Catching Lily (Spring Training Book 2) Read online

  “Couldn’t he have erased them?”

  “Definitely. But it means he was in Miami today while the note was left on your friend’s car and your tires were slashed.”

  “The neighbor said it was a young kid who slashed the tires. Maybe Vandergriff paid someone to do both jobs?”

  “Also possible. But Detective Wright is concerned. He didn’t get a vibe from Vandergriff that he was lying. That’s why he sent me over to talk to the two of you.”

  “But most of the communication from him has been texts to my phone. How could he not be sending them himself?”

  “We aren’t sure of that, either. In addition to insisting he hasn’t once contacted you for any reason in several months, Vandergriff says he has a new girlfriend he’s been dating for a while now.”

  Lily groaned. “This is insane.”

  Dominic squeezed her leg and clasped her hand in his. “So what do we do now?”

  “We’re working on it. Wright is going to keep a close eye on Vandergriff. He told him not to leave town without informing him.”

  “And this girlfriend of his? Who is she?” Dominic asked.

  “No idea.” Detective Ward stood. “I’m sorry I don’t know more. I suggest you two keep yourselves alert. Maybe stay home for a few nights. No reason to make yourselves targets.”

  Dominic stood also. He followed Ward to the front door and let him out. “Thanks. Let us know if you hear anything else.” After Ward left, Dominic went to move his car into the garage. The last thing they needed was two cars with flat tires. Minutes later, he was back in the condo, the alarm set. Lily was no longer in the room.

  Perplexed, he headed down the hall toward the master bedroom and found her taking her clothes off, dropping them on the floor as she peeled them from her body.

  He swallowed. What was her aim? Was she in the right mind to make a consensual decision to have sex with him?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lily knew one thing—she wanted Dominic to stop staring at her with concern and pity and switch to looking at her with lust and dominance. She much preferred the latter.

  The two of them would weather this somehow. They had to. But in the meantime, if they were stuck at his condo for the night, she didn’t want to waste their time tiptoeing around worrying. If they did that, Luke won. Did that fucker think he could frighten Lily enough to keep her from having sex with her boyfriend? Because hell no.

  She didn’t look at Dominic as she dropped her bra on the growing pile and then wiggled out of her panties. Naked, she tipped her face toward the floor, turned to face the doorway where she knew he stood, and lowered to her knees. As she clasped her hands behind her back, she swallowed. Please, God. Do not let this backfire on me. It would be humiliating.

  Dominic eased across the room without a word.

  She didn’t breathe properly until he bent down to remove his shoes and tossed them aside. That was a good sign.

  Then he circled her slowly until he came back around to the front. He set his hand on top of her head and tipped it lower.

  A rush of wetness leaked out of her sex.

  He rounded behind her again, set his hands on her shoulders, and pulled them back farther. She realized he was correcting her position and almost moaned.

  When he nudged her knees wider, she complied. Her body was primed and ready. Her breasts felt heavier each passing moment. Her nipples—directly in her line of sight—were pebbled.

  Dominic stepped into the attached bathroom for a moment, and when he returned, he gathered her hair at the back of her head and twisted a band around it several times. She smiled inside. He liked to see her face. He also didn’t like her to be able to hide.

  He was going to dominate her. And in doing so, she would let her troubles go, at least for the time being.

  Fuck Luke. He could completely go fuck himself or whomever he wanted to fuck. But he was not going to fuck with her or ruin her time with Dominic.

  Her confidence boosted with every passing second.

  Dominic kneeled in front of her and lifted her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. “I can see you want this, but I need to be sure you’re making the best decision right now.”

  She nodded against his grip. “This is our thing. If we don’t have sex…” She lowered her voice and her eyes. “If I don’t submit to you, then he gets what he wants.”

  Dominic hesitated a moment and then released her. “Okay. Safeword?”

  “Red.”

  He padded across the room to the window and shut the blinds, leaving them in dim light. Not that anyone could see inside his condo at the location of that window, but it did make Lily instantly calmer.

  He made almost no noise as he moved around, heading to the closet next, and then returning. When he stepped behind her again, he crouched down and grasped her wrists, separating them.

  Before she knew what to think, something wrapped around one wrist. Soft. Not handcuffs. Nylon? And then the distinct sound of Velcro. She held her breath while he wrapped an identical item around the other wrist. Then he hooked them together and stood.

  She gave a slight tug, convincing herself her hands were indeed attached to each other. Probably she could get loose if she needed to by gripping the Velcro, but not without being obvious. And clearly he’d meant for her to keep her hands behind her.

  He hadn’t restrained her before.

  It made her heart beat faster. The idea that she couldn’t pull her hands forward if she wanted to made her arousal shoot through the roof.

  When his fingers danced across her shoulder blades, she drew them back farther instinctively, arching her chest out.

  He rounded to her front. Something was in his hand. A feather?

  Yes. He teased her nipples with it. She’d watched a man use a feather at Zodiac. It had made her wet then, and it did the same thing now.

  She sucked her stomach in when the feather tickled her belly next. Goose bumps rose on her skin everywhere. Her nipples doubled in size.

  Instead of continuing his trend and teasing her even lower, closer to her sex, he rounded behind her and tortured her butt cheeks with the barely existent touch.

  She remained as still as possible, working hard to keep from swaying. If she fell forward, she would hit her head.

  Dominic crouched behind her again. He set the feather down and grabbed her ankle to wrap it in a similar restraint as her wrists. And then the other ankle.

  For a moment, she wondered what that would do, and then she had her answer when he nudged her ankles wider and hooked a bar between them.

  She panted, trying to control her obvious reaction. In her mind she was moaning loudly, but she bit her lip to keep the sound from escaping. It wasn’t that the bar forced her knees farther apart than was comfortable. It was that the bar forced them open period.

  Dominic dragged an upholstered armchair in front of her while she tried to keep from making a sound. He grasped her neck to lower her forehead to the soft, plush seat.

  Had he realized she was about to fall forward?

  In this new position, her breasts swayed in front of her. With her arms behind her and her legs confined, she had never been so aroused. He hadn’t even touched her any place that mattered yet. And she was close to coming.

  Dominic kneeled behind her again. He set a hand on her lower back and reached between her legs with his other hand. His fingers grazed lightly over her inner thighs, stroking the thin skin up and down, but not high enough.

  Maddening.

  She wanted to scream out for him to touch her. But she knew it was a bad idea. He would do whatever he had planned. Begging would only make his timetable drag out longer.

  In fact, he was probably tempting her to beg. And it was working.

  “Good girl,” he whispered as if he read her mind. “So sexy. Spread open for me like this. Helpless… Needy… I can smell your arousal. You’re so wet, aren’t you, Lily?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He removed his hands
and eased them up her sides until he reached her breasts, jostling them so they swayed. “I love how full your tits get when you’re so aroused.” He flicked a finger from both hands over her nipples, but not long enough to give her any relief.

  She craved more. That was the point. Would he clamp them like he had before?

  He pinched them and drew them away from her body, twisting and pulling enough to bring the edge of pain. Not the sort of pain that made her truly hurt, but the sort that went straight to her sex.

  When he finally released the offended tips, they were longer and thicker. Pinker. Swollen.

  And she was so close to coming again.

  He smoothed his hands down to her waist and then lower to flatten them on her thighs. His fingers crawled slowly forward until he pulled on the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs, opening her lower lips. A draft from the room hit her wetness and made her gasp.

  “I’m going to push some metal balls into you now. Your job is to hold them inside you.”

  What?

  She writhed at the idea, jerking forward, squirming back and forth at the same time.

  He grabbed her hip, steadying her with a tight grip. “Did I say you could move?”

  “No, Sir.” Her words were barely audible. She forced herself to stop wiggling, but the thought of him pushing something inside her made her insane. The unknown. His fingers pressing into her pussy. Something foreign being left in there. What would it feel like?

  And how the hell would she keep from coming?

  “You aren’t permitted to come. If you do, I’ll leave you like this and start over. Understood?”

  She nodded subtly against the chair. “Yes, Sir.”

  “They’re called Ben Wa balls,” he told her as he pressed something large inside her. Another one followed the first. They felt huge.

  She squeezed her eyes closed and gripped her muscles to hold them.

  Dominic stroked her outer lips lightly. “That’s it. Hold on to them. But breathe.”

  She let out a gasp, not realizing she’d been holding her breath. Too many sensations fired at her at once. The cuffs. The bar. The balls. His fingers teasing her labia.

  She pursed her lips.

  “Breathe again, Lily.”

  She parted her lips and exhaled.

  “That’s a girl. Your body’s shaking. You’re working so hard to keep from coming, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, Sir,” she breathed out. The crazy thing was that her need to come had nothing to do with overstimulation. It had everything to do with the way he controlled her body.

  “Hold them inside you, Lily,” he commanded again. His hands eased up to tease her nipples, pinching, plucking, pulling. Not hard. Just the right amount.

  She gripped the balls. Were they slipping?

  After a few torturous minutes, Dominic reached between her legs and slowly pulled one of the balls out of her. It had a string attached? It hung between her swollen lips, its twin still inside her. He gave it a little push, letting it sway.

  She flinched, losing control.

  “So wet…” He picked up the loose ball and pressed it against her clit.

  She lifted her face and arched her neck. “Dominic.” If he didn’t stop, she would come.

  Suddenly, he shoved the ball back inside her and squeezed her lips together, holding them for her.

  She panted.

  “Set your head back down.” He stroked her spine with his free hand.

  When she lowered her forehead back to the chair, he reached around and touched her clit.

  She was so wet. She moaned loudly. Her pussy was full, but not full enough. She craved his cock inside her.

  “Come for me, Lily. Now.” He flicked her clit rapidly, over and over.

  She screamed as her inner walls grasped the Ben Wa balls. She fisted her hands at her back and stiffened her thighs with every pulse of her release.

  Dominic continued to stroke her until she floated back down, and then he released her clit and pulled the balls out of her. He didn’t release her ankles or wrists, however. In fact, he lifted her by the waist until she stood in front of him, her legs forced open, her hands still stretched behind her.

  From behind, he wrapped one arm around her middle to hold her up. “You’re so sexy when you let go like that. Drives me crazy. My dick is so hard right now. I’m going to explode inside you.”

  All she cared about was the promise that he intended to be inside her in the near future.

  Still holding her under her breasts, he tucked his other hand over her pussy and lifted her off the ground several inches.

  She squealed at the total loss of control.

  But it didn’t last long. He took a few strides to the edge of the bed. “Lift your knees, baby.”

  She bent her legs.

  He set her on her knees on the edge of the mattress and eased the rest of her body forward until she landed on the bed face-first, twisting her neck to rest against one cheek. Her breasts flattened on the surface. Her feet were still secured apart by the bar at the edge of the bed. Her ass was in the air.

  For a minute, Dominic’s touch disappeared. The rustling of clothing behind her told her he was undressing. Thank God. The rip of a condom wrapper followed.

  Then his hands were on her hips, and his cock thrust into her pussy with no warning. Not that she wanted or needed a warning. She was desperate for him and plenty lubricated.

  He gripped her thighs and fucked in and out of her.

  She moaned around every sway of her body, needing more. The friction was amazing after the teasing Ben Wa balls. They had seemed large at the time, but now that he was fully seated inside her, she realized they couldn’t have been very big.

  She gasped as he plunged deeper, harder, faster. The sense of being totally out of control and at the hands of Dominic made her even hornier. Every sensation was heightened by the bondage and his commands. The way his fingers gripped her. The sound of his breathing. The stiffness of his cock.

  “I’m going to come,” she mumbled, letting him know. Then she shattered around his length, squeezing him with so much pressure, her vision swam.

  Dominic came right behind her, shouting out his release while continuing to pump in and out. When he was spent, he remained inside her and leaned over her body, holding her back to his chest. His breaths came in rough pants against her neck.

  When both of them were once again breathing more normally, he lifted off her and released the four Velcro bindings.

  She stretched out across the mattress and flattened fully on her stomach, not bothering to draw her knees together. She didn’t have the energy.

  Dominic padded from the room, but returned soon. He reached between her legs and cleaned her with a warm damp cloth. Then he climbed up beside her and dragged her onto her side to spoon her from behind. His lips landed on her shoulder. “You’re amazing.”

  “You’re not so bad yourself.”

  He chuckled. “It simply sucks being stuck inside all evening with you. Makes it feel like the bad guy is winning,” he teased.

  She forced herself to smile. “Yeah. Sucks.”

  One thing was for sure—Luke Vandergriff was not winning this battle.

  Chapter Fourteen

  On Wednesday afternoon, Lily jerked her gaze up at the sound of the front door of her gallery opening. She’d been jumpy all day. Every time a customer came in, she worried, though she had no idea what she thought might happen.

  This time it was Ava. She smiled. “You okay?”

  Lily sighed, relaxing her shoulders. “Yeah. I suppose. If it weren’t for a crazy, unpredictable ex making me crawl out of my skin.”

  “I still don’t understand why the police can’t simply pick him up. It’s like you’re in prison instead of him.”

  “Trust me. I agree.”

  “How was your weekend?” Ava asked, a smile spreading across her face. “I mean, in spite of your shitty ex.”

  “It was wonderful.” Lily’s face
heated, flushing a deep red she didn’t need to see to be sure of.

  Ava set her elbows on the counter across from where Lily sat at the cash register. “Did Stephan leave?”

  “Nope.” The deeper voice behind Lily grew louder as he stepped in from the back room. “Tsk. Tsk. Do you seriously think I would leave your sister here without a chaperone while a madman is on the loose?”

  Lily rolled her eyes as Stephan came into view. He cocked a hip out, set his palm on it, and tapped one foot. Today he wore tight purple pants, a white dress shirt, and a yellow bow tie. Lily couldn’t help but love him. His hair was cropped short on the sides but hung long on top, and he often flipped it off his forehead in a practiced move.

  Ava giggled. “I should have known better. You’re right.”

  “I’m fine. But thank you both for watching out for me.”

  Stephan leaned forward, kissed Lily on the cheek, and clapped his hands. “Okay. I’m going to go now. You’ve got this, Ava?”

  Ava nodded.

  “Call me if you have any problems.” He lifted his brows and then sauntered toward the back room.

  “How could I possibly have any problems?”

  “Let’s hope you don’t, but that asshole is brazen, and I don’t get the feeling he’s done harassing you yet.”

  “I can’t believe he would continue to bother me considering how many times the cops have talked to him.” Lily was talking more to convince herself than Ava.

  “Do you think he’s got multiple personalities or something?” Ava asked.

  “No. I think he’s a dick.” Lily hopped off her chair. Her phone buzzed on the counter and she grabbed it. Dominic was supposed to arrive any minute. She had tried to talk him out of coming when she’d left him yesterday, but he wouldn’t listen.

  Dominic: Checking in. Ava with you?

  Lily smiled at the text and typed back.

  Lily: Yes, Master. I’m fine. Ava’s here. Stephan left.