Masters Forever (Masters #3)

by Ginger Voight

  The date that I had wanted the most. Or one of, anyway.

  It both warmed my heart and cut me to the quick how much Father looked forward to little Axl’s arrival.

  I let him have that illusion too. We hosted the baby shower at my house on February 1st, and Father played a huge part in the festivities. He even had ten of his coveted bottles of Chateau du Cabot Madeline ’91 shipped over from France, to celebrate.

  I couldn’t stop the tears as I took the first sip of the coveted wine that my father had created in honor of my mother; a wine they were supposed to drink every year on their anniversary for the first fifty years of their marriage. When she had died, there were still thirty-seven bottles left, two of which he blew through after her funeral.

  Now there were twenty-five left. “For your wedding,” he told me at last. “Since I won’t be there to walk you down the aisle.”

  Such thoughts leveled me when I entertained them. I had denied my father my only wedding the year before, simply because I had chosen to marry the wrong man. I should have married Oliver, like he wanted. Then I could have had blue-eyed, brunette French babies, just like he wanted. He could have had everything just like he planned, but I had been a selfish bitch.

  “Still carrying that cross, huh?” Lucy said when I went to visit her that Wednesday before her induction. I needed the distraction. Harvey and Suzanne Everhart were in town for yet another fundraiser, which Sylvia Lyon and Margot were both orchestrating.

  I was glad that Margot volunteered, because of all the things I could do for my Father, playing besties with Suzanne was not one of them.

  Lucy was one of the rare people who understood that. She also understood how badly I was beating myself up on the regular these days, and decided to call me on it like only she could.

  She could show me that mercy. She didn’t know how far I sank, since I never bothered to tell her about what happened on my last trip to Vegas.

  I knew she would never judge. She had already sown all her wild oats, and I was sure I hadn’t done anything that she hadn’t done. But I couldn’t face my beautiful pregnant friend, who was about to give birth to her first child with her handsome, perfect husband, and tell her how I had debased myself while my father lay sick and dying mere hours away.

  I hadn’t been able to look my own self in the mirror since.

  “It’s what I deserve,” I shrugged and she promptly blew me a huge, honky raspberry to show me what she thought about it.

  “Fuck that martyr bullshit, Ceece. So you’re not perfect. So fucking what? Neither is your dad. Look how far up the Everharts’ asses he wants to climb.”

  “He just sees the world a certain way. I don’t have the heart to shatter what few illusions he has left.”

  “Oh, sure,” she said as she ambled to her feet, more baby than Lucy at that point. “The country can go to hell but as long as your father has his illusions.”

  “Harvey’s not going to win,” I insisted but she scowled my direction.

  “Tell that to the polls.”

  Primaries had already been held Iowa and New Hampshire, where Harvey had handily defeated the score of contenders who dared come up against him. Hence their push for more money, so they can ride the wave all the way to the convention in July.

  “What do you want me to do, Luce?” I asked as I stand to face her.

  “Seems to me like you can take them both down if you wanted. With everything you’ve told me, all you have to do is play that winning hand you’ve been dealt.”

  I shook my head. I remembered all too well how angry Devlin had gotten the year before, when I had tried to get rid of her then, threatening to take everything I knew straight to the press. He had too much to lose, clearly, or else he wouldn’t still be on her chain.

  “Work with him,” Lucy suggested.

  Again, I shook my head. That was a complication I did not need, not after Vegas.

  Yet, after I left Lucy’s Brentwood estate, I found myself driving directly to Devlin’s place. I don’t even recall making the decision to do it, I simply did it. When I arrived, I waited in my car for several minutes before I mustered the nerve to head towards the door.

  Griselda answered. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Masters. Mr. Masters is not in quite yet,” she informed me with a frown of regret. “I don’t expect him for another half-hour.”

  I didn’t bother to correct her on my current title. Instead I decided to use it in my favor. “Is it okay if I come in and wait?”

  She deliberated for a long moment before she backed up a step and let me in. She escorted me to the living room. “May I get you something to drink?”

  “Water would be lovely,” I said, which sent her back into the kitchen. I sat on the sofa I had picked with Devlin, staring up at the artwork above the blue marble fireplace, the very same piece he had purchased for me as his new bride.

  This was the life I had wanted. Yet it was gone. I was back to my old life at Father’s, and that was disappearing by the day.

  I had never felt so lost and out of place. When Griselda brought me my water, I took only one sip before I rose to my feet.

  I found myself heading almost unconsciously towards the master bedroom. I hadn’t been in that room since October 9th, when my whole world had imploded. It looked exactly the same as the last time I had seen it. The same sheets on the bed, the same art on the wall, the same unfinished book on my nightstand.

  And on Devlin’s nightstand sat my wedding ring and engagement ring, as if they hadn’t been moved one inch since I placed them there.

  I rounded the bed, sitting down beside the nightstand to stare at the rings I had discarded. My hand still felt bare without them. I reached for them, holding them in my hand. The fading light of sunset filtered through the French doors that led out onto the patio. This orange glow glinted off of the tiny diamonds and the huge peridot nearly the exact same color of Devlin’s eyes.

  There was a catch in my throat as I thought about the very first day he had put it on my finger. He knew then he was going to propose, but I didn’t. I thought it was all part of the fantasy, which of course it was.

  “The peridot is believed to be a magical stone, one that guards from negative thoughts and emotions. Simply put, it brings happiness, balance and good fortune to the wearer. It even keeps nightmares at bay while making all your happy dreams come true.”

  A tear ran down my face as I remembered his words. They had sounded so sincere at the time. I wanted nothing more than to believe them, especially when I found this ring in a glass of champagne, courtesy of a magic trick that would change my life forever.

  “I had forgotten how to dream until you came along. Now, I never want to wake up. Let’s never wake up, Coralie. Marry me. Tonight.”

  I curled my hand around the rings so tightly that they cut into my palm.

  “Put them on.”

  I shot off of the bed and spun around to see Devlin leaning against the doorframe. I couldn’t even speak as he walked further into the room.

  “They’re yours, Coralie. They always have been.” He came to stand right in front of me. “Put them on.”

  I shook my head before I put them back on the nightstand where I found them. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t even be in here.”

  “Yes, you should,” he said quietly. “You never should have left.”

  I turned to face him. “I’m sorry. I just…,” I trailed off, trying in vain to remember why I had come. “It doesn’t matter,” I finally decided before I tried to sidestep him so I could leave that bedroom before I did something else I might regret.

  He caught me by the arm and pulled me back. “Don’t go.”

  I shivered. “Devlin, please.”

  He pulled me towards him, and I felt my resolve weaken the minute our bodies touched. “If you’re still upset about Vegas,” he started but I shook my head.

  “This isn’t about Vegas.”

  He brushed my hair from my face. “Then what is it about, Coralie?” />
  I took a deep breath. “Suzanne is hosting another fundraiser this weekend.”

  “I know,” he said softly, because of course he would know.

  “We can’t let her win,” I told him bluntly.

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Dev said before he bent to kiss me ever so softly on the lips. It snapped what was left of my resistance. I found myself walking even closer into his embrace as I submitted to a kiss that helped me forget about my dying father, my barren womb, my broken dreams and my fucked up life.

  He lifted me up against him as he ravaged my mouth with every bit as much hunger as I possessed. I didn’t even feel us fall onto the bed, but suddenly there we were, tangled in each other’s arms as the setting sun darkened the room. His hand cupped my breast, claiming it at once, and I couldn’t stop him even if I wanted to. I ached all over, way deep inside. I felt empty, lost, broken. I needed Devlin Masters to put me back together again, and I knew only he could. I ripped away his shirt from his chest, baring him to me so I could blaze kisses along his skin. He wound his hand in my hair, guiding me along his body, stopping just short of his waistband. “No,” he growled before he pulled me up and pushed me onto my back.

  Before I could ask what was wrong, he had already tugged my pants free from my hips, discarding them into a careless ball on the floor. He peeled away my panties and I opened my legs for him, desperate for the drug only he could administer. I cried out the minute he dove between my legs, his tongue targeting my sensitive core. He didn’t even bother teasing me this time, like he had all the other times. He lit me just like a rocket, with a spiraling tongue and probing fingers that opened me up to him as he made me come fast and hard. I gripped the sheets with both hands when he sucked me into his mouth, his tongue flat and broad against my clit, flicking over it until I bucked up against his face. “Devlin,” I whimpered.

  It was all the permission he needed. He rose up between my legs, unzipping those pants and releasing his massive erection, so painfully hard for me and I knew it. It was the only truth that mattered as I pulled him down to me. I curled both legs around his waist, aiming him straight and true until he thrust himself into me. I lost myself in his eyes as he buried himself deep inside. He grabbed another handful of hair as he began to stroke. “I come alive when I’m inside you, Coralie.”

  I nodded. I knew exactly what he meant. I wrapped my legs tighter around him as he rode me harder, urged on by my ankles as I dug my nails into his back. I couldn’t tell where I ended and he began. He was a part of me, and I never felt complete until we were together. We were truly one.

  He bent for a kiss, and I submitted at once. I wanted him everywhere. I needed him everywhere. I was tired of feeling empty. I ran my hands into his hair, clutching it tightly, as angry at him for killing our dream as I was at myself for believing it. We could have had everything we wanted. Everything. He had ruined it all because of that whore Suzanne. I broke the kiss to look at him. “Tell me,” I commanded at once.

  His eyes darkened with his own desire. “I’m yours,” he finally said. “Forever.”

  I shuddered as he kissed me again, before rolling us over until he was on his back and I straddled him. It was an act of submission, which I knew wasn’t easy for him. He always wanted to be in control. His tie still lay over his shoulder, not quite discarded in our fervor. I pulled it free and our eyes met. It took him only a moment before he offered his wrists.

  “I trust you,” he said simply.

  I pushed his arms over his head and wound the tie around his wrists. He caught my swaying breast into his mouth, sucking hard on the nipple as I bound him. When I lifted up his eyes locked with mine, and stayed that way as I rode him.

  I took my time, luxuriating in how he felt so very deep inside me. I ground down on him, crying out as I stimulated myself against him.

  “Touch yourself,” he commanded softly. Even bound, he was still my alpha. But there was no way I could refuse him when he said, “I want to watch your face when you come all around my cock.”

  So I obeyed his command. He watched with those hooded green eyes as I buried one hand between us, while the other stimulated my breast, tweaking it for him until it was so hard and sensitive I could barely stand it. I tormented myself the way he had taught me to, simply because it was always so much better when I did. Within minutes I came hard around him, and he looped his arms around my head to pull me closer, watching my face intently as I lost control.

  He kissed me then as he sped up his movements, thrusting up into me as hard as he could. “You are everything,” he muttered against me. “My slave. My queen. My love.”

  I nodded as I slammed myself down on top of him, equally crazed. When he latched onto my breast again, I came even harder. My screams took him over the edge, and he finally released himself with a primal yell… just like an animal.

  That was what we were. Animals.

  When he used his teeth to untie his restraints, I knew I couldn’t fight him for round two. He threw me onto my back without even breaking our embrace, and he didn’t slip from my body as he kissed my neck, nuzzled my earlobe or finally explored every square inch of my breasts. With each sigh or murmur, I felt him grow inside me until he stretched me wide. Only then did he start to thrust once more. I got lost in those bright eyes as we let our bodies do all the talking. We kissed deeply and long as he possessed my body, mind and soul with every single movement and touch. This time he came first, so he reached in between us to finger me until I shot off into the stratosphere once again.

  He collapsed against me and gathered me tightly into his arms. “I love you, Coralie Masters,” he murmured as he stroked my hair.

  I didn’t bother to correct him either. There was no point. My soul bore his imprint. It always had. Instead I just held him as long as I could before the shadows chased the last of the daylight from the room. “I have to go,” I finally whispered.

  “You have to stay,” he corrected.

  I shook my head. “I’m needed at home.”

  His eyes hardened. “Because of Caz?”

  Again I shook my head. “Father’s sick,” I finally confessed. “I shouldn’t have been gone this long.”

  He lifted up on one elbow. “Do you regret it?”

  I looked up into his eyes. “No,” I said softly. Unlike Vegas, which had been a power play and a game on almost every level, this had been just the two of us, answering the call of our souls to be together. This was who we were. And it was beautiful.

  I could have brought up Suzanne then, but she had destroyed enough beautiful moments between us. So instead I just kissed him again and slipped out from underneath him to gather my clothes. “Are you going to the party on Friday?” was all I would say.

  “Yes,” he admitted softly. “Are you?”

  I straightened. “Yes. Father insists.”

  He nodded as he watched me from the bed, naked and so beautiful. It was all I could do not to jump right back into those strong arms. Oh, God, how I loved him. To the depths and breadth of my soul I loved him. “See you then?” I asked.

  He nodded. “See you then.”

  It was the only promise he could make.

  And I held onto it for all it was worth.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  I avoided everyone but Father when I got back to the house. I checked on him first, before heading to my personal bedroom suite to shower and change. I wasn’t surprised to find Caz in the dining room with the girls, given that he had become a huge part of the household in the past few weeks, even working with Father using techniques that the physical therapist had shown him. He believed in eating clean and moving the body, and brought that philosophy to everyone in the house.

  Even Gretchen started to use our workout room.

  That was where she was when I finally made it to the kitchen for some food. For once, I wasn’t hungry.

  Sex with Devlin had always been a successful diet plan.

  Caz read me like a book when I pushed my pl
ate away after about five bites. “So how is ol’ Dev doing these days, anyway?”

  I spared him a weary glance. “How’d you know?”

  “The look in your eyes,” he said as he picked up my plate to take it to the sink. “I’ve only seen it once before.”

  Strangely, my being busted on my passionate encounter with Dev made me want to apologize to Caz. He had been a good friend and a lot of support in the last few weeks. “It just happened,” I explained as he returned to the table. “I went to his house to talk about Suzanne.”

  “Sure you did,” he said, forcing me to look up at him. “I don’t lie to you. You don’t lie to me.”

  I sighed. “Fine. I wanted to see him. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to stop feeling so wretched about everything.”

  “There you go,” he said as he rubbed my arm. “And so you did. So why do you still look so sad?”

  “Because it doesn’t change anything.”

  “Of course it doesn’t,” he said, as if I should have known. Which, of course, I did. “When are you going to stop expecting it to?”

  That was the big question. I buried my face in my hands and cried, yet again, for all the things I couldn’t have. Caz sat beside me, his arm around me, rubbing my back as he crooned to me. “What would make you happy, pussycat?”

  I sniffled as I looked at him. “For you to stop calling me pussycat for one.”

  He simply smiled. “Never.”

  It made me laugh in spite of myself. Finally I took a deep breath. “I wish my dad wasn’t dying.”

  “Can’t help you with that one, babe. Circle of life and all that. Try again.”

  I sighed as I stood from the table. “That’s the point, Caz. I can’t fix any of it.”

  “How do you know? Tell me what you really want, CC. Let’s see if we can make it happen.”