by Eden Bradley
“The fact is, you’re both impossible,” Jamie said. “But since you’re both my friends and Allie asked me to present the terms, I’m going to do this right. As with any submissive new to our club it’s my duty to see that it’s done correctly, so you’d better settle down, Mick, and let us get started.”
“Christ, Allie. You’d really go and play with some other Dom? Just to irritate me?”
“I’d play with some other Dom to get my needs met. Surely that’s something you understand? But I’d rather it was you.” Her eyes were shining—he wasn’t sure if it was a sheen of tears or the way the café was lit. “How long are you going to think of me as a child, Mick? I’m no innocent kid anymore, not by a long shot. Do you need my references? I can have three trainers contact you by tomorrow. More Doms that I’ve played with in the next few days. I can get you a dozen references that will testify to my experience and my fitness as a bottom, including lists of toys I’ve experienced and the clubs where I’ve played.”
He didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t want to know about the things she’d done with other men. The idea of some other Dom putting a collar around her neck . . .
His fingers flexed.
Control.
He took in a deep breath.
“Stop glowering at me, Mick. Jesus.”
“What? I’m not glowering, Allie. I’m thinking.”
She sighed. “Can you please think sitting down? People are starting to stare.”
He picked up his fallen chair and sat. “Are you saying exhibitionism isn’t on your list of likes?”
“As a matter of fact, it is,” she said calmly.
Oh, she’d be perfect, tied up in his bonds, her naked flesh crossed with rope and shadows from the dungeon lights.
He had to stop thinking like that.
Fuck it. Maybe he’d better start. Because no one else was going to have her.
“I never believed this was you, Allie. You know I never thought—”
“Maybe what you believe is wrong,” she interrupted. “Maybe it’s time you gave me a chance to show you how wrong you are about me, Mick.”
“So?” Jamie asked him.
Goddamn this girl. But she was no girl anymore—he could see that much. But what was she going to be after he took her to The Bastille and let loose the beast that lived within him on her all-too-willing flesh?
That was what the ropes were all about. Restraining her. Containing the fire that burned inside him, the animal snarling to get out. Was it possible this was what he needed? Or was that some excuse he was making to get his hands on her?
He dragged a hand through his hair, blew out a long breath. “Fuck. Fine. Let’s talk terms.”
“That’s better, buddy.” Jamie leaned forward in his chair. “Let’s start with any health complaints. Allie?”
“Just one—I sprained my right ankle last year, and it still gives me some trouble from time to time, so I can’t do any inverted suspension.”
“Jesus, Allie, where did you learn about inverted suspension?”
She just glared at him. “Next question, Jamie?”
“Hard limits?”
“No face-slapping, no gags, no age play, no watersports or scat, no humiliation or degradation, no rape play, no pony or puppy play, no heavy canes. Oh, and no blindfolds.”
“That’s it?” Mick asked, incredulous. “That’s your entire list of hard limits?”
She nodded, watching him. “Other than the usual non-consensual stuff.
“And sex?” Jamie asked.
“Fuck, Jamie, you can’t ask her that!”
Jamie shrugged. “It’s a standard aspect of negotiations. You know that, Mick.”
“She and I will talk about that later,” he growled. “Move on.”
Jamie stared at him for several moments, challenging him, but no one was going to win this power struggle but him. Not when it came to Allie.
“Okay. I’ll trust that you won’t try to skip that part.”
“You know me better than to believe I’d shirk my duties, buddy.”
Jamie nodded, ceding the point. “I do.” He pulled a piece of paper out from somewhere. “Here’s a list of her kinks. Her preferences, if you will.”
He slid it across the table toward him. Mick picked it up, folded it and tucked it into his back pocket.
“Aren’t you going to look at it?” Allie asked.
“I’ll study it later, then we’ll talk more.”
She looked surprised. But it had had exactly the effect on her he wanted—to allow him to take back control of the situation.
“Tell me how I contact you, Allie. Email.”
He caught the slightest flaring of her nostrils. She was a little mad. Maybe more than a little. Okay, he could allow her that. He knew he had it coming. And he’d find a way to work the anger out of her in his ropes.
Jesus Christ. He was going to have Allie—Allie!—in his ropes. Under his hands. His body . . . his mind . . . both were in some sort of slowly building turmoil. That and a hard buzz of desire like a pulsebeat beneath his flesh.
“Mick, don’t you want to go over your limits as a Top?” Jamie prompted.
“That’s easy enough. Don’t fail to use your safe words if you need to. Total honesty with me about what you need, what you want, what you don’t. Total honesty after a scene if something didn’t work for you. Don’t ever try to play if you’re sick—I don’t want you pushing yourself too hard. And I won’t draw blood on purpose, so if that’s something you’re looking for—”
“It’s not.” Allie’s brown gaze was on his, smoldering with heat. A heat that went through him like a small electric shock. Jesus—she wanted him. Wanted in the same way he wanted her.
Despite his arguments, this was about to get interesting.
“But you intend to push me,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
He smiled. “If you’ve done your research, then you know I’m a sadist, Allesandra.”
She smiled. “That’s why I’m here.”
* * *
WAS IT? ALLIE knew in her heart that was only partly true. She was there for Mick, kink or not. Although the fact that there was going to be kink, well . . . it was a big part of what had led her back to him. That and knowing she had something to prove in this arena. To him. Maybe to herself when it came to him. That she could be the woman he’d never believed she was. The woman who was exactly right for him, if he’d drop the damn savior complex and let her show him.
If this didn’t work, nothing would.
“So?” Jamie asked before she had a chance to. “Are you both in?”
Allie nodded. “Yes.”
“Mick?”
“Goddamn it, Jamie. Yes, I’m fucking in. Okay?”
He ran a hand through his hair, something she knew he’d always done when he was agitated. Apparently, Jamie recognized it, too.
“Buddy, you and I will talk more before this happens.”
“Damn right we will.”
“And you and Allie need to talk more, too.”
“When are we doing this?” she asked.
“Give me your email and I’ll contact you tonight,” Mick said.
“But I—”
“Allie. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it my way. I’m still the Dom. And you’re about to find out to what degree I mean that. I suggest you start with some level of compliance to show me you know how to be a proper submissive.”
She could almost feel steam coming out of her ears.
“I am submissive, but there’s nothing proper about me. And I suppose you’re about to find out to what degree I mean that.”
They stared each other down, and she never blinked. But the intensity of his gray eyes was making
her legs go weak. Mick Reid was going to be one wicked Dom. She looked forward to it, even if he was pissing her off. She knew she’d go down with a struggle. But the fact was, she was going down. For Mick. It was everything she’d ever wanted. She wasn’t going to ruin it by allowing him to be an ass—Dom or not.
She grabbed a pen from her purse and scribbled her email on a napkin, pushed it toward Mick.
“Good girl,” he said quietly, and despite the cocky smirk on his face, those words went through her like a magic wand dusting her with pure pleasure. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her for a moment.
“So,” Jamie asked, “is there anything else you two need me here for?”
“No,” they said simultaneously.
“Okay, then.” Jamie rubbed his hands together. “Looks like my job here is done—for the moment. You are still under my protection, Allie. Tell me if you need anything. Anything.” He stood up. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to get to know each other again. Don’t stay out too late, kids.”
Mick glanced up at him with a growl. Jamie ignored him and leaned down to plant a soft kiss on Allie’s head.
“Thank you, Jamie.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. See you, Mick.”
Once he’d left and it was just the two of them, the space between them suddenly seemed too small. Allie shifted in her chair.
“I can’t believe you set me up like this, Allie,” Mick said, his tone low and smoky. A little threatening. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Mick. Partly because I’ve been gone for so long and I’ve been through changes, grown up. And partly because you refuse to see me for who I am. You always have.”
He watched her for several long moments. “You know this is not going to end any differently than it did before,” he said finally, his tone low.
“Meaning you think you haven’t grown or changed in all these years, Mick?”
“Sure I have. But I can’t change history—my history. At the core I’m still who I’ve always been. Oh, I’m not the troublemaker I was in my teens, but I’m not any better for you now than I was when we were in high school, or when we were in college. Not any better for a girl like you than I’ve been this whole time. Some things I can’t do anything about, Allie.”
“That’s a cop-out. And what do you mean by a girl like me?”
“It’s the simple truth. And you know what I mean.”
“It’s crap, Mick—a story you tell yourself. One you’ve told me too many times. And I don’t agree.”
“Then we’ll have to agree to disagree, unless you want this to stop now.”
She bit her lip. “I still disagree,” she said stubbornly.
“One thing that’s come with the years is that I know exactly who I am, Allie,” he insisted.
“And who’s that?” she asked, really wanting to know with a sudden urgency that made her stomach knot up. “Because maybe it’s about time you told me, since you seem to think I’m so delusional when it comes to you.”
“That’s a pretty big question.”
“Then I’ll expect a big answer.”
He stared at her for several seconds. “At some point you’ll have it, maybe. Maybe.”
“Ah, you want to remain the enigmatic Dominant. A man of mystery.”
He shrugged, his massive shoulders a ripple of muscle beneath his T-shirt. “Maybe I don’t feel like talking about it here.”
“We can go back to your place and talk,” she said, angling her chin.
“Allesandra LeClair, you just flirted with me.”
“Maybe I did.” She blinked, bit her lip.
“You’re doing it again.”
“Am I?”
He laughed. “Your ‘coy’ isn’t very good—you might need some practice, princess.”
Princess.
He hadn’t called her that since high school. A warm shiver went through her.
“Then maybe I’ll practice on you.”
“You’ve developed a bratty side, you know that?”
She nodded, grinning. “I think you like it.”
“And I think it’s nothing throwing you over my knee and spanking the hell out of you won’t cure.”
“Yes, please,” she said quietly.
He stared at her for several moments, his gray eyes going dark. “Touché.”
They sat quietly staring each other down again, but some of the ice had melted.
Allie leaned toward him, her elbows resting on the table. “So, you’ll email me?”
“I will. And I’ll look over your list, shoot you over any questions I have, send you my list. Then, because you and Jamie are crazy and apparently so am I for agreeing to this, we’ll start the real negotiations. Check your email tonight.” He stood, towering over her. “Don’t think because we’re all old friends that I’ll go easy on you, Allie. That’s not who I am.”
“That’s good. Because asking a Dom to go easy on me is not who I am, either.”
“We’ll see about that.” He paused, his gaze raking her face, her upper body, before coming back to meet hers. “Meanwhile, learn to drop the attitude. Don’t make me show you how.”
She nodded without a word. He cracked the edge of a smile, tossed a ten-dollar bill onto the table, turned and headed for the door.
Allie watched him walk out of the café—actually, saunter was more like it—his shoulders so broad, the way his muscles in his back worked beneath the thin cotton T-shirt. His superb ass.
She realized she was trembling all over, just a small shiver beneath the surface of her skin. Mick was one fine-looking man—all sharp angles and rough exterior, with those glossy eyes, his lush mouth made even more enticing by his evil-looking goatee. And his hair—those wild, loose black curls.
She remembered the way his hair felt in her hands . . .
She let out a small groan.
She was turning into a small puddle right there in the café. If she’d been at home, she would have already dug out her toys.
“God . . .” she murmured under her breath, the heat of desire scorching her system, lighting her up with need.
She had to get home. Had to get into bed with every damn toy she owned and try to work a little of Mick out of her body. Not that it would work, of course. But she had to do something until she got the email from him that would tell her what he wanted her to do.
Hell, she simply had to do something.
She dropped another five on the table, grabbed her purse and left, walking out on shaky legs. She wasn’t sure she could wait until she got home to ease the insistent ache between her thighs.
She waved down a cab as soon as she reached the street. She couldn’t wait for the ambling streetcar today—she was in a hurry. Because if she didn’t get home, get into bed with her vibrator as soon as possible, she was going to explode.
That’s what he did to her. Always had. Probably always would. She had no idea how much more intense, how out of control her desire would be when he was touching her in the way she’d been craving for years. Mick—with his hands rough on her, tying her up, spanking her, paddling her . . . touching her.
She put a hand over her mouth to quiet the moan that escaped.
What had she just gotten herself into? This could be her fondest fantasy come to life. Or it could be that Mick Reid was the one man who was going to push her past her limits, make her—for once—truly lose control.
She was very much afraid of the outcome. She could barely stand the wait before they could begin.
* * *
SHE WAS EXHAUSTED by the workout she’d given herself with her toys. Four orgasms later Allie got up, wrapped herself in her pink cotton robe and made herself a cup of coffee in the cottage’s small kitchen. H
er legs felt like rubber, and she knew she couldn’t take anymore. But somehow her need was still left unsatisfied.
Somehow . . . because it’s not with Mick.
She’d always known that was an issue for her, no matter her toys, her lovers, the men who dominated her at the clubs. But after seeing him that whole thing had shifted into high gear.
The sun was starting to go down, the light turning misty, touched with shades of pink and orange as it filtered through the sheer curtains above the sink.
Tonight.
Time to check her email.
She sat at the round kitchen table, her heart starting to pound as she opened her laptop. His message was the first one to pop up. She clicked it, saw the words It begins here in the subject line . . . and somehow her elbow hit her coffee mug, spilling the hot liquid onto the table.
“Shit!”
She managed to snatch her laptop and whisk it out of harm’s way before she grabbed the paper towels and wiped up the mess.
“Just breathe, Allie,” she muttered.
She slowly inhaled the soft New Orleans air, then let it out. She moved the laptop back onto the table, sat down and started to read Mick’s email.
Allie-
You and I have known each other a long time. But you’re right—we don’t really know each other anymore, and maybe what we thought we knew was all wrong. It starts here, then—us getting to know each other so we can play safely together, and in a way that satisfies our needs.
I’ve seen your list of kinks and desires, your limits, your maybes. Here is mine. I am of the mind that I don’t need to have every one of my kinks met with any one given playmate. This list is a fairly complete itemization of what interests me. If there is something on it you haven’t considered before but that is a limit for you, let me know. I’ve already told you what I absolutely require—that you always use your safe words if you feel you need to. That you’re honest with me about what’s working for you and what isn’t. That you are completely transparent about any health issues or anything that might act as a negative emotional trigger. Standard stuff for those of us who operate in the Safe, Sane and Consensual community, which it seems you know.
My kinks:
Flogging, paddling, spanking, abrasion play, hot wax, clips/clamps/clothespins, handcuffs, seeing a woman in high heels and lingerie, tearing the lingerie to shreds as I take it off you—probably with my teeth. Did I mention I love biting? Then there’s mind-fuck, pinching, posture collars, corsets, canes, vampire gloves, tickling, vibrators, hair pulling, ice cubes, single-tail whips, and maybe most of all, rope bondage/kinbaku/shibari.