by Karr, Kim
Rather shocked such a section even existed, I shook my head. “No, I haven’t.” Surprised she gave them to her husband, I had to ask, “How long have you and James been married?” Logan hadn’t spoken of his friends much, so I knew little about them.
She laughed. “Not long. The same amount of time we’ve known each other.”
Eyes wide, my mouth dropped open.
She glanced at me. “We got married the night we met, or maybe it was the next day.”
Perplexed, I had to ask, “How does something like that happen?”
With a head shake she answered, “It was a Friday night and I was out with my friends. Next thing I know I’m on a private jet headed to Vegas with about twenty people, and then I’m in a chapel saying ‘I do.’ Sounds crazy, but it was love at first sight and we both knew it, so since we were in Vegas, we decided to do the deed.”
“Sounds almost like a fairy tale.”
She gushed, “He is my Prince Charming.”
My eyes wandered the section in front of us. There was a card with two cherries and a tongue between them, one with a woman stepping on a man’s ass in high heels, and another with a woman in a garter belt sitting forward on a man’s knees while he had his hand inside her panties.
Lindsay browsed for a few moments and then she picked one up. On the front was a picture of a woman bent over a man’s lap, his hand on her bare ass. The card read, “I’ve been naughty. Punish me.” She handed it to me. “Do something bad and then give this to Logan. I guarantee you’ll like the results.”
I didn’t take it. “Oh, Logan and I don’t have that type of relationship.”
She shoved it toward me this time. “Trust me, Elle, all men like a woman to be submissive once in a while. I doubt Logan is any different.”
I took the card and stared at it.
Did I want him to spank me?
Did he want to?
I remembered what he’d said to me the first day we’d met with a gleam in his eyes when we talked about the sex toys I was selling, “My friends from New York would love these,” or something like that.
She picked up another card, this one of a woman’s arms and legs bound to a bed frame and a man’s head between her legs.
My face must have registered my unease. Too many ghosts from the past.
She looked at me and simply said, “The best orgasms come when you give up control. I was never submissive with a man until James.”
Inserting my card back into its sleeve, I was interested as to what changed her. “What made you decide to be submissive with him, then?”
She set her card down and picked up another. “It’s what makes us work. It was what I needed and what he needed. I had a mother whom I always had to take care of and my entire childhood and teen years were full of decisions she should have made for me, but instead I was the one making them for her. James, on the other hand, had a very controlling mother and I think because of that, he needs to feel in control himself. It just happened naturally between us.”
“And you’re happy?”
“More happy than I’ve ever been in my life. I like that someone else makes the decisions for me. With the hecticness of my job, it’s so much less stressful for me. I ask permission and he decides if I should receive it. I need something and he takes care of it. Sometimes, I let him bind me and he gives me earth-shattering sex. And once in a while, I misbehave just so he can punish me.”
Her honesty didn’t shock me but it did surprise me. I was glad she felt comfortable enough around me to admit her feelings. Before I could say anything, her phone started to ring.
“Here, hold this,” she said, and handed me the card she had just picked up so she could dig in her purse. On the front was a picture of man holding his erection, and the caption read, “Talk dirty to me, baby. I need to get off.”
I stared at it and an unwanted memory flashed before me.
The surgery had been arranged.
My sister had reluctantly agreed to donate one of her kidneys to my mother. They were a perfect match. I was a match, but not as well matched as my sister.
Both my sister and mother were to arrive at the hospital early in the morning. It was the night before and I was sitting at the kitchen table, doing my homework. My mother was sitting beside me, watching me. She was weak, feeble, but optimistic she would get better.
My sister was supposed to have come home for dinner but never did.
It was just after ten when the door opened. Boots clunked inside and my heart fell. It wasn’t my sister.
My mother scurried from her chair to get my father’s dinner.
“I’ll get it, Mom. You sit down.”
She smiled at me. She had allowed me to do more and more for her over the past year. Grocery shopping, dinner, dishes, cleaning. All of her duties that my father expected but she had a hard time keeping up with.
He came into the room and set his gun on the counter before he looked around.
“Where’s Elizabeth?”
“She’s not home yet,” I answered quickly.
Anger flared in his eyes. He turned around and went back toward the door. I heard him lock it and latch the chain. Lizzy would have to call and apologize before he’d let her in. I hated nights like this.
His steps were louder this time as he came back into the kitchen. “What are you still doing up, Gabrielle?” he asked, his tone stern.
“I had to finish my homework, sir,” I answered, as I removed the foil from his carefully covered plate.
“Leave it. I already ate. I need to talk to your mother. Go on to bed.”
I couldn’t tell if he’d been drinking.
My eyes shot to my mother.
She nodded.
With that, I covered the plate and put it back in the refrigerator before I went to my room.
When he locked my door, it was a surprise. It had been a while since he’d done that.
“Susan,” he called.
Her steps were feeble as she came down the hall.
“I’m going to take a shower and then I want to talk to you.”
Doors opened. Closed. And then silence.
I lay on my bed, squeezing my eyes shut, hoping, praying, he was going to leave her alone tonight. All I heard was silence. I must have fallen asleep because I awoke to that god-awful thudding of the headboard more than an hour later.
“Talk to me, Susan. Tell me you like what you see.”
If my mother was responding, I couldn’t hear her.
“That’s it. Keep talking. Tell me you like to see my hands on my own cock. Tell me it turns you on. Gets you wet.”
Again, if my mother was talking, I couldn’t hear her.
“That’s it, baby. I’m so close. Tell me to move my hands faster. Fuck myself harder. Talk dirty to me, baby.”
At fifteen, I was so much more aware of things than I had been years ago. I knew he was jerking off in front of her. And sadly, I was just thankful he wasn’t making her have sex with him.
The phone started to ring.
“Ignore it. She’ll call back. Keep talking to me, baby. I need this. I need this from you.”
The phone kept ringing.
His moans told me he was starting to climax even through the incessant ringing.
Soon, though, all was quiet. Even him.
I had fallen back asleep.
The phone started to ring again and woke me. This time when I looked at the time it was close to three A.M.
“Yeah,” he barked into the phone.
Silence.
“Fuck. I’ll be right there.”
My eyes flashed to the card again. Maybe it was because my sister’s death was still fresh in my mind that I had to fight back the urge to cry. My family was such a fucked-up thing. And my daddy issues would never allow for me to be submissive with any man.
“Yes, baby, I understand. Sure. I can do that. Have fun,” Lindsay said.
Her words drew my attention.
Silence.<
br />
Her cheeks flushed. “Me too.”
With her phone in her hand, she dug into her purse again, and this time pulled out her keys and looked at me. “Molly’s is closing so it can reopen to the public later tonight. James suggested you and I take the car back to the hotel and he and Logan will take a cab back later.”
“Oh,” I said, a little surprised that Logan hadn’t called me to tell me himself, but then I remembered why. “I have to go back there—my purse is locked up in the backroom along with my phone.”
She grimaced a little. “Let me tell James to get it for you. I guess Logan is more than a little drunk, and James thinks it’s best if he sobers him up before they rejoin us.”
“Oh,” I found myself saying again. “Maybe he needs me.”
“Nonsense, he’ll be fine with James. James was very fond of Logan’s grandfather and I think they want to reminisce and have some boy time.” She plucked the card from my hand. “Let me pay for this and we’ll have a girls’ night in. We can rent a movie and raid the candy in the minibar.”
Worried about Logan, I found myself saying yes just so I would know what was going on. Besides, I didn’t seem to have any other choice without my purse, and I also wasn’t about to leave Logan alone.
Lindsay and James were staying in a very familiar Four Seasons suite. It was the same suite Logan had been living in when we met, before his grandfather blocked his access to his trust fund and his own money started to run out.
It was after ten and the movie Lindsay and I were watching had just ended, but no guys had come to the hotel yet. I was more than a little worried about Logan.
Lindsay jumped up. “Let’s go find a store that sells Ben & Jerry’s. I’m still hungry.”
My eyes skittered over the candy wrappers littered on the table. “You’re going to get a sugar high.”
She laughed. “I’m already on one. I need to keep it going. Besides, I’m going to go stir-crazy waiting for them.”
Standing up and stretching, I conceded. “I think there’s a store around the corner. But I’ll go only if you call James when we get back and find out where they are.”
She nodded. “Okay, deal.”
The expedition on foot to find the small convenience store took longer than I’d anticipated, and by the time we got there it was closed.
With no ice cream but a few bags of chips from a vending machine, we headed back to the hotel. I had to work in the morning, but sleep wasn’t what was on my mind. Logan was.
We passed a strip bar and she bumped my hip. “We could go in and when we get back, I could call James and tell him I watched naked women dance. I guarantee that would bring him back fast.”
Shaking my head, I was horrified at the thought, but at the same time, I laughed a real, genuine, from-the-belly laugh. I liked Lindsay. She was free-spirited about sex in a way I’d never been. She was also a nice person. I could see myself being friends with her.
The coolness of the night air had begun to set in. With the suddenly harsher wind, we both felt the chill and even in our heels, we hastened our pace.
As soon as we walked into the hotel suite, I was assaulted by the tang of a sticky, sweet scent. It was the smell of pot. Never one to try it myself, in my travels I’d come across many people who had. Moldy grass was how I’d always described the smell.
Lindsay shot me a glance and confirmed my suspicion.
Hard rock blared through the open space. The patio doors were open and I saw the back of two heads flopped on the lounge chairs. Even over the music, I heard laughter rumbling into the room. I was glad that at least Logan was upbeat.
Lindsay started for them and looked at me. “Shhh.”
I followed, keeping my mouth shut.
We both approached, eager to see our men, but stopped at the edge of door to watch them. They were playing cards and a baggie of pot was on the floor.
James had changed and was now wearing sleep pants and a T-shirt. He had a cigar gripped between his teeth while he tossed two piles of cards onto the table between them.
Logan was still in his suit pants but had removed everything else. Everything. Outside in his pants only, I wondered how he wasn’t freezing until I looked up and saw the heat lamps were on.
“Baby, you’re going to stink,” Lindsay said loudly, breaking the silence.
Both men jerked their heads back.
The smile that spread across Logan’s face was slow and seductive.
Sexy.
The sight of him dried my throat and made my heart pound. Right then I didn’t care about anything but comforting him through kisses.
Lindsay was still talking, saying something about the rancid smell of the cigar.
Me, I was already leaning over Logan and placing my lips very close to his. “Are you okay?”
“I am now.”
“You sure?”
He nodded and said, “Don’t listen to James. He likes to be a drama queen.”
“I heard that.”
Ignoring James, Logan gave me a single tug and pulled me onto his lap. I found myself provocatively straddling him. His cards fell to the floor, but I heard no one complain. And then his hands anchored my hips as his mouth attacked mine, while my hands gripped his shoulders for support.
“Where are your clothes?” I managed to ask.
The corners of his lips tilted up. “We had a small wrestling match and my shirt took the brunt of the action.”
I laughed.
Boys will be boys.
My dress had ridden up and if anyone was looking, they could see my panties. I just didn’t care enough right then to see what James and Lindsay were doing.
I should have cared. I should have cared just how inebriated or high Logan was. I should have, but his primal response to my presence did something to me that made me want to be what he needed. Made me want to be wild and free for once in my entire life.
Maybe it was the Lindsay effect.
His kiss traveled from the corner of my mouth, along my jaw, to my throat.
My hands moved higher to toy with his hair behind his neck.
His teeth were sharp as they skidded across my skin, but the soft heat from his tongue soothed the burn.
I turned my head to give him full access, and that was when I saw Lindsay’s head moving towards James’s lap.
Again, I should have cared, but I just didn’t.
I wasn’t sure if Logan noticed, but he turned my chin to look at him. “We should go home,” he slurred. The way his eyes flickered over me so intensely made the idea of waiting for a cab and then riding home in one seem like it would take a lifetime.
With my hands flat on his bare chest, I found myself scooting up his body, stopping only when the soft fabric of my wet panties aligned perfectly with the tented fabric of his slacks. “I want you now,” I whispered.
Logan’s tongue flicked out to wet his lips. “I’m drunk, probably not the best idea.”
I raised myself ever so slightly and lowered my body, making the most exquisite contact with his erection. “I’m not and you seem just fine.”
His hand stroked my hair and pulled out the clip holding it up. “You want this? Here?”
My breath was wild. My nipples taut. My clit was pulsing. I realized I was excited. “Yes, I want you to take me here.”
His gaze slid to the side and so did mine. James was thrusting into Lindsay’s mouth. “James!” Logan shouted.
A grunt was his only reply.
“Hurry up and get the fuck inside, will you.”
Again, a grunt was his response.
Logan’s attention back on me, his hands threaded through my hair and slid over my shoulders and down my arms to capture my hands. He pressed our palms together so that our fingers were linked and drew in a shuddering breath. “You’re so beautiful. You know that?”
“I love you.” I’m not sure why I felt compelled to tell him that, but the way he looked at me when I did made me feel like we’d both found tru
e love in each other, and all the worries that messed with my thoughts evaporated as his gaze flared. All that mattered was him. Comforting him. Getting him through this. Being here—for him.
He brought me to him with a hand to the back of my head, holding me in place while he kissed me breathless, maybe hard enough that he might have bruised my mouth.
Again, I didn’t care.
The kiss went on and on and when he finally pulled away, I hadn’t had nearly enough of him. It was when my eyes fell to the bag of joints on the ground that I realized Logan did not taste of thyme or moldy grass or smell like skunk, and I was a little glad that he hadn’t gotten high. I had a feeling he had struggled with drugs during his life and with my own father being an alcoholic, I was all too familiar with the claim that addictive habits were hereditary.
Another sideways glance on his part had my gaze following. “Finally,” he muttered. The lounge beside us was now empty, as was the living area. James and Lindsay must have gone into the bedroom. Logan must have been waiting for them to leave.
Knowing we were alone, lust won out over good sense and I stood and stripped myself naked.
Logan drew in a shuddering breath and stood as well, shedding his pants and underwear quickly.
I stared at him, naked and beautiful, and licked my lips. That card I’d seen in the store came to mind. Just because my issues might never allow me to be submissive didn’t mean I couldn’t be the dominant type.
He held out his hand for me to take it and instead I pointed to a chair next to the lounger. “Sit down.”
“Don’t you want to go inside?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, sit down.”
He raised a brow.
I kept my finger pointed.
No one could see us up this high and with the heat lamps on, something about fucking outside felt incredibly erotic.
A slow, seductive smile spread across his lips, and as he sat his eyes looked like dark flames. The hazel was gone, replaced by dilated pupils that bled pure lust.
Since I was already drenched, he easily slid inside me as I sat on his cock.
The sensation of him filling me made me shout out, and Logan wasn’t exactly quiet himself. I heard pleasurable groans escape his throat.
This was what we both needed.
