by U
Heat scratched through Madison’s body and wove around her veins. Her gut tightened as liquid fire pooled in her core. Her clit and nipples hardened further and thudded with want. She shivered as goose bumps broke out over her skin and tingles raced along her inner thighs to the base of her spine. Her mind felt swathed in fog and every thought circled around sex.
She wondered what Pierce was doing right now. Was he naked? Did he need her? Her vaginal walls clenched as her sex and panties dampened. By the time Lea returned, the room was an inferno. The Scotch was gone. Madison wanted to stretch and arch her back, to curl up as if she were a cat in a sunbeam. And underneath it all, she wanted to find Pierce and fuck him cross-eyed.
Her clothes rasped against her skin. The fabric felt too tight, claustrophobic. She had to get it off. Madison scratched at her bare arms. She couldn’t even remember taking off her coat, but it didn’t matter. She had to get her blouse and skirt off. The waist cincher she wore felt too tight. Her lungs couldn’t take in enough air. Where was Pierce? He would give her air; she just knew it.
“Mads? You OK? Jesus, what’s that perfume?” Lea took a step back and waved the air in front of her face while holding a bottle of water. She narrowed her eyes as her pupils widened and her eye color changed to amber. “Are you in heat?”
Madison blinked. Was she? Her pussy pulsed and her clit had turned into a hardened nub that throbbed with need. Her breasts felt too big for her bra and her nipples ached.
“Shit,” she groaned, as she forced her arms to drop to her sides. Silently she willed the lioness to pull back the heat, take some of the burden.
Lea laughed. “Looks like you really do need that bachelor auction after all.”
“Who needs the bachelor auction?” Sully returned with a server and three plates of steaming piles of noodle, melted cheese, basil, and meat. Madison’s mouth watered and her stomach grumbled.
“Food.” She moaned and sat back down, only to hiss as a wave of desire crashed through her body. The arousal had pulled back, but not nearly enough. She tried not to rock against her stool and allow the hardened seat to create friction against her clit.
“Whoa! Female in heat. I’ve gotta get out of here.” Sully put down the plates on the bar and backed out of the room, a hard ridge evident on the front of his pants. His shades were still on but she could see tension in every line on his face. He turned around, giving another sweet view of his ass before he disappeared into the back. The sound of a door slamming shut echoed around the room.
Madison looked at Lea, who burst out laughing.
“Have a female cat shifter in heat and watch the men run just in case she’s mated.” Lea shook her head and settled down on a stool next to Madison. “When was your last heat cycle? Are you early?”
Madison sifted through her mind for the last time she’d gone into heat. “Had to be before my dad’s heart attack. I used the club to help satisfy it,” she murmured. The thought that she was in heat sent shards of dismay through her. “I can’t be in heat…I just can’t.”
Lea reached over and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “It’s OK. It happens. I’m due for mine soon, so the bachelor auction is the perfect place for me to find a guy. Now, what’s Sully doing here? I thought he was at the lodge.”
Lea dug into her ziti. Madison could only watch as her stomach grumbled and more thoughts of a naked, aroused Pierce stumbled around her head. They soon morphed into more potent daydreams that had him striding toward her in leather pants similar to Sully’s. He held a flogger in one hand and a scarf in the other. She’d never thought about floggers being used as a way to arouse her until he’d mentioned it last night, but now she couldn’t hold back the groan at the thought of him using that tool on her.
A poke from Lea drew her out of her fantasy. “Earth to Madison. Come in, Madison. Join me. I don’t want to be the only one gorging myself on pasta. Didn’t even know we had this. Sully’s been holding out on me.”
Madison picked up her fork and dug in. The silence stretched out like a taut rubber band.
“Pierce called me last night to check on me,” she said in a rush.
“And did it turn dirty? Filthy? Absolutely deliciously into phone sex?” Lea teased.
A lava-hot blush flooded Madison’s face, neck, chest, and ears as his words came back to her yet again. They were on a damn loop in her mind and she couldn’t turn them off. “Well, no…”
Lea narrowed her gaze. “What do you mean?”
“It got a bit hot.” Madison shifted in her chair. A small echo of desire coiled in her stomach before it faded away. “But some woman called him and I hung up on him. I think he was at a party or something but I didn’t ask and he didn’t tell me, so it could have been anything.”
Lea sighed. “Madison, Madison, Madison, my darling naïve one. Of course he was calling you from a party. But I doubt Pierce is the type of guy to call you while he’s fucking or about to fuck some other woman. Not with the way he was looking at you. You got offended, didn’t you?”
Madison nodded. “He was being all sexy.” She dragged her fork through the pasta and sauce. “And then the woman called him and everything was ruined.”
“I can understand that. It’s been a while since you’ve been in a relationship and the gossip columns are filled with dirt on him and his sex life. But you can’t believe everything you read. If we did then Bigfoot would be the president and aliens would walk among us. Come on, eat up.”
Madison considered her words and felt the impact of them hit her in the chest. Shame filled her. “I guess I should call to apologize, huh? I was pretty rude.”
Despite the words she had no desire to call him, not with her heat cycle kicking in. Who knew what would come out of her mouth? Besides, there were her self-worth issues to get over.
“Hey, can I modify my profile while I’m here? I want to book a session or two, explore a few things.” The blush returned to Madison’s face and she focused on eating and drinking while ignoring Lea’s squees of excitement.
“This, my dear, is the first step. Next thing you know you’ll be pursuing Pierce. I’ll go get my laptop and you can log on through that.” Lea jumped off the stool and headed off to the back.
While she waited for Lea to return, Madison finished off the ziti and drank down the rest of her water. She felt some trepidation about updating her profile. Yes, it was on her list of things to do, but at the same time she couldn’t help but feel that she was opening a door to the unknown. She would be facing something about herself that she’d tried to ignore for most of her life. She’d been a missionary and sometimes doggie-style type of woman, and her sex life had been predominantly vanilla. What would updating her profile bring her?
She pushed away her plate and the bottle of water as her thoughts roamed back to Pierce and leather, only this time there were handcuffs involved. A slow simmer began in her veins as her stomach muscles tightened and her heartbeat sped up just a bit. She licked her lips. Heat unfurled in her belly, and she felt her pussy lips warm. A second man joined Pierce, this one masked. Nerve endings came alive. Pierce called the shots. He was in charge.
Despite her natural inclination to fight against him, there was something appealing about the idea of Pierce forcing her to come to heel and making her submit to him. Her lioness purred at the notion of being tied down, spanked, and fucked within an inch of her life. Being ordered to suck on the mystery man’s cock while Pierce took her pussy extended those tendrils of desire, and she could smell her own feline musk rising into the air.
The scent jarred her out of her fantasy. Damn it, she couldn’t be in heat. Not here. Not now. She felt as though her brain hated her.
“Down, girl. Here, use the laptop. I’ll clear away the plates. Take the time to calm the hell down. If you don’t, you’ll drive the bouncers insane. And they’re already fidgety since they have to take part in the bachelor auction.”
Lea picked up the dishes and the bottles of water and left the bar ar
ea again. Madison focused on the laptop. She pulled it toward her and logged into the club’s members’ site. She frowned as she read over her entries and shook her head at the sad lack of details and imagination. Madison took in the many blank spaces and slumped, feeling sadly out of her depth, but she refused to call Lea in for help. Who knew what her friend would put into her public profile that other members would see? She didn’t want to deal with the more extreme set of BDSM and kink.
Instead, she scrolled through her options and read the descriptions that were attached to each choice. She picked ménage fantasy, forced submission—although she only really wanted to do that with Pierce—bondage, handcuffs, scarves, ties and blindfolds, role play, light pain, anal penetration, and spanking. Once she was finished in that area she looked into the Dom and Domme staff members. She dismissed the women immediately. She didn’t have an interest in interacting with women in that way. As she scrolled through the men’s section, she read each profile very carefully.
She read about something called a “munch.” It seemed to be a meeting with likeminded individuals and newbies who were interested but didn’t want to dive right in just yet. It took place on safe, neutral ground with something to eat and was a place to ask questions and have them answered. That sounded like something that appealed to her.
Madison trusted Sully’s judgment, and he was very careful when choosing staff members. She appreciated that everyone still wanted to make sure that the people involved were comfortable and knew the rules. Plus, the munch would allow her to get to know them beyond sex. She scrolled through the list of names and chose Master V and Master M.
“Is it safe?” Sully’s roughened voice held an edge to it that amused Madison.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t realize that I’d gone into my heat cycle. Lots going on.”
Madison turned around on her stool to find Sully leaning casually against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, showing off his well-developed biceps. His dark shirt was open, showing off a V of tempting tanned flesh that was decorated with tattooed symbols. He still had his shades on but looked more relaxed. His erection wasn’t so prominent.
Sully gave her a shrug. “It’s all good. Next time some warning, please. Me and the guys, well…” He paused and rubbed the back of his neck before pushing off the wall. “Anyway, this is only a suggestion. Take it however you want. But maybe you should snag a guy from the auction. You know, to help out with your, erm, problem, you know? You can even book a room in the club. There’s a private entrance for women and men who are going through heat to seal off the scent so they don’t drive people nuts.”
Madison smiled at his thoughtfulness. “Thanks, I’ll consider it.”
Sully gave her a nod. “So did you like the ziti? Old family recipe. Shouldn’t have suggested Scotch though. Noni would kill me. Anyway, I’ll be around if you need me. And ask Lea for an employee form. We could use a party hostess and goddess knows Lea’s been inundated with shite as of late.”
With that, he left her with a warm sense of happiness. She had a job offer, which meant she could work with Lea in a place that she liked with a boss who intrigued her. Who was she to say no?
Lea came back waving a form. “Don’t know what you said to the boss man, but here you go.” She placed the paper down and grinned. “Fill it out now so we can get the ball rolling.”
Madison logged out of the site, pulled a pen out of her purse, and filled in all the necessary information. With confidence buoying her up, she decided to take another risk.
“Lea, I’m gonna say something and you better not misinterpret it, OK?” She paused and took a deep breath before she pushed on. No going back now. “I’m giving you and Alec permission to bid for me at the bachelor auction. But,” she stopped and gave Lea a hard look, “don’t bid on Pierce. Understand? No Pierce. Otherwise, you guys have free rein and you can even bid on some guys for yourselves. I’ll give you a check. You use the money and anything you don’t spend you donate to the hospital. Got it?”
She waited for an explosion of protest. The response was a resounding squeal of excitement. Lea launched herself at her and hugged her tight.
“You’re not going to regret this, I promise. You and I will go shopping for a sexy little number for you to wear because you are going. No getting out of it.”
Lea pulled back, grabbed her cell phone off the bar, and called Alec before Madison could respond.
Madison slumped further on her stool. So much for not going to the damn event.
Chapter Six
The day of the bachelor auction approached quickly, much to Pierce’s annoyance. They’d just cemented the schedule for the start of the rugby season and he’d set up the football schedule for the next few weeks. He and Matt had been working round the clock and even set up a few meetings to decide how to kick off a female football league. He’d been so occupied he hadn’t noticed the time passing, but there hadn’t been a second that he hadn’t thought, dreamed of, or fantasized about Madison.
It had gotten even worse when he’d heard a rumor that she’d gone into her heat cycle. His tiger had been in a near-acidic rage at the thought that she was out there needing a male to help satisfy her needs but had refused him. He was tempted to call her again to see if she’d talk to him, but he had been so busy that by the time he’d gotten home he’d been too exhausted to do anything but shower and crawl into bed.
His dreams had become filled with just her and nothing else. He couldn’t stop the arousal that swirled in his gut or the need that swept through him during the nighttime hours. The scenarios had been numerous: her tied up, her sucking him off, her waiting for him on his bed naked and ready for a hard ride. During the daylight hours his mind had been crammed with details, schedules, phone calls, deals, and contracts. Luckily, Matt was there to pick up the slack when he forgot what he was doing. Also, he’d managed to talk Renault into coming into town for the auction, much to his friends’ amusement. Ryan had even been talked into putting his ass up for the show as well.
Now Pierce stood in front of a full-length mirror wearing a tux complete with bowtie. He wondered if Madison would be there and if she’d find him attractive in the penguin suit. With a growl, he undid the tie and threw it to the ground.
“I’ll do it my way,” he snarled.
He put on his shoes, checked his phone, and grabbed his jacket before he headed off to the limo. Rather than drive himself, he’d decided to have a chauffeur. He was grateful that Sully was doing the dinner for the auction dates. At least he’d be comfortable and wouldn’t have to think of a place. Plus, he hadn’t been to Shadows recently. It would give him a chance to sate his tiger’s need for his mate. Later, after all the chaos, he’d go after Madison. And he wouldn’t take no for an answer, that was for damn sure.
He got into the limo and chuckled at how uncomfortable Ryan looked.
Ryan pulled the collar of Pierce’s shirt. “Why do you get out of wearing a tie?”
“’Cause I’m not going to wear the bloody thing. If they protest then I won’t have to walk the damn auction block.” Pierce grinned. The less pawing he had to go through the better.
“Well then fuck that.” Ryan tore off his bowtie and let the shreds drift to the floor of the limo.
Pierce barked out a laugh. “Copycat.”
“Yeah, well the fewer restraints I have to deal with the better. Besides, this isn’t a sex scene, now is it?” He gave Pierce a lecherous smile. Pierce shook his head as Ryan continued. “We could be talking about that sexy little number who’s been on your mind so much recently. Don’t deny it. I can smell your musk. It’s been driving me mental.” Ryan rested his head on the back of the seat and groaned. “A man gets tired of his hand, my friend.”
Pierce grimaced. “Sorry, didn’t think it was that obvious. Anyway, she’s called Madison. Curves in all the right places. A hellion. And she refuses to acknowledge her attraction to me. Been putting distance between us.”
Pi
erce could trust Ryan with all this information. His friend wouldn’t betray him.
Ryan scratched his perma-stubble. “Sounds like you need to kidnap her, drag her off to your castle in Scotland, and have your way with her.”
Pierce barked out a laugh. “Is that your advice for romance? Gods, how do you get laid? Ever heard of a restraining order? How about kidnapping? Jail? Prison? I know you’re bi, my friend, but I doubt you’d like to be anyone’s bitch.”
Ryan shook his head. “I’m no one’s bitch, that’s for damn sure. You do have a point. But if it’s her fantasy that’s another matter. So I guess you flood her with flowers and seduce her the old-fashioned way. You know, court her and shit.”
Pierce doubled over, his body shaking with laughter. “Court her and shit. Jesus, you really are a romantic.”
Ryan grinned. “I try, my friend. I do try. Anyway, you should really just be yourself. If she can’t take it then leave her.”
“No, I can’t. She’s my mate. I know it in my soul. She’s the one for me.”
“Ahh.” Ryan dragged out that single word. “I see. I hope that I don’t look as stupid as you’re acting when I find my mate. That is, if there is someone out there for me.”
In no time, they’d arrived at the venue. They got out of the car to the burst of flashbulbs from the photographers hired for the event. They moved along the red carpet and into the event hall, which had been decorated in reds, whites, and golds. Fresh flowers and candles stood on tall pillars everywhere they looked. The chandeliers were lit overhead, casting a bright light on the festivities. A live band played songs in a muted style so as not to disturb the flow of conversation.
Everywhere Pierce looked there were so many women, more than he’d thought the town held. Everyone was in formal wear. It was amusing to see that he was the only one who’d forgone the tie. He spotted Mack and Eddy as well as Lei and Matt. Even Sully had dragged his ass out of the club and dressed up a bit, albeit in a rock-and-roll style with leather pants, formal shirt, and a tie that was draped around his neck rather than tied into a bow.