Taming Lucinda by Normandie Alleman

Chapter 5

Cole

I knew as soon as I walked into the kitchen that I should've gone home to change.

At first, when Lucinda told me her daughter was going to spend the night with a girlfriend and she wanted me to stay for dinner, I wanted to turn her down. I wanted to make her feel the same sting of rejection that I’d felt every time she’d ignored me in front of her family.

But I couldn't do that to her. I wished I could be pettier, more vindictive, but I'd never had that in me. Forgiveness came easily, even if I didn't think the person deserved it.

Lucinda sure was trying, though. She'd catered food, and it was all set up on the table with the lights dimmed, candles flickering, soft music drifting in from a hidden speaker. She was wearing a fitted cocktail dress that stopped above her knee with a low scoop that gave a nice view of her cleavage. The white front was classy, and the black side panels accentuated all her curves in the most perfect way.

The moment I saw her, I stopped in the doorway, frozen, staring. And hating that I was wearing dirty jeans and a ripped-up t-shirt. I tried to tell her I wasn't fit for a fancy dinner, but she'd convinced me to come anyway—with only frozen pizza to go home to, it wasn't a terribly hard sell.

"What's wrong?" she asked, pulling out a bottle of wine. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Just feeling a little out of place," I said, suddenly realizing how dirty my fingernails were. I went right to the sink to try to scrub them.

"You're the guest of honor; how could you be out of place?"

I frowned, some of the dirt permanently embedded into the grooves of my callouses no matter how hard I scrubbed.

"Why did you invite me?"

Lucinda handed me a towel when I turned the water off, looking thoughtful.

"To apologize better than I did the last time," she answered, guiding me toward the table where a catered meal sat wafting delicious aromas that made my stomach growl. A long day of back-breaking labor in her garden left me with quite the appetite. But I was still wary. Still on-guard. I didn't know what Lucinda was playing at, but I knew she was a woman who was always planning something. It would be naive to think she just wanted to give me a nice meal.

"You don't need to apologize," I said. "I told you, I under—"

"No"—she cut me off—"you don't understand."

She sighed, her shoulders slumping with the kind of defeat I had never seen Lucinda take.

"Please, sit down," she said. The hint of desperation in her voice got to me. I sat and let her serve me, sipping on expensive wine, watching the warm flicker of candlelight across her elegant features. I knew she'd had some work done, but she'd done it in a tasteful way. She wasn't trying to fight aging, instead finding a way to age gracefully while still bending to the unrealistic beauty standards placed on the women in her family. Dynassy was the only one who was actually a model, but with how much the others were in magazines and blinded by paparazzi flashes, you'd never know it.

"I'm not ashamed of you," she said, making me choke on my wine while I tried to cover up my surprise. I hadn't expected her to be so blunt about it.

"No, really, I'm not," she insisted. "Don't give me that skeptical look. It's not shame, it's..." She looked away, swallowing, blinking quickly like she was fighting back tears.

"What is it?"

"Worry," she said, her voice so soft I almost didn't hear it. "My last relationship didn't go well. Or rather, it didn't end well. He cheated on me and made no attempts to hide his affair while parading around town with a woman half my age. TMZ knew I was being cheated on before I did. It was humiliating—so, yes, I'm hesitant to make our relationship known to my kids, or anyone else for that matter. I don't think I could go through all of that again so soon."

She cleared her throat, looking away again as she downed a healthy gulp of wine.

Maybe she really was fighting back tears.

Seeing Lucinda so vulnerable was unexpected. It also had the effect of breaking down my walls and making me less defensive. I'd been so wrapped up in her perceived rejection of me that I didn't even think about what she must've been going through. I didn't even think about what it must've been like to be her, to have every move scrutinized and criticized under a microscope. The pressure that she must've been under.

"I didn't realize..." I didn't have the words to tell her what I was feeling, so I reached across the table to take her hand instead, stroking the inside of her wrist with my thumb until I could see the slow spread of goose bumps marching up her arms.

"That sounds really terrible."

She nodded. Looking down at our hands, her eyes locked in place.

"It was. But that doesn't give me the right to treat you like an afterthought... You're not an afterthought, Cole."

"No?"

"Definitely not," she said, pulling away to stand. She went to the kitchen and retrieved a small gift bag from one of the cabinets.

"What's that?" I asked, frowning as she held out the bag.

"The only way I really know how to apologize," she said with a soft chuckle. "A gift... I really like you, and I don't want you to be my dirty little secret... I just need some time. It's complicated."

Inside the gift bag, under a layer of black tissue, was a slim box with gold embossed lettering. My palms were slick just holding the box, and I hadn't even seen the insanely expensive watch inside yet. Once I did, I had to fight the urge to fling it away from me like a hissing cobra.

"What's wrong? You don't like it?" she asked, a small wrinkle forming in the otherwise lineless space between her brows.

"It's not that," I told her, trying to keep my jaw off the floor.

I didn't know a ton about watches, but I'd worked with Beverly Hills types long enough to know that this gift was a couple years’ worth of salaries.

It certainly wasn't the kind of watch a guy who was up to his elbows in dirt all day ever dreamed of wearing.

"This is way too expensive, Lucinda. I don't need expensive gifts. I just want you."

"Why not both?" she asked, pushing the box back at me as I tried to hand it off.

I knew better than to try to get my way with her. She wasn't going to back down.

"Fine," I sighed, shaking my head as I slipped the watch onto my wrist. It was heavy. It felt expensive. I didn't hate it.

"I'll take your bribe, but I want you to know I have no interest in your money." Yes, technically, working for Lucinda paid my bills, but if that ever started to come between us, I could easily find employment elsewhere.

"Now, if you really want to make it up to me, I can think of a few ways that could happen..."

Lucinda's eyes sparkled across the table as she slipped a finger under the watchband, turning the tables on me to rub the sensitive spot on my wrist, right above my pulse.

"I'm all ears," she purred.

"Your daughter isn't coming back until tomorrow?"

She shook her head. "We have the place to ourselves."

"Good. There's something I've been wanting to do."

"What's that?" she asked, a quiver of nerves in her voice. Was it anticipation, or fear?

We'd done this many times before her daughter crashed the party. But we'd never revisited the power dynamic between us after that first night when I’d pinned her hands.

I wanted to do much more than that.

I wanted to make her mine.

"Give me your hands," I said, seeing the spark of excitement in her eyes. I pulled my belt off and wrapped it around her wrists, tightening it before looping it back through itself. It wouldn't hold her if she really struggled, but it was good enough to get my point across.

While tying her up had been playing on my mind a lot recently, there was something else I wanted to do even more.

I grabbed the closest suitable piece of cloth—a tea towel from the kitchen—and made a quick blindfold out of it.

"Do you trust me?"

She hesitated for a moment, eyeing the blindfold with some trepidation. That was good. I didn't want someone so eager to please that they jumped in with no regard for their own safety. Lucinda would never be that weak, though.

"What are you going to do?"

"Nothing you won't enjoy," I assured her. "We can stop any time you want."

"That doesn't answer my question," she said, frowning down at her hands.

"You didn't answer mine."

She pursed her lips but had no real argument for that. "Fine. Yes, I do."

"Good," I answered, closing the distance between us to cover her eyes with the kitchen towel.

"Now, you have to tell me what you're going to do."

She was already on edge, so she shrunk away when I first touched her. Then, as she did every time my hands were on her body, Lucinda sank into my touch. She shuddered as my fingertips skirted down her bare arms, and when I pulled away, I saw the disappointment.

I leaned in close, my lips hovering by her ear. "I thought you trusted me," I whispered, kissing down the side of her neck until she was moaning.

I loved this side of Lucinda. This sensual side, begging to be unlocked. How long had she been hiding it from herself?

"Tell me, Lucinda," I continued, kissing the other side of her neck while my hand pushed her dress up so I could rub her bare thigh. "What do you want me to do?"

Her breath caught in her throat as I moved my kisses to her shoulder, slipping the strap of her dress down until I got to the point where I'd have to unzip her.

She strained against my belt, trying to reach me. Then she groaned, leaning back against me.

"This is... You're..." she huffed, not finishing any of her sentences.

Suddenly I worried that I'd overstepped. Misread the situation.

"Do you want me to undo it?"

"No," she answered—was she pouting?

"Mmm... You might want to watch that attitude, or I'll be tempted to spank you." Just as I’d said that I slid my hand between her thighs, under her panties.

I didn't have to ask what she thought about that idea. I felt how wet it had made her.

"I think someone wants to get spanked," I said, my fingers circling her clit until her legs were trembling.

Lucinda whimpered. The strongest woman I'd ever met, melting in my hands.

It was the hottest thing I'd ever been a part of.

"Go ahead," I said, teasing her. Driving her crazy with my fingers. "Admit it. Tell me you want me to spank you."

She clenched her teeth too stubborn to give in. So I pulled my hand away.

Two could play that game.

With her hands locked up, she couldn't even reach herself to finish what I'd started, and soon as she’d realize that I saw the defeat in her shoulders.

"That's right," I said, my fingers sliding back into place. "You know it's true."

"Fine," she grumbled, her teeth still clenched. "I want you to spank me."

I was rock-hard before, but I could've cut diamonds with my cock when she’d said that.

I made quick work of looping the rest of my belt through a pair of cabinet door pulls slightly above her head. Then, while she was unable to see what I was doing, I rummaged around in her kitchen until I found the right tool for the job—a wooden spoon that made a solid thwap! when I smacked it against my hand. Solid enough to make Lucinda yelp. She squirmed in place, testing the cabinet doors. They gave a little but couldn't open since I'd looped the belt through both of them.

I smacked the spoon against my hand again, getting a feel for how much of a sting it gave off.

"Cole..." Lucinda said, her voice trembling.

Without a word, I slid my hand up the inside of her thigh, pushing her dress up and over her hips. At the first touch, she jerked like she'd been shocked, but then she relaxed into my touch, pressing against my hand, always wanting more.

I loved that about her. Her confidence to take what she’d wanted. Her experience to know what that was. I loved the layers to her. The tough, commanding version who could negotiate million-dollar deals without breaking a sweat, and this—the passionate, complex lover who kept surprising me. Under that expensive cocktail dress, she was wearing a gauzy, almost see-through thong. There was no doubt about where she'd wanted this night to go.

This wild side of hers was one of the things that had first intrigued me about her, but I'd never expected it to be so addicting.

I'd never expected her to hook me like this.

At least it seemed the feeling was mutual. She was so turned on that my fingers came away glistening with her arousal.

"You want it that bad, huh?" I asked, sliding my hand up over her tight ass, squeezing and molding it with my fingers.

"You tease," she answered, her voice teetering on a pout again.

Thwap!

The spoon connected with her perfect peachy ass with an even more satisfying sound than the practice on my hand. Lucinda yelped, her hands closing around my belt and gripping tight enough to whiten her knuckles.

There was the tiniest red spot left behind. She was expecting another blow from the spoon, but instead my fingers gently caressed the spot. The way she moaned, the way her body responded, I knew what she wanted.

"You liked that, didn't you?"

I didn't need her to answer. She was arching her back, pushing her ass toward me. She wanted more.

Thwap!I left a matching red spot on the other cheek.

"Why do I like that so much?" she asked, dismayed.

"This?" I asked, back to the first cheek.

"Yes!" she squealed, trying to move away. Instead, she wound up jiggling in front of me, inviting another spank. "Cole!"

"You love it."

She didn't argue.

I'd called her bluff and the prize was getting to spank her until her cheeks were warm and glowing. She was so revved up, she was liable to start clawing through those nice cabinets. With the blindfold, she never knew what was coming. I was on my knees, with my face pressed between her thighs, and the first swipe of my tongue made her jump nearly six inches. After the initial shock, I grabbed the backs of her thighs and held her tight against me. I loved the taste of her, and I was insanely turned on by how much she was turned on.

"Oh my—Cole," she cried out, hooking one leg over my shoulder. I lifted her other leg, so she was solely supported by me and the cabinets above.

It didn't take long to make her come on my tongue, but I had no intentions of stopping there. That was just the beginning of what I had planned for this goddess.