His Absolute Proposal: An Illicit Billionaire Love Story (Elise, #3) (5 page)

"You didn't answer my question," I said.  "Did you tie her up and spank her, and did you cuddle with her, and what about watching movies and going to dinner?"

"Yes," Lucent said.

I groaned, exasperated.  "
Lucent
."

He grinned, laughing a little.  "You're quite adorable when you're flustered, Elise," he said.

"I'm not flustered, I'm annoyed at you."  I pouted my lips and wrinkled my brow, doing my best to look very annoyed.  "Do you see this?  This is me being annoyed at you."

"I see that," he said.  "Very fierce."

"Did you cuddle with her or not?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.  "As a scene dictates, I never failed to accommodate my submissives after we partook in what you might refer to as BDSM things.  This oftentimes involved cuddling, though I disliked making this a more permanent set up.  I stayed for as long as was necessary to slowly ease the submissive, or Elle in this precise case, back to a regular state of consciousness, and then I went on my way."

"So, in translation, you're saying that you cuddled with them until they were fine to be on their own, and then you left?" I said.  "No sleeping over or anything like that?"

"Occasionally I allowed them to stay with me for the night, but I did not sleep in bed with them.  In addition to that, yes, occasionally we went out for food, as necessity dictated, but I wouldn't call these outings a date, if you will.  I do not recall ever going to see a movie with one of my submissives, either.  It was never something I thought necessary."

"Life isn't always about what's necessary," I said.  "Sometimes we can just do things because we want to, you know?  You're allowed to have fun and enjoy yourself, Lucent."

"I do," he said.  "I enjoy myself with you, Miss Tanner."

I hadn't expected that, and it made me blush.  Yes, I mean, Lucent and I were mostly naked in the bathroom, but that didn't really concern me much.  Also, why did he still have his pants on?  I didn't like that.  I tugged at them again and helped him with the button and the zipper.  He must have gotten my not-so-subtle hint, because he took his pants off after that.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked, unsure.  I just didn't know.  I didn't know
what
I didn't know, but I knew I didn't know it, and knowing that made everything more complicated.  It confused me.  "When you asked me to come with you before, where did you want to go with me?  Where are we going, Lucent?"

The last question, it... it was more of a statement of acceptance.  I wasn't sure how else to say it, but I wanted him to know that, yes, I
wanted
to go.  I did, I desperately wanted to follow him and to trust him, but I needed reassurances.  I needed to know more this time.  I wanted to trust him, but I didn't think I could simply follow him blindly.

Lucent took a deep breath, then cleared his throat.  "Aruba," he said.

I stared at him, blank, blinking.  "What?  I don't think now is the time for a vacation like that, Lucent."

"I realize it sounds a little absurd," he said.

"A little?" I asked.  "Yes, I suppose that's one way of putting it."

"If you'll allow me to be honest for a moment, I'm having a difficult time thinking properly with you standing there naked in front of me.  I want to finish what we started earlier."

"Alright," I said.  Because, um... well, I wanted to finish it, too, but... Aruba?  "Just tell me how this is going to work first."

"How what's going to work?" he asked.  "Do you want to know the sordid details in regards to how I plan to tempt and tease your body until you relent to me in pure ecstasy, or are you referring to details about Aruba?"

That was a difficult question and I wasn't sure how to answer it.  "Um..."

He grinned and kissed me lightly.  "I have my ways, Miss Tanner.  For both situations I mentioned, but in reference to traveling safely to Aruba, I can fly us there discreetly.  I have access to a small aircraft at an airfield a couple of hours north of here.  If you'll allow me to escort you there—secretly, of course—I promise that I can bring us safely to the tropical island of your dreams."

"Aruba, though?" I asked.  "Is this going to involve more of your illegal things?"

"Unfortunately," he said.  "Yes."

"Can I see what's on the hard drive?" I asked.

The black one, I wanted to add.  The secret one that was hidden in my purse.  I had temporary ownership of it, but in reality it was Lucent's.  Or, perhaps it wasn't
his
, but it was
him
.  I couldn't manage to say any of that, though.  The idea of speaking these words aloud frightened me in an odd sort of way.  I'd asked the question boldly enough, but to give context and meaning to my request was something too far beyond me.

I didn't just want to see it for curiosity's sake.  I wanted to see what Lucent was, what sort of person he was, what he did, what he was like.  I didn't even know if that sort of information existed, but in my mind I imagined it contained documents like countless numbers of books, all telling the story of Lucent Storme, the Director of Public Relations for Landseer Enterprises.

He wasn't always that, though.  Before he came to work for Asher, he'd done something else, hadn't he?  He must have attended college somewhere, but I hadn't thought to ever ask him about that.  I didn't know what he did before college, either.

I wanted to know.  I wanted it so badly.  Not just to know it, but because I wanted to be closer to Lucent in every conceivable way, and this was the only way I could think to do that.

We were close.  I loved him and he loved me.  But, for whatever reason, it didn't seem like I could come out and ask him everything.  I mean, I asked him a lot of things, but I didn't know if I could ask him everything about everything.

People were difficult sometimes.  Unreadable, confusing, and incoherent.

Books were simple.  Yes, occasionally they contained metaphors and symbolism, or other hidden meanings, but that was something you could work through, continue reading, read over and over again.  You could see every word, combined to make sentences, paragraphs, pages, chapters... an entire book.  A series, perhaps, with one continuous, ongoing story, but none of that mattered.  What mattered was that it was there.

Books seemed eminently more readable to me than people ever did.  I didn't understand people a lot of the time, but I thought I had a fairly good understanding of books.

And so my question hung between us, weighted heavily in my mind, but asked simply and ostensibly with no reason.  I hoped Lucent understood, though.  Sometimes I thought he could read people as easily as reading a book, but I didn't know how true that was.

"I'm not sure what you're hoping to find," he told me.  "It's yours if you wish to browse the contents, though.  I hope none of it will frighten you."

"You can't frighten me, Lucent," I said.  "I think we've gone over this before?"

Yes, a long time ago.  After we freed ourselves from that record-breaking blizzard, spending a weekend trapped together in a library together, he'd left me.  Later, I found out that he did it because he thought I'd be scared of him, scared of his reasons, scared of what he did and why he did it.

I was foolish, though.  I was probably stupid.  I wasn't scared of Lucent, because I loved him.  I loved him now, but I'd wanted to love him then, no matter how idiotic the idea of a love like that seemed.  We'd only been trapped for a weekend, but it felt like a lifetime.

And here we were again, trapped.  In a bathroom, of all places.  Certainly we could leave, but it wasn't exactly as easy as that, either.  We could leave the bathroom, and then what?

Could we leave ourselves, somehow escape the confines of our existence?  No.  In a way, we'd always be trapped.  That wasn't always a bad thing, though.  I felt like there was probably a reason why they called them the "bonds" of love; you were bound, yes, like ropes and bondage and BDSM things, but it was the submission of your heart, controlled and dominated by your lover's heart and soul.

It was special and beautiful and that's what I wanted.

"I think we should take a shower now," I said.

Lucent smiled at me.  "Do you, Miss Tanner?"

"You still have some clothes on, though," I added.

"Assist me," he said.

"Is that an order?" I asked.  "Are you commanding me?  Will I be punished if I don't submit?"

"A proper submissive never calls into question her dominant's desires," he said.  "Unless, of course, you don't think I'm fit to bear dominance over you, in which case we may discuss and renegotiate."

"I don't want to talk or negotiate with you," I said.  "I want to see you naked."

He laughed and offered me a sly grin.  "Our goals seem united, then."

And that was that.  I could have done this much more simply, but I wanted to do it with full effect.  Kneeling in front of him, I placed my fingers beneath the waistband of his underwear and slowly pulled them down.  I could see his excitement bulging in the front of them, but I wanted to see it pop loose and free, open and accessible.  I saw that, and when I looked up I saw so much more.

He stepped out of his underwear and I pulled them aside, still looking up at him.  Lucent gazed down at me, intent and intense, eyes watching me and only me.  He refused to look away, refused to break eye contact with me, and I didn't think I could look away, either.  I ran my hands up his legs, feeling the tight muscles in his thighs.  My fingers roamed further back, pressing against his rear.  Squeezing slightly, I was rewarded with a gentle convulsing of his butt.  In front of me, his cock twitched and bobbed in reaction, too.

I held his butt with one hand while I moved my other towards his balls.  I softly tugged at them, holding them in my hands, careful, gently rolling them around in my fingers.  I loved the look in Lucent's eyes when I did that, a mix of trust and lust.  I wanted more.  I kept looking at him while I leaned forward, pressing my lips against the head of his cock.

I kissed him there while I squeezed his butt and massaged his balls.  Nothing more than a kiss; or perhaps a kiss and a little lick.  This was sinfully sweet seduction, not naughty raunch and dirtiness.  Yes, perhaps it was a bit dirty and naughty, but in a sensually sexual way.

I teased out my tongue and widened my lips, licking at the underside of his cock, still refusing to break eye contact with him.  Lucent looked down at me, lust building, cock twitching, balls tightening.  I held them, rolled them, massaged them, and then without warning I wrapped my lips around the crown of his shaft and pushed myself as far down as I could.

Lucent groaned and our lust-filled staring contest halted for a fraction of a moment as he closed his eyes in pure pleasure.  I pulled back, letting my lips caress softly along the entire length of his shaft, and by the time I reached the head of his cock again, he'd opened his eyes once more.

"You're so beautiful," Lucent said.  "Miss Tanner, you are the sexiest woman I've ever laid eyes on."

I pulled entirely away now, removing him from my mouth.  I stayed close, though.  My tongue flickered out and I licked at the tip of his cockhead, lapping at the tiny slit at the end.  Lucent shuddered and shivered, letting out a quiet grunt of approval.

"I think you're sexy, too," I said.  "I want to see you cum.  I think that's really sexy."

"Do you now?" he asked with a lusty grin.

I nodded fast.  "I do, but I'm just your submissive, so I hardly think it's appropriate for me to make you cum unless you tell me to.  Right?"

He let out a chuckle.  "You're hardly
just
my submissive.  You're my
everything
, Miss Tanner.  You do have a valid point, though.  Hm... what to do, what to do?  Shall I order you to finish me in your mouth?  Or with your hand, perhaps?  Or should I bid you to stand and get in the shower, turn your pert little rear towards me so I can thrust inside of you, and do it like that?"

"Whatever my Master wishes," I said, trying hard to be serious, trying not to giggle in excitement and anticipation.

I knew this was sort of a game.  Lucent and I didn't have any formal contract or agreement about him being my Master and me being his submissive, but we didn't
not
have one either, you know?  I thought that was an important distinction.

"Stand," he said.

His fingers reached for my head, twining through my hair and pulling me up at the same time.  I stood mostly of my own accord, but I loved the idea of Lucent pulling my hair and making me do what he wished, too.  He squeezed tighter, gripping my hair harder, guiding me closer to him.

"Did you enjoy the taste of my cock, Miss Tanner?" he asked.

I nodded.

"That's it?  Some half-hearted nod?  Unacceptable."

"No," I said.  "No, I... I did.  Lucent, I liked it.  I loved it.  I always do.  I like how you feel in my mouth.  I like having you pressed deep against the back of my throat.  I..."

He grinned.  "Good.  That's better.  Now step into the shower."

I pulled back the shower curtain and scampered into the bathtub, quick and nymphish, hoping I didn't seem too eager.  I was, though; oh, yes, I was.  I'd made a dangerous decision this morning, started something wicked and naughty, and I was almost certain that Lucent and I were about to finish it together.

He stepped in behind me, fully naked now after divesting himself of his socks.  His body blocked the splashing water from touching me, like some muscular, living wall, and we stood there like that, water cascading down his taut, rippling back, dripping down his sides towards his butt and his thighs, and me standing and staring at his slick, shining muscles.

"Face the rear of the shower," Lucent commanded me.

Quickly, I turned about, facing away from him and staring at the back wall of the shower.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now," he said, "you will no longer be speaking, Miss Tanner."

"Oh," I said, already accidentally defying him.

It didn't matter, though.  Lucent stepped close behind me, my back touching his chest and my butt touching his...
yes
...  He wrapped one arm around me, his forearm squeezing against my breasts while he gripped at my side beneath my arm.  His other hand went somewhere a slight bit more devious, though.  He held me against his chest, squishing my breasts, and then drove his free hand towards my crotch.  He cupped me there, holding tight, and pulling me against him like that, as well.