Page 77 of Their Domme

“Ansel…”

“You make mefeel, Liebling. You make every ounce of my self-control threaten to leave me at the drop of a hat. I will always love my late wife—”

“I would never ask you to not love her, Ansel,” I interrupted softly, my heart pounding in my chest. What was he going to say?

A hint of warmth softened his expression before it faded. “I know, and that makes you special. Most wouldn’t want to hear about her or anything… They want to act like they’re the only ones to have ever been in my life. Icouldlove you, Nicholette, despite every reason running through my mind that says I shouldn’t or can’t. You were with my brother. Hell, you’ve been with mykids…”

“Not in a relationship,” I pointed out, unsure if that would help or hurt at this point. He tugged my hair hard enough that I hissed, but he chuckled at the same time.

“You are beautiful, inside and out, Nicholette. Every damn part of you entices me to dive into you even while knowing I’ll never get back out again. But I’m an old man in a line of business that’s made for the young. My time is limited… Is that really something you want to deal with?”

My heart was in my throat. The seriousness of this conversation had taken a turn I never thought it would. When I turned to face him, he relaxed the hand in my hair, and I decided to answer without words. Not caring that Roderick was probably going to be here soon or that any one of his family or my guys could be outside the door, I kissed him. Cupping his face in my hands, I lost myself in the feel of him—his short beard that needed to be cleaned up, the hard muscles that he usually hid under suits and nice clothes. I ran my hands down and across his back, touching every scar and burn on his body that I knew very few people had ever seen. It wasn’t that Ansel cared, but I had a feeling he didn’t want to relive the stories of how he’d gotten them so he kept them covered.

I didn’t care how old Ansel was, but the idea of him not being around made my stomach turn. He was formidable in a way that made him seem invincible, like even time couldn’t touch him. When my hands came around to his new wound, he jerked and pulled away.

He moved his lips down to my throat as he pulled me toward him, positioning me to straddle his lap so I could feel the hardness of him against my sensitive pussy. Reaching down, I held him in place. I wanted to take him inside of me while he scattered kisses along my collarbone and back up my throat to my lips.

“If you want me, Ansel,” I whispered, rocking my hips to start riding him, “have me for however long we’ve got left. We both know it doesn’t matter how old someone is in this life; death could be around the next corner. So… stay. Stay with me for however long we’ve got, and we can deal with the damage later.”

If I was going to go all in, I might as well jump right into the deep end, and Ansel must have agreed. With a low growl, he kissed me again. The possessiveness in that contact made me shiver, and he urged me to ride him. We lost ourselves in each other, forging a give and take that neither one of us had expected when we first met. Wrenn had claimed I was a monster, and maybe I was, but I had found a home among them, and I had no regrets.

Another climax, then we fell back together on the bed. The only sound in the room was our breathing until Ansel shifted. “Why is Rorik coming here?”

“Something about what Maeve left me,” I told him with a shrug. “I don’t know when the others are getting back, but Oli just left, and I have no idea when he’s coming home. I just want this stalker taken care of and my brother home. Where is Joe? I need to deal with him–”

“Joe will keep until tonight or tomorrow. He won’t be going anywhere,” Ansel promised. He reached over, tracing the names on my inner thighs then moving up to Sacha’s. “They’re all marking you.”

“Possessive men,” I teased, reminding myself that I couldn’t fuck him again. “They all wanted to remind me of who I belong to. Are you planning to play along with their games, old man?”

“Is that really the nickname you’re going with?” he asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Do you have another one I should use instead?” I asked tartly, not bothering to suppress my growing smirk.

“I hope you remember who you’re dealing with, Liebling. I won’t bother carving my name into your skin… I’ll burn it into you.”

“I look forward to it,” I told him as I slowly sat up. “But I do need to clean up before Roderick gets here, or I’ll be meeting him naked. Which doesn’t bother me, but you all tend to get a bit jealous, and I’m not sure Roderick would be a fan.”

Ansel laughed and stood up. “He probably wouldn’t even bat an eye, Liebling. You’re not his type.”

Ah.Well, that made sense. I thought over a few odd reactions on his end and shook my head. I had enough on my plate that I wasn’t going to try to figure out another man I wasn’t even in a relationship with. Really, how the hell I’d ended up with so many men, I’d never know.

Ansel started the shower and pulled me in after him, ignoring my protests when he started to clean me up. Taking his time, he carefully washed me, his beard rubbing against my skin, before I took the opportunity to do the same to him.

I kept sneaking peeks at his face to make sure I didn’t cross some boundary I wasn’t aware of. The way he slowly relaxed under my attention told me not many people had taken care of him, and that knowledge made my chest ache. The broken really were attracted to each other, weren’t we?

We needed people who understood us and others who wouldn’t be afraid to break themselves just a bit more to be with us.

Alexei

Friday

Atired sigh fell from my lips as I ran a hand over my face. I was fucking exhausted. Maksim had been gone with Rhodes for the last few days, helping figure out shit with the Lords of Chaos, which meant I was burning the candle at both ends trying to run all three clubs. Wrenn, who we had started to count on, was gone, and part of me felt bad about just leaving her to bleed out and die beside her brother, but we had more important things to deal with. People like Wrenn could be replaced even if it took time for a newcomer to earn our trust.

The clubs had been thoroughly searched while we were all taking care of Nic and everything having to do with her stalker. There had been cameras all over. Offices, storerooms, the bar, the dance floor, bathrooms… They hadn’t let a single square inch of this place go unwatched.How the fuck did this asshole get into all these places?I didn’t know the answer to that, but the fact that they’d gotten into so many private areas of our businesses and homes had me worried. What had this person found out about our operations, my cousins’ business, or the MC’s deals? What the fuck had this personseen?

When Nic left, we had all been left reeling, lost in our own feelings of frustration and abandonment, while trying to figure out how to track her down. Rhodes had turned to drinking, and I… I had turned to Maksim. I’d drowned myself in the dominance he offered and the softness that had recently started to creep into his touch. At work, the compound, his place—it didn’t matter. Maksim never refused me, which meant that Nic’s stalker absolutely knew about us, and a part of me was worried about what this person would do about that.

I wasn’t ready to just come out and tell people we were together, I was too caught up in my head for that, but I was tired of denying what was between us when we were among the people I’d started thinking of as some warped kind of family.God, I’m so fucking selfish.

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