by Maya Banks
There was authority in his voice and it sent a delicious shiver chasing down her spine. Chill bumps danced down her arms, prickling the flesh as he caressed her face.
“Never hold back from me your thoughts, your needs, your desires. You are right. I have been discreet with you lately. I’m sorry for that. I couldn’t bear the thought of pushing you too hard or doing anything that made you uncomfortable with me. This is new territory for me, Angel. I’ve never overly concerned myself with what a woman thought of me. I’ve always been a take-it-or-leave-it kind of guy. But you, I care about. You, I don’t want to lose. And I’ve already fucked up so much with you and I came so very close to losing you. As a result, I fear I’ve been too cautious with you and for that I apologize.”
“You aren’t going to lose me, Drake,” she said softly.
This time it was she who reached across the table and pulled his hand into hers while his other hand remained at her cheek, caressing her softly.
“I want to be the woman you want and need me to be. I want your authority and your control. I never want to change who and what you are because then it wouldn’t be real. I need you,” she whispered. “However and whenever you want me. However you need me. I want to be the one who makes you happy. It’s important to me.”
She was pleading with him with her eyes, and his gaze softened as his hand lowered from her face. He gathered her hands in his and laced their fingers together.
“I once told you that you would never have to beg me for anything I can give you, Angel. That still stands true. Whatever you want, whatever you need, it’s yours. I am yours,” he said in a serious voice. “Do you understand that? Do you get that? Yes, you belong to me and I am a very possessive man, but I am also yours and, Angel, you are also a very possessive woman.”
His eyes gleamed wickedly.
“I like it. I have to tell you it’s a huge turn-on to have a woman so possessive of me,” he said with a grin.
She blushed, her cheeks flooding with warmth, but she didn’t look away from him in embarrassment. There was no censure in his voice or words. No admonishment.
“Okay, so I totally admit that I would kick a bitch’s ass if she looked at you wrong,” Evangeline muttered.
Drake chuckled, a grin flirting with his lips. “Then we’re even, because I’ll kick a man’s ass if he looks at you for a second longer than necessary. Even if I can understand the urge to stare shamelessly at you. I may not blame the man for breathing and for having eyes in his head, but I can and will beat his ass for looking too long.”
She snorted. “You are so full of it, Drake. I’ll never understand what you see in me, but I’m not complaining.”
He scowled at her and shook his head in disapproval. “Now that will get your ass spanked, Angel. You don’t talk down about yourself. I’d never let anyone else get away with that shit, so I’m damn sure not allowing you to perpetuate a complete lie.”
She looked at him, flustered, with no idea what to say, so she shut up and didn’t say anything at all. But she felt a burst of warmth in her chest at the way he was so quick to call her out on talking down about herself.
He leaned over the table so that she would hear his next words. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known,” he said in a husky voice. “Now if you think I make it a habit of saying that kind of shit to every woman I meet, you couldn’t be more wrong.”
She fidgeted in her chair. Would dinner ever get here? The sexual tension between them was so thick it could be cut with a knife. She was dying to get out of public view and back to their apartment and to Drake’s promises.
His gaze swept over her face and he smiled, as though he knew exactly what she was thinking. The damn man probably did. He knew everything else.
Just then the waiter approached the table and Evangeline nearly wilted in relief. The food looked and smelled delicious, but she couldn’t keep her eyes—or thoughts—off Drake.
“Eat, baby,” Drake said with a smile. “I’ll take care of all my angel’s needs later. Promise.”
She sighed and glanced down at her plate. It was going to be a long night.
14
The ride back to the apartment was mostly silent. Evangeline was snuggled into Drake’s side, her head resting on his shoulder as she took in the twinkling lights of the city. It was a comfortable, companionable silence, not one borne of awkwardness.
She liked that they were so comfortable around one another and so at ease. Who would have thought all those weeks ago when she’d gone to Impulse to rub Eddie’s nose in what he was supposedly missing that she would be where she was now.
Her mother had always said that life was full of surprises and that it wasn’t meant to be predictable. She’d taught Evangeline from a young age to embrace each day as the gift it was because no one was ever guaranteed tomorrow.
She turned Drake’s wrist toward her so she could see the time on his watch.
“Everything okay?” he murmured. “You have another pressing appointment to get to?”
His teasing made her grin saucily up at him.
“As a matter of fact, I have a hot date lined up with some hunk I met at Impulse. I told him I’d sneak out at midnight and meet him.”
Drake smacked her on the ass with enough force that fire broke out on her skin and a soft moan escaped her lips.
“Maybe I should tie you to my bed for the night,” he drawled.
“Mmm, maybe you should. After all, I can be a very bad girl, remember?”
“I think you’re just asking for the crop or my belt.”
“Well duh,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I mean, what does a girl have to do in order to get punished these days? You’re getting soft in your old age, Drake. If you aren’t careful, you won’t be able to keep up with me anymore and I’ll have to put you out to pasture and retire you from stud services.”
He choked on his laughter and then coughed, his body heaving against hers.
“Is that some kind of Southern-speak? Because I have no clue what you’re talking about. Cheeky wench,” he said without heat.
She laughed. “Putting someone out to pasture is a polite way of saying that person can’t keep up any longer. In other words, you’re getting to be an old man and I’ll have to find someone else to satisfy my needs.”
“I have a recommendation, should you ever want or need one,” Zander drawled from the front seat.
She clapped her hand over her mouth in mortification and practically dove between Drake and the backseat in an effort to hide.
Drake’s body shook against her. “Forget we weren’t alone in the car, Angel? I’d say Zander just gave you back some of what you were dishing.”
“Can I crawl in a hole and die now?” Evangeline said with a groan.
“That’s what you get for being such a smartass,” he said smugly. “And I’m very much looking forward to spanking that ass when we get home.”
“I was checking the time on your watch because I was seeing if it was too late to call my parents when we get back home,” she said anxiously. “They’re an hour behind us, so they should still be up if you don’t mind me calling them tonight.”
He squeezed her to his side and pressed a kiss to her brow. “Of course I don’t mind you calling them, baby. I know how excited you are to tell them the news. How about I sit in on the call with you, that is if you don’t have any objections, and then afterward you can express your gratitude in very creative fashion.”
He said the last with a wicked grin and an evil gleam in his eyes.
“I’ll see how quickly I can get through the call,” she murmured.
“No hurry,” Drake said in a casual voice. “No hurry at all. We have all night, Angel. And I plan to make the most of every minute. I think it would be a good idea for you to stay home tomorrow and sleep in. I have the feeling you won’t be up to much else after I’m done with you.”
She stared at him through narrowed eyes, and there was a firm set to her lips
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Mr. Badass. So far you’re all talk and no action, so I’ll expect you to back up all those words.”
He lifted one eyebrow in her direction. “That sounds very much like the gauntlet has been thrown down.”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “Just make sure you don’t trip over it. I wonder what all those tabloid photographers would think of the great Drake Donovan if it got out that he wasn’t satisfying his woman.”
“I think you’ve created a monster, Drake,” Hartley said in a dry voice.
Evangeline groaned again. “Shut up! Can you at least pretend not to hear what we’re talking about? I’m not saying another word.”
She glared toward the front seat, where Hartley and Zander were both laughing. When Drake joined in, she elbowed him firmly in the gut, causing him to grunt and gasp for breath.
“My angel is getting sassy on me,” he said, his statement laced with approval. “I like it.”
She continued to glare between him and the men in front, her lips pressed tightly together in silence.
Luckily for her, they arrived at the apartment a few minutes later, and she refused to meet either Zander’s or Hartley’s gaze when they opened the door for her and Drake.
“Don’t be too rough with him tonight, sugar,” Zander called just as Evangeline and Drake entered the building.
She slapped both hands over her ears, but the sounds of the men’s laughter still filtered through.
When they got on the elevator, Drake waited a few floors and then punched the stop button, and the elevator stopped its ascent between two floors.
“Drake?” she asked carefully. “What are you doing?”
“We have a few minutes before we have to call your mom and dad,” he said, his voice gruff with arousal. “I’ve been hard as a fucking rock all night. All you have to do is breathe and I get hard. Take your panties off.”
Her eyes widened and she stared back at him in stupefaction.
“What were you just told to do?” he asked in a dangerously velvety voice.
She reached underneath the short skirt of her dress and slowly peeled the lacy scrap of underwear down her legs until it hit the floor between her feet.
“Now unzip my pants and pull my dick out of the fly.”
Her hands shaking, she slowly unzipped his pants. His cock surged into her waiting hand, utterly rigid and straining.
“Pull your dress up around your waist and hold it there,” Drake said, his eyes glittering with a hard edge.
As soon as she complied he reached down and hooked his arms underneath her ass and hoisted her up his body. He walked her back until her shoulders hit the wall of the elevator, and then he positioned his penis at her opening.
“Are you ready for me, Angel? Can you take me this way? We only have about two minutes before security opens the elevator after the alarm went off. Or we can finish and I can hit the button to resume,” he said silkily.
Nothing on earth would make her drag this out so long that his security found them naked and in a rather awkward position regardless of whether she was ready. Excitement licked up her spine instead of the mortification she would have expected. The risk of being caught spurred her desire instead of squelching it.
“Yes,” she hissed out. “Please. Take me hard, Drake.”
In one brutal push, he was balls deep inside her and her gasps echoed through the elevator. God, he was so huge this way. She could feel him in every part of her deepest core, pulsing and throbbing.
“Wrap your legs around me and hold on,” he growled.
She curled her legs around his waist and hooked her ankles together and then clutched at both his shoulders with her hands as he began slamming into her. Her head rolled back to rest against the wall and she closed her eyes as he continued to power back and forth into her damp heat.
“So damn beautiful,” Drake said through clenched teeth. “Never seen anything so beautiful in my life.”
“Then you must not ever look in the mirror,” she said between gasps.
“I’m not going to last. How close are you, Angel?”
She was already fluttering wildly around him, clutching at his erection.
“Close,” she managed to get out. “So close. Please. I need . . .”
And then he let go of his carefully cultivated control. He pumped into her with forceful, long thrusts, burying himself to the hilt over and over until the world blurred and the walls seemed to spin and rotate around her.
She let out a sharp cry just as the first flood of his release bathed the walls of her vagina. He buried his face in her neck and continued the powerful thrusting motions with his hips until finally he plunged deep and held himself there, unmoving as jet after jet of his come filled her.
Her chest was heaving with exertion and she was noisily sucking in mouthfuls of air as he stood there holding her against the wall, his cock wedged impossibly deep.
He reached out with one hand and hit the button for the elevator to resume and they rode the rest of the way in silence, still intimately connected, her legs tightly wrapped around his hips.
When the elevator door opened, Drake hoisted her up in his arms and slowly walked into the apartment, still holding her closely to him and keeping himself still linked to her.
“Wow,” she mumbled.
He chuckled. “Good?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Not very much to say right now, huh?”
“Nope.”
He laughed again and carried her into the bathroom and set her on the counter next to the sink. He started a shower for them and then stripped them both out of their clothing before carrying her underneath the warm spray, where he proceeded to wash every inch of her hypersensitive body.
When he was finished rinsing them both, he pulled her out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Let’s go call your parents and then, my angel, I’m going to reward my very bad girl.”
15
Evangeline leaned back into Drake’s arms after disconnecting the call to her parents and sighed in contentment.
“They seemed excited,” Drake said indulgently.
“Oh, they are,” she said. “I’m excited, Drake! I still can’t believe you’re going to so much trouble to bring them here for Thanksgiving. Thank you.”
He smiled warmly at her. “It’s such a small thing, Angel. How could I not do something that brings you so much happiness? And I admit, I’m looking forward to meeting them.”
“They’re both dying to meet you,” Evangeline admitted. “I’ll warn you now. They’ll probably ask you a thousand questions. My dad will grill you as to your intentions toward his little girl, and my mother will be watching us both like a hawk.”
Drake looked amused at her chagrin. “I think I can handle a little interrogation. Don’t worry, Angel. Everything will be just fine.”
She snuggled further into his embrace and nuzzled her face into his chest.
“So tell me. Just how bad have I been and what’s my reward?” she asked innocently.
“It should be here anytime now.”
She pushed herself off him and stared down into his eyes. “What will be here anytime?”
He smiled. “Your punishment. My reward. Your reward as well.”
“What is it?” she demanded.
He captured one of her hands and brought it to his mouth, kissing her open palm.
“You remember Manuel?”
A warm buzz flooded her veins and she shivered without realizing it. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak at that exact moment.
“He will be paying us a visit tonight. I expect you to be a very good girl tonight and obey my commands without hesitation.”
“I would never shame you in front of another man,” she said quietly.
“I know that well, Angel. Now, go into the bedroom and prepare yourself. But hurry. He will be here shortly and I want you here, in the living room, on your knees, when he arrives.”
She immediately got up and hurried to the bathroom to brush her teeth and her hair and to clean up. Mindful of Drake’s instructions, she took only a few minutes and then hurried back to the living room to stand before Drake and await his command.
His eyes were full of approval as his gaze stroked over her naked body.
“Go and kneel on the carpet in the middle of the living room,” he said in a husky voice. “Manuel is on his way up now.”
Dutifully, she positioned herself where he’d directed and then slowly eased down to her knees so she faced the foyer and she would be the first thing Manuel saw when the doors opened.
She swallowed nervously, trying to recall as much as possible about that night. So much had been a pleasurable blur. She could barely recall Manuel’s features. How he looked. She seemed to recall placing him around Drake’s age. Perhaps a few years older.
He was a handsome man with midnight-black, short-cut hair with a tinge of salt and pepper. Just enough to give him a distinguished look. He’d been well spoken and very solicitous of Evangeline that night. But her focus had been solely on Drake and his pleasure.
Just what did Drake plan for tonight? Would he want to watch her being dominated by another man as he had before, or would he want to participate more this time?
The doors slid open and Manuel saw her immediately. Desire and approval flickered in his dark eyes as he stepped forward into the apartment. Drake rose from the couch to greet Manuel and the two men shook hands.
“Evangeline, you remember Manuel,” Drake said.
“Yes,” Evangeline said in a hushed, submissive tone. “I hope you’ve been doing well, sir.”
“Such a sweet and respectful submissive you have, Drake,” Manuel said, his gaze unapologetically devouring Evangeline. “I count myself among the most fortunate of men to be given such a gift.”
“She is yours tonight,” Drake said simply. “I will watch and even participate but you will direct her, not me. As was the case the first night, the only thing you may not do is kiss her lips. Everything else is fair game.”
“What are her limits?” Manuel asked bluntly.
“She has none,” Drake replied.
Manuel lifted one eyebrow in surprise.
“You will use your judgment and I trust you to know how far is too far and as I trust you, so too then will Evangeline trust you. She knows I would never let her come to harm.”
Manuel turned his attention to Evangeline and her pulse accelerated. Her nostrils flared from the expulsion of air trapped in her chest.
“Tell me, Evangeline. How rough do you like it? How rough can you take it? I have no desire to hurt you. I want to make this as pleasurable for you as it is for me and Drake.”
“I want whatever you choose to do to me,” she said, meeting his gaze without hesitation. “I want it to be real. I don’t like fake.”
Drake’s eyes glowed with pride and that gave her an infusion of confidence.
“You and I will get along quite well then,” Manuel said with a smile. “I’m not into games either. But since this is only our second time together and this time I, not Drake, will be in control, I want you to come up with a safe word and use it if you need me to stop.”
“I won’t need you to stop,” she said calmly. “Drake would know long before I ever did if you needed to stop. He won’t allow you to go too far. I trust him completely.”
“It’s a very cherished gift indeed for a dominant for his submissive to have such faith in him. Drake is a very lucky man.”
“It is I who is the lucky one,” she whispered.
Drake walked forward and rested his palm against her cheek. “On that we will -->
