by Lexi Blake
Ariel’s eyes glittered with mischief. “I think you should go find out. And it took you long enough.”
He stood up. Maybe it was time to be brave.
Chapter Eighteen
The ground floor of The Garden was quiet, and he started to get suspicious that this was a setup. Ariel had known something was going on, but she wouldn’t say a word.
Roni was making her play, and he didn’t think it was to shut him out.
He wasn’t completely foolish. He’d seen the way her eyes lit up when he’d walked out of the elevator. And he’d seen the way she’d shut down when he’d taken Vi and left her behind.
Could he trust that she wouldn’t change her mind? That these feelings for him weren’t the result of almost dying?
No one was down here. Had she gone back to her place?
He glanced to his right and realized where she would go. The privacy rooms. He stepped up and the doors opened with their high-tech swish.
Nina sat at the security desk. She gave him a brilliant smile and hopped off the stool, her arms open in greeting.
“Hey, you look amazing for a woman who was recently shot.” He hugged her, grateful he’d been able to have a hand in saving her.
“Well, I had some very good doctors, and I suspect I had an angel who sacrificed herself to save me.” Nina stepped back. “She won’t admit it but I’m almost certain she went with him when she had a chance to run. She did it because he threatened me.”
“I can believe that.” Roni was good deep down, and that was why he worried she would have trouble forgetting the past once the glow of surviving the storm had passed.
“She’s in room four, of course,” Nina said. “I’m going to leave you two alone for the evening. Unless you’re planning on telling her you’re done. Then I think I should go back there. She’s not exactly dressed for the breakup conversation, if you know what I mean.”
Every muscle in his body tightened at the thought of what she was—or wasn’t—wearing. She was waiting in that room where they’d made love, and he wanted so badly to walk back there and take her, imprint himself on her. But he had to be careful, for both their sakes.
“It’s not my intention to hurt her, but she was having second thoughts,” he said, hating the fact that he couldn’t make this simple. It felt like it should be simple, but he’d learned that nothing in life was.
“She’s not having them now, I assure you.”
“She’s been through a lot.”
Nina shook her head. “No. You don’t get to do that, Tucker. You don’t get to decide how she’s feeling. You don’t get to know better than her. If you’re hesitating, be honest about why you’re doing it. You got hurt and you’re scared you’ll get hurt again.”
He needed to see her. Maybe he would walk in that room and it would all be clear to him. “I don’t know. I guess I’ve been through a lot, too. But maybe she’s right. Maybe this is how we should work things out.” They could talk and talk and not get to the heart of the problem. Sometimes words got in the way. “Go ahead and go. I know the security code. I’ll take care of her.”
“See that you do,” Nina said with a jaunty salute. “She’s a smart lady. She knows what she wants.”
The doors opened and then closed as Nina left and he was alone with the only woman in the world he wanted.
She’d hurt him. He’d hurt her. He hadn’t meant to. He hadn’t meant to leave her but he had. She’d spent years believing that he’d dumped her and left her pregnant, and she’d still come back to him, still found a way to shove that ache aside.
He’d asked her to have some faith. Shouldn’t he have some, too?
He strode down the hall and opened the door to number four.
And stopped entirely, his breath held for a moment because she was on the bed, her arms tied down, her body completely naked. She was soft and vulnerable, and what had it taken for her to open herself up like this when he’d basically rejected her hours earlier?
“Hey, gorgeous.” He loved her. In the end, it really was simple. He loved her. If she had doubts, he would put them to rest. If she questioned his devotion, he would give her answers with his lips and his tongue and his cock. He would love her so long and so well, she would know he would never leave her again.
Her head came up and she gasped before settling back and attempting to look like she wasn’t nervous. She was. He could tell by the way she bit her bottom lip. “Hi. Uhm, is Vi asleep?”
All of his own doubts slid away. Robert was right. A relationship would always have its troubles, but it was up to them to stick together, and they couldn’t do that if he was off somewhere nursing his hurt feelings. Roni was offering him everything and he wasn’t about to turn her down because it might—somewhere down the line—get difficult. It would get difficult. And they would fix it. “Yes, but I don’t think you brought me down here to discuss our daughter. Did I mention how happy I was to see you earlier?”
Now that he was here with her, a peace overtook him. And an amusement. She wanted to discuss their parenting duties when she was all tied up and ready for play? No. They did have things to discuss, but it wouldn’t be Vi and it wouldn’t be polite. It would be dirty and sweet.
Her lips turned down in the most delicious pout. “I got the idea that you weren’t happy to see me.”
“Oh, I was happy.” He walked over to the small table someone had kindly set up for him. At least now he knew where Ariel had disappeared to after dinner. She and Nina seemed to have set up an array of treats for their friend. “I was also surprised. You were supposed to be in New York.”
“I didn’t want to be in New York.”
When he’d suggested she should go to be with their daughter and she’d agreed, he’d been disappointed. It was perverse, but he’d wanted an argument out of her. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“You didn’t want to hear it.”
“Fair,” he agreed. “But not because I didn’t want you, baby. I was hurt and I didn’t talk to you about it. I was scared because you mean everything to me. Getting my memory back, getting my life back, means nothing if you’re not in it.”
“I’m sorry I doubted you. It all happened so fast,” she began.
He shook his head. He didn’t need to have some big fight with her. He’d thought he did, but all he’d truly needed was to give up his own insecurities. Of course she’d worried. He would have worried, too. “No apologies. It did happen fast, and we were both caught in it. Here’s the thing. I love you. Do you love me?”
Her eyes were steady on his, emotion shining in them. “So much. I loved you as Steven. I loved you as Tucker. I’ll love you as Timothy Seeger.”
He picked up the deerskin flogger. The falls were buttery soft and perfect to warm her up a bit. But then he wouldn’t be touching her. He wanted his hands on her skin. Toys might have to wait. Then a little jar caught his eye and he thanked the universe his sister-in-law understood how fun torture could be.
He didn’t need a damn thing to get warmed up. He was already hot for her. He could fuck her hard right that second; however, she’d set this scene up and he wasn’t about to fail her. But he had made a few decisions. “I think I like Tucker. I consider it a nickname, and I earned it. I like the way you say my name.”
“Tucker.” A smile settled on her face. “I love you, Tucker.”
The words were a balm to his soul. “I love you, Roni. I’m sorry I hesitated back in Paris. Like I said, I was scared.”
“You were worried I would change my mind. I won’t.”
“And I won’t either.” He pulled his T-shirt over his head and tossed it aside before picking up the jar they’d left for him. Well, for him to use on her. “I think, though, that you forgot something.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m in charge in this room.” He moved to the bedside and opened the jar, getting a dab of the cream on his fingers. “Spread your legs.”
Her eyes widened and he was pleased wit
h the bit of trepidation he saw there.
“What is that?” she asked, the question a breathy huff.
It wouldn’t do for her to be completely comfortable. “The main ingredient is menthol. Can you guess what it does and how I’m planning on using it?”
Her nipples had tightened. “You’re going to put it on my clitoris. It’s going to stimulate the nerves there, make it easier for me to orgasm.”
He loved the fact that she could barely get the words out. “Precisely. Now do as I asked and spread your legs.”
Her knees came apart, giving him access to what he wanted. Her pussy was lovely and soft. His cock thickened further at the sight of that sweet part of her. He palmed her, easing his hands across the soft, smooth skin of her pussy. He slid his fingers between her labia, loving how wet she already was. “What have you been lying here thinking about?”
Her eyes closed as she obviously reveled in the contact. “Mostly about the fact that Nina was sitting here talking about her favorite books, and how weird it was that I was naked and she wasn’t. You took your time.”
That hadn’t been all she’d thought about. Either that or he’d had a quick effect on her.
He rubbed the cream on her clitoris, taking his time and watching how she responded, how her breath deepened, her toes curling as he worked the cream all over her clit. Her hips moved, pressing herself up against his fingers.
He set the jar down because a little of that stuff went a long way, and he wasn’t ready for her to come yet. Not until he’d had a bit of fun. He reached over and undid the tie on her right hand. “I want you on all fours. I think you earned a spanking.”
“Earned? How?”
He could come up with a million ways she’d scared the hell out of him, but one was enough. “Well, let’s see, you got yourself kidnapped.”
Her eyes flared. “I did not get myself kidnapped.”
“Play with me. I spent hours and hours worried you were dead. I should get to spank that pretty ass.” She wasn’t used to the lifestyle, so he had to coax her. He knew if she tried, she would enjoy it.
Her eyes went gorgeously wide and innocent. “I was terrible. I got myself kidnapped and worried my poor husband.”
He felt a brilliant smile cross his face as he released her other hand. “I like the sound of that.”
“See how I worked that in,” she replied with a grin and then she gasped. “Oh, that stuff works fast.”
She turned over and suddenly that pretty ass was in the air, waiting for his caress.
She was all his. This was what he’d wanted as he’d walked through the streets of Paris that day. He’d wanted a life where she was waiting for him, where she trusted and loved him.
They had a shot at it now.
“You are so beautiful.” He ran his hand over her back, tracing the graceful line of her spine from her neck all the way down to her ass. He cupped a cheek before bringing his hand up and back in a sharp arc.
Her whole body shuddered.
“Do you have any idea how scared I was I would lose you?” He spanked her again, easy slaps to her flesh meant more to sensitize than to punish. He didn’t want to punish her. He simply wanted this connection with her.
And he had been scared. Terrified. He’d come close to getting what he’d wanted once before, and that bastard Dwyer had almost taken everything from him again.
“Did he hurt you?” The question was accompanied by another smack.
“He hit me with a gun. He properly surmised that the minute I thought Nina was safe I would scream my head off. That’s why he knocked me out with the gun,” she admitted. “After I woke up in the trunk of his car, he dosed me. The sedative was surprisingly easy. Good rest. No nausea afterward. I think Kronberg has a winner there.”
This smack was harder because he didn’t need her sarcasm. Except he did. It brought a smile to his face. “I wouldn’t go buying stock. I think that company is going to undergo some big changes soon.”
They would burn to the ground if he had any say in things.
“Okay, but that was seriously good stuff,” she replied, giving him a wiggle of that gorgeous ass.
He spanked her again, loving the way her skin pinkened. He set in on his task, smacking her cheeks over and over again. He watched her carefully, studied how she responded. Every smack and caress made his cock ache.
“Never again,” he swore. “You are not allowed to be kidnapped again. I’m not going to be shot at again or mind erased. We’re going to find someplace nice and quiet and raise our kids and life is going to be boring.”
And he would love every second of it. He would love every boring, normal not getting shot at or under threat of arrest moment.
“I promise. God, I promise, Tucker. I’ll promise you anything if you’ll please fuck me. I’m dying. And I like the spanking thing, but it’s got to stop because I’m dying here.”
He slapped her backside one last time and then lifted her with ease.
It was time to please his woman.
* * * *
She could medically explain what that damn cream had done to her clitoris, but academic words couldn’t possibly express what she felt.
Fire. Want. Desperate need.
It had taken the normal desire she had for him and turned the dial up to one hundred, but then it fit. She’d already been at the extremes of need on an emotional level. Since the moment she’d decided to make her play for him, she’d been a bundle of nerves, knowing this might be their last shot. Nina had brought Ariel into their plot. It had been Ariel who convinced her to show Tucker how much she trusted him.
Naturally Ariel’s way had been to tie her up naked and make her wait until Tucker came down and found her and all of his doubts magically drifted away at the sight of her naked boobs. Nina had sat in the room, chatting as though it wasn’t abnormal at all to hang out with a naked chick. She’d only left when Ariel had texted her Tucker was on his way down.
Tucker lifted her and rolled her over, moving her onto her back. There was soft material under her, caressing her slightly sore backside. That spanking had been a revelation. The minor pain had been overwhelmed by the sensitivity she’d received. It was like every slap of his hand went straight to her pussy. Even now she could feel how warm her skin was. The thought that she might feel it the next day made her perfectly happy.
She watched as his hands went to his waistband, shoving down his jeans and showing off that body she craved. He was a stunning man, even more so than he’d been years before.
She let go of all the time that he’d been gone. They’d been taken from her, but she wouldn’t let those lost years cost them their future.
Not that she was thinking of the future. Nope. She wanted the right now.
He climbed on the bed but didn’t fall on top of her, and that was annoying.
She started to reach for him, but that was the moment he pounced. He pinned her hands above her head and pressed her into the mattress with his body. Even the feel of his skin against hers was almost enough to make her shout out in pleasure.
“God, I missed this,” she managed to breathe.
He lowered his head to hers. “I missed you.”
He took her mouth in a long, luscious kiss that had their tongues tangling. After a moment, he released her wrists and she let her arms wind around him. Everywhere he touched her, she was warm, her skin tingling like it had been asleep without his to press against.
“Did I say thank you for saving my brother?” He whispered the question against her ear as his hands smoothed back her hair. He leaned over and dropped light kisses on her nose.
Her hips moved restlessly, trying to make harder contact with him. She was so hot, desperate to have him. “That’s wonderful. You should reward me.”
His lips curled in the sexiest smirk. “I should. I’ll reward you with kisses. Lots of kisses.”
His mouth covered hers again and she moaned. It wasn’t enough, but she couldn’t force him to move faste
r. Every kiss drugged her with pleasure, with connection. He held her still, forcing her to focus on him. She let her legs tangle with his, moving against his muscular ones.
“Do you know what else I should reward you for?” He kissed his way over her cheek and to her ear where he licked the shell. “I should reward you for everything you had to do for our daughter while I was gone. For being the best mom.”
“You should reward me with your cock.” It would be the perfect way to celebrate motherhood, doing the very thing that had caused it in the first place.
“I’ll get to that.” His hips were moving, gently rocking against her, making her light up. “I have to find a condom first. I think your friends forgot them. They weren’t on the table. But I did spy a pretty butt plug.”
She would have to thank Nina and Ariel for that. She intended to avoid the butt plug for the evening. It would have to wait. “They didn’t put condoms out because I told them we didn’t need them. I think Violet would make a great big sister, and you owe me.”
He stopped, his whole body going still. His blue eyes were wide as he stared down at her. “What are you saying?”
Oh, she had him now. She could see it plainly. He’d likely had plans to keep her on the edge as long as he could, but she was going to make that impossible for him. She was going to make him totally lose control. “I’m saying I want you with me this time. I’m saying you’re going to rub my feet and get me Chinese takeout when I can’t go another minute without cashew chicken.”
He smiled, an expression of pure joy. “I will. I’ll have to have it brought in from somewhere else because Jennings only has two restaurants and they’re both burger joints, but I’ll make it work.”
There had been something wrong about what he’d just said, but he’d moved down her body and taken a nipple in his mouth. Sparks seemed to shoot through her and she lost her train of thought. He licked and sucked her nipples, moving from one to the other. She let her hands roam across the smooth skin of his shoulders and back, reveling in the muscles she found there.
“I’ll give you everything you need this time. I won’t miss a minute,” he vowed as he nestled beside her and his hand skimmed down from her breasts to the apex of her thighs. “I love you so much. You won’t regret it.”
