Destined for the Dom (Masters of Submission, #2)(32)

Hunter reeled from her venomous words. It sounded as though she hated him. Was she that unhappy? Surely, their relationship these past few months had been strong? How could he have got it so wrong? He didn’t want to hold her back. He wanted her to do better and bigger things with her life. She didn’t need to take a seedy dancing job anymore. He would look after her. He loved her.

Then tell her, dude, before it’s too late.

If only I could.

He glanced at Zo?. She seemed thoroughly pissed off. If he didn’t say something soon, he’d lose her. “Maybe I need to explain.”

“You certainly do, Mister, but I ain’t listening to anything you’ve got to say, until you release me from these Goddamn cuffs.”

Zo? was backing him into a corner. “If I let you go, you’ll leave me. I don’t want that to happen, Peaches, I—”

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. That’s a chance you’ll have to take, Hunter. Or maybe you’re not the exciting risk taker I thought you to be.”

“And what the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

With her jaw set in stone, she retorted, “I’m not prepared to discuss anything until you release me.” As if to emphasize her point, she rattled the handcuffs against the headboard again, louder and for longer this time. The annoying metallic sound echoed around the bedroom.

Realizing Zo? was as stubborn as himself, he reached down and released the cuffs. Zo?’s eyes flared angrily at him as she rubbed her hands over her aching wrists. “Thank you so much, Master,” she said sarcastically as she moved from the bed, and began walking from the room.

“Wait. Don’t you want to hear what I have to say?”

She turned and looked at him, her brows drawn together, her demeanor still very, very annoyed. “I suggest you speak quickly, because you’ve got until I reach the door. Then I’m gone for good.”

It was just as he feared. Everyone he’d ever loved either disappeared or died. History was about to repeat itself, when the inner voice in his head angrily kicked his butt. What the f*ck do you think you’re doing, dude? Wise up. Zo?’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you. She’s perfect in every way, and loves you deeply. Are you gonna be a dumb bastard, and let her walk out of your life like some sort of *? Or are you gonna tell the girl how you really feel about her?

“Zo?, don’t go.”

She turned. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t?”

He wasn’t sure where to start, and went for the easiest option. Besides laying his soul bare didn’t come natural to him. “Look, I get jealous, okay. I just can’t stand the idea of another guy wanting you.”

“Anything else?”

“Fuck, you want it all, don’t you.” He might have known Zo? wouldn’t be satisfied with his banal statement.

“Yes. Of course I want it all.”

He moved across to the easy chair and sat down, facing the window. Fuck, he needed to relax. “Peaches, come and give me one of those Indian massages of yours. It’ll help clear my mind.”

Zo? hovered in the doorway, before saying, “You’ve got a nerve.”

Hunter took a deep breath. “I know.” For a terrible moment, he thought he’d lost her, but then her cool hands slid under his collar and began soothing his aching muscles.

“Jesus, Hunter. You’ve got a serious knot problem here.”

“Tell me about it. I guess I have a lot of explaining to do.”

“You bet.”

“I find it hard to express my feelings, Zo?. In the past, when I’ve gotten close to people I really care about, they’ve either f*cked off or died.”

She pressed her thumbs into the base of his neck and manipulated the tender flesh. “I know about your buddies in Afghanistan, Hunter. But it wasn’t your fault. So why keep beating yourself up over it?”

He groaned appreciatively when she dug her fingertips hard into his tense shoulder muscles. “Because I was there, Zo?. They died right in front of my very eyes, and I did nothing. Why did I survive and they didn’t? What the f*ck makes Hunter Black so special.”

“I know you feel guilty, but there was nothing you could do.”

“Humph, guilty doesn’t even start to cover it. Goddamn it, for some strange reason, I can’t remember their faces clearly anymore. It seems disrespectful to their memory.”

She tenderly kissed his cheek. “Perhaps, you’re starting to move on, babe, moving forward to another phase of your life. Although what you witnessed will stay with you forever, it’s part of your past now, just like St. Mark’s. The future goes on, with or without us. Be part of it, Hunter.”


He thought she was speaking sense, and he couldn’t help but nod his head as she drifted her fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp. “I think, you’re right.” His nightmares still persisted, but they weren’t quite as lifelike and disturbing as they used to be. Perhaps the old adage was right. Time heals.

“When Dad left me at the children’s home, he promised to come back for me, but he never did. I thought the world of him, Zo?, but he just walked out of my life as though I never existed.”

“That sucks, Hunter. But look at it this way. My mother wouldn’t give me up. She was an alcoholic and that made her nasty and vindictive. Every time the social workers got close, we moved on to another dead-end town. It wasn’t a life for a small girl. I never went to school from one month to the next. She dragged me from one drug-infested apartment block to another, but what could I do. I was just a kid.”