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  Joe lifted her head in shock, her crying coming to an abrupt end. Even Vince was surprised to hear the authoritative quality in his friend’s voice.

  “Unless you want the belt,” he warned.

  “Nathan,” Vince began, but stopped when Nathan held up his hand.

  “It’s the only way she’ll get over this,” he insisted. “Joe, you want to get through this like the woman I think you are, or do you want to chicken out and stop now?”

  Vince looked at Joe, fully expecting her to slug them both. At the very least, he thought she would yell and scream. Instead, she bowed her head and nodded. Slowly, she reached around her neck and unzipped her dress. Taking a deep breath, she let the soft material flow over her shoulders and puddle on the floor around her feet.

  “Turn around,” Nathan commanded.

  Vince watched in shocked fascination as Joe meekly complied with Nathan’s order.

  “Oh, baby,” Vince whispered, his eyes drawn to the wrinkled, scarred skin covering her left shoulder blade and back.

  “Good girl,” Nathan praised her quietly.

  Vince felt nothing but admiration for his friend.

  Nathan placed his hand on Vince’s shoulder and squeezed before slipping out the back door.

  Chapter Eight

  Love Shot

  1 part whisky

  1 part amaretto

  1 part cola

  Mix in a shot glass.

  Joe trembled. She had heard Nathan’s footsteps and the soft sound of the back door closing. His simple praise encouraged her, but still, she feared Vincent’s reaction. She had been shocked by all three of them tonight. Her ass stung like hell, and she knew sitting would prove difficult for a day or two. Perhaps what had shocked her most, however, was the dampness running down her thighs. With each blow Nathan had inflicted, her arousal had risen and her resolve had weakened. She actually wanted to be told what to do, to be spanked, to be forced to reveal her secret. Now, fear crept up her spine as she waited for Vincent’s acceptance or denial.

  She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt Vincent’s hand touch her shoulder. She moaned when his tongue followed, anointing every wrinkle of her marred skin. No one, ever, had touched her in such a way. Still, she ached for his words.

  He reached between her legs, gently pushing apart her thighs, forcing her to widen her stance. He dipped in his fingers, touching her honey. Suddenly, he pulled away. She gasped and tried to turn towards him.

  “Don’t move,” he commanded, his voice carrying authority, his hand resting on her damaged skin.

  Quickly, she again faced the bar, tears of frustration and fear forming.

  “Do you know what I see?” he asked.

  Not trusting herself to answer, she shook her head.

  “I see the path of courage and a river of pain.” He kissed the top of her shoulder. “A trail of beauty and suffering and strength.”

  She trembled, feeling one finger follow the hills and valleys of the scar tissue.

  Again, he kissed her neck, worked his way down her spine. She felt herself tremble again, this time from pleasure. He pushed on her back, forcing her to lean over a table, her ass in the air. He continued his downward path, his tongue finding her dripping slit. Joe tipped her head back, her eyes closed. His mouth and tongue were so warm, so soft. He lapped up her juices, his clever tongue entering her pleasure tunnel. She could stand no more. Wave after wave crashed over her as stars exploded before her closed eyes. She heard a woman screaming and realised it was her. Just as she was catching her breath, she heard Vincent’s low growl. Before she could adjust herself, he had both his hands on her shoulders, holding her in place when she would have stood.

  “Stay put. I need to get a condom on,” he instructed. Quickly, her found the foil packet, ripped it open and unrolled the protective latex over his shaft.

  He entered her. Not gently, not harshly. He entered her with the determination of a man marking his woman. His momentum pushed her hips into the rough, wooden table. She stood on her toes, meeting him thrust for thrust. He moved his hands beneath her, grasping, squeezing her breasts, laying his head against her neck. No longer was she a bartender. No longer was she a woman of responsibilities, no longer was she a scarred victim. Her world spun around her, and she became A Woman. That was all, and that was glorious. She became A Woman conscious only of pleasing the man she loved, bending her will to his, offering her body, her soul for his pleasure.

  His fingers dug into her breasts, and his pounding lifted her feet from the floor. Her mind spun wildly, completing her journey of joy as he shot his hot seed into the condom deep inside her womb. Completely satiated, he remained in place, his slowly shrinking rod encased within her warmth, his breathing ragged.

  When she felt his heartbeat become even, he pulled out of her. Gently, he touched her shoulder, signalling her to face him.

  “Joe,” he said softly. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever known.”

  Her heart clenched, and the tears that had threatened flowed freely.

  He held her to him, “No, baby. Don’t cry. You must know I’ve fallen in love with you. Your scars, your past. They don’t matter other than to add to your mystique, your beauty, your strength. I love you, Joe. All of you.”

  “Vincent,” she whispered into his chest. She didn’t know what to say. Her heart was so full, she thought it might burst. She tried to speak, to tell him everything, but couldn’t. Finally, she blurted out, “I love you, too.”

  Vincent smiled his big, happy grin, but Joe wasn’t satisfied. She needed to show him how much she loved him. Looking up at him, she slowly sank to her knees.

  “I am a strong-minded woman, and I have never submitted to anything like I did tonight,” she began.

  “Joe,” Vincent interrupted, a frown appearing on his face.

  She reached up and placed a finger over his lips.

  “Please, let me finish.”

  He nodded.

  “I was terrified. Not because of the spanking, but because deep within me, I knew I’d show you the scars. I knew you’d see them. I was terrified you would be repulsed.”

  Vincent shook his head and opened his mouth to respond, but Joe rushed on.

  “But you weren’t. Neither you nor Nathan. You accepted me, loved me, dominated me. I’ve never experienced anything like I did tonight, and I’ve never been so excited.” She rubbed her cheek against his thigh, amazed at herself but also, finally, feeling accepted.

  “Vincent, thank you,” she stated before removing the condom and beginning to clean him with her tongue.

  She heard his quick intake of breath and felt his hand on her head. She tasted his pungent juices clinging to his semi-hard manhood. Cupping his balls in her hand, she pulled him into her mouth, sucking, savouring, devouring him. Next, she began on his inner thighs. They also tasted tangy, this time from her juices. She licked them clean then continued down each leg, finally resting her head on his feet. Vincent bent down, lifting her arms so she again knelt before him.

  “Joe, do you doubt that I love you?” he asked.

  “No,” she answered without hesitation.

  “Did you enjoy being dominated?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you feel threatened?”

  “No.”

  “Would you be my submissive?” he asked, lifting her chin so he could look at her face.

  Would she? Was this what she wanted? Before she could begin to think logically, her heart answered.

  “Yes, “she stated strongly.

  Vincent smiled at her, bent down and kissed her gently.

  “In that case, go to bed, Little Joe. I have a lot to think about and arrange. If you’re serious about this, remain naked in your apartment until I come to you,” he commanded.

  Joe nodded, stood and kissed his chest. He turned her towards the door, slapped her red arse to get her moving. Boldly, she walked up the back stairs completely naked and exposed to the night air. She
entered her apartment and quietly shut the door behind her.

  Leaning against it, she wondered what she had gotten herself into.

  Chapter Nine

  Bad Boy Shot

  ½ oz. vodka

  ½ oz peach schnapps

  Shake with ice then strain into shot glass.

  Hours later, Joe sat at her kitchen table nursing a mug of hot, sweet tea. Shortly after she had come up the stairs last night, more like early this morning, Vincent had stridden in. Together, they agreed to several conditions of their new relationship.

  First, Joe was to continue working as a bartender. Vincent had made it clear he did not in any way want to control her entire life, just her sex life. Joe grinned, remembering how he had intimated that Nathan might well become a third partner on occasion. Her heart beat just a bit faster, envisioning Nathan’s swarthy good looks. Still, any time she felt uncomfortable, she was to tell Vincent. They would either talk through it or stop things completely.

  Joe wiggled on the wooden kitchen chair, her bottom still sensitive, her pussy nearly raw and her thigh muscles sore. She smiled to herself. She’d never felt more satisfied.

  Suddenly, the blaring of her phone interrupted her happy thoughts.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Aunt Joe?” a tiny little voice sounded.

  Joe’s heart stopped. From the sound of his voice, Cain was crying.

  “Hey, baby. What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice softening.

  “I was bad again, and Grammie and Pa said I had to call and tell you. They said I’d be lucky if you ever wanted to see me again,” he sobbed.

  Joe shook her head. What awful thing could a little boy have done that warranted such harshness? Not for the first time, Joe wondered how such selfish, cold hearted people could have raised such a compassionate daughter as Sarah.

  “Cain, calm down. I love you, I will always love you. We’ll work through whatever has happened, so just tell me what you did,” she encouraged.

  She heard sniffing for a while and Grammie’s stern voice mumbling in the background.

  “I runned away from home,” Cain admitted.

  Joe’s heart nearly stopped. “Why? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” A million terrifying images rushed into her head.

  “I just wanted to see you, but I got lost. I’m sorry,” he sobbed.

  “Oh, baby. Don’t cry. I’ll come see you soon. I promise,” she assured him.

  “Yes, I’ve heard that before,” Mrs. Hett’s cool voice answered.

  “Mrs. Hett.” Joe took a deep breath, still hearing Cain crying in to background. “Let me assure you that as soon as I can afford a bigger place to live, I will arrange for custody of Cain, just as I promised Sarah.”

  “And when, exactly, will that be?” the woman harshly demanded. “Because I never agreed to raise this child.”

  Joe gritted her teeth. “I’m very well aware of that. Please, if you would just put Cain back on, I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Fine.”

  “Aunt Joey?” Cain snuffled into the phone.

  “Hey, Big Shot. I need you to do something for me. Okay?”

  “Sure,” he answered.

  “This is really important, so I really want you to try hard,” Joe encouraged.

  “I’ll try.”

  “You’ve got to promise not to run away again. Grammie gets worried when you do that, and so do I.”

  “But I miss you.”

  Joe heard the crack in his voice.

  “I miss you, too, Cain. How about if I come up to see you next weekend?” she suggested.

  Immediately, Cain brightened. “Can we go to the swimming pool?”

  “Oh, Cain, of course we can. We’ll stay at the big hotel and swim every day! Then we can cuddle up on the big bed and watch movies together. ”

  “Yippee!” he shouted.

  “I have to go, now, but remember, I love you.” She pressed a kiss into the phone before hanging up.

  Standing to take her empty mug to the sink, she slammed into a man’s chest. She screamed, dropping the mug. It shattered as it hit the linoleum.

  “Oh my God! Vincent! You scared me to death.” She put her hand on her heart to stop the erratic pounding.

  “Who’s Cain?” he demanded.

  “What?” she asked, disoriented.

  “On the phone, you said you loved some guy named Cain.” He crossed his arms and glared at her. “Come on, Joe. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since you said you loved me, and now you’re mooning over some other guy?”

  Joe’s blue eyes turned to ice. “I don’t ‘moon’ over Cain, you moron. I fell in love with him almost six years ago, on the day he was born.”

  Vincent’s mouth dropped open, and Joe felt some gratification to see the red creeping into his cheeks. Joe retrieved a dust pan and broom from the linen closet and began to clean up the mess.

  “Joe, I didn’t know. I just assumed,” he babbled.

  “Yeah.” She whirled towards him, shaking the broom handle. “You assumed that I was a slut.”

  “No.” He backed up, his hands in front of him trying to block her. “I’ve never heard you mention Cain before. I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

  Indignant, Joe finished with the cleanup and slammed the broken ceramic pieces into the rubbish.

  Whirling to face him, she felt tears form in her eyes. “And so you thought the worst of me, didn’t you? Let me tell you something, buster.” She poked a finger at his chest. “That little boy means more to me than anything else in this world. The only reason I came to St. Louis was for him. He needs a fresh start.”

  “What?” Vincent asked.

  Joe saw the confusion on his face and sighed. She felt the anger seeping out of her. He deserved to know.

  “Sit down, Vincent. You ready to hear my life story?”

  Vincent nodded warily and sat down at her little table, directly across from her. Joe took a deep breath and told him everything.

  She told him how she and Sarah had grown up together. Sarah’s parents had never approved of Joe, who came from the wrong side of the tracks. They both worked for the state, and Mr. Hett had inherited a fortune from his family’s coal mining business. Joe’s parentage simply did not stand up under scrutiny. None of that had mattered to Sarah, though. She had calmly told her parents that Joe was her best friend, always would be, and if they didn’t like it, they could just go fuck themselves.

  Eventually, the two girls had rented an apartment together. Sarah had met the love of her life, or so she thought at the time. When the bastard found out she was pregnant, he’d cut out of town, and Sarah had never heard from him again. Her parents were livid. They had disowned her, but Sarah hadn’t cared. When Cain had come along, Joe had changed her work schedule to days so Sarah could work nights. That way, one of them was always with the baby.

  Joe clasped her hands tightly before continuing. “Then, three years ago, I lost my best friend, and Cain lost his mother.”

  Vincent sat silently. She appreciated that. If he had made a move to comfort her then, she would have broken down.

  “Sarah wasn’t feeling well. She had cramps and a headache, so she called in sick at work. I went out when I got off for a drink with my boyfriend at the time. When I got home, it was obvious Sarah had been crying. She’d just spoken with her mother who had told her once again how disappointed she was in Sarah. We talked for a bit before I went to bed. I woke up around two in the morning.

  “The smoke detector was buzzing, and I smelled the smoke. I heard the crackling of the flames. I jumped up, didn’t even think about what I was doing and ran to Cain’s room, grabbed him, wrapped his blankets around him. I cradled him in my left arm and dropped to the floor so I could crawl out of the building. The whole place was filling up with smoke, and I could barely see where I was going. Cain was screaming, and I knew I had to get him out of there. I almost made it to the door when the ceiling collapsed on me.”

  She
heard Vincent suck in his breath, but continued her story.

  “I don’t remember much after that. The next thing I knew, I was in the hospital in the burn unit. Cain, thank God, had escaped injury of any kind. Apparently, a fire fighter pushed open the door right as the ceiling fell, and he got us both out of there pretty quickly.”

  “Oh, baby,” Vincent whispered.

  “Sarah didn’t make it. She had lit a candle then fallen asleep. Later, we found out the candle had ignited the curtains, and that’s what started the fire. I stayed in the hospital for months while they did skin grafts on my shoulder. I was lucky. Nothing vital was hit, and after several months of physical therapy I regained full use of my left arm.” She ran a hand through her hair and looked directly into Vincent’s kind eyes. “Despite that, I was a mess mentally. My parents suggested I move back in with them, which I did. I helped out in the bar when I could. Finally, I went to a psychologist who really helped me work through things.

  “Sarah had written a new will that made me guardian of Cain under the condition that I was financially stable. Until then, Mr. and Mrs. Hett have custody of him. They were good with that for a while. I guess they truly mourned their daughter. But now Cain is asserting some independence, plus they want to travel again, not be saddled with an active little boy.” Joe reached out and touched Vincent’s hand.

  “I just couldn’t stand being in Springfield any longer, though. Too many memories. I figured a fresh start would be good for me and Cain both. So, as soon as I can financially swing it, I’m going to rent a bigger place in a good neighbourhood close to a good school, and then Cain will come live with me.”

  There it was. Now Vincent knew everything. Not only was she damaged, but she had a child to think of, as well. Silently, Joe prayed she hadn’t lost him.

  She should have known better.

  “So, what time next Saturday do we leave for Springfield?” he quietly asked.

  Chapter Ten