Waiting for Me by Ava Claire

1
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    T here was a woman in my bed, who wasn’t bound or splayed out for my pleasure. Begging
     for more with her eyes; with her dripping wet sex, because a ball gag muted her words.
     There was a woman in my bed, and she wasn’t my submissive...but I felt the Dom in
     me stirring regardless. Wanting to simultaneously protect and nurture—and bring her
     to the brink of pain and pleasure.
    Melissa Foster was in my bed, and even though she wasn’t mine, in the way I required
     every woman before to be, she still made my heart skip a beat as I watched her sleep.
     My heart stammered in my chest. I could get used to this.
    I tore my eyes away, fighting to shut down that train of thought. It was a struggle
     to ignore the matter at hand. I didn’t sleep with vanilla women. And I didn’t let
     any woman, regardless of her level of kink, sleep over.
    Maybe you were waiting for the right woman .
    I should have leapt from the bed, tossing aside that ludicrous statement, along with
     the covers and the invading emotions Melissa invoked, but every breath she took stirred
     the cold blooded thing in my chest. The heart I pretended was closed off. The fact
     was I did feel, but life taught me what a mistake love could be. A mistake that once cost me
     dearly.
    I folded my arms beneath my head, watching the fan above me spin idly. I needed to
     rationalize this. Get my head on straight.
    I hadn’t violated all of my rules. She was too stubborn to admit it, but Melissa was far from vanilla.
     I knew it the moment I turned and met her gaze when I caught her peeping. Eyes so
     blue. The color of the oce—
    I rolled my eyes. This wasn’t a romance novel. Her eyes weren’t the color of the ocean.
     Her eyes were just blue. Normal and blue. But the truth was her eyes slayed me, waves
     of blue that held the most beautiful conflict I’d ever seen in my life. Eyes I’d felt
     on me, watching and wanting a few days ago. Eyes that licked every inch of my erect
     cock, but still held back—and in the moments after she realized I’d seen her moment
     of erotic vulnerability, held such disdain and outright defiance.
    My lips tilted into a smirk, remembering how I’d struggled to not pull her into my
     arms, take her then and there. For the briefest moment when she sized me up, an irrational
     streak of jealousy had cut through me. I wondered if her brusqueness was because she
     was claimed by another. But that fight was just Melissa. The sexy little blonde didn’t
     mince her words, and it made me hot with need.
    She had to be mine.
    My smile faltered. And she had been mine. Hours ago, she’d opened up for me like some beautiful flower, stretching
     its petals towards the scorching sun. I never knew that sex without the D/s element
     could be so fulfilling.
    But if I was fulfilled, why hadn’t I pushed her away and out the door like the others?
    I eased back towards her, my eyes washing over her face. So serene and calm. Skin
     glowing in the soft darkness, pretty features infinitely more so, from the slope of
     her nose and high cheekbones to the curve of her full lips. Lush, pink lips—slightly
     parted, like she was about to ask me to kiss her.
    My chest tightened apprehensively. I didn’t rush her out because I wanted her to stay.
     I wanted to wake up next to her.
    “Fuck,” I whispered. The gravity of it nailed me to the ground. Getting tangled up
     in some woman, no matter how beautiful and beguiling, was the worst possible thing
     I could do at the moment. With all the bad press Mason Enterprises had been hit with
     after the last company liquidation, my business, along with worried board members,
     needed to be my top priority. And then there was all the drama with Deli—
    My thoughts froze as Melissa stirred, luring me back to her—just in time to see her
     bite her lip. It was a tiny, unconsciously sexy action, but it made me forget everything
     except the way she’d smiled while I buried myself in her. The sounds