Owned By Fate Page 18

  Caroline had to command herself to remain upright. Emotions rubbed raw rose to the surface, dizzying her where she stood. “What are you waiting for—”

  She was in Jonah’s arms before the words fully left her mouth. Feet dangling off the ground, her body melted against his in her staggering relief. His scent, his strength infused her, slowly making her whole, telling her with absolute certainty she wouldn’t have been able to live without this. Without him.

  “I don’t want you to let me go,” she said into his neck. “That’s what I should have said to you that day on the phone. And again when you were lying in my bed. I don’t want you to ever let me go.”

  “I never did, baby.” He pressed his lips to her temple, holding her so close she felt like a part of him. “I’m incapable of it. I couldn’t even bring myself to try.”

  Her breath left her in a rush. “Oh, thank God. I missed you so much.” She swiped at her eyes. “And I might deserve a televised rejection, but it’s not exactly on my bucket list.”

  Jonah’s laugh rumbled in his chest. “You don’t do anything in half measures, do you, Caroline Preston?”

  “Never.” She brushed her mouth against his ear. “Take me upstairs and I’ll show you.”

  …

  Jonah led Caroline through the crowd briskly, thankful they were away from the cameras. Not only did they make him uncomfortable, but he didn’t like them anywhere near Caroline. Following his woman, speaking to her, filming her. He’d tolerated them briefly only because he’d been unable to focus on anything but her. My woman. Christ, he’d underestimated exactly how fucking perfect it would feel saying those words in his head, knowing they were real.

  Don’t give up on me, she’d written. Did she honestly think that was a feat that could be accomplished in half a dozen days? The pain of not holding her had been a chasm in his stomach. She was here with him now. Twisting his key in the elevator, Jonah focused on that.

  When the door slid open, he pulled her inside, pressing her up against the wall before it had fully closed behind them, not able to wait another damn moment. “So you love me, is that right? What am I going to do about that?”

  The hopefulness in her eyes made his heart drum deafeningly. “Love me back?”

  “Don’t ever say those words again as if they’re a question,” he grated out. “I love you so badly I could get lost in it and never find my way back out.”

  Eyes closed, Caroline nodded. He watched awareness transform her then. She moistened her lips in a way that made him hot and impatient, aligning her lower body with his and shifting sexily against his arousal. So many emotions whipped around inside him at once. Aching, unrelenting love coupled with fierce sexual need. He needed to push inside her soon, take this blistering five-day edge off, so he could concentrate on them all. Figure out the best way to make sure she never stopped loving him for a goddamn second.

  “Jonah?”

  “Caroline,” he rasped.

  “When I said I loved everything about you, I meant it.” She ran her hands over his chest, and it swelled toward her without conscious thought. “I want you to show me. Everything.”

  Turned on to an excruciating degree, yet humbled at the same time, Jonah couldn’t stop his hands from molding her ass through her skirt, even though he knew it would decrease their chances of making it to his bedroom. And he really fucking wanted her in his bed. “I need you to know that I want you, need you, without any of it. Do you understand that?”

  “Yes.”

  Jonah dragged his tongue up the side of her neck. “We’ll go slowly. You’ll find pleasure in everything we do or it ends. But it doesn’t have to start tonight, sweetheart. I can barely think beyond filling your body with mine and riding you with enough force to break through my wall.”

  “I like the sound of that,” she breathed before shaking her head, eyes turning serious. “But I need to show you I have no doubts about us. This. What you need. I want you to know that I need it, too.”

  “You’ve already proven that today, baby.”

  “No. Not enough.”

  Jonah’s pulse started to pound in that raw, thick way it did when he knew he’d be in control soon. He became aware of his hands, their heaviness. The height difference between himself and Caroline. All in a split second. He had an idea of what was coming, what she would say next, and knew he should deny her. But he didn’t want to. And when her eyes turned imploring, he knew even before she spoke that he was sunk. This was where they’d been heading since she walked through the door of Serve, even if neither one of them had dared hope for it. There was trust now, though. Love without barriers. Now, it was right.

  “Take me to the other bedroom,” she continued. “Give me what I asked for on the first night. Show me, Jonah.”

  The last part, her quiet plea, cemented his choice. It humbled him while letting loose a part of him he hadn’t revealed fully to her yet. They’d both known it existed the whole time, spinning darkly under the surface, but he’d been so aware he could scare her off that he’d kept it sealed tight. He had no such worry anymore. This woman was his. In asking him for this, she was trusting him with her body as well as her heart. He wouldn’t abuse that privilege. And God knew he’d enjoy the hell out of it.

  The elevator door opened to reveal his entryway. Reluctantly, Jonah pulled away from her sweet curves, took her hand, and led her toward his apartment.

  He didn’t pause on his way to the guest bedroom, walking with her beside him every step of the way, her hand steady inside his own. The push and pull between them would change when they entered the bedroom, but having her match his stride felt right outside the bedroom. He wouldn’t question what felt right between them because everything was right.

  When he closed the door of the bedroom behind them, there was a noticeable shift in the air. Inside him. Caroline sensed it, too. Her hands went still at her sides, eyes bright and wide as she watched him open his dresser drawer and remove his favorite riding crop, shoving it into the back pocket of his pants. There was a way he usually proceeded at this point, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember it. Nothing and no one existed before now, before her, and they would create their own way, dammit. Build something perfect and lasting. His intention had been to order Caroline to strip while he readied the restraints above the bed. Instead, he followed his instinct and went toward her, loving the way her swollen lips parted to suck in a breath at his approach.

  “The man you love is about to fuck you into next week, Caroline.” He took the front of her dress in his hands and ripped it down the middle, exposing her knockout body clad only in a shear black bra and panties. She jumped a little but kept her eyes trained on him. Good girl. He hadn’t even needed to instruct her. She’d known. “You’re going to love me even more after this. Every time I push one of your limits, you’ll love me more and more until you feel me inside you when you walk down the street. Until you hear my voice speaking in your ear at work, in the shower. Everywhere.” He unhooked her bra and tossed it aside, groaning at the sight of her straining pink nipples. “You’ve already shattered all my limits, baby. I’m going to make sure you catch up.”

  “Jonah.” She gasped when he stooped down and threw her over his shoulder. Without thinking, he brought his hand down on her ass hard, earning him a moan. “Master.”

  Satisfaction hitting him in the chest, he continued to the bed and stepped onto the ultra-firm mattress, setting Caroline back onto her feet. Some of her hair fell into her eyes, across her puffy lips. It was all he could do not to forget himself and drag her down onto the mattress. He could see in her eyes that she needed this show of trust and acceptance, though. Maybe even as much as he did, which was amazing in itself, since he needed it so badly it hurt.

  The suspended metal bar above them reflected the subdued light of the bedroom. How many times had he pictured her restrained here but never expected to witness it? For the first time in weeks, the conflict in his head quieted in recognition th
at he had everything he’d ever wanted. She was standing right there in front of him, looking up at him like he dictated the tempo of her pulse. It was time to prove the truth of that.

  Jonah nudged her forehead with his own. “Unzip my pants and take out my cock. Do not touch it after that. You may only look.” He reached up and curled his right hand around the cool metal of the suspended bar and bit back a groan when her fingers began to work his fly, nudging his throbbing erection in the process. “You’re going to be on display for me. I’ll fuck you fully clothed while you writhe around naked, taking what I give you. While you’re attached to this bar, I’m in charge of your next breath. Do you understand, Caroline?”

  “Yes, Master.”

  Jonah let his fingertips coast down her rising and falling breasts, dipping his fingers teasingly between her legs to find her wet. Perfect. He took hold of each hand in turn and secured them to the bar. The sound of leather sliding through the silver buckles sent power through his body, stiffening the back of his neck, his jaw. He looked over his woman, arms shackled over her head, body stretched to accommodate the bar’s height. My offering. He wondered what she’d say if she knew he’d come to this room and adjusted it to her size a week ago, needing to picture her here, like this. But never expecting it.

  She never took her gaze off him, and it held so much trust and anticipation, he had to force himself to focus on his task. “Are you sure you want this, Caroline?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I remember my safe word. Just…please.”

  Jonah yanked her panties down to her knees and pushed two fingers into her wet pussy. Her scream was primal, and it echoed inside his head, mating with his own wicked urges. The sound of her hands already pulling on the restraints made him growl. His woman was hungry. Still, he didn’t move his fingers, didn’t thumb her clit like she needed.

  “Oh God, oh God. Jonah, please.”

  He removed his fingers from inside her, spun her around, and snapped the riding crop against her ass.

  “Master,” she sobbed. “I meant Master.”

  Before she’d finished speaking, he’d turned her back around and slid his fingers back inside her heat. “Go on, beg for it, baby.” He leaned down and tongued the tip of her right breast before moving to the left. “While you do, I’m going to suck your pretty nipples until they’re red and slippery. If I’m pleased with how well you beg, I’ll remove my fingers and replace them with my cock. But don’t you dare move while I’m sucking at you. I don’t care how good my fingers feel between your legs, you don’t move.”

  A shudder passed through her, and he tried to absorb it with his mouth. “Okay. Just…please. Don’t stop.”

  He was inclined to strike her backside with the riding crop again for issuing demands, but he was too desperate to taste her. It had been too fucking long, and he could barely see straight over his starvation for her. He licked over the pointed peak of one breast before suctioning his mouth to it and drawing hard. Her hips jerked, thighs flexing and tightening around his hand between her legs. Jonah released her nipple with a pop and looked into her heavy-lidded eyes while he slapped her ass with the crop.

  “What did I say?”

  “Don’t move,” she moaned. “I can’t. I can’t.”

  He shoved his fingers even deeper inside her but kept them still. “Yes, you can.”

  Caroline swallowed her scream this time, eyes squeezing shut. Lust fueled him. The need to dominate. Beneath it all was a need to pleasure her, though, and that need was slowly suffocating the other two. Jonah’s mouth moved back to her breasts, attuned to her every gasp and struggling breath. She shook hard but didn’t move as he performed his torture, her body turning as tight as a bow under the strain. Her limit drew near, and he didn’t want to break through it yet. Knew it would come with time. When they weren’t both aching to be joined.

  This wasn’t the way he wanted her. Not yet. This time, he needed her beneath him, needed every inch of their skin pressed together, breathing with each other.

  Jonah reached up and quickly undid her restraints, catching her before she could fall and bringing her down onto the bed slowly. Their mouths fused together in a series of urgent kisses between hands seeking, finding, stroking, rules gone out the window. He urged her toward the headboard before yanking her ankle to stop her progress. Then he slowly licked his way up her body, leaving a damp trail on her inner thighs. He huffed warm breath over her pussy, teasing her by moving higher when her thighs fell open.

  “Oh, please…” Her hips came off the bed. “Jonah.”

  “Wrap your hands around the headboard and keep them there.” He growled in approval when she complied without hesitation. “It doesn’t matter which room we’re in or where we are, Caroline. You’re going to get it rough every single time because that’s how we both like it. Isn’t that right? You like that pussy punished, baby.”

  “Yes.”

  Jonah reached into his bedside table for a condom, gritting his teeth as he rolled it down his sensitive length. Her thighs fell open beautifully to receive his first powerful thrust. They moaned against each other’s lips. Braced over her, Jonah couldn’t move for a moment, relief, love, desire overwhelming him as he looked into her green eyes. Mine. My woman.

  “This is where you belong, Caroline.” Jonah withdrew, then plunged deep once more. Caroline’s eyes went blind, his name pouring from her lips. “Being taken by your man. I’ll be more than happy to remind you if you forget it for even one second.”

  “I won’t forget.”

  “Good.” He hooked his arms beneath her knees and lifted until her heels dug into the meat of his upper back. “Here’s your first lesson. Girls who need to be reminded who their master is and forget to address him properly get punished. Repeat what I just said.”

  “Girls who need to be reminded,” Caroline repeated shakily, crying out as he slammed into her hard, “who their master is get p-punished.”

  “You don’t want to forget. Do you, sweetheart?”

  “No,” she moaned as Jonah began bucking between her thighs. Caroline’s hands went white-knuckled on the headboard, head thrashing back and forth. “Oh, I’m going to—”

  “Yes, God, yes. I’ll be right behind you…as soon as I feel you tighten… Ah, fuck.”

  Caroline clenched around his cock, sending Jonah past his breaking point. He yanked her legs higher, pressed down on them with his shoulders, the urge to orgasm while buried deep within her undeniable. Her screams were the single most beautiful thing he’d ever heard, the way her body shuddered beneath him heightening the intensity of his release. Even when the shockwaves passed, he fell onto her, desperate for her mouth, needing something to aid him in coming down from his high.

  Her arms banded around him, pulling him closer, mouth moving across his sweat-dampened skin. “Jonah…it’s so much, you know?”

  Jonah knew exactly what she meant. The driving need to get closer to her than humanly possible, the fear of not having her…it exceeded his once impossible hopes to know she felt it, too. They’d both tasted what it felt like to be apart when the need to be close was so great. It would take them a while before the unique sense of panic left. He’d work on her every day until she didn’t have a single worry. Then, and only then, he’d tackle his own.

  “Not for us, sweetheart.” Slowly, he turned her over onto her stomach and lifted her hips. In one smooth movement, he filled her, savoring her hoarse moan. “Too much is never enough.”

  Epilogue

  Jonah had actually built Gabby a park.

  Caroline still couldn’t quite figure out how he’d managed to keep it a secret from her over the last two months. While the transformation of Preston’s had kept her working far more than Jonah preferred, they shared everything. Except, apparently, a half-a-million-dollars park construction around the corner from where they’d been cohabitating for months. That was Jonah, though. Strong, quiet, and yet brimming with determination. Especially where Caroline and his daughte
r were concerned.

  As they walked hand in hand along the tree-lined street, back toward his Brooklyn house, which he stubbornly referred to as their Brooklyn house, Caroline marveled over how much had changed since their televised reunion outside of Serve. That night, all hell had broken loose. Not for them, but for everyone else. They had turned off their phones and stayed locked in Jonah’s bedroom for two days. Suffice it to say, Caroline had gotten an education over the course of forty-eight hours. The kind of education that didn’t come with a diploma to frame above your desk, and she continued to receive it every day. Eagerly.

  Caroline hadn’t been the only one to mold into the shape of their unique relationship. Jonah dominated her inside their bedroom, and she wouldn’t have it any other way, but she took her turn in the boardroom. In fact, her confidence strengthened with each passing day, proving once and for all that Jonah’s constant reminder that she held the power was accurate. Their relationship made them better. Knowing they wouldn’t lose each other meant going for broke everywhere else. And boy, had it paid off.

  Thanks to a feature story on Serve in the first groundbreaking issue of Preston’s ReVAMPed, business had grown to the point that Jonah was considering opening a second location uptown. Caroline was committed to helping every step of the way.

  Their biggest challenge had been her father. While Oliver hadn’t stopped laughing for an hour at seeing his once-prudish little sister professing her love to a BDSM club owner on network news, her father had been less than thrilled. Understandable, since he’d long envisioned his daughter having a respectable courtship with an investment banker followed by a tasteful wedding and two grandbabies. He’d gotten something quite different. But just as her father had surprised her by giving his blessing in the boardroom, he’d shown up one afternoon during a scheduled visitation with Gabby, bearing a teddy bear. To which Gabby had said, “Is that for some baby? Because I don’t see any babies ’round here.”

  It had been love at first sight.