by HELEN HARDT
“You had better think before you threaten me, Mr. Steel.”
“This isn’t a threat. It’s just the way things are. You and I both know I never touched your son. In fact, I think I’ll go get Officer Jones, and I’ll tell him exactly what you said to me during this conversation.”
Morse pursed his lips. “You still haven’t seen the last of us.”
“Look, I’m really sorry about what happened to your son. Those degenerates did the same thing to my brother when he was only ten years old. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But I will not take the blame when all I did was find him and save him.”
He looked at me sternly, his eyes betraying nothing.
“I don’t think I’ll be having a blood test today after all,” I said. “Unless you let me talk to Colin first.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Morse turned and walked away.
The fucking asshole. Trying to extort money from me by accusing me of such a despicable act. Nausea rose in my throat. Part of me wished I had kept my Glock in my ankle holster, but I knew that wasn’t the answer.
I had Melanie back now. I wasn’t going to screw up my life.
I checked in with Officer Jones before I left. “I think you’ll find that my blood test is no longer necessary when you talk to Mr. Morse. In fact, the asshat just tried to extort money from me. You should arrest his sorry ass.”
I walked out of the hospital.
Chapter Fifteen
Melanie
Talon dropped me off at Jonah’s, and I had been home only a few minutes when the doorbell rang.
When I opened the door, I had to stop myself from dropping my jaw to the floor. Outside stood one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. She had auburn hair and blue-gray eyes. She was slightly shorter than I was and was dressed in hip-hugging jeans and a T-shirt that showed a sliver of belly along with her ample breasts. She had full and pouty pink lips, and her eyelashes were long. I didn’t see any indication of mascara.
“Yes, can I help you?”
“I’m looking for Jonah Steel,” she said in a high-pitched voice, reminiscent of Minnie Mouse.
At least something about her wasn’t perfect. She sounded like a little kid.
“He’s not here right now.”
“Oh.” She turned her lips into a frown. “I’m only in town for the evening, and I really want to hook up with him.”
Hook up? I didn’t like the sound of that.
“Like I said, he’s not here, and I’m afraid I don’t know when he’ll return.” Unfortunately, that was the truth. He hadn’t called me back, and I had no idea whether he’d gotten my voice mail. “You want to leave a message for him or something?”
“Actually, do you mind if I come in? He still has some stuff of mine that I want.”
My hackles rose. “Who are you?”
“I’m Kerry. Kerry Ross. Joe and I used to…date, I guess.”
Kerry.
Jonah had told me about Kerry. They had dated for a while, had frequented the BDSM club together. She had wanted him to be her Master, not just in the bedroom but in all of life. I looked her over. She didn’t look like a slave, but what did I know? I had never met a slave before, at least not that I knew of.
She was so beautiful, so perfectly formed. Except for that voice of hers, she had no flaws at all. Jealousy surged through me.
“I don’t know. Like I said, he’s not here, and I have no idea where your things might be.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I know exactly where they are.” She walked past me and into the foyer.
I couldn’t believe it. She barged into what I now considered my own home.
“Excuse me? I’m not sure I should be letting you in here.”
She gave me a dazzling smile. Even her teeth were perfect. “Oh, I know he won’t mind. I’ve been meaning to stop by for a while now and pick up all the stuff.”
“Why don’t you tell me where it would be, and I’ll get it for you?”
“Honestly, it’s no bother. It’s just downstairs.” She walked into the kitchen and to the other wing of the house, one I’d hardly ever been in. She opened a door, which led down to the basement.
I walked down the stairs behind her. I knew Jonah had a basement, but I’d never been in it. I’d had no reason to go down there. It was finished into a beautiful rec room, complete with a pool table, a big-screen TV, and a full bar. “Wow, this would’ve been a great party room when I was younger,” I said.
“Oh, I know. Joe and I used to have the best parties down here.”
The envy lanced through me again. He had parties with her down in the gorgeous room that I didn’t even know existed?
She walked toward a door near the end of the room. She turned the doorknob. “Shoot, it’s locked. No worries, I think I still have the key.”
She had a key to a room at Jonah’s house?
She pulled a key chain out of her purse and unlocked the door. She walked in as if it were perfectly normal to do so and flipped the light switch.
And I gasped.
“What is this place?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. This is Joe’s dungeon.”
Joe’s dungeon? Acid bubbled up in my throat. He’d talked about doing scenes at the BDSM club. He hadn’t said anything about his own private dungeon.
The walls were painted dark blue, and part of the room looked completely normal. Against one wall was a large bed covered in a blue silk comforter with black brocade pillows. At the foot of the bed sat a settee of the same black brocade. On the opposite end were a sofa and a lounge chair, a slightly lighter blue, again with black pillows.
But on the adjacent wall…
On hooks hung handcuffs, rope, scarves, blindfolds, riding crops…and a lot of stuff I couldn’t name. What looked like some kind of stockade stood nearby. A strange-looking table jutted out from the wall as well. And it looked like—no lie—the table I lay on when I went to the gynecologist’s office.
My skin prickled around me.
Several crates sat beneath where the implements hung, and while Kerry walked to them and began sorting through them, my gaze was drawn to the chair in the corner.
It resembled a standard wingback chair, but it was much larger than normal. Its fabric was black leather, the wood black lacquer. It was oddly beautiful yet terrifying. And though I’d never seen anything like it before, I knew what it was.
It was a Master’s chair.
Jonah was the Master in this room.
I shivered.
Did I really not know the man I loved at all? Was this the true extent of the darkness?
Kerry pulled out and held up a pair of red fur-covered handcuffs. “Found them,” she said. “I’ve never been able to find a better pair of cuffs. I can’t believe I left these here so long.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, and the image of Kerry, her beautiful naked body spread out on the table, her hands bound with the red handcuffs, Jonah whipping her with a riding crop…
I opened my eyes.
Now she was holding up a riding crop, also red.
I cleared my throat, determined to stay polite and nonchalant. “Is that all you need, then?”
“Yes. I suppose I should’ve called before barging in. I hope I didn’t bother you. It’s just that I’m only in town today, and I really wanted to get these.”
She walked out of the room, and I followed along like an obedient puppy.
She walked up the stairs, through the kitchen and foyer, to the door before she turned to me.
“Please tell Joe I’m so sorry that I missed him.” She whipped the riding crop through the air, and it gave a hiss. “I’ve sure missed this thing.” She smiled. “Thanks so much for allowing me to get these. It was so nice to meet you… Oh, I guess I never got your name.”
“Melanie,” I said, biting my lip.
“Melanie, great. Please tell Joe I stopped by and that I hope he’s doing well.” She walked out the door and shut it behind her.
/>
I stood in the foyer for a few moments, attempting to swallow the lump that had lodged in my throat.
This was crazy. Totally crazy. When Jonah had told me about his time at the BDSM club, I had been freaked out a little, but I was determined to accept every part of him, even the darker side of his desires.
Why hadn’t he told me that he had a dungeon in this house? In this house he’d invited me to live in?
Surely he would have thought I might go exploring while he wasn’t here. Now that I knew he had a beautiful rec room in the basement—
Wait! The door to the dungeon had been locked.
I wouldn’t have been able to get in, except that Kerry had a key.
She still had a key to Jonah’s dungeon.
My heart sank.
Would I ever be able to please him? He was still keeping things from me, still not revealing the true extent of his dark yearning.
My curiosity getting the best of me, I walked back down the stairs to the room that was still unlocked.
It was such a strange combination of beauty and grandeur mixed with darkness and kink.
Did Jonah fantasize about taking me in this room?
He had never said anything about it. In fact, he had been loath to even discuss his darker desires with me. I had taken the lead and asked him to show me some of what I might be missing.
He’d said he hadn’t been to the club in years. Was it possible he hadn’t been down in this room for years either?
There was only one way to find out. I would have to ask him about it.
I walked over to the Master’s chair and ran my fingers over the supple leather. I pictured Jonah sitting in the chair. It wasn’t a stretch. He exuded dominance. It was an easy image to form in my mind—him sitting in this chair, a submissive on her knees in front of him.
What was difficult was imagining that the submissive was me.
Was that what he wanted from me?
And if it was, would I be able to give it to him?
I knelt in front of the chair, imagining Jonah sitting there, me serving him.
I gazed around the room, focusing on the thing that looked like a stockade and then the strange table. But if I looked just to the right, I saw a beautiful bed that almost looked like it belonged to a decadent bedroom, along with the settee, couch, and marble-topped coffee table.
I stayed, kneeling in front of the chair, for a long time.
Chapter Sixteen
Jonah
When I got home, I made sure Lucy had fresh water, and when I didn’t find Melanie in the family room or the kitchen, I figured she might be resting in the bedroom. I sighed. I had a lot of explaining to do to her. It hadn’t been fair of me to walk out on her and Talon without telling them where I was going or why, and I really shouldn’t have told her to leave me alone. I had just been so angry. And then to be blackmailed on top of everything else. Colin Morse and his father would not get one penny from me. Well, his father wouldn’t. I had no problem helping Colin, if he needed it and as long as he wasn’t perpetuating lies about my family or me.
Whoever and whatever he was, he didn’t deserve the treatment he had received at the hands of Tom Simpson and Theodore Mathias.
I walked to my bedroom to find Melanie. She wasn’t there, so I checked the guest room she had been using. Not there either.
I grabbed my phone and called her. Oddly, a phone began ringing, and I found it on top of the dresser in the guest room.
She would never go anywhere without her phone, so she must be around here somewhere.
Instantly I began to panic. What if she had been taken again? Those two sickos were still out there.
I ran out of the bedroom down the hallway. “Melanie? Melanie? Where are you?”
Then I noticed the door to my basement was cracked. I usually kept it shut. Perhaps she had gone down there.
I walked down the stairs slowly. “Melanie?”
And then my heart raced. The door—that door—was open.
Oh my God.
I ran into the room.
There she was, kneeling in front of my chair, her cheek on the black leather cushion.
I stood, silent, for a moment. Kneeling at my chair, she was beautiful. I had always imagined her in that position. So lovely. But—
How had she gotten into this room? I kept it locked for a reason. I hadn’t used it in years, not since Kerry. I had always meant to have it redecorated and converted into another spare bedroom. Damn. Why hadn’t I? Or why hadn’t I just told her about it? What must she have thought when she stumbled down here on her own?
But I was sure it had been locked, and I had the only key.
“Baby?” I said tentatively.
She lifted her head and twisted her neck to face me.
“What are you doing in here, sweetheart?”
“I…didn’t mean to be nosy or anything. But…Kerry stopped by.”
Kerry? “What was she doing here? She moved to California a couple years ago.”
“She said she was just in town for the evening and you still had a few things of hers. She just walked on down here, knew her way around and everything, had a key to open the door…” Melanie closed her eyes.
What had I done?
“Baby, I can explain all this.”
But could I? I hadn’t told her about this room. In truth, I just hadn’t thought of it. I’d never dreamed she’d see it without me being there to explain.
“You…don’t have to explain anything.”
I went to her, took her hand, pulled her to her feet, and then led her over to the bed and sat down. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way, that you had to see this room this way. I didn’t realize Kerry still had a key. I’ll change the lock immediately.”
“I’ve been worried about you.” She cupped my cheek. “Where were you? Are you okay?”
I closed my eyes and inhaled. This room had been a complete surprise, and who knew what had gone through her mind? But her first concern was me.
Just one more reason I didn’t deserve this wonderful woman.
“I’m fine. It’s a long story and I’ll explain it later, but everything is all right. Right now, I need to know. Are you all right?”
She chewed on her lower lip. God, she was always so beautiful.
“Kerry was…very nice. Very pretty.”
“Yes, she is.” I wasn’t sure what I should say.
“She didn’t look like a submissive.”
“Most people in the lifestyle don’t go around town wearing their leathers.” I attempted a smile.
“Yes, I know that. She said you had parties here.”
“Yes. A few times, we had parties here. With others in the lifestyle.”
She nodded.
“Baby, are you sure you’re okay?”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this? You told me about the club, and I understood. You said you had no desire to ever go back there, yet I find your own personal club in your home.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve actually been meaning to have this room redone for a while. There’s always so much going on around here, and I just haven’t had the chance to hire someone to get it done. I’m so sorry you had to find out about it this way. I would’ve shown you eventually.”
“Why didn’t you show me when we talked about this?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking. I knew it was all so much for you to…digest.”
She nodded. “That’s an understatement.”
“Look, baby. Most of this is in my past. I don’t expect you to…” Didn’t expect her to what? Would I love to see her bound for my pleasure, ready to take my hard cock?
Yes, I would.
But I could never ask her to do that. Especially not after she had been kidnapped and bound and nearly killed.
“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “Why don’t you take over the redecorating and make this room into whatever you want? An office, maybe. You’ll need a home office after all. It won’t be
long until you’re practicing again.”
“I couldn’t.”
“Of course you can. This is your home now, Melanie. I want you to have your own space here.”
“I understand that, Jonah. I just can’t have…this space. Knowing that you were down here with other women…” She let out a small laugh. “I suppose that doesn’t make any sense. I’m sure you had other women in your bedroom from time to time.”
“Yes, from time to time.”
But this did bother her. I could see it in her eyes. She was trying to understand, but this was disturbing her. How much, I wasn’t sure.
“All right. We’ll make this into another guest room. You can use one of the upstairs rooms for your office.”
“No,” she said. “I don’t think this should be a new guest room. I mean, you have plenty of guest rooms.”
I caressed her silky hair. “Then what would you like to do with this room, my love?”
She looked at me, still biting her lip, her emerald eyes shining. “I want you to show me what you do in this room. I want you to show me now.”
Chapter Seventeen
Melanie
I trembled inside. Was I actually ready for this? I wasn’t sure. All I knew was I loved this man with all my heart and soul, and I wanted to understand him more than anything. If surrendering to him in this dark dungeon would please him, that is exactly what I would do.
“Baby, this isn’t necessary.”
“No, Jonah, it is necessary. I just met a woman who you were intimate with in this room, a room I didn’t even know existed, despite the fact that I’ve been living here. I made myself a promise yesterday when I left here. I promised to take my life back, to take myself back. I’ve been looking at myself in a different way since my kidnapping. It made me look at Gina’s death in an entirely different way, a way that may turn out to be correct. Maybe finding this room is part of the journey I need to take. If you and I are going to be together, I need to understand you. In every way. I know there’s a part of you that still craves this.” I drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Tell me, honestly. Is there part of you that wants to see me tied down on this bed or that table?”