“Because I love her and I need to apologize and ask her to forgive me.”
There was a pause. Then came her voice. “You have nothing to apologize for. I should apologize to you.”
“No, you shouldn’t. Yes, you should have told me the full truth. But it wasn’t fair of me to blame you for Rory’s disappearance. And I should never have let you run off like that. I should have chased after you. By the way, you and I are going to have a talk about your tendency to run off. I told you I’d look for you at the hospital and I bet you knew all along that you wouldn’t be there.”
There was a pause then another male voice. “What took you so long to come after her this time?”
“Because I had to wait for my mother to come and sit with Rory. She’s terrified to be left alone. She’s asking for you, Lacey. She sees you as a hero. You’re amazing, baby. I can’t believe you stayed with her when you could have saved yourself. That you would have fought that bastard to save my sister. Lacey, I know you might not believe me, but I love you. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.”
“I kept things from you.”
“You didn’t tell me something big, something that affected your life deeply, and it hurts me that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me. But I understand. I do. We have things we need to work out. But as long as you’re with me, we can do it. Just come home, Lacey. Come on, open the door and come home.”
There was a pause and for a long moment he didn’t think she was going to let him in. He wasn’t going to give up, though. He’d fight for her for as long as it took.
Then the door opened and there she was. Looking far too pale and. The bruises around her neck had deepened, and he hated seeing them against her beautiful skin. But she was there.
She hesitated for a moment, but when he opened his arms, she flew into them.
“I love you. I’m sorry,” she told him. He could feel her shaking.
“It’s okay, baby. As long as I have you then everything is all right.”
Epilogue
She knelt on the dining room table, stark naked, her elbows and knees were tied together with rope, and her wrists were secured in front of her head. Her ass was poking up in the air. She turned her head to watch Gray, her heart soaring with love.
He sat there calmly eating his breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, and ham. Every so often he’d pick up a smaller forkful and feed it to her. But for the most part, he read the newspaper and ate. It was both frustrating and arousing.
When he was finished, he stood and took the empty plate into the kitchen. She turned her head, following him. It had been two months since she’d been taken by that asshole, Stone. The first time Gray had attempted to tie her up, she’d had a panic attack and nearly passed out. After that, he’d insisted she see a counselor. At first, she’d been resistant, but he’d been there for her through the whole thing. He hadn’t shied away, no matter whether she was having a panic attack, a nightmare, or just needed to be held and reassured. But he hadn’t attempted to tie her up or dominate her again. Until today.
When she’d woken up this morning there had been instructions written on a piece of paper on the bedside table. Her body had immediately cheered. She’d missed this. Missed him taking charge. Missed the amazing sex. Although, she probably hadn’t been ready before now, even if her body thought she was.
They’d talked about why she hadn’t told him she’d been targeted by a serial killer and his reaction. They’d spoken extensively about her feelings of failure, of being rejected. They’d spoken so much she’d actually grown sick of her own voice.
They both had emotional baggage from their families they had to sort through. Gray had told his mother that until she agreed to see a counselor he approved of then he wasn’t taking her calls anymore. She’d been seeing the counselor once a fortnight and so far, so good. Of course, Rory, the object of most of her calls was living under her roof so that could be the reason for the lack of frantic phone calls.
Her father had actually called her after hearing about her kidnapping. She’d been shocked, until she’d realised that the reason he’d made contact was because Brandi wanted to interview her for her book. Gray had taken over the call then and told her father that he’d lost the most wonderful thing in his life due to his inability to get past his own selfishness and need to blame someone else for his son’s death. Her father had hung up on him. She hadn’t heard from him since. She probably never would. It made her a bit sad, but she had her cousins. And Gray. And everyone at Black-Gray. They were her family now.
And when she grew sad, Gray held her. He loved her. Supported her. He was everything.
The instructions by the bed had said to take a bath and then dry but remain unclothed. She was to wait on the bed for him. She hadn’t had to wait long. He’d come in and gestured for her to follow him. Then he’d helped her onto the dining room table before tying her. She’d expected him to tease her, maybe spank her, definitely fuck her.
Instead, he’d made, then eaten, his breakfast.
He returned and leaning down took her lips gently with his. “So beautiful.”
She loved this man so much. She never wanted to disappoint him. Never wanted him to look at her like he had that day she’d been kidnapped. Although she was now confident she would stay and fight things out rather than run off.
He ran his hand over her back and down her ass, squeezing it then he gave it a sharp smack. She jolted.
“So naughty.”
“Naughty, Sir?”
“You’ve been teasing me,” he told her, running his finger up and down the slit of her ass. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed the tiny pieces of lingerie and the way you practically prance around the apartment naked.” He gave her ass another smack, and she groaned. God, that felt so good.
“I’m sorry, Sir. I wasn’t trying to manipulate you.”