Chapter Thirty
“I can’t believe it’s only been a week—it feels like we’ve had her forever.” Lauren smiled affectionately at the little bundle of black fur curled up on Xairn’s broad chest. He was reclining on the couch watching some sporting event on her battered flatscreen, and Little One was sleeping on him, as usual.
“She found her way into our hearts almost at once.” Xairn stroked the puppy which gave a sleepy yawn and flipped over so he could scratch her belly. Lauren watched as he caressed her glossy fur gently, careful as always with the tiny animal.
It did seem impossible to believe that Little One had been with them only a week. At first Lauren had been a little apprehensive about taking in a stray puppy, especially when it seemed her relationship with Xairn was crumbling apart. But now she could honestly admit that Little One couldn’t have come to them at a better time. Both of them had put aside their worries in order to concentrate on the puppy and as a consequence, their relationship had grown quietly almost without them realizing it.
Xairn’s no touching policy was still in effect but he didn’t flinch anymore when Lauren brushed against him by accident or casually touched his arm when she forgot. It was almost as though the puppy had brought out the best side of his nature and enabled him to find his self-control just by being there. Or maybe he had just buried the Scourge side of himself in order to care for the little canine with the gentleness and warmth he sensed she required.
Whatever the reason, the result had been much less tension between them and for that, Lauren was incredibly grateful. Having a happy and balanced man instead of a self-loathing, tormented one was more than worth a few puddles and “presents” on her tile floor from time to time as they tried to housebreak Little One. Although to Xairn’s credit, he was training her incredibly quickly. She could already sit and stay when told to and was even learning a few tricks. It’s like we had a baby, she thought, watching as Xairn tickled the puppy under her chin and let her gnaw on his finger with her tiny milk teeth. He’s gone from Scourge warrior-mode into daddy-mode. Now if only he could find a happy place somewhere in between…
But she sensed the warrior was still there, lurking just below the surface. Despite the lack of tension between them, she could still feel him watching her with hungry eyes. And she knew he was still relieving his own needs in the bathroom. She wished again that he would let her help, that they could find a way to be together without his instincts taking over and turning any sexual encounter between them into something out of a BDSM porno.
Do you really wish that? whispered a little voice in her head. Do you really? Lauren pushed the thought away uneasily and went to stand in front of the kitchen sink where there were still a few dishes from breakfast to be done. Absently, she stared out at the warm, late afternoon sunlight slanting down into the crystal blue waters of the pool. But though she was staring at the water, her mind was miles away.
The way it felt when he flipped me over, the press of his big body against mine, pinning me down. The sound of his voice when he growled in my ear, when he told me exactly what he was going to do, how he was going to take me…God!
She shivered. She’d been replaying the scene from the Sweet Spot over and over again in her head during the past week and it never failed to fill her with dark excitement. But it shouldn’t excite me, should it? It wouldn’t have been rape—no matter what Xairn thinks. You can’t rape the willing and I was plenty willing. But it would have been rough and I was frightened of him. He gets so scary when he goes all Dom like that. Scary but incredibly hot too.
Lauren was a feminist to the core but every time he started acting that way it seemed to do something, to flip some switch inside her that no one else had ever been able to flip. It made her so damn hot all she wanted to do was submit and let him do anything he wanted. But that wasn’t right—she shouldn’t want to be treated like that. Shouldn’t crave Xairn’s dominance or fantasize about sexual submission to him. Should she?
Unbidden, an image popped into her head. I’d be down on my knees in front of him, kneeling before my master to show my submission. His large hand, stroking my hair, guiding me toward him, toward his hot, hard cock. She could almost taste his warm, salty skin, could almost smell the delicious masculine musk of his big body as he fucked her mouth.
But maybe she wouldn’t suck him just right, the exact way he wanted her to suck him. Maybe he would have to punish her. Lauren imagined him putting her over his knee and pulling down her panties, baring her ass for his big hand. He would spank her, spank her until she writhed and begged for mercy.