Dom Wars Round Two (12 page)

"
Can you?"

The way she seriously seemed to wonder that stabbed me with fury.
"Maybe not. Maybe I fucking imagined all of it. Maybe I'm the stupidest fucking man alive to actually think it meant more to you than just points, just sex!"

"
Oh no, don't you dare. Don't you dare take the self-righteous road. Remember why you're here, what brought you here." She stabbed the counter top with a pointer finger.

"
Self-righteous? You're the one hiding behind the façade of helping your Gramma while you have the best time fucking a practical stranger and loving the
fuck
out of it. Tell me you don't and add liar to your list of psychological hang-ups."

She gasped, with
slitted eyes. "Helping my Gramma is
not
a façade! How dare you say that?"

"
How dare you accuse me of being heartless and incapable of love?"

"
Love?" Her brows furrowed. "The top Dom is defining
love?
How would you begin to know love?"

I slammed my palm on my chest.
"I know what I fucking feel? What do you know? You don't even know yourself."

She slapped the counter.
"I
do
know myself. I know I'm a survivor! I know I'm not going to get taken by another pretend
do-gooder.
I know I've spent seven years in therapy knowing that I know myself. Accepting myself. I even know I can't survive that again. I'm not the kind of woman any man wants forever with, that's what I know, and a few nights' wild sex won't change that. So don't you dare tell me I don't know myself. I fucking know!"

I stared at her dumbstruck, finally seeing it. The assault she
'd survived was merely a tip of the iceberg on a mountain of other betrayals.

She hurried around me and I caught her arm and jerked her to my body. She was tense, brittle, barely keeping it together. The wrong push would shatter her, and yet, if I didn
't try I'd never forgive myself. Before she could protest, I kissed her, holding her face firmly between my hands and just devouring her, giving her all my need and hunger. "Tell me you don't feel it. When we kiss, fucking tell me you don't feel it." The words rasped hot and furious.

At hearing a sob of surrender, I pushed her robe off her shoulders and pulled her against me, my hands matching the fervor of my lips and tongue now. She latched her arms around my neck, her own hunger erupting, declaring what I already knew, what she needed to know. She climbed my waist, her moans filled with desperate whimpers and a terrifying need to be loved. I found a wall and put her shoulders against it and slid my cock in her.

The cry she gave brought a crazed hunger roaring through me, intense need to devastate her doubt and show her the truth. I gripped her waist and watched my cock move in and out with relentless determination to possess and prove as I raked my gaze over her breasts, ending where her lips parted with climactic cries, her brows crimped in shocked pleasure. I didn't want it to end. I didn't want it to ever fucking end but my orgasm was suddenly the key that would set us free and I raced toward it like a mad man.

A tingle of fire skittered along my spine and into my balls until it locked my body and
consumed me. I growled through the vicious release just as she cried out my name. God, fuck. I pulled her against my chest and held her tight, turning and putting my back against the wall. I stayed with her that way while we both struggled to catch our wind.

She whimpered in my ear.
"That's cheating."

I pressed my face against hers.
"What do you mean, love?" Something told me I didn't want to know.

"
I mean that's like… slipping me a drug to sway my answer."

I rubbed my cheek against hers, closing my eyes. A small trickle of hope emerged at something in her voice. Defeat maybe.

"It doesn't count." She returned my hug and I sucked up how good it felt.

"
Why?"

"
Because…" she mumbled, sounding exhausted. "I won't be fooled again. Can't be taken."

She snuggled her face in my neck until my muscles screamed with a fucking barbaric need to protect her.
"Okay, love. I won't let that happen. I won't let you be taken."

I stroked her back and walked with her to the bed and laid her down. I covered her and stroked her forehead, vowing. She
'd never be fooled. Never be taken.

Until I proved she was safe. Safe with me.

An annoying sense of déjà vu struck me as Lucian showered and I made one last check around our quarters to be sure I hadn't left anything behind. All my belongings were neatly packed, except what I needed to finish getting ready for the elimination dinner.

The shower went silent and I fought the temptation to go and watch Lucian get ready. This could very well be my last opportunity to see him. The thought was like getting kicked in the stomach. What would life be like not watching him sleep, or pretending not to enjoy his casual beauty as he moved around the kitchen in nothing but his BVDs? And I
'd probably never sleep again without the solid warmth of his body wrapped around me.

Only when the bathroom door swung open and I got a face full of steam did I realize I
'd given in. Lucian stepped out of the shower and toweled water from his face before he glanced up and paused.

My mouth went dry under the impact of those blue eyes, and my gaze swept over his smooth skin, tracing the path of each water droplet. His ever-present hard-on twitched, saying he knew exactly what I was thinking.

He took a deep breath. "Tara, love, just for the record, I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have given up so easily on that challenge." His tone held genuine apology, taking some of the heat from my frustration.

I shook my head a little.
"No, I'm sorry. I can't say I would have reacted any differently if you had been in the tank."

He ran the towel down his arms, like he was trying to take my focus off his words.
"The thing is, I'm not really afraid of water, Tara. Not in the way you think, anyway. But I'm fucking terrified of someone else drowning. The very thought sends me off the deep end."

I waited for details, but he didn
't seem to want to give any more.

He shrugged a little.
"I just wanted you to know, whichever way this goes, I wasn't deliberately trying to make you lose."

"
I know. And by the way, I wasn't willing to do just anything blindly to rack up points, but none of that matters right now."

He moved forward until his chest touched mine.
"Right now, this is the only thing that matters." A feral groan rumbled through him as he dragged me against him, reminding me how thin my t-shirt was. His hot skin felt delicious against mine, unlocking all that hunger I worked so hard to neatly compartmentalize. My fingers explored his silky shoulders and chest, torn on which path to take. Chest, abs, neck… hard cock pressing into my stomach. It suddenly didn't matter when his tongue lashed over mine in a desperate hunger and his hand slid inside the top of my panties. The world fell away as his finger stormed my core with dominance, leaving me in a whimpering mush.

"
Where will you go if we lose?" The words were hot on my neck as he moved to suck it vigorously while his finger persistently commanded the strength from my body. I answered with incoherent moans hoping he wouldn't ask the unthinkable question again. I raked my nails in his wet hair and lowered to my knees. I needed to taste him in case… God I didn't want to think about it. I adored his cock with everything I had, wanting him to know how much I… didn't want this to end yet.

"
Come here, love." The words strained as he tugged me up.

I reluctantly kissed my way up his body, the sound of mourning in every moan as I stroked the muscles I could reach, memorizing. He pulled my face to his and kissed me while
lifting me on to the vanity then proceeded to yank at my panties, his hungry mouth not leaving mine. He helped me onto his cock and buried himself deep then lifted me in his embrace. "Fuck," he gasped in my ear, hugging me so very close to him, strong arms tight around me.

I began moving on him, kissing his ear while he kept our faces tight and rolled his hips sensually slow. When he was buried as deep as he could go, he pressed the top of my ass with his hand and ground the head of his cock against my core until my cries filled the bathroom with the sounds of ecstasy.

"So fucking beautiful. You're so fucking beautiful," he whispered harshly in my ear. "You mean so much to me, please fucking know that." 

The entire thing felt so absolute, like this was the last time we
'd share this. My chest tightened and I gasped, fighting to move on him, to feel him. "Dominate me, do it. Please." Make me forget. That's what he did, he made me forget. Even if only for a little while. During those minutes, I could be free. "Fuck me hard Lucian!" I cried.

He seemed to get it. And he gave me what I needed, placing my shoulders against the wall and fucking me senseless, fucking the past right from my mind, right from my body for a few glorious minutes.

The heat spread through my body and mind as his thrusts became absolute and unforgiving. Devastate me. Devastate me! Tear me down! Take me over! "Take me Lucian!"

He answered my plea with a roar and our chests met hard as we came undone together. Came so perfectly undone together.

****

I stuck my head in the bathroom door and whistled at seeing Tara in front of the mirror looking skeptically at herself in a little black cocktail dress. Fucking beautiful. In anything,
really. Nothing especially. "Ready?"

She nodded.
"As ready as I'll ever be."

I held out my arm and she took it and I led us to the big formal dining room, feeling the final hour breathing down my neck.

I don't know what I'd expected, but the room was arranged with one little table as a focal point, situated under the big chandelier. Candlelight glinted off fine china and delicate crystal. A bank of video monitors had been set up across from the table, all the screens displaying the Gladiator, Inc. logo at the moment.

I held Tara
's chair, wanting to be every inch the gentleman she deserved. She sat and I drew my own chair a little closer to hers and sat. The wait staff arrived right on cue to pour wine and deliver plates. The food was probably good, but it might as well have been sawdust for all I could taste.

Hours passed before the meal was cleared and the lights went down, and finally the monitors came up. I watched them all carefully, searching for some clue about the other contestants.

As near I could tell, all the competitors were similarly dressed, and sat in seemingly identical rooms. Other than obvious ethnic differences, the people on the screens could have been anyone, anywhere.

Finally, a deep rumbly voice broke in over the quiet chatter from all the screens.
"Welcome, Dom Wars contestants!" After a short introduction, a woman in the top row of monitors rose from her table, resplendent in a black and silver gown and cascades of silver-blonde curls. At her back, a dark-haired man in a black on black tux stood to lend silent support.

"
We're so glad you were all able to join our little competition. As your moderators have said over the past few days, this week has been all about trust in its various manifestations. We strove to measure the degree of trust you had in your partner, and to develop it further. Many of you succeeded in that task, but inevitably, some failed. If your cumulative score for the week dropped below seventy percent of the possible points, your journey with us ends tonight. And I'm afraid that will be true for six of the teams." She gave this with a wince.

"
Some of you will see a difference in how the scores are calculated. The American and European teams were awarded popularity points based on viewer voting during the first week. But since the competition is now worldwide, and some of you are from regions where the BDSM subculture is not well-known or welcomed, we have eliminated that aspect from the scoring. Subscribers are still encouraged to vote for their favorite competitors, but those scores will be used to award various special prizes and bonuses, not to determine elimination."

Applause erupted from all the screens, interrupting the speaker.

The woman bowed slightly, then continued. "And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for…" The screens went black. "We will only be putting up the countries' flags that have been eliminated. If your flag does not appear on the screen, that means you will move to the next round."

Six flags slowly dissolved in reverse onto the screen and Tara gasped.
"Oh my God." Then she lunged on me. "We made it! Oh my
God
we made it!"

I closed my eyes and my wind left me in a rush of utter relief. It wasn
't the end. Thank God, it wasn't the end.

"
Congratulations to all those who have passed to the next round. We've named the next two rounds to come, Demon Domination."

Tara sat back in her seat, listening while gripping my hand tight under the table.

"What in the world will you be doing in the Demon Domination round you wonder? Fair question. At Gladiator, our endeavor is to discover the top Dom. And we feel it's important to know what
drives
your Dom. Is it you?" She paused with a brilliant smile. "Or is it demons from your past?

"
So the next challenge will involve going back in time… into one of your pasts… finding your demons… and
dominating
them. The round will be repeated for the other member of the team in the following week's challenge if you make it."

Applause erupted from some unseen audience. I glanced at Tara who sat pensively staring at the monitors. I would have guessed she was in complete focus on the speaker, only they were no longer speaking.

I stroked her hand and she jerked to me with a smile.

The woman continued,
"Who will face their past demons first? We let the audience decide that for each team. Will the team moderators please inform their couple who will get to tackle their demons first?"

My stomach tensed as Danielle sauntered up to the podium in the center of the room in front of the camera. A suited man brought her an envelope and she kissed him on the cheek then opened it. Her blinding smile shown as she leaned close to the small
mic and looked our way. "The lucky one to tackle their demons first is… Tara Reese."

I looked at Tara to see how she felt about that. She was nodding with that look on her face, the one that she
'd developed no doubt from all those years of therapy. The mask that allowed her to hide safely.

"
I can do this. No problem. We got this." She nodded at me.

I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it.
"You can, love. I'll help you."

She
pffed and waved her hand then leaned in to whisper. "It'll be quick." She winked at me. "I've dominated my demons already. I'll have to put on a show."

I stared at her, my chest filling with that furious need to protect her, dominate for her.
"Yes, love." I leaned and kissed her cheek, lingering in her scent. "We'll put on one hell of a show for them."