"How do you figure?"
She sat up and looked him square in the eye. "When I thought I might have lost you forever, I decided that if I got the chance to be with you again, I was going to take it. I need you in my life, and if this is how it has to be, then I decided to come around to your way of thinking. I was so afraid you were… gone… forever."
"Oh, Angela, is that what you think?"
"It's the truth, isn't it?"
"Wait here," he said as he slipped out of bed. He removed the condom and disposed of it, then pulled on his boxers and walked to his duffel bag sitting on the chair. It hadn't been unpacked since he came home. He fumbled around inside until he pulled something out and cupped it in his hand. He walked back to her and got down on his knees beside the bed.
"Dax, what on earth are you doing?"
He took her hand in his. "Angela, I'm about to do something I said I'd never do. And I'm sure people will get a big laugh out it, because they'll say that after all I said about Dane and Annie, I've rushed even sooner than they did. But they'd be wrong in saying that."
"Dax—"
"Let me finish. Angela Vaccaro, I've been in love with you for the past three years. Yes, ever since Dane and Annie's engagement party. The day of their wedding, when I was their best man and you were their maid of honor, I walked down the aisle with you on my arm after the ceremony, and I knew then, deep in my heart, you were the one. I denied it. I stayed away from you, and I did everything in my power to forget you. When we were together at the club that night we got Dane and Annie back together, I knew I couldn't fight it any longer. I had to call you. I had to see where this could go. And when we were at a stalemate, I knew I finally had to admit to myself that I was the one who was going to give in. So, I stopped at the jewelry store in the mall on my way out of town that day I headed back up north, and I bought this." He handed her a small velvet box. "Open it."
She looked at him in disbelief as she took the box from his hand and opened it to reveal a stunning, oval-cut diamond ring. "Oh, Dax, I don't know what to say."
"I think you're supposed to say yes," he said as he cocked his gorgeous head to the side and grinned.
"Yes, Dax, I'll marry you, if that's what you're asking," she said with tears in her eyes.
"I'm asking. I'd intended to ask you when I returned, when we had our talk, but circumstances got in the way. So, you see, Angela, you didn't come around to my way of thinking at all. It's the other way around. I've come around to your way of thinking. For all the negative things that I've ever said about marriage, one thing I did say was true."
"What's that?" she asked nervously as he took the ring from her and slid it on her slender finger.
"I always said if I met the right woman, I might be persuaded to change my mind. I'd already met the right woman. I was just too damn stubborn to admit it."
"And now?" she asked.
"Now, I'll shout it from the rooftops. I love Angela Vaccaro, and she's going to be my wife."
"You don't have to do that. You only have to tell me. I want to hear it again, Dax. Tell me you love me and only me."
"Beautiful baby girl, I love you and only you, for the rest of my days. Now come here; your fiancé wants a kiss."
"My fiancé, I could get used to that."
"Well, don't get too used to it, because I don't intend to be your fiancé for very long. I want to be your husband, and the sooner the better."
"Oh, Dax, I love you. For three long years, I've been in love with you, too," she said as she fell into his arms and into his kiss.
Chapter 12
After a while, they knew there were still things to discuss, so after several more kisses, they settled on the bed to talk.
"You know, after I told you you'd won, you could have just forgotten about the ring. But you didn't."
"Why would I do that? I'd already made up my mind that nothing was going to stop me from making you mine, totally and completely mine. I want you to be my wife, lover and my submissive. Can you live with all of those titles?"
Angela nodded. "I guess I should come clean with you, too. I dated a Dom before I ever met you. Nothing came of it, but we did have several discussions. We weren't compatible, so it didn't work out, but when Annie told me about the lifestyle and that you and Dane were both Doms, things kind of started to make sense to me. I wasn't appalled in the least, which I think you expected me to be."
"I didn't know how you would react to the news, really," he said as he twirled a strand of her hair in his fingers.
"I think my biggest hangup with you was that I'd gone through the whole Russ Casey thing with Annie. To me, getting involved with you seemed like I was setting myself up for the same hurt she experienced."
"I never thought of it that way, but now that you mention it, I can see that."
"So, Annie said that she and Dane sat down and talked about what each of them expected from each other, the marriage, and the lifestyle. I think when you feel better and we get back to normal and start planning the wedding, where we're going to live and all that, we should do the same thing. Do you agree?" she asked.
"I do. We have a lot of things to decide. When and where we're getting married, where we'll live, and our expectations, just like you said."
"But for this week, let's enjoy our time together and get you rested. We can talk about all that after the holidays, can't we?"
"We can, but just know that now I've made up my mind, I don't intend to wait forever to marry you, beautiful baby girl."
"Agreed. How about a St. Valentine's Day wedding? It will be a small one, with family and a few friends, nothing elaborate."
"If that's what you want, I'm all for it. But we can't wait until after the holidays to plan it. That's something that will need to be worked out soon. Will your family come down for it? Where will it be? Do you want to get married in your hometown? See, we can't put this off."
"I want to get married on the beach. Yes, my family will come, I'm sure. And yes, we need to get Annie and your mom on this immediately. My mom and sister will want to help, too. You won't have to do anything but show up."
"I will be there. That's one thing you don't have to worry about." And to prove it, he pulled her to him for another sweet kiss, full of promise and love.
When he ended the kiss, however, he surprised her by saying, "I think it's high time I introduce you to the fine art of spanking."
Angela looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "What d-do you mean?" she finally got out.
"I mean, you've really given me some lip and some anguish since we've been together, not to mention all that time before. I just think maybe we should have a little practice session. After all, you need to know what you've just agreed to. You said, yourself, you and your Dom friend never got that far. You need to experience a little so that when we do sit down and discuss our guidelines, you at least know a teensy bit about the subject. Don't you agree?"
"W-what are you going to use?" she asked.
"The first rule in a D/s marriage, my beautiful baby girl, I am in charge of your punishments, not you. Leave everything to me. Do you trust me? Ah, that's a big question for you with me, isn't it? That's another reason we need to explore this. You must trust me if I'm to be your Dom."
"I'm beginning to understand. I have had a hard time trusting that you wouldn't hurt me emotionally all along. I had already agreed to be your lover and your submissive, when you surprised me by asking me to also be your wife. That is a huge turnaround from thinking you'll break my heart. Now, I also need to learn to trust that you will never harm me physically. I think it's making sense, in a weird sort of way."
"I will never give you more than you can handle. I will, from time to time, push you, though. And we'll talk a lot more about all of this later, but for now, I just want to give you a little taste. You may decide you've made a colossal mistake, and we have to renegotiate some of the terms our marriage. We have to make a decision that we both can live with, be it D/s or van
illa."
"Is this a deal-breaker for you?" she asked, breathlessly awaiting a reply.
Dax smiled at her, then he looked deeply into her eyes before answering with, "No, it's not."
"Okay, I agree with you that we need to try an experiment in trust."
Dax gave her the sexy grin and pulled her close for a kiss. Then he moved to the edge of the bed and took her hand to pull her gently toward him.
"I want you to go stand in that corner, the empty one over there. Put your nose to the wall while I prepare for your spanking. I'll tell you when you can come to me." To encourage her, he gave her another quick kiss.
Angela took a deep breath, got off the bed and walked to the corner. She was still naked and feeling very vulnerable. He'd put on his boxers, but she hadn't even so much as thrown on a robe. Her fiancé had proposed marriage to her while she was nude. She hadn't even realized it until now. Wow. They'd have to come up with a whopper of a story when folks asked about the proposal. She nearly laughed out loud at that but quickly decided that would most likely be forbidden under the circumstances.
Since she wasn't sure what to do now that she was in the corner, she put her nose to the wall as he'd told her then clasped her hands together behind her back. She tried to stand as still as she could, but she was growing more apprehensive by the minute. What had she just agreed to? She could hear him moving around in his room. Calm down, Ang, you said you trust him, now you have to prove it.
A mere ten minutes later, although Angela would have sworn it was more like thirty, Dax told her to turn around and walk to him. When she turned, she could see that he was seated on the edge of the bed again, but he was wearing a pair of faded jeans over his boxers now. She could see a wooden paddle like thing next to him. He had a paddle? Well, of course he did. He was a Dom, wasn't he? She had to realize he'd done this before. Not sure how she liked that idea, she continued to walk to the bed.
When she got to where he sat, he took her hand and pulled her over his lap. He started to caress her bare back gently with his hands before moving to her bottom. Angela was surprised at that. She'd expected him to start in with the paddle immediately.
Dax began to speak softly to her. "My beautiful baby girl, I'm going to warm you up with my hand first. During a punishment, you are to speak only when I ask you a question and address me as Sir. Understand?"
Angela started to nod but caught herself in time and replied, "Yes, S-sir."
"You may cry as much as you need to, but whatever you do, do not reach around with your hands to try to protect your butt. You can be injured by doing that. Grab onto a pillow or whatever you need, but if you can't keep your hands away from the area being punished, I'll have to restrain them."
"Yes, Sir." There was so much to learn, she thought. She only hoped he would be a patient teacher.
Dax was still rubbing her skin, circling her bottom cheeks now with his finger. When he finally stopped, he said, "We're going to begin now. But first, you need to choose a safe word. That's a word you can say if you need to stop. I caution you, though, only use it if you truly can't go on. It's not to be used lightly."
Angela thought for a minute and then came up with "Eclipse.” When she told him, he seemed surprised. "Why that word?" he asked.
"It's the name of the club we went to. I realized I was in love with you that night and felt I needed to nip it in the bud."
"That's deep," he murmured. "Okay, it's your choice, so Eclipse it is. I'm going to start now. Are you ready?"
Angela pulled a pillow toward her face and clung to it with her hands as she scooted it under her chin. "Yes, Sir."
"Good girl," he said as he rubbed her bottom once more
Then, as suddenly as he'd stopped caressing, she felt the sting of his hand smacking down on one cheek. Angela jumped. Soon, he was raining down smacks to both cheeks simultaneously, moving down to her sit spots and even the tops of her thighs. She lost count of how many he was administering, but each one seemed to burn just a little more than the last.
She wasn't quite sure how she felt about all of this. On the one hand, it damn well hurt, and he hadn't even used the paddle yet. But on the other hand, she somehow felt a release from all the tension of the past several days. It had been stressful, not knowing what was happening with Dax, if he was alive, injured severely, or—she hated to even think the word—dead. How could his hard hand on her tender bottom release the tension, the anguish, the pain of those days? And then, there were those weeks of indecision, of trying to talk herself out of being in love with the one man she just knew would break her heart. She had a lot more pent-up feelings than she'd realized. But somehow, Dax was helping her to get over those. With each strike to her bottom, she felt a rush of angst leaving her body. How was that even possible? Did she trust him with her heart now? Absolutely. With her body? Definitely. With her mind and her soul? Well, she guessed the answer to that would have to be yes. This little experiment of his was turning out to be a wonderful idea.
"Okay, you did well. How are you feeling, beautiful baby girl?" she heard him say, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"I-I am good, Sir," she said.
He rubbed some of the sting out before picking up the paddle. "I'm going to the second part now. Are you ready?"
"Y-yes, S-sir," she managed to get out as she shifted on his lap to get more comfortable and grabbed onto the pillow again. Was that a hard on she'd felt when she moved? Was this turning him on? She had felt the trickle of juices between her thighs, too, but had dismissed it as her imagination working overtime. But maybe she was turned on, too? Could it be?
She didn't have time to ponder this thought for long because the next thing she heard was the swooshing sound as Dax lifted the paddle into the air just before it connected with her reddened, burning bottom.
"Oooh!" she cried out as the first tear fell down her cheek.
Uh-oh, he'd told her she couldn't speak unless he asked her a question. Did that count?
"It's okay, baby. I want you to count. I'm only going to give you ten with the paddle this time."
"One," she said obediently, wishing she wasn't crying but at the same time feeling cleansed by the tears.
Another swoosh, and she bit out, "Two."
This went on six more times before the sobs took over where the quiet crying left off.
"Only two more. Can you do it, or do you need to safe word? I think you can do it, for me, for you, for us."
"Y-yes, Sir," she said. "Please finish."
She cried out, "Nine," between sobs and clutched the pillow even tighter. She buried her face in it and waited for that last, awful, crack of the wood.
It was the hardest of all, and when she'd cried out with "Ten," she heard the paddle hit the floor and she was cuddled in his arms before she could take a breath.
"Oh, my beautiful baby, you did great. How do you feel? Let it all out. Cry, scream, sob, let out all those emotions you've been feeling for so long. I love you," he cooed over and over as he held her and kissed the top of her head while rubbing her back softly.
Finally, she looked up at him and said, "You were right. I do feel better. And I trust you completely."
"Oh, my beautiful baby girl, those words are music to my ears." He lifted her chin with his hand and kissed her thoroughly.
Now, she knew she wasn't imagining it when wetness started to trickle down the inside of her thighs.
Dax ran a finger along her slit and confirmed what he'd thought would happen. "You are turned on, aren't you?"
"Yes, Sir. And you are, too," she observed.
"Oh, yes," he said as he stood with her in his arms and turned to lay her on the bed then shucked off his jeans and boxers. There was no condom this time. And neither of them cared.
The lovemaking that followed was the sweetest she had ever known, although it was fast and rough. No foreplay was needed, and when Dax plunged into her in one deep, hard thrust, Angela gasped and cried out his name.
They m
oved together, both eager and full of passion for each other. It was like nothing Angela had ever experienced before, the urgency, the need, the heat. Dax was giving her exactly what she needed, and when she came, it was like all the stars in the heavens had come together for the two of them, aligning in just the right way as they entered oblivion together.
When it was over, and they both had caught their breaths, Dax rolled off of her and pulled her to him. "I love you, Angela Vaccaro, soon to be Angela Daring. You are finally, truly mine."
"I love you, too. And I trust you with my life, Dax Daring."
He grew serious then. "I'm sorry about the condom. We got so carried away. I have never been that ready before."
"It's okay. I'm on birth control, and I'm clean."
"I am, too, so don't worry about that. I've been tested every year, and I haven't been with anyone else for, well, since a few months before you and I, well, since we started flirting around."
"That long?" she asked in surprise. "You mean, since we started dating, right?"
He shook his head. "Nope. Since way before that. I couldn't get you out of my head."
"Oh, Dax," she said as she kissed him lightly on the lips.
"You call that a kiss?" he teased just before he devoured her lips in a real display of passion and love.
That Monday, Dax and Angela returned to their jobs. Dax didn't have to go back to the site. The boss had set up a whole new crew to finish the job.
Angela's coworkers welcomed her back and were all delighted to hear of her engagement. They even threw an impromptu party in her honor that Friday afternoon.
It was nearing the holiday season, and there was a lot to get done. After all, they had a wedding to plan along with holiday festivities. So, one weekend, Annie and Brenn decided to get the Christmas shopping out of the way, and they dragged Angela with them, even though she hated to shop. With that out of the way, they could concentrate on the wedding.
Annie, Dane, Angela and Dax made a trip to the Midwest for Thanksgiving to introduce Dax to the family and to work on the wedding plans. Angela's family fell in love with Dax. Her sister, Conni, who was five years older, said, "Who would have ever guessed that you and Annie would end up marrying brothers? You've always been like sisters, and now you really are. I couldn't be happier for you, sis."
The Daring Doms Page 15
