Sins of Omission

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Sins of Omission Page 15

by T S McKinney


  With that, she disappeared into Landon’s office and slammed the door hard enough that I feared the glass might shatter. Seconds later, the drapes slowly descended to cocoon her from Eli and Seth’s arguments.

  “That’s not my biggest concern,” Eli muttered. “I’m more worried about who’s going to protect Landon from Jinx.”

  “Who’s Jinx?” Baker asked.

  I felt my eyes grow round as saucers. “Are you talking about the Jinx? The famous fashion model?” I spun around and looked at Baker in disbelief. “Surely you’ve heard of him? He’s the top-paid male model in the fashion industry!”

  Baker barked out a laugh. “Nope. Sorry. Remember, I was totally straight until a few months ago. Straight guys don’t normally follow the fashion industry as closely as they should.” He shrugged. “At least, I didn’t.”

  Determined to show Baker what he’d been missing, I opened my bottom desk drawer and started fumbling through some magazines until I found the one I wanted. When I found it, I gave out a victory whoop and sifted the pages, searching for one of my most favorite pics of Jinx. He’d been posing for one of the top leather designers in the world—which made the photos sexier than fuck. After I found it, I pushed it into Baker’s face and said, “That’s Jinx. Yummy.”

  Eli tried to snatch the magazine out of my hand, but Baker beat him to it. After ogling the page for a few minutes, Baker whistled and said, “I’d do him.”

  Seth snatched the magazine from Baker’s hand, handed it to Eli, and said, “That’s four, Baker…and it isn’t even nine o’clock yet.”

  Baker’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “I know. Better rest up, old man. You’re gonna be busy tonight.”

  “Go to conference room number three, drop your pants, and bend over the table. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He grinned. “I see absolutely no reason to put off until tonight what I can do right now.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Baker answered with a sly grin and seductive voice.

  I watched the smoldering looks that passed between Baker and Seth, remembered how glorious it had felt when Eli had tied me up while we were on the ship, and, not for the first time, wondered if I wasn’t attracted to the fetish more than I was willing to admit out loud. If I’d learned anything on the cruise, it was that I was much kinkier than I could have ever imagined and, most of all, that I trusted Eli with my body, life, and soul. He was the sexiest, most honorable and honest man that walked the earth. If I allowed my insecurities out of their cage for even a second, I couldn’t stop the questions of how in the world somebody like him could really want someone like me…so I kept them in their cage. Eli said he loved me, and he’d never lied to me, so I chose to believe him, even though I couldn’t understand what in the world he saw in me.

  “Have fun with that,” Eli said to Seth when he stepped away in pursuit of Baker.

  “Always.”

  When we were finally alone, I looked up at Eli, hoping that he was interested in doing some more of the lip dance from earlier, but when I saw the scowl on his face, I knew lip-dancing was probably off the table. Well, shit. What had I done now?

  He crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance. The magazine was clutched in his fist and his eyes were locked on the page with Jinx on it. A blaze of jealousy raced through me as I watched him stare at the beautiful model… the model that he obviously knew. Perfect. My happiness rainbow was about to start shedding colors before I had enough to admire the glittery shades.

  Eli dropped the magazine in front of me with a thump. “So…that’s the kind of look you’re interested in?”

  My eyes dropped to the glossy photo in front of me. Sure, it had probably been silly for me to think I could possibly rock the leather outfit like Jinx did, but there was no reason for Eli to be an ass about it. I cleared my throat nervously and answered, “Well, yeah, I guess. I mean, I know I wouldn’t look as good as your sister’s godson in that outfit, but I think the leather would feel fabulous. It looks as soft as butter. I already have the shirt and boots, but couldn’t make myself gather the courage to purchase the…”

  The sound of Eli’s soft laughter caused my embarrassment to be replaced by fury. “What? You think that just because I don’t look like your…your…friend…that I couldn’t wear those pants? You’re an ass, Eli—a total ass.” I stood up and tried to stomp away, but Eli caught my arm and slammed our bodies together. The feel of his muscles rippling beneath his clothing was distracting—too distracting. Another few seconds and I’d forget why I was angry with him.

  “Easy, angel,” he cooed. “Put your wings back in—you aren’t going anywhere.”

  “You aren’t the boss of me!” I hissed, unable to come up with anything better. He’d hurt my feelings, my pride, and I was jealous. None of those were a good by themselves, much less mixed together.

  “I don’t want to be your boss. I want to be your lover,” Eli countered smoothly. “I was jealous—that’s all. You’d look fucking gorgeous in those pants. I’ll buy you a pair in every damn color they come in. I bet they do feel as soft and smooth as butter. They’d hug that beautiful ass of yours like a fucking glove, angel.” He leaned down and kissed my lips before I even knew what he was doing. “I was jealous because I thought you were attracted to Jinx—the total opposite of me in every way imaginable, especially our looks.”

  My mouth hung open, but I didn’t have the sense to force it to close again. Eli…jealous? Of me liking someone else? It was impossible to even imagine. I was…me. Jinx was a model—sheer perfection in every feature. “You were jealous?” I finally asked. “Of me?”

  “Always, angel.” He cupped the sides of my face. “Do you honestly not have any idea how much you mean to me? How much torture I’ve endured during our separation, thinking you were loving someone else? I thought you surely had moved on, forgotten all about me by replacing me with someone much better.”

  I frowned. “Better than you?” Bewildered was the only way to describe how I felt as Eli’s words sunk into my mind. There was nobody better than Eli. Nobody.

  He laughed again. “Yes, babe. I feared that you’d find someone so much better than me that you wouldn’t even remember me—wouldn’t remember our touches, our hugs, our late-night talks where we shared secrets with one another.”

  “I’m sorry I lied to you,” I blurted out suddenly…meaning it for the first time ever. Well, maybe not the first time ever but there’d always been a part of me that still defended what I’d done. Not anymore, though. I was sorry that my lies had been the cause of us being apart from one another. Hell, I was sorry for every damn thing I’d done where Eli was concerned. He’d loved me then and he loved me now. Everything he’d done had been perfect while everything I’d done had been misleading.

  Last night when he’d mentioned us moving in together, I’d been hesitant and, like always, my actions had hurt him; I’d seen the look all over his beautiful face. Sure, he’d been disappointed but hurt more than anything. Clearly, I was still acting like the child I believed myself to be—the hang-up was mine, not Eli’s.

  “I know, angel. I know. I’m sorry that I had to disappear instead of having the strength and courage to hang around and wait for you to come of age. I wanted you so badly, Ari. If I’d stayed, I’d have done something we would have both regretted.”

  “Not me,” I argued. “But I understand.” Taking a deep breath, I added, “You were right, and I was wrong. I see that now. No more lies between us, Eli. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and while our foundation has been shaky because of my lies, I intend to do everything within my power to make up for it.” A plan started forming in my head, causing excitement to bubble through my blood. Actually, the excitement was so strong and all-consuming that I ignored the strange look that flashed in Eli’s eyes for the briefest of seconds at my declaration. Nothing, not even my insecurities, was going to interfere with my life with Eli going forward. Since our happiness had been such a long time coming, we deserved eve
ry damn second of it.

  “I like the sound of that…the part of the rest of your life with me. There’s nothing for you to make-up for, angel. You did what you thought was right, and I did what I thought I had to do. The beauty of it is that it’s all behind us. It’s time for us to focus on our future, on our love for one another. Make no doubts about it, angel, I intend to spend the rest of my life loving you.”

  “Ditto, babe,” I answered and leaned forward to accept the kiss Eli and I both so wantonly craved—a kiss to seal our deal of love, honesty, and faith in one another. Scrunching my nose, I said, “I need to think of a nickname for you. That angel thing is especially annoying since I have no idea why you call me that. I’m gonna think of one that will drive you as equally insane as angel does me.”

  He laughed. “One day, angel, I’ll tell you. One day.” He pulled me tight, crushing our bodies together and dropped his lips to give me another soul-shattering kiss. “I love you, Ari. I’ve always loved you, and I always will. I would move heaven and earth or sacrifice my very life to keep you safe and happy.” He hugged me tighter. “It’s like I’ve waited an eternity for this moment.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, but you could have had it years ago…”

  He smacked my ass. Hard. Followed the smack with a growl and then pulled my wrists together, wrapped them around his hand and tugged them behind my back. While holding me prisoner, he dropped his lips to my neck and sucked hard enough to surely leave a mark…a brand. I shivered as I realized he’d just publicly marked me as belonging to him. It might not be a collar or wedding band like Baker wore, but it was the same, at least to me.

  “I love you, Eli,” I whispered.

  Before he could answer, my dad’s office door flung open and Samantha stepped outside. “For fuck’s sake, Eli, save it for when you’re off the clock,” she growled, obviously still frustrated from the lack of support she’d received from Eli and Seth earlier. Her face, normally stoic and firm unless she was looking at Baker, was still twisted in an angry scowl. “Grab Seth and get in here. We need to review both of your next cases.” She looked at me and her face softened just a bit. “Ari, there’s some tech work in your email that I’ll need by the end of the week—no biggie, at least not for you. Just get it to me before the end of the week, if you can. I’m sorry about pulling your dad away before you had the chance to get back home. He told me to tell you that he’d left some birthday presents at your house and that you all would do something special when he got back into town.”

  “Uh…sure…thanks,” I stammered, wondering why she was being nice to me when she was so obviously angry at everyone else. I turned around to look at my desk and then realized that I’d taken all my hard drive and tech shit home when I’d been trying to dodge Eli. If Samantha needed somebody’s computer hacked, I’d have to head home to get started on it.

  “Gotta go, angel,” Eli whispered before giving me one more toe-curling kiss. “Will it be okay if I stay over again tonight? I’d really like to wake up with you in my arms again.”

  I grinned, loving my secret plan. “We’ll see. Call me when you and Seth finish up. Maybe I’ll be finished with whatever computer torture your sister has sent me.” I started packing up my backpack, shoving things inside haphazardly because I was so excited to begin implementation of my plan. My plan—it was a direct result of the new me. The old me would have never had the courage to even consider what I was about to do. The new me bubbled with excitement and confidence.

  He couldn’t mask his disappointment, but it didn’t stay on his face long. In order to not upset me, he quickly replaced it with a smile. “No problems. I’ll call you as soon as I finish up with Sam. Hopefully, we’ll at least be able to go out for dinner—maybe some shopping to find you those fucking hot leather pants?”

  “Yeah…maybe,” I answered, totally distracted with the ideas running through my head.

  “Sometime today, Eli!” Samantha yelled from her office door. The irritation in her voice was nothing compared to the glare on her face. Seth already waited patiently at the door, looking toward Eli with a grin on his face—not where Sam could see it, but it was there. Baker, having obviously enjoyed his punishment from the satisfied and dreamy look on his face, headed in my direction.

  Another kiss from Eli. “See you in a few, angel. Love you.”

  “Me too,” I answered softly. “Thank you for loving me the way I am.” After a pat to my ass, he headed toward Sam’s office. When he and Seth were inside, Sam slammed the door, even harder than she had earlier.

  Looking at Baker, I said, “I can’t believe you used to let her hit your ass. Her right arm is deadly, dude.”

  “Nah, she’s not so bad,” he countered. “She doesn’t like anybody questioning her authority.” He shrugged. “All I can say about that is she probably needs to head back to the home office, because I have a feeling Seth and Eli probably question any and everything, just for the fun of being argumentative.”

  He grabbed my Jinx magazine, plopped down at his desk, and started thumbing through the pages. After a few seconds, he propped his feet up on his desk as he studied the picture of Jinx. Finally, he said, “Nope; he doesn’t do a thing for me, and Seth looks so much better in leather than he does. So. Much. Better.” After that, he tossed the magazine back in my direction, leaned back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling.

  “What are you doing?” I muttered. “Doesn’t it piss you off to be left out of the meeting like that? Please don’t tell me Seth is still acting like your babysitter instead of your partner.”

  Baker chuckled softly. “I’m not in the meeting because I get bored with all the talk, talk, talk and plan, plan, plan. When I get bored, I get jittery. When I get jittery, Sam and Seth get irritated. We found it was safer if I waited outside and let Seth fill me in on the details. As for the babysitting me…yeah, he still does that some, but I let it slide because I know he’s trying to do better. Sure, I still get pissed but not nearly as much.”

  I looked at my watch. Hell, we hadn’t been at work for two full hours yet, and I was already dying to get away and implement my plan. To hell with work. I knew I could make my part up tonight, sitting at a computer. Turning to Baker, I asked, “How long will they be in there—you know…talk, talk, talking and plan, plan, planning?”

  He shrugged. “Don’t know. It usually lasts at least an hour, sometimes two. Why?”

  If their meeting lasted two hours, it would be lunchtime when they came out. If it was lunch, there might not be too many questions about Baker and me not being around. It was risky but also a chance I was willing to take. “I need your help with something. Think you could sneak away for a few hours?”

  Baker’s eyes glittered with excitement when he looked at me. “Are we doing something sneaky and naughty? Something that might earn me some more punishment? I like punishments just fine, for the record.”

  I laughed nervously, uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation due to my own, newly developed, desire to consider a kinkier lifestyle. Clearly, I enjoyed exhibitionism. We’d proven that on the boat more times than one. I’d even enjoyed the smacks to my ass that Eli dished out playfully every now and then. Could I possibly be more like Baker and Seth than I realized? Even more importantly, would Eli even consider giving something like BDSM a try? He’d stressed to me more times than one that he didn’t play the games that Seth and Baker played, but I didn’t know if that meant he wouldn’t want to ever give it a try or if it was simply something he hadn’t tried before. I had no idea, but knew I was willing to give it more consideration in the future—much, much more consideration.

  “Maybe. How tight is your leash?”

  “Tight, baby. Really, really tight,” Baker answered. “As in, so tight that if I left here without telling Seth where I was going, even if I was helping a friend, he’d spank my ass until it was a beautiful red.”

  I frowned at him. “And that’s a good thing, right?”

  “Right. It’s m
ost definitely a good thing. You should try it sometime.”

  A ridiculous sounding laugh tumbled from my lips. “Nah. Don’t think that’s for me.” Even to my own ears, it sounded like a lie. Holy shit! What was I turning into? I had a feeling that Eli may have opened Pandora’s Box where sex was involved.

  “Whatever,” he answered with a roll of his eyes. “Now, what did you have in mind? I enjoy keeping Seth on his toes by being naughty. Tell me your plans.”

  I grabbed my backpack and said, “I’ll tell you on the way. Let’s go!”

  *****

  A little over an hour later, I pulled my sports car into the parking garage of Eli’s apartment complex. Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it that—it looked more like something that would rival Trump Tower…only with elegance and class. I’d driven by the spectacular building for two years without knowing that our company built and owned it, with Samantha and Eli each owning a penthouse suite on the upper floor. A bit of computer hacking when Eli arrived back in town had opened my eyes to how much wealth my boyfriend’s family possessed.

  Wow…my boyfriend. That sounded really nice.

  Baker whistled through his teeth. “Dayum! This is a nice place. Eli lives here?”

  “Eli and Samantha both have apartments on the top floor.” With a shrug, I added, “I guess they had them set aside for when they were in town on business since neither of them lived here before you came around.”

  “Psst! We both know it wasn’t me that brought Eli sniffing around!”

  “Does Eli know you’ve packed up your entire closet, one very unfriendly cat, and enough computer shit to fill a large bedroom and are moving into his place?” As he talked, I pulled into a spot near the elevators for the penthouse and he checked the newly placed band aids on six of his fingers and a wrist. For somebody that got their ass flogged on a very regular basis, Baker was extraordinarily wimpy when it came to cat scratches.

 

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