Craving HIM (Serving HIM Vol. 7) (13 page)

When he caught sight of us, he came over and caught me by the face, planting a loud, smacking kiss on my lips. I tensed, but he was already pulling away.

“You, my darling. There you are, finally.” He slid Dominic a coquettish look and then winked at me. “I can see why you took so long. I doubt I would've made it here at all.”

Nathan held out a hand and I glanced over at Dominic. He cocked his eyebrow at me and then accepted the man’s hand.

“Dominic, this in Nathan. He pretty much took over and made my life livable this past week.” I made the introductions, but Dominic already had that restless look on his face. “Nathan, I think we’ll take a walk-through unless you need me.”

Nathan flapped his hands at me in a clearly dismissive gesture. “Go, go.”

A few moments later, we were on the upper level where it was somewhat quiet. Somewhat, but not a lot. I ducked inside one of the rooms that faced out over the street, eyeing the covered tables scattered through the room. The tables were tall, no chairs. Nathan said it would encourage people to talk for a while without lingering too long in anyone place. The more mingling done, the more attention was brought to the cause.

“It looks…” I turned and then found myself caught between Dominic and the window. His hands closed over my upper arms and he nudged me up against the nearest wall.

I looked up at him, wide-eyed. Fuck. His mouth closed over mine. Hungry, hard and demanding.

Need grabbed me by the throat and I started to reach for him, but he caught my wrists and dragged them up over my head. Frustrated, I jerked against his hold, but all I accomplished was making him tighten his grip. He knew exactly how much pressure he could use without leaving any marks. It was a delicious thrill.

Not that I minded when he marked me, but I didn’t think it would do for me to walk around with bruises on my wrists tonight. Not ones that would clearly look like his fingers.

I sucked on his tongue and he growled, his hand coming up to my throat, his thumb pressing against the delicate hollow at the base. His mouth left mine and slid along my jawline, leaving fire in his wake.

He pressed a kiss to the delicate skin under my ear and then whispered, “Do you have any idea what I’m going to do to you tonight?”

“No.” I shivered a little when he pushed his hand between my thighs. “Will you tell me?”

“I haven’t decided if I want to tell you or not.” There was a teasing note in his voice.

Bastard, I thought. But I was smiling and my heart twisted in my chest. He never used to play. Oh, he’d make that taunting sort of remark, but that note of playfulness was new.

“Maybe you can give me a hint.” I licked my lips as he lifted his head to study me.

“Maybe I will. What sort of hint would you like?” He pressed his knee against me more firmly and my dress rode higher.

“Will I be able to talk?”

“Maybe.” He moved his thigh again.

I shuddered. I was all but riding his thigh now. Under the sexy little flapper dress I’d found for the night, I wore the sort of lingerie a woman from the twenties would have worn…raw-edged garters and a garter belt, tap pants instead of panties. The silky undergarment was no barrier and I whimpered when he slid the hand that was on my neck, down to my hip and started to drag me back and forth on his leg.

The friction was so intense I bit my lip to keep from moaning. “Will you allow me to scream, Sir?” I asked him.

“Oh, yes. The things I’m going to do to you tonight will make you want to scream…and I will definitely want to hear it.”

He gave me one more kiss, softer this time, sweeter. Then he lowered my wrists and rubbed his thumbs over where he'd held me. No marks. I hadn’t expected there to be.

I jumped at an unfamiliar noise. Dominic and I both turned and saw the door swinging open. Some of them still squeaked a bit. They were one of the things set to be fixed when the renovations started. For a moment, I’d forgotten where we were, what was going on.

One of the caterer’s staff stood there. That was what I registered in that first quick glance. She wore a simple white shirt, trim black pants and a short apron. The blue armband on her right arm was echoed in the blue stones that dangled from her ears.

I started to look away and then I stopped, looking back.

A startled gasp escaped me.

“Emma.”

Fortunately, I was saved from the awkwardness of having to talk to Emma at that moment. The caterer came in behind my ex-roommate and her eyes widened when she saw Dominic and me. The older woman came toward us, hands outstretched. I moved in front, subtly, and caught her hands, squeezing them.

I’d gotten used to deflecting people like this. While Dominic had been okay with the touching required for business interactions, casual touching wasn't something he was very comfortable with.

The caterer didn't even bat an eye. She stood there beaming at us and gushing about what an honor it was to be a part of Dominic’s vision, then offered to walk us through the house as she explained the setup.

Duty called.

While I tried to keep busy, I wasn’t able to avoid Emma all night.

Before I'd met Dominic, Emma and I had been roommates. I'd also gotten fired and then had been struggling to find a new job. The two of us had never really gotten along all that well to begin with and none of that helped.

That was probably putting it mildly.

I had a feeling she hated my guts.

Now, caught in the middle of this big party as she changed out a tray of canapés, we stood there in that weird sort of frozen politeness people get when they want to leave, but can’t.

Well, I could leave, but it would've been rude to turn around without speaking. My Midwestern upbringing kicked in. Courtesy despite circumstances. Of course, that had nothing to do with why Emma was still there. She was working.

“How have you been?” I asked her.

Her mouth stretched into an obviously fake smile and she laughed. “Oh, I’m doing great. I can see you are as well.” Her gaze dropped to my neck and I knew she was mentally calculating how much it cost.

When I heard a familiar laugh in a brief lull in the conversation, I glanced over and saw Dominic standing with Jefferson and Cecily. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

“You two are together,” Emma said, her voice void of emotion.

“Yes.”

She nodded, jaw tight. “Well, I suppose 'personal assistant' can cover a lot of things, I guess.”

My cheeks went hot.

“Personal assistant.” A fairly unladylike snort followed the words.

Whipping my head around, I stared at Penelope and wondered where the hell she had come from. Penelope Rittenour was a thorn in my side and a pain in my ass. And there was no way in hell I'd invited her.

“Is that what they call you, Aleena?” Penelope said with a low laugh.

Now it wasn’t just my face that was hot now. All of me was hot, temper pulsing inside me.

“Is that what they’re calling it these days, Aleena? Personal assistant? I thought you were his little pet. His toy. Or are you his…slave?” She pursed her lips and slid her eyes down me, eying me from head to toe, as if taking account. “I’m sorry if I’m getting it wrong. I just…well, I don’t understand this weird deviance going on between you two. Just what is your title?”

Pet. Toy. Slave. Anger burned inside of me and I stared at her, my hand closing into a fist.

A laugh escaped her.

That did it. I took a step closer. In a voice that was far more level than I thought I could manage, I said, “I think the title is girlfriend, Penelope. I realize that was the position you wanted, but frankly you’re not woman enough to handle Dominic.”

Now she was the one with fiery color in her cheeks. Her hand tightened on the glass of champagne she held and I could see her considering it.

“Sweetheart, you throw that at me and it’s going to get ugly,” I told her softly. “I'm in charge here.”

She arched a pale brow, falling back on the ice bitch routine that was her life. “As if you’re worth it. And as if I would want somebody is sick and twisted as he is. Please.”

“Sick? Twisted? What is sick and twisted about knowing what I like and enjoying it?” Now it was my turn to laugh and I did it freely. I suddenly realized I could feel some pity for her. Oh, I didn’t like her, but I could pity her. She had to be one of the most unhappy people I had ever known in my life. “You know what, Penelope? You should figure out what you like and need, and just embrace it. Stop living your life based on what others think and what you think makes you look good. You just might find yourself a whole lot happier.”

A warm hand settled on the back of my neck and I felt some of the tension leave my body.

“Penelope doesn’t want to be happy,” Dominic said, his voice quiet. “That’s why she does this. She doesn’t see why anybody should be happy.”

Penelope’s eyes flashed at us as he lowered his head and pressed a kiss to my bare shoulder. I looked up at him and he brushed his lips over mine.

All of his attention was on me, as if she—and everyone else—ceased existing. “I’ve decided.”

I couldn’t stop the hitching little sigh that escaped my lips.

Penelope spun on one ugly-pick heel and sailed off. I didn't see her the rest of the night. Emma hurriedly finished up too, but at points throughout the remainder of the event, I saw her shooting looks my way. They weren’t exactly friendly.

I didn’t exactly care.

Chapter 11

Aleena

The tip of the whip came down on my feet. I curled my toes as a soft whimper escaped my lips. It moved up, along my calves and thighs, the curve of my hip. Each lash left a hot, stinging trail of pleasure-pain that had me moaning. The whip came down between my thighs and white-hot pleasure tore through me with jagged, hooked claws.

The bench beneath me shifted, but I didn’t move.

I couldn't move.

Chains clicked and the tension at my neck eased a bit. The collar around my neck was attached to the bench and those few scant inches he’d given me didn’t allow for much movement, but it was enough for what he wanted.

Dominic fisted a hand in my hair, holding me so that he could meet my eyes. His were blazing.

“What do you want, Aleena?” he asked.

“You.” My face was hot, my breathing ragged. He'd been alternating the pain of the whip with the gentle caress of his hand for nearly twenty minutes and my body was shaking with need. “Please, Dominic…you.”

“Not yet.” He released my hair and my head fell down even as I saw his wrist flick out.

I have didn’t have time to brace myself. The whip came down and it licked me between the thighs, the tip slapping against my clit.

I came.

And I was still coming when he pressed the head of his cock against my entrance. The other hand went to the chain looped around my waist and I was suddenly and painfully reminded of the clips on my nipples.

“Ah!” My back arched as he tugged on the chain. My nipples had nearly gone numb while he'd been using the whip, but they flared back to life now. I tried to twist away, and that just made the clamps pull harder.

“Steady.” He put a hand on the small of my back as he slowly eased inside me. With all he'd done, he hadn't put anything in me, leaving me wet, but oh so tight.

My body throbbed, pain and pleasure racing along my nerves, only to collide and combine and turn me into a mewling, pleading mess. And still, he took me, one inch at a time. It was a taunting, teasing possession and I was shuddering and crying by the time he filled me, his hips pressed to my ass.

Then he started to ride me.

It was slow, lazy and when I began edging closer to orgasm, he backed off.

Again and again until I was begging him and pleading for release.

Then he stopped.

Fisting my hands until my nails bit into my palms, I twisted my head, trying to see what he was doing. He was still inside me, but he wasn't moving. I needed him to move.

His fingers pressed against the tight entrance of my ass. They were slickly wet and cool and I caught my breath as he pushed them inside. “Guess what’s next, Aleena,” Dominic said.

I couldn’t speak as he rubbed his cock through the thin wall of skin separating his finger from his dick. Then he added a second finger and I cried out. I was so full. Too full.

Heat flooded me, twisted me. I was shaking and the presence of the bench along the midline of my torso was the only thing keep me from melting into a puddle on the floor.

Then came finger number three and I nearly screamed at the jolt that went through me. Keeping his cock still lodged firmly inside me, he began to thrust his fingers in and out of my ass. He twisted and curled them, his knuckles rubbing against my walls until the burn turned from pain to pleasure.

“One day,” he said, his voice rough. “We're going to have to talk about how much I can get in here.”

My eyes closed. Fuck.

“Open!” His free hand came down on my ass and I opened my eyes. “I want you to watch.”

For the first time since we'd begun, I looked at myself in the large mirror he'd set up across from us. But it wasn't just one. He'd set up several in such a way that I could see more than one angle. I could see my breasts hanging over the edge of the bench, nipples swollen and red from the metal clamps attached to them. I could see the stripes across my skin from the whip. The mess he'd made of my hair. I could even see where his cock disappeared into my body and where his fingers were shoved into my ass.