Blush (17 page)

She stopped squirming for a second, considering. It didn’t hurt anymore . . . Well, it didn’t hurt as much. The pain had melted into an ache, one echoed in the heat between her legs.

“It hurts. But . . . it feels good.” Alex took advantage of the fact that she was holding still to bend and suck her naked nipple into his mouth, decorating it as he had done with the first one.

Shuddering in her breath, she glared at him. “What the hell is the point of these?”

“You’ll see.” His hands dipped to the zipper of her jeans, unfastening them, then rolling them down over her hips. Catching the elastic at the sides of her bikini panties in his hands, he rearranged the fabric so that it rested between the lips of her labia.

Maddy couldn’t hold back her moan when he began to toy with the elastic, working the thin cotton back and forth over her clit.

“So wet for me. I love it.” Abandoning her panties, Alex slid two fingers inside her slick heat.

“Shh.” A wicked grin crossed his face as Maddy cried out. “Declan might hear. He might want to come watch.”

She pulled at her handcuffs. With her hands bound behind her back, she couldn’t do more than watch as Alex unzipped his own pants, then, retrieving the wrapped condom from where she’d dropped it, sheathed himself in latex.

“I owe you a spanking later for dropping this.” Maddy’s eyes went round, and then he’d lifted her again, arranging her legs around his waist. Tugging the fabric of her panties to one side, he pressed the head of his cock to the slick entrance of her cunt and filled her in one hard stroke.

“Ahh!” Maddy let her head fall back. With her hands cuffed behind her, her back arched and her breasts were thrust forward. The tips of her nipples, which burned with blue heat from the clamps, rubbed over the bare expanse of Alex’s chest and had her eyes rolling back in her head.

“Come for me, babe, unless you want Declan to find us.” The idea made her frantic. She didn’t want the big man to walk in on this, and yet found the idea of being watched—they were nearly out in the open, after all—so, so hot.

Her breath grew ragged, and her hips braced to accept the hard, strong thrusts of Alex’s cock. He filled her to the point of pain every time he seated himself inside of her, making her shudder in response.

“Are you ready?” Maddy barely had to wonder what she was supposed to be ready for when Alex worked a hand in between their bodies and, with sure fingers, removed first one clamp, then the other. She heard the clinking sound of them falling to the floor instants before the blood rushed back into her nipples and set her breasts on fire.

She buried her face in Alex’s neck to muffle the shriek. It was incredibly painful, and yet, as the sore tips of her breasts abraded Alex’s chest in time to his thrusts, she found that she wasn’t focused on pain.

She was overwhelmed with sensation. As Alex began to thrust faster, slamming her into the metal wall, the sound echoing throughout the empty space, she felt her pleasure stretching tighter and tighter, until suddenly it snapped and sent her shooting to the stars.

She tightened her grip on Alex’s hips with her legs, and in return he seated himself one final, vicious time, and she smelled the salt of his release on the air.

Shuddering, he emptied himself inside her. He held her weight up, his cock still nestled inside her, until she felt the liquid heat of his semen begin to trickle out of the condom and down her thigh.

“Damn, that felt amazing.”

Maddy winced as Alex pulled out. He set her gently on the ground, then removed the condom and wrapped it in a tissue that he pulled from his pocket. He tossed it aside, then turned back to press a kiss to Maddy’s lips.

“You never fail to amaze me.” He grinned as he situated her bra back in place.

Maddy hissed as the fabric pulled tight over nipples that she knew were going to be sore for days.

“I like that you’re going to remember me every time something brushes over your chest for the next week.” Alex’s smile was smug, yet all Maddy could manage was a shiver as he whispered hotly into her ear, turning her and releasing her from her cuffs. He massaged her wrists, then lifted them to inspect for bruises.

Tracing a finger quickly over the pale pink stripes, Alex bent, giving her a spectacular view of his tight ass. Though he’d just made her come, and hard, she felt her mouth water.

She watched as he scooped up the fallen nipple clamps, then pulled his jeans back up over his lean hips.

“Mr. Fraser?” The sound of Declan’s voice was muffled by the metal walls of the car carrier.

Maddy’s head whipped around to look at Alex, her eyes wide. For the first time since they’d met, he looked taken aback. She couldn’t help it. A giggle escaped her lips.

He turned to her, and a sexy, crooked grin lit up his face. Bending, he helped her step back into her jeans. “Better hurry.” Alex grinned at Maddy as he reached for his shirt and pulled it over his head. She cursed the garment as his rock-solid abdomen and ridiculously sexy tattoo disappeared beneath the soft black cotton. “Declan’s seen me naked, but I have no doubt he’d enjoy getting an eyeful of you.”

Maddy rolled her eyes and grunted as she worked her jeans up her body. They were snug, and her skin was damp with sweat, so pulling them up her legs left her red faced and out of breath.

If Declan saw her naked—and more important, if he were to show that he enjoyed the sight—Maddy suspected that Alex would punch his lights out.

“When did Declan see you naked?” She could hear the steps of Alex’s right-hand man crunching over the gravel. Hastily, she smoothed her shirt down.

Her legs were deliciously weak.

“In the locker room, of course.” Alex grinned as the big man who seemed to keep his life running smoothly appeared, silhouetted in the opening of the car carrier. “We like to make insulting remarks about each other’s manhood while we hose off from tae kwon do. Isn’t that right, Dec?”

Declan actually cracked a hint of a smile. “You make insulting remarks. I don’t have to. I’m secure in the size of my manhood.”

Holy hell, the Irish giant had made a joke. Then he turned to Maddy, and his expression became unreadable.

“You do tae kwon do together?” It seemed odd to her, that Alex would buddy up for a lesson. Though he was enigmatic, he also struck her as a bit of a loner when it came to close friends.

A loner in the middle of a sea of people.

“Sort of.” The two men smirked at each other for a moment. “Declan is my instructor.”

“I see.” And she did—she saw the reason that Alex kept Declan so close. She would have, too, if she were rich as sin. The knowledge just confirmed her suspicions that the big man was lethal.

“I was a bit worried when I saw the quad back here and couldn’t see either one of you.” Maddy bit her lip as Alex led her down the ramp of the truck. Her heart rate was still elevated, and she knew the scent of sex must have clung to both of them like a heavy perfume.

“Well, here we are.” Alex grinned cheekily at Declan, who shook his head in resignation. Maddy was about to offer up some convoluted excuse when she realized that, if Declan had been with Alex for any length of time at all, he had to be aware of his boss’s more . . . unique . . . pastimes.

She caught the big man’s eye, and he set his face to have no expression. She winced inwardly.

Declan knew exactly what she and Alex had just been doing.

“Do you require anything else right now, Mr. Fraser?” Declan pulled keys to what Maddy assumed was the car carrier from his pocket.

“No, thanks, Dec. I’m going to drive Maddy home. I think she’s had quite enough excitement for one day.” She thought of the terrifying yet exhilarating quad ride, and then she thought of Alex pressing her up against the side of the truck, and she wasn’t sure which part was crazier.

“In you go, babe.” Taking her by the hand, Alex pulled her away from Declan, the quad, and the truck and back to the Turbo. He opened the door for her, helped her in, and even leaned in to buckle up her seat belt. She thought about telling him that she was quite capable of doing that for herself, but really, it was kind of nice to be taken care of.

Moments later, they were on the gravel road, heading back to Paradise.

“You’re blushing.” Maddy squirmed in her seat, feeling Alex’s eyes on her sideways. “Tell me why.”

“I—” She thought about telling him that it was none of his business. Then she thought about how it felt to trust him, to put herself in his hands for an hour as they rode the quad.

She wanted to do it again.

“Declan knows we had sex in the car carrier.” Maddy twisted her fingers together. Truth was, having sex where anyone could have seen had been pretty damn exciting, but she was still amazed by the fact that she’d done it. Hell, she’d very nearly initiated it.

There was a moment of silence. Maddy turned and saw that Alex was trying not to laugh. A growl slipped from between her lips, and her hands curled into fists. “Why is that funny?”

Alex managed to swallow most of his smirk, though she could still hear the amusement in his words. “Yes, I imagine he knows, Maddy.”

She was momentarily mesmerized by the midday sun glinting off of his night-dark hair as they drove, the contrast striking.

“What I find entertaining is that you are so sweetly embarrassed by it. Most of the women I’ve dated would have invited him on in.”

If he was trying to shock her, he’d succeeded. Her mouth hung open, and she was at a loss for words.

“I—you—” Maddy found she didn’t care to dwell on the women he’d dated in the past. “And . . . have you ever?”

It was Alex’s turn to look shocked. “No! Never.” His words were vehement. “Why would you ask such a thing?”

“Because this morning you told me that often in BDSM relationships there can be multiple partners.” She was proud that she managed to keep her voice calm. “You said you’re monogamous, and I believe you. But you also said that you’d be willing to try it if I were interested in it. So . . . have you?”

Taking his eyes off the road for a quick second, Alex looked at her questioningly. She returned the stare. Maddy thought it was a valid question.

“You know, for someone so sweet and innocent, you sure are curious.”

Maddy wanted to say something sarcastic, but he was right.

She wanted to know. She wanted to experience.

She waited for him to answer the question.

“Yes, I have. I’ve done BDSM scenes with another man and my sub, with another woman and my sub, depending on what the sub needs.” His voice was matter-of-fact, though Maddy jolted.

Get used to it, Maddy.
If she wanted this, then she needed to stop being such a prude.

“But never with an employee.” He looked at her sideways to gauge her reaction as he turned the corner to her apartment building.

Her heart was racing. This seemingly innocent conversation had evolved into something heavier. Alex’s nonchalant comments about threesomes, as if they were just a part of this “lifestyle,” had thrown her right off her game.

It was one thing to play with Alex’s little butterfly vibrator and some scented oils in the privacy of her bedroom. Threesomes . . . scenes . . .

What was she getting herself into?

Maddy was silent as Alex parked the Turbo, rounded the car, and opened her door. He let her unbuckle her own seat belt this time, though he did extend a hand to help her from the low-slung vehicle.

Her palm was clammy in his as he walked her to her door.

“Well?” He brushed a windblown strand of her long chestnut hair back from her face. She was struck again by how gorgeous he was. Even in faded jeans and a simple black T-shirt, he exuded the power and confidence that made him a tycoon.

A tycoon . . . and a Dominant.

“You trusted me today, Maddy, out on the sand.”

She nodded, her tongue feeling swollen in her suddenly dry mouth.

“And it was good.”

She nodded again. She knew what he was going to ask.

“So what do you think? Will you sign the agreement? Will you try?”

Maddy shook, but managed to spit out the word regardless. “Yes. I’ll try.”

Satisfaction and possession washed over Alex’s face as he brushed his knuckles over her cheek. Maddy expected him to pick her up, to take her inside, to demand that she sign the contract right that moment so they could start.

Instead he pressed a hot, wet but short kiss to her lips, a kiss designed to leave her wanting more.

“Hearing that pleases me more than I can say.” He nipped at her lower lip, making Maddy moan.

“Come to me when you’re ready. But if you take longer than a week, I will come for you.”

T
he El Diablo Casino was busier than Maddy had imagined it would be, given that it was early evening and a weekday. She had to circle the lot several times before finding a place to park.

Nervously, she twined her fingers in the strap of her purse as she made her way into the lobby. Though she’d gone home to change clothes before driving there and was now wearing a silk indigo-colored sundress rather than the jeans and sleeveless blouse that she’d had on, she still felt plain amid the women in rhinestones and evening gowns, feathers and sequins, leather and lace.

But she wasn’t there to hang out. She was there to find Alex.

Walking past the bar where he had bought her that ridiculously expensive first drink, Maddy eyed the brass and chrome elevators that could take her up to the penthouse. They wouldn’t do that unless she had the passkey to scan, though.

She was too nervous to call Alex and ask him to come down.

Feeling her heart rate begin to speed up, she took a deep breath, then decided to wander around the casino for a bit, buying some time until she calmed down.

It worked, for a few minutes at least, as she wandered among the slot machines. She wasn’t in the mood to try her hand at blackjack again—she’d been lucky once and didn’t want to tempt fate.

She’d tried her best to keep her eyes away from the balcony on which she’d once seen Alex standing, but after ten minutes, she couldn’t help it anymore. Although she’d come here to see him, she hadn’t been quite ready to find him until now.

She looked up, her heart in her throat.

He wasn’t there.

Disappointment swamped her, though she knew it wasn’t overly rational. Just because he wasn’t standing on the balcony didn’t mean anything. She hadn’t even had the guts to tell him that she was finally coming to him.

She’d go have a glass of wine, relax a bit; then she’d call him. She hurried back across the casino floor to the turnstiles through which she had entered. Against her better judgment, she turned to take one more quick look at the balcony.

Alex still wasn’t there, but someone was. Squinting, Maddy made out a flash of dandelion-soft blond hair disappearing back through the sliding doors.

Someone was up there with him.

Did it mean he had found another woman? He’d said he was monogamous, and she’d believed him, but . . . well, the man must have had women throwing themselves at his feet all the time.

She felt sick. She needed to leave.

“Miss Stone.” The thick Irish accent caught Maddy just before she exited the building entirely. She turned to find Declan standing behind her, a hand to his Bluetooth.

She didn’t answer, just looked at him wide-eyed.

“Mr. Fraser asked me to catch you if I could. He saw you on the cameras. He’ll be down in a moment.” Maddy’s heart did a funny little dance inside her chest.

She wondered briefly what Alex would say to Declan if she decided to leave. And then he was there, striding across the marble lobby, seeming not to notice the stares that his looks and bearing drew.

He nodded at Declan as he approached, and the big man returned the gesture before fading away into the crowd. Then Maddy was alone with Alex for the first time in a week.

“Hey.” Her voice was soft.

“Maddy.”

Her reaction to him was visceral. She wanted so badly to curl up in his arms and to stay there forever. “Alex, I wanted to tell you . . .” She studied him as she tried to work up the nerve to do what she’d come there to do. He looked different. He was wearing his glasses, but she’d seen those on him before. He was dressed far more casually than she’d ever seen him, in jeans that had a hole in one knee and a T-shirt that sported the name of a gym. If it hadn’t been for the casual clothes, Maddy might have thought she’d interrupted his time in the dungeon.

“Am I interrupting something?” There was something here that she wasn’t quite catching.

“I couldn’t let you leave without seeing you.”

She noticed that he blithely sidestepped her question, but she could focus on only one thing at a time at the moment.

“Do you have something to tell me?”

“Here.” Opening her purse, Maddy pulled out a sheath of papers. Fingers trembling, she passed them over.

His eyes searched her face intently before he unfolded the creased sheets. She watched him read, noted the slight flaring of his nostrils when he got to the part that required a signature.

It was signed, Maddy’s name scribbled in her loopy cursive.

“Are you sure?”

She couldn’t quite read his expression, but his words lifted her spirits. She took a deep breath. This was it, the moment of no return. “I’m sure, Alex,” she replied, and a tremor ran through her. “If you still want me.”

Alex’s eyes darkened, and next thing she knew, he had pulled her into the bar where they’d met, behind the counter, and into a small room, the door to which she’d never noticed before.

The room was teensy, furnished with a couch and a desk and not much more.

Maddy opened her mouth to ask what purpose this room served, and instead found herself pressed back against the door, her wrists bound by his fingers, her arms above her head. Pressing her into the hard surface with his hips—and his sudden erection—Alex took her mouth in a wet, hot kiss that left her breathless.

“This is how much I still want you.” Holding her wrists in one hand, he skimmed his other down her body to her hip. Bunching the fabric of her sundress in his other hand, he pulled the skirt of her dress up until his fingers found skin.

“Alex.” Maddy was acutely aware of the busy bar on the other side of the door, which wasn’t a thick slab of wood by any means. If they made too much noise, everyone would be able to hear them.

“Be still, sub.” Shocked by his words, Maddy froze as commanded. He growled with satisfaction, then slid two fingers past the elastic of her bikini panties and inside of her. She had been wet since he’d pressed her against the door.

“You’re going to come for me, Maddy, hard and fast.” He slid his fingers in and out, then crooked them several times in succession. Her vaginal walls clenched him like a fist, the sensation intimate and so, so good.

“Alex—” Her hips began to thrust into his hand as the pleasure built, coiling tightly inside of her. His name was a strangled whisper on her lips.

“Not a sound.” His expression was intent, focused entirely on her, drinking in the nuances of her arousal as if he wanted to remember them forever. “Come, Maddy. Come for me.”

He slipped his fingers from inside of her and rubbed them in a hard circle over her clit. The orgasm was like a bolt of lightning, short and bright and electric. It left her panting, staring at him wide-eyed.

Before she could say a word, he spun her around. “Put your palms flat on the door, above your head.”

Maddy did as he told her, her knees trembling.

“Do not move a muscle.”

“Ahh!” She cried out, loudly, when the exposed skin of her ass was delivered a firm, hard spank.

“Quiet.” Dominance layered his voice. She was shocked, in disbelief that he would do this then and there, of all places.

Another blow, then another. She kept track in her head as the burn spread over her skin, counting ten in all.

“That was for making me wait.” Alex turned Maddy back to face him, kissed her gently on the lips, then buried his face into the long waves of her hair as he smoothed her skirt back down over her hips. She whimpered as he started to pull away.

She liked it. Maddy liked being spanked, since she knew that she richly deserved it.

The taste of pleasure made her greedy, and she wanted more. She wanted him to come while he was deep inside of her, marking her as his own.

“Can I come upstairs with you?” Now that she had him, that things were decided between them, she wanted to lose herself in him in the dark of night.

Slowly, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Maddy. I wish you could. But now isn’t a good time.”

Ice water washed over Maddy like someone had dumped a bucket over her head.

Not a good time. Surely he didn’t have a woman up there with him. Logically, her brain reminded her of the fact that he just didn’t seem like the kind of man who would do that.

But the doubt remained. She had signed his damn agreement. She could see the evidence of his arousal, rock hard and surging out the top of his jeans. She really couldn’t think of a good reason that he didn’t want her in his home, particularly when she could give him the release that his body clearly wanted.

“All right.” She wasn’t going to make a fuss. Trust . . . He kept telling her that trust was what this relationship had to be all about.

Still, it stung.

Looking down at her toes, Maddy smoothed the rumpled skirt of her dress over her hips, waiting for him to open the wooden door and lead her out. She thought they were quiet enough, but still, she was embarrassed to look the bartender in the eye on her own.

Her flushed cheeks and messy hair surely screamed of what they had just been doing.

“Maddy.” Bending, Alex cupped her face in his hands. They were nose to nose, and she had no choice but to look right into his eyes. “It’s nothing sinister. I just have something going on right now that I can’t interrupt. But tomorrow . . . Do you work tomorrow?”

Breathless at his proximity to her, Maddy jerked her head up and down the tiniest bit. “I’m done at nine.” She grimaced internally. She and Joe had moved on from that one strange evening when he and Alex had all but pissed testosterone in front of her, and they had gotten a bit of their old groove back.

A bit . . . but not all. Maddy was pretty sure that what was gone between them was gone for good, and it both made her a little sad
and
made closing shifts with just the two of them slightly awkward.

Alex frowned a little as she tensed at the thought, but didn’t push. Instead he pressed a kiss to her forehead and stepped back.

“I’ll come pick you up tomorrow night at about nine thirty.”

“What should I wear? Where are we going?” Maddy couldn’t help but feel a little giddy.

He smirked as he reached into his pants, adjusting himself so that his erection wasn’t as noticeable. When the hem of his untucked shirt fell over the top, she couldn’t tell at all, though it surely couldn’t be comfortable for him.

“I’ll have your clothing for the evening delivered to your house during the day tomorrow. Make sure you’re ready at nine thirty. Wear nothing that isn’t in the box.” With that, he opened the door to the small room, took her by the hand, and led her out as if nothing intense had just transpired between them.

Maddy trembled with eager anticipation at the thought of the next night.

What was he going to do to her?