Chapter Nine
IT WAS HAPPENING AGAIN.
Leo held her close, stroking her back as she relaxed so trustingly against him. How could she incite such violent lust one moment, and heartbreaking gentleness the next? His one goal to concentrate only on sex had already crumbled under her wide, pleading eyes and trembling lips.
She’d already gone halfway into subspace and he’d only scratched the surface of where he could take her. The way she opened up and allowed him to push her edges; the beautiful way she surrendered under the flick of the flogger and stroke of his fingers, shattering around him with such truthfulness, he was almost driven to his knees.
This is what he’d always craved. A woman who could offer all these things.
But was it the sex or him? The BDSM experience or him?
“Leo?”
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and pushed away his doubts. “Yes?”
“Where’d you get all that equipment from?”
He chuckled. “I had everything stored beforehand in the cabinets. Do you really think I’m an unprepared Dom?”
He felt her smile against his chest. “No. I guess I was expecting you to bring a bag like a doctor.”
“I like keeping my submissives off balance.”
Her nails curled into his shoulder. “Do you have many submissives?”
He’d never try to make her jealous. Honesty was everything to him, and another reason he loved BDSM. The communication between partners was key to the intimacy. “No, Scarlett. I’ve played with various partners throughout the years but haven’t had a serious relationship in a while. I was traveling with the Navy for a number of years, and became kind of a wanderer, always looking for new places to settle. I haven’t been tempted to change my lifestyle for a woman yet.”
She seemed to absorb his answer, her mind clicking to sort through the information like a good little statistician. He’d always had a weakness for math nerds, especially ones laying naked and satisfied in his arms. “Is it wrong that I’m glad there’s no one else?”
“No, it’s honest. But you did walk away. I wanted more. You didn’t.”
She lifted her head and met his gaze. Those inky eyes pulled him deep, trapping him with the strength of her emotion. “I made a mistake,” she said simply. “I thought it was for the best. I was wrong.”
His muscles tightened. He grabbed the back of her head, fisting his fingers in her hair, and yanked back. Her lips parted, damp and red and inviting. Like the poison apple? Or the fruit that could nourish his body and soul?
“Tell me why,” he demanded.
“After my divorce, I felt as if I was trapped in my old life. Baltimore was full of memories of my ex and who I’d become, and I wanted a fresh start. That night at Blasphemy, I promised I’d allow myself to let go and give myself one perfect memory before I moved away. I wasn’t looking for a deep connection, or a relationship, or anything that would deter me from something I needed to do. Wearing a mask allowed me to surrender.”
He nodded. God knows, he understood needing something for yourself. “Did you feel like you never had that opportunity because of your marriage?”
“Yes. I married young, and I fell into a routine that I never questioned. I worked in a small office from nine to five and went home to cook dinner. I drank one glass of wine per night for good heart health but not two because it made me tipsy. Peter and I would spend a quiet evening together, or go out with a few couples from his job. Then we’d have missionary sex every Friday night. Maybe take the occasional vacation, snapping selfies to post on Facebook so everyone knew I was happy.” Her voice caught, but she shook her head and continued. “I was dying inside. Trapped in a life that on the surface seemed perfect, but always craving more. After I left him, I began therapy and finding myself again. But that night, when I met you, I was terrified of not leaving. I had a new job lined up in Vegas, with an apartment and a blank canvas I got to fill. If I said yes, I may have stayed in Baltimore. If I said yes to you, I felt like I was saying no to me.”
Her words tore through him. Naked vulnerability carved out the lines of her beautiful face, but she confronted him with her chin held high and determination glittering in her eyes.
“What’s changed now, Scarlett? It’s only four months later. What’s different from the last time?”
She dragged in a breath. “I realize I am strong enough to enter into a relationship without losing myself. That I’m a beautiful woman, that my needs aren’t abnormal. You accepted me, as is. You embraced my sexuality, nurtured it. Since I left, I can’t stop thinking about you. Dreaming about you. And now that you’re here, I want to give us a chance for more. I need you, Leo, so much.”
He groaned and stamped his mouth over hers.
Her honeyed sweetness filled him up as his tongue stroked and pleasured the wet cave of her mouth. He breathed in the clean, sharp scent of citrus, holding her tight as he plundered her mouth, desperate for everything. She kissed him back, looping her arms around his neck, giving it all back to him.
He pulled away and tipped her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze. Frustration curled the edges of his voice. “You like the way I make you feel. I don’t necessarily think it has to do with me specifically. You haven’t been with any other Doms, little one. How do you know it’s not the experience of surrender you’re craving and not me?”
“Because it isn’t.” Stubbornness radiated from her form. “There’s a connection between us. Bigger than just the sex or the BDSM. It’s in your very touch, and your eyes when you look at me, and the way you can be cruel yet so tender my very soul stirs. No other man has ever given me that.”
She was killing him. He fisted his hands, torn between his need to believe her and the raging doubt that told him she was still too inexperienced. But he couldn’t walk away either. For now, he intended to spend the night learning everything he could in order to imprint himself on not only her body, but her mind.
“I want to know more of you. Beyond my chains and dominance.” He pressed his palm over her naked breast, against her beating heart. “Open up to me tonight and give us a chance to take this out of the bedroom. If that’s what you truly want.”
“It is.” He kissed her long and deep, sealing her promise. When he lifted his head, she was smiling up at him, her dark eyes joyous and lit with mischief. “What do you want to know?”
He grinned back. “Right now? Tell me—what you want to eat. I’m starving.”
Her laugh charmed him. “French fries. With mustard and ketchup.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Ugh, that makes no sense. You need to choose.”
“Why? I want it all.”
He tapped the bridge of her nose. “Then you shall have it.” He cocked his head in sudden deliberation. “Fries or onion rings?”
“Fries.”
“Coffee or tea?”
She rolled her eyes. “Coffee. Duh.”
“Thank God. I could never trust a tea person. Dogs or cats?”
“Dogs.”
“Another good answer. Morning or night person?”
“I’m practically a vampire,” she said.
His gaze dropped to the vulnerable curve of her neck. “Hot vampire fantasies?”
“Maybe.”
The flicker of interest in her eyes told him definitely. Damned if it wouldn’t be fun to bite and ravish her. “I think we’ll get along just fine,” he drawled, pleased her skin was flushed just from his voice. He loved the way she responded to him—making him feel like a fucking superhero.
Leo called in the order to room service and shrugged on his pants. She devoured him with her gaze, sitting cross legged on the bed. “Okay, now it’s my turn,” she declared. “You said you worked in security. Do you work in a casino?”
“Yes, but I’m not a security guard. I bust the people who try to cheat the casinos.”
Her eyes grew wide. “Like in the mobster movies?”
“Less exciting. I don’t send anyone out to break their knee caps.” She looked so disappointed he chuckled. “I’m also a math nerd. Grew up being able to do complicated math in my head, and when I was in my twenties, I made a bundle counting cards. Until I got busted.”
“Did anyone break your kneecaps?”
He arched a brow. “I had no idea you were so bloodthirsty. It’s turning me on.” He enjoyed her giggle and continued. “No, they were so impressed they hired me in Atlantic City. My cousins worked there for years—they’re all poker dealers. But after a while I got itchy and joined the Navy. When I got home, I found my cousins had moved out to Vegas and hooked me up with a job. I missed them, and felt ready to settle back down so I drove out here.”
“How many cousins do you have?”
“Four. Rick, Rome, Rafe, and Rem.”
She blinked. “You gotta be kidding me.”
Leo grinned. “Nope, they get tortured all the time. Aunt Alice named them each after a leading man she had a crush on.”
Scarlett propped her elbows on her knees and leaned forward. “Oh, this I have to know.”
He ticked them off his fingers one by one. “Rick Springfield. Roman from the soap opera, Days of Our Lives. Rafael Nadal, the famous tennis player. And Remington Steele—the TV show where the main guy was played by Pierce Brosnan.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Damn, I wish I could meet their mother. She’s cool.”
He joined her back on the bed. “Aunt Alice is very cool.”
“Is she your aunt on your mom or dad’s side?”
“My mother, but I lost her a few years ago. Cancer.”
She reached out and grabbed his hand. The simple gesture of warmth and comfort touched him. “I’m so sorry.”
He smiled at her. “It’s okay, little one. I came to terms with it. My father and I were never close, so that’s another reason I wanted to move to Vegas. I missed being with family.”
“I’d love to meet your cousins one day.” She ducked her head with a touch of shyness. “I don’t have any other siblings either. I’m close to my parents but they’re in New York so I don’t see them as much. I always wanted to be part of a big family.”
“You want kids one day?”
Her smile lit up her face. “Oh, yes. At least four. Peter wanted to wait, but now I’m glad we did. It’s heartbreaking to begin a family with the wrong person.”
“Yes, it is.”
Their gazes met and locked. The air between them shimmered with the usual energy, and he raised her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. Why did it feel so natural between them? As if they’d known each other much longer than two brief nights?
But could he really trust what they had? What if her feelings were mixed up with the natural high of submitting to an experienced Dominant? He prided himself on sensing what a woman needed from him. Leo needed that punch of satisfaction and power of being that type of Dominant. He knew Scarlett meant more to him than just a physical encounter. But how could she really trust her instincts without allowing herself to broaden her experiences?
The discreet knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. “I’ll be right back.” He dropped her hand and turned, trying to ignore his churning gut and the inner voice that told him he might have to leave her in order to truly know if she was meant to belong to him.