Doms of Chicago, Boxed Set One, page 57
Jude gave a deep sigh before pushing open the door. “Wish me luck.”
“You’re going to need it.” Jackson’s words were barely audible as the door shut behind Jude.
* * * *
Approaching the bed, Jude’s heart fluttered before speeding up. Laying in a hospital bed with her wrist in a cast, his Mistress looked so vulnerable. Her lashes were fanned over her cheeks while her normally olive skin was pale against the white sheets. Dropping into the chair next to the bed, he cradled his head in his hands. “Damn, what did they do to you, Mistress?”
“Broke my wrist when he slammed me into my fridge.” Her voice was tired. His head flew up as her dark eyes met his.
“I’m sorry.” He reached for her good hand. Just before he touched it, he let his hand fall to the bed. “I need to touch you, Mistress. Please?”
“No.” Her refusal was soft, her eyes searching.
“I…yes, Mistress.” His nerve endings felt raw. He dropped his eyes. Great now that I’ve accepted my submission is part of me, she no longer wants me.
“Do you have anything to say to me, Jude?”
He drew a ragged breath. “I…yes, Mistress.” He slid out of the chair to kneel next to the bed. “I want to be submissive to you. I realize now it isn’t weak of me to want to submit to you and you alone. Submissive doesn’t have to be interchangeable with doormat.”
“Of course not.” Her eyes were closing from the medication. “I never asked for a doormat. As a Domme, I’ve always wanted a man who is strong enough to submit to me. To let me be in charge of his pleasure — or the lack of it.” She gave a weary chuckle. “I’ve been told I’ve got a bit of a sadistic streak in me. Do you think you could handle that? Having me arouse you to the point of madness and then watch me walk away?”
Jude stared at her. “Would you eventually return?”
She nodded. “I always return, Jude. Even when a slave thinks I’m gone, I’m never far away. I take my responsibilities as a Domme seriously.”
“Then I could submit to you, Mistress, very easily in fact.”
She searched his face, before closing her eyes again. Her expression was saddened as if she’d come to a conclusion. “How I wish I could believe that. Empty words mean nothing, Jude. I’ve seen you promise one thing and do another. I can’t – no I won’t risk it.”
Jude felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. “Mistress?”
“Go, Jude.”
His anger flared. Like hell she’s going to dismiss me!
“No.”
Her eyes opened in surprise. “You tell me you’re willing to be submissive and then you argue with me?” A bitter laugh escaped her. “As I said, the lips say one thing while the body does another.”
“Not interchangeable with doormat, Mistress.” He dug for his patience. “You never asked me why I reacted the way I did the night you punished me.”
“I know why you struck out at me, Jude.” Her voice was resigned.
He cocked his head. “Do you really?”
She gave him a look. “Fine, tell me and then go.”
“I came from nothing more than feeling your flogger against my ass. It aroused me to the point where I lost control over my body for the first time since I was a teenager. It scared the shit out of me. My dad told me cowing down to any woman was wrong and finding pleasure in what we did…” he took a deep breath. “…is a disgusting perversion.”
“And now?”
“I know it’s not. My body likes the bite of pain with its pleasure. But it loves being told what to do even more. I went to a club with Micah. I met a Mistress there. Her name was Janice. She took both Micah and me to a play room. She ordered me around like you did. She even had me…” he swallowed roughly. “…jack Micah off for her, just because she wanted to see my pale hands on his dark body.”
Olivia’s breath rasped in her throat. He wondered if she wanted to see the same thing.
“Did it arouse you, Jude, to put your hands on Micah?”
He shook his head. “No, Mistress. But the idea of pleasing Janice did.”
“Good, you’re making progress even if it’s slow. You’ll make some Domme a wonderful submissive someday.” She closed her eyes, dismissing him.
His jaw clenched at the dismissal. He went on as if he hadn’t heard it. “But it was missing something, Mistress.”
“What was it missing?”
A rough sigh escaped him. “You, Mistress. I wanted you there, enjoying Micah and I – the two of us together. But evidently it’s not going to happen. I know I can’t force you to accept me. What a fucking fool I’ve been.” He rose off his knees. “Don’t give Jackson too much grief. He only took on your company because I asked it of him. Do as he says, so you stay safe. Let him do his job.”
“What if I say I’d rather have you, Jude?”
He paused by the door and turned to see her eyes on him. “I’d say it’s not nice to get this submissive’s hopes up, Mistress.”
“Stay, Pet. We’ll talk more in the morning. Damn drugs make me so tired.” She yawned deeply before drowsily pointing to the chair next to the bed.
Jude had to swallow around the huge lump in his throat. “Yes, Mistress.” He sank into the chair beside the bed. Relief filled him. He had one foot back in the door. I will not fuck this up. Please, God, don’t let me fuck this up.
Chapter Seven
“Man, that doesn’t even look comfortable. Some bodyguard he is.”
“Leave him alone, Levough! He’s been up all night. He just dozed off an hour ago. Besides, I think he looks cute – all rumpled. I don’t remember the last time a man stayed up all night just to watch over me.”
The deep rumble of Jackson’s voice followed by the softer tones of Olivia’s reply barely grazed Jude’s sleep-laden mind. A muffled grunt passed his lips as he attempted to stretch and wake. The tight confines of the plastic chair he’d fallen asleep in during the wee hours of dawn had not been kind to his body.
Opening his eyes, he saw his partner sitting in an identical chair on the opposite side of Olivia’s hospital bed. Rubbing a hand over his gritty eyes, he tried to shake the cobwebs. What time is it and why the hell did Olivia let me doze off? I told her when they brought in breakfast for her to not let me fall asleep before Jackson got here.
“Here.” The tantalizing aroma of coffee filled his nose as the warmth of cardboard cup was pressed into his hand. Automatically, he wrapped his hand around it. Lifting it his mouth, he nearly burnt his lips when Olivia’s gaze caught his. The stark need in her eyes had his heart racing. When her gaze settled on the cup in his hand, he lowered it. The doctors had refused to let her have more than one cup with her breakfast. His need to please her won out over his own body’s need for the stimulant. God, I’m sick.
“Mistress?” His voice sounded like sandpaper to his own ears even as he asked for her decision with that one word. Was the coffee his or hers? Because he’d give it to her if she asked and to hell with his body.
“Don’t you dare give her that coffee, Larson. I’ll kick your ass. Olivia jacked up on caffeine isn’t a pleasant prospect and we’re going to have our hands full with her as it is…”
To his foggy brain the idea of having Olivia in his hands sounded like heaven. He was anxious to explore her little body. If the woman ever lets me but then again IF I’m supposed to be guarding her body… perhaps?
“…once she finds out the restrictions we’ll be placing on her.” The rest of Jackson’s sentence permeated Jude’s lust fogged brain.
“Go ahead. I’ll get a cup later, pet.” Her eyes softened. The look fled quickly as she refocused on Jackson. “Restrictions? I think not!” Olivia’s tone hardened. “I don’t need a babysitter, Jackson.”
“We’ve went over this the last time you were attacked, Baroness. Either you have a bodyguard, or you don’t go out.”
Jude braced his head on one hand as he continued to sip at the steaming liquid. As the coffee did its job, it was easy to tell Olivia was pissed at the idea. If she’d been a cartoon character, steam would’ve been coming out of her ears, he thought. “Where are you planning on going, Mistress?”
Her lower lip stuck out and she crossed her arms over her chest – carefully cradling the cast encased one. “It doesn’t matter where I go. I’m not taking a bodyguard with me. I’m a big girl.” She glared at Jackson. “Am I correct in assuming you had a man out at my home this morning changing the locks, security codes and such?”
“Of course. It’s our standard operating procedure when there’s a successful breach of the premises…but it still doesn’t change the fact I’m assigning you a bodyguard. This is serious, Olivia. We still haven’t figured out how your attacker got into your home without tripping the alarm. Besides, if whoever is behind these attacks is willing to break into your private home, then I can guarantee whatever their ulterior motive is – it’s personal.”
She shook her head and kicked out with her foot at the railing of the bed. “No. I’m not having a complete stranger in my condo. I’ve already agreed to let you take care of things at the club until I’m back on my feet. That’s going to have to suffice. I’m not going to be a prisoner in my own home with a man I don’t even know.”
Jackson gave her an evil grin. “Go ahead, throw your tantrum, Baroness. Either way it isn’t going to matter in the end. If you fight me on this, I’ll just call Dad in. In fact, he’s just coming off a cruise with Mom from the western Caribbean and Jamaica. I’m sure he’d love to come see you.”
Jude’s eyes widened and he swore under his breath as Olivia reached for the Kleenex box next to her. When she winced at the pull her movement caused to her casted hand, he caught her arm with a gentle hand. She was honestly going to try to throw it at him. Stubborn woman. He shook his head when she glared at him. With his free hand, he chucked the box at Jackson for her. The man grunted obligingly as it hit him squarely in the chest.
“Thank you, pet.” Her eyes narrowed. “But next time I’ll do it myself. Do you understand? I’m not made out of porcelain.”
Jude met her eyes. “As long as you’re not in pain, Mistress, I’ll let you.”
She scowled at him. “Exactly who do you think is going to be the dominant in this relationship, Jude? Because that sounded suspiciously like an order to me.”
Uh-oh, you had to go and poke the sleeping Domme, Larson. Dumbass! He mentally girdled himself. It was time to lay down a few rules that he, in good conscious, couldn’t do without. “You may yet decide to be my Mistress, Olivia, but I won’t let you put your personal safety in jeopardy. I’m a protector along with being submissive. It’s up to you to decide if you can handle both parts of me.” He stood. Leaning down, he did something later he’d wonder if he’d lost his mind over.
He covered her protesting lips with his own. He needed one taste of her even if it proved to be the only taste he got. Brushing his lips, once, twice over hers, he took advantage of the small opening her gasp created. Running his tongue over the wet inner curves of her lips, a jolt of intense pleasure struck him. Tangling his tongue with hers, he swallowed what he was sure was going to be a royal ass chewing for his audacity. Rubbing against the wet velvet heat of her tongue, his own followed hers back into the moist heat of her mouth. Savoring her taste as if it were the last time he’d be indulged, he moaned low in his throat. God, if it is, I’ll die a happy man.
When her tongue darted back out to follow Jude’s into his mouth, he ripped his mouth away from hers, his breathing ragged and his cock on fire. Every inch of his body was aching to do something about the steel-hard erection, but his Mistress was hurt and in no shape to deal with the horny bastard he was at the moment.
Resting his forehead against hers, he drew a ragged breath, enjoying the scent of Euphoria under the sharp bite of antiseptic. “Damn, Mistress, if you don’t taste good…” At his hip, he heard the familiar tune of Drive...his daughter’s ringtone. “Damn…sorry Mistress, my baby calls.” He turned and stalked from the room, his phone at his ear, leaving a stunned Olivia gaping after him and Jackson chuckling.
* * * *
“Well you better get used to that, Olivia. Jude puts his daughter before everything.” Jackson scooted closer to the bed.
Olivia blanched. Her voice was weak. “He has a daughter?”
Jackson nodded but was quick to reassure her. “And before you freak out, he’s not married to Deborah’s mother.” Jackson leaned forward. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I’m going to. If you mention to Jude you heard it from me, I’ll deny it to the grave. Do you understand?”
She nodded and leaned closer.
“Kathleen, Jude’s ex, is one of the reasons for his reluctance to accept his genuine submissiveness. He met her during a Christmas break during our second tour. She was a sweet little thing, all big blue eyes and blonde hair and damned if she didn’t have just enough WASP in her to appeal to Jude’s inner submissive. Hailing from New York, she didn’t have a problem with voicing her opinion. Nor did she seem subservient to any man.”
Olivia took a deep breath. “Those characteristics would have attracted Jude like flies to honey.”
“Exactly. Hell, Olivia, she was so different than the girls we grew up around, that he fell for her hard and fast. Before I knew what happened, I came back from an assignment to find them living together. A few short months later, he was on top of the world. He’d just found out Kathleen was pregnant with Deborah. But it didn’t last.”
“What happened?” Olivia’s voice was strained.
“Brandon Randall happened. She met him at a fundraiser while Jude and I were in the field. Six months pregnant with Deborah, Kathleen left him to marry Randall. I don’t know all the details, but evidently she is as submissive as Jude is. But having Kathleen leave him wasn’t the worse part of the situation. It was his father. All hell broke loose when he heard. Old Man Larson accused of Jude of not being man enough to hang onto the mother of his child.”
“What an asshole!” A look of outrage crossed her face as her cheeks flushed. The color drained just as quickly as it’d arrived when the first part of what he said sank in. If Jackson looked closely, he knew he’d be able to see her mind whirling and putting together the recent results of a background check he’d done for her with the information he’d just given her.
“Are you telling me that my newest member’s slave is Jude’s ex? That he has a five year old daughter by her? That little Debbie Randall is Jude’s daughter?” Horror crossed her face. “She’s the reason he moved north, isn’t she?”
Jackson nodded. “Yes, and don’t let him hear you call her Debbie Randall. Her name is Deborah Larson and he loves that little girl like nothing else I’ve ever seen.”
She groaned and tipped her head forward. “I can’t do this.”
Jackson placed his hand on her arm. “Do what?”
“Be a Mistress to a man with a five year old daughter. I’ve never even thought of having kids.”
Jackson gave her a reassuring squeeze. “It’s not like he’s asking you to be a mother to Deborah, Olivia. While he is a full time Dad…or at least as much Kathleen lets him be…”
“Which is what? Does he go home to her every night?” Aggravation showed on her face. “Did him staying here last night cause issues?”
“Slow down. Kathleen and Brandon are out town with Deborah for the summer. Touring Italy, I believe. Jude is scheduled to have her for a week before she returns to school. Just realize he’s not asking you to be her mother. She has one already.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Frustration marred her face.
“Just be understanding when you hear that ring tone. Acknowledge the fact Jude is going to drop everything to answer. It’ll have nothing to do with his devotion to you, but everything to do with his to his daughter. He gave her some kid geared cell phone last year and told her she could call him anytime and he’d answer. He has a huge heart and has more than enough love in it to give to you, his daughter and…” Jackson chuckled. “…heaven forbid any rug-rats you might have together.”
“Jackson Levough, that’s not funny!” She grabbed one of the empty plastic cups and threw it at him.
“Sure it is. Little Olivias trying to dominate all the boys at school and Jude having to rescue the poor boys…”
She glared at him. “He’s not even my slave yet, and here you are seeing delusions of grandeur for us.”
“Yep. And now that you know about the other girl in his life and won’t go off the deep end…” he gave her the ‘you better not’ look. “…does he stay or do I call Dad?”
“Excuse me?” Her eyes narrowed. “No one is staying with me.”
“It’s either Dad or Jude – pick, or I will.” Jackson held his hands up defensively when she reached for the pitcher of water on her tray.
“I am not having your dad as a bodyguard. I’ll kill him.” She paused. “Did you say Jude?”
Jackson gave her a mocking look. “Of course! Who the hell else did you think I was going to assign to you? Some random guard from Larson Securities? As if Jude would allow another male near you.” Jackson leaned back against the chair. “So guess what - unless you want Dad camped out on your couch, it’s Jude or me. Personally I’d think you’d jump at the chance to have Jude under foot. You could see to his training…well that’s if you can get him out of protector mode long enough to listen.”
He gave a yelp when she chucked the half-full pitcher of water at him. The plastic pitcher hit his chest, the cold water soaking his button down shirt before it landed on the floor with a thud. The remaining water spilled out of it and all over his expensive Italian loafers. “God damn it Olivia, you just ruined my shoes! I paid fifteen hundred dollars for these!”
* * * *
“I love you too, baby.” Jude smiled at the sweetly high pitched voice of his daughter. She had called to tell him Momma and Daddy Brandon were once more locked in their room and there were funny noises coming from it.
When he’d asked her why she was calling at two o’clock in the afternoon instead of being in bed taking her nap, she pouted before telling him that she was a big girl and she was too old to take a nap like a silly baby. His five year old daughter was nothing if not precocious. He idly wondered if he’d been the same at that age. “Now give the phone back to Nana.” He paced the hospital hall while waiting for Deborah’s nanny to come on the line.
