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  With the intent not to let this moment pass him by, he approached her when Cassie headed off to the changing rooms. When he reached Mary, he noticed her stiffen seconds before he settled in next to her.

  That one reaction he understood.

  Christ, he experienced the same physical draw to her. His cock twitched in awareness of her closeness. The reaction had played on his mind the entire week. He’d never experienced this with his ex-wife, and maybe that was because she never was his.

  “Are you enjoying the party?” he asked, craving to trail a finger over her bare shoulder. Her strapless black dress looked mouthwateringly perfect on her.

  She spun around to him, her eyes wide and nearly dripping with lust. “Yes—”

  “Mom,” Cassie called, rushing over. “All done. We can leave now.”

  In nearly the same second, another one of the performers all but bounced her way over to Cassie. “We’re going out to a club tonight, Cass,” the thin brunette said, tugging on Cassie’s arm. “Please come with us.”

  Cassie turned to Mary, nose scrunched. “Ah…”

  “Go on, sweetie,” Mary said. “We can have brunch tomorrow. Go celebrate with your friends.”

  A wrinkle marred Cassie’s forehead, guilt resting hard in her features. “Are you sure you don’t mind? You came—”

  Mary patted her arm. “I’m sure. It’s fine. We’ll catch up tomorrow.”

  “Okay, thanks, Mom,” Cassie said before giving Mary a quick hug. “I’ll call you in the morning.” Then, with a squeal of laughter, she went off with her friend.

  Mary glanced at Elliott with a sweet smile. “Kids.”

  He chuckled. “They’re young and in New York. I got into a lot of trouble at their age.”

  “Somehow I don’t doubt that,” she replied with soft features.

  He stared at her, wondering about the real reason why she was so intent to shut him out. Things seemed intense between them, almost so right. Even now, being next to her seemed perfect. One thing was absolutely certain: Fate had removed his choice to get past her, bringing her right into his sights tonight.

  By the hitch of her breath, indicating arousal, he wouldn’t let this chance pass him by. He took the signs in front of him and followed where fate had led him. He stepped closer to her, feeling the heat exuding from her body. “With Cassie busy tonight, what are your plans for the remainder of the evening?”

  She studied him, then averted her gaze. “I’ll be going back to my hotel room.”

  Christ, stop that!

  He was damn confident that she was going to say nothing, but she had stopped herself. Elliott didn’t doubt that in the least, but he wasn’t nearly as hesitant. He knew what he wanted, and that was her. Besides, she all but trembled in her high heels, indicating to him that she wanted him, too. He pulled his key card from the inside of his coat pocket. “Take this.”

  “Why?” she asked, staring at the card.

  “Because I don’t know about you, but fate has brought us here together tonight. I, for one, am not going to ignore that.” He dropped his chin, bringing his mouth close to hers. “So once again, it’s your choice. If you want another night of play, then come to my hotel. I’m staying at the Ritz-Carlton, room two thousand twenty-two. If you don’t want to, then give the card to your hotel and they will return it to me.”

  She stared at the card as if it’d burn her. “I’ve already told—”

  He pressed his fingers against her mouth, frustration flickering through his veins. “Please, if you do anything, just be real with what your body is wanting. I see it written all over your face that you are aching to say yes.” Sliding his fingers across her jaw, he watched her pupils dilate. “Us being here tonight, it all means something. I cannot run from that.” His jaw clenched. “I won’t.”

  Unable to refuse his needs, he grasped her chin and gripped it tight. She gasped a lovely sound of desire as he added, “I’m not one to avoid chances. Nor am I one to ignore fate. Now it’s up to you and what you want to do.” He leaned in and pressed his lips against her cheek, feeling her jolt like she’d been electrocuted. “Do what you need to do, darlin’.”

  He had to force himself to put distance between them. He wanted to take her mouth. He craved to possess her in any manner that he could. Staring down at her, he brushed his fingers across her parted lips so ready for his kiss. “I won’t chase you.” His focus zeroed on her perfect little pouty mouth before he looked into her glassy gaze. She leaned forward slightly, her body all but begging him to wrap her in his arms. He fought against his desire to. “The choice is yours.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Fate.

  Mary stepped into the elevator of the five-star hotel near Central Park, wondering if fate guided her to Elliott tonight. Or was her draw to him something more controlled—was it an order by a Dom? Was it a sensual pull by a man who had placed fantasies in her mind? Whatever it was, she couldn’t ignore what her body was demanding.

  She ached for another night with him, and she told herself she could keep emotional distance. The second she walked into her empty hotel room, she walked right back out. She couldn’t face that emptiness…the silence…the knowledge that this is what her life had become.

  Elliott offered her a way for excitement, for a lustful night, for a memory that she could think of when she was alone.

  The private elevator whizzed up and she stared at herself in the mirror on the doors. Her black dress hugged her body, and the half-corset beneath pushed her breasts up, giving ample cleavage. She hadn’t lied to Elliott; she did love corsets and wore them often. But the half-corset was more to pull in her waistline than to decorate her body.

  She fixed her hair, tucking it behind her ear. Whether it be fate that led her to him or just pure seduction, the deepest parts of her ached for a Dominant’s touch. After all, she realized earlier she wanted to remember the woman she used to be—the submissive who lived life to the fullest and did daring things.

  A woman who didn’t hide from fantasies but went after them.

  She craved to reminisce who she was with Charles. Elliott gave her that chance, and tonight he had awakened her body and freed her mind. Selfish needs drove her, but they were strong desires she couldn’t fight against. She didn’t want to be this sad woman who never did anything for herself.

  Mary wanted to remember it all.

  Once the elevator hit the top floor, the doors opened and she approached to the left. The hallway was lined with a gold carpet, mirrors on the wall, and flowers placed throughout on dark wood tables.

  When she arrived at the end of the hallway, she drew in a stabilizing breath and then knocked on the door. A second later, Elliott called, “Enter.”

  She shivered at the hard tone of his command, and she turned the door handle. One of her feet entered the threshold and she instantly caught sight of a shirtless Elliott before his firm hands gripped her and she was tugged into the room.

  The door slammed shut and she found herself pushed against it. Pinned by a body exuding tension, heat rushed between her thighs. She heard him unbuckle his belt and suspected he dropped his pants before his voice sounded tight by her ear from behind. “One week I have thought of you, every second of every fucking day. Do you know what happens when I am pushed, little sub?”

  She quivered, embracing the heat of his body. “No, sir.”

  “I crave to possess,” he growled in her ear. “Don’t move. Stay right there.” He yanked the front of her dress down, taking her bra with it to expose her breasts. Then his fingers traveled over her stomach. He grunted disapproval. “Another corset to hide behind, I see.”

  “I—”

  “Quiet,” he snapped.

  Her breath rushed from her lungs as he gathered her skirt over her hips and shoved her panties down. “Step out of those. Now.”

  She did quickly, eagerly.

  His fingers tightened around the back of her neck. “I don’t like being pushed and teased.” Then t
he tip of his cock was at her damp sex and he pushed inside her, bare, without a condom, without permission.

  She squeaked in protest, but his fingers tightened around her neck. “Don’t insult me. Of course I think of your safety. First, I’ve had a vasectomy. Second, I have not had sex with anyone without a condom for fifteen fucking years.”

  Another hard thrust had her moaning in pleasure as he added with a growly voice, “Third, I know I am the only person you have fucked in a long time. This sweet cunt is mine tonight, to fuck however I want.” He slapped her ass, then thrust hard. “I want to fuck you bare, so you never forget what it feels like to have my skin against yours. To know I own you. To feel that I am deep inside you.” He paused and then his voice grew even rougher. “If you don’t want this, safe-word out and go home.”

  Heat and passion engulfed her in a blaze of fire. All the things he said were true, and she wasn’t worried. His bare cock moved within her, feeling so damn good that her safe word was far from her mind. Oddly, she sensed a level of trust with Elliott that was somewhat unexpected.

  Her silence indicating agreement was all he needed before he grasped her hip, thrusting hard and purposeful. His other hand gripped her neck, squishing her cheek against the door. Overpowered in every sense of the word, she gave him all of herself.

  He wasn’t being careful. He wasn’t seducing her. He took what he wanted, how he wanted it, and she burned for him.

  His rock-hard cock brushed perfectly against the nerves inside. The hold he kept her in made her feel adored…desired. Passion soared throughout their touches, an uncontrolled frenzy of need. She shut her eyes as he thrust harder…faster…deeper.

  A hard smack on her bottom snapped her eyes open as a slice of pain slid through her in a flare of heat. His hand sneaked around her middle, then he had her nipple between his fingers, pinching the bud. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as each tweak seemed directly connected to her clit.

  How desperate she was to push back against him, to fuck him so eagerly in return, but his hold wouldn’t allow movement. She could only stand there, bent slightly at the hips, and take what he offered.

  Accept his dominance.

  He closed his upper body around her back, placing his mouth by her ear, and his low grunts moistened her further. It was the sound of raw masculinity, of loss of control, of desire to own. Her sex clenched around him, loving it, needing him, wanting more.

  The speed of his thrusts quickened and heaviness pooled low in her body. He pinched her nipple with a bite of pain, flooding her with sensation, and her breath hitched as pleasure blinded her.

  “Your orgasm is mine to take. Squeeze my cock, soak me, and damn well please me,” he ordered with a hard voice. “Give it to me. Now.”

  She panted as he lowered his hand from her nipple to her clit, working it wildly. Her lower lips contracted around his thick shaft. The scent of musky sex swiped through her nostrils, followed by the woodsy aroma of his cologne.

  As he pumped into her with loud smacks of skin against skin, she quivered, feeling the rise of her orgasm. Her inner muscles went into strong convulsions around his thick cock riding her shamelessly.

  He grunted. “Yeah, darlin’, like that.”

  To be owned, she’d missed this.

  To be adored, she’d longed for it.

  To be fucked without apologies, she’d craved it like a drug.

  After a few purposeful hard presses against her clit, her body froze in the highest state of pleasure. Worked into wild sensations of euphoria and reacting under his command, she became undone. He drove his cock right to the hilt and pinched her clit, forcibly hard, and then she was screaming and shuddering.

  Her body released to his will.

  She fell into orgasm.

  Moisture dripped along her thighs and he moved harder, only increasing her orgasm, not allowing it to end. She peaked so high, for so long, she was left shaking from the inside out. The release pulled at something deep inside, as if he’d drained her soul from her body, happily accepting it into his hands.

  Somehow she heard him roaring out his pleasure, felt him bucking and jerking against her. Curse words spilling violently from his mouth as he rocked into her with feral thrusts. When she crashed from the high, there were only their panting breaths and her throbbing, satiated sex.

  Without a single word to her, he released his hand from around her neck and was gone for a second, leaving her supported by the wall, her legs wobbling beneath her. When he returned, he spun her in his arms, pushing her back against the door.

  His gaze was distant and dark, not satisfied. He wiped his semen off her inner thigh, then cleaned her sore sex, causing her to moan, before he stepped back. “On your knees.”

  Mary lowered without hesitation, falling into her submissive role.

  “When I call for you, you will come to me.” Then he simply walked away.

  In her line of vision, she saw his bare feet leave, and the moment reminded her of another time…another life…

  In the kitchen of Mary’s small apartment, Charles grabbed her hair, angling her head, and growled, “A Dom doesn’t need to apologize for fucking a submissive like she wants to be fucked, does he, Mary?”

  “No, sir,” Mary replied, pressed against her countertop, with her skirt up at her hips and the scent of burning dinner coming from the oven, drifting in the air. “Because you know I want to be fucked without fear of my breaking.”

  He squeezed her ass, pressing his semi-hard cock against her bare bottom. “Does rough play excite you?”

  “God, yes, sir.” She shuddered, feeling sore in every place possible. “It frees me.”

  Blinking into the present, she quivered, not in fear, not with overwhelming emotions; she smiled in pure unadulterated bliss.

  —

  In the all-marble bathroom, Elliott sat on the edge of the tub designed for two and turned on the water. Once it warmed, he hit the plug and watched the water fill up. He sighed, sensing some of the tension leaving him.

  Even after some thought, he still was undecided what was worse: thinking about Mary for the last week or wondering tonight while he sat in his hotel room if she’d show up. But she had come to him, and he couldn’t control the need that raged like a war within him.

  Rough play was not a hard limit for Mary, nor was it a soft limit. That freedom allowed him the right to play with her like he had. Though he suspected her G-spot orgasm came from his rough lovemaking, he also knew he hadn’t done that scene for her.

  He’d done it for himself.

  How much more of this can I take?

  Watching the water pouring from the tap, he knew he wanted Mary and her beautiful submission in his life, and in his bed. He wanted the chance to find out if they were as compatible past the Dominant/submissive relationship. He wanted it so damn bad it was driving him mad.

  The water neared the top of the tub and he hoped by her arriving tonight Mary had had come to that same conclusion herself. Yet he couldn’t ignore the nagging suspicion that she wasn’t wanting what he did out of their relationship. There was a reason she came tonight; he just didn’t know what it was.

  Frustrated by not knowing the answer, he turned off the tap and then called, “Mary, come to me.” He hit the jets on the Jacuzzi and the water started bubbling.

  Only a second passed before she entered, looking woozy-eyed and heart-stoppingly gorgeous. Her cheeks were bright red, telling him how much she’d liked their scene. He rose from the side of the tub and gestured to his belt, which he’d redone after their lovemaking. “Undress me.”

  She stepped closer with her dress hanging off her waist, then unbuckled his belt and dropped his pants with eagerness. His cock was semi-hard, yet he knew if she touched him, he’d harden for her. He brushed his hands over her arms, delighted in her quivering as he pulled her dress off her hips. He spotted the half-corset made of dark red material with black boning. As much as he wanted to tell her to remove it, he didn’t bot
her, knowing she wouldn’t.

  He tucked her hair behind her ear and murmured, “I used you hard tonight. Tender flesh needs to soak.”

  She looked down at her corset, hesitating. His breath became trapped in his throat as he wondered if she’d finally stop hiding from him. With dark eyes she looked at him, but then she simply got in the tub.

  He shook his head, watching her sink into the water, thinking her insecurities were ridiculous. But those things truly didn’t matter, not to him. No one was without insecurities. Anyone who said they were a hundred percent confident was likely a liar. Mary didn’t hide behind her insecurities, she was honest about them, and he appreciated that. She had accepted what she thought of as flaws and made herself comfortable. There was something beautiful in that. Though he thought it would be more beautiful if he could get her past them.

  He watched her slide into the tub, not knowing how to proceed with her now. He couldn’t read her mind, see past her motives. Pushing away the red-hot irritation trickling into his blood, he joined her in the tub and tugged her forward onto his lap.

  She stared at him, openly and honestly.

  He didn’t look away from her, wanting to see into her soul. A feeling of rightness washed over him, warming his heart. “Does the water feel nice?”

  “Very nice.” She smiled, her eyes lit with an inner glow.

  He cupped the water and then let it drip from his hand onto her shoulder. While he knew his next questions weren’t necessary, aftercare was important. Maybe with Mary even more so, because she was unreadable. Her body and mind were not connected. If they were, things would be a lot easier between them. “Did you enjoy our scene?”

  She nodded, running her hands over his chest. “It’s been a long time since I’ve experienced rough play. It was…enjoyable.”

  He chuckled, placing more water over her shoulders and relishing how her eyes fluttered. He liked making her feel good. “For me, too.”