Red streaked Jessica’s skin. “That evil bast—” Her gaze focused on a point over Beth’s right shoulder, and she choked.
Beth spun, almost colliding with Master Z.
His face showed nothing, but his silvery eyes danced with laughter. “Yes, little one, tell Beth. What did the evil bastard do?” Master Z crossed his muscular arms over his black silk shirt and waited.
After giving him a nervous look, Jessica focused on Beth. “He put me in the stockade, flipped up my skirt, and let any Dom passing by have a whack.” Her mouth tightened. “Some of them came back for seconds and thirds. I couldn’t sit down for two days.”
Remorse surged through Beth so strongly that her eyes filled. Jessica had been hurt because of her. If she—
“Oh, heavens, don’t you dare cry. It wasn’t your fault; it was mine. I have a bad habit of not being properly respectful”—Jessica gave Master Z a rueful smile—“and sometimes the evil Dom calls me on it.”
He stepped forward and brushed a kiss on top of Jessica’s head. “And the bastard enjoyed every whack you got. I will be at the bar. Come directly there when you and Beth finish talking.”
“Yes, Master.” Her eyes soft, she watched him walk away, before giving Beth a wry grin. “He enjoyed watching so much that he took me right there in the stockade, damn him.”
Beth bit her lip, remembering Jessica rarely did public scenes. “Sorry.”
“Oh, he made sure I enjoyed myself. Only that makes it more embarrassing, and he knows it.” Jessica shook her head and frowned at Beth. “Okay, now about you...”
“I’m fine. Really.” Beth looked around the room, expecting to see Sir. She’d noticed people rarely crowded him, so he should be easy to spot. “Is Master Nolan here?”
“He’s monitoring the dungeon for a while. One of the DM’s had to leave.
The disappointment bubbling up inside her strengthened Beth’s resolve to find a different Dom. And if he were busy, then she wouldn’t have to talk to him. Once he saw her with another Dom, he’d be angry enough to blow her off without her having to try to explain why she couldn’t continue with him.
Jessica’s eyes narrowed. “What are you planning?”
“Nothing that I don’t always do. Find a top for the evening. Have a little fun. Go home.” Beth kept her tone light.
“And Nolan? What about him?”
“He got me off, so that block I had is gone. Life should be good.”
“You figure he’ll agree with that?”
Beth saw a Dom at the bar give her an assessing look. She smiled, pulled her stomach in, and pushed her breasts out. “If I don’t want Nolan to top me, what can he do?”
“Nothing, I guess,” Jessica said doubtfully. “But I can tell you that underestimating the masters here can be very painful. Good luck, hon.”
“It’ll be fine. You’ll see.”
Chapter Five
Nolan strolled through the big rock-walled dungeon room, keeping an eye on the various scenes being played out. Mistress Anne had her slave manacled to the wall and was adding weights to the studded parachute ball-stretcher.
An older gay couple was using the sling, and the Dom had trussed his sub’s legs to the chains in an inventive way. Interesting. Before moving on, Nolan automatically scanned the sub. Not good. Clicking on his flashlight, he waved the beam across the floor to catch the Dom’s attention, then on the sub’s bluish hand. The Dom didn’t speak, just went to work loosening the restraints. Nolan nodded and continued circling the room.
On the far side, he stopped to watch Heath, a Dom in his mid-twenties, trying to tie Sally to the bondage table. Heath was a conscientious Dom but perhaps too nice for the mouthy trainee. From the unimpressed look on her face, Sally needed a more controlling top. She was actually instructing Heath on where to place the restraints.
Nolan smothered a smile and then shook his head. From the look on Sally’s face, she’d spend tonight provoking Heath to their mutual dissatisfaction. Not a good match there.
Relationships were relationships, whether vanilla or BDSM. All required a lot of looking before a person found someone who clicked. Maybe Dom/sub couples verbalized their requirements more openly, but searching still took time and effort. Hopefully pretty Sally would someday find a Dom who could meet her needs. Considering that her stubbornness rivaled her intelligence, she’d require one powerful Dom to master her.
He grinned, remembering the night he’d topped her. His hand had hurt by the time he’d finished spanking her. A fun evening, but as a submissive or a lover, she lacked that essential spark, at least for him.
Now with Beth... There was something compelling about the little redhead. Not the pain she’d endured, although he respected her courage in not letting it stop her. What really pulled at him was her vulnerability. She could have turned bitter and nasty to protect herself. Instead she’d built defenses to hide the softness underneath.
Formidable defenses. How the hell had he let Z talk him into taking her on? Snorting a laugh, he headed back toward the other side of the room.
Anne’s sub was sweating like a pig, so Nolan snagged a bottle of water from the back table and left it at the edge of the Domme’s scene space.
The clock read 11:30. Had Beth arrived? If so, why had she not come to find him?
Across the room, Dan appeared in the door and scoped out the area. Typical cop. The DMs here included a fair number of law enforcement types and ex-soldiers. In his usual black vest and leathers, the man crossed the room to Nolan. “Anything I should know?”
“All quiet.” Nolan nodded toward the gay couple. “Got involved and had the restraints too tight.”
“Uh-huh,” Dan said, and Nolan knew he’d monitor the couple carefully. Like most Doms, Dan was overprotective to the point of absurdity.
Nolan handed over the flashlight. He tossed his gold-trimmed vest into a cubby to pick up later and pulled on a tight, sleeveless black shirt. “You seen Beth?”
“Ah.” Dan turned his head, apparently mesmerized by Heath’s rope work. “Yeah. She’s...ah...doing a scene.”
Found another Dom, had she? Nolan’s hands closed until the knuckles cracked, and then he relaxed, amused at his own blindness. He should have anticipated something like this. He’d undermined her defenses last week, so she’d want to shore them up as hard as she could. “They got a station?”
Dan nodded.
She’d be easy enough to find. And if another Dom managed to get her to respond, more power to him. He rather doubted it would happen, not with that wary little sub.
He nodded to Dan and left the dungeon. As he walked down the long hallway of theme rooms, giggles and shrieks came from the playroom, groans from the medical room, and laughter from the office. Out in the main room, the stations near the door held two gay couples vying with each other for how long their subs could delay getting off. One of the two corner cages held a brunette with tears on her cheeks; someone had been bad.
So where was Beth? Nolan checked the roped-off areas down the right wall. No little rabbit. As he crossed the room past the bar, Cullen waggled a bottle of Corona at him.
“Thanks.” Nice and cold. Nolan took a couple of swallows. “Where is she?”
Cullen nodded to the other side of the room. “Sawhorse. Bad choice of top. He’s letting his frustration get to him.”
“Hell.” Nolan strode across the room. A small crowd watched as the beefy Dom hammered into the slender redhead restrained on the bench. Small grunts escaped Beth as the thrusting continued. Her forehead was pressed to the leather cushion, her hands clenched into fists. Just enduring.
Nolan wanted to grab the clueless Dom and shove him through the nearest wall, but that wouldn’t be right. Beth had a safe word and was obviously nowhere near subspace or too frightened to use it. Her choice.
Bad choice, as Cullen had said. Nolan looked around. On a couch beside the rope barrier, Z watched the scene, his jaw set in a rigid line. Nolan joined him.
“I find this extremely painful,” Z said.
“To watch or to feel?” Nolan asked. An open secret in the club, the Shadowlands owner was not only a psychologist, but could pick up emotions if close enough to a person.
“Both.” Z sighed, rubbed his face. “I’m trying to decide whether to tear up her membership papers right here and now or wait until I’m less angry.”
“She’s a piece of work, all right. I’m a bit pissed off myself.” He watched as the Dom climaxed, his face red with exertion, and his expression ugly with annoyance at the lackluster scene. Yanking himself out of Beth, he tossed the condom in the garbage and headed toward the paddle lying under the rope barrier. From the redness of Beth’s ass, the Dom had already used it once.
Nolan walked over to the rope. The Dom picked up the paddle and, as he straightened, his gaze met Nolan’s. Nolan shook his head and unleashed a little of his anger. “Finish. Now.”
The paddle dropped, and the man took a careful step back. As he returned to Beth, his rigid posture shouted that he wasn’t intimidated. Nolan didn’t give a shit what the Dom did to salvage his pride. Compliance was all that mattered, and the incompetent bastard was unstrapping Beth from the bench.
He rejoined Z on the couch.
“If you and Jessica keep this up, I won’t have a Dom left in the place,” Z murmured, his lips quirked in amusement.
“Don’t bullshit me. If I hadn’t stopped him, you would have.” Nolan kept his eyes on Beth. She pushed herself to her feet, face very pale. She was trembling but waved away the Dom’s half-hearted attempt to help her. The Dom glared at her and stalked away.
“She could well drive a man to drink, but I’m going to have to keep an eye on him,” Z said. “He doesn’t appear to handle frustration well.” He lifted his hand.
A trainee in loincloth and chain harness hurried over and actually knelt at Z’s feet. “Yes, Master.”
“Austin, please put up a reserved sign on the station and have Peggy clean it.”
“This one will—”
Z interrupted, leaning forward and gripping the sub’s chin. “Austin, this one prefers lower protocol be observed in the club. You don’t kneel unless the Dom indicates otherwise. And the proper response is, ‘Yes, Sir.’”
The sub actually quivered. “Yes, Sir,” he whispered. Once back on his feet, he dashed away.
Nolan snorted and returned to watching Beth as she struggled with lacing up the front of her latex dress. Everything in him wanted to help her. He diverted himself by asking Z, “Got the trainees kneeling now?”
“Heard that, did you?” Z sighed and rubbed his eyes. “His master was into very high protocol. The relationship is terminated, but Austin still has that mindset. And I am quite tired of hearing ‘this one’ every few minutes.”
“I enjoy high protocol occasionally, at least for the silence, kneeling, and lowered eyes, but not the third person bullshit.” Nolan shrugged. “To each his own.”
As Beth finished lacing her dress, he forced himself to lean back, set a boot on the coffee table, and drink his beer. A rescue on his part would only compound the problem they now had. She had to take the first step this time.
Finally finished lacing her dress, Beth pulled it straight with an effort. Her hands, her legs, hell, her whole body shook. Like a new planting in a strong wind, she felt as if she could be uprooted and blown away any moment. Her bottom and the backs of her thighs still burned from the paddling. The Dom had been very angry with her lack of response.
Her fault, she knew; it was always her fault. God, her emotions were wobbling almost as bad as her legs. Staring down at her feet, she bit her lip hard and forced back the tears. She took a long, calming breath. All right then. Time to go home. She looked up—and straight into Master Nolan’s black eyes.
Her body jerked back as if he’d hit her, her breath exploding from her lungs.
He was right there. On the couch. He’d watched the awful scene. Oh, God. She wanted to run from the room, from the club, and never come back.
He didn’t move. And then he tilted his head, lifted his eyebrows slightly in a way that said she hadn’t lost everything with this horrible mistake...if she had the courage to acknowledge she’d been wrong.
She could, for once, actually read his expression. Her hands curved into fists, pulling at the new cuts where she’d gouged her fingernails into her palms. She couldn’t move. If she went to him now, her decision would be voluntary, not coerced by Master Z’s threats. This time Master Nolan would demand she submit with her whole heart, not just her surface actions.
Could she do that?
She managed one step forward, then another. Her body felt unfamiliar, as if her legs belonged to someone else. She made it past the ropes, past the few people remaining. Their whispers brushed her ears. Her eyes never left Sir’s.
And then she stood in front of him and couldn’t think what to do next.
He waited, sipping his beer, his gaze steady.
When her legs trembled, and she almost fell, she recognized the next step. Such a simple one. Such a hard one.
She knelt at his feet. After a minute, she managed to tear her gaze away from his unreadable eyes and look down at the floor. The words came to her lips without her prompting, left her lips in a whisper. “Please, Master...”
“Aw, hell.” The thud of a beer bottle being set on the table, the creak of the couch, and then firm hands grasped her around the waist. He picked her up effortlessly, set her on his lap, and pulled her firmly against his broad chest. When his arms came around her, the strength in them so obvious and so controlled, she shuddered, unable to form a coherent thought.
“Sir?” She struggled to sit up, to explain, to apologize.
“Rest now, sugar. We will discuss your idiotic behavior later.” And the hint of laughter in his voice was like a warm spring shower on a parched garden.
The little rabbit quivered in his arms for quite a while before succumbing to sleep. Made Nolan feel good that she could relax enough to sleep in his arms. Twice now. They’d made progress, after all.
That or he just bored her senseless. As she snoozed, he watched Z’s cleaning lady disinfect the bench and area before removing the RESERVED sign.
A married couple and their sub used the station next, the male sub receiving a well-administered caning with marks carefully placed up his thighs and onto his buttocks. A bit obsessive, that husband with the evenness, but the force was well calculated, sending the sub to a good place. After a bit, the wife took the sub’s place and also got caned. Then she was double-teamed by both the husband and sub to everyone’s delight. The wife was quite a screamer.
In his arms, Beth stirred at the noise, her muscles stiffening, but this time she didn’t do a dive off his lap. Another sign of progress. She lifted her head, blinked sleepy, blue-green eyes, and stared at the scene area where the husband was unfastening his wife.
“You were asleep,” Nolan said helpfully.
“I’m sorry, Sir. I didn’t mean to...to use you...ah—”
“For a pillow? Guess you owe me then.” Nolan grasped her hair, tilted her head back, and took his payment, a long, soft kiss from a sleepy woman. Been a while since he’d shared his bed, and he’d missed that small pleasure. He took it deeper, using his expertise to rouse her, even as he played with her breasts. Beneath her dress, her nipples bunched to points. When he drew back, she was definitely wide awake, and a flush of excitement pinkened her cheeks.
Nolan spotted the trainee and jerked his head. The young man headed over, his big brown eyes filled with desire to please. He started to kneel, and Nolan growled, freezing him in place. “Stand up, sub.”
Austin rose and waited for instructions, a pulse beating fast in his throat.
“Bring me a screwdriver from the bar.”
Austin started, “This one—”
Nolan gave him a cold look.
“Yes, Sir!” The young man left much faster than he’d arrived.
“I’m just surrounded by timid people,” he said, ignoring her apology. He rubbed his knuckles over her nipples. Her little breasts with correspondingly small nipples were more fun to play with than he’d thought. He’d gotten into a rut, taking only well-endowed women. He tugged on the knot at the top of her dress, pleased that the ties went from the neckline to the hem. With one hand, he undid the lacing she’d worked so patiently on earlier. He pulled the ties through the grommets, one by one, until her dress flapped open. Sliding his hand through the opening, he cupped a breast and felt the nipple gather even tighter.
Austin appeared with her drink, and Nolan set it into her hand with a nod of thanks for the sub. She frowned at the glass.
He gave her a steady gaze until she took a sip. He agreed with the Shadowland’s two drink limit, but one drink wouldn’t hurt her, and if anyone needed to mellow out, it would be this woman. He continued playing with her body, tracing the indentations of her ribs, circling her cute bellybutton, stroking the hollow above her collarbone. She sipped her drink so slowly that she’d started to squirm under his attentions before she finished.
Good. Her punishment would go easier if she was aroused, and punishment there would be. “Now, let’s discuss what happened earlier.”
Her eyes widened.
“Did you think I had forgotten?”
Her breath stopped.
“I believe we had an agreement, and you deliberately found someone else to top you. I am angry both about the broken agreement and, even more, that you didn’t have the courtesy to speak to me first.”
Her head dropped, her hands twining together on her lap. “You’re right. What I did was rude.”
“Why, sugar? Tell me why.” Cupping her chin in his hand, he forced her to meet his gaze.
Beth didn’t want to look at him, wanted to look anywhere but at him, but he didn’t let her move. “I thought I’d be okay, that the block was gone.”
“That doesn’t explain why you wanted to change Doms.”
Seduction in the Sun: Adult Romance Box Set (9 Sizzling Tales with BBW, Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males) Page 76