Free Training the Dom by Christine d'Abo

I’ve accomplished since then.
    But my body remembered what Gareth had done to me. My traitorous skin prickled at the memory of his hands on it, the bite and sting in the muscles as he’d land spanks against my ass. My pussy clenched, longing to feel his cock press back into my core one more.
    I stopped at the sight of his car. I couldn’t do this and come out the other end whole. “I’m going to wait for a cab.”
    “Liz.” Gareth pinched the bridge of his nose. His shoulders tensed as he turned to face me. “I didn’t want to do this in public, but I will.”
    “Do what?” I knew there was only a short list of things he wouldn’t do.
    “This.”
    My body wouldn’t move as he took the three steps to close the distance between us. I’d forgotten how much taller he was than me, how much I loved the look of his unshaven face. Gareth leaned down, slow enough to project what he was about to do. His mouth brushed against mine, setting the skin on fire.
    “I’ve missed you and I’m sorry.” His whispered words were punctuated with a light kiss. “I hate myself for what I did to you.”
    “Why?” Why did you do it? Why did you leave? Why in hell are we standing here at one in the morning?
    “You were right. I’d been hiding. I was scared if I moved on that it would be as if I didn’t love Rachael anymore.”
    I pulled my head back, but didn’t move away.
    Gareth closed his eyes. “The two of you would have gotten along famously. She was so much fun, loved to tease me, tease anyone. One minute she was there laughing at me, and the next they told me she was gone.”
    And I’d been completely oblivious to the fact that he’d been still grieving. I thought he’d simply been too scared to move on. “I’m sorry.”
    “You have no reason to be.” He kissed my forehead, before moving away. “Do you mind if we take this to the car?”
    The night air was growing chilly, but that wasn’t what had me agreeing and following him. Gareth opened the passenger door for me and stepped back to let me in. One look at him and I knew that wasn’t going to work. I reached past him and opened the back door, sliding across the seat to the far side.
    “What are you doing?” He leaned in and frowned at me.
    “Just come back here so we can talk.”
    The moment the door shut, I felt the change in the air. Gareth took up a generous part of the back, his head nearly touching the ceiling. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed being next to him.
    Dammit, I still loved him.
    He looked over at me and placed his hand on my leg. “This okay?”
    “Yeah. Look, I’m the one who should be sorry. I didn’t give any thought to your feelings. I certainly shouldn’t have said what I did, heat of the moment or not.”
    Gareth pushed his glasses up his nose as he struggled to speak. Finally he took them off and placed them behind him by the window. “I’ve been angry for a long time. When Rachael was first killed, I spent more time drunk than sober. She would have been so pissed if she’d seen me that way.”
    “Is that why you stopped?”
    “No. I’d ended up in the hospital after falling down the stairs drunk. I’d been lucky not to have broken my neck. After than I knew I had put the bottle down and smarten up. But I swore that if I couldn’t have her, then I’d do everything in my power to stay true to her.”
    “You must have loved her very much.” I couldn’t imagine giving that kind of devotion to someone, let alone be on the receiving end.
    God, I was such a liar. The three weeks since he’d walked out had shown me that if nothing else, Gareth would always have a piece of my heart, even if I didn’t have his. I would always love him.
    “She was the first woman who encouraged my Dom tendencies in the bedroom. She’d read up on positions, techniques, encouraged me to try things. She wasn’t afraid of anything.”
    I imagined it was the same as being in love for the first time. That rush you feel at first when