Leave Me Breathless: The Black Rose Collection

by Dakota Willink

  “You work in the middle of the night?”

  “I work at all hours of the night.” He kissed my shoulder and then ran his fingers down my spine. “When I get back, I plan to bury myself deep in you again. I promised to make you feel me with every step you take.”

  That was definitely a given. I ached, but in the best way.

  “I’m holding you to it.” I yawned into my pillow.

  Baz chuckled, leaving me in his bed.

  Last night had been so much more than I expected. I’d never had a man make me come as hard as Baz had or do any of the things he’d done to me.

  I’d let him bind me, spank me, fuck me.

  I hadn’t expected to wake after our first round of sex with my hands tied to the top of the bed.

  “You’re bound, baby. I’m about to show you what it means to give up complete control.”

  Those heated words he’d said even now had my heartbeat accelerating and my core contracting.

  He’d definitely done as he’d promised. Now dawn was almost upon us.

  Every time I thought about the daylight ending my time with Baz, sadness filled my heart.

  In a few hours, I’d leave for my family’s home on the coast and a wedding to a man I barely knew anything about, and my night with Baz would be a cherished memory.

  Might as well get up and spend every moment I had left with him. I slipped from the bed, grabbing Baz’s shirt from a chair in a corner. I slipped it on and knotted my hair into a loose bun.

  I opened the door to find the hallway empty. Padding my way toward the living room, I found myself pausing outside a closed door. I heard a loud discussion. Baz sounded annoyed.

  Just as I was about to walk away, I heard, “Are you fucking kidding me, Weber? Just because you’re getting married doesn’t mean you don’t finish your paperwork. I have enough shit to deal with after losing your partner to matrimony. Do you know how hard it’s going to be to train another American the way we run things?”

  Weber?

  “Stop bitching, old man. It’s already filed. I took care of it. Besides, I have my own problems.”

  “I heard. How are you going to break it to your bride that you’ve spent the last few months lying to her?”

  “Fuck off. I was planning to come clean, but your ass wants a report.”

  All the blood drained from my face and a wave of nausea hit me.

  Baz was a Weber. As in, Sebastian Weber.

  No, this couldn’t be. He wouldn’t do this to me. I’d been honest with him from the beginning.

  “Look, once we close this, you can spend the next few months groveling.” The voice on the other line laughed. “I wish I had a camera to record the infallible Sebastian Weber grovel.”

  It was him.

  He’d tricked me. He’d used me.

  I braced my hand on the wall trying to understand why he’d do this.

  It made no sense.

  Was this some sick way to make me fall for him? God, who had I fallen for?

  A tear spilled down my cheek.

  How could I have let this happen? I should have known something was up when he’d shown up at the bar that day in my parents’ neighborhood. I remembered Oma saying my fiancé had just left.

  That was the business he had.

  God, I was such an idiot.

  I’d let him use me.

  He was exactly like his father.

  Turning, I went into Baz’s…Sebastian’s bedroom. The room smelled of us, our lovemaking, of him.

  How could he do this to me?

  I grabbed my clothes piled on the floor and put them on. By the time I was dressed, hurt and anger pulsed inside me.

  I had no choice but to go through with this, but I’d never give him again what he’d stolen from me.

  I wiped away my tears as I made my way into the living room and to the front door, making sure to keep my steps quiet.

  I was no longer Baz’s lover. Starting from this point on, I was the prize bought by the Webers.

  Present Day

  Sebastian

  “You’re so fucked,” I heard my best man, Lucas Flynn, whisper as the music shifted into the wedding march.

  I ignored him and stared at Isa. She was beyond gorgeous, beyond anything I deserved. She wore a fitted gown of ivory without a veil. It fitted her personality: modern, simple, and stylish, no trace of what one would expect of the daughter of one of the richest men in Germany.

  I was about to bring her into a world that could destroy not only my family, but hers. But I was a bastard, and instead of telling Jonas to fuck himself, I was taking the empire and the woman that came with it.

  The passion and joy I’d seen every time Isa looked at me was gone, replaced by anger and hurt.

  The hard edge to Russo Benz’s face said he wasn’t any happier about this wedding than his daughter was.

  The moment he placed Isa’s hand in mine, he said, “I don’t care who you are or what you do. If you hurt my baby, I will tear you limb from limb.”

  I didn’t respond, just led Isa to the altar.

  The ceremony went by in a blur of vows, rings, and prayers. The latter being something I felt was sacrilegious considering the business both families engaged in.

  “You may kiss your bride.”

  Isa and I gazed at each other before I cupped her face and drew her to me. The kiss was gentle and soft, but cold, with none of the passion we’d shared a week ago.

  “Isa,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”

  She said nothing, only gave me a slight smile, meant for the photographer who hovered near us.

  She turned to face the church as did I when the crowd stood and clapped.

  We moved down the aisle and toward the holding room. We would wait there until security had cleared the church and my driver arrived with the car. I knew Isa had been briefed about protocol.

  The second we entered the secured room, Isa shoved me back.

  Fury blazed on her face. “How could you? You made me… You let me believe… I’ll never forgive you.”

  “Please, Isa, let me explain.” I reached for her, but she stepped back.

  “No, you had your chance. You had plenty of chances. It wasn’t as if I wasn’t going to marry you.” The tears glazing her eyes were like a stab in the heart. “I don’t even know if everything that happened between us was real or if it was all a game. What I do know is that I will never give you again what you stole.”

  Before she could move farther away from me, I grabbed her arm, stopping her escape from me.

  “What you saw was the real me, not Jonas Weber’s son or the man the public believes I am. Everything I shared with you was the truth.”

  “Bullshit.” She clenched her jaw and tugged her wrist, but my grip was too strong for her to free herself.

  “It’s not bullshit. You know more about me than anyone else.”

  “If that’s true, then why is your name Sebastian? You told me it was Baz Klein.”

  Her blue eyes blazed with anger, and her breath was uneven from struggling to pull free of my hold.

  She was so damn beautiful, and all I wanted to do was haul her to me and kiss her senseless.

  “No answers,” she bit out.

  “It is Baz. Baz was the nickname my mother gave me when I was a kid. No one has called me by that name since she died. And Klein was her maiden name.”

  Surprise flashed in her cobalt gaze then disappeared. “It doesn’t matter what your name is. You lied to me.”

  “I didn’t lie to you. I just kept things from you.”

  My answer sounded lame even to my own ears.

  “Not telling me the truth of who you are is just like lying.”

  “I’m sorry, baby.”

  “I’m not your baby. I’m the prize my mother sold to yours.”

  “You’re more than that. I swear I was going to tell you.”

  “When? After you spent the night fucking me and pretending to be another man?”

&n
bsp; “I was going to tell you in the morning, but when I came back to the bedroom, you were gone.”

  “What did you expect? I overheard your conversation.”

  Fuck. I ran a hand through my hair. She wasn’t supposed to know anything about that aspect of my life. No one in my world as Sebastian Weber knew.

  I was just building up all the lies.

  Before I could respond, the doors opened and I released Isa.

  Drew, my driver, peeked his head in. His gaze went between Isa and me. There was no doubt we were in a heated argument, but he kept his reaction schooled.

  “Mr. Weber, the car is out front and ready to take you to the Benz house.”

  “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  The door closed.

  “We’ll settle this once we get to the penthouse. Until then, you can hate me all you want. Just pretend to be accepting, if not happy. Your family needs to see you aren’t angry.”

  “Why do you care how they feel? As of tomorrow morning, you’re the heir to everything Papa built, and your father will get a big fat inheritance.”

  “Despite what you believe, I’m nothing like my father. He’s a bastard who would have ruined my family if Opa hadn’t ordered him to let me step in. I’m a victim of this mess as much as you are. I can only hope one day you’ll see it.”

  I offered her my elbow. “Let’s go. Our families are waiting.”

  10

  Isa

  Around one in the morning, Sebastian and I entered his penthouse in silence. Unlike the last time, I wasn’t the idiot who’d fallen for a man who didn’t exist.

  The reception was a somber affair, with everyone on their best behavior. Well, with the exception of Jonas Weber. He’d sat at his table all smug and making jokes.

  Sebastian hadn’t looked at him twice. I hadn’t realized how much Sebastian disliked Jonas. Maybe Sebastian was a victim of Jonas’s scheming as I was. That still didn’t give him the excuse to lie to me, to pretend to be just an ordinary man.

  Who was I kidding? The Baz I’d met was never an ordinary man. I wouldn’t have been so interested if he had been.

  “Do you want something to drink?” Sebastian asked as he shrugged off his tuxedo jacket, threw it on a sofa, and moved to the giant bar area that made up one wall of the room.

  “No.” I stepped down into the very modern sunken living room with straight lines and dark colors.

  I hadn’t paid attention to the room the last time I was here. I’d been too focused on the night ahead with Baz.

  As I approached the windows overlooking the Berlin night sky, I heard the clinking of a bottle and the splash of liquid pouring into a glass.

  After a few moments, Sebastian said, “Isa, I want this to work.”

  I almost laughed. “It’s not like we can walk away if it doesn’t work.”

  I couldn’t hide the bitterness in my tone. Bitterness not for the marriage, but for feeling like a fool by falling for him.

  “It matters to me. I don’t want the type of marriage my parents had.”

  I’d heard rumors that Jonas was as much a bastard to his wife as he’d been to my family. He’d only valued her for the inheritance he’d gained by marrying her.

  “You should’ve thought of that before you pretended to be someone else.”

  “I made a mistake. I should’ve stayed away or just told you from the beginning.”

  “It doesn’t change what happened. You bought me. You own me. I’m your property.”

  “You know I don’t believe in that shit.”

  I whirled around. “Do I? As far as I’m concerned, we just met.”

  “Dammit, Isa. I’m the same man.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I know the rules. I give you my body in exchange for my family’s livelihood.”

  “Is that really how you want it between us? A business arrangement?”

  The last thing I wanted was to be in this situation, but Sebastian wasn’t my Baz. Baz was a figment of my imagination.

  Lilly had been right. I’d been played.

  “Yes.”

  Sebastian clenched his jaw and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

  “Fine. If that’s how you want it. I can be the bastard you believe me to be. Remember, I grew up with the number-one example.”

  “I expect nothing less.”

  He stalked toward me, and without thought I stepped backward. He was angry, but for some reason, I had no fear of him. In fact, I was aroused.

  God, I was so messed up.

  I was now married to one of the most dangerous men in Germany, a man who’d lied to me for months, a man who made me fall in love with a ghost, and here I was, turned on by his anger.

  My back hit the window a second before he gripped my jaw in his hand.

  I gasped, “Ba…Sebastian.”

  He leaned in until I felt the heat of his breath and smelled the faint scent of the whiskey he’d sipped. “You’re mine now. As you said, I own you. And you want to know something?”

  “What?” My voice came out breathy.

  “I’m never letting you go.”

  His mouth came down on mine, and instead of biting him like my mind said to do, I met his kiss with my own. He was like a drug, one I knew was dangerous but couldn’t resist.

  He kept his grip on my face as he deepened the kiss, and my arms came around his shoulders. Our tongues dueled, rolling and sliding against each other. It was an angry, hungry meeting of mouths and lips.

  His cock was thick and hard against my pelvis, causing a moan to escape my lips.

  All of a sudden, he pulled back and broke the intense kiss, both of us breathless and panting. His eyes were near black and his face flushed.

  Holding my gaze, he pulled his bowtie free, tucking it into the back pocket of his pants, and then unbuttoned his shirt, working the black stone buttons free until his breathtaking tattooed chest was exposed.

  Shrugging off the white material, he threw it behind him to land on the couch.

  He looked like a fallen angel, something forbidden but too tempting to resist.

  My throat went dry and my breasts swelled, pushing my nipples into tight, hard buds aching for his touch. My clit throbbed, and my pussy flooded with arousal.

  “Turn around and put your hand on the glass.” The tone of his voice was different, unlike anything I’d heard from him before.

  It made me want to run and comply at the same time.

  “Isa, now.”

  My body moved of its own volition, turning and pressing my fingertips to the cool window.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “You’ll just have to find out.”

  “No spanking. You no longer have the right.”

  He fisted my hair and tugged it back, harder than he’d ever done before. “You can’t say no. Remember, you’re my property. I can do with you as I please.”

  He kicked my legs apart, pushing the fabric of my gown impossibly tight around my legs.

  “Fuck, that ass of yours is incredible.” Releasing my hair, he cupped my butt in a tight hold.

  His almost painful hold conjured images of that night when he’d reddened my ass and the pleasure of it.

  I shouldn’t be letting him do this. I didn’t trust him. I couldn’t trust him.

  Slowly he slid his palms up, over my bottom, waist, and breasts, cupping them and then pinching the tips through the embroidered top of my wedding dress.

  “I hope you’re not attached to this dress.”

  Before I could comprehend what he was doing, he gripped the back where the zipper connected and tore the fabric in two.

  I gasped and covered my breasts, pooling the material in front of me. Yes, I knew he’d seen every inch of me but this wasn’t the same as when we were last together.

  “Drop your hands. You’ll never hide your body from me. I get to look at you whenever I want. Especially since you’re my property.” The emphasis he gave to the “property” part made it v
ery clear he was pissed about how I’d referred to myself as that.

  “What am I then?” I asked without dropping my hands.

  He ran his fingertips up my spine, starting at the waistband of my thong. Goosebumps prickled my skin.

  When he reached the base of my neck, his lips replaced his fingers, and I couldn’t help but arch back into the caress.

  “My wife, my woman, mine.” His tongue followed the path his fingers had just taken.

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “Yes, it is. Lower your arms. Let the dress fall.”

  “What if someone sees us from the window?”

  “It’s tinted. I like my privacy. No one can see in. Now do as I said.”

  Closing my eyes, I let the ruined gown slip from my arms and pool at my feet.

  “Now I’m going to make sure you keep those hands where I want them.”

  He captured my wrists before I could move, setting them above my head on the window. Then he wrapped my hands together with a black ribbon. No, it wasn’t a ribbon, it was his bowtie.

  My pulse jumped. These were things I fantasized about but never expected to act out.

  The glint of the wedding band on his ring finger as he knotted the tie had me feeling the same sense of possessiveness he’d expressed moments earlier. I really was losing my mind around this man. How could I want to punch him and kiss him at the same time?

  “Leave them there. If you move them. I will spank your ass and won’t let you come.”

  “No spanking.”

  Immediately, I felt the sting of his palm against my ass.

  “Fuck,” I gasped.

  He rubbed the sore spot. “Now tell me again that you don’t want it. Tell me that your ass isn’t craving more or pushing against my hand right now.”

  I froze, realizing I was seeking his stinging touch.

  “I hate you.”

  “No, you don’t. You’re just angry the man you had an affair with is the man you ended up marrying.”

  I shot him an irritated glare. “No, I’m angry because the man I thought I knew turned out to be a fraud.”

  “Be angry all you want. You’re still married to me and all the many faces I wear.”

  I almost asked what he meant by that statement when he moved the gusset of my thong and pressed a finger deep inside me.