by Cara Dee
"That’s why we're worried," he reasons. "We just want to make sure it's what you want."
"It is." I sit up straighter and smile. "I mean, there are things about my vanill—everyday life that won't change, but a lot of things will."
He tilts his head. "What kinds of things won't change?"
Oh, that’s an easy one. "I'll never be a housewife, for one," I chuckle. "I don’t feel the need to contribute financially, but I want to. I also need to have that small part of me remain independent." And Rio wouldn’t change that. He's already told me he ultimately wants to provide for me, but he also encourages me to have my own life. "I still have the same dreams most people have, settling down, getting married…" Having a child. But it's too soon to voice that dream, and frankly, the topic makes me nervous to bring up.
My Master isn't a damn flight risk, so maybe I'm not being fair, but I can't help it, dammit. Baby steps.
Jase gives me a knowing look. "Uh-huh. And what about his brother? Have you guys talked about his reaction to that other sub—what she did? Have you told Rio about the Facebook thing? Have you opened up to him about the fact that involving others in your relationship makes you uncomfortable?"
I chew on my thumbnail.
Honestly, the Facebook issue isn't even an issue anymore. The more I get to know Rio, the more certain I become he'd only get a good laugh from hearing about my stalking. But the rest Jase mentioned? Ugh.
"Talk to him, rope girl," he tells me gently. "I get that this is new, but those are some fairly major concerns. You're halfway in love with the man already; you don’t want to set yourself up for heartbreak."
I sorta wanna stab his hand with a fork.
*
Robby shows up some twenty minutes before Rio's due, and Jase and I are putting together a salad and setting the kitchen table.
I'd go with the dining room, but I figured this was more relaxed.
"How did the pitch go?" Jase asks Robby, and I see how they nearly lean in to kiss but catch themselves and back off.
I shake my head.
"The chick had some interesting ideas, but I dunno." Robby shrugs and scratches his nose. "Nothing original about a game where you hunt werewolves. I doubt it's a project they'll continue with, much less hire me to develop."
Leaning my hip against the counter, I face them both and ask, "Video games—good times—but when are you two gonna stop sneaking around?" I sure as hell have their attention now. "You do a piss-poor job of it, too. Both Tristan and I know you guys are together."
A flush creeps forward on Robby's cheeks, and he runs a hand through his hair and looks away.
Jase coughs and tries to focus on the salad a bit too intently.
I snort and roll my eyes then take four plates over to the table.
"I thought we were being subtle," Robby whispers to Jase.
"You weren't," I say frankly. "Apparently you can't whisper very well, either." I blow him a kiss.
At that point, I see Rio's Jeep rolling up the driveway, and I swear I get butterflies.
Hell, I might be more than halfway in love with him. Because unlike what my roommates are aware of so far, it's so much more than D/s between Rio and me. For a Dom with sadistic tendencies, he's incredibly sweet and romantic.
Walking out into the foyer, I straighten my pencil skirt and snug button-down, then open the door for him just as he reaches for it.
His eyes roam my body from head to toe, then up again, a smile lighting up his handsome face.
"My little walking felon." He drops his briefcase inside the door and pulls me close. "If this is how you'll dress when working for Nick, I think we'll have to play out a few librarian and schoolgirl fantasies." I shiver and grin as he engulfs me in a hard squeeze, his five-o'clock shadow rasping tantalizingly along my neck. "God, I missed you today, love."
There it is.
"Me too, Master." I sigh contentedly and drop a kiss where he's loosened his tie. "Let me take your jacket."
He hums and straightens, watching me as I remove his suit jacket. "You're singing tomorrow night too, yes?"
I nod and hang up his jacket in the closet. "Yes, Sir. Master Cooper will be there with Brayden and Evangeline, too. Date night and all."
He grins as he rolls up the sleeves of his gray button-down. "Good place for it. I'll be there, of course." Thing is, it has turned into an "of course" too because he hasn't missed a single gig. He'll be there tonight, as well. "I'm having dinner with Gabe and his fiancé before, so we'll drive over to the bar afterward."
"Oh. Okay." I really don’t wanna see his brother, and I don’t want Rio to see how badly I just want the floor to swallow me whole right now, so I take a step toward the kitchen and say, "I should check on the lasagn—"
"Not so fast." Ugh. Firm, unyielding voice. "Get back here."
My shoulders slump, and I obey.
"What?" I ask dully.
"Don’t think for a second I've forgotten what my brother said about Miranda—by default, you too." He grips my chin and forces me to look him in the eye. "My priority is not only you, but also standing up for what I believe in, and I would never hold your past against you." Despite the firm tone, his eyes remain fairly gentle. "With your permission, I'd like to explain everything to Gabe. Then give him a chance to apologize to you. He's a smart guy, but he can be ignorant at times."
I swallow my emotions, touched by his gesture. I mean, this is Rio's own brother. They're family. Yet, he stands up for me.
"Thank you, Master," I whisper. "You can tell him."
He smiles in approval and gives me a soft kiss. "Thank you for offering him a second chance. I don’t take it lightly."
Okay, I love him, dammit.
And after only one dinner, my roommates appear to love him, too.
Chapter 14
After my gig the following night, I stop at Mark's table and chat with him and his partners for a bit. Oh, I'm totally stalling, but can anyone blame me? Rio's at the bar, looking irritated, and his brother and fiancé aren't here. Which means Gabe hasn’t changed his mind.
"Well, I didn’t mean to interrupt your date," I start telling Mark, but he shakes his head.
"Nonsense, honey. Any chance Evangeline gets for some girl talk works for me." He winks at his girl, who ducks her head.
"Amen to that." Brayden chuckles and takes a sip from his beer. "Earlier she tried to gossip about Gabriella with me."
I lift a brow at that, incredibly curious.
"But this is huge!" Evangeline argues. "She dumped John!"
Hot fuck.
"No shit?" I take a step closer to their table.
"Mmhmm." She nods with a gleeful grin. "After what he did to her on Valentine's a few weeks ago, she's finally had it."
"What did he do?" And why haven't I heard anything about this? I was walking on air after Rio surprised me on Valentine's Day. He cooked for me and then finished off with dessert and an intense bondage session in his dungeon. He used a new jute rope he'd purchased solely for the purple color it was dyed in that he said matched my eyes. But news about Gabriella would've cracked the daze. I'm pretty sure.
"He forgot their date." Evangeline shakes her head. "Poor girl. She even arrived at the restaurant, but he never showed."
"Bastard," I mutter. "I'm glad she dumped his sorry ass."
"Know what else?" Evangeline smirks, tongue in cheek. "Instead of throwing the ring at him like chicks do in the movies, she sold it and kept the money."
"My kinda girl!" Damn, I'm proud of her.
Midnod, Evangeline's grin fades, and she stills.
Then there are suddenly two hands clamping down on my shoulders. I squeak.
"I think I've let you stall enough now." Rio's husky voice tickles my neck, raising goose bumps in its wake. "Mark, I'll see you and your lovely subs this weekend?"
Mark raises his beer. "Wouldn’t miss it."
"What happens this week—" That’s all I get out before Rio stuns me by throwing me o
ver his shoulder.
"Gah!" I shriek, to which Mark and Brayden laugh. Fuck, so do other guests sitting near us.
Rio chuckles and swats my ass. "We have a date in the dungeon, my love. See you guys later."
Mmmmmy love. Yes, please.
The bastard carries me out into the cold like that, though it only lasts a minute. Then he reaches his car, and he sits me down on the passenger's side.
"I could've walked, you know," I quip.
"Really?" He closes my door and walks around the vehicle to get in. "You seemed to have problems joining me at the bar, so I wasn’t sure."
I sulk at that, remembering the fact that Gabriel never showed.
"You were incredible as usual this evening." Rio leans over and kisses my temple before starting the engine. "I know you've said you don’t want anything beyond singing in bars, but you should at least record some of it."
His praise has buttered me up enough, but there's no forgetting the Gabriel issue.
"Your brother didn’t come," I mention quietly.
Rio sighs and gives my thigh a squeeze. "No, he didn’t. He's set on being stubborn."
"Well, I've always dreamed of being hated by my boyfriend's family, so yay me," I mutter sarcastically.
To my annoyance, Rio lets out a laugh in amusement. "That’s a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it? My parents adore you, and my brother has no issues with you whatsoever. I'm afraid your dream will go unfulfilled."
Oh, please. Okay, I admit that his parents are wicked cool and seem to like me. Not that I've met them; they live in Australia, but Rio's introduced us over Skype. But the part where Gabriel has no issues with me is total bullshit.
I give Rio a sugary sweet smile. "On Facebook you only have one brother listed, so unless you have another sibling hidden somewhere, you, dear Master, are full of it."
"I'll let the attitude slide since I haven't explained how tonight went yet," he answers, stopping at a red light. He grabs my hand and kisses the top of it. "We forget that Gabe wasn’t actually referring to you that morning when he and I argued. After I explained everything to him tonight, he said your situation was completely different. You did what you did in order to survive; you were a child without a family." He lets go of my hand to drive again once the light turns green. "In other words, he's as understanding as I am about your childhood, but he still believes what Miranda did was unforgivable."
Ummm. All right, while I'm practically giddy to be accepted by everyone in Rio's family, I'm a little irritated with Gabriel's reasoning. Because after having spoken to Miranda, I only feel sorry for her. I admit, I reached out to her at the club because I wanted to know how her arrangement with Rio and Nicholas had worked. The latter is obviously monogamous and would never go behind Kayla's back, but he and Rio were both in charge of Miranda during the punishment. Sue me for wanting to know if my Master fucked her.
I had a jealous moment, okay?
I tried to not let that show, though. I asked her if she was okay and how everything had worked. Thankfully, it had been a nonsexual thing. She'd been his house slave for a few days, and then the punishment had ended at the play party. And once I'd relaxed, to which she'd grinned and totally seen through me, we sorta became friends. She opened up about the theft, how ashamed she was, and I learned she'd acted out of desperation.
Miranda's sister is a flighty runaway who recently bailed on her kids.
Unless Miranda wants to alert CPS, she has no choice but to take care of her young nieces herself. She's told Nicholas and Rio the truth, but she refuses help from them, stating she wants to do it on her own and that she's too embarrassed after what she did.
How the fuck can Gabriel think that’s unforgivable?
I shake my head and look out the window.
Whatever—all I can hope is that Miranda accepts help soon. Regardless if it's my offer to babysit, Nicholas's offer to give her more hours at the club, or Rio's offer to help her with rent.
"Your brother's kind of a jerk," I mumble.
"In this matter? Most definitely. We've butted heads countless times over the years. I love the guy, but he's spoiled as hell."
I huff and turn to Rio. "You grew up equally privileged with the same parents, and you're not a douchebag."
The corners of his mouth turn up. "Different tastes, different pursuits." He shrugs, and then smirks. "I'm glad you don’t think I'm a douchebag, though."
"Only when you deny me orgasms," I tease.
His eyes grow devious. "But I get off on hearing you beg, baby."
And beg I do. Shamelessly.
"By the way, when did you find me on Facebook?" he asks.
Shit, double shit, triple shit.
"Uhhh…"
"I hardly ever use it," he goes on.
"I, um, just found it one day." About eight years ago. Jeesh. Is it getting hot in here? I squirm in my seat. "I was curious."
Side-eyeing me, he grabs my jaw and brushes a thumb over my cheek. "Now I'm the one who's curious. About this little blush of yours."
Kill me now.
"Is my beautiful little property hiding something from me?"
Why oh, why is lying a hard limit of his?
"Maybe," I groan in embarrassment. Slumping back in my seat, I fold my arms across my chest and screw my eyes shut. After that, the words come tumbling out in a rush. "Maybe I searched your name like eight years ago, maybe you popped up, maybe I checked in from time to time, maybe a little more when you were overseas. But I was worried! You actually got malaria when you were in Ethiopia! Do you understand how much that freaked me out? I almost messaged you."
Stunned silence is what I get in return.
I'll take that laugh I was hoping for aaaany second now.
Please?
As I open my eyes and chance a glance in his direction, a knot of nervousness forms in my stomach. His expression is too blank, and I can't get a read on him. He definitely doesn’t look mad, but he doesn’t appear thrilled, either.
"I'm sorry." I bite my lip. "I should've told you sooner, but I was mortified."
Eventually, Rio lets out a breath and shakes his head. At the same time, his hand finds mine again, and he holds it tightly. "Don’t apologize." He clears his throat. "Christ, don’t apologize. I'm just…shocked, I think. And I can't help but wonder where we'd be if you'd contacted me back then as opposed to now."
"My guess is you weren't done being grumpy and cynical then." I try to make light of it.
It works, and Rio chuckles quietly. "I fear you might be right, but I also know I never stood a chance against you." He kisses my hand. "Regardless, the man I am today is eternally grateful for you. And hearing this—that you worried about me—makes my admiration grow tenfold. You continue to amaze me, Chelsea."
My cheeks hurt from smiling so wide, and I gotta blink past the tears welling up in my eyes. It feels like he just took away the weight of the world from my shoulders.
Chapter 15
An hour later, we're home and I've showered and pulled back my hair—as instructed—in a neat bun. Heading down the stairs to the basement, I walk naked toward Master's dungeon where he told me he's setting up for our scene.
Instrumental goth metal and the sconces on the blood-red walls of the corridor lead the way for me.
When I reach the doorway, I see that the equipment has been cleared from one of the black-painted walls inside the dungeon, and the spotlights in the low ceiling have been directed to the emptied area.
Master is a fucking vision. His hair is disheveled and damp from his own shower, and he's only wearing a pair of well-worn jeans. He notices me while he's working the settings on his camera, and all he has to do is snap his fingers and point to the floor where I'm standing.
I fall to my knees and lower my gaze, my hands clasping behind my back.
Every Dom has his own set of rules, and I love learning Rio's ways. He's incredibly strict and demands perfection, a bar set high enough for me to always have a goal. There'
s always a challenge.
My biggest goal is to wear his permanent collar, but I know that can take time. It's a commitment as highly regarded as marriage in my opinion, and Master feels the same.
For now, I cherish his training collar, which he brings over soon enough.
He speaks in a low voice as he smooths the leather around my neck. "Remember what we agreed to do when we got our test results back?"
Anticipation and excitement roll through me. "Yes, Master. We're going to have a TPE weekend." Total power exchange is something I'd love every once in a while, and the prospect of experiencing that this weekend with Master makes me wet just thinking about it.
"What else was I going to do?" He sticks a small key into the collar to lock it into place.
I shiver. "Review my sub journal entries."
He hums. "Very good. We'll begin first thing tomorrow morning, but I thought we could ease into it a little tonight. That way, you'll be more comfortable when Mark and his subs join us for dinner and playtime on Saturday."
I swallow, remembering one of his rules when we discussed TPE. I'm not allowed to speak unless there's a direct question, and that suits me perfectly fine, except…I sorta have a question right now.
"Permission t-to speak, Master?" Motherfuck, am I not too old for stammering?
"Granted."
Here goes. "How intimately will we play with Master Cooper?"
I thought for sure they didn’t share, but maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I need to mentally prepare myself before I attempt to witness Master with someone else.
"Look at me, little rebel."
I sigh internally and obey, definitely not expecting to see him smirking.
"Come on." He holds out a hand, and I take it, confused and curious. "This is why I wanted to start tonight. You've mentioned future play parties in your journal, and I noticed something."
He leads me over to the cleared spot and tells me to face the wall. Then he disappears, only to return with his rope bag.
"No matter who we play with, I will focus on You, Master—hopefully to the point where I forget others are even there."