Valorous (Quantum Series Book 2) Page 21

  I’m desperately trying to get air into my starved lungs when I feel him press against me. “Has it been seven days yet?” he asks, sounding as desperate as I feel.

  Raising my hips to encourage him, I say, “Yes. Close enough.” I open my eyes to look up at him as he enters me in one smooth stroke that fills me to capacity and nearly makes me come—again. I can’t believe I’m having sex in the back of a limo.

  “You’ve turned me into a regular sex fiend, Mr. Godfrey. Airplanes and limos.”

  “Mmmm, so many other places to explore and a lifetime to do it—and now with no more fucking condoms. God this is amazing, Nat.”

  “For me, too.” My hands find their way inside his suit coat to his sweat-dampened back and down to grasp his ass as he thrusts into me. I love the way that feels, his muscles working in harmony to make love to me.

  He has the same idea as he reaches under me to take hold of my ass to keep me in place for his absolute possession. For the first time since my meltdown on our wedding night, I feel like he’s letting go of the tight hold on his control.

  I want to let him know I love what he’s doing. “Yes, Flynn, yes… Don’t stop.”

  My words are like gas on his fire. He picks up the pace, and his lips come down on mine. I open to his tongue, which takes fierce possession of my mouth. I’ve forgotten all about where we are or that there’s a driver on the other side of a thin screen. I can’t think about anything other than the magnificent pleasure of making love with my beautiful husband.

  He raises his head, opens his eyes and looks down at me, and I lose my heart to him all over again when I realize he’s checking on me. Even when swept away by passion and desire, he takes care of me in a way that no one else ever has or ever will.

  I reach up and put my hands around his neck. “I’m okay. Come down here and kiss me again. I love to kiss you.”

  He gives me exactly what I want and need until we’re both coming, his fingers digging into my bottom as he pins me down with the force of his body and lets himself go.

  I gather him into my embrace, holding him close.

  “Love you so much, Nat. So, so much. Every guy in that room tonight wanted to be me because you’re so amazing and beautiful, inside and out.”

  “So are you. And we’re even more beautiful together.”

  He lifts his head to look out the steamed-up window. “We’d better get ourselves together. We’re almost to Malibu.” Smiling down at me, he withdraws and produces tissues from a box that came with the limo.

  “They’re prepared for backseat hookups, huh?”

  “Don’t think about the leftover DNA on the seats.”

  “That’s gross. You need to get your own limo so the only DNA on the seats will be ours.”

  His eyes get wide and animated. “Other than you, nothing turns me on more than being told I need to buy another car.”

  “Because the sixty you have aren’t enough.”

  “Never enough.” He pulls up his pants and lands on the seat next to me. “Seriously, baby, new cars make me hot. Not as hot as you make me, but pretty damned close. That smell… Mmm… I can only think of one thing on this earth that smells better than a new car.”

  “And you are not going to say what that is.”

  Offering a wolfish smile, he says, “Okay, I won’t say it.” He pulls my panties from his pocket, brings them to his face and takes a deep breath.

  I’ve never seen anything so earthy or erotic in my life.

  “Do I shock you terribly?”

  “No.”

  He tips his head, eyeing me skeptically.

  “You make me feel like I’ve been half-asleep my whole life until I met you and came alive.”

  “That’s the most incredible thing you’ve ever said to me.” The panties return to his pocket. He puts his arms around me and holds me and kisses me until we arrive at Hayden’s beach house.

  “I think it’s probably safe to go home to my place tomorrow,” he says when we’re inside, where a very enthusiastic Fluff greets us like we’ve been gone for six months. She even seems rather happy to see Flynn.

  “She must’ve been watching tonight when you made her famous.”

  “Maybe we’ll be friends now.” Flynn goes to answer a knock on the door. “Thanks a lot.” He returns holding two bags.

  “What’s that?”

  “Dinner from In-N-Out. Best burgers in LA.”

  “How did you pull that off?”

  “I texted the security guys and asked some of them to stop on the way home. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate tonight than with some In-N-Out,” he says with a dirty wink.

  “Are we still talking burgers?”

  “Of course we are. What else would we be talking about?”

  Flynn lights the gas fireplace, and, still decked out in formal attire, we enjoy a picnic on the living room floor.

  “I gotta say, this burger is amazing.”

  “Told ya,” he replies, his mouth full. He dips fries in ketchup and holds them up to feed me, slipping a couple to Fluff, too.

  Burgers and fries have never tasted better than they do tonight. I reach over to wipe a dab of ketchup off his lip. “Is this what happy feels like?”

  “Sweetheart,” he says gruffly, clearly moved by my question, “this is what ecstatic feels like.”

  “I have to go into the office today,” Flynn says in the morning, “even though I’d much rather be with you.”

  “It’s okay. I’m going to sleep some more and then get organized with some foundation stuff, not to mention a ton of laundry that needs to be done and packed to go back to your place. I’ve got plenty to keep me busy. Don’t worry about me.”

  “I will worry about you. I’ll always worry about you.” He sits next to me on the bed. He’s freshly showered and shaven and is dressed in a formfitting black T-shirt and faded jeans that hug him in all the right places. As always, he makes my mouth water just looking at him. “This’ll be the first time we’ve spent apart since we got married.”

  “We can’t spend every waking minute together. What about when you’re filming in some exotic location?”

  “You’ll be there with me.”

  “What if I get my job back?”

  His brows knit with what appears to be consternation, but he quickly shakes it off and bends to kiss me. “We’ll figure it out, sweetheart. I gotta go before Hayden has me killed.” After one more kiss, this one longer and more involved, he groans and pulls himself away. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. There’re security people right outside. If you want to go anywhere, just check in with them. They also have the code to get back in here.”

  “I’ll be fine. Go to work, dear.”

  “We’re going on a fucking honeymoon,” he says as he leaves the room. “A long-ass fucking honeymoon. As soon as we possibly can.”

  “I thought we’ve been on our honeymoon?”

  “No way does hanging around here count. We’re going somewhere awesome.”

  “This has been pretty awesome as far as I’m concerned.”

  “I can do better than this.”

  He leaves me with a big silly smile on my face as I snuggle under the covers, hoping to go back to sleep after having been up half the night making love to my insatiable husband. I’m on my way to dozing off when my phone rings.

  I grab it off the bedside table and see Leah’s name on the screen. “Hey,” I say, curbing a yawn. “What’s up?” It’s eight here, so eleven there. “Why aren’t you in class?”

  “I am in class,” she whispers. “I’m hiding in the supply closet, but I’ve got the door cracked so I can watch the monsters.”

  “Why are you in the supply closet?”

  “I have news. Sue told me this morning that the board wants to reinstate you, but Mrs. Heffernan refused. She said it was either you or her. According to Sue, they chose you.”

  I sit straight up in bed. “Are you kidding me? They picked me over her?”

&n
bsp; “Before you take that as a huge compliment, you should know that Flynn’s lawyers were playing hardball with them. They were looking at a huge lawsuit if they didn’t reinstate you. But Sue said they all felt that it was wrong for Mrs. Heffernan to let you go for the reasons she did, especially when the parents were so pleased with the job you were doing.”

  “Wow. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Apparently, you’re going to hear from the board chair later today. I wanted to give you a heads-up, but don’t tell them I told you.”

  “I never would. Don’t worry.”

  “What’ll you do, Nat? Do you want to come back?”

  If she asked me that on the day I was fired, I would have said of course I want to go back. But now… now everything is different. “I don’t know. I need to talk to Flynn and figure out our plans.”

  “Well, no matter what you decide, they’re doing the right thing offering you your job back. People here have been in an uproar over the whole incident. The way she treated you was wrong, Natalie. Everyone thinks so.”

  “Thanks for that, and please tell the others, too.”

  “I will. I gotta go before the little bastards get a big idea to lock me in here.”

  “They are not little bastards!”

  “Yes, they are. Call me later and let me know what happens.”

  “I will. Thanks for the info.”

  “No problem.”

  I end the call with Leah and call Flynn.

  “Miss me already, baby?”

  “You know it, but I just got off the phone with Leah, and there’s news on the job front.” I relay to him what Leah told me. When I’m finished, he’s totally silent. “Flynn?”

  “I’m here, sweetheart. What’re you thinking?”

  “I don’t know. On the one hand, I feel sort of glad that Mrs. Heffernan is leaving because she wasn’t mean to just me. Everyone dislikes her.”

  “What’s on the other hand?”

  “You, me, our life together. You’re here. Not so sure I want to be three thousand miles from you for even a day or two.”

  “While this is entirely and completely your decision to make any way you see fit, your thinking matches mine on the three-thousand-mile thing.”

  “I had a feeling it might.”

  “Do you have to give them an answer right away?”

  “I’m not sure. Leah said they’re going to call me today sometime to ask me to come back.”

  “See if you can think about it for a day or two, and we’ll talk it over tonight when I get home.”

  “All right. I will.”

  “I’m happy for you that a terrible wrong is going to be righted, no matter what happens next.”

  “I’m happy, too. Leah said the board was intimidated by whatever Emmett said to them.”

  “Good, they should be intimidated. What Mrs. Heffernan did set them up for a huge liability. I’m glad they were able to see that.” He pauses before he adds, “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just processing it all.”

  “We’ll talk more later, okay?”

  “Sure. I’ll see you then.”

  “Love you, baby. So glad they’re doing the right thing.”

  “Love you, too. Thanks for not letting them off the hook.”

  “Never. I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

  “I’ll be here. See you then.”

  I return the phone to the table and snuggle into bed, my mind racing with the implications of getting my job back. After lying there for half an hour, it’s clear I won’t be going back to sleep. I decide to get up and make myself useful by doing the ton of laundry that has accumulated over the last two weeks.

  I gather our clothes into a basket I find in the master bedroom closet. Flynn told me the laundry room was “up there somewhere,” gesturing to the second floor of Hayden’s sprawling house.

  I head up the stairs, enjoying the view of the beach through the two-story windows as I go. I try to imagine what it would be like to make enough money to afford a place like this. “Not going to happen in this lifetime,” I mutter to Fluff, who follows me upstairs. Because there are six doors to choose from, I put down the basket at the top of the stairs and head for the end of the hallway to find the laundry room.

  The first three doors open to spacious bedrooms that look out over the beach. There isn’t a bad view to be had in this place. Behind the fourth door is a second master bedroom. Intrigued, I venture inside to check out the biggest bed I’ve ever seen. It is easily twice the size of Flynn’s California king. What does a single guy need with a bed that size?

  Off the bedroom is an equally huge bathroom, where I find the full-size washer and dryer tucked behind a closed door. I’m going to get the basket when the closet catches my eye, and apparently Fluff’s eye, too, as she wanders into the walk-in closet. I call out to her to come back, but she doesn’t. No surprise there, so I go after her.

  Holy shit, the guy has some clothes! Most of them in muted colors—grays, blacks, browns. Everything is color-coordinated and neatly arranged. I venture farther into the closet, past rows of shoes and drawers of all sizes to another door that Fluff has nudged open.

  “Fluff, come here. We shouldn’t be in here.” She’s in the far corner, sniffing up a storm. The second room appears to be a gym of some sort—until I look more closely at the equipment. I’ve never seen any of this stuff at the gyms I’ve frequented. What the hell is it? On one wall, a set of drawers beckons me.

  At this point, I have to acknowledge that what I’m doing counts as snooping. I found the laundry room and checked out the amazing closet. If I open these drawers to see what’s inside them, I’ll cross a line that can’t be uncrossed. But I can’t seem to help myself. I want to know what all this stuff is for.

  I look down at Fluff. “What would you do?”

  She barks, which I take to mean, “Go for it.”

  “You’re a bad influence. You have no moral compass whatsoever.”

  Her reply is two more sharp barks that sound like agreement.

  I can’t explain what makes me do it. This is way out of character for someone who has kept to herself and out of other people’s business for most of her life. Because I kept a low profile, no one paid much attention to me, and I liked it that way. I have no experience at all in minding other people’s business.

  But I want to know what’s in those drawers, so I walk over to them and begin opening them. They are filled with a variety of objects I don’t recognize—most of them rubbery materials in odd shapes and sizes. In the second drawer, I find more of the same, only these are shaped like penises—very big penises. Why in the hell does Hayden keep large rubber penises in his house?

  The question makes me giggle nervously. Does Flynn know about this? The thought of telling him only adds to my nervous laughter. In the third drawer, I find shiny metal objects that look like clips of some sort alongside feathers and strips of velvet.

  I take another long look around the room, at the oddly shaped weight bench and the big cross that takes up most of the space. On the wall, wooden paddles that look like oversized Ping-Pong paddles hang next to what might be a collection of riding crops. Affixed to the ceiling are a series of ropes attached to pulleys. “What the hell, Fluff?”

  Then I open the bottom drawer to find boxes of condoms and bottles of lubricant. “Oh my God.” Suddenly, I want out of there. I’ve seen more than enough to ensure that I’ll never again be able to look Hayden Roth in the eyes.

  I shoo Fluff from the room and go grab the laundry. As I start the wash, I try not to think about what I saw in Hayden’s secret room. What does it mean? How does it work? What does he do with all those items? With the washing machine running, I go downstairs, my mind racing as I try to process it all.

  I go straight to the laptop in Hayden’s office and begin poking around online, my curiosity only growing as I realize that what I’ve stumbled upon is Hayden’s “playroom.” I learn that these rooms are
frequently found in the homes of sexual dominants.

  Clicking from one website to another, I follow a trail of information and pictures that make my eyes pop out of my head. People actually do this stuff? I see a woman stretched over what I now realize is a spanking bench while her “Dom” uses a paddle on her ass. Another woman is strapped to the St. Andrew’s cross with clamps on her nipples. A chain connects them as well as the one that’s apparently affixed to her clitoris.

  I cross my legs against the tingle between them. What would that feel like? How badly would it hurt? Or would the pleasure override the pain? My curiosity leads me to click on videos that demonstrate how the equipment upstairs is used in sexual situations. I cannot look away.

  By the time I come up for air, two hours have gone by. I make a point of clearing the browser history on the computer before I stand on trembling legs and leave the office with more questions than I had going in. I now know that the smaller rubber and glass objects are butt plugs. That had been what Valerie meant when she asked if Flynn had “plugged” my ass. My whole body tingles at the thought of that. Does the tingling mean I want it or that I don’t?

  I’m such a neophyte when it comes to sex. I stayed away from men and anything to do with sex for so long that I lack the context I need to satisfy my curiosity. Judging by the heat between my legs, however, I’m incredibly aroused by what I’ve seen. Does that mean I want to try it?

  Not necessarily. The thought of being tied down or shackled makes me feel light-headed—and not in a good way.

  The most pressing questions I have after seeing Hayden’s room and two hours of “research” are whether my husband is into the same things as his best friend, and how will I ever work up the nerve to ask him that?

  I need help dealing with this situation. Professional help. I scroll through my contacts for a number I haven’t called in six years. When I moved into my new cell phone, Natalie’s phone, I made sure to include the number just in case I ever needed it. I’m not even entirely sure it is still his number.

  “One way to find out.” Fluff lifts her head to check on me. I give her a pat to settle her and place the call.