In less than five minutes, Encore had gone from busy to swamped, and adrenaline pumped through her. Risk thrilled her.
After Vivian left her office, Sofia called Zoe with the update.
Zoe’s exuberance matched her own and Sofia promised they’d discuss the upcoming changes as well as toast with mimosas on Sunday morning.
Her brain was still fully engaged two hours later when her phone signaled an incoming text message.
I have your fifty bucks. Cash.
She grinned, her mind instantly jerked away from business.
Oh?
Turns out mockingbirds will even dive-bomb people they don’t like. They can remember people. Who the hell knows this kind of shit?
I don’t know. Who?
My foreman.
She laughed. Seconds later, another message showed up.
Come and get it?
She exhaled.
Is it tucked into the waistband of your pants?
You being a brat, sweet Sofia?
Even from miles away, he still sent butterflies through her veins.
Could be.
She waited, hardly breathing.
There are consequences to that behavior.
Are there?
See you tonight?
Still deciding.
Still hoping.
From his conversation, it didn’t sound as if he knew that Erin had plunged ahead with the contract. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to mention it before Erin did.
As she tipped back her head, Sofia decided to be honest with herself. Spending time with Cade was emotionally risky but she was willing to take the chance. She might regret it later, but if she missed out on an opportunity, she would miss that more.
She called her mother, let her know she’d be stopping in on her lunch break. Then she texted Cade.
I’ll be there after five.
His response was instant.
Good.
It took all her concentration to review all the pending proposals before heading to her mom’s.
The house was filled with the scent of garlic and jalapeños. Cynthia had just finished cooking a fresh pot of beans, and she made up a plate of huevos rancheros for Sofia. While she dipped a tortilla in an egg yolk, her mother put the twins in the high chairs and fed them each a bowl of rice cereal. Sofia was sure the girls were eyeing her food with interest.
She updated her mom on the Donovan deal and shared her idea about the cake.
Cynthia nodded.
“You interested in making it?”
“Maybe in helping,” she said. “That many cupcakes plus the design? You need a carpenter, an artist.” She shook her head. “Transportation. Set up? Six-hundred pounds of frosting?”
“That’s probably an exaggeration.”
Cynthia smiled. “And all those flavors? No, thanks. But I’ll supply some pecan pies, made with Donovan pecans.”
“Awesome idea.” After Sofia was done with her meal, she helped her mom with the girls before giving them all hugs and heading back to work.
Mid-afternoon, Zoe called.
“We got the check and the contract.”
Sofia twirled around in her desk chair.
“And when are you going to fess up about your relationship with Cade Donovan?”
Her face drained. “What?”
“I have ways of making you talk. Mom said you’re not staying with her tonight. You’ve already been to San Antonio. And your calendar shows you arrive here tomorrow afternoon.”
“You’ve been watching too many detective shows.”
“So I’m right!”
“I didn’t say that,” Sofia protested.
“You didn’t have to. You’d have denied it outright if I was wrong. This is your sis, remember? So, when do I get to meet him?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Fine. Keep him all to yourself.”
“I don’t have him all to myself,” she protested. And that fit her worry-profile. What the hell did she have? “We’ll talk about it later.”
After a few more pointed questions, Zoe gave an exaggerated sigh and hung up.
The closer it got to four o’clock, the slower time seemed to move. When she left, she had even more energy than when she’d arrived.
She reached the ranch and Cade texted to let her know it’d be an hour before he got back to the house, and asked if she’d like him to take her to dinner in Waltham. She replied that she’d rather stay in.
After grabbing her bag from the vehicle, she went inside. The big house was ridiculously large and quiet without Cade and Loopy. Ignoring the silence, she checked the pantry for food options and found alfredo sauce and pasta. Fortunately there was a bag of broccoli and another of peeled shrimp in the freezer. If there was a simpler dinner, she couldn’t imagine.
Decision made, she carried her bag upstairs to change.
She traded long pants for shorts, and a long-sleeved shirt for a spaghetti-strap tank top.
On the way out of his bedroom, she paused.
She noticed a snapshot, old and yellowed, lying face down near the back of the shelf. Intrigued, and realizing she might be overstepping a boundary, she picked it up. The picture was well-worn, torn at the upper right corner, as if from repeated handling.
Even though the colors were faded, there was no doubt it was of Cade and his father. They stood side by side with a sleek-looking car behind them. They had helmets tucked beneath their arms and they were grinning widely. Their black race suits had Donovan Worldwide logos on them, as well as a couple belonging to a car manufacturer.
It was almost difficult to believe he’d ever been that carefree.
Her heart heavy once again, she put the picture back.
She returned to the kitchen to open a bottle of white wine and start dinner. A large pan of water was on the back burner, almost ready to boil, when Loopy careened across the floor and jumped up on her.
The oversized mop, tail thwacking the oven, licked Sofia’s face.
Looking damp and horny, Cade walked in. “Down, dog.”
Loopy ignored him.
It wasn’t until Sofia gave the animal a big hug that Loopy settled down.
“I’d be less patient if I didn’t understand how she feels,” he admitted.
Taking his words as an invitation, she went to him.
He took hold of her hair and pulled back her head. His kiss seared. It was gratitude and promise with an undercurrent of threat that made electricity zing through her body.
“How close is dinner to being ready?”
“Twenty minutes, thirty at the most,” she said. “But I’m ready now.”
His eyes darkened. He slid his hands down her body to cup her buttocks and press her close against him so she could feel his erection.
The knowledge thrilled her.
Eventually, he released her. “Give me a few minutes to wash the day off me,” he said.
He was on his way out of the kitchen when she looked over her shoulder and said, “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
He stopped and turned back.
“My fifty dollars,” she teased.
“And the spanking you’ve earned.”
Her heart stopped cold.
Before her brain kicked in, he’d scooped her up.
He turned off the burner then strode through to the dining room. Loopy dashed around before running out of the room.
He placed Sofia on her feet and yanked down her shorts.
She opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out.
Then he stripped off her panties.
She expected him to drag her over his knee, but instead, he bent her over the nearly one-hundred-year-old table.
“How many do you deserve?”
Now that the punishment was actually at hand, courage fled.
“How many for this morning, for this afternoon, for leaving me wondering if you’d be here when I got home?” He put his hand firmly in the middle of her back
and pressed her torso onto the wood. “Don’t you dare move.”
She heard his booted steps on the hardwood and she had no idea where he was going.
Not only was her courage gone, but trepidation crept into its place. She felt terribly exposed, stretched out, naked from the waist down.
He returned, footfall intimidating, a minute later. “A crop,” he told her.
Sofia turned her head so that she could see it and him. “That thing looks fierce.”
“It can be. And I want to leave a few marks on you so that you look even hotter when I have you tied up.”
“I’m not sure I should have tugged the lion’s tail.”
“Remorse?”
“Maybe a bit,” she admitted.
“It’s a little late, subbie.”
She squeezed her ass cheeks. “I was afraid of that.”
“Spread your legs. I want to be sure I get good solid stripes on the insides of your thighs.”
Even though she did what he said, she tightened her hands into fists as the first tendrils of real fear unfurled.
“Did you decide?”
She frowned trying to figure out what he meant.
“How many strokes do you deserve?”
“Don’t you get to decide that?”
“That’s a decent answer. Five.”
Five. She repeated the number in her head. She could manage that.
“On each leg. And three on your ass.”
Hell. That she wasn’t sure of.
He massaged her skin.
Then he moved the leather flapper part of the crop over her pussy. Her physical response was instant. Even though she’d been occupied all day, sexual need had been in the background, distracting her.
He tapped the flapper against her clit. She spread her legs farther in silent entreaty.
Granting her wish, he smacked again, harder, making her cry out.
Cade gave her another, a little lighter, then half a dozen more times, harder before backing off. He had her fevered, moaning.
When she was close to orgasm, he moved away and brought down the crop sharply on the back of her right thigh.
“Fuck!”
Continuing as if she hadn’t screamed, he brought it down again and again.
“This isn’t what I’d had in mind,” she snapped at him.
“Is it not?” He sounded entirely unconcerned.
When he’d finished the first five strokes, he manipulated her pussy with his fingers, bringing her to an explosive orgasm.
“This more what you had in mind?”
Her chest heaved against the table. She couldn’t form a cohesive response.
Before she was ready, he gave the second set of strokes. She squeezed her eyes shut against the blinding pain.
If this was the punishment for bratting, she might rethink her behavior.
But then he gave her two fairly sharp smacks to her cunt. Pain slashed at her and she lifted her chest off the table, arching against the shocking strength of her second orgasm.
She collapsed back down. She was so lost, overwhelmed, that she barely registered the stripes he laid across her ass.
Then it was over, he helped her up, turned her over, spread her legs and licked her pussy with gentle strokes. When her breathing eased, he increased the intensity, flicking his tongue back and forth until she came, wrapping her legs around him.
She wasn’t aware of him leaving her, but he came back with a cool, damp cloth that he used to bathe her pussy and dab the stripes on her thighs. “I should be careful what I ask for,” she murmured.
“I’ll ensure you get what you need,” he promised.
That much, she believed.
He helped her to sit, and she scooted to the edge of the table. He held her, and she leaned against him, inhaling the scents of leather and sweat.
Damn. Each moment, she drew closer to falling in love with him.
“How was it?”
“Astounding. Fucking damn hurt.” She looked up at him. “Do not smile.”
“Wouldn’t consider it.” He held her head against him and she drank in his tenderness. “That was a hell of a way to end a work day.”
“For me, too.”
They took their time kissing, like long-time lovers. She stayed in his arms longer than she normally did, hanging on to the moment.
Loopy crept back into the room and both of them petted her.
“We may have to start putting her outside so we don’t traumatize her.”
“Being away from us upsets her even more,” he replied. “Don’t let that fool you into thinking it means I’m going to stop punishing you.”
“I hope not.”
“We’ll just let Loopy decide when she needs to leave.”
He returned her clothing. “All your clothes need to be that easy to get on and off.”
“All elastic waistbands. Check.”
She was on her way back to the kitchen when his voice halted her steps. “Sofia?”
“Yeah?” She slowly faced him. Damn, he looked so fine, a lock of hair dislodged, a devilish grin on his face, legs spread, cowboy boots and well-worn jeans.
“I gave you what you were asking for. Before the night is out, you’re going to give me what I want.”
After dinner, he went upstairs to change. When he came back down, he plucked the untouched wine glass from her hand and said, “It’s my turn now.”
Chapter Thirteen
“I’ve been picturing you in bondage since the moment I saw you.”
As always, when he looked at her with that kind of intensity, Sofia was helpless, even though she still had her doubts. Since they’d met, he’d talked about a submissive wanting to please her Dom. Every day, she more clearly understood what he meant.
He opened the barn door, and Loopy rushed ahead of them at her typical Mach 1 speed. The interior of the space was blessedly cool, and she realized he’d probably stopped on his way back to the big house to prepare things for her.
She climbed the stairs first. This time, the dog stayed downstairs without him telling her to do so.
“Go to the circle.”
Would she ever completely get accustomed to that request and her visceral response?
“Say yes, Sir,” he told her.
“Cade…”
He waited, taking a seat on his throne.
“Yes, Sir.” Repeating his words turned on something inside her, simultaneously making her breathlessly acquiescent and deliriously needy. She suspected he knew that.
Once she was standing where he’d said, she untucked her tank top and slowly drew it up, exposing her skin a little at a time. She’d skipped a bra, so it only took seconds for her breasts to be exposed. The cool air beaded her nipples and she exaggerated her movements as she pulled the material over her head.
For a moment she dangled it by one strap from her index finger then dropped it to the floor.
He pressed his palms together. She had no idea what any other Dom looked like, but Cade sure as hell appeared confident, competent, in control. His back was rigid against the chair leather. He had an ankle perched atop the opposite knee. And that cowboy hat… It shielded his features, cast him in intriguing shadows. Every time she was with him was as intense as the first.
Instead of toeing off her boots, she bent so she moved around, allowing her breasts to sway a little.
“You’re a quick study.” Approval made his voice husky.
She dropped each boot and sock outside her circle.
He put his index fingers under his chin but didn’t say anything. Momentarily, she lost her composure. After taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she removed her shorts and panties.
“Turn your back to me,” he said. “I want to see if you still have marks from my crop.”
Slowly she followed his order.
“They’re faint. But beautiful. You’re beautiful.”
When he said it like that, she believed it.
“You can sit on the
table for now.”
As she neared it, she noticed that there was a wheeled metal cart next to it. An oversized wand-type vibrator lay on top. And the stainless-steel butt plug was there too, along with a bottle of lube and a container of hand wipes.
She perched on the edge, already clenching her ass in mute protest.
He slipped a pair of safety scissors into his back pocket before picking up several lengths of purple rope and walking across the room to join her.
“I still have doubts about this. You know that, right?” she asked.
“We’ll go at your pace, and I won’t push you beyond your limits.”
She scowled, quite accustomed to his brand of Dominance. “You’ll take me right up to the very edge, though.”
“My focus is on you, sweet Sofia. Nothing and no one else.” He put the rope, of varying thicknesses, on the tray before tracing a finger reassuringly over one of her eyebrows. “You have your safe word and you can say yellow for any reason, even muscle fatigue. I’ll be talking with you, telling you exactly what’s happening, checking in with you at every step. I’ll tie the knots so that I can get you out quickly.”
“Uhm…so what are the scissors for?”
“Precaution only. In the unlikely event you need out and I’m not moving fast enough, I’ll cut you out. Freedom will never be more than a few seconds away.”
His tone was gentle, woven with reassurance but, as always, that underlying steel was there. He hypnotized her.
“We’re going to start with hair bondage. Then I’ll put you in a chest harness. You can stand for both of those. It’s not until the very last parts that I’ll put you on your belly and attach your ankles and wrists to the chest harness.”
She hadn’t considered that it was a long, complicated process and that she wouldn’t be folded over the whole time.
“Are you ready to proceed?”
Stalling would only prolong the inevitable.
“The plug first.”
She wrinkled her nose.
“The image will be stunning. I want you to squat.”
Brand (The Donovan Dynasty) Page 26
