SovereignsChoice Read online

  His words make me hot and cold all over. “I’m trying,” I whisper. ”Really, I am.”

  “I’m glad.” I feel the cool brush of his fingertips over my cheek and then he tugs very gently on the golden chain between my nipples. I moan softly in surprise at the spark of pleasure-pain that runs through my body. “So beautifully responsive,” he murmurs. “Tell me, Emma, how does this make you feel?”

  “When you tug on the chain?” I ask breathlessly.

  “Not just this.” He tugs it again, making me gasp. “All of it. Being here with me. Submitting to me.”

  “I don’t know,” I whispered. “I hated it at first. Now I’m…well, I guess I’m confused.”

  “Yes, it is quite confusing. For me as well.” He stops tugging the chain. Instead he cups my cheek and I can almost feel him studying me, those cool gray eyes searching my blindfolded face.

  “How could you be confused?” I ask, wishing I could see him and glad that I can’t at the same time. “You’re the Master. Everything is supposed to be clear to you.”

  “And I thought it would be. I saw you in your little shop and decided I had to have you,” he murmurs. “Now…now I’m not so sure.”

  “What are you unsure about, Master?” I hear the doubt in his voice and I wonder what he could be talking about.

  “How to explain,” he muses. “This chain I have between your breasts—it binds you both with pain and pleasure.”

  “Yes…” I hold my breath, waiting for him to tug it again but he doesn’t.

  “What would you think if I told you I feel a similar binding between us?” he asks. “A connection both fragile and beautiful. And when you pull against it—as you seem to love to do…” Now he tugs the gold chain, making me moan. “When you do that, it affects me Emma. Affects me with emotional intensity equal to the physical intensity you feel when I pull on yours.”

  “I-I don’t mean to pull against it,” I protest. “I’m just…not used to this. Not used to submitting.”

  “And I am not used to feeling,” he murmurs, so low I almost don’t catch the words.

  “What?” I say, hoping to hear more.

  “Nothing.” He withdraws his hand from my cheek. “It’s time for dessert now. You’ll be glad to know that for this course I will remove your blindfold.”

  I blink as the lighted room comes into view. Aiden is sitting across from me, still dressed in his immaculate gray suit, though he has removed the jacket and loosened his tie. He looks like a man just home from a hard day at the office and I wonder what kind of business he runs. He passes for human very well and he can go out in daylight. Is he working somewhere in downtown Tampa, mixing with human colleagues who have no idea of his true nature?

  The thought sends a shiver down my spine. It would be like working with a wolf or a mountain lion and having no idea until it was too late. Still, Aiden James seems much too civilized to prey on his coworkers, whomever they might be. Maybe he’s the CEO and doesn’t have to deal with them very much—that would fit his cool, remote personality to a T.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asks, looking at me closely.

  “You, Master,” I blurt before I think. I clear my throat, my cheeks getting hot. “I, uh, was just wondering where your office is. Where you work from.”

  “I own a company with offices in downtown Tampa, if you really want to know,” he says. “Most of my employees are in a separate building from the one that houses my office.” He gives me a rare smile, baring those sharp white fangs it’s so easy to forget about until they’re staring you right in the face.

  I bite my lip and look down. He must know I was thinking about him snacking on his workers. Was it a lucky guess or can he see into my thoughts somehow?

  “Your face is very easy to read,” he remarks.

  “That’s what Lexy says too,” I say. “Uh, my cousin.”

  “The one you were talking to today on the phone?” He raises an eyebrow at me and I blush.

  “Well, yes. Are you monitoring my phone calls?” I demand.

  “I could if I wished but no. I do, however, take note of when my telephone or computer has been used.”

  “You can’t cut me off from the outside world forever,” I protest. “I have a life, you know. Maybe not a very exciting one but—”

  “What do you most want?” he says. “Ask, Emma. I can’t promise to give it to you but I won’t be angry with you for asking.”

  “To talk to my cousin,” I say at once. “Maybe go out with her for lunch sometime. Or have her over here?” I make this a question because I’m not sure about asking to have people over to his house.

  Aiden frowns. “Yes to the first request—you may talk to her as much as you like on the phone. As to having her here, I am a very private man.”

  “I understand,” I say quickly but he raises a hand to stop me.

  “But, I understand the female need for companionship.” He sighs. “You may have her over as long as you’re willing to see her while you’re dressed in the way I see fit.”

  “You mean I can’t take off the harness when she comes over,” I say flatly and Aiden nods.

  “Exactly. I need you to wear it for a certain number of hours during the day. It serves to open you and also to remind you of me.” He looks at me intently. “I never want to be far from your thoughts, Emma. You are never far from mine.”

  I look down, unable to stand the intensity of his gaze. “Don’t worry,” I mumble. “I-I think of you a lot too. I can’t help it.”

  He smiles and strokes my bare thigh until I shiver. “I’m glad to hear that.”

  “What about my class?” I ask in a rush, my heart pounding. “Can I contact my professor? When can I go back? My final exam is coming up soon and—”

  “No classes, not yet.” He frowns. “It’s not safe.”

  “Not safe?” I frown back at him. “I’ve been going all semester with no problem. I mean, I know it’s a night class but—”

  “You didn’t belong to me before,” he interrupts me, frowning sternly. “I’m sorry to tell you this, Emma, but as the new Sovereign I have many enemies who would be happy to do to you what they couldn’t do to me.” He sighs. “Besides, you’re not nearly through with your training yet. And…”

  “And what?” I prompt him impatiently.

  He looks at me thoughtfully. “And I’m not ready to share you yet,” he murmurs at last. “The bond between us is still too fresh—too new. I need you here, where I can nurture it. And protect you.”

  “Protect me and keep me all to yourself, you mean,” I say snappishly.

  “Exactly.” He’s perfectly calm about it, as though it’s not a big deal for him to keep me confined in his home. “Now then.” He claps his hands. “Let’s have no more unpleasantness. You can contact your professors and ask to do the assignments from here. If they give you problems about it, let me know. I can be very…persuasivewhen I have to.” For a moment his gray eyes flash silver and I shiver.

  “All right,” I whisper, though inside I’m still upset. Am I going to be kept a prisoner here in his house this entire year? It’s very confusing to be so attracted to a man who is also a vampire and my captor. I must have the worst case of Stockholm Syndrome ever because I can’t help wanting to please him, can’t help craving his touch…

  Before I can dwell on the problem too much, Aiden rings a tiny silver bell and calls for Barnes to bring out dessert.

  It turns out to be banana coins—slices of banana wrapped in some sweet pastry and fried until they’re crispy on the outside and meltingly soft and sweet on the inside—with a scoop of coconut ice cream on top. The entire concoction comes in a little porcelain bowl with a matching pitcher filled with golden honey sauce on the side. Aiden drizzles a little bit of it over the dessert before spooning up one of the slices and a generous amount of ice cream. He holds it out to me.

  “Be careful, darling. The inside is going to be extremely hot but the ice cream should keep it f