Free Anything for Him: Dominated (#1) by Carmen Cross

forehead, had woken up and was
muttering incoherently, Gregory and Tom were arguing heatedly and Danny and
Meghan were holding each other tightly, as if they would never let go.
     
    ~ * ~ * ~
     
    The bedroom was filled with the smell of
lilacs and jasmine. Meghan, fresh from a long soak in the tub, stood against
one wall as she had been instructed, her naked body gleaming in the moonlight
filtering through the drapes. Her eyes were heavy with desire as she watched
Danny finish his preparations. Her skin tingled and her pussy gave a moist
throb as he turned to her and beckoned.
    “Kneel,” he said as she moved to the spot
he had pointed at.
    She did, her knees sinking into the
luxurious carpeting. The sound of her heartbeat seemed abnormally loud and her
mouth felt dry, she licked her lips to compensate.
    “This means you are mine. This is more
important than a wedding ring, although I may choose to give you that one day
as well. A collar shows that you are owned, and that you are loved and wanted.
The cuffs are a smaller piece of what the collar represents. This collar, if
you accept it, means that we are bound together in ways that go beyond mere
love, beyond just being together.”
    Meghan watched as he took a small key
from his pocket. His face was solemn as he spoke again. “This unlocks the
collar I want to give to you. If you choose to keep this key, and you can, it
is your choice; you can still wear your cuffs. Your cuffs show you serve me,
and you can do that without choosing to acknowledge yourself as a submissive,
as someone who wants and needs to belong to someone who will always earn the
right to be the dominant person in this relationship.
    “However, if you choose to allow me to
keep the key, then I will place my collar around your neck. It is all up to
you.”
    He proffered the key. Meghan watched it
draw closer to her face; her eyes traced its every inch from the barrel to the
head, noting its shape, its solid form. He took her hand and pressed the key
into her palm. “Choose,” he said.
    Meghan felt dizzy and butterflies
exploded in her stomach. Everything narrowed down to just the two of them and
the tiny key that was resting in her hand. She looked up at his face, surveying
its planes and angles, imprinting it on her mind.
    She could hear the beating of her heart
under her ribs; smell the lingering scents of her bath oils. His eyes were
fastened on hers, compelling her to choose. He stood there, tall and strong in
his black silk shirt and slacks, his shoes gleaming with polish and his ebony
hair stuck through with blue highlights, and she knew he was the most
incredibly gorgeous man that she had ever seen.
    But it was more than that. He was loyal
and he protected what was his. He had forced her to a decision and truth about
her family and in the weeks following the incident he had stood beside her as
the inevitable scandal had erupted. Her parents had kept her crime spree
conviction as under wraps as possible to save themselves from public shame but
once that news reporters got wind of all that had transpired and that the
entire Lowry clan, with the exception of Meghan, were in jail on various
charges, there had been no place to hide.
    And he had not allowed her to. He had
stood right beside her and spoke to the press for her. He had issued what had
come down to a challenge to overly eager reporters and they had backed off
after that. Her family life was still being talked about in the gossip rags and
would for a long time to come as the empire that they had nearly ruined
finished the slow topple it had begun and was then set back to rights.
    They had discussed all options and it had
been decided that many of Lowry’s employees would go to work for Danny’s
various companies while financial questions and concerns were answered and
settled.
    He had been there for her during what had
been some very hard and difficult nights and she felt pure joy flowing through
her as she handed him the key