He knew he should regret marking her, but he didn’t. The pink lines were already fading, and would disappear completely in a matter of minutes, but they were a visible reminder of how much pleasure he’d brought her. He hoped to hell she felt the same way when she saw them.
Fallon stirred, her lips curved into a slow, sensuous smile that had him wanting to taste them again, but she’d had enough for one day, and she wasn’t ready to know everything.
Mine
.
He watched her eyes flutter open, saw desire flare to life as she recognized, perhaps recalled, the devastating pleasure he’d given her a few minutes ago. Her natural, uninhibited responses were a beautiful thing to see, a gift he’d treasure the rest of his life. He returned her smile, let her see her desire mirrored in his eyes. He’d never wanted a woman as much as he wanted, needed her.
She reached for his cock. His hand shackled her wrist long before she reached her goal.
“No.”
Her smile faded. “Richard, I want to.”
“No.” He stumbled off the narrow table, out of her reach.
Too soon
to tell her.
She brushed her tangled hair out of her eyes and sat up. The pile of gold ropes on the floor, twinkled in the candlelight. Her hand flew to her throat and a sharp gasp escaped her lips.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you take the ropes off? Why can’t I touch you?”
He exhaled a long and weary sigh. “Fallon. . . .”
“I don’t understand, Richard.”
He hated the confusion he saw on her face. “It was the right thing to do, taking the ropes off.” One step closed the distance between them. His hand came up to caress her breast, a single long finger traced a line over the swell and down to her midriff. “I’ve been a monster. I hardly know myself around you.” It was all the apology he could muster. His finger traced the faint pink lines on her breast.
He knew the instant she noticed the marks. She sucked in a sharp breath, and he drew his hand away as if she’d slapped him.
“They’ll be gone by morning.”
“Really? I hope not.”
“What?” His head snapped up, his eyes meeting hers.
“I said I hope not.” She slid off the table and ran her hands over herself as if touching the lines made them more real. “I wish I had a mirror.”
“I shouldn’t have. . . . ”
“What? Are you sorry you did this?”
He was trying to apologize, but all he seemed to be doing was pissing her off.
“Isn’t this what you intended?”
“Yes.”
To mark you as mine.
How could he explain to her the soul deep satisfaction he felt? He didn’t understand it himself.
“It’s temporary.” She smoothed her hand over her stomach, and with bent head, examined the pattern on her skin. “It’s lovely. And I’m glad you did it.” She stepped closer to him and took his hands in hers. “I. . . I. . . well I loved it, what you did to me tonight. I never knew there was so much pleasure to be had, and these marks remind me how much you care for me. You’d never hurt me Richard, I know that.”
“They don’t hurt?”
“No. I swear. It’s no more than if you’d taken a marker and drawn them on me. They’ll fade sooner than ink would.”
He wanted to believe her, wanted to believe he’d done the right thing.
“I want to wear the ropes.”
He couldn’t put the ropes back on her. Not yet anyway, because no matter what he told himself to justify what he was doing to her, no matter the pleasure he’d given her, he knew he was being a selfish ass, living out his darkest fantasies at her expense.
“Not tonight.”
“Tomorrow then. You can help me put them back on in the morning. I think I’ve earned another piece, don’t you?”
* * * * *
He left her in her cabin, waiting until he heard the deadbolt slide into place before he headed to the nearest bar. The woman battered at his fragile wall of self-control like an invading army with the intent to rape and pillage. Every time he saw her, he slipped a little further into madness. He wanted. He craved. He needed her with every fiber of his being, but despite the constant erection he had in her presence, his need to give her pleasure overruled everything else. So why was he obsessed with seeing her bound? And why did she continue to insist he hadn’t done anything wrong?
Somewhere around his third whiskey, straight up, Sean joined him at the bar. “Wanna talk about it?”
“Hell, no.”
“Suit yourself.” Sean ordered a beer and toyed with the foam-crested glass, drawing ever-widening circles in the polished glass bar.
“Aren’t you supposed to be watching the ship?”
“I’m on a break. My men will let me know if anything needs my attention.”
Richard grunted. He didn’t really care as long as the ship didn’t sink, and the passengers were safe. He’d ceased to care about the
Lothario
a long time ago. “Did Ryan tell you we’re trying to sell the ship?”
“He mentioned it.”
“Just don’t let it sink before we unload it.”
“I’ll do my best.” Sean took another sip of his beer and made a wider circle on the bar. “What happened? I thought you loved this lifestyle.”
“I’m a good actor, what can I say?”
“I’m thinking a woman happened. Perhaps a lovely blonde with a first class brain?”
“Think all you want.”
“Perhaps one who’s a natural sub?”
Richard turned on him. “What, exactly, are you saying?”
“Whoa! Down, boy. I’m just voicing my observations.”
“And what would you know about it?”
“Enough. I’ve been searching for a sub for a long time. Haven’t found the right one. Once I thought maybe Fallon was the one, but no way would she submit to me, so I passed.”
Richard considered throwing Sean overboard. It would be worth a lifetime in prison to see the bastard drown. “Stay the hell away from her.”
“No problem. She’s yours. Always has been. I wondered how long it would take for you to claim her.”
“Claim her?”
“Yeah, you know, bind her to you.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh? It is from where I stand. The woman will do anything you ask, and do it willingly. I bet you could lead her around the Odyssey Deck wearing nothing but that rope get-up you had made for her, and she’d follow. She’s a natural sub. Smart, in charge of her life, but when it comes to sex, she wants a man to give her permission to be herself.”
“I’d never ask her to do something like that.”
“I know you wouldn’t. You love her, but you see it every day on the
Lothario
. Hell, there’s a sub and her dom sitting right over there, and he’s got her masturbating for a crowd.”
Richard spun on his stool and sure enough the woman in question wore a collar and leash and was stark naked, pleasuring herself with a giant dildo while a crowd watched and cheered her on. Her dom stood behind her, the end of her leash in one hand, stroking her hair with the other. It was pretty obvious from the way she hesitated before following each barked order that she wasn’t enjoying it as much as he was. “He’s an ass. She should ram that thing in his big mouth and tell him to fuck himself.”
“That’s something I’d like to see. I seriously doubt the woman is a true sub. At the least, they don’t have any true feelings for each other. If he cared about her, he wouldn’t tell her to do something like that.”
Richard turned back to the bar. “You think I’m in love with Fallon?”
“I know you are, and she’s in love with you.” Sean finished his beer and signaled for another one. “Now that you’ve claimed her, what are you going to do?”
“I haven’t claimed her.”
Sean opened his mouth to argue and Richard cut him off. “I haven’t claimed her. I’m not a dom, and she’s not my sub, or anyone else’s.”
“You’re in denial my friend. You may not be completely into the lifestyle, but it pulls at you. You can’t deny that.”
Sean was right, at least in part. “Only with Fallon. I’ve never wanted to do these things with another woman, only Fallon.”
“She’s yours. That’s why. Would you ever hurt her, physically, I mean?”
“God no!”
“So, these things you do. Does she like them?”
“She says she does.”
“She has a safe word?”
“Yeah.”
“Has she used it?”
“No.”
“Then you must be doing something right. Why don’t you take her to the beginner class? I think there’s one tomorrow.”
“I don’t know. I’m not comfortable with the public thing.”
“Maybe some private instruction then?”
“Maybe.”
Sean pushed his half-empty glass away and stood. “Ask her. She needs to agree to it or you don’t do it.”
“Yeah. I get that. Thanks, Sean.”
“No problem. I’ve been where you’re at, needing to be the dom, but I haven’t found the woman who needs me to be hers. You’re a lucky bastard. Be good to her.”
* * * * *
Fallon couldn’t wait to get back to her cabin. Not that she wanted her evening with Richard to end, but she wanted to see the marks before they faded. The way Richard talked, this might be the only time she’d have the opportunity. She dropped the sarong on the floor as she zeroed in on the bed. She flopped on her back on the cream and white satin comforter and stared at her reflection in the mirror mounted above on the ceiling.
Faint pink lines made a lattice pattern across her chest, abdomen, and stomach. A smaller pattern covered her breasts, slightly darker on the thinner skin. “Oh God,” she whispered, tracing the lines with one reverent fingertip. So beautiful. The lines were already fading. Soon they’d be nothing but a memory, and a wonderful one at that. He’d been so tender, so loving. He’d driven her to the edge, and held her as she soared over and plummeted head first into a fractured reality. He’d held her while she put the pieces of her world back together, and then apologized.
Apologized! She’d wanted to reciprocate, had needed to give him the same pleasure as he’d given her, but he’d pushed her away, issued his lame apology for something she couldn’t wait to repeat, and then sent her off to bed, alone. The whole thing defied explanation. Richard ran hot and cold. One minute he was demanding she submit, and the next he was apologizing for giving her the most amazing orgasm she’d ever had. It didn’t make any sense.
She loved it when he took control. Dozens of men had wooed her in the last two years and several others prior to coming aboard the
Lothario
. All they’d been interested in was their own pleasure, at her expense. Richard, with his take-charge attitude, made her feel special. When he commanded, she knew beyond any doubt, he had her pleasure in mind. It turned her on. Who wouldn’t want to be the focus of a man like that?
Dark eyes went almost black, but remained steady. A muscle twitched in his clenched jaw, the only indication of the struggle he waged with control. I'd taught her everything I knew, and coupled with the prior experience she tried to hide, I knew his orgasm was only seconds away.
From the file labeled, 'Subject M5, Richard Wolfe'
She knew something was wrong the moment she opened her cabin door. If Richard’s ‘dock wear’, turquoise shorts and polo shirt, weren’t enough, the grim look on his face was.
“Richard. What is it?”
“I need your help.” He thrust a wireless headset and battery pack into her hands. “Take the crew stairs to the Atlantis Deck. Wardrobe will have clothes for you. There’s a fire in the main elevator bank. I need you to clear and secure the aft elevators, and supervise the passenger evacuation from the tender ramp on Atlantis. Keep everyone as calm as possible. We’re lowering the lifeboats on the Port side to clear the ship faster.”
“We’re abandoning ship?”
“For now, and as quietly as possible. Just get the passengers to the island, and then we’ll see. Let’s try to do this without alarming the passengers if we can help it.”
“Are there people in the main elevators?”
“Yes. I don’t know how many, or the extent of the fire. Get the passengers off, and then you go with them. If you need anything, let me know.” He squeezed her hand around the headset before he sprinted down the hallway.
A million questions raced through her mind, but for now, she’d do as Richard commanded. No matter how laid back Richard appeared, when it came to taking charge in a crisis, there wasn’t a better man alive. Minutes later, she grabbed the shorts and shirt Marie in Wardrobe extended to her, and oblivious to who might be watching, dropped her sarong, and donned the turquoise crew outfit. She clipped the battery pack on her waistband and slipped the headset on.
“Marie. Make sure everyone is out, lock the door behind you, and make your way to the Port loading deck.”
She fought her way through the crowd gathered to disembark for a day of fun on the private island. Time crawled as she waited for the three aft elevators to descend to Deck Four. As each one emptied out, she used her key to lock them, before she made her way to the loading area.