Every time he used that name I came undone.
“So what are you saying?” I crossed my arms, pleased to hear he wanted me to carve out my own destiny, but why should I stay with him?
He quirked a grin that made my stomach flutter. His lips parted a bit. “I’m saying I’m not taking no for an answer this time unless you have a damn good enough reason why we shouldn’t be together. You’re not going to London and I’m willing to make things work—no matter the distance.”
I took in the perfect blue sky and chewed on how to reply. He waited for my reasons, but whatever I threw at him, he’d cast them all aside. Maybe that’s because I didn’t have any reasons to say no. Finally, I spoke.
“I always make sure my clients are satisfied,” I said quietly.
“I’m not a client anymore.” He closed in, effectively blocking my path back the way I’d come. It was all or nothing time.
“No, you’re not.” I held in a groan. “You can’t be right all the time, but in this particular instance, I’ve tried to think of something and I can’t.”
He drew me close until our lips brushed. Having his arms around me felt right. Felt perfect. “Then stay with me tonight. Stay with me forever, Sophie.” He tilted his head toward the flowers. “There will be quite the show tonight when these beauties bloom.”
“I like this plan,” I agreed. “I do my best work in the moonlight.”
His dark smile left me without a doubt that I’d made the best decision. “Indeed you do.”
Epilogue
Sophie
For the entire weekend, we lived on Xavier’s boat. I have to admit experiencing the regatta as an observer, and not as someone’s employee, was a delight.
Months passed. Winter swept into Boston. As he’d promised, Xavier never helped me financially. Not a single dime. What he did offer though was encouragement and love. And when he offered advice, I listened. Who in their right mind turned down advice from a billionaire?
What I did concede to was living together—when he spent his weekends in Boston or when he telecommuted. We made a new home together in downtown Boston on the top floor of the very building where I made him stay in that tiny studio apartment. Go figure.
After a long day of work I came home to an empty apartment and a handwritten note from Xavier on the end table next to the front door.
The insatiable Mr. Quinn strikes again.
A new note meant a new game to play.
I couldn’t stop smiling while I read.
get in the elevator and go down to the studio apartment on the tenth floor. take off your clothes, blindfold yourself, and get into the bed.
He wanted me to go back to the studio apartment. Very nice.
After such a crazy day in the wintry weather, my feet hurt and the possibility of a hot bath beckoned me, but I complied. I knew very well what was coming, so I did as I was told and Xavier knew I loved an order I couldn’t refuse.
I made the trip down to the studio apartment. The place was pitch-black and cold. I peered into the darkness. Was he waiting in the shadows for me? I left my sweater dress on the staircase. My garters on the dresser next to the bed. I placed my bra and panties at the foot of the bed.
Then I used the blindfold on the bed to cover my eyes.
I waited and waited in the cold apartment.
The chill in the room brushed against my skin, but I didn’t so much as twitch.
By the time I was shivering, I sensed someone approaching. He made me wait even longer, and all I could do was imagine his gaze caressing me in the darkness. He finally brushed his fingertips against my core. The briefest of touches. Teasing me was his specialty at this point and he pleased me every single time.
He always came for me and I always accepted him.
I shifted my hand to reach for him.
“I warned you, Sophie,” he whispered, his breath close to my mouth.
He continued, “Now you’ll be punished.”
Please touch me tonight, I wanted to whisper. What would the punishment be today? Instead of letting me anticipate more pleasure, he rolled me over onto my stomach and gave my ass a gentle smack. The sound bounced off the walls and I had to hold in a moan. He ran his fingertip down the middle of my back, along the seam of my ass to the place where I wanted him the most. From there, he fondled my buttocks before giving me a hard slap on each cheek.
I gasped from the searing warmth spreading along my butt cheeks. He could do that to me again and again until I was begging.
“You’re so beautiful like this,” he said as he pressed his chest to my back. “My beautiful love.” He was on top of me now. I felt everything, yet I couldn’t turn around to wrap my arms around him and tell him I felt the same. His shaft rested against the back of my thigh. Hard and ready.
I was his and he was mine.
“What should I do to you tonight?” he whispered. His thick finger circled my tight opening, slipping into the indentation and slipping back out. My stomach quaked, and I pushed back against his finger.
Quicker than I expected him to react, he grabbed a fistful of my hair with one hand and pulled my hips upward with the other. I gasped as he thrust deep inside of me.
“I prefer this for now.” The bed groaned from the force of his thrusts. Over and over again he showed me how much he desired me. How much he refused to let me go. I took all the love he offered. He knew exactly what I wanted. Tension gathered around my scalp where he gripped my hair. Again and again he filled me until I screamed my release.
He rolled me over and gently pulled the blindfold off. “Hello, Ashley.”
A name I used to hate hearing filled me with joy every time he said it.
“Hey…love.” Did he really expect me to reply as he continued to pleasure me to the point where my toes curled and my back arched?
Just watching him watch me made it harder to think. Every caress, every kiss, sent me spiraling higher.
With a grunt, his back straightened. I watched him bite his lip. His climax blossomed inside me as his love always did.
Once our quickened breathing slowed, he kissed my forehead. “So what if I told you I wanted to relocate to Boston permanently?”
I couldn’t hide my smile. “I’d like that.”
“And what if I wanted to marry you, too?” He kissed my nose and my mouth dropped.
“You’re not very good at proposing,” I blurted. “Or giving gifts.”
He laughed. “I just said I want to spend the rest of my life with you and you’re chastising my approach?”
“Pretty much.”
“So what do you say?” He reached over to the drawer next to the bed and pulled a box from inside. A ring-shaped box.
I took a deep breath. I couldn’t believe this was happening. “Yes, Xavier, I’ll marry you.”
He placed the massive princess-cut diamond ring on my finger. “I’m glad you said yes this time.”
I snorted, thinking of when he offered me the cuffs. “You did it right this time.”
“Are you upset I didn’t make you wait long for a proposal?”
I ran my fingers along his chin, reveling in the feel of his stubble. “Not at all. I’ve waited long enough to find you.”
“Was I worth the wait?”
“You’ll have to put in the work to show me whether you’re worth it, Mr. Quinn. I’m thinking countless hours of rope work. Maybe even a trick or two with a riding crop.”
He ran his fingers down my legs again, grinning like a wolf about to pounce on his prey. “Ashley, I’d be delighted to show you again and again.”
This book is dedicated to all my readers who love a good laugh when love is involved.
Acknowledgments
There are so many people to thank this time. Thanks to my S.S. Sisters for having my back and supporting me. Also, I have to thank the Magic & Mayhem Ladies: Amanda Bonilla, Nadia Lee, and Amanda Carlson. Thank you to Amanda Bonilla, Amanda Berry, and Jeannie Lin for helping me shape the sto
ry into what it is now. High five to Jennifer Jakes. She always pushes me to do better. Also, I cannot thank Nam Nguyen enough for her help. She is a light in the dark that helps guide my lost ship to safe waters.
To my editor, Sue Grimshaw, thanks for enduring my process while I find my story.
To my agent, Jim McCarthy, thanks for standing behind me as I venture into new territory.
Thank you, Paris Hansen, for being a loyal reader and helping me name one of my characters.
BY SHAWNTELLE MADISON
At Your Service
Bound to You
Surrender to You
Other Books
Coveted
Kept
PHOTO: TODD STUDIOS
SHAWNTELLE MADISON is a web developer who loves to weave words as well as code. She’d never admit it, but if asked she’d say she covets and collects source code. After losing her first summer job detasseling corn, Shawntelle performed various jobs—from fast-food clerk to grunt programmer to university webmaster. Writing eccentric characters is her most favorite job of them all. On any particular day when she’s not surgically attached to her computer, she can be found watching cheesy horror movies or the latest action-packed anime. She lives in Missouri with her husband and children.
shawntellemadison.com
Facebook.com/ShawntelleMadisonAuthor
@shawntelle
The Editor’s Corner
Swing into spring this May with Loveswept! We’ve got something for everyone, so take your pick from these fabulous romance books.
Tracy March brings you another enchanting novel set in Colorado, with book two in her Thistle Bend series, Just Say Maybe. Brenda Rothert releases her first Loveswept book, Blown Away, a sensual, emotionally charged novel of love and loss in which a tender affair gives two daring storm chasers the strength to overcome shattered dreams and the courage to build a future together. We go from extreme weather to the world of extreme sports with Zoe Dawson’s pulse-pounding Mavrick Allstars series debut, the steamy Ramping Up. Bestselling author HelenKay Dimon makes her Loveswept debut with Mr. and Mr. Smith. Moving on from the suspenseful to the sensual is a novel of pleasure and persuasion revolving around a high-stakes business deal in which the rules of negotiation are defined by desire in Shawntelle Madison’s Bound to You. New York Times bestselling author Noelle Adams introduces a notorious tech mogul who makes a mild-mannered woman an offer she can’t refuse and gets in return a battle for control—and a million-dollar affair—in Fooling Around. The Hunt Club continues with Pamela Labud’s A Most Delicate Pursuit. New York Times bestselling author Erin McCarthy follows Nashville’s hottest country music duo as they fight for love in a city where dreams often cost a broken heart in Heart Breaker. And New York Times bestselling author Sawyer Bennett proves that vengeance is sweet—but seduction is to die for—in Sugar Daddy.
Wait—there’s more! Gina Gordon’s White Lace series continues in book two with lots of sizzle and heat in Reason to Believe. A. M. Madden continues the True Heroes series—hot hero alert!—with Glass Ceilings. Two tortured souls share an unbreakable bond even as they break taboos, as Laura Marie Altom does it again with a fabulous stepbrother romance in Stepping Over the Line. Back in the sporting world, Stacked Up continues the Worth the Fight series from USA Today bestselling author Sidney Halston. And Interference continues the Pilot Hockey series from Sophia Henry, where a young single mom falls for a damaged coach pulling double duty as a cop.
It’s a great month for relationships, so follow us on Facebook and Twitter and let the romance begin!
Facebook.com/readloveswept
@readloveswept
Until next month ~ Happy Romance!
Gina Wachtel
Associate Publisher
Read on for an excerpt from
Surrender to You
An At Your Service Novel
by Shawntelle Madison
Available from Loveswept
Chapter 1
Carlie
Less than six hours after arriving in Boston from London, and I couldn’t keep still: tonight I was gonna be fucked until I couldn’t walk straight. For the fourth time, I switched from leaning on one leg to the other. A light tickle along my inner thighs from the ribbons on my garters made me ache further. I didn’t have much longer until cocktail hour at the Subarctic Club.
First things first: before I could get a drink and be rid of this pent-up sexual tension, I had to make some arrangements.
“How do you plan to pay for the hotel room, Miss Jason?” the concierge desk clerk at the Bellevue Hotel asked. My cellphone vibrated with a call, but I ignored it.
“American Express, please.” Before I’d walked into the lobby, I’d considered the answer to the question. My American Express Black card had enough credit for a week’s stay, but that stay included no room service, no overseas calls, and no extravagant perks like raiding the mini-bar for Milky Ways.
During the whole time, the front desk clerk was all smiles. More than five years ago, I’d started out as a hotel concierge. Back then, eagerness to please oozed out of my pores. Every happy customer meant a positive review or a possible promotion. Working at a five-star hotel in NYC was like that. Maybe that was the reason I ended up opening up my own personal concierge business.
The clerk finished my transaction, handed me a key card, and gave me the standard spiel. “Is there anything else I can help you with?” he added.
“Thanks, Frank, you’ve been more than helpful.” Working the front desk was a tireless job. Everyone came to you with their problems—plugged-up toilets, complaints about the couple next door screaming out expletives during sex—but you always had to be calm and polite. Even if you weren’t thinking that way.
After I settled into my room, I finally returned the call from earlier. This particular person didn’t know how to leave a text message.
“What’s wrong now, Penny?” I asked with a sigh.
“What’s wrong is you got back from the U.K., stopped at my place, hung out with Sophie, and then didn’t wait for me to come home.”
I rolled my eyes. At least she wasn’t in front of me right now. There would be over-the-top hand gestures and head rolling involved. She’d been one of my best friends since growing up in the foster care system together and I loved Penny dearly, but once you ticked her off, you’d hear about it for weeks. At least Sophie was far more levelheaded.
Since relaxing was out of the question, I decided to chat with Penny on the way to a coffee shop across the street from the hotel.
Penny continued to berate me with that saccharine voice of hers. “If you weren’t staying in town for a while, I would’ve snatched your fake blond ass off the street and beat you down for ignoring one of your besties.”
Umm, thank you? “Oh, don’t be mad you can’t pull off blond,” I replied.
“Have you ever seen a blond Indian chick? The men come running, sweetie. So where are you going and when are we hanging out?”
“We can have breakfast tomorrow, if you want.” Yep, I dodged her question.
“When have you ever seen me up early enough for breakfast?”
Never, which was why I asked. “Look, my internal clock is off, so by tomorrow morning I can tell you whatever you want.”
“Why tomorrow morning? Why can’t you stay here with Sophie and me?”
“And sleep on your couch for a week?” I chuckled. “No thanks.” I had a whirlpool bathtub, and I planned to make good use of it.
“I have a queen-sized bed—” she began.
“I’m good, girl.” Not happening. Doing the roommate thing with her for more than ten years as a kid was enough.
“So where are you going?” Penny was a pro at poking into my business.
“To get some coffee so I can wake up.”
She took a deep breath. “You’re not seeing him, are you?”
Now that made me stop in the middle of the crosswalk. A car honked at me, forcing me to keep moving.
She knew me all too well.
“You are a little freak of the week,” Penny chirped.
“Oh, stop it.”
“My thoughts exactly. Does Sophie know you’re about to hook up with Tomas again?”
Of course Sophie didn’t know. If Penny hadn’t pried, I’d have been able to shove whatever happened tonight into a pretty little box I could hide under my bed.
She kept going. “You two need to stop doing this. I’m all for casual sex every now and then, but hooking up with the same person every couple of years is saying something.”
“Maybe it means we like to fuck each other?” An approaching lady, who appeared to be around my age, flashed me a dirty look for cursing. I didn’t see any sensitive young ears lurking about.
Penny laughed into the phone. “No, it means you two can’t commit, and you care about each other.”
This little speech wasn’t new. Both she and Sophie gave it every chance they could.
Penny continued, “You two keep running away from each other only to run back together. Maybe he’s waiting for you to stop running.”
I held back a snort. “Penny, Tomas isn’t waiting for anyone. Nor has he ever waited for me after we had sex. We both get what we want and we move on. Like we should do with this conversation.”
“Fine, but I’m calling you extra early tomorrow morning just because I can.”
“Bring it, babe.” Penny slept like the dead. She wasn’t calling anybody…
—
Two hours later, after I’d somehow got off the phone with Penny, the sun had set and I weaved through the crowded floor at the Subarctic Club in downtown Boston. The heavy bass to the pop music thrummed through my bones. Just another night of partying for the young and elite. Out of all the places I could’ve selected, I considered this neutral ground. Tomas wasn’t the kind of guy to appreciate the flashing lights or the bubblegum, sunshine electronic music blasting through the speakers. He was more of a jazz or big band club type. Give him smooth music and I’d be the one playing into his hands.
Bound to You Page 21
