Cherished: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella (16 page)

She stopped. The bed was covered in rose petals. White ones. Her favorites. And there was a tray of chocolate-covered strawberries. Also her favorites. He’d gone to a lot of trouble for the rebound girl.

She’d been mean. Maybe he’d been mean, too, but now that she thought about it, a story like that getting around would hurt Will’s pride. And to hear it coming from the woman he’d been sleeping with? Yeah, that had to hurt.

Was she going to let him walk away like that? At the very least, she should apologize.

She turned, but he was standing in the doorway, blocking her way.

“I need to get my kit and I’ll go. I can call a cab at the office.”

All of her anger fled and she was left with a sadness that threatened to bring her low. “I’m sorry.”

He held a hand up. “Hey, it’s no problem. I thought I could keep it quiet. You’re right. It’s a juicy story.”

Deflecting. He was good at that. He was also damn good at calming her down, but he was the one who needed soothing. Was he embarrassed? Was that the reason he’d cut her out and tried to hide the meeting? “Please don’t go. You don’t have to go to the wedding with me, but could we talk for a minute?”

“I don’t think there’s anything left to say.”

She’d thought about nothing but herself and her own issues since the horrible night before began. She hadn’t once thought about what he needed. He’d been honest with her, even when it hurt his cause. “I think there is. I’m sorry. I was so mad at you for leaving with her. No. I’m lying. It wasn’t anger, Will. It was blinding jealousy. I was so jealous.”

He didn’t move, but she saw the moment his eyes softened. “You had nothing to be jealous of.”

“She’s beautiful, Will.”

“Maybe on the outside, but I’ll be honest, she was always too thin for my tastes. If you’re looking for someone to tell you you’re beautiful, I believe I’ve done that about a thousand times. Now, I’d like to get out of here with some dignity. The plane needs to take off.”

She wouldn’t see him again if she let him get off the plane. He was right. She did overreact and then she put herself in a corner she couldn’t get out of. Was she going to let that one incident sour everything else? She’d spent the best week of her life with him and then she’d turned on him the minute he did something she didn’t like.

“Please don’t leave. I’m sorry I said what I said.”

“You told me the truth.”

“No. I said something meant to hurt you. Will, I’ve known about what happened since before we started dating. I didn’t think less of you when I heard that story.”

“Sure.” He was obviously tense, every line of his body rigid. He seemed to be simply trying to survive until she let him go.

He’d gotten so good at soothing her. How could she not know how to do the same for him? Affection. He responded to affection and he struggled to reject it.

She stepped up and before he could move away from her, she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I don’t think less of you, Will. God, that would be the most hypocritical thing I could do. Did you listen to my dating life? I’ve gotten used by every man I’ve dated up to you. Does that make me a fool? An idiot?”

“No, sweetheart.” His voice had softened. “It makes you a little naïve and that’s not a bad thing. But we’re talking about two completely different things here.”

“Nope. They’re the same. Why is this a problem? Are you mad that I asked about you?”

He stayed still and after a moment, she felt his hands on her hair. “Gossiping is a spankable offense. It’s in our contract.” He breathed again, his hands tightening. “You really don’t think less of me?”

She turned her face up. “Are you freaking kidding me? Will, think about it for two seconds. Would I have signed that contract if I thought you were some sort of pathetic loser? I knew what had happened to you before I ever agreed to sub for you. I was being a bitch because I was hurt that you chose her over me.”

His fingers tangled in her hair and he forced her to look into his eyes. “I did no such thing. I chose to handle a situation without drawing you into my problems. I didn’t know that you were a nosy brat so I was trying to keep my sad past from you.”

She still had so many questions. “What did you see in her?”

He sighed, but she felt a shift. He wasn’t so anxious. He’d relaxed slightly. “I don’t think that’s important, but let’s get the plane in the air and we’ll talk about it. Can we agree to spend this last week together?”

“Two weeks.” She wanted all the time she could get with him. If he had two weeks of vacation, she wanted it. Anyhow, anyway she could get it.

“Tell me why.”

There was only one reason. She was so tired of lying. He knew her. He seemed to see right through her, and there was comfort in that. “Because I love you.”

“And I don’t believe in the word.”

Maybe her love was the important thing here. Maybe it was more important to love than to have it returned. It would be perfect if he could love her back, but this feeling she had made her better. Loving him made her better. “So we agree to disagree. It’s okay. Do you want to be with me?”

“So much it hurts, sweetheart.”

That was all she could ask. It would end. It was inevitable. He would say he didn’t believe in love right up until the moment he found the woman who made him. But she was pretty sure he was the love of her life. She would take these weeks and hold them close to her heart, and she would let him go at the end so he could find the woman who would set him free.

Damn it, growing up hurt like hell. “Then let’s go to a wedding. Let’s have our vacation.”

He smiled, the sight pleasing her more than she could imagine. “Let’s do it.”

* * * *

Will polished off the last of the very excellent steak the attendant had served them. The rich really were different. Apparently they employed gourmet chefs who made perfectly cooked steaks at thirty thousand feet and knew how a martini should be shaken.

He set down his glass. If he had much more he wouldn’t be able to play with her, and that was definitely going to happen. He needed it. He needed to be back in control even if it was only in the bedroom.

He’d managed to talk about innocuous things throughout dinner. They’d talked about her sister and how Bridget and Amy had grown up. Private schools and nannies. There had been one in particular Bridget talked about. Nanny Christine. She’d been with her from third grade through Amy’s graduation. From what Will could tell, she’d been more of a mother to the two girls than their biological mom.

Bridget sat back. “That was so good. Did you tell them what to cook?”

He knew what she liked. He’d explained everything he wanted to Amy the night before. He wanted perfection. He wanted her smiling. Damn it. He wanted her to forgive him. “You like steak. You also like potatoes. And you like chocolate and strawberries. They’re in the bedroom, though.”

“Then we should probably head that way.” She took another long sip of the wine he’d specifically ordered for her.

She was so fucking pretty with her raven black hair lazing past her shoulders and pointing the way right to those breasts he wanted to put his mouth on. She didn’t think he was an idiot for what had happened. She wasn’t shirking away from his trouble. Though maybe she didn’t understand that it wasn’t over.

“You know I’ll have to go to court to testify, right?” It would be a huge pain in his ass. And the trial would likely be covered in the press.

Bridget’s eyes went wide. “Do you have to meet with a lawyer?”

Shit. She was worried. “Mitch is my lawyer, but we’ll have to go meet with the DA.”

“Can I ask questions? Do you know the DA? Do you think he would let me shadow him for a week or so? I have this great idea about a DA and the witness to a murder. Well, and the defense attorney, but you will be shocked at how I work him into that threesome. Hint. The DA is bi.”

Something relaxed inside him. Bridget wouldn’t judge him. She was far too busy trying to figure out how his tragedy would aid in her research. “I don’t think the DA will find time, but I assure you Mitch will. He owes me.” He stood up, his body thrumming with anticipation. “Is our contract still valid?”

She nodded, but he couldn’t miss the way her eyes dimmed. “Yes. I told you. I want to spend the next two weeks with you.”

His gut did a weird flip at her words. Two weeks. A vacation. He’d been the one who posited the notion, but somehow he didn’t like the idea of her thinking in terms of weeks. “I believe I offered you a contract for a month.”

A long sigh came from her chest. “A month then.”

He knew he should be satisfied that she was falling in line, but something about it unsettled him. He shoved the worry aside because he needed something from her. The plane was running smoothly. There were at a cruising altitude and it was time to spend a few hours resting before they had to meet her family.

He needed to concentrate on the positive. She knew the worst stuff about him—knew his mom was in and out of jail, currently serving a nice ten-year stint for trafficking because she was always trying to push the envelope on awfulness, knew he’d been a dumbass who thought he’d found the perfect sub when all he’d found was trouble. She knew all that and she was still sitting across from him. She’d still apologized for being a righteous bitch. He didn’t blame her for that. She’d been upset and that was how Bridget communicated. He hadn’t told her that he doubted he would have actually walked away. He’d been trying to find a way out from the moment she’d told him she knew.

He was incapable of walking away from her. God, he couldn’t even keep his freaking hands off her.

“Come here.” He wanted her close. It had been too long. Twenty-four freaking hours was too long to not have her sitting in his lap, to not be able to smell her all around him.

He’d always known he’d inherited an addictive personality from his meth-head mom. He’d taken pains to stay away from drugs, to limit himself to one or two beers or cocktails. But he couldn’t limit himself with her. He had to have her. When he didn’t have her, he was plotting and planning ways to get her. Like a fucking addict.

Was it wrong to be addicted to a person?

She stood up and in a second, she was lowering herself onto his lap, her arms going around his shoulders, and he didn’t fucking care. If it was wrong then he didn’t want to be right. He was cool with craving her. It felt good to give in for once in his life. He was all about discipline, but he could revel in her.

She turned her face up to his and he wanted to forget about everything except getting inside her, but she was owed some answers. He brushed his mouth against hers. It would be easier to talk when they were naked.

Without another thought, he shoved his arm under her knees, his other around her back, and stood up.

She gasped, clinging to his neck. “I really love it when you carry me. I don’t want you to throw out your back though.”

“Oh, you did not say you were heavy.” He strode through the narrow confines of the hallway past the elegant study and into the bedroom. All in all, the plane was nicer than his condo. Bridget’s dad was loaded.

She flushed nicely. “No. I merely stated that I hope your back health remains well.”

He tossed her on the bed. “No. You don’t get away so easily. Strip and put your ass in the air. I want it high, sweetheart.”

She groaned but started to make quick work of her clothes. He shoved out of his too after closing the door behind them. It was definitely time to join the mile-high club, and he wanted to do it in spectacular fashion. He wanted to make sure she was so satisfied she forgot to worry about the upcoming wedding.

How bad could her parents really be?

He chucked his clothes and grabbed his kit. It was definitely nice to fly private. He didn’t have to worry about freaking out the TSA with his assorted collection of torture devices. When he turned, he had to catch his breath.

She was on her knees, that juicy, glorious ass of hers in the air. Her breasts were pressed against the silky bedsheets. He’d felt like an idiot spreading rose petals all over the bed in an attempt to please her, but now he was happy he’d done it because they looked gorgeous against her skin. She was a submissive present all for him. Only for him.

“Do you know how beautiful you are?”

She turned her head, and the sensual smile on her face hit him squarely in the chest. “Why don’t you tell me?”

He opened his kit. “I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you what you want to know. Bridget, I’m not much for talking about my past. I don’t like to think about it much, but I’m going to make you understand that you’re not some fill-in for her. You’re more like a reward for surviving my own stupidity.”

“If you call yourself stupid again, I get to spank you.”

He couldn’t help but smile back because she was a fierce thing when she wanted to be. And she had a point. Sometimes Doms needed a firm hand, too. Perhaps it was time to forgive himself for that idiocy. “Agreed. Baby, do you know what I’m going to do to you?”

She shivered, the motion going up and down her spine. “You’re going to take my ass, aren’t you?”

He put a hand on her perfectly formed cheeks. He adored how round and healthy they were and loved the twin dimples in the small of her back. “Yes, I am. I’m going to fuck this lovely asshole but not until we get it ready.”

He gave her a hard smack and loved the way she gasped and moaned.

“Now, I’m going to explain a few things to you.” Another spank. He held his hand to her flesh to keep the heat in. “I didn’t have much of a sex life to speak of while I was in med school and during the first couple of years of my residency.”

“So it’s not like…”

“No. It’s not like TV. Honestly, we’re too tired to hump in the on-call rooms. I didn’t have time for anything like a relationship.” He kept up the slow spanking, punctuating his sentences with nice smacks that got her skin pink and pretty. “Now that I think about it, my relationships have been fairly casual. Even in high school and college, I had to work and watch after my sisters. I had a few girlfriends, but they tended to be a lot like me. Ambitious. Practical. We understood what was expected of each other. They weren’t looking for anything past companionship, sex, and a regular date night.”