Oak, Sophie - Away From Me (Siren Publishing Classic) (2 page)

Chapter One

Ten months later

He stared at her. He stood in the elegant living room of Greg and Heather Hall’s large house in North Dallas and watched the woman holding court by the pool. The French doors that led from the living room out to the backyard were open, and he couldn’t mistake that laugh. The house was full, and the party had spilled out into the warm night. She was out there. He couldn’t believe the change. Gabrielle was the life of the party. Every man in the place was looking at his former submissive.

He didn’t blame them. You couldn’t miss those tits. They were rounder and higher than they had been almost a year before. His blood pressure rose steadily as he wondered how much of the money he’d given her had gone towards her boob job. And she’d cut her long, luxurious hair. It was ridiculously short now. He’d insisted she wear it long, down to her waist. He had loved the way it flowed down her back.

“Cal,” a soft voice said, “I wasn’t expecting you.”

He turned to Heather Hall. She was a tall, willowy blonde. Her model perfect looks were moving past worried and into full-on panic. He managed to give her a little smile. “Have I ever missed Greg’s birthday?”

“You were supposed to be in Atlanta.” There was no small amount of accusation in her tone.

He shrugged and turned his attention back to Gabrielle. She laughed at something a big dark-haired man said. She leaned in toward him, and her hand came out to touch his shoulder. Cal had the sudden urge to beat the shit out of the stranger.

“I got the deal closed early. All of Greg’s paperwork is done. He’s thrilled with the terms I managed to negotiate.”

Greg Hall was one of the country’s up-and-coming hotel magnates. His line of boutique and specialty hotels had made him a fortune and brought Cal an enormous amount of business.

“More than thrilled.” Greg walked up behind his wife. He looked Heather straight in the eyes. “Is there a reason you’re being ridiculously rude to Callum, dear?”

Cal nearly smiled at the deep tone his best friend’s voice suddenly took on. It sent Heather’s eyes submissively down. Her mouth became a flat line. The Dom in Cal knew that was one pissed off sub. She kept her composure, though. She apologized and went to check on the caterer.

“I’ll add that to her list of punishments,” Greg said with a little smile. “She can rack up the punishment time when she gets going. Our marriage wouldn’t work if she wasn’t a tiny bit of a masochist.”

“What’s Gaby doing here?” Cal couldn’t do the small talk thing right now. It had been almost a year, and he hadn’t heard a word from her or about her. He found it hard to believe that it was a coincidence she showed up to a party he shouldn’t have been able to attend.

“It’s my birthday party.” Greg took a swig of his imported beer. “I think Heather invited everyone we know. She is Heather’s best friend, and she happened to be in town. Are you two going to have a problem?”

Callum frowned. He didn’t like the way his oldest friend looked at him. He thought about the last time he’d called Greg about anything besides business. It had been before he and Gaby had broken up. Had it really been ten months since he’d just hung out with his friend? He had allowed this thing with Gabrielle to affect him far too much. He gave Greg a friendly smile. “Not at all. I was just surprised to see her. I assure you I have no interest in speaking to Gabrielle.”

Greg’s eyes got flat and cold. “It’s best that you don’t. It would upset Heather, and I wouldn’t appreciate it. If you can’t get along with her, you should leave. Let me know if you need anything.”

Cal felt his mouth drop open. What the hell had that been about? Actually, now that he thought about it, everyone had been a little chilly around him lately. He looked around the elegantly decorated room and felt the weight of judgmental eyes on him. What exactly were they judging him for?

Gabrielle laughed brightly, and he knew. She was getting her revenge by talking bad about him to their mutual friends. He wondered what stories she’d told. He hadn’t expected that of her. She’d been so sweet when he’d known her. She’d been the kind of woman who was always kind, even when she probably shouldn’t be. Had it all been one big lie to try to get him to marry her? A knot of bitterness twisted inside him. He’d been mooning over her while she’d been getting a boob job and bitching behind his back. If she thought he would let her get away with it for one moment, she had never known him at all.

* * * *

Gabrielle knew the minute her day went to complete hell. She felt his eyes on her, and every nerve in her body turned on like someone had flipped on a switch. She tried not to look at him, but her eyes kept finding his tall, muscular form.

Cal stood in the middle of the crowd, but there was no question that he was alone. He was a man who held himself apart. Gaby excused herself and sought a quiet part of the yard. She lingered at the edge of the pool, hoping Cal didn’t notice her. It had been months since she’d even thought about sex, but the second she realized Callum Reed was in the same room, her hormones started singing a chorus.

“I am so sorry, sweetie,” Heather whispered, walking up to her and giving her a big hug. “He finished up the deal in Atlanta. I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect him to come, even if he didn’t have a deal to work on. He’s been completely MIA for months.”

“He hasn’t been going to the club?” She couldn’t imagine Callum not spending time at the fetish club he’d helped to start. It was where they had first met. It was where they had first made love. It was where he’d first fucked her, she corrected herself. She felt her mouth draw into a straight line.

She had to be realistic. Callum Reed had loved one woman in his life, and it wasn’t her.

“Nope.” Heather looked thoughtful as she took a sip of her margarita. “He only came in once. He had a Scotch, walked the dungeon, and then went home. Alone. I expected him to start going through a sub a night the way he did before he met you, but as far as I can tell, he’s been alone.”

She seriously doubted he’d been alone. She snuck a glance his way. He looked gorgeous in his designer suit. It was black with pinstripes and fit him perfectly. She knew he had them done by an Italian tailor. He picked them up once a year when he went to Milan on business.

She smoothed her shaking hands over the dove gray dress she’d bought for thirty-nine ninety-nine at a discount store. When she’d been with Cal, it had been designer clothes all the way. Of course, she hadn’t been paying for all those clothes. Or the house, or the car.

She paid for everything now, and everything had become decidedly bargain basement. Despite the nice salary Greg paid her to run his island resort, she had racked up some massive bills.

“I’m sure he’s just been discreet. He hasn’t been celibate.” Callum Reed wasn’t capable of celibacy. He was the kind of man who needed sex at least twice a day. He’d take it as often as he could get it, of course, but twice a day was his absolute minimum.

He would wake her up every morning, his hard cock poking her in the backside. He would roll her over and thrust inside before she was even awake. Other times, he would work warm lube into her ass before spreading her cheeks and pushing into her tight hole. Morning was quick and hard. Night was long and languid. He could play with her for hours. Sometimes, she thought he viewed oral sex the way some people watched television.

“Don’t let him ruin the party for you, Gaby,” Heather practically pleaded. “Tomorrow, you have to go back, and I’ll miss you again.”

She would miss Heather, too. Heather had been a rock for the last hellacious year of Gaby’s life. “It’s only for a few weeks. You’ll be out at the resort in June. Greg has big plans for your anniversary. I’ll make sure to have the handcuffs shiny for you.”

“Oh, honey, I always bring my own.” Heather winked at her. She glanced up as though she suddenly remembered her duties as hostess. “I have to mingle. I saw you talking to Harrison Kirk. He’s a keeper, dear. A Dom looking for a permanent sub.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” She smiled weakly as Heather walked off to mingle with her husband’s friends and clients. Gaby was left clutching a half-filled margarita glass. She shrugged and made it an empty margarita glass. A pleasant warmth started in her belly.

Going ten months without liquor made her a cheap date. She vowed that when she got back to work, she would start going to happy hour with her staff. It had been long enough. It was time, she thought, staring up at the night sky. It was time to grow out her hair and drink some martinis and meet a new man. She took a deep breath. It was time to start living again.

“Gabrielle.”

She resisted the urge to drop to her knees. She turned and looked at the man she had loved enough to walk away from.

“Hello, Cal,” she said evenly. “How are you?”

He looked her up and down. His dark blue eyes showed absolutely no expression. They assessed her, roaming every inch of her body, giving nothing away. “I’ve been perfectly fine, Gabrielle. How have you been?” His hand was suddenly on her elbow. Her skin tingled where he touched her. He didn’t pull at her, merely squeezed gently, and she let him lead her. They began walking slowly away from the pool.

“I’m well.” She was unhappy with the shakiness of her voice. She sounded like a scared rabbit. It wasn’t the impression she wanted to make on Cal.

“That’s nice.” His voice sounded perfectly even. He could be negotiating a deal, rather than talking to an old lover. “From the evil glances I’m getting from some very old friends, I would think I had tried to kill you.”

She glanced around, and sure enough, everyone looked worried. Damn Heather and her big mouth. It was supposed to be a secret. She smiled brightly and slipped her arm through Cal’s. She had no interest in the two of them becoming a focus of gossip. If she seemed comfortable with her ex-lover, perhaps the other guests wouldn’t talk about them. She tried to look nonchalant. “I have no idea why. I haven’t seen any of these people since I left town ten months ago. Maybe it’s me they’re wary of.”

“I doubt that, pet,” Cal said, all silky and smooth. His voice had a direct line to her soft parts. “Even my oldest friend seems to have turned on me. Greg barely spoke to me this evening. His friendliest words were to tell me to leave you alone. I swear, Gabrielle, if he didn’t need me to broker his deals, he might not talk to me at all. Now I wonder why that is.”

Gaby flushed. “I don’t know. I have never spoken to Greg about us.”

“I’m sure Heather talks enough.”

Gaby felt her heels sink into the grass as they left the deck. The evening grew darker as the lights from the torches got further away. The gazebo in the distance seemed to be Cal’s destination. She followed willingly. If they were going to talk, it was best to do it in private.

“I can’t control Heather’s mouth.” She let a naughty little smile curve her lips up. “That’s supposed to be Greg’s job. He’s her husband, after all.”

Cal helped her up the gazebo’s steps. He was always solicitous. It was one of the first things to attract her. He was a Dom of the first order. Gaby had been looking for someone like Callum since the day she realized there was a whole little world out there for people like her. She’d gone through a couple of men who claimed to be Doms but really just used it as an excuse to be selfish. A real Dominant was someone like Cal, who always took care of her, even if he didn’t love her.

“Well, as it was pointed out to me so recently, a Dom only has as much control as his sub allows him.” His dark eyes were almost black in the moonlight. He looked a little tired to Gaby. She fought the urge to smooth down his tie and snuggle in his arms. He wasn’t hers to take care of anymore. He turned to her. “What have you been up to, Gaby?”

Her hand unconsciously went to her breast, thinking of the pain that centered there. “This and that.”

He leaned back, staring at her as though trying to decide something. “I never could figure you out, Gaby. I didn’t know if you were simply content to be kept or if there was some ambition under the placid surface.”

She felt herself flush. She was suddenly happy for the darkness. “Well, you weren’t interested in my ambitions, Cal.”