Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(105)

She gasped a little as he twisted her and managed to maneuver her so she was over his lap, the offensive panties in his line of sight. Those had to go.

He reached out and touched the curve of her hip, sighing at the contact. Finally he could touch her, feel the warmth of her skin under his. “I’ve been leaving you messages for months. Why today?”

Was it because of Theo? He would be all right with that. She loved adventure and she’d been a part of finding him the first time. Hell, she was why they’d found him the first time. She could come along but she needed to understand this relationship wasn’t ending the minute the op did. None of that f*cking-until-the-op-was-over bullshit for him. This was forever.

Mia wiggled on his lap, but she didn’t complain. “I might have been stubborn and might have switched phones and not listened to any of your messages until today. The minute I did, I was here. Case, I’m so sorry I got rid of that phone because I didn’t want you to be able to reach me. I knew the minute I heard your voice that I would come back to you. Please touch me, Sir.”

Hearing her call him Sir made him long for more. He knew he likely didn’t deserve it, but one day she would call him Master and more than that, she would call him husband. He let his hand trace over the curves of her ass. So round and perfect, and made for his hand and his cock. This was exactly what he needed. He needed to be her Dom again, needed his strong, gorgeous sub here in his arms. She could knock him on his ass outside the bedroom. It was her job when he was a dumbass. She was going to be his woman, his better half. But here in the bedroom, he needed her sweet submission. He let his hand slide under the seam of those awful undies. “It’s all right. I needed the time to sort a few things through. I needed to be better for you. But Mia, just because I’m working on my temper doesn’t mean I can’t lose it again.”

She held on to him. “I wasn’t angry that you lost your temper. I knew you would be mad at me for what I did. It was how cold you got.”

He didn’t remember feeling cold at all. Never about her. He definitely wasn’t feeling a chill now. He began to draw the panties over her hips, exposing her gorgeous skin. “I was never cold. Not about you. I made a massive mistake, but you’re the one who walked away. I never intended for those to be the last words we said to each other. Not once. Even when I was angry as hell at you, I knew I wouldn’t let you go.”

“I didn’t see how you could possibly love me when you thought those things about me,” she said quietly.

“And I didn’t think you could possibly love me at all. I was angry. With you. With me. With Theo. With Ian for letting Theo go. I was angry about everything. But I wasn’t stupid. I wouldn’t have let you go. My every intention was to send you home so you could think about what you’d done. I was treating you like a child instead of letting you be my partner. I need to know if you can forgive me, Mia.” If she couldn’t, he would keep on trying until he changed her mind. Nothing was more important than winning her back, than being the man she needed him to be.

“Only if you’ll forgive me for walking away,” she replied.

That’s what he’d needed to hear. They spent so much time fighting or f*cking that they’d forgotten how to look at each other and be real. “I do, but never again, princess. Even if I f*ck up, I need to know you’ll stay and knock some sense into my thick skull. I suspect my sisters-in-law will help you learn how to be a Taggart wife. It’s not always easy.”

“Wife?”

Shit. Maybe that had been too fast. Still. He wasn’t backing down. “I want to marry you. I’m not going to pretend like I don’t. And honestly, I’ve got you tied up. If you say no, I could just leave you like this until you say yes.”

“Don’t you dare. You’ve got maybe fifteen minutes tops before I start complaining. And yes. But you had better spank me now. It’s been so long. I need it, Case. I need to cry and I need to feel close to you so spank me.”

Yes? She’d said yes? “Are you sure? Because I don’t want you to think I’m punishing you. We need to make that clear. This is for fun and to give you what you need.”

“Please. And make it dirty. I’ve missed this so much. And maybe you should punish me,” she said in that voice that let him know she would get what she wanted one way or another. It was that sexy, taunting, sultry voice she used on him when she wanted to push him, wanted him to push her. “After all, I punished you for months. I knew you were working for my brothers. I knew you would come with us to New York, but I wouldn’t see you. I wasn’t going to give you the satisfaction of seeing me.”

Yes, she seemed determined to push him. “Are you sure? I could untie you and make love to you and we could be gentle with each other.”

“That’s not who we are, Case. I realize that now. I should have stayed and fought it out with you. I can do that. I can take everything you have to give me, even the anger, if I know you love me. I love you. I’ve loved you since the moment you walked in the room and my world shifted because I’d finally found a man I didn’t have to hold back with. I want everything. I want your passion and your love, and I definitely want your dominance.”

He could give it to her. His cock was so hard it was painful, but it could wait. His sexuality had become tied to play and he needed it more than he needed to be inside her. He needed to give her what she required to be happy, what only he could give her.