Free Insolence by Lex Valentine Page A

whispered
reverently as she gazed at the sapphire surrounded by diamonds.
    “No, Ains. It’s yours.” Aric took her hand, startled to find
that it trembled in his grasp. He drew her close, brushing his lips against her
temple. “Two years ago, on your thirtieth birthday, my father gave me the ring
box accompanied by the cryptic advice to ‘get with the program’. At the time, I
didn’t realize he meant for me to give you the ring. I guess he knew more about
my feelings than I did.”
    “He certainly knew about mine,” Ainsley whispered. “He’s
always known how much I love you. He kept telling me you’d realize the truth
one day.”
    Aric slipped the ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly.
Somehow he’d known it would. When he tilted her chin up to kiss her, tears ran
from the corners of her eyes. He thumbed them away, unnerved to see her cry.
She’d been a hurricane force in his life, and he couldn’t remember ever seeing
her break down into this kind of emotional display. Twice since she’d come to
Insolence that weekend, she’d shown him her tears, her vulnerability. The tears
told him more than the bowing of her head and the lowering of her eyes that she
was his.
    The kiss that sealed their commitment started slow and soft
and grew incrementally as their lips parted and their tongues tangled. Heat
seared Aric, sending spirals of lust through his body. Breaking the kiss, he
went back to the safe and pulled out a big black leather box. He set it on the
dresser and opened it, keeping his back toward Ainsley so she couldn’t see the
contents.
    “Every now and then, I design special collars,” he told her
in a matter-of-fact voice. “We’re holding a charity auction in a few weeks here
at the club and this was to be my donation, but now I have a better use for
it.”
    He turned to face her and she gasped, her eyes riveted by
the black suede collar studded with silver spikes and diamonds.
    For all that their relationship wouldn’t be a traditional
Dom/sub one, Aric still felt the need to collar her. He thought perhaps it came
from the wholly primal urge to mark her as his own. When he stepped toward her,
she dropped her eyes, her head bending elegantly, and his heart soared. He
reached out and pushed away the dark fall of hair, exposing her vulnerable
nape.
    With swift, sure movements, Aric collared the only woman he
had ever loved. This time when he lifted her chin, her eyes blazed with
passion.
    “I belong to you, Aric. I always have,” she told him boldly.
    Feeling a grin break out across his face, Aric faced the
fact that he had always belonged to her too. “There are cuffs as well,” he
teased.
    It amused him to find her wrists held out eagerly for the
soft leather cuffs with silver rings and buckles. He kissed each inner wrist
and flicked his tongue over the point where her pulse beat.
    “Later.” He laughed, taking her in his arms. “Shall we call
my dad?”
    “No,” she said, laying her head on his chest and wrapping
her arms around his waist.
    The feel of her body pressed to his sent his temperature
soaring.
    She sighed contentedly. “I’m not sure I believe it yet, so
I’m not ready to share the news.”
    This time, Aric did scoop her up into his arms, finding that
despite her height, she didn’t seem to weigh much. “I must be slipping. I can’t
remember the last time a sub didn’t believe me,” he murmured teasingly as he
carried her to the bed.
    She wound her arms around his neck and nuzzled the side of
his face. “Well, I’m just the disobedient type, you know.” She nipped the lobe
of his ear and whispered, “You’ll have to punish me for my insolence.”
    Aric laid her on the bed and covered her body with his,
admiring how she looked with his collar around her throat and his ring on her
finger. Symbols of possession. Symbols of love.
    “Oh I intend to punish you very thoroughly. Every day of
your life,” he promised, and then took her mouth in a commanding