Hottie (10 page)

“I just went into town for some groceries, silly. It’s not a life-threatening activity.” She took his hand and led him into the kitchen, sashaying her ass in invitation. “Your pantry isn’t well stocked, and I wanted to make you some lunch.”

“Didn’t you see my note?”

“Yeah,” she said, turning and reaching on tiptoes to kiss him. “But I have something else in mind.”

Stubborn woman. She’d really be the death of him if she didn’t adhere to a few rules. “Please let me know when you have ‘something else’ in mind.”

“Yes, Master.”

That was it. The teasing tone and sexy smile did away with any lingering patience. He grabbed the loaded paper bag and stuffed it into the fridge, then swept his arm beneath her knees and carried her up to his bedroom. “I’ll show you who is master. You’ve got a lesson of two to learn about obedience. No time like the present.”

Phoebe went instantly wet. Her core pulsed, and she wondered how he was going to teach her a lesson this time. She took a deep breath, lost herself in the fresh and musky scent of man, and leaned her head against his chest. “Yes, sir.”

Groaning, he placed a kiss atop her head and pulled her closer. “You don’t make things easy, Phoebe. You just don’t.”

Placing her in the center of the neatly made bed, he pulled the covers from around her and instructed her to close her eyes.

She did, and she listened to drawers open and close, closet doors doing the same, and at last, the mattress shifted as he joined her. A set of muscular thighs found their way beneath her hands as he lifted her to a seated position and fit himself behind her. Then a silk or satin fabric covered her eyes, and she felt him tie it about her head.

“You may open your eyes now,” he said.

It was dark and unfamiliar behind the soft cloth. She shifted between his legs and touched her fingers to the blindfold. Her stomach somersaulted. “I’m not sure how I feel about this.”

“Why is that?” His voice, gravelly and solemn, moved further behind her. His legs left her side. “Answer.”

“It’s dark. I’m scared.”

“Scared of me?” A warm hand settled on her cheek, and his thumb stroked over her lips.

“No, not you. It’s the unknown, the darkness that bothers me.”

“Trust me?”

“Yes,” she breathed, shocked that she utterly trusted him, even though she’d known him less than twenty-four hours.

“Good. We’ll continue,” he replied and moved to the foot of the bed. “When you fail to tell me where you are, and I’m in the dark, I’m also scared. So to correct that action, I will hold you where I know you will stay.”

He took hold of her leg, and wrapped a leather strap of sorts around it. With a gentle yank, he secured it to what she assumed was the bedpost. She reached for her ankle, but he pushed her hand away.

“Keep them at your side and flat on the mattress.”

He unbuttoned her khakis and slipped them down, off her right leg, but bunched just below her left. “Remove your shirt.”

Her tits bounced free as she lifted the cami over her head. She held it out and waited for him to take it. She felt, rather than heard, the shirt whiz across to the other side of the room. The swoosh of air swept over her nipples, and they hardened with the anticipation of his touch. Her cotton panties, damp with desire, snaked between her folds as she moved, but he held her wrists above her head, and she wasn’t able to adjust them.

“Are you going to fuck me silly, again?”

“I’m going to let you feel what it is like to be in the dark.” Maneuvering her hands behind her back, he clasped them together. “Don’t strain, sweetheart, or the cuffs will chafe your wrists.” He returned to the foot of the bed and released her leg from the footboard, but he kept her restrained by tying it to her other ankle. “How do you feel?”

“It doesn’t hurt or anything,” she breathed, worrying her lower lip and pushing her heels against the mattress while scooting up the bed to rest her back against the headboard. “But don’t go too far. I need to know where you are.”

“Remember that,” he said, his footsteps fading away.

She waited, but he didn’t say anything else. Nerves danced in her stomach and paraded up her spine. Restrained and in the dark, fear joined apprehension. “Hottie?” She hated how her voiced trembled. “Master Dane?”

“Yes, Phoebe?”

“I’m scared. Please don’t leave me.”

The mattress moved beneath his weight. “I will not leave. I could never leave you vulnerable.” He ran his palms up her legs and over her tummy. “Please don’t ever leave me in the dark again. It scared me, too.”

Had something as small as a trip to the grocery store really set him off? How? Why? What had happened to make him so cautious?

She shifted from cheek to cheek, rocking on her butt and working off her nervousness.

“I wanted to show you how I felt, not scare you.” His hands moved over her ribs and cupped her breasts. “Enough of a lesson,” he breathed, sealing his lips over an aching nipple. “I can’t deny you, and I can’t deny my need for you any longer. Rise onto your knees.”

With his hands guiding her, she rose and knelt on the bed. His mouth traveled between her breasts, lavishing the excited skin with kisses. Large, calloused hands roamed over her bottom and eventually found their way to her cunt. She tilted her hips and sighed as his fingers slid between her folds and rounded her clit. Slowly, tenderly, he played with the erotic nub, building the pleasure between her legs.

Still in the dark and unable to reach for him with her hands, she found his shoulder with her mouth and followed the corded muscles up his neck and to his lips. Her tongue slipped into his warmth and security, and she lost herself in his taste. “Make love to me, Dane.”

He groaned his response, releasing her wrists from the cuffs and slipping the blindfold off her face. “It would be my pleasure, sweetheart.”

He laid her back on the bed and untied her feet. “When I make love to you, I want to feel you holding me to you. I want to feel you wanting me as much as I want you.”

Slow, tender, endearing lovemaking proved to be the most powerful of lessons. Settled in his embrace and cradled against the crook of his arm, she was in complete understanding of his need to know where she’d been. “I’m sorry for making you worry.”

He moved her hair off her face, placed a kiss on the tip of her nose, but didn’t speak.

“I wanted to surprise you with a home-cooked lunch. I needed some groceries, so I took your bike in to town. I didn’t mean to alarm you.”

“I told you to wait. I wrote I’d be back to take you to lunch.”

“It was supposed to be a surprise.” She pulled herself to a sitting position and studied his face. “What’s the big deal? Why would you get so worried?”

Throwing his long legs over the bed, he sat with his back to her and reached for his jeans. “I can’t chance you getting hurt. I couldn’t handle it.”

“How could I get hurt riding to the grocery store? I don’t think a single car passed me, coming or going.”

“What if your dickhead ex showed up?” Dane spat at her. “What if he hurt you?”

“He wouldn’t.” Phoebe stood and searched the floor for her clothes.

“You mean to tell me you’ve had no contact with him?”

Shrugging, she stepped into her pants. The only contact
she’d had with him
was to tell him to fuck off. Otherwise, she’d turned off her phone the first time he’d text her, and she’d ignored his emails. The instant message had caught her off guard.

“Not really,” she replied, pulling the cami over her head. “It’s not like we have a lot to speak about.”

Dane gripped her upper arm and turned her to face him. His gaze narrowed and his lips formed a stern line. “Really? He never threatened you?”

“Whatever. He’s a wuss. He talks tough, but he’s too lazy to do anything about it.”

“I’ve heard those exact words before, Phoebe.” He dropped her arm and walked toward the armoire in the corner. “I’ve heard those exact words from a stubborn woman, a woman who refused to take proper precautions, and who lost her life at the hands of her fanatical, but lazy, cousin. He managed to overcome his laziness to kill her.” He opened the armoire and pulled out a neatly folded t-shirt. “I can’t be in love with a woman who refuses to listen. I can’t be in love with a woman who carelessly puts herself in harm’s way. Not with riding in a jalopy. Nor disregarding threats from an enraged ex.”

“You love me?” Her legs folded beneath her, and she sat on the ground and dropped her head into her hands. “You love me?”

“Damn it.” He slammed the armoire shut. “Yes. Yes, I do love you. Don’t ask me how or why, I just do. I did from the moment you came up the drive and stepped out of that noisy car of yours.” His voice calmed, and his shoulders dropped a bit. “I couldn’t deal with it if you were hurt because I failed to protect you.”

“You love me?” Phoebe repeated, offering him her hand.

He took it and pulled her to her feet. “Yes. I love you.”

“I believe you,” she breathed, tracing his handsome face with her fingers. “I can’t believe I’m so lucky, but I do believe you.” The tears streaking her cheeks dropped onto her chest, and her heart swelled with happiness. “I don’t know how it happened so fast, but neither do I care. I want to stay, Hottie.”

“Stay?” Hope played across his face. “Here?”

“Yes. In Deer Creek. With you.”

“Thank you…yes…thank you…” he repeated in between kisses. “I want you to stay.”

“But you need to let up a little.” Placing her palms against his chest, she met his gaze. “I’m a big girl and can take care of myself. You can be a caveman in the bedroom, that I welcome, but you need to have some faith in me out of bed. You can’t smother me.”

“I lost a good friend because she refused to listen, and it changed my life forever. I can’t lose the woman I love. It’s so hard to
let up a little
.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss and for the pain you’ve had to endure.” Her heart twisted into a knot, considering his feelings. “But that was a very different and very sad situation. You were in the middle of a war zone.”

“He messaged you. Called you a bitch.”

“I blocked him,” she answered confused.

“He knows your passwords.”

“Fuck.” She stepped back, holding her fists against her thighs. “I forgot about that.”

“He also knows my face, and I know his.”

“You video-chatted?”

“Hell, yeah. I needed to know what he looks like.” Dane rubbed his fingertips across his forehead. “He’s not getting anywhere close to you.”

“Eric doesn’t scare me. He doesn’t even know where I am.”

“Still, you’re not making yourself available to be reached by him. I’m installing an alarm as soon as I can get it delivered. When I’m not with you, you’ll—”

“I’m renting a room at the Maxwell House.”

Shock colored his face. Shock filled her, too. She hadn’t even seen the room, she hadn’t even met Beatrice Maxwell, but she knew she couldn’t move in permanently so fast. She wanted to give them a real chance—time for a true relationship—past the physical attraction.

“I want to be courted,” she said, holding her ground and refusing to listen to her yearning heart. “Properly.”

His mouth formed into a gorgeous smile. “You’ve been speaking with Mrs. Brady?”

“Yes. And she also helped me get a job with Doc Jenkins.”

“Okay.” He took a deep breath, but the smile held steady. Sliding his palm down his face, he paced the room.

“Dane?” Phoebe said after a long silence. “Please.”

He cleared his throat and returned to stand before her.

“I’ve been waiting for you a long time, sweetheart. I can wait a little longer. Plus, I think I’ll enjoy courting you—
properly
.” He wrapped his arms around her and lowered his mouth to hers, taking his time to wet her lips, then slowly passing through them and exploring her desire with gentle and seductive caresses of his tongue. “Yeah, I know I’m going to enjoy it.”

“Me, too,” she added against his mouth.

Chasing any negative thoughts away with his kisses, she welcomed Master Dane into her life. She couldn’t wait to get to know the man she’d fallen in love with at first sight. “I guess there was more to our initial connection than lust.”

“There sure was, sweetheart,” he agreed. “Now, you need to be patient with me and help me learn how this trust needs to go both ways. Be gentle with me, Phoebe.”

“That will be my pleasure,” she repeated his previous words and snuggled against him.

“But,” he said, lifting her chin with his thumb, “will you at least humor a control freak of a man and let me inform the Sheriff’s office? They need to know what to look out for.”

“I don’t want to waste my energy on getting any court orders against him.”

“No need,” Dane agreed. “Strangers stand out in Deer Creek, and we protect our own. If he gets anywhere near the town, he’ll be in the hands of the locals before he can blink.”

“Fine,” she said, shrugging. “He won’t bother. All he keeps asking for is a stupid bracelet he gave me for my birthday. He doesn’t even want it. He just wants to break me, or maybe pass it on to the next woman. I really don’t care what he does. He was a bleep of a mistake in my life, and he’s faded off the screen.” She motioned for Dane to follow her as she walked out of the room. “Want to help me prepare lunch?”