Red & Her Big Bad Dom (13 page)

Another staircase led to the next floor. Attic again, she assumed. Back in the bedroom, she couldn’t resist testing out the bed. She stretched out, let the bed engulf her in silky satin and Graham’s scent. Immediately, images of her wolf came to mind, him leaning of her, spreading her thighs, and shoving his hard cock inside her. Then came images of Graham, slipping in beside her, his smiling eyes holding hers.

Two men. Light and dark. God, she was falling in love with two men.

“Well, that’s a sight for sore eyes,” a voice drawled from the corner post of the bed.

Horrified, Lucy jerked up. “Oh, my god, I’m sorry. It looked so comfortable I had to try it out.” She scooted off the bed and almost tripped down the pedestal steps.

Graham’s eyes held a predatory gleam that again reminded her of her wolf.

“God, Graham. I’m sorry—”

His mouth closed over hers, and he kissed her hard and deep. Shocked, her lips parted, letting him in. His tongue took control, dancing and twining with hers, setting her mouth and body on fire. He ended the kiss way too soon. “Don’t be sorry. You looked damn good stretched out on my bed, Lucy.”

Her mind was numb. He was one hell of a kisser for a geek. He backed her against the bed post, his hands planted beside her head. “I’m going to kiss you again.”

She should stop him. They were coworkers. But as soon as their mouths mated, she was lost. She wrapped her arms around his neck, wove her fingers through his hair, and pulled him closer. She slid her tongue into his mouth and tasted to her heart’s content. His silky, blond hair teased her palms, and her nails scraped across his skull as they made their way to his neck.

And that was when she felt it. That hard knot on the back of his head.

What the fuck? Her wolf had the same bump. She loved to play with it when he kissed her. With his mask, she didn’t have hair to run her fingers through so she’d learned the shape of his head.

With her mind whirling, her body lost in the passion of Graham’s kiss, she deliberately explored his head, imagining a slick mask instead of hair. No doubt. No way could two men have the same shape, the same bump, and even that bit of a ridge at the top of the skull. She concentrated on his mouth, his scent, the feel of his body pressed against hers and accepted the glaring truth.

Graham Winters was her man in black. Her wolf.

She pulled back, breathing hard. Normally, her wolf was the only man who could reduce her to this level of need with a single kiss, yet her panties were soaked.

Her big, bad wolf. Her pain-in-the-ass geek. They were the same damn man.

Graham was breathing hard. “Gee, I’m sorry, Lucy. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

Lucy lifted a brow. How easily he fell back into the role of a fumbling geek. She opened her mouth to tell him she knew the truth but changed her mind and decided not to reveal what she knew. She needed to think.

The sound of an alarm drew his attention. “I’ve got to get back downstairs.”

She nodded. “I’m going to freshen up if it’s okay.” She had one more thing to check out.

As soon as Graham left, Lucy raced on light feet for the stairs and ran up them to the door. She turned the knob, expecting it to be locked like the other door. It opened. She peeked in and gasped.

Her wolf had told her he had a playroom, and if Graham was her Dom, then it stood to reason that he’d have one. And by god, here it was. Her nipples tightened, and her panties went from wet to soaked as she took in the huge bed with mirrors on the ceiling, the wall with assorted whips and cuffs, and the spanking bench in the corner. A swing hung from the other corner.

“God,” she whispered as she hurried out of her wolf’s lair. Back on the first floor, she went to the office, and just stared at Graham, a hand to her stomach.

He glanced up and stood. “Ready for that walk?”

Walk, hell. She wanted to jump him, get him naked, and fuck him senseless right where he stood. But no. He had to tell her the truth first. “I’m not feeling well, Graham. Didn’t get much sleep last night. I need to go.”

She had plans to make. A laugh bubbled up in her throat, but she swallowed it down. Plans with two very different men. And that gave her a glimmer of an idea.

Graham hurried to her side. “Are you all right? If it was my kissing you—”

“No.” Hell, yes, it was his kiss. That and learning she wasn’t in love with one man and was falling in love with another. It was learning that two men, each lacking in some way were one and the same. And when she put them both together, she had the whole of all she’d ever wanted in a man. “No. Just tired.”

And if everything went as planned, she’d be totally exhausted by morning.

“I’ll take you.” He fished keys out of his pocket.

“No. You have a deadline. I’ll be fine with your driver.”

“I’ll pick you up for dinner.” He ran his hands along her arms.

She heard the desperation in his voice and took a deep breath.
Here goes.
She put deep regret in her voice and let it tremble. “I have to be fair to you, Graham. It won’t work between us.” She glanced up through her lashes. “There’s someone else. My nights belong to him. I’m sorry. I love him with all my heart. I’ve got to go. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She hated to put that stunned disbelief on his face, but hopefully, by tonight, his little ruse would be over. She ran from the office and out the front door to the waiting limo before he could try to change her mind. If he took her back into his arms, she’d confess she knew the truth.

As the car pulled away, she leaned her head back and planned her next phone call. If this didn’t work, she was going to have to head-slap her geek into telling her the truth.

Now that she knew Graham was The Wolf,
her
wolf, she didn’t want to wait for him to end the game. She wanted all of her Dom—his Dominant side and shockingly, the geeky part of him, too.

****

Graham paced in his bedroom. He should be downstairs manning his computer, but as soon as Lucy left, he’d come up here where her scent lingered, as well as the image of her stretched out on his bed.

“You blew it,” he said to the empty room. “Shouldn’t have kissed her.”

The wolf had gotten him the girl, and the geek just scared her away. He flopped onto the bed. Dammit, he wanted Lucy in his life, needed to share with her both his geeky and the wolf sides. He was a Dom and she was the perfect submissive, but she was also perfect for daytime Graham—long walks, going to the movies, dancing, and roller coaster rides.

But damn it to hell and back, once he’d seen her stretched out on his bed as though she belonged there, every sane thought flew from his head.

And damn it again, but she did belong here, with him. In his bed, sharing this huge monstrosity he called home, and exploring his dungeon with him. Him. Graham Winters. Not some made-up persona.

He laughed without humor when he recalled her saying her nights belonged to another. His Red loved her wolf, and she was well on her way to falling in love with him, Graham, the man who worked with her. These last two weeks had changed their relationship.

Thank you, Bryce! He owed his friend more than he could repay for giving him Lucy for this project. She had warmed up to him, and together, they discovered many common interests, besides sex and dancing.

He sat up. How the hell was the geek going to compete with the wolf? Getting to his feet, he headed downstairs. He had a date with her as her wolf. He’d tell her the truth tonight, bring her here, show her the room upstairs, and prove that even a geek could be a wolf in disguise.

Hours later, after he’d made use of his home gym and swum laps in his pool, he was back in his playroom, planning out his evening with Lucy. He’d reserved a room at their favorite club. Tonight, he’d reveal the truth.

The vibrating ring on his phone went off in his pocket. He pulled out his phone—his wolf’s phone. Lucy!

He deepened his voice. “Yes, pet?”

“I can’t meet you tonight.” She sounded tearful.

“What’s wrong?” Worry sharpened his voice.

She sniffed. “I can’t see you ever again, my big, bad wolf.”

Graham’s gut twisted like the string of a yo-yo. He dropped the mask he’d pulled out of a drawer. “What the hell is wrong?”

“I love someone else, and that means I can no longer play with you at night. I’ll miss you, Mr. Wolf.” With a sob, the phone went dead.

“What the fuck!”

She’d told
him
, Graham, she loved someone else, and now she was telling
him,
The Wolf, she was in love with someone. His mind whirled. Did she have someone else besides the geek and her wolf?

Graham picked up his keys, opened the garage door, and in minutes, he was racing down the mountain.

****

Lucy was nervous as a mouse being stalked by a cat with an owl swooping overhead. The old caught between a rock and a hard place. If the mouse ran to escape the cat, it ran the risk of being caught by the owl.

She glanced at the clock and ran into the bedroom. If she knew Graham, or her wolf, at all, she figured she had thirty minutes before he was pounding on her door like the wolf in the three little pigs’ story. She’d already showered and put her makeup on before calling her Dom to cancel their date.

She lit the candles she’d gone out to buy after the limo dropped her off, put on some music, and turned off all but one light, one she’d arranged to fall upon her newest piece of furniture.

With the scene set, she shrugged out of the robe and swung a cape over her shoulders. Staring at herself in the mirror, she frowned. Something was missing. Shoes! She grabbed her heels, the pair her wolf loved, slipped her feet into them, and studied her reflection. Perfect!

The pounding at her door startled her. She glanced at her clock. Twenty minutes. The poor man must have broken every speed limit plus several other road rules to get here this fast.

“Who’s there?” she called out.

“Graham. Open the door, Lucy!”

Lucy flicked back her cape and opened the door.

Graham took one look at Lucy and stumbled back. She was naked. Except for the cape she’d worn as Red Riding Hood and those fuck-me-red heels. “What the fuck!”

“Oh, my, it’s the big, bad wolf,” she cried, hands going to her face. Her eyes widened, not with shock but with laughter.

Graham’s heart pounded painfully in his chest, and his back protested where the railing dug into it when he’d fallen back in shock. Staring into her bright, laughing eyes, he realized that his ruse was up. She’d somehow discovered the truth. “Let me in, Lucy. You’re naked.”

“Oh, can’t let the wolf in. Not yet. He might eat me.”

Graham’s cock went from hard to aching. “How?”

She beckoned him closer, snaked her hand around his neck, and ran her fingers up through his hair. “Here. A lovely little knot. And a few other things when I thought about it. Like using Jaimie’s name that weekend we were together. I never mentioned her name.”

She shook her head, held up her fingers, and ticked off his other tells. “In the elevator, you made a comment about Jaimie not getting her prince, and you called me Luc at Bryce’s mansion. The Wolf never calls me that. The Geek calls me that all the time. And the way my wolf sat on the table in the garden outside our cottage reminded me of you, the irritating geek. Then there was that kiss today. Want me to go on?”

He groaned. “I shouldn’t have kissed you. Been keeping my hands off you for just that reason.” He gripped her shoulders. “I was going to tell you tonight, and if you didn’t believe me, I was going to show you—”

“Your little playroom up in the attic?” She pulled the five bills clipped to the hem of her cloak and held them out. “I bet five bills my geek was as vanilla as they come.”

Graham’s laughter rang out as he took the money he’d given her. “Found that, did you?”

“Yeah,” she said dryly.

“How about it, my love. Are you going to let me in?”

She tipped her head to the side. “Depends on who’s coming in.”

Graham cupped her face in his ungloved hands. “The man who loves you, pet. The wolf and the geek, the man who decided he’d do anything to get the woman he loves to spend time with him. Can you accept them both?”

Lucy pulled his face to hers for a long, long, overdue kiss. “I can, I do. I love you, Graham. I love the Dom, and I love the geeky pain in my ass.” She pulled back and stepped into the apartment, dragging him with her. “But maybe it’s the Dom who should take charge tonight.”

Graham was completely enchanted and slightly off kilter. This was not what he expected, which made him love her even more. He trailed a finger down her nose and over her lips. “And why is that, my wonderful, lovely, Red?”

“Why, Mr. Wolf, I’ve been ever so bad. I fell in love with two men and told them each a big, fat lie today.” She stepped to one side.

The apartment was dimly lit with more candles than he could count except for one light that spotlighted a spanking bench in the middle of her living room. “Oh, my dearest, Red. I’m afraid you have been very, very bad.” He opened his arms.

She ran into them with a sob. “I love you.”

“I love you, Lucy.” They kissed for a long time, until they were both breathless, then Graham pulled back. “How about we make my fantasy of seeing you draped over a spanking bench come true.”

Lucy knelt. “Yes, Mr. Wolf.”

About the Author

Sydney St. Claire is the pseudonym of Susan Edwards, author of Historical Native American/Western/Paranormal romances and of the popular White Series. During her career, she has been nominated for the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Western Historical and Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award.

Sydney takes her readers into the world of erotic romance where her characters come together in explosive passion as they solve life’s problems and find true love along with the best sex our hero and heroine have ever experienced.

She credits her mother for her writing success. Encouraged to read, Susan always preferred happy endings, which meant romances were her favorite genre.

Susan resides in California. Her office is quite crowded with two small dogs at her feet, another huge girl in her recliner, and five cats to keep her company while she writes. Life gets fun when all five insist on supervising…