CHAPTER NINE
(Matthew)
By the time “Dante” brought Charlotte back, she was a pathetic, grumpy, pleading mess. He wasn’t much better off.
“Tiffany and Asia are here to get you ready,” I informed Charlotte when they walked in. She nearly burst into tears.
“I’m not sure she can take Tiffany and Asia,” Dante said. “In fact, I’m not sure I can take your little games. I think my dick is going to fall off.”
I grinned at him. “You’ve taken such good care of Charlotte, I guess I could help you out with that.”
Charlotte’s jaw dropped in indignation. “What about me?”
“You could watch, if you’d like,” I offered.
Her eyes lit up.
“But only if you can do so without coming,” I added. She scowled and stomped off toward the primary suite.
When she was gone, I turned to Alex and asked in a low voice, “So, what do you think?”
“I didn’t exactly get to know her real well,” Alex pointed out.
“Some would argue that you got to know her very well,” I corrected him.
“You know what I mean.” He unzipped his jeans and dropped to the couch. “We can talk about your relationship after you take care of this.”
“Gladly.” I went to the sofa and removed the cushion beside him, wincing apologetically. “Sorry. I need something to kneel on.”
“Still not a hundred percent, then?” he asked, somehow sounding compassionate even with his demanding erection in his hand.
“I’m never going to be a hundred percent.” That was something I still needed to accept, but saying it helped. “Bear or not, my knees are fucked.”
I got down and leaned my forearms on his muscular thighs. I would hit the gym immediately when I got back to New York.
It was not the time to compare bodies. Not when a perfect one was sitting on my sofa, waiting to get sucked off. If I’d had the time, and the bedroom was unoccupied, I’d be underneath Alex in a heartbeat. I barely brushed his cock with my fingertips, and he struggled to stifle a moan. When I leaned in close, I caught a telltale scent on his belly and looked up at him with an arched brow. “I thought I told you not to come.”
“I didn’t.” His chest rose and fell fast with anticipation. “I got close, though. Lost a few good soldiers.”
“That must have been frustrating.” I laughed at him and shook my head. “I hope you made Charlotte clean it up.”
“It would have been all over. She—” His voice cut off as I swirled my tongue around his tip. “Fuck.”
“I wish, but I don’t have time tonight.” I gave him another slow lick. “When we’re back in the city?”
“Your girl wouldn’t mind?” he asked incredulously, then squeezed his eyes shut tight as I sucked him between my lips. A salty drop of precum rose up to meet my tongue and I swiped back and forth over it, savoring every bit.
I released him with a sucking pop to answer. “No. She might want to get involved. At the very least, she’d watch.”
“Sounds like you found your soulmate.” His hand clenched one of the throw pillows and squeezed hard. “Come on, I’m about to blow all over your face, and I’d rather do it in your mouth.”
I opened wide and swallowed him down, flexing my throat and undulating my tongue. I sucked him in and out in a lazy rhythm, never speeding up even when his hips urged me to.
“That’s it,” he hissed, his other hand tightening on his knee. His fingers dug harder into the pillow, and I wondered if he’d tear it. Charlotte must have really gotten him pent up. I’d have to thank her for being such a good girl.
I cupped Alex’s sack, slipping my finger behind to push against his perinium, exactly the way he liked it. I’d been on my knees for him often enough that I remembered exactly what it took to get him off, not only quickly, but in a big, big way. His bare toes splayed, the joints cracking audibly.
“That’s it,” he repeated, again and again, the litany growing more urgent. His balls drew up, his thighs tensed. He was so close, right on the edge.
I stopped and lifted my head. “Are you sure you need to come right now? You can’t wait at all?”
“Come on!” he roared in frustration, and I lowered my head with a mean laugh. He bucked against my face, forcing himself as deep as my throat allowed, and shouted to the ceiling as he erupted. I gulped him down, choking as I did so, and kept going until his cock stopped spurting and his legs stopped shaking.
Alex leaned his head back, eyes closed, breathing heavy as I sat on my heels and wiped my mouth on my hand.
“Better?” I asked, a little smug. I was proud of my blow job skills, and he knew that, having been on the receiving end so many times.
“I feel like I nutted my entire body weight, but yeah.” He laughed and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Fuck, why don’t I come down here more often?”
“Because you’re ‘too busy.’” I made the air quotes to go along with my inflection.
He gave me an arched brow. “Not all of us are heirs to massive fortunes. Some of us have to work for a living.”
“It’s called self-care,” I joked.
“Yeah, about that self-care.” He moved to tuck himself away and I swiped my thumb over his leaking tip, bringing the last few drops of cum to my mouth.
“Thanks for the assist.” He zipped up and adjusted, then sat forward with his elbows on his knees. “The guys are worried about you.”
“The guys are worried that my apartment is out of rotation at the moment,” I quipped, then felt like an asshole. Thursday-night circle jerk wasn’t strictly a sex thing. Those guys were my friends, and if they were concerned, it wasn’t because they’d lost access to the largest, deepest hot tub in Manhattan.
“Come on.” Alex gave me a cut-the-bullshit look. “You’ve been down here for weeks. Nobody’s seen or heard from you—”
“I got in touch and invited you down, didn’t I?” I defended myself.
“Yeah, but you’re still holed up here. And while I appreciate that you’re distracted…” He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb toward the bedroom. “It feels like you’re running away from your life.”
I got to my feet, waving off the hand he offered for help as I hobbled to my cane. “It was a strategic retreat. But I am coming back.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.” There. Got him.
“That so?”
“Is this an interrogation?” I asked.
“It’s an intervention.” He shook his head slowly. “Something bad happened to you. Something hilarious, but something bad.”
“I’m glad me being mauled by a grizzly bear amuses you,” I grumbled.
“Bro. Being mauled by a grizzly bear in the middle of a wedding at a five-star resort in a part of the country where there aren’t even any damn grizzly bears is objectively hilarious.” He sighed. “Can I see the scar?”
“I sent pictures to the group text,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, nasty pictures of tubes coming out and shit. I didn’t want to see that. Let me see how it healed up.” The request was more like an order, but a gentle one. And he was right; I hadn’t been keeping my friends up to date on my recovery.
With a sigh, I rolled up my pants leg and stiffly extended my calf. His eyes widened at the extent of the damage. The dip where muscle had been carved out and couldn’t be salvaged. The twisting purple scars that shined like they were so tight they might burst open. Punch marks from the staples, keyhole-shaped ends of surgical slashes where drains had been placed.
“It’s disgusting.” Voicing it to someone aloud, rather than trying to pretend I was fine, sucked less than I’d expected it to.
“It’s pretty gross,” Alex agreed.
“I’ve been downplaying it with Charlotte,” I admitted. “Acting like it doesn’t bother me all that much. And I know it shouldn’t. There’s nothing shameful about having a…disability.”
“You’re struggling to say the word,” Alex pointed out.
“I don’t like self-applying it.” I looked over my shoulder. I knew Charlotte was occupied by the continuation of her torment-by-denial, and likely wasn’t listening in on our conversation, but I wasn’t ready to share this particular facet of my recovery with her. “And I have this gorgeous woman with so much energy and an insatiable sex drive—”
“You’ve met your soulmate, then,” Alex interrupted.
He was completely right. Having Charlotte in my life made me feel whole. Not in a made-me-feel-like-I-wasn’t-attacked-by-a-bear sense, but like my life had been missing something before she was in it. “I think I have. But I went from feeling like I was so young for my age, like I could keep up with someone like her, not sexually but in terms of the kind of life she’s probably interested in, to…” I thumped my cane on the tile.
“Have you paused in all this fucking to ask her what kind of life she’s interested in?” Alex pressed.
I shook my head, admitting, “Not beyond some ground-level basics.”
“Maybe that’s a conversation you should have, then? About her expectations?”
“What are you, my therapist?” I tried to joke.
“I’m your friend. And I get it, about Charlotte. She’s adorable. She’s friendly. You’ve needed someone like her in your life for years. And yeah, she’s young, but if she’s as into you as you are into her, you can make it work. But there has to be communication.”
He sighed and relaxed against the couch cushions. “You know, being able-bodied isn’t something that lasts your whole life. Unless we’re super lucky. Or, super unlucky and we get hit by a bus in our prime. Sooner or later, we all end up with a cane or a wheelchair or a round-the-clock nurse. Even without the bear thing, that’s something you need to face, and with her. She’s young. She needs to prepare for all of that shit to hit you like two decades before it hits her.”
The age thing. I truly didn’t like to think about it. “Are you insinuating that it’s going to take more than my emotional immaturity and vast fortune to make this relationship work?”
“If you’re interested in the long haul, yeah.” He spread his hands in finality. “But like you said, I’m not your therapist.” He got to his feet. “I’m going to rest up before tonight, because the party sounds wild. You’re leaving tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Heading back to New York. Charlotte’s giving me a one-week trial run before we get more serious.” More serious than planning a surprise gang bang, anyway.
“I’m staying until Tuesday. I’ll see you at group next week?” he asked.
“Two weeks.” It might be pathetic to reschedule activities with my friends to be with my new girlfriend, but I had no idea what Charlotte’s plans were after our week was up. “If we go back to a long-distance relationship situation, I don’t want to waste in-person time with her.”
“Fair.” He headed to the door. “Call me when you get back.”
I sat on the sofa for a long while, considering what life might be like when I returned to New York. I’d come to Ascend Red to put the disability thing behind me. After that conversation, I couldn’t pretend anymore. When I got home, the cane, the scars, the mobility issues all came with me. This was life now.
I hoped that when Charlotte had the same realization, it wouldn’t chase her away.
* * * *
Tiffany emerged about an hour later, a smirk on her face, to inform me that Charlotte was ready.
Almost ready. I had asked them to give me the job of getting her dressed.
When I entered the bedroom, Charlotte was pacing, flushed, covered in a sheen of perspiration. Through the bathroom door, I glimpsed a wand vibrator and a double-ended dildo.
They’d been busy girls, indeed.
Charlotte turned to me, relief written all over her face. “Please tell me my surprise is an orgasm.”
“Oh, I’m sure it will be.” More than one, if she was as worked up as I imagined. “But later.”
“You said later when it was before,” she pointed out with a little pout that would have no effect on my resolve. “It’s later now.”
“It can be much later, if you’d prefer,” I warned. I went to the wardrobe and opened it, removing the garment bag Miranda had delivered that morning. “Would you like a hint as to what your surprise is?”
She sat on the edge of the bed, thighs squeezed together. “Please.”
I hooked the hanger over the wardrobe door and pulled down the zipper, spilling yards of delicate pink velvet, virginal white linen, and woven gold trim out to their full length.
She gasped.
I thought she was probably getting a full understanding, rather than a hint.
“Let’s get you dressed, princess,” I said, offering her nothing more.
I laid the gown on the bed. It was far more complicated than I’d imagined; an intricately beaded white dress underneath the pink velvet outer shell that laced up the front.
“It’s so beautiful,” she breathed.
“It is.” Where Miranda got something like this at the last minute, I had no clue. I mentally bumped up the raise she deserved to fifty percent. “Pity it’s going to be destroyed by the end of the night.”
A visible shiver racked her body. “Is this…what I think? My surprise, I mean?”
“Most likely, given your reaction.” I offered her my hand and she rose to stand over me, every glorious, naked inch of her. I couldn’t help myself. I placed my hands at her waist and dragged them down the smooth, luscious skin of her hips. “Let’s get you dressed, and I’ll tell you all about it?”
“Please,” she whispered.
I unlaced the pink part of the dress and separated it from the white underneath, to put that on first. The material was sheer; when I helped her pull it over her head and drop it to the floor, her creamy skin and hard nipples were visible through it. The beading along the bottom of the skirt helped weigh it down, skimming every curve.
“Your dragon is going to share you tonight,” I began, making careful adjustments to the garment that allowed me to cup her breasts and wander my fingers down her stomach. “With twenty of his hand-selected knights.”
“Like the story,” she rasped.
“Do you think you can take them?” I asked. “Twenty?”
“Forty,” she snapped back. “You have no idea what today has been like.”
“Oh, I’ve been edged to near insanity before,” I assured her. “Are you into this? We can cancel at any time, and I’m not going to be upset. You know that, right?”
“Of course, I know that. I’m overwhelmed that you would go to this length to—”
“Make your fantasy come true?” I winked at her. “What did I tell you I was in the business of doing?”
She rolled her eyes and laughed. Then, a hiccupping sob tore from her throat, and she cleared it away. In a tremulous voice, she said, “The princess wasn’t allowed to come until all twenty had finished with her.”
“Not tonight,” I promised, kissing her head. “Tonight, the princess is going to come as much as she wants.”
“The princess is going to come the second someone touches her,” she warned.
“Then the princess is going to have a wonderful night.” I reached for the pink dress, uncertain for a moment how she was supposed to put it on. “Do you step into it or…”
She raised her arms. “Over my head.”
The velvet, like the linen, hugged her body, a second skin all the way to her hips, where the voluminous skirt flared out. The sleeves, likewise, were huge, draping all the way to the floor. She really did look like something out of a storybook.
I picked up the ends of the gold laces threaded through the grommets. Not too tight; they were simply decoration because she still needed to breathe. “No one will do anything you don’t like. They’ve all been sent a list of your limits.”
“I trust you.”
The words hit my heart like nothing I’d ever felt before. They physically knocked the wind out of me. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard them, but somehow, knowing we were about to play out a fantasy that had been so formative to our relationship, they meant more this time.
“Are you going to watch?” she asked.
“Isn’t that what the dragon did?” I managed to keep my voice even and playful through the lump of emotion in my throat. “Is my princess going to make me proud?”
A flush crept up her neck. “Yes, my dragon.”
I led her to the full-length mirror near the bathroom. “Look at you. A real princess.” I hesitated. “Except…”
The final touches had come in a separate box, which Miranda had put directly into my safe. I doubted anyone had planned an elaborate heist, but it was valuable. I’d purchased it through a jeweler and had it hand delivered by courier overnight. I carried the surprisingly heavy wooden box to the bed with difficulty I miraculously concealed and opened the lock with the small golden key provided.
“This is not going to be destroyed,” I promised her, folding back the protective fabric to reveal the contents.
She gasped.
Inside, a golden tiara studded with pale rubies and huge, flawless diamonds winked up at her. Nestled beside it was a gold-plated, titanium-core plug, the base decorated with gold filigree around a perfect, blindingly white fifty-carat, round-cut diamond.
“Is that a real—”
“Yeah,” I said with an embarrassed laugh. “And it’s officially the most expensive sex toy I own. Custom. Though, the tiara is not.”
“I don’t know, secondhand tiara…” she teased. “Seriously, how long have you been planning this?”
“The butt plug? A couple of weeks.” I’d intended it to be a parting gift, something extravagant to remember me by if she’d decided against a relationship.
Because I was petty, and I knew any future partner wouldn’t have been able to top it.
“Tonight?” I went on. “Two days.”
She never took her gaze off the box. “You’re magic.”
My ego should have been thoroughly stroked, but my vanity knew no bounds. I lifted the tiara out gently. Asia had given me detailed instructions earlier about proper spacing and how to make sure the tiara was secure. It had cost almost as much as the damn plug.
“This is too much,” Charlotte said quietly.
“It’s not enough,” I argued. “Dragons are supposed to have piles and piles of treasure.”
I settled the tiara atop her head—“not like a headband,” as Asia had instructed—and arranged the combs carefully to keep it in place. I put my hands on Charlotte’s shoulders to urge her a step back. Her hair had been swept into a long braid with loose curls falling around her face, and the tiara nestled in the cushion created by the pinned waves center-parted at her forehead.
I turned her toward the mirror again. “Tonight, you’ll be wearing fourteen million dollars’ worth of your dragon’s treasure.”
Her eyes went panic-wide at the number.
“And it still won’t be the most valuable thing in his hoard.” I leaned down, pressing my cheek to hers. “The jewels, the gold, this whole damn island? None of it compares to how much I value you.”
Tears rose in her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re doing this all for me.”
Partially. Watching the woman I loved get fucked by twenty guys wasn’t exactly a selfless act when it was bound to be the most erotic thing I’d ever seen in my lifetime.
Until we found a way to top it.
I finished her sentence for her. “Because I love you.”
She turned in my arms and I kissed her, long and slow and with every ounce of what I felt for her. Her head tipped back, and she moaned, pushing me away. “No offense, but I’ve been on the edge all day long and even just kissing is going to make me come.”
I went to the box and lifted up the plug with a grimace of feigned pity. “Then you’re going to have to be a good girl and hold back, because this is the final touch.” I patted the bed. “Bend over, princess.”
She whimpered in distress.
But my good little princess did as she was told.