The Gilded Chain

“What?” he asked, smiling back at her. It was so easy to smile around her.

Callie raised her head and she smiled even brighter. “It’s like when we first met. You and Fe

Wes laughed, holding her gaze. “Only this time, we fought over you, not my sister.”

“You were fighting over me?” The genuine surprise on her face was irritating.

“Callie, you are worth fighting for.” If only she’d understand he meant more than a bout of fisticuffs.

“You have to stop saying things like that,” she murmured as she raised an antiseptic cloth to his bleeding lip.

It stung like a lash of a whip to skin. He knew that particular sensation only too well because he’d had to spend a year learning how to operate a whip before the other doms had deemed him safe to use it on a sub. There had been plenty of mishaps and the pain he’d given himself was a sharp reminder that a dom must know his instruments in and out before he could use them on a sub.

“Don’t be such a baby,” she chastised and reached for his knuckles, which were covered in scrapes and red marks that would likely turn purple in a few hours.

“Me? A baby? Why you little—” He stole the first-aid kit from her lap and dropped it to the ground and then tackled her back on the soft leather couch, pi

“I missed you last night,” she whispered, a shy glimmer in her eyes as she ducked her head, seeming too embarrassed to admit this and face him at the same time.

Her comment pleased him. She missed him. There had been plenty of women in his life who had uttered such words, but none had meant them, none but Callie. Deception and mind games were not in her nature, and he loved that about her. As much as he liked games, he preferred them in bed. Being with Callie, however, was freeing. He could be himself, a person he’d spent so many years trying to protect from his parents and others who would try to use him.

“I’m sorry, darling. I had something important to work on. Tonight I promise I’ll come to bed.” He gri

“Hang on,” he growled and leaped up from the couch and hastily stalked over to the study door to lock it before returning to the couch.

He lifted her up and sat back down on the couch, her body straddling his. With a swift rip, he tore open her fla

“Damn, Callie. I’m sorry, I can’t wait.” His need was too strong.

He shifted her off his lap, pushed her stomach first against the back cushion of the couch, then unzipped his trousers and freed his erection. When he braced his knees on either side of her from behind, she dropped her head forward onto her folded arms. Wes didn’t wait. He yanked her jeans down past her thighs and ripped her cotton panties clean off her body. A quick brush of his fingers between her slit came back wet. She was ready for him. More than ready. He reached around, holding her still by the waist while his other hand guided his shaft to her entrance. When he thrust deep and hard, she hissed and threw her head back.

“Wes!” she said and whimpered, but the way she shoved her hips back told him it was from pleasure not pain.

“Fuck, that’s good,” he growled against her neck as he gave into his need to possess her.

Have to mark her, show her and the world she’s mine. Only mine. He sank his teeth into the back of her neck in a gentle but firm love bite, leaving a mark on her skin as he sucked on the tender flesh. Soon he would put a collar on her neck, a permanent mark of his ownership, a chain to bind her to him. What a surprise it would be! He would have laughed but the little sounds of pleasure she was making drove him over the edge and he pi

“Holy hell,” Callie said and breathed out after he’d removed his hand. She dropped her chin onto the top of the couch, and he could see her face in profile as she tried to catch her breath. A kittenish smile, drowsy, sexy, and adorable, curved her lips and he twitched inside her. Her i

“Hell? More like heaven,” Wes corrected as he curled his arms around her, embracing her from behind, and rolled his hips, coaxing a little moan and a husky laugh from her.

“You’re go

There had never been such a strong sense of pleasure with any other woman before. When he was with Callie, it was like his past encounters were shades, mere flickering shadows or echoes of this wild, explosive, all-consuming need to be with Callie and no other. What he couldn’t understand was why? Why her? Not that he was complaining, but he always knew his own motives, and this obsession with Callie was puzzling. Wanting her was dangerous on more than one front.

Her emotions, so easily turned to love, could deepen and he’d run the risk of hurting her when this affair ended. Not that he wanted it to end, but all things ended at some point, didn’t they? Lust didn’t last forever. His parents’ desire for each other hadn’t. That dark thought brought him up short. His parents had been passionate with each other, but things had turned south quickly. How did that old poem go? Nothing gold can stay?

He hugged Callie tight for a moment longer, hating the fact that someday they’d go their separate ways and some other man would touch her, kiss her, take her to all the places he wouldn’t get the chance to.

“Come on,” he urged gently as he withdrew from her. He pulled a handkerchief from his trousers and cleaned them up before they straightened their clothes.

“You destroyed my underwear?” The ripped cotton panties dangled from one of her elegant fingertips and a mocking scowl twitched into a quick smile.

“A hazard of being sexy, darling. None of your panties are safe.” He raised his hands into a mock monster pose as though he had claws and he gnashed his teeth together in an audible bite.

Callie burst out laughing, just as he desired. He didn’t know where the urge to be silly came from, but she brought out a soft, fu

“Are you up for a polo match tomorrow morning?”

Callie nodded. “Yes, definitely.” Her eyes glittered with a new life he hadn’t seen since he’d first met her in Colorado. The woman loved horses, belonged on the back of one. He’d almost forgotten that when they’d been in Paris. She must miss her ranch and her horse. He knew she’d been homesick but she had seemed to recover. That didn’t mean she didn’t still miss riding. It didn’t sit well with him that she might be unhappy. He’d have to change that first thing tomorrow.