Breathless: Edge Of Submission (BDSM Billionaire) (3 page)

But then he started to talk. His tone
was almost conversational.

“You mentioned earlier about not
knowing why you’re here. But something tells me that deep down
somewhere, you have a vague suspicion of why I wanted us to meet
again.” His eyes shot up and she wasn’t sure he needed a reply. She
couldn’t even speak, not with his eyes pinning her in place and
making it hard to form thought.

“But even though you do have an inkling
of what I want, I can’t help but believe you’ll still be surprised
when you hear what I have to say. You might think I don’t know much
about you, Alyssa, but I do. I’ve read your books with great
interest. I told myself, this is a woman who truly understands
dark, searing cravings. I wondered if the image I had of you would
be shattered when we met.”

Alyssa waited. She wasn’t sure she
wanted to hear what he would say next. She remembered their first
meeting; it had been all on her side, the jolting awareness. With a
Barbie doll on his arm, he’d treated Alyssa with a formal charm.
Now what did he want her to think? Was he about to tell her his
expectations were shot?

Alyssa wasn’t dumb. She didn’t think
she looked the picture of a sexpot. She certainly was no runway
model. She had serious curves. Not dumpy or thick, but you could
tell she liked to indulge. Her face wasn’t going to stop traffic
but she felt reasonably pretty. Her dark brown hair was her one
vanity; she left it growing down almost to her waist and it was
luxuriously thick and rich.

Her looks overall had never received
complaints from her past partners but she couldn’t picture herself
as Lucas Edge’s type. She wasn’t one of those kinds of women who
made a point to look perfect all the time: hair and makeup done,
clothes designer and always eye-catching. She liked to keep things
simple. In general, her image was nothing like the women she wrote
about. Daring, exposed and glamorous. Someone that would look
accurate next to a man like him. Not her.

She may not be a plain Jane, but she
was not the ravishing beauty that she felt could catch and hold
Lucas Edge’s attention. And that feeling of inadequacy suddenly ate
at her guts.

Alyssa had always told herself that
life wasn’t all about what you looked like; it was personality that
mattered. As it happened, Lucas had the looks but it wasn’t all
about that either. It was about how she felt when she was around
him. He had something going for him that only few men she’d met
ever had. A magnetism that was both sexual and intellectual. She
wanted to know what made him tick; his interests in music, art and
life in general.

But she also wanted to know how it
would feel to kiss him, to feel the weight of his body crushing
hers. She wanted him on all these levels. It would pain her if she
discovered she didn’t rouse the same responsiveness for
him.

“Well, was it shattered?” she asked
now, lifting her chin proudly. “This image you had of me. Not that
it should really matter to me, should it? After all, you’re
practically a stranger. Why would I care what you
think?”

He was looking right at her. “I
apologize if I made you feel defensive with my comment. Yes, I had
an impression about you. I thought to myself, no one really knows
much about her. She’s a very private woman. Unmarried,
mid-twenties, well educated. Already a millionaire from her
bestselling books. I’d seen your photos, I knew what you looked
like. I just needed to know how it would be like to meet you in
person.”

Alyssa once again had to wait for him
to continue. The suspense was freaking killing her. “Why don’t you
just tell me what it is you want. I believe we’re both adults,
Lucas. I write steamy women’s fiction; I’m a dirty girl, up for
anything, right? Is that why you invited me privately to your home?
Are you about to proposition me in some way?”

Her face was flaming. She knew she was
correct from the way a slight flush went across his cheeks as well.
“Does it make me seem unbearably chauvinistic, Alyssa? Now you know
how badly I want you. Meeting you only fuelled that desire. You
intrigued me from afar but then up close…I was slayed. It was all I
could do not to whisk you away there and then. I went home
thinking: fuck. I’ve found her. The woman that suits my needs
perfectly.”

“And what needs would you be referring
to?”

Alyssa’s whole universe was imploding.
Lucas Edge wanted her. He’d felt it. She wasn’t the only one. It
took all her effort to keep her expression neutral, and not like
her panties were crackling with flames.

Before he replied, he took her
untouched wine glass from her hand and placed it next to his on the
nearby coffee table. Then he rose, his hands grasping hers as he
guided her to her feet before him.

Alyssa was a good few inches above five
feet, but Lucas was much taller, more than six feet at least. His
gaze was hooded and she couldn’t tear her eyes from his lips. She’d
never seen a man’s mouth look so edible; had never wanted a kiss so
bad as she wanted it right then, from him. She really thought he
was about to mesh those gorgeous lips of his with hers.

But he didn’t kiss her. Alyssa could
barely let out a gasp as he suddenly spun her round, his arm around
her waist locking her body hard against him. His other hand wrapped
around her throat, turning her head to face the mirror in front of
them.

He’d taken her completely by surprise
and now she stared at their reflection in the ornate wall mirror.
He stood behind her, keeping her pinned to his solid frame. She was
effectually trapped, his hand around her throat and waist making
her feel deliciously helpless. Her hands clutched the sleeve of the
arm he had across her body.

“What…what are you doing?”

He held her gaze for a moment, but then
bent his head to inhale deeply at the base of her throat.
“Answering your question, Alyssa,” he told her simply. “You wanted
to know what my needs were. My needs are manifold and intricate,
but they’re definitely the kind a woman like you would
understand.”

A woman like me…Alyssa shivered inside
as she thought, he really thinks I’m like that. He’s got this
picture in his head about me from my work and he can’t tell I’m
nothing like that.

She stared at his face in the mirror,
shadowed and arresting as he looked up to meet her startled
gaze.

“For some months, let’s just say I’ve
maintained quite an interest in you,” he said in a factual tone. “I
kept putting off meeting you despite the fact I always knew where
you’d be, thanks to my investigations. Like I said before, I was
wary. I didn’t know if it would be as I’d imagined it would. Only,
it turned out to be even more intense. I want you, Alyssa Fox. But
not just as a lover. Any woman can give me sex and in the past
year, I’ve taken lovers but never a relationship. With you, it’ll
be different.”

“How different?” Alyssa’s voice felt
hushed, with his fingers still encircled round her throat in a
light, caressing hold.

“I like how you feel in my arms,” was
his manner of response as he added on a drawl, “I like that you
aren’t struggling, or trying to scream in anger or alarm. You’re
comfortable with my strength over you, my control. And that’s what
I need, Alyssa. I need you to allow me take command of you
sexually. Those kinky trappings you fill your books with: the
bondage, discipline; the give and take. I want them all but only
with you. You’re the first woman in a long while that I’ve wanted
to share this with. In turn, I would be unsparing in my attentions.
Sex has never been enough for me but for so long; it’s all I
settled for because there was no one who interested me that way.
And now I have you.”

Now I have you.
Did he think she’d already consented? Or that she
wouldn’t wish to refuse? Alyssa was confused. One thing that was in
no way confusing was the way her body reacted to his touch, his
nearness.

She wanted more than anything to close
her eyes and just sink into him, fall over and over in a tumbling
heap within his swirling mists.

But she knew she couldn’t give him what
he was looking for. And it broke her to pieces inside to know that
she’d be a fool to get involved with a man like him. It didn’t stop
her from needing and wanting him though.

“I don’t know what to say,” she
croaked, her breasts a pair of heavy globes weighted down by the
lust pounding in her heart. Just one shift of his hand from her
stomach and he could cup one seeking tit in his hand. It felt so
erotic, looking in the mirror and trying to read his every thought
in his handsome reflection. Could he tell she’d felt drawn to him
from the start?

“You don’t have to agree to anything
yet,” he told her gently, finally drawing away and holding on only
to her hand as he squeezed her fingers with a light pressure.
“First, I promised you dinner. We can discuss this further after we
eat. Or not. It depends on what you think of my wishes now that you
know them. But whatever happens, we reach a conclusion tonight.
Whether it’s a yes or no is up to you.”

Chapter Three

During dinner they talked about other
things.

Not surprisingly, Lucas Edge wasn’t the
type of man you could sit and talk with for any length of time and
ever get bored or run out of things of interest to discuss. He was
very good at pulling her out of her shell; and he knew enough about
her to raise topics she could knowledgeably share with him while
they ate.

He talked a bit about himself. She
could tell he knew she was very interested. He was a workaholic;
travelled frequently on business, stupendously rich, committed to
giving back to society through his many relief programs. He enjoyed
different types of art, and admired talent of many kinds. He played
a few instruments well, and whilst at university he represented on
the school swimming team.

He did certainly have the physique for
it, Alyssa noted; even his suits couldn’t tame his masculinity. She
found his company very pleasant indeed, and the food and wine
turned out to be outstanding. They were attended to by the chef
himself, and each course was a masterpiece. Alyssa was able to
relax, and enjoy the company of a handsome and fascinating
male.

If there was a sexual tension in the
air, it took the back burner. If her heart strummed along with her
hidden folds just being there in that intimate dining room with
him, listening to his deep voice and meeting his stirring gaze,
then she did her best not to show it.

Enjoy it while you can, she told
herself. It was her Cinderella moment and then she’d politely take
her leave and go home. What he was asking was not for her at all
and she’d hate to disappoint him. It would be best not to start
what she couldn’t finish because whatever his expectations he had
as regards to her sexually, they were way off mark.

The last thing she wanted was to make a
fool of herself, so no matter how much her vagina walls were
screeching for the chance to get fucked by him, possibly by the end
of the night, Alyssa daren’t give in.

*

After the meal, they left the dining
area but instead of returning to the room they’d first talked, he
showed her around the house. One of his few abodes in the city, he
informed her. She told him everything looked beautiful, which was
true. To her inner relief, he didn’t offer to show her the
bedrooms. Instead, he brought them into a kind of cozy
entertainment room, filled with plush furniture and sound systems.
The walls were like mirrored glass, the floor spacious and polished
to a shine.

“You’ve seen the movie theater,” he
told her, suddenly pressing the button on a remote and filling the
room with music. “But here, we get to dance.”

Alyssa couldn’t help laughing, letting
him take her hand and pull her into his embrace. He told her it was
a waltz, from the late Viennese period. Not normally her kind of
thing but with him, here, it suited her mood just right. Her body
molded to his and she settled her hand on his shoulder.

Dancing with a man you were highly
attracted to is almost as intimate as being in bed with him, Alyssa
soon discovered. Coupled with all the wine she had at dinner and
the satisfaction derived from good food, it was fair to say she was
drifting on a happy cloud. He moved perfectly, his steps sure and
his hold secure as he swept her over the wide floor.

His released her fingers and moved his
hands down to grip her hips firmly before pulling her so snugly to
his body she could feel every ridgeline. Her breath snagged at the
unmistakable sensation of his bulge prodding into her. Alyssa
couldn’t hide the startled look of answering arousal that crossed
her face. He caught just a glimpse of it and then he moved,
swinging her in an arc and pinning her to the nearest
wall.

Alyssa swallowed a helpless moan as he
leaned forward and nuzzled her neck, that spot he’d favored
earlier, just at the inner side between her shoulder. All he did
for a few moments was just breathe her in, before sliding his lips
over her warm flesh and sucking hard.

Alyssa gasped, her hands
pressed against his chest, instinctively pushing. Her reaction to
that simple, sweet caress from his mouth was
fearsome
. A single laser of lust
surged intensely through her system, almost shutting her down. She
shook her head quickly to fight off the wanton mist turning her
brain to mush.