Perception (36 page)

Six
months later, January…

The
day AFTER the opening of Alluring Indulgence Resort

“What did
you think of AI?” Xander asked Mercedes as they stepped onto the private jet
that would take them from Austin to Dallas.

“I
thought it was rather impressive,” Mercedes answered with her one thousand
megawatt smile, the one that made his blood run hot. “Almost as impressive as
you were.”

Xander
smiled, stepping back out of the way and motioning for Mercedes to take a seat
in one of the cushioned leather chairs on the five person jet that they had
used for both business and pleasure on quite a few occasions in recent months.

Once she
was seated, he moved to the chair across from her, a small table holding a vase
of fresh flowers between them. He knew that Mercedes had a fascination for
flowers and for the last six months, Xander had ensured there were fresh ones
on the jet whenever they took a trip, as well as in her office every morning.

“Was that
sarcasm I detected?” he asked, looking over at her.

“What would
give you that idea?” she retorted, a mischievous grin on her pretty lips. “What
about you? What did you think of AI?” Mercedes asked, staring back at him as he
relaxed into the chair, his long legs stretching out into the aisle.

Their
short visit to the newly opened resort in Coyote Ridge was officially over. Not
a moment too soon, as far as Xander was concerned.

Having
been personally invited by Travis Walker to check out the Alluring Indulgence
Resort at the official grand opening, they’d spent the first few hours after
their arrival talking business with Travis, his husband Gage, and two of his
brothers, as well as Luke and Logan McCoy.

A higher
power must’ve been looking out for him though because, much to his relief, that
had been the extent of the business discussions.

From that
point on, it’d been an all-out free for all and, as intense as it had been,
Xander was anxious to get home. They’d spent the morning having breakfast with
the owners and other investors of Alluring Indulgence, without spending any
time talking business. Not an easy feat with so many Type A’s in one room, but
as they learned, it was possible.

In just a
few minutes, they would be heading back to Dallas.

“I don’t
have any complaints,” he told Mercedes. “The turnout was definitely
impressive.”

Travis
obviously had a long list of acquaintances who’d been foaming at the mouth,
eagerly anticipating this event. No one would be going home disappointed.

Considering
what the Walker brothers were striving for, Xander and Mercedes had taken the
opportunity to talk to Travis Walker about future events at the resort,
including some demonstrations and classes related to the diversified selection
of sexual kinks. As it turned out, that was one of the main reasons he had been
invited, aside from the fact that he held a hefty financial investment in the
place.

Apparently,
Travis Walker had been rather impressed with the BDSM theme nights that had
become quite popular at Devotion. It looked as though Travis was looking to
implement some of the themed nights for the resort as well.

To
Xander’s surprise, Mercedes seemed more than willing to help in giving them her
ideas. The look on Travis’ face when he realized that Mercedes was a Domme
in
her former life
, as she liked to tell it, had been rather amusing.

“Well, I
look forward to going back in a few months,” Mercedes said, her eyes darting
toward the flowers. “Thank you. These are beautiful.”

“My
pleasure,” Xander said, meeting her gaze before glancing over at the pilot who
had stepped out of the cock pit looking for a thumbs up. Since no one else
would be joining them on the short flight back to Dallas, Xander merely nodded
his head in agreement.

“Did you
talk to Logan while we were there?” Mercedes asked.

“About
something specific?” She was with him during the brief conversations he’d
shared with the man, so he knew she was looking for details about something.

Mercedes
raised one perfectly groomed eyebrow.

Yes, he
knew her well. She was fishing.

“Do you
know if something is going on between Sam, Logan and, what was his name? Elijah
something,” Mercedes asked, crossing one sexy long leg over the other, her
extremely short skirt raising higher on her thigh and catching Xander’s
attention. She enjoyed doing that to him. Got off on it. And truthfully, he
didn’t mind at all.

Shit,
what red blooded man wouldn’t enjoy being teased by the most gorgeous woman to
grace the face of the planet?

“Why do
you ask?” Letting his gaze linger on her long, sexy legs for a little longer
than necessary, Xander took his time before meeting Mercedes’s eyes once more.

“I don’t
know. Something just seems… different about her, I guess,” Mercedes said as the
engines on the plane fired up.

“There’s
something going on, but I don’t know any details,” he explained, hoping she
wouldn’t ask him to elaborate because truthfully, he didn’t know what was going
on. He didn’t want to know either. “I did talk to Logan briefly about my
proposition. I’m still waiting for him to make a decision.”

“About
your corporate takeover?”

Xander
laughed. He wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a corporate takeover, but yeah.
“He’s content working for XTX. I don’t blame the guy and Xavier Thomas is lucky
to have someone so loyal. But I would like his help, if he’s willing.”

“What
about Trent? Did you talk to him anymore?”

“A
little.” Trent had reached out to him several months ago, digging deeper into
Xander’s new business venture. It wasn’t so much a corporate takeover as it was
a capital investment. One that he was currently moving forward with. Trent had
expressed an interest as well, which meant he and Xander would be working
together a little more in the future.

“So,
they’re a thing now?”

“Who?”
Xander asked, caught off guard by the random question. Hadn’t they just been
talking about business?

“Pay
attention,” she scolded him with a grin. “Logan, Sam and Elijah?” Mercedes
asked. “I thought he would’ve been at the opening of AI but I didn’t see him.”

“He
wasn’t there. Logan mentioned he was away on business, I think.” Xander had no
idea. He didn’t make a habit of getting involved in other people’s love lives.
Especially now that he had his own to focus on.

“I’d say
that Travis was happy with the turnout.”

“He had
every reason to be. Hell, I was rather impressed. They’ve worked hard to get to
where they are.”

And he’d
heard all about the design, the plans, and what the future held all within the
first few hours after their arrival. He ensured Travis that he had no worries.
The man knew what he was doing, and Xander told him as much.

And after
the reassurances were made, they’d all moved on to the real reason they were
there at the resort designed specifically for the naughty.

The
pleasure.

And the
activities that ensued from that point forward had been intense. It had almost
been enough to keep his mind off of other things.

For the
last twenty-four hours, Xander had been beside himself. Anxious. Mercedes had
even noticed, calling him out when she found him fidgeting. Something that
definitely wasn’t like him.

If she
only knew.

But she
didn’t. Mercedes had no idea that he’d been counting down the minutes for the
last six months. And now the time had come. Finally.

For
months, the two of them had been acting as a couple. Not only had Mercedes
officially moved in with him, she’d also put her condo on the market just a
month ago. She had relocated her office to the extra one he had at his place.
They’d tossed around the idea of buying a local storefront to relocate their
businesses, but after a lot of discussion, they found that working out of their
home was just way too convenient.

Especially
when they wanted to take a trip to his dungeon in the middle of the afternoon,
which they did on a frequent basis.

But more
importantly, for the last six months, Mercedes had begun to open up to him in
so many ways. They’d shared many conversations about their childhoods, and he’d
been shocked that Mercedes had lowered her guard enough to let him in. That, as
much as the words, spoke volumes as far as Xander was concerned. He didn’t
doubt her love for him and because she was willing to share the hard details of
her life, he knew she didn’t doubt him either. Trust. That’s exactly what
they’d found together.

As each
day passed, Xander became more and more anxious while Mercedes became less and
less defiant. Sure, there were times when her submission awed him, other times
when he knew she needed a little encouragement – otherwise known as punishment.
But no matter what, she always kept him on his toes.

Of course,
there were those times when she called him Master, and the sound still did
something to him. It made him feel things he never imagined possible.

He loved
her. That was all there was to it.

They were
making frequent visits to Devotion, and both of them had cancelled their
memberships at Kink. It was no longer necessary since neither of them was
interested in playing with others, and their reputations still held rather firm
in that circle. So, it was just easier to engage at Devotion.

As for
Clarissa and Shane, they’d sat down and talked to them both separately. As it
turned out, their good friends had stopped seeing each other shortly after that
debacle. Xander knew it had nothing to do with that particular scene and
everything to do with Trent Ramsey. He wasn’t quite sure whether Shane realized
that or not though. But, regardless of the reason, if the playboy actor had put
the moves on Clarissa, no one was admitting to it. At least not yet.

Needless
to say, Xander wasn’t sure he was up to speed on anyone else’s relationship at
the moment because he was too busy trying to move his to the next level.

Mercedes
still made his head spin, each and every day. He found that he woke up in the
morning to thoughts of her and he fell asleep at night with her in his arms. He
wasn’t sure he could ever go back to living any other way. Falling in love with
her had been the single most profound moment of his entire life. Which was why
he’d been working to get to this point.

The
timing hadn’t been exactly what he wanted, but he had felt the need to fulfill
his end of their deal before he popped the question.

As the
plane took off, Xander thumbed the ring in his pocket, remembering what had
happened in recent days during their trip to AI. Specifically the night Xander
had fulfilled his end of the deal they had made all those months ago.

He
thought the day would never come.

Xander
loved Mercedes. With everything in him. If it meant he had to pretend to submit
to her on occasion, so fucking be it. There was no question in his mind that he
would move heaven and earth to make her happy.

He loved
her that much.

She made
his fucking blood boil and as he’d proven he was willing to go to damn near any
length just to get close to her. It was the reason she’d given him a chance in
the beginning. Giving himself up to her as her submissive for two nights over
the course of six months had been proof. It was something he’d never done
before, didn’t have any desire to do again, but all in all it had been worth
it.

Totally
fucking worth it.

“You said
you had a meeting this afternoon?” Mercedes asked, reaching for a bottle of
water.

“I do.”
It wasn’t the type of meeting she was probably thinking, but it was a meeting
all the same.

A naked
meeting.

Right
here on his private jet.

“Where?”

Ok, so
clearly this conversation was moving in a direction he wasn’t quite prepared
for. Why he thought he’d have more time to fidget and let his mind stumble over
what he wanted to say, he didn’t know.

“Wait,
before we get into what the rest of the day entails,” Mercedes said as she
stood from her chair, moving toward him. Xander had to quickly pull his hand
out of his pocket as she straddled his lap. “I just want to say that I had fun
last night.”

“I’m not
sure I’d go so far as to say that was fun,” he said with a smirk, “but I
enjoyed the hell out of it.” He enjoyed what had happened once they were back
in their room for sure. Just like he’d envisioned all those months ago, he had
put that damn collar to good use. And the leash.

“I don’t
think anyone noticed.”

“I’m sure
someone did.” No one had said anything, but Xander hadn’t tried to encourage
discussion either.

“I happen
to like when you dominate me,” she whispered, leaning her head down. “It’s
fucking hot.”

Yeah.
Understatement of the century. “Not gonna argue there.”

“So what
are you waiting for now?”

What the
hell
was
he waiting for?

“Do you
want me naked? Right here?”

“I want
you naked all the time.” Xander’s body hardened as he realized she was pushing
him to dominate her. Not that she had to push hard.

Sliding
his hands up her arms, her shoulders, her neck, Xander gathered her hair in his
hand and pulled it over her shoulder. He reached for the top button on her
shirt and unhooked it easily.

Wanting
to kiss her more than he wanted anything, Xander slid his hands back up to cup
her face but as he did, he felt something beneath his fingers. Pulling the
collar of her shirt open, he stared in disbelief at the diamond encrusted rose
that settled at her throat.

Her
collar. The one he had given her all those months ago but she’d never worn
again. After all they’d been through during those first few days, Xander hadn’t
found the courage to push her either.