In the middle of a particularly heated scene between Ralph and Elise, the buzzer from the downstairs door made me jump from my chair. Aggravated at the disturbance—and thinking it was the FedEx guy again, hitting all the buzzers until someone let him in the house—I went to the speaker by my door and pressed the button opening the main entrance.
Back at my desk, I was reading through the last few sentences I had written, getting my train of thought back, when the light rap on my front door surprised me.
Tentatively I approached the door, worried that Colin had returned to terrorize me some more. Instead of Colin, I discovered Garrett standing on the landing. He was holding out a cup of coffee from Café Du Monde and a white paper bag stuffed with beignets.
“We have to talk,” was all he said before strutting past me and into my living room.
“Gee, good morning to you, too, Garrett,” I muttered, closing my door.
When I faced him, I noticed he was not wearing a suit jacket. His black slacks were sharply pressed while his cream-colored shirt still had those freshly dry-cleaned creases. As he walked by, a whiff of his musky cologne made my toes curl. Then, the aroma of coffee and beignets begged me to follow him into the kitchen.
Standing by the breakfast bar, he handed me the cup of coffee as his eyes took in my outfit. “Did you sleep in that?”
I glanced down at my oversized nightshirt. “Yes, why?”
He dropped the bag of beignets on my white countertop. “Don’t you think you should dress?”
I opened the lid on the coffee cup, inhaling the enticing fragrance. “No, I’m a writer. We don’t dress for work.” I nodded to the beignets. “Why are you bringing me breakfast?” I lifted the coffee to my lips.
He went to the cabinets to the side of my sink. “I can bring you breakfast, if I like, Lexie.”
“After our conversation yesterday, I thought you wanted to stay away from me for a while.”
He came back to the counter, carrying a white plate. “I got a summons from Mabel last night.”
My hand froze, the coffee millimeters from my mouth. “A summons?”
He emptied the bag of beignets onto the plate. “Colin has put in a request to claim you. I was called to the club to respond. I was given a choice to claim you for myself, or let Colin do it for me.”
“That sneaky son of a bitch.” I slammed my coffee down on the bar. “I didn’t want to say anything before. Colin came here the day after the party, threatening me. He knows I’m a writer, and he suspects this has all been about a book. He said if I didn’t let him claim me, he would ruin you and me.”
Garrett crumpled the white paper bag in his hand. “You should have told me.”
“I was trying to protect you,” I professed.
He stood before me; his livid eyes probing mine. “Is that why you came to my office yesterday and offered yourself to me? Because of Colin’s threats?” He threw the bag across my kitchen.
I shrugged, lowering my eyes to the plate of beignets on the bar. “I knew if I said anything you would have confronted him, and then things would have only escalated. I didn’t want things to get out of hand.”
“Goddammit, Lexie!” he yelled, making me take a frightened step back. “You should have said something to me.”
I threw my hands up. “I thought I could handle it.”
He stood before me, his lips slammed together. Turning away, he went to the sink. With his back to me, he clutched the edge of the sink. I watched as his knuckles turned white.
“Garrett, we can fix this. All you have to do is claim me in the ceremony, and then Colin will—”
“I don’t want to do that.” He slapped his hand against the sink’s edge. “Not with you. I never wanted to bring you into this. I thought one time at the club and you could slip away unnoticed. Then we were ordered back, and I knew it was too late.” When he turned to me, his face was contorted with anger. “When I take you for the first time, it will not be in a room full of strangers. The first time between a Dom and a sub should be special, and not made into some cheap sex show.”
I went around the bar to him. “I don’t think we have a choice.”
“We have a choice, Lexie. I’m not going to be pressured into taking a sub, and I’m not going to have you go through with that ceremony.”
“Have you ever claimed anyone at the club before?”
He let out a long breath. “Once. The last sub I was with, Elena. She belonged to the club before I arrived, and when I joined, I took her.”
Ah, another one. How many women had there been? I was beginning to consider where I would fall on his long list of subs.
“What happened to Elena? Is she still there?”
“She’s there.” He waved his hand about the kitchen, frowning. “She belongs to Gerard Bence, the attorney.”
I recalled the slender blonde with the crystal clear blue eyes, and my resolve faltered. I crept closer to him, almost afraid to ask what I was thinking. “Why did you give her up?”
He pushed away from the sink and strutted into the living room. Determined to get an answer, I followed him.
“Answer the question, Garrett,” I shouted.
He spun around to me. “Don’t ever tell me what to do.”
“Cut the bullshit, Garrett. This isn’t about Doms and subs, it’s about people. Why did you give up that woman? Did you get bored with her? After I humiliate myself in front of those lunatics, is that what is going to happen to me? Are you going to chuck me aside once you’ve gotten what you want?”
His hands flew to my shoulders, squeezing me. “Don’t ever speak to me like that again.”
“Are you going to punish me again? Spank me like some silly child? You can’t just tell me to do what you want, spank me, boss me around, and think I’ll listen to you. It doesn’t work that way.” I wiggled free of his hands.
“How does it work, Lexie? Because I’m beginning to get the impression that, no matter what I demand of you, there will be no taming you.”
“Why in the hell do you have to tame me? Why can’t you just accept me as an equal?”
He stepped back from me. “That’s not what I do!”
“Well, maybe you should give it a try, because the other way sure isn’t working for you. How many women have there been, Garrett? How many times have you made a woman your sub, only to walk away?”
“What are you after, Lexie? More material for your book?” He headed for the front door.
“Are you happy, Garrett? Does all this control you think you have over people make you happy?”
He halted at the door, seemingly swayed by my words. Then his back stiffened and his rigid posture returned, mirroring that uncompromising will of steel beneath his controlled exterior.
I slowly approached, determined to get through to him. He could only run away from the ugliness of his life for so long before it started haunting him. Haunted people always looked the same to me; dead on the inside. If Garrett wasn’t careful, he would end up that way. I should know. Until the day he had walked into my life, I had been just as close to death as he was.
“You can chase after all the women in the world, Garrett, make everyone your slave, but I promise you this…until you start taking a good long look at your life, you will never be happy.”
“What makes you an expert on happiness, Lexie?”
I reached out to him, gently placing my hand against his back. He pulled away from me. I had hoped we had grown closer, but now I was not so sure. Maybe all I would ever be to him was a submissive mistress. Another woman he could use up and toss aside.
“I’m sorry.” I lowered my hand. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
He slowly faced me. His eyes were as ruthless as the day we had met. Nothing about him had changed. I was the one who had changed.
“There’s only one question you need to concern yourself with, Lexie. Do you wish to continue with this? Do you still want to be mine?”
I gazed into his eyes,
knowing there could be only one answer. “Yes, Garrett. I do.”
As he raised his head, I could see his anger retreating. I had given him what he wanted.
“The ceremony is set for Saturday night,” he pronounced, and waited for my reaction.
“How did you know I would consent?”
“I read your book.” He cast his eyes to my hardwood floor. “A white robe will be delivered to you Friday. Wear nothing beneath it. A car will collect you and bring you to the club. I cannot have any contact with you until the ceremony. They will be watching.”
I thought of his club members spying on my home, and I grew fearful. I did not show him my trepidation. I couldn’t. “I understand,” I mustered.
He raised his head and his features had warmed a little, offering a glimpse of the man I so desperately wanted to know. “If you change your mind, I can call the whole thing off at any time.”
“What would happen to you and your business then?” I shook my head. “Colin made it very clear what he had planned. It would ruin you.”
“That’s not your concern. I don’t want you doing this to save Hayden Parr’s business,” he admitted. “Eventually, I’m sure I can set things right with him.”
Studying Garrett, as he stood before my door, I remembered something Al had said to me. Here was an intelligent, successful man who had never ventured into business on his own. Why?
“You don’t need Hayden Parr anymore, Garrett. I think it’s time you made a go of it in New Orleans without him.”
“Hayden has been good to me,” he maintained, scowling.
“It’s your contacts here, your sacrifices. I think you would be happier with your own firm.” A rush of confidence came over me. “When we have put this ceremony behind us, and you have proven yourself to the club, you should start checking out office space.”
He pulled me into his arms. “Now who is giving the orders?”
“Wouldn’t you like your own business?”
Garrett touched his forehead to mine. “I always dreamed of having my own place one day. It was just never the right time.”
I snuggled against his thick chest. “The right time is now.”
Holding me close, he sighed into my hair. “When I take you on that stage Saturday night, I want you to think only of me,” he whispered. “No one else. Just me.”
I shivered as I envisioned standing naked next to that red velvet chaise.
“I promise I will be as gentle as possible.” He kissed my cheek.
I leaned back and admired the perfection of his chiseled features. “I trust you.”
Garrett’s face lifted into a bewitching smile. “That’s the first time you’ve said those words, and I actually believed it.” He dropped his head to me. “Say it again.”
“I trust you.”
He poised his mouth inches from mine. “Then you’re ready.” He hesitated, as if debating the need to kiss me or walk away, and then his forehead furrowed. “I need to go,” he mumbled. “If I stay…. I’ll see you Saturday night.”
He turned and opened the door. Without glancing back, Garrett jogged toward the stairs.
Closing the door, I grinned as a glimmer of satisfaction snaked through me. It was the first time I had seen a crack in his well-controlled façade.
“Perhaps there is a way to win with Garrett, after all.”
My heart leapt at the thought of breaking through his cast-iron resolve. My elation was soon replaced by dread. Before I could revel in being his, I had to be claimed. That humiliation was something I was not sure I would ever be able to endure.
Day 14
After a sleepless night, staring out my bedroom window, I rose before sunrise in search of coffee. As I stood beside my kitchen counter and waited for the coffee to finish brewing, I spied my laptop. I remembered Garrett asking me once how far I was willing to go for my book. It would seem I now had my answer. I had endured humiliation and pleasure at Garrett’s hand. In order to truly understand the inner workings of his world, I would soon pledge myself to a life as his sub. I contemplated if I should be writing fact, instead of fiction, because when I’d set out on this journey I never imagined I would end up here.
The exploits of Ralph and Elise were nothing compared to the real life drama of me and Garrett. How would our story end? Would I eventually bore him and be passed on to another Dom in the club? Or would we find something special, break away from the club, and settle down to a somewhat vanilla life? If I never took the chance with him, I would never have the answers. Shaking off my dreary mood, I filled my mug with coffee. A person could go crazy trying to outthink fate.
Taking my mug to my desk, I turned on my laptop and read the last few sentences I had written. Despite the chaos in my life, Ralph and Elise were building a relationship beneath the rules of their lifestyle. I had Ralph growing as a character because of Elise’s devotion, and Elise becoming empowered because of his affection.
Up until this point in the story, I had not mentioned the word love. Ralph was not the kind of character who would profess such an emotion. Was Garrett? The question had always been there, floating in the outskirts of my mind. I kept going back to the picture of him with his nieces, and how different he had seemed. Would he ever be that way with me?
The cell phone on my desk roused me from my mental meanderings. When I checked the caller ID, my stomach did a happy summersault.
“How are you holding up?” Garrett’s smooth voice came through the speaker.
“I’m fine.” Admiring the trickling of light creeping in through my balcony windows, I inquired, “Why are you up so early?”
“Couldn’t sleep. I’m lying in my bed and thinking of you. I gathered you were probably up.”
I sipped my coffee. “Hey, I thought you weren’t supposed to contact me before the ceremony?”
He chuckled into the phone, warming me up faster than the coffee. “I’m not, but at this point I figured to hell with their rules. I wanted to see if you were all right, and if you had changed your mind about the ceremony.”
“You, breaking the rules…that’s a first.” I could almost see him grinning. “And no, I haven’t changed my mind.”
He yawned, sounding more relaxed than I’d ever heard him. “You can still back out, Lexie. I don’t want you to feel as if you have to do this.”
“I’m not going to back out. I want to do it.” I got comfortable in my chair, gripping my coffee mug. “I may not be too enthused about Saturday night, but I won’t let you down.”
“This isn’t about me. It’s about you.”
“It’s about both of us, Garrett. If this is what I have to do, then I guess….”
His sigh filled my phone speaker. “Of all the women I have known, you’re the first who has truly given yourself to me. I think it is you who has dominated me all along.”
“Wow,” I mumbled. “I didn’t expect that.”
“Neither did I.” There was a bit of rustling on the other end.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting out of bed,” he answered. “I might as well get up.”
My imagination went wild with visions of him rising naked from his bed. “Do you sleep in pajamas?” I playfully asked.
“No,” was all he said.
I put my coffee down, feeling flushed.
“Are you still in your nightshirt?” His voice became a little deeper.
I glanced down at my shirt. “Yeah, why?”
“Where are you?”
I frowned at my phone. “At my desk.”
“I want you to go into your bedroom, and lie down on your bed.”
“I’m working…why do I want to do that?” I didn’t get up from my chair, and listened to his breath coming over the line.
“Do not question me.” The lilt of aggravation in his voice reminded me of whom I was dealing with.
Unsure of what he was after, I rose from my chair and headed to my bedroom. After I spread out on my bed, I gripped my phone.
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“Fine, I’m on my bed.”
“Close your eyes. I’m going to help you prepare for the ceremony by practicing a run through.”
I opened my eyes. “Why do I need to—?”
“No talking,” he interrupted.
I rolled my eyes and closed them again.
“Picture us on that stage with no one else in the room. We’re all alone. You are in your white robe, and I’m in my tuxedo. All you have to do is listen to my voice as I tell you what to do. I’m going to tell you everything that I’m going to do to you. Do you understand?”
A rush of white heat stirred in my belly. “Yes.”
“I slowly ease the white robe from your shoulders. You can feel the soft material slipping away from your body, as it drops to the floor. You are naked before me. I’ll admire your creamy skin and fabulous breasts, while I remove my jacket and set it on the chaise behind you. I’ll undo the buttons on my shirt while you wait patiently in front of me.” He took a breath, and I could feel my body relax while his reassuring voice saturated my mind. “I’ve opened my shirt now, and I raise your hands to my chest. I want to feel you next to me, so I pull you closer. I caress the curve of your incredible ass, and my hands run up and down along the sides of your hips. Can you feel my hands on you, Lexie?”
“Yes,” I mumbled, as the burn between my legs spread up my spine.
“While I’m kissing your neck, my fingers glide down your stomach, very gently. When I reach between your legs and touch you, you moan for me.”
The pictures in my head were becoming very clear. As my ache for him grew, I yearned to moan out loud.
“I’m standing next to you, stroking your wetness. I nip at your neck and tell you how much I want you. I want you, Lexie. I want to be inside of you.”
My legs rubbed against the bedspread beneath me. My desire was getting the better of me.
“I’m going to take you from behind,” his seductive voice continued. “After I turn you around and drape you over that red chaise, I’m going to ease my fingers into you, to get you good and wet for me. I’m going to rub your clit with my thumb. Just when you are so close to coming, I will unzip my pants, spread your legs apart, and thrust so hard and deep into you that I will make you cry out. I’m going to fuck you very hard and very slow. Can you feel me doing that? Can you feel my pushing into you, forcing your flesh apart?”
Taming Me Page 18
