"Yes." She did. She really did.
He grinned and put the dark glasses on her. And lifted something long and shiny from the table.
It wavered, ballooned, curved in the distorting glasses-but she knew he held a knife.
Her insides wanted to flinch, but she breathed out and closed her eyes. He'd never hurt her. Not Jake.
The blade burned as it touched her upper breast-and she stiffened with a surge of panic. He was burning her, branding her, cutting her.
He wouldn't. He wouldn't. A second later, she realized the burn was … cold. The knife was cold. And wet. "You sadistic jerk." Her voice came out hoarse.
The sound of his easy laugh was like sunlight breaking through a morning fog.
Piece by piece, he pried the wax off her, forming small piles to the sides, and the slow scrape of the knife was incredibly erotic.
The glasses and straps came off. He disengaged the pussy pump and removed the anal plug. Every cell in her body, inside and out, was exquisitely sensitive and quivering.
"Up you come." Without any sign of effort, he carried her to a couch in the dim dungeon corner.
Sprawled on top of him, she relaxed into his embrace. God, she'd missed him so, so much. His arms were hard, safe. When she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder, his scent pulled at her as if she were coming home-coming home in a way she'd not ever had.
"Rainie."
She lifted her head.
"I love you, Rainie. Don't leave me."
How could she leave him? But, she couldn't stay. She wasn't good enough-no, she was. He didn't want someone else. Just her. And she loved him-completely. Her voice cracked as she reached out for what life held. "I-I want to stay with you."
The happiness lightened his eyes. Her tears started again. He really did need her.
He kissed her, a velvety brush of his lips. "I'll assist you with your polish, if that's what you want. As long as you don't change the wonderful person you are inside."
A sob broke free.
His thumb wiped her tears away. "I can help you find a fancy corporate job here-although losing you will devastate our staff and clients."
"I love your clinic," she whispered.
"Then stay. Stay at the clinic. And stay with me, Rainie."
Her heart kept expanding faster than she could tolerate, pushing on her ribs and filling her with joy. Her words bubbled up and out. "I love you, Jake."
The pleasure hit his eyes first, then his lips curved. "I've waited a long time to hear that." He kissed her, slowly, possessively, and staked his claim thoroughly.
"Now, for something else I've been anticipating." His gaze heated as he leaned back on the arm of the couch and positioned her to straddle his groin.
Every wiggle rubbed her acutely swollen pussy against him. He urged her to kneel up as he undid his pants and sheathed himself with a condom.
Holding her gaze with his, he put his cock between her puffy labia. Although she was slickly wet, the pressure of his iron-hard erection on her abused, suction-distended tissues made her hiss.
"Yes, this'll be fun," he murmured, a wicked glint in his eyes. "You're going to be even tighter than normal." He gripped her hips, firmly pulling her down onto his thick cock.
As he entered her, all steel and velvet and heat, the sensations swamped her mind, arched her back. With a merciless grip, he prevented her instinctive attempt to push away.
His added demonstration of control sent another surge of heat to her center. Slowly, inexorably, he sheathed himself completely.
"Uuuuhh." The moan escaped, the penetration through her tender labia almost more than she could take. His fingers tightened on her ass, holding his throbbing length inside her.
She leaned forward, her palms on his chest, looking down at his wonderful face as gradually the discomfort transformed into a wonderful, dawning hunger. She squirmed uncontrollably, straining against his hold … and realizing that her extremely swollen clit rubbed wonderfully on his groin.
"Say this to me, Rainie: ‘I'm perfect just as I am. I don't need to change to be loved.'"
"What?" She stared at him in disbelief and increasing frustration. "Dude, this is sex, not psychotherapy."
His deep, hearty laughter was the most gorgeous sound in the world, filling the hollows in her soul to overflowing. "You're the one who likes efficiency, baby." His chin lifted, and his compelling gaze melted her objections faster than the wax had dripped from the candle. "Say. It."
The words slid from her. "I'm perfect just as I am. I don't need to change to be loved." Then she wiggled her hips, making him laugh again. "Now let's-"
"Again."
"I'm perfect just as I am. I don't need to change to be loved." She huffed out a breath. "I'm beginning to have doubts about your perfection, though."
Grinning, he let her struggle to pull herself up. Her eyes half-closed at the hot slide of his cock. Thighs straining, she stopped near the top, quivering with him barely inside her.
And then he yanked her down so rough and fast, a mini-climax pulsed through her, leaving her surging with need.
"Say it again."
"Jaaake." Was that whine hers? Her skin was searing hot, sending off heat waves into the room. Her clit throbbed, her insides burned, and- "I'm perfect just as I am. I don't need to change to be loved." And then she added two more of the damned affirmations for extra measure.
"Good girl." Chuckling, he gave her three magnificent thrusts that almost sent her over.
"Please … " At his raised eyebrows, she chanted, "I'm perfect just as I am. I don't need to change to be loved." Over and over.
"Louder." He lifted her slightly.
"I'm perfect just as I am. I don't need to change to be loved. I do need to hit my Master really hard. I'm perfect just as I am."
His laugh made her insides quiver.
He moved, finally, finally. Up, down.
A coil of pressure grew inside her, a burgeoning upsurge of release rushing toward the beach. The tsunami of sensation was terrifying in its size and strength-and his thrusts quickened.
God, God, God.
Just as the tidal wave rose and rose, he gripped her hips and pushed her up off his erection. Holding her there on the peak. "Look at me."
Her eyes opened. Every muscle in her body was rigid.
"Rainie, I love you. I love you just the way you are." His lips curved, and he jerked her down on his cock, burying himself so deeply she felt possessed by infinity.
And the climax slammed into her and through her and around her in such a massive fireworks of exquisite sensation that even her cries of pleasure held her answer, "I love you, love you, love you."
Eyes closed, Jake lay on the dungeon room couch with the softest, roundest woman in the world on top of him. Satiation radiated through him like a Florida sun in July. Eventually-perhaps sometime tonight-he planned to stand up. Clean the equipment. Get his woman home.
Right now, he was disinclined to budge.
From somewhere nearby, a sound drifted to him.
The noise repeated and settled into something recognizable. A man was courteously clearing his throat.
Jake opened his eyes.
Z stood near the couch, a faint smile on his face as he gazed at Rainie's immobile form.
Politely, he handed Jake a bottle of water before draping a fluffy blanket over Rainie's bare back and butt. "Peggy will clean up the equipment," he said. "No need to move anytime soon."
The Dom was a saint.
"Thanks, Z." Jake ran his hand through Rainie's silky hair and let his fingers curve around her nape. The surge of possessiveness was disconcerting … but fucking nice. "By the way, I appreciate the talk we had … and the bet."
"My pleasure." Z tilted his head slightly. "Should I assume I lost another trainee from the program?"
Rainie lifted up, her gaze on Jake's face.
"I'm afraid so, Z." He touched her cheek and smiled into her joyful eyes. "This submissive is mine."
Chapter Fourteen
"I'm sure Jake is here somewhere."
At the sound of his mother's voice, Jake grunted and looked up from the paperwork on his desk. "It can't be seven already."
She strolled into his clinic office, attired in tan casual slacks and a tailored silk top. "I'm afraid so, my darling."
His father and Jennifer filled the doorway.
"Hurry up, J. I'm starving," his sister announced.
He grinned at the nickname they'd shared through childhood and tossed his pen on the desk. "Me, too, J. Did Rainie let you in?"
"Ceecee did. She was on her way out," his father said. His gaze took in the papers neatly stacked in the inbox and the pile of stamped envelopes with letters awaiting his signature. Approval accompanied his nod. "Very tidy."
"Rainie's work." Jake rose. "She must be in the back. If you wait here, I'll grab her and we can go."
In the hallway, he heard footsteps trailing him, and he grinned. Of course, they wouldn't wait. His mother's curiosity about Rainie had peaked-thus the maternal directive that they all go out for dinner.