Chapter 12 #2
“Look, it’s been a hell of a week,” I say. “But it’s over. I’m over all of it. Over you, finally.”
“Is that right?” He lowers a hand and slips it under my sweater.
His palm feels like a hot coal when he presses it flat between my ribs.
He bites my bottom lip as his scorching hand roams under my bra, and my traitorous nipples knot at the proximity of his touch.
When his thumb grazes one, I grit my teeth and lock my jaw.
Jesus fuck, that was way too much of a reaction for a woman who is unbothered by him. Not like he didn’t already know I was bluffing, but damn.
He nuzzles my neck, and his husky whisper sends a shiver all the way to my core.
“You have the most perfect nipples I’ve ever seen. Ever touched.” He pinches hard, and I reflexively shoot up onto my toes. “Ever sucked. We both know what happens when I suck on them, don’t we, sweet girl?”
His other hand cups my pussy through my jeans. “So warm. Is it already happening? Are you already soaking your panties for me?”
I squeeze my eyes shut and refuse to play along. He pushes my sweater up and lowers his mouth to my nipple. My hands are free, and my fingers want so badly to weave into his hair, to pull him closer.
I truly hate him now. Hate him for making me want him. Hate him for being able to play my body like an instrument he’s mastered. “I hate you,” I say through gritted teeth.
“There is nothing about you that I hate,” he says. “I don’t hate looking at you. I don’t hate the way you smell.” He inhales against my chest. “And I damn sure don’t hate the way you taste. You wanna end this? Let’s bring it full circle then, end it like it started.”
I don’t put up a fight when he takes my jeans off, but when he starts to take my panties off, I shove hard on his shoulders. “What are you doing?”
“Removing these so I can lick your pussy one last time since you’re so hellbent on running away. Do you want me to kneel or do you want to ride my face to make it authentically the same as the night you came to my office?”
“That’s not how this all began.” I turn and put my hands on the wall. “You stood behind me and fingered me. Just like at the lake house ten years ago, you got me off with your fingers first.”
“No. I was behind you all those years ago at the lake, but you were facing me in my office. Your gorgeous tits were bared to me. Take off your sweater.” I want this too badly to care about being angry at him.
I’ve got the rest of my life to be pissed off. Right now, his eyes are slicing through me, and I want to feel everything with him one last time so I can burn every second of it in my memory.
The moment my sweater hits the floor, his thumbs hook under my bra straps, and he yanks them down.
“My memory doesn’t falter where you’re concerned,” he says. “I remember every detail.”
Oh, God. He’s right. This is exactly how we were in his office. He pushes my thong aside and strokes me.
He groans into my hair, and tears leak from my eyes.
“Be rough with me, just like you were then. Make it hurt.”
He pushes two fingers inside me, but he isn’t rough. His fingers sink deeper, and he takes his time, sliding them back and forth until my hips are thrusting in time to his rhythm, seeking more.
When he finally touches my clit, I gasp.
“Stop being so gentle. I don’t like it like this.”
“Yes, you do,” he says. “But you’ve convinced yourself pain maintains distance. He inserts another finger and starts to ream me harder like I’ve asked. My fingernails curl into the skin at his shoulders
“What you’ve not yet realized is when the pain is delivered by the right hand, it obliterates distance.
It fuses desires, unlocks secrets, creates a bond that running away won’t break.
You’ll feel me in your dreams. The sting of my handprint on your ass, the clamp of my fingers pinching your nipples after I’ve sucked them raw, the bruising of my teeth leaving tracks on your skin, the pressure of my cock stretching your tight needy cunt. ”
My orgasm sweeps my feet out from under me like a riptide. Gareth holds me tighter and closer than ever as I come down, whimpering and panting on his shoulder. Until my vision blurs and I lose control completely.
There is no screaming this time, no hitting him. I don’t have enough strength to even lift my arms. All I can do is cry uncontrollably on his shoulder. Sob until I can barely breathe.
He holds on. Rubs circles between my shoulders.
“Let it all go, sweet girl. I’ve got you. I’m right here, and I’ve got you.”
When I’m able to stand on my own again, he helps me get dressed. He kisses my tear-stained cheek.
“You don’t have to see anything here tonight, but I want you to come back. To see what the club has to offer and talk to me about what we could add and where we could take it. Will you do that for me?”
I nod. He puts his arm around my shoulders and sends a text message. My vision is still too blurry to read it, but I hear the door unlock behind us.
We walk through the smaller room with the couches, and skirt the perimeter of the larger room on our way out. There is no one on the stage now. People are dancing and we have to weave through a group before we reach the door.
I look around before we walk outside.
My father left me a sex club. I’ve been chasing normal my whole life. But I wouldn’t know what to do with it if I caught it.
* * *
Gareth drives like he’s heading to put out a fire as we make the last part of the trip to the lake house.
He flips on the lights when we walk inside, and the kitchen comes into view. I can’t help but stare at the sink.
His arms are warm around my waist. “I’m thinking of selling the firm and moving out here full-time.”
“You’ll just run the club and that’s it?”
“Renovating this place would keep me busy for a while.” He brushes my hair aside and kisses my neck. “So, what do you think? Got any ideas for the kitchen?”
“Are you looking to add square footage?”
“Double.”
“I could work with that.”
“I think you and I are going to work very well together, Ms. Carrigan.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Mr. Branson. You haven’t seen my bid yet.”
“Shoot high. I am excellent at negotiating.”
I stare through the window over the sink. She’s gone for good. Banished to adulthood. But right back in his arms.
Destiny, I guess. If you believe in shit like that.
“It isn’t just the offerings of the club you want me to see, is it? I’m going to learn things about you there, too, aren’t I?”
“Do you want to know more about me?”
“I want to know everything there is to know about you, Daddy.”
“I’m an open book for you, sweet girl.”
And this is how our next chapter begins, right back where we started, but with nothing to hide.