Lisa got her first taste of what all those offerings entailed when she’d added some special wedding touches to the dungeon. She could only imagine how a sadist would use fresh roses with their thorns still attached. Her past experience with kink hadn’t been in a club like Benediction.
Moisture pooled in her panties as she was bombarded with memories of being spanked over a desk and handcuffed to a chair. The way her Master’s soft hands would turn rough on her skin, darkening it from a blush pink to a rosy red. One night he’d be her royal prince and the next her captor. And although they’d negotiate the scenes beforehand, he’d always surprise her with his ability to take her further than she could’ve ever thought possible.
He could’ve been an actor with his rugged good looks. Blond hair long enough that she could grab onto as she rode him to climax. Copper-colored eyes that seduced the hearts of women across the country. Those eyes had been full of hope when she’d met him. And then they had been full of love. For her.
Until her Master, she’d never known love. Her parents had taught her and her two brothers that love was a weakness they couldn’t afford, not even for each other. They were told to look out for themselves, because no one else would. Of course, after her mother died, her father had expected Lisa to give up her life for the family.
And she had. Not in the way he would’ve preferred, but in the only way she knew how.
But her family and her Master were all in someone else’s past. Lisa Smith, on the other hand, came from a good family, with a mother who was a teacher and a father who worked as a mechanic. They didn’t have money, but the love they had for each other made them the richest people in their small Ohio town.
Too bad they didn’t really exist.
Just like Lisa Smith didn’t really exist.
Honestly, Lisa didn’t know her legal name. Her family had called her Annaliese and told her their last name was Hunt. But from city to city, from con to con, it changed. Annaliese became Annie or Anna, and Hunt had changed to suit the different nationalities and ethnicities of their marks. Hair had been cut and dyed, styles of clothes altered, accents and personalities transformed. Once she’d had to gain twenty pounds to seduce a guy who liked his women on the voluptuous side. She’d enjoyed every moment of those two months, as she’d gotten to gorge on cookies and milk shakes.
Tonight, if she was lucky and got to eat dinner, she’d dine on risotto and white wine. Narrowing in on the caterer, she crossed the dance floor, her shimmery silver dress’s organza overlay blowing with every swish of her hips. She needed to check that everything was on schedule for the evening.
From the corner of the dance floor, Danielle caught Lisa’s eye and smiled widely at her before she and Cole strolled over. She threw her arms around Lisa. “Thank you so much for organizing this wedding for me. It’s everything I could’ve ever imagined.” She moved back and placed her hands on her swollen belly, laughing as it shook from the force of the baby moving. “Okay, maybe I didn’t picture being pregnant at my wedding.”
Cole slipped his arm possessively around Danielle’s waist. “Then I guess we’ll just have to do it again after you have her.”
Danielle looked up at Cole lovingly. “Him. And no, two weddings is plenty. I thought nothing could top our wedding in Arizona, but here, with family and friends all around us, I’m overwhelmed with love for you.”
Lisa ignored the pangs of envy she felt as she observed Danielle and Cole together. There was once a time she thought she could have that kind of love, but like everything else in her life, it had been a mirage. But she didn’t begrudge Cole and Danielle their happiness. After everything they’d gone through, they deserved a lifetime of happiness.
“Still don’t know the gender of Baby DeMarco yet?” Lisa asked. “I was sure Cole would get it from the sonogram tech when you weren’t looking.”
Danielle shook her head. “No, Cole would never . . . ” She stopped, staring at Cole, whose lips had tugged up slightly on the sides, as if he was suppressing a full grin. “We’re having a girl?” Danielle shocked the hell out of her by bursting into tears.
Cole took her face in his hands and gently wiped her tears with his knuckles. “I am so sorry for ruining the surprise. I was kidding around. I didn’t mean—”
Pressing a hard kiss on her husband’s lips, Danielle laughed. “These are happy tears. We’re having a girl. I’m going to have a daughter.” She wrapped her hand around the locket she always wore around her neck. “Now the day is perfect.”