Monroe, Marla - Their Reluctant Submissive [Knights in Black Leather 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (17 page)

“Making her climax until she passes out is usually a good thing, but you know she was ready to go home. She might take it as a ploy to keep her here longer.”

“Aw, hell.” Marx ran a hand over his face. “Should I wake her up so she can get ready?”

“Better let her rest up until she wakes up on her own.” Jackson grinned. “Look on the bright side. It couldn’t hurt our chances of getting her to fall for us when you can give her coma-inducing orgasms.”

Marx didn’t look very convinced of that. His brother finished drying off without taking his eyes off of their woman.

“I’m going to go dress in something clean. Watch her for me, Jackson. Don’t leave her alone like this.”

“Don’t worry, Marx. I’ll be here. Bring me a change of clothes while you’re at it.”

He watched his brother stride out of the room with determination written all over his face. Marx had finally made up his mind that he wasn’t letting Kelly get away from them.

Good. She’s just what he needs to come to grips with how he feels about himself. If anyone can break through that damn prison he keeps his heart in, she can.

When Marx had buried away a piece of himself to keep his temper in line, he hadn’t realized it was his heart he was holding away from everyone. He hadn’t been able to connect with anyone they had been with on a deeper level because, without his heart engaged, a bond wouldn’t form. Now, finally, it looked as if Kelly had found a way to reach his brother’s heart despite it being locked away in the name of safety. It was a dangerous situation with her not wanting to commit to them. If she ended up refusing them, it could be the final straw that broke his brother.

He watched the gentle rise and fall of her chest. To have his brother back and the woman they both loved in their life, it was worth the risk. He would do everything in his power to make it work out. He hadn’t felt complete until they had first set eyes on her. Something had clicked when he noticed her shelving books in Steve’s store that day. The fact that Marx had even spoken to her proved to him that she was the one for them.

Convincing her was going to take patience and time. He prayed they had the time available to them to win her trust, and with it, her heart.

Marx walked back in with his clothes. Jackson rescued them before his brother dropped them on the wet floor. He needed to mop up the water before someone slipped. Taking the towels off the bed where Marx had thrown them, Jackson used them to dry the area then tossed them in the bathroom.

“Has she opened her eyes at all?” Marx asked.

Jackson pulled on the clean jeans. “Not yet. I doubt she will for at least an hour.”

Marx sighed and eased one hip on the bed next to her. “I don’t want her to wake up alone. I’ll sit with her.”

“Good idea.” He pulled on his shirt but left the buttons undone. “I’m going to work in the office until she wakes up. Help her dress and don’t push her to stay any longer. It will just make her angry.”

“I know you’re right, but I hate the thought of her going back to that shit hole.”

“Me, too, but we have to take it slow. If we push her, she’ll take it as manipulation and taking over her life. She fears that for some reason. Her independence is sacred to her. We have to work with that.”

Jackson sighed. He hoped Marx was listening to him. God knew he could be possessive and controlling, but Marx was by far worse. It would take monumental effort for his brother to back off. Maybe leaving him alone with her wasn’t a smart idea. He started to walk around the bed to sit and wait on her to wake up with him.

“Go, Jackson. I’ll behave. You need to get your paperwork done so we can concentrate on her as much as possible.”

Jackson took one last look at Kelly’s sleeping form and left her under the watchful eye of his brother. It took him quite awhile to settle down enough to get any actual work done. His mind kept flipping back and forth between conversations with Kelly, trying to figure out what had happened to make her close herself off. She had been trying to deny a part of herself that played an important role in who she was. It didn’t make sense to him.

The only thing he could come up with was that a Dom had somehow tried to turn her into a pet when she didn’t truly have those tendencies. Pets, for the most part, submitted more than a submissive and more even than a slave. They turned over their very will to their Masters. Some pets didn’t even feed themselves much less dress themselves. Many pets lived mostly in cages or “gilded rooms” and were rarely taken anywhere in public because of the level of need for their Masters they had. Few people would be able to handle being around such a dynamic without wanting to call the police.

While he didn’t judge what others wanted or enjoyed, he knew it wasn’t something he would ever enjoy. Just as the responsibility for taking care of a slave relationship wasn’t one he wanted. The responsibility for a pet was even more intense.

Jackson worked for nearly an hour when a soft knock on the office door had him looking up. Standing in the doorway was the object of all of his desires and the one who held his heart. Kelly smiled at him and walked in when he smiled back.

“Did you have a nice nap, kitten?”

She actually gave a small pout before grinning. “Marx should be considered off-limits when I have plans.”

Jackson burst out laughing. She thrilled him to his soul.

“I don’t think it’s that funny.” She plopped down in one of the chairs across from his desk and threw her legs over the arm.

“I’m sorry. You looked so cute with that lip poked out like it was.”

“It was not!” She glowered at him.

“Did you fuss at Marx for giving you wonderful orgasms?”

She sighed. “No. I just told him to go away while I got dressed because I couldn’t trust being alone with him.”

Jackson froze.
Fuck
. What if something so innocent triggered Marx’s fears of hurting her? He swallowed and dropped his pen on the desk.

“Where is he now?”

“He was putting my overnight case in the truck. I just came to tell you bye. He is going to take me home.”

Jackson got up and walked around the desk to pull her out of the chair. She let him draw her into his arms without argument. They’d managed to make progress over the weekend. He was relieved.

“I’m going to miss you. Hope you have a good work week. Stay away from all the other men in town.” He wagged his finger in front of her to keep the little order lite.

She smiled and grabbed his finger with her mouth. Instead of biting down on it though, she sucked it, running her tongue all around it. He groaned and felt the answering tug of her mouth in his groin.

“That wasn’t very nice, Kelly.”

“Just making sure you think about me.”

“I can’t stop thinking about you, kitten. You’re in my soul.”

“I better go before Marx gets tired of waiting on me and disappears with my clothes.”

“Take care.” He hugged her tightly then let her go and stepped back. If he didn’t move away from her, he would never let her leave.

She smiled and walked out of the office. A few seconds later, he heard the distant snap of a door closing. It took all his strength not to go to the window and watch as the truck disappeared down the drive. It was going to be a long damn week.

* * * *

Kelly watched the scenery fly by as Marx drove her home. It was beautiful out in the country where they lived. Having lived most all of her life in Dallas, she wasn’t used to the wide-open country around Perkins City. She had thought she would miss the skyscrapers and activity of the big city, but she could honestly say that she didn’t. She wasn’t a big shopper, so missing out on crowded stores and busy sidewalks and all the bumper-to-bumper traffic wasn’t phasing her one bit.

Since she had spent so little time around other people that last year, she wasn’t even missing any special friends. Here, she could say she had friends. They were new, but so far everyone here had been friendly and welcoming. She glanced over at Marx. If she worked it right, she might even be able to have the play-time she needed without the control issues she’d left behind in Dallas.

Marx looked over at her and gave her that sort of smile he had. She knew he didn’t want her to go back, but it was her home. She had things the way she wanted them, and if she decided to change them tomorrow, she could do it. No one would tell her what time to go to bed or what time to get up. She could leave her bed unmade if she wanted. Being able to dictate her own life settled her inside.

“You’re thinking about something awful hard over there.”

“Just going over what I need to do when I get home. I’ve got a busy week ahead of me with all of the custom-design work on order. I was thinking about maybe building a Web site for the store and my designs, but I need to talk to Steve about it. If it actually accidently took off, I’m not sure I could keep up.”

Marx nodded. He looked serious as if he were thinking about that. She wondered what he really thought about her work.

“You know, Anna does a lot of stuff on the computer. She helped Jackson set our site up so that we could take bids on some of our bulls. We ended up with four that we needed to sell and didn’t have the time to take all four of them to auction that year. You might want to talk to her about it.”

Kelly looked at Marx a little closer. He really seemed to be serious about helping her. He had to know that would take more of her time. Did he actually approve of her job? That went a long way in helping her think about being a submissive for them long-term. If they weren’t pressuring her to quit her job, she thought she could be happy with the arrangement. Her one concern had been that Marx wouldn’t be flexible.

“That’s a wonderful idea! Thanks, Marx. I can’t wait to talk to her about it.”

“Just remember that you still have to eat and sleep sometime. You can’t let it consume you or you’ll end up sick.”

“I won’t.”

She thought about it and knew that he was right. She did have a tendency to put her whole self into a project. Wasn’t that what happened with becoming a submissive in the first place?

They pulled into the parking lot in front of her apartment. Marx got out, and Kelly waited on him to walk around and help her out. She appreciated being treated like a lady. Now that she didn’t feel so much like they were trying to take over, she could accept it for what it was—their being gentlemen.

Marx carried her bag to the door for her and waited while she unlocked the door. He followed her inside and left the overnight bag on the floor next to her bedroom door. She thought about offering him a cup of coffee for bringing her back to town but decided that it would be pushing things with them. They had a tendency to get distracted, and she knew that wouldn’t be a good idea right now.

“Everything looks okay. Make sure you lock the door after I leave, kitten.” He walked back across the room.

“Thanks for bringing me back.” She felt awkward all of a sudden, almost as if it was a first date or something.

Marx took her hand and pulled her toward him. He leaned down and brushed her lips with his before dragging his tongue across them. When he took a nip of her lower lip, she groaned, believing she was in trouble, but he pulled back and kissed her forehead before opening the door and walking out.

“Lock the door, Kelly.” He used his Dom voice.

She nodded, and as soon as she closed the door, she set the locks and sighed. It took all her control to keep from peeking out the window to watch him leave. Instead, she made herself go unpack her bag and get ready for the next day.

The good thing about working more in the back than out front in the store was that she got to dress a little more casual. Instead of nice blouses, she tended to wear T-shirts since working with metals and such often led to excessive dirt and dust on her tops. She’d tried to work with an apron to keep her clothes clean for when she had to help in the store, but she couldn’t stand the way aprons bulked up while she was hunched over the table working. The material got in her way.

She needed to wash a load of clothes before bedtime. That mean going to the little building in the center of the small apartment complex. She hated that part of living there. The building was dirty, and she always had to clean the washing machine and dryer before she could use them. Half of them didn’t even work most of the time.

Kelly gathered her clothes and washing supplies, carrying them in a basket to make it easier. She reached the building and found it empty for a change. Relieved not to have to deal with punks with attitude, she quickly cleaned the washing machine and prayed it would work when she entered her money in the slot.

Luck was with her, and the machine started right up. She repeated the process with a dryer and then settled in with a book while she waited. She’d learned the hard way not to leave her clothes unattended. She’d lost a load of towels that way. At least it hadn’t been clothes. They would have been more expensive to replace.

Fifteen minutes later, a young woman hurried in carrying a laundry bag and wearing a backpack. She skidded to a stop when she saw Kelly sitting on one of the folding tables. Her green eyes were wide with worry. She had on ragged shorts, a T-shirt that not only didn’t fit but had holes all over it, and shoes with soles that looked about to come off.