Natalie Acres (3 page)

Her pussy tingled as she remembered the last time she and the sightseer had spoken. Only a few sentences had been exchanged, but what they hadn’t spoken in words had more than been swapped in heated glances and body language.

Jason hooked his arm around her neck and worked harder for his release. He delivered sharp blows, damning strikes against that one-of-a-kind special spot. Only she wasn’t thinking about Jason now. She was imagining the stranger pulsing inside her, stroking her toward an explosive finish.

The sightseer had a gruff, masculine voice, a throaty rasp in his tone. And those eyes of his looked like melted chocolate with a dash of honey.
Hmm
. He was fine with a capital
F
.

“Look at me,” Jason demanded, grabbing her chin and forcing her away from her daydreams.

Kimberly threw her weight forward and grabbed hold of his shoulders, determined to lose herself in an imagined moment. She would not let Jason strip her of this building pleasure.

“I said watch me, sub!” he screamed.

She shook her head as her orgasm spun through her body. Her nipples spiked as the excitement of fantasizing about another took hold and left her bucking against the body fucking her.

“Oh! Oh!” She clamped down on her bottom lip, determined to bite back any further hint of complete satisfaction. Squeezing her eyes closed, she pictured the stranger while recalling another fellow, too. He was a man she’d seen at several clubs, a hunk of a man who had once shown her considerable interest as well.

Her pussy clenched with excitement. Her mind nearly went into spasms as she imagined two men, a couple of real handsome Doms, fucking her like crazy.

Why now? Why, when she’d been introduced to countless dominant men, was she only beginning to imagine the pleasure she might one day find in another?

Jason pumped his heavy cock between her saturated folds, muttering his disappointment when she wouldn’t comply. Then, as if he had come to terms with what was happening between them, he placed his hand over her eyes and fucked her like a heartless savage, pounding inside her and yelling out for submissiveness as he came.

Spent at last, he collapsed. His ragged breath fell against her chest in bits as the last of his desire pulsed in the tip of his condom.

“You were…”

“Save it, Jason. We both know what this was,” she said, rolling him away from her body. Grabbing her overnight bag, she marched to the bathroom, bypassing the cage where she’d once been kept during the early days of their relationship.

“You’ll be punished for that,” he muttered, trying to catch his breath and clear his throat at the same time.

She peered over her shoulder and with all the confidence she could manage, she said, “I doubt it. I’ll never receive punishment delivered by your hand again.”

She closed the bathroom door behind her and as she started the shower, she felt that sense of empowerment, the inner strength she’d longed to recapture. She had finally come to terms with what she’d known for a good while.

Her life was her own. Her relationship with Jason was over.

Now, it was time to walk out of there. She was finally ready to face the world as a new woman, as an entitled, capable, single woman who could tackle any obstacle and come out on top.

She’d endured the best and worst of challenges with Jason. Thanks to him, she’d been at rock bottom. Now it was time to climb out of the gutter and prove to herself she was worthy of more than what Jason had offered.

He’d once called her a diamond in the rough. Maybe someone else would see her differently. Maybe another man would view her as a flawless precious gem.

She wouldn’t know unless she tried. And she couldn’t try unless she left Jason behind.

* * * *

An hour later she emerged from the bathroom, freshly showered and ready to head over to the club. Since her relationship with Jason had sparked and fizzled more times than a dozen flames dancing around an open pit fire, Kimberly typically dreaded the trek home.

She lived at Clink, and while she’d once viewed her home’s location as a perk, she’d quickly discovered the downside of residing above the place where her sister and best friend worked as well. They often arrived early and stayed late. An overnight stay at Jason’s was rarely missed and always condemned.

Grabbing her purse and keys, she ignored the piercing gaze following her around the room. Instead, she nervously secured her bags on her shoulder and marched to the door.

“So this is good-bye?”

She stopped in her tracks. Clearing her throat, she decided to weather the storm and greet the thunder. Slowly, she turned.

“Well?”

“Yes, Jason. This is good-bye.”

He tossed his head back and laughed. “You honestly believe that. Don’t you, kitten?”

“Don’t call me pet names.”

“You didn’t seem to mind an hour ago.”

“An hour ago I was using you.” She met him halfway across the room. “You know how it works, Jason. You take a woman out for dinner and dancing, and afterward, you expect her to come back here and repay your kindness with a quick fuck, maybe even an overnight stay. If nothing else, a blow job on the way home.”

He sneered. “I don’t expect anything from a mere date, Kimberly. Give me some credit.”

She shrugged. “This time last year, I was out of the country. You tried your best to lure me back to the States. When Ansley thought we were through, she told me everything. She told me how you brought one willing sub or—”

“Slaves,” Jason corrected her. “They were women who wanted to be my slaves.”

“How lucky for you,” Kimberly said, not at all bothered by his confession. She longed to tell him then how she’d kept her deepest and darkest desires from him.

He had always wanted her to be his sex slave. She had refused him because she knew him so well. He would’ve taken advantage of his position. He would’ve demanded sole ownership of her mind, body, and spirit, and the outcome would’ve remained the same.

His upper jaw twitched. His eyes misted over. A different Jason emerged, one who looked as if he finally understood what she was trying to say. Better still, he may have believed her.

His expression softened and he waved his hand in the air. “None of that matters now, baby. None of those women meant anything.”

“Oh?”

“Trust me, no,” he said.

“And why is that, Jason?”

He flinched. The first-name basis definitely grated on his nerves.

Pushing splayed fingers through his long hair, he grunted.

“Can’t come up with a reason?” Kimberly clucked. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

She twirled her keys and headed for the door once more.

“Because they weren’t you,” he muttered.

“What was that?” she asked, realizing she was definitely playing with fire now.

Jason stalked her. Backing her against his bedroom door, he slapped his palm against the wood and stared into her eyes. “Because they weren’t you, damn it. That’s why it doesn’t matter now. It’s why those flings didn’t mean a thing then. The only person I wanted then is the only person I want now—you.”

Kimberly’s face felt numb. She detected the seriousness in his voice, but more than anything else, she saw sincerity in his entire expression and that very well could’ve been a first for Jason.

“Am I too late?” Jason asked, cupping her cheek. “Am I, baby?”

“Yes, Jason,” she replied, closing her fist around the leather strap at her shoulder. “You were too late when you made a pass at my sister. You were too late when you began drinking so much you couldn’t even stay awake at night to insure another passing-out episode wouldn’t happen again. You’ve been late from the word
go
. In fact, sometimes you didn’t even bother to show up at all.”

Jason moistened his lips and dipped his head. “Prove you can’t forgive me.”

She knew what he meant then and she was willing to meet the challenge. He wanted a kiss good-bye. In the past, she hadn’t been able to make it this far without an abundance of freefalling tears. And their history would show that she’d never been able to kiss him good-bye.

Instead of postponing the inevitable kiss and her final departure, she reached up and cupped his cheek as well. Leaning forward, she took the initiative and drew him into a kiss.

Jason thrust his tongue inside her mouth and tried his best to light that spark of passion. A few seconds later, he pushed away from her, his eyes moist, his jaw set.

They shared a strained moment of silence. Finally, he stuffed his hands in his pockets. His obvious effort was in vain. The front bulge in his boxer shorts was detectable and only further drove home a valid point she needed to remember.

Their relationship had always been sex driven and lust inspired. Love didn’t exist between them. What she’d mistakenly thought of as love had been a Dominant’s idea of sadistic control, perhaps even revenge. He, after all, harbored a true hatred for Cartwells and McKays.

“What do you think you’ll do now, kid?” he asked, calling her the pet name he’d given her when she had been barely legal and nothing more than his friend.

The kid reference was a deliberate slam, a slur he had once used with common frequency. The occasional public spats always ended with at least one kid comment.

Kimberly felt a smile tug at her lips. “Oh I don’t know
old man
, but I’ll figure it out. I’m free to do that now.”

“Okay, so tell me again. What did you say there at the end? Describe how Jason looked. Was he stunned?” Ansley swung her legs as she sat atop the bar. She scooped a handful of peanuts into her mouth. “Don’t hold back. Give us the grunge.”

“I bet he cried,” Tristan teased, walking behind the bar and pinching Ansley’s ass in passing.

Whenever Kimberly saw Tristan, she was reminded that positive outcomes existed. Sometimes love could conquer all. Tristan and Ansley, along with her three other fellows, had overcome hardships and their relationship had survived. They’d developed a love no one could shatter or destroy.

“Stop pestering me, Tristan,” she whined, slapping him away. “I’m trying to get the deets here. You’re interrupting girl talk.”

Patience waggled her brows. “I thought Ansley gave you the lowdown on girl talk, Tristan.”

Ansley’s man looked bewildered. “I don’t recall that discussion.”

“I bet not,” Kimberly said, taking a sip of cola. “You only remember what transpires under the covers deep in the midnight hour.”

“‘Deep’ being the choice word there,” Ansley said, waggling her tongue.

Patience shook her head. “You never cease to surprise me.”

“That makes two of us,” Tristan said, shooting Ansley a wink before he left them.

“Don’t you ever get tired of him lurking over your shoulder?” Kimberly asked, fond of her brother-in-law but deviling Ansley all the same.

“Are you jealous?”

“She is
very
envious. Who wouldn’t be?”

“Patience, you have two fellows of your own so don’t start,” Ansley warned her. “Speaking of which, where are Mark and Spencer this week?”

About that time, one of their bartenders and bouncers appeared on the other side of the bar. “They must’ve fallen in a hole somewhere. I’ve been trying to call them for a few days.”

“A hole?” Ansley fluttered her eyelashes. “Really?”

“Ansley, don’t start,” Kimberly warned her.

Patience ignored her. “Baron, don’t feel like you’re all alone in the doghouse. I’ve been trying to reach them for two days. That new road manager of theirs is either running interference or they’re the busiest band on the planet right now.”

“When you talk to them, tell them misery loves company and the two of us together could be dangerously miserable.”

“I’ll tell them,” she said, giggling like a schoolgirl.

When Baron disappeared, Kimberly glanced at Ansley and they both turned sharp glares to Patience.

“That sounded like a loaded forward pass,” Kimberly said.

“Something we should know?” Ansley asked.

“No,” Patience replied, sticking a straw between her lips and blowing bubbles in her orange juice.

“Oh, for pity’s sake,” Ansley said, grabbing the straw and tossing it to a napkin. “Are you five now?”

“She’s depressed.”

“You’re telling me?” Ansley rolled her eyes. “You could cut the angst in here with a switchblade knife.”

“A switchblade now,” Patience pointed out. “Not any old knife would do.”

“Don’t play this off,” Ansley said. “Why haven’t you talked to your boys?”

“They’re busy. And they’re men, Ansley. Grown men who can take care of themselves.”

“Grown men who are on tour with thousands of groupies following their band.”

Patience hopped off her barstool. “I’m not listening to this today.”

“I don’t blame you,” Kimberly said, relieved Ansley possessed a somewhat limiting one-track mind.