Authors: Lydia Michaels

BLIND: A Mastermind Novel (53 page)

BOOK: BLIND: A Mastermind Novel

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The scrape of his jaw dragged over her tender flesh as he bit her thigh. He drove two long fingers deep, hooking them at the perfect angle as his mouth closed over her clit.

Her toes curled as every muscle in her legs tightened and her back bowed against the bed. “Asher!”

Relentlessly, he sucked and teased until she could take no more and her control snapped. Her body pulsed and trembled irrepressibly as she came hard against his mouth, crying out his name. He didn’t stop at one. On and on he went, plying one orgasm after another until she was wrung out and breathless, all thoughts drifting someplace sweet and peaceful.

Heat surrounded her as he climbed up her body and pulled her to him. Her curves fit against his sculpted form, molding perfectly into every crevice. He softly kissed across her lips and she tasted their blended arousal.

“Scarlet?”

“Hmm?
”
she pliantly stretched, beneath him.

“Are you ready?”

“Mmm-hhm.
”
Words were too difficult.

The heat of his belly burned hers as wide hips fit between her thighs. Her tender folds parted under the direction of his gentle fingers and suddenly thick heat was filling her. Her eyes gradually opened to find him watching her. This was what she’d waited for.

“Tell me if I hurt you.”

Using her minimal strength, she grinned and cupped a hand against his jaw. “You won’t.”

His pelvis pressed to hers, as he slowly he drew back and then filled her. Together they gasped. “We might have flaws, but this is perfect,” he whispered, gently pumping into her as he stared into her eyes.

“Yes,” she breathed in full agreement. This was perfect.

While there had been others, tonight was the first time either of them had made love. It went beyond sex and it was more intense than the most passionate fucking. It was intimate, a connection dependent on more than physical contact. Through every glance she felt more and more connected to his soul.

All of her life she’d felt invisible and then this man had come along and took away her sight. One by one, her flaws drifted away and all the pressure dissipated. By making her blind he’d helped her see who she truly was.

They’d fallen in love with nary a kiss between them. Seeing was easy. They saw every shortcoming they had, but it took each other to truly understand those inadequacies did not define who they were as a whole. Hearing the truth took effort, but together they found the courage to finally listen to reason. Fear could make a person blind to many things, but love left nowhere to hide.

Love exposed all.

Asher didn’t love her as a child. He was merely infatuated with a girl he didn’t know beyond what his mind wanted to see. But now, as he held her and filled her under nothing but the flickering flames of the firelight, she showed him all of her, and he saw her flaws, her strengths, and even her deepest insecurities, just as she saw his too. There was truth to love, a truth which neither of them could deny.

She didn’t want the fantasy, nor did he want the unattainable version of perfect he’d imagined. What they wanted was exactly what they got, something undeniably real, sewn from honest confessions and genuine promises to always do their best to love and protect the other.

That evening, Scarlet spent the night in a man’s arms, as they whispered in the dark and confessed their deepest desires. It was incredible to know he’d be there, not just tonight, but tomorrow and the day after that, slowly unveiling the secrets inside their souls that they couldn’t see on their own. The future was very bright indeed.

Epilogue

“She was amazed to discover that when he was saying 'As you wish',

what he meant was, 'I love you.'”

~
Grandfathe
r

The Princess Bride

As it turned out, fantasy was underrated and living with a guy like Asher Roan drove that point home—and by home, she of course meant their kickass castle. Teacher by day, sex goddess by night, her life had become something incredibly close to a work of fiction. But it was
real
.

Asher loved to play and every day with him was an adventure. His creativity was endless, his sense of humor perfectly dry like a good martini, but also potent. He could be called to any task and took every role seriously. It didn’t matter if they were gaming, working, or simply lounging around naked on a Sunday, he always was her knight in shining amour, her hero at the ready.

It turned out they had much more in common than either of them assumed. She was a closeted nerd and he was her perfect counterpart. When they realized how much they enjoyed the same things, they truly hit a euphoric point and let their geek flags fly.

Their wedding, of course, was Star Wars themed, being that the movie scores were unarguably the best. Their groomsmen, or troopers as Asher liked to refer to them, were wonderful. Elliot and Hunter got to know her adult side and forgot the child. Jet was a sweetheart she never stopped appreciating.

Mr. Pennyworth—or Steve, as she’d come to know him—was a welcome return to their lives and someone she would always share a special connection with. She adored the way he looked up to Asher and hoped one day her husband realized that the friends he admired so, loved him with a loyalty that could outlast time.

But still, there were limits to what she could tolerate. For instance their son, who was due to arrive in three months, would
not
be named Gandalf, Mulder, or Flash, but Anakin was not out of the question.

It was amazing, the sort of man her husband became as his confidence grew. It boggled her mind that he had insecurities at all. To her, he was remarkable.

The more he realized she was pretty much shockproof the more interesting their life became. The amount of fantasy play was endless and sometimes the blindfold even went on him. Asher loved roleplaying and she loved seeing how many ways he could be her hero.

Escapism was something they all practiced, whether consciously or otherwise. There was simply something beguiling about being someone else for a time, it was liberating to test fantasies they otherwise wouldn’t dare to admit.

It wasn’t clear who possessed the more capricious side, her with her need to be rescued again and again by a dominant knight, or him with his call to duty and honor—that deep seated need to prove himself time and time again. Either way, their life never stopped being engaging and their desire never seemed to wane.

Scarlet was deeply in love with a man who was dedicated, loyal, and affectionate beyond the norm. Their hearts were indeed scarred, but all those imperfections made the beautiful moments of love and security extraordinary, and they never overlooked how lucky they were to find each other again. It was as if their destiny had been written in the stars.

As she waited on the grass before a table set with homemade bread, two apples, a dagger, and a bottle of cider wine, she turned the last page of William Goldma
n’
s classic,
The Princess Bride.
It was one of her favorite tales of true love and there was nothing quite as magical as reading a first edition copy from Asher’s impressive collection.

His affinity for the obscure and impossibly rare enchanted her. There was nothing Asher viewed as impossible. If he wanted something, he did everything in his power to acquire it, which was exactly how he’d captured her heart.

She sighed as she read the words
The End,
wishing the story could continue just a bit more. Her hand rolled over her distended belly disguised in the crimson gown. Asher had started quite a collection of costumes for female characters and she adored that any ordinary Tuesday could end with an evening in a far off land. Their love extended through space and time, a continuum that stretched to any fantasy and broached many mysterious circumstances.

The back door opened and she smiled as he appeared, sleekly dressed in black. He was so beautiful, so playful and fun. Jogging slowly down the stairs, his sword catching a glimmer of fading sun and flashing in the distance as he approached with a smile.

He appraised her gown and the picnic she’d prepared, his mouth hooking in a little smirk. “Is it Princess Buttercup then, about to be absconded by the Dread Pirate Roberts?
”

She grinned, loving that he could not only identify the setting, but the exact moment of the plot. She slid the book to the grass. “It is, but I won’t go easily,” she threatened. “Not after you killed my Westley.”

He adjusted the black mask he wore and smirked, that adorable dimple of his winking as he holstered his sword. “As you wish.”

God, she loved him. Lowering her blindfold the world went dark and her hero rescued her once more.

THE END

About the Author

Lydia Michaels is the bestselling author of over 20 contemporary romance novels. Her Surrender Trilogy has been featured on iBoo
k’
s Erotic Bestseller List. Her work has also been featured in USA Today and nominated for several prestigious awards.

Lydia loves taking a romantic plot with steamy chemistry and pushing the characters through an evolution of emotion by creating real life challenges any hero or heroine worth their salt could overcome. She presses the bounds of love and surprises readers just when they think they have her stories figured out. Her books are intellectual, erotic, haunting, always centered on love.

She loves hearing from readers!

Find Lydia Michaels

www.Facebook.com/LydiaMichaels

Twitter @Lydia_Michaels

Email:
[email protected]

www.LydiaMichaelsBooks.com

Also by Lydia Michaels

Breaking Perfect

Simple Man

Sacred Waters

Skin

Chaste