“Yes, sir.”
“No, Mary,” he said in a low reprimand, swatting her bottom, making it burn. “You call me Elliott. Always Elliott, so I know you are only thinking of me.”
“Yes, Elliott.” She held his stare, then cast her gaze downward, shame thickening her throat. “I behaved—”
“Like a woman suffering from a broken heart.”
A cool tear ran down her cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He tucked a finger under her chin, commanding her gaze and staring at her with warm, soulful eyes. “You came back to me. That’s all that matters. Now tell me what happened at the meeting.”
Mary wiped away her tears, not wanting to cry anymore. No more sadness. “I sat there and listened to women mourning their husbands, and yes, I understood them. But all I kept hearing and seeing was women who had no hope.” She paused, knowing she had to get this right. “I guess that was me before. I’d given up on life, but then there was you…”
Another tear that she couldn’t control slid down her cheek, and this time Elliott brushed it away as she added, “I kept thinking I’m not like them. I do have hope, and I have it with you. When Charles died, I promised him to go after love if I ever found it again. I realized in that meeting I wasn’t only letting him down, letting you down, but I was letting down myself, too. I feel something with you. Something that is familiar. Something I lost. Something I yearn for.”
His smile spoke of heady emotion. “To be mine.”
“Yes.” He was a man who saw right into her soul and had earned his place in her heart. A man who hadn’t taken no for an answer, because he had seen something special between them that she hadn’t instantly recognized. A man who held enough confidence to give her the space and time she needed, but an arrogant man who hadn’t allowed her to run. “You gave me a safe place to heal and find out what I want, and I want to be happy again.”
“I want that for you, too,” he murmured. “I want that for us.”
She sighed. “If only it hadn’t taken—”
He placed a finger over her mouth. “If you hadn’t thought of Charles when we were together, I doubt I would’ve been so drawn to you. You showing me that type of submission, that type of affection between a Dom and a submissive, is what made me believe it’s possible.” He smiled, cupping her face. “But it’s also something that can’t be faked. You felt it with me, because we share that same type of connection that you experienced with Charles.”
God, she knew that, too, which made her next move an easy one. She reached for her necklace. “This was once a symbol of Charles and me, but I know it’s time to move on.”
“Stop.”
She hadn’t realized she’d shut her eyes, but she forced them open. Elliott’s gaze was in direct line with hers and his brows were drawn together. “Don’t remove the collar Charles gave to you, Mary.” He gathered her hand from her neck and lowered it to his lap. “That is a special part of you. It should always stay a part of you. I never want to take Charles’s place. I just want to be there beside him. I want you with me, at my side.”
Consumed by him, her heart clenched. “I want that, too.”
“Ah, darlin’, you have it. You have me, always.” He rose from his seat, pressing his body against hers and taking her into a kiss that stopped time. Passionate, affectionate—it was the beginning of love. When he broke the kiss, he said sternly, “Now let’s go and get your clothing. We are going to leave the party in someone else’s hands. We have something to do.”
Disappointment pulled her lips into a frown. “We’re not playing tonight?”
“No.” Sliding both hands into her hair, he held her to him. “Tonight I want you to ache for me like I’ve ached for you. I want you to feel what I’ve gone through, wanting you, nearly going mad in my lust, without any way to quench my need.” He stared at her with a firm look, and she shivered under the regard of her Dom as he continued. “I also want to do what I’ve wanted to do since the first time I saw you.”
She leaned in to him, gazing up into the face of a man who she saw with open eyes now. “Which is?”
“I’m going to take you out on a proper date.” His smile was both tender and wicked, as one brow slowly arched. “I want to spend more time getting to know the woman who through her body told me she is mine.”
Epilogue
The sun beamed down on Elliott at Mary’s lake house, and he inhaled the richness of it. Laughter and splashes of water made him smile. The past six months had settled into a life that he had once dreamed of. That he now lived.
A quiet life that involved falling in love with Mary.
He stared at her as she swam in the water just off the bow of the boat with her daughter and her daughter’s friend from the theater. Elliott had given up on his dreams of children a long time ago, but meeting Mary’s children made him feel as if he had a second chance. For the first time in his life, he had a family of his own, a family that had welcomed him with open arms.
“She looks happy.”
Elliott turned as Dmitri sat down next to him, and Mary’s sailboat rocked on the water. Dmitri watched Elliott with a keen eye only another Dominant would have. Elliott smiled. “She is happy.” He glanced out to the water, seeing Dmitri’s submissive, Presley, had joined Mary and the others.
Presley was a young, very sweet woman. And he saw love written all over Dmitri’s face, as he always smiled when she talked. Elliott mused, love was in the air, and it was wonderful.
Dmitri’s heavy sigh drew Elliott’s focus, and Dmitri raked a hand through his hair. “I think we need to talk about something, since you two are clearly getting serious.”