“You feel amazing.”
He smiles down at me and catches my hands in his, kisses my nose and moves away.
“I’m going to need your phone number.”
As he speaks, his phone rings in his pants. He frowns and pulls away from me to retrieve his phone and answers.
“Yeah.”
He scowls and begins to swear a blue streak as he yanks his clothes on. “I’m on the way. Are the girls okay? I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
He snaps his phone shut and gazes at me with regret.
“You have to go.”
“Yeah.” He kisses me quickly, his mind already somewhere else. “I’ll call you.”
And with that he runs out of my apartment. He’s gone before I can remind him that he never got around to taking my number.
It’s probably for the best. He’s into shit that I have no concept of. This will just be one night that I’ll never forget.
I shower and dress in my pajamas, grab a bag of chips out of the pantry, and settle on the couch, not paying attention to what’s on TV.
I wonder who the girls were that he mentioned. Could he have kids?
Oh. My. God.
I just had random sex with a married guy with kids! I’m so fucking stupid! Just because a guy is hot and says, “Trust me, baby,” doesn’t mean that I can, in fact, trust him.
I toss the bag of chips aside and hang my head in my hands. And what the fuck was I doing, playing at the whole submissive-girl-who-likes-to-be-tied-up thing? That’s not me.
Now I wish he had taken my number so I could tell him off when he calls.
“Nic, stop.”
His voice is hard and close behind me.
Damn it.
I almost made it to my car.
“Why?” I ask and whirl around, turning on him. “What could you possibly have to say to me?”
Chapter Two
~Matt~
“First, I think I need to apologize for something, based on your less-than-warm reaction to seeing me, but I’m not sure exactly what I did wrong, except forget to take your number before I ran out of your apartment.”
A mistake I’ve been kicking myself for ever since. That one night with this gorgeous dark-haired, green-eyed woman has haunted me since I had her beneath me, wrapped up in my ropes.
“I’m quite sure your wife and kids would have had an issue with you taking my number. I can’t believe I was so stupid.” She clenches her eyes shut and shakes her head while I scowl down at her.
“What wife and kids?” I ask, dumbfounded.
“Yours,” she replies.
I feel my eyes widen in surprise. “I’m not married, Nic.”
She whips her green gaze up to mine, and her jaw drops.
“Why did you think that?” I ask as I step closer to her.
“Because when you took that call, you asked if the girls were okay.”
I nudge her chin up with my fingertip, making her meet my eyes. That she’s been convinced for weeks that I am a married man who cheated on my wife with her pisses me off beyond words.
“Brynna was in a car accident that night, and she had the girls with her.”
She gasps, her eyes go even wider, and then she frowns, looking toward the house.
She obviously wants to go to Bryn, to check on her.
God, she’s amazing.
“So you see, I’m as single as they come, Nicole.”
“Nic,” she replies absently, then shakes herself and focuses back on me. “It doesn’t matter.” She pulls away.
My eyes travel down her petite little body, currently covered in a crisp white baker’s jacket and black slacks. A simple red bow is tied around her head. She’s beautiful in anything, whether it be a small skirt and barely there top, or this boxy jacket.
Fuck, she’d be beautiful in a burlap sack.
And I haven’t even seen her naked yet.
Yet.
“Why?” I ask calmly.
“Because I’m not your type, Matt.” She smirks and opens her car door, throws her bag into the back seat and turns back to me with sad eyes that contradict the stubborn set of her jaw.
“Why?” I ask again. “What type is that?”
“Submissive. I don’t have a submissive bone in my body.” She spreads her arms wide. “I have opinions, and I like to assert them. I don’t like being told what to do.”
She’s definitely not suitable to be a full-time sub. There’s no way in hell that she’s slave material. And I don’t give a fuck about that anyway.
I’m no slave master.
But she was perfect in the bedroom, the way she communicated freely but let me push her limits, her fear of having her hands tied, and bringing her just to the edge of her pain threshold, gripping her hair in my hand and holding her up off the mattress.
Goddamn it, just thinking about her flushed cheeks and the way she looked back at me while I pounded inside her makes my dick throb.
Her breathing increases and her cheeks redden as she watches me, as though she can read my thoughts. She drops her arms and twists her hands together at her waist.
“I beg to differ.”
“I’m the one who’s supposed to beg, right?” She shakes her head and lowers herself into her car. “It’ll never happen. Leave it be, Matt.”
And with that she drives away.
Not a chance in fucking hell am I going to leave it be.
***
“So, I know you’re ugly as fuck, but you don’t usually scare the women off. What happened?” Will smirks at me as I join the others in my parents’ backyard.
“Fuck you,” I reply under my breath and yank a bottle of water out of a cooler, twist off the top and take a long pull.
“Seriously,” Will responds, his face sobering. “Is everything okay?”
“I don’t know,” I shake my head and turn to watch my family.
Caleb is dancing on the grass with Brynna. They’re grinning at each other and talking softly amongst themselves. Their daughters, Maddie and Josie, are dancing around them, their pretty white dresses flowing around their legs as they giggle and skip, their dog, Bix, joining in the fun.
Our parents all have their heads together at a long table. My mom is holding Liam, my oldest brother, Isaac’s baby boy, who is drooling profusely and chewing on his fist. My dad is listening to her tell a story to Luke’s parents, smiling at her as if she hung the moon.
And as far as we’re all concerned, she did.
Our family has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years. Now that Caleb is married off, Dominic and I are the only ones who have managed to stay single, and I don’t plan to change my status any time soon.
Our baby sister, Jules, is rubbing her barely there belly and leaning on her husband of almost a year, Nate. They’re chatting with Natalie, Jules’ longtime friend and who we all consider to be our sister, and her husband, Luke Williams, along with Luke’s sister, Sam, and their younger brother, Mark.
At a nearby table, Will’s fiancée, Meg, is chatting with her brother, Leo, and our oldest brother, Isaac, with his wife, Stacy.
Dominic, a brother we recently discovered we had as a result of a brief affair on our father’s part more than thirty years ago, is talking quietly with Alecia, the event planner who pulled this wedding together at a moment’s notice.
“So you chased off the baker,” Caleb comments as he approaches Will and me. The song is over, and Brynna has returned to chat with Jules and Nat.
“I didn’t chase her off,” I growl.
“How do you know her?” Isaac asks as he also joins us.
“Jesus, don’t you all have anything better to do?”
“Than nose into your personal life?” Will asks and shakes his head as he stuffs some appetizers into his mouth. “No way.”
“She’s just someone I met a few weeks ago.”
“You like her,” Isaac comments.
“What are you, a girl?” I smirk and glance over at Brynna,
who is laughing at something Jules just said. “Are we going to talk about our feelings now?”
“This is a wedding, dude,” Will replies. “Feelings are running rampant around here.”
“Well, in that case, now’s as good a time as any to give a toast.”
And get your focus off of me, for fuck’s sake.
I walk to the center of the yard and motion to Alecia, who speaks into her wrist, and magically, the music hushes.
“Okay, everyone, it’s time for a toast,” I announce in a loud voice. Everyone turns to me, and I tuck one hand in my pocket and shift awkwardly.
I’ve never been comfortable being the center of attention. That’s Will’s job.
“First, I want to say congratulations to both of you.” I turn my eyes to Caleb as he stands behind his bride and wraps his arms around her waist with his chin resting on her shoulder. “You each went through your own private hell to get where you are. To find each other. And, honestly, I can’t think of two people who deserve to be happy more than you.”
Brynna’s eyes fill with tears, but I keep going.
“Brynna, you’ve been a part of our family for a while now. I know that I’ve thought of you as a sister for quite some time. Your daughters, despite being little extortionists, are beautiful and wonderful, just like their mother. You have the strength and humor to put up with this sometimes overwhelming family, and we love you. It’s my pleasure to officially welcome you to our family.”
There are whoops and hollers as everyone applauds. When the noise dies, I continue.
“Caleb, you’re not just my little brother. You’re my best friend.”
“Hey!” Will interrupts, but I ignore him and continue.
“You’re here, whole and healthy, thank God, because you were meant to make Brynna and her girls yours. I believe that. I’m just glad you pulled your head out of your ass and realized it yourself.”
“Love you, too, bro,” he replies softly.
“You’re my hero,” I tell him earnestly and with a strong voice. Our brothers and Jules all nod and murmur in agreement. “So, to Brynna and Caleb.” I raise my water, and everyone follows suit. “May you always be as happy as you are today.”
“Here, here!” our father exclaims.
“And now for the gifts!” Jules announces and claps her hands.
Dom steps forward with a grin. It’s still surreal to look at him and know that he’s my brother. Where the rest of us are all fair, with blond to dark blond hair, Dom is dark, with black hair. But he shares our blue eyes.
“You know that I own a villa in Tuscany,” he begins. Brynna’s eyes widen, and Caleb laughs. “I’d like for you to spend two weeks there. Enjoy it. You’ll have Maria, who will come in to cook your meals, but other than that, it’ll just be the two of you.”
“We’re keeping the kids!” Bryn’s dad calls out.
“Is Maria a good cook?” Will asks, earning a punch in the arm by Meg. “What? Maybe we should go there, too.”
“Thank you so much,” Brynna replies and blushes when Dom plants a kiss on her cheek, earning a growl from Caleb.
“That’s not all,” Luke adds. “You’re going to need to get there. We,” he gestures to the rest of the siblings, “have all pitched in to charter a private jet, so you can go whenever it’s convenient for you.”
“You don’t have to—” Caleb begins, but Nate interrupts.
“One thing you know about us, we don’t do anything we don’t want to. We want to.”
“So you just decide when you want to go, and it’s yours,” Dom informs them.
“But until then,” Natalie joins in, a wide smile on her beautiful face, “we’ve reserved a room for you at a bed-and-breakfast at the beach. You can go have as much sex as you want over the next four days.”
“Thank you all, so much,” Brynna replies with tears in her eyes, hugging everyone in turn.
“Let’s dance, sweetheart.” I hold my hand out to her and lead her to the grass where the music has started again. Need You Now by Lady Antebellum.
Appropriate.
I pull Brynna into my arms, and we begin to sway with the music.
“How are you feeling?” I ask her.
“Happy,” she replies with a grin.
“That’s not what I mean,” I respond, and she nods. She knows I’m referring to the injuries she sustained in the car accident a few weeks ago.
“I’m good, Matt. Much better.”
“Good.”
“Are you going to tell me about her?” Brynna asks with a knowing smile.
I don’t even bother pretending that I don’t know what she’s talking about.
“I hardly know her.”
“Didn’t seem that way to me.”
“It’s true.” I look over her shoulder when Nate swings Maddie up onto his back and runs around the yard with her, making her giggle incessantly.
“She’s a really sweet woman. I like her. Do you want her number?”
“I have it,” I reply and smile at her warmly. I never got around to getting it from Nic when I ran out of her apartment two weeks ago, but it wasn’t hard to track her down, since I know where she lives.
“You know where she works now,” she reminds me.
“I’m not going to stalk her at her job.”
“So you’ll just stalk her during her private time?” Brynna asks with an innocent smile.
“Doesn’t Caleb ever spank you?” I ask.
“Yeah”—she sighs and grins over at her husband—“he does.”
“You’ve had your hands on my wife long enough,” Caleb informs me as he cuts in.
“Possessive much?” I ask as I back away.
“Like you’d be any different.”
I smirk, but he’s right. If I found a woman I wanted to spend my life with, I’d be damn possessive.
“Thanks for the dance, sweetheart.”
“Good luck.” She winks at me just before Caleb twirls her away and into his arms.
***
I’m restless.
The reception wrapped up awhile ago. Caleb and Brynna are off to their weekend away on the coast, and everyone has gone home. I’m sitting in my Belltown apartment, watching the lights of my city.
And I can’t seem to get a certain dark-haired pixie out of my head.
I’m not sure what it is about her, exactly, that has me so interested. I’ve fucked my share of beautiful women. Tied them up, had my way with them, and moved on with my life.
Her insisting that she’s not my type should be a flashing neon warning sign that I should just stay away.
No means no, after all.
But she’s wrong. She may not be submissive all the time, but she is beautifully submissive in the bedroom.
And damn if I don’t want to show her how life-changing it can be.
Fuck it.
I yank my phone out of my pocket and dial her number. She answers on the third ring, sounding out of breath, and my cock immediately stirs to life.
All she did was breathe, for Christ sake.
“Hello?”
“Hello, little one,” I murmur and smile when I hear her gasp.
“How did you get my number?”
“You made a cake for my brother, Nic,” I lie, not wanting to admit that I’ve had her number for well over a week now but was too consumed with my family to call her. “It wasn’t hard.”
“You are tenacious, I’ll give you that.”
“Look,” I begin and shove a hand through my hair, “I think we got off on the wrong foot today. I’d like to talk with you.”
“I like you, Matt.” She sighs before she continues. “And, honestly, I’m flattered. You seem like a really good guy. But I wasn’t kidding when I said that I’m not your type.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” I counter softly. “Let me show you.”
She’s quiet for a long minute, and I wonder if I’ve lost her before she clears her throat.
“I’d lik
e to be friends,” she whispers. “But I think that’s all I can give you.”
That’s a start.
“Okay, for now.”
“You’re hot, but you’re not irresistible, you know.”
“You think I’m hot?” I grin and lean my shoulder against the cold glass of the window, watching cars drive by below.
“I have to go, egomaniac.”
“I’d like to see you tomorrow.”
“I just told you…”
“As friends. Friends drink coffee, right? Do you serve coffee at your bakery?”
She chuckles in my ear, and the tension in my stomach loosens as I hear her softening.
“Yes, I serve coffee.”
“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Good night, Matt.”
“Good night, little one.” I hang up, change into my gym clothes and head for the door. I’m too restless to be home. I need to burn off some steam, and going to the club tonight holds no interest for me.
Which in and of itself should be another big red flag.
The ten-block jog to the gym is invigorating. Summer has settled nicely over Seattle, making the days warm and the nights just perfect.
I start on the weights, working my core and arms today. Just when I’ve finished my second set of bench press, I sit up and pull my T-shirt over my head, wipe the sweat off my brow and chest with it, and throw it on the floor. As I take a long drink of water, my eyes survey the room.
And that’s when I see her. Jesus, we belong to the same gym? She’s on a treadmill across the room, running at a fast clip. Earbuds are tucked in her ears, and her eyes are on the console of the treadmill, probably watching her distance.
She’s wearing nothing but black shorts and a tight black tank top. More of her body is exposed now than it was when I was plunged deep inside her.
Her little body is firm, yet curvy in the right places. Her arms are defined, probably from all the manual labor she does while baking.
When she’s finished running and climbs off the treadmill, takes a long drink of water and wipes her face with a towel, I walk toward her.
Shit, I must look like a fucking stalker.
I keep my eyes trained on her as I approach, eager to see what her reaction will be when she sees me.
And I’m not disappointed when her eyes widen and her mouth opens as she lets those gorgeous green eyes roam down my body. My cock tightens at her gaze, and I want to pull her against me and kiss her stupid. But I just stay where I am, watching her.