Bound to Please(78)

She had no idea what he had in store for her, but anticipation tingled through her veins. Because whatever he wanted, she knew she’d give it to him. She’d give him everything.

Minutes later, standing in her bra and panties, Ruby looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her skin was flushed pink and her eyes sparkled. Mark wasn’t even in the room, yet excitement coursed through her. He’d been very precise in how he wanted her to appear, and she wanted to please him.

She’d laid out her makeup in an organized row on the bathroom counter. Black eyeliner, black mascara, plum blush, and red lipstick. Although she’d never prepared herself like this for anyone, it seemed very ritualistic, almost sacrificial.

What a strange word to use to describe what she was about to do. Sacrifice. But it seemed appropriate; the description fit. After all, she was giving herself fully to a man she was certain would break her heart.

That didn’t matter. What mattered was now; knowing he was in the other room sent a shiver of something wonderful up her spine. Knowing he was waiting for her made her heart palpitate with eagerness. He’d been dominating her from the very minute he’d stepped through her doorway, and she’d loved every fucking minute of it.

Tapping his foot impatiently, Mark stared out Ruby’s bay window as he waited for her to get ready. He barely took in the view, he was too keyed up from what he’d just finished. The record had turned out fucking amazing; it was everything he’d wanted. He didn’t care if critics liked it or if it got played on the radio. What mattered was that they’d made a great album.

All he’d ever wanted to do was play music for a living. Everything else was icing on the cake. He’d been banging on the keys of his parents’ battered upright as soon as he was able to hoist himself onto the wooden bench. Nothing else had ever interested him like music did.

His father had been thrilled that his only child had shown an interest in playing the piano. After a few beers, Dad would begin to reminisce about the good old days. The days before he’d gotten married. The days before he’d given up touring for the responsibilities of fatherhood.

Maybe things were different in the seventies. Maybe life on the road was more exciting in the height of the sex and drugs and rock-and-roll era. Because sometimes Mark didn’t quite get his father’s nostalgia. Yeah, playing for a crowd was a huge rush. But Mark was always glad on the last day of a tour, standing onstage knowing he’d be back home the next day. He loved his loft in New York, could never wait to get back to the familiarity of his own bed, his own baby grand, his own life.

He loved his life in New York, just as Ruby loved hers in San Francisco.

“Mark?”

He turned from the window to see her standing in the living room. The sight of her made his pulse jackhammer. She became more beautiful by the second. The vivid color of the dress made her eyes shine brightly, echoing the cobalt shades she wore. She’d put on her makeup exactly as he’d instructed, so her eyes were rimmed with black, emphasizing her striking gaze and pale skin.

The stretchy blue dress wrapped around her body exactly as he’d imagined it would, emphasizing her lean torso and feminine curves. Her hair hung past her shoulders in thick temptation. He clenched his hands at his sides to keep from going to her and wrapping those silky locks around his fists. He remembered the phone conversation when he’d described exactly what he wanted to do to her, how he wanted to feel her hair moving across his stomach, his hips, his cock.

He went hard. Get a grip. You have all fucking night.

He pulled off his glasses and polished them on his shirt. “You look perfect, Ruby.”

He didn’t want to wait. The impulse to take her right then nearly overcame him. And the way she beamed at his compliment made it that much harder to resist.

He wanted her. And no matter how hard she resisted, he knew she wanted him, too. And once she figured out how much, he was sure she’d stop fighting him. So tonight, he planned on showing her exactly how good it could be.

Ruby slid into the back of the limo. Mark had been silent since he’d given her the compliment earlier, but there was a heightened energy radiating off him that made her nerves tingle. He hadn’t told her where they were going; he hadn’t told her anything. But the dark look in his eyes promised her all she needed to know.

He got in and the limo began to move. She inhaled that familiar scent of him: woodsy, earthy, leather. She wanted to smell his scent all the time. Remembering how her new flogger reminded her of Mark, she thought she might start sleeping with it, like a teddy bear.

“Why are you grinning?”