Mastered: Ten Tales of Sensual Surrender (103 page)

Sassy shook her head then reached out for his hand. “No, you’ve been great, Ian. I promise. I only mentioned it now because I noticed how different you are. Not bad different…just…I don’t know.” She sighed. “I like you, Ian. I liked the old you but I really like this new you.”

He tangled his fingers with hers over the table and smiled. “I like you too, Sassy, both the old you and the new one. That’s what happens when we grow up, I guess. We figure out if the new people can fit together as they used to.” Images of how sexy she looked when they fit together a certain way filled his mind and he held back a groan.

“I know what you’re thinking and, yeah, we fit together that way too.” She winked and he threw his head back and laughed.

He could feel the stares from the people around them but he didn’t care. This woman made him feel like he was something special for who he was, not for what he could do for her. He’d loved her all those years ago in a way he hadn’t thought possible, but now it was even deeper.

He was one lucky bastard.

“Ian, I thought that was you.”

Ian turned to the deep voice who’d spoken and gave a small smile. Dean was one of his father’s friends and while the man had always been tolerable, he wasn’t one of Ian’s favorite people.

“Dean,” Ian said as he stood. He glanced at Sassy who seemed as annoyed as he was that they were interrupted. The two of them had clearly been on a date and in the middle of a conversation, but people of his father’s ilk, like Dean, didn’t care about things like being considerate.

“I heard you’d moved back to town.” The man didn’t even look in Sassy’s direction and Ian merely raised a brow.

“Let me introduce you to my companion, Sassy.” He held his hand out for Sassy who stood on her own.

She held her hand out for Dean who blinked then shook her hand awkwardly. “Nice to meet you, Dean,” she said politely.

“You as well, my dear,” he said, clearly not quite sure what to make of her. After all, Sassy was unlike anyone Ian had dated in New York. While the ice queens Ian had tolerated in the city had been platinum blonde and almost frail, Sassy was lush and looked fucking delicious.

There was only one Sassy.

“Do you work with Ian or his father?” she asked, seemingly genuinely interested.

“I work with Richard, yes, but I hope that now Ian is back in town, we can do some business together.”

Sassy smiled, her eyes warm. “You can’t go wrong with Ian.”

Dean smiled back, enchanted. “That I know. I’m sorry for interrupting your dinner, and I hope you two enjoy your evening. Ian, when you’re settled, give me a call. I’d love to talk in a more…appropriate setting.”

They said their goodbyes and sat down again. “Sorry about that,” he said as their server brought their meals.

Sassy waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t like you could ignore him and he didn’t outright say I wasn’t right for you, so we’re fine.”

Ian raised a brow. “And if I’d said your last name, he’d put two and two together and figure out who you really are.”

She shrugged, but he could see the spark fading in her eyes. Damn it. He shouldn’t have brought it up.

“Whatever. I’m not that girl anymore and we both damn well know it. But he did seem like he didn’t think of me like something on the bottom of his shoe or a hooker by the time he left.”

Ian snorted. “Baby, you don’t look like a hooker.”

“I’m not as polished as any of the woman in here, but I don’t really care.”

He held her hand and brought it to his lips. “Do you think I care? I love you, Sassy. You know that. I love Rafe too.” He’d whispered both, but if someone heard, it didn’t matter to him. “Sassy, whatever happens from here on out, I’m not going anywhere. I made mistakes before. We both know this. I’m not going to make them again.”

“And if people like Dean freak out about the three of us?”

“Then fuck them.”

“Ian,” she whispered, then shook her head.

“Really. Fuck them. They will get used to us. As long as they don’t hurt you or Rafe, I don’t care what happens outside of the three of us.”

“You can’t really mean that, can you?”

He let out a breath. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re not going to truly believe that until you see it, so why don’t we finish eating our meal, then go back to my place for dessert.”

Her gaze heated and he had to adjust his pants. “Well, fuck, I’d actually meant caramel ice cream, but I like where your mind went just then.”

She bounced in her seat. “Caramel ice cream? Can we have both?”

The image of licking the sweet mixture from her nipples filled his mind and he coughed. “Should I just ask for the check now?”

“Now, sugar, or I’m gonna run out of here on my own and have you follow.”

The waiter quickly came when he was called and Ian left enough cash to cover the bill and then some. They made their way to his car and piled in before he drove like a bat out of hell to his place. He purposely kept his eyes and hands off Sassy the whole time or they wouldn’t have made it in one piece.

By the time they made it upstairs and behind closed doors, they were both panting and his cock was going to have a permanent zipper scar.

“We’re acting like teenagers,” Sassy gasped as she tugged his shirt off.

He pulled hers off too and they both took off their own pants. Their hands were shaking and Ian chuckled.

“Why do we want each other so much right now? It’s like there was something in the wine,” he mumbled, then crushed his mouth to hers, unable to wait any longer.

She smacked his ass and he pulled back. “Did you just say you needed drugs to get hard for me?” She had a grin on her face but still, one didn’t anger
The
Sassy.

He gripped her ass in his palms and lifted her so she wrapped her legs around his waist. They both swallowed hard as his cock pressed against her pussy.

“I’m saying
you’re
my drug, baby. Now, I’m going to put you down because holding you like this when I’m not wearing a condom was short sighted of me.” He lowered her but she slid down his body slowly, and he had to suck in a deep breath not to bend her over and fuck her there. “Plus, I promised you ice cream.” He smacked her ass like she had him and grinned. “Now go lay down on the floor in the bedroom and I’ll be right there.”

She raised a brow. “You’re going to take a chance and ruin your expensive carpets for ice cream?”

How little she thought of him. No, how little she thought of how he
used
to be. “It’ll clean, Sass. If I play my cards right, I’ll be able to lick every drop off your nipples so it won’t be problem. Now go lie down and spread out. I’m ready for my dessert.”

Her eyes widened, and with a saucy grin, she sashayed naked as the day she was born into his bedroom. He took a deep breath, willing the control he’d honed, and went to the freezer for Sassy’s favorite ice cream.

She lay on the ground, her hair splayed out around her. She rolled her nipple with one hand, while she slid the other in and out of her lower lips, her hips rocking to the motion.

He almost dropped the carton and spoons right there.

There was nothing sexier than a woman who knew exactly what she wanted and knew that she didn’t need a hard cock to get it…yet when she saw his dick she smiled and winked.

“Took you long enough,” she purred.

He fell to his knees, took the lid off of the ice cream, and scooped out a small bite. Before she could tell him what she wanted, he dropped it on her belly button—totally not sexy but she’d egged him on after all.

She rocked up and wiggled. “Holy fuck, that’s cold.”

“Let me warm you,” he licked the cream over her stomach then swallowed so she wouldn’t be too cold. She moaned as he pulled back and placed a smaller drop of the melting dessert over her breasts and gorged himself. The sweet taste of her skin mixed with the caramel made for a decadent combination that was as heady as any drug.

They played with the ice cream, taking turns licking and tasting until they were full. He found the small of her back the best place for a scoop and would have to make sure he let Rafe know that for later.

“I’m all sticky,” Sassy said as they both panted. Neither of them had come and their ongoing foreplay made them both hot as hell.

“I’m going to grab a condom and then we’ll make sure you don’t get too much stickier.”

He chuckled as he stood up. She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “That was crude, but I liked it.”

As he walked back to her, he slid the condom over his length, liking the way her gaze tracked the movement. In fact, she seemed to like watching him a lot.

“Get up, face the mirror on the dresser, and grip the edge,” he ordered.

She grinned and did as she was told. He came up from behind her and placed his hands near hers so he could get a good grip but not crush her.

“Ready, my darling?” he whispered, then kissed the small spot behind her ear. She shivered in his hold and he rocked against her so his dick slid between her cheeks.

She bent for him slightly and he sank into her heat. He moved his hands so he could grip her hips and then pulled back. Their gazes met in the reflection and he grinned back at her.

“Ready, Ian. I’m ready for anything.”

God, he hoped so, but those doubts weren’t meant for then.

Their gazes in the mirror never wavered as he pumped into her. Their breathing synchronized, and he increased the pace. His balls tightened and the base of his spine tingled and he knew he was about to come.

He reached up and cupped her breast. She licked her lips and then they came together, their moans echoing in the room as he filled the condom. He couldn’t wait to fill her up when he was bare, but that was for later.

Right now he had the woman he loved in his arms, his cock fully inside her, and her body pressed against his. He’d take that for now and pray that one day it would be more, that she wouldn’t leave him. That she would trust him to do the same.

He shook of the melancholy thoughts and kissed her softly. “Mine,” he whispered.

“Yours and mine too,” she panted back.

“Yours, Sassy. Always yours.”

Chapter Eight

“So Sassy’s working tonight?” Rafe asked though he thought he already knew the answer considering she wasn’t in the loft with him and Ian.

Ian sat on the couch next to him, his tie undone and looking mighty sexy and disheveled. He took a swig of his beer and leaned his head back. “She closes tonight with Shep who is then taking her to his place so his girl, Shea, and Sassy can have a girls’ night. His cousin, Austin, is in town again and they are going out so the girls can have some time alone.”

“That’s right,” Rafe said then took a sip of his own beer. “He invited us along too, right?”

“Yeah, but I declined for us since I know we’ve both been working our asses off trying to acclimate to the move.”

He closed his eyes, his head aching like a bitch after the day he’d had. His dad still ran the shop in New Orleans even though Rafe bought him out years ago since Rafe owned the other two in the franchise he’d made. The blend of two dominant men in one workspace wasn’t working out as well as he’d hoped.

He’d run from Sassy and Ian—only to end up living near Ian for a decade anyway. He’d come back to New Orleans so he would quit running from his problems. When he’d been gone, he made sure he kept distant from his family because he’d shamed them.

Or at least he thought he had.

Damn. His parents were way more tolerant and accepting than he’d given them credit for. That, in itself, would have shamed him more for his lack of faith, but Sassy hadn’t let him pile it on.

After all, they’d chosen to move on and find their own futures. However, working with his father was turning into a bitch all on its own. His old man didn’t have the same visions as Rafe did, and while Rafe accepted his dad would never change, some things in life had to.

He’d work it out or open up a new shop as part of the chain if he had to. No matter what he wouldn’t run away like he had before. He’d been young and stupid then.

He was older now and hoped to God not as stupid.

There was one dominant man in his life, at least, and things seemed to be running smoothly on that front.

He hoped.

He leaned over and rested his head on Ian’s shoulder. Ian shifted so he could wrap his arm around Rafe comfortably. He took a deep breath and inhaled the sandalwood scent that was so…Ian.

“What was your plan for the night then?” Rafe asked, his voice a little drowsy. It was nice, sitting on the couch with the man he loved wrapped around him. They were just sitting there staring at nothing and he felt content. From the way Ian’s body had relaxed around Rafe’s, the other man was comfortable as well.

Ian ran a finger down Rafe’s shoulder but didn’t move otherwise. The tension in the room rose, but it was a heady one.

“I hadn’t thought of anything beyond just staying at home. I’m too damn tired to go out there and pretend to party with the twenty somethings.”

Rafe grinned. Ian had always been something of a homebody and older than his years when it came to being with people, but he wasn’t going to bring that up. Not when they were getting along and just enjoying the evening.

They sat there in silence for another ten minutes or so until Ian shifted and Rafe sat up straighter. Ian let out a breath and then put his forearms on his thighs, his head bowed.

Rafe frowned and ran a hand up and down Ian’s back. “What’s wrong?”

“What are we doing?”

Four words.

Just four words and Rafe felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He blinked, unsure of what to say. From the tone of Ian’s voice, the set of his shoulders, Rafe knew they weren’t talking about what they would do for dinner.

No, this was the conversation Rafe had been afraid to have…even though he thought they’d had it already.

Damn it. Now he was mad. “What the hell do you mean, Ian?”

Ian turned to him, his eyes wide. “Why are you angry? I wanted to know the next step so I wouldn’t be behind.” Ian stood, staggering back. “Fuck, Rafe. You thought I was going to leave again? You really fucking thought that after all of this, everything I’ve said and done, that I’d leave?”