"Yeah, yeah. If he"s retiring for real this time, maybe it is time for me to think about that. It"s a risk, though."
"Art always is," Ramon said.
James returned to the room, a dire scowl on his face and Chandra in tow. Before any of us could ask what was wrong, he put his phone down in the middle of the table. It was in speakerphone mode. "Go on, Ferrara. Why don"t you say to everyone here what you said to me just now? Issue your ultimatum."
"Oh, do you have your guard dogs there?" Ferrara"s voice was thin but recognizable. "It doesn"t matter anyway. They can"t keep you out of court. James Byron LeStrange, you married me in secret and now you"re trying to deny it."
This time it was my heart that jumped into my throat at the sound of his name.
"You"re deluded. Utterly deluded," he said.
"Name-calling will get you nowhere. I have proof. So here are your choices. One, we carry on as husband and wife-"
"Never."
"Or, two, we go through divorce court, where I drag your name through the mud and take you for everything you"re worth, you heartless b.a.s.t.a.r.d."
She made a snuffling noise and I wondered if we were supposed to think she was crying, or if she had allergies.
"Ferrara, don"t be ridiculous. Listen to me. You can"t force me to have feelings for you that I don"t have. There has to be something we can work out."
"Something like what, James? You mean something like a payout? Why would I settle for any less than a good divorce lawyer would get me? In fact, since we"re looking at the breakup of not only our marriage but the loss of my company"s most vital intellectual property, hmm." She paused as if doing math. "How much would you earn for the record company if you kept your career going? I"d say that would be at least a gross income of twenty-five million dollars."
"That-"
"Per year."
"What!"
"For ten years. Plus half your current a.s.sets. Half of everything you"re worth is what I"d get in a divorce. Including half the inheritance you"ll be getting from your mother."
James clenched his jaw, struggling to stay cool. "My mother is in perfect health and if you are thinking to threaten her you are making a grave mistake."
"James, James, James. I"m merely pointing out the folly of trying to pay me to go away."
"You are insane."
"How about this? Why don"t we go on a honeymoon together? Our wedding night would truly be one to remember, don"t you think? And we can have some quality time away from work and stress. I know that work has really come between us. Three weeks on the Riviera, or Paris? Perhaps after that if you are truly not convinced we belong together we could discuss an amicable separation agree-"
"Insane, I tell you!"
"Think it over. I"ll talk to you tomorrow." There was a beep as she hung up.
Alicia"s mouth was hanging open with shock. "What an unbelievable witch! My G.o.d. I knew she was terrible, but I didn"t think she was this terrible."
Ramon was just shaking his head.
James was gritting his teeth so hard it was a wonder they didn"t crack.
"Is she really going to take you to court?" I asked. "Hasn"t she threatened that before?"
James closed his eyes. "This is the first time she has laid out her terms so plainly..."
Alicia frowned. "I don"t quite understand the outlandish marriage claims. Even mistresses have had some wins in court."
James shook his head. "She was never my mistress."
"Oho." Ramon perked up suddenly. "So you mean she"s trying to get you in bed for the first time?"
"Essentially." James let out a long breath. "It"s rather complicated."
Alicia nodded. "I hate to say it, but maybe what she needs is to get laid. Maybe she"ll calm down, then."
James clenched his teeth again. "She"ll have to look elsewhere. I am not available. And even if I was... No. I won"t be made into a wh.o.r.e."
"Do you know what kind of proof she has?" I asked. "She said she"d prove you were married."
"She has claimed to have proof before, but she has never shown it."
I looked at Chandra. "She claims they got married. We"re here in Vegas. If it supposedly happened, it would have been here, wouldn"t it?"
"That"s what I suspect, anyway," he said. "Chandra, is it possible to do a search on the marriage licenses issued to see if there is one with my name on it?"
Chandra crossed her arms. "It"s possible. I"m not sure how easy it is to search."
"Narrow the dates from the run of Bride of the Blue," I suggested. "Knowing what kind of proof she"s got, or lacks, might give you some leverage."
"Definitely. I agree with you there." Chandra looked at James. "She hasn"t sent you anything?"
"Nothing. As much as I would"ve liked to have deleted every message she ever sent me, I"ve been checking them all. Nothing we can use yet."
"Tell me immediately if any of you hear from her again," Chandra said. "I"ll bring Stefan up to date." She swept out of the room with purpose.
Alicia and Ramon didn"t linger after that, and we pushed the room service cart into the hallway.
James sat on the edge of the bed and stared at his phone like it had betrayed him somehow.
I stood to one side, wondering if his anger meant I was going to be in a lot of pain tonight.
I sat down next to him, so my hip touched his. "Hey."
It took him a moment to focus on me. "Hey."
"I have a question for you."
"Oh? A question-question?"
"Not sure, which is why I figure I should ask it first. You"ll understand when you hear what the question is."
He tossed his hair out of his eyes. "Now I am intrigued."
"Good." I set his phone on the nightstand and held his fingers in my hands. "Would s.e.x distract you from... everything that"s bothering you? Or would it be an even bigger reminder?"
One of his eyebrows rose with his puzzlement. "Are you offering yourself as a distraction?"
"That might depend on whether you think it"ll work or not." I examined his face. "If there"s one thing I"ve learned, it"s that there are a million ways to do this. BDSM, I mean. I don"t want you to think I"m starting this conversation to try to seduce you if you"re not in the mood. Do you see what I"m saying? But I want to know if I should... How did you put it? Offer myself?"
James lifted one of my hands to his mouth and kissed the backs of my fingers. His voice deepened. "Your hands are trembling a little."
"Are they?" Yes, I was a little nervous.
"They are. As for offering yourself"-he kissed my other hand-"your offer is always appreciated. Your willingness is one of the things I love about you most, Karina. Don"t think that just because I have you all the time, I take your surrender for granted." He nuzzled my neck then and bit me just hard enough to make me suck in a breath, antic.i.p.ating more pain, but the nip turned to a kiss and I melted against him.
He went on. "But I think maybe I"m still not clear on what you"re asking. What about you could possibly serve as a "bigger reminder" of Ferrara Huntington? Other than being female, you have nothing in common with her."
I swallowed. "Well, you"re angry at her and you probably want to do terrible things to her, and I thought that might mean you might do them to me instead?" I shrank back a little as his ire flared.
It wasn"t for the reason I feared. "Karina. Back up a moment. First of all, yes, I"m angry at her. But let"s get one thing clear: I don"t picture spanking her as punishment her for "being bad," or anything else. I don"t imagine a.s.saulting her. Spanking is only for those I love, not those I loathe."
"Okay, but wouldn"t it be natural for you to work out your aggressions on me?"
"Like you"re a punching bag at the gym? I had a bad day at the office and so I"m going to blow off steam by taking it out on you?" He winced. "That doesn"t sound healthy, not unless we negotiated it in advance."
Ah. The picture began to clear in my mind. "When you put it that way, I feel almost like I should offer myself for that, then. s.e.x is a great way to relieve tension."
He kissed the tips of my fingers separately, his eyes closed. "Yes, it is. But you"re not talking about mere s.e.x. Trust me, Karina. If you want to negotiate a scene where you role-play as Ferrara and I somehow give you her comeuppance... I have no interest in that. I want her to have no part at all in our bedroom. If you"re thinking that me delivering a good, hard spanking might clear my mind and restore my bruised ego, well, yes, it might."
When he put it that way, I found myself suddenly eager for that spanking. My c.l.i.t throbbed between my legs and I discovered I was gripping his fingers crushingly tight. He didn"t seem to mind. He watched me very closely. I cleared my throat. "I, um, I would be honored if you would use me that way."
His voice was low. "And you"re not afraid I"ll let my anger get the best of me? That I might hit you too hard or demand too much because of how p.i.s.sed off I am at her right now?"
I realized he had led me in a circle. We were back where I had started the conversation, but now I understood what I was asking, and what might happen. "Of course I"m afraid of that," I said. "But I think you are, too. Which is why, if it happens, I know you"ll take care of me."
He pulled me close and whispered into my hair. "You"re a gem. Strip and bend over, hands on the top of the dresser, legs apart."
I practically flung my clothes off in my hurry to get into position. James took his time, though, pacing back and forth behind me, brushing past my legs and trailing a finger over my bare a.s.s as he slowly removed his clothes. I swallowed, my antic.i.p.ation winding up tighter and tighter each time he pa.s.sed.
"Were you spanked as a child?" he asked, his voice casual as he let his hand stray over one of the globes of my a.s.s cheeks and then between my legs. "As a punishment."
"Not that I can recall," I said.
"Good. Remember that this isn"t a punishment, Karina. I"m spanking you because you give me your body to use as I need." He trailed his erection along my thigh. He felt rock hard and all he"d done was undress. It wasn"t only me he wound up by forcing himself to go slowly.
I felt him back away before his voice came from behind me. "Over my lap. Head on this side."
He was sitting on the edge of the bed. I folded myself over his knees and his warm palm came down to make circles on my b.u.t.t cheeks. "Remember, if it becomes too much, you can tell me to stop."
"What word should I use?"
He chuckled that low, evil, dominant chuckle. "I would say that any of the following would work: no, stop, don"t, James I can"t take it anymore. If you think of other variations, I would like to think we communicate well enough that I won"t mistake them for something else."
I grinned. "So our safe word is no?"
"It"s a perfectly good word, isn"t it?"
"Yes, James. Perfectly good." I wiggled my b.u.t.t and he gave me a quick swat.
"Someone apparently really wants this spanking!" He ran his hand down my thighs.
"Well, now we"ve been talking about it for fifteen minutes. Of course I-!" I didn"t get to finish my sentence because the first real spank landed then and made me suck in a breath. Then he matched it on the other cheek and I yelped.
The blows at first were fast, smack-smack-smack, but as they grew heavier and harder the pace slowed, as if he let each one sink in. My skin got redder and hotter and my a.s.s got more sensitive as it went on, but at the same time it was like I could take more and more. Endorphins kicked in and the longer it went on, the more aroused I became, too. I wasn"t quite in the right position to grind against his leg, though, but every smack felt like it went right to my c.l.i.t.
Then he began to speed up again, still hitting me hard but faster now, piling each swat on top of the last, as he loosened the rigid control he had on his own pa.s.sion. He struck me harder and harder, until I was screaming and crying and squirming a little, not enough to be trying to get away from the blows, but enough to make him clamp down on my back with his other arm.
And then he pulled me with him as he flung himself back on the bed, pulling me down to his chest, my legs straddling him as he went after my a.s.s with his other hand. Now every smack really did drive my c.l.i.t against him, rubbing in the gloriously rough patch of his pubic hair. He didn"t tell me not to, so I drove my hips against him. He switched to both hands, smacking me on both sides at the same time, while I drove my c.l.i.t against him, trying hard now to come.
Smack-smack-smack, I was getting closer and closer for a while; then I leveled off and my cries turned to whimpers.
"Get on my c.o.c.k," he growled. "Now."
I lifted up on my knees, and before I could do much more, he had thrust upward into me. I had barely settled against him before the spanking began again. This time he would deliver one hard double-smack, then grip my a.s.s and pull me toward him three or four times, grinding my c.l.i.t and thrusting into me at the same time, then deliver another hard smack with both hands. I cried out equally loud on the spanks as on the thrusts, his rhythm never breaking until suddenly he pulled me down in a rib-crushing hug, driving into me and groaning almost as if he were in pain himself as he released inside of me.
I hadn"t gotten there yet, but that was okay. Feeling him lose control was completely worth it.
He hadn"t let go, and he was still somewhat hard inside me, when he whispered in my ear, exhausted but firm: "Make yourself come. Use your fingers if you must. Come on, Karina."
I ground against him and felt him starting to slip free of me. I didn"t need my fingers, though. I was so close, I could come from rubbing on him now, just like that. Like that. Like that! I screamed as I spasmed, the throb spreading from my c.l.i.t through my whole body.
And then he was kissing me, pulling me up so that my mouth met his, his pa.s.sion completely unbridled now.
"I love you," he said, when he finally let my mouth go and caught his breath.
"I love you, too," I said. "Now, I have a question for you."
"Already?"
"Not that kind of question. That can wait until we at least clean up a little. A simpler question. My room is on that side of the suite. Who"s on the other? Whoever it is had better enjoy the sound of screams."
James grinned. "I left it empty. Stefan would normally have it, but he might need to actually sleep sometime, and something tells me sleeping through that would have been beyond even him. Now, what"s your real question?"
I blinked. "I have to think of one."
He clucked his tongue and chided me jokingly. "You mean you weren"t thinking of one that whole time?"
"I couldn"t think of anything during that!"
"Funny. Me either. Mission accomplished, my dear." He let out a long, satisfied sigh.