Cooper's Promise

by Liliana Hart

  She watched as a man was led by a leash on hands and knees across the floor and had to fake a cough to keep from giggling. Clearly she’d have to rescue herself. She watched Cooper out of the corner of her eye and felt heat rush over her skin as his gaze seemed to devour her. He barely stopped to glance at his companion at all, and she could tell by the way they were both watching her that she was the topic of conversation. At least her plan for getting Cooper to notice her was working. Kind of. The Neanderthal had been unscripted.

  If she’d waited for Cooper to approach her in Surrender, she’d be a grandmother before she saw any action. Whenever she saw him in town, his eyes darkened and skimmed over her body, and then he made it a point to turn away. She knew he was uncomfortable about their age difference. It was pretty obvious since when he was forced to actually speak with her, he addressed her as ‘Hey, kid.’ She had a Master’s Degree for Pete’s sake, and she’d been well above the legal age for some time now. It was a good thing she liked a challenge, but enough was enough. Cooper’s days of running were over.

  “Let’s dance,” Angel shouted to her from across the rope that kept the Very Important Neanderthal (or VIN as she’d decided to call him for short) separated from the commoners.

  Thank God for Angel.

  She moved to get off VIN, but he grabbed her around the wrist and tried to pull her back. “You must always ask your Master permission to leave his presence. There will be consequences if you do not obey.”

  His accent was thick and foreign and his eyes were flat. This was not a man to piss off, her subconscious was practically screaming at her. But her mouth didn’t always listen to her subconscious. She blamed it on the years she spent buried in books instead of getting out and socializing more. She hadn’t learned to carry on a decent conversation without stumbling over her words in nervousness until she’d been in college.

  “Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she said. “I’ve never been really good at the obedience thing. Maybe you should try that girl over there.” She pointed to a waif thin woman who was eating gourmet hors d’oeuvres out of a dog bowl.

  When his gaze followed her finger, she took the opportunity to scramble out of his lap and down the carpeted stairs that led to the dance floor. She grabbed Angel in a quick hug of thanks and they joined the ebb and flow of bodies.

  They danced together out of pure enjoyment, legs and hips and arms moving in tandem to the pumping bass. They ignored the groping hands that occasionally passed their way and danced for themselves.

  Angel had been her roommate her freshman year of college, and they’d been close ever since. Angel was one of the sweetest people she’d ever met, so it made sense that she was one of the more popular subs in a place like Club Dominique. Her skin was silky smooth and the color of mocha and her corkscrew curls were a shade darker.

  It was because of Angel that Claire had found out about the kind of lover Cooper really was. The things he liked in bed and liked to do to his partners. It had been hard to control the jealousy that surfaced whenever Angel had talked of Cooper, but like always, Claire had focused on the research and learned more about how she might one day please Cooper. Fortunately, Cooper and Angel’s relationship hadn’t lasted more than a few weeks, so she hadn’t had to murder Angel in her sleep.

  Angel grabbed her hand and spun her out into a turn that made applause break out around them, but when she spun her back in, something solid and hard was in Claire’s path. She stared eye level at a muscled chest of pure perfection. It was completely smooth and gold rings were pierced through both nipples. The thought of what those rings would feel like against her body sent a shiver across her skin.

  The music changed to something slow and sultry, the bass pumped a seductive tattoo and the smell of lust lay heavy over the bodies on the dance floor. She raised her gaze slowly, taking in every inch of him until she met eyes the color of a cold lake, frosted with chips of ice.

  Claire rested her hands against his chest, just below his nipple rings, and watched his eyes darken with desire.

  “Hello, Cooper MacKenzie. Fancy meeting you here.”

  Lust and anger played across his face. He grabbed her by the hips and held her close, swaying to the beat that bumped in time with her heart. Her hands moved down his chest and stomach until they rested just above the waistband of his leather pants. His body was a furnace and it was hard to miss the erection stretching the seam of his pants.

  He brought his mouth close to her ear and nipped her lobe. Hard. Moisture pooled between her thighs and her knees weakened. She was shaken by the intensity of the need that came over her, so it took a minute for her to realize he’d spoken.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing in a place like this?” he yelled. “Do your parents know you’re here?”

  Claire snapped her head back and met his gaze with her own blast of anger. She pushed out of his arms with defiance and faced him in the middle of the dance floor. The other dancers were giving them a wide berth, no doubt waiting to see which of them came out on top.

  “Last time I checked, I didn’t need my parents’ permission or anyone else’s to take a lover. I’ve already had several offers to be collared for the night. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go find a different dancing partner.”

  It was common practice in the club for Dominants to collar their chosen submissive for the evening, so others would know they were taken and leave them alone.

  “I don’t think so,” Cooper said, eyes narrowed. “There’s not a man in here who could be your Dominant.”

  She looked him over insultingly from head to toe and smirked.

  “Except for me,” he added. “A good Dom knows there’s no satisfaction to be had in a weak-willed submissive. It’s when a strong willed submissive is tamed that both parties find satisfaction.”

  Claire raised a brow and propped her hands on her hips, causing her breasts to test the limits on the bustier she wore. Cooper’s eyes were drawn to the round flesh of her breasts and his mouth quirked at her attempt to distract him. She stalked toward him until they were only a hairsbreadth apart. Her fingernail circled his nipple and then tugged lightly at the ring that hung there. He grabbed her wrist, but she’d seen the desire, and more importantly, the approval in his eyes that she hadn’t backed down from him.

  She leaned up close to his ear and licked around the outer shell before whispering, “You think you can tame me? I dare you to try.”

  Chapter 2

  Cooper smiled in admiration of her boldness. It wasn’t often he came across anyone, man or woman, who didn’t back down when he gave them a certain look. The men back in Surrender respected him but steered clear, and the women just wanted him to be something wild and forbidden in bed. He looked forward to the challenge Claire presented to him.

  Cooper caught a glimpse of Cade from just over Claire’s shoulder and recognized the signal. He had to get Claire to a place he could talk to her quietly without arousing the suspicion of anyone in the club. They could continue playing later, but right now there were more important things to deal with.

  He pulled the gold collar he’d brought with him from the small of his back and clipped it around her neck before she could issue a protest. The collar was a smooth band about an inch wide and it snapped together to make a smooth, unending circle. The only way to get it off was with a key. Claire’s eyes shot fire as she felt for a way to remove it.

  “You’ve gone too far, Cooper. I didn’t give you permission to collar me.”

  He skimmed his fingers just above her boots and moved his hand up to grasp her bare bottom. “You’ll find out real fast, sweetheart, that I don’t ask permission for anything. You’ll be on your knees begging for whatever I can give you by the time I’m done claiming you.”

  He trailed his fingers down the cleft in her buttocks, following the line of the G-string she wore until he felt the smooth skin of her pussy. He was tormenting himself, touching her even though he knew
he should throw her over his shoulder and get her out of danger—from Rafael Morda and from himself. There was something about her that was refreshing and innocent, and she deserved someone better. Someone not so jaded. Someone who could give her a home and a family of her own.

  He groaned as her moisture covered his fingers and she stumbled against him, pressing her soft breasts fully against his chest. Her moan of pleasure cut through the thumping bass pounding the walls and she lifted her face to his so he could see her desire clearly.

  “You have no idea what you’re asking for, Claire. You’d be better off driving home to Surrender and pretending you never saw me here tonight. I can’t give you the gentleness a girl like you deserves.”

  “I’m not a girl any longer, Cooper. And all I’ve ever wanted is you—whatever you have to give.”

  Cooper shook his head—one last denial before her lips became too tempting. But it was a futile attempt. And he knew it. It seemed like he’d waited his entire life to kiss Claire Drexel, and he could no longer resist what she offered him.

  He crushed his mouth to hers and enfolded her in his arms, trying to ignore how right she felt against him or the mounting panic that prickled along his spine. She was a woman he didn’t fully understand. A woman he hadn’t yet learned the intricacies and quirks of, yet he felt as if his body had been made for her and her alone.

  She didn’t shy away from his ardor—almost as if she’d expected it—and she opened her mouth readily to his invasion, thrusting back against his tongue and cradling his hardness between her thighs. He groaned at the sweetness of her taste and her boldness as she gently suckled his tongue. His cock was throbbing hard and needed the release that only she could satisfy.

  He broke away and they stared at each other with a mix of awe, need, and bafflement. His heart thudded in his chest, a hollow thump that felt near to bursting with the need he had for her body and a different need to get her out of the club. Without a word, he took her hand and led her from the dance floor to the VIP level, where rooms of pleasure could be rented either by the night or by the month. With any luck, Cooper wouldn’t be enclosed in the room too long before Cade interrupted. He wasn’t sure he would be able to reign in his control if he and Claire were left alone for very long.

  They took the stairs to the upper level, and Cooper couldn’t help but notice that Rafael Morda’s gaze never left them. The drug lord didn’t look happy. In fact, he looked furious. Maybe he’d been more into Claire than Cooper had originally thought. Or maybe Morda just didn’t like the idea of anyone taking something he thought of as his.

  The thought of Claire sitting on Morda’s lap and the way he’d been touching her had Cooper’s anger rising to the surface once again.

  “Slow down, Cooper. I can barely walk in these shoes much less run.”

  He gave her a look over his shoulder that had been known to make prisoners break down in tears, but she glared back at him with an identical look that almost made him burst into laughter.

  He slowed his stride and loosened his grip on her hand as they approached the VIP area. Renegade stood at the mouth of the dark hallway that was lighted with eerie red bulbs. The hallway led to the private rooms that rented from anywhere from five hundred to a thousand dollars per night, depending on what equipment a customer wanted in the room. Coop shuddered to think what Cade had spent on the budget of this whole operation. Or how he explained the charges to his superiors.

  Renegade handed Cooper a key card and turned to leave them to their privacy, but Cooper stopped him by gripping his shoulder. “No cameras, Ren. Turn them off. I mean it.”

  He didn’t want any witnesses to what happened in that room.

  Renegade looked at Claire from head to toe, his dark eyes heating at the sight of her. “I don’t know, Coop. It could be a mighty fine show.”

  “If you don’t need my money we can certainly go elsewhere,” Cooper threatened.

  “Aww, now Coop, you don’t hafta go there. I’ll turn ‘em off. Just don’t fuck up and get my ass sued or anything.”

  “I never fuck up, Ren. Turn the cameras off.” It wasn’t a request.

  “Yeah, yeah. And remember what I told you earlier.”

  Renegade headed back into the pulsing heartbeat of the club and Cooper led Claire down the dark hall of the private wing. For the first time since she’d challenged him on the dance floor, she was beginning to really look around her. He could feel her nerves bouncing off his heated skin and wondered, not for the first time, what she thought to accomplish by coming here. She was completely out of her comfort zone, and if she started breathing any harder he was afraid she’d hyperventilate and faint at his feet.

  Cooper slid the key card into the door closest to the exit. It clicked open soundlessly and swallowed them with dark, cool air. He flicked on the light, and sconces—one on each wall—lit with soft yellow light. The room was no bigger than a large closet. The walls were gray concrete and had hand and feet manacles bolted to them. A thick red rug covered almost the entire floor, and a lone wooden chair sat in the middle of the room. Shelves lined one wall that held an impressive display of whips and other sexual toys. It was sterile and cold and meant for one thing only.

  And by the glassy look in Claire’s eyes, she knew exactly what that one thing was and was expecting him to pounce at any moment. For someone who seemed completely unbothered by having an international drug dealer touching her, she seemed downright panicked at the thought of Cooper taking it a step farther. Not that he was going to, he qualified to himself. He was here because that’s where Cade wanted him to be.

  “Relax, Claire. I’m not going to jump you,” he said, trying to reassure her.

  Her gaze jerked to his and he could have sworn he saw a mix of hurt and confusion before she covered it.

  “Why not? Did I do something wrong?”

  Cooper’s jaw dropped open. “No you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s obvious there’s something going on here. I don’t know why you decided to follow me here or become friends with one of my former lovers to do so, but despite the way you’re dressed and your attitude out there, it’s pretty damned obvious you’ve never been in a place like this before. Your teeth are practically chattering with fear.”

  “I’m not afraid of anything, Cooper MacKenzie.” She put her fists on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “Especially not of you. I just don’t particularly like the idea of you bringing me to one of these rooms like you would any other woman.” The bluster seemed to go out of her and she seemed almost…shy. “I just always thought it would be different when we finally…”

  “When we finally what?” he asked. His voice was barely a whisper.

  “Became lovers. And Angel and I were friends long before you ever met her. She was my roommate in college. I’m not a child anymore, Cooper. I’ve seen the way you look at me. I can give you what you. What you need from a woman. If you’ll give me a chance.”

  The breath seized in Cooper’s lungs as he thought of what she was offering. She was a good girl from a good family. And he was nothing but darkness.

  His father had died from a heart attack in his late thirties. His mother had died from cancer in her forties. And they’d both left behind children who’d needed them to be there. Especially Cooper. As the oldest, he’d taken on the responsibility of taking their dad’s place. Of trying to steer his three brothers in the right direction so they made good choices in their lives. He’d screwed up plenty of times, but he knew there was one thing he could do right.

  He was thirty-four years old and he’d accepted it as his fate that he probably wouldn’t outlive his own parents. He figured he might have another ten years left. Tops. Genetics didn’t lie, especially when you were talking about cancer or heart problems. He had both in his family. So he’d decided early on that he’d never leave a widow or children behind to mourn him.

  And then somewhere along the way, he’d started he’d decided that if he was going to die, he might as well go down th
e hard way. So he’d joined the Marines after high school and then gone to college to major in criminal justice. It was then he’d started experimenting with the seedier side of sex. It was all about the thrill of power and control. He’d had too little control over his life until then.

  Once he’d graduated, it hadn’t taken him long to be offered the job in Surrender. He’d grown up there, as his parents had before him. And while he’d had his family and a job he was proud of, there had still been something missing from his life. He figured he’d never know what it was unless he went looking.

  “You’re too young to understand what I need,” he said softly. “And you’d never agree to what I want.”

  She came toward him with determination, and he had the sudden urge to start backing away. He planted his feet on the ground and gritted his teeth at the sight of the sway of her hips, waiting for whatever she was about to spring on him.

  God, where the hell was Cade?

  The urge to put his hands on her was growing stronger by the minute.

  “I think you’d be surprised at my understanding of your need, Cooper. I’ve watched you grow up. Watched you change through the years and become the man you are today. And how do you know I won’t agree to what you want?” She leaned into him so her mouth skimmed just below the corner of his jaw. “You’ll never know unless you tell me.”

  Cooper kept his hands behind him, but didn’t step away from her kiss. The feel of her against him was pure pleasure, and he wanted what he could get for as long as she would give it. After he told her the truth, he might lose his chance.

  “Why don’t you first tell me what it is you want from me,” he said. “Why you came here after all this time. You see me back in Surrender every day. Why didn’t you approach me there?”

  “Because you would have avoided me like you always do. I knew if I came here that I would finally get your attention. And it’s no secret that you like things…a little different.” She looked down at his nipple rings and licked her lips.