Perfect Alignment (24 page)

“I was scared. And annoyed with myself.”

His gut clenched but he allowed nothing to show. “Tell me.”

“I— My Dad bought my tickets for Christmas. I’ll be going out there for two weeks.” She swallowed hard. “Michael…my brother, his birthday is…was, the twenty-eighth. So going home can be hard.” Her gaze darted away. “And I know I’m going to miss you. A lot. But I don’t know how you’re going to react to that. So I got irritated. With myself, mostly.” She forced her eyes back to his and he could clearly see the annoyance—mostly at herself, he thought, but some for him—as well as the hurt.

“I shouldn’t have acted out like that, and I’m sorry.”

As her lover who was trying to convince them both that they had no long-term future, he wanted to roll to her side, throw his arm over his eyes and retreat from the total intimacy of the position he’d put them in. It wasn’t that he wanted to run, avoid the issue. Just lessen the intensity that the direct eye contact gave. Well, maybe it was all of the above.

As her Dom, there was no question of his doing that. To pull back so suddenly would harm her, and that wasn’t an option.

He wasn’t entirely sure of the motivations of his next move. Reward for her honest answer, distraction from the question at hand, or just because it made him feel better. He slid into her in one long move, then held still. It sure as hell did make him feel better. Emma’s eyes rolled back a bit before returning to meet his gaze. Some of the fear dissipated, the heat that was already there flaring up.

The links holding her cuffs to the bed rattled as she pulled against their restraint, but her hands were no longer fists fighting for freedom. Instead they were reaching, fighting to touch him, to pull him closer. He moved his hips, settled in a little deeper. She gasped and he drew in her breath. She moaned and he felt the vibration throughout his whole body.

“You know that it’s your responsibility as much as it is mine to communicate when there’s a problem.”

Her eyes got wet and she blinked rapidly. “I know. I just reacted. I guess I wanted you to…I don’t know, prove that you wanted me.”

“Even if you were misbehaving.”

“Yeah. I’ve never done that before.”

“Neither of us has been in this situation before.” He should have said relationship.

“Yeah,” she repeated.

He kissed her and began to move.

Emma managed to hold back the tears until he kissed her. With the gentle invasion of his tongue, she felt the slow trickle escape from her eyes. She yanked her arms again, wanting to touch him. Stupid, she’d been so stupid to act out. She’d never considered herself a brat, but she’d sure proven otherwise tonight. Of course, now she could see why some subs liked to act that way. He’d reacted, just as she’d unconsciously hoped he would. By dominating her, proving he would fight her. Own her.

She was dangerously close to climaxing, but didn’t want to break the kiss to ask for permission to come. Taking as deep a breath as she could, she forced her body to relax some, trying to stave off the inevitable. He rubbed against her clit and it was all she could do to hold on. Letting a whimper escape was the only plea she could make. It worked. He lifted his head and ordered her to come.

The shock wave blasted through her body, but it was as much emotional as it was physical. If her little fit of temper hadn’t done the job, this did. She could no longer deny that she was falling totally and completely in love with this man. He commanded her body and was fast coming to own her heart. Later, she’d summon the energy to let that scare her.

When he rolled off her, she immediately missed the weight of him, though she was grateful that he quickly released her restraints. She wrapped her arms around him, kissed him hard. He let her, let her wrap her tongue around his, let her hold him so tightly she felt her fingernails dig into his skin. His hands ran lightly up and down her back. Soothingly. It took her a minute to realize she was still crying. When she did, she broke the kiss, leaned her forehead against his.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“No need to be sorry for honest reactions.” He slid one finger down the trail of moisture on her face. He returned his lips to hers, continued to soothe her with every part of himself. Finally she took a deep breath and pulled back again.

He smiled, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her nose. “Go take a shower.”

She blinked. It was definitely an order, not a suggestion. Not sure what to think, she decided that actually she wasn’t ready to think. Which he’d probably known. He eased the plug out of her ass and pushed her toward the bathroom.

The hot water pounded her shoulders, obliterating the slight ache. Part of her wanted to laze in there for an hour, but she allowed herself only a few minutes before beginning her normal bathing routine. It didn’t take long before everything that needed to be washed was washed, and everything that needed to be shaved was shaved. When she got out, she found a glass of water waiting for her on the counter. No ice, just the way she liked it. Doms sure did hate it when you got dehydrated.

When she went downstairs, he’d turned on the football game. She sat next to him and didn’t mind when he prodded her until she was lying along the couch, her head on his thigh.

His hand brushed her hair back from her face. He handed her netbook to her, knowing she liked to check her email while watching the game. Before she turned it on he squeezed her shoulder.

“When you get back from California, I’ll take you to meet my parents.”

Her breath stuttered to a stop.

“Then we’ll talk about where our relationship is going.”

She waited to see if he would say anything else, but he was quiet. “All right. I’m not sure what one has to do with the other.”

“That’s the way I need it to be.”

That didn’t exactly strike her as fair, but she figured she’d pushed him far enough tonight, and the fact that he’d agreed to have the conversation was a good thing. Probably. Besides, she was worn out and didn’t think she could handle any more emotions right now, so she settled back against the couch and let her body relax.

“Okay, Drew.”

His thigh relaxed under her head and they watched the game. Neither of their teams was playing, so she wasn’t that into it, and found her eyes closing by the end of the first quarter. She only woke when he picked her up and carried her to bed.

****

Three days later Emma paced nervously in her apartment. Taryn had insisted they go play pool with her and her guys, something they used to do somewhat regularly, but hadn’t had a chance to do since she’d hooked up with Drew. She’d told Drew she was going, then extended the invitation cautiously, making it clear, she hoped, that she wouldn’t be upset if he declined.

However, he’d agreed to join them and even said he’d spend the night at her apartment if she wanted, or go home that night if she preferred. He knew having sex with her roommates at home sort of freaked her out, and she appreciated that he was considerate of that. She definitely wanted him to spend the night, because she hadn’t seen him since her stupid bratty episode and she wanted to make sure he was okay. Plus, with finals about to start, she wasn’t sure how much she’d be able to see him before she left for California.

So it had all seemed like a good plan, but now she was nervous with the thought of actually introducing him to Caleb, Richard and Taryn. Of behaving like a couple together in public. She didn’t want to screw it up, do something to annoy him. She just had to be careful not to act annoyed with him instead of herself.

The distinctly male clomp of boots on the stairs outside her apartment had her opening the front door as Drew reached the top.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” he answered, moving directly into her with the kind of full-body kiss that always set her on fire.

“Mmmmm.”

His lips smiled against hers and he pulled back, swiped her bottom lip with his thumb. “You look delicious.”

He hadn’t really seen her in a going out outfit since the night in her hotel. A disadvantage of not actually going out on dates that hadn’t even occurred to her. He hadn’t had many chances to see her at her best. Then again, he clearly liked what he had seen, which was her in every state other than her best, from bedhead to riverbank sex messy. Still, she’d enjoyed putting on her tightest jeans, her favorite boots and a sexy green top that clung to her curves and showed off more than a little bit of cleavage. Her usual pool hall outfit.

“Thanks, you look pretty hot yourself.”

And he did. His jeans were a little bit nicer than she’d seen before and he had on a long-sleeve shirt in a burnt orange color. The shirt had three buttons at the top, all left undone, and molded itself faithfully to his torso.

She glanced at her watch, disappointed to see that an extra half hour of time hadn’t magically appeared. The apartment was empty right now, and they could…no. She grabbed her jacket and walked out with him.

Drew enjoyed watching the interchanges between the married group. He didn’t spend a lot of time with couples, let alone long-term committed couples. The genuine affection he found between them wasn’t what he expected. He didn’t know if that meant he had low expectations of relationships or if this group was happier than most.

Richard offered to sit the first game out, pitting Drew and Emma against Taryn and Caleb. Worrying he might embarrass himself and Emma, Drew was pleased to find that while the others were better, especially the girls, with a couple of lucky shots he was able to hold up his end of the team. And while Emma teased her friends and him good-naturedly, it was obvious she wasn’t really all that competitive. If he’d sucked, he didn’t think she would have minded much.

Richard appeared to have taken it upon himself to distract his spouses from the game. He casually bumped against them, palmed their butts, blew in their ears. When Drew was lining up a shot and saw Richard sidle closer, he braced himself to be included in the activities.

“Ricky,” Caleb said sternly.

The other man stopped. Drew looked up to see Caleb pointing at a chair. Richard laughed and went to sit, though Drew was fairly sure that was because the waitress had just brought a tray of food and drinks to the table. Even without whatever distraction Richard had planned for him, Drew missed the shot. Emma popped a quick kiss on his cheek in sympathy, then focused her attention on Taryn’s turn.

Drew moved to take a seat next to Richard.

“I’m going to need to practice,” he said, dropping into the chair.

Richard slanted him a look, handed him a mug of beer. “I guess you will, if you’re sticking around.”

The affable flirt from before was gone.

Drew just raised his eyebrows at the doctor. “I’m here right now. She’ll be leaving in six months. Who knows what will happen in that time?” It was what he’d been telling himself for the last few days, since Emma’s confession about her fears.

Richard frowned at that. “That’s pretty limiting, isn’t it, to plan on an end from the beginning?”

Drew blinked. “How much have you had to drink?”

Richard scowled, then smiled when Taryn came by to do a little victory shimmy and grab a mug of beer.

Emma lined up a shot, conveniently aligning her cleavage with his gaze. He enjoyed the view while Richard sighed.

“I’m just saying. We love Emma, we don’t want to see her hurt.”

“Emma’s perfectly capable of looking out for herself.”

“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve friends that are willing to do it for her.”

“True enough.” Drew held up his beer, saluting the other man.

Richard let loose an unexpected bark of laughter. Drew followed his gaze and could only see Taryn and Caleb standing closely together while Emma made another shot.

“What?”

“Taryn’s annoyed at the idiots behind her. She’s not much of a people person.”

Drew watched, could see the college boys at the table behind her were a little bit rowdy, but nothing major.

Richard leaned in closer. “See how she’s got her hand tucked into Caleb’s pocket? That’s to keep herself from turning around and saying something to them.”

He looked and did see Taryn’s fingers curled into Caleb’s pocket, the knuckles visibly white even from this distance.

“How can she not be a people person? Doesn’t she run a coffee shop?”

“Sure, but those people pay her for the privilege of coming into her shop. And she can kick them out whenever she wants.”

Drew laughed, watched as Caleb slung an arm around his wife’s shoulders and slowly worked her toward the other end of the table. Emma missed her shot and Caleb pushed Taryn toward the food before turning to examine the pool table.

When she reached them, Taryn took a long drink from her beer, Emma close on her heels for her own drink.

“Ugh, people are so annoying.”

“Who? What?” Emma asked.

“Those Neanderthals over there.” Taryn waived vaguely over her shoulder. “Bragging to each other about the chicks they’ve been nailing and whatnot. Reminds me why I hate people. Too many of them are idiots.”

Emma laughed, picked up a nacho and shoved it in Taryn’s face. “You like people, you’re just cranky. Do you need food, or have these boys been failing in their duty to keep you satisfied?”

Drew choked on the beer he’d just swallowed. Richard kindly thumped his back.

“I’m just saying,” Emma continued, “a happy boss makes for happy employees.”

Caleb joined them, wrapping an arm around Taryn’s waist. “What are you guys talking about?”

The girls burst into laughter. Drew rolled his eyes and went to take his turn. He made a ball in and Emma cheered for him. He just missed the next one and passed the table on to Taryn.

Taking back his seat and his beer, he kept his expression clear as Richard eyed him, waiting for a reaction. Drew just stretched his legs out, crossed his ankles, and watched the action. Caleb, he noticed, kept his body between Taryn and the college boys, and he wondered if that was to distract her or keep her from coming to the boys’ attention. He supposed it was both.

“Anyway,” Richard said. “She likes you.”