The Drake Restrained Compete Collection: Part 1 - 4 (The Drake Series Book 7) (56 page)

“I don’t know what to say,” I said, sitting back, at a total loss for words.

“Don’t say anything. Go home and put on you best suit and come back for New Year’s Eve dinner with us. Kate will be happy. If you love her as you say you do, don’t waste any more time. Tell her. Life’s too short and the biggest regret I have is that I didn’t tell Kate’s mother that I loved her more often. Don’t make the same mistake.”

In that moment, I knew I wouldn’t.

I shook Ethan’s hand, a sensation of relief and happiness filling me that made me want to hug him, but I restrained myself, not sure that Ethan would want me blubbering on his shoulder. I went home, Ethan’s words bouncing around in my head, my heart rate speeding at the prospect of being with Kate and telling her how I felt. I picked up the box with the choker in it that I planned on giving Kate for Christmas and was determined to give it to her tonight if she accepted me back and agreed to come to Kenya with me.

With that thought firmly in mind, I showered and dressed. Before I left, I grabbed Yelena Kuznetzova’s shot glasses and made it back to Ethan’s in record time, my heart in my throat.

Hoping…

I arrived at the building and parked my car in the guest parking area and made my way up to Ethan’s penthouse, more nervous than I had ever been but also more hopeful that things might work out with Kate. I tried to squash my excitement but I could barely keep it under control. I stood at the door and took in a deep breath, blowing it out in an attempt to calm myself.

I rang the buzzer and was admitted, taking the elevator to Ethan’s floor. One of the serving people answered the door and invited me in. She took my coat and scarf and I went immediately into the living room. There, behind the bar, was Kate. My heart skipped a beat when I saw her. She wore the black lace dress that she wore that first night I met her and she looked…
beautiful
.

I waited and finally, she glanced up from the bottles and glasses and saw me. I smiled and held out Yelena Kuznetzova’s shot glasses.

"I brought these along just in case you didn't have anything quite so special." I placed them on the bar and smiled at her.

For her part, Kate looked shocked, her face pale, her mouth open. She put the bottle on the counter and stepped back, leaning against the wall. She actually closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. I went behind the bar and took her in my arms and practically had to hold her up. I took her chin in my hand and she finally opened her eyes, which were filled with tears.

Oh, Katherine…

"Drake, you can't
do
this to me," she said, biting back a sob. "This is cruel."

"You're the one who left. You can't do this to
me
." Then I kissed her, squeezing her body against mine. She didn’t stop me so I kissed her more deeply. When I pulled away, I held her face in my hands, wiping her tears away with my fingers.

"Why are you here?" she said, her voice a whisper. "You're leaving. I don't want to see you…"

"Your father told me you'd be here tonight. He told me that if I was going away, I should come over and say goodbye."

"This is torture."

I smiled, bursting to tell her that everything was all right, unable to stop grinning like an idiot. "Kate, your father
knows
. He gave me a dressing down, telling me that he already knew about the restraining order. About my 'proclivities' as he called them. He's known all along."

"He
knows?
" Her eyes widened.

I nodded. "He's been watching me for years, monitoring me for my father. He knew about the restraining order. He knew about the BDSM through Nigel."

I led her to the couch in the living room and sat with my arm around her, touching her bottom lip, brushing a strand of hair off her cheek.

"He and Nigel go back a long way. I guess Nigel faced some blackmail over his sexuality years ago when your dad was still a defense lawyer and your dad advised him. Nigel told him about me after he saw me at a fetish night."

"That's why Nigel was looking at you that way the night of my father's campaign fundraiser…"

"Yeah. He told me that I’d better not ever hurt you or he'd have my balls. I had no idea he'd told your father."

"My father
knows
you're a Dom?"

I laughed ruefully. "Who would ever have believed it? He knows even more about me than my own dad did."

"And he
approves
of you as my boyfriend…" She shook her head. "I don't understand. I thought he'd be horrified."

"So did I but I guess not. He said," and I put on a mock voice that sounded gravelly like Ethan, "
'For some reason I can't think of off the top of my head, Kate seems to have a preference for a dominant man and you're a helluva lot better than some jackass who doesn't know what the Sam hell he's doing, like that flyboy she had the sense to get rid of
.'"

She covered her mouth, tears filling her eyes. "He said
that?
"

"His
exact
words."

She closed her eyes and leaned against me. "But you left NY Presbyterian. You’re going to Africa…"

I pulled back and looked in her eyes. "I figured that if I did, I could lay low for a year and return when all this blew over. I talked to the head of the college and we agreed that I'd take a year leave of absence. I've been meaning to go to Africa and do a longer stint. Teach a class at the college in Nairobi."

She shook her head. "So you came to say goodbye."

I took her face in my hands again. "I
came
," I said, taking in a deep breath, "to say that I've developed a taste for potatoes and gravy and meat all on the same fork." I stared into her eyes, my chest feeling like it could explode. "Lara played a recording of you telling her you thought you could love me. She even tried to entice you to meet another Dom and you refused, saying you wanted me. That
almost
made me reconsider leaving, but
could
isn't
does
."

I moved closer. "When Elaine called me this afternoon and told me that you said you
had
fallen in love with me, I realized that I would never meet anyone like you again in my life. So perfect for me in every way. And I think I'm good for you, too. I think I could make you happy."

I leaned down and kissed her tenderly.

"I couldn’t stand it. I couldn't lose you,” I said, “so I came over and spoke with your father while you were sleeping, perfectly willing to accept what ever he said I should do. He admitted to knowing about me all this time and said that if I had feelings for you, I shouldn't leave without telling you. Then he sent me home to change and I came back as quickly as I could so we could talk and I could confess my feelings for you."

Kate said nothing, her eyes searching mine, biting her lip.

"Ms. Bennet," I said and shook my head. "Kate, I
love
you. I never,
ever
want to be separated from you again."

She was still speechless, and seemed to be holding her breath.

"Kate," I said, smiling at the expression on her face. "Your face is getting red. You should
breathe
now."

She burst out crying, covering her face with her hands. I wrapped my arms around her, her face in the crook of my neck. I pulled a handkerchief out of a pocket and gave it to her so she could wipe her eyes, rocking her back and forth. Then I tilted her head up and kissed her.

"But you're leaving…" she repeated.

"I want you to come with me."

She shook her head. "Africa was so hard for me."

I brushed hair off her cheek. "Not where we'll be. Kenya is so beautiful, Kate. Where I'll work, it's so full of hope and promise. You'll love it. The wildlife is spectacular. You could work on your art, your photography, write…"

"I haven't finished my MA."

"You can take a leave of absence. When we come back, you could finish it."

"What would I go as? Your submissive?"

"As my
love
,” I said, filled with emotion. “As the woman I can't live without. And, when we wanted it, and needed it, as my submissive."

She sighed, her eyes still brimming, and leaned against me, her face in the crook of my neck.

When a guest arrived at the front door, I took Kate’s hand and led her to the bathroom, closing the door behind us. I lifted her up onto the vanity while I rifled through the drawers in search of a washcloth, which I ran under cold water. I held it to her eyes, which were red from crying, her nose pink and a bit swollen. I leaned against her, resting between her thighs, and stared into her eyes.

“I look a mess,” she said and slipped off the vanity. She opened a drawer and took out some makeup. "You don’t have to stay with me for this," she said and applied foundation to cover up her red nose.

I sat on the bathtub and watched her in the mirror. "I forgot how much I love watching a woman dress and put on her face,” I said. “It's so intimate."

"You used to like it?"

I smiled. "When I was married. I used to watch her in the morning before she went to work."

"What did she do?"

"A nurse—of course. Who else do doctors spend so much time with? We worked together at NYP. If the nurses have a bad opinion of me, it's because of the divorce. It split them into two camps—those who still liked me and those who hated me because of the split."

"Sorry to hear that. It's hard to stay neutral in a divorce."

Kate finished her makeup and turned around, leaned against the vanity and watched me. I knew she probably wanted to hear more about my failed marriage, so as much as I hated speaking about it, I did for her sake.

"I thought I'd never make the same mistake as my father, but I made every single one. He neglected my mother. He was so busy with his business and with his charity and his music that she finally gave up and left him."

"She didn't keep in contact with you?"

I shook my head. "My dad won custody. He had a really great
lawyer
…"

"Who?" she said, her eyes widening. "My father?"

I nodded. "Yep. Your father was working in Family Court then and advised my dad. My dad was just really starting to make money and was able to hire nannies and housekeepers to look after me. The judge thought I'd have a better life with my dad even if it meant I was kept away from my mother. She left and went back to California where her family was, remarried, and that was it. My father never remarried."

"I'm so sorry, Drake,” she said, her voice warm and sympathetic. “To grow up without a mother…"

I shrugged. "It explains a lot, really."

She nodded, but didn’t say anything else.

I stood up and went to her, putting my arms around her. "I've learned the hard way. Now, enough reminiscing. I want to have a nice evening with you now that we can. Your father wants us to come out with him to dance, but I pointed to my arm and used it as an excuse. I said I wanted to ring in the New Year with you alone. He thought that was probably a better idea, considering…"

"I can't believe he accepted that you're into BDSM…"

I shook my head, smiling. "He said
'I don’t care what bedroom games people play in the privacy of their own homes, for God's sake. I've played a few of my own. You have to in order to keep a marriage alive, and I was married to the same woman for twenty one-years…
"

"Bedroom games," she said, smiling back. Then she closed her eyes and leaned against me, her arms slipping around my waist. "Do you suppose he's a bit of a Dom himself?"

"I wonder…" I said. "Sly old bastard, if so. Still, it must be hard for a father to think of his beloved daughter being sexual."

"And vice versa. But, as long as he thinks of it as bedroom games, that’s okay by me."

"Seriously, Kate,” I said. “I'm pretty tame when it comes to Doms. A lightweight. He said he did his research."

"You're just right for me."

I smiled at that. "I think so."

"I
know
so."

I kissed her and while it started out affectionate, it became passionate quickly, my hands slipping down to the hem of her dress to search for garters, which she hadn't worn.

"No garters?"

"I was too sad to wear them."

"Do you have them here?"

She nodded, a smile starting on her face. “I packed up my things and kind of moved back for a while.”

"Go put them on with nothing on underneath."

"Are you serious? At my parents’ New Year's Eve dinner?"

"
Please
," I said, grinning. "I didn't get a present from you and I'm feeling all deprived. Consider it your present to me."

She left the bathroom and I went to the living room to wait, enjoying the thought that she’d be bare beneath her dress.

She returned in a few moments and stood at the entry to the living room. I was at the bar where I was speaking with the bartender, who was pouring some Anisovaya into my shot glasses. I took them and turned to Kate, a leer starting on my face when I thought of her wearing her stockings and garters and nothing else.

I went to where she stood by the fireplace and handed her one of the glasses.

"
Za vas
, moya lyubov
," I said. "To you,
my love
."

She said nothing, covering her mouth with a hand, smiling through tears.

We shot the Anisovaya back and then I leaned in and kissed her immediately, wanting to taste the anise on her lips and tongue.

"With you looking like that," I said, stepping back to examine her up and down, "and knowing what's underneath that dress? I don't know if I can wait until later. We may have to sneak off in between courses for a quickie."

"You haven't given me a present yet either," she said, a grin spreading on her own face. "Maybe you could use me the way I've always wanted—a fast fuck in the broom closet that leaves me panting, in need of you. Later, you could take your time and satisfy me… Maybe pour some of that Anisovaya over me and lick it off…"