Mina's Heart (21 page)

Micah followed the volley of the conversation, wisely keeping his mouth shut. One of Ever’s oldest friends, Micah had been there the night he’d confronted Mina while she was on a date with another man.

His temper had never ruffled his mother’s feathers, or Micah’s for that matter. He was mostly bluster and wind. She gazed at him through calm blue eyes, her expression firm. “Darling, you’ve spent six years torturing yourself over this woman. Don’t you think it’s time for some closure?”

Oasis didn’t operate on the basis of looking for closure. His parents had built this business on the philosophy that sometimes people needed to set up the right circumstances to make a couple seize their chance at happiness.

“She’s spent three years living with a guy.” It killed him to think about her with anybody else. “Now she suddenly wants to give being submissive a try?”

A brilliant smile lit her face, an expression he hadn’t seen too often in the year since his father’s car accident. “Isn’t that what you’ve been waiting for? You can’t force someone to be submissive. They have to want it. The timing is finally right.”

Weary, he sank into the chair next to Micah’s. “I haven’t forgiven her for what she did to me.”

“I know.” Macy came around the desk and perched on the arm of his chair. She put her arm around his shoulders. “But you weren’t exactly in the right either, my stubborn, stubborn boy. You must get to know her all over again, have honest conversations about painful topics, and finally learn to communicate with each other.”

He wanted nothing more, but Mina had run from him last time. “I couldn’t survive losing her again.”

Macy kissed him on the forehead. “We’ll have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Ever didn’t know how they were going to manage that, but he knew it all hinged on how he handled the details of her wish.

Macy patted his shoulder and went back to her desk. She scooped up the folder and held it out. “Micah, sweetheart, set this up.”

Standing, Micah towered over Macy. He was a few inches taller than Ever. His shoulders were broader, and he boasted more muscle than anybody Ever knew, even Micah’s younger brother, Jude.

Doubt clouded Micah’s dark eyes. “Macy, are you completely sure about this? I know Ever wants another shot with her, but do we know why she’s suddenly asking to spend time as a submissive? Didn’t she get a concussion when her car went off the road?”

“Yes.” Macy’s smile grew. “Sometimes life smacks you hard to force you to see what’s right in front of your face. Valentine’s Day falls on a Monday this year. Start the wish the Friday before, and give it the weekend. Ever, darling, I found the perfect Valentine’s gift for you two. I’m having it delivered to your house. I hope it shows up in time.”

As he and Micah returned to their end of the building where the security offices were located, the thoughts zooming through Ever’s head made him dizzy. Did Mina honestly know what she was getting into? She’d had plenty of time to research D/s relationships, but had she really? Underlining all that was dread. He knew they were in for one knock-down, drag-out argument. He hated arguing with Mina. She was as stubborn as the day was long, and he could only lock her in the stocks so many times.

“This was your wish.” Micah’s quiet observation brought him out of his head. They’d reached the hallway in front of their offices.

Four years ago, his group of friends had made wishes. Eva’s had come true almost immediately. Wilder’s had happened just a few months ago. That left him, Micah, Jude, Isla, and Jessalyn.

Isla, the tiny blonde Domme who was also the oldest member of their group, poked her head into the hall and lifted one finely sculpted brow. “You accepted Mina’s wish?”

Ever nodded. Now that it was on tap to happen, he couldn’t seem to settle on an emotion. Wilder had been a mess from the time he found out about Lydia’s wish until she took matters into her hands. Eva’s romance had been fairly straightforward. One look at Pete and she’d never looked away.

“I want to have a play party that weekend.” He glanced around at his dominant friends. “Tell Pete and Eva, Wilder and Lydia, Jude, Sara, Sydney, and Jessalyn. I want her to meet other submissives. They’ll be able to give her insights I can’t.”

Micah’s mouth twisted with an ironic smile. “And it reestablishes her with your group of friends. This time nobody will have to hide who they really are.”

The times he’d brought Mina around before, he’d asked his friends to refrain from discussing dominance and submission. She’d been so naive where relationships and sex were concerned that he hadn’t wanted to shock her.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m done handling her with kid gloves. She’s going to get one hell of an education.”

Isla pursed her lips. “Are you sure about this? Your friends are awfully protective of you, and I can’t imagine everybody welcoming Mina with open arms. Not after what she’s done to you.”

They’d all seen the way he’d grieved her loss. But they were his friends. How could they be anything but sympathetic? If he wanted Mina, then they would support his efforts to win her back.

“Maybe not at first, but they’ll warm up to her.”

Micah and Isla exchanged glances and shrugged. Micah clapped his hand on Ever’s shoulder. “If that’s what you want, then I’ll make it happen.”

Chapter Nine

Present day

Ever spooned one more dollop of his creamy Greek yogurt over the bowl of fresh fruit. Mina would be down any moment now. He’d awakened her half an hour earlier by pushing her legs apart and satisfying the needs of his morning erection. She’d climaxed, though her pleasure hadn’t been his goal.

He was a tad nervous, because as he’d shouted his release when he’d taken her in the middle of the night, he’d heard her softly spoken declaration of love. It should have warmed his heart, sent him soaring as it had the first time she’d told him that she loved him. But it didn’t. Instead he was apprehensive. Part of him didn’t believe she knew the difference between feelings of love and the euphoria of sexual release.

The fact that she was here, and that she’d agreed to the majority of his terms, was a testament to her good intentions. Still, he’d been burned by her once, and he was finding it difficult to trust her again.

He carried both bowls to the sunny breakfast nook nestled in a curved bank of windows on the far side of the kitchen. It was a modification Mina had suggested, a dreamy gleam in her eyes as she envisioned them sharing the first meal of the day. Since the house had been completed, he’d taken most of his meals there, fighting the thoughts of what could have been that assailed him.

She came through the kitchen, her bare feet treading silently along the patterned tile. He’d originally planned for hardwood, but she’d wanted tile. The February weather was cold, and he’d turned on the heated floor so that his naked slave wouldn’t get cold. He spread a soft towel over the cushion on her chair. “Sit. Eat breakfast.”

Hot coffee steamed next to the bowl of fruit. She inhaled deeply, and a satisfied smile settled on her lips. “Thank you, Master. You make the best coffee.”

He waited until she was halfway through her meal before he asked a necessary question. “Tell me about last night. What worked for you, and what didn’t?”

She froze, staring at the contents of her bowl. “I…I…I’m not sure.”

Processing her first night as a submissive in one chunk might be overwhelming. Ever decided to help her. “We established that you have trouble masturbating. Was that your first time, or your first time with an audience?”

“My first time with somebody watching.” She nearly whispered her response. Ruddy undertones rose to the surface of her cheeks and neck. It was sexy as hell.

“How did you feel about that?”

Though the blush stayed, it didn’t spread. She stabbed at her fruit as she considered his question. Finally, she nodded. “It was hot. I think what I liked best was seeing your face, knowing that you were enjoying what I was doing. When you tied me up and wrapped me in plastic wrap, I think half of what got me off was watching you. I loved it when you came on me. I’ve had that fantasy for a long time now.”

Her admission surprised Ever with what it revealed about her true need for submission. “Good,” he said. “Because it will happen again.”

She shifted in her seat, squeezing her legs together. It seemed talk of it turned her on.

“Spread your legs, slave. If I happen to drop my napkin, I want an eyeful when I reach down to pick it up.” He grinned as he gave the order, loving the way her blush deepened.

“Yes, Master.”

He heard the telltale slide of her flesh over the fluffy towel. “Good girl. Now, let’s discuss your punishments.”

She started. Though she sat across the table from him, it was a small affair. He lifted his foot and put it on the edge of the chair between her legs, knowing that the touchy subject would drive her to instinctively draw her legs together. They hit his foot and moved apart.

“Sorry, Master.” She lowered her gaze demurely, waiting for him to accept.

“You were afraid of the spanking, yet you agreed to it. Even…before you left…the mention of it made the blood drain from your face. Why?”

She put her fork down and pushed her food away. The intense sorrow in her expression clutched at his heart. “My father used to beat my mother. Nobody knew about it, and I trust you to not tell anybody. She stayed with him until I went to college because she couldn’t take the chance that I’d be alone with him. He didn’t touch me, not even for a hug or anything, but she thought if she wasn’t there to be his punching bag, then he’d take it out on me.”

Ever felt sick. He dropped his fork into his bowl and reached across the table. She hesitated for a few seconds before giving her hand. “I’m so sorry, Mina. I never knew.”

“Well, I never told you. I’ve never told anyone.”

He felt the weight of her shame and fear. He wished she’d told him this all those years ago. Perhaps the wounds had been too fresh, too raw for her to confront. It explained so many things. “Thank you for telling me.”

She nodded, a tiny movement that betrayed her fear.

“That explains why you’ve forbidden impact play, but it doesn’t explain why you agreed to spanking as a punishment. It doesn’t have to be a punishment, honey. It can actually be quite pleasurable. And as you learned last night, there are other ways to punish your transgressions.”

The fear morphed to bafflement. “I don’t see how spanking can ever feel good, and I know there are other ways to punish me. I still have nightmares about the time you tied me to a chair and wouldn’t let me come. I thought that a spanking would be quick and easy, and I was right about it being quick. I think it’ll get easier as I get used to it. And if that whole forcing-me-to-orgasm thing was a punishment, it was very ineffective. I’d sign up for that ride again and again.”

Ever struggled to keep a tight rein on the gamut of emotions her analysis produced. He noted that forced orgasming wasn’t a punishment, which worked fine for him. The gift his mother had purchased, a forced orgasm tower, had arrived the day before. He planned to use it.

But the part about her having nightmares… He’d considered that a light punishment. He hadn’t even denied her a few hours later when he’d taken her to bed. He blinked. “Nightmares? Why?”

She removed her hand from his grip and looked away. “Too much, too soon.”

He’d known that punishing her had been a mistake, but he’d never realized the extent of the damage he’d done.

“I know I said I wouldn’t push, but this is important. Nothing we do together should give you nightmares.” He wanted to reach for her hand again, but he also didn’t want to overwhelm her.

Vulnerable and lost, she stared at her breakfast. “I didn’t understand how you could do something like that to someone you professed to love. Finding out the way I did only made it worse.”

Ever chewed his lower lip, uncertain whether he should follow through with his plans for the weekend. “Mina, why are you really here? What do you hope to gain from this weekend?”

“Gain?” She echoed his word with a frown. “I’m not sure. I only know that I wanted to see if things could have worked out between us.”

He picked at his napkin, unraveling the stitching bit by bit. He had wondered the same thing himself. The years spent without her hadn’t been bad, but they hadn’t been great either. He’d dated, had relationships, but he’d never met anyone with whom he felt a connection that came close to the one he felt with Mina.

Carefully, he put a feeler out there. “Your wish expires tomorrow. Do you really think two days is enough time to know definitively whether or not it would have worked out?”

Her brow wrinkled as she considered his question. “I don’t know. How different is this from the way things would be if I’d moved in with you?”

Ever shook his head. There was no way of knowing that for sure. “We would have negotiated terms, worked out the kinks. I’ve never lived with a submissive before. I didn’t quite know what to expect.”

He still didn’t, but he wasn’t going to reveal that to her.

“Would you keep me naked all the time?”

“Hell yes.” He grinned to soften that blow. “Unless there was something specific I wanted you to wear or you negotiated terms for being dressed. I’d let you wear clothes when we had company, though you’d probably end up naked at a play party.”

It was her turn to blink. “Play party? Like one of those parties where the Doms all play with each other’s subs?”

“It depends on the limits each master, mistress, and submissive sets. For example, at tonight’s party, I won’t let anybody have sex with you. That’s your limit and mine. I will, however, let some of them touch you. In those instances, it will be at my direction, and you will treat those hands as extensions of mine.”

The color drained from her face. No doubt she was imagining who he’d invite to a play party. She was familiar with most of his friends already, though she would meet a few more tonight.

She attempted to speak, but nothing came out. He let her gather her wits, watching as she swallowed several times and strived to control her breathing.