The wine colored dress Anthony had purchased was perfect. Its silk flowed over my body like butter. The neckline draped down in a cowl neck style and the dress literally flowed from the knees down when I walked. I had worn my hair up and wisps of it fell lose as if having a mind of their own. The drop sequence earrings that I wore almost touched my shoulders and had an air of vintage class to them.
I felt overwhelmed, these weren’t the type of people that I was accustomed to rubbing elbows with. Two things were in the forefront of my mind; Anthony’s mother and little Miss. Sunshine-Julia. I was certain that she wasn’t going to miss the gala of the Governor. Even the fact that she was eating crow with the press wasn’t enough to keep her away. The girl had gall that was for sure.
I kept thinking of my best friend Kathy and wishing that I would have thought to invite her, she would have been a type of buffer. We had been there for one another over the years. I made a mental note to do something nice for her.
“Oh dear,” a voice cut through my thoughts. I looked up to see Anthony’s mother and the resemblance was uncanny. She wore her dark hair bobbed and ice blue eyes peeked out at me from beneath bangs. She didn’t look a day over forty-five and I knew that she had to have a top of the line plastic surgeon. I knew that he was good because she looked much younger than she was without any telltale signs of having any work done.
She grabbed my hand twirling me in a circle. “Let me get a look at you, you are stunning.” A flashbulb when off in the background and my stomach wrenched, I don’t think that I will ever get used to being in the public eye without worrying about someone finding out about me.
I looked at Anthony while he leaned against the wall with an air of confidence. He looked like he had just walked off the cover of a men’s magazine in the black tux he wore. He had shaved the five o’clock shadow he wore at times, and he oozed power and authority. His ice cold blue eyes never left my visage as he spoke to his mother. “I’m glad that you approve, mother. Though regardless of who does or doesn’t approve, I’m keeping her.”
“Oh Anthony, you speak as if she is possession,” his mother chuckled as she chided him. His hooded gaze seared into me causing me to look away from him.
As quickly as his mother appeared she was whisked away by the lure of mingling with the prestigious crowd in attendance. I felt sorry for Anthony. He spoke to a waiter that was making his way through the crowd and ordered a bourbon and a shot of Patron along with Cristal for me. I was grateful, I needed to take the edge off.
He moved in towards me casually pinning me in with one arm around my waist as he faced me. He was well within the perimeter of my personal space. His voice was a low growl as he began to speak. “You are mine, I’m going to take you home and smear that make-up all over your face and then I’m going to fuck you like I hate you.”
My hand shook as I took the Patron from the waiter’s tray, but it didn’t stop Anthony.
“See, what happens is that I see every man in the room checking you out and there is a primal part of me that wants to mark you. In fact, I may go so far as to brand you with a tattoo.”
“I’m not getting a tattoo, Anthony.”
“You’re doing what I tell you to do.”
“No. I’m. Not.”
“You’re in so much trouble when you get home and my cock is hard just thinking about it.”
“I have to go to the restroom, Anthony.”
“Liar,” he hissed in my direction.
I looked up at the man who towered over me. He looked so professional but I knew the real Anthony, the dark, twisted, deviant, kinky, Anthony. The moistening between my legs bore witness against me that I liked the dark side my lover brought to the table.
“You get your ass to that bathroom and get right back out here. Don’t you dare stop and talk to any men! Do you understand me?”
I scooted under his arm rolling my eyes as I did so. I don’t think that I have met a more territorial male in all my life.
I made my way into the bathroom not looking forward to trying to have to pee in this gown. I managed the feat of peeing and squatting at the same time to avoid contact with the toilet seat. I made my way out to view Julia standing at the mirror waiting for me. She didn’t even try to hide the fact that she had followed me in.
“You followed me, Julia?”
She ignored my question and began speaking, “I don’t know who you are, but I’m going to find out. If there are any skeletons in your closet, I’ll find them.”
I turned and looked her in the eye as I spoke, “You’re pretty desperate aren’t you? I mean really, I would be embarrassed to continue pursuing a man who clearly didn’t want me. Bbut you have no problem with it, do you?”
“Hmph,” she snorted, as she turned and walked away.
I wasn’t about to let her know it, but what she said didn’t just bother me—it troubled me. I freshened up and gathered my wits to make my way out the door and nothing could have prepared me for what I encountered upon my exit.
“Stay away from her mother fucker!”
I stopped, gaping in horror to view Anthony with the copper haired gentleman who had spoken to at the last event.
I calmly touched Anthony’s arm and spoke in a very soft voice in order to try and calm him down.
“Sweetheart, you don’t want the press getting a picture of this. Are you ready to leave dear?”
He snapped his head around glaring at me but said nothing. He suddenly dropped the man to his feet by releasing the stranglehold that he had on him.
He turned grabbed my arm and escorted me out to the car. The fact that he was able to completely change his countenance from the short distance of the bathroom hallway to the large open room where the party was going on, scared me more than what I had witnessed in the hallway only seconds earlier. I have never been around someone who could change at the drop of a hat like he did. Anthony was unreadable when he desired to be and that scared me.
As soon as the limo was moving he was on me. He pinned me to the door as he spoke while he hovered over me.
“Did you talk to him? I watched him follow you back to the bathroom.”
“No Anthony and I refuse to be held accountable for what other people do. Your girlfriend threatened me in the bathroom and you don’t see me acting like you are right now.”
“What did she say?” His face looked like he would tear her from limb to limb if he didn’t like the answer that I gave him. Not surprisingly that thought didn’t bother me.
“She said that she would find any skeletons I had. She threatened to go to the press.”
“Oh, she did, did she? I’ll deal with her.”
“Anthony, don’t hurt her.”
“For once my little dove, don’t underestimate me.”
“Underestimating you has never been one of my behavioral patterns. Now back up so I can breathe.”
I never broke my gaze as I glared at him. If Anthony thought that he was going to intimidate me, he had the wrong woman because it wasn’t going to happen.
As soon as we pulled up to the mansion he dragged me by my arm into the master suite. Without even undressing me he tied me to the bed in restraints that gave me a little wiggle room but left me unable to escape.
“I better not be in trouble,” I hissed in his direction as he slammed down two shots of bourbon back to back.
In one stride he leapt from the bar to the bed so quickly it reminded me of a wild animal pouncing on their prey.
He straddled me removing his jacket and tossing it into a chair by the bed. He loosened the bow tie that he wore moving his neck back and forth in irritation. I watched as he slowly undid the buttons of the dress shirt he wore and tossed it over to join the tuxedo jacket.
I licked my lips as I eyed his fit, smooth, tan chest, and a smirk crossed over his face as he spoke, “Do you like what you see?” He gave me no time to answer as he continued, “Because I damn sure know that I like what I’m looking at.”
H
e leaned up removing something from the nightstand and my eyes opened wide in horror when I viewed a knife in his hand.
“Anthony, I didn’t do anything. Please don’t hurt me.”
He cocked his head to the side cutting his eyes at me, “You’re not so bold now, are you? It’s called knife play, Dove.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks as he cut through the gown that I wore. Laying it open he looked at me as if I were a smorgasbord that had been laid out before a starving man.
He ripped the pasties I wore over my nipples off, as if they were an inconvenience and I gasped in pain. His large hand tore away my g-string as if it were nonexistent.
A dark shadow cast over his face as he held the knife threateningly against my throat. “My mother was right—I do refer to you as my property. Are you my property?”
The look on his face dared me to defy him.
“I’m your property Anthony. You have the contract to prove it.”
He tossed the knife away and ran his thumb over my wine colored lips, purposely smearing my lipstick. “I say what I mean and I mean what I say.” I knew he was referring to when he had me corned at the event when he told me what he was going to do to me when we got home.
I watched as he got up and removed his clothing. His cock jutted out demanding him to take his prey. He loosed my legs but left my arms bound above my head, spread out and attached to the corner posts of the bed.
He bent my knees and pinned my legs back by my shoulders. “Keep them there, I want my hands free.”
I only shook my head yes.
He spread me open with his fingers, taunting me with his rugged voice, “Your body responds very well to my dominance. Your sweet little pussy is soaked because your owner instills fear and uncertainty in you when you disobey him.”
It was the truth, my body did respond to the things that Anthony subjected me to. Slowly, methodically, Anthony was leading me into his sexually taboo world.
I groaned as he ran his tongue up and down my soaked opening. “Tastes so good. So damn good.” He plunged a finger into me wiggling it from side to side as he sucked at my clit.
I began pulling at the restraints as I begged, “Please don’t stop.”
He raised his head looking at me coldly. “Why would I pleasure my property, property that disobeys me and back talks?”
“I didn’t do anything, I promise. I didn’t talk to him.”
“You defy me when you state that I am not allowed to mark you.”
“I don’t want a tattoo.”
“I want my engagement ring on that pretty little finger of yours then. It’s my way of marking you in a socially acceptable way, not that I give a fuck about being socially acceptable when it comes to you. What I do care about is keeping those little wings of yours clipped until I break through all of those walls and barriers that you have so meticulously built up over the years.”
“I’m not marrying you, Anthony.”
He continued talking as if he hadn’t heard me. “I want my engagement ring on the fourth finger of your left hand.”
His head went down once again lapping at my swollen lady bit and this time two fingers graced my opening. He spread them out like scissors and began opening and closing them. Alternating hitting the walls of my insides as his tongue swirled over the pearl that housed so many nerve endings.
I groaned from somewhere deep in my chest as pure lust broke my barrier of obstinacy. “I’ll wear the ring, but no marriage.”
This time he continued licking, lapping, and sucking, until I bolted up as far as the restraints would permit screaming out as circuits of pleasure electrified every nerve in my body. His strong hands pinned my hips down forcing me to take the full intensity of the orgasm.
He pierced his manhood in between my legs that he had bent back like folded paper in one smooth thrust. His threats in my ear as he pulled my hair at both sides of my head only intensified my pleasure, sending me over the edge yet again.
“You don’t tell me what you won’t do!”
“I’m not... marrying you... or anyone else. I don’t care... how good... the sex is,” my voice came out in ragged stutters due to the pleasure that my lover was subjecting me to.
He fucked me just like he told me that he would. Like he hated me, like he was branding me, like he was taking me. He was right—we were good together, but no matter how good we were together sexually, I wasn’t going to be any man’s submissive yes girl.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Miller
Miller sat behind his desk looking at the pictures he had taken while doing surveillance. This new mark of his was causing him to do something that he never did—rethink the job.
The man who had mandated the hit was her ex husband and he had failed to tell Miller that. Though Miller was a cold sadistic son of a bitch, he still had ethics, and killing a woman to collect on an insurance policy crossed his line of ethics.
He flipped through the pictures having the same reaction he always did when he viewed the girl; a raging hard on. Miller had no problem getting women with his good looks, though he was in his forties he still looked damn good as far as women were concerned. His body was cut like that of an athlete due to the strenuous work outs he had subjected it to.
He looked like a white collar businessman with his dark brown hair cut in a professional yet contemporary style. It was shorter on the sides and the back but longer on top, which caused him to run his hands through it quite a bit.
He was completely unaware of how sexy it was to his female counterparts when he ran his hands through it. Or when he would look up with his head cocked to the side as if he were studying you while his hair threatened to fall over one of his eyes. His eyes were something that you never forgot if you had the pleasure or displeasure of looking into them. They were yellow hazel and they had a feral look to them when they eyed a mark or a woman he was bedding. Everything about Miller was compelling, he drew you in when he chose to do so. It took a certain kind of woman to handle Miller in the bedroom, because he was a sadist.
This woman was different though, it wasn’t his sadistic streak that she brought out, it was his primal need to protect. Miller knew that his primal protective traits could prove to be even more dangerous than his sadistic side.
He pushed down on his cock and thought about the options that he had with this new mark. He was coming dangerously close to doing something that he had never done before; faking a death.
A knock on the door cut through his thoughts and he looked up to view a young woman standing there in a brightly flowered dress with a cardigan draped over her shoulders.
“I’d like to hire you, Sir.”
Miller worked as a Private Investigator. He used it as a cover and he just figured she wanted her boyfriend spied on. Due to the fact that she wore no ring, he knew she wasn’t married. He had no intentions of taking her case but his curiosity pressed him to listen to her request.
He nodded towards the seat in front of his desk and watched as she sat. He knew by instinct not to be deceived by her prim and proper manner.
The prim and proper ones are the worst.
“I don’t know if you recognize me or not, but I am engaged to the Governor.”
No ring!
That was all that she needed to say for him to make his decision, but he let her continue on due to his curiosity.
“Well, the poor little dear has become infatuated with another woman and I feel that if I can find some... Well, shall we say dirt?” She continued on as he listened, “I’m sure that if I can just prove that she is not worthy to be the Governor’s wife that he will see the error of his ways and come back to me.”
Miller looked up and from the screen that he had been glued to and candidly spoke, “Ma’am, you’re going to have a hard time finding anyone who is willing to stir up that hornet’s nest.”
“I’ll pay anything, money is no issue.”
“You’re right, money isn’t the issue, power is. I don’t
know too many people who are willing to get on the Governor’s bad side. You of all people should know that he has a nasty streak.”
Julia got up and indignantly replied, “I can assure that I will find someone to do my bidding.” She turned and left without even saying goodbye.
She was a petulant brat and it was never more evident than when she didn’t get her way
She never heard Miller’s reply, she left so abruptly.
“Good luck with that.”
He knew that she wouldn’t find anyone to take on her smear campaign. She might even end up in a back alley dead if she didn’t back off her pursuit of trying to extract a pound of the Governor’s flesh. She was barking up the wrong tree.
Miller picked up the phone and dialed. “I just had a client in here that you may be interested in…”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Talia
I reluctantly eyed the five carat, fancy vivid blue diamond which was inlaid in a platinum setting with white diamonds surrounding the large square stone.
Anthony spoke in my ear low enough for the jeweler to not hear it, but loud enough that it still came out as a growl, “We’ll discuss this when we get home.”
I smiled at the jeweler and stated, “Oh it is absolutely exquisite, you’ve outdone yourself.”
Anthony finished dealing with him and led me out to the car. His eyes were on the road as he drove even though his face was set in stone it wasn’t going to detour me from speaking my mind.
“I’m not marrying you. I’m going back to school!”
“That’s fine. You’ll take online courses at home.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
“I damn sure can, young lady. I’m footing the bill.”
“I can pay my own bills.”
His head jerked around so quickly that I jumped. “If I find out that another man is paying for so much as a latte for you, I will discipline you so severely that you will never forget it.”
“Are you threatening me, Anthony?”
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