I felt myself going red. Allie’s cheeks were a soft, dusky pink, and she busied herself with her napkin as my mother’s complexion went from flushed and angry to pale.
Finally, she looked over at me.
After a moment, she took a deep breath. “I…I believe I need to step away for a moment. If you’ll excuse me?”
Dad watched her go, and a moment later, he nodded at us and then stepped away as well.
* * *
Dad returned before she did.
She stayed gone almost ten more minutes.
The woman who came to our table looked like my mother. She talked like her. Hell, she even sounded like her. But the hard sheen I was so used to seemed to have fractured and fallen away.
She talked to me like she hadn’t in years. And she talked to Allie too. Their interactions were still stilted, but they spoke nonetheless.
At the end of brunch, I gave my dad a hug, and said softly, just for him to hear, “Thank you.”
He chuckled. “Diplomacy comes with the territory, son. You best learn it while you’re young.” He glanced at Allie, then looked back at me. “And let me give you a piece of advice. Don't let that one go.”
I followed his gaze. “Don't worry, Dad. I don't intend to.”
9
Allie
“Open…”
His voice was like raw silk, rubbing all over my body and my senses too.
I would have moaned, maybe even begged, but my mouth was suddenly full.
I would have reached for him, maybe even clung to him, but my hands were restrained.
I would have whimpered and wiggled and squirmed, done anything to ease the burning ache inside me as Jal fisted his hands in my hair and held my head steady, doing exactly what he’d promised on the drive back to his apartment.
I love your mouth, you know that? And I’ve had this fantasy…I think it’s time I make good on it.
I hadn’t realized he was in the mood to play, or I would've been quicker on the upkeep because the rewards were amazing.
He’d ended up with his fingers between my thighs, our bodies angled so the driver couldn’t see, but just knowing that someone else was there...it turned me on more than I'd realized possible.
If you can guess the fantasy before we get home, I’ll make you come.
It had taken me almost too long because his fingers were really distracting – and clever.
But I’d figured it out. Enough, at least, to have my reward.
And now, I was restrained in a way that I’d never been before, and I felt more open and vulnerable than I’d ever felt, more exposed, more…erotic.
I shivered, and the thin chains that connected the nipple clamps to my bound wrists tugged, a subtle warning of how little I could move.
He let go of my hair and reached one hand down, tugging on the chain that connect my left nipple to the padded cuff around my left wrist. More chains connected the nipple clamps to the collar around my neck.
A spreader bar went between my ankles, and Jal had taken great pleasure in telling me that he could even get chains that connected these nipple clamps to that bar. But you’re not ready yet. I don’t want to hurt you and if you move too much…
He tugged the chain again, and the clamp gave my nipple another delicious bite.
I moaned around the thick shaft in my mouth, a hot dart of heat twisting through my pussy, arching my spine.
He did it again. And again.
Each tug made that heat blaze hotter, brighter until I was moaning endlessly, barely able to breathe as he continued to slide his cock in and out of my mouth.
“Swallow me, baby,” he said. Another tug and bolt of pain. “Yeah…that’s it. Take more…aw, hell…”
I shivered when he pulled out, coughing and gasping for air. I watched as he fisted his cock like he was going to come all over me. The idea had me licking my lips.
He shoved my hair back from my damp face and asked what I was thinking.
I told him.
He kissed me in the next breath, going to his knees front of me, and kissing me so roughly, it stole the very air out of me. “You want me to come all over you?”
“I want to see you come,” I said. “I don’t care if you do it on me or not.”
“Not good enough.” He stood up and came around me, kneeling behind me.
I cried out in frustration as he urged me forward, wrapping his arm around my waist so I didn’t fall. I couldn’t brace myself, couldn’t even fight his hands, thanks to the restraints. “Bastard.”
He spanked me, and I yelped in shocked surprise.
“If you wanted to see me come, you should have told me so.” He nipped at my ear. “But the first time we're not using condoms, I'm coming inside you.”
I groaned, then cried out as he drove into me, hard and fast. I was so ready, I was coming even before he finished filling me. He caught one of the chains and began to tug. Each time, it rippled through me, drawing the climax out longer and longer.
“That’s it…you squeeze me, just like that…”
I shuddered and twisted around him, trying to get closer, although how much closer could I get? It was pain and pleasure all wrapped together, overwhelming me until it was too much. I cried out when he withdrew only to surge forward again, and again.
He kept up that slow, steady pace throughout my entire climax, kept on tugging on the nipple clamp chains so I hovered right there on the razor’s edge, one orgasm gone, another promising – but he withheld it so easily.
When he stopped moving, I growled my frustration.
“Look up, Allie.”
It was a command, not a request, so I did it.
And then I saw the mirror, saw us in the mirror.
“I’ve never had a woman without a condom before, Allie. I can’t begin to tell you how amazing it feels inside you, with nothing between us.”
Whimpering, I twisted against him, only to be brought up short by the chains. “Move, please. I need to come again.”
He kissed my shoulder. “Beg me.”
“Please! Dammit, Jal! Just please…” No other words would come. Then I felt his thumb at my ass, and a shudder ran through me.
“Tell me what you want, baby.”
I closed my eyes.
“Open.”
I obeyed.
“Tell me what you want.”
“I want you to fuck me,” I said. “I want you to come inside me.”
“And what are you willing to do for me?”
“Anything,” I whimpered. I was stuffed so full of him and trying not to rock back against him with the chains tugging and teasing...
“Say it.”
“My ass.” My eyelids fluttered as the tip of his thumb breached me.
“What do you want?”
“Fingers,” I said. “Cock. Something. Anything.”
I seemed unable to form coherent sentences. He reached around and pushed two fingers into my mouth.
“Suck.”
I did, and his fingers were at my anus again. He pulled back, and as he thrust back into me, he shoved his fingers into my ass.
That knocked a scream out of me.
He did it again…again…again…
Mindless of the nipple clamps and chains, I twisted around him and bore down, trying to take more, more, more.
Abruptly, he pulled me up. He’d freed the chains somehow and now had me plastered against his chest, each hand full of a breast, squeezing them as he drove up into me, each stroke enough to lift me off my knees.
I cried out his name as the orgasm slammed into us both. I felt him empty inside me even as my climax made the world go white around me.
It was then that I felt it. The connection, the satisfaction, that I'd never quite been able to manage in other encounters, not even with Tao. There'd always been a little something missing before, but now, I'd found it.
It was him.
* * *
Water bubbled and churned around us.
/> On our left, there was a window that let us see the sprawling panorama that was Philadelphia. A few lights dotted the dark ribbon of a river, marking barges, and maybe a few intrepid boaters who'd been waiting for a true thaw to get back on the water.
“It’s a beautiful view,” I said, wishing I had the energy to do more than loll against Jal. The day's events, however, had taken it all out of me. It'd gone well, but it'd still been draining.
“Yes, it is.”
Something about his voice had me lifting my head, and I caught sight of him in the mirrored wall across from us. The first time I’d seen it, I called him a pervert. He’d laughed.
Now my heart ached, because I could see Jal watching me, and the expression on his face made crazy, weird things dance inside me.
“I love you.”
I blinked, thinking I had to have misheard him, that my brain had to be playing tricks on me.
When I didn’t respond, Jal said it again, his eyes meeting mine. The emotion shining in their depths told me that it wasn't my imagination.
Tears burned my eyes as I turned around in his arms, ignoring the water splashing over the sides of the tub. Curling my arms around his neck, I pressed my face against his throat. “Jal...” My voice cracked.
“It’s not supposed to make you cry when a guy says that.” His tone was half-teasing, but I could hear the uncertainty hovering beneath the surface.
“I love you too.”
I felt his body relax as I said the words. As I wrapped myself tighter around him, I felt some last little knot of tension give inside me. I wasn't foolish enough to believe that things would be perfect from here on out, but I did know that we'd always work it out. There wasn't anything the two of us couldn't face if we were together.
10
Allie
“Too many people,” I muttered under my breath as I carried my champagne up to where Jal was waiting on the dais.
My family – including Tao and his date – were at a special place up front. Well, technically, dates. Plural. Tony was the guy I'd seen with Tao back in March, and things had gotten serious earlier this summer after Tao explained his polyamorous nature to Tony. To my surprise, Tony hadn't only taken it well, he said he'd been trying to figure out a way to tell Tao the same thing.
Two months ago, they'd added Lyrrie to their relationship.
While Tony's complexion was similar to mine – his father was black and his mother white – Lyrrie was as different as could be. Short and curvy, she had that pale, freckled skin that most red-heads possessed. She was sweet and open, the perfect complement to the guys. And she was hard of hearing. Mom had been a bit thrown by the unconventional relationship, but Lyrrie had quickly won her over.
I still didn't know how their relationship worked, but it was their bed to lie in, not mine.
I had a bed I was perfectly happy with, and the man I shared it with was smiling at me from the podium.
All around us, people were talking, a patois of sign and speaking where the hearing sometimes stumbled over their signs, and the deaf and hard of hearing spoke just a little louder than necessary. It could've been chaotic and awkward, but the purpose that had brought us all together made it work.
The kids were up in the atrium, the part of the Philadelphia Family & Community Center for the Deaf that had been solely designed for younger adults and youth. TJ’s hands had been all over it, a fact that he had been more than happy to share with anybody and everybody who would listen. He’d been interviewed by the press for it several times over, and the attention had brought him positive attention at school, enough that the bullies he'd been dealing with had backed off. He had a girlfriend now too. She was hearing, but they'd bonded when she found out that he was ahead of her on the waiting list for a book they both wanted.
She ended up buying him the book – and he’d done the same for her – after they’d had an argument over it.
He’d written his argument down since, even though he could speak, he was self-conscious about it. She'd told him she didn't care if he spoke, as long as the two of them could communicate, and that had been that. Since then, she'd been taking sign language classes, and he'd been working on improving his speech.
They were adorable together, and even though Tyson had been wary at first, he'd been unable to deny how good she was for TJ. Carrie was cute, a head taller than TJ. A blonde-haired, blue-eyed princess. Not what either of my parents had expected, but Mom had already told Tyson that most of the time, the best things in life were unexpected.
I thought she was right. After all, the big blue-eyed prince waiting for me was the very last thing I’d expected.
He held out a hand, and I accepted, turning my cheek for him to kiss me. He had something else in mind, however. He caught my chin and turned my face back to him, holding me there for a hard, fast kiss that left me breathless.
The crowd went nuts. Some clapped and whistled while the majority had their hands in the air, twisting them back and forth – the sign for applause.
My face was flushed, blood rushing in my ears as he finally broke the kiss. I wasn't exactly opposed to public displays of affection, but that had been a bit much for me. My head was still spinning as Jal began to speak.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Allie Dodds…one of my advisors for the facility. I couldn’t have done it without the help of her and her family.” Jal nodded to my mom, Tyson, and TJ.
TJ, the little social monster, threw up his hands as he stood, lapping up the attention. Carrie poked at him and signed that he was being a show-off. He bowed to her before Mom managed to get him in his seat, and the crowd roared again. He was a hit.
Then Mom looked at me, a strange, weepy sort of expression on her face. She held up her hand in the widely known shorthand for I love you. I returned it, my own eyes burning. We'd always been close, but the events of the past few months had bound us together even more tightly.
The little exchange only took a few seconds, but it distracted me enough that I didn’t realize Jal had asked me a question. He touched my shoulder and repeated himself.
“Oh…” Smiling at him, I nodded. I didn’t need anyone signing for me, so I moved in front of the podium and began to speak, explaining how the idea for the center had come to be, and applauded the hard work both the hearing and deaf communities had achieved by working together. When I gestured to my family, TJ restrained himself to a single fist pump, and my mom dabbed her eyes with Jal's handkerchief.
I'd been nervous when Jal told me that he wanted me to speak, but I didn't feel any of that now. It had all gone so smoothly that I should've known something was going to happen to catch me completely off guard.
As I finished, I turned to pass the reins back over to Jal.
And froze.
He was down on one knee.
My heart thudded once, hard and fast, then began to race.
Everybody could see him.
I reached out a hand, bracing myself on the podium because the world suddenly went wobbly.
Then he raised his hands and began to sign.
I blinked and everything got all blurry. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I missed that.”
Everyone laughed, but it was a soft, sweet kind of laughter, the kind that enveloped me, making this moment even more perfect than it already was.
Jal stood and started again.
“Allie, I love you. Will you marry...”
I flung myself at him before he finished and whispered my answer in his ear.
11
Allie
“My father’s out there.”
I looked up and met Mallory's eyes.
Mallory was the younger of my half-sisters, still almost four years older than me, and we'd met as sisters for the first time in November. She said she'd always suspected who I was. Considering we had eyes of the same shape and color, that wasn't surprising. She'd never said anything, however, because she'd been dealing with her own family issues and had known asking about me
would've only made things worse.
A few months ago, however, she and her girlfriend, Dayna, had come back to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving, and everything had hit the fan. I hadn't been there, but Mallory gave me a play-by-play of what happened when Diamond and Jal's mom, Ginnifer, had gotten into a heated argument.
I have no idea what Mom said to set Ginnifer off, but when I came in, Mom was raging like she’d never done in her life, and Ginnifer just laughed at her. Then she said it was clear your decent genes must have come from Kendrick, which was bizarre since he clearly had a strange grasp of what decent even meant. Then, she saw me and told me that you'd mentioned me once or twice and that if I wanted to see you, just call her. She’d arrange it.
We'd met two days later. Now, it was May and Mallory was one of my bridesmaids. Tao, of course, was my maid of honor. Jal's parents had been polite about my choice, though it was clear they didn't completely agree. They hadn't argued about it, so I'd given in to some of the more elaborate things Ginnifer had wanted. We seemed to be doing well compromising, even if things between us were still a little stiff.
I was still trying to process what Mallory had said about Kendrick when I heard my name. I jerked my head up and met Ginnifer’s cool gaze. She gave me a tentative smile as she reached out to brush a stray tendril of hair back from my face.
“Would you like me to deal with Kendrick? I can get him to leave. Quietly, of course.”
“No.” I looked over at Mom.
“Kendrick's here?”
I nodded. “What do you want to do?”
“This is your wedding. It's your call.” She smiled at me and went back to adjusting the train on my wedding dress. Tao's designer friend, Tarja, had been thrilled when I asked her to design my dress. We'd gone through a couple different possibilities before deciding on this one, and I knew it was perfect. She'd also done the dresses and tuxedos for the entire bridal party, and the dresses for both my mom and Ginnifer.
I took a deep breath, smoothed down the front of my dress, then looked up at Ginnifer.
Rescued by the Woodsman Page 59
