Penance (Long Slow Tease, #2) (5 page)

A second later Michelle went ri
gid in his hands, then completely limp as the first wave of her orgasm tore through her. The tiny bud of her clit vibrated against his tongue and he gentled his mouth, wanting to eat her as long as he could before it became too much for her to handle. She relaxed completely to the point where he had to shift his stance so he could support her with his hands as she leaned back into a semi-reclining position. Making a low, happy humming noise Michelle rubbed her legs against his back as he continued to please her.

With a sigh
, she finally reached down and gripped his hair, pulling him back. She smiled down on him with heavy-lidded eyes and he knew she loved him. She wouldn’t fucking say it yet, only that ‘me too’ bullshit, but there wasn’t a doubt in his mind. He stood and held his arms out, helping her down from the table. Her legs shook hard so he had to hold her for a second. On the other side of the table James did the same thing for his wife and the men shared a very masculine smirk. With a sigh of regret Michelle stepped away and tossed her hair over her shoulder.

“Get dressed, Wyatt. We’ll only have a
short time after we check in at the hotel before we’re supposed to be at my parents’ barbecue.”

Shrugging back into his shirt, he let out a long breath and sent a silent prayer up to heaven for God to give him patience and keep his PTSD under control, because he had a feeling Michelle was going to need him. While she hadn’t said it outright, Yuki and James had clued him in on her contentious relationship with her mother. Evidently
, Mrs. Sapphire was a complete control freak and had demanded perfection from Michelle in every aspect of her life and had made Michelle’s childhood a living hell. By the time he met Michelle she’d been out of her mother’s sphere of influence long enough to have relaxed, but the stories that Yuki told him about Michelle’s mother made it hard for him to keep from wanting to smack the bitch on first sight.

Yuki made a
n exaggerated gagging noise then bent over to retrieve her dress, giving Wyatt a pretty good view of her sex. “You are going to be both bored out of your mind and on the defensive. Those parties are political shark pits with everyone second guessing each other’s words, looking for some kind of double meaning in everything. And your mother, Michelle, she’s a great white.”

According to Yuki
, Michelle visited her parents as little as possible because her mother made her completely stressed out and neurotic. It wasn’t until he saw the flash of fear in his Domina’s eyes at the mention of her mother that he realized how bad it must have been. Michelle was so confident, so self-possessed that he couldn’t imagine anyone making her feel worthless. He’d noticed an increasing tension as the date for the wedding neared, but he’d dismissed it as being part of her issues over seeing her friends who had known Owen. Now he wondered if it was more than that and if he should try to talk Michelle out of going to visit her parents.

James shivered. “First time I met Michelle’s mother
, she took one look at me and asked Yuki when she’d started dating the pool boy.”

Michelle gave a forced laugh. “You’re going to scare Wyatt. She’s not that bad. She’s just very
...opinionated.”

Yuki opened her mouth to say something, but James cut her off.
“If it makes you feel any better, I have to go endure six hours of Yuki’s dad giving me the evil eye and mentioning to Yuki all the eligible bachelors he’d like her to meet back in Japan.” James gave a harsh laugh as he slipped back into his pants. “You’ve never met her old man. He’s like some feudal Japanese lord who expects everyone to worship him, and he’s still pissed his little girl didn’t marry a man of his choosing. That guy can break your balls with a glance.”

Michelle giggled. “Well, at least we kn
ow where Yuki gets it from.”

The tension broke and their
laughter filled the cabin as Yuki and Michelle traded insults and giggled like young girls. Wyatt’s heart widened until he thought he might be having a stroke as he realized that while he loved Michelle, Yuki and James had come to be really good friends, and he loved them like family. It was nice talking to James. He was very down to earth and always gave a solid, well-thought-out answer. Wyatt trusted him and found himself talking about some not so nice things, shit he couldn’t talk to Michelle about because she had her own nightmares from the war to deal with. James was far enough removed from it that while Wyatt knew it saddened James, he listened to Wyatt without judgment. A solid, dependable man, Wyatt was proud to call him a friend. Yuki, on the other hand, let her emotions lead her. Wyatt never had to worry about her lying. If she thought something was bullshit she’d let a person know.

As he watched Michelle wiggle back into her
skirt, laughing at something Yuki said, one particular conversation he’d had with the lovely Asian woman about Michelle came to mind. Michelle had been fourteen years old and came in fifth place during a high profile equestrian competition. Her mother was furious that Michelle hadn’t placed higher, and as punishment, sold Michelle’s horse. It devastated Michelle; she loved her horse more than anything in the world, and worse yet, Michelle’s mother made her attend the sale and lead her horse into the trailer. She told Michelle the whole time that if she’d worked harder, been better, she would have been able to keep her horse.

The thing was, Michelle
had
worked hard, had busted her ass and did everything she could to win, but it hadn’t been enough. Yuki had been heartbroken for her friend and said that for the rest of the summer Michelle had been in a deep funk. Wyatt asked why Michelle’s dad didn’t intercede and learned that during an election season Michelle’s dad was lucky to be home once a month. He left the running of the household entirely to Michelle’s mother who doted on Michelle’s brothers while insisting on absolute perfection from Michelle. What really killed Yuki was that despite the ill treatment, Michelle was desperate for her mother’s approval and slowly turned herself into a replica of her mother, immensely insecure on the inside, cold and brutal on the outside.

At least until
she met Owen.

Yuki said that Owen had been the first man to break through that bullshit mask of perfection, and he helped Michelle realize that her mother was totally fucked in the head. While Wyatt was still jealous of the hold the dead man had on Michelle’s heart, he was also thankful that Owen had been there
and gave her the unconditional love she so desperately needed. According to Yuki, if Michelle hadn’t met Owen his beautiful Dominatrix would probably be in a mental institution by now or her mother’s puppet. Unable to resist the need to give Michelle all the love she could handle, to drill it into her head that she was worthy of his love, Wyatt pulled her into his arms and gave her a sound kiss.

She looked up at him with a bright smile that softened as she studied his face. “Are you okay?”

He nodded, rubbing his thumb along the side of her graceful throat. “I was just thinking about what a lucky man I am to have such an amazing woman.”

Her pleased flush made him feel like a hero. “Thank you, but I think I’m the lucky one.”

Shaking his head, he led her to her seat and sat next to her. “No way, baby. I’m just a beat-to-shit old Marine. You’re a goddess.”

Instead of smiling, she sighed and looked out the window. “Don’t put me on too high of a pedestal, Wyatt
. I’m still human and it’s a long fall back to reality.”

Trying to lighten the mood, he kissed the back of her hand. “Thank fuck. Otherwise
, I’d never have stood a chance. Besides, climbing pedestals is hard work. I’d much rather have you down here on earth with me.”

She made a soft sound in the back of her throat and continued to look out the window, her gaze distant and troubled. While he wanted to know what was bothering her, now wasn’t the time. Yuki and James were taking their seat across from them
, and Yuki soon had Michelle talking about all the shopping they wanted to do in Chicago, and the different places they would take Wyatt since it was his first time in the city. He relaxed back in his chair and watched Michelle, wondering if his Domina knew that she didn’t have to pretend to be perfect with him.

Michelle fought to control her pulse as she drove her rental car onto the driveway of her parent’s mansion outside of Chicago. The sprawling estate was beautiful; it was perfect, and it looked like it would be offended if anyone actually used it. Much like her mother.

She eased the car down the long drive, now strung with Chinese paper lanterns. It was a charming touch that had been
flawlessly executed by the hand of a professional decorator. Michelle’s mother didn’t believe in doing any type of menial work, preferring to hire only the best for her events. When Michelle was very young parties like this had been something her mother enjoyed doing, but after Michelle’s father had an affair, these parties went from being one of the few times her mother had been truly happy and at ease to a distasteful chore.

H
er mother had always been a demanding, overbearing perfectionist, but it seemed like Michelle’s father’s cheating broke something in her mother. Once the cameras were off, she practically froze everyone out of her life, including Michelle, when she needed her most after Owen’s death. It was like she hadn’t known how to deal with Michelle’s pain and tried to cover that up by telling Michelle to pretend it never happened.

Yeah, like that worked out real well.

Wyatt reached out and touched her cheek. “You okay, baby?”

She almost jerked her head away, then accepted his touch. Lately
, she’d been tempted to order him to do things just because she said so and she was his Domme, which was complete bullshit and not how a BDSM relationship worked. But fuck it all, she couldn’t be totally honest with Wyatt about how fractured her emotions and mind were. Not when he was doing so well in his battle with PTSD. He was so happy and she never wanted him to be sad again. That meant bottling her shit up to be dealt with at a later date when Wyatt was on more solid ground. She’d wall up the cracks in her mind and be his perfect woman, give him everything he’d ever wanted so he would never leave her. If he…God, she couldn’t even think about it without her chest aching, so she just stopped thinking about it.

Focus on the positive, eliminate the negative and all that bullshit.

With a smile she turned and nipped his wrist, loving the way a man’s skin was thin and soft in this area, but still tough and different from a woman’s silken skin. His scent surrounded her and she drew in a deep lungful of his musk mixed tonight with some kind of citrus and cedar cologne that smelled divine on him. He was a feast for the senses on every level, and she loved it.

Loved him.

With a reluctant sigh she pulled up to the valet and let him lead her out. She had to be careful exiting the vehicle because her short crimson dress would give a flash of her goodies if she moved the wrong way. Said goodies were currently wrapped in a pair of red crotchless panties. At some point tonight she planned on flashing Wyatt a peek and driving him crazy. She loved it when his eyes got all dark and his voice deepened into a growl. After almost twenty years in the Marines his vocal chords were shot to shit, and it made him even sexier. When he spoke, people listened. She listened. And he was all hers.

Tonight she wore a
n artfully draped red Alexander McQueen dress. It actually made her look like she had a woman’s set of hips and hit far above her knee. These parties were dreadfully dull so she planned on entertaining herself by tormenting Wyatt. It would also help keep his mind on her and not on other people. These political gatherings weren’t for the faint of heart. The people attending were the best of the best at being backstabbing ass kissers. Yes, there were some good, honorable, amazing people who attended her parent’s parties, but they were far outnumbered by the lying, cheating, douchebags. She knew Wyatt probably wasn’t ready for this, but she had no choice. She loved him, and if she had her way, he’d be the man she’d spend the rest of her life with. Her parents had to meet him and vice versa, so they could see what a great guy Wyatt was, and Wyatt so he could see where the road to her own personal crazy town started.

A therapist would have a field day with
the way her family impacted her life over and over again. Hell, after Owen’s death, the therapists her mother made her go to ended up only wanting to talk about her family, not Owen. Not that Michelle was talking to anyone at that point. She was lucky to say more than a couple dozen words a day. There were whole weeks missing from her memory of those dark days, chunks of time that were just a blank patch in the history of her life. There were times when, looking back, she was surprised she survived her depression. Shaking off those negative thoughts, she held out her hand to Wyatt.

He’d dressed for the evening in a pair of grey slacks with a
casual blue button-down shirt and a matching grey jacket. When he smiled at her, she couldn’t resist cupping his freshly shaved chin in her hand. He was so smooth just after he shaved, and she delighted in rubbing her face against his. Handsome did not even begin to describe her man and she wished they were alone right now, somewhere that she could just look at him and surround herself with his love.