“No,” she replied, gazing at him and speaking of the truth she’d long fought. “Not a Dom. You. My mouth belongs to you, to please you, and to show you just how wonderful you are.”
A softness reached his eyes she’d never seen before and it brought forth her tears. As he dressed, Mary waited, watching him, aching between her thighs and feeling the wetness on her sex as she squeezed her legs together.
Once dressed, he offered his hand. “Come up.”
She rose and he guided her toward the chair. As he sat down, he tugged her between his legs. His gaze went to the stomach she’d kept from him. She knew why he made such a keen point to look at her; he proved his ownership.
She’d hidden from him.
He wouldn’t allow it anymore.
She’d no longer run.
He trailed a finger over the smaller stretch mark at her hip. “What child did you get this one with?”
She glanced down. “Christian.” Sliding her finger over the one on her right hip, she added, “Calvin.” Then she touched the largest stretch mark that went from her belly button down to her sex. “This one is from Cassie.” Lifting her gaze, she laughed softly. “She’s always been the most difficult.”
He gently smiled and then slid his hands up her thighs, cupping her bottom and dragging her closer. He kissed each mark before he said, “They are the marks of three beautiful children.” His voice dropped lower and went hard. “If I hear you or see you hide these marks again, I will punish you by leaving welts on that sexy ass of yours, so then you will really have marks that result in shame.” His brow arched. “Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“No, Mary,” he said in a low reprimand, swatting her bottom, making it burn. “You call me Elliott. Always Elliott, so I know you are only thinking of me.”
“Yes, Elliott.” She held his stare, then cast her gaze downward, shame thickening her throat. “I behaved—”
“Like a woman suffering from a broken heart.”
A cool tear ran down her cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He tucked a finger under her chin, commanding her gaze and staring at her with warm, soulful eyes. “You came back to me. That’s all that matters. Now tell me what happened at the meeting.”
Mary wiped away her tears, not wanting to cry anymore. No more sadness. “I sat there and listened to women mourning their husbands, and yes, I understood them. But all I kept hearing and seeing was women who had no hope.” She paused, knowing she had to get this right. “I guess that was me before. I’d given up on life, but then there was you…”
Another tear that she couldn’t control slid down her cheek, and this time Elliott brushed it away as she added, “I kept thinking I’m not like them. I do have hope, and I have it with you. When Charles died, I promised him to go after love if I ever found it again. I realized in that meeting I wasn’t only letting him down, letting you down, but I was letting down myself, too. I feel something with you. Something that is familiar. Something I lost. Something I yearn for.”
His smile spoke of heady emotion. “To be mine.”
“Yes.” He was a man who saw right into her soul and had earned his place in her heart. A man who hadn’t taken no for an answer, because he had seen something special between them that she hadn’t instantly recognized. A man who held enough confidence to give her the space and time she needed, but an arrogant man who hadn’t allowed her to run. “You gave me a safe place to heal and find out what I want, and I want to be happy again.”
“I want that for you, too,” he murmured. “I want that for us.”
She sighed. “If only it hadn’t taken—”
He placed a finger over her mouth. “If you hadn’t thought of Charles when we were together, I doubt I would’ve been so drawn to you. You showing me that type of submission, that type of affection between a Dom and a submissive, is what made me believe it’s possible.” He smiled, cupping her face. “But it’s also something that can’t be faked. You felt it with me, because we share that same type of connection that you experienced with Charles.”
God, she knew that, too, which made her next move an easy one. She reached for her necklace. “This was once a symbol of Charles and me, but I know it’s time to move on.”
“Stop.”
She hadn’t realized she’d shut her eyes, but she forced them open. Elliott’s gaze was in direct line with hers and his brows were drawn together. “Don’t remove the collar Charles gave to you, Mary.” He gathered her hand from her neck and lowered it to his lap. “That is a special part of you. It should always stay a part of you. I never want to take Charles’s place. I just want to be there beside him. I want you with me, at my side.”
Consumed by him, her heart clenched. “I want that, too.”
“Ah, darlin’, you have it. You have me, always.” He rose from his seat, pressing his body against hers and taking her into a kiss that stopped time. Passionate, affectionate—it was the beginning of love. When he broke the kiss, he said sternly, “Now let’s go and get your clothing. We are going to leave the party in someone else’s hands. We have something to do.”
Disappointment pulled her lips into a frown. “We’re not playing tonight?”
“No.” Sliding both hands into her hair, he held her to him. “Tonight I want you to ache for me like I’ve ached for you. I want you to feel what I’ve gone through, wanting you, nearly going mad in my lust, without any way to quench my need.” He stared at her with a firm look, and she shivered under the regard of her Dom as he continued. “I also want to do what I’ve wanted to do since the first time I saw you.”
She leaned in to him, gazing up into the face of a man who she saw with open eyes now. “Which is?”
“I’m going to take you out on a proper date.” His smile was both tender and wicked, as one brow slowly arched. “I want to spend more time getting to know the woman who through her body told me she is mine.”
Epilogue
The sun beamed down on Elliott at Mary’s lake house, and he inhaled the richness of it. Laughter and splashes of water made him smile. The past six months had settled into a life that he had once dreamed of. That he now lived.
A quiet life that involved falling in love with Mary.
He stared at her as she swam in the water just off the bow of the boat with her daughter and her daughter’s friend from the theater. Elliott had given up on his dreams of children a long time ago, but meeting Mary’s children made him feel as if he had a second chance. For the first time in his life, he had a family of his own, a family that had welcomed him with open arms.
“She looks happy.”
Elliott turned as Dmitri sat down next to him, and Mary’s sailboat rocked on the water. Dmitri watched Elliott with a keen eye only another Dominant would have. Elliott smiled. “She is happy.” He glanced out to the water, seeing Dmitri’s submissive, Presley, had joined Mary and the others.
Presley was a young, very sweet woman. And he saw love written all over Dmitri’s face, as he always smiled when she talked. Elliott mused, love was in the air, and it was wonderful.
Dmitri’s heavy sigh drew Elliott’s focus, and Dmitri raked a hand through his hair. “I think we need to talk about something, since you two are clearly getting serious.”
Elliott noted the tightness in Dmitri’s expression. “All right. Talk.”
Dmitri drew in a long breath and then continued in a solemn voice. “Before Charles died, he asked me to provide for Mary and the children. It’s a promise I will never break to him, unless I know she is taken care of.”
“You give her money?” Elliott asked.
Dmitri nodded, staring out at the women swimming around in the water. “Once a year to her and the three kids.” He turned to Elliott. “Charles was like a father to me and guided me when I most needed it. Mary”—he smiled softly—“she’s made me into the man I am today. I owe them both a great deal.”
Elliott returned the smile, now understanding more
about how Mary and Dmitri knew each other. Over the past six months, he thought their relationship was sweet. Mary had told him that she and Charles thought of Dmitri always as a fourth child, but seeing the love on Dmitri’s face for Mary only confirmed how special the relationship was. “How much do you give her?”
“Depends how good my year is.”
“Average amount?”
Dmitri glanced at Mary as she laughed at something Presley said. “A hundred grand, and about that much into each of the kids’ accounts.”
Elliott knew Mary didn’t need the money. She made a good income and she wasn’t materialistic, buying only what she needed. Yet he also knew the promise Dmitri made wasn’t about the money, it was about stepping into Charles’s role to see that Mary had a life without worry. Which is why he understood why Dmitri was bringing it up—that role now belonged to Elliott.
“You’ve been good to her,” Elliott said, placing his hand on Dmitri’s shoulder. “I would imagine that from what I’ve heard of Charles, I would think he’d be very proud of you.”
Dmitri dropped his head and blew out a slow breath filled with emotion. When he finally lifted his head, the appreciation shone in his young features. “I promised to take care of her.”
“A promise you didn’t have to keep.” He squeezed Dmitri’s shoulder, sensing a deeper friendship building between them. He understood why Charles and Mary loved Dmitri. He lived up to his word, and that was something to be respected. “You’ve done right by your vow to Charles, but Mary is mine to take care of now.”
“Which is where we have a problem.” Dmitri gave him a measured look. “I won’t stop providing for her unless I have your word you will step in and take care of her. And Mary won’t allow for you to give her and her children money. She fights me every time I do it, but she knows I won’t break my vow to Charles.” He shook his head in frustration and stretched out his legs over the side of the boat. “But having you take over my promise is something she’ll never allow. She has too much pride.”
Elliott pondered and turned to Mary, watching her swim. In his younger years he was hesitant in his choices, but he wasn’t young anymore. He’d been married. He’d dated all types of women. He didn’t have a lifetime to wait to discover if things were happening at the right time. He knew what he wanted. His choices had never been so clear. “Yes, that is a problem, but there is one way to ensure she can’t say no.” He rose, moving to the bow of the boat.
Mary swam over to him, smiling from ear to ear. She grabbed on to the ladder and pulled herself up to rest her arms on the side. “Come in. The water is amazing.”
“Not just yet.” He knelt in front of her, reaching into the pocket of his shorts. Then he pulled out the small black velvet box. For a month now, he’d kept his mother’s wedding ring with him, waiting for the right time. When he placed the box in front of Mary’s face, her eyes widened.
With no hesitation in his mind, he said softly, “Marry me.”
She stared at the two-carat vintage ring before she lifted her head. She blinked. “It’s only been six months. It’s too soon.”
“Is it?” He paused, allowing her the time to process exactly what had been on his mind since he’d met her. “I’d say it’s been nearly five years for you, and even longer for me, to find what we both needed and wanted in our lives. Doesn’t seem too soon, does it?”
Searching her teary eyes that were overrun with raw emotion, he continued. “Happiness and love, time means nothing when something is meant to be. I know what I want, Mary, and that’s you.” He smiled at her, brushing away her falling tears. “This, between us, is right.”
He took the ring out of the box, hearing Mary’s daughter scream in joy, as were the other girls. Though he couldn’t take his eyes off Mary and off the love shining in her features. Nor could he look away from the second chance they both had.
Holding the ring to her, he said, “You haven’t answered me, Mary.”
A bright smile, radiating warmth, spread across her face. “Yes, Elliott. Of course I’ll marry you.”
He slid the ring onto her finger, fitting her perfectly. From a distance, Mary’s daughter and her friend were clapping wildly. Presley looked to be crying. Elliott jumped into the water and gathered Mary into his arms. Then he pulled her under the water with him and kissed her.
There, it was silent. Her lips against his were perfection. There was no noise. No one else but them.
Nothing else, but…
Hope.
Submission.
Love.
When they broke the water, Mary laughed, squeezing her arms around his neck. “I love you, Elliott.”
Overrun with emotion, he stared into her beautiful eyes. “You were mine from the second you first looked at me. I’ve loved you from the moment I put my hands on you.” Fate had finally led him in the right direction. To Mary. “This is our second chance, isn’t it?”
She wrapped her legs around his waist and shook her head. “Not a second chance. Our second journey.” She shifted against his hardened length pressed against her sex and wiggled her eyebrows.
He chuckled and kissed her cheek, then, keeping the conversation private, he whispered in her ear, “Tonight I’m going to flog you until that skin that belongs to me is dark red. I’m going to fuck you hard and make you come around my cock that belongs to you. Then I’m going to do it all over again.”
She shivered against him, and her gaze flared with the adoration he had longed to see. “Promise?”
Pulling his hand out of the water, he tapped her diamond necklace. “This was once Charles’s promise to you.” He reached for her hand and water dripped off her fingers as he kissed her ring. “Now, darlin’, this is mine.”
For my husband, who is the best inspiration for my book boyfriends.
Acknowledgments
To my readers, there are no words to explain how grateful I am for the support I’ve received for the Club Sin series. For all of your kind e-mails, posts on Facebook and Twitter, and everything in between, thank you. Your support means the world to me.
As always, big love to my fabulous editor, Sue Grimshaw. I’m certain I’d be lost without you, Sue. Thanks for all that you do!
To my agent, Jessica Alvarez, I cannot thank you enough for always having my back in this big, scary world of publishing!
Huge hugs to my critique partner, Lea Griffin. Thanks for just being you! And to Gina Gordon: Every gal needs a good writing buddy and friend, and I’m one lucky girl to have found both in you!
Last, to everyone at Random House, nothing beats your awesomeness!
BY STACEY KENNEDY
Club Sin
Claimed
Bared
Desired
Freed
PHOTO: PAIGE RICHARDSON
STACEY KENNEDY is the USA Today bestselling author of the Club Sin series. While Stacey was growing up, her mind wandered the path less traveled, and that path most often led to love. She has always broken rules, and she continues to feed off emotion—staying true to her heart. Those traits are now the bones of her stories. She lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, who puts any of the heroes in her books to shame, and their two young children. If she’s not on mom duty or plugging away at a new story, you’ll find Stacey camping in the summer, hibernating in the winter, and obsessing over Penny Dreadful, Game of Thrones, and Sons of Anarchy.
www.staceykennedy.com
@Stacey_Kennedy
Facebook.com/AuthorStaceyKennedy
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Read on for an excerpt from
Ruined
An Ethan Frost Novel
by Tracy Wolff
&n
bsp; Available from Loveswept
No one told me that the reason my brand-new pair of Christian Louboutins are called killer is because they are actually going to kill me before the day is over.
Oh, I know what you’re thinking. What else should I expect from a pair of five-inch ruby-red stilettos? Even ones that come with the promise of comfort? After all, every woman knows that after a few hours and a few miles, even the most comfortable heels become instruments of torture.
Even I know that, and that’s saying something considering I spend most of my life in old jeans and older T-shirts. And ballet flats. I’m a big fan of ballet flats. Right now I’d pretty much sell my soul for a pair of them.
Which is why I’d planned to wear a totally sensible pair of shoes today. Navy, open-toed pumps with a two-inch heel that perfectly match the five-hundred-dollar suit I’m wearing. It’s the same suit I scrimped and saved for for the better part of last semester, and it’s the same suit that helped get me the position I started this morning. My dream job. Technically, I suppose it isn’t actually a job, as I’m not getting paid for it—a salary is the defining quality of being employed, after all—but it is an internship. In the intellectual property department of the most innovative and fastest-growing biomedical corporation in the country. The world, even. If that isn’t a job and a damn good one, I don’t know what is.
But when I laid the whole outfit out on my bed last night, checking the individual pieces for any stains or tears or wrinkles or scuffs—anything that might give me away as the poor college student I am instead of the ambitious and hardworking future lawyer I intend to be—my best friend and roommate was horrified by my choice of footwear. She’d insisted that a suit as kick-ass as this one deserved shoes just as kick-ass. That’s when she’d pulled out the Loubies with a drumroll and a flourish, her gift to me on the first day of the rest of my life.
The Club Sin Series 4-Book Bundle Page 86
