Blaine, Destiny - Roping in Forever [Forever 1] (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Destiny Blaine

  “So maybe you are,” Corbin rasped. “Age won’t matter here anyhow. Once you get inside that club, you’re gonna see right fast that you’re in the wrong place with the wrong man.”

  “Why Corbin, you sound downright jealous.”

  He eyed her breasts again. This time his gaping wasn’t a stare and go. He made sure she understood precisely where he’d chosen to look. “I ain’t ashamed to admit it. You and I both know if you’re gonna be here, you ought to be on my arm.”

  Immediately, Bella remembered how envy had taken hold of her. It was all she could do to keep from closing her eyes and reliving the night she’d watched Corbin with that Mexican girl at the San Antonio roadside motel. Feeling self-conscious, she raised her cup and finished off her beverage.

  “Well, it’s good to see you,” she stuttered, making her escape before she threw herself into his arms. She forced herself to walk away before she asked him why he was suddenly possessive, acting like a scorned potential lover left in the middle of a date.

  “You, too, Bella,” Corbin said, a tense expression washing over his face. “You take care of yourself tonight. If you need anything, you come find me.”

  “Thanks,” she said, trying to convince herself that she wouldn’t search out Corbin as long as she was Benson’s date.

  Bella took a deep breath and a first step in the other direction when Corbin added, “You know, you can always change your plans. We could go somewhere. You could leave with me.”

  Facing him, Bella asked, “And just why would I want to do something like that?”

  His lips twitched. She thought he was mocking her and expected a come-on line, some verbal banter like they’d enjoyed in the past—when he must’ve considered her safe to tease. Humph, torture was more like it.

  “I was just saying,” he remarked carefully. “This ain’t a club for you. You’ll see, Bella. This is not the place for pure women, innocent angels.”

  About that time, Benson returned. “Corbin,” he said, offering his hand.

  “Remember what I told ya,” Corbin stated flatly, ignoring Benson before walking away.

  “Old friend?” Benson inquired, grinning wider like he’d just won first place in some kind of male race.

  “I guess so,” she replied, tossing her cup in a large black trashcan.

  “Come on,” he said, lacing her fingers through his. “I talked to the owner. Our names were added to the VIP list.”

  “VIP, huh?”

  “That’s right,” Benson replied, passing Travis and Corbin. “When you’re with me, I’ll always treat you like a VIP—one very important possession.”

  Chapter Six

  “Did you hear that creep?” Corbin asked, watching Benson and Bella until they disappeared through the club’s hospitality entrance.

  “I told you,” Travis said. “He’s gonna break her in right. Don’t hate the trainer, or even question his techniques. Later, you might thank him.”

  “Like hell I will. He has one thing on his mind.”

  “So do you,” Travis reminded him. “Only if you do that, you’re done, man. You’re toast, burnt toast. Benson, on the other hand, probably couldn’t care less whether or not he makes it through the night with Bella. He’s only interested in the jam and jelly.” Travis gyrated his hips, rocking them forward and back a couple of times for the crudest impression.

  Corbin stuffed his hands in his pockets. “You’re sick, man.”

  “Not near as ill as you’ll be,” Travis grumbled.

  A few gals walked by them and tried to get their attention. When Corbin didn’t acknowledge them, Travis said, “Ah hell, what are you waitin’ for? If you didn’t notice those three hotties, then you might as well run on along and fetch your bride.”

  “I ain’t interested in getting married, Travis,” Corbin bit out, stamping his boot in the dry dirt.

  That wasn’t entirely true. Since he’d figured out how much he’d hurt Bella, Corbin had been considering his future, certain the days ahead belonged to Bella. He’d also started regretting the past he hadn’t spent with her.

  “Then what do you want with her?”

  “I want to tell her I’m sorry.”

  “You want to apologize?”

  “Hell yeah, I’m sorry. And I want her to know.”

  “You weren’t seeing her in San Antonio. You don’t owe her anything, man.”

  “You don’t understand. Bella. She’s different.”

  “Anyone can look at her and tell she’s not like the rest. I’ll give you that. Still, you don’t owe her an apology.”

  Corbin looked down at the ground. “What did she tell you? When you saw her at the rodeo, what did she say?”

  Travis’s eyes lit with pure fire. “You want me to spell it out?”

  “She saw me with that whore.”

  “Yep.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Yep. She saw that, too.”

  Corbin studied his face. “What do you mean she saw that, too?”

  “She walked up to the door, planned to knock, but watched instead. You must’ve left the drapes cracked because she saw more than you’d ever let me watch.”

  “Great, just great,” Corbin grumbled, shaking his head.

  “You can stop your little act with me. Apparently Bella understands what it’s gonna take to lead a Dom out of the closet.” Travis shrugged. “I’ve been your best friend for fifteen years, and I never knew you had a thing for Domination and submission, but after Bella told me what she watched you do, I knew it had to be true. There’s no way that girl could’ve made up such explicit activities.”

  “It was role play, that’s all,” Corbin said, shrugging his way through the crowd. “Shit, it’s the only way I can keep my distance from these women. If I’m in control, nothing can touch me.”

  “If you feel that way, then you should’ve been beddin’ Bella, not fuckin’ whores.”

  “I knew you wouldn’t understand. I’m not interested in the lifestyle. I just do it for kicks, thrills.”

  “I really don’t care,” Travis said. “But Bella must. Why else would she hook up with Benson?”

  “You tell me.”

  “Okay, fine. Here it is. You made her feel like she couldn’t handle a man like you, so she’s lookin’ to Benson for an education. And by God, she’s gonna get a first-class instructor. Benson isn’t just gonna fuck her. He’s gonna make her his submissive. She’ll be tied, bound, gagged, and penetrated before she ever knows what hit her. When he’s done with her, she’ll think he’s a god and wonder what she ever saw in you.”

  “I doubt that,” Corbin retorted, paying the doorman when another group of guests were called to enter.

  “It’s a promise,” Travis said, gasping and pointing as soon as they walked in the club. “By hell and a cowboy’s glory, what’d I tell you? That bastard didn’t waste any time.”

  * * * *

  “Holy shit,” Corbin said. “Just what in the hell does she think she’s doing walking around this place dressed like that?”

  Travis’s jaw dropped. “You gotta admit, that outfit looks a hell of a lot better on her than it did out there on the gift shop mannequin. Guess Benson didn’t like her in jeans and a halter top.”

  Corbin gulped. “Do you think this means…”

  “Gal like Bella wouldn’t slip that dress on for any other reason.”

  Wearing a daring little number, Bella was hugged by a shiny black leather bodice held together by silky ribbons laced from her belly button to her breasts. Her middle was exposed and when she turned around, whispering something in Benson’s ear, Corbin almost lost his manners right there. The backless dress showed off her bare shoulders and framed her ass, which was Corbin’s undoing. He was about to make a real spectacle out of himself.

  “Damn, I knew she was built. But ah hell, man, I had no idea she looked like that!”

  “Somebody must’ve painted that dress on her flesh.”

  “Somebody for damn sure,
” Travis agreed.

  Corbin growled. “That’s it. I’ve seen enough.”

  Travis grabbed his arm before he darted away. “Wait a second, Corbin. Something ain’t right with Bella. Look at her.”

  “I’ve seen all I care to!” he yelled, tugging his arm free.

  “Maybe you have, but Bella ain’t seein’ a cotton-pickin’ thing. Come on.”

  Chapter Seven

  Benson cupped her behind. “Are you having fun?”

  The music pulsed through Bella’s body. She was feeling the tempo as much as her own heartbeat thrumming against her chest. She took a sip of her drink and nodded. Her eyes were heavy, her body felt weightless, and the room kept spinning faster and faster. She caught a glimpse of Corbin right before she collapsed in someone’s arms.

  A scuffle erupted around her and Bella focused on the bright lights shining directly on her face. The warmth was incredible, orgasmic really, not that she had personal experiences in which she could compare sensations.

  “Bella? Are you all right?”

  “Travis?”

  “Yeah, doll. It’s Travis. Hang tight. We’re gonna get ’cha outta here.”

  * * * *

  “You sorry pig!” Corbin screamed, clutching Benson’s collar. “What’d you do to her?”

  Benson glared at Corbin. “What’s wrong, Cansey? You’re acting like I stole your woman.”

  Corbin gripped the material tighter. “What’d you give her?”

  He sneered. “Is she yours, Cansey? I didn’t see your brand anywhere, and believe me, I had the opportunity to look mighty damn close.”

  Corbin shook him. “Answer me, you sorry asshole! What’d you give her?”

  “Chill out, man,” Benson slurred. “I just gave her something to relax her.”

  “What? Damn you, I want the name! Did you give her a roofie?”

  “Hell no, I fuck the willing, not the disabled.”

  Corbin threw the punch he’d been dying to take. “I asked you a question!”

  Rubbing his jaw, Benson glared back at him. “I slipped a couple of muscle relaxers in her first drink. She was fidgeting, so I just wanted her to let loose and enjoy herself. Hell, I didn’t know she was yours for crying out loud!”

  Corbin sniffed at that. “What else has she had?”

  Benson winced when Corbin drew a tight fist again.

  “So help me, I’ll break your jaw if you don’t start talking.”

  “She’s had a few drinks, two pills, and that’s all.”

  Corbin released Benson and turned to Travis. “Let’s go.”

  They started out of the club. Corbin looked at the collapsed beauty curled in Travis’s arms, and his heart threatened to stop right there. “Hell and damnation!” he yelled, turning the other way.

  “Where are you going?” Travis asked. “We need to get her out of here!”

  “Wait in the truck. I’ve gotta ask him something else.”

  “Man, you can ask later. Come on, people are staring. Let’s go.”

  “Meet me outside!”

  “Damn it, Corbin!” Travis called behind him.

  “This can’t wait,” Corbin said, disappearing into the crowd and stretching his neck, looking for Benson.

  When he spotted him, Benson ducked, trying to hide behind his latest prey. Corbin shot through a funnel of people and wrapped his arm around Benson’s neck, grabbing him from behind. Whispering in his ear, he said, “I’ll ask once, and by God, you’d better give me an honest answer, or so help me, I’ll deck you here, and you’ll be lucky if you wake up next week.”

  “Fuck!” Benson screamed, trying to break free.

  “Yeah, about that—did ya?”

  Benson tried to move, but he was overpowered by Corbin’s strength, hardly a match for his anger. “No! I chose that outfit for her and made her put it on in front of me. Shit, I didn’t have time to fuck her. Besides, you’ve been watching her like a hawk since you got here. How the hell could I screw her without you knowing it? She hasn’t been out of your sight for longer than a few minutes.”

  Corbin stilled behind him. “You helped her dress?”

  “Yeah, I swear that’s all I did. I barely touched her.”

  Corbin jerked. “Well, you sorry son-of-a-twisted-bitch!”

  “I didn’t fuck her!”

  “Maybe not, but when it comes to Bella, we ain’t talkin’ horseshoes, and barely touching is still caressing flesh that don’t belong to you!” He threw one punch and then gave him another. When he didn’t feel any better, he towered over him and brought him to his feet. “If I find out you took something you weren’t supposed to have, I’ll be back. You understand me?”

  “Yeah,” Benson said, dabbing his lip. Working the kinks out of his neck, he added, “Shit, Corbin, I really didn’t know she was yours. Damn it, everybody in town knows the Cansey men are pure crazy when it comes to women. If I’d known, I swear I wouldn’t have brought her here.”

  “Well, now you know,” he said, strutting out of the bar. Once the warm night air hit his face, he was struck by a new revelation as well. “And now I reckon it’s time I own up to it, too.”

  * * * *

  “You should’ve let me go back inside and get her clothes,” Travis pointed out when Corbin pulled in her driveway a few minutes later.

  “I’m not worried about her momma. She’s probably out cold by now.”

  “Out?”

  “She’s an alcoholic.”

  Travis shrugged. “Sot or not, she probably won’t be too happy to see you bringin’ her daughter home dressed like this.”

  “Help me get her inside. Look in her purse and see if you can find her keys. If we can let ourselves in, maybe we won’t wake her mother.”

  Travis dug inside the small clutch-style purse and retrieved a loose brass key. “This is the only thing she had in here other than…”

  “Other than what?” Corbin asked, meeting Travis’s gaze.

  Travis closed her bag. “It’s nothin’.”

  “Really? The way you’re acting, nothin’ sure sounds like somethin’,” Corbin said, reaching for the purse and snooping, too. He felt all the blood drain from his face when he saw the plastic light blue dial-a-day container. “She’s on birth control?”

  Travis waggled his brows.

  “I don’t think this is funny.”

  “I’m not laughing. As a reminder, most women don’t like men goin’ through their things.”

  “Then maybe she should’ve chosen her dates more carefully, and then we wouldn’t have been responsible for bringing her home.”

  Cradling her body against his, Corbin felt a sudden sense of loss and gain. Had he waited too long? Had she given her virginity to another man while he was out there sowing his wild oats and trying to keep his distance? Was Bella on birth control because she planned to give it up to Benson, or had she been on the pill for a while now because she was promiscuous and Corbin just hadn’t heard about it?

  He brushed her long golden locks away from her face. She looked like a sleeping angel, a fragile woman so lost in her dreams, she wasn’t even aware of who held her, and that in itself broke his heart. “What if we hadn’t been there?” he asked, traipsing up the sidewalk.

  They reached the front door and the porch light beamed overhead before they had the opportunity to try out the key.

  “I have a feelin’ we may wish we weren’t,” Travis said, looking down at Bella. “Momma’s home, and she ain’t gonna be too happy to see the likes of us.”

  Chapter Eight

  “What in the blessed name of a cowboy have you done to my daughter?” Surprisingly enough, Bella’s mother wasn’t drunk, or if she was, she hid it well.

  “Evenin’, ma’am,” Travis said, removing his hat and looking Bella’s mother up and down like he was right interested in older women. Then again, Travis was interested in pretty much anything with legs and a pussy.

  “Bella?” she squawked, peering down. “What’s wron
g with her? What have you done to her this time Corbin Cansey?”

  This time? Corbin bit his tongue. What exactly had Bella told her mother? “We saved her from a few big mistakes, if you want to know the straight of things, ma’am.”

  “You bring my daughter home dressed like a…dressed like a…” She couldn’t finish making the comparison. Instead, she asked, “Is she drunk?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I do believe she is,” Corbin replied, starting toward the main stairs.

  “Just where do you think you’re going?”

  “Is her room up here?” Corbin asked, clutching Bella’s lifeless form still tighter.

  “Yes, but, you wait there a minute. I’ll take care of my daughter.”

  “Travis?”

  Travis waggled his brows behind Mrs. McDermott’s back, staring at her ass. “Mrs. McDermott, let Corbin take care of Bella. I’ll explain everything.”

  Bella’s mother glared at Corbin. “If you hurt her, so help me—”

  “Ma’am, believe me when I tell you, hurting your daughter is the last thing on my mind.”

  * * * *

  Bella didn’t move. She was breathing, and she had a strong pulse, but she lay listlessly against him, curled in his arms. Corbin smiled to himself. Naturally, she’d had a little help with the way he’d positioned her.

  “Is she all right?” Mrs. McDermott asked, stepping inside Bella’s small bedroom a few minutes later.

  “If Benson—the fellow she was with at the club—told me the truth, she should be fine, but I’d feel better if you’d call her family physician. Maybe ask for a second opinion since I ain’t a doctor.”

  “That’s for sure,” Mrs. McDermott said, looking around Bella’s room. “Doctors save lives. Cowboys destroy them.”

  Corbin, by some miracle, let her insults go. He followed her eyes and noticed an easel in the far corner. “What’s that?”

  “Bella didn’t tell you she’s an artist?”

  “Bella doesn’t confide in me much.”

  “I reckon you haven’t given her the chance, now have ya?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips. “But yeah, she’s got some talent. Her paintings and drawings would be in museums if she ever got her mind off you and moved outta this town.”