Perfect Alignment

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Emma didn’t hesitate, but turned her face to his and opened for him, accepting him in as he thrust with his tongue in rhythm with his hands, filling her in a way she’d never been filled before. With no toys, no props, and only their silly game, he’d taken full possession of her. And they were both still dressed. Her vague thoughts shattered as he twisted his fingers just so, sending her over the edge she’d been riding. She cried out his name, forcing her knees to lock so she didn’t fall out of position. She moaned as he pulled free of the kiss, her arms sagging. But he was there, pulling out of her, bringing her into his body and holding her tightly. He lowered them both to the ground, settling her into his lap as she leaned against him and practiced breathing.

Wow. That hadn’t been the biggest orgasm she’d ever had, but it certainly had been the most clothed. “That was easy,” she said, waving a hand over her still fully clothed body as explanation. She grinned.

He snorted, which she felt, more than heard, since she was leaning against him. “Easy for you.”

“Well, yeah. That’s what I meant.”

He slapped her thigh. “Brat. Is that your thing? Do you like to misbehave and drive your Doms crazy?”

“Hasn’t been my thing before, but I’m giving it new consideration,” she teased. She squeezed her thigh muscle against his hardness. “Don’t you, um, want to do something about that?” she asked, irritated that it sounded more shy than sultry.

“Who’s in charge here?” She might become addicted to that stern but teasing voice if she wasn’t careful.

“Sorry, just trying to be a good and helpful sub,” she answered primly.

“Mmm, hmm.” His fingers had started inching her dress up. “I don’t exactly carry condoms in my uniform, or leave a store of them in my barn.”

“Ah. That’s good to know.” His fingers played along the inside of her thigh, just above the knees. He took his hands away and she tensed her muscles not to move, not to chase him down.

“Feel okay to drive now?” he asked, tearing her attention from his clever fingers.

She forced a smile and nodded, hoping her uncertainty wasn’t showing. Surely he meant drive to his house, not get back on the road. Please, please, please.

He held out his hand and she took it gratefully, still a bit wobbly as he led her out of the barn and to the Mustang’s door. His thumb brushed over her lips and she was convinced he was going to kiss her goodbye and send her on her way. She pulled her shoulders back and met his eyes.

“It’s only about half a mile.” He pointed past the barn, farther up the way they’d been driving. “Go first so you’re not eating my dust.”

She nodded, afraid to open her mouth and babble out something ridiculous in her relief.

The dirt road curved gently until she could see an old ranch house. It looked freshly painted and well maintained. Not much of a garden but what was there was neat and tended.

Pulling to a stop, she parked the car and put the top up, latching it into place. She grabbed her purse and got out, breathing deeply to keep her nerves from ratcheting up to fear. The rational part of her knew that she was being unsafe, but that the chances of running into a homicidal Dom cop was much, much less likely than running into a Dom cop who was simply enjoying the unusual opportunity, as she was. If he’d wanted to harm her, he’d already had plenty of opportunity.

He took her arm and led her up the steps, quickly unlocking the door and motioning for her to enter. “Welcome to my house.”

“Thanks, it’s lovely.” It was. Masculine but not bachelor, comfortable but not rustic. He led her to the kitchen and pointed to a seat at the table. By the time she’d sat and placed her purse on the chair next to her, he’d returned with a portable phone, which he held out to her.

“Am I calling someone?” she asked.

“Don’t you think you should?” He didn’t sound bossy exactly. Just…firm. She wasn’t sure how he managed the difference, but gave him credit for it. And he was probably right. If she was going to stay with him any longer, she needed to let someone know where she was and who she was with. Which put her independent streak up, but she was adult enough to do what was smart, despite being annoyed by it. The real question was how long she might be staying.

“Fine. Thanks.” She waited, but he didn’t leave. Rolling her eyes, she turned her attention to the phone. Which was useless to her. Who remembered numbers anymore? Besides, she didn’t want to have an actual conversation. She put the handset on the table, fished her cell phone out of her purse and started typing.

“What’s your address?” she asked without looking up. She punched in what he told her, adding his phone number when he supplied that as well. “There,” she announced with a flourish, snapping the phone closed and setting it on the table.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “When did you say you’d check in?”

She opened her mouth but was interrupted by her ringing phone. When she saw Taryn’s name on the screen, she frowned. Didn’t her friend realize she’d texted instead of calling for a reason?

“Hi, Taryn.”

“Hey, girl. Caleb wants to talk to you.”

“I don’t—” She stopped talking when it became obvious Taryn hadn’t stuck around long enough to hear a response.

“Emma.”

She darted a quick look at Drew who was leaning against the counter, legs crossed, arms crossed, face impassive.

“Hi, Caleb.”

Drew narrowed his eyes at her.

“Where did you meet this guy?”

“Caleb. You’re not my father, or my brother. You’ve never interrogated me about my dates before.”

“You’ve never called to set up a safety check.”

“How do you know?”

“I asked. Who is this guy?”

“He’s a police officer. We got to talking. I’m at his house. Like I texted, I’ll call Taryn in the morning, let her know I’m safely at the hotel.”

“Three hours,” Caleb said.

“Two hours,” Drew said loudly at the same time.

“Fine!” She pushed the off button and slammed the phone down on the table, glaring at it rather than the man in front of her. Then she bit her lip. Crap, she hoped Caleb wasn’t pissed at her. Of course, she had another man to worry about at the moment. She turned to face Drew, trying to look stern.

“Look, bossing me around in the bedroom, or the barn as the case may be, is one thing. Telling me—”

She broke off when he dropped to his knees in front of her chair, pushing between her legs. He grabbed her hair in his hand and pulled her head down for a kiss. He teased and tasted, nipped and sucked, never letting her get a handle on the kiss, never letting go of the control. His fingers tightened and the tug against her scalp made her shiver. She wasn’t into pain, but this she liked. This physical manifestation of his control of her.

Relaxing, she stopped trying to chase him with her tongue, stopped trying to do anything but take, receive. He changed the kiss again, softening, the hand in her hair easing into a caress. Oh, she liked that too. She liked it all.

When he moaned and pulled back, she could only sigh. She seemed to do that a lot around Drew.

He rose, pulling her up with him, moving back only half a step. Crowding her.

“More?” he asked quietly.

She wondered if he was unsure of the answer or just being a good Dom.

“Green.”

He didn’t smile, but she would swear his eyes got hotter.

“Strip.”

She wasn’t particularly fond of being the only naked person in a room, but she wasn’t altogether unused to it, either. It was a common enough order, so she swallowed her nervousness and reached behind her to pull down the zipper of her dress. Stalling, she kicked off her sandals, then inched the skirt up until she could grasp the hem. And then she stopped. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember which underwear she’d put on that morning. Was it an old, raggedy pair, or something cute?

He raised his eyebrow at her and she bit her lip, pulling the dress up and over her head in one quick move. As soon as she was clear of the fabric, she looked down. Oh, yeah. She’d put on her peach panties and matching bra, wanting to feel pretty under the dress that she rarely wore. Normally she was in jeans or shorts, and a t-shirt or sweater. Unless she was dressed to go clubbing. But a flirty dress had seemed like the perfect thing to wear on her top-down trip to the city.

Realizing she’d taken a bit longer than she should have, she reached behind her and unhooked her bra. She quickly shucked it and dropped it to join her dress, then did the same with her panties. It was awkward, reaching down to free the underwear from her feet with the limited amount of space Drew had given her, but she managed it, bumping his chest only once.

Finally she stood before him, naked and hugely thankful that part of her pre-drive prettification had included a session with her razor. He inspected her casually, motioning with a twirl of his finger for her to turn. She did so slowly, knowing it was what he wanted.

“Any medical issues I should know about?” he asked.

“No, Sir.”

When she’d completed the turn, he motioned for her to resume her seat.

“Do you belong to a club?” he asked.

Surprised, she nodded.

“Did they do a worksheet with you? The yes, no, maybe kind of thing?”

“Yes, Sir.” She told him the club’s name when he just looked at her inquiringly.

He checked his watch. “They should be open. We’ll give them a call, see if they can fax it over. And we’ll eat lunch.”

She blinked at him. It was a good plan, certainly she preferred it to doing full negotiations verbally. And it was smart. She just wasn’t quite sure why she had to be naked for it. He was watching her process with a knowing smirk. Oh, right. He was the reason she had to be naked for it.

“Yes, Sir.”

He smiled and held his hand out to her, leading her to an office. Opening a laptop, he soon found the club’s phone number and once again placed the house phone in her hand.

The call to Apex took only a minute, someone in the office promising to fax the paperwork once she’d answered some security questions to prove her identity. The employee wished her a cheery “Have fun!” and hung up.

Drew herded her back to the kitchen. He patted the table when she would have resumed her seat on the chair. She blinked at him, but he just gave her that “I’m in charge here” look that made her wet. Which was sort of the problem.

She grimaced. “Er. Yellow. No, red. Yes, definitely red.”

He looked at her in surprise, then at the table, then back at her, clearly confused.

“Sitting naked in front of me is a problem?”

His tone was that of someone trying not to sound judgmental while he was in fact being exactly that.

“It’s the table! People eat there. I can’t—” She bit her lip, shook her head. “No. I really can’t do that. I’m sorry.” She couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away from his knees, even though she wanted to check his reaction. Finally, when he hadn’t said anything for more than a minute, she gritted her teeth and forced herself to look up.

The contorted shape of his lips suggested he was trying very hard not to laugh, which she supposed was better than anger or annoyance.

“I do have cleaning supplies,” he said.

She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “People eat there,” she said again. Really, it couldn’t be said enough. “I might eat there.”

“I see.”

“Maybe I can do it if you don’t get me horny.” She turned back to look at the table. “No. Never mind, not even then.”

“What if I put a tablecloth down?” he asked, still sounding amused.

She just shook her head.

“I was going to use a plate, not put the food directly on the tabletop.”

She shook her head again, beginning to feel like an i***t.

“So, you don’t eat breakfast in bed? No popcorn while you’re watching a movie?” he asked.

This time she just frowned at him. “It’s not the same.”

He took her face in his hands and kissed her lips. She didn’t open for him, pouting, but he didn’t press the issue. Just kissed her lips, her nose and her forehead. “Sit on the chair, hook your ankles around the legs, put your hands behind the back and hold on to the lowest rung.”

The last thing she was feeling now was sexy, but at least she could follow this order without making a bigger production out of the whole mess. She sat down and did as he’d directed, fighting the instinct to grab her clothes and make a run for it.

He gave her an approving look, which she could only guess was for her speed in following his new instructions, then began pulling items together to make sandwiches. Slowly she relaxed again. She still didn’t feel sexy anymore, but neither did she feel the need to hide her head or run for the car.

Watching him make their lunch shouldn’t have been particularly arousing. He was still fully clothed, his uniform looking slightly incomplete with the gun missing. His dirty-blond hair wasn’t even mussed and she suddenly worried about how she looked after he’d run his hands through hers. She hoped she looked sexily tousled instead of demented. It took a great deal of self-control to keep from reaching up and fussing with it, her fingers tightening on the chair rail.

She blinked back to awareness to find him watching her. She gave him a questioning look, but he just quirked his lips slightly and went back to building the sandwiches.

They remained silent except for when she asked him to leave the mustard off her sandwich, and he was soon carrying a plate with two sandwiches to the table.

“Hungry?” he asked, setting the plate down on the s*x-free table.

“Yes, Sir.”

Instead of telling her that she could let go of the chair, he held the sandwich out to her for a bite. She hesitated, then leaned in.

“College student?” he asked when she’d finished, before taking a big bite of his own sandwich.

“Yes. One more year to go at Kennington. I started late. Can I have something to drink, please?”

“Sure. Water or soda?”

“Water’s fine, thanks.” She stayed still while he retrieved a bottle from the refrigerator. It wasn’t as awkward as she feared when he carefully held the bottle to her lips, giving her a couple of swallows. He fed her another bite then resumed the conversation, asking her questions while she chewed, eating while she answered.

“What did you do between high school and college?”

“I spent a year in the Philippines with my father’s family, then a year in Mexico with my mother’s family.”

“Wow. Did you enjoy both?”

“Sure. I’d spent time in both places while growing up. I’m glad I did it. Not that I was against the idea, exactly, but I probably wouldn’t have done it if my parents hadn’t pushed. I was able to travel around with my relatives, see a lot of Asia and Central America. A bit of South America.”

“I’m impressed. I made it to Canada once, that’s about it.”

She laughed. “You should travel. It’s good for you.”

“You’re right, I should. My best friend and his wife used to visit different states during the summers. I haven’t even managed to get out of New England much.”

She told him a few of her favorite traveling stories. He finished before she did, since she was doing most of the talking. Though she felt he was listening attentively the whole time, he began to stroke her between bites. Running a finger along her collarbone, sliding a lock of her hair between two fingers, making a zigzag along her thigh with his fingernail. It was distracting, but not enough to make her fumble the stories.

“What kind of work do you do?” he asked.

“I work at a coffee shop, part-time. My parents cover the tuition, and they pay for my books, but I share an apartment with two other girls and I pay for my rent and food and stuff.”

“You’re not from around here, though.” He c****d his head and looked at her. “West Coast?”

“Bingo. California. North of San Francisco.”

“Is it hard, being away from your family?”

“Sometimes. But it’s been good for me too. I have a tendency to be The Good Girl at home. I love my parents but it’s been good to focus on who I am and who I want to be, rather than always trying to be the person that I think they want me to be.”

“They push you to be perfect?” he asked.

“Not really. I had a brother. He was the good kid. I wasn’t a bad kid, but I was more into having fun with my friends than making good grades or helping out in the family store. I thought my family was restrictive because I had a couple of friends whose parents let them get away with anything. Of course, looking back I can tell that those parents just didn’t really care and the kids weren’t as happy as I thought they were.”

She took a long drink of the water he offered and was silent for a minute. She’d never really told the story to anyone, put it into words, even for herself.

“So, even though he was the good kid, he died. He and his friends decided to get acquainted with a bottle of tequila. The parents were out of town.” She swallowed hard. “My brother never did anything by halves. Between the three of them they finished the bottle off. When his buddies woke up, he didn’t.”

He’d stopped the teasing touches and rested his palms on her thighs. She looked down, focused on the warmth of his hands, the strength of his fingers resting lightly on her legs. Even after all these years, it hurt.

“It was…huge. My world just changed, in an instant. I loved him so much, had always looked up to him and been jealous of him. He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t perfect, either. I saw how much it devastated my parents, and it just became so important to me to never disappoint them.”

“How old were you?”

“Twelve.” She gave a wry smile. “I had therapy, and understood on one level that they didn’t need or expect me to be perfect. My therapist helped me decide to go to college away from home. It was hard for my parents. They were much more okay with me staying with my family when I was out of the country than they were with me being all the way across the country by myself. But they supported my decision. And they trust me.”

She ate the last bite of sandwich. “Sorry, that got a bit heavy, didn’t it? Is it my turn to ask questions?”

He used his fingers to wipe crumbs from the corner of her mouth, then licked them clean. Then her lips. She fought to keep still, to keep her hands where they were and her lips closed, her mouth compliant. Oh, who was she kidding, her mouth rarely managed compliant. She opened her mouth and he retaliated by moving to her jaw.

A frustrated moan escaped her and she felt his lips smile against her cheek. Then he was at her ear, teasing the lobe, pulling it between his lips. She tried to turn toward him, but he bit her and stood. She watched in dumb fascination as he took the plate into the kitchen, cleaned up, winked at her and walked out of the room.