Mina's Heart (24 page)

Ever was also unsure how the evening would progress. Part of him questioned his wisdom in introducing her to the atmosphere at a play party on her second day as a submissive. He shoved away his reservations. Either she would rise to the occasion or she would prove that she’d been right in fleeing from him six years ago.

“Stand up and turn around.”

Mina set the game directions on the sofa beside her and followed his order. The darker blue of the hem curved upward to highlight each shapely cheek of her ass. He longed to imprint the outline of his hand on each one, but he had to accept the fact that it would never happen. After what she’d revealed about her father, he couldn’t justify using corporal punishment. If he wanted a life with her, he had to adjust the vision of his future he’d come to take for granted.

“Bend over and brace your hands on the cushion.”

She did, and he let her remain that way for nearly a minute before he moved to stand behind her. He speculated at what thoughts ran through her head. Did she know how much he liked looking at her? Or perhaps she was trying to figure out what he was doing. He reached between her legs and released the delicate snaps holding the fabric together. She didn’t flinch or quiver at the unexpected contact, but the string was drenched. Had the position or the conversation turned her on?

Either way, it eased the road for him to take what he wanted. He flipped the material up and opened his jeans. His cock had been begging for this the entire time they’d talked. He remembered when they were first together, the number of times she’d pleaded with him to take her. It had been a continual test of will to turn her down, but he couldn’t justify taking her virginity just because they were both horny. He’d wanted more for her. He’d wanted it to be an act of love. The first time she’d popped a birth control pill in front of him, he’d nearly forgotten how to breathe.

With the memory of her passionate kisses and the feel of her soft body pressed to his, he slid his cock into her wetness. She widened her stance, bracing herself to take whatever he chose to dish out. He fucked her slowly, drawing out each stroke until she made tiny cries from the back of her throat.

Her body fit him so well, encasing him in satiny warmth. Electricity zinged up his spine, and love swelled his heart. He couldn’t say the words just yet, but he couldn’t keep from showing her how he felt.

“Do you want to come?” His voice came out in a growl, all he could manage in the face of the incredible feelings she generated in him.

“Yes please, Master,” she whispered, her tone tight with passion.

“Then come for me, honey.”

Her walls convulsed around him, sucking an orgasm that weakened his knees and paralyzed his vocal cords. He thrust twice more before twisting to fall on the sofa next to her. He grabbed her hips, taking her with him so that she ended up in his lap.

She leaned her head back against his shoulder, her chest heaving in time with his. After several long moments, she ran her palms down the sides of his thighs where his jeans had fallen as he’d taken her.

“Ever?”

It bothered him less and less that she forgot his title. She remembered it often enough, but when she dropped it, he knew she did so because she felt connected to him.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

The unexpected apology wrapped in a melancholy tone perked him up, and not in a good way. “Sorry?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I ran away. I should have stayed. I should have talked to you, given you a chance to explain why you treated me like a submissive without first asking if I wanted to be one.”

That hit him like dual arrows in the head and chest, which made it impossible to think. She shifted, easing away from his softened cock. He tightened his grip on her hips, holding her in place. They needed to talk, badly.

The soft chime of his doorbell traveled through the house. Their first guests had arrived. A huge part of him wanted to ignore it, but another part of him argued that he needed time to think, to figure out how to atone for such a large sin. All those years ago, he’d stubbornly clung to the idea that he knew what was best for her. He’d resisted his father’s warnings and faced the man’s disapproval because he’d been so convinced that he had been right. But he hadn’t.

He’d broken the first rule of being in a D/s relationship: open, honest communication. Mina didn’t owe him an apology. He was the one who’d fucked up. He owed her more than a hasty reply.

“Clean yourself up,” he said, his voice scratchy from all the feelings caught in his throat. “And meet me downstairs. You’re playing hostess.”

* * * *

Mina pressed a cool cloth between her legs. He hadn’t taken her hard, but the swelling hadn’t quite gone down from the time she’d spent strapped to the pleasure tower. If this was life as a submissive, she might just quit her job and live as Ever’s sex slave. Why had she run from this all those years ago?

Oh yeah, because she hadn’t trusted him after she’d found out that he’d been lying to her. She hadn’t known what she was running from, exactly, but she’d known what she was running to—a career, a future, a chance to gain some self-esteem, and the first taste of the freedom of self-reliance.

She’d grown up in her time away from Everett Burke, enough not to regret leaving, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t sorry for the way things had turned out. In the past six years, she’d become her own woman. She’d explored life, and she knew what she wanted—another chance with Ever. She’d run from fate once before; now she was ready to accept her destiny.

As she snapped the crotch of her teddy together, she studied the menu of options and decided what to put down on her card. She had some dirty little fantasies too, and this play party seemed like the perfect venue for exploring them.

She hadn’t decided yet if she’d play the final round. The first round was dubbed “Playful” on the card. It seemed like a more intimate version of an icebreaker. She supposed for a tight-knit group of friends, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. The second round upped the ante, so to speak. It was called “A Little Naughty.” The final round, for which she did put down a couple of offerings, just in case she decided to play, went by the title “Down and Dirty.”

When she put down that she’d be willing to give a handjob or engage in oral sex, part of her hoped somebody besides Ever would cash it in. She wanted to see his face as he watched her pleasure somebody else. The devious side of her really wanted to test the level of his possessiveness. And she wanted to see how close this group of friends truly was. After all, she’d known none of the submissives when she and Ever had first been together, and she’d only met Jude the one time.

An inquisitive trill captured her attention. Looking toward the door, she spied a tawny mass of fur. Ever’s kitten had grown up. Until that moment, she hadn’t remembered he had a cat. She crouched down and held out her hand. “Jolo?”

The cat bounded into the room, shaking loose a few excited vocalizations, and stopped just out of reach. She sat down and blinked. Her fur had grown long and thick, and it gleamed as though it had been brushed recently. Ever had always pampered the cat. It looked like he had spent at least some of the time he wasn’t with her in grooming Jolo.

Mina took a step forward, careful to move slowly, and ran her fingertips over the soft fur on Jolo’s head. The cat bumped her head up, demanding a more substantial show of affection. Mina obliged, murmuring nonsense syllables as she crouched down for a better angle. After a few minutes, Jolo fell to her side and presented her belly, purring madly the whole time.

“You’re still in here.” Ever’s tone held a note of reproof. “Our guests are arriving. I need you downstairs by my side where you belong.”

Mina stood, and Jolo let loose a trill of protest. “Sorry.”

Ever smiled. “Are you talking to me or her?”

She gave him a sheepish grin. “Both?”

He scooped up Jolo and set her across his shoulders. She settled in and resumed purring. Then he snagged Mina’s hand. His abrupt manner would have given her pause if she hadn’t spied the amused curl of his lips that he tried to hide.

“Come on, ladies,” he said. “Time to play some poker.”

She watched, amazed at how comfortable Jolo looked perched on his shoulders. “I didn’t realize you still had her.”

He frowned, glancing at her as he led her down the hall to the stairs. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Lots of things could happen, but she didn’t want to list a bunch of depressing possibilities. “I just meant that I haven’t seen her.” It had only been a day, but the cat had never been the kind to hide from company.

“I don’t let her in the playroom. She was in bed with us for a little while last night, but she took off when we woke up.”

Mina had been sound asleep and hadn’t noticed. When she’d awoken, she hadn’t paid attention to anything but Ever. “She’s still very sweet.”

He squeezed her hand. “She’s always liked you.”

At the bottom of the stairs, Jolo leaped onto a table and sat down to groom herself. Voices came from the direction of the living room. Mina recognized Wilder’s distinctive tone and Isla’s answering laugh. Now that other people were present, she wasn’t sure about wandering around in lacy lingerie.

Ever released her hand and gestured toward the kitchen. “Go help Lydia and Jessalyn bring the food downstairs. We’ll start playing as soon as everybody gets here.”

“Yes, Master.” Mina hurried through the foyer, walking quickly past the opening that led into the living room where the group was gathered. Just a few hours ago, she’d masturbated there for the first time in front of another living soul.

In the kitchen, the layout of which she’d had significant input into, she found two women arranging finger foods onto trays. They both looked up when she came in.

“Hi.” The pretty African American woman smiled, revealing an even row of teeth in a way that didn’t look very different from a growl. Her dark eyes shone with barely concealed distaste. “I’m Lydia. This is Jessalyn. You must be Mina.”

Mina stopped, hovering several feet away. Lydia was Wilder’s fiancée. According to the police account, she’d been the one who’d driven Mina to the hospital after the accident that had reunited Mina with Ever. Now that she was seeing her in person, Mina recognized her as the woman who’d been the focus of Ever’s attention last fall when she’d brought John home to meet her mother for the first time. She’d wanted to leave the moment Ever had walked into Elmhurst, but John had wanted to stay for one more dance. Watching him speak to that table of women hadn’t been pleasant. She’d spent the rest of the night wondering if Ever was seeing one of them.

Mina forced herself to give a polite smile. “I am. It’s nice to meet you.”

Just from the way she stood at the counter, Jessalyn seemed like one of those people with too much energy and not enough to keep her occupied. She shifted back and forth, her movements as loose as her long, dark hair and as leonine as the print on her corset. Either glad to witness Mina’s discomfort or just happy to be there, she grinned, and it lit her entire face. “Wild said you’d be polite.”

“He said standoffish.” Lydia corrected her friend. “And she is. Look how far she’s standing off.”

Jessalyn snorted. “That’s because you look like you’re going to eat her. You know you have to get Wilder and Everett’s permission first.”

Heat rose up Mina’s neck and parked in her cheeks. When she’d envisioned having oral sex with somebody besides Ever, she’d pictured other men, like Micah or Jude. She tried to stammer out a response even though she knew it would be inadequate. “I don’t think Ever would go for something like that.”

Both women laughed at her, openly delighting in the comment.

Lydia recovered first. “You must not know him very well, then.”

“Yeah. No man is going to turn down the chance to see two women together, especially if they get to tie you up and make you do exactly what they say.” Jessalyn picked up a tray and headed toward the door, still chuckling.

Lydia scooped up another and nodded to the last one. She attempted to rein in her smirk, but she wasn’t too successful. “Grab that.”

It was full of diced fruits and vegetables with two kinds of dip in the center. Mina picked up the heavy glass serving tray and lumbered after the women. She wasn’t sure she liked either one of them. Not only had they both been comfortable in lingerie, and they’d both been very attractive, but they hadn’t even given her a chance to prove herself.

She’d known that Ever’s family and friends wouldn’t be as forgiving as him, but she hadn’t expected them to be so openly hostile. She took the tray downstairs and put it on a side table set up near the poker table. Somebody had already put out ice and drinks. Soda, water, some kind of dark beer, and wine were neatly arranged at one end of the table. Thank goodness there was wine. She might need a glass or two.

Jessalyn and Lydia fussed with the layout for a few minutes. Mina watched silently, waiting in the background instead of directing the action as a true hostess should. Once this would have been her house, and she would have taken the lead in things like this. Now she was just another guest. Lydia had more right to the title of hostess than she did. As Wild’s fiancée, she was practically family.

Mina shook away the melancholy. She could get through this. She could prove herself worthy of Ever, and she would gain acceptance in his circle of friends.

Pasting on her best smile, she clasped her hands together. “Is there more? This doesn’t seem like enough to feed twelve people.”

Lydia frowned. “You’re right. Let’s check the fridge down here.”

Mina hadn’t known Ever kept a refrigerator on the lower level. Again, she felt one step behind as Lydia took charge. She followed the woman through a door that led to a kitchenette, berating herself for not asking Ever to give her a tour of the house. This hadn’t been part of the original design.

“Yep. Here’s the rest.” She glanced up, flashing a genuine smile at Mina. “Subs. How fitting.”

Jessalyn came into the room, her musical laugher filling the smaller space. “Good one. Are they homemade? Everett makes the best sandwiches.”