“Especially from the bride.” When she pursed her lips, he relented. “In modern times in this part of the world, you’re right. Through history, plenty of marriages have been arranged, either for political or financial gain. There’s not much different about us.”
“I’m not wrong, am I?” she asked. “About you holding yourself back?”
“It’s nothing personal,” he assured her. In fact, he’d already let her in closer than any other person.
“Where does love fit into for you?”
“It doesn’t.”
“You’ve never been in love?”
“No.”
“Because you haven’t let yourself?” she asked.
“Love is a messy thing.”
“What makes you say that?”
He thought about changing the subject. It wasn’t a particularly easy one for him. Yet it was best if she understood him. “What do you know about my dad and Cade’s mother?”
“Not much. I mean, obviously I know you have a stepbrother and his mom’s name is Stormy. I know Erin adores him, but she doesn’t get to see him a lot.”
“My father was supposed to marry my mother. Not exactly an arranged marriage, but certainly one that made sense. Their parents were friends. As such, they’d spent a lot of time together as they grew up. They dated, seemed very suited. Everyone expected him to propose right after college. But he actually never finished school.”
Their food arrived, delaying conversation for a few minutes.
Lara took a bite out of a crab-stuffed shrimp and closed her eyes in rapture. He wasn’t sure he’d ever been with a woman who enjoyed experiences so fully.
“How’s your steak?”
“I don’t know,” he responded. “I’m too busy watching you eat.”
She paused, a forkful halfway to her mouth.
“Please. For the love of God, don’t stop.”
She blushed, but she finished the bite. “If I move in with you, can we eat every meal here?”
“I might starve,” he said. “But that’s a small price to pay.”
After one more shrimp, she put down her fork.
“I notice you didn’t touch the asparagus.”
“No way am I filling up on green stuff.”
A while later, the waiter returned to collect the plates. She skipped dessert, but asked for coffee. “Back to you,” she said. Showing that she’d been listening to every word, she prompted him by saying, “Your dad never finished college…”
“I’m going to back up a little. My grandfather believes all of us should have real, working knowledge of the business.”
“Makes sense.”
“We have some ranching interests.”
“I think that’s another one of your understatements,” she said.
He shrugged. “My great-great-grandfather acquired a number of acres. We’re fortunate to enjoy some success.” But they all knew it took hard work to keep it successful and profitable. No one took the responsibility lightly. “As part of my grandfather’s desire for us to know about that part of the business, he sent Dad to the ranch one summer. That’s where he fell in love with Stormy.”
“She worked on the ranch?”
The waiter put the coffee on the table, but Lara never took her gaze from Connor. Talking to her was a pleasure. She didn’t interrupt, didn’t make any soothing sounds. She just gave him her complete attention.
He thanked the waiter, told him to wait a few minutes before bringing the bill then tried to pick up where he’d left of. “She was a wrangler. By the end of the summer, she was pregnant. My dad proposed to her, but she refused. She said she didn’t want to be part of the Donovan family. Too many obligations and responsibilities went with it. I’d be willing to bet my grandfather had something to do with that, though no one discusses it.”
When he paused, she took a drink of coffee then moved the cup aside.
“Cade was born. Dad eventually married my mother, though no one is sure why. Probably out of a sense of obligation or some sort of coercion.”
She winced sympathetically but said nothing.
“The truth is, Dad never stopped loving Stormy. I’m sure he attempted to be a good husband, and I know he was the best damn father he could be, to all four of us.”
“I’m not sure how anyone can juggle something like that. Split loyalties. Being in love with a woman who isn’t your wife?”
It hadn’t been until after his dad’s funeral and dealing with his own grief that he’d thought to ask those questions. His grandfather hadn’t filled in much information. Since his stroke, Connor had stopped asking.
His mother was always friendly toward Cade, but there were times she spent more time in her room with a headache than with the family. “Though she never said, it had to be difficult for Mom to have Cade around, especially when Stormy brought him. Couldn’t have been any easier when Dad drove to Corpus Christi to get Cade. Sometimes they met halfway.” He took a breath. “Occasionally, I went with him and so did Nathan, even Erin. And he attended all of Cade’s important events. You probably know that Cade was driving the car when Dad was killed.”
“Yes. Erin mentioned that.” She drew her cup and saucer toward her. “I’m sure it never gets easier.”
He appreciated her quiet understanding. “The days pass. Grief doesn’t consume every waking hour, but the reality is always there. You cope. You go on.”
She was quiet for a while before saying, “After hearing all that, I’m surprised that you’d want to get married to anyone.”
“As you said, this is a smart business arrangement. If I hadn’t already seen the possibilities for BHI’s communications division, it might have been a tougher sell. And had it been anyone other than you…” With that necklace, the plunging dress, her natural beauty, the way he knew her buttocks and thighs bore his marks…
“It explains your reticence as well as your rules…your morals.”
“And their inflexibility.”
She took a drink of her coffee. “I understand.”
“Finish up,” he said. “I’m ready to go home.” He signaled for the check then settled the bill.
Since the valet service was quick, he had her back at his loft within twenty minutes. “I’ve been waiting all day for this,” he said when they were in his living room. “I want you to present yourself, in the bedroom.” He dug his fingers into her hair on either side of her face. “Will you do that for me?”
“Yes. I will.”
He moved his right hand lower so he could trace the outline of her necklace. “Go.”
Once he released her, she started walking away from him.
When she was a few feet away, he said, “Lara?”
She stopped and turned back to face him, her head tilted in question.
“Leave the dress on.”
With a brief smile, she said, “I might have guessed you’d say that.”
Before joining her, he gave her time to get settled.
A few minutes later, after he’d turned off the lights and secured the locks, he walked into the master suite. Seeing her there, near his bed, hands behind her neck, with her hair in glorious disarray, made his blood pound.
Without being told, she remained in place, her breaths gentle. She was the image of submissive perfection and he vowed to do everything he could to care for her, to cherish her.
He sat on the bench and told her, “Crawl over here.”
With a whispered, “Yes, Sir,” she did.
“Over my knees.”
With the same grace that had first appealed to him, she draped herself over him.
He pulled up her dress and caressed her soft skin. “You told me once that you had a spanking and you weren’t impressed by it. I’m going to try to change your opinion.”
“I’m liking it already.”
His handprints from this afternoon had faded, but a couple of single tail bites still marred her skin. “Do you feel this?” He pressed his thumb to one of them, and she jerked. Her movement was followed immediately by a sigh. “Fair warning, Lara. I’m going to want to see marks all the time.”
He began to rub her more vigorously, bringing color into her ass cheeks. “Do you have any idea how much this sight of you over my knees turns me on?”
She shook her head.
“You will.” He teased her cunt with his fingers then began to cover her buttocks and upper thighs with spanks, some light, others more robust. “Count them for me.”
He rained them down fast, the blows coming one after another.
“One, Sir. Two…”
Relentlessly, he continued, increasing the frequency until she couldn’t keep up and her words jumbled into an incoherent sentence and the word Sir sounded like a mantra.
He was aware of her grabbing hold of his ankle for support.
“You’re made for this. For me,” he said. He landed some spanks on her pussy. When she skittered away, he lifted his knees to roll her back toward him.
“Oh, Sir!”
“One of my favorite words,” he informed her.
He tormented her pussy, brought her to orgasm then drove her toward another.
Only when she was thrashing around, gasping for air to breathe, did he help her to sit up.
He pulled her against him and wrapped her up completely in his arms, not letting her go.
With a shuddering exhalation, she curled into his chest. He liked the way she turned to him. It was the stuff of his Dominant fantasies.
“I had no idea. When I fantasized about a spanking, that’s what I’d hoped it would be like.”
“I’ll give you anything you want, Lara. I’ll try to make it as good for you as I can. But that kind of spanking is a reward.”
She put one hand on his chest and pushed herself back a little so she could look up at him. “Yeah. I’d find ways to misbehave everyday if I had a guarantee that you’d punish me in that way.”
“Ask for it any time.”
“I might.”
He brushed her hair back. “Doing okay?”
“I think my legs can hold me upright, if that’s the question.”
He helped her to stand, and he added, “I want you to go into the playroom and get a pair of wrist cuffs. They’re in a drawer.” He wasn’t more specific than that.
While she was gone, he stripped the comforter from the bed and placed it over a rail in the closet. Then he removed his clothes. When he returned, she was waiting, kneeling, cuffs on the floor in front of her. “Well done. Now take off your dress.”
She stood and looked at him for a moment. “Impressive, Sir.”
Her feminine approval made his cock even harder.
“I’ve waited as long as I can. Naked, Lara. Now.”
She smiled in a saucy, teasing way and slowly reached for the hem. Still taking her sweet time, she pulled the dress up while wiggling.
“You’re doing that on purpose.”
“Just following orders, Sir.”
As if he’d never been with a woman before, he watched without blinking. Moments later, she was wearing only a bra and she was dangling the dress from one hand.
“The bra, too.”
“Tell me we’re going to have sex,” she said.
“Oh, yeah.” He took the dress from her and tossed it over the bench. “We’re going to have sex.”
In response, she unfastened the bra.
Her beautiful, dusky nipples were already erect, begging for attention.
He sucked one into his mouth, laving it, stretching it. He saw her bra fall to the floor.
Lara put her hand on his shoulders, and he felt her legs jerk.
“So good,” she murmured.
As he continued to bathe the nipple with attention, he rolled her other nipple between his thumb and forefinger, elongating the hardened nub.
Then he changed it up, sucking on the other and toying with the dampened one.
“I’ve never known anything like this,” she confessed. “Never had any idea.”
Honestly, he hadn’t either. The longer they interacted, the more he wanted. Even though that violated his rules, he refused to change anything about it.
Pulsing desire driving him, Connor left her long enough to pick up the cuffs. Without protest, she offered her wrists to him.
“Behind you.”
“Oh?” Her eyes widened, and he saw neediness in the deep brown depths.
She turned, and he fastened her into the cuffs. In addition to the intoxicating scent of her arousal, he caught a gentle whiff of magnolia. He succumbed to the urge to gently sink his teeth into her neck, increasing the pressure until she moaned.
“Onto the mattress.” With his hands on her shoulders, he guided her toward the bed.
When the backs of her knees hit the mattress, he helped her to sit. Then he gently pushed her over. “I love having you helpless.”
He grabbed a condom from the nightstand and rolled it down his cock before joining her on the bed.
Her eyes captivated him as she intently studied him.
It took all his resolve not to skip the foreplay. “Spread your legs. How does your pussy feel?”
“Other than a bit tender from those spanks you just gave me, it’s fine.”
“Lift up your legs and keep them up.” He moved between her thighs. “Higher,” he instructed.
“I’m going to have to step up my abdominal work,” she said wryly. “Being with you requires being in shape.”
“Are you complaining, little Lara?”
“Ah.” She obviously thought better of it. “Not if this is the reward. This is more like incentive, Sir.”
“Well said, sub.” With his mouth, he claimed her cunt, licking, nipping, using his tongue to fuck her pussy.
She cried out, turning her head to one side. “I want to touch you.”
When she allowed her legs to rest on his shoulders, he pinched one of her thighs.
“Damn,” she protested.
“Stay in position,” he warned, putting his hands beneath her buttocks. He lifted and squeezed, trying to reignite the pain from the spanking and tipping her pelvis to give him a better angle.
“This… I want to touch you.”
“I want your orgasm,” he countered.
He pulled one hand from beneath her and inserted three fingers into her heat. He spread them apart, forcing her wider, making her accept more.
She whimpered, but he felt her pussy clench.
He was relentless, torturing her, driving into her.
“I need to come.”
“Do it.”
“I…can’t.”
He understood. The sensations were overwhelming. “Keep your legs up.” He held his hand steady with only two fingers inside her. He glided them in and out and tongued her gently.
He squeezed the ass cheek that he held.
“This. Yes.
This.”