Page 68 of Married to My Master

He rolled off of her and flopped onto the bed, panting with the sweet exertion. She rolled over, feeling his seed still deliciously deep inside her, and slipped inside his crooked arm. He pulled her close and kissed her again.

She lay there against his chest, breathing him in, her eyes closed. Thoughts of that overly long week from a year ago came drifting back, joined by all the time in between. And, as she thought about those dark times, and how erotic that had been in parts, she remembered.

She still had a dinner date with Ian. Her fiancé.

Sighing, Emily untangled herself from Dane's body and went to rise, a sudden pang of bittersweet regret hitting her.

This had been it. This had been the end. She reached down, pulled at the panties Dane had just ruined and sighed again, shaking her head. Same old Dane. She got up from the bed, went over to her dresser, and pulled out fresh underwear.

“What's he like?” Dane asked, as he lay there on the bed, his chest still glistening with their sex-sweat.

“Ian?” Emily asked, as she pulled her fresh underwear on. “He's safe.”

“Safe, huh?” Dane asked, chuckling. “That what you want now?”

“That's what I always wanted,” Emily corrected him as she went back around to grab her discarded bra from the floor. “He doesn't mind that I'm more successful than him, or that I make more money than he does. Not all men can be like that, be so accepting of their limitations.”

Dane frowned.

“But, he's nice,” she said, as she put her bra back on and snapped it into place. “We're going to be very happy together.”

Dane's frown deepened as he considered her words. He just shook his head, though, and didn't say anything to the contrary. Instead, he just began pulling on his clothes.

Even to her own ears, though, her assertion sounded thin and hollow. Ian was safe. He was handsome, and he was somewhat successful. He was nothing like Dane. Emily didn't know if those were all points in his favor, though. Besides, even though she was getting married to the man, she sometimes she felt like hardly saw him, with their schedules being the way it was. This was the first time in almost a week that they'd even been able to see one another.

As she finished dressing, Dane got off the bed and grabbed his clothes from around the room. He pulled them back on, dressing himself.

Sure Ian had failings, but, still, he was a better choice than Dane. She had spent the last year thinking about him and about the debt she owed to him for the scandal he'd uncovered with BioSphere. But that was all she owed him for. What they’d had before wasn't love. It was a sick fantasy world that he'd sucked her into, one caused by the situation he'd constructed around her. What kind of man would do that? And what kind of woman would fall for it?

Not Emily. That was for sure.

Soon, they both stood uncomfortably, fully-dressed in Emily's bedroom. “Guess this is it, then,” he said, his voice full of finality.

“Yes,” Emily agreed, nodding even as she fought her lower lip from trembling.

“I'll let myself out,” he replied. He turned to leave, but stopped himself at the door. Without turning around, he simply said, “Have a good life, Emily West. You deserve it.”

She watched him leave, her eyes brimming with tears. She listened to him walk down the long hallway, then into the entryway. He didn't break stride, but just opened the door and closed it behind him.

And that was it. That was the end.

God, she wanted to follow him, to be with him, to feel his beautifully hard hands on her for the rest of her life. No matter how much she looked, she'd never find a man like him again. And she knew it. The tears began to fall to her cheeks, ruining her makeup. She stuffed her knuckle in her mouth and sat down on the edge of the still-warm bed, biting her hand hard as her shoulders were wracked with sobs.

# # #

Dane

He shut the front door behind him and just closed his eyes, thinking about what an idiot he was. This was it. This was his chance at happiness. The one woman he'd ever loved was gone, and he didn't even do anything to fight for her, even when he'd just slept with her.

What was he supposed to do, though? Go back in there now? Try to ruin her life again?

Still with his eyes closed, Dane shook his head and growled deep in his chest, a hurt sound that didn't seem to do anything to assuage the ache deep inside him.

Out on the street, a car honked its horn, getting his attention.

He opened his eyes and saw that the cabby had come back for him. Dane just shook his head and headed down to the street to meet her.

“Way you looked,” she said, as he opened the cab door and slid back into the passenger seat, “was a man walking to meet a firing squad, not an old friend. Decided I should swing back around to see if you needed a ride outta here.”

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