Tamed

by Stacey Kennedy

  This woman was the only one who would receive pleasure from him. This woman was special and deserved to be adored. Yet he knew even that wasn’t enough. He couldn’t take from her like others had. In fact, he realized he didn’t want to be like any other Dom. He wanted her to see him differently, too.

  She began to pant, and her inner muscles went into strong convulsions around his shaft, and his cock ached to blow. He gritted his teeth, fighting off his climax. No matter that he wanted to stay right there deep inside her, he slowly withdrew and paused for her to lash out at him.

  She remained silent. Her head was bowed to the table, and her lax body told him she wasn’t greedy for her orgasm. It appeared she was grateful for the pleasure. Confusion carried through his mind as he hopped off the table, and as he dressed he turned to the crowd, watching for their reaction. Club Sin Masters Kyler, Sawyer, and Aidan all looked on with surprise. Submissives Ella and Cora both seemed equally astonished.

  Porter fastened his belt, focusing directly on Dmitri. His friend’s eyes were fixed on Kenzie before Dmitri shrugged with a puzzled expression. Porter nodded agreement, in full understanding. Of all the things he had expected tonight, Kenzie submitting to him wasn’t one of them. Everyone, plus himself, expected a battle of wills and a fight for power. Not an unusually quiet Kenzie, demanding nothing at all.

  He moved in front of her, tucking a finger under her chin. Her eyes lifted to his and they were dazed…cloudy almost, confused even. To garner her focus, he pinched her chin. When her expression became more focused on him, he slid his touch over her soft cheek. “If you don’t come, neither do I.”

  “Yes, sir,” she whispered.

  The way she said sir with such a sweet voice raised his brows. As a Dom, he always knew his next steps, but this little submissive completely stumped him now. While he had suspected intimacy would gain her submission, no part of him had expected her to surrender so easily. He cupped her face, brushing his thumb over her freckled cheeks, and she leaned in to him. Something so pure and sweet passed in the air between them, and he sensed that same level of protection for her. Whatever she was hiding from was nowhere in sight.

  It wove a wicked spell around him.

  Though he couldn’t help but wonder if this woman that his soul reached for would remain. He continued to stroke her face, giving her a moment to push past the pleasure and allow her mind to clear. As the fog slowly lifted from her eyes, he leaned down and pressed his mouth against hers. She followed the swirling of his tongue and her lips were tender, but firm enough that it made him feel as if she never wanted him to back away.

  Her mouth suddenly tightened, so he leaned away. He noticed her wide eyes, staring right at him. No fog rested there any longer. Disappointment washed through him. Soft, beautiful, Kenzie didn’t look at him any longer. The troublemaker did.

  And she was pissed.

  He sighed. “Going back to this, are we?”

  She scowled at him, insecurity resting so very deep in her eyes. “I don’t pretend to know what you’re talking about, sir.”

  The snappy way she responded had him shaking his head. A hundred things went through his mind about what to say to her. Near desperation cut through him to prove that she submitted to him and there was something special between them, but he didn’t doubt she’d refuse his statement.

  Confusion raced through him. There had to be an underlying reason why Kenzie acted the way she did and was determined to keep him out, when deep down it appeared she was so desperate to let it all go. He intended to find out exactly what that was. And fortunately, he had a month to do it.

  He reached for the rope on her wrist as she slipped it free from the loose knot, reminding him of how she’d truly acquiesced to him. Once again he cursed her hard limits that said he couldn’t hold her during aftercare, realizing he may need it more than she did.

  When he moved on to the other wrist, disappointment flooded him that their time was up, but somehow happiness washed alongside it, too. He needed to think and understand her. “No pleasuring yourself when you’re not with me. That is my one rule for our month. Tell me what I mean.”

  “I think I got it”—she rolled her eyes—“no masturbating.”

  She had left off the sir now, and he was damn sure she’d done that on purpose. Her eyes were practically on fire now. To him, it seemed he’d angered her when he had gained her submission so very easily. He wouldn’t react, as he didn’t want her to trap him in her bad habits. Though as he searched into the depths of her soul, he realized that when he touched her intimately is when she went silent and submitted.

  Interesting.

  “That’s right,” he replied. “For the next month, your pleasure belongs to me.”

  She frowned. “For only this one month, I’m fine with that.”

  He smirked at her word choices. Not really giving him the power, was she? She changed the wording so it made it seem as if she was making the decision. That might bother some Doms. It didn’t bother Porter. Especially now that he had seen what she was hiding from everyone. He had seen her tamed, tasted her submission. Under his mastery.

  Whatever crossed his expression made her glare at him. “Just because I’ve agreed to it doesn’t mean your rule isn’t stupid.”

  She never disappointed him with that saucy mouth. He leaned down into her face and loved the hitch of her breath. “Ah, kitten, keep hissing at me. I’m becoming rather fond of it.”

  Chapter Four

  The Book Nook bookstore, located on the west end of the Vegas strip, was quaint, smelled like old tomes and dust, and was perfect, in Kenzie’s eyes. She strode through the store and the floorboards creaked beneath her as she passed the books on the antique wooden bookcases that had been there since the store was built in the late sixties.

  She reached the romance section and stepped into the thin row between the bookcases, and she smiled. This past year, BDSM contemporary romance had been a big hit. The shelves were now filled with similar erotic stories. Covers of bound hands, of a diamond necklace, or even handcuffs were featured throughout the section. Kenzie had never felt more at home than this last season. Her sales had also never been better.

  Gran would’ve been proud of what she’d done with the store. She had raised Kenzie after her mother’s death when she was eleven years old, and it had been only the two of them since her grandfather passed when Kenzie was a toddler. Her relationship with Gran had been special. There were no secrets between them, and Gran would’ve been amused that Kenzie’s alternative lifestyle had become such a hot read for women.

  “My dear, whatever makes you happy is all that matters” was what Gran had said after Kenzie had told her that she attended a BDSM club, because Gran demanded to know where she got the bruises on her arm. Then Gran, with her soft blue eyes, winked and said, “I might be old, dear, but in my day, I knew how to have fun, too.”

  Kenzie remembered laughing so much that day. She had thought Gran would be mortified, but she figured Gran was more worried that she was possibly being abused. That’s why she loved her grandmother. She was the most nonjudgmental woman Kenzie had known, and so full of love. That is, until Kenzie met other submissives like herself. Women who needed the kinky things other women didn’t.

  With a sigh, she placed a book on the shelf, feeling her chest swell with pride. She missed Gran—who had been the only family she had, except for aunts and uncles she talked to infrequently, usually on holidays. All through high school, Kenzie worked at the store, and it was just assumed that she’d manage the store when Gran retired.

  When Gran had died just after Kenzie’s twenty-second birthday, she’d given Kenzie the store in her will, along with the small apartment above. With all that Gran had done for her, including leaving her with a sizable bank account, Kenzie simply wanted Gran back. Her heart grew heavy as she scanned the store; she had changed little, here or in the apartment above, to keep the memory of Gran alive. Closing her eyes, her mood darkened, far more than i
t had in a really long time. Her mind wasn’t clouded like it usually was after a weekend in Club Sin. Her thoughts were all too clear.

  She remembered happy memories of Gran.

  Kenzie liked the happy memories, but the happy memories didn’t stay long. Painful ones always followed. Last night, Porter gave her nothing to ease that strain, and, in fact, only increased it. But yet somehow he had made her mind forget to make things difficult for him, to push him to bring her to the level of pain she required to implode the hurt she contained.

  She never doubted the chemistry between them, and sexually she wanted him, but now she couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to it. Perhaps it went deeper than attraction—maybe something could really develop between them.

  If she allowed it, of course, and she wouldn’t.

  She had stopped more potential relationships in their tracks than she could count. Now she needed to keep her wits about her and hold on to the distance that kept her safe. If she let herself love, the past would return to haunt her and she’d be forced to share it. She refused to let that pain control her future. Firmly believing she had everything under wraps, she opened her eyes and ran her fingertips over the spine of a book, reminding herself why she couldn’t get too close to Porter.

  Kenzie skipped behind the group of four older kids in excitement that her sister had let her hang out with the older crowd. She ran her hands over the long grass, feeling it tickle across her palms. Summer camp was always fun, but now that Kenzie was ten years old, it had become even better. She wasn’t the little sister anymore. And her sister, Joslyn, included her more with her friends.

  Once she’d caught up to the two girls and the two very cute boys that reminded her of some of the boys on her posters at home, she noticed they’d arrived at a river that went through the town. She took in the tall railway bridge to her right, and then noticed a cement dam farther down the river.

  Everyone began taking off their clothes, wearing bathing suits underneath. Her sister laughed in her easy way. “Come on, Kenzie, don’t be such a chicken. Jump in.”

  Her sister’s blond hair waved in the air, and her brown eyes were twinkling with mischief. Joslyn was fourteen years old, and Kenzie hoped to be just like Joslyn when she grew up.

  Her sister was beautiful.

  At Kenzie’s hesitation, Joslyn shoved her arm, and Kenzie focused on the water and noticed the dam again. There were signs everywhere that said not to go in, but sweat slid over Kenzie’s skin, the sun beaming across her body. The water would feel good. Yet something made her pause. Danger, her senses told her.

  She shook her head at her sister. “I don’t want to.”

  “Fine,” Joslyn said, dropping her shorts, then stepping out of her flip-flops. “I’ll show you how the big girls do it. I’ll go first and you’ll see it’s fine.”

  Brave and fearless, that was Joslyn. Kenzie loved that about her. Still, cold worry cut through her. “The signs—”

  Joslyn slapped a hand over Kenzie’s mouth. “Stop worrying. They just don’t want this area being used as a beach.”

  Kenzie studied the dam, the coldness in her veins only increasing. She focused on her sister as Joslyn approached the edge of the water and grinned. “Count to three and I’ll jump.”

  Kenzie looked down into the water and couldn’t see the bottom. So black. So deep. “I don’t—”

  “You need to be more adventurous, Kenz,” Joslyn exclaimed.

  Not wanting to disappoint her sister, she glimpsed at the group of all the older kids, now watching Kenzie with challenging smirks. She didn’t want to be the baby. She wanted to be cool like everyone else. Not to embarrass herself, she called, “One…Two…Three.”

  Joslyn screamed as she jumped into the water. Everyone cheered, and with that, Kenzie relaxed and cheered, too. A few seconds passed and the cheering continued. Though soon it began to grow quiet.

  Hands stopped clapping.

  Mouths closed.

  Kenzie stepped toward the water’s edge where Joslyn had jumped. She searched for Joslyn in the water, waiting for the water to ripple or a bubble to form.

  Nothing.

  “Joslyn,” she called.

  Still nothing.

  Panic sent Kenzie’s heart racing, and she snapped her head toward Joslyn’s friends. “Where is she?”

  The boys rushed forward to the edge of the water. Seconds passed that felt like a lifetime. Kenzie held her breath…and counted…but by the time she ran out of breath and had to gasp for air, tears rolled down her cheeks.

  Joslyn never surfaced.

  All of her so-called friends ran.

  Kenzie screamed, “Joslyn!”

  A chiming of the bell at the door had Kenzie gasping out of the memory. Her sister died that day. The current from the dam had pulled her right into it. She stepped out from the bookshelves, her heart hammering in her chest. That’s why she couldn’t love—whenever she did, bad things happened. She approached the man entering the store and regarded him, as something seemed off about him.

  Once she ignored her gut feeling. She’d never do it again.

  His gaze swept over the store, and she noted his nicely tailored pin-striped suit. Maybe some would think he was handsome, with a dark head of hair and sharp lines to his face, but his nearly black eyes couldn’t lie—he had something inside of him that sent a wave of unease through her.

  “May I help you?” she asked.

  His stone-cold eyes zeroed on her. “I’m looking for Kenzie Hart. Are you her?”

  “I am.”

  He offered his hand. “I’m Adrik Petrov.”

  His thick Russian accent sounded as rich and alluring as his looks, and the name registered as familiar, but Kenzie couldn’t recall from where. She shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  He squeezed his fingers around hers. It didn’t feel friendly. “Well, Ms. Hart, let’s make this simple, shall we? Are you aware that I bought this entire block of stores a month ago?”

  Now the name registered just fine, and the hair on her neck prickled. “Yes, I’m aware.” She rubbed her hand on her black dress pants, wishing she’d never touched him.

  “Good. That will make this easy,” Adrik replied. “My associates have told me that you’ve ignored the letters we’ve sent you and also had a few choice words for the two people who have called you.”

  She crossed her arms and glared. Possibly because of being so frustrated with Porter last night, she’d had enough of powerful men. Her voice was as snappy as she intended. “Would you like to hear those choice words as well?”

  Adrik smiled. It was the scariest smile Kenzie had ever seen. “I think I can do without them. I came today to see if we could come to an arrangement on your selling the store to me.”

  She squeezed her arms tighter around her. This was the last thing she wanted to deal with after the memory she experienced, but he also wasn’t wrong—she had received four letters and two phone calls over the last month. From what she’d learned from his associates, Adrik had bought the whole block on the west end of the Last Vegas strip, which was the reason he wanted his grubby hands on her store. His plan was to bulldoze it all to build a new casino. Which meant Gran’s store would be demolished.

  Not on Kenzie’s life.

  “As I told your associates,” she said slowly, so he fully understood. “I will never sell my store. Not for any amount of money.”

  He swatted at the air, dismissing her as if she were a fly irritating him. “Everything is for sale, m’dear, for a price.”

  “Not this store.”

  “One million.”

  She snorted and moved toward the counter with the antique register, and leaned against it. The first offer she’d received was seven hundred thousand, and with every letter and phone call the offer increased. To her, this book shop was priceless.

  Tension rippled through her and she snapped, “Do you need me to explain it to you in a different way so you understand that this store is not
for sale? There is no price that I will sell it for.”

  His shoulders stiffened. “Ms. Hart.” He said her name as if he now planned to squish that fly. “I have put a lot of my personal money into this venture. It cannot fail. Only you are standing in my way to proceed with construction. I have many other locations in Vegas that we can move your store to. Would that suffice?”

  “No.”

  He frowned. “What if I agreed to give you a store inside the casino?”

  “No.”

  His neck corded as he stepped forward. “You are not willing to budge at all?”

  She refused to back away from him, but she surely wanted to. Every word he spoke made his face redden. There was something scary about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Then she realized it was his eyes; they had no soul in them. “No, Mr. Petrov, I will not budge. My gran built this store. It will stay as she built it.”

  He took another step toward her, coming too close. “You need to realize the game you are playing here and who you are playing it with, Ms. Hart.”

  “Are you trying to intimidate me?” she retorted, now pressed against the counter to avoid him.

  “I don’t need to intimidate you. I’m giving you the warning that you are not listening to. You’re playing a dangerous game. I’d suggest you find out exactly whom you are playing it with. When there is a billion dollars at risk, I wouldn’t be so quick to say no.”

  Kenzie saw no deception in his features before he exited the store. Icy fright filled her veins, as she had the oddest sense that she had just been targeted to be hunted.

  Chapter Five

  Kenzie cut the ignition of her silver Volkswagen Eos, and the clock on the dashboard read 7:15. Heaviness settled into her body as she studied the Georgian-style mansion. Decorated with trees and cactuses galore, the mansion on the large lot set back from the road held a timeless elegance, looking almost Victorian, with rich black accents against the dark red brick.