Reluctant Surrender (23 page)

He caught her. “Friends? Behind the two-way mirror you mean?”

She nodded.

“Honey, you’re not ready for that kind of exposure yet.”

She waited as he locked the doors. “You’re leaving them in there?”

“No,” he drew out, stuffing his keys in his pocket before he turned. “I’m leaving them in here.” He tapped the side of her temple with a grin.

She blinked and then her eyes widened when it dawned on her. Wow. “You made them up?”

“So did you. The mind is the greatest sexual organ in the human body. Control that and you’re halfway to erotic heaven without a touch. But I don’t want to talk about this right now. I want to make you some lunch then we can discuss it.”

“But the static—the murmur of voices—the earpiece…” She hurried after him down the steps. “Hey, where are you going?”

“Stay here. I’m going to get a golf cart to take us back.”

She stopped on the bottom step and even though he was at ground level she still had to look up at him. “Why? You worried about my shoes? I’ll be careful with them.”

“No, I’m not worried about the shoes.” He tucked her curls behind an ear and said, “It’s the feet inside them that I don’t want damaged.”

His I-could-eat-you-up expression turned her insides to jelly. She wasn’t sure she made a sound when she meant to say, “Oh.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll have plenty of time to talk about all this later. Right now, it’s time for food.”

She felt like a ninny, standing there on the step drooling over him as he walked away. A complete ass, and before she could stop herself her inner brat came out as she grumbled, “There better not be any kale chips.”

He didn’t break stride or even turn when he chuckled. “Thanks for the reminder, sweetheart. And because you’ve been such a good girl remembering, I’m going to reward you with double what I gave you last night.”

Freaking hell, did the guy have supersonic hearing?

“I’m not going to eat them,” she muttered, stepping down.

“Yes you are.”

Yep, supersonic all right. Wait, what was she doing worrying over his hearing? She should be more concerned about his other super attributes that were sure to distract her during their upcoming discussion. Suddenly she was wishing he’d stack her plate full of those chips because having to choke them down would postpone the ever-loving agony she was sure said discussion would put her through. Damn.

Chapter Thirteen

After lunch Ethan sent Colin into the office to work on her assignment. He’d taken the time to outline what he expected from her and judging from the flack he’d gotten over it, it was going to take her the whole afternoon. The look on her face had been priceless. He was still chuckling over it when his cell rang.

“Hi, Ted, what’s doing?”

“Is that you, E?”

“Of course.”

“Haven’t heard you this chipper since—well, a long time. I’m guessing things with frosty are going good?”

“Yes, things with Colin are fine.” Ethan sat on the arm of the couch and asked, “Are you all settled in?”

“Sure, the cabin’s great. I forget how quiet it is up here. It’s nice.”

“I want to thank you for coming up. I’m thinking I may need you to stop by tomorrow or the next day. I’ll know better later.”

“Sure thing. Listen, I just spoke with David. He didn’t want to mention it to you, but I am. Jade’s back in town and he saw her having lunch with Alistair yesterday.”

“And?”

“Afterward she went to the club. She was looking for you. Angelo she said was asking a lot of questions. Specifically questions about your new sub.”

“Fuck.” Although he was surprised she’d made the trip from Minneapolis, he wasn’t surprised she was dining with Alistair. He was her go-to person when she wanted to get information on him.

“I thought it better you should know, than not.”

“I appreciate that.”

“Hold on, there’s more. I just got off the phone with her. She knows you’re up here. She said she came because she wants you to publically Top her on the thirtieth. She heard about the event and wants an invite. She knows the theater will be packed with visiting Doms and said since you were the one who blackballed her until she completed her therapy, the open event at The Carlyn will be her coming out.”

“What? I’m not participating.”

“I think you better. She’s determined. She said you owed her a reintroduction.”

Reintroduction my ass.
“I’ll take care of this.”

Ethan put a call in to Alistair and pressed him.

“But did she say what she was planning?”

“No, she wants to discuss it with you first. I told her where you were. I hope you don’t mind. She said she wanted to do it in person.”

Of course he minded, but there was nothing he could do about it now. “I’ll wait to hear from her.”

He hung up and stared at his cell. Should he call her? Preempt her showing up unannounced? Hell yes. He pressed speed dial and was mildly surprised she didn’t answer. Jade always answered his calls. Now, admittedly, they’d been sparse over the last year, yet when he did call she’d normally pick up.

He left her a detailed message and then clicked off with a sigh. She better not be attempting to insinuate herself back into his life. He’d hoped after therapy she’d be better able to cope with her past, their parting and the reasons behind it. He’d stayed with her as long as his presence helped her. Even when they were no longer sexual partners he’d stayed, determined to help her work through her issues until those issues had become too big for him and threatened not only her well-being, but the well-being of the community as a whole. That’s when he insisted she enter therapy and to ensure she stayed in counseling he’d put the word out that she was not to be Topped until she was mentally capable for it. Probably not the best advertisement he could have stuck on her, but at the time he’d had little choice in the matter. Safety came first.

He thought back to his conversation with Ted and wondered. Had Jade come all the way here in the hopes that Ethan would pick up the whip on the night of the thirtieth and prove to the crowd she was capable of being Topped again or did she have other reasons for coming?

He left off wondering about that and handled a few business things. When he was done he watered his orchids and had just taken out the recycling when Colin sauntered into the kitchen and announced she was done.

Taking one look at the opened file on her laptop, he frowned. “That’s it? This is everything? All you wrote?”

She peered over his shoulder and pursed her lips. Apparently satisfied with what she saw, she answered, “Yup.”

“You’ve been working on this for two and half hours. How is it that you only have three sentences done?”

She reached around him and tapped the screen. “There’s four there. See?”

“Colin.” He twisted on the stool to look at her and was glad that she’d responded to his tone. Her gaze dropped to the floor and her cheeks reddened. He spoke more softly this time. “I wanted to discuss your thoughts and opinions about what we did this morning.”

She looked up, hopeful. “We can do that without me writing them down, can’t we?”

He stared at her for a moment before he brushed a wayward strand of hair off her cheek and sighed. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t whine, Colin. I don’t like it.”

She shifted from one bare foot to the other and then took a deep breath. “All right.” Rolling her shoulders, she got comfortable. Her tone was even this time. “Why can’t we have a discussion without me having to write a sexual essay for you?”

He stared at her.

“I mean…” She looked away and he waited her out. “If there’s no good reason, I don’t want to do it.”

“Does it make you uncomfortable writing out such intimate and private thoughts that I’ll be able to read over and over again at my leisure?”

“Yes!” She looked so relieved he almost felt bad.

“There’s your reason.”

“Are you telling me you want me to do it, so you can hold me to the words I write?”

“Yes.”

When she made a face that said,
dammit all
he bit back a grin. “I want you to take your computer to the office and do as I told you to do the first time.”

“Did you even give those sentences a chance? They were very insightful. Thought-provoking even.”

“Thought-provoking?” This time he didn’t hide his grin. “Those lines read like a third grade primer.”

She gasped and then glared. Shit, she was adorable.

Swiveling around, he tapped the computer and said, “And I quote, ‘The boss, secretary scene was very titillating.’” He swung back around and eyed her.

“What? What’s wrong with that?”

She was going to have to give in, otherwise—

“I know what you’re thinking.”

No she didn’t, because if she did she’d swipe the computer off the counter and march her fine little ass back to the office to please him.

“Your stare isn’t scaring me.”

Yes it was. He could tell by the way she was fidgeting.

“You think I
did
write those essays, but I was too scared to show them to you.”

Hmm. This was interesting.

“You think that I chickened out at the last minute and—oh, for heaven’s sake.” She leaned around him and clicked a few keys on the keyboard. “There! You happy?”

He didn’t need to look to know he’d find the three detailed accountings he’d originally asked for. “Come here.” He spread his knees and drew her in between them. “Yes, Colin. This makes me very happy.”

“I’m glad one of us is,” she grumbled and when he turned to start reading she moved to step away.

“No, stay here.” He gathered her in closer, encouraging her to lean against him. “Stay while I read what you wrote.”

He moved to tuck her head under his chin and when he started reading she buried her face into his neck and mumbled, “I’m
so
embarrassed.”

“Shh…” Gently stroking the small of her back, he said, “Let me concentrate.”

He knew the moment she settled. The nervous energy drained out of her and her breathing slowed to a steady pace.

By the time he’d finished with her assessment of the office scenario he knew without a doubt she had no reason to be embarrassed. She’d nailed her triggers perfectly and explained her thoughts in the most poignant and graceful way imaginable.

“You’ve written this beautifully, Colin. Far different from your blog’s humorous style. That’s well done too, but this?” He leaned back and shrugged to get her to come away from his chest and look up at him. “This is special.”

“Thank you.”

Leaning down, he kissed her forehead. “Let me finish reading these and then we can discuss them.”

She nodded and without the slightest hesitation she slid her arms around his waist and melted into him. He held his breath, savoring her first uninitiated surrender and when she continued to hug him tight, as if she’d never let him go, he released the air in his lungs and enjoyed the peace that washed over him.

Five minutes later, he gave her his full attention. “I think you understand the Dominant/submissive power exchange better than you think you do.”

“Maybe,” she said and her words heated his chest. “But you still have to explain a few things. Like kale for example.”

He wasn’t going to let her charm her way out of discussing the issue. “After reading your thoughts on paper and pairing them with my own, I think it’s safe to say you prefer to be forced by a man of absolute authority. This is why you’ve had difficulty finding yourself a partner. Your attraction or erotic button is only pressed when you’re in the presence of a stronger-willed person than you.”

“Is this what you do with your stronger will?” Her head fell back and she looked up at him. He stared down at her until she added, “You teach your women to please you the way you liked to be pleased?”

“No, the different ways you please me will be yours alone. And I know you probably think otherwise but there aren’t
women
in my life. I’m probably more monogamous than most vanilla men my age.”

“No.”

“Yes,” he replied just as emphatically, giving her a squeeze. “Because unlike most men, I’m purposeful in my choices. Conscious of what and who I want before I pursue a relationship with them. For me, good sex is something I’d rather forgo if I can wait longer for great sex to happen. There is nothing special in just good.”

“I get it. Release the Kracken.”

“What?” He leaned back to look down at her and she nodded.

“I did this blog post once about how if everyone had a Kracken there’d be no specialness about it. I mean, everyone from Uncle Gary to your neighbor Tom would be releasing their Kracken over stupid things. Someone cuts you off on the highway, release the Kracken. Someone lets their dog do his business on your lawn, release the Kracken.” This time she did the voice and he felt the need to stop her before she dropped another one of her fascinating analogies on him.

“Got it. Yes, I suppose that’s what I mean to an extent, but the more important part of what I was saying is that it’s a privilege to share my bed and if I let just anyone between my sheets the privilege becomes commonplace.”

“Kracken,” she piped up. She was snuggling back up against him when she stilled. “Wait, what about that night in the silk room?” Her tone went higher by an octave or two. “Methinks someone was ready to privilege me.”

“It would have been a rare occurrence.”

She toyed with a button on his shirt. “Why?” He didn’t answer right away and that impulsiveness of hers kicked in. “Why me?”

Taking a deep breath, he said, “Do you remember our first conversation?”

“At the preopening?”

“No our first. On the phone. Two weeks prior.”

She stood and stepped out of the circle of his arms. Obviously she was interested. “Yes. Why? We hashed out certain details didn’t we?”

“Yes.” He leaned back with his arm on the counter. Hooking a heel on the rung of the stool, he admitted, “I had to call you because you’d already refused to do what Ted and David had asked you to do.”

She frowned. “I did?”

“Yes. You were determined to start the shoot at the gates, remember? Only we didn’t want you to.”