by Laura Kaye
“He sounds like a good Dom, then,” Cass said.
Kenna nodded. “Are you staying for our demo? We go on at ten.”
“Wow, I’d love to see that. I’ll ask Master Quinton, but I bet he won’t mind.”
They talked for a long while, the bar area getting more and more crowded around them. Kenna pointed out some of the others she’d gotten to know at the club and told hilarious stories about her nephew. They traded stories from their travels, and shared tips on where to find fun club clothes.
Every so often while they spoke, Cassia would peer back toward the bar and catch a glimpse of Master Quinton, wanting to remain aware of him in case he wanted her back on her stool again. But he was absolutely slammed every time she looked.
Finally, Master Griffin retrieved Kenna, who gave Cass a hug before she left. It made Cassia smile because she really felt like she’d found a friend, and who didn’t need that? Especially because it was always good to have someone who understood this lifestyle with whom you could talk.
Threading her way back to the bar, Cass searched for Master Quinton, but he wasn’t behind the bar. Instead, Master Wolf was there, scrambling to keep up with the orders that were coming in.
She slipped onto her stool, surprised it was still free, and wondered where her Master had gone.
After about ten minutes, Master Wolf caught sight of her sitting there and made his way down. “Master Quinton said he’ll be back in a little while.”
“Oh, is everything okay?” Cassia asked, unsure if it was appropriate for her to question.
“I think so. He has a demonstration tonight. They usually take thirty to sixty minutes, depending,” he said, matter-of-factly.
Demonstration? The word hit her like a punch to the gut. “Isn’t it Master Griffin who has the demonstration tonight?”
The Dom shrugged. “They’re both on the schedule.” Someone down the bar called his name. “Sorry, duty calls,” he said to her with a wink. “Let me know if you need anything.”
Need anything? Like maybe a heart transplant?
The room suddenly sucked in on her in a confusing, deafening swirl. Master Quinton…was still doing the demonstration? After…after…everything?
Cassia couldn’t even make it make any sense.
And as she tried, her body started freaking out. Racing heart. Shallowing breaths. Spinning room. She’d lived with panic attacks for two years, so she didn’t have to wonder what was happening.
Head down, she forced herself to breathe through it. Deep inhale. There had to be a mistake. Long exhale. There had to be some misunderstanding. Deep inhale. But wouldn’t Master Wolf know? Long exhale.
Quinton couldn’t be doing this. She shuddered, unable to get another deep inhale. He just couldn’t. Not after everything they’d said and done and shared.
She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but she was trying to hold out, to hold on, to wait for him to return and prove that he wasn’t off somewhere playing with someone else.
Nausea rolled through her at the thought. Pain squeezed her chest, from the growing anxiety, from her heart threatening to break. Part of her just couldn’t believe it, but Master Wolf had just been so matter-of-factly confident about it.
“Hey, Cass, are you okay?”
The question, coming from right in front of her, nearly made her jump. Her gaze cut up and landed on Master Wolf’s concerned face.
No, she wasn’t okay. She really, really wasn’t.
If she stayed here, she was going to cry. And if she cried, she wouldn’t be able to convince anyone that she was okay. She didn’t want to fall apart in front of all these people, and she certainly didn’t want to do or say anything that would embarrass herself, or Master Quinton.
But if he really was doing a demonstration, she couldn’t be here when it was done, when people might be talking about it or wondering, after their earlier very public display of affection, why she hadn’t been the one to do it with him.
“Um, yeah. Yes, Sir. I’m…I was sick…I guess,” she said, swallowing hard. She pressed a hand to her forehead. The next sentence that came out of her mouth wasn’t a lie. “Just starting to feel unwell again.”
He frowned, his brow coming down over a bright green gaze that locked onto the cuff on her wrist. “Maybe I should find Master Quinton,” he said, slowly, like he was trying to put together a puzzle.
A fast shake of her head, and her words spilled out in a rush. “Please don’t bother him with this. You guys are so busy in here tonight. I’ll send him a text, but can you just let him know, uh, that I had to go?”
He stared at her, and she could almost see the debate playing out across his face.
“Please, Sir?”
He gave a single nod. “Are you going to be okay getting home? Do you need a ride?”
“Oh, no,” she said, slipping off the chair. “But thank you.” With a weak attempt at a smile, Cassia finally escaped.
She barely saw the crowd or remembered leaving the building or knew how she got home.
All she knew was the fear that maybe she and Quinton weren’t everything she’d thought they were, and the pain of a heart that had already given itself away.
Sitting on her living room couch, she studied her phone, and then she finally typed out a message.
Hello, Sir. Waited for you, but started feeling unwell. Hope you have a good night.
There. Done.
Were they done?
Cassia forced a deep breath and blinked back the tears that wanted to fall. But she wasn’t letting them. Not yet.
Maybe, just maybe, there was an explanation here. Because never in a million years would she have believed that the man who licked her hand and declared that he wanted to be exclusive would go back on his word.
~~~
Quinton rolled his shoulders and tried to shake off the frustration of the confrontation he’d just broken up. He’d cut an occasionally problematic Dom off from more liquor, but still had a bad feeling in his gut about the guy’s demeanor. So about fifteen minutes after the Dom had called Quinton an asshole and wandered away from the bar, he’d gone in search of him.
He would’ve gone sooner if business hadn’t been so booming. He should’ve gone sooner.
Because he found the guy harassing a male submissive he’d played with a few times, and not taking the younger man’s no for an answer.
Quinton had tried to talk the Dom down, but the guy started getting belligerent—and then he got right up into Quinton’s grill.
Thing was, Quinton had been trying to help the sonofabitch save face in front of the sub until that moment, but that had been his line in the sand. He’d dismissed the submissive, and the Dom had lost his shit and taken a swing that had split Quinton’s cheek bone. The fucker.
Not even sure where they’d come from, Masters Kyler, Jonathan, and Cruz were suddenly there, helping Quinton bodily remove the guy from the club. He was done around here.
It felt like for-fucking-ever since he’d seen Cassia kneeling so pretty for him on the bar. And he hated how long he’d left her alone.
Swinging around the counter, his gaze searched. A bald-headed man sat in the stool Quinton had reserved for her. Frowning, he went up to where Wolf was making a trio of cocktails. “Hey, man. Sorry. You seen Cassia?”
Something flashed in his friend’s eyes. He placed the drinks in front of the customers and pulled Quinton aside. “Yeah…wait. What happened to your face?”
Quinton waved him off. “Cassia?”
Wolf’s expression was grim. “Yeah, I saw her, and I think I fucked something up.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Quinton asked, concern roiling through his gut. On top of the fight still snaking through his blood, he was right on the edge.
“Did you have a demonstration tonight?”
For a second, Quinton didn’t know what the hell Wolf was talking about, and then it was like he’d been clobbered upside the head. He hadn’t removed it from
the schedule. Quinton had gotten Griffin to replace him, but he’d never gone into the schedule and removed his name from the calendar. “Please don’t fucking tell me you told my submissive I was off playing with someone else.”
“Jesus, Q. I didn’t know. I didn’t know she was yours or that the schedule was wrong.”
“Aw, Christ,” Quinton said, a sickening tightness squeezing his gut as he looked out over the crowd. “Where is she?”
“She left. Twenty minutes ago. Said she wasn’t feeling well.” Wolf’s expression was like someone had just ran over his puppy. It wasn’t the guy’s fault. No, it was all Quinton’s. His own carelessness had caused this mess—and the likelihood that Cassia was sitting at home right now believing he was balls deep in another woman.
God, would she really believe that of him? After everything?
She’d left, hadn’t she?
“How can I make this better?” Wolf asked.
“Not your fault, and not your responsibility,” Quinton said. “This is all on me. But can you handle the rest of the night?”
“Yes. Not even a question. Go make this right.”
He was already moving. Looking at his phone, he saw her text message, and the formality of it was like a knife to the gut, cold and impersonal and capable of lots of messy damage.
As soon as he got where it was quieter, he called. Voicemail. “Damnit,” he bit out.
Quinton was desperate to get to her, to fix this, to make sure she was okay. To make sure they were okay. And to make sure she knew everything she needed to know so that something like this could never happen again.
Chapter Fourteen
Cassia wasn’t surprised when the knock finally came, but the fact that he knocked set off a little pang in her chest. He had a key, after all. Her Master would’ve used his key.
Right?
GodGodGod. This mess of feelings, this angst, this uncertainty, this pain—all of it was why she hadn’t thought she was ready for a relationship. Because she barely felt like she could stand and cross the room from the weight of it.
But she did, and then Quinton was standing in front of her.
Sexy and handsome and—
“Oh, my God, what happened to your face?” she asked. A nasty cut split open his left cheekbone, and it was already swelling and bruising around the corner of his eye.
He stepped into the apartment and closed the door. “You think I care about that when you believe I broke my word and did that demonstration?”
The question stole her breath and made her head spin. Did that mean he didn’t? “I…I…didn’t know what to believe. Actually, I thought I did know, and I tried to hang on to that, but Master Wolf was so certain.”
“Christ, Cass,” he said, coming right up to her. “With everything going on this week, I forgot to take it off the schedule. So that’s my fucking fault. And I’m sorry for not being more careful.”
“You didn’t…” Her voice was no more than a whisper as relief rushed over her like a tsunami.
“No. I didn’t. But you left,” he said, his voice stern.
She nodded and swallowed thickly. “I just…I panicked. If it was true, I couldn’t be there. I couldn’t hear people talking about it. And in public wouldn’t have been the place to speak about it with you anyway,” she said, hugging herself and ducking her chin. “I had to get out of there. I’m sorry.”
“I said we’re exclusive, Cassia.” He cupped her face in both of his hands and forced her to look at him.
“I know, Sir.” The first of her tears finally fell. From the adrenaline let-down. From the relief. From the guilt she felt at ever doubting him in the first place.
He caught the tears with his thumbs and his lips. “But what I didn’t say was this. I didn’t play with someone else—and I couldn’t play with someone else—because I’m fucking head over heels in love with you.”
After the whirlwind of emotion tonight, her brain froze, like she couldn’t quite process the words. And then they were sinking in, sinking deep, hitting her in every scared, cold, lonely place she’d ever had. And completing her.
“Oh, my God. You do?”
His eyes were dark fire. “I do. So now you know. Now you never have to doubt. I am yours and you are mine, and we are each other’s. And there’s no one else in this. Ever.”
It was exactly what she’d needed to know. “Oh, God, I am yours, Quinton. And I love you, too.”
“Fuck, that’s what I wanted to hear.” On a moan, he kissed her. He kissed her as if he could mark her with his hands and his tongue and his lips. And he could. He already had. She would never be the same.
Whispering words of love and devotion over and over, he walked her back the hallway to her bedroom. He shed their clothes piece by piece, until they were both naked and completely bare to one another.
He flattened her palm against his chest and held it there. “Yours, baby. Do you understand?”
“I do,” she whispered, so overwhelmed with love for this man.
Quinton placed his big hand against her chest. “Mine.”
“Yes,” she said. “All yours.”
He laid her out on the bed, and then he crawled up over her and reached for the drawer of the bedside table.
Cass grasped his arm. “I don’t want anything between us. Not anymore.”
“Are you sure, Cassia? I get tested regularly, and I’m clean, but we could get a new round of tests together first so you can be sure.”
Smiling, she took his face in his hands, because after everything, she needed him to know. “I trust you, Quinton. And I’m sure.”
His cock penetrated deep, skin on skin for the first time, and he gave her those life-giving, soul-healing words all over again.
“Love you, Cassia. Love you so fucking much.”
Her hips surged under him as his body and his declarations wrung pleasure out of her. “Oh, Quinton. Oh, Master. I love you, too.”
Finally, his release shook through him, and he moaned as he moved through it, giving her everything he had. She held her man in his arms, almost stunned at how joyous she felt.
They fell asleep with him still on top of her, still inside her.
And then he woke her up again, already moving inside her. Again and again, all night long, they came together. He claimed her, and she claimed him.
In the morning, they showered and dressed, and then Quinton turned to her with a nervousness she didn’t understand.
“Come with me to my house.”
She’d been dying to do that, so her answer came easily. “Okay. I’d love to see your place.”
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled into the garage of a newer apartment building downtown. The elevator took them to the tenth floor and spilled out into a small lobby with only four apartment doors. He opened one of them, and she stepped into a sleek, modern apartment filled with leather and dark-finished woods and warm accents that managed to be stylish and inviting at the same time. It had a stunning view of the harbor and a killer kitchen.
“Quinton, this is amazing,” she said, admiring the view.
He watched her walk around his space. “I’ve never liked this apartment more than I do right at this moment,” he said, giving her a little smile that seemed loaded with significance.
“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”
“Because you being here makes it feel like a home.”
She froze, because that was seriously the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. “Keep saying things like that, Quinton Ross, and you’ll never get rid of me.”
“Actually, that’s what I’m hoping,” he said, coming right up to her and making her heart trip into a sprint.
“What do you mean?” she whispered, butterflies taking up flight in her belly until she thought she might lift right off the ground.
He stared at her a long moment, as if he were debating, and then he swallowed. Hard. “Undress and kneel for me, Cassia. Right here and right now.”
~~~
&nbs
p; Quinton carried the boxes out of his bedroom and found Cassia kneeling in the middle of his living room, naked and gorgeous and absolutely everything he’d ever wanted.
He stood before her. “Look at me, please.”
She lifted her gaze, her eyes full of awareness that something significant was happening between them. And she was right. Because Quinton had never done this before. He opened the large velvet box.
He crouched before her, wanting to look her eye to eye, wanting her to know exactly what she meant to him. “Cassia, I want you as a woman, and I want you as my submissive. I want to claim all of you, and I want to give you all of me.” Glassiness suddenly shimmered in her pretty hazel eyes. “I want to care for you and cherish you and pleasure you. I want to spend my days and my nights with you. I want everything with you.”
He lifted the choker so she could see it. It had a wide, flat platinum band, and where it met at the hollow of her throat sat a large diamond heart. The store had modified the clasp so that it was shaped like a lock.
“Cassia, would you do me the honor of wearing my collar?” he asked, emotion planting a knot in his throat.
“Yes, Master. Nothing would make me happier than being yours.” She blinked as a tear fell, and laughed as her happiness bubbled over.
Coming behind her, he draped the choker around her neck, and then he secured the lock clasp. The little click sounded like forever in the making, and when he stood in front of her again, he was overwhelmed at the sight of the collar—his collar—around Cassia’s beautiful throat.
And that was only the first of his plans. The first of the ways he wanted to claim her.
“I have something else I want to give you,” he said, the mix of arousal and unusual nerves wreaking havoc with his gut. Because Quinton knew he was going fast. But apparently, that’s what happened to a man when he claimed his woman and wanted to nail down all kinds of forevers.
“You do?” she asked, awe in her voice as her fingertips traced the diamond at her throat.