He huffs and mumbles something before he barely leans to the side to peek out the window.
“I never thought I’d regret having a phenomenal view of the water. There are too many damn windows for them to see in. Come eat.” He takes my hand and pulls me behind him.
“Should we call the police?”
“He’s off my property, but if he steps onto it, security will run him off.”
We eat our lunch, and Damon is quiet.
“Oh, do you know where I left my phone? I thought it was on the coffee table.”
“Why do you need it?”
“If you’re in the papers and on television, I imagine my family has been calling. I need to speak to them.”
He drops his spoon into his bowl and clenches he fist next to it on the table. “Can’t you wait until tomorrow?”
“No, Damon. My brother is protective, and my parents have met you. They’re going to want to know what is true and isn’t.” Is he trying to keep my cell from me? “Do you have my phone?”
“Yes.”
“I want it.”
“Later.”
“Later? Are you telling me I can’t have it?”
“Alayna, you agreed to give me twenty-four hours with no interruptions.”
“You were on your phone today.”
“That’s different. Golding has to be able to reach me.”
I stare at him as he takes a drink of his water. He’s fixed me two meals today and made love to me. He is trying to be attentive. “Fine. I’ll wait.”
The stress on his face lessens as his hand slides across my leg under the table and lightly squeezes my knee. I’ve pleased him.
After lunch, I tell Damon that I’ll clean up. He goes back to his study to work for a while. A thought strikes me as I load the dishwasher. Scanning the kitchen, I spot a small flat-screen in the corner of the counter.
I chew on my lip and take a peek toward the hallway. I’m fully aware Damon is trying to ignore what is happening outside of this house but I’m curious.
I want to know what the media is saying. There’s a remote next to the television, so I use it to switch the power on. I turn the volume down and find a headline news channel.
They’re discussing the turmoil in the Middle East, so I go back to rinsing dishes and putting them in the dishwasher. I’ve almost forgotten about the TV being on when I hear the anchorwoman on the station say the name Golding Publishing. I’m holding a wet glass as I peer at the screen and listen.
“Ex-Congressman Richard Golding is under attack today after information was leaked of a possible cover up to the actual events of his son’s brutal attack fourteen years ago,” she says. Congressman ... Golding ... what the hell?
“The confirmation that Congressman Golding’s son changed his name from Reed Golding to Damon Lear after the attack has only added to speculations of an illegal cover-up. We’ll be bringing you further information as this breaking story develops.”
My eyes are glued to the television until I hear the startling noise. I jump and look down. I’ve dropped the glass I was holding, and it’s now in hundreds of pieces on the ceramic floor.
My heart is hammering in my chest, and I can barely breathe. Do I even know this man?
Damon
Hearing a loud noise, I run downstairs to see what it is.
“Alayna, what happened?” I look down and see broken glass around her feet. With her body trembling, she lifts her gaze from the floor to me. “Did you cut yourself?” I go to touch her arm.
“Don’t! Don’t come near me.” She throws a finger out as her lip quivers.
“What’s wrong?” We’re both silent, and that’s when I hear it; the television is on. Unable to take another breath, I close my eyes for a few seconds. “Dammit, what did you hear?”
“Oh, are you wanting me to tell you, so you’ll know what you have to explain?” she asks angrily.
“No, Alayna. I was going to tell you everything.”
“Why didn’t you yesterday?”
“I didn’t want to overwhelm you.”
“I shouldn’t have found out from a news report on television. I’m leaving. I don’t even know who you are,” she spats.
“I thought I’d get to tell you before you heard it elsewhere, and you do know me.”
“Obviously, I don’t.” She goes to walk past me, but I take hold of her bicep.
“You’re not leaving me again. I’ll tell you everything.”
“I can’t trust that you won’t continue to withhold information from me, Damon, or whoever you are. I can’t handle all the shitty surprises. I’m calling Curtis to come get me. Now, give me my damn phone.” She holds her hand out to me.
“No. You’re not doing this again.” Tearing free from my hold, she stomps around me.
“I’ll find it. You have to have it hidden somewhere in this place.”
I follow her to the foyer and up the stairwell. She can forget it. She’s not leaving. Period. Into my room she goes, opening and closing drawers.
When she doesn’t find it, she goes to the guestroom she’s been working in and begins looking in the dresser. I go back to my room and find a neck tie.
Alayna comes in after and grabs her suitcase from the closet. “If you won’t give it to me, then I’ll walk until I find someone who will let me use their phone.”
She drops her suitcase on the bed and starts tossing the few clothes she has laying around into it. “I’m sure that cameraman would let me borrow his in exchange for me telling him what a controlling asshole you are.”
The thought of her talking to any strange man has my blood boiling, but she’s funny if she thinks for a second that I’d just let her walk down the street. I don’t say a word as she throws her fit before she plans to leave me again.
This is getting old. She’s ranting about my arrogance and deceitful behavior. Alayna’s going to be tied up very soon. Her list of violations is skyrocketing. She heads out of my room with her things, so I follow her down the hallway.
Right as she takes one step onto the stairs, I yank the suitcase from her hands. She attempts to turn around, so gripping her waist, I sit her ass down on the top step.
“What the hell, Damon?!” She goes to stand, but I press her back down by her shoulder. Grabbing hold of her wrists, I use my tie and bind her to the banister. Of course, this time is more difficult than any other since she’s being so damn difficult.
“You are such a pompous ass. Now, let me go.”
“No, Alayna.” I step down in front of her. She groans loudly and pulls on her wrists that are now tied above and to the side of her on the railing. Her sweater has pulled up and is showing her smooth, toned stomach that my mouth will soon be on.
“You’re the one keeping secrets. I haven’t done a thing wrong, so release me now.”
“Oh, really?”
“What have I done? Tell me one thing, and I’ll listen to you,” she says smugly.
“OK. I don’t have experience with these types of relationships, but I’ve witnessed enough of them to know that you should stop and listen to someone you’re dating when they’re trying to speak to you.”
“That’s all you’ve got?”
“I think it’s important, and I also don’t think you’re supposed to be calling me names. It isn’t very ladylike or kind, Alayna.”
She groans. “Oh! You ...”
I smirk at her. “What are you thinking of calling me now?” She shamefully sits silent. “Can you keep your trap shut for five damn minutes?” Without reply, she stares through the bars of the railing.
“I’ll tell you what you want to know, and we’ll work our way down these stairs. When we get to the bottom, if you still want to leave, I’ll give you your phone so you can call Curtis, or I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”
Chapter Nine
Alayna
Damon has tied me to the fucking banister, and I’m mostly pissed because I find it pretty hot. I don’t want hi
m to know, so I glare at him.
“Why didn’t you tell me your real name? I’m certain you’re not supposed to keep something like that from your girlfriend,” I spout off.
Damon palms the step on each side of my hips and ever so slowly leans forward. His tongue makes contact with my throat, and I helplessly tilt my head back. It glides sensually down my skin, and I swallow when he reaches the bottom.
“That would’ve required me telling you everything about Tiffany, and it–it’s painful, so I never planned on sharing it again with anyone.” His head is down as he speaks, giving me a view of his silken, black strands.
“So, your dad is Richard Golding?”
“Yes.” He pushes off with his hands, stands, and unties mine. “Move down two steps.” I do as he says and voluntarily hold my wrists up.
“Did he cover up what happened?”
After Damon has my wrists tied, he slips off my black flats and runs his hands up inside my jeans to pull off my knee high stockings. Oh, shit. I feel where this is headed.
“As soon as I was attacked, my father stepped in and paid people off. He promptly put it to rest with the media. They were led to believe that I tried taking up for a woman out in public whose husband was being verbally abusive.
“It escalated into a fight, and the man almost killed me. They never connected the dots between Tiffany and me.”
Damon is back to his knees on a step below the one my feet are on. He bends over and skims the tip of his nose along my stomach. Going back the other direction, he skirts his warm lips across it.
My sweater is lifted from my arms being above me, giving him access to my bare skin. I jerk and begin trembling. His steady tongue precisely swirls down to the top of my jeans while his fingers clutch my hips, attempting to still me.
The feel of his strong hands and hot mouth have me wet as I ready and willingly succumb to his rule. I’m not going anywhere. “Damon,” I whisper with a shudder.
His mouth maneuvers up to my ear, and I quiver more from his taunting breath. “Baby, tell me you’re staying.”
“Not yet.”
“You’re staying, Alayna.” Damon’s superior tone cuts my last thread of control.
“I know,” I say softly. “Why did you change your name?”
He’s back to his knees again, casting a taxing gaze.
“My dad convinced me to do it. By going through phone records, my parents discovered that I’d lied about when I began seeing Tiffany.
“It would’ve been disastrous for my father had it come out that she was seeing me when I was a minor. He was determined to bury it completely, so it wouldn’t ruin his reputation or jeopardize his career.”
He slides his hands up my thighs and gradually unbuttons and unzips my jeans. My gaze is chained to his the entire time his magical hands are taking off my pants.
“They were ashamed of me, and I was trying to get them off my back about seeing her, so I agreed. Damon Lear is my uncle on my mother’s side. He’d passed away already, so I took his name.
“I started college as Damon and told no one who my family was, but eventually, I had to confide in Seth and Martin.” Damon tosses my jeans and leans over, his mouth hovering in front of my lips.
“You’re mine, precious.” He kisses me passionately as his fingers creep up my arms. His provocative touch works to seal the deal, and with his lips still on mine, he undoes my wrists. Slowly, he pulls my black sweater over my head, leaving me in my matching red bra and panties before scanning me from head to toe.
“God, Alayna, there are so many reasons you’re irresistible, and this sexy body is one of them. Move down and give me your wrists.” I do as he commands, and I’m retied to the banister.
“When Tiffany was arrested, did your dad do something else to keep it buried?”
Damon lets out a heavy breath and sits a couple of steps below me. Leaning his back against the wall, he stretches his legs out across the step and looks ahead.
“Yes. Since she had been busted with an underage student, my father worried someone would discover my connection.
“It’s likely it would’ve come out that we had a relationship when I was underage, too. I don’t know who my dad paid off for that one, but Tiffany only lost her job. Everything else was dropped.”
“So, your father bribed public officials so this wouldn’t be in the media? He let a pedophile go free not once but twice and made you change your identity to protect his reputation and job?”
Damon meets my gaze, and I see the shame and disappointment. “Yes, and that’s why it’s a huge deal that some of my past is resurfacing. I ruined our family when I fell into her trap.”
“Damon, you didn’t. You were not even an adult when it started. She took advantage of you due to whatever sickness she had.
“Your father should’ve gone public and supported that you were a victim, Tiffany should’ve been in jail, and you should’ve had therapy to heal.”
He’s back on his knees, gliding his strong hands down my arms above my head. They reach the sides of my breasts, and he unhooks my bra. His fingers slip under it before his thumbs begin tracing around my nipples.
“It wouldn’t have been that easy, Alayna.”
“No, Damon, it would’ve been hell, but then it would’ve been over. I mean, it would’ve stayed a part of your past, but that’s just it ... it would’ve stayed in the past.”
I close my eyes and inhale his exhilarating ocean scent, trying to stay focused on our important conversation, but his fingers are twirling my hardened nipples, and all I can picture is his mouth on them.
“We’re finished talking,” he says before his lips are skimming across the top of my chest, and his hands are kneading my breasts. My gladiator is ready to rein in control, needing it as his heart’s shield. “Tell me you’re not leaving, Alayna.”
“Can you promise me that I know everything?”
He sighs loudly and begins to untie my wrists.
“Move down.” I do as he says and slip out of my bra before he ties the neck tie around my hands again. “There is only one more thing, but I’m not sharing it.”
“You need to tell me, Damon. If we’re going to be together, then you have to be able to open up to me. I don’t want to hear it on the news.”
“No, Alayna,” he says sternly as he squats in front of me.
“Then release me now. I’m leaving.”
“I think it’s time for your come to Jesus meeting. Did you ever think that maybe I don’t open up to you because all you’re ever doing is leaving or threatening to?”
“That’s not true.”
“You’ve been walking away from me since the first time I met you. There have been so many times that I’ve lost count, so I worry I’ll tell you something that causes you to want to flee.”
I avert my gaze. Is he right? I think back. Damn, I’m so afraid of getting hurt again that I run as soon as I get spooked. “Shit. I haven’t shown that you can trust me completely. I’m sorry, Damon. I don’t want to leave, and I won’t unless you tell me to but no more secrets.”
“I’ll share the last one, Alayna, but then I’m fucking you hard on these stairs, and you better never threaten to walk out on me again. Are we clear?”
I struggle to breathe. His eyes are heavy and lethal. Damon’s now “sir,” and his erotic, authoritative words spear through me.
“Yes, sir.” He unties me yet again.
“Since your back is sore, get on your knees, but give me your wrists.” I turn around and hold my hands up. “Put them behind you.”
He ties them above my ass, and holding the back of my hair, he pushes my cheek against the cold, wooden step. My knees are perched on the one that’s two below it.
My backside is out, and Damon is sliding down my panties with his free hand. The other still has a strong hold on my hair. My body knows what’s coming, and the more of his touch I receive, the more desire occupies me.
Damon’s demands aren’t neces
sary once his skin touches mine. My body now commands me to surrender to him. Two fingers plunge into me, and I can’t resist pushing back against them as a moan fills the stairway.
“Tiffany became pregnant my freshman year of college. She was seven months when she was arrested.”
“Holy shit, Damon.”
“I was by her side the entire pregnancy. Although I was ridiculously young to have a kid and was scared shitless, I was ecstatic.
“It was something else that would keep Tiffany with me. At least, that’s what I thought. I’d lay my head and hands on her belly, feeling the baby kick. I even went with her to get the ultrasound.
“It was a boy, and I heard its heartbeat. When she got caught with the sixteen year old she’d been fucking from the school, she told me the baby was his.”
“Damon.”
“Don’t say it, Alayna. Don’t say you’re sorry. She was nothing but a sick bitch. You had nothing to do with it, and you could never be like her.”
Damon
After everything, she’s still wet, wanting me to fuck her. Her face is pressed against the step, panties are at her ankles, wrists are bound, her ass is in front of me, and she looks fucking perfect. I can hardly get my jeans down fast enough.
My free hand is wrapped around a spindle on the staircase as I thrust into her. She moans and rocks back against my cock that’s buried inside her.
Every rake along her pussy is ecstasy, and it’s not long before she’s bursting around me. I slam against her several more times before an orgasm paralyzes me.
I’m spilling into her, riding out the peaks of pleasure that starve my brain of the blood and oxygen I need to dwell on the past. Alayna is my future.
After sliding out and pulling up my pants, I untie her wrists. My arm circles her waist before I bring her with me to sit sideways on the step. My back is to the wall, and hers is to my chest. It’s rising and falling fast with mine.
She’s wrapped snugly in my embrace, and my nose is burrowed in her hair, breathing in her alluring honeysuckle scent. She kicks off her panties, and they go flying over the railing.
One Urge, One Plea, Keep Me Trilogy Page 25
