RequiredSurrender (14 page)

When it was clear he wasn’t going to say anything more, she decided
to take his cue. Without a word, she opened the door and left that part of her
past behind.

Anjay let her leave. Better that than to let her know that
this was far from over. In fact, his plan had just begun. He folded the check
and stuffed it into his breast pocket. Soon enough she’d learn her place in his
life. She’d never tell her dad. That was his ace in the hole. Already ideas
were half forming. All of them centering around her and Basel. That guy was
going pay too. They both would. He’d never got the chance to ruin things for
her with Brent, so the prospect of ruining things between her and Basel was an
exciting one.

She’d learn soon enough that she never should have turned
him down.

* * * * *

“I missed you.”

Jo didn’t even get a chance to respond before Ted pulled her
through the door and hauled her in for a hug.

“I missed you too,” she mumbled against his chest. He
smelled so good and when he wrapped his arms around her the whole world was
forgotten.

“I have a surprise for you.”

She leaned back and smiled. “I can feel it.”

His eyes twinkled. “Not that. Don’t be a smart ass. Come
on.”

“Okay,” she stumbled along behind him. “Can I at least put
my purse down?”

He waited for her to toss it onto the hall table before he
started pulling her toward the stairs. “Faster.”

She laughed and the second he reached the banister he turned
around. “Now let me see how good you’ve been.”

Without any warning, he turned her around and held her so
that her back was against his front. “Were you a good girl? Did you get hot
while you thought about me? Did you do as I told you,” his hand trailed up her
thigh, higher and higher still under her skirt as he spoke against her ear, “to
do? Did you get yourself… Damn, this is one wet pussy.”

Jo’s knees went weak as he skated his fingers through her
dampness. Touching and pushing against her clit until she gasped, “Ted.”

“I can’t wait. It’s been a long day and all I’ve done is
think about you. Envisioning you with your skirt up and panties down doing
yourself for me had me harder than granite for the last hour. We’ll discuss
what took you so long to get here afterward. Right now I want to sink my cock
into this.” He slipped two fingers into her and she saw stars. The next thing
she knew he was seated on the stairs with legs spread waiting for her.

“Take this,” he handed her the foil wrapper, “and put it on
me. That’s right,” he said when she dropped to her knees on the first step and
undid his pants. “Once you get that on I want you to take off your panties and
lift up your skirt. Then I want you—careful, not so fast—to sit on me.”

“Is this good?”

He put a hand in her hair and nodded. His eyes ablaze with
dark lust. “I love seeing you like this. Kneeling and breathless with my cock
inches from your face.”

Jo shivered at those words.

“I want you to climb up on my lap. I want you to spread
yourself and let me feel all that heat. Ride me.”

He didn’t need to say any more. She stood, shimmied out of
her panties and lifted her skirt.

“That’s a girl. Right, like that,” he gave a half growl,
half sigh when she came down on him.

He was so big, so hard that the width of him going in made
her burn. But then he gathered her up. He kissed and bit her neck, played with
her nipples, and when his hand slipped down between them to rub her clit, she forgot
about the discomfort.

“Good girl. Relax. Let me get into you some more. Just,” he
groaned, “a little more.”

It was her turn to groan. “This feels amazing.” She ground
down on him.

“Deep breath, princess…”

This time when she went down he flexed up and the full
length of him came into her.

He stopped. “All right?”

“Yes. Yes.” She was too afraid to move. The deep
contractions she experienced were unique and—

“We’ll go slow. Slow and steady. Slow,” he blew a breath out
in her ear as he pumped up and down and in and out of her, “and steady.”

“Ted.” She didn’t mean to yank on his hair or dig her nails
into his shoulder through his shirt, but she couldn’t help it. Breath-stealing
adrenaline was rocketing to life inside her.

“I’m here. I’m,” his grunt when she slammed into him,
frantic and needy for more, nearly pushed her over the edge. “Right here. Easy
now. Not so fast.”

“Oh God, it feels so good. So, so good.”

She pushed, jerked, slammed and ground all over him, and
yet, no matter what she did, he remained steady and patient. Slow. Oh yes, slow
and awesome. Her inner muscles squeezed riding up the length of him and
strangled coming down on him. Up and down. Up, she sucked in a breath, down.
Up…

“Your tight little pussy is begging for it.”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“I want it.”

“Bad? Do you want it bad?”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

Finally he changed course and gave her what she’d been
after. With his hands on her hips, he was the guide. Lifting her off and
sliding himself back into her. Over and over. Until her adrenaline raced and
her pulse sped. She closed her eyes and fell into the rhythm. Into the dance he
created. Until she couldn’t think anymore. All she could do was feel as the
exhilaration built to a heady crescendo that took her breath away. Made her
shake. Tremble, as he came to be buried right up into her nice and deep.

“Jesus fuck,” she heard him growl as he hammered into her.
Once, twice. “Damn your pussy is squeezing me good and tight. Come for me. I
want all your heat. All of it,” he rasped. “Do it. Come. Now.”

Although her mind processed his words it was her body that
obeyed them. With one heart-stopping push she flew over the edge and came as
she cried out his name, “Ted.”

“Keep saying it.”

She shook and quivered against him. “Ted, Ted, Ted…”

And when he crushed her down on him and rocked her back and
forth, she held on for dear life. Happy to feel his body tense, his breath rush
out of him and his groan of satisfaction as he slammed into her one last time
and found his own relief.

“Jesus,” he exclaimed a moment later and fell back against
the stairs. She went with him, refusing to let go. His heart thumped loudly
against her ear.

A minute later she said, “This was a surprise.”

He chuckled and the sounded rumbled over her. “Not the
surprise I intended.”

“No?”

“Let me show you.”

“Oh!” Before she could protest he’d stood with her in his
arms and his—

“I love my cock inside you,” he whispered as though he’d
read her thoughts.

She didn’t have anything to say to that so she buried her
face against his neck and tried to tamp down her flush of embarrassment.

“I wanted to surprise you with this.”

Chapter Ten

A door creaked open and Jo twisted to look. The second the
bathroom came into view and she saw that it was alight with candles of every
size and shape with the tub filled with bubbles, she swallowed. It was
beautiful. So elegant and feminine. And he’d done this for her.

For her.

“It’s lovely.”

“Well, it probably needs to be warmed up by now.” He
carefully disengaged from her and deposited her on the counter. Holding up a
finger, he warned, “Don’t go anywhere. It will only take me a minute.”

She nodded and adjusted her skirt. The marble was freezing
against her bare bottom.

“There. The temperature is perfect. Now,” he turned back to
her, “let’s get undressed.”

He helped her down and she grinned. “You’re getting in there
with me?”

“Oh yeah.”

A chunk of hair fell over his one eye and she had to remind
herself to breathe. “This feels like…like—”

“Date night?”

“Yes. That’s exactly how it feels.”

“Hm. Maybe to some extent it is.” He made short work of
getting her undressed and by the time she’d sank into the warm water he was
ready to join her.

She’d thought he’d sit behind her and was more than a little
surprised when he eased down in front of her. But then when he leaned back with
his head on her breast and positioned her legs and arms until they were wrapped
around him, she couldn’t say she hated it. It was more romantic and intimate
this way, she decided. And after a few minutes of stroking her fingers through
his hair and dipping her head to study his profile in the candlelight, she
never wanted for their positions to be reversed. Never.

He let out a deep sigh of contentment. “So tell me, how was
your evening?”

“Evening?” She closed her eyes and tried to keep from
tensing up. He’d feel it and then he’d know. “Boring.”

“Do you have anything to tell me about it?”

“Well, the food was lousy.” She opened her eyes and waited.
Praying to God he wouldn’t start digging. She wasn’t ready for that
conversation. She didn’t want him to know the truth. That her mother chose to
protect her father over protecting her own daughter.

“And Patel?”

She kept her breathing even. Calm. The last thing she wanted
was to give Ted an excuse to do something else to Anjay. The end was in sight
on that score. She’d pay the guy off and no one, not even Ted, would be the
wiser. “It was very odd. He, ah, didn’t sit with us. He had some sort of an
emergency. He only breezed in to accept his award, and even then he was dressed
in his blues.”

“Blues?” Ted looked up.

“His surgical attire. Scrubs and cap.”

“Ah,” Ted nodded and Jo finally relaxed and leaned back to
rest her head against the cool ceramic tile.

“How was your night?”

Ted picked up her hand and examined the bubbles sliding down
her fingers, deciding what he should say. How best to answer her without
sounding like a lovesick fool. “It was uneventful until I sent that text.” He
stopped rubbing her hand and whispered, “Then all I did was prowl around the
place while I waited for you.”

“You did?”

He could tell by her tone she liked the sound of that. “Yes.
Now,” he cleared his throat, “what took you so long to get here? The convention
center is twenty minutes away, tops.”

She played with his hair. “Performance anxiety.”

“Really?” He was back rubbing her hand again. “I thought you
were rather quick when you sent that text back to me. I guess we need another
lesson with that buzzer. It shouldn’t take you any longer than a minute to come
if you do it right.”

Her hand shifted and the backs of her knuckles slid down his
cheek. “How did you get this?”

He closed his eyes, and for once he didn’t pull away when
she continued to trace his scar. He’d already determined that Jo was different.
She was special. She had something that was good for him and he hadn’t had
anything like that in a long, long time.

“An angry woman.”

Her touch never ceased. He liked that.

“She meant something to you.”

“Yes.”

“Was she your sub?”

“My very first.”

“Oh.”

“She was also my wife.”

Now her hand stopped. “How long were you married?”

“A year.”

“Was she a…a jealous woman?”

Ted’s lip quirked. This was Jo’s roundabout way of asking if
they’d fought over another woman. He got that. He brought her hand to his chest
and held it over his heart. “The night I got this scar we weren’t fighting over
another woman. We never would have fought over that. We had an open marriage.
This wasn’t my choice, by the way. She was the one who insisted on it. But as
to the argument? We were fighting about having kids.”

“Tell me.”

He couldn’t help chuckling. “That’s usually my line. Are you
turning it on me?”

“Yes.” She gave him a squeeze and the unconscious action
touched him. Deep.

“Selena thought she was pregnant and she didn’t want to have
kids. She said she was too young to ruin her body, and we were too young to be
parents. It’s a funny thing. I always thought I was pro-choice and a woman had
the right to do what she wants with her body, but when I thought of a piece of
me growing inside her and she was contemplating…well, it’s a surreal experience
when you’re faced with it.”

“I can see that.”

“That’s what we were fighting about because the next day we
were going to the doctor’s to discuss our options, only she was a fiery thing.
And when she got mad?” He shook his head, recalling some of the more classic
tantrums his wife had thrown over their years together. “Everyone ducked. Only
this time?” He touched his face. Felt the puckered lines of the scar and
frowned. “I wasn’t fast enough.”

“I’d heard from Colin that a disgruntled sub maimed you.”

“Yeah, that’s the myth behind the legend. My time with
Selena was before I met E or David. It was in another lifetime.” He wanted to
say “when I was more easygoing. Before I became unforgiving, but he didn’t want
to wreck the moment”. He may have a soft spot for her right now. A real
Achilles’ heel for her since he’d connected with her pain and was drawn to it,
yet until he understood the why of it, he wasn’t going to be sharing those
personal thoughts with her.

“It was just easier to tell them that. Less to explain that
way.” Which wasn’t true at all. He hadn’t shared this part of his past with his
friends because he’d wanted to keep it to himself. It was his memory and he
never thought he’d share it with anyone and yet here he was. In a bubble bath,
no less, pouring his heart out.

“Where is she now? And the baby?”

He inhaled and closed his eyes, waiting for the anger. The
physical manifestation of his frustration whenever he’d thought about this, but
it didn’t come. All he felt at the moment was Jo’s hand in his hair. Her warmth
enveloping him.

“Turns out there was no baby. The changes in her body
occurred because she was ill. By the time they isolated the source, it was too
late. She wound up having a full-blown hysterectomy. She was barely twenty.”

“That’s sad.”

“Yes it was. She never got over it. She used to cry at
night. When she thought I was sleeping. Her biggest fear? That God had punished
her. She believed that her right to give birth was taken from her.”

“Why would she think that?”

“From the moment she suspected she was pregnant she was
adamant about aborting my child, despite how I felt about it.” He drew in a
deep breath and let it out slowly. “I never wanted to judge her. I tried like
hell not to.”

“So the marriage…?”

“Fell apart no matter how hard we fought to keep it together.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, well, it was a long time ago. We were children
ourselves.”

“You must have been.”

He squeezed her hand. “Yep. Began messing around in high
school. She was fourteen and I was all of fifteen. By the time she turned eighteen
it seemed the logical thing to do was to get married, so we did.”

He was quiet for a minute thinking back. “You know what the
worst thing was?”

“What?”

“The people we knew. Really knew, assumed because we had an
open marriage and we were both involved with other people, I wouldn’t even miss
her. That losing her would be less painful for me than it was for other people
in monogamous relationships. You know, I’d get comments like, you’re lucky. It
could be worse. You could be alone right now.”

“You loved her.”

“Hell yeah, I loved her. She was the first woman I…”

“What?”

“I connected with.” That statement stopped him cold. This
was the draw with Jo. The unforeseen attachment. At some point he’d let her
into a place he’d kept guarded since failing with Selena. He gave himself a
mental shake and finished his explanation.

“And by connection I mean a connection that was deeper than
mere physical. It was beyond that. It was down to the soul and you know? When
you connect with someone like that and see them for all that they are and too,
all that they will never be, and you accept them on those terms, they become
irreplaceable to you. Unique. There isn’t another person in the world who has
that kind of impact on your life, so when they leave you there’s a void that
can never be filled.”

The hand that rubbed his neck stopped. “But better to risk
that and get married than not, right?”

“Uh oh, you’re not of the mind that any marriage is better
than no marriage at all, are you?”

“Maybe. Aren’t you?”

“No. Definitely not. The way I see it? The problem with
marriages today is that people get married out of fear of being alone. They
don’t wait for that deep connection. They rush to get settled and what happens?
There’s no real intimacy and without that, your partner will never be unique to
you. And, not to go all Sigmund on you here,” he plucked up her hand and kissed
it, “but if there’s nothing compelling about your partner, that person is
interchangeable. In my mind this comes down to intimacy. If you’re not willing
to share the deepest part of you with your significant other you are no more
special to them than you are to everyone else in your life. You’re giving, or
not giving the same of yourself across the board.”

“Is this why you demand the women in your life bare themselves
to you?”

He twisted to look up at her. “Is that what you think I’m
doing? Demanding you bare yourself to me?”

She hesitated before answering, “Yes.”

He reached up and swept the side of her hair behind her ear.
“I demand you bare you to yourself. Once you’ve accomplished that tricky bit of
honesty then we’ll talk about you baring your soul to me.” He turned and eased
back against her. “All I demand from you at the moment is for you to be
faithful, obedient and trustworthy.”

This was it. The opportunity to tell him the truth about her
night. The truth about Anjay and maybe—

“Rub my neck again,” his soft command snaked through her.
“It feels so good when you do that.”

Absently she did as he wished, while she mentally argued
with herself. If she admitted to seeing Anjay tonight she’d have to tell him
everything. How her mother had cheated on her father when her father was so
close to death. Worse, how her mother had chosen to sweep the matter of her
daughter’s rape under the rug in exchange for the rapist’s silence. How could
she tell him that when she hadn’t had a chance to really think about it
herself?

For years she’d carried frustration and grief deep inside
thinking that her mother had an affair with some random man. Someone who meant
nothing to her. Who was nothing to them. And now?
Uncle Vic…
No. She
wasn’t going to cry. She swallowed hard twice and rapidly blinked and—

“Hey, hey,” Ted whispered, turning and cupping her cheek.
“Was that a teardrop splashing on my shoulder? Aww, it was too. What’s the
matter? This isn’t a time to be crying. Tell me, what’s wrong?”

She couldn’t tell him. That’s what was wrong.

“It-it’s nothing.”

He brushed away the tears and waited.

“Really. Nothing.” She searched his face and the tender
expression she read there tore at her heart. “The bath. It was such a nice
surprise. No one has ever done anything like this for me before.”

It was a truth, but not the right one to share with him.

“You’re sure this is all you want to tell me?”

She nodded and before he could question her further she
threw her arms around his neck and squashed in tight. Wanting things to be
different. Wanting Anjay to disappear so she had an unblemished soul to bare to
the man who was fast coming to mean the world to her.

He pulled back with her in his arms. Water sloshed all over
the place when he shifted. She didn’t pay any attention to the splashes that
hit the floor and neither did he. He just kept hold of her until he was seated
on the far side of the tub with her on his lap. When he spoke she opened her
eyes and stared at the flickering candlelight that reflected off the glossy
tiles.

“I have another surprise. But if my surprises make you cry
I’d rather not give it to you.”

Leaning back, she sniffed. “I’m sorry. This is all so new to
me that I…I find it’s hard to comprehend sometimes.”

The way he looked at her. From the top of her head, to her
eyes, nose, stopping with a lingering gaze at her mouth, got the adrenaline
coursing through her veins. He was weighing her words. Thinking about them.
Deciding whether or not he should believe them.

Don’t believe me. Make me tell you the truth.

The tension-filled moment was there between them. An
expectation that never came when he let out a breath and said, “We’re going to
be a couple of prunes if we stay in here much longer. Let’s get you dried off.”

By the time he’d wrapped a beach towel around his hips and
sat on the edge of the tub, positioning her between his legs so he could dry
her off, she asked, “Do I still get my surprise?”