Chapter 51 Twenty #2
“I don’t know,” she said, clutching the covers.
“A little deeper. Tell me how it feels.”
“Oh, Master,” she murmured, swamped by a feeling of such helplessness she nearly came.
“I recognize that voice,” Shay said, gripping her hips.
He took her then, in deep thrusts. She came, crying into the sheets.
“Hey,” he whispered, stroking her neck. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“I know I’m an absolute bastard sometimes.” He cupped her sore ass and kissed her. “You’re a good girl in love with a bad master.”
“Not true,” she said, sniffling. “The times when you’re so caught up in how much you want me and need my body and I don’t know if you’ll stop even if I ask you to… those are the times I love most.”
He bit her lower lip gently. “Me, too.”
They took a shower together and got ready quickly.
When they arrived, her mother’s house was crowded.
As she expected, her family warmed up to Shay immediately.
He was so handsome, quick-witted and charming in person, and there was that irresistible edge of power and self-assuredness.
He quickly became the center of attention.
Her mother and sisters tried to lure him away from Emma, each wanting to show him around, to introduce him to other family members and friends, to make sure his glass was full and that he “had everything he needed.”
Emma smiled covertly as Shay deflected all attempts to show him around like a prized pony.
If they’d bothered to ask her, she’d have told them that Shay wasn’t the type to be dragged about by anyone, not even her.
Of course, they hadn’t asked her opinion, let alone her permission to trot off with her boyfriend.
Her mother and sisters had been chased by scores of men in their lifetimes.
They certainly expected Shay to respond as other men did to their beauty, but Shay wasn’t like other men.
And because he resisted, they worked harder to get his attention.
And the more they pushed, of course, the less Shay liked it.
“Emma will be fine here. She does look pretty. Finally got rid of the freshmen fifteen. Still a little to go on the pre-college weight, though,” her sister Denise said.
“Emma’s not allowed to lose more weight,” Shay said.
“Says who?” Denise asked, laughing. “Sara Lee?”
“No, the man who has sex with her.”
“Oh!” Denise said, blushing and trying to laugh it off. “Well, it’s sweet of you to say she doesn’t need to lose weight. Even if you don’t mean it.”
“Do I strike you as a man who says things he doesn’t mean?” Shay shook his head, his expression dark, dangerous, and dominant.
“Well,” Denise said, flushing deeper. “Emma’s a very lucky girl. Let’s leave her here a minute while I take you to meet—” Denise paused when Shay didn’t let her pull him toward the door.
Instead, he ignored Denise and leaned toward Emma. He whispered in her ear, “Why did you put that perfume on again? Do you want me to have sex with you in this madhouse?”
Emma laughed and then put her mouth to his ear. “If you can find an empty room, you know I live to serve you,” she whispered.
He pinched her sore ass. She winced and pouted at him.
“Be careful of giving me that look, Emma. Makes me want to give you more to pout about,” he whispered with a wicked smile.
“Are you coming or not?” Denise asked impatiently.
Shay glanced at Denise. “No,” Shay said firmly.
Denise blinked. Her pretty sisters weren’t used to hearing the word no from men. And Shay was the best-looking, most enigmatic man in the house.
“All right,” Denise said, scowling, “Stay with Emma for now.” She strode off.
The rest of the night became a competition to see who could pry Shay away from Emma first. Emma enjoyed watching them, enjoyed knowing that for the first time in her life, her sisters envied her.
Late in the evening when most of the guests had gone, Emma lay on a couch in the family room with her head resting on Shay’s thigh while he watched the business channel. One of his hands was under her sweater, resting against the skin of her waist.
“Well, you two are quite cozy,” Denise said from the doorway.
She was flushed and buzzed. Her fiancé, a good-looking guy with promising prospects, had gotten sick and then passed out from too much of the seventeen-year-old Scotch Shay had given the guys as Christmas presents.
“Did you get enough to eat, Emma?” Denise asked snidely.
“We noticed you enjoyed Mom’s cheesecake.
As always. Did you have two pieces or three? ”
Emma had actually only had half a piece. The rest she’d fed to her great grandfather who had a sweet tooth, but couldn’t navigate the dining room with his walker.
Shay’s gaze turned to Denise, his eyes narrowing. “Where’s your man?”
Emma almost chuckled. Club rules didn’t apply at family gatherings, though Shay obviously wished there was another Dom he could tell to take Denise in hand.
“Where is he?” Denise chirped. “Where do you think? Drunk off his ass on that Scotch you brought him! Thanks a lot, Shay. I’ve got no one to keep me company.
” She strolled into the room and sat in the chair that was closest to Shay.
“He said it was the best Scotch he’d ever had. Expensive, I guess?”
“You should be with him,” Shay said.
“He’s sleeping it off. He doesn’t need me.”
Shay’s hand stroked Emma’s skin. “If he does, you’ll never know it, sitting down here.” Shay’s gaze returned to the television.
“I guess Saint Emma would stay with you? Would she make a cheerful, chubby little nurse? I’m sure she wouldn’t leave your side. Too afraid someone would take you off her hands I bet,” Denise said with a calculating glance.
Emma stiffened, and Shay’s cold gaze returned to Denise. Emma recognized his expression. Shay had had enough.
“No one could lure me away from Emma, least of all a nasty little bitch with arms that look like she’s got tennis balls for biceps.
From the way your fiancé kept gravitating toward Emma, I’d say you should spend a little less time curling and a little more time keeping him warm on cold nights.
Maybe then he wouldn’t look for heat in the bottom of a bottle. ”
Denise’s jaw dropped. Shay’s cold stare was remorseless.
Emma flushed but kept her mouth shut. She was tense, but also triumphant.
“You’re a fucking asshole,” Denise finally said.
Shay smirked. “I’ve made a hundred-and-seventy million dollars since I graduated from college, and my beautiful, sweet girlfriend loves me more than I deserve.
I can afford to be a fucking asshole.” His gaze was pure steel.
“Earlier, I made myself clear, but you seem determined to ignore what I’m telling you, so here’s the confrontation you’ve got coming.
Emma’s body is a fucking wonder of the world.
Anyone who tries to convince her to change is going to have a problem with me. You really don’t want that.”
“For God’s sake, we’re just trying to help her.”
“She doesn’t need help. She’s perfect the way she is.”
“Oh please! What do you know? You’ve known her what? A few months? For your information, she needs to be reminded not to let herself go, or there’s no telling how fat she’ll get. When she was young, she was always sneaking food, such a little pig. You—”
“Get out of my sight,” Shay barked.
“I’m trying to—”
“I don’t give a fuck what you’re trying to do. Shut your mouth and get out.”
“It’s my mother’s house,” Denise snapped, sounding shrill. “You’re not in charge here.”
“Move your ass out of that chair, or I’ll help you move it.” Shay’s voice was low, but hard as granite.
“You wouldn’t dare!” she screeched.
Shay moved in a flash. He hauled Denise up, carried her to the doorway, and set her outside it. Then he stood in the doorway to block her from walking back in.
“Get out of my way!” she yelled.
“What’s going on?” Emma’s mother asked, rushing down the hallway. “You’ll wake the house.”
Shay stood like a mountain, hard, immovable. “Denise is drunk. Put her to bed, Mrs. Anderson.”
“Come on, Denise.”
“Mom, no! He just grabbed me and yanked me out of the chair. Like he owns the place. I don’t care who the hell he is. You kick him out. Right now!”
“Now, honey, come on,” Emma’s mom said. “You’re just tired. She’s just tired, Shay.”
“Mom!”
“Come on! I mean it. Leave Shay alone. You girls have been hounding him all night. He’s with Emma for now. Let’s let him relax.”
Emma sat stiffly on the couch, the words echoing in her ears. “He’s with Emma for now,” she’d said. The implication of course was that Emma wouldn’t be able to hold onto someone like Shay. Of course not. Not the little girl who’d snuck food like a pig. Her eyes stung.
When her mother had pulled the protesting Denise away, Shay returned to the room.
“You’re not allowed to cry, Emma. I forbid it.”
She swallowed and blinked her eyes several times, trying very hard to banish the tears.
“Because if you cry, I might go upstairs and choke the life out of your sister. You love me, right?”
She nodded.
“Want me to go to jail?” Shay asked, sitting on the couch.
“No,” she said with the ghost of a smile forming.
Shay took her hand in his, squeezing until a little bite of pain cramped it. Her breath caught, but the pain steadied her.
“Whose opinion of your body matters?”
“Yours,” she whispered.
“That’s right,” he said, easing his grip on her hand and stroking it with his thumb. “It must have been hard growing up surrounded by those bitches. Christ, they’re a fucking nightmare. But it’s over, and you belong to me now.”
“You know… She’s mean, but she’s not lying.
I did sometimes get out of control as a kid.
I couldn’t seem to help myself. What if I lose control again?
I might gain a lot.” The words came out in a rush while she stared at the floor, and a couple of tears escaped.
She couldn’t help it. She was worried at times that her wonderful, happy life might unravel.
Her heart hammered, and her stomach knotted while she waited for him to respond.
“Lie down like you were earlier, baby. And let me explain how things will be.”
His voice, so steady, calmed her. Emma trembled as she lay back down, resting her head on his thigh.
Shay’s hand slid under her sweater and cupped her breast. “If your weight became a problem, we’d deal with it.
And when I say a problem, I mean a problem for your health or our lifestyle.
” He squeezed her breast. “That kind of trouble is a long way from what you weigh now, but things change. It’s possible I’d have to exert more control over you in that arena, the way I did when you started losing more weight than I wanted you to.
” His grip tightened, released, and tightened again, harder, making her breath catch. “Do I sound worried, pet?”
“No.”
“Because I’m not. If I decide something is bad for your health, I’ll take control of your body, and you’ll do exactly what I order you to do because you’re my sweet little kitten who obeys, right?” he asked, pinching her nipple.
Her mouth went dry, and heat gathered between her legs. “Yes,” she said breathlessly.
“I don’t let you defy me when there’s nothing more at stake than my Dom pride. Do you think I’d let you defy me if I was making you do something for your own good?”
“No.”
“No,” he said emphatically. “Still scared you’ll gain weight, and I’ll leave you?”
She paused, thinking. “No,” she said, realizing she wasn’t. There was something about Shay, his stubbornness, she guessed, and the way he could work on a program for fifteen hours at a time that eased her fears.
She might lose control of her body, but he wouldn’t. And he wouldn’t give up on them. He spent hours staring at her, binding her, touching her, and fucking her. He missed nothing when it came to her body.
He leaned over and kissed the side of her mouth, then put his lips near her ear.
“You know what my cock wants and likes. That plush pink pussy of yours, that gorgeous round ass. The way you move and moan and take a spanking. The way you melt in my mouth when I dominate you. I can never get enough of you. At the end of a long day of work, all I want is to come home to my sweet playful sub and enjoy her. I love you. Don’t ever be afraid you’ll lose me over something stupid, Emma.
It won’t happen. You’re mine. I won’t give you up. ”
“Thank you, Shay. I love you, too,” she whispered, feeling her eyes mist again, but for a different reason.
“I want to see the update on the Asian markets and then we’ll go back to the hotel.
In our suite tonight there will be role-playing games.
Your new landlord’s a bastard,” he said, pinching her nipple until it throbbed.
“You really shouldn’t have been such a brat to him when you spent your rent money on high heels. ”
Emma laughed softly, and her hips moved back and forth in response to the way he handled her. Shay bent and kissed her again, and then slid his hand out from under her sweater and put it firmly over her mouth. “Don’t distract me for a few minutes. Here’s the market update I was waiting for.”
Emma closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of her head against Shay’s hard thigh and his strong hand over her mouth.
Denise’s words and her mother’s had been a shock, like the sensation of falling through broken ice into painful, cold water.
The fear and insecurities that had haunted her for so long had threatened to overwhelm her, but Shay had taken control of Emma’s emotions so quickly and easily, restoring her to happiness.
He was right. His opinion was the only one that really mattered to her, and he loved her the way she was.
To know that he wouldn’t abandon her, but would just take more control if she started to lose control of her eating made her feel safe and loved.
What’s more, she never seemed to have trouble with her eating now.
Happiness, she thought, helped. She didn’t need food for love and comfort when she got that from him.
The other thing that had been a revelation was seeing him deal with Denise.
It had been pretty thrilling to watch him shut her up and haul her out of the room for trying to hurt Emma’s feelings.
Looking good might be great revenge for a girl who’d been bullied about her weight, but having a gorgeous Dom banish the bullies with breathtaking scorn and condescension…
Best Christmas present ever.