Fortune Annabel Joseph (life books to read .TXT) 📖

murderous, but he did it anyway. He took the bag down to the dumpster and flung it in, bringing the lid down with a bang and then set out to the club district, newly sober.

He knew she had walked and he had a pretty good idea where she would end up. The bouncers greeted him with broad smiles and when he inquired after her, gestured him inside toward the balcony. He navigated the press of bodies with a sense of dread. What would he do if he found the old Kat on the dance floor, gazing up at some asshole with a come-hither glint in her eye?

But no, that wasn’t what he found. Her gaze was destitute, bleak. He hung back a moment, feeling ashamed. He was the one who was supposed to comfort her in her loss and instead he’d completely lost control.

“Poor Kat,” he said softly. He had no words to express how he felt, the depth of his longing for her. The intensity of his desire to save their relationship. “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I should have been there for you tonight. I know how much you loved him.”

“Yes, I did love him.” Her voice faltered as she reached out for him. “But I love you too.”

He clasped her close, drank in the feel and smell of her.

“I love you, Ryan. I don’t want to lose you too.”

“You won’t lose me. I’m not giving you up. No matter what. That’s what I came here to tell you.”

They walked out of the smoky, noisy club together, drawing in fresh deep breaths of clear air. He wrapped his coat around her and they made their way back home hand in hand, talking about deep and soulful things like love and loss, luck and misfortune, minds and hearts and connection. All the things they’d been too afraid to talk about before. When they got home it was after two in the morning and still they talked as they took each other’s clothes off, as he led her to bedroom.

She didn’t mention the missing cranes when her glance flitted to the empty corner and he didn’t explain what he’d done with them. He made love to her without any rope, without any collar. He held her down with his hands and his body alone and slid into her, taking on all her shuddering ecstasy and grief. He soothed her and comforted her, reveling in the perfect completion of being inside her. He felt her skin against his like a promise, soft velvet proof that he held her, he had her. She was his.

“I’m yours, I’m yours,” she sighed as he loved her.

“Yes, you are,” he whispered back. At last.

Chapter Twelve

Six Months Later

“Oh my—oh my god—” Kat threw her head back in the dim light of the lazy August morning. She pulled at the knotted rope that bound her hands together and tethered them to the headboard of Ryan’s bed. She spooned back against him, grinding her hips as he reached around to twist her nipples vigorously. “Oh— Oh— Please!”

“Shh.” Ryan chuckled against her ear and placed a hand over her mouth. “The windows are open.”

“Mmph…don’t…care…” she mumbled against his palm. “Don’t care…don’t care…”

“If you don’t quiet down,” he said in a lower voice, “I might have to punish you for it later.” Her pussy clenched on his cock, his softly spoken words settling in her pelvis with a low hum. “And I don’t think you’ll like it.”

Kat wasn’t sure about that, but she was beyond caring anyway. “Oh my god,” she squealed behind his hand as he used the other to reach between her legs and tease her clit in long torturous strokes. Each time he entered her from behind, he hit her spot and made her shudder and tense up at the sheer, singing pleasure. “Oh please, please, please never stop doing that.”

As soon as she said it, he stopped. She let out a strangled moan. “Please, Sir. I said please!”

“If you want it, control yourself. Be quieter. I’ve told you what I want.”

She swallowed another wail, let his words sink into her brain when most of her thought was centered between her thighs.

“Quiet…quiet…” he whispered. “And I’ll make you come. Eventually,” he added. “But you have to be a good little girl.”

Kat clamped her mouth shut and turned her head into the pillow. If he didn’t let her come soon, she would die. She would just literally expire. He’d been teasing her all morning, bringing her to the edge and denying her. “Please let me come,” she whispered through clenched teeth.

“Hm. I don’t know. I kind of like you all frustrated like this. I think I’ll enjoy our engagement party more if I know you’re stewing in your juices, edged to within an inch of your horny little life.”

“You’re a fucking sadist,” she bit out before she could stop herself. His only answer was a self-satisfied snicker.

“Language, Ekaterina. That’s no way for my future bride to behave.”

“I’ll do anything…please…just please let me…”

“Okay.” His cool voice rose over her mindless babbling as his cock bumped closer between her legs. “Let’s bargain.”

Kat groaned. His “bargains” generally involved choosing between horrible choice number one and horrible choice number two. He pinched one nipple hard and leaned closer to her ear. She tried to concentrate through the sharp pain and the resulting flare in her aching center. In typical form, he presented her with two equally sadistic options.

“My sweet little doll. You can either go to the party today edged like this, or you can orgasm now and go to the party with welts on your bottom and a plug in your ass.”

Kat tensed and shook her head against the pillow. “You’re mean. So mean! Maybe I shouldn’t marry you after all.”

“Oh,” he laughed, twisting one hand in her hair. “You’re going to marry me. Now stop whining and decide.”

“Well…what kind of welts?”

Ryan laughed harder. “Will that make a difference? Hmm. Cane welts. That’s sure to