CAN'T WAIT Box Set Read online

  “Now,” Dad says on a choked word. “You’re leaving right now.”

  I guess today is a day of firsts.

  Black clears his throat and meets my eyes head on, holding me in thrall for longer than even seems natural, sending wetness soaking into my panties. Another shiver shakes my shoulders, and fire laps at my cheeks.

  “Truck’s waiting.” Black tips his head toward the office door. “Let’s go.” As he moves from behind the desk, I catch the distinct outline of a hard-on the size of a toddler’s forearm, sending my ovaries into DEFCON 1.

  “Go on, honey.” My dad reaches over to pull the back of my neck until his lips catch the crown of my head. “I don’t want you to be here when I leave. I don’t want you to take me. I want to imagine you there. Happy and safe. I love you, Roxie. I’ll be back. But it’s time you started a life you want instead of taking care of me and mine. I’ve been selfish and stupid. I don’t know how many years I’ve got left, but I’m going to make sure I use them well. We just never know what’s around the corner, Rox. I’ve not lived the healthiest lifestyle. And I want to be a better dad to you. Or at least, better than I have been.”

  “I don’t know,” I protest, my eyes stinging. “Someone should be with you. You know, when you go in.”

  “I will, sweetheart. Ransom’s taking me. I’ll be fine. This is how I want it.” He looks at me, and all my little girl memories of this bear of a gentle giant flood back. I’m stuck between gratitude and despondence when Black clears his throat as he opens the office door.

  “Come on. Truck’s packed.” He rubs his lips together and lets out a long low breath. “I promised your dad I’d take care of you, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.” Black’s voice loses its usual flat tone. Replaced by something I swear hints at a nervous tension. He’s unflappable in even the worst situations I’ve seen him in, which have been pretty bad, so seeing the slightest chink in his armor has me about to fall off my chair.

  “Go.” Dad nods toward where Black is standing. “I had Evangeline back at the house for the last hour packing some clothes for you. Until this morning, I still wasn’t completely sure I was going to let you go. I’ve been talking to Black about it for a week. Still, I had my reservations. But he convinced me he would keep you safe. Make sure you were taken care of up there. So, I know it’s a bit of a surprise, but I hope a good one.” My father’s voice cracks, and he coughs and turns away.

  “It’s okay, Dad.” I do my best to sound reassuring, but my voice isn’t far from breaking either. I’ve taken care of my dad since my mom disappeared. Evangeline is a family friend. Helped look after me on the rare occasions Dad couldn’t.

  Dad and I’ve been together through so much, and now this. He trusted another family friend, his business manager and accountant for twenty years. That blind trust earned him eleven counts of tax evasion and fines that cleared out a huge chunk of his savings.

  Even through it all, he kept his head high. Said this was just another adventure, and we would come out on the other side stronger and better than before. I so desperately want to believe him, but I don’t.

  As I pass by Black, I dare to look into his face, breathing in his earthy scent as I always do when he’s close. Only this time, it’s different. More masculine, more primal. My belly tumbles and twists and nearly takes my legs out from under me.

  “I’m ready,” he growls on a breath as I step in front of him. “I hope you are.”

  3

  Black

  I’m hungry.

  So fucking hungry.

  The gnawing that’s eaten at me for too many years just became a ravenous beast. Pushing its way to the surface now that I’ve finally resolved to allow it. There’s no release except with her. And I need release.

  The entire three-hour drive out to the cabin, I fought the urge to pull over and take her right there in the cab of my truck. I knew this would be tough. More than tough: mind-numbing. But it’s worse.

  A thousand times worse.

  The waiting.

  The last three hours have been harder than all the years before combined. Pain jabs at me with each passing second she’s not under me.

  “I’m sorry Dad made you do this.” Her soft voice cuts the silence as we pull up to the cabin, hitting me in places I’ve tried for so long to put away. I failed miserably, every day since I met her.

  “I’m not,” I growl, centering the truck in front of the door to the cabin.

  What her dad said about me spending my time for two weeks getting improvements done was a lie, he just didn’t know it. The place has been cleaned, necessary repairs already done since the moment he told me this was even a possibility. We will be alone without interruption for as long as we need. For as long as it takes to tame her.

  To make her mine.

  She’s unaware of her fate. A fate her father set in motion two weeks ago when he came to me with his wishes. Wishes that lit the fuse for what will be a turning point in all our lives.

  He didn’t know how I would execute those wishes. He asked if I would take care of his daughter while he does his time. He said something else, and it was what I’ve been waiting for since I met her.

  I will take care of her. In ways no one can imagine.

  I reach over and pull the handle to open my door, a cooler summer breeze bringing with it the scent of the woods, mixing with her sweetness already permeating the air in the cab. My plan is in place. I’ve got to focus. I’ve got two weeks, and I just pray to God she can take it. Take me.

  Because there’s no turning back now. Not for me.

  The knowledge of how I’ve denied myself for all these years thunders inside my chest. I feel full. Under pressure. I grab her bags and head inside to settle them into the main bedroom of the cabin, leaving her to stroll around the grounds. I’m aware of just how much joy this place brings her, aware of its special place in her life. I want our new life to be part of this place too.

  The memory of the first time I was invited here, so many years ago, when I came here with her and her father, plays like a beautiful torment in my mind. Staying away from her for so long wasn’t my choice. It was out of respect for her father. He wasn’t ready. The spoken and unspoken rule in the bar was that he wouldn’t hesitate to end the life of any one of his staff who touched his daughter. That knowledge met me square in the face the first day I stepped into their lives.

  Doesn’t mean over the years I didn’t question my sanity. I’ve known she was the one since that first day, when she pranced out of the back hallway and into my soul. But there’s a code among men like us. And the man who gave me a chance, who invited me in when no one else would, deserved my loyalty—even if it meant denying myself the one and only thing that’s ever called to my spirit. Connected, somehow, to the emptiness inside of me that’s been my constant companion as far back as my memory serves.

  From the time I turned sixteen and my mother kicked me out of yet another hotel room in New Orleans so she could entertain, I’ve felt nothing. For anyone. Until years later when I ran out of gas in Hell, Michigan and decided it was a sign. And it was.

  With four words yesterday, Roxie’s dad, my friend and father figure, Malcolm, set in motion a new life for us both.

  You have my blessing.

  Seems all my forced coolness and indifference toward Roxie all these years didn’t conceal what was really boiling under the surface. He knew. And from the brief conversation yesterday, Roxie’s current runs parallel to mine. So much wasted time, but that’s neither here nor there at this point.

  At this point, it’s about not wasting one second more.

  With a quick glance around the room, I see the other preparations I requested are in place. The company I hired to clean and prepare the cabin had very specific instructions, and they’ve followed them well. You’d hardly even know that the black straps and cuffs, one attached to each of the bedposts, were there. Not unless you looked for them. Made inconspicuous with decorative flair and deft c
oncealment, a casual glance would reveal nothing of my plans. And oh, what plans. I want her willing, yes, but I also have this.

  This beast inside me.

  A beast that dreams of her fight.

  Her screams. Her defiance. Her submission to my will.

  As we dance this new dance together, revealing to the other all those secrets we’ve been hiding.

  The primal pursuit. Something that’s filled my dreams day and night for too long. Images of Roxie kneeling, dirty, begging, and yet taking every brutal force I bring with an unsung joy that binds us together. It will be unlike any force before known to me.

  Time has only heightened my fantasies. Driven spikes into my heart with her name etched upon them. Why is a question I stopped asking long ago.

  I just accept that this is how I am. And I pray to God she is who I think she is.

  My other half.

  The one who will understand and love the beast as much as the man.

  “Where are you going to sleep?” Her voice is like a leaf falling in the forest, swirling around the room. The air conditioning hums through the vents, keeping the cabin cool while lava floods my veins.

  I spin on the heel of my boot, soaking in the hidden meaning in her words. We’ve been together far too long. We know one another far too well.

  Her soft ivory skin contrasts against the richness of her mocha eyes. Lashes like black satin flutter, inducing a similar quivering in my heart. A fall of auburn hair breaks over her shoulders, hanging down and molding around the lush curves of her breasts, driving me wild.

  It’s time. There’s no more wait left in me.

  4

  Roxie

  The bedroom door slams behind me, making me jump, sending my heart into my throat.

  What is happening? Fear and exhilaration tumble through me.

  The entire drive here, Black felt different. The space in the cab of his truck felt small, enclosed, as if we were almost touching. It’s not the first time we’ve traveled together, but it felt like he was a stranger to me. I had an unnerving feeling where we were heading would end up changing things between us. It’s the first time he’s ever seemed off-balance. His breathing fast, then at times nonexistent, forcing me to hold my own for excruciating moments.

  This room isn’t a typical cabin bedroom. It’s been a part of my life since I was ten, when Dad bought the cabin. But when he let me redecorate the entire place a few years ago, I spent a year just choosing each fabric and piece of furniture. What was a sparsely decorated weekend retreat was transformed into a clean, warm space with a mixture of antiques, modern, clean lines, and shades of cream, beige, and touches of black.

  The air is always filled with the scent of the pine forest outside. The late day July sun is reflecting off the glass of the lake outside the window. But it’s my heart that is about to beat right out of my chest.

  Now we are in here, together. Black is making it very obvious something is very different. Slamming the door behind him, trapping us both in here, was intentionally symbolic. When he withdrew his keychain and I heard the solid clunk of a deadbolt, my heart jumped into my throat.

  His gaze makes my skin vibrate; he’s staring at me like a feral dog at a fresh meal, and I want to run, but I’m frozen. I shudder even as my nipples harden and my gut clenches, sending a tsunami of lust through me.

  “Will you answer one question with absolute truth?” His voice nearly knocks my knees out as he comes around to stand square in front of me. The light reflecting in his eyes shifts from sultry brown to onyx, and I struggle to stay upright.

  A whimper catches in my throat at the intensity in his voice. Suddenly, I realize all the years we’ve avoided being in this proximity to one another. How deliberate it was for us both to keep our distance, and now that tension is focused on the one question and the erotic current that is displacing all the air in the room.

  I part my lips to answer, but no sound comes. The world seems to be waiting for me, but I can’t... I stutter out a wordless noise, like prey begging for a painless death, and finally fail to form words.

  Black blinks those dark lashes over eyes that seem to have turned to obsidian fire.

  “Take a minute. There’s no rush anymore, not for me. Because your answer will determine the course of things to come. Not only for the rest of today, but the rest of my life. And yours.”

  The depth of his words finishes me off. My head begins to spin, and the bit of strength left in my knees scatters. Without thought, my hand darts out, and Black reads my mind, catching it in his and keeping me on my feet.

  I reply on a dry cough. “Yes... I’ll answer.”

  He swallows hard, our eyes as connected as the log beams that meet in the corners of this room. Each relying on the other, lest they all fall into ruin.

  “Will you accept everything from me, without question? Everything that it will take to make us who we were meant to be? Everything?”

  I glance around the room, as if looking for my answer. Everything. The inflection in that word chills my bones, but my answer is already slipping out. “Yes.”

  Whatever this is, I want it. All of it.

  The black fire in his eyes turns to something more sinister.

  “Yes.” He nods, running his free hand over the strip of hair on the top of his head as he repeats my reply on a breath.

  He moves his hand until two fingers come up to pinch my chin. “Now, remember you said that because I’m about to show you who you are to me. Who you’ve always been. But you have one out. One word that will stop it all, and nothing else.”

  Stop it all?

  He drops his hand from my chin and whispers the strange word in my ear as my belly flips and spins, then he adds on a whisper, “That’s your power, Roxie. That single word. And if you are unable to speak, give me this...” He raises his hand with three fingers in a salute, and my mind is reeling, imagining what all this means. But I nod in acknowledgment of the information he’s given.

  Unable to speak? The questions swirling around in my head make me dizzy.

  I watch as Black backs slowly away from me. He looks the same, but everything about him is different. I can’t help when my eyes drop. I see that massive erection again struggling to be contained within the denim.

  I’m panicked, but at the same time more aroused than I have ever been. I don’t know that I want him to touch me, but I can’t imagine what I will do if he doesn’t.

  He reaches the bed and takes a long look at the white linen, a sly smile creeping across his lips. The tattoos that cover his arms seem brighter, more ethereal than ever, drawing my eye as I take in every nuance of this man who’s been at the center of my life, even while he’s remained on the periphery, for so many years.

  It’s as though I’m seeing him for the first time. In HD with surround sound. I even hear his breathing from where I’m standing, my legs shaking and my tummy flipping and fluttering. The strip of hair that tops his head shines in the gleam of sunlight darting through the window. His thick beard shifting as he bites his bottom lip then releases.

  He centers his gaze back to me, folding his arms over his chest. The tendons between his wrists and elbows tighten into cables under the indigo art crawling over his skin.

  “Take off your panties.” His voice is even and low, coming out through gritted teeth.

  A desperate noise catches in my throat as Black’s eyes narrow on me. The slightest tip of his head tells me this is no joke. This is as real as the drenching wetness seeping out of me like a stream.

  This is insane.

  That is the last thought that passes through my mind before I reach down, lift my skirt and hitch my thumbs under the elastic and pull down.

  5

  Black

  “Damn.” It’s the only word I can seem to find. My chest feels constricted, my breath labored, as I view for the first time in all her glory what’s mine.

  My property, from this day forward.

  After she agreed, I lost the
man, and the beast rose fully to the surface.

  Once I began, she fought, questioned, but it only fed my need. Her body twisting as I cut off her clothes, then her kicks landed as I secured her feet in the black leather restraints and tied them to the posts on the bed.

  Watching her chest rise and fall with heavy breaths, I savor each creamy inch of her flesh shivering there, awaiting whatever comes next. After I’ve had my momentary fill of the stunning view, I rasp, “I’m taking what’s mine. You understand you are mine now, don’t you?”

  Her wide, cocoa doe eyes flash from fear to desire then back. The white silk gag lodged in her mouth begins to darken from her saliva, but her struggle and discomfort only make me more mad for her.

  More alive than I’ve ever been.

  Those full tits have swollen with lust, nipples tight. Blooms of blush covering them and working up her chest. The magnificent swell of them looking more beautiful than ever in the years of my dreams they’ve graced. I took a few minutes just admiring them as she tugged at the shackles, making her lush body jiggle and shift for my pleasure.

  But for all her vitriol and violence, she knew the power she held in the single word I gave her, and it never left her lips. The sign she could give me with her fingers never used.

  I lean back in the chair and do my best to soothe my raging cock by pressing my palm heavy over my zipper. Gripping then rubbing up and down as I shift my gaze to focus on the slick pink gash between her spread-eagle legs.

  I bring a hand to my face, squeezing over my nose and mouth. Savoring the hint of her scent that’s already gracing my fingers. “I’m deciding if I’m going to finger you, eat you, or fuck you first. They will all happen—it’s just the order I’m trying to figure out.”

  Her muffled words and how she tugs on the arm restraints bring me a smile. The gag will come off soon, that has to happen, because for us to fully engage, I need her voice.