Mastering Her Heart Page 6

  Just as I take a step to my desk, ready to call for my driver, my phone vibrates in my hand.

  Willow: I’m home. Thanks for the dinner.

  Thanks for the dinner? The dinner?

  I don’t know whether to laugh or throw my phone across the room.

  Me: Willow. Do you know what happened tonight?

  More waiting. Then I see the three little dots start to strum at the bottom of my screen and just knowing she’s typing something back to me sends my heart rate soaring. My dick is hard. I’m losing my mind, anticipating what her reply will be.

  Willow: I’m not sure what that was that happened tonight. I’m feeling very strange about it all, Pike.

  I hate that she used my name. That’s not who I am to her. Not anymore. The fury rising up within me isn’t logical. It’s not appropriate, but that doesn’t dilute the intensity, not one bit.

  Me: Who am I?

  I wait.

  A minute goes by, but it feels like an eternity.

  Another minute.

  My teeth begin to ache under the pressure of my jaw muscles. The tension shoots up into my ears, I’m grinding my teeth so hard.

  Another minute.

  Me: Don’t make me ask questions twice, Willow.

  I hit send and almost immediately the little dots start to do their rhythmic pulsing, winding me up even further.

  Willow: You’re my former stepfather.

  Me: Who am I?

  I go right back to pacing the carpet between the fading fire and my desk, holding the phone in my hand, staring down at it like it holds the secrets of the universe.

  Even with the distance between us right now, I feel her. I know her struggle. I can almost see her tossing her head back and letting out a long breath. Fighting the answer we both know I need.

  Willow: Daddy

  My body quakes and another orgasm nearly shakes me to my core, but I hold it back. Even that single word from her, glowing on the screen of my phone, has an effect unlike anything I have known before.

  Me: Yes. Good girl.

  I hit send and try to breathe before stabbing out another.

  Me: I want you to take off all your clothes, Willow. Get into your bed. Put your fingers inside yourself and fall asleep that way. Do it for me and think of me while you do. Know that I’m right there with you. My flight leaves in a few hours but I will text you as soon as I arrive. Keep your phone charged, on and with you. You were never good at keeping it charged, but from now on you will be punished if you do not follow my instructions. Is that understood?

  I realize it’s heavy but I’ve wasted too much time already. I know she belongs to me and she knows it as well. Seeing how she reacts to my requests will give me an idea of just how ready she is for everything that our lives together will entail from here on out.

  After a minute I get what I need.

  Willow: Yes, Daddy. I understand.

  Me: That’s my girl. Now get some rest. It’s late and you need your sleep. Good night, my Princess. My world has never been brighter than it is at this moment, knowing you are back in it, Caramia. Sweet dreams.

  Willow: Good night. ☺

  My heart nearly explodes with delight.

  I’ve kept in touch with her all day.

  My meeting went as planned, no last minute surprises for once. The deal I’m finishing up has hit a few snags along the way, but it’s far from my main focus at this point. The necessary games, the push and pull of putting together this merger have worn me down. I was scheduled to stay in LA overnight but I cut my meetings short. I did what was necessary and chartered a flight back to the city.

  In the next few days the paperwork will be signed. The board will approve the final aspects of the deal. The SEC has signed off already. It’s all but done at this point, just a few handshakes and smiles, some back alley promises to be fulfilled, and that will be that. Signed, sealed, delivered. It’s not pretty, but it’s how business gets done. It’s been my life since I left her: my business and Club Tower filling my time until I was so exhausted I didn’t have the energy to mourn. Only, that’s a lie. I’ve mourned her every second of every day we’ve been apart.

  I did what I could to numb myself. My business benefited, as did the club, but none of that matters to me now.

  This world is as big as it is small. The small group of board members let it slip in our lunch that Margaret’s firm has just taken on a group of board members from Axix Telecom as council in the merger. It shouldn’t be an issue. When we split it was amicable. The goals of our union had been met and although I think Margaret would have preferred the cover of our marriage to go on for a few more years, to wait until she had secured a few more rungs in her career climb, there was no animosity between us. There never was. As hard as she can be at times, we began and ended as friends. It’s been years since we spoke to each other, but I don’t see any reason why that needs to change. I was never agreeable to the distance she kept between her and Willow. Margaret was never cut out to be a mother but she did the best she could as we all do in this life I suppose.

  Now my limo is idling in front of Willow’s building. I texted her when I was pulling down the street and she said she was coming down.

  She comes running out and I lean over to open the door from inside the limo. She’s wearing a faded pink T-shirt that says “Welcome to Norway” across the front and a loose fitting denim skirt that hangs low on her hips. It’s almost 9 PM and I’ve been awake nearly twenty-four hours, but I feel more invigorated than I have before in my life.

  I love her curves. The softness of her form. But my heart clenches because I know she’s self-conscious about it. When she was younger, she always wore her clothes two sizes larger than necessary, trying to cover herself. I need her to understand her beauty, the beauty that I see shining bright like a supernova. I need her to know that she is perfect, exactly how she is right now at this moment, and my craving and desire for her is unlike anything I’ve felt before.

  “I can’t stay long.” Her four words set my teeth on edge. “I have to go pick up some shoes from Louboutin for a photo shoot in the morning. They need them early so I’m going to go get them.”

  “What do you mean? I told you I was coming to get you. You need dinner. And, baby, you look tired. How many hours did you sleep?”

  “I can’t, don’t you understand? Lucielle Gladstone.” She draws out the name like a bad flavor on her tongue. “She calls and I answer.”

  Lucielle Gladstone. I know that name, everyone does. She is the CEO of Tuck & Burton, and she has an ego as wide as the Montana sky. I know now Willow works for her. I may have stopped following her once she moved to Paris, but after last night I made a few calls, made sure I knew everything I needed to know about my sweet princess again. I found out where she worked and who she worked for, along with everything else I needed to know in order to keep her safe.

  “Willow. It’s Sunday night. She can wait.” I pull her next to me in the back of the car. I need to feel her warmth against me. I’m starved for it, like a man left to wither on a deserted island.

  “I can’t make her wait.” Willow rolls her eyes. “She’s Lucielle Gladstone. I have to have the shoes there by the time the photo shoot starts set up at 3 AM.”

  “I won’t allow you to be abused. Whatever she needs, it is not so important it can’t wait until tomorrow.”

  Willow sets her jaw and pulls back. “Don’t do that.” She’s shooting flames from her eyes. “This job is the one thing I’ve managed to do on my own. Don’t you understand? I interviewed. I got the job. Without any favors or family influence. I want to do something with my life on my own, just for once. Why do you think I changed my stupid name? I’m tired of being Margaret Standish’s daughter. I just want to be Willow Bainbridge. Nobody special, nobody that anybody has a stake in. Being independent is all I’ve ever wanted and this job is the key to making something of myself, for myself.”

  Her anger reddens her ivory cheeks, and her passion s
tirs something in me. The little independent girl that was always squashed by her mother’s overbearing nature cries out and my heart breaks for her. I didn’t know she’d changed her name until the reports came back this morning. But, it made me smile for some reason. Her little rebellion against her mother.

  “Fine. Okay. I’m proud of you. You will eat first, because I know you didn’t eat dinner.” I rap softly on the partition between the back seat and where my driver sits waiting to pull away. As the car inches forward, Willow narrows those eyes at me and her bravado fades to a dimpled smile.

  “What is with you and what I eat? I could stand to lose a few pounds you know. How do you know I haven’t eaten dinner?” She challenges as I tug her body back, my arm draped over her shoulders, pulling her in tight.

  “Two things.” I say sternly. “You will not lose even a pound. If anything you could stand to put on some weight although I told you, you are absolutely perfect to me just the way you are. And second, I just know, Princess. I know more than you will ever fathom.”

  Her skirt rests a few inches above her knees. I reach down and press my fingertips under the hem, watching her face.

  “Kiss me.” I command.

  I need her compliance. Something in me is winding up and my need is starting to choke at me.

  “Okay, Daddy.” Her reply hits me like an electric shock. Her sweet words are coupled with a devilish twinkle in her eye.

  She shifts her body and my arm snakes around her back, guiding her to sit on my lap facing me. The length of my cock is at full thickness, craving her.

  “I need you to understand something.” My hands move to her hips, feeling the ripe flesh and imaging my cock slipping into her as she moans and takes me inside. “I can’t speak for all men, but for me...” I shake my head and look up and down her body. Pride swells inside me, knowing that she’s mine. “You’ve always been a part of me, Caramia, you know that. Once I got a taste of you? It’s unlike anything you could understand. I will never, ever get enough of you, my princess. Daddy’s tasted you. Licked you. And your flavor lit up lightning inside of me like a re-birth. Your scent is always on my mind, will always be on my mind. The sweetness of your cunt branded into me and I crave you like a dangerous drug. Nothing and no one will ever come close to what I feel for you right now, my princess. You are Daddy’s girl.”

  As she shimmies her hips, her hands come to rest on my cheeks. My pulse pounds in every throb of my cock as I feel the heat of her cunt settling on top of the fabric covering my hard on.

  She brings her lips to mine and my tongue comes out to trace the line between them, parting them, deepening our kiss until her breath comes in tiny gasps.

  “Were you a good girl?” I whisper, pulling her face down for a soft kiss before guiding her back so I can see the answer in her eyes. “Did you sleep with your fingers inside of you like I asked?

  She nods with a grin that tells me she followed my instructions. In the next moment, I’m sure I feel the dampness of her pussy already soaking through my trousers, teasing at my steel erection, ready to send me into orbit.

  Her face loses a bit of the joyful luster.

  “What’s wrong, Princess?”

  She never could hide anything from me and now I’m as connected to her as if she lives somewhere inside of me. Which she does, in a very real way.

  “It’s just...” She does that little lip twist that’s always melted my heart. “That club. You. How many women are you with? I mean, it’s all about sex there, right? That’s a big part of your life.”

  I let out a long sigh and lift my hands from her hips, settling them on the sides of her head. I realize that I feel a bit unbalanced around her. It’s been so long since I’ve really talked with a woman in such an intimate fashion.

  I’ve kept to myself my entire life.

  In this moment, I realize I’ve never shared or wished to share so much of myself with anyone. She’s my first and last in so many ways. I want to comfort her and assuage her insecurities, let her know how precious what we have together is and will always be.

  I let out a sigh as I shake my head. “No, Caramia.” My voice is deep but soft. “It’s not just about that. Not at my club. That’s what most people don’t understand. The way the lifestyle has been twisted now, into this idea of it being a sexual carnival. No, my princess. Have I been involved in the lifestyle? Years ago, yes. But for me, it’s about the beauty and dance, about two people being more intimate and committed to one another than most couples could ever even begin to understand. To each their own, my sweet Caramia, but I haven’t touched another woman in more years than I can count. Years... even before I married your mother.” Her eyes drop. “Princess, you know I never even kissed your mother? It was not like that in any way. Tell me you know that...”

  I stare into her face until she raises those sparkling, hazel eyes and nods.

  “Okay. You need to know, I’ve never found the one, not until you. Never experienced that perfect, intimate dance. Until you. It’s about finding the one. The one person that calls to you and you alone. That one person that understands you beyond all others. The one person that will die for you. Yes, but more even than that. The one person who will care for you in all the little ways and the big ways. It’s about finding a bond, my princess. A bond I’ve been waiting my entire life to experience, and never have. Until you.”

  She looks so small all of a sudden, sitting facing me like this. The battle inside me wages on. I want to kiss her softly and pull her into me, and at the same time I want to turn her around and fuck her like a beast, even right here in the back of my limousine. To tear into her flesh with my teeth, to leave her spent and weeping for me.

  I shake my head, clearing it, and pull her close. Feeling the soft warmth of her body melt against me is as beautiful a moment as any sexual act.

  But when Willow’s hips begin to move over me, any control I might have found is nearly lost.

  I force my feelings down, lock them deep within me, and reach over to where my phone is sitting on the seat next to me.

  “Food first, my princess. Then Daddy is going to show you something new. Something he needs very badly. Something only that sweet cunt can give him.”

  I text my cook at the apartment to have a meal prepared and waiting in my bedroom in the next fifteen minutes.

  I know what she likes. And for what I have planned tonight, she will need her sustenance.

  C H A P T E R E I G H T

  PIKE

  There are stories about humans being caught in something like an animal’s mating frenzy, losing all sense of self, civility, or restraint. As a man of dominance and control, I’d always dismissed the folklore.

  But now, I understand it all too well. I’ve always felt a pull towards Willow. A draw unlike any other human, but now with the time drawing near for me to take her, fully and completely, the fury inside me is nearly tearing me apart.

  Keeping whatever this is inside of me under any sort of control is taking all of my willpower.

  “Thank you.” She smiles sweetly at Gloria, who is clearing our plates from the table. She moves with haste, somehow understanding the urgency, the tension in the air.

  The clink of silverware against fine china, as she goes about stacking plates and dinnerware on the cart, is the only other noise in the bedroom besides the thundering of my own heart in my ears.

  “Anything else, Sir?”

  “No. Thank you, Gloria.”

  “I’ll take care of the dishes and be off then. Let me know...if you require anything else. I won’t be back until you call, Sir.”

  With that she moves quickly and quietly out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

  I stare across the small table at Willow.

  Her beauty is unmatched. She is perfection in my eyes. Her hair gathered in a loose ponytail that runs over her left shoulder. I imagine it in my fist, pulling at it as I tell her all the beautiful, filthy things I intend to do to her.

 
; I absently reach down under the table and give my cock a stroke, trying to calm the growing need inside me.

  I shift my chair back and stand, taking the few steps over behind her chair, pulling it back.

  “Stand up, Princess.”

  She does as I ask without a word of question or complaint. Her compliance only serves to heighten the desire I feel for her. For my sweet girl.

  I reach down for her hand, guiding her as she stands in front of me as I step back, then stop to admire her for a long moment.

  “What are you doing?” She toys with the little infinity pendant around her neck, zipping it back and forth on the chain while her other arm belts at her waist.

  “Deciding.” I utter, my mind filling with all the filthy desires I’ve stored up just for her.

  “Deciding? What are you deciding?” She lets out a giggle, then bites into her bottom lip.

  “I’m deciding if I’m going to eat you before I fuck you, or fuck you and then eat you. If I could fuck you and eat you at the same time, I’d do that.”

  Her face turns to a deep shade of pink and she starts to shift her weight from one foot to the next. In my own way, I love her like this. A bit off. Slightly uncomfortable.

  Wondering what is coming next.

  “Daddy needs you to take off all your clothes, my sweet girl. Slowly, now. Start with your shoes. Then your shirt. And last your skirt. Do it now.” My words harden at the end as my cock throbs and aches for her.

  The thought of seeing her naked for me sends my teeth into my own lip. Biting down as she begins to disrobe. Doing exactly as I said, one piece of clothing at a time, until she stands before me, glorious and exposed.

  “God, Princess. You make Daddy so hard. You know you’re going to take care of me tonight, don’t you? Let my cock into that pussy.”

  She nods and shifts, her hands unable to find where they should be.

  “I’m nervous.” She whispers.

  “Are you also wet?”

  Her apple cheeks ripen another shade. “I don’t know.”