Dom Fever (Devlin Black #2) (6 page)

I pushed the button on my steering wheel. “Call Branson.”

Ringing filled the interior, followed by a baby crying. “Hey,” he answered, sounding out of breath.

“You sound busy.”

The crying turned louder. “I convinced Jill to go to the movies with the girls. She hasn’t been out of the house since she’s had Charity and I thought the break would do her good. Now, I can’t get the baby to stop crying. I’ve damn near tried everything.”

“You need me to stop by? I was on my way to meet Justine, but I don’t mind. I really wanted to see Charity anyway.”

“Eh.” Branson breathed out heavily. “I think I’ve got it. You’ve missed enough dates. So, what’s up?”

My concerns didn’t seem so important anymore. “Just had a question. I don’t want to bother though. You get back to your baby.”

“No, it’s okay. Here, I’ll put you on speakerphone while I walk her around.” I heard the difference in sound and a thud. “Okay, now what did you need to ask?”

Damn, it didn’t feel like the right time. “
Victoria has her friend over. The lawyer guy. He brought over some papers and is trying to convince her to take our case to the courts. She’s already made it clear to me that she wasn’t going to do it, but he seems to be pushing. What do you think child support for two of my kids would come to?”

Branson got quiet and I heard him messing with something. The baby
had gotten quiet and I waited. His laughter had my eyebrows drawing in.

“Damn.” He laughed again. “I don’t know what you make a month or year, Devlin, but I went ahead and put in some phony number that I’m sure doesn’t even touch the truth.”

“What number?”

“Let’s just say a few million a year. I know you make way more than
just
a few. Child support for that kind of money is more than I make in a year. And we’re talking on a monthly basis. Victoria would almost rake in a million per year. Now imagine how much you really make and compare.”

My eyes grew wide. “Well
, that could be a reason. Not that I would mind giving her child support, but I can take care of her and the kids on my own. Him, though. Is he looking at getting paid a big chunk by being her lawyer, or does he want the mother of my children for himself? I’m guessing the latter.”

“I doubt the
guy is stupid. And if he does want to be with her, the money is probably all too tempting.”

I turned on the road that led me to my penthouse. “Not going to happen. Tonight will be the last time he gets around her. I’ll make sure of it. If she decides to take that route, I want it to be on her own. No lawyer is going to be trying to persuade her for his own greed.”

“Just keep your cool. If you go bossing her around, and we both know how you are, you’re going to make things worse.”

A frown came to my face as I pulled into the front of my building. “I’ll take care of
Victoria. I won’t jeopardize what we have going on. I happen to like all of us under one roof. Ava would be happiest that way. That’s the most important thing.”

“You keep looking at it like that and stay in control of yourself.”

“Will do. I’m here for my date. I’ll call you tomorrow. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to give me a ring. I’ll come over and help.”

He laughed. “Thanks
, man. Have fun.”

I hung up, turning off t
he car and climbing out. A brunette walked from the building, this one causing me to slow as I approached her. She looked different than in her video. The waves that reached down under her smaller breasts blended in with the black dress she wore. It clung to her curves like it was painted on, leaving little to imagine. My body surprisingly responded. The smile on her face was big as she stopped just short of a foot away.

“You look amazing, Mr. Black.” The tone of her voice was on the softer side, but seductive. She had that purr Victoria
held and I fought over whether I should go upstairs to grab more clothes to take back to my new house. I wasn’t sure I should have her in my place alone. Not when I had all of my toys up there and my jealousy for Victoria was so fresh.

“W
ere we going out…or did you have other plans?” The invitation was left open and I stepped back, raking my eyes down her body. I was hard, but emotionally, this felt so wrong. Damn Victoria for not wanting to be with me. I was single and I needed to get that through my head. Albeit, a single father, now, but still open to see whoever I wanted. But sex, I’d taken that off the market when I started this. I had to stick to my own rules. No more slipping.

“Out. But first I have to run upstairs and grab some things.” The ultimate test.

The lobby was practically empty as we walked through. I hit the button for the elevator and tried not to look at her. Clothes, then we were out of there. That was all.

We stepped in
to the elevator car and I hit the button for my floor. Silence wasn’t going to work. I needed to at least talk to her. How was I going to get to know her if I didn’t engage in a conversation?

“How long have you been in the BDSM lifestyle?”
Wrong question!
Not when we were going so close to temptation.

The elevator door opened and I walked forward
, punching in the code to my own. As I held it open and she walked in, she turned to face me. “Five years.” The seduction was on full force while she continued backward. Into the darkness. Into what I knew. I hit the switch, flooding the room with light as fast as I could.

“Nice.
Good amount of time to learn the ropes.” Ropes…God. I swallowed, pointing. “Go ahead and take a seat on the couch. It won’t take me long.”

The city skyline was glowing in the distance, each building lit up
. I’d missed the view, but not more than I missed my new home.
Home.
Fuck, what was I doing?

My shoes pounded against the wooden floor as I headed for my room. The closet held all my goodies and that was exactly the place I needed to go. I flipped on the light, my crop, flogger, and whip in clear view. Every one of the screamed Victoria’s name and I shut myself off from them, grabbing a few suits
instead. My main office was closer to her house than mine. I’d have to go in to oversee some deals next week and it’d be easier getting ready there than coming all the way back here.

I turned and slowed as Justine walked forward, her dress gone. I came face to face with the same outfit I saw on almost every woman I’d taken to bed. Black panties. Black bra. Black stockings. But those curves…

The sway of her hips as she walked toward me had me almost tempted to drop the suits to the floor.

“Did I tell you to undress?” The Dom in me flared to life. More from anger at myself than anything.

“No, Sir. You’re free to punish me, if that’s what you wish.”

God dammit.

She came to kneel at my feet and my eyes closed. I tossed the suits to the bed and reached down to her arm, snatching
her to her feet. Her lips separated while she waited. For what, I was well aware. This one was skilled. Trained. She was a sub in every sense of the word. The real me could feel it; craved to unleash what I’d been holding back now for so long.

“Sir.”

I let go, taking a step back. “I can’t do this. I…have a daughter. And another on the way.”

Confusion had her shaking her head. “I thought you wanted children, but didn’t have any
.”

“I just found out. I’m sorry. You can get dressed and go.”

She looked down, her eyes narrowing before she lifted back up to face me. “I don’t mind if you already have kids. It doesn’t change what I’m looking for. I mean, if you still want to continue with this. I want a real Dom and you’re it. I’d like him as my husband. And kids, I wouldn’t mind having, but I’m in no rush. If it happens, it happens.”

Perfect answer. Too perfect.

Chapter 6

Victoria
 

“Victoria?”

I stirred, flipping over toward the voice. The one that called to me, deep within.

“Kitten.”

Mm, there it was. That was the name I liked to hear. I smiled, reaching my hand forward, content to stay
in the dark. My fingertips pressed into something solid and I pulled. It felt
too
real. Jeans. A belt. My eyes fluttered open and I blinked, trying to make myself focus. I quickly jerked my hand back.

“Devlin?” His black shirt was unbuttoned and his hair was a mes
s, sticking out in odd angles. I pushed up to a sitting position and reached over, flipping on the lamp so I could see better. “What are you doing?” The clock read almost two in the morning. Had he just gotten in?

“I want to sleep with you.”

“What?” My voice was louder than I intended and I shook my head, quieting myself.

He ran his fingers through his hair
, only to rub them over his mouth. “I wasn’t going to come in here, but I can’t sleep and I thought maybe…”

“Maybe what?” It was a stupid question. I knew exactly what he wanted and I’d be damned if I didn’t want it too.

“Use me like you did last time,” he said, stepping forward. “I know you don’t want to be together as a couple, but you like what we share. Let me Dom you.” 

A moan almost escaped
, despite the fact that I wanted to throw my pillow at him for even trying to tempt me.

“We are not going to start that. Not living together. Besides, didn’t you go on a date? What was wrong with her?”
The question hurt. I didn’t want to know, yet I couldn’t have him discovering how much it bothered me. If anything, I had to appear supportive.

He looked down. “Absolutely nothing
was wrong with her. If I had to pick one, she’d probably be it.” A small sound came from his mouth as he turned his back to me, only to wheel around. “I could have had her. Almost…” There was so much going on with him that I couldn’t read, but my reaction to his words were automatic.

“Get out.” I did grab the pillow then. “I am not your whore to fuck while you continue to shop for a wife. Those wom
en deserve better than that, Devlin.” I sent it flying right at him, but he easily deflected it.

“Don’t you think I know that
?” he snapped. “God, I do, Victoria. The thing is, I can’t fucking let myself want a future with any of them when I still want you. I want you. Do you hear me?
You
,” he exploded. “Even after the shit you pulled.”

The shirt he wore was ripped off, exposing his tattoos. My fingers had traced and explored each one. So had my tongue.
I’d been fascinated with his ink and he’d actually let me take the time to touch every curve, every line. I hadn’t expected it after his no touch policy at the beginning, but my request hadn’t been denied.

“You’re going to take off that shirt and get on your knees.” He pulled at his belt, unfastening it. As he jerked the button free and the zipper open, I had to pull myself together. That tone…it was dropped, exactly where I craved
to hear it. It left me wet, ready to kneel at his feet and obey his every command.

“No.”

“I know you want me. Knees, Victoria.”

“Out, Devlin.” My voice was growing shaky. Weak. My toes pushed down on the mattress, ready to shift my weight so I could rise.

Again, the hand through his
hair. “No. I don’t want to leave. And I know you don’t want me to.”

“
I won’t fuck you while you continue your search and I won’t be the cause of you stopping it. You won’t find what you’re looking for here, so you might as well stop trying. Just leave.”

His jaw tightened and he pulled the belt free of the jeans. My heart explode
d as I watched it dangle from his hand. The look in his eyes accompanied with his toy of choice was like a dream come to reality. I rose to my knees, ready to dart off the bed.

“
No one tells me what to do. Not even you, kitten. Let me tell
you
what’s going to happen.” He stepped closer. “I’m calling off this ad and I’m going to put everything I have into fixing the mess you have in your head. If it takes years to get you to trust me, so be it. But I’m not going anywhere.”

“
I will not agree to this.” My arousal was quickly fading. To have sex with him was one thing, but for him to actually call it quits and invest everything in me? I’d fall even more in love with him. And he’d destroy it. He’d break my heart like before, but so much worse. He said he had changed, but had he? It appeared so, but I just wasn’t sure.

He dove toward me and I
was barely able to turn before his body covered mine. My shirt was pulled over my head and the belt wrapped around my wrists. He spun me to the top of bed, securing me into place while I fought.

“Dammit, Devlin. You’re making a mistake. You’ll be ruining everything for yourself if you
stop this search.”

“I’
ve been self-destructing now for years. If that’s the case here, at least I’ll be doing it while honoring the only woman I’ve ever loved.”

Everything within me stopped. My breathing. My heart. Time.
All of it ceased to exist as I stared up at him.

“I think I’ve always loved you, Victoria. That first night, we made enough memories to last me a lifetime. They would have
, if I hadn’t found you again. But I did, and I’m sorry, I may be stupid concerning some things, but not enough to let this pass me by. You were more than enough by yourself, but now there’s Ava, who, like you, stole my heart immediately. And,” his hand came to rest on my stomach, “now we’re having another baby. Tell me that’s not fate. We’re meant for each other. You
have
to see that.”

Pain etched his fea
tures as his hand rubbed over the flatness. “Be with me, kitten. Love me too and I promise you, there’s nothing I won’t do to make you happy. Let’s be a family. A real one. Give me this gift and I will invest every ounce of love I’m capable of right into the three people who mean more to me than anything else in the world.”

Even in my dreams, Devlin never
professed his love. Maybe I had blocked it out, too afraid to even let myself go there. But here he was, giving me something that I wasn’t anywhere near prepared for.

“Don’t think past what you feel in your heart.” The touch of his fingertips moved further down until they were where they’d been at the hospital. My legs moved as my mind begged for him to
go lower. “Tell me you’re willing to try to be a family with me.”

What if he hurt me? What if he didn’t?

“You’re going to cheat on me.” My biggest fear came tumbling out and with it, he smiled.

“If I had the smallest doubt, I wouldn’t even be in this room. You’re it for me, Victoria. Only you. Now, say yes. Say we’ll be a real family.”

God, I wanted it. In my heart I did.

He
moved down to the lining of my panties and my eyes shut. Why shouldn’t I be happy? At least try to be. How would it feel to be able to kiss him whenever I wanted? To have him sleep in my bed? I’d longed for him for so long that it hurt to even think about it. Fear and all rational thought subsided at the distraction of his fingers. The questions faded and my love for him won. “Yes.” I opened my lids, staring him right in the eyes. “We can be a family. But if you hurt me…if you hurt Ava by screwing this up…”

“Never.” He lowere
d, his lips brushing into mine, an almost nonexistent touch. “I see what I have. Nothing and no one is going to come in the way of me making this work. But I want to be honest with you.”

When he lifted, my stomach
plummeted at his expression. Whatever he was about to confess was going to be big. I knew it, and there was nothing I could do to prepare myself. Not when I didn’t know what it concerned.

“What?” My hands pulled at the belt, my mind already in run-mode.

His touch eased down my cheek until one of his fingers made a path over my lower lip. “I want you to be the one who signs my contract. Not now. Maybe not six months from now. But before our new baby is born, I want us to be married and I don’t want you able to ever leave me.”

Hadn’t I laughed at that part? Thought it absurd?

“I can’t do that.”

“You say that
now because you don’t believe what I’m telling you. I
will
earn your trust. You’ll see there’s nothing to worry about.”

I laughed sarcastically. “Some men cheat on
their wives after they’ve been married for fifty years. You can’t tell me you’re psychic. I have every right to file for divorce if that’s the case.”

He looked down, licking his lips. “What if I add that part
in? You’re not able to leave me unless I’m unfaithful. Will you sign it then? Would you sign it now?”

Wasn’t that my biggest fear? Cheating?
Him going back to the way he used to be? If I knew he’d stay faithful, I would have embraced what we shared with open arms a long time ago. Nothing else worried me with him. But…

“If you added in the cheating part
and
the drinking part, I might consider it. A few drinks here and there or at dinner are fine, but if you’re stumbling around the house wasted every night, I pull the plug. Ava and the new baby will not be exposed to that or put in danger because of an alcoholic father.”

“Done.”
His lips pushed into mine again. “A million times, done.”

I met his tongue as it surged in my mouth. The contract. The worries. It all disappeared as his taste intoxicated me.
I pulled at the belt, trying to get closer. His hand cupped around my chin, the tips of his fingers pushing into my cheek with just the right amount of force.

“This mouth belongs to me from this night on.” His other
hand cupped my breast, squeezing against the sensitivity, causing me to cry out. “Mine,” he said, moving lower. “And this,” he fitted his hand over my panties, pushing a finger down to tease my entrance. “Forever mine. Just like you. I want it all. Every single part. Your mind. Your body. But most of all, your heart.”

My head shook as we kept eye contact. “You’ve always had that, Devlin. I just protected it. Even from you.”

“Not anymore. I’m the protector. You keep your walls up all you want, but I
will
break them down. And when I do, you’re going to be happier than you could ever imagine. That’s what I want for you. To see you thrive as a mother, and as my wife.”

He eased the panties off and kissed me again.
I wanted to believe his words. Ached to embrace them and see where this led, but my instincts told me to stay reserved. To take this one day at a time and keep my guard up.

“Spread your legs wide for me.” Devlin stood, letting his pants drop to the floor. His cock
was so thick and long that my legs scissored in anticipation.

“I think I gave you an order.” He grabbed the hairbrush from my nightstand and rubbed the oval back against his palm, slapping it down so he could test the effect.

“Wider.”

Stinging flared on my outer thigh and I sucked in, only then obeying.

“Do you know how long or how many time I’ve dreamed of this?” The brush came down, this time on my inner thigh. The strike was softer, but it didn’t feel any gentler. “To have you submit to me and be there the next morning? I never thought I’d see the day. And it killed me.”

“I…” My throat felt thick with emotion. I was torn. To imagine having a happy life with Devlin as my husband didn’t seem real. It was a dream so big it was hard for me accept
. But if he could prove my insecurities wrong, if there was the smallest chance, how could I pass that up? He seemed genuine. As though he truly did love me. But how would I know it would last? Time? That was dangerous.

“You, what?”

The bed shifted as he moved between my legs. I moaned as his fingers began to trace down my pussy. At his lips kissing my bent knee, I battled with my mind.

Whack!
“Answer the question.”

I gasped at the brush connecting again. “I hope this is what you really want. Forever, like you said.”

“Oh, kitten.” He leaned forward, the weight of his cock resting on my stomach as his tongue licked across my lips. “I won’t break your heart.”

“And if you do
?”

I could tell he wanted to argue. He looked so damn sure he wouldn’t and
I warmed at his confidence.

“If I break your heart, you can do whatever you want to me. Hurt me in the way that will please you the most.”

I blinked rapidly, surprised he’d even go that far. “Fine. You remember this moment right here. Because if you do, I’m the one in control of what happens.”

His lips separated and I could instantly tell he regretted giving me that much power.
Maybe his threat hadn’t registered in his head fast enough, but now the outcome was mine, and that made me stronger. More confident in what we were about to go into.