Free Her Guardian Billionaire (Forbidden First Time Romance) by Belle Chastain

dreams for us—matches that would advance the families, not our personal happiness.”
    “That’s awful.”
    “That’s wealth. Anyway, we…became involved in some heavy things. She introduced me to bondage, domination, more. She liked to be controlled, spanked, brought to the edge again and again. And the farther down that road we went, the more it turned me on. One night in the summer, she called. Said her parents had left for the city and she had a surprise for me.”
    He paused and swallowed, working his jaw before resuming the story. “I came in and she’d set up this scene—a bench with chains and ties, a flogger, a whip, a whole set of devices. I couldn’t believe it. But I just went with it, it was what she wanted, so I wanted it too. We’d worked ourselves up, me spanking her as she laid bound and gagged, ass up on this wooden bench. As she orgasmed, I entered her, fucking her harder than ever before. It was amazing. I thought I’d found the girl I was going to marry.”
    He paused and ran a hand over his face and Anna steeled herself for the rest.
    “And then her father walked in.”
    “What?”
    “That’s what I thought. There I was, balls deep in his daughter’s pussy while she laid on a bench, chained and gagged. It was horrifying.”
    James stood up and walked to the windows. “I pulled out and Bianca started screaming through the gag. When he’d gotten her free, she claimed I forced her, that I’d gotten her drunk and told her it was all a game. That I raped her.”
    Anna’s hand flew to her mouth. She knew something terrible happened in his past, but she never imagined he’d been accused of a serious crime. “Oh, James. Tell me she recanted. That she admitted she lied.”
    “I wish I could. But she didn’t. It was her word against mine. And all the evidence…”
    “But she planned it. Set it all up.”
    “Yes.”
    God, people could be so cruel . “Do you think…did she do it on purpose? To get caught?”
    James swallowed and gave a brief nod. “I think so, yes. I didn’t know it at the time, but she’d had an affair with my older brother the summer before and he’d shunned her. Taken her virginity and told all his friends what a shitty lay she was. I think it was her way to get back at the family. If she couldn’t ruin him, she’d ruin his brother.”
    “What happened?”
    “Neither family wanted to press charges—bad publicity, you know. So I was cast out. Became the black sheep. And my parents settled with the MacMillans for some outrageous sum.”
    Anna set her mug down and stood up, walking over to James. She rested her hands on his back and he sagged into the window. She couldn’t imagine how it felt—the fear and anger he’d lived with for years. The betrayal. But now she understood. “You thought I was doing the same thing. Lying to you so I could sell you out. Use you for my own gains.”
    “I’m sorry, Anna.” James turned around and she could see the hurt in his eyes and the shimmer of unshed tears. “I treated you no better than my father treated me. Jumping to conclusions, throwing you out. I don’t deserve your forgiveness.”
    “Stop.” She looked up at him and smiled through tears of her own. “I’m sorry you suffered so badly, James. I’m sorry you’ve been alone all these years—refusing to love in case you get hurt. But I promise, I’ll never intentionally hurt you. I love you too much for that.”
    James smiled and wrapped his hands around her waist, picking her up and twirling her around. “Oh, Anna. Thank god I didn’t lose you.”
    He nuzzled her neck and she let out a small laugh. “I’m sorry about your car. And the mirror…And the diamond. I was kinda mad.”
    James laughed and shook his head. “I don’t care. I’d get rid of all of this if it meant keeping you.”
    “Don’t do that! I love it here. And you know one place I especially love?”
    “Mmm. Where’s that?”
    “Your bed. How about we make up for lost time?