Rule Changer (Rules of Engagement)

by Sienna Snow

Standing next to me outside one of the playrooms at Dominion, Lex Duncan ran a hand through his blond hair. “I can’t believe you agreed to this, Carm.”

  I ignored his statement and monitored the fire play, making sure all safety precautions were in place. I grunted to myself and said, “You look a little out of place in your three-piece suit.”

  As Dominion’s attorney, Lex was notorious for his attention to detail and a stickler for safety, especially when it came to edge play. He was the one who insisted all fire play was monitored by our resident physician.

  “I didn’t have time to change. Plus, I don’t do public scenes anymore.” He stared at the couple and shook his head.

  Ever since Milla and Lex had their baby girl, they kept their legendary escapades behind closed doors.

  “You had to make your first night back a showstopper.”

  I touched the edge of the glass with the tips of my scarlet-painted nails. “They’ve waited over a year for my consent. So I thought, why not.”

  “Jesus.” He ran a hand through his hair. “A little warning would’ve been appreciated.”

  The Domme circled her submissive, then crouched in front of him, kissing him on the lips. She stood up when the male tried to deepen the kiss, and resumed her strikes.

  “Hey. I called to let you know.”

  Lex took a sip of his whiskey and spoke. “Something as dangerous and controversial as fire play warrants more than ninety minutes’ notice.”

  “Don’t get your panties in a twist. You prepared the documents a year ago, and they signed them, understanding the risks.”

  “Yes, but we have a reputation to uphold.”

  I frowned at him. “There is only so long I can hold off a federal judge and her husband. Did you want to be the one to tell Judge Sanders that her desire for a public fire scene with her spouse was denied? She’s the one who keeps an eye on all our clubs.”

  Lex sighed. “I guess you’re right. The woman is a barracuda in the courtroom.”

  I smiled. “See, I made the best decision and saved you the embarrassment.”

  “Bite me, Dane.”

  I raised a brow. “I thought you didn’t swing that way.”

  The scene in front of us ended, and the audience watching the show clapped and shouted their praises. The crowd dissipated, allowing the couple some privacy, and moved to the room with the next scheduled scene. The place where Samuel, a prized club submissive, waited for me.

  “You are such a pain in the ass. It’s a wonder Max never thought to drown you as a kid.”

  “I’m a fast swimmer.” I smirked, then just as fast, my grin fell as I thought of all the pain that being accused of embezzlement would cause not only me but also Max.

  Lex peered at me, cocking his head to the side. “What’s wrong?”

  Lex had known me since before my mother’s death and took on the big brother routine whenever Max wasn’t around.

  “It’s nothing.” I shook my head. “No, it’s something, but I can’t talk about it now.”

  “Does it have to do with Mil’s pet project?”

  “Lex, not here.”

  “Carm, you’re worrying me. Let’s get out of here and talk.”

  “There’s nothing we can do tonight. I promise, tomorrow.”

  Lex didn’t look convinced but conceded. “Fine, but get your ass to the house first thing in the morning.”

  I nodded my agreement.

  A dungeon attendant approached me, inclining his head. “Mistress. We are ready for you. We have prepared your slave to your exact specifications.”

  I noticed the surprise on Lex’s face, ignored it, and then took a deep breath.

  Here we go. I could do this. Three years away from scening in public didn’t mean I’d lost my touch.

  “Thank you, Daniel. I will be there in a few minutes.”

  “Are you performing tonight?” Lex asked me. “First night back and you’re giving the patrons a double show. It makes sense now, why Caitlin is here. She knew about the main act before I did.”

  “It’s time, Lex. The last time I was part of a public scene was a few months before Andrew died. Tonight isn’t about my pleasure as much as it’s my slave’s.”

  Plus, it would be the best distraction from the crazy events of the gala.

  “What about Thomas?”

  “What about him? What we had is over. The only thing we share is parenting the boys.”

  Lex shook his head. “You don’t believe that any more than I do, but if it helps you move forward, I will always have your back.”

  “Thanks. Make sure they don’t set the place on fire.” I gestured to the judge and her husband. “I have a beautiful man waiting for me.”

  “You owe me, Mistress Carmen,” Lex said, giving me the formal name I used in the club.

  He did this on purpose to make sure I transitioned into the correct mind-set, clearing my head of anything but the session I’d lead.

  “Master Lex, you can call it even for the time I helped you win your wife back,” I retorted as I nodded to the attendant and entered the private hallway leading to the playrooms. I approached the door where Samuel waited for me.

  Taking a deep breath, I placed my hand on the doorknob. A moment of uneasiness churned in my stomach. The last person I’d played with at a club was Thomas.

  We’d taken a private room away from prying eyes. It was the first time I’d ever given a man any form of submission. The first time I’d allowed myself to hand over control. The first time I’d felt like a man truly understood my need for domination as well as accepted my desire to submit.

  Am I wrong to do this? Can I share this type of intimacy with anyone other than Thomas?

  I shook the thoughts from my head and opened the door. Naked, Samuel kneeled facing the observation windows. His breath hitched, and goose bumps appeared on his skin in response to my presence. His fists clenched against the manacles holding him to the ground. His sculpted body glistened from a sheen of sweat caused by the fifteen minutes he’d waited for my arrival.

  I kept my eyes closed for a second, trying to calm my own breath, then moved toward Samuel. He was beautiful, with long-honed muscles, golden skin, cropped blond hair, and a dominating height that would tower over me if he stood.

  I licked my lips and smiled.

  This scene was about my submissive and the pleasure I could give him. He’d asked me to use the crop on him, and I’d read through his limits and desires. He was a boxer by profession and a sought-after submissive at night. He’d been requesting a scene with me for the past two years, and tonight, I’d give him an experience he wouldn’t forget.

  I nodded to a scene attendant standing in the corner of the room, who brought me my prized braided leather riding crop. As soon as I took it from him, he returned to his previous position.

  I smacked the instrument against my palm, and a slight smile tugged at my lips when I noticed Samuel’s erection growing. I loved when the anticipation aroused as much as the scene.

  I circled him four times, making sure a graze of my fingers or the tip of the crop accompanied each turn. A flush covered his body, but he kept his gaze toward the ground waiting for my next move.

  “Are you with me, Samuel?”

  “Yes, Mistress.”

  “Good. Now we begin.”

  I kept my eyes on Samuel, lifting his face and placing a gentle kiss on his lips. At first, he was startled, since I never kissed my submissives, but then his face and skin flushed with pleasure.

  “You’re a beautiful man, Samuel. If you do well, I may consider keeping you.”

  A smile tugged at his cheeks as he returned his sights to the floor.

  For the next twenty minutes, I kept Samuel on the verge of coming, striking him, caressing him, giving him lingering kisses that never grew deep. His skin grew a gorgeous red after each strike of the crop. He was perfect, everything I loved in my submissives. Each moan of his lips and strain of his muscles was a delicious dessert t
o my internal Domme’s cravings.

  This was why I loved domination. To make a strong man bend to the limits of his pleasure. To give him what the vanilla world could never understand. To share in his euphoria.

  Sam had the pain tolerance I’d experienced with only one other man. A man I shouldn’t be thinking about right now. With Samuel, there was an acceptance, an honoring of the submission he gave at my feet. His complete trust in my ability to fulfill his desires was a gift to treasure.

  With Thomas, it was a battle of wills that left me feeling as if I should be on the receiving end of the crop.

  All of a sudden, I felt an unexplainable hum in the air. I knew without looking who stood by the observation window.

  Thomas.

  Why was he here? Why would he care? Why did his presence make me feel like he’d caught me cheating? Up until this point, I almost felt like the old Carmen again.

  I walked over to a bench, picking up a towel and wiping the sweat that clung to my neck and face. I took a deep breath and returned to Samuel.

  I refused to let Thomas’s proximity mess with my concentration.

  Too late.

  A desperate moan escaped from Samuel’s lips, and I knew he couldn’t hold out any longer.

  I crouched down and cupped him with my free hand, making sure to linger on his balls. Nuzzling against his ear, I whispered, “Are you ready to come?”

  “Y-yess, Mistress,” he panted out.

  “Come, my dear.” I released my last strike against his straining erection, and almost immediately, jets of semen exploded onto the floor.

  I dropped my crop and held him as his release spasmed out of him. Running my fingers through his damp hair, I leaned my forehead against his. Sam panted, trying to catch his breath.

  “You did well. You’ve pleased me more than I can ever express.”

  He gave me an exhausted smile. “Thank you, Mistress. May I offer you pleasure?”

  Without thought, I lifted my head and glanced behind me at the observation window. My breath hitched as my eyes collided with Thomas’s angry ones. What I saw staring at me was a possessive jealousy that I wasn’t sure how to interpret. Then he mouthed, “Don’t you dare do it.”

  I turned back to face Sam and closed my eyes.

  If Thomas were kneeling before me, I wouldn’t have to think twice, but I couldn’t do it. Not because I was ordered not to, but because I needed a meaningful connection before I allowed that level of intimacy.

  I wasn’t going to lie to myself; Thomas’s presence was wreaking havoc on my senses.

  Now with the scene over, I’d have to see what Thomas’s reaction meant. We weren’t together—he’d made sure of that—but I couldn’t deny the pull of his command. He was the only Master I’d ever submitted to, and my body, no matter how much I hated it, responded to his order.

  I shook the confusion from my mind and refocused on Samuel. Thomas could wait. Right now, my priority was my submissive.

  “Thank you for the offer, Samuel.” I lifted his face and smoothed away the damp hair from his brow. “But this is as far as any of my sessions go.”

  A moment of disappointment crossed his face, but then he conceded, accepting my words. As far as anyone knew, Andrew Shepard, my long-deceased fiancé, was the only person who I’d ever had a relationship with outside of a scene.

  “Samuel, let me care for you. You did well tonight and deserve a little extra attention.” I slowly removed his bindings and took him into the aftercare lounge.

  CHAPTER SIX

  An hour later, following my care of Samuel and a small meal with him, I stepped onto the social floor of the club. As I walked past various members, they inclined their heads in respect. In the back corner of the room near the bar, Mistress Taryn, a Domme I’d trained with when I first discovered the fetish world, stood with her submissive.

  She smiled at me and lifted her glass, congratulating me on my scene. I returned her smile, but my stomach was tied in knots.

  As much as I enjoyed the session, the only pleasure I received was from the control I’d held. It wasn’t a true arousal where I gained a sense of euphoria from my submissive’s release. When Samuel came at my command, I experienced not even a small drop of the sexual stir that had brought me into the fetish world in the first place.

  I growled inside. It was all Thomas’s fault. It felt like I was cheating on him. One command from him, and all I wanted to do was obey.

  Why did he have to be here tonight?

  Caitlin sat in a plush sofa waiting for me. I inhaled deep and made my way toward her. Hopefully, a stiff drink would make this anxiety evaporate.

  The moment I reached her, she placed a tumbler in my hand.

  “Drink this. Do not let him know he’s gotten to you.”

  I downed the Moscow mule in seconds and then placed the copper cup on the table as I sat on the couch opposite Caitlin.

  With knowing eyes she watched me compose myself. Like me, she had an ingrained need to keep her world in complete control. However, unlike me, she craved submission at all times in her personal life.

  She was with me the day I discovered I was pregnant. She never gave me advice or judged me. In fact, it was her villa that I’d spent the last year living in. She’d walked into my office one morning, handed me the key, and told me if I needed to escape, to use it.

  “I shouldn’t feel like this, Cait. What’s wrong with me?”

  Caitlin cut me off. “Stop right there. You will not let him win. He left you and had no right to pull that trick on you. He blew your concentration, and Thomas did it on purpose. Although I did learn something tonight that you’ve been hiding.”

  “And what’s that?” I asked, knowing she would tell me whether I wanted her to or not.

  “You’re more like me than you want to admit. Thomas is the top in your relationship.”

  My eyes almost bugged out. Caitlin had seen my reaction.

  Fuck.

  How many people had caught that?

  “Calm down. I was standing next to him, and the only one who noticed your interaction.”

  “That’s a relief,” I whispered. I still felt like a fraud.

  “Stop looking at me like that. It was a riveting scene. All the touching and kissing left the audience hot and bothered. If people didn’t know your history, they’d assume you were a committed pair. But…” She paused.

  Here it comes. Caitlin noticed everything and never kept her feelings to herself.

  An attendant delivered me another drink, and I took a sip.

  “It felt like he did more for the audience than he did for you. You were perfect together. Why wasn’t your heart into the scene?”

  “I was wondering the same thing,” said a deep voice that had haunted my dreams.

  My gaze snapped to Caitlin, who looked like a deer caught in headlights, confirming what I already knew. Thomas was behind me.

  I expected him to seek me out but hoped I’d at least get to relax before I added another notch to my over-eventful evening.

  Thomas’s words echoed in my mind. “I’m here for my sons.”

  “Master Thomas, I wish I could say it’s a pleasure to see you.” Caitlin took a sip of her drink. “We were in the middle of a private conversation.”

  Holy shit. Caitlin didn’t seem to care that she’d spoken with contempt to a house Dominant.

  Thomas chuckled, not taking offense to her greeting. “Caitlin, would you excuse us for a moment?”

  She glared at him. “Unless Mistress Carmen requests I leave, I will remain where I am.”

  I loved this woman. She knew how shaken up I was and would break club rules to protect me. But she had to remember, a submissive was to speak with respect to every Dom in Dominion. If she kept up the hostility, I’d have to say something, and that could mean suspending her.

  Thomas sighed. “Carm…um, Mistress Carmen, could we speak alone for a few minutes?”

  Was that a stutter? My confidence jumped a notch
. Squaring my shoulders, I turned to face him. There was no getting out of this, so I might as well deal with him.

  My heart immediately accelerated the second our eyes locked, and the ache in my chest intensified.

  Thomas wore his signature dark leather pants and tight black T-shirt, which accentuated his muscular arms and chest.

  He’d approached me the exact same way the first night we’d met.

  I licked my lips and then spoke. “If this is about the conversation we had at the estate, I think it can wait until tomorrow.”

  He scanned me from head to toe, and a slight grin tugged at his lips.

  I glanced down and wanted to kick myself. I was wearing the very outfit he’d bought for me. The buttery leather bodysuit was what I’d planned to wear the first time Thomas and I openly played at the club.

  “This discussion pertains to the question Caitlin asked you.”

  My eyes narrowed.

  What did he want me to say? That playing with someone other than him made me feel as if I was betraying what we’d shared?

  “Master Thomas, you aren’t entitled to an answer. You lost your right a year and a half ago.”

  “Tell him, Carm.”

  Thomas ignored Caitlin and pleaded with his eyes. “Please, Carm. I want to…I need to speak with you.”

  I released a sigh. I could do this.

  Put on the Carmen Dane ice, listen to what he has to say, and then get away from him as fast as possible.

  “Fine. Let’s go to my office.”

  “Thank you. I apologize for taking Mistress Carmen from you.” He glanced at Caitlin and then behind her. “I’m sure Master Ian will be happy to entertain you for the remainder of the evening. He’s just arrived from England and could use the company of a submissive who knows every one of his preferences.”

  She shot daggers at Thomas with her eyes and then stood, turning so fast that she slammed into said Master. Ian steadied Caitlin and stared at her for a brief moment before she pushed past him and left the room without a backward glance.

  “That was wrong on so many levels,” I said to Thomas as I stood from my spot on the sofa.

  Ian and Caitlin had been a couple during their youth, but mistakes on both their parts ended their relationship. To this day, their feelings remained unchanged.