A Dominant Fallen (A Dominant Series Book 2) (13 page)

“It’s okay, Elle. You have nothing to worry about,” he says, mimicking my thoughts. He takes my hand and opens the door, guiding us inside.

We step into the pitch-black room and he shuts the door behind us. I wait for an instant, cloaked in darkness, then, finally, soft, warm lighting floods the space. It’s a massive apartment with an open floor plan.

“Are you giving me my own apartment now?”

He laughs hard. “No, Gabrielle, I’m not.”

Just then, I notice the enormous four-post bed with a camera set up at the end, angled at the mattress.

What the fuck? Is he going to take pictures of us fucking? Does he document his conquests?

I’m speechless. I want to ask him what this is, why he brought me here, who else has been here before me? But, all I can do is gesture my hand toward the bed with an annoyed, confused look on my face.

“Yes, that would be a bed,” he states in a smart-alecky tone that causes me to smirk and blush.

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” I giggle out, “and you know it.”

“What are you trying to ask me, Elle?” He reaches up, caressing my cheek with his thumb. “Please, use your words.”

“Where are we? And why is there a camera at the foot of the bed?”

“This is my studio, and the camera is there for your photo shoot.”

“My photo shoot?”

“Yes, you said you wanted to reveal yourself to my camera…Well, here we are.” He extends his hand out, scanning it across the room. “You aren’t backing down, are you?”

The cocky, face-splitting grin that spreads across his lips agitates me, as if he’s challenging me
.

I just screwed his brains out with Liam only inches away for fucks sack.
Why would he think this would cause me to back down?

“Because, angel, there’s nowhere for you to hide. My camera sees everything, capturing not just your sensuous form, but your soul, your innermost secrets.”

Shit! Okay, now I’m nervous.

My face falls, as I suddenly feel self-conscience, unsure of my ability to pose for him the way Brooke and the others have. He grabs my hand and pulls me into him. “Why so shy, Miss Hyde? You aren’t second-guessing your decision, are you?”

“A little,” I reply honestly.

“Gabrielle, you have no reason to be shy in front of me…Truthfully, I’m amazed you are. After everything we’ve been through, everything I’ve seen, our public display of affection earlier. When most people don’t do more than a little inappropriate groping, you take my cock like you can’t live without it.”

“I can’t,” I interrupt. “But, it’s more than that…I can’t live without you. I wasn’t whole when we were apart, I wasn’t…right.”

“I know, baby. When you left me, I ceased to exist…”

“Damian, I’m…” He places his finger over my lips.

“Let me say this.” He shuts his eyes and lets out a long, harsh breath. “When you left me, I was in agony. I couldn’t breathe, sleep, or think, at least not about anything that wasn’t you. The vision of you walking out those doors into the rain is etched into my brain. I didn’t know what to do with myself or where to turn…”

Suddenly, the thought of Vanessa’s comment in the powder room comes flooding back and I huff.

“What?” Hunt asks with an insulted look on his stunned face.

“Nothing,” I reply, shaking my head and crossing my arms, “just forget about it.”

“Gabrielle,” he softly reprimands.

“Va…” I hesitate telling him. I don’t want to seem like a jealous girlfriend, sub, whatever. But, I know he expects complete honesty from me, just as I expect it of him. “Vanessa confronted Brooke and me while we were in the powder room, as you know. What you don’t know is how she spoke to me. She treated me like a common whore! She told me she consoled you after I left you…the only way she knows how. I didn’t want to believe her…”

“But, there is a part of you that does,” he interrupts.

“I don’t want to. I trust you, but we weren’t together, and I had no real claim on you. I gave up that right…”

“Gabrielle, we were never, not together, emotionally, or mentally at least. I always had hope that you would come back to me. I had to, otherwise, I would’ve had nothing to hold onto, nothing to keep me going from one day to the next…That being said, I never went to Vanessa for that type of support. Yes, I went to speak with her about you leaving me, had a few drinks, shot the shit. But, I didn’t have a lot of options…Well, except for…” He trails off.

My heart pounds. “Except for who?”

Please, don’t say Olivia or Marlena. Please.

“I didn’t have anyone else, except for my mother and sisters.”

Phew.

“So, you didn’t screw Vanessa,” I clarify.

“No, Elle, I already told you, I didn’t fuck anyone while we were apart.” I let out a low breath, relieved that Vanessa was just trying to get my panties in a bunch. Well, if I had been wearing any. “We should really get you out of that wet dress…Come, let’s get comfortable.”

“It’s actually not that bad,” I reply as he takes my hand and guides me over to the bed in the center of the room.

He grabs a throw off a chair near the bed and wraps it about my shoulders before I take a seat at the end of the bed. I watch him walk into the kitchen, searching through cabinets and drawers. I listen to the way the glasses clink together and the sound of his hard-heeled shoes on the kitchen flooring.

I glimpse about the room, but most of it is shrouded in darkness. The only source of light is the recessed lighting above the bed and me.

He saunters back over, two glasses of whiskey in hand, and passes one to me. He takes a seat next to me on the bed and sets his drink on the side table then removes his nearly dry jacket and tie, unbuttoning his collar. He picks up his glass and takes a long draw before turning toward me and asking, “Do you have anything else you wish to ask or get off your chest before we begin?”

“No…Do you?” I give him an I-know-buddy-so-you-better-not-lie face.

“You’re referring to Vanessa,” he states the obvious.

“Yes, that would be the one…There are things you haven’t told me about her or underplayed.”

“Yes, I underplayed her role in my life. I will tell you everything, but not now.”

“Please, tell me something, anything, Hunt. You give me only enough to understand you are broken and that your past is the reason…If we’re going to do this, if we’re going to attempt to be a real, honest-to-goodness couple, we have to truly comprehend the person we are giving our hearts to.”

He looks at me with a conflicted stare that breaks my heart.

“She was more than my girlfriend…Gabrielle, would you mind if we talk about this later?”

“Damian,” I reprimand.

“No, I mean it. After our session, we can go upstairs and I will tell you all about her.”

“Really…? You’ll tell me everything I need to know?”

“Yes.”

“Cross your heart?”

He smirks weakly. “Cross my heart,” he answers, drawing an invisible X over his chest.

I smile back at him. Even though I feel a sense of relief, I can’t help but feel dread as well. I mean, who knows what kind of things will come out of his mouth. I want to know his past, desperately, but with everything he has been open enough to share with me, I find myself more and more stunned with each tragic memory.

Oh, jeez! Please, don’t start this back and forth crap! You wanted to know and he is willing to tell you, so stop being a fucking baby and woman-up!

I raise my glass to my lips and tip it up as far as it will go, inhaling the contents. I smack my lips and let out an, “Ahhh,” Before wiping my lips of the few amber droplets left behind with the back of my hand.

Hunt chuckles, sweeping his knuckle along the corner of my lip, retrieving a single drop, which he sucks off slowly.

“What’s the rush, Miss Hyde, big date?” I let out a sputtered giggle, feeling much better, and hand him my drained glass to set on the table. “We really should get you out of that dress. I wouldn’t want you catching a cold.”

I straighten my expression, going for sensual and suggestive, and nod my head sluggishly. I stand up and turn toward him, reaching behind me to unzip my dress, attempting sexy, but it snags, and I struggle with it. He smirks at my fumble, but places his hand over his mouth to hide it. Mission failed.

He wipes the amused smirk away and rises off the bed, strutting about me, grazing his knuckles down my spine to the top clasp on my dress. I shiver with delightful anticipation.

He nimbly unfastens the hook and slides the flap of the zipper down to just above my bare ass. I lift my arms slightly, and a second later, my dress is on the floor, puddled around my feet.

Next, he loosens the ribbon laced up the back of my binding corset, removing it so the corset falls open and onto the floor. Then, lastly, my garter belt, making quick work of it, he unhooks the clasps and tosses it aside. Hunt runs his hands along my shoulders and down my arms, every stroke sending me into a haze.

Then his hands are gone and I’m alone. I turn to investigate his sudden disappearance when I spy him walking out of the shadows behind me with something clenched in his hands. He walks up to me and holds open a long, white silk robe.

“Put this on,” he gently insists. I stare at him for a moment, confused by the simple gesture and command. “Gabrielle, I’m not going to fuck you, not yet at least. I am a professional, and I expect you to conduct yourself in the same manner.”

I slide my arms in both sleeves and shrug it on, tying it up in the front. He thrusts his hands into my hair and skillfully plucks out the pins holding the top half of my hair up. The wavy tendrils fall about my face, framing it. I spin around with an exaggerated pout and tease, “You’re so serious, Mr. Hunt.”

He smirks down at me and leans in, giving me a soft, tender, extended kiss on my forehead. He pulls me into his arms, rubbing the back of my head as he rocks me there. “I missed you so very much, Elle, even your smartass mouth…Are you still nervous?”

“Yes, a little…Perhaps, another glass of liquid courage would settle my nerves.”

“I think that could be arranged,” he replies, pecking me on the tip of my nose. He releases me and struts back into the shadows and a light comes on above a mahogany bar. “What would you like, Miss Hyde?”

“Doesn’t matter as long as it’s a double,” I retort with a pleased grin.

“Smartass,” he murmurs under his breath, with his head tilted down as he searches for something below him, but the smirk smeared on his face tells me he doesn’t hate it quite as much as he puts on.

“Would you want me any other way?”

He pauses, looking up at me with a dark gaze. “I’ll take you any way I can have you…However, I do enjoy our little game of cat and mouse. It certainly keeps things interesting.”

He prepares my drink and brings it over to me. I take it from him and notice it’s nearly half-full. I take a large swig, then another, downing the smooth golden liquor from the intricate whiskey glass.

He takes our cups back into the kitchen, placing them in the sink. It doesn’t take long for the warm, fuzzy feeling to come over me, starting in my delicates. I don’t know why the fuzzy effect of alcohol begins on my V, but it always has, which is why I was a tad on the sluttish side.

It tingles and warms, radiating up my body and down my limbs to the tips of my fingers. I feel amazing. I feel fuzzy. I feel…willing.

“Well, I see the scotch has done its job,” Hunt comments as he walks out from the shadows, dressed in jeans and a plain white tee. He looks phenomenal.

Suddenly, I feel the stupid, drunken smile stretch across my face, my eyes heavy with both well-aged liquor and sexual need. I shake my head lazily. “I’m ready.”

“I want to start you off slowly. I’m going to take simple, clothed photos to get you used to being in front of my camera…I want you to sit at the end of the bed.”

He takes my hand and guides me over to the bed. I sit at the end and entwine my numb fingers in my lap, waiting patiently. He grabs his professional camera from a bag sitting on a chair to the right of the bed and saunters back over, standing directly in front of me. He’s so close to me, the soft fabric of his jeans graze my bare shins.

He lifts his camera up to his face and begins snapping close-ups. I feel it focused on my face, piercing me. I begin to squirm and crinkle my nose as the scrutiny of his camera starts to take effect.

He puts the camera down.

“Elle, you’re stunning,” he states, reaching out to caress my cheek with a few tender fingers. “You are simply the most beautiful, funny, intelligent, fiery, deeply sexual woman I have ever met…Own it.”

He notices the faint smirk spreading my rosy cheeks. He lifts his camera back to his face and begins snapping shots, all the while building me up.

“Your face is so angelic, it’s captivating.” He leans in closer, causing me to lie back on the mattress. My hair fans out around me, my robe falls open just enough to give him a peek of bare cleavage and thighs. “Your smile, your sweet smile makes my heart skip a beat. Your eyes reflect all the beauty and pain of your tantalizing soul. You’re strong, so much stronger than I could ever be, Elle. You are everything.”