Chapter Fourteen

Drake

“You, sir, are happy,” Leonard said with a knowing smirk on his face.

Mrs. Johnson set the food tray next to the refreshment he’d brought on my desk. “Exactly.”

I groaned. When I had my most loyal servants double-teaming me, it could only mean that they wanted to talk, which was a dangerous proposition. It also meant that they had been plotting. Okay, so they probably spent all the time plotting anyway. This time, though, these two jokers were clearly up to something.

“Thank you for the food, guys, but I was going to take a break anyway.”

“Well, Belle’s out sunbathing on the beach, and we wanted to take some time to talk to you.”

I eyed them. “Why does talk sound like inquisition?”

Mrs. Johnson smiled and laughed, the false cheer a sure sign she was the mastermind in whatever deal she and Leonard had cooked up. “It’s not, dear, not unless you make it that way.”

I frowned and shut my laptop. “So, guys, what do you have planned for me? Will it require walking the plank?”

“Only if you answer wrong,” Leonard said.

“Then this is a mutiny?” I asked.

“It’s like an intervention, dear,” Mrs. Johnson said. I didn’t let her sweet tone fool me. I knew Penelope well. Under that schoolmarm exterior was a total momma grizzly. If something was going wrong for people she cared about, she’d take your head off in one swipe. “We wanted to really know how you feel about Belle.”

“I care about her,” I said.

While I wasn’t dumb, and I figured Leonard and Mrs. Johnson both had figured out the type of relationship we currently had, the games we played, I wasn’t about to be an asshole and spread it all over. Belle’s sexual choices were private. I mean, I was an open book about mine, but I didn’t want to betray her trust like that. Still, I didn’t need to get into the huge details. They both had figured out by now that we were sleeping together.

Leonard threaded his hands behind his head. “I mean, do you plan to do anything beyond ‘care?’”

I sighed, letting a long breath out and trying to relax. Under pressure, the flashbacks came back and the last thing I wanted was for Mrs. Johnson and Leonard to see that side of me, to see that fucking weakness.

“It’s only been a few weeks,” I hedged.

Mrs. Johnson nodded. “I try not to break anyone’s confidence, and I won’t do that, even now with Belle, but she’s worried that this is all a passing fancy and that things will change when you go back to L.A. I assured her it wouldn’t, but it would help a lot if she heard that from your own lips. If she knew that it was going to be safe when she got back, at least safe for her heart.”

Leaning back in my chair, I balled my fists at my sides. “I don’t know what will happen when we get back there.”

“What?” cried Leonard. “So, you were leading her along that whole time. I warned you, Drake,” he said, rolling up his sleeves.

I rolled my eyes at what he was doing. “Come on. You couldn’t kick my ass if you wanted to, and I wouldn’t let you get hurt anyway. Besides, that’s not exactly what I meant. Give me some fucking credit here, man. It’s not a ‘wham, bam, thank you, ma’am’ deal and you know it.”

“I should hope not!” Mrs. Johnson said, bringing a hand to her chest.

“No, I mean that I’d love to keep seeing her. I’d love to keep being with her. You have no idea how I feel. I’ve never had a relationship with a woman like this ever. It’s been about just the numbers, about making sure no one knew me too well so switching off as fast as I could.”

Leonard nodded. “Believe me, we know. But Belle is different.”

“I know that. Don’t you think I do?” I stood up and started to pace. “But that’s the whole problem. I don’t feel like I deserve her. She can go back to L.A. and have any guy she wants. Hell, once this deal is brokered and we all know it will be, she’ll be free of her dad’s company. It’ll be stable again, and she can get her master’s in ecology and meet some smart college guy, the type she deserves. The last thing she needs is to be stuck with a crazy charity case like me. I’m not good enough for her and we all know it.”

I stopped then and threw up my hands like some dramatic chick. “I’m serious. The only reason she came was because I forced her. Now that she has a choice, once all this is over, she probably won’t stick around.”

“I seriously doubt that,” Mrs. Johnson said. “But she has a right to know where she stands.”

“I don’t even know where I stand,” I replied. “All I know is I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, but I know that she deserves a life that is free from all my bullshit and baggage. I’d have her forever, keep her with me in my place in L.A. like I do here if she’d have me, but I don’t know if that would ever really work out.”

“Then ask her,” Leonard said, chuckling. “I swear that you both make it so complicated. You’d save all of us a ton of heartbreak if you’d just talk directly to each other.”

Mrs. Johnson nodded. “We’re the go-betweens here, and we want you both to be happy, but if you’re too scared to be honest with one another, then maybe you really will lose each other. You have to talk and you have to take that risk, put it all out on the table.”

“Exactly, lay them cards down,” Leonard chimed in.

“And if she leaves? Says that she can’t deal with me when it’s not just a forced deal? I don’t know if I could handle that,” I admitted.

She was more than just a fun time. Hell, she was more than a lover. Belle had a way about her that chased the darkness away, made the guilt I suffered through every day because of my mistakes actually able to bear. She’d seen my scar—all my shame—and she still clearly cared about me. If she decided that I was a phase or that my bullshit was just too much one day, then the darkness would drag me back, and I might just let it, might let it sweep me under forever. If I didn’t have Belle in my life anymore, what would be the point anyway?

“You have to talk to her,” Mrs. Johnson reminded me, her voice quiet. “If you don’t, then you’ll lose her anyway.”

***

“I haven’t ever let myself be tied down before,” I said, not sure what had even possessed me to let this type of play be on the table.

I’d had a few sessions so far of binding Belle with rope, of enjoying the patterns of the knots flush against her skin. But I’d never let myself be even somewhat compromised in a scene before. I didn’t switch. Tonight, though, she’d picked up a few silk scarves and then her idea built from there. Who’d have known she could start getting creative and bold with this or that I’d go along with it? Maybe it was easier than having a real conversation, of taking time out from our games to ask her where our relationship was going, if she truly wanted to be with me after the island. Fuck, Belle had me tied up in knots already, so there was no reason my princess shouldn’t literally be doing it, too.

She grinned and finished tightening the knot on the red silk scarf that bound my left wrist to the bed. Belle had already secured my right one. I didn’t offer to go any further than that. I’d be damned if I’d be spread-eagled and completely immobilized. But this was the first time she’d wanted to take the lead in a scene, and I was curious to see what she was planning in that sharp, devious mind of hers.

Now she stood before me, fully clothed, and I realized what a huge mistake I’d made. I wanted to grab her right then, to tear the sundress off her and see those pert breasts of hers and feel the tight globes of her ass under my hands. I wanted to squeeze every inch of her soft flesh and lick her from head to toe. She was mine, and I’d always controlled the tempo of the games. I was too fucking impatient to be caged for long.

“Are you going to just stand there?” I growled, my cock already rigid and standing at attention for her.

She smirked, a devious expression that told me I was in for a lot of trouble. Walking over to the stereo, she put on a low and sultry instrumental number, something with a hint of sax to it. Then she started to dance. Belle wasn’t going out like some chick on a pole, wasn’t being as obvious or showy about it. This wasn’t faked seduction or trying too hard. No, this was her hips swaying from side to side in time with the music and her hands running up and over her thighs. Picking up the hem of her dress, she pulled it up until it came up to the rim of her ass, giving me just the hint of those soft mounds. It was enough to know that I’d guessed right and she was free under that dress.

My balls were pounding with need. I wanted to fuck her right then.

She dropped the hem and let it fall back toward her knees. Then she reached up and picked her long, brown hair up in her arms, running her hands through it as she danced, letting her fingers twist through the strands as it flew wildly out from her grasp. One hand snaked its way down to the neckline of her dress, where her cleavage peeked out. It didn’t peek out nearly enough for me. I wanted to see all of it.

Maybe Belle was reading my mind or maybe my erection spoke volumes for me. Either way, she slid the neckline down to show the creamy expanse of her right breast.

I growled in a way that probably sounded more like an animal, a low groan full of nothing but sexual need.

Fuck I wanted her.

And she was going to toy with me the whole way.

She was the only woman on earth I’d ever let do that. No one else teased me; no one else taunted me. I was the master of my own life, of my fate, and I wanted what I wanted when I wanted it.

And she should have been the next fucking entrée on my plate by now.

“You shouldn’t fucking tease me,” I said, my voice still low. “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”

She grinned and pulled off her dress in one quick motion. Then she shimmied before me, her hips still moving in time to the rhythm even as her fingers cupped her perfect breasts. Her fingers worked at her nipples, pebbling them to rock hard perfection before me. I licked my lips and strained my hips against the mattress. I wanted her now.

Fuck, I wanted her ten minutes ago.

As I watched, Belle explored herself further, touched herself with her eyes closed. My blood was pounding directly, painfully, to my cock, and I had to speak.

I knew how to take control even tied to a fucking bed.

“Are you thinking of me, princess?” I rumbled. “Is that how you get off? Do you touch your nipples at night when I’m not around and think of my fingers touching you? Do you rub that hand over your clit and think of my cock up inside of you, spilling cum deep in you? What do you dream about, princess? Who?”

“Just you, Master,” she gasped, her breath coming out as if she’d run a marathon. “I always think about you.”

“I want you to follow my commands now, princess. Will you do that for your Master?”

“Of course,” she said.

She didn’t say my title again, but I let it slip. She knew who was in control here, who was always in control in the playroom. I was the beast in here, the animal, and she served what I wanted. There was trust, yes, and there was an education here as well, but this was my territory. Having my hands bound wasn’t going to stop me from dominating her after all, not when I still could command her with my very voice.

“Then I want you to touch your pussy. I want you to touch your tight, wet, little pussy like I was the one fingering you. Show me what you like, princess. Show me everything.”

She nodded and one hand traveled low to slide over her belly and then parted her vag. At first, she slipped one finger inside of her, bucking against it like it was even a fraction of my cock’s size.

I shook my head and made a tsking noise. “No, that’s not how I’d touch you. You know that’s not. Show me how you claim yourself, princess. Show me how you fuck hard. I want to see your damn juices pouring down your leg. I want to see you sweat, want to hear you scream the damn chandelier down. One finger ain’t gonna do that.”

She nodded and opened her eyes again, her blue gaze fixed on me. I was the one doing this to her, I was the one fucking her even across the room, even with my cock flushed with blood and aching to actually touch her.

Belle kept her gaze on me but slid two more fingers into her channel and began fucking her hand ferociously, thrusting inside of herself like she was goddamn possessed. She mewled and thrashed her head back, riding her own hand to ecstasy as I talked her through it.

“I’m going to make you come so hard, princess, when you fuck me. I’m going to make you scream my name without even touching you. Who’s your man?”

“You are, Master,” she said, thrusting her fingers again and screaming so loud I thought that it might actually get the staff’s attention.

Of course, they’d been well trained to ignore so many things.

“Fuck yourself for me, baby. Fuck yourself so hard you come for days, and then remember that it’s not anything compared to what I’m going to do to you.”

She nodded and almost seemed to let her knees buckle out from under her. “I am!”

“I’m going to shove my cock up inside of you and ride you for hours, princess, make you come until you pass out, see goddamn stars. Do you hear me?”

She nodded and then her body shook and she screamed and screamed. I knew then that she’d orgasmed, hit that peak without me and I had to chase back my jealousy. I’d done that with my voice, but soon enough I’d make sure she saw to my cock.

Belle leaned against the wall for a few minutes, panting hard. I didn’t mind. It was worth the floor show to watch her breasts heave up and down with every breath. When she had strength again, she walked over to the sink and started to clean herself.

“Don’t,” I commanded. “I want to feel everything when we fuck.”

“I…” She hesitated a bit. It was cute she still had some modesty, but I’d been the one to make her so wet, and I wanted—no, needed—to feel that, too. It was the fruit of all my efforts. There was nothing she had to hide from me, let alone the sweet nectar of her cunt. “Are you sure?”

“‘Master,’” I supplied. “Remember to always say ‘Master,’ princess.”

“Are you sure, Master?”

“Don’t question me,” I replied, commanding her as I would have my unit once upon a time. “Now, come to me, Belle, I want you to ride me, too.”

She nodded and only stopped long enough to grab a condom from the bedside table. She tapped the foil packet against one palm and grinned. “You know that I’m on the pill, right? Are you clean?”

“Believe me; I want control in all things. I get tested every month just to make sure.”

She tossed the packet to the floor. “Well, you’re the only man I’ve been with.”

I grinned back at her and licked my lips like the predator I was. “You’re ready to bareback then?”

“I’m ready for anything with you,” she admitted, crawling up onto the bed and straddling my waist.

I loved the feel of her, the softness of her thighs around me, the heat of her legs over my torso, that trail of juices dripping over me. I’d done that; I’d made her wet from across the room. If it were possible, I think my erection grew even more rigid. Fuck, the things this woman did to me.

“Have you ever ridden a man, princess?”

“You know I haven’t,” she said, her eyes downcast, and some of that sexy siren attitude drained from her.

“Well, kitten, I’d love to be your first. In fact, I want to be your first in everything. There’s so much I have left to show you, so much I have left to teach you, and I don’t want any man to come between us, for anyone else to feel you the way I do.”

“I wouldn’t want anyone else, Master,” she said. Then she shook her head, as if brushing the scene from her mind. Then she looked back at me, her blue eyes brimming with sincerity, and she placed one hand on the side of my cheek. “Drake, I mean it. I don’t want there to be anyone else but you.”

In a normal session, I would have reprimanded her for dropping the rules. I would have called her on forgetting that I was her master, but this wasn’t a normal anything for me, and my crazy, messed-up head and heart were both touched that she wanted me and only me in this room.

I wished I could have touched her then, but I did what I could, lowering my voice to a gentle tone. “I feel the same way. There’s no one I’d want in here with me either.”

I should have said I cared about her, that I needed her to stay, but I didn’t think she’d believe me with me tied naked to a bed in the damn playroom. But I knew it really was time to tell her everything, to be laid bare before her again. Tomorrow. My brain was already racing with plans for tomorrow night.

“Good, then… I… if it’s not good or I do this wrong, let me know.”

I laughed. “Belle, princess, there’s no way anything you do would ever be wrong. Now ride me, baby. Fuck me.”

She pushed herself up on her knees and then eased herself up over my cock. I hissed at the heat of her, at the enveloping warmth of her pussy as she slid right over me. Belle smiled, that coy look back on her lips, and reached over to undo my bonds.

“I want you to be able to do everything, too,” she said.

I sat up and wrapped my hands over her waist. “No, cowgirl, you’re in control here.”

“I…”

“Just do what comes natural, princess. Make me scream. Make us both scream.”

She nodded and started to run her pussy up and down my cock, the friction building deliciously between us. I arched my hips up to meet her then we were pounding away. I followed the rhythm she set—slow and hesitant at first—then frantic like she was outracing the fucking devil. She pounded against me, up and down, up and down, and that friction grew hotter, made my balls grow heavy with need.

Finally, she raked her nailed down and across my chest, that slight bit of pain I needed to come, my dick spurting inside of her, my guys mixing with her juices, all of us—every part—mixing together so thoroughly. I pumped as hard as I could, thrusting into her and draining into her. I kept pumping long after I was spent, the combined force of our mutual orgasms leaving us fucking like animals, wild and almost rabid in each other’s arms.

Once we were both finished, once some common sense had clawed its way back into our brains, Belle slipped off my stomach and curled up next to me, lazily releasing my bound hands. Then she laughed and eyed the sink. “I think we made a mess.”

I reached out and stroked her hair. “But I’ll have the best time cleaning you up, princess. There’s a massive jacuzzi in the attached bathroom, tons of fun we can get into with the jets, too.”

“I just… so you liked that, too?” she asked, biting her lower lip and fluttering her eyelashes at me.

I leaned over just enough to kiss her temple. “I love everything you do, Belle, believe me about that.”

“I try,” she said, but the wavering in her tone made me think it was hard for her, too. Maybe I just wasn’t giving enough.

“Here,” I said, slipping out of bed and heading to the sink and grabbing some towels. “I think we could both use some cleaning off, but I also had something I wanted to give you, something I think is right finally.”

“I don’t understand,” she said.

I knelt by the sink and opened a drawer, pulling out the black velvet case that still held the collar I’d fucked up giving her last time. She’d been right. I’d rushed it and almost lost her because of it. I wasn’t going to do that again, but I wanted her to know that she was mine. That she’d always have a place with me in this playroom and in my bed.

Walking back over to the bed, I sat on the mattress beside her and opened the box. “Belle, I have some plans for tomorrow night, something I’d love to do on the beach—and no, not that, well, unless you want it to be.”

She chuckled and swatted at my arm. “You would say that.”

I grinned back at her and stuck out my tongue. “What can I say, baby? I’m incorrigible. Still, there is a lot we do need to talk about before we go back to L.A. I know we have a few more days to try and meet both side’s demands, but I mean about us, about the negotiations here,” I said, drawing out that word so she knew exactly what I meant.

“I’d like that,” she said, her tone sobering.

“I think we need it, but first, Belle, I should have done this like this all the way along, but will you be my sub?”

She nodded and took the collar in her hands, letting her fingers trace over the diamonds and precious stones that studded it. “I’ll do anything for you, Drake. Would you put this on me?”

Standing, I took the collar in my hand and slipped it around her throat. My fingers played with the silky skin of her exposed neck as I clasped the collar around her neck. Then I leaned down and kissed her.

“I’m glad you’ll meet with me tomorrow, princess.”

I just hope you like what I have to say.