Sometimes we played games - ropes and handcuffs, pretending to be people that we weren’t. Sometimes he would bring me to the edge and then pull me back, again and again, just to assert himself, to remind me that I could control my own body if he demanded it of me. And I had grown to love those games. As frustrating as they could be, they comforting. Dependable. Intimate.
But sometimes, there were no games.
Sometimes it was just us, with no artifice. No mitigations or apologies. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I preferred one way to the other, but it was awfully nice to have both.
This morning, it was just us.
He was my husband, not my billionaire boss who’d once tried to buy a year of my life. That was our past. Until recently, our future had been unsure. But now, it was clear there was no longer any need for a contract to keep us together.
I melted into his touch, breathless and quivering in his arms. I’d never understood how he could reduce me to this with just the slow, steady rhythm of his hand - but I certainly wasn’t about to complain.
Then, just like that, I shattered. Somewhere in the midst of the mind-numbing pleasure, I felt him thrust deep inside me, one last time, his open mouth connecting with my shoulder, teeth sinking in just far enough to leave a red mark.
When I blinked back to life, Daniel was smiling and stroking my hair. He kissed the tip of my nose, and I made a face.
“Happy anniversary,” he said, his voice still gravelly from sleep.
I grinned. “Has it been a year already?”
“I know,” he replied, lightly grabbing a handful of my hair. “It’s a shame, isn’t it? I don’t own you anymore.”
“We’ll just have your lawyer draft up something new,” I said.
He chuckled, pulling me close and kissing my forehead.
“I love you, sweetheart.”
“I love you too,” I muttered, against his chest.
I closed my eyes, and just breathed.
About the Author
Melanie Marchande is a young writer who loves creating fun, flirty, and occasionally steamy stories about two people realizing they just can’t live without each other. If you’d like to read more from her, please leave a review letting her know what you liked about the book so she knows what to write next. You can also connect with her online:
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Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/MelanieMarchande/e/B00BKPEGYK/
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If you enjoyed this novel, please check out the sequel!
I Married A Billionaire: Lost and Found
When Maddy Thorne agreed to marry her billionaire boss in order to keep him in the country, she never would have guessed they’d actually stay together. But over a year later, she’s still happily married to the slightly eccentric, maddeningly attractive Daniel. As he begins to come out of his shell and turn into the figurehead that his growing technology company needs, Maddy finds herself dealing with a whole new set of problems. And despite his newfound openness, he’s still keeping secrets. Even from her. But despite her misgivings and the ever-present prattle of journalists, really, Maddy can’t complain.
Then, a frantic late-night phone call changes everything.
Daniel has been accused of illegal insider trading. His assets frozen, he suddenly finds himself at the center of a media circus and a trial under a merciless judge with no way out. Maddy wants to support him, but it seems all Daniel wants to do is crawl back into his shell. In the midst of the chaos, Maddy receives an offer to display her drawings at one of the most influential galleries in the city. Pulled in two directions even as her life crashes down around her, will Maddy allow Daniel to keep pushing her away, or will she find a way to pull him back?
THE EXHIBITIONIST
By Starla Cole
1: The Bondage Exhibition
The wind whipped between the crumbling facades of the abandoned buildings of the Warehouse District as Syria and her friend Mia followed the long block from where they’d been instructed to park their car.
Syria shivered, not sure if it was entirely from the cold. She was nervous as hell. When her Japanese bondage instructor, only known as “The Madam,” had invited her and Mia to participate in a shibari exhibition, she hadn’t realized they’d be treated like help rather than talent. All they had been told was to park well away from the building where the exhibition would be held and to enter by the back door.
They really had no idea what they’d gotten into.