His to Command #3: The Revelation (3 page)

“You’ve been running from me for two years. I get it. It’s a hard habit to break.” He rolled her onto her back and smiled down at her, then captured her lips. Almost as soon as it started, the kiss was over. And she wanted more. “But now you know I’m not the frightening man you thought I was.”

“Right.” But he was. Not because he was the ruthless man Ileana had led Kate to believe he was, but because Kate knew that around him, she became someone else. That hadn’t changed. Last night had proven that to her.

As he watched her, his brows furrowed. “Kate-”

“Look, Matt. Last night was a mistake. We should never have …” But it was her fault, not his. “I should never have asked you to …” Her hands clenched into fists. “Damn it. That’s exactly why we can’t do this. I beg you to dominate me, to punish me. Who does that?”

To her surprise, he grinned at her. “What’s wrong with enjoying a little role-playing in the bedroom? It’s healthy and it’s exciting.”

Her head shook back and forth. “But it’s not a role. I become someone else. Someone I don’t even recognize.”

He drew in a deep breath and moved away, giving her much-needed space to breathe. “Okay, it’s just as well. I didn’t bring you here to start up a relationship again.”

She gazed up at him. “Why did you bring me here?”

He’d drawn her here by saying he wanted to be an investor in her company and she prayed it wasn’t just a ploy. She didn’t want to let down her employees. Her heart clenched. And she didn’t want to fail again.

“Kate, I didn’t lie to you. I brought you here to discuss investing in your company.”

“Really?” She was almost afraid to believe him. After the wild roller coaster of emotions she’d been through over the past twenty-four hours, she didn’t think she could cope with another shock. “But … why? I mean, how did you even know I needed an investor?”

“A few months after you left me, I heard you’d moved away from New York and set up a business somewhere else. When I saw you at the mall recently, I wondered how you’d been doing. I asked around and found out you were looking for an investor.” He shrugged. “I wanted to help.”

“I realize you own Facts and Figures Inc., but what does the board of directors think about you investing in my company?”

“Actually, I’m investing personally. I thought you’d prefer that to being partners with a corporation.” He shrugged. “I just made it look like they were the interested party because if you knew it was really me, I’m sure you wouldn’t have agreed to come.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You said you hadn’t lied to me.”

He grinned. “Well, not in any way that was important. So are you still interested?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Good.” He pushed away the covers and stood up.

She dragged her gaze from his nakedness. They were going to be discussing a business relationship. She shouldn’t be drooling over his sexy, masculine body. Damn, how could she become partners with a man she’d been so intimate with? A man she’d drop to her knees for on command?

She drew in a breath, her fingers clenched around the sheets covering her. She’d find a way. Because she simply had to make this work.

He pulled on his pajama pants and turned to her. “So, tell me Kate, how are you?”

Actually, she felt incredibly refreshed. Once they’d made love, she’d fallen into a deep sleep, feeling warm and protected in his arms. Not that she would tell him that.

She gazed at his unsettling blue eyes. “I’m fine. A little hungry.”

He grabbed something from his zippered bag and tossed it to her. A granola bar. “It’s either that or leftover lasagna. I’d planned to have food delivered, but with the weather, that won’t be possible.”

“This is fine.” She unwrapped it and took a bite.

“But what I meant is, how are you doing? Living here in Connecticut for the past two years?”

“Oh, it’s a beautiful place to live. I have a nice apartment, friendly neighbors. I like to go biking in the fresh air. There are a lot of great parks and bike paths.”

“So you like it here?”

“Yes, of course”—she gazed at the bar in her hand—“but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss living in New York City.”

* * *

The wistfulness of her words haunted Matt. She missed her old life. She never would have left the city if she’d had a choice. If circumstances hadn’t forced her to move.

And he’d had a role in that.

“You have an apartment. You didn’t want to buy a place?” he asked.

Pain lanced across her features. “No. I didn’t want to fall in love with a place again and chance losing it. Maybe later, when things have settled down with my business.”

She glanced at him, then down at her granola bar, and took a bite. The sadness in her eyes flooded him with guilt.

“What about you? Did you ever buy that big house you were looking at?”

“Yes, I did,” he said, struggling to keep his voice emotionless. “I live there now.” But he’d hoped one day Kate would live there with him. “From everything I’ve seen, your business is doing well. Why is your partner pulling out?”

* * *

Kate glanced at him in surprise. She was sure Matt would have found out all the details before he considered investing. “He got a great job offer in California.”

“Yes, I understand the background. But even if he moves away, he could have keep his share in the business. Or was there something more than business between you?”

“No, he thought handling the business remotely would be too complicated. And the two of us were never involved. I know better than to mix a business partnership with romance.”

Oh, damn.
How would he take that after last night?
She gazed at his inscrutable expression and decided she’d better tackle this head-on.

“Matt, about what happened last night—”

But his cell phone chimed from the dresser just as she started talking. She stopped while he took the call.

“Pearce,” he answered. “Okay, good.”

He hung up and tossed the phone on the bedside table.

“That was the driver. He said they should have the road cleared in an hour or so. He’ll pick us up then.” He grabbed his pajama top and pulled it on. “In the meantime, I think we’re long overdue for some caffeine. We can take our coffee in the living room and sit by the fire. We have some things we need to talk about.”

Her heart stopped at those words, but she nodded.

“I set the coffeemaker to start automatically, so it should be all ready. Are you coming?”

She was totally naked under the covers and was not about to hop out of the bed just yet.

“I’ll meet you downstairs.”

As soon as he left the room, she slipped from under the covers and dashed across the room, then peered out the doorway to see him disappear down the stairs. She hurried down the hall to her room and retrieved the robe he’d given her.

* * *

Matt walked into the kitchen and poured two cups of coffee, then walked through the door to the living room. Kate sat on the couch waiting for him. He sat down beside her.

“Matt, I’m sorry about last night.”

“You’re sorry?”

His stomach churned. Why was she sorry? Sure, he knew they couldn’t really carry on their relationship, especially given certain facts he was not about to tell her, but he would never regret what happened between them last night.

“I’m sorry that things went too far, and I’m sorry if I hurt you. Back then … and now.”

“You don’t have to apologize. Especially about last night. There is, however, something important I need to ask you.”

At his serious tone, she glanced up. “What is it?”

“Is it possible that you could be pregnant after last night?”

* * *

Shock vaulted through Kate. “What? No, why would you ask that?” Then she realized. “Oh, we didn’t use a condom.”

“That’s right. I’m really sorry, Kate.”

“I didn’t even think about it. I mean, I know you. I trust you. It never even occurred to me that there’d be a problem. I mean, safety-wise.” She glanced at him and noticed his tight expression had softened a little. “And I’m on birth control. I’m sorry, I should have told you.”

Relief washed across his features. “Good. I wouldn’t want a pregnancy to result from what we did last night.”

Her stomach churned and she had to steady her breathing. As sensible as his statement was, it felt like a rejection. Of course he wouldn’t want to be saddled with her and a bastard child just because of one night of indiscretion. Even though he had tons of money to spare, he wasn’t the type of man who would just pay her off with child support. He was the kind of man who would want to be present for his son or daughter. And that would mean he’d be stuck with her, even if just for regular visits with their child.

Their child
. The thought of having a child with Matt made her want to weep. Because she loved him and would love to have his child. But she and Matt just weren’t right for each other. Oh, how she wished they were. He would be a wonderful father. And she would love to spend the rest of her life with him.

As she watched him take a sip of his coffee, her gaze slid along his square jaw covered in dark stubble, then down his pajama top to the solid, muscular chest peeking out. If only …

“I also want to apologize to you for what Ileana did to you,” he said.

Anguish lanced through Kate at the memory of Ileana’s lies, and the pain Ileana’s friend had inflicted on her.

“But we’ve already established that you knew nothing about that.”

“That’s true, but I still feel responsible. I was the one who took you to that party.” He shook his head. “I had no idea at the time that she was capable of such a thing.” “As you said”—her words sounded tenuous, but it was the best she could do—“you didn’t know.”

He nodded and sipped his coffee as silence hung between them.

“Before we begin our professional relationship, may I ask you something that’s entirely inappropriate?”

She shrugged. “Well, given what happened last night, I suppose we’re already on a roll.”

He turned to her with a flicker of a smile. “Do you think you can be truly happy in an ordinary relationship? Because I get the sense that you need a Dominant to bring out your true nature.”

She shook her head. “I was—and am—totally uncomfortable with how we behave when we’re together. In bed, I mean. I become so … submissive.”

He raised an eyebrow and smiled. “And the problem is?”

“It’s not me … normally. I’m only like that when I’m with you. And it’s so … powerful … the need I have.”

He gently lifted her hair from her face. “You can still be strong and independent, but be a sub in the bedroom.”

“I know. I mean, theoretically I know, but when I beg you to punish me, I …” She shrugged. “It’s like I’m losing myself.”

He stared at her for a long moment, the glimmer in his eyes unreadable. Then his mouth turned up in a lopsided grin. “So you don’t like it when I punish you? When I bare your ass and discipline you? When I possess you in every way?”

Her insides fluttered at the thought, and heat wafted through her. As much as she resented the idea, it also turned her on. She
liked
Matt controlling her.
Dominating
her. “The problem is I like it too much.”

Her mind slipped back to last night when his hand had smacked across her bottom as he’d punished her, then when he’d slid his fingers over her damp opening as he’d spanked her to orgasm.

The truth was, no one she’d ever been with had brought her the kind of pleasure Matt did. Every other lover was merely a pale comparison. He brought her senses to life in a way she’d never experienced before or after being with him.

Sitting before him like this and thinking about what they’d done last night made her painfully aware that she wore nothing underneath her robe.

She drew in a deep breath at the memory of his huge shaft thrusting into her again and again. Stretching her, driving deep. She longed to hold it in her hands. To taste it.

“Kate, when you look at me like that …” His blue eyes darkened.

She felt a growing hunger. And a deep need to be possessed by him.

He put down his cup on the table, and turned to her, his blazing eyes filled with just as much hunger as hers.

“Kate.”

Her name on his lips made her long for him all the more. His hands wrapped around her face and he drew closer. He tipped up her chin and his lips devoured hers. His tongue thrust inside and his hand cupped her head, holding her to him, their mouths meshed firmly as he explored. She teased his tongue with the tip of hers, then they curled together. She glided forward, sliding into his mouth. Tasting black coffee.

All of her ached for him. She wanted him to take her so badly. But she drew back and gazed at him.

“Matt, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I keep behaving this way.”

He smiled. “It means we still can’t keep our hands off each other. It means that we want each other so badly, it defies common sense.”

She didn’t know what she’d hoped for, but right now, knowing he wanted her as much as she wanted him was enough.

He captured her lips again, stealing her breath away. “Kate, I want you now.”

She ached at his words.

“Me, too.” She stroked down his hard, solid chest, to his tight abs. When her hand stroked over his impressive bulge, he groaned.

His hands slid down her neck, then over her shoulders. He grabbed her robe and yanked it open.

“God, your breasts are so beautiful.”

The awe and admiration in his eyes as he stared at her breasts sent delight wafting through her. His thumbs stroked over her nipples and they hardened instantly, sending tendrils of desire coiling through her.

* * *

Matt loved the feel of her breasts in his hands. So soft and round. The nipples hard under his thumbs. He leaned forward and licked one, then took it in his mouth and suckled lightly. She drew in a breath.

She was so turned on and that turned him on even more. His cock ached to be free of his constraining pants. She stroked him again and he swelled more. He eased her back on the couch until she lay beneath him, her breasts heaving with her labored breathing. He took the other nipple in his mouth and sucked.