“I’d rather do it tonight, Des. It’s important. I’m sure your”—Oscar turned to Ronan—“what’s your job description again?”
Destiny cringed at the condescending tone Oscar spat out. Her mind was spinning, trying to figure out a way to apologize for him, or make an excuse for his behavior, and then she realized, it wasn’t her job anymore.
Ronan stepped all the way into the living room, and though he didn’t touch her, he stood close enough that she felt wrapped in his essence.
“Hmm, job description… Well, how’s this? I’m the man who makes your ex’s pussy wet just from walking in the room, and I’m the man who’s given her completion that leaves her want for words, and I’m the man who has sated her to her soul, and I’m the man who”—he turned to look directly at her—“loves her to the depth of mine.”
Destiny sort of heard Cassidy moan and Mrs. Murphy’s saying, “Atta boy!” She was marginally aware of Oscar’s face turning red and her legs going numb, but mostly all she saw was Ronan and the love in his eyes that was solely directed toward her.
“Destiny, I’ve been the biggest idiot on the planet. I love you. I don’t want to walk away from you or this. What we have is a big deal. It’s rare, and it’s special, and I want to see where we can take it. That is, if you can forgive me for hurting you and for being scared and for being a horse’s ass.”
She just looked at him, mutely blinking like an imbecile, but whatever she had thought tonight would be, not once had any kind of declaration of love even entered her mind.
“Okay, everybody needs to go. Out. Out. Out.” She moved to the door and held it opened.
Cassidy walked through without a word, but did squeeze her arm on the way through. Mrs. Murphy linked her arm in Oscar’s.
“She means you, doll, but I’m gonna let you buy me a drink, so it’s your lucky night!”
“Destiny, I am not leaving until we’ve had this out.” Oscar’s tone brooked no argument, but Destiny realized she wasn’t under his spell any longer.
“Oscar, I don’t answer to you. I don’t love you. I’m not married to you anymore. In fact, I’ve built a life for me and the boys here that doesn’t require you at all, and if you want to speak with me, you’ll do it with more respect, as I am the mother of your children, and it will be tomorrow at breakfast, or not at all.”
A thrill unlike anything she’d ever felt in her life circled through her body and wrapped itself around her heart. Never in all her life had she spoken to Oscar like that, and it not only felt good, it felt right.
Oscar just stared at her like he couldn’t entirely comprehend what she said. She gestured out the door with her hand. “I have a date, Oscar. Good night.”
He started to leave like a whipped dog, but right as he got to where she stood, he looked into her eyes and said soft enough that she was certain no one else would hear, “Don’t be thinking you’re more than you are just because you give the blue-collar guy a hard-on. Don’t keep me waiting in the morning.”
Moving faster than she could actually see, Ronan had Oscar pinned to the wall.
“She does more than give me a hard-on, asshole, she’s the best lover I’ve ever had, and if you weren’t man enough to bring that out in her, that’s your own damn pathetic fault.” He shoved Oscar out the door and then did a gentlemanly bow, allowing Mrs. Murphy to walk out behind him.
She stopped to pat him on the cheek. “Always knew I liked this one.”
He grinned down at her, then stepped in front of Destiny, taking the door from her hand and beginning to close it.
“Have a pleasant evening all, and for the record, my collar hasn’t been blue since I was fifteen years old. I have more money than I’m sure you’ve ever seen in your life. I just don’t feel the need to flaunt it like most.” He slammed the door shut and shook out his arms.
“You were doing a great job there, Des, but damn I can only hold back for so long!” He turned to look at her, apology written all over his face.
“You’re fine. I said what I needed to, and I appreciate your particular charm.”
He touched her cheek, and she began wondering if she’d heard him correctly. He said he loved her. Right?
“Can we get our night started now?” he nearly pleaded.
“I’d like that. What are we doing exactly?” She had no clue. She’d simply dressed in what he’d sent, like last time, and was obediently ready on time.
“It’s a surprise.” He brushed his finger down the bridge of her nose. “You think it’s safe out there?”
He turned and pressed his face to the peephole.
“He appears to be gone.” He turned and grinned at her. “You ready?”
She looked at him and knew she was ready for anything he wanted, she simply trusted him that much. Being with him was the most natural comfortable feeling in all the world. It was almost as if she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began, but not in a bad way. It felt exactly how it should, how she always thought a couple should feel, but she’d let herself be talked out of that as dreamy romantic thinking.
He extended her arm, and together they made their way to a town car he had waiting for them at the main entrance. He helped her in the back, then slid in beside her. The entire drive to their destination he gently rubbed his fingers over her leg, and she rested her head against his shoulder. They didn’t really speak, but it wasn’t an awkward silence, it was comfortable. Just sharing the space with him, just sharing the same air was all she needed.
The car pulled to a stop, but through the tinted windows, she couldn’t make much out. The driver came around and opened her door. She slid out with Ronan directly behind her. While Ronan spoke to the driver, she finally was able to look around and she was perplexed.
“Ronan, I don’t understand.” She turned to look up into his eyes.
“You trust me, don’t you?”
“Well of course, but…” He placed his fingers over her lips.
“There can be no but. It either is, or it is not.” He pushed his finger just past her lips, and she took it gladly, tasting just a hint of him before he pulled out.
She surrendered and instantly fell into that fuzzy, warm place she lived in when she was with him. They were at a rather exclusive resort on the property of one of the theme parks Orlando was so well known for, which made no sense. He led her down a path toward a large black expanse that she knew, from previous trips out here, was a large lake, and beyond that, the lights of an amusement park sparkled, and there were other large resorts on either side of them. She visited them all a few months ago with Aiden when he was trying to teach her invaluable management lessons, but Ronan kept heading toward the lake.
“Take your shoes off.” He held her arm and supported her while she slipped off her sandals, and he then removed his shoes as well.
A moment later they stepped down onto a white sand alcove that lined the lake. Tiki torches blazed along the rim, making the area visible. There was a small quartet of musicians along the back of the alcove playing soft tropical music. She felt tears brimming in her eyes when she saw the table set up along the shore. Candles, wine, flowers were all there along with two men and a woman who appeared to be waiting on them. He led her across the sand to the table and held out a chair for her to sit.
“How did you…” She looked around her again, there was clearly no one else on the beach but them, and she looked around again at the view. “This is amazing.”
The night at the sex club had been the highlight of her life, and though she wasn’t sure you could actually compare that night to anything, this was by far the most romantic thing she’d ever experienced.
He sat across from her and poured them both wine. In moments, food began to arrive. They shared appetizers of artichoke hearts and pineapple spears and enjoyed “endless” salad and bread. As they ate, he shared with her stories of his life growing up in Ireland and of his parents. They laughed together, and she thought she liked that part the most.
/> The main course was brought to them next. It was glazed pork short ribs, and she realized they’d been smoked in a pit right there on the beach.
“This is kinda like a luau.” She ripped some meat off a bone with her teeth.
“It is indeed, and I have to say the way you’re ripping that meat off those bones is making me hard, minx.”
She drew a sharp intake of breath. It was the first time he’d called her that in so long. “I missed that.” She looked away, feeling shy.
“I missed you.”
She looked into his eyes, and there was nothing there but honesty staring back at her.
They continued to eat the ribs and side dishes of apples and spiced potatoes that were succulent and decadent, and this time she began to share her family history to which Ronan seemed to listen with real interest, which pleased her.
“So, wait, your sister was Little Miss what?” Ronan was clearly holding back laughter.
“Chutney.” Destiny smiled, trying not to laugh herself.
He reached across the table and pulled her hand to his lips.
“Are you ready for dessert, or do you want to take a walk with me first?”
“A walk.” She started to get up even as she spoke.
Ronan placed his arm around her shoulders and began to lead her down the beach. They walked all the way to the far end from where they had dinner, and though there was a two-story Polynesian-themed building behind them with hotel rooms looking out over the lake, it felt as if they were the only two people in the world.
He held her hand as they stared out across the darkened water. The sound of waves lapping the shore accompanied the soft music, and the scent of muscles overtook the scent of pork and wood smoke. Moments later, fireworks began to light up the night sky taking her entirely by surprise.
“Oh my god!” She laughed then looked at Ronan. “This is perfect. Every single thing is perfect.”
She placed her hands on his face and pulled him toward her. “I don’t have words to explain how you make me feel.”
A starburst of purple and green exploded across the sky.
“I don’t need your words, minx. I see it in your eyes. I hear it in your breath. I feel it in your surrender.” He placed his palm against her cheek. “I hadn’t planned, I mean, Des, I’ve been with a lot of women. Leaving any one of them was never a problem for me. The thought of never seeing you again makes me unable to breathe. I don’t want to own you, or cage you, or impose on your beautiful freedom that I know you treasure. I just want you to tell me there’s a place for me. That you can make room for more than just sex, whatever that ends up being.” He chuckled.
“Just sex.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think it ever really was.”
He wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her body into his. She instantly wanted more. She ached for his touch, his kiss. She needed his body and his soul.
“No. It never was.”
He kissed her soft and deep. His tongue pushed into her mouth, and she moaned as she accepted it. She pulled back, though, before she lost herself to him. The fireworks continued to blast in the distance. He rested his forehead against her, and she dug deep to find her strength so she could tell him the one thing that scared her more than anything.
“Ronan.”
“What is it, minx? You can tell me anything.” He clearly felt her struggle.
His ability to read her was one of the things she loved the most about him, combined with his willingness to let her figure it out and take the time she needed to tell him. It was a gift she’d never received before, and it was a beautiful thing.
“I don’t know what I want. I’m still struggling to get on my feet, and as much as I feel for you, as much as I crave you, and as much as I don’t want you to leave…” She held her breath. “I don’t want to be married again. I don’t want the white picket fence and the whole American dream thing. I’m not sure what I want other than to explore myself and figure that out… Am I making any sense at all?”
She closed her eyes as the next boom resounded around them. Ronan turned her and pulled her back against his chest, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and holding her tight as they watched the finale of the evening fireworks show.
When the night quieted around them again, he whispered against her ear. “You make perfect sense. You’ve spent all your life looking out for everyone but yourself. You need this time to explore anything that pulls at you. All I want is to be included in the journey. Let me stand by you. Let me keep you safe. Let me hold you when you’re drained, help you up when you fall. If you want other men, I won’t say one word, just let me be one of them. I just want to be in your world, Des. I want it more than anything.”
Her heart expanded at his words. How was it possible to have someone seemingly understand what she wasn’t sure she understood herself?
“Ronan?” She turned to face him.
“Yes.” He looked down into her eyes, and she realized he was her rock. He was the source of the strength she’d found.
“I think I understand now what you and Christian were trying to explain to me before. I think I understand about how being submissive makes me stronger.” She searched her mind, wanting just the right words. “What I feel for you isn’t like what I felt for Oscar, and I don’t know what to call it, but it’s so much stronger, and so much more pure than any emotion I’ve ever felt. I trust you with my life. Whenever I’m with you, I feel safe to my soul, and I feel like I can do anything. I don’t need you…that’s wrong…”
He clasped her hands and placed them on his chest.
“Shh. Don’t think. Just let the words fall from your lips. I won’t judge you, and I won’t flip out over anything you say. Just let the words fall, okay?”
She nodded and licked her lips, readying herself to try again.
“When I was with Oscar, I wanted his approval more than I wanted my next breath. I realize now it was because I never had my mother’s approval, and so I pushed that need on Oscar, and he was so like my mother, nothing ever good enough, no bar I jumped over high enough. I spent so many years just trying to get someone to validate my worth in some way.”
It sounded pathetic, but she wasn’t going to dwell on it. She was going to do what he told her to, just let the words fall. She’d figure out the rest in the aftermath.
“With you, I don’t have to do anything other than be myself, and you give me everything I’ve ever wanted and more. You look at me like I’m the best thing in your world, and you tell me how much I please you…granted, that’s sexually, but still it gives me that thing I need, that I crave, that I’ve never gotten before and that I thought I’d have to live my life without. Your approval, your being pleased with me, it makes me feel whole.”
She cringed, wondering if she sounded as pathetic as she thought she did. He said nothing, so she nervously carried on.
“At the same time, I don’t ever feel the need to compromise myself for you. I don’t ever feel the need to give up myself to you. I don’t ever feel like I have to put myself last in order to get that approval and pleasure. With you, I can be myself. I can be everything I want, and with every accomplishment I make, you seem to get even more proud of me, not reprimanding me or telling me I’m reaching too far. I don’t understand that, but God, Ronan, I love it.”
She felt tears stinging her eyes, but she had to finish this.
“I’ve always had this need to do as I’m told and to be submissive and compliant, but Ronan, not until I met you did that thing in me seem to have any real purpose other than to fuck up my life. With you, it makes sense. With you, it keeps me safe, and it makes me strong. I can’t entirely wrap my head around it yet, but it’s what I feel, it’s what I know, it’s what I need. I don’t know what the future holds for me, and I’m damn certain I’m never going to answer to another man in my day-to-day life, or in my business, but Ronan, I want to know if I can be your submissive sexually. If you’ll teach me and protect me and help me figu
re all this out?” She shrugged. “Is that too weird?”
She drew slow, even breaths, waiting for his response.
“Minx, not only is it not too weird, it is the most beautiful thing I’ve heard in all my life. The need to dominate and the need to submit is not something easily understood, but if it is who you are, the journey to discovering and accepting that is essential, and I would be honored to be your guide, teacher, protector…your Dom.” He brushed his fingers beneath her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “You need to know though that I will take that responsibility serious. I won’t ever give you commands in your daily life, but in the bedroom, in the clubs, in this, I will direct you, and you will be required to submit to me. There are consequences if you don’t.”
She shivered as the realization of what was happening settled on her.
“There is so much I’ll need to learn, but Ronan, I trust you. I want this.” She smiled. There had been nothing in her life she’d been more sure of.
“Then it’s done.” He fisted his hand in her hair and tugged. “You belong to me, Destiny.”
She couldn’t hold back the smile that broke across her face. She had no idea what she’d just gotten herself into, but what she said was true. She trusted Ronan. It was inexplicable, blind trust, but she knew it was good, and for the first time ever in her life, she felt as if all the pieces had just slipped right into place.
“Destiny, I love you, and I will never put you in danger.” He kissed her, and she felt herself slip into him. “I didn’t know I would ever have something like this. You have no idea of the gift you’ve given me.”
He searched her eyes, then placed a kiss on her forehead. He moved his hand down her arm until he reached her fingers and intertwined them. He led her to a large stone wall where water trickled over and into a river that ran to the lake and placed her back against it. The water streamed into her hair and soaked into the velvet of her dress.
Ronan slipped the thin straps off her shoulders, and the gown pooled at her feet, and suddenly she was utterly naked in a place where anyone could have walked in on them any moment. The waiters up the beach may come looking for them, and though the large rock formation blocked them from the hotel mostly, it was an open area. Instantly, she found herself right back in that place she loved, aroused and drifting in a pool of warmth while he slowly looked over her body with her skin wet and glistening in the light of a single tiki torch.
The Seduction of Destiny Rhode [The Seduction 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 21
