Atticus snorted a laugh. “That's the best excuse for a blowjob I've ever heard.”
“Don't encourage him, Att.” She yelped when Thane reached over and scooped her onto his lap, then curled into him when he urged her to rest her head on his shoulder. “I think you've mistaken who's supposed to be giving whom the aftercare, Thane.”
“There's no reason we can't share that pleasure, sugar.” With a content sigh, he rested his cheek on top of her head. “In fact, I might have to insist on it whenever you take charge. This is the most relaxed I've been for a long time.”
She couldn't argue with him. She'd missed having a willing sub to play with, and Thane was perfection. He'd given her everything she'd asked, and more besides. He'd trusted her without hesitation, just closed his eyes and bared himself as though he had no doubts she wouldn't hurt him.
She grew wet as the echo of his roar hummed in her ears. God, that had been the sweetest crescendo to her orgasm, hearing what she did to him. The memory of his swollen shaft burned into her palm, the heat and tumescence as her fingers closed around him in the second before the fat vein running down the underside of his cock throbbed…before he ejaculated hard enough for his length to kick in her grasp…she'd never experienced a rush of power like it.
Thane's chest rumbled with a dark laugh. “Round two already?”
Connie snorted and cuddled deeper into him. “After the mess you left on the floor, I'll be surprised if we get to round two anytime this weekend. Atticus had to send in a cleaning crew to mop up after us.”
“Say the word, sugar, I'm already primed. I can smell that needy pussy, all neglected and unloved. It requires more than a little clit tickler attached to a strap-on harness for satisfaction.” His hand stroked up and down her thigh, stimulating her skin beneath the fabric of her pants. “Want to go for a ride, Mistress? Or should I call you sub?”
“Jesus, get a goddamn room.”
Connie smirked as she looked at Atticus, amused he was adjusting himself in his leathers. The Master appeared insanely uncomfortable—not with the impromptu foreplay going on, but with the severity of his erection. “Sorry, Att. I thought you'd have treated one of your regular girls to some you time tonight.”
He glowered at her. “I did.”
The same sub who'd brought the drinks earlier hurried toward the seating pit from the walkway, laden down with Connie's toy bag and a stack of Thane's neatly folded clothes. She almost skipped down the steps, still as fucking perky as before, and gently set the clothes on the seat beside Connie, the bag on the floor reverently. “The scene area is all spick and span, Mistress Connie. Do you or Master Atticus require anything else tonight?”
“No, thanks,” Connie said with a smile.
Atticus rose and strode to the girl, snagging her by her short brown ponytail before she could skip away again. “If you're available, sweetheart, I can think of several things I require tonight.”
Pretty blue eyes lit up as though Independence Day fireworks were exploding behind them. “Oh, yes, sir. Anything you like.”
“Excuse us,” he told Connie, exchanging his grip on the sub's hair for one on her bare shoulder. He steered her back up the stairs, and Connie swore the only reason the girl didn't float to the ceiling with elation was the weight of his hand keeping her grounded.
Thane chuckled. “Well, the big guy's going to get his rocks off. I think I'll get dressed so I can take you home, ravage you, and fall asleep with you. I've discovered that the favorite parts of my day all involve you, sugar.” He pressed his lips to her hair, tightening his arm around her waist. “You've probably got questions about the phone call.”
Phone call? Oh, the asshole on the phone who thought he could fuck with Thane's free will and ream out a Domme. Connie's lips curved into a satisfied smile when she replayed his snarled demand of, “Who the fuck are you?” back through her head. “None that matter. If he’s not important to you, he means nothing to me. If he starts causing problems, I'll sic Atticus on him.”
He cupped her face and tilted it up to look at him. “Speaking of Atticus…when we get home—after I pay you back for fucking me so well—you're gonna tell me what's going on with all the secrecy around here. There's more than one secret in these hallowed halls.”
She took a deep breath and stared straight into amber eyes. If she took that step forward, she needed to be dead sure she trusted him not only with her life, but the lives of her friends and family. If she trusted him with Archie's secret and he went to the cops, there wasn't a scrap of evidence to support the story, certainly not enough to arrest her friend, but Connie didn't want Jasper's sub to come under any kind of scrutiny because she opened her mouth to the wrong person.
Not to mention, Atticus's whole operation could be exposed. Not that he'd be bothered—the amount of contacts Atticus had scattered around the globe could make any exposure disappear faster than it arose, but again, it was the principle of the matter.
The thing was…she did trust him. Down in the gut trust.
Connie took his hand, linked her fingers with his. The Masters had accepted him into the circle. They considered him part of the Avalon family because she loved him, and he'd earned their respect. They were going to make it official because he'd proved he belonged with them.
“More than one,” she agreed slowly, testing the waters. “More than you might want to know.”
Thane scratched an itch across his ribs, his expression open and curious. “At a guess, I'm thinking some of these secrets might be detrimental to someone's freedom if they got out. You really don't have a good poker face, sugar,” he drawled when she gaped at him. “Okay, I can see the dilemma. Will telling me compromise your professional integrity?”
Only if she discussed anything confessed to her during Archie's sessions, which she wouldn't do anyway. Not even Jasper was privy to those details without Anarchy's explicit permission. The event itself wasn't a secret among the Masters. “No.”
“Are these secrets responsible for you and me getting together?”
“Yeah, partly. They're woven into the tapestry of events that led to Atticus assigning you to me as my Dom. Evan, Alicia, this…they're all connected. Like links in a chain attached to an anchor.”
“Dragging you down into the abyss,” he murmured, displeased. “All right then, take some time to think about what you need from me to be able to trust me with the magnitude of this anchor. I know you trust me, Connie,” he said before she could speak. “You wouldn't have done a lot of the things I've asked of you since we began this journey if you didn't, but this is different. This involves the people you care about, people you love, and you don't have many of them. Their safety comes first, so make me jump through as many hoops as you deem necessary. I understand.”
God, could she love him any more than this? She squeezed his fingers. “I don't have any words, Thane.”
He kissed her, slipping her under his spell as he gently plundered her mouth. “Make me work for it, sugar. If it's important enough to be hidden from common knowledge, I want to be worthy of being included. I don't break confidences, I can be an absolute vault, but telling you that isn't enough when it comes to protecting your family. Even if they feel like they're mine now, too.”
“That's because they are. You're mine, Thane, and what's mine is yours, including the people I love.”
Thane's forehead pressed against hers. “On that very sentimental note, let's go home.”
Chapter Thirteen
They slept later than he'd hoped.
Thane woke and peered at his alarm clock, grunting quietly when he saw it was afternoon. The blinds did their job, keeping out the sunlight, but he cursed their efficiency. Never mind, he decided, smiling when he realized there was a curvy woman plastered over him. His tentative plans for the day would just have to be shuffled forward an hour…make that two.
Somehow, Connie had twisted herself on top of him, naked and still sleeping. She was warm, her breath fluttering over h
is chest. Beautiful gray eyes closed, her plush lips slightly parted. Just watching her sleep made his tender dick ignore the lingering effects of the cock ring and salute her pussy with a salacious, Good morning, ma'am.
When they'd gotten home last night, he'd marched her up the stairs, spread her wide on the sheets, and pinned her there with the sternest Dom glare in his arsenal. Stripping her had been a delight—feasting on her pussy for an hour, titillating her into several orgasms with just his fingers and mouth, then pounding her into the mattress until she screamed had been the culmination of a fantasy.
It was the least he could do after she'd hit the reset button on his control panel and smoothed out the jagged edges that had been driving him crazy.
Cupping her hips, Thane adjusted her body so the swollen folds of her labia caressed his crown. Groaning, he moved her again, lifting his hips to push inside the damp heat gently. As much as he loved dominating and being dominated during sex, sometimes a lazy fuck after a long night was just the thing to get the body moving.
“Christ, man, are you a fucking rabbit?” Connie moaned.
“Mmmn-hmm. I come with extra batteries, too.” He clenched his teeth as his leg twinged sharply, sending a shock of pain tearing through the muscle. Tightening his hold on her, he grunted and forced himself through it, concentrating on the ripple of sensitive tissues around his cock. Better than morphine, he thought, and just as addictive. “I had a schedule for today, but you were too tempting to resist, sugar.”
She set her hands on his chest and pushed herself upright, looking every inch like a queen on her throne, with no one the wiser about the cock she was impaled on. Knuckling her eyes, she rode him with slow undulations of her pelvis, grinding down until they both moaned. “Who's in charge here, Thane?”
The bite of his fingers kept her from speeding up and rushing the enlightening experience of sex with no one at the helm. For once, neither of them was the one with all the authority, and neither of them acquiesced to the other. If he dared think it, he might believe they were making love. “A higher power than us, sugar.”
Connie cupped her breasts, tweaking her nipples, kneading the supple flesh he loved to get his hands on. His touch drifted up her sides, skimming over her curves until he covered her hands, urging her to pinch and tug on the peaked buds just a little harder, feeling the answering clench around his shaft. One spasm turned into two, two into a half-dozen. The orgasm breezed through her, stretching out as the steady rhythm of his hips nurtured it further.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh—”
“Shit,” Thane finished breathlessly, a second orgasm seizing her internal muscles and milking the cum from his balls before he even realized his own release was within reach. With a shocked laugh, he caught her as she tipped forward onto his chest, then kissed her sweetly. “That was sneaky, Connie.”
“What the hell was that?” she asked with no small amount of befuddlement. She made no move to slide off him, but her eyes met his, still glowing with her climax. The vibrant flush along her cheekbones and throat might as well have been a brand claiming her as his. “I never…I don't come that quick.”
“Apparently, you do. I suppose I should carry you to the shower, get this beautiful body soaped up and washed off.” His palm ran down her back, then he froze. “Oh, fuck me, I'm an idiot. Condom. I forgot the fucking condom.” He nudged her chin up, panic squeezing his chest as he thought of the repercussions of his stupidity. “I'm sorry, Connie. I'm so sorry, I wasn't even thinking. I'm clean, I promise you. I—”
Connie slapped her fingers over his mouth to halt his anxious ramblings. “I got tested last year, and there was no one between then and the night Atticus topped me. He used protection, and the only person I've been with since then is you, exclusively. Relax, stud. It's not the first time someone got carried away and engaged the mini-brain instead of the big one. Aside from the mess we're making on your sheets, there's no harm, no foul.”
“Pregnancy?” he mumbled from behind her hand. The thought of Connie knocked up with his baby was a punch to the gut that made him quiver with excitement. Kids had been the goal when he was younger, when he was immersed in war and dreaming of leaving a legacy to follow in his footsteps, the way his father had. He'd surrendered that dream when he’d taken the leap into the classified project, and again when he’d gone out on his own with only his rifle and his reputation.
Could this be a resurrected dream, fueled by new love and an old yearning?
Did it matter he was forty-six? Not to him. He would love and dote on a baby, no matter if he was ninety-three and sucking down Viagra smoothies to keep Connie satisfied. But did she feel the same? She was only thirty-four, she was mired in her career, and up to her neck in classified information that could sink her.
She smiled and settled back on his chest. “I guess that's something we haven't talked about. I'm on the Pill, Thane. A pregnancy isn't likely, but no method of birth protection is fool proof apart from abstinence. Is being a father something you want?”
More than winning the lottery, he thought. “Yeah. I'd take the opportunity with both hands if it was offered.” Not sure if he was ready for the answer he was about to ask for, he added, “How about you? Motherhood on your agenda for the future?”
“I've never been with anyone who I'd consider father material. Kevin and David were too immature to even think about starting a family with. They were young and their heads were screwed on right, but that didn't mean they weren't full of the chase. I was enough for them when they needed me, but when I let them go, they didn't hesitate to walk out of the door. I imagine they'd have done the same had a baby materialized into our midst.”
Thane bristled. “That's not me, sugar. I don't shirk my responsibilities, and if we ever find ourselves with a pint-sized Connie, I won't be walking away from you or the baby. There'll be a ring on your finger if there isn't one already.”
A tremor rippled through her, but her voice remained calm. “Marriage and family, that's where you're aiming for?”
No point in lying, even by omission. He couldn't deny he was leaning in that direction with her. Dedicating nearly two decades of his life to the military hadn't deterred him from believing there was someone out there who deserved the love he had to give, and fate had dropped him off on Connie's porch, ringing the doorbell to get her attention.
The army was no longer part of the equation. He had memories he would treasure, and he'd be grateful to his superiors, his buddies, until the day he died for what they’d given him. But his time there was done. There wasn’t enough money or a dark enough threat to make him consider walking away from Connie, no matter how short the job.
Thane drew a cross on her back with a fingertip. “X marks the spot, sugar. I'm aiming for everything I can get my hands on from you. Your heart, your life, your memories. Marriage, babies, a goddamn Golden Retriever and a white picket fence. I want it all, to share it all with you, if that's what you want too.”
“Who's wearing the collar?”
“We'll take it in turns. Hell, we'll get matching ones and wear them all the time. I won't ask you yet, Connie. There's so much more I need to know about you, and God knows there's a whole load of my shit to tell you. But I have no doubts about where we're heading in the long run.”
“I like that you're sure. Let's get that shower and some lunch, then I guess…I need to make some phone calls. I'll give you my secrets, Thane, because I want the same as you. The house with the fence, weddings rings and baby clothes to coo over. Even a Golden Retriever. But before I can do that, I need permission from the people those secrets affect most. Okay?”
“Absolutely, sugar.” He stroked her hair and dozed for a little while, feeling her fingers trace his ribs in the same absent manner. His heart was full to bursting, despite the cloud of his past hanging over his head, and he was processing the amount of trust it was costing Connie to take this step for him.
But there was one thing spinn
ing around in his head that he couldn't stop thinking about.
She was his, for better or worse.
*
Ninety minutes later, Connie paced around Thane's living room as her lover opened his door to Atticus, Jasper, and Anarchy. The phone calls she'd made had instigated a group meeting, although half the group was absent. Braun would be joining them via speakerphone while Bodie napped, Liam was overseeing a deep clean at Avalon, and Loki was working his ass off at his friend's tattoo shop in Phoenix.
The questions and doubts she'd thought about last night were slapping at her. Was it too soon? Who could it backfire on? Would Thane deem them all criminals and kick them out of the house she was growing to love, with orders never to lay eyes on him again?
“Hey, guys. Come on in, welcome to my humble abode. Can I get you anything to drink?”
Jesus, did he have to be such a gracious host? Connie ran her hands through her hair, unconcerned she was dressed in Thane's T-shirt and a pair of his clean boxer shorts. They covered her to mid-thigh, and she was slightly amused by Thane's tactics. He was using his shirt and her state of undress as a statement to the visiting Masters—she belonged to him, period. She believed her Dom had given serious thought to marking her in other ways—peeing on her leg or adorning her with his cum—but apparently he'd reconsidered that course of action.
Connie let him be possessive because, well, she kinda liked it when he growled and snapped at the other Doms. It made her feel special, as though he'd truly claimed her for his own, and although her dominant side was sincerely pissed at being displayed as submissive, both halves of her were finally united in their need to be loved.
“Our guests are here, sugar. I think you can stop wearing a track in the carpet.” Thane gestured their friends into the room. Neither Jasper nor Atticus gawked at his humble surroundings, but Connie could read their admiration as they absorbed the room and its furnishings.
Talk For Me: Club Avalon Book 3 Page 32
