Busted (15 page)

A tremor moved through him as he wrapped his arms around her
waist and lifted her off the ground. “Don’t say that if you don’t mean it,
‘cause I don’t think I could stand it.”

She brushed his hair off his forehead and looked into his
eyes a long time before she asked, “How do you feel about me?”

He buried his face in her neck as she wrapped her legs
around his waist. “I love you so goddamn much it’s killin’ me.” He swirled his
tongue around the scented skin covering her collarbone and felt her grind
against his abdomen. “But I don’t wanna see you get hurt, baby. I don’t want people
talkin’ about you behind your back, just ‘cause…”

She threaded her hands through his hair and tipped his head
back, forcing him to look at her. “Listen to me. I don’t give a shit what
anybody says or thinks. I love you. I want to be with you. If anyone in this
goddamn town has a problem with that, they can take it up with me, and I can
promise you, I won’t back down.”

He grinned as he felt the boulder of despair he’d carried around
for months finally land with a thud at his feet. The woman he loved was back in
his arms, professing her love, and no matter what he had to do to keep her
there, he would. “I may be the most selfish bastard alive, but I don’t care. I
can’t live without you. I don’t even wanna try anymore.”

She slid her legs down, letting her feet touch the ground.
“Will you do something for me?”

“Sure, baby,” he said, framing her face with his hands.
“I’ll do anything for you. All you have to do is ask.”

“Show me your playroom.”

Just when he thought his cock couldn’t get any harder, it
did. “Sweetheart, we don’t have to…”

“I want to… have a
play date
with you.”

He groaned as his head fell forward. He wasn’t going to last
thirty seconds if she kept teasing him this way. “Don’t do this to me.”

“What’s wrong? Don’t you want to?”

He was shocked when he raised his head and found her looking
so uncertain. “How can you even ask me that?” He kissed her, partially because
he wanted to reassure her, but mostly because he was dying to taste her again.
“I want you more than I’ve ever wanted another woman in my life. You turn me
inside out.”

“Um…” She ran a hand up his chest. “How would this work?”
She bit her lip, looking adorably innocent. “I mean, would the rules apply only
in the bedroom, or would you expect me to submit to you everywhere, all the
time?”

He chuckled. “Baby, you don’t have to
submit
to me at
all. If you want to, I’m not gonna deny that it would get me hotter than hell,
but just bein’ with you is more than enough to turn me on.”

“I want to,” she said, looking up at him through her lashes.
“I really wanna try this. I just don’t want to disappoint you.”

His gut clenched and he realized he’d never even known what
love was until this second, with this woman. “You could never disappoint me,
Charlene. You are more, so much more, than I ever thought I’d find in a woman.”

“You mean that?”

“Sweetheart, you’re gorgeous, smart, sexy. You turn me on
and make me laugh. You’re amazing with kids, most importantly my daughter, and
I know you’re gonna be an incredible mama to our babies someday.”

She smiled. “You really mean that?”

“Of course I do.” He placed a tender kiss on her lips as he
cupped her face in his hand. “These past months, you’ve become my best friend,
Charlene. That brief time I spent with you in your classroom every afternoon
was the highlight of my day. I’d fall asleep thinkin’ about you and wake up
thinkin’ about you. And it wasn’t just the sex that made me want more, it was
everything about you. I knew you were the woman I’ve waited for my whole life,
so whether you choose to engage in a little sex play or not, that doesn’t matter
to me. What matters is that I make you happy. Not just today or tomorrow, but
forever.”

She fanned her face with her hand and laughed through her
tears. “Stop it! I’m gonna be a sobbing mess any minute now.”

He kissed away her tears and smiled. “I love you, don’t ever
forget that. I love you. We’re gonna have an incredible life together.”

“I know we will.”

Charlene felt the knot of tension in her stomach pull
tighter when Cole pushed the heavy wooden door open and ushered her inside of
his play room. She’d read about rooms like this in her steamy novels, but she
never expected to stand in the middle of one.

“Feel free to take a look around,” he said, placing a hand
on the small of her back.

A strange looking bed dominated the center of the dark room.
It had steel bars and shackles and it looked like more of a torture device than
a bed. “How did you… I mean… when did you decide to do all this?”

He chuckled. “When I moved in here, I hired a designer from
Texas to help me make a few changes. She asked me what I wanted… my fantasy. This
was it.”

“Oh, wow.” She spun around, looking at the shelves of sex
toys. “That must have been an awkward conversation.”

“Not really. We were dating at the time. She knew what I was
into.”

Charlene tried to tamp down the jealousy of knowing he’d
entertained other women here. Of course he had. A man didn’t have a room like
this unless he intended to indulge his fantasies often.

“If you’re thinking she helped me test out the equipment…”
His hot breath fanned her neck as he gripped her waist from behind and pressed
her back into his throbbing erection. “She didn’t. We’d already broken up long
before this stuff arrived. We stayed friends. She finished the project, but
that’s it.”

She couldn’t help but ask, “Are you still friends?”

“No. It wasn’t that kind of relationship. She was someone
meant to be in my life for a short time.” He kissed her neck, making her smile.
“You’re meant to be in my life for the duration, baby. Don’t ever doubt that.”

“Was she, um…” She bit her lip, questioning whether delving
too deeply into his past was wise. She already felt out of her element and she
feared comparing herself to his other lovers may make her feel worse. “Into
this kind of stuff, too?”

“She was.” He skimmed his hand over her bare ribs, cupping
her breasts beneath the red lace fabric of her bra. “But that’s the only thing
we had in common. Turns out it wasn’t enough to keep us together. I knew I
needed more. I’d already settled for less when I married Cassidy’s mother. I
didn’t want to make the same mistake again.”

She turned into his arms and forced herself to look up into
his eyes, to face her fears. “What if a month or year from now, you feel that way
about me? I don’t know if I’m going to be any good at this, or if I’m even
going to like it. I don’t want to disappoint you, but I can’t pretend to enjoy
something I don’t just to make you happy.”

He brushed the pad of his thumb over her lower lip, slowly,
hypnotically. “I promise sex with me will never become boring or routine, but I
don’t need toys or play to get off, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He
reached for a long string of shiny steel balls and ran the cool steel over the
swell of her breast. “These are instruments of pleasure, not torture,
sweetheart. We’ll use them when and if you’re ready.”

“What if I’m never ready? Will you be disappointed?”

He relieved her anxiety when a wide grin split his face.
“Honey, having you in my bed every night, sharing my life, helping me raise my
daughter… hell, just the thought of watchin’ TV or sharin’ a meal with you gets
me excited. I want it all. The mundane as well as the excitin’. That’s what
makes a relationship last. I know that now.” He waved a hand, gesturing to the
room. “All this is just stuff. It can be a part of our relationship, if we want
it to be. If not, that’s okay, too.”

Charlene glanced at the heavy brass lock on the door. “How
do you keep Cassidy out of here? I mean, isn’t she curious?”

“She thinks it’s a storage room. I told her I keep some
things in here that can be dangerous if they fell into the wrong hands. She
knows this room is off limits, and she’s fine with that.”

“What about when she gets older? What happens if she sneaks
in here one day, and…” Charlene blushed just thinking about it.

“I keep the key on me at all times, and there’s no way
anyone’s breachin’ that lock. It’s safe, trust me.” He dipped his head to kiss
her bare shoulder. “You’ll always be safe with me, sweetheart. I can promise
you that.”

When curiosity and arousal finally subdued her doubt, she
reached for the button on her pants. “I want you.”

His eyes darkened as he reached for the door, closing and
locking it. “I want to watch you take your clothes off.”

She watched him watching her and seeing what she did to him
gave her the confidence to put on an erotic show. She eased the fabric over her
hips and pulled off the pants. Standing before him in a red lace bra, matching
thong, and high-heeled black leather boots, she stared at him an endless minute
before she whispered, “I’m waiting…
sir
.”

His nostrils flared and he fisted his hands at his side. “We
need a safe word. If there’s anything you’re uncomfortable with, you use it,
and we stop right away. No questions asked.”

“Stars.”

His full mouth turned up at the corners. “Stars?”

“That night, out in your driveway, I remember looking up and
the sky was blanketed with stars. I remember thinking, my dream, my fantasy was
coming true. For the first time in my life, that night, in your arms, I felt
free to be myself. I didn’t think about what anyone else would say or think.
You allowed me to take something I wanted, and it felt incredible.”

“God, I love you so much,” he whispered, his eyes raking over
her, conveying his love with one heated look. “I want to give you everything
you’ve ever wanted… and so much more.”

For the first time, Cole began to question whether he could
really go through this. Being a Dom required a certain amount of self-control
he wasn’t sure he possessed with Charlene. She made him feel weak and wild at
the same time, as though he could snap and take her like a savage beast or drop
to his knees and beg her not to leave him.

He had always enjoyed the sexual role-play before because he
was a dominant man by nature. He liked to be in control, but he never took his
fetish outside of the bedroom, not even during his marriage. His wife was her
own person, and she had her own life, one that didn’t involve him. Perhaps that
was the problem. They’d grown so far apart by the time she made the decision to
get behind the wheel of that car. He realized now what she wanted. What she
always wanted was the very thing he found with Charlene. He felt a twinge of
guilt knowing he may have been the one thing standing between her and the
happiness she craved.

Cole closed his eyes, trying to shut out the past. It had no
place in this room, not when everything he’d ever wanted was right here, right
now, begging him to love her with everything he had, silently pleading with him
to be the man she needed him to be. He only hoped he would never let
her
down.

“Are you okay?” she whispered. “You’re not having second
thoughts about this, are you?”

His chest tightened, and he realized this is what love felt
like. That uncontrollable urge to put someone else’s needs above your own
because their happiness made your own pale in comparison. “Everything is
right,” he whispered, staring at her. “So right.”

She smiled at his reassurance. “I’m glad.” She looked over
her shoulder, glancing at the bed. “Do you want me over there?”

Cole smiled at her innocence. He loved that about her. He’d
never asked her how many lovers she had before him; he didn’t need to know. The
only thing that mattered to him was that he would be her last. “Lie down on the
bed,” he said, moving in on her until she was forced to step back as he
advanced. He watched her lie down and shimmy up the big bed to the center.
“Take your bra off.”

Without hesitation, she did as he asked, tossing the
lingerie to the floor. He tore the thin strings binding her panties and her
sharp intake of breath belied her surprise. 

He pressed his finger to her lips. “Shhh.” She was naked,
except for the boots, which he intended to keep on. She looked hotter than
hell, and he knew pleasuring her before surrendering to his body’s demands
would take every ounce of self-control he possessed.

She looked at the bar hanging above her head, but said
nothing as she waited for his direction.

“This relationship is about trust, baby,” he said, quietly,
reaching for her hands. “In and out of this room. If you trust me with your
body, you’ll ultimately trust me with your heart, and we both know that’s an
even bigger risk.”

“I already trust you with my heart,” she said quietly.

He was stunned when his eyes started to burn. No woman had
ever stripped down his defenses like this. He crawled over her, staring down at
her, and he knew the ferocity of his love and fear must be obvious in his eyes.
“You may think I’m in control, but you
own
me.” He had never given a
woman the power to hurt him before, but he knew if he expected her to trust him
completely, he had to be willing to do the same. “Whether you realize it or
not, you could destroy me. You almost did. I need you, and I’m not gonna lie,
that scares the hell out of me.”

A tear slipped down her face and she reached up to stroke
his stubbled cheek with trembling fingers. “When I thought you walked out of my
life today… that I’d never see you or your little girl again… it almost killed me.”
She smiled. “I love her too, you know. So much.”

He stole her breath with a deep kiss. The fact that she’d
included his daughter in the sentiment only made him love her more, because it
proved to him how well she came to know him the past few months. She knew his
daughter was his heart, and without her at the center of his world, nothing
else made sense.