Dorian scrutinized Malachi’s face for any sign of compassion, of understanding about his feelings for Jennifer. His eyes revealed nothing. He was as he’d always been, beautiful and as cold as they come.
Jennifer was in danger. How long they had before Malachi decided to kill her, he didn’t know. However, he did know it was inevitable.
“I feel sorry for you, Malachi. You say you love me, but I don’t think you’re capable of it. When one truly loves, they put those whom they love before themselves. They are willing to lay down their lives for them. Can you say that? That you’d give up your life for me? No! You cannot. You use threats to hold me to you. That’s not love. That’s possession. If you dare hurt one hair on Jennifer’s head, I will kill you myself!”
“You shouldn’t make idle threats Dorian.”
Dorian walked to the door, looking back only once. “That’s not a threat Malachi. It’s a promise.”
He got into his car, shaking all over. He had to keep her safe. That apartment she lived in had no security and was in a very poor neighborhood. He had to get her out of there. He picked up his cell and called Ian.
He answered on the third ring, sounding as if he’d been sleeping.
“I’m sorry to wake you, Ian, but I need you to do something for me.”
“Of course, what is it?”
“I need you to keep a close eye on Jennifer during the day when I’m not able to. And start looking for high security apartment buildings. I need to get her moved out of that wretched place she lives in.” He heard the urgency in his voice and imagined Ian, who was attuned to his every mood, noticed it as well. What would he do without him? Ian might very well be the only one he could trust.
“Sir, is Ms. Reese in some sort of danger?”
“Yes she is. And I can’t have her stay at my house for obvious reasons.”
If she ever stumbled upon the hidden bomb shelter where I take refuge from the sun, it would be
disastrous
, he thought.
“I understand. Consider it done.”
“Oh, and don’t forget to send the e-mail I wrote for her today. Of course, you’ll need to improvise when she answers it. Nice touch on the last one, by the way. Inconsiderate ass? You’ve managed to imitate me quite well.”
“Sorry about that.”
“It was meant as a compliment, Ian. That’s exactly the type of response she’d expect from me.”
“Thank you Mr. Taylor. No problem. I’ll take care of everything. Shall I rent it under the corporation?”
“No. Use my personal account to pay for everything. She’ll need a vehicle as well. Take my Mercedes and park it in whatever space the apartment building assigns her. You may as well get back to sleep. You’ll have a busy day tomorrow.”
He’d chosen the Mercedes because it was not only well-made, but easier to drive than his other cars. The streets of Miami were hard to navigate, especially when you weren’t used to them. They were congested and had many one way streets.
Admittedly, Jennifer was also a bit of a klutz and a tad absentminded as well. He smiled. He found her clumsiness and lack of sophistication utterly charming.
“Yes, Sir. I’ll phone you when everything’s done. I know you won’t be available until tonight, but I’ll leave a message.”
“I can’t thank you enough, Ian. We’ll get her moved out of that horrid place tomorrow night. I have to tell her first.”
He wasn’t sure how she’d react to him taking control of her life. She’d never asked him for a single thing since they’d met.
“It’s my pleasure, Mr. Taylor.”
Dorian paused before answering. “You can call me Dorian from now on,” he said softly.
“Okay,” Ian sounded puzzled at the request. “Have a goodnight Mr. Taylor. I mean . . . Dorian.”
As soon as he said goodbye to Ian, he drove over to Jennifer’s apartment. He spent the whole night sitting in his car watching the building, staying until just before dawn. No-one came near.
Chapter 20
Jennifer woke up late. She’d never even heard the alarm. “So much for my early mornings,” she muttered to herself. She moved quickly around the kitchen, put the coffee pot on and took a cup before it even stopped its brew cycle. Since she’d met Dorian, her routine of rising at dawn was fast disappearing.
You can’t stay up half the night and expect to be up with the birds,
she thought.
“Aw, shit!” She noted the red, angry marks the hand-cuffs had left on her wrists. It would’ve been damn near impossible
not
to notice them.
Diligently, she applied make-up to the circular streaks of red. If anyone saw them, they’d know
exactly
what had made such marks.
Blushing, thinking of what she and Dorian had done in that room, she put on a long sleeve, button down blue shirt over a light silky camisole, a black skirt and black open toe shoes with straps. They hid the light marks on the tops of her feet from the restraints on the cross.
She made it to work just barely on time.
“Good morning, ladies.” She greeted her co-workers who were already hard at work. She gasped when she looked at her desk. An ominous amount of case files, each one bound in white binders and thick with paper sat on and beside her desk. Jennifer knew files containing this much paper were most likely close to their statute of limitation date, making them urgent.
“Morning Jen. A word of caution, Mr. Marshall is in an extremely foul mood today,” Suzanne whispered.
“More than usual?”
Suzanne nodded. “Oh yeah. I’d steer clear of him if I were you. I’ll talk to you at lunch.”
Julie didn’t seem to care about her boss’ mood. “Why in the world are you wearing long sleeves today? You’ll be roasting by noon time.” Julie stood next to her desk, looking down at her.
“It’s air conditioned in here and I felt like wearing this top today.” She pulled down on the shirt cuffs.
Jennifer looked closely at Julie, unsure of what she really knew about kinky sex and e.Vampire.com. Just what sort of things had she done with Ian and other guys for that matter?”
“What are you looking at me like that for?” asked Julie, a little defensively.
Jennifer really wanted to confide in someone about Dorian. Who better than Julie? She wouldn’t judge her and might even make her feel better. At the moment, she was feeling a little ashamed of what she’d done with him.
“Follow me to the break room,” Jennifer said quietly.
Getting up from her desk she said she was going to get a cup of coffee.
Once in the room, Julie wasted no time. “Okay, Jen. Tell me quick before he catches us.”
Jennifer pulled up her sleeves and held out her arms. Even through the make-up, the lines of the cuffs showed through.
“Oh no way!” Julie grabbed hold of her hands. “You’re been a very bad girl, haven’t you?” Julie pretended to be shocked.
Jennifer didn’t smile. She looked down at the floor and said nothing.
“I’m sorry, Jen. I was just kidding. So, you let him hand-cuff you.”
“Yeah, I let him . . . do that.
And oh, by the way, I let him tie me to a cross and perform oral sex
on me,
she thought, but didn’t dare say that.
She’d never tell a living soul about that, ever. That was private and was something that would stay that way, something only she and Dorian would share. “It’s just that I don’t know how I feel about it. Have you ever let a guy do that?” Jennifer asked.
“Yes. I’ve been cuffed. I’ve done a few kinky things in my day.”
“Like what? I mean
, if you don’t mind telling me. I don’t know where to draw the limits with him and I was hoping you could help me. Not that I’m saying you’re a slut or anything,” she finished quickly.
Julie laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Jennifer. I’ve done some things, nothing really bad. Actually, other than Ian, I’ve only done the whole bondage and discipline thing with one other guy. Both were like me. We like to play. That’s all. None of that hard core shit.”
“What do you mean play?” She remembered Dorian had also called what they did play.
“Well, having sex while tied up. I’ve tied them up too. And light spanking. That sort of thing. It’s no big deal.”
“Spanking? Why would
anyone
want to be spanked? I hated it when I was a kid.”
“It can be . . . stimulating.”
She thought of how revolted she’d been at the thought of Dorian hitting her at all. Then he’d completely surprised her by spanking her with the feather flogger. But an open palm spanking or some of those paddles? No, she knew she wouldn’t like that at all. She’d lose all respect for him if he hit her in any way, shape or form. Besides he’d said he didn’t want or need that sort of thing with her.
“Do you know anyone that does that hard core stuff?”
She sighed. “Yeah, I do and I can tell you, it’s not for me. And I
know
it’s not for you. People have told me stories that made me want to puke. Those sessions can get really bad. I’ve heard about situations where one partner wanted to stop and the other ignored their request. Now,
that
crosses the line into full-blown sexual abuse. Honestly, the cuff marks look like you guys just got a little carried away. Is that what happened or
did
he cross that line and hurt you?”
“No, he’s never hurt me.” She felt the need to defend him for some reason.
“And you consented to being hand-cuffed?”
“Yes,” she whispered, looking down at the floor.
“As long as it was consensual, there’s nothing wrong with it. Jen look at me.”
Jennifer slowly met her gaze.
“There’s nothing wrong with you. Frankly, I’m glad Dorian is drawing out your sensual side. If you make each other happy, then that’s all that counts. Of course, if he ever did hurt you, I’d have to beat him up. You’d come to me if he did something really awful, wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah, I’d tell you.”
“Swear?” she said solemnly.
“I swear.”
“Although, I have to tell you, I seriously doubt you need to worry about Dorian Taylor ever crossing the line with you.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Ian says he’s crazy about you. He’s never seen him so happy. Actually, to quote his exact words, he said he’s never seen Dorian happy at
all
.”
Jennifer was floored. If his feelings for her were so strong, why hadn’t he told her?
She hoped with all her heart that what Julie told her was true because the simple truth of it was she’d fallen hard for him; harder than she’d ever thought possible, especially in so short a period of time. No-one had ever made her feel the way he did. The intensity of her feelings for him were so strong, they terrified her.
She thanked Julie for her candidness and they went back to work. She forced herself to concentrate on her case load and finally got into a rhythm
. When she looked at the time, it was already noon.
“Let’s get out of here and go to lunch ladies.” Suzanne got up from her desk and stretched.
“I’ll catch up with you. I have to check my e-mail,” said Jennifer as they were filing out the door.
Jennifer could barely
wait to read his e-mail. The man was like clockwork. The time stamp was exactly 12:00 pm.
_____________________________________________________
Hello my VERY sweet girl,
As always, I’m looking forward to seeing you this evening.
I hope you like surprises.”
-Love, Dorian
Dorian Taylor
CEO
, Taylor and Van Ness, Inc.
What kind of surprise
?
She wrote back.
If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?
I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until tonight to find out.
Does it have anything to do with sex?
She typed.
Doesn’t everything?
He’d added a winking eye at the end of the sentence.
With you?
Yes!
She added a smiley face to the end of her sentence.
You’ve not answered the question. Do you like surprises?
It depends on what it is
.
Oh, I think you’ll like it. I’ll text you at 8 o’clock.
Make sure you answer.
This is one night you wouldn’t want to disappoint me
.
Okay, control freak. Your wish is my command.