Requested Surrender (39 page)

“You’re welcome. It’s a shame you won’t be able to enjoy it though.”

“No?”

“Kind of hard to do that when you’re staying at my place.”

“I guess I’ll just have to enjoy your things.”

“Speaking of my things.” He whispered his next words right in her ear, “Although there were certain benefits to be gained from your snooping though my private things, there will be consequences. Do you want to know what they are?”

“Yes.”

God, she was warm and she smelled like strawberries. Sweet and all his. “I’m going to take you home now and strip you naked. You remember the restraints? The leather ones on your little bed that I locked you in, after we got back from the resort?”

He heard her breath catch in her throat when she shivered. “Yes.”

“I’m going to move them to our bed. I’m going to make you stretch out across the width of it and then I’m going to put two pillows under your hips so your curvy little ass is perfectly positioned. Then I’m going use the paddle. Frowning face side up. After each stroke—there’s going to be ten—”

“Ten?” She gasped.

“Fifteen—”

She gasped again.

“Twenty.” He waited. She was smart this time to keep her shock to herself. “And after each one you’re going to kiss the wood and thank me for loving you enough to correct you.”

Lacy was in the midst of, appropriately enough, being fit-to-be-tied when all her aggravation over his highhandedness with the paddle-count melted. She pressed her cheek right up against the steady and familiar beat of his heart, and whispered, “You love me?”

“From the moment I saw you sitting in the rain.”

“What about Elaina?”

“You were right about her and those letters. I’ve dealt with all that. They’ll be no more ghosts between us from now on.”

She closed her eyes and sighed. “David.”

“You didn’t let me finish telling you about your punishment.”

She snuggled against him. Reveling in the feel of his strong fingers in her hair as he massaged her scalp. “I’m sorry.”

His hand stopped rubbing and then he tugged in that really good way that she loved. The action got her focused and turned on.

“After I’ve finished the count, I’m going to order you to get up. To come to our chair where I’ll be sitting with my legs spread, waiting for your talented mouth to ease down over my cock. Watching as you wrap your lips around it. I want to hear you sigh. I want to know that my cock is the only thing you need to make you feel perfect in that moment. Because when you’re on your knees and burying me deep inside you, surrendering and hugging the length of me in all that hot, wet velvet, you are perfect. My bratty little angel.”

Lacy’s heart raced and she fought to catch her breath. If he didn’t have hold of her, she’d probably need to sit down. “I love you, David, and even if you hadn’t requested it, I would have given it…my surrender.”

“Good to know.” He kissed her forehead and rubbed his jaw against her temple whispering, “Let’s go home.”

Lacy didn’t let go. She crushed herself into him, hugging him tighter than tight as she whispered back, “I already am.”

Epilogue

Six months later. The evening of the art auction.

“Are you serious? That’s not me.”

David just stared at Ethan as Ted said, “It’s you, all right. I can tell by the chin, and if that pointy fucker wasn’t enough, check out the counter. Those are kale chips on that plate.”

Ethan bent and examined the painting. “No, that could be anything on the plate,” he denied. Although his voice didn’t sound very convincing this time.

“Look at the cuff links,” David prompted.

E did and then snapped up straight. “I’m going to strangle her. I don’t look like that, do I?”

David turned to Ted who was laughing, and said, “Before you bust your gut there, old man, you may want to have a look at this.” He moved the second Aquabond painting out from under the burlap and set it on a nearby easel.

E saw it and smiled. “Oh yeah. I don’t know what you’re laughing at, Basel. Take a gander.”

“Jesus H. That’s Jo and…” He tilted his head and pursed his lips before he sighed. “She did look pretty hot that night in the cat-suit.”

David looked at E, who rolled his eyes. But then Ted turned on them.

“I think I’m going to have to agree with E on this one. Only I’ll be doing the strangling.”

David scowled at the two of them. “I don’t think so. I think what you’ll be doing instead is opening your over-stuffed wallets and writing a big fat check for your new artwork.”

Ethan hiked a brow at him. “So that’s how this is going to go, eh?”

David nodded. “I want big numbers. Lace is looking to fund the local animal rescue for a few years, so don’t be stingy.”

Ted whistled long and low before he clapped his hands together. “Nice. Let the trip to the poor house begin.”

David was glad they were on board. He told them to go out front and that he’d catch up with them after the auction. Right now he had to wait for Lacy to arrive.

He didn’t have long to wait, five minutes later she rushed in. God she looked great. So together. A far cry from when he first met her.

“Hey. You made it.” She gave him one of her tight little hugs and then looked to the side. “What are my frog pictures doing here?”

“We have interested buyers.”

“We can’t auction those…hey, we do?”

“Yeah. No worries. It’s a blind auction. The bids are placed without anyone knowing what they’re buying underneath the burlap.” He pulled her over to the heavy drapes that separated the backstage from the front of the auditorium. “Our buyers have the advantage, as I’ve already showed them. See those two big guys leaning against the wall?”

She squinted and then turned to look at him. Wide eyed and priceless. “You didn’t.”

“What?”

“Did you blackmail Ethan and Ted to come and buy those pictures?”

He grinned and let go of the drape. “I sure did, and don’t be surprised if they bet against each other for them, driving the bids up.”

“David!”

“It’s for a good cause.”

She let him draw her back into his arms as she murmured, “At least you didn’t bring the third one, actually the forth. That second one I painted of you and me is pretty raw.”

“I do believe an anonymous bidder claimed that one already. I think if you check with the bean-counter you’ll find you’ve already met your goal even without the auction.”

She gave a rather unladylike squeak and hugged him tighter. “You didn’t have to do that, but I’m glad you did. Where are you going to hang it? In Phil’s room?”

“I couldn’t do that to the bastard. If he ever decided to sleep in that space, I’m sure seeing mommy and daddy doing that kind of shit would give him a complex.”

Leaning back, she speculatively eyed him. “I’m not judging you here, but when we have kids, are you going to be calling our boys sneaky bastards?”

“Probably.” When she laughed all he could do was watch her, until he spied some of the other artwork she was auctioning off, and growled, “Have I told you lately how proud I am of you for living out your dream? I think I’ll be happy being married to an artist. But what about you? Do you miss being a vet?”

She stepped back and shook her head. “I never was one. Not really. That was my dad’s dream. I just thought if I chased it he’d like me better. I think that’s why I put off starting my practice for so long. It gave me a chance to sketch, even if those drawings were of animals. Truthfully, I think this is the perfect situation for me. To own the building that clinic is in, without having to practice.”

“What about the rescue? You run that.”

“What’s to run? I’ve got kick-ass volunteers, and enough funding now to maybe pay some of them.” She beamed. “Did I tell you I got an email today? The American Veterinary Journal has accepted my sketches of Troja. I’m going to be published.”

He brushed the hair off her shoulder and pushed it behind her back. Only because he wanted to feel how silky it was. “Never doubted it.”

“Oh, and before I forget. We have a showing tonight on the house. Wouldn’t it be great if it sold?”

David thought about her small bungalow and smiled. “If it doesn’t, that’s okay. I have a very fond memory of that place.”

She snorted. “You’re such a guy. What’s the memory? Breaking down a door with a power tool?”

“No, touching your soft warm skin as I fitted a chastity belt on you. I was hard from that moment until I had unlocked it, knowing your pussy was mine for the duration.”

“It’s yours.” She reached up and gave him a quick kiss, which was far too quick for his liking.

“Prove it.”

She looked around. “Here?”

“Later.”

“How?”

“I still have the chastity belt.”

“Ack, you missed a money back situation there. I told you I wasn’t completely delighted. But to answer that, no.”

“Yes.” He walked until he had her up against a wall behind one of the larger paintings.

“Maybe.”

He loved it when she started to go soft on him. “Definitely.”

“What else you got in your toy box?”

He bumped his hips into hers. “The wand.”

“No.”

He bumped again. “The plug.”

“Nope.”

“What do you mean no?” He curled down and whispered in her ear, “I have some great mint lube.”

“Uh um.”

“The metal clamps.”

“Yes.”

“Yes?” Interesting.

“Sure.” She playfully pushed him away. “After you put them on me, I’ll use what I’ve got in my toy box.”

He tilted her chin up and whispered, “You have one of those, do you?”

She nodded.

“I’ll bite. What do you have in
said
box?”

She looked around again and came up on tip-toes to tell him really fast, “A cock ring.”

He blinked. “Get the fuck out of here. You don’t have one of those.”

“Yes. I. Do. It was in the mystery basket the girls put together at our wedding shower.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Is that so? I bet it was Jo.”

She shook her head. “My guess, it was Laren. She’s a real dirty-birdie, and out of all of us, that’s saying something.”

After what David had heard about the incident involving her, Michael Kavanagh and a certain well-placed tattoo, he wasn’t going to argue with her.

“Ms. Pembrook?”

Pembrook?
Not for long, David was thinking as one of the organizers called for her to take the stage.

She’d gotten no more than a few feet away when she turned and blew him a kiss. “I’ll show you that thing we were talking about later tonight. Aw…Don’t look so worried. I’ll make it fun.”

Brat with a capital ‘B’. She still loved fucking with him. He didn’t mind. He was a patient man and she was well worth the wait. Besides, he had his ace-in-the-hole now that he’d implemented the perfect attitude adjuster. Yeah, the wand had turned out to be a little gem. Maybe it was time to show her his surprise.

It was no more than a half hour later that she found him.

“53,000 dollars! That’s what Ted spent on his picture! Can you believe it?”

David really couldn’t. He was thinking nine or ten, but who could predict what was going to happen when he and E went head-to-head.

He opened his arms and she dove in as he asked, “Are you happy?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Did Ted bid after Ethan?”

“No, why do you ask?”

And the pissing contest was on. “You’re about to be ecstatic. My guess is E will out bid Ted by at least ten grand.”

“How do you know that?”

“Taking a stab.”

“Unbelievable.”

“Much like you.” He tipped her chin to gaze into her sparkling eyes. “Unbelievably beautiful.”

“Hey, where are we going?”

David had taken her by the hand and pulled her into the empty office he’d found. “In here.” He closed the door and locked it, before he pushed her up against the wall with his body. “I bet you can’t guess what I want.”

“No?” When he shook his head, she hiked a brow and asked, “Do you know what I want?”

He thought he did, but he wanted to tease her. “World peace? Joe to finish our upstairs bath, or Phil to sleep in his own room instead of ours?”

“I don’t mind Phil. He’s gotten quite good about not hogging the blankets, and I broke him of the habit of sliding all over your back when you’re sound asleep.”

Almost, but not quite there on endeavoring to stay focused. Dropping his forehead to hers, he quietly reminded. “What do you want?”

Her voice was low and husky as she answered, “I always, always want to be your special girl.”

“Nice.” He sunk a fist in her hair and pulled back. “Give me your mouth. Open. That’s right…”

So fucking right any wrong that happened they could deal with.

After a moment when he’d let up on her, she sighed. “I love you.”

“Good to know.” For that sweet admission she deserved a reward. Curling down, he released a breath against her ear and whispered, “Fall for me, angel.”

A tremble, a gasp or was that a satisfied little moan? He couldn’t be sure as she melted against him, coming undone. Damn, she’d taken to this kind of condition better than he ever imagined she would. He held her tight. “Are you wet? Should I slip my hand up your skirt and check?”

“David…”

“I’m here. I’m your constant.” Leaning back, he gazed down into her passion-blurred eyes adding, “Just remember. Anytime, anywhere, you give to me. Body, mind, your scent, your curves, your taste and all your sexy heat, I own. All these parts of you are mine to savor, enjoy or play with.”

“Yes.”

He loved how easily that agreement fell from her lips. “That’s my special girl.” Holding eye contact with her, he gave her hair a little tug and ordered, “Open your legs for me. That’s right. A little more. A little wider. Eyes on me. Very good.”

“Please…”

“You can do better than that. Beg me.” There was a noise at the door that distracted her. When she looked toward it, he reminded, “Eyes on me.”

She looked right at him. “Please let me sink to my knees. I want to open my hot, wet mouth and wrap my starving lips around your long, hard cock so tight it will feel as if I could never let it go. I’ll lick and suck it until you have no choice but to push in so deep my throat closes around you like a firm, but gentle fist as I wait to swallow your silky heat.”