Tie Me Down: 2 (Knights in Black Leather) Read online

  The same way Case makes me feel.

  Her insides quivered at the thought and if any of that showed, she pretended it was her excitement over buying something new. “I’d like to try the bra and panties, if I could.”

  “Absolutely. Come with me and I’ll give you a dressing room. You are my only customer. We’re usually slow on Mondays so you have my complete attention. You can leave your purse back there, then come out and browse, if you want.”

  “Sounds good. But I won’t browse. I’d buy out the store.”

  “And I wouldn’t object. Would you like a glass of wine?”

  “No thanks. I can’t drink in the middle of the afternoon. I’d fall asleep in your dressing room. Besides, I’m nervous enough already.”

  “Oh? Is somebody not being good to you? Better tell me. I’ll get my men to go read them the riot act.”

  Her men. How telling. “Actually, everyone has been very gracious to me.”

  Cara led her through the store to a large dressing area. There she opened a latticed door and let Sam precede her into a room with full-length mirrors on three walls, lush watered white satin on the fourth, and two large overstuffed chairs in cherry-red brocade.

  “This is lovely.”

  “Thank you. I wanted the space back here to be as enjoyable as shopping up front.”

  “I think you’ve done it.”

  “I’ll get that black Italian silk you like.”

  “Terrific,” she agreed, but when Cara turned on her heel, Sam continued, “Don’t you have to take my measurements first?”

  “No. I am a pretty good judge of that. I trained in New York and Paris at lingerie houses for quite a few years. There, we were supposed to measure with our eyes and not be intrusive.”

  Cara’s training had extended from her professional into her personal life. So how was Sam going to ask the important questions about Case? “Women are appreciative, I am sure.”

  Cara grinned at her. “If I don’t fit you on the first try, I’ll buy you lunch tomorrow. What do you say?”

  Sam flapped her arms to her sides. “I’m yours. But I think lunch sounds like a great idea, correct fit or not. What do you say?”

  “Deal! Make yourself comfortable. Be right back.”

  When Cara returned, she had her hands full of the diaphanous black bra and panties, as well as two other sets, one in a delicate white lace and the other in an embroidered indigo. “I hope you don’t mind, I brought more than the Milanese silk. I love this from Naples, and this dark purple I thought would just be gorgeous against your skin.”

  “I don’t know,” Sam murmured as she rubbed the delicate fabric between her fingertips. “I’ve never even thought of such colors for lingerie for me. The purple is dramatic and the white is—”

  “But it’s not really white.” Cara put her hand beneath the sheer fabric. “It’s ecru and just right for your skin tone. Try it on. Just for fun. If you don’t like it, then you’ve enjoyed yourself.”

  “And I’m still buying lunch,” Sam persisted with a chuckle.

  “You are. Want me to stay to help you or—?”

  “Yes, stay.” Sam had bared her body before to so many others. Men, women, Doms, subs, people she had never known. Exhibitionism turned her on, made her feel proud, dramatic, wanted, all those qualities she had scrabbled hard and long to acquire. Yet she wasn’t the perfect size six. Far from it. While she had never been what anyone would call a willow, she was sturdy, curvy, her muscles cut from weight lifting. Her breasts were large. Her last Dom had called them ripe melons. But they had upturned nipples that puckered in cool air. Men loved looking at her breasts. So Sam had no hang-ups about stripping in front of anyone.

  And Cara had worked in lingerie sales for years, serving women who wanted elegant undergarments. Women who bought not only to please their men but to thrill themselves. Cara, Sam was sure, had seen all kinds of female bodies and wasn’t embarrassed to touch them or fit them.

  She stepped out of her pale-pink charmeuse blouse and tailored skirt, unsnapped her embroidered bra, placed them on one of the chairs.

  Cara’s gaze fell over her like a waterfall. “You are really gorgeous.”

  “Thank you.” Pleased Cara liked her looks, Sam put her hand out for the midnight silk combo.

  “I know quite a few men in town who would be happy to persuade you to stay here permanently.” She handed over the bra.

  “Really? Lovely thought. It’s a nice place. Not too crowded and no traffic jams. I really like that. Plus everyone seems to know everyone. Seems friendly.”

  “We are. We are a prosperous little town. A lot of very wealthy men. Young and eligible bachelors too.” Cara picked up Sam’s blouse and skirt to drape them on hangers. “Not many women their age though.”

  “Well, I had no idea.” She hooked the bra, bothered by Cara’s last statement. “If the percentages are off, where do the men find women?” At the Bravado Club?

  Cara widened her eyes playfully. “They go to San Antonio or Dallas or they make themselves very appealing when a new woman comes to town on business.”

  Here was her opening. “Ah. I see. So are you telling me that the attention I am getting from the local male population is due to the simple fact of my gender and not due to my unique brand of charm?”

  “Not at all.” Cara chuckled and twirled a forefinger. “Turn around. Let me adjust this back here. You seem to have charmed the sheriff. Certainly done a job on Joel Winthrop and Case Turner. Am I right?”

  Sam tipped her head this way and that, then smiled. “Could be. What can you tell me about Case?”

  “A lot.” Cara put a finger to her chin as she considered how the bra fit Sam’s breasts. “Thirty-six years old, I think. He’s a rancher. Owns a chain of small grocery stores in the Hill Country. And he serves as the mayor, which you knew.”

  “Good friends with Joel Winthrop too,” Sam added as she bent over to adjust her breasts into the cups of the bra.

  “Yes. They’ve been buddies since they were born, I think. Joined at the hip. Even joined the Marines together, though they were sent to different parts of the world.”

  “Joel is a swell guy.”

  “He is my cousin. Did you know?”

  “No.” Sam shook her head. She liked Joel, but she wanted more news about Case. “Has Case ever been married?”

  “Never. His longest relationship seems to be with Joel.”

  “I see.” I can tell.

  “And Case is a good friend of my husbands’.”

  On the last word, Sam’s gaze locked with Cara’s.

  “You knew that, didn’t you?” Cara asked. “That all three are mine?”

  “No one told me. It was just the way they treat you. At the rodeo Friday night. At the club last Wednesday. The heat I see in their eyes when they look at you is—wow—just breathtaking.”

  Cara cupped her elbows as if to hug herself in her delight. “I agree. I’ve never felt so adored. And it’s funny, you know, I thought love was an emotion shared only between one man and one woman.”

  “How do you handle all those men?” Sam blurted out, having had a rough time in a relationship with one man.

  “Simple. I don’t.”

  “No?” Sam was floored.

  “They have worked out all the aspects among them. No jealousy. No anger management issues. No problems of sharing. It is really quite wonderful. I just…enjoy!”

  “Sounds too good to be true,” Sam conceded.

  “Believe me, I am well aware how rare this is. But I don’t question my good fortune.”

  “I should say not.” Sam ran a hand over the black silk that defined her cleavage. Her breasts seemed like dark exotic fruit in the tissue-like fabric. Her nipples pebbled in the cool room. She hastened to try on the panties over her thong. As she slid them up her thighs over her hips, she reveled in the fit. She turned this way and that, admiring the way the silk seemed to whisper over her full breasts. The way the brief boy short pan
ties revealed the plump of her cheeks. The way the tiny pouf of her red pubic hair puffed out the crotch of the panties. And beckoned someone to touch her there. She squeezed her eyes shut. Would Case touch her there tonight?

  “That set is beyond scintillating on you.” Cara smiled into Sam’s eyes. “Who is it for?”

  “Me,” she told her the truth, if not all of it.

  Cara clapped her hands. “The one person you must always please!”

  “I’ll definitely take these.” Sam licked her lips. “But before I go, I want to try on the purple too. A woman never has enough variety.”

  “Of the good stuff?” Cara joked and handed over the frilly purple set. “A woman, her lingerie and a man. What a perfect trio.”

  Chapter Six

  What good was her perfect trio if the man didn’t show?

  Sam walked the floor of her room. Seven had come and gone. Now the digital display on the bedside clock red seven twenty-eight.

  Her phone rang and she hurried to pick it up. “Hello? Yes?”

  Case apologized for running late. “But I’m pulling up outside right now.”

  Grateful nothing terrible had delayed Case, Sam picked up her purse, left her room and locked the door.

  “Hi, sweetie,” Case’s husky voice wrapped around her as he took two steps toward her and took her in his arms. “How are you? Warm and ready?”

  As he crushed her close to him, she glimpsed the wickedness in his gray eyes. “Oh I can tell you have something evil planned and it is too early in the evening for that!”

  “Never too early to charm a lady.” Case sank a hand up into her hair, anchored her head and kissed her as if the world was on fire. “God, you taste good. Whatever your toothpaste is, I want it. Hell, I want to crawl right inside of you and eat you all up.”

  “I could go for that.”

  He claimed her lips again then as if he were savoring a fine meal. His mouth, so strong, so insistent was more fervent than any man’s she’d ever sampled. She wrapped him closer, meeting his fire with her own.

  “My knees are too weak here, Turner, for all this romance.”

  “Is that so?” He broke away so that she saw he wore a crisp white shirt and dark trousers. Her handsome date for the night scooped her up in his arms. “I’m trying to sweep you off your feet, darlin’.”

  She clung to him, her arms around his shoulders, her breasts deliciously flattened to his chest. She wanted to jump out of her skin and into his body, she was so excited by his happy-go-lucky attitude. “Where are we going? What are we doing?”

  “You’ll see,” he said as he strode along the walkway toward his truck. “Just let me start the evening off right for you.”

  “I’m game.”

  “Slide in here.” He had left his truck door open so that he could put her inside. But as soon as he placed her in her seat, he turned her face to his with two fingers under her chin. “Worried about me?”

  “I was.”

  “I’m so sorry. I had things to do for you. Took me more time than I expected. Needed everything to be perfect.”

  “Case,” she murmured as he drew near and took her mouth with his own once more. This time, his kiss was a languid claim.

  “Got to stop this,” he told her, his tone rough with need as he drew away. His eyes were apologetic as he smoothed her hair over her ears and along her shoulders. “I’m messing you up and you are so damn lovely. I like the slinky black dress.”

  She kicked up her feet to show off her black open-toed stilettos. “How about my killer shoes?”

  He rolled his eyes at her. “I think the fillings in my teeth just melted.”

  “Why, Case Turner.” She gave him her Scarlett O’Hara impression with batting eyelashes. “How you do go on.” She pressed her lips together. Swollen by his fierce kisses, her mouth tingled. So did her nipples and her pussy. The black silk lingerie, diaphanous and slinky, abraded her. A tremor of excitement tickled her consciousness. She grew wet knowing that he would soon see how eager she was to have him. “Compliment me too much and I might be hard to handle.”

  He went still, his marvelous expressive eyes sparkling in the dusk of a blinding ginger sunset. His blond hair glistened with refracted red rays. Her very own Viking. “You’re so easy to be with, honey.”

  “Unless we’re talking about water, huh?” she teased him.

  “No discussion of water tonight,” he scoffed, checked that her limbs were tucked inside the truck, then shut the door and walked around to his side to slide in. “Tonight is about me giving you a happy birthday.”

  “I couldn’t imagine anything finer.” Except maybe to taste him, touch him, have him all to herself all night long. How he was rushing her was a thrill she hadn’t bargained for, but oh how she reveled in it. And how rare it sounded for a man who was a Dominant. “I’m certain there have been others who never got a birthday treat.”

  Chuckling, he hauled her against him and kissed her one more hot time. “So you are curious about my past love life? All right. Here it is. I have pleased women. Sexually. Often. Considered it a badge of honor to do it. But with you, I want to do more.”

  Breathless, she grinned at him. “Wow. I’ve never even imagined what more means, let alone tell a man.” A Dom.

  “I’m gonna give it a guess.” He cupped her chin and examined her as if she were made of precious gold. “Close your eyes.”

  She pouted theatrically. “But I like the view.”

  “It’s not as pretty as mine, baby. Now do as I say.”

  She let her eyelids fall. The smile on her face broadened as she heard him rustle around and reach into the backseat. “What are you doing?”

  “This,” he seemed to purr as he slipped fabric over her forehead and she knew he put a blindfold on her.

  Stiff as a board, she swallowed hard. “Case. Don’t.”

  He tied the fabric at the back of her head. Then stroked the backs of his fingers down her cheek. “Tell me you don’t trust me and I’ll take it off.”

  Memories of being blindfolded, manhandled, stuffed into a car and ordered to be quiet, loomed like ghosts. She reached out for Case, clutched at his shirt. “I want to trust you. I do, but I—I don’t know if I—”

  “Yes, you can.” He covered her fingers that twisted the cloth of his shirt. With his thumbs, he stroked her skin and urged her to open up her clenched fist. “Let me help you.”

  “I was blindfolded when I was whipped—”

  “Aw hell,” he cursed viciously as he brought her open palms to his mouth and dropped tender kisses into her care. “This is not him but me, Sam. Me. Let me bring you out of this, away from whatever that asshole did to you.”

  A frisson of fear skittered up her spine. When would she let go of the past and embrace a different future? She willed that to occur now. Now with this man. “I want to. I do.”

  “Okay then,” he murmured as his lips trailed across her cheek to her ear and down her throat. “I want to mark your birthday with a new beginning for you.”

  “Oh Case.” She sank into his seduction with such ease. What surprised her was not so much that she could allow him to do this, but that she would allow the blindfold at all. Knowing he was used to submissive women, knowing he was no pushover for any woman, but rather a Dominant, had her squirming in her seat. But Case felt like a haven, his body a blast furnace, warm and strong and solid, evaporating her resistance as though it were mist. She sought his torso with her hands, embraced him and pressed herself into him. “I want to start new.”

  “Good. Let’s start here. I tell you what I like. You tell me what you want.”

  “Easy peasy. Where do you begin?” How could he be so endearing? She rubbed herself against him, not wanting to think, only feel how marvelous he was.

  “Here.” He threaded his fingers through her hair and blazed another trail down the low cleavage of her dress. “Love the perfume.”

  “Mmm. Thanks. Love yours too.”

  He laughed
and then reached for something else. “Just soap.”

  “Great. I want some of it.”

  Planting kisses on the rise of her breasts, he chuckled. “I don’t want you to smell like me. I want you to be only wonderful you. All,” he whispered and nipped the skin on her neck, “luscious,” he crooned, licking the same spot, “you. I want your nipples in my mouth. Your skin against mine. Your cream flooding my mouth as you come for me.”

  She gave a trilling sound of agreement.

  “Like that idea, I gather.”

  She cleared her throat as his hand made patterns on her back and his mouth nudged the vee of her dress aside to trace the line of her skimpy little bra.

  “I want to rock your world, honey, like no man has ever done.”

  She was fast becoming a crazy woman, her little moans her only signs of joy.

  Against the swell of her breast, he smiled. “Tell me what you want from me, Sam.”

  Oh hell, what did she crave from him? His mouth, his hands, his body. She wasn’t used to ordering a man. A Dominant male. That was dangerous. But this with Case didn’t feel threatening. Why? Is he truly changing? For me? For tonight? “I want you to kiss me again. For openers.”

  He breathed heavily, his exclamation a hot brand to her sensitized flesh. “Now?”

  She nodded as eagerly as a girl.

  “How?” he asked, his voice oh so elemental.

  “Hard, fast, often, soft. I don’t care!”

  “God help me, I do.” Laughing, he hauled her up over his lap, cradling her head in one hand while he gathered her closer. Between him and the steering wheel, she was deliciously crushed as he kissed her in all the ways she had demanded. Fierce as an iron brand, fast as a laser, and then he tore his mouth away. It was only a moment in time. A moment when she hung in despair that he had left her.

  But when he put his mouth to hers once more, he blessed her with a tenderness that brought tears to her eyes. He took her lips with a reverence that stopped her heart as if he himself were the butterfly enticing her to fly with him. She drifted in his charm, mesmerized by the feel of him, the smell of him. Rich and vibrant, all male, all hers. The aura of him, a resplendent rainbow of colors that pulsed to a vibrant, velvet black power. With his lips, he sipped at her own. “Tell me what you see now.”