Tucker tamped the anger surging through his veins. He grabbed the drink from Maggie"s hand and placed it on the coffee table without a word. Before she responded, he pushed her back into the couch cushions and came over her. Thigh to thigh, chest to chest. His fingers threaded through her hair and he tugged to get her full attention. "I"m not going to lie and pretend I haven"t wanted you from the moment I heard you were back. h.e.l.l, you starred in all my teenage fantasies. And yes, you are on my bucket list because that"s how long I"ve waited for you. I may not be what you expected but I may surprise you." To his shock her body softened despite the harsh expression she still wore on her face.
With her silence, he continued. "I am very familiar with your work and what you want and I"m going to take you there and beyond. All you have to do is let go of the fear and say yes."
She winced. "But you don"t-"
"What? Understand?" He tightened his grip on her hair and bent to nuzzle the fragrant skin of her neck. He could definitely get lost in little Miss Maggie. "If you need me to take you to dinner first and spend more time on small talk, just say the word. I can let go of your hair, stop pressing my hard d.i.c.k into your thigh, and go home. I enjoy a good meal and nice conversation as much as the next guy. Either way will get us to the same destination. You"re a submissive wishing for a Dominant and I"m a Dominant looking for one submissive."
Chapter Three.
Maggie swallowed, trying to get his words to sink in. No way in h.e.l.l had she heard him correctly. Despite her shock, a wave of l.u.s.t surged through her. Her head spun and her stomach quivered. This was Tucker. The nice boy who had branded her all those years ago with a searing kiss that shocked her to her core. Now he sat on her couch offering her the one thing she secretly ached for. A frown formed across her face. Apparently her desires weren"t so secret anymore. The scandal of her life had obviously followed her home.
She brought her hands to Tucker"s chest and pushed. He gave an inch and nothing more. "Don"t do this," she whispered. It wasn"t easy to form words with the high level of need crashing down on her. What she"d fought for weeks to bottle back up inside her now threatened to break free all over again. She"d been so close to true discovery and then everything crashed and burned around her. An unbelievable case of bad timing had opened her eyes to her ridiculous behavior. Tears burned behind her eyes and she squeezed them shut to hold them at bay. Nothing would embarra.s.s her more than to start crying in front of him.
"Don"t do that." Tucker"s voice whispered through her. "Don"t start reinforcing walls and making plans to shut me down. You have nothing to be ashamed of."
Maggie tried to swallow beyond the thick lump in her throat. He didn"t know it all. No one did. There had been a lot of speculation about that night. Her ex didn"t even care why she"d been in the club, only that she"d been caught there and hauled to jail. He"d used her embarra.s.sment to his advantage, had refused to bail her out and filed for divorce. He"d all but dared her to not sign the settlement agreement, too. Suddenly, all the male students he"d slept with meant nothing in the face of her public scandal.
After days of trying to figure out what to do, she"d grabbed the first opportunity to get out.
Yet none of those memories abated the throbbing now going on between her legs. In an instant, Tucker had managed to reawaken her - gotta have it or I"m going to die - craving that had plagued her for years. The mysterious something else that kept her researching late into the night, page after page on the internet as she tried to understand why she"d become so deeply drawn to the lifestyle.
His proximity didn"t help either. Warm breath fluttered across her skin as he waited far too patiently, making her heart beat faster. Good thing she was already sitting down.
"You tell me that I don"t know you very well, yet that doesn"t stop you from jumping to conclusions about me. For all you know you could be one hundred percent wrong." She hated the sharp edge her voice carried. Her defenses were an auto pilot mechanism she didn"t know how to disengage. Not after what she"d been through.
Tucker pulled back and met her gaze. For a few agonizing seconds, silence enveloped them as he stared down at her. She felt as though Tucker could see straight through all of her lies, her half-truths and the walls she"d concocted to hide the need. She admired this Tucker. The confidence that oozed from him was so different from most men she encountered. Most of the professors at the college she worked were ridiculously old school, and not in a good way. They frowned on her research and spent more time offering snide comments than any real support. Not one showed an iota of interest in anything she had to say.
"Look me in the eye, Maggie, and tell me I"m wrong. If you can do that then I"ll gladly apologize and drop the whole thing."
Sheer terror sliced through her. Despite her bl.u.s.tering, she liked everything she"d witnessed so far. There were a lot of things in life that made her uncertain, that didn"t mean she didn"t go for them. That"s how the big events in life happened. Sometimes you just have to go for it.
She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Just go for it, Maggie. There isn"t much else to lose. "You"re not wrong," she admitted. For some reason the attack she expected didn"t come. Where she"d thought he"d touch her more, he withdrew. Maggie frowned, unable to disguise her confusion.
Tucker cupped her chin with his palm and t.i.tled her head to stare into her eyes. "Don"t look so disappointed, Miss Maggie. You know as well as I do that this needs to go slow. That means tonight you are going to take a long, hot bath after you finish your drink. You"ll wash your body while thinking of me, then you"ll slip between the cool sheets of your bed before midnight and go to sleep without touching yourself. You"re going to need your sleep."
Her intake of sharp breath caught her off guard. Her body immediately warmed to his instructions and her erogenous zones began to tingle and pulse.
"I mean it, Maggie. No touching. You"ll fall asleep with your nipples poking at the thin fabric and moisture pooled between your legs because what you can"t yet have is all you"ll be able to think about. You"ll ache with need and your fingers will clench in frustration as your body riots out of your control. Under no circ.u.mstances will you be allowed to touch your p.u.s.s.y or your b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Do you understand me?"
Of course she understood, he wanted to torture her. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because it"s what I want. Your focus on my words and desires will please me. When I crawl into my own bed tonight with a d.i.c.k hard enough to hammer nails, I will feel your pain and know that tomorrow you will come to me for what you need."
"Tomorrow?" she squeaked. It was hard to concentrate on the words she wanted to say when her pulse pounded so hard she thought her chest might burst. She breathed deeply, hoping the extra oxygen would cool the sizzling in her veins. No such luck. Her body buzzed with an electric current that had nowhere to go.
"Yes, Maggie. Tomorrow." His dark eyes held hers in a lock stronger than an invisible force field while his finger traced a path along her check, her neck and across the swell of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
"Tucker if it"s just s.e.x. I don"t-" He pressed his fingers to her lips and cut her off before she could continue.
"If it"s only about s.e.x, don"t follow my directions and don"t come to my place tomorrow."
Maggie"s pulse jumped. Her legs turned to jelly. The intensity of his words and the way he looked at her in turn both frightened and exhilarated her. He"d turned this into a challenge of trust in a matter of seconds. Either she was willing to accept his offer on his terms or she wasn"t. Simple as that. It was her choice.
"So you don"t want to have s.e.x then?" She had no idea where the impulse to tease him came from but she couldn"t help herself. He"d planted the visuals in her mind with his vivid instructions and she couldn"t get them out of her head. She leaned forward until their bodies met. The heat coming from him made her head spin. It wasn"t hard to imagine them both standing there without clothes, him ordering her to her knees to suck his c.o.c.k. A moan slid from her parted lips at the mere thought.
Tucker thrust both hands into her hair and tugged until her head tilted and bared her neck. "You don"t want to play games with me, Little One. I"m not above f.u.c.king you right here on the floor when pushed."
Maggie gasped. Not in horror, but from the sizzling jolt of l.u.s.t that coursed through her. Yes, she definitely liked this Tucker.
Before she could respond or make a move, Tucker took control and kissed her senseless. It felt like being thrown into a tornado without warning. His tongue thrusted into her mouth and tangled with hers in a firestorm of sensations. Her scalp tingled from the way he held her hair, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s ached for his rough touch, and the throb between her legs made her want for so much more.
He didn"t let up. He ate at her mouth with such fervor, her body began to shake from the onslaught. Yes, she wanted this so much. Wanted Tucker more than she thought possible. There simply was no question she"d give anything for his domination. She shifted her stance and worked her hand between them in hopes of discovering he wanted her as much as she wanted him. The moment her fingers connected with his c.o.c.k, he shuddered and broke free.
"As much as I want you under me tonight, I"ve already laid out my terms. Do you accept?"
Maggie slumped against the wall. "What"s wrong with tonight? We"re here, we"re obviously willing. Why wait?" She suddenly felt more vulnerable than before. Unbalanced. She remembered the antic.i.p.ation the night at the club and how thrilling that had been but this...him...he was so much more potent.
"Don"t get me wrong. I"d love to see you naked for me right now. No doubt about it."
Her heart leapt and her mind soared. Yes!
"However, I"ll love it even more tomorrow after you"ve had a night to antic.i.p.ate what I"m going to do to you. Besides, my place is much better equipped." He took a step back and she did what she could to hide her disappointment. He wasn"t rejecting her...
Wait. What? "Better equipped?"
Tucker nuzzled her throat and sc.r.a.ped his teeth across her neck one last time before he released her and stepped away. "You"ll see." He winked.
"I don"t even know where you live," she blurted.
"Not a problem." He scooped her small notebook and pen from the coffee table and opened it to a blank page. He quickly scribbled an address and handed it to her. "You know where that is don"t you?"
She looked down at the paper and swallowed. She did. Same place he grew up. "You live in your parent"s house?"
"Not exactly. Same property, new house. The original house burned and I inherited the property so I rebuilt the guest cabin to suit me."
Fascinating. More curious than ever she couldn"t wait to get there. She lifted her head in time to catch him edging toward the door. "You"re just going to leave? What about the storm?"
He winked. "Leaving now is for the best and we both know it. Besides the storm isn"t really that bad. You unfortunately got caught up in that one spot in the beginning of every rain or snow storm when the roads are most dangerous. Now that there is a little more snow it"s actually much easier to drive. You"ll see. Tomorrow morning the sunshine will return and the roads will be fine. Especially by noon."
Maggie frowned. There was a part of her that wasn"t ready to be separated from him yet. The trembling inside her stomach left her weak, unsure. A touch of anger began to fray along her edges. "This isn"t fair. You barge into my life, turn me upside down and inside out and now I"m just supposed to say goodnight, I"ll see you tomorrow?"
In the s.p.a.ce of a heartbeat his eyes narrowed and he stepped easily into her personal s.p.a.ce. "It sounds like you need to think about what you want."
Maggie"s stomach dropped and she looked at the floor as if she would see it rolling across the floor in some puddle of humiliation. She was acting like an idiot.
"Look at me." He touched under her chin with his finger and raised her face. The slight twitch at the corners of his mouth the only sign he was not angry. "This is why I"m going home tonight. I hate the thought of you waking up in the morning with regrets. Know this, Maggie, when you come to me tomorrow, and I believe you will, then you will come to me as a submissive to a Dominant."
It wasn"t easy to focus on his words. That single touch and the tone of his voice slid through her like molten lava on a steep slope. She couldn"t catch her breath in the face of that much power.
"Say, Yes Sir," Tucker prompted.
Her heart skipped a beat. "Yes, Sir," she whispered, afraid she would not be able to speak. Her reaction baffled her. It"s not as if she hadn"t used the words of respect many times in her research when she interviewed Dominants willing to share their personal details with her. But this felt completely, irrevocably different. Very personal.
"If you need anything, I left my business card next to your phone while you made drinks. I look forward to tomorrow more than you know." With those parting words, Tucker scooped up his keys and disappeared through her front door, leaving her rooted to the spot.
She still couldn"t believe what she"d seen and heard with her own eyes and ears. Tucker. Tucker Lewis wanted to dominate her. She crumpled to the floor and landed on her b.u.t.t with a thud. She sucked in gulp after gulp of air and shook her head, hoping to come to her senses. Her plan to hide out and lick her wounds hadn"t lasted very long. She needed water.
Maggie pushed to her feet, scooped up the two margarita gla.s.ses and padded into the kitchen. She dumped the contents of the gla.s.ses down the drain and placed the empties in the sink. She"d deal with clean up later. First water, and then maybe that long hot soak in the bathtub to clear her head so the could go through the events of the night logically.
She had a lot to think about. No you don"t, dummy. Maggie stopped in her tracks at her sudden thought. Why did she have to a.n.a.lyze his offer? Tucker wasn"t a stranger, she"d been fighting cravings for years, and she no longer had a husband to hold her back. Why shouldn"t she simply go for it? She"d spent the better part of her life a.n.a.lyzing every move or decision she made. Maybe it was time to do instead of think. Quit being a scaredy cat who hides behind her work.
Although the last time she"d thrown caution to the wind she"d ended up in jail, without a husband and on sabbatical from a job she... What? Loved? Not much left to love when you strip away the obsession she"d attached to her research. Teaching bored her. It had never sat well with her that she hadn"t given her students 110%.
She found her thoughts wandering back to Tucker and wondering what he"d done with his life. Besides rescuing women by the side of the road, what did he do? She vaguely remembered something about a scholarship. She racked her brain trying to remember the details but couldn"t remember what school he"d accepted or what he"d planned to study. Senior year had been a whirlwind and she and Derek had experienced a tumultuous relationship. Later, when she"d started her research, she"d concluded that Derek had recognized her submissive tendencies and while trying to act on them he"d failed miserably. Even as a teenager he"d been a good guy and he"d stuck with her through senior prom before breaking up with her. To her current shame, she"d been so wrapped up in her own world, she couldn"t remember much at all about Tucker in those last months.
Tomorrow, she"d rectify that situation. He"d made her body come to life at the speed of sound, but that didn"t mean her mind wasn"t engaged. She wanted to know more about the man who"d set the bar for every kiss she ever received.
For now, she had some instructions to follow. She straightened her spine and strode toward the bathroom. The self pity and river of denial ended tonight.
Chapter Four.
Tucker fiddled with the brushes and paints on his table, unable to get the exact color mix he sought. He wanted something the color of Maggie"s eyes when arousal had slammed into her. Specifically, the darker hue that surrounded the edges of her pupils. He longed to paint her, despite portraits not being his usual style. She presented a conundrum in so many ways. An interesting mix of inquisitive, no-nonsense professor on the outside and soft submissive on the inside. While he enjoyed the two facets, it was the inside he wanted to discover today. He couldn"t wait to get to the heart of what she"d desired all these years.
Did she know that Derek used to complain about her in high school? To everyone else she"d seemed aloof; to her then-boyfriend she was a pushover. Derek had let all his friends know that she liked being told what to do. Most teenagers didn"t know what that meant but Tucker had a pretty good idea. The other guys had laughed it off as if she was some sort of doormat. That inside knowledge from Derek may have been what drove Tucker to kiss her that night. He wanted her so bad, he"d ached. Her eager response had thrown him for a loop.
Tucker shook his head and banished the past from his thoughts. That was a long time ago and neither of them resembled the kids of their youth. She"d gone into a structured profession that came with a lot of history and rigid rules. He imagined what she"d looked like in a b.u.t.toned down conservative business suit. Or more importantly, what she"d look like with her suit jacket and blouse unb.u.t.toned to the waist, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s bound so as to keep them aroused and available to his mouth and hands. f.u.c.k. His fantasies were going to kill him. He"d never spent a day of his life working in a normal office but for a chance at getting Maggie bound and bent over a desk he might rethink his career goals.
Poor Maggie. Her rules had worked for her for a while until she"d pushed at her boundaries a little too hard and it all blew up in her face. He"d be willing to bet none of her fellow professors had cornered her in her office and drilled her for the truth about her s.e.xuality. Why else would she be in trouble now? There was no doubt her history fascinated him. He couldn"t stop thinking about everything she"d been through, and more importantly, where she wanted to go now. Where he wanted to take her.
He turned to the blank canvas and pondered what had driven him to this room. Generally, he spent more time outside in his workshop. He reveled in the heat and power that infused him when he worked with fired gla.s.s. What had started out as a strange hobby to distract him from the dark pit he"d fallen into had turned into a secret profession that now afforded him a level of peace his abandoned attempt at club owner never could. Tucker scowled. He hated that the memory of the life he"d walked away from still plagued him. Ten long years had pa.s.sed since he"d returned home to the nightmare of his father"s legacy and after an extended stint in a h.e.l.l of his own making, he"d clawed his way back to the land of the living where he hoped to recapture the missing piece of his life.
Yeah, this trip down memory lane was not making his day. He didn"t want Maggie"s visit to be influenced by the things he"d done in the past. She wasn"t an anonymous submissive whose only job was to temporarily smother the resentment burning inside him. Those days were safely behind him. From the moment he"d seen her illuminated in the snow, his thoughts were consumed with various ways to give her pleasure. He turned to the Saint Andrews cross in the far corner of the room and imagined Maggie naked and restrained. He longed to work her to the brink of s.e.xual insanity before he began to capture her image with brush and paint.
It had been a long time since he"d invited anyone into his studio playroom, and the first time he longed to paint someone. The toys in here had gathered dust to the point he"d spent all morning restoring his tools of the trade to their former glory and rearranging the chest he used to keep everything neat. To his dismay he had to throw away more than a dozen floggers that were beyond repair. If things worked out with Maggie, he"d commission some new ones, made specifically for her. His thoughts were immediately drawn back to what her skin looked like. Pale and translucent simply waiting for someone to- Tucker"s phone buzzed on his hip, signaling someone had arrived at his front door. He dismissed the security app from his cell screen and headed out of his private studio and into the main house. Almost the entire building featured windows, so he easily saw from the back of the house to the front door. His c.o.c.k stirred in antic.i.p.ation. Leaving Maggie last night had been one of the hardest things he"d ever done and she"d consumed his thoughts since he left her. Giving them both the night to antic.i.p.ate was the right thing to do. However, the wait was now over and they could get on with the incredible scene he expected.
At the front entrance he counted to ten. Once he was fully in control, he opened the door.
"I"m so glad you came." He held out his hand and waited.
"I wasn"t sure I would until I literally got in the car and started driving." She placed her small hand in his and let him draw her through the door.
"Nervous?" She didn"t have to answer for him to know. The slight tremble of her hand clued him in.
"A little," she admitted.
Tucker wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her tight against his frame. For a moment he reveled in the softness of her body. He breathed in the barely there scent of her perfumed skin and savored the gift she"d already given him. Most people forgot to savor every moment. Once upon a time he too had been guilty of that. No longer. Her arrival at his door offered him a taste of the trust he"d been eager to receive.
G.o.d, it"s been so long.
"Come inside and I"ll see what I can do about that." He led her toward the small living room where he took a seat on the sofa and pulled her into his lap.
She squeaked in surprise.
"Relax, I only want to talk for a few minutes." He brushed his thumb across the tender skin between her thumb and forefinger in a steady pattern. He needed to soothe and rea.s.sure as much as she needed to receive it. The significance of small touches was never lost on him. In fact, it was the little things that always made a scene stand out in his mind.
"There is nothing to fear. We won"t do anything that really frightens you," he a.s.sured all while he continued to stroke her.
When her rigid muscles started to relax under his ministrations, he began. "Have you tried BDSM before? Maybe in your marriage?" He didn"t relish bringing up the subject of her past but he needed to know how much practical experience she had versus book knowledge. They were worlds apart in his eyes and with Maggie, he was determined to avoid any potential minefields. Or at least plow through them now, so he didn"t end up surprised by a sudden detonation mid scene later.
She shook her head. "Not at all. I-uh-" She bit her bottom lip.
Tucker leaned back on the couch and watched her reactions. She interlocked her fingers and held them in her lap, her eyes darted around the room looking anywhere but at him, and her foot began a barely noticeable tapping on the hardwood floors. There was definitely something she wasn"t telling him and from the looks of it she wasn"t eager to spill her secrets.
"The more I know before we get started the better the experience. Nothing would hurt me more than to do something that hurt you. I"d much rather spend my day giving you pleasure." Even if the route to pleasure happened to be through some aspects of pain. He longed to experiment with different levels until he found her threshold.
"I-I- don"t think I would like spanking," she blurted.
Interesting. "Because..." he prompted. Maybe if he dug deeper he could move her beyond her hesitation.
"Because it is not erotic to be treated like a child who has done something bad. And I don"t think reenacting that is romantic or s.e.xy."
Tucker nodded but filed that information away for further discussion. There was no need to rush and he certainly wasn"t going to belittle her feelings. "What about flogging? I"ve been told by many subs they find it almost therapeutic during a scene." He rubbed his hand down her thighs and back up again. Her lush figure entranced him.
"No hitting." She twisted in his arms to face him. "Believe me, I know how weird that sounds to someone into BDSM. And I understand if that"s a deal breaker for you. I"m very aware it"s one of the most popular activities practiced in the lifestyle and can only imagine how disappointing my limit must be."
Her voice rose an octave and her spine straightened. He might not yet understand her objections but he certainly found her getting her back up about it quite arousing. Mentally he scratched off the rack of floggers and whips as appropriate implements for the day. He"d have to get more creative until he was ready to push her further.
"Anything else you don"t like?"
She shrugged. "I don"t think I"ll know until I try something." To her horror, her voice cracked on the last part. She"d expected him to be canceling their plans by now. It had been easy to knock on the door knowing full well he"d reject her issues.
"I would bet that in your research, you"ve either read about or seen more than the average newbie. What turned you on?" He reached for the edge of her long skirt and hiked it up to her thighs.
Maggie tried to keep her thoughts on his question but he made it really difficult to concentrate when his fingers connected to the bare skin of her inner thighs. What would he think of her when he discovered she"d skipped underwear? "I"m fascinated by a woman tied up." She felt the heat of a blush creep up the front of her neck. There was no reason a seasoned professor such as herself should be blushing like a ridiculous schoolgirl.
"I"m pleased to hear that." His fingers inched higher and squeezed. Maggie held her breath and prayed he couldn"t hear the mad thrumming of her pulse. To her it sounded like an ocean through a megaphone. Loud and wild. "What else?" He feathered his fingers across the lips of her p.u.s.s.y. The barely there touch ignited a firestorm inside her, causing her to clench her teeth and breathe deep.