| |
Two months later
Clover shifted her weight, the nosebleed heels beginning to pinch her toes. She wanted to shuck them and give her feet a break, but Master Richard had selected her wardrobe for the evening and she had no intention of disappointing him. The more she learned about his lifestyle, the more she embraced it, reveling in the freedom it brought her. And her bunny loved the kinky parts way too much.
The staggering fact that all of this was almost taken from her, hit her just as hard now as it had then. She’d been through hell and back again and now she was going to keep her Prince Charming in leather. The toad kissing part was all over, thank God. Or rather, coyote kissing.
Master Richard took care of her and she took care of him. The tasteful black dress he’d insisted she wear was slimming, and the pearls he’d fashioned around her neck as they stood together in front of the mirror spoke of something far more than mere jewelry. It was a promise and she’d seen it in his eyes as he lowered his lips to the back of her neck.
“Wear this for me...” he’d whispered, his fingers running down the center of her back, flooding her body with heat.
They almost didn’t make it out of his room at the club. She and Sylvester had decided to stay after they both returned from the hospital after the attack in the parking lot. While still tender, she and Richard had gone about the process of putting it behind them and nothing could have made her happier.
Some wounds healed faster than others, but with Master Richard in her life, she’d learned to be stronger than she ever thought she could.
Ellis was gone. The new security systems had been a success, save for one thing. The parking lot needed more than just cameras. Master Cage had insisted on taking care of any and all medical expenses for both her and Richard, and she could tell in her brief conversations with him that the weight of another near fatal occurrence at Inferno weighed heavy on his mind.
She’d gone to his office when she returned to the club, only to find Natalia and Ryder deep in conversation with him about selling Inferno.
“I don’t want to sell. We’ve worked too hard to back out of a place we all love just because of some asshole coyote with a stalker complex.” Natalia ground out, her eyes snapping with fire.
Master Cage sighed, a weary look on his face. “Are you forgetting what almost happened to you as well?”
“No. How could I?” Natalia argued, her eyes bright with her animal.
“You won’t sell,” Ryder countered. “This place is everything to us and finding someone to take it off your hands just ensures more risk to the members here when it changes hands.”
Sell?
And leave her home when she’d only just found it?
“No,” Clover interrupted, panic superseding all manners. “You can’t.”
“Can’t?” Master Cage raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “I don’t believe you’re a part of this conversation.”
“I am if what happened to me and to Master Richard is part of your decision,” she’d argued, forcibly stopping her foot from thumping. Her nose itched with the urge to pop a whisker and she gave it a quick rub.
Not now.
“Go on,” Natalia encouraged, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.
“I came here and you all helped me and kept me safe. The only reason Ellis was able to get to me was because he tracked me by my phone. You couldn’t have prevented that.”
“But I could have installed an exterior fence.”
“Life is full of could haves and should haves. Believe me, I know.” Clover replied.
“We aren’t selling,” Ryder responded, his gaze roving over all three of them. “This is our home. Build a fence, get a guard, but we aren’t going anywhere.”
“All right, Incubus, you aren’t the dominant here.”
“No,” Ryder countered. “I’m not. But, as part of this family, I want my voice heard.”
“You should listen to him.” Clover grabbed Ryder around his upper arm and squeezed. The man had been instrumental in helping her work past her anxiety from the shooting. His work as a mental health professional proved invaluable to all of them. Not to mention, his wicked kitchen skills.
Incubus?
Huh.
She’d have to ask him about that one later.
The three of them moved into their private quarters to continue the debate, no doubt sans clothes. She had a feeling Ryder and Natalia would make Cage see sense.
There was no way they were going to sell. Not now. There were too many irons in the fire.
“You’re going to wear a hole in the concrete with all that pacing.” Miranda’s lips twitched.
“I can’t help it. Master Richard won’t let me see any of the new pictures and I’m about to lose my mind.” Clover growled, pausing long enough to pop her new phone out of her clutch bag and check for messages. He’d made her wait outside with Miranda until all the other guests were inside and milling around the exhibit.
She was learning, he wasn’t just good at orgasm denial, but denial of other things as well.
Pushy panther.
The upscale art gallery downtown was hosting Richard for his new book, with her as a special guest of honor as the featured model. No matter that almost every pose was more provocative than anything she’d ever taken in her life. It was her work and she was damned proud of it. So much so that she invited Megan and her new boy toy squeeze to the opening.
Richard told her he would text her when everything was ready and that he had a special dinner waiting for her afterward back at Inferno.
Clover started to nibble on her lips but stopped as the phone buzzed.
Ready?
“It’s time.”
The doors opened and Master Richard appeared. “Are you ready?”
Miranda giggled. “You better get her in there before she wears off the bottom of her shoes.”
Master Richard offered her his arm and she curled her fingers around the crook of his elbow. He led her into the gallery, her shoes echoing on the polished wooden floor. Up ahead, the event space was filled with ladies in long evening gowns and men in tuxedos. Some faces she recognized from Inferno, while others were strangers to her. Waiters maneuvered around the guests sporting trays of champagne and horesdeuvers. It was dizzying.
Then, as the people closest to her noticed she was present, a trail of applause followed her as Master Richard led her further into the room.
Her gaze scanned the photographs on the gallery and Clover was momentarily stunned. Her image was everywhere. Portraits of her in every pose imaginable hung from the walls—from a pose of her angled just right over the spanking bench, her flesh covered in rose-colored hearts from the unique paddle he’d used on her, to a shot of her with her hands bound between two trees in the new Outdoor Room. A diaphanous gown barely hid all the pertinent parts; every shot documented her journey into an exciting new world.
The bullet wounds in her leg and shoulder were healing, and the bullet that had grazed Richard's chest was no more than a bad memory after a couple of weeks.
Her bunny got to frolic with Sylvester and Richard in the fields next to the club and nibble on a special patch of basil and rosemary that Miranda had put in for her.
Richard.
She thanked God for him every day. Through their recovery, they had gotten much, much closer and when she was ready, he was there to guide her through the daily tests of strength and perseverance, all the while working on his book.
“Do you like the pictures?”
She turned to him, tears prickling at the corner of her eyes. “I love them and I love you.”
Master Richard hugged her close and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I love you, too, little one.”
Her bunny hummed her happiness, all the while thinking about how to get him out of that tux.
Naughty bunny.
He led her to a pile of books on a table next to the wall.
“I wanted to make this a surprise. I hope you will forgive me my secrecy.”
“This is it.” She reached out and picked one up, the glossy pages a testament to the last couple of months. Their journey of healing and discovery documented for the world to see. “It’s... beautiful.”
“I’m pleased you think so. Now, there’s someone I want you to meet.” He let her over to a sharp dressed woman with a bob cut and black power suit with heels even taller than Clover’s.
“Well, there you are.” The woman leaned forward and air kissed his cheek and promptly turned to Clover.
“Clover, this is Shannon McGregor. She’s one of the hottest agents in New York and she would like to talk to you.”
“So, this is the young lady you were speaking of. How wonderful to make your acquaintance. Richard has told me so much about you, I feel like I already know you, and with these amazing pictures...” Her voice trailed off and she gazed at one of the portraits across the room.
“It’s great to meet you.” Clover felt a flush of heat creep over her cheeks.
“I think we should talk tomorrow. But tonight...I think the Master has some plans of his own.” She handed Clover her business card. “Call me.”
“That I do.” A smile played on the corners of Master Richard’s lips. “I want to show you everything.”
He did. Every picture, nook and cranny of the exhibit reflected the love of his craft and she was humbled by his artistic vision.
Until they came to the last picture and it was her looking up at him, very similar to the one she had been so taken with at Inferno.
“That’s wonderful.”
“I’m so glad you like it. Come with me. There’s something else I want to show you.”
He led her down a hallway into a small, but private room and closed the door behind them, locking it.
The space beyond held nothing more than a couch with a view to a large window facing an oriental style garden. A small bridge held court over the water below.
“It’s lovely.” She walked to the back of the couch and rested against it, letting her body rest against the smooth brown leather.
“It is, but so are you.” He slid his hands up alongside her hips and she sighed, automatically leaning in to him.
He turned her around in his arms to face him and dug in his pocket, presenting her with a small black velvet box.
Her blood sang in her veins and her knees grew weak.
Was he going to ask her?
Now?
“Richard...”
“No,” he held up a finger to her lips. “No words. Just open it.”
With trembling hands, she did as he asked. A two-carat diamond and platinum engagement ring winking up her from the bed of soft black velvet.
Her eyes misted over and she took the ring out of the box, sliding it over her finger without a word.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Oh, yes.”
He wrapped her in his arms and pressed a kiss to her forehead, then spun her around so she was bent forward over the back of the couch.
“I’m going to fuck you.”
“Here?”
“Yes.” His hot breath against the back of her neck set her nipples to hard points and lit her lady bits on fire. He raised her skirt and she heard his sharp intake of breath as he realized she wasn’t wearing any panties.
“Such a naughty bunny...”
“Only for you...”
The sound of a zipper coming down and then the soft head of his cock prodding her opening made her arch her back and purr. With a curse, he pulled back and she heard him searching through his pockets.
“No condoms,” she turned around, splaying herself open wide. “I want to feel every inch of you inside me.”
“Are you sure?”
She was. Her hand splayed out across her abdomen, the life within her tiny and growing. Tomorrow. She would tell him tomorrow. Tonight, she wanted it to be about him.
“Without a shadow of doubt.”
She held up the ring, the moonlight making it sparkle in the dim light.
His gaze tender, he pulled her into his arms, his love the only thing in the world. Clover’s body sang as Richard filled her and fucked her. And when she came, convulsing around the hard length of his cock, she pulled him in as deep as he could be and held on as he flooded her womb with his seed.
Tomorrow was for tomorrow and nothing else mattered except for the sweet surrender in her mate’s embrace and the promise that now looped around her finger like infinity.
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading Surrendering to Her Mate, My Wicked Mates Series #2. If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving a review on the retailer website where you made your purchase.
If you would like more information about my other titles or would like to sign up for my newsletter and receive a free copy of Map of Bones, please follow the link:
http://erzabetwrites.wix.com/erzabetbishop
All the very best to you and yours,
XOXO
Erzabet Bishop
Turn the page for a taste of Tormenting Her Mate: My Wicked Mates, Book Three...
