Restrained Box Set: Boston Doms Books 1-4, page 63
“Making the rounds to see the other girls. She was stuck in that room for three days. I don’t think she can stand to sit still right now.” Sofia twined their fingers and pulled him closer. “Hold me.”
“I won’t hurt you?” Nick eyed the bruises swelling along her cheek, neck, and shoulder.
Her snort led to a wince, but then she offered him a shy smile. “You’re the one who got shot.”
“Anesthetic is a wonderful invention.” Toeing off his shoes, he fitted himself against her in the small hospital bed. He’d tossed his bloodstained
clothes, opting for the rough green scrubs a nurse had been kind enough to offer him. Skimming a knuckle along the only part of her cheek not swollen and purple, he asked, “How are you?”
“Scared. Angry. Unsure about everything.”
The furrow returned to her brow, and Nick smoothed his thumb over the wrinkle. “Everything?” He wasn’t proud of the rough edge to his voice.
Sofia’s eyes softened, the gold flecks glowing brighter. “Not us.” She fiddled with the thin, rough blanket. “I did everything right. Checked the peephole, asked…Cal…what he wanted. He said you ordered lunch for me. It sounded so much like something you’d do…I didn’t have any reason not to believe him.”
Nick stilled her restless fingers, letting the connection between them calm his racing thoughts. He wanted so desperately to believe there’d been some reason—beyond falling off the wagon—for Cal’s cruelty. For hurting Sofia.
For shooting him. For cocking the hammer in preparation to kill him.
“Cal knew I went to a meeting. No phones in there. I was unreachable. He had at least a two-hour window to take you where no one would know.”
Nick’s voice cracked, and he pressed his lips to the top of Sofia’s head. “He played me from the beginning. I should have seen it. I’m an addict, love. I missed all the signs of his relapse.”
Sofia made a soft, contemplative sound as she snuggled closer. “He was your friend. When he took me, he told me he was sorry. Everything’s fuzzy…whatever he gave me…I’ve never had such a headache. But…I think he was telling the truth.” She sighed, the rough fabric of her hospital gown rustling under the sheets. “He preyed on you when you were at your lowest, Nick. And in the end, you saved me. You saved us.”
“No, you did that, love.” Nick smoothed his hand over her hair, careful to avoid the large bump on the side of her head. “You got away. You called Damian. Without that phone number…” He couldn’t let himself think about what might have happened to her. “I don’t want to ever let you out of my sight again.”
“You know that’s not practical, right?” Her voice held the slightest hint of laughter over the undercurrent of sadness. “I start school in a month. I hope, anyway. You really don’t want to go to class with me. There will be tests.
And boring lectures. Papers.”
“If you wanted me there, I’d be there.” Nick eased back so he could look her in the eyes. “I meant what I said, Sofia. I love you. I’ve done this dance
before. Once…even seriously. I’ve never felt for anyone what I feel for you. I want you living at my flat—or ours—I’ll move if you want. Closer to your school. I don’t want to sleep anywhere other than a bed we share. And…” He trailed a finger along her neck, careful to avoid the marks one of Leo’s men had made on her skin. “Will you wear my collar?”
“I can’t. As much as I want to…I can’t.” As his heart started to crumble, she captured his hand. “Not yet.”
Hope flared, the flame burning brightly inside him.
Sofia met his gaze, and he found only love reflected back at him. “I have to take care of Gina for a little while. Make sure she’s okay. See if she wants to try for a deferment on her internship, help her get counseling. Find a therapist for myself.”
“You don’t have to take care of me any longer, Sis.” Gina cleared her throat from the doorway. Like Nick, she wore a pair of green hospital scrubs.
She’d washed her hair, scrubbed her makeup from her face, and sported a wrist brace from her fight with Leo. She extended her uninjured hand to Nick. “I’m Gina. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”
Nick climbed awkwardly to his feet, his hip protesting the movement, and captured her hand between both of his. “Nick. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”
Gina cracked a wry smile. “Well, Sof and I escaped something few women ever do. No one’s seriously hurt—except the bad guys—and the two of you are making googly eyes at one another like you’re soul mates. You want happier? You’ve got high standards.”
His deep laugh freed him from the last serious strain pressing down on his shoulders. “You’re right. Perhaps my perspective is a bit skewed.”
Gina reached out for Sofia’s hand, the three of them united in their attempts to heal. “I’m not going to let a week of bad decisions screw up the best job I could have ever hoped for. I have to take this chance. If I don’t, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. I’ll cancel the backpacking trip. Spend that time...doing what I should have been doing for the past ten years.”
“What’s that?” Sofia asked.
Gina frowned, and the same little furrow appeared between her brows. “I spent a lot of time…not appreciating you…I have to make up for, Sis.”
Sofia’s pride in her sister shone through the bruises and the exhaustion.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Until I leave, I want us to spend some serious time together. But…
it’s pretty obvious that the two of you love one another. Doing nothing but sitting in a tiny room waiting to be… sold…for two days gives you a lot of time to think. To regret. To vow to do things differently if given the chance.
Sof, you put your life on hold for me for ten years. It’s time you came first. If you want to move in with Nick, do it. Life is too short to wait.”
“Sofia, what do you want?” Nick asked, easing his uninjured hip onto the bed.
She looked from Gina to Nick, her fingers fluttering over the edge of the blanket again. “I don’t want to go back to our apartment. I want to…to maybe get my own place for a while, but also…” She smiled, and Nick’s world righted. “Ask me again. Once I’m settled somewhere for a little bit—
hopefully not too far from you—ask me again.”
His heart tightened in his chest, hope and love warring for dominance.
Nick gently framed her face, being careful of her myriad of bruises. “I’ll ask you again. And again and again and again until you say yes or tell me to stop.
There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to make you happy.”
Sofia’s eyelids fluttered, and she sighed, exhaustion straining her features. “Hold me tonight. That’s all I want right now.”
With a quick peck to her sister’s forehead, Gina straightened. “I’m going to check on Emily. I’ll probably sleep in her room tonight. She’s feeling pretty crappy after a week with so little food and her parents won’t get here until tomorrow. I’m right next door.” Before she turned to go, she wrapped her arms around Nick and gave him a gentle squeeze. “Take care of my big sister.”
He met Gina’s gaze, more serious than he’d ever been. “Always.”
Sofia
At the security checkpoint, Sofia hugged her sister and tried not to cry. “I’m going to miss you,” she whispered in Gina’s ear. “Be careful.”
“You’ll talk to me all the time. We live in the age of FaceTime,
remember? And my HR contact set me up in a secured building, the internet’s already turned on, and there’s even a car service to take me to and from work for the first month.” Gina smiled, but her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I’m as safe as I can be.”
“And you’ll find a therapist?” Sofia grasped Gina’s fingers, longing for one last moment of connection before her sister flew away to start her new life.
With what could only be called a self-satisfied smile, Gina chuckled.
“Already done. The trauma counselor at Mass General hooked me up. You don’t have to take care of me anymore, Sof.”
“I’ll always take care of you, baby girl.” After one last fierce embrace, Sofia let her sister go.
Nick slid his arm around Sofia’s waist and let her lean against him as Gina blended into the security line. In the past ten days, he’d moved both of them into a vacant condo in his building, “borrowed” several of his brother’s staff to set up the place, had given them a key to his unit, and, most importantly, had let Sofia set the tone and pace of what happened next.
Though she’d intended to take some time alone, most nights, she’d invited him into her bed, and he’d been all too happy to oblige. Last night, though, the two sisters shared a bottle of wine, sappy movies, and stories of their parents until three in the morning. Alone.
“Take me home?” Sofia turned in his arms and peered up at him, her hands splayed over his chest. “We haven’t…played since…before.”
Despite his obvious arousal every time he shared her bed, Nick had yet to make love to her, and she’d been too unsure, too focused on figuring out her own emotions to ask for what she now desperately needed—to feel normal.
“Are you sure, kitten?” His voice took on a hint of authority. She shifted her hips against him, and her nipples peaked under her sweater. Not his full Master persona, but close enough. “I haven’t wanted to…trigger any painful memories.” He ran his fingers over the scars on her wrists. “Or hurt you.”
“There are a lot of things you can do without tying me up,” she teased.
“And…even that…your ropes don’t frighten me. They’re…love. I’m ready to try. You’ve given me space, and I needed it. But I’ve missed you.”
“My dear Sofia, I was never more than a staircase away. Nor will I ever be.”
“Until next week. Then you’ll be at work, and I’ll be at school, and I’ll only get to see you in the evenings.” Nick’s active role in the rescue of seven
women hours before they were to be sold had gone a long way with the press
—and the Board of Fairhaven Exports. While Alex would continue to run the company and serve as CEO, Nick had accepted a position of Chief Operations Officer and would return to work in a few days. When he’d shared the news with her, he’d looked a bit like a kid on Christmas.
Sofia slid her hand up to cup the back of his neck. “When does the sublease run out?”
“Any time you want. There’s been no interest in the unit. The condo board is letting me rent it month-to-month.” Hope colored his tone, and he broke into a wide smile. “Does this mean…?”
“I worried I’d only be moving in because I was scared.” Sofia shook her head. “That’s a horrible thing to do to a relationship. But I’ve been talking to my therapist about it. Life is too short, and I love you. I’m ready.”
Nick dipped his head and sealed his lips over hers. As his kiss warmed her down to her toes, Sofia knew she’d found her home.
Nick
He hadn’t been this nervous since the day he first walked in the door of Fairhaven Tower. Returning to work—after all that had happened—both thrilled and terrified him. Dipping his hand into his pocket, he fingered the eighteen-month chip.
Two days ago, Detective Sampson had knocked on his door. Sofia had answered, and when she’d rushed into the bedroom, fear churning in her eyes, he’d been prepared for the worst. But the detective had merely stopped by to return the well-worn coin.
“This was found in Emily Norse’s apartment. When we interviewed her after the rescue, she told us Calloway Pritchard drugged her, then as she lay on the floor, unable to move, he kicked something small and metallic under her coffee table.”
Hearing about yet another betrayal had reopened the wounds in Nick’s
heart that might never fully heal, but he felt better with his talisman back in his pocket. The previous night at his regular meeting, he’d told his story—a slightly sanitized version that didn’t include Damian Forlano’s involvement.
Now, he rapped on his brother’s open office door.
“Nicholas. Have a seat,” Alex said with a hint of a smile. The bags had almost disappeared from under his eyes, but a deep sadness still lingered in the emerald depths.
Sitting carefully, his hip still tender, he leaned forward. “How’s Elizabeth?”
“Better.” Running a hand through his hair, Alex sighed. “We’d just decided to try, you know. Not more than three months ago. Neither of us expected we’d succeed so quickly. When her father died, I didn’t want her to go to Seattle. I knew something was wrong. I felt it.”
“You couldn’t have prevented this, Alex.” Nick fixed his brother with a firm stare. “Even if you’d tried…kept her home, the stress of losing her father…”
“I know.” Alex twisted his wedding ring on his finger. The diamonds winked in the office lights. “She’s my entire world, Nicholas. She has been since the moment I first spoke to her. For a few weeks, my world expanded with our child. Now, there’s a gaping hole where he or she would have been.
”
Nick pushed to his feet, skirted the corner of Alex’s desk, and rested his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Anything you need, you know you just have to ask.”
When Alex looked up at him, the weeks of frustration, the tense messages, the fights over Nick’s supposed behavior all fell away, and his younger brother sought his approval and comfort. “Come to dinner tomorrow. We’d love to meet Sofia. Elizabeth and I…we need our family right now.”
Nodding, emotion welling in his throat, Nick squeezed his brother’s shoulder. “We’ll be there.”
“Well, then.” Alex stood, enveloping Nick in a quick, fierce hug. “Shall we go to the board meeting? You can recount your heroic efforts. Perhaps that will be enough to remind a few of the more cantankerous tossers just whose name is on the building.”
“Let’s go have a little fun,” Nick said, matching his brother’s smile.
“After you.”
EPILOGUE
Two months later
Nick
H is gaze kept wandering to the dresser as he waited for Sofia to finish getting dressed. His brother and Elizabeth would be here in a few minutes, and he didn’t know if he could wait until the end of the evening when they would be alone again.
“I’m sorry,” she said breathlessly as she tugged the peach blouse over her head. “If Professor Marx hadn’t been two hours late for the review session, I would have been home in plenty of time.”
“Don’t fret.” Nick brushed an errant curl away from her face. “You look lovely.”
Sofia ducked out of his reach to detour to the dresser. A quick spritz of perfume from the delicate glass bottle infused the room, and Nick inhaled deeply, waiting for the moment she’d notice the black, velvet box.
Too distracted, however, she rushed into to the walk-in closet. “How do you own more shoes than I do?” She emerged dangling a pair of strappy black sandals from her fingers. “And how do you always look so…put together?”
“Boarding school.” He tucked the box under his arm as she dropped onto
the settee at the foot of the bed. “The headmaster would give us demerits if our shirts weren’t starched, or if a single crease was out of place. The day I spilled gravy on my tie is one I’ll never forget.”
She laughed, one of his favorite sounds in the world. A brief mental image of her bent over the padded bench, her arms spread wide and bound to the bedposts, her thighs reddened from his flogger stirred his cock, and he cursed the time as he glanced at his watch.
“What?” Sofia tipped her gaze to his, concern forming the small crease between her brows he loved so much. “You’re standing there like you’re about to tell me the world is ending.”
It might…if I screw this up.
Nick sank down next to her, sliding the box behind him and then taking her hands. “Are you happy?”
The furrow deepened. “Yes. Completely.” When he couldn’t immediately continue, Sofia filled the silence. “We didn’t do this the—normal?—way.
Three weeks from meeting to living together? With…what happened…in between? Most people would think we were crazy.”
During her therapy, their occasional nightmares, and the friends-and-family GA meetings she’d attended with him, Sofia had rarely used the words kidnapping or sex trafficking. But alone with him, in the semi-darkness lit by the single night light that burned twenty-four-seven, they’d healed together, sometimes talking until sunrise.
She squeezed his fingers. “I believe in fate, Nick. So did my mother.
Sometimes, you have to take a chance. To leap without more than a quick look at what’s beneath you.”
Letting out the breath he hadn’t known he was holding, Nick slipped a hand free. When he set the box on her knees, her mouth formed a little o, her lower lip wobbling slightly.
Shite. She’s going to say no.
He couldn’t turn back now. I’ll ask you again. And again and again and again until you say yes or tell me to stop. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to make you happy. The promise he’d made her in the hospital drove him forward.
“I love you, Sofia. I may have fallen in love with you the first night we met.” Fumbling for the catch on the box, he lifted the lid.
“Ohhh.”
A simple gold chain with eight small, equally spaced diamonds rested on an angled bed of velvet. Every piece of jewelry Sofia owned was simple.
Understated. He’d resisted the urge to buy her the most expensive collar he could afford. Instead, he’d called Gina, and the two of them had looked at designs for a week before he’d settled on this one.
In place of the clasp, the collar had a small lock that required a unique pin to open.
“I know you want to finish school before any talk of marriage. Though, in truth, I’d marry you tomorrow if you changed your mind. But…for now…”
Nick lifted the collar from the box and dropped to one knee. “Sofia, will you wear my collar? Will you commit yourself to me? As my submissive.
