamond solitaire caught her eye.

Six months earlier, she would never have believed what was in store for her. She’d been working through her list of new things with Dr. Gill, item by item, day by day. Now she communicated regularly with Nathan. Alex had helped her to open her own optician’s office. She was planning her wedding, of all things . . . though Alex was more interested in their honeymoon.

She still struggled to work through her guilt over her sister’s death, but Alex had helped her find herself again. And though she still found it crazy when she stopped to think about it, it was submission that had helped her to regain control over her life.

A small smile played over the corners of her lips, and she shifted on the leather seat. The soreness of her body was a reminder of just how happy she was.

“What’s that smile about?” Alex gave her a quick glance as he turned the Turbo into a small gated community. Maddy felt her nerves ratchet up a notch, but swallowed the sensation. She was about to meet Alex’s daughter, the child he held so dear.

“I’m just thinking that none of this seems real.” And yet, in a strange way, it did. Though the curl of Alex’s lips still made her pulse speed up, they had settled into a comfortable rhythm—as comfortable as a dominant billionaire and his submissive fiancée could get.

Alex pulled the car up in front of a large house with classic lines. Though it wasn’t ostentatious, it was clear to Maddy that Alex wanted his daughter to have the same standard of living with her mother as she did with him.

“Are you ready?” Turning, Alex unbuckled Maddy’s seat belt, his fingers skimming across the skin exposed by her T-shirt, which had ridden up during the car ride. If he had had his way, Maddy knew that she would have met Rae months ago.

But though Alex had trusted in her from the start, it had taken a much longer time for her to accept that they were ready to make this step.

Twisting in her seat, Maddy pulled the large purple teddy bear from the backseat. Its furry limbs—and the wry shake of Alex’s head—made her grin.

“I still can’t believe that you, of all people, have resorted to bribery.” As he exited from the car, then rounded it to open Maddy’s door, Alex’s eyes twinkled. “You really don’t have to worry. Rae is as excited to meet you as you are her.”

“It’s not bribery.” Maddy tried to look indignant, and failed, instead rising on her toes to press a kiss to Alex’s chin. “It’s an insurance policy.”

She was about to meet the child who would become her stepdaughter. Though she was definitely nervous, the knowledge also filled a hole in her heart.

“Well?” Alex clasped Maddy’s hand in his, his thumb tracing over her ring. She’d noticed that he always smiled with satisfaction when he looked at or touched the diamond jewelry that marked her as his. “Are you ready to meet the other girl in my life?”

The nerves vanished as Alex lifted her hand to his lips and brushed a warm kiss over her skin.

“I’m ready.”