He wasn’t at all certain of what to do for Thanksgiving. A lot would depend on Jace’s reaction to his and Mia’s relationship when they told him everything this week. His parents had invited him to spend the holiday with them, and as glad as he was that they were on the road to working things out, he still felt awkward around them. Plus, he didn’t want to spend the time away from Mia. And he didn’t want to leave her alone if Jace didn’t plan to be in town for the holiday.

When they walked out of the restaurant, darkness had settled over the city, and the wet sidewalks glistened in the streetlights and the glow from the traffic lights. Mia turned up her face and laughed in delight as a snowflake swirled down and hit her on the nose.

She posed an enchanting figure in her knit cap and long coat. She spun around, hands held out as a few other flakes danced downward in a drunken spiral.

He was utterly captivated by her.

Before he lost the moment, he picked up his phone and snapped a picture of her, wanting to add it to the other photo of her that he frequently looked at. She never noticed, so absorbed was she in catching the scattered flakes.

“It’s freezing out here!” Mia exclaimed.

She ran over and burrowed into Gabe’s overcoat, her arms wrapping around his waist as she shivered from head to toe. He caught her against him, smiling at her exuberance.

“Let’s get you warm then,” he said, guiding her toward the waiting car.

They climbed into the backseat where the seat warmers had already heated the leather. Mia sank into the seat, sighing in utter delight.

“I do love modern conveniences,” she said.

He chuckled. “I’m more than happy to keep you warm.”

“Mmmm. When we get back to the apartment I’ll be more than happy to let you.”

He ran his hand up her leg and then back again to the curve of her knee. “I have plans for you when we get back, most assuredly.”

She lifted an eyebrow in interest, her eyes glowing with instant fire. “Oh?”

He smiled. “You’ll find out when we get there.”

She turned her lip down into a pout and narrowed her eyes at him. He just grinned.

Oh yes, he had plans. He was a little nervous given what he had planned, but it was important to him to replace her last memory of bondage with something sensual. Hot. Passionate. Something welcome instead of something distasteful.

He knew with enough time that he could absolutely make the experience incredible for her, but he wouldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to. He would watch her closely, and if she was afraid or uneasy, he’d stop immediately. He’d already screwed up badly with her. He had no desire to ever give her reason to doubt him again.

When they arrived at his apartment, he helped her from the car and held her hand as they rode the elevator up. Once inside, he took her coat, scarf and cap, and she rubbed her hands up and down her arms as she turned to walk into the living room.

He’d left the fireplace burning while they were gone so the living room would be plenty warm when they returned.

After removing his own coat, he followed Mia into the living room to see her standing in front of the fire.

“Stand there and undress,” he said, his voice husky with need.

She lifted her gaze and he watched for any sign of reluctance. But all he saw was trust shining back at him.

“I have a few things to get from the bedroom. Stay by the fire and keep warm. I’ll be right back.”

He strode into the bedroom and retrieved the rope, the anal plug and the vibrator from his closet. When he returned, she was silhouetted by the flames, her skin glowing from the fire.

She was so damn beautiful that she took his breath away.

When her gaze lighted on the items in his hand, her eyes widened and she looked up at him, clear question in her eyes.

Never before would he have stopped to explain himself with any other woman. They were expected to obey without question. They agreed to anything and everything he could ever wish to do when they signed the contract.

But Mia was different. He wanted her to understand. Wanted her to know what he was thinking. The very last thing he wanted was to frighten her or to make her walk away.

“I want to show you how very pleasurable this can be,” he said in a low voice. “I did it for all the wrong reasons in Paris. It wasn’t about you then, no matter what I said. It was about me and my reasons—my stupid reasons. Give me this chance, Mia. I want to show you how beautiful a woman in bondage can be. And how pleasurable I can make the experience for you. Trust me to make it perfect for you.”

Her eyes softened. “I do trust you, Gabe. Only you. No one else. It was never you I objected to. It was the other men. As long as only you are touching me, then I’m not afraid.”

God but she was so sweet. Never had anyone put so much faith in him. Not his ex-wife. Not any of the other women he’d been with. They had never looked beyond the material things he gave them. Never looked beyond his wealth and status to the man behind it all. And they’d never embraced that man.

Mia had. She accepted him. Wanted him as much as he wanted her. And she was unaffected by his wealth and power. She knew the real Gabe Hamilton and she wanted that man.

Slowly, he was learning that it was okay to let down his barriers with her and allow her to see a part of him no one ever saw. Just as she trusted him, he also trusted Mia with his most protected asset.

His heart.

He motioned her toward the large leather ottoman, and positioned her on her hands and knees. Then he began to meticulously wind the rope around her body. Underneath and over her breasts, drawing attention to the luscious mounds. Then he looped around to her back and secured her wrists together at the small of her back, while instructing her to lay her cheek against the soft leather.

After binding her hands, he stretched the rope downward and spread her thighs before looping rope around each ankle and stretching it taut between her wrists and ankles.

She was completely and utterly helpless and vulnerable to whatever he wanted to do to her. And there was a hell of a lot he wanted to do.

His cock was hard as stone and straining at his pants, but he was determined to take things slowly. He wanted her with him all the way. Wanted this to be about her and her pleasure when before it hadn’t been.

He slid his hand over the curve of her ass and lower to her silky, slick folds. He swirled his fingers teasingly around her entrance and then inserted a finger, feeling the hot clasp surround him and suck him deeper.

He removed his hand, and then took a step so he was positioned at her head. He offered her his finger to suck.

“Taste it,” he murmured. “Taste how sweet you are, Mia. And imagine it’s my cock you’re sucking.”

Hesitantly she parted her lips and he slid his finger inside, over the slight roughness of her tongue. She closed her lips around him and sucked gently as he withdrew.

As he took his hand away, he reached for the plug and the vibrator. Her eyes widened when she saw them both, and he smiled.

He applied lubricant to the plug as well as directly to her opening, and then used his fingers to ease the gel around and inside her entrance. Then he pressed the plug to the puckered opening and began to press forward, taking his time, allowing her body to slowly accept the alien sensation.

Watching her widen to accommodate the plug fascinated him, and he groaned as he imagined his dick pushing into her and stretching her opening around it. Her chest heaved with exertion, and she panted as he stretched her further and further. And then he pushed it the rest of the way in and she let out a long sigh as her body sagged onto the ottoman.

“This is only the beginning,” he said with a smile.

“I may not survive it,” she said breathlessly.

He picked up the vibrator next and turned it on high. As soon as he touched the tip to her clit, she bolted upward, her body quivering in reaction. Tied as she was, she had no choice but to take the intensely pleasurable sensations as he pressed the tip to her again, this time sliding it down the sensitive flesh to her opening.

He pushed in the barest inch and then mimicked fucking motions with shallow thrusts.

She moaned softly, and tension showed in the lines of her face.

He slid the vibrator deeper, making her gasp at the depth of penetration. She was filled completely, ass and pussy, with the plug and now the long, thick vibrator.

She began shaking from head to toe and her ass bucked upward with each thrust. She twitched and writhed until he thought she’d quake right off the ottoman.

“Gabe, please!” she begged.

“You want to come?”

She groaned. “You know I do.”

He chuckled lightly and then withdrew the vibrator before kneeling behind her to run his tongue from her clit up to her entrance.

“Oh God!” she exclaimed.

He pressed his face into the softness of her flesh and sucked her clit gently into his mouth. When he felt her tense again and the sudden wetness against his tongue as he licked his way lower, he knew she was very close to her release.

He rose, unzipped his pants and pulled out his erect cock. Positioning himself just behind her, he guided his dick to her pussy opening and plunged deeply.

She cried out. His name escaped her lips in a long, harsh hiss.

Grabbing on to her bound hands, he used them as a handle and began to fuck her with long, hard strokes.

She went liquidy soft around him, a hot sweet rush that bathed him all the way to his balls. It took everything he had not to slake his lust right then and there and come all over her. But he’d sworn this was for her, and so he’d wait. He intended to give her pleasure many more times before the evening was done.

She convulsed around him, and then every muscle in her body tensed and she went completely rigid. She let out a strangled cry and then went limp as he buried himself in her again.

He remained still, waiting for her to come down from the sharp orgasm. Then he carefully withdrew and tucked his cock back into his pants.

While he gave her a chance to catch her breath, he retrieved one of the crops from his closet. When he returned, her eyes were closed as her cheek rested against the ottoman.

He touched the crop to her ass and trailed it over the fullness of her cheeks. Her eyes came instantly open, and she sucked in her breath in anticipation.

“Do you like it when I spank you, Mia?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Does it feel good? All that sharp, edgy pain that skates a precariously close line to pleasure?”

“Yes!” she said louder.

“Tonight I’m not spanking you for punishment. I’m marking your pretty ass for no other reason than it will bring us both great pleasure. And when I’m finished reddening your sweet behind, I’m going to fuck your ass.”

She moaned, and it was a sound that fired his senses. A sound of feminine appreciation, all breathy and sweet.

He bent to carefully remove the plug, and she flinched, making another sound of pleasure as he pulled it free. After putting it away, he once more trailed the end of the crop over her behind before finally administering the first blow.

He was purposely gentle, leashing his strength so he didn’t hit her too hard. He wanted to work up to leaving the beautiful red welts that would stripe her ass. If he began too hard, she’d quickly have too much, and he wanted her begging for more, not begging him to stop.

How beautiful she was, bound hand and foot, spread before him, her hair spilling over her body and the ottoman like the darkest night sky.

The red appeared with every blow, remaining a long moment before finally receding, only to start all over again the moment he administered another strike.

She twisted restlessly, straining against her bonds, all the while arching her ass upward as if seeking and wanting more.

By the time he got to the fifteenth blow, he’d increased the strength of the swats and the red remained longer until her entire ass was aglow with a rosy bloom.

Only a few more and then he would sink into her tight ass and lose himself in the beauty of her submission.

As the smack of the next blow sounded, another sound exploded into the room.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Jace roared.

Gabe’s head jerked up, the haze surrounding him disappearing as he saw Jace and Ash standing in the foyer, the elevator doors closing behind them. Gabe had been so immersed in the scene with Mia that he’d never heard the elevator arrive. Never knew that Jace and Ash were there.

The horror on Mia’s face was a fist to Gabe’s gut.

“Oh my God, Gabe. What have you done?”

Ash’s horrified voice drifted to Gabe just as Jace lunged for him, his fist connecting with Gabe’s jaw.

Chapter thirty-eight

Gabe went flying amid Mia’s scream. He hit the floor, Jace on top of him. Jace’s expression was murderous. Fury blazed in his eyes and he punched Gabe again.

Pain exploded in Gabe’s nose, and he rolled away, but he didn’t fight Jace back. He couldn’t.

Ash was bent over Mia, his expression worried as he worked frantically to untie her. Gabe would have gone to her, would have helped, just so they could explain, but Jace loomed over Gabe, his hands grabbing at Gabe’s shirt, yanking him upward as he snarled down at him.