Page 14 of Triple Pucked
“Confident. It’s part of the work that I’ve been doing with the mental skills coach at the arena.”
I tighten my hold on his tie. “How long have you been plotting this?”
“I’ve been planning for four months since Heine kidnapped me and locked me up here in my own fucking playroom.” D’Angelo takes a steadying breath. Charles Heine, the billionaire owner of the Bay Rebels is also an abusive sub who is in love with D’Angleo. Except he believes that love means controlling and possessing someone. “I knew then that I was going to have the whole place remodeled. So, I made sure that I did it with the people I love in mind. Our polyamorous relationship has helped me to move forward with my life. It has given me a second chance with you. Heine showed me what toxic love was and truly made me understand how healthyourlove is. I don’t want the first home that I’ve had to remind me of Heine but rather, of each one of you. If I can provide for your needs here, then I’m going to.”
His words punch the breath from me.
I stare at him, raw and vulnerable.
It means the world to me, after being trapped in a marriage for seven years to a man who never cared about my needs, to be the focus of this type of attention from D’Angelo.
It makes me feel seen in a way that I can’t shrink from.
I don’t want to anymore.
It takes a certain type of bravery, however, one that Shay effortlessly has.
I force myself to narrow my eyes, even though all I want to do is kiss this man breathless. “So, you’ve been keeping this secret for four months.”
“I’m a bad man, principessa.”
“Then I’d better punish you.”
I kiss D’Angelo, hard and bruising.
When I draw back, he murmurs against my lips, “The chance of me allowing you to top me is as high as Eden allowing anyone to mess with the order of his book collection. Just this once, however, I recommend that I should be punished more thoroughly.”
I can’t help laughing. “Power bottom.”
He growls a warning.
I yank him into a kiss by his tie.
This time, he dominates it, thrusting his tongue between my lips. I entwine my tongue with his. I groan, and my eyes flutter closed. He turns me like I weigh nothing, walking me backwards.
His silky curls brush against my cheeks.
When my back hits the wide, decorative newel post at the bottom of the staircase, D’Angelo breaks the kiss.
He rests his large hand on my hip, caressing circles; I shiver. “I waited nine years, pining and secretly in love. I ached, alone in this mansion. I threw wild parties and fetish events. Yet inside I was hollow and empty becauseyouweren’t with me. Still, all I wanted was for you to be happy. You’d chosen someone else to marry and build your life with, and I respected that. But Isuffered almost a decade filled with loneliness and pain, hidden beneath my cocky playboy mask. You’re the only woman who I have ever loved, principessa. The only one who I want to spend my life with.”
I’m mesmerized by him, held in his gaze.
He lowers his mouth closer, until his cruel lips are grazing mine on each word, which hit as accurately as he scores on the ice, cool and deliberate. “I can share you with Shay and Eden because these men each meet your needs, as Shay meets mine. But you, Robyn, are still mine.”
I reach up and tangle my hand in his hair. “And you’re mine, Jude.”
His thick eyelashes flutter when he hears his name on my lips.
It always affects him more than anything.
“I held parties as often as I could in this mansion,” he admits in the quiet like a confession, “because when I was here alone, it felt so cold and lonely that I couldn’t breathe. The truth that I’d lost you…my family…crushed my chest. It spiraled me into OCD episodes. The cocktail bar, On the Rocks, saved my life, along with the other businesses in town that are run by my friends. I always knew that I could escape into their noise, light, and laughter.”
My heart hurts. “But it was an escape.”
He nods. “I’m not running anymore. I don’t need to because I have the three of you. Finally, I want to share all of my life here in Freedom with you.”
My brow furrows. What does he mean?
