by Dakota Trace
Chapter Twenty-One
His body still singing with his incredible release, Ethan knelt between Sabella’s splayed thighs. Leaning back on his heels, he hungrily gazed at her damp body. Her beautiful alabaster skin was dotted with his release, and his love bite graced her shoulder marking her as his. He couldn’t deny the savage thrill he got from seeing his seed scattered across her flesh, but that hadn’t been the only reason he hadn’t come inside of her. They hadn’t discussed birth control, even though they both had exchanged physical exams after their first session. He couldn’t risk impregnating her without her consent. Amazingly enough the idea of her belly swollen with his child didn’t bother him in the least bit. He was no young man any more. Approaching forty, he still considered himself to be in the prime of his life, but he’d eventually like to have kids, with the right woman.
“Damn.” Pressing his hands to his thighs, he tried to catch his breath. Lying limply in the cuffs, Sabella’s eyes were closed as the flush of her release faded from her chest. He needed to get up and start aftercare, but he found himself so wrung out from his own release, he merely wanted to curl around her and catch a few hours of sleep, before Davis came pounding on his door demanding he deal with the stack of new applicants for the club.
Her eyes slowly opened, their brown depths lazy with satisfaction. It made him want to beat his chest. “Wow…” The breathed word was exactly what he was thinking. As she shifted, the cuffs around her wrists rattled against the headboard.
“Damn, sorry, little one.” He leaned over to snag the small silver key from his bedside table. Unlocking the cuffs, he eased her arms down, examining one wrist then the other. He gently rubbed the faint red marks left by the cuffs. Yanking the drawer on the stand open, he pulled out a mentholated ointment he’d found in the past would soothe sore muscles. Unscrewing the small bottle, he rubbed a minute amount into her arms and wrists.
“That feels good.” Her head tipped back, a soft moan slipping free. His cock, now sated, perked up at the sound. If he thought thumbing it would do some good, he would’ve. From the way she was laying, he’d exhausted her with his passion, especially after the traumatic events of the day before. A quick glance at the alarm clock assured him four hours of sleep wasn’t enough time for her to recover. It was only two-thirty in the morning. They could both easily get several more hours of sleep.
“Good.” He continued to massage her arms until her breathing grew soft and regular. Once he was certain she was on the cusp of sleep, he eased away. He’d just returned the ointment its place when there was a light rap on his bedroom door. Standing quickly, he gently drew up the sheet, uncaring the soft linen was absorbing what seed her skin hadn’t. He could always change his bedding later. Leaning over her after zipping his jeans, he pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered softly to her that he’d return after answering seeing what Davis wanted.
Sliding open the door, he wasn’t surprised to see his friend. Shutting the door behind him so their conversation wouldn’t wake Sabella, he moved into the hall. “What’s up? I thought you had a trial in the morning.”
Davis held out a slender phone Ethan recognized as Sabella’s. “I do but between her dad blowing up her cell phone, along with Lauren, there’s not a prayer anyone could sleep.” He rolled his eyes. “If you hadn’t been so busy making her scream, you would’ve heard the house phone ring. Lauren’s on her way over here right now.”
“Dammit.” He softly cursed as he took the cell phone from Davis. “You couldn’t convince her Sabella was fine and to wait until tomorrow?”
Davis laughed. “Yeah, right! Nothing stops Hurricane Lauren when she gets something in her brain. You better come up with a pretty good explanation before she gets here too. She’s pissed. She thinks you’re stopping Bella from calling…”
Confusion swamped him. “What the hell do you mean she thinks I’m stopping Sabella from calling?”
Davis shrugged. “Who knows with women? But I’m headed back to bed. Unlike some people here, I have to go to work in the morning and three .A.M. calls make me rather grumpy.” Then he clapped his hand over Ethan’s shoulder. “Good luck.” He yawned once more, before wandering down the hall towards his wing of the house.
Holding the phone, Ethan’s earlier good mood disappeared. All he’d wanted to do was clean up and crawl back into bed. Instead he now had to deal with the matchmaker of Napa. Glancing down at his slightly soiled jeans, he turned back and looked longingly at the door to his closed room. While he didn’t mind smelling like his little one, he didn’t think it was a wise idea to meet her best friend reeking of sex. However, neither did he want to wake Sabella by getting a clean change of clothing. The faint sound of the buzzer on the drier going off in the laundry room brought a small smile to his face. And luck having it, he’d thrown a load into the drier less than an hour before he’d joined Sabella in his room. Sometimes the gods did look down on him and smile. Slipping the phone in his pocket, he headed to the laundry room. Maybe his luck would hold and he’d be able to deal with Lauren, while still getting back to his room in time to catch a few hours of sleep in Sabella’s arms.
* * * *
His luck ran out the moment, freshly dressed in clean clothing, he opened the door to greet Lauren. Storming in like the hurricane Davis had named her, the leggy blonde immediately began yelling for Sabella.
“Bella!” She moved quickly down the hall, opening doors, sticking her head into the rooms all the while calling for her friend. It was at this moment he was glad he’d made sure his training area, office, and therapy rooms were the farthest from his private rooms. There was less of a chance her yelling would wake Sabella, but that was not to say Davis would be so lucky. His rooms were closer to the training room and their private offices.
“Ms. Haskell, please stop screaming. There’re people in this house who do happen to be sleeping.” Ethan grabbed her elbow. “If you want to find out more about what’s going on with your friend, please follow me into my office.”
Her eyes narrowed as she tried to jerk her arm away from him. “What if I don’t want to? What if I want to find Sabella and leave here?”
Crossing his arms across his t-shirt clad chest, he spoke with a calm he didn’t feel. “I’ll tell you this once, Lauren. Sabella’s my submissive, and right now what she needs more than anything is sleep. So no matter how much you scream and holler, she’ll remain where she currently is - asleep in my bed. Your actions won’t change that fact.” He leaned in until his gaze was level with hers. “However, if you do insist upon this path, don’t be surprised if you find yourself dealing with a six foot seven pissed-off Irishman because you woke him for the second time tonight.”
She glanced quickly down the hallway. “He’s not sleeping…he can’t be. I just called him.” She looked a bit uneasy at the prospect of Davis appearing.
Ethan lifted a shoulder. “I’ve lived with the man for over five years, and I know he can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, which is good thing considering how easily he wakes. Do you want to try his patience again? If so, please do keep calling for Sabella, and we’ll be hearing you yell for an entirely different reason as Davis bends you over his knee.”
Her gaze darted down the hall as she chewed on her lower lip. “He wouldn’t dare…”
“Well, it’s no skin off my nose as you Americans say. You can take your chances with Davis, or come with me and we’ll discuss the situation like rational people who happen to be holding a discussion at nearly four o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday.” He turned towards his office. “My office is this way, if you feel like discussing this rationally.”
He didn’t have to wait long for her to make her decision. He hadn’t taken more than half a dozen steps before he heard her following him. Entering his office, he flicked on the light before going to the sideboard. After filling it with water, he turned on the small electric teapot, as Lauren shut the door behind her. Setting it to brew, he busied himself setting out the tea ser
vice set, along with sugar. Then he turned around as he waited for the water to boil. Lauren was standing next to the window behind his desk, staring out towards the barn housing New Beginnings.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the club from this vantage point before.”
“I imagine not, considering you’ve never been inside my home.”
“Not for a lacking of trying on your partner’s part.” She turned away from the window. “It’s quite…different than I expected.”
He raised a brow. “And what exactly were you expecting? A huge neon sign stating ‘Kinksters Apply Within’?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but I was expecting more than it appearing to be a simple wine barn.”
A smile pulled at the edges of his lips. “Because that’s what it is…was. Davis and I wanted a place to play, a place for others to learn without attracting undue attention.”
Nodding, she turned away from the window. “Well you’ve accomplished that goal. New Beginnings has a stellar reputation for a club as young as yours. A lot of the people in the scene have started recommending newbies come here. They say it’s a good place to cut their teeth as they explore the lifestyle.”
“That’s good.” Behind him the teapot whistled. Turning, he shut it off before going through the motions of preparing a cup. “Would you like a cup? It’s gyokuro and imported directly from Japan. Very flavorful.”
She nodded, before accepting the cup from him. “Never had it, but I’ll try anything once.” She lifted it to her nose, inhaling before cautiously sipping on it while he made his own.
“Mmm, this is surprisingly good.” Lauren seemed genuinely surprised.
“I agree.” Cradling his drink, he sank down into one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Now, I know you didn’t come here to discuss the club, or even my very spectacular tea, so why don’t we talk about what’s upset you?”
Lauren nodded, leaning up against the window ledge as she sipped the tea. “I got a call from Mr. J. He was concerned when Bella didn’t come home by ten. Then his concern turned to worry and finally panic when he tried her phone repeatedly and got no answer. So he called me, wanting to know if I’d seen her.” Her eyes hardened as she set aside the cup. “And there’s only one reason why she wouldn’t answer her phone, Tremaine.”
He regarded her quietly. “And you think it’s because I did something to her? I can assure you she’s merely sleeping at the moment. Nothing nefarious has happened to your friend.”
She laughed sarcastically. “I know my friend. All you’d have to do is tell her not to answer it, and she’d drop it like it was a hot potato.”
He processed her accusation. It was true Sabella was one of the most submissive women he’d met in some time. In fact, it pleased him to no end in how she submitted to him. At least until her lust gets the better of her, he thought remembering how she’d struggled against his hold, bucked up wanting her release, despite what he’d said. “Perhaps she would but I can assure you I did no such thing. Your friend came to me tonight…or rather last evening in the middle of a meltdown.” He quickly explained the situation at the art center. “Which I’m glad I was here to help her with.”
“She could’ve come to me!” Lauren stomped her foot. “I’m her best friend. She shouldn’t have been alone.”
His blood froze in his veins at the insinuation he hadn’t been there for Sabella. “I’ll have you know, Ms. Haskell, she hasn’t been alone. I was there. I was the one she turned to. I was the one she came to begging for a scene…” His voice hardened. “And before you can accuse me of taking advantage of your friend, I did nothing more to her than what she needed.”
Lauren sneered at him after setting the cup down on the window sill. “And what was that?”
“The routine of pleasing him.”
Ethan turned at the sound of Sabella’s voice. Standing in the open door wearing nothing more than one of his button down shirts and hair mussed, she looked well loved - by him. Standing, he went to her. “I’m sorry, little one. Did we wake you?” He knew it was improbable, but he wanted Lauren to understand he hadn’t been lying about Sabella’s whereabouts.
Sabella shook her head. “No. I missed you, Sir.” She stepped a bit closer, pressing her hand against his chest.
“I was planning on coming back to bed as soon as I dealt with this.” He nodded towards Lauren.
Lauren took the moment to prop her hands on her hips and glare at Sabella. “Girl, your father has been worried about you. Couldn’t you have at least called him and assured him you were fine?”
Sabella’s cheeks reddened. “I should’ve, but it wasn’t because of Ethan that I didn’t call. I…” She swallowed hard, and Ethan could see the tears in her eyes. “I fell apart, Lauren. I’ve never had so much as a speeding ticket, and now I’ve been accused of molesting one of my students. You didn’t see Samuel’s mother. She was convinced I hurt her little boy. I’ve never touched him or any child in that way but she made me feel like I was the scum of the Earth with her attack. Kaleb didn’t have any choice but to put me on administrative leave until he can get to the bottom of the situation.” Sabella took his hand. “But by allowing me to go through the preparations of a kinbaku scene, Sir gave me back my feeling of self-worth. By letting me strip down to my underwear, light a few candles and incense, he gave that back to me. Then by drawing me into kokyo-ho he helped me find my center once more.” She squeezed his hand before stepping away from him to confront her friend. “He didn’t once demand sex of me during this time. I was so wrung out I fell asleep in his arms only to wake later with him still holding me.”
Lauren burst out laughing. “You mean to tell me he ‘held’ you all night and didn’t touch you sexually?” She snorted. “Pardon me if I don’t believe you. Not when it deals with a man like Ethan…”
Sabella reached over and grabbed the stapler off the desk before chucking it at Lauren. Ethan’s eyes widened as his sexy little submissive came unglued. He was suddenly glad he hadn’t been seated at his desk, because everything on its nearly immaculate surface became cannon fodder as Sabella unloaded on Lauren, giving her friend details he was sure would later make his sub blush to her very toes.
“What the hell’s going on here?” Davis appeared in the doorway next to him, his hair standing up in all directions, his robe untied, even more irritable than he’d been thirty minutes ago.
Ethan turned and gave his best friend a huge smile. “If I had to say, we’re witnessing my little Sabella coming into her own, and putting her interfering, over-protective best friend in her place.”
Davis rubbed his hand along his stubbled jaw. “You don’t say?” He yawned before heading towards the arguing women.
“What are you doing?” Ethan pushed away from the wall.
“For the better good and us possibly getting some sleep tonight, I say we haul our respective women back to their appropriate places?”
Ethan’s jaw dropped as Davis scooped Lauren up over one shoulder and hauled her from the office. Even Sabella had a bemused look on her face. “Dare I ask where he’s taking her?”
A loud shriek echoed down the corridor. He shook his head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” He moved closer to her, lifting her chin with one gentle finger. “Now that you’ve destroyed my office, what do you say we go back to bed?”
She looked around the room guiltily. “Can I call my dad first? So he doesn’t have another coronary?”
He nodded, gathering her up in his arms, scolding her when he saw her bare feet. “Of course, there’s a phone next to my bed.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Several hours later, Sabella shifted nervously in her chair in Davis’s office in downtown Napa, as he went on scribbling down some information on the yellow legal tablet in front of him. Now dressed in a pin-striped dove gray suit, he looked nothing like the man she’d first met or the Dom she’d met later. Nor the man who’d tossed Lauren over his shoulder and hauled her off t
o his room. Not that she’d stayed long. She’d just hung up with her dad and had curled up in Ethan’s arms, when there had been screaming, followed by the front door slamming, and a car taking off. She’d nearly jumped out of her skin when less than two minutes later, Davis had jerked open Ethan’s door and told her to keep her damned friend away from him. Which is why I’m now sitting here by myself. Lauren’s not welcome and Ethan had patients.
“So what do you think? Is there any way she could’ve made this up? Or misread the information?” Squeezing her purse between her fingers, she prayed there had been a mistake somewhere along the line.
Davis looked up from what he’d been writing. “I honestly don’t know. But we do have a problem.” He gestured for her to come around the desk. Rising unsteadily, she set her purse on the chair and joined him. Hitting a few keys, he pulled up the site for New York sex offender registry. “I need to show you this.” The blue and white website for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice complete with a photograph of her stared back at her. Her heart plummeted.
“But….I….” She backed away from the computer, her mind whirling. This couldn’t be happening. “…that’s not me…I mean it’s me but I’ve never been arrested….I don’t know how it got there…” She pleaded with him as she backed into one of the filing cabinets. “…You have to believe me, I’m not a child molester. I love kids…”
