Reclaiming His Submissive (2 page)

“
What’s wrong?”
He tugged her inside and closed the door behind them. “Did
something happen while I was gone?”

She shook her head. She needed a
second more to gather her wits. “Things have been hectic.”

“
You work too hard,”
he stated, “and you’ve needed someone to take care of
you. But I’m home now and I plan to not only take care of you
but also pamper you with pleasure. We’re way overdue for a nice
long session.”

“
I—I don’t—”

“
I know, Harper.” He
brushed his thumb along her cheek. “I’m not going to
pounce on you just yet. First I’m going to hand feed you the
way we both enjoy, second we’ll soak together in a warm
relaxing bath and then I’m going to spend the rest of the night
giving my kitten the fucking she deserves.”

Harper swallowed. Under normal
circumstances she would drop to her knees and offer herself for his
pleasure. She loved the look of hard lust clearly shining in his
eyes. She knew from experience his brand of care and comfort would
leave her satisfied and sore for days and she’d love every damn
second of it and likely beg for more when he finished. He knew how to
play to her needs and his perfectly.

When he was present.

“
We—uh—need to
talk,” she started.

“
We definitely do,”
he agreed. “First we eat.” He led her to the formal
dining room where the huge table that could seat at least twenty
loomed in front of her. With the lone place setting at the head of
the table, she easily imagined the scene Alex had planned. Her on his
lap while he offered her bites from each course. Or maybe he’d
strip her first and have her kneel on the floor. She sighed. He
wasn’t making this easy. She loved when he got like this. Very
possessive and loving. He seemed to derive so much pleasure from the
simple acts of feeding or bathing her at times. She’d never
questioned why. He made it too much fun and simply decadent.

As they approached the head of
the table, Harper squeezed her eyes shut at the extravagant place
setting with several covered platters arranged around the single
plate.
You can do this
.
You can do this
.

Yet every step made her heart
beat faster and sweat broke out across her skin. She clenched and
unclenched her hands. Nope. She couldn’t take it. All the words
she’d rehearsed to say to him were fleeing her mind as Harper
ignored the insistent press of Alex’s hand on her back and
whirled to face him.

“
No,” she blurted.

His flinch appeared and
disappeared before she completed a breath. “Excuse me?”
His left eyebrow rose. “No what?”

“
I can’t have dinner
with you. In fact I can’t stay.” Shit. She couldn’t
remember what she’d planned to say.

“
Harper…” His
tone deepened and the immediately compulsion to obey almost unnerved
her.

“
Please don’t, Alex.
I only came here tonight to say good-bye. As hard as this is, it was
the right thing to do it in person.”

“
You came to say good-bye?”
The incredulity in his voice stopped her cold. How could he not have
seen this coming? After their disastrous last scene she’d felt
the end was inevitable. What else could they do? She wasn’t
supposed to fall in love.

Thankfully his arrogance gave her
the strength she sought to continue. “Are you really that
surprised? You were not pleased with how things ended the last time
we were together and we’ve barely spoken since then. And as far
as I’m concerned, your silence at the time spoke volumes.”

“
Stop right there.”
The deep pitch of his command should have halted her tirade in its
tracks, but the pain of the last several weeks fueled her now and
there was no turning back. She’d come here to say good-bye and,
dammit, that is exactly what she intended to do.

“
No I won’t stop. I
have to get this out before I let you talk me out of it.” His
scowl deepened, but she continued. “This isn’t going to
work because it isn’t what I want. I’ve already lived a
life with a man who claimed to love me but refused my needs as a
submissive. So I’m not about to keep living a life with a man
who understands and embraces the submissive but doesn’t love
the woman. I deserve better than that. I deserve an equal emotional
relationship.” Not the exact words she’d planned, but
they’d do. She reached behind her head and underneath her hair
and unclipped the exquisite training collar Alex had bestowed on her
not long after they’d entered into a formal relationship,
contract and all.

With shaky hands and an even
heavier heart, she placed the silver chain on the table in front of
her. Afraid to look him in the eye again, knowing her resolve
crumbled the longer she stayed, Harper walked to the foyer, grabbed
her coat and purse and slipped out the door.

Every second she waited for the
elevator she prayed he wouldn’t come after her. Her only hope
of sticking with her decision relied on him letting her go. When the
familiar ding finally chimed and the door slipped open she began to
let some of the pent-up emotion free. Tears streamed down her cheeks
as she turned and stared at his door one more time. She held her
breath, half hoping. It never opened.

The elevator closed and the quick
descent began.

“
Good-bye, Alex,” she
finally whispered.

Chapter
Two

Alex sat at the head of the table
and stared at the collar sitting in front of the untouched meal he’d
had prepared for their dinner. What the hell had just happened? He
scrubbed his hands over his face several times and refocused on the
gleaming tabletop. The fucking collar was still there. After weeks of
missed dates and out-of-town trips, he’d set everything aside
to put all of his focus on Harper for a long delayed and much needed
scene between submissive and Dominant.

And she’d fucking taken off
his collar with tears running down her cheeks. The stricken, tragic
look on her face had frozen him in place and put every
self-preservation instinct into hyper drive. It was his stupid
reaction that allowed her out of his apartment for even a second. She
was probably halfway to the lobby by now.

Alex shoved his chair back,
lunged for the house phone and pressed the button for his concierge.

“
Yes, Mr. Woodman, how can
I help you this evening?”

“
Ms. Harper is on her way
down. Make sure she doesn’t leave the building before I can
rejoin her,” he barked.

After a slight pause, Charlie
answered. “Yes, sir.”

Alex threw down the phone, rushed
to the elevator and depressed the down button several times,
impatience flooding through him. His normally calm reserve was mostly
gone as he began formulating what he’d say to the woman trying
to walk out on him.

The doors opened, he stepped
inside and waited for the brisk ride down to the lobby. The minute
the doors slid open, he heard Harper’s choked sobs and repeated
pleadings to leave the building.

“
I’m sorry, Ms.
Allison, I have to detain you for a few minutes more. I’m sure
Mr. Woodman has some very important reason for not wanting you to
leave just yet.”

“
You’re damn right
about that,” he muttered under his breath. He stopped directly
behind her and waited.

“
Harper.” To an
outsider, the simple statement of her name would appear calm and
neutral, but to his wayward sub she would detect the underlying
command with automatic precision.

Just as he expected, her
arguments halted and her back straightened. While she didn’t
turn in his direction, he definitely had her full attention. Instead
of crossing the room and grabbing her by the arm like he desperately
wanted to, he waited. The tension in the room increased until nearly
palpable and still he waited for to react. Poor Charlie looked
miserable standing there, his gaze going back and forth between them.

A few seconds later, the doorman
cleared his throat and picked up his hat. “I think it’s
time for my break.”

Alex nodded at him, grateful as
always for the man’s amazing efficiency. He had a knack for
understanding and predicting the needs of the few homeowners his
building housed. That coupled with an amazing ability to blend into
the atmosphere no matter what situation arose made him a very
valuable employee. He’d definitely owe the man a bonus for
tonight.

The second the door closed,
Harper’s shoulders sagged and she turned to face him. “You
need to let me go, Alex. This isn’t going to work anymore. We
both know that.”

If he truly believed she meant
what she said, he’d cross the room, kiss her cheek and make
sure she got home safe. Then he’d arrange for his best friend
Jeremy, and a Dom he trusted more than any other, to check up on her
and make sure she wanted for nothing.

But she wasn’t being
honest. Not with him and certainly not with herself. And he was
bullshitting himself if he really thought he could walk away so
easily. “This isn’t like you to run when things get
difficult.”

“
Sure it is. I run all the
time. That’s what happens when people grow apart. They run.”

“
Then it’s about damn
time you learned to run to me when you’re hurting, not away
from me.”

“
Like you did,” she
fired back.

“
I’m not going to
argue with you while standing in the lobby. We’re going back
upstairs like two rational adults to talk this over.” Except he
didn’t feel even slightly rational. Her rebellion fired his
blood and the idea of fucking it out of her appealed to him more than
it should. In his head he already had her bent over the bench in his
foyer with his dick shoved up her pussy.

Without another word he captured
her wrists behind her back and marched her to the elevator. Together
they rode in silence except for the thundering sound of his heartbeat
rushing blood in his ears.

The door dinged open and he
pushed her toward his apartment. They might have made it inside had
he not heard the rough catch in her throat. That simple sound was
enough to send him over the edge. He pushed her against the wall next
to his front door and ground himself against her ass. There were no
other tenants on this floor so they were unlikely to be interrupted.
Although with the surge of possessive need tearing through him,
someone showing up would not deter him from his goal.

He needed her right fucking now.

The thin fabric of her skirt did
nothing to stop him. He shoved the material out of his way and slid
his fingers underneath the elastic of her panties. The wet heat that
greeted him ripped a groan from his throat as he buried his face in
her thick dark hair.

“
Fuck, kitten. You’re
always so god damned wet for me. How can you walk away from that?”

“
Please, Alex—”
She struggled against his hold.

“
No, don’t say
another word. I can’t take another excuse from you right now.
The fierce heat of your needy cunt is all the truth I need at the
moment.” He reached between their bodies and unfastened his
belt, unzipped his pants and shoved them down his hard thighs. With
her body pinned to the wall, he slammed into her. A cross between a
snarl and a growl hissed from Harper as he gave himself over to the
instinct to simply claim. He drove into her with one thrust after
another. She was his and he wasn’t letting her go without a
fight.

His woman. His submissive.

The snug grasp of her pussy made
it hard for him to think. With each stroke she got wetter and hotter.
His balls were already drawing tight. Fuck she drove him insane. He’d
ached for her when they were apart, but this—this need made him
feel insane. Incoherent words tumbled from her mouth while she bucked
her hips to meet his thrusts.

The image of her collar sitting
on his table tore through his mind every time he fucked into her. She
had to get the message that they weren’t separating like this.
If nothing else she’d understand the primal instinct between a
Dominant and submissive.

The last several weeks had gotten
them out of whack and he strove to rebalance their relationship
tonight.

He slapped her ass, a hard spank
that would leave behind a nice red streak. There’d be time for
more of that later but she needed to remember why they were doing
this. “We don’t need a symbol to know who your Master is,
Harper. But your lack of respect for your collar shocks me. If you
truly don’t want to wear it anymore, you’re going to have
to ask for your release.” He thrust hard, slamming her into the
wall. “Politely.”

“
Yes, M—Master,”
she cried, her words spoken through hard pants. That coupled with the
erotic sucking noises of her slick pussy made his chest puff with
pride. He tightened his grip on her wrists and rolled onto the balls
of his feet to adjust the angle of his thrusts. Her sharp intake of
breath let him know he’d hit the perfect spot he sought.

“
Don’t forget your
rules. No coming without permission,” he warned.

“
Oh please, Alex, I can’t…”
The pleasure sweeping across her face tore at his resolve. In a split
second he withdrew and flipped her forward.