Sweet Seduction (Sweet #3)(34)

As she hung up the phone, she shook her head in disgust. Her vow of forgetting about Nathan Tucker seemed to be a common one. So when was she actually going to heed it?

Chapter 15

“I want you to come to The House tonight," Damon said as he forked a small bite of steak onto Serena's tongue.

The two were enjoying dinner in front of the fireplace, which Damon kept burning year-round, no matter the outside temperature.

She cuddled into his side, forgoing the next bite that he offered.

"You're asking," she said in a puzzled tone.

It wasn't as if he had actually phrased it as such, but normally he wouldn't say anything at all. If he wanted to take her to The House, he did so. Their relationship was a study in submission. Hers. It was something she still questioned at times, but she'd never backed away. No, she wanted it, craved it, too much. Much as she craved him. His love, his protection.

"Julie will be there tonight," he said after a hesitation. "And as you know, so will Micah and Nathan. Even though they won't be in the common room, I wanted you to know that they would be there before I took you."

She cocked her head sideways, studying his features. His warm brown eyes that softened with such love every time he looked at her.

"Does the idea that they could see me excite you?"

Damon was nothing if not honest. Even to his detriment. She could see the arousal in his eyes and knew the answer to her question already, but she wanted to hear what he was thinking. She thought she knew some of his thought process, but to hear him? Already a low thrum of desire swelled in her belly.

"What excites me is for them to see that you're my woman. My love. The woman who has trusted herself into my care. Not just them. Anyone. In my eyes, there is no woman more beautiful than you when you dance under the lash of my crop. For others to see and recognize that beauty gives me immense satisfaction."

She had no words, no response. She sat there, staring at him with wide eyes, her heart fluttering wildly.

"Does my barbarity shock you?" he asked.

For a moment concern sparked in his gaze, but he regarded her calmly, as if he trusted her to accept him.

She touched his face, allowing him to slide his lips over her fingertips in a gentle kiss. "Has my reluctance made you insecure? It's not what I ever intended, Damon. I've tried to be so careful to be fair to you in my caution."

He smiled. "You've done nothing wrong, Serena mine. I won't lie to you. Do I expect the people you know to even know you're there? No. But the idea of them being there, of the possibility that they could walk into the room and see you naked, under my hands, so submissive. Mine. Mine."

"And if I said it bothered me, that people I'm close to would see me this way?"

"Then I would never make you go."

But an essential part of their relationship would be gone. Irreparably damaged. Trust.

"And if I told you that I would stand naked in front of the world while you marked me as yours?"

"Your trust humbles me," he said in a nearly silent, aching voice. "Sometimes late at night I lie in bed with you next to me, your wrist bound to mine, and I simply marvel at the idea that you're mine. That after spending so many years searching, I've finally found you. I know you worry that I'm in love with an idea, a facade that you can only hold up for so long, but you're wrong, Serena. I love you, not an idea."

Love. It bathed her in its warm, heady glow, comforting. Constant.

"Take me where you go, Damon. It's all I want. I'm in your hands. Always."

He silenced her with a kiss. His lips touched hers with a reverence that shook her to the core. There was so much feeling. Too much for her to bear. He shattered her every time he showed her his love.

When she didn't stop to analyze, when she merely accepted, she was completely and utterly bowled over by the intense connection between them. Searching back, it was too soon, too young, too fresh to be so strong, so stable, so . . . permanent. Wasn't it?

There were rules for relationships, surely, that didn't include falling in love in such a short period of time. They were supposed to date, bicker, break up, fight, get back together, ponder getting married, children, baby names and then be engaged for at least a year before settling into marriage like an old couple. Right?

Damon had taken everything she'd ever considered about love and turned it on its head. Ever since they'd embarked down the path of her fantasies their relationship had a surreal quality that she still struggled with.

But if it wasn't real, what was it? No one could fake this kind of emotion. Who was she to say that what she felt, what Damon professed to feel, what he showed her with each glance, every touch, was an illusion?

The realization of just how wrong she was staggered her. Every day she expected to be the last, as if one of them would wake up and realize they were deluding themselves or each other.

While Damon had been giving their relationship his all, she'd been giving it a time limit.

A low sob welled in her throat, catching and stealing her breath. She swallowed and swallowed again, but it tore out as painful as her lack of faith.

Damon went still, and then he pulled away, concern deep in his eyes. "Serena, what's wrong?"

He put his hands to her face, touching lightly, seeking, running them down her neck and over her shoulders then back up again.