Mina's Heart (17 page)

Not uneasy enough to forget the word he’d used before. “O-Oasis.”

With that, he buried his face between her legs and worked his magic. Everything was forgotten as the tide of pleasure swept Mina away. He knew exactly how to touch her to drive her to the brink.

“Oh, Ever, yes. You have an incredible tongue. I love what you do to me.” She moaned and murmured to him, knowing that he loved it when she vocalized her thoughts and feelings. She couldn’t share her failings with him, but she could let him know how good he made her feel.

He mumbled something, but she only felt the hum against her pussy. It was all she needed.

“Please let me come.” She didn’t know why she asked, but he used to insist on this.

He lifted his face away and sat back on his heels. “No.”

She thought he might resume his activities, but he made no move to do so. Instead, he held up something in his hand. It was a round red rubber ball with straps coming off either side.

Pressing it to her mouth, he said, “Open up.”

She wanted to ask him what he was up to, but the moment she opened her mouth, he forced the ball between her lips. Shocked, she opened the rest of the way. He wedged it between her teeth and secured the straps behind her head. Now she couldn’t say anything. Her protest was muffled.

He reached for her hand and arranged her thumb and forefinger into the shape of an O. “Safe signal, since you’re gagged and all.”

He grabbed his e-reader, opened it up, and flopped onto his bed, reading before he landed. Since he hadn’t immobilized her head, she had no trouble turning it to see him. For several moments, she watched him, wondering at his game. She was tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth. Her pussy throbbed with need, and he ignored her.

This was not what she’d been asking for when she’d told him she missed being tied up. She tried to get his attention, but the gag pressed against her tongue. Any sounds originated in the back of her throat, so she screeched at him a few times. Nothing. He pretended he didn’t hear her.

Her pussy cooled. She figured this was some kind of punishment, and she gave up trying to get his attention. Now she was pissed. Who the hell did he think he was, treating her this way?

After a time, he put his e-reader on his dresser and knelt in front of her. She expected him to remove her gag, but he only held up the largest vibrator she’d ever seen. They’d played with several different vibrators. Ever liked to run them all over her body, tease her before slipping his choice inside her.

This vibrator wasn’t one they’d used before. The head was large and round, easily the size of a softball. There was no way in hell that thing was going to fit inside her. She struggled against her bonds, trying to warn him not to get that thing near her.

He took note of her panic. “There’s no need to be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you.”

That didn’t exactly reassure her, but she calmed down enough to realize he knew it wouldn’t fit. He pressed the bulbous head into her soft tissues and flicked a switch on the handle. Strong vibrations rocked her core, awakening the abandoned climax.

Her breath caught, and her moan remained partially lodged in her throat. When she was close, the vibrations morphed into a pulsing pattern that had a long rest between each burst. She threw her head back and whimpered with frustration. All this because she’d refused to answer his question?

For the next half hour, she watched his digital clock, vacillating between wanting to grovel and wanting to beat the hell out of him. Time and again, he drove her so close to orgasm only to stop just before she could climax. By the time he removed her gag, tears streamed down her face. He untied her arms and legs and shifted her to the bed before leaving the room.

He returned with a cool cloth, which he used to clean her juices from her pussy and thighs. Then he covered her with a soft sheet. She watched listlessly as he moved around the room, cleaning off the chair and clearing away the implements of torture he’d used on her.

Though it was only early evening, she was too tired to get up. She wanted to get dressed and go home, to leave his apartment so she could lick her wounds and analyze the complex emotions tearing through her with gale force.

He lay down on the bed, not touching but not letting her scoot away from him. “Well, Mina, what do you have to say for yourself?”

She stared at him with more than a little incredulity. “I can’t believe you did that to me.”

“Punishment is never fun. I much prefer to give you an orgasm than to deny you.”

Sitting up, she pulled the blanket with her. “If you were upset about me rolling my eyes or calling you a Neanderthal or elbowing you, then you could have just said so.” She conveniently omitted any mention of the big question he’d posed.

“I could have, but it wouldn’t have changed your behavior.”

“Ever, this isn’t right. I don’t like this at all.” She was lying. She had liked it, and that scared her. For most of her life, she’d spent her time trying to blend into the shadows, trying to avoid any kind of attention from men.

She was used to feeling certain things, not a whirlwind of confusion. That was what she didn’t like. She wasn’t sure she was supposed to let her boyfriend punish her for a disrespectful action. That was wrong. Wasn’t it?

“I just wish you would have talked to me about it. Maybe asked why I did it or something.”

He sat up and cocked his head to the side. “Why did you do it?”

“Because I…I…” She sputtered and stalled. Revealing her fears and failings wasn’t something she wanted to do. “You keep asking about things I don’t want to talk about.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that?”

That was a perfectly good question. “Because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings. You seem to open up to me very easily. You tell me everything that’s on your mind, and I know you expect me to do the same. I can’t do that.”

“Not yet.” He regarded her somberly, and she had no idea what kinds of thoughts were going through his head. “Sometimes the truth hurts, but in the long run, it’s always the better course of action.”

His eyes held such sadness that she slipped her arms around him. He pulled her close, holding her with his whole body.

She basked in his embrace for a little while. As he relaxed against her, she looked up at him. “Ever? Punishing me isn’t going to change my behavior. You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do.”

“No?” From the tone of his question, she didn’t think he’d changed his stance on the issue.

“No.”

“We’ll see.” Before she could argue, he pressed his finger to her lips. “Let’s make dinner, honey. I’m hungry, and so are you. I won’t press you to talk to me about things you don’t want to talk about, but next time, just tell me it’s too much, too soon. Okay?”

She didn’t want to admit she was hiding anything, so agreeing to his proposal was out of the question. “We need to talk about how domineering you are.”

Ever nodded. “I know, but now is not the time. You’re upset. I’m not too happy with myself. We’re both stubborn, and neither one of us is in the mood to be all that reasonable.”

In the end, it seemed he got his way. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

* * * *

The next morning, Mina drove Ever and Wild to the airport. He could tell she was a little relieved to get rid of him. After last night’s punishment fiasco, he needed some time to put his head on straight again. He knew he’d messed up. He knew he shouldn’t have punished her. It was long past time they had an honest talk. In retrospect, he could see the wisdom of his father’s advice. The stubborn part of him held the view that things would work out just fine. They’d both been upset last night, and that definitely wasn’t the time to have the kind of discussion they needed to have.

Time apart would do them both some good, though part of Everett wondered if leaving before they had a chance to clear the air was the better course of action. He and Mina needed to have a tough conversation.

Wilder waited until their flight touched down in San Francisco before he questioned Everett’s quietness. As the passengers around them scrambled to grab their carry-on bags, Wild folded his hands across his stomach and threw his query at Everett. “So what’s going on with you and Mina?”

Ever shrugged and tried to stand, but Wild had the aisle seat, and he showed no signs of wanting to join the masses.

“Come on. Who do you think you’re fooling? She might have given you a really nice good-bye kiss, but she practically pushed you onto the plane.”

Outside the window, Ever spied trees with green leaves. The fall colors in Vermont were breathtakingly beautiful, but that season didn’t seem to exist in Southern California. “I’m going to ask her to marry me.”

“That’s not a bad thing.” Wild peered at him, his crystal eyes turning cloudy with confusion.

Mina had been a little abrupt with him, but he didn’t think it was due to having received her first punishment. After they’d talked about it, she’d let the matter drop. They’d made dinner together, coordinating their culinary efforts flawlessly, and then he’d made love to her. Joining their bodies and hearts bonded them more every time they had sex. Since he knew he wouldn’t be seeing her for a few days, he couldn’t pass up the chance to make sure she knew exactly how much she meant to him.

Still, she had issues confiding in him. The element of complete trust hadn’t quite developed between them, but they were making progress. The fact that she’d asked him to stop being so vanilla was telling. She was a true submissive, and she needed him to dominate her.

Getting engaged would prove to her that he was fully invested in their relationship. “No, but I think she suspects, and I think she’s nervous about it.”

“Why would she be nervous?”

Everett shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t think her parents had the best relationship.”

Wild chuckled. “They’re divorced, so probably not.”

It was more than that. She didn’t talk about her father at all. “I think her dad was abusive. I’m not sure exactly how, but I think it’s made her a little gun-shy. We’re still working on building trust. I asked her to think about moving in with me when the house was finished.”

That wasn’t news to his brother. Wilder usually knew what he was thinking. None of his family had been surprised to learn that he’d changed the design of the house based on her preferences.

“And she said?”

She hadn’t answered. Everett shrugged. “She didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no either.”

“Ahhh, I get it. She wasn’t jazzed that you wanted to live together, so by proposing, you aim to show her that you’re serious.”

He knew Wild would understand. While he wasn’t in a rush to get married, he recognized that Mina would be his bride someday. There was no reason not to start planning the inevitable event. The more he thought about having his ring on her finger, the better he liked the idea. “I love her. She might have some reservations, but I’m going to set all her fears to rest.”

Wilder looked at him like he was nuts. “You’re going to set her fear of having an abusive husband to rest by dominating her without her informed consent? That’s not going to build trust. Ever, what the hell is wrong with you?”

Ever swatted his brother’s arm. He didn’t appreciate Wild’s disparaging summation. “Get up, you asshole, before the flight attendants call security to carry us out.”

Wild narrowed his eyes, his expression glacial, but he waited until they were at the baggage carousel before bringing it up again. “That’s not why she was pushing you onto the tarmac.”

“What?” Ever snagged Wilder’s bag and kept an eye out for his own.

“If she suspects you’re going to pop the question, she’s not going to push you away. No, she’s not happy with you. You had a fight?” Wilder snagged Ever’s bag, and they exchanged suitcases.

He didn’t want to discuss the mistake he’d made, but if anybody was going to understand, it was his brother. Everett matched his stride to Wilder’s, and they headed for the bus that would take them to their rental car.

It wasn’t until they were alone in the car that he answered Wilder’s question. “She got mad at me, rolled her eyes, called me some names, elbowed me in the ribs. Hard. She hits damn hard.”

“Awww. Do you have a little bruise?” Wilder cut off someone in the right lane in order to make their turn.

He did have a bruise. “Fuck you.”

“Wimp.”

They weren’t going to get anywhere like this. Ever let it go. “I punished her.”

Wilder was silent. Ever glanced over to find his brother navigating heavy traffic with his lips pressed together. Finally Wild exhaled a sigh. “I love you, man. You’re my brother and my best friend, so please don’t take this the wrong way. I’ve never seen you be so epically stupid. You’ve had months to talk to her, and you haven’t done it yet. You can’t punish your sub when she’s not your sub. She’s not submitting to you because she wants to. Right now she’s accommodating you, trying to make you happy, and it’s not working for her. And you can’t punish someone who hasn’t agreed to terms. We do this all the time for other people. What makes you think it works differently for you?”

“I’ve been vanilla with her for the past two months.” As vanilla as he could be. His alpha nature was difficult to suppress, but he’d done it because he loved her. No matter what anyone said, Mina was different. She was special—delicate and deserving of adoration. He had to protect her, make sure she was ready to hear the truth about him.

Wilder snorted. “How’s that working for you?”

“She asked me to go back to the way things were. She wants me to dominate her. She asked for bondage and sensory deprivation. I gave her what she asked for.”

“Did she ask you to dominate her, or did she ask for a little bit of kinky play?”

“It’s the same thing.”

“Not to her, it isn’t.”

The bondage in which they’d engaged was very tame, especially by his brother’s standards. However, he disagreed with Wilder’s assessment. His brother was wrong. Mina wanted him to be her master. She might not know the proper terms, but she felt an undeniable need to submit to him.