Sandy Sullivan (19 page)

"Maybe
he's testing you to see how you'll react to this and him."

"Maybe.
I don't like this at all."

Moments
later, Cade came back into the house and plopped down into his chair.

"So
what happened out there?" she asked, not liking the concern on Cade's
face.

"Are
you really going to call Armand back?"

"No."

"Good.
Then Marcus did the right thing by letting you chose. Be careful. He cares
about you, but he's not going to let you run roughshod over him."

"I
don't want to. Things are very different between me and Marcus."

"How
so?"

"I
can't talk about it. It's private. Let's say he does something for me no man
has done before."

"Then
what was all the
discussion like you were
seriously
contemplating getting back together with Armand?"

"I
wanted to see if Marcus would react."

"Not
a good game to by playing, Elizabeth. Not with a man like Marcus. What if he doesn't
want to play your games? You might have just cost yourself the love of your
life."

"Don't
say things like that, Cade. Marcus understands me or at least I hope he
does."

"I
don't think he understands this. The gut punched look on his face when you slid
off his lap hurt my heart to see," Natalie said. "He cares about
you."

"I
care about him too, but I can't get tied up with a man right now, Nat. I'm
leaving in a week or so. I really should probably cool things off with Marcus
anyway."

"Whatever!
I'm about tired of you playing your games. If you hurt him, I'll never speak to
you again, Elizabeth. He's a nice guy," Natalie snapped, jumping to her
feet.

"Nat,
calm down."

"I
will not. I didn't think she played games but apparently she learned well from
her ex-boyfriend because now she's pulling the same kind of shit."

"I
did not cheat on anyone!"

"You're
playing head games, Liz." Natalie began to pace the kitchen floor.
"If you hadn't made it sound like you planned to call the asshole back,
Marcus wouldn't have left. You'd better fix this."

"I
will. I'll call him right now."

"Call
him hell. You'd better go over there and apologize. He's hurt for Christ’s
sake."

"Fine!"
Elizabeth slapped her hand on the table. "I'll go over there. You are such
a hardass, Nat. I don't believe you," she said, throwing up her arms.

"I
don't like seeing my friends hurt. You upset him with all of this. Was it
really necessary?" Natalie asked, taking her seat again next to Cade.

"I
guess not, but maybe I wanted him to declare himself. If he really wants
something with me, he needs to let me know instead of playing so
nonchalant." Elizabeth's hands flew back and forth as she talked. She'd
always been an animated talker.

"Have
you told him you're in love with him?"

"I'm
not in lo—"

Natalie
interrupted with a sharp, "Bullshit. It's written all over your
face."

"I
haven't known him long enough to be in love with him."

"Then
you care deeply. Whatever you have going on between you is something special. You're
a damned fool if you walk away from it."

She
threw up her hands. "All right, yes, I care deeply. I shouldn't because I
hardly know him. This is ridiculous, you know. The feelings I had for Ari
didn't even come close to what Marcus already makes me feel."

"You
weren't in love with Ari."

"I
thought I was, but apparently I wasn't in love with him. Maybe I was more in
love with what he could give me. Could I have been that shallow?"

"He's
shallow. Why do you think he kept sleeping with his investors, their daughters,
wives and anyone with big boobs?"

"True.
I'm not huge," she said, plumping up both breasts in her hands as they all
laughed, breaking the tension in the room.

"You're
a beautiful woman, Elizabeth. I don't see why Ari couldn't see that."

"You're
only saying so because you're my brother."

"Not
so. I know several men in this town who enjoyed your company."

"Before
I went to Los Angeles? I was eighteen, Cade."

"And
beautiful even then."

"Oh,
psh
."
Her face heated.
"I didn't have all the football players chasing me like you had the
cheerleaders, Cade."

"Um…cheerleaders?
As in plural?"
Natalie folded her arms across her
chest, glaring at her husband.

"He
had all of them hot after him, but you snagged him the minute you came back to
town."

"I
didn't stand a chance when she crawled out of her wrecked car and flashed those
eyes at me."

"Such
a cute love story," Elizabeth said. "Now, I'm off to apologize to
Marcus. Should I dress sexy?"

"I
don't think he'll care." Natalie crawled into her husband's lap and
wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Shall we go home, husband?"

"Only
if you…" He whispered in her ear as Elizabeth watched her smile get
bigger.

The
love the two of them had for each other was something Elizabeth strived for.
She wanted that type of give and take relationship, each partner being the
other half of a whole.
Can I have
something like that with Marcus? He seems to only want playtime, not anything
permanent. Do I? I'm leaving in a short time and we might not see each other
much. Maybe we can work something out.

"I'll
see you two later."

"Probably
not.
We're headed home."

"Okay.
Lunch in a couple of days, Nat?
You can buy for
chewing me out."

"Lunch
is good, but you're buying for me having to chew you out."

Elizabeth
laughed. "Okay, fine. I'll buy." She glanced at Cade. "You've
got a wife who should have been a Wall Street executive or a lawyer. She's
vicious."

"Only
to protect those she loves. Remember that."

Elizabeth
kissed them both on the cheek before she headed upstairs. Her recent shower
took care of the stink from the animals, sweat and riding, but she wanted to
put on some sexy underwear for Marcus. Groveling wasn't something she really
wanted to do. She did realize now though she shouldn't have made it sound like
she really wanted to get back with Ari. If he would have done something
similar, she would have been hurt too. "Crushed probably,
which doesn't bode well for my heart.
" She stopped and
tapped her fingers to her lips.
Am I in
love with Marcus? I thought I knew what love was with Ari. This is totally
different. He makes me want to be near him all the time and especially when we
aren't together. I think about him constantly. I can't wait to be in his arms.
I want to please him all the time.
"Sounds like love to me, but what
happens now?"

The
door to her closet stood open. A short black dress hung near the end of the
stack of colorful clothing lining the rail. She grabbed the hangar, pulling out
the dress, turning it this way and that to examine her pick closer. Soft cotton
material caressed her fingertips as she slipped her hand over the bodice. She
really did love this dress. Marcus would too, she mused. The hem hung to
mid-thigh on her and emphasized her mediocre
bustline
.
The sweetheart neckline looked fabulous on her. With a simple string of pearls,
she'd look like she dressed especially for him. Nude legs and strappy black
sandals would complete the picture of seduction. Unknown to Marcus Melton,
seduce him she would, one way or another. This would also give him an eyeful
when she knelt at his feet, if she managed not to cringe from pain on the way
down.

Once
she slipped into the dress and shoes, she wound her hair up in a messy bun on
the back of her head, slicked on some kiss-me-red lipstick and nixed any idea
of underwear. She almost wore the black thong in her drawer, but she figured no
panties would make it so much easier. Regardless of the ache in her thighs, a
small cat-got-the-canary-grin spread across her lips. "I'm so getting laid
tonight."

Twenty
minutes later, she pulled into Marcus' driveway, noting no lights on in his
house.
What if he isn't home? What if he
got really pissed off and found someone else to play with?

She
swallowed hard as she opened the car door. With heels clicking softly on the
concrete walk, she made her way up to the door, glancing at the watch on her
left arm. He'd only left her dad's place an hour ago. Surely he isn't in bed.
It's only nine.

A
rhythmic crack caught her attention. Loud enough she could hear the noise
through the front door, but muffled, giving her the impression the sound wasn't
nearby. Curious, she opened the door, softly calling, "Marcus?"

The
cracks continued, so she decided to shut the door and follow the sound down the
long hallway toward where they'd played on his cross. She peeked around the
edge of the door where he'd left it open. Marcus stood in the middle of the
room with a long coiled bullwhip at his feet. Large sections of butcher paper
hung on the wall in front of him. Sweat glistened off his bare back, running in
streams down the taut muscles emphasized by the track lighting over his head.
He pulled back his arm and let the whip fly. The tip struck a red X placed in
the middle of the paper, with precise precision so accurate, she flinched.

"Come
in, Elizabeth," he said, never turning around.

How the hell does he know I'm here
much less it's me?

"I
can smell you."

"Damn
you're eerie sometimes."

Not
turning around, he said, "Observation is one of the keys to being a good
Dom. If I don't know what you're feeling or how you're reacting to something
I'm doing, how can I know what you need?'

"I
guess."

"Why
have you come?"

"You
don't know? I thought you knew everything?"

"You've
earned yourself ten swats for your smartass comment."

"Not
if you don't want me to be your sub anymore."

He
turned and let his gaze wander from her eyes to the tips of her toes. "I
never said I didn't want you to be my sub. The question is, do you want to
continue or are you going back to your ex?"

"No,
I'm not."

"Not
what?"

"Going
back to Ari.
I'm sorry if I gave you that
impression."

"No
you aren't. You wanted to make me jealous. You did your job well." His
appreciative gaze raked over her again. "I do believe you're dressed to
impress especially since you're not wearing underwear."

"How
do you know I'm not wearing panties?"

"No
panty lines, darlin'."

"Oh,"
she replied, dropping her gaze to the floor and slid to her knees.

"Very
pretty, Elizabeth."

"Thank
you, Sir."

"What
have you come here for?"

"To
apologize, Sir."

"And?"

"I'm
not sure what you mean, Sir."

"What
do you want from this relationship, Elizabeth? Do you want us to be nothing
more than
master
and sub? Play together every so
often? Or do you want something more?"

She
licked her lips as she closed her eyes.
It's
now or never.

"I
want more…Sir."

"How
much more?" he asked, stroking her hair with his hand.

She
never heard him move and it startled her to realize he could be very quiet if
he so chose. "I…"

"Be
truthful. I don't like liars."

"I'm
trying."

"What
do you call me?"

"I'm
trying, Sir," she snapped, unable to keep her temper from showing.
"I'm confused."

"Confusion
is a sign of something more than friendship."

"I
don't think of you as a friend."

"No?"

"No,
Sir. You're more to me than that."

"I'm
glad." He lifted her chin with his fingers.

"You
are?"

"Yes
because you mean a great deal to me too," he whispered, bringing her to
her feet. His lips came crashing down on hers in a bone-melting, panty-wetting
kiss. The whip fell to the floor with a thump as he wrapped his arms around her,
crushing her to his chest. Lips mashed against lips. Tongues dueled from his
mouth to hers. She moaned low in her throat, pulling him to her, wanting to
absorb everything about him before she had to leave. Pushing the disturbing
thought from her mind, she kissed him back with everything she had.