• Seven •
“You can be such a good girl after being a little brat.”
Briar
When Storm was with me, I didn’t think about much else. Just him. Being with him. But it was when I was here without the distraction of his gorgeous smile and sexy body that I remembered all the things I needed to worry about. Living this fairy tale we were currently in was amazing, but I knew better than anyone that this wouldn’t last. Nothing good lasted. Not for me.
And I had never had anything remotely close to this good. Dovie was going to get used to it, and I hated the thought of when this ended. We’d be back to running, and she’d lose the small taste of life she was getting here. Thanks to Storm’s sister, she had her first friends other than me. People closer to her age that she could do things with.
I couldn’t stay in this house, being kept all the time. I had to get a job. Make money again and put it back. Storm thought he wanted to keep me forever, but men were fickle creatures. Eventually, he’d tire of all this. It was new right now, and, yes, the sex was the best experience of my life, but it couldn’t always be that phenomenal. Right? He’d get bored or annoyed with having us here all the time. At some point, he’d miss his privacy.
I needed to call Bash. He’d give me my job back. He said if I ever came back, I had a job, and I owed him at least two grand. He’d given me a little over three grand, but some of that was the money he’d owed me and my tips. I could work that off, then start saving until the day came when we needed it.
Reaching for my glass of water, I took a drink just as the small chime went off when the front door was opened. Turning, I walked out of the kitchen and toward the foyer.
Storm met me as I turned the corner. He was wearing a brown cowboy hat, snug black T-shirt that had the Shephard Ranch emblem in the top-left corner, a pair of faded jeans, and boots. Just the sight of him made me slightly lightheaded, and I wanted to climb him like a damn tree. God, did he have to be dressed like that when I needed to talk to him about something important?
“Hey,” he said with a deep drawl that made my nipples harden.
He sure didn’t have to work hard to get my body interested. My head needed to fight harder for control because my body was always winning and we couldn’t fuck all the time. Especially right now with Dovie upstairs, enjoying her entire floor.
“I didn’t expect you back so early,” I said as he pulled me into his arms.
He smelled like leather and cigarettes. I wanted to bury my head in his neck and inhale, but I didn’t. We had to talk. Ignoring the future was something I could not keep putting off.
“I finished up sooner than I’d expected,” he replied, pressing a kiss to my lips. “I need a shower. Come take one with me.”
I shivered. That was tempting. No! I had to focus. Sexy shower time would have to wait.
“Can we talk first?” I asked, hating the words as I said them. I knew this was going to cause an argument.
Him looking like a cowgirl’s wet dream and asking me to get naked with him made it difficult for me to bring up something he wasn’t going to like.
His brows drew together as he studied me. “Sure,” he said. “What do I need to fix for you?”
I sighed heavily. There he went with that fixing things for me. It was hard to ignore it. The thought of handing over all my problems and letting him deal with them sounded like heaven, but I wasn’t that woman. I didn’t set myself up to be that vulnerable. I had to control my life. Even if he controlled my orgasms and owned my heart.
He ran his knuckles down the side of my face. “You look upset.”
I licked my lips, then shook my head. “Not upset. I just … I’m just not sure how to start this. I don’t want you to get angry.”
He tensed. “Angry?”
I nodded.
“Do you want to leave me?” he asked with a serious expression.
“God, no,” I said. “That’s not what this is about.”
The corner of his mouth curled up. “Then, you can’t make me angry.”
Oh, I wanted to argue that point. I knew good and well that I could, and I was going to when I mentioned working at Highwater again. But he was the one who had told me I was talented. That I should be making my money with my voice. Maybe he would see that I loved singing, performing. Perhaps I was wrong, and he would agree to this.
“Do you have any leads on who tracked my car and wired it?” I asked him.
There was a cocky gleam in his eye as he reached up and took his hat off. “Yeah. I was coming to tell you about that. It’s handled.”
Handled? What did that mean? Was someone dead, and who was it?
“And?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
He laid his hat down on the table beside us and then cupped my face with his hand. “There was a fingerprint on the equipment that wasn’t mine when you took it off the car. It was traced to a hired hand, who gave up Jameson’s name real easy. I paid him a visit. He will no longer be a problem.”
Jameson. I let out a long, unsteady breath. The concern that it might have some connection to Netta had been in the back of my mind. I didn’t know how she’d have found us, but I couldn’t shake that fear. Knowing it was Jameson and he’d been threatened by Storm, I could breathe easier. Dovie was safe.
I placed my palm on my chest and relaxed. “That’s good,” I sighed. “Thank you.”
He brushed my lips with his thumb. “I told you I was going to take care of you.”
I nodded. He had said that several times. But I needed him to understand that I had to take care of myself too. He couldn’t do it all.
“Since I’m no longer in danger,” I said, looking pointedly at him, “I want to go back to work at Highwater—”
“No.”
Don’t get mad. Don’t get mad. You knew he was most likely going to react this way.
“I owe Bash money. He gave me some when I left, and I told him I’d pay him back, but now, my money is gone, and I need to go work it off there to repay him. Not to mention, I’d like to sing again.”
“How much do you owe him?” Storm asked tightly.
“Two grand, maybe a few hundred more,” I told him. “But I also want to work. Make money. Save for the future.”
Storm dropped his hands from me and walked past me into the living room. “I’ll pay him back.”
“No, Storm. I have a car, I have my guitar, and you said yourself that I’m now safe. I’m going back to Highwater.”
He turned around, and his expression was one that caused me to tense. He looked furious. “You don’t need a fucking job,” he sneered.
“BUT I want a job. I want to sing. You said yourself that I should use my talent and make money. Be an independent woman. Well, what’s changed?”
He ran his hand over his face as he muttered a curse and looked away from me for a moment before swinging his gaze back to me. “That was before you were mine. I won’t be able to let you get on a fucking stage so every swinging dick in the place can lust over you.”
I let out a hard laugh and threw up my arms. “Who cares what they are thinking? I’m with you! I want you!”
He stalked back over toward me until he was towering over me. His pupils had dilated, and his jaw ticced as he looked at me. “You’re better than a bar singer. I believe I also said that before.”
“Okay, fine. Let me pay Bash back, and I’ll look for something better than a bar. I’ll have to audition, and it won’t be easy, but I promise to give it a try.”
He shook his head. “You’re not paying Bash back. I’ll handle that.”
I let out a furious growl and glared up at him. I was not going to let him make all my decisions for me. I wasn’t some kept woman. He didn’t own me.
“I won’t live like this. No matter how I feel about you, I will not let you control me.”
Storm tilted his head to the side as his eyes narrowed. “I’m controlling you?” he asked in a low voice.
I nodded. “You sure are trying to.”
He grabbed my chin. “I’m protecting you. Taking care of you. If anyone controls someone, it is you. You control me.”
I let out a laugh. “That’s bullshit. Right now, you’re acting as if I can’t make decisions for myself. Well, I make my own decisions. For me and Dovie. I love you, Storm Kingston, but I will not just be led around by your leash.”
His hand slid down to my neck, and he gently squeezed as his eyes dropped to study his grip. “Leash,” he whispered. “You think I have you on a leash?” he asked as his eyes lifted to meet mine again.
“Yes,” I replied, sounding breathless.
There was something in his gaze, and I wasn’t sure if I should be terrified of it or press closer to him. It wasn’t kind or sweet. It was the exact opposite. Slightly evil or just a touch twisted.
“Go to the bedroom,” he said.
“No,” I managed to choke out.
“Is Dovie here?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Then, you need to get in the bedroom before I shove you down on all fours and fuck you right here.”
I sucked in a breath. I wasn’t going to give him the power. Even if I was now aching between my legs. He didn’t need a leash. Not when he could do this to me so easily.
His fingers tightened on my throat. “Go to the goddamn bedroom,” he growled at me, leaning down so that his face was so close that our noses almost touched. “Right fucking now.”
When he pressed his body against mine, I felt the hard ridge of his erection, and I whimpered. Why did this excite me? It wasn’t healthy. Was it? No. It couldn’t be. But I nodded my head, unable to talk, and Storm licked at his lips, then dropped his hand and stepped back.
“Good girl,” he murmured.
Trembling, I made my way toward the stairs. He was close behind me. My entire body was aware of his and was betraying me like the deranged slut it was. Because clearly, I needed my head checked. I had just told this man he didn’t control me, yet he’d just shown me he did in fact have complete control.
My eyes stung, and I fought back the tears. I was so confused; I didn’t know what I was feeling.
When I stopped at the door, Storm reached around me, caging me in, and turned the knob before pushing it open. He ran his nose against my temple and inhaled, then made a deep sound in his chest.
Forcing my feet to move, I walked inside even though my knees felt weak. The neatly made king-size bed I had fixed earlier stood in front of me, and I stared at it, wishing I were stronger than this. Storm was making me a mess.
I heard the buckle on his belt, and I tensed, not sure if I should turn around or wait for instruction. The slide of the leather as he pulled it free of the loops sent my heart pounding so hard against my chest, and it soon became all I could hear.
“Take off the shorts and panties, then bend over the bed.” Storm’s deep voice sent a chill over me.
I unbuttoned the shorts I was wearing and shoved them down until I could shimmy them the rest of the way down my legs before sliding my panties off and stepping out of them. My eyes locked on the bed, I tried to muster some backbone and tell him no. But I wanted whatever I’d seen in his gaze … I wanted a taste of it. There was something there I had to experience. My entire body tingled with anticipation.
Stepping forward, I made my way to the bed, then bent down and rested my elbows on the soft mattress, then closed my eyes to take in a deep breath.
When the cool leather ran over my bottom, I jumped, and my eyes flew back open.
“Fucking perfect ass,” Storm said as he continued to caress me with the belt. His palm covered my right butt cheek, and he squeezed it. “You can be such a good girl after being a little brat.”
The dampness between my legs was coating the inside of my thighs at this point. If he was deranged in the head, then I must be, too, because I’d never been this turned on. The mix of uncertainty and fear was an aphrodisiac I didn’t know existed.
“Spread your legs,” he ordered, his voice harsh now. “Show me that pussy.”
Closing my eyes, I pressed my lips together and did as I had been told. Then, the first slap from the belt stung my flesh. My hands fisted in the sheets, and I let out a small cry. The pulse between my legs made them shake. The next slap came down harder, and I buried my face into the mattress to muffle my scream. I didn’t want Dovie to hear me even if she was on another floor in this massive house.
“Mine,” he said heatedly before another loud smack hit me.
It hurt, but the pain was only making my clit pulse harder.
“Fuck, that ass, red from my belt, is sexy as hell.”
I suppressed my sounds and tensed just as another swing landed on me. His fingers slid between my legs, and I bucked against him.
“That’s a soaking wet pussy, baby,” he said as a thud from the belt hitting the ground startled me.
When his tongue slipped between my butt cheeks, my eyes flew open, and I stared straight ahead, holding my breath while he ran the tip from one tight, untouched hole to the other. With small flicks, he began to lick me as if I was some kind of treat he wanted to savor.
“Storm,” I moaned, not sure I could take much more.
“Hmm,” he said as he continued to drive me crazy.
“Please,” I begged. “I can’t.” My words fell away as his tongue circled my clit.
His deep groan vibrated my desperate core, and then he was gone. The sound of his zipper had me ready to weep in relief.
“Goddamn, that glowing ass is gonna make me come too fast,” he swore, stepping up behind me before sinking inside my slick, ready entrance.
His hands ran over my tender bottom a moment before he began to pump slowly. “That’s it,” he praised me. “Take my dick, baby. Fucking take it like my good girl.”
I was already there. He’d worked me into a frenzy. I opened my mouth and screamed into the quilt as the release overtook me. My legs shook, and the bed was the only thing keeping me from sinking onto the floor as my body convulsed.
Storm began slamming into me hard and fast. “Fuck yes!” he shouted as he squeezed my butt cheeks with both his hands. “That sweet cunt knows I own it.”
I couldn’t argue with him about that. I’d proven to him how true it was.
He stiffened, then jerked as he began to release into me.
I felt my body go slack underneath him as he slowed. That had been … God, I didn’t know what that had been. Another level of nirvana that he’d taken me to. He always seemed to show me that it could in fact get better.
When he pulled out of me, I knew I had to move, but I wasn’t sure I could.
“Come here, baby,” he said in a gentle tone as he scooped me up and laid me up on the bed.
He pressed a kiss to my lips as I looked up at him, and then his hand slid between my legs. I gasped as he shoved two fingers inside me.
“I want all my cum inside this cunt,” he said, pressing another soft kiss on my chin, then began trailing them over my face and neck as he held his fingers inside me. “So sweet,” he murmured against my skin.
I looked up at the ceiling, and I knew that I was too far gone. No matter how hard I’d tried to keep myself in check and not give him everything, I’d done it. He was nothing like the other men. Not once had I ever been close to feeling anything for them. Yet Storm had knocked down all my walls with one swing.