Page 70 of Surrender
I grind my teeth together with annoyance. I know he’s right. Him driving makes the most sense, but I don’t like that he didn’t ask. He’s just telling me. He’s commanding me. He’s kind of been commanding me all night, and it’s really getting on my nerves.
Not wanting to cause a scene, I bite my tongue and walk over to the other side of the car. Gareth tries to open the door for me, but I push him away and do it myself.
As soon as both our doors are closed and we’re concealed in the silence of the dark vehicle, I turn on him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“What do you mean?” he asks, adjusting the driver’s seat and putting the key in the ignition.
“In there…In front of Hobo and Brandi. Were you trying to show off?”
“Show off?” he barks, one hand resting on the wheel even though he hasn’t started the car yet.
I turn in my seat to face him more fully. “Yeah, you manipulated the whole scene to get me to go to the awards gala with you.”
“I wasn’t being manipulative. I just think it’ll be a great opportunity for you.”
“But it’s my decision. Not yours!” I exclaim, leaning in closer to him. Even in my state of frustration, I can’t help but want to be close to him. He smells too damn good. “What is this, Gareth? You want me to be in control, but the minute we’re caught in public together, you fucking flip on me like a switch.”
His eyes are severe on mine. “I didn’t flip on you.”
“The hell you didn’t!” I peal. “What’s going on? Am I still in control here or not?”
“In the bedroom, yes,” he grinds through clenched teeth and reaches down to turn over the key.
“But not in front of your friends,” I bark unattractively and face forward with a laugh. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming. You’re not surrendering your control. You’re topping from the bottom. You’ve been topping me this whole time!”
“That’s utter bollocks!” he roars and hits the heel of his hand on the wheel. “When we get back to my place, I’ll let you do whatever the bloody hell you want to me. You can fucking whip me if you think that’s what I deserve, and it will turn you on because that’s what turns me on. But when we are out in public, I absolutely refuse to let you miss opportunities because we agreed to fuck each other a certain way.”
“Well, it would have been nice if you had warned me.”
“Why?” he asks. “Because then you wouldn’t go out in public with me? That’s bullshit, Sloan, and you know it.”
“I don’t know what I know,” I growl. I feel like a petulant child, but I also feel a bit out of whack because of what’s happening between us.
Gareth’s warm hand grips my arm. When I refuse to look at him, he reaches over the centre console and clasps my face in his hands, forcing me to do so. “Sloan, in case you need reminding, I get off on surrendering to you.” He pauses and stares down at my lips, his nostrils flaring as he husks out, “I even get off on pissing you off because I know it’s only going to add to what you do to me later. Fuck me, I’m getting hard just thinking about it.”
I have to fight back a moan that’s traitorously clawing its way up my throat over the heated, turned-on look in his eyes. God, I want him underneath me so badly, but he’s not done.
“But you need to know that there’s a whole other side to me. A side that doesn’t submit. I’m not just one thing.”
My eyes flick back and forth between his, curiously trying to decipher him like a complicated puzzle. “So, what else are you?”
He licks his lips. “I’m my own fucking man out on the streets. That means I get pushy and assertive and I claim what I want, when I want. But behind closed doors with you in front of me, I fucking give myself to you because, bloody hell, it feels right. I can be two things. Understood?”
I fight back a gasp just as he releases me and puts the car in gear. He looks over his shoulder to back out of the parking stall as confusion envelops my entire body. Why is this so hot? Him all angry and demanding. This isn’t what I want from Gareth. I want control. I want power. I want to say when and where. I’ve been thriving on it! Finding myself with it! It has changed my life in such an elemental way. But right now, the steely firmness in his gaze is making my body hum to life.
Instead of admitting all of that—instead of apologising for yelling at him and making a scene—I purse my lips and reply, “That’s fine, but you’re going to pay for it when we get back to your place.”
The corners of his eyes crinkle with a frown, anger still ticking in his jaw muscle as he says, “I’m rock fucking hard just thinking about it.”
Gareth is spread out naked on his bed. The blue lighting from his closet casts sexy shadows on his erection, which is already at full salute from the slow strip-tease I just tortured him with.
An orange flame glows brightly against my bare breasts as I hold a pillar candle inside a clear jar. “Are you scared?” I ask, my voice revealing how turned on I am by the anticipation on his face.
His eyes rake over my naked body. “Completely.”
“Do you want me to stop?” I ask, cautiously staring back at him.
His face is resolute. “Never.”
