Cherished: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella (23 page)

She stood on suddenly shaky legs. What was he doing? “Will, you can’t handcuff me in front of the bridal party.”

“Oh, but sweetheart, I just did. I think everyone will agree that I can. They’ll agree I can do this, too.” He leaned over and gently shoved his shoulder into her midsection, catching her in a fireman’s hold and easily lifting her.

“You did that very well, Will,” Serena agreed. “And thank you for the flowers. They’re gorgeous. I’ll make sure to perform her duties until she can.”

“Bridget, are you sure this is all right?” Amy asked.

Bridget tried to bring her head up so she could see her sister. It wasn’t easy. She caught a glimpse of Amy’s lovely Jimmy Choos. How did one explain BDSM to a woman who thought marrying a gay guy was the key to her happiness? “It’s only play. He would never hurt me. Embarrass me, but never hurt me.”

Serena took over. “Come on, hon. I’m going to give you some new reading material. Have you really never read your sister’s books?”

“I haven’t had a lot of reading time,” Amy replied.

Story of her life. Everyone had an opinion of her books but very few had read them. “Will, put me down and we’ll talk about this like adults.”

She heard the loud smack before she felt it. Will turned and started for the door. “Nope. We’re going to do this my way. I’m going to talk and you’re going to listen, and if you don’t, I have a very nice ball gag all prepped and prepared back in our room. Good morning, Mrs. Slaten.”

Shit. She twisted her head and saw her mother walking into the room still wearing her big-ass Chanel sunglasses and carrying a Bloody Mary.

“Good morning, young man. Bridget. That skirt makes your backside look smaller. Very nice.” She tottered off toward the tables. That was her mom. Seeing her being carried away in handcuffs and all she could comment about was how her backside didn’t look as hideous as usual.

Will kept moving. “Did you like the flowers? Did they seem at all familiar?”

She was staring at his ungodly gorgeous backside. “Will, I don’t care about the flowers. We need to talk.” But there was something familiar about the flowers. “I think I wrote a scene like that.”

He turned down the hall toward the elevators. “You did indeed. In
Love Wickedly
, the youngest of the Coleman brothers takes flowers to the heroine’s mom and sister to apologize for kidnapping her from Sunday dinner.”

He’d read her book? It had been her first book, and it involved three brothers and one very lucky woman. A woman she admitted had a lot of Bridget in her. “So you thought you would play out a fantasy? You didn’t have to go this far.”

“Oh, but I do.” He stopped at the elevator and pressed the button, paying absolutely no attention to the people around them. “I’m going to prove something to you. There were three brothers in that book. They each had one obvious personality trait. There was the sweet one who took care of her and made sure she had everything she needed. There was the smart one who always knew what to say. And then there was the Dom, and he knew how to give her what she needed in the bedroom. I think my sister is right, and if you put all three of those men together, you get Bridget’s perfect man. Guess what, sweetheart? I’m going to prove to you that I’m that man.”

The elevator doors opened and Will entered. Bridget tried to look up before he turned. She noticed everyone else had decided to take another car.

“Will, you don’t have to prove anything. Seriously, I was wrong to push you.” Serena’s words had gotten to her. It was important that she stopped only thinking about her needs and gave a little back to him. “It’s okay. I don’t want you to leave. God, I’ll be miserable if you leave me. If you want me to sign another contract, I will. I know you need that to feel safe.”

She felt him shift and suddenly her feet were on the floor, his arms balancing her. He stared at her for a moment while the elevator made its progress. “I only need you to feel safe. I had a talk with Frankie last night. You know, he’s not a bad guy and I think your sister knows what she’s getting into. But that talk got me thinking. Then after you went to sleep, I read your book. Only the first one, but I’m going to read them all. I get it. Love isn’t just a word. It’s the most important word but we have to define it for ourselves. We can’t let someone else own what love means to us. I’ve been using a definition straight out of my childhood, but I need to figure out how to define that word as a man, not a boy. Tell me what it means when you say you love me.”

She didn’t even think about prevaricating. She told him exactly what she thought. “It means I’ll never leave you. It means I need you to be happy more than I need to be happy. It means that when I’m with you, I finally feel like myself. It’s like I was always looking for this piece of me and it turns out you had it with you all along.”

He brushed back her hair. “I love you, Bridget.”

Tears threatened again. Damn this man. She’d cried more since she met him than all the years before, but she had to admit it felt good. It felt good to not have to hide. Still, it was hard to understand how he’d gone from not being able to say the word to giving it to her with such conviction.

The door opened and he lifted her up again, this time cradling her in his arms.

“You don’t have to say those words, Will. I’m good. I promise I’m not going to throw another fit and try to kick you out. I’ll sign the contract.”

He made quick work of the distance between the elevator and their suite and settled her on her feet again. He opened the door and then pulled her inside by the cuffs. “You will sign a contract, but not the one you’re thinking of. And you didn’t throw a fit. You were scared. Your dad scared you, but I’m going to take care of that, too. I’m going to protect you and make sure he doesn’t have any power over us again.”

Her eyes widened as she took in the changes he’d made to the living area of their suite. A buffet table had been set up, and Will had laid out a wide array of toys. There was a flogger, a crop, two vibes, a butt plug. Holy shit, was that a violet wand? “What did you do?”

“I renovated. It’s okay. The room is billed to your dad. He’s going to get charged for what I did to the ceiling.”

She looked up. There was now a very sturdy hook and chain attached to the ceiling.

He grinned at her and led her over to the place where the chain dangled. “Don’t worry about it. Taggart and Dean helped me. I assure you they know what they’re doing. And the cuffs were made for bondage so they won’t hurt your wrists.” He looped the chain around her cuffs and she suddenly found herself bound to the hook. “See, that’s perfect.”

“Will, this isn’t a dungeon.” But it felt like one. With her hands bound above her, she felt vulnerable and open to him. Despite her misgivings, her body was definitely heating up in all the right places. “The maids could come in at any time.”

“Nope. I slipped the
Do Not Disturb
sign on the door. We’re all alone and I want you to ask me.”

“Ask you when you went insane?” She was fascinated by the change in him. He was more relaxed than she’d ever seen him, as if he’d come to some inner decision and now he was at peace.

He picked up the crop and slapped it against his hand. He turned and studied her, his eyes predatory. “I went insane the moment I saw you, and I don’t want to go back. Now are you going to be a bratty girl who gets a spanking? Or the sweet sub who gets all the treats?”

It was far hotter in the room than she’d suspected at first. “Will, you can’t make all our problems go away with a flick of the crop.”

She knew she’d made a mistake the minute she saw that tiny shake of his head. And then he moved to the side and she nearly screamed when she felt that crop come down hard on her ass. Once and then again and again until she’d counted five. The pain flared, roaring through her system and then settling down to a pleasant warmth as his hand cupped her curves through the filmy material of her skirt.

“So you want to be the brat?” He moved to her front, setting the crop back down before turning around to face her. He moved into her space, his hands starting at her breasts and skimming their way down to the waistband of her skirt. “That was a little taste of what I have planned for you. Let’s see how you like the crop against your naked skin.”

He eased the skirt down, over her hips and thighs until he pulled it off and she was left standing in her wedge sandals and the embroidered tank top she’d picked out because Will told her it made her breasts look good. She’d known she was dressing for him, hoping to smooth things over this morning. She hadn’t quite planned on things going this way.

The crop came down again on the fleshy part of her ass. She whimpered but had to admit the man knew how to wield a crop. Her body was warming up, her muscles heating and preparing for what would come.

“I can be good.” If he wanted to play, she could play. She still wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but she suspected this wasn’t his revenge on her for trying to throw him out. He wasn’t that man. If he told her he wanted to try, then he wanted to try.

He took her not exactly cheap tank and tore it right down the middle, sending sequins and rhinestones clattering to the floor. His hands went straight for her breasts, thumbs rasping over hardened nipples. “Ask me.”

She couldn’t think about anything but his hands on her body. “Ask you?”

“About love.” He leaned over and licked one nipple. Her whole body started to quiver. “I’ve heard your definition. Now you need to hear mine.”

If he said teamwork, she was going to smile and agree with him. Anything to keep him touching her. Anything to keep him with her. Serena was right. She couldn’t give this man up over the definition of a word. “What do you mean when you say I love you?”

“I mean I want you. I mean I can’t breathe without you. I mean you invade my every thought, and my whole fucking world lights up when you walk into a room.”

Oh, that was better than teamwork. “I want to touch you, Will. I want to hold you.”

He brought his head off her breast and loomed over her. “I want that, too, but only after I make a few things clear. When I say I love you, I mean you’re my safe place, and don’t think I take that lightly. Don’t think it will always be easy sailing. I’m going to start visiting my mother to make an attempt at salvaging some sort of relationship with her. I’d like to save her if I can. I didn’t before. No child can save a parent. They can merely survive, but I’m an adult now and for all she did, I think I would regret not trying. I want you to go with me.”

Yep. She was crying again. “I would love to. I want to help you, babe. I’ll help any way I can.” Her heart swelled at the thought of him reaching out to her and trusting her with something so personal. She wouldn’t let him down. A terrible thought struck her, and she had to hope this newfound openness and forgiveness didn’t go too far. “Please don’t tell me you think I should try to reconcile with my dad.”

He stepped away. “No. What my mother did was selfish, but when I look back, I can see she was never malicious. She got caught in a bad cycle. Your father is simply an atrocious human being. I told you. I’m going to take care of your father. When I say I love you, I mean I’ll protect you. You don’t need walls around me. You don’t need walls anymore because I’ll take care of you. I think I understand what you need now. Tell me, was I right about the characters?”

His voice had gone deep again, his hands on her body. He stroked her as he waited for a reply.

She sighed as his fingers skimmed down her belly and over her pussy. There was no way to hide it. From the moment he’d touched her, she’d been wet and ready for him. She’d never responded to a man like that before and she knew she never would again. Will was hers. And he was right. “I took what I wanted in my dream man and made him into three brothers. It’s only a fantasy, Will. I fear what real ménage would be like with all the laundry and three men demanding I listen to their work stories. Hopefully they all have jobs. Then they would probably fight over the TV and I would never get to watch
The Bachelor
.”

He reached up and gave her nipple a nice twist. “Stay with me, sweetheart. So let me get this straight. Your dream man is thoughtful.”

Like he’d been thoughtful. She couldn’t help but smile at him. “Yes. He’s thoughtful. He’s the kind of man who gently maneuvers me into relaxing more.”

His hand was on her pussy, lightly playing, making her crazy. “So you caught that. Well, I’ll have to be sneakier next time. Bridget, I promise to always think of you, to put your needs before mine.”

He stepped away.

“Hey, already breaking your promise here,” she complained. “Because I am definitely feeling needy.”

He was standing at the table, and when he turned back, he held a set of nipple clamps in his hands. “I fully intend to take care of all your needs, to make you understand that you don’t need three men. The only one you need is right here.”

He dropped to his knees and sucked her nipple into his mouth, tonguing her and making her writhe. He wasn’t playing around. It seemed he meant business. He nipped at her breast, and when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, he leaned back and slipped the clamp on.

“Oh, god.” The alligator clamp bit into her flesh, sending the sensation through her system.

He went to work on the opposite breast, preparing it. When both nipples were well clamped, a thin chain running between them, he stood and admired his work. He played lightly with the chain, sending delicious heat through her body. “Don’t you look pretty like this? So the middle brother is the smart one. He’s the one who always knows what to say. He’s the clever one who would think up inventive ways to make the heroine go crazy.”

The clamps were already doing that for her. They were making her restless, and somehow those damn things seemed to have a direct line to her pussy. “You don’t need to do this. I know you’re smart. You’re the smartest man I know.”

He was back at his mad buffet of torture implements, selecting one of the larger plugs. “Oh, sweetheart, I have been very stupid when it comes to you.” He took his time, lubing up the really big plug from its rounded tip down to right above the flared base that would help ensure that sucker stayed where he put it. “I haven’t always said the right things but I’m going to start.” He turned and faced her, plug in hand. “I love you, Bridget.”