Bound by You

by J. M. Walker

  “How long have you been planning this?” I asked, my eyes glancing back and forth between him and the images of me. You could never see my face in the pictures. Only parts of me. My hand. My thigh. But my favorite was Brett’s strong hand wrapped around my throat in a possessive but loving way.

  “I’ve been planning this since I first started taking pictures of you.” He winked. “So a long time. Can you believe our anniversary is coming up?”

  “Wait.” I clapped a hand over my mouth. “Our anniversary.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “You forgot.”

  “No. I just…” My cheeks heated. “Okay, yeah. I forgot a little bit.”

  “It’s okay.” His gaze heated. “I’ve been distracting you.”

  “That is no excuse. Usually it’s the man that forgets.” I stepped into his arms, wrapping mine around him. “Thank you. I’m so sorry.”

  “There’s more, but you’re welcome.”

  “More?” I asked, pulling back. “How can there be more? Look at what you’ve done for me already. I could never ask for more. This…this is amazing.”

  He kissed me softly on the lips. “We only made it into the hallway. Let’s go into the actual club.”

  As we walked into the club, my eyes welled. I couldn’t help it. It was the exact replica of Brett’s club, the only difference being that my name was on everything.

  “I wanted to give you something from just me. I’ve offered for you to be a part in owning The Red Love but you, being the amazing woman that you are, said no. You said that it’s mine. You said that it’s the only thing that I own. Well I own you, Evvie. But this…” He swept his hand out in front of him, indicating the space before us. “This is all yours. Only you own this. This is my gift to you. Happy Anniversary, Mrs. MacLean.”

  A sob escaped me and I threw myself into his arms. No words. No words at all could describe how happy I was. To know that we were fine. That after all of these months of long sleepless nights, it was because of this. He had been planning for years this huge surprise.

  He chuckled, returning my embrace. “I love you. You have done so much for me. You stuck by me when you should have run away screaming. You are the most selfless person that I know. You’re an amazing wife and an even better mother. You’ve give me the greatest gift a man could have.”

  “I didn’t get you anything for our anniversary,” I said through my tears.

  He cupped my cheeks, brushing his thumbs under my eyes. “You’ve given me happiness. You made me see that just because I had a shitty childhood, it didn’t have to be that way for my children. Our children. You also remind me every single day that I am not a monster. You help me through my nightmares. You are my gift. I don’t say that enough.” Brett lowered to one knee, holding my hands in his. “I never gave you a proper proposal.”

  I laughed. I could see out of the corner of my eye that my brothers and kids were surrounding us but all I could focus on was the man staring at me from bended knee. The love poured off of him in waves, crashing into me like that of an ocean.

  “I love you, Evvie. I thank God every damn day for giving me you. Will you do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me?” He pulled out a velvet box from inside his jacket and opened it.

  I gasped. A gold chain glittered up at me with a diamond pendant resting in the middle. In intimate script, an E wrapped around the letter B in a seductive way. “Oh…my…”

  He took the necklace out of the box and rose to his feet. “I want to renew our vows. Right here.”

  All I could do was nod as he pulled the chain out and wrapped it around my neck. The pendant rested between my breasts. “Yes. I will. I will spend the rest of my life with you and longer. I will renew my vows with you every damn year.”

  A grin spread on his face. He picked the pendant up that sat nicely against my chest and kissed the pendant. “Brett and Evvie. Together. In more ways than ever could be written.”

  “God, I love you. So much. You’re my life.”

  “My one.”

  I smiled. “My only.”

  He crashed his lips to mine, picking me up and spinning me in his arms.

  I giggled, holding onto him as tight as I could.

  “Mama. Mama.”

  I laughed and knelt, pulling Patrick into my arms, motioning for Eddie and Miracle to join in our little huddle. “My children. My precious babies. Thank you. For everything.”

  “Why are you crying, mama?” Patrick asked, kissing my tears away.

  That gentle touch only made me cry harder. “You are so like your daddy. All of you are. I love you. So so much.”

  “Good job, little dude. You made her cry again,” Evan teased, ruffling his nephew’s hair.

  “So do I get a hug or what?”

  My eyes widened and I turned to the deep voice. “Kane.”

  He smiled and held out his arms.

  I ran into them, wrapping myself around his large body. I hugged my best friend of years, with all of me.

  “Evvie, you’re going to hug me to death.” He laughed. “Has it been that long?”

  “Yes,” I punched him in the arm playfully. “Way too long. How’s Tatiana? How’s the new place? God, I miss you both.”

  He chuckled lightly, rubbing a hand over his bald head. “She’s good. Bedrest is driving her crazy but her and the baby are both very healthy. As long as she stays put.” He added. “She sends her love.”

  Tatiana had been Brett’s waitress years before and ended up dating Kane, my best friend. They recently moved out of the city into the country and it felt like forever since I had seen them. But Skype and talking on the phone helped. Some.

  “Brett, did you invite Kane?” I asked my husband when he stepped up beside us.

  “I did. I know you’ve been missing him.” Brett clapped a hand on Kane’s shoulder.

  “Did you show Evvie her office?” Kane asked.

  “Not yet,” Brett said. “You want to see your office?” he asked me.

  “Yes!” I cried, clapping my hands together excitedly. I felt like a kid at Christmas.

  He laughed and grabbed my hand. “We’ll be back,” he told my brothers while they entertained our children.

  “Brett, this place is amazing. It must have taken you forever to get it just right.” I craned my neck to see everything, all of the details of the club but it was so much to take in, it would take me hours to see it all.

  “Well I had lots of help.” He looked over my head and nodded.

  I followed his gaze and saw Anna holding Patrick in her arms. She gave a little wave and blew me a kiss. I laughed and continued walking behind Brett to my office. My office. My very own space. I had the reading nook in our home but this…no one could disturb me if I just locked the door. No little hands pounding on the door, begging for my attention. No dark and brooding man demanding the attention of my body. As much as I loved it, I needed me time. Evvie time. God, this would be perfect. This would be…my eyes widened when I entered behind Brett into my office. It was…it was… “Brett.”

  “This is where you first kissed me.” He allowed me to enter and closed the door. “This is where I first fingered your hot pussy,” he breathed in my ear.

  “It looks exactly like your office.” It had the exact same desk, the dark leather couches, a minibar against the opposite wall and even a door leading into a bathroom behind the large office chair.

  “It may be a little selfish, but I wanted you to think of me every time you walked into this room. Okay, so a lot selfish.”

  I laughed and turned in his arms. “This is amazing. Thank you. For everything.”

  “You are welcome.” He pulled me to the couch, sitting me on his lap. “I wish I could have told you about this sooner to save you from the stress.”

  “No. This is perfect. I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.” I sighed happily and leaned against him. “This was the place where I first told you I loved you. I will always think of you every ti
me that I’m here. Even if it didn’t look like your club, I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about you anyways.” I cupped his cheeks, straddling his lap. As soon as our pelvises touched, my heart sped up.

  Brett inched his hands under my dress. “You still haven’t learned not to wear panties,” he said, kissing my neck and gripped the string of my thong. He pulled hard, igniting a gasp to escape my mouth. “I want you wet, constantly.”

  “I’m always wet for you.”

  Holding the fabric of my panties, his fingers brushed over my mound before he gave another tug. The soft material rubbed against my clit igniting a burn inside of me.

  I moaned, only making him pull harder and faster.

  “Kiss me. Like the first time.” He lowered us to the couch, pushing his way between my thighs.

  Cupping his nape, I brought his mouth down on mine. I licked my way between his lips, sucking and pulling at his tongue.

  He growled and wrapped his free hand around my throat. “We’re gonna make this quick. A tease for later.” He nipped my bottom lip.

  I whimpered, rocking my hips, hinting.

  “We have the house to ourselves tonight and I’m going to fucking destroy your body.”

  A half an hour later and I was easing my racing heart, coming down from the high of the euphoria that had exploded through my body.

  Brett continuously placed pecks on my neck, holding me tight against him, whispering every so often how much he loved me. How much he needed me and appreciated me.

  I couldn’t get enough. We had christened my office fast and hard, the sweet scent of our love wafting around us.

  My throat was raw from the screaming he had forced out of me and if his promises about later rang true, I would have no voice the following day.

  God, I loved the man holding me. I loved the life he had given me. And I loved him more for not giving up on us. He had thanked me time and time again for not giving up on him. In the beginning it was rough, issues with his mother, an ex, his stepfather…the list went on and on. But I loved him and only him. I was raised by stubborn men. There was no way that I was giving up that easily.

  After almost losing me to cancer, Brett had become more protective but closed off. Like he was scared to love me too much for fear of losing me. He could never lose me. So many memories forced their way into my mind. Kids. Love. Us. Fighting. Making up. Although I had been mad at him only a couple of days ago, I now understood why he did what he did. Everything was for me. Everything was because of me.

  In two days, it was our anniversary. Although I had forgotten about it, I would make up for it in ways that only he would understand. I would continue giving him all of me. I would continue giving him my submission and the passion that he craved. The control he needed. His rough grip on my body, even though he was only holding me, made me feel wanted and owned. Claimed.

  Our love wrapped around us, stronger than ever. More powerful than ever before. We had our issues, but what marriage doesn’t. We had our complications but the ropes of our love bound together, bringing us closer than ever.

  My eyes became heavy, the soothing beat of his heart enveloping me in a dream like trance.

  “I love you, Evvie MacLean. My wife. The mother of my children. My best friend. My lover.” His words whispered over my skin.

  “I love you deep,” I whispered.

  “I love you hard and I love you unconditionally.” He kissed my cheek. “My one.”

  I let out a satisfied sigh, snuggling further into his side. “My only.”

  Chapter 6

  “BRETT, THE weather is really coming down hard. We should pull over or something,” I suggested, frowning as the rain beat down on our car.

  “I can’t see shit,” he grumbled. “We never get rain like this.”

  “Yeah well, Mother Nature has been PMS-ing lately.” It was the middle of the night. Brett had taken me out of town a week later to a remote bed and breakfast for our anniversary for a week so we could get away. It was romantic and one of the best weekends of my life but the drive was almost three hours. We had been driving slow because of the torrential rain but now I feared that we would get in an accident if we weren’t careful. “Brett, please, can we stop. This is crazy.”

  “Evvie, I don’t want to stop in the middle of nowhere. What if someone drove by and didn’t see us?”

  I sighed. “True. Wait! What’s that?” I asked, pointing to something blocking the road.

  “Shit,” Brett mumbled. “It looks like a tree. I guess we have no choice but to stop.”

  “I see lights.”

  “Alright, we’ll stop there and see if we can dry off or something as well until they get the road cleared.”

  As if on cue, a shiver ran down my back. We had to run to our car as we left the bed and breakfast and got caught in the rain. Our clothes were soaked and no matter how high we turned on the heater, I couldn’t get warm.

  We pulled into the parking lot and Brett shut off the car once reaching a free spot. The place was dark and dim but the lot was filled with vehicles.

  “What is this place?” I asked, noting that there was no sign anywhere.

  “Maybe someone lives here. I have no idea. I don’t care either way. I’m getting you dry before you get sick.” Before I could protest, he left the car and ran around to my door. He helped me out of the vehicle and I followed him to the entrance of the building.

  “What if this is a private venue, Brett. Maybe we should just stay in the car until the rain stops.”

  “No,” was all he said as he pushed open the front set of double doors.

  The warmth of the inside wrapped around me, making me shiver uncontrollably. My teeth chattered.

  Brett wrapped his arms around me, rubbing my arms, trying to warm me up. “We’ll get warm and then leave.”

  “Excuse me? What are you doing here?”

  We both looked at a large men approaching us.

  “We got caught in the storm. We’re sorry for intruding, we just need to get warm,” Brett said, his voice firm but polite.

  The man’s brows furrowed. “This is a private club. You can’t be in here.”

  “What’s going on?” another man covered in tattoos asked, coming up beside the first guy.

  “The front door wasn’t locked like it should have been. They can’t be in here.”

  “Aidan, the weather is shit.”

  The man named Aidan turned to us. “I’m sorry but you really can’t be in here.”

  “We can at least let them sit in the lobby,” the other man said. His piercing green eyes landed on me, warming.

  “You can’t stay here,” the larger guy repeated. “It’s an exclusive members-only night.”

  “It’s raining out and there’s a tree blocking the road,” Brett explained. “Please. Even if you just let my wife sit in the lobby, I’ll go wait in the car.”

  “We have to protect our members.”

  At that point, I saw a woman approach us. Her smooth tanned skin glowed in the moonlight. She was beautiful. She stepped up beside the man with the beautiful jade eyes and placed her hand in his.

  “It’s okay, Brett. We can wait in the car,” I told Brett softly.

  “No.” He glared at Aidan.

  The other woman stepped up between Aidan and Brett. “What’s going on?”

  “I thought we said for you to stay in the other room.” Aidan’s brows furrowed, his jaw clenching.

  “We heard a bang and Liz asked me to check and make sure that you guys were okay.” She turned to me. “If you come with me, I can get you dry clothes and put yours in a dryer.”

  My eyes widened. “Really? You would do that?”

  “Of course,” she said with a smile.

  “Keely.” The good looking guy with the green eyes leaned down to her ear. “You do know that you are going against what we told you.”

  A notable shiver ran through her. She nodded and whispered something softly to him.

  He shook
his head.

  “Parker, they can’t be in here. We have to protect our members,” Aidan insisted.

  Brett took a step towards him, going toe to toe with the man who was much larger than him. “Look. I see that you’re married,” he nodded towards the gold wedding band on Aidan’s finger. “I can only assume that you would do anything for your spouse. Well, this is me, doing whatever I have to do for mine. Come with us if you have to but I’m not leaving until she gets dried off.”

  Keely pushed between the two of them. “Parker will be with us. Go check on Liz. She was scared,” she told Aidan gently.

  Aidan let out a huff. “Fine.” And with that, he left the lobby and headed back to wherever this Liz was.

  “I’m sorry about that. Aidan gets a little protective of his club.” Parker cupped the back of Keely’s neck and smiled down at her. “If it weren’t for my wife, you would probably be headed back to your car by now.”

  “Thank you,” Brett and I said in unison.

  “It’s no problem at all. What are your names?” Keely asked as they led us down a long hallway.

  “I’m Evvie and this is my husband, Brett,” I said, a shiver trembling through my body.

  Brett wrapped his arm around his me. “If we were forced to go back to our car, I would warm you with my body.

  I smiled up at him and kissed his cheek.

  “Well it’s nice to meet—”

  “Wait,” Parker stopped abruptly. “Are you Evvie and Brett MacLean?”

  Brett and I looked at each other, small smiles spreading on our faces. “Yes. Why?”

  “I knew it! You own The Red Love and several other clubs around the world.” Parker grabbed a magazine from the side table by the wall. “See?”

  Keely glanced at the picture of us standing before them in the tabloid. “Wow.”

  “This is embarrassing.” I laughed once.

  “Oh don’t be embarrassed. Both of you are inspirational,” she told me, grabbing the magazine from her husband.

  “Really? You think so?” I smiled up at Brett, letting out a soft sigh.

  “Yes,” Parker answered. “It lets everyone know that you don’t have to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth to become highly successful.”