I took a long sip of my chocolate shake and then slid the glass over to Cameron. “You work miracles. Can’t you do something to make this happen for me?”
He sighed. “I have this wild, brilliant plan.”
I perked up. “Oh?”
“Richard’s spiraling again.”
My shoulders slumped. I was disappointed that he’d changed the subject. “How?”
He gestured he wasn’t going to expand on the matter. “I want us to start looking for a submissive that’ll be a perfect fit for him. It’ll take time. But keep your eyes out for someone special. We’ll save her from banality and give her a glorious life.”
“You know how arrogant that sounds, right?”
“She’ll succumb with full consent.”
“Rascal. So, have you a personality type in mind?”
“Pure innocence. Someone he’ll want to protect. Someone who will breech his badass defenses. A subject with a damaged past. She’ll keep him distracted and busy as he tries to figure her out. Let’s go for stunning. Breathtaking. Pure fuckable material.”
“I’ll throw a dinner party for us. How about that? So we can chat about it.”
“Sure. But we won’t be telling Richard our plan.”
It was my turn to roll my eyes.
My phone buzzed and I stared at the screen.
“I’ll ignore it.” I showed Cameron it was Ethan.
“Take it.”
“I’m allowed?” I pouted at him.
“Sure.”
After hesitating, I answered the call.
“Hello…Scarlet?” Ethan’s southern drawl rippled through me, reaching my soul, making me want to swoon. It was hard to think straight as a sense of loss caused my chest to tighten.
“I know you’re there,” he said, his tone tense.
“Hello, Ethan.”
“How are you?”
“Oh, fine.”
“Really?”
It was too much. I couldn’t do this, couldn’t hear his voice and know our time was over and drag this out. “I can’t talk now.”
“Visit me at my office. We need to discuss an issue.”
“What issue?”
“You have the address? From the time you followed me home after spying on me?”
“What day is good for you? I’ll check my calendar.”
“Now.”
“That’s actually inconvenient—”
“Within the hour. Or I’ll have you arrested and brought to my office.”
“Will it involve handcuffs?”
He went silent.
I caught Cameron arching his eyebrows questioningly.
“See you soon then.” Ethan ended the call.
I lowered my phone and held Cameron’s gaze. “He wants to see me.”
“Give him my regards.”
“Come with me?”
Cameron took a sip of tea. “You’re Scarlet Winters. You’ll handle him just fine.”
“What do you think he wants?”
“Knowing Neilson, the last word, probably.”
Facing off with him would be terrifying - for no other reason than I still loved him.
Chapter 31
ETHAN’S SECRETARY PEERED down at her boss’s appointment book.
It made me smile a little that she still used this old-fashioned way of keeping track of his schedule. It almost took my mind off why I was here.
This meeting was probably arranged to warn me of his impending lawsuit against us, though Cameron had reassured me the non-disclosure agreement that he had Ethan sign pre-therapy was watertight.
His secretary looked like the kind of woman a D.A. would need to stop the riffraff from disrupting his day - a bright Hispanic with graying temples and a no-nonsense attitude.
“Mr. Neilson made the appointment himself,” I explained.
“I did,” he said. “Thank you, Edith.”
I turned round and saw him standing there, all edgy D.A., and wearing a snazzy dark suit. It was hard to read his expression. He looked like he’d been working out, his tan had deepened, too, and he’d gotten a haircut.
God, he really did look gorgeous.
I raised my chin proudly. “I don’t have much time.”
“Come in.” He gestured to his office. “Glad you could make it.”
I forced myself to smile at his secretary.
Ethan looked over to her. “Hold all calls, please.”
“Of course, Mr. Neilson. Would you like coffee?”
“Not yet, thank you.”
I avoided eye contact with him as I slipped past him into his office. A fancy framed law certificate with his name embossed in gold hung on the wall by his desk. The room’s décor was simple - though the numerous stacks of papers scattered here and there made it look a little like organized chaos.
Ethan’s gaze stayed on me and I felt too fragile right now for an argument. His gorgeous good looks and that southern drawl had my body betraying me.
My sex clenched and my nipples hardened.
“It’s cold in here.” I hoped he’d believe me.
He gave me a smug little smile, no doubt sensing my arousal.
I folded my arms across my chest. “I have another appointment. Can we cut to the chase, Mr. Neilson?”
His jaw tensed. He strolled back over to the door and locked it.
“How have you been, Ms. Winters?” He turned to face me and moved leisurely around to the other side of his desk, his hands now casually tucked into his pants pockets.
“I’m glad we got this time to talk,” I said breathlessly. “I wanted to explain—”
He raised his hand to cut me off. “No need.”
“I want to leave on good terms, Ethan.”
I needed to know he’d forgiven me for any pain I’d unwittingly caused him. I couldn’t go on with this tension between us. Not after everything we’d shared.
The way his gaze swept over me caused me to feel another sharp pang of regret.
He held his hand out for me and I moved toward him. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me around to his side.
This. I was not expecting this…
Perhaps a berating, or an outburst of anger over how betrayed he felt.
Yet Ethan’s eyes burned with a raw passion. As he pushed me up against his desk I caught a glimpse of a wry smile. He turned me to face the desk and nudged me forward, bending me over it. My heart missed a beat when I felt him edge up the hem of my skirt. His hands squeezed my butt cheeks.
I let out a gasp of pleasure.
His hand slapped my ass. “You will remain silent, understand?”
“Yes.”
Ethan grabbed my shoulders and pulled me upright. He spun me around and lifted me up to sit on the edge of his desk. My heart was hammering away - being this close to him again was destroying me. Breathing in his sexy cologne, that intoxicating scent of spices, threw my self-assurance off balance.
Those strong hands of his were now hiking up my pencil skirt, and I lifted my butt to help him, marveling at how we had found our way back to this.
This.
A passionate intimacy.
Ethan gently pushed me back until I was lying on his desk. Then he reached for my thong. When it was halfway down my legs he ripped it off in frustration.
He positioned himself between my thighs. “Glad you could make it, Ms. Winters. There’s something we need to discuss.”
“I’m listening.”
He leaned low and buried his face between my thighs, letting out a moan of contentment as he suckled my clit, hungrily kissing me there, needy and vengeful in the way he flicked his tongue over my pussy.
My breathing had gotten ragged. “Ethan?”
He smiled against me. “It’s either this or the slammer for the night.”
“This.” I grinned through my pleasure. “Oh, my God. I’m going to…”
I shuddered as his tongue began fucking my vagina, causing my thighs to shake. I tried to remember not to scream.
; Ethan’s hands reached up for my breasts and he cupped them, tweaking my nipples and sending me over the edge.
I slapped my hand over my mouth when the tip of his tongue circled my entrance while his fingertips played with my clit.
“I can’t bear to be apart from you,” I gasped out, writhing. I was wishing with all my heart this was his way of telling me we could be with each other again.
Ethan stood up straight and reached for his zipper. He pulled out his cock and it stiffened into a gorgeous erection.
He slowly slipped inside me as his face lit up with pleasure. “I missed you, Scarlet.” He crushed his lips to mine. “No one will ever come close to you.”
He began a perfect rhythm, thrusting in and out of me, bringing me closer still with a pleasure that was all-consuming.
I wrapped my thighs around his waist. “I’m in charge.”
“Sure.” He smirked. “Keep telling yourself that.”
“I’ll switch for you now and again. But I’m the boss.”
“Hell, no, I’ll switch for you. Maybe.” He grinned. “If you’re lucky.”
“Oh, really.” I squeezed him and held him firmly.
“Oh, God, Scarlet, that feels fucking amazing. You’re so damn tight.”
“Say ‘please’ before you come.” I narrowed my gaze on him.
His face relaxed as he neared the edge. “We’ll agree to disagree.”
“I’m close.”
“Come, baby. I want to feel you orgasm around my cock.”
He sent me reeling into another blinding climax, my core the center of my universe as he came hard inside me, his heat sending me into an exquisite freefall as we came together, gripping each other as though nothing could keep us apart.
Time fell away as we basked in the afterglow, both of us staring at each other in awe of what had just happened.
With my head lifted off the table slightly, I watched Ethan reach for a tissue and lovingly clean between my thighs. This intimacy reminded me of all I’d lost.
Finally, he tucked himself away.
Despite everything, he couldn’t regret having met me, could he?
He pulled me up and held me in a hug.
I rested my head on his shoulder. “We’re still friends?”
“Most certainly hope so, after all that.”
I pulled away slightly and cupped his face with my hands. “You’ve changed your mind about us?”
He pushed a button on his phone. “We’ll take that coffee now, Edith.”
“Yes, sir,” came her chirpy reply.
He helped me off his desk and tugged my skirt down.
Ethan swept up my thong from the floor and tucked it into his jacket pocket.
“Consolation prize,” he said, grinning wickedly.
“There’s a kinky side to you, Mr. Neilson.”
“Looks like you’ve unleashed the beast.”
I giggled. “It’s so good to see you.”
We walked over to the two armchairs in the corner and sat opposite each other. He reached for the remote that was resting on the glass table and turned on the walled TV screen.
A blonde female NBC newscaster was reporting an incident that had occurred just this morning. There was footage playing to accompany her story - gruesome images of corpses being wheeled out of an L.A. house, all of them in body bags.
It made my stomach churn.
“Watch,” he said sharply.
I gazed up at the screen again. The newscaster was discussing the deaths of a drug lord along with all his lieutenants.
I stared at Ethan.
“All of them are dead,” he confirmed.
“How?”
He just looked at me for the longest time.
I slapped a hand to my mouth and stared up at the footage of a house surrounded by policemen and others with bulletproof vests stamped with D.E.A.
Ethan used the remote to lower the sound. “Shay Gardner paid me a visit.”
“What? Why?”
“He told me you’re not together. Nor have you ever been.”
“No, never.”
My attention returned to the TV screen and I couldn’t help but wonder if what I was seeing was Shay’s doing.
“Scarlet?”
I shook my head as I held his gaze. “You don’t think that…?” I knew better than to finish that sentence.
“And I thought the cartel were dangerous,” he said. “Who the fuck are you people?”
“This is not us.” But I knew that Shay’s loyalty to Cameron meant he’d even risk his own life.
But had they really conspired to save Ethan’s?
Was this Cameron’s promise to Danton coming full circle? That he would protect me at any cost and do everything in his power to make me happy?
“Ethan.” I clutched the armrests to keep my hands from shaking. “What do you want from me?”
“The truth.”
“About what?”
“You’re in a lot of trouble, Scarlet.”
“You don’t have any proof that’s connected to us.”
“Actually, I do.”
“What, exactly?”
“Shay admitted to taking care of my problem.” He took my hand. “So I own your balls now, Scarlet Winters.”
I stuttered out a breath. “What are you going to do?”
“Invite you away for a romantic weekend,” he said, beaming. “Just you and me…if you like?”
I jumped into his lap. “Yes, oh yes, I want that.”
“Cameron wanted me to know how far he’d go to protect us. He made that quite clear. Apparently he needs someone with my certain set of skills to join his team.”
“You’re one of us now?”
He crushed his lips to mine. “All I care about is that I get to be with you, and keep you. Do you want that?”
“I promise to make you happy.”
“Then come away with me.”
Chapter 32
ETHAN’S VOICE SOUNDED tense.
I closed my suitcase, having unpacked my clothes neatly in our luxury suite at the Grand Colonial, our gorgeous hideaway in La Jolla. We had driven down here this evening, and I was still getting used to Ethan being with me again.
My face ached from all the smiling.
Moving closer to the bathroom, I wondered who he was on the phone with. I peaked around the door.
And froze.
He was talking into the hairdryer!
Ethan raised a finger to keep me quiet. “I can’t talk now. I’m currently with the most beautiful woman in the world. I’m going to completely spoil her. No interruptions. No, I’m not telling you where I am.” He caught my gaze and playfully rolled his eyes as though annoyed with the fake caller.
I leaned on the door frame and folded my arms, amused with his antics.
“Plans?” he continued. “Well, we’re thinking of taking long walks on the beach. Swimming in the heated pool. Enjoy some fine dining along with lots of wild fucking.” He smiled at me. “Okay, Mom, talk to you later.”
I squealed with delight as Ethan hung the hairdryer back on the wall. He came at me fast and swept me up, carrying me into the bedroom. He threw me onto our king-sized bed and leaped on me, kissing me tenderly.
“Let’s swim,” I said.
“Anything that involves seeing you half-naked.”
“Two can play at that game.”
We tumbled around on the bed and slipped into a glorious round of fucking, neither of us capable of keeping our hands off each other.
The afternoon was spent by the pool beneath large umbrellas as we dozed away on loungers. Ethan sipped bourbon and I ordered up my favorite cocktail, a Long Island iced tea.
When the buzz from the booze wore off I dived into the deep end of the pool and swam its full length. When I came up for air, Ethan was sitting on the edge. He lowered himself into the water and pulled me into a hug.
Resting my head against his chest, I reveled in our happiness.
“W
e should talk,” he said, his tone serious.
“About?”
“You and me. As we’re in a serious relationship now I’m assuming you’ll give up being a dominatrix?”
I rested my hands on his chest and nudged him back a little. “What?”
He held my gaze. “You’re not going to be alone in a room with another man ever again. Not like that. Those days are over, Scarlet. ”
“What are you talking about?”
“I make more than enough money for both of us.”
“You’ve seen what we achieve at Chrysalis. It’s a therapy-based practice. You’re testament to what we can achieve—”
“That was Cameron—”
“I have clients, too. People I care about—”
“You’re not gonna do this. Not when we’ve risked so much to get here.” He glared at me. “Not after Shay put his fucking life on the line so we could be together.”
“Give up being a D.A.”
He pulled back more. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“My job is just as important.”
“I’m not sucking the dicks of my clients.”
I turned sharply and pushed away, needing to get out of the pool.
“Scarlet.” He grabbed me around the waist. “Wait, please. I’m sorry.”
“Let me go.”
“I need you to see it from my point of view.”
“Ethan, I mean it.”
“Jesus, Scarlet.” His arms slipped from me. “Don’t do this.”
“Do what?” I snapped my head back.
“Run away from us.”
“You’ve made your opinion quite clear.” I gripped the hand railing of the steps and climbed up, my chest heavy from what he was asking of me.
I swept up my towel and wrapped it around me. I didn’t even bother to put on my flip-flops. I merely grabbed my iPhone and room key and trudged out of the pool area and through the sliding door of the hotel.
I rode the elevator alone.
Hurrying into our suite, I grabbed my suitcase and threw it onto the bed. With shaking hands, I began to grab my stuff out of the drawers and pack.
The door flew open and Ethan stormed toward me. “You’re not serious?”
I emptied the last of the drawers and slammed my case lid shut.
“Scarlet, look at me.”
“We’ve both benefited from this.”
He stepped closer. “I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. And I am jealous and possessive and I know it’s wrong of me to ask this of you.”
Enthrall Secrets (ENTHRALL SESSIONS 7) Page 17
