CarnalTakeover (11 page)

He stared. “No. Why?”

“Can you check out the reports and estimates again?”

Nat looked as though she’d asked him to get a sex change,
and then he frowned. “Your grandfather giving you hell?”

“He says things aren’t going quickly enough, they’re costing
too much. I’ve explained the facts of reality to him. He doesn’t want to
listen. Please don’t tell Daniel anything about this.”

“Why not? He’s the lead.”

“Please. I’ll discuss it with him after you look at the
projections again. We’ll talk about it later this week, okay?”

“Why not sooner?”

Because Alexandra didn’t want anything screwing up the next
few days, the only time she might have with Daniel before Lucius’ crap started
raining down.

She got to the grocery store later than expected. There’d
been too much to do at the office, work she’d delayed because she kept going
over Daniel’s reports, unable to find anything to change in them.

Maybe Nat could locate something. He was an engineer like
Daniel. All Alexandra had was a double master’s from Harvard. One in business,
the other in sustainability and environmental management. Could be Nat would
pinpoint something she’d missed that might get Lucius off their backs.

She hurried to the grocery checkout with her stash of
candles. Utilitarian, decorated, scented, even those tiny ones for kid’s
birthday cakes. She’d cleaned out the place.

The clerk, a middle-aged Inupiat woman, looked puzzled. “You
hear something about the power here? Is it going out?”

“No, no.” Alexandra dug in her purse for her wallet. “My
generator hasn’t been working. If anything does happen, I don’t want to be
caught without light. You know?”

The woman’s expression said she didn’t. “You don’t have a
flashlight or a fireplace?”

Alexandra tried not to sound too stupid, which wasn’t easy
given her already idiotic answer. “Batteries go dead, and I haven’t cleaned the
flue in so long, I’d rather not use the fireplace.”

The clerk shrugged and rang her up.

Back in her SUV, Alexandra recalled Daniel’s earlier
directive about wearing her hair loose. After quickly undoing her braid, she
tried his cell phone again. Voicemail clicked on as it had earlier. She was
late and he wasn’t answering. That couldn’t be good.

She raced back to the cabin, a relatively easy matter
tonight. The sky was remarkably clear, streaked with undulating plumes of
emerald green and pale pink. Alaska’s Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights.
Amazing and surreal. A sight that would have ordinarily stopped her dead while
she gaped at the beauty.

Alexandra drove even faster, her heart beating in time with
the pulsing sky. When the road curved slightly and the cabin came into view,
she let up on the accelerator.

The damn place was dark, no lights on. Wait. When she’d
left, the drapes were still over the windows. Daniel must have left them like—

His vehicle wasn’t out front. Her heart fell. He’d either
gotten tired of waiting for her or he’d left hours ago, no longer wanting to do
this with—

Wait. Alexandra tried to recall if his pickup had been here
this morning but couldn’t. Had he gotten a ride with Nat on Saturday?

If not, he’d actually left here without a word. No call. No
warning of what he’d planned to do. Giving her no chance to maintain even a
little dignity.

Alexandra wanted to drive away. The urge to know the
horrible truth kept her from it, persuading her to get this over with as
quickly as possible. Like pulling a Band-Aid off a nasty wound. She parked in
her usual spot and bolted from her vehicle, slipping on the packed snow, her
arms flailing. At the last minute, she grabbed the stair’s railing and kept
herself from falling on her ass. If she’d parted her legs any wider, she’d be
in a dancer’s split. The insides of her thighs screamed with the position.
Grunting, Alexandra righted herself and hobbled across the porch but didn’t try
the door.

Suddenly, she didn’t want to know.

Yeah, she did.

No, she—

Dammit, just do it.

Gritting her teeth, she turned the knob and opened the door
a crack. Caramel-colored light danced over the sliver of room she could see.
The scent of burning wood wafted toward her. Surely, the fire hadn’t been going
since this morning. That wasn’t possible. Nor would Daniel have lit one and
left. He was more safety conscious than that.

She edged the door open and stared. His tall frame took up
most of the leather sofa. Gloriously nude, he had his hands folded behind his
head, showing the dark hair in his pits, scented with his musk. He’d bent his
right leg to recline against the sofa’s back cushion and had rested his left
foot on the floor, which displayed the treasure between his legs. His cock was
semi-hard and thickening by the second, his balls plumping up.

Crushing desire tore through Alexandra. She yearned to press
her face to every part of him and inhale deeply of his male fragrance.

“Are you coming in or not?” he murmured.

She slipped inside and sagged against the door, desperate to
steady herself. To play it as cool as Daniel was.

He hadn’t left. In her world, that was a miracle. She should
have hated herself for being so grateful but her confidence had taken too many
hits over the years. Right now, all she could think about was that he was here.
She wasn’t alone.

Daniel ran the heel of his foot over the polished floor.

His muscular calf and deliciously long toes captivated
Alexandra. An image of her on her knees, kissing and licking them, invaded her
mind.

He cleared his throat, capturing her attention, and asked,
“Didn’t you forget something?”

Oh yeah. “Hi,” she said in greeting.

He grinned as if she’d said something humorous, or he liked
seeing her so unglued. “Hi. Did you forget the rope and—”

“Uh-uh. I didn’t.” By god, they were still on. He was going
to be her Master, just as he’d promised. Thrilled, Alexandra reached behind her
and opened the door. “I left them in the SUV. Be right back. Don’t move.”

His expression said he hadn’t intended to.

Alexandra rushed outside. Plumes of exhaust pumped from the
tailpipe of her SUV. She’d forgotten to turn the damn vehicle off. Rather than
chide herself, she squealed like a little girl who’d just gotten a new toy to
play with. Alexandra’s was life-size and all male. Visions of Daniel’s hairy
pits, groin and awesome cock stormed her thoughts, begging her to get a move
on.

Back on the porch, she pushed her shoulder against the door,
a grocery bag in each arm, her purse in one of them, the rope hung around her
neck like jewelry. “I got everything you…”

He wasn’t on the sofa. Frowning, Alexandra tilted her head.
The loft was dark. She pulled her shoulders to her ears and listened hard for
sounds from the bathroom.

Nothing.

“You’re letting in the cold again.”

She turned. He padded from the kitchen, a filled wineglass
in each hand. His cock was fully erect now.

Alexandra kicked the door closed. With the crack of wood
against wood, she realized how uncouth she was behaving. If Junior had been
here, he’d accuse her of behaving like a les.

Nothing could be further from the truth when it came to
Alexandra’s sexual preferences. Her pussy practically dripped with excitement,
it was that freaking wet.

At Daniel’s approach, she forgot to breathe. He eased the
glass to her mouth. “Drink.”

All too willingly, Alexandra took a sip of the fruity
chardonnay. The alcohol didn’t warm her a tenth of the way Daniel did. He
leaned into her, licking droplets off her lips, his body smelling better than
any drink or food. She touched the tip of her tongue to his, then slanted her
head and eagerly returned his deep, lingering kiss. The best possible greeting
after a crappy workday.

Thank god, their evening was just beginning.

She couldn’t get near enough. Neither could he. The paper
bags crinkled between them. Daniel paused at the sound and pulled his mouth
free.

For the longest moment, he simply regarded Alexandra, as
though he were trying to see past her defenses into her soul.

She had no protection against him. That was the problem.
She’d liked him from the start, not only for his striking masculinity, but also
his smarts and integrity.

“What?” she finally asked, wanting to get truly intimate.

He didn’t. With that one question, his walls were back up,
protecting him. He drank a bit of the wine, then studied the rope hanging
around her neck. “You wear that well.”

She pushed aside her longing and smiled at his joke.

Daniel didn’t grin in return. “It’ll look even better after
I get through with my plans for it and you. Drink.”

He rested the lip of the glass against the seam of her
mouth.

She sipped the wine, no longer tasting it, her thoughts on
what he’d planned. Alexandra pictured the loft, him tying her to the bed.
Unless he intended to rope her in down here. She catalogued the items he could
tie her to on this floor. The antique sewing machine. One of the poles in the
spiral staircase. Maybe the handle of the oven. Bound to it, she’d be his to
eat and fuck at his leisure.

“What all do you have in here?” He fingered the edges of the
bags.

She relaxed her grip on them. They stopped crinkling. “Just
candles.”

He lifted his eyebrows. “How many did you buy?”

“Everything they had.” She wanted this to last for as long
as possible. Too bad he hadn’t asked for light bulbs. Alexandra would have
bought the LED kind that were supposed to burn for twenty years.

He finished his wine, then put the glasses on the end table
and took one of the bags. Her purse was on top. After tossing it on the chair,
he pulled out the birthday candles. “You really haven’t done anything like this
before, have you?”

Okay, that stung, forcing her to lie again. “I told you I
have…just not with you.”

His smirk disappeared. He dropped the candles on top of her
purse, then put the bag next to it, wearing an air of unconcern that seemed put
on to Alexandra. The same way he’d acted the other night when Nat, Red and
Junior had been here. As though Daniel had to control himself when he thought
about or saw her with other men.

Of course, she could simply be hoping for that.

He took the remaining bag and placed it next to the first.
She removed the rope before he could and handed it to him. A peace offering of
sorts. Proof of her willingness to do anything he wanted, because she desired
it too.

Daniel draped the rope around his neck. She grinned.

He traced her smile with his finger. “Have you eaten?”

Her lips tingled from his touch. She leaned closer, wanting
more. “Not you. Not all day. Did you notice?”

He laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Take off
your clothes and I’ll make us something.”

Sounded like a fair trade. Alexandra stripped in front of
the fire, hardly needing its warmth given how intensely Daniel observed her,
his attraction obvious and genuine. His erection was at full mast, his
restraint remarkable. She figured by the time he had her bound and possibly
blindfolded, he’d go at her so hard, she’d be screaming in ecstasy. If he
didn’t use a gag on her too.

The image that created drained most of her strength.

He grabbed the glasses in one hand and took hers in the
other. Her hand felt good in his, snug and warm. She squeezed his fingers and
edged closer. The tip of his crown brushed her thigh, leaving a smear of
pre-cum. She choked back a lusty moan. His Adam’s apple bobbed.

“Shouldn’t I be making our meal?” she murmured. “I’m your—a
sub, after all.”

Despite her verbal faux pas, he didn’t hesitate. “Not yet,
you aren’t.”

So much wicked promise hung between them, Alexandra
shivered. What in the hell was he going to teach her?

He led her into the kitchen. The light above the stove cast
the small room in sepia tones, brown and cream, similar to ancient photographs.
She bet the old-timers never engaged in anything like this.

He refilled his glass and topped hers with more wine, then
put the bottle between them on the cedar table. After draping a dishtowel on
the seat of a chair, he gestured to it. “Sit.”

His solid muscles rippled with every move he made.

Alexandra sank down, her hunger for him crazy bad, her legs
no longer wanting to support her weight. She still didn’t get why he was
waiting on her. Did Doms do that? He’d never answered her question, and she
couldn’t exactly quiz him, given her lie about being experienced in this. “Sure
you don’t want me to help?”

He put a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and a new
can of Beer Nuts on the table. “I’m an engineer. I can handle this.”

She laughed at that and the rope bouncing against his chest.
“Good at building sandwiches, are you?”

“Just wait and see.”

He cut the homemade bread, each of the two slices an inch
thick. After smearing a quarter of the jar of peanut butter on the bottom
slice, he dumped so many Beer Nuts on the creamy mess they obscured it. He
settled the remaining slice on top and patted it down, clearly finishing his
sandwich. “Stand up.”

Alexandra swallowed her sip of wine. “What?”

“On your feet.”

She smiled. “Why?”

“Because I ordered you to.”

Heat crept up her throat. He was back to being dominant
again, Obviously, her training had resumed. Unsettled and expectant, Alexandra
pushed out of the chair. He took her place on it and inhaled deeply. The way he
would after sex. “The seat’s nice and warm now.”

That was why he’d told her to sit there?

“On your knees,” he said, gesturing to the floor.

Tendrils of warmth snaked through Alexandra at the prospect
of serving him again. Being his sexual slave. She sank down at his feet,
sitting on her heels to protect her butt from the coolish tiles. Later, a belt
would warm her ass. For now, it needed her tender care.