by Ann Jacobs
Best Reception
Ann Jacobs
Book 3 in the Necessary Roughness series.
Wide receiver Sid Conyers is hot, dominant, an expert in rope bondage and almost any woman’s dream. He’s played in BDSM dungeons for years, with many women, but none he ever truly cared for. Now he finally has the woman he’s coveted…by default. He wants to be her lover as well as her Master.
Talia survived physical and emotional abuse from her former Master that has left her emotionally scarred and insecure. A true submissive, she yearns for Sid to master her despite her fear that she can’t win his heart…doesn’t deserve his love.
Sid is determined to mend Talia’s battered psyche. He will bind her with rope, but he’ll convince her with tenderness that she deserves all the love he has to give.
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
www.ellorascave.com
Best Reception
ISBN 9781419930003
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Best Reception Copyright © 2011 Ann Jacobs
Edited by Pamela Campbell
Cover art by Syneca
Electronic book publication May 2011
The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.
With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.
Best Reception
Ann Jacobs
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Acura: Honda Motor Co., LTD. Corporation Japan
Barbie: Mattel, Inc.
Cadillac: General Motors Corporation
GPS: Navico, Inc.
Greyhound: Greyhound Lines, Inc.
Honda Ridgeline: Honda Motor Co., LTD. Corporation Japan
Jacuzzi: Jacuzzi, Inc.
Mercedes: Daimler AG
Pop Warner Football: Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc.
Porsche: Dr.Ing.h.c. F. Porsche AG
Tiffany: Tiffany (NJ) LLC
Chapter One
“I miss you, too, baby, but I’m glad Vanessa and Victoria are there to keep you company.” Sid Conyers grinned when Talia described how the cat sisters he’d brought home to keep her company were curled up at the foot of her bed, their motors purring so loudly he heard them through the phone.
“I’m happy to hear you’re getting around so well without that cast. But you mustn’t try to do too much. Knees are funny. They sometimes fool you into thinking they’re okay and then they tell you they aren’t, in a very painful way.” Two years ago he’d learned that the hard way and spent an extra month in rehab because he’d pushed too hard, too soon, after having arthroscopic surgery.
He could practically see Talia smiling through the phone. “I’ll be careful, I promise. I can hardly wait to show you how well I can get around now.”
“Do that. I’ll be expecting you to greet me when I walk in the door with a great big hug and a kiss.” Sid had been taking it easy on Talia, waiting until she recovered from most of her bumps, bruises and fractures, biding his time until he felt she was ready for him to take her the way he’d been dreaming of since she’d arrived on his doorstep a little over a month ago.
“Mmm. I like the sound of that, Mr. Conyers.”
He could hardly believe Talia had built up this much self-confidence so quickly, since she’d been an emotional basket case at first, afraid to look him in the eye, much less interact with him the way she’d been doing tonight. Maybe it was time for him to start making motions toward what he’d wanted all along—in fact, as long as he’d known her if he were being honest with himself. Start acting like the Master and see where it took them.
“You’re getting me hard, Ms. Quinn. And you know what that can mean once this game is over and I get home.”
“I think I’ll like whatever it is you have in mind,” she told him in a teasing tone he’d never heard from her before.
“Hold that thought, sweetheart. Much as I hate to, I’m gonna have to let you go. I have to get some sleep before the game tomorrow. I want you to rest and get well,” he said before shutting off his cell phone and stretching out under the comforter.
Sid had only meant to check in with Talia and make sure she was okay. But he clearly was out of his mind because he’d kept the conversation going for more than half an hour when he should have been preparing mentally for tomorrow’s game. As hard as he tried to put her out of his mind, the sound of her sweet Alabama drawl stuck like glue in his brain.
It didn’t make sense that just listening to her voice got his dick as hard as stone, especially since he’d never laid a hand on her. Not that he didn’t fantasize about dominating her, and not that he wasn’t planning her seduction nearly every waking moment. But that hadn’t happened yet and might not happen anytime soon. She sounded as though she was ready to play with him, but he couldn’t be sure. She’d taken one hell of a farewell beating from the asshole who used to be her Master, and that had to be stuck in her mind, making her leery of starting a sexual relationship with him. Sid shifted onto his side, hoping the change of position would help his hard-on go away.
That wasn’t likely to happen as long as he was picturing Talia in his house, in a guest room less than twenty-five feet from his own bed. “Hey, Jack,” he said, talking pretty loudly to draw his road-trip roommate’s attention away from the Western movie that was playing on TV.
Jack Winters stuck another pillow behind his head and shut off the sound. “Yeah?”
“I didn’t mean you had to turn off your program.”
“The movie sucks anyhow. What’s up?”
“That thing you wear…”
“This?” Jack tossed back the covers and put his hand over the chastity device Sid had first noticed him wearing during spring training before his rookie year. “What about it?”
If they weren’t good friends as well as teammates and road-trip roommates, Sid wouldn’t bring up the chastity device. Even so he hesitated, but he reminded himself that Jack never made any effort to hide it, other than from nosy reporters who invaded locker rooms. “What made you decide to wear it?” When Jack moved his hand over to his thigh, Sid took a good look at the clear cage attached to a ring that clamped securely around the base of Jack’s dick and his balls. “Or was it Tawny’s idea?”
“I wanted the restraint. I was pretty wild in college, but crazy in love with Tawny and scared shitless that I’d do something to fuck up and throw away our future. I had to do some serious persuading to get her to agree to hold the key.” He grinned. “I will say, though, she’s gotten to like having my dick under her control. And while I’ve grown up enough that I’m pretty sure I can control my wayward urges on my own, I like
being reminded this way that she holds the only key to my sexual satisfaction. Why do you ask? Don’t tell me you’re thinking about making a switch.”
“Maybe. Temporarily. I’ve spent the month hard as a rock.”
“Thanks to your house guest?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Jack flipped the sheet back up over his crotch. “Seems to me you could take care of that hard-on pretty easily once you get home. Talia is a sub if I ever saw one. And she did come to you all the way across the country, so I imagine she expects that you two will play. It’s not as though you she doesn’t know you’re a Dom. Or as if you two didn’t see each other playing in the dungeon at Rebels’ Roost often enough, before Vic got traded.”
Just hearing Jack mention Vic Reinhart, Talia’s former Master, made Sid see red. Before he realized it, he had curled both hands into tight fists. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. “Yeah. Talia as much as said she was ready to be my playmate, the day she arrived. But the motherfucker hurt her. Bad. She needs time to heal, not just on the outside, but in here, too.” Sid tapped his temple. “Don’t suggest that I go play with one of the club subs on dungeon night at Rebels’ Roost, either. My dick seems to have become inconveniently selective since Talia’s come back here.”
It struck Sid then that he’d deliberately avoided emotional connections with his playmates for the past few years. Had that been because he’d wanted Talia and didn’t want to develop a relationship with anybody else even though she’d been with another Master, out of his reach? He was beginning to think so.
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. If you weren’t hot for her, you wouldn’t have gotten so furious every time Reinhart treated her so rough. Still, before you lock your stuff up, let me tell you something I learned the hard way. It takes time and practice to train yourself to chastity. For the first five or six months, I spent a lot of time in agony, until my cock figured out it just wasn’t gonna get hard inside the cage no matter how hard it tried. And that it’s only going to get loose when my Mistress decides it’s time.” He looked over at Sid, a serious look on his face. “Talia isn’t hurt so bad that she couldn’t enjoy some gentle play, is she?”
Sid wasn’t sure. Her bruises had already faded and the cast had just come off her knee yesterday. Before he’d left her this morning she’d seemed to be feeling pretty good, a sharp contrast with the way she’d been a month ago when he’d found her collapsed in a heap at his front door, her body a mass of bruises and her ears and nose practically frostbitten from the cold. “I don’t guess so, at least not physically, although it will probably take at least six months before her knee’s completely healed. It’s— Fuck, if a lover ever beat me that way, I don’t know if I’d ever forget it enough to want anybody else to touch me sexually again. Would you?”
Jack didn’t answer right away, as though he was thinking about Sid’s question as it applied to him, a happily married, submissive male. “Probably not. I can’t see myself lying still and letting my Mistress hurt me. There are such things as safe words, you know.”
“Not that Reinhart would ever listen to one.” As far as Sid was concerned, their former teammate was nothing but an animal. He hadn’t shown as much concern for the welfare of the tiny woman who’d called him Master as most people would show for an injured animal.
“Maybe not.” Jack lay back and glanced over at Sid. “But I’m a sexual submissive, not a fucking masochist. I don’t put up with opposing linebackers whacking me without giving them back twice as much pain. No way, even in a sexual situation, would I let anybody break my bones without exacting a pound of flesh in return.”
Sid couldn’t imagine Jack turning on his beautiful wife. “You don’t mean you’d—”
“Of course I would never hit Tawny. I’d never harm any woman, but I certainly would physically restrain her if she suddenly took a notion to hurt me. Not that she would. Tawny would never dream of causing me any physical pain. We tried a little of the rough stuff when we first started with BDSM play, but she hated it. I’m pretty sure that her dislike for punishing me with the cat or flogger had a lot to do with her being willing to try locking me up to keep me under control.” Jack paused then met Sid’s questioning gaze. “I trust Tawny more than I trust myself. She would never do anything to injure me.”
“Sorry, buddy. I guess the dynamics are different when the woman’s the Domme. Unless she’s Keisha Harris.” He wouldn’t want to tangle with the gorgeous Amazon who often played with her apparently devoted slave at Rebels’ Roost. “I can’t think of any other Domme I know who’s big enough to threaten a guy physically—especially a pro football player.”
Jack laughed. “Keisha probably outweighs you, Runt, and she might be able to put a hurt on you if you two ever decided to play. Still, I doubt that she could hurt Killer Rubin unless he let her. I doubt if she outweighs him, but even if she does, he’s bound to have the edge on her when it comes to strength.”
Sid didn’t take exception to Jack’s insult because he was used to it. At five-ten and a hundred eighty pounds, he was the smallest guy on the team, so “Runt” was one of the kinder nicknames his teammates had hung on him. “Yeah. The way Matt tears into opposing quarterbacks every Sunday, I’m sure he could handle his Mistress if he wanted to. Nonetheless, Keisha scares the hell out of me.”
Sid lay back against the pillow, imagining how he’d feel if he opted for chastity. He was comfortable in his dominant skin, even now when he was fighting a constant hard-on.
Jack looked thoughtfully at Sid from his spot on the other bed. “From the scenes I saw Talia and Vic play out in the dungeon last year, I’d say she could very well be into serious pain.”
“Could be.” Sid hoped she wasn’t, because he wasn’t a Dom who got off by inflicting serious pain on his playmates. He recalled one scene last year at Rebels’ Roost where Reinhart had seemed out of control. Sid, Jack and several other Rebels in the dungeon had paused their own play and hurried to pry the big offensive tackle away from Talia. They’d stopped, however, when she’d come loudly in spite of—or maybe because of—the beating that had looked to everybody as though Reinhart was about to kill her. “It could be she’s not into pain and the bastard would wait until she was in subspace and then inflict some torment on her to cut into her climax, so the climax would finish but she’d be hurting. That would make it look as though a sub was asking for the pain.”
“You’re right. When you two start to play, I’m sure you’ll find out pretty quickly what makes her tick.” Jack adjusted the pillow under his head and closed his eyes.
That was one reason Sid had hesitated—still hesitated—to push a sexual relationship on her too fast. “It may be awhile, because I’ll be damned if I’ll risk giving her any more pain. Looking at her battered body damn near made me cry when I was getting her into bed after I brought her in from the cold.”
“What are you gonna do, let her stay with you and torture yourself with wanting her until you think she’s completely well?”
Sid guessed he was. He certainly wasn’t about to toss Talia out in the street. “I was thinking I might give chastity a try.”
“I’ve never run across a chaste Dom, my friend.” Yawning, Jack reached over and shut off the lamp over his bed. “You should probably give it some thought before locking yourself up, unless you believe you don’t have the balls to exercise self-control on your own. Meanwhile, we’d both better get some sleep. The game tomorrow’s likely to be a bitch.”
* * * * *
Talia lay curled up on the sofa watching the sports commentators dissect the last of three Sunday pro football games that had just ended, thrilled to hear that because the Chicago team had just lost, the Rebels had made the playoffs again. Victoria, the shy kitty, lay stretched out on the rug in front of the door to the sun porch, while Vanessa purred in her lap.
When Talia heard the distinctive sound of Sid’s car in the drive, she set Vanessa gently on the floor and hurried to the doo
r. I want you to greet me with a hug and kiss, he’d said last night. She was anxious to do just that, and to congratulate him for a great game and the Rebels’ win.
She heard his footsteps on the porch and then the door opened. “Welcome home,” she said, stretching up on tiptoe and wrapping her arms around his neck. “You’re gonna have to kiss me, because you’re too tall for me to get up to your lips.”
He did, and the kiss went on for what seemed like forever—sweet, soft. His lips teased her mouth open, but he gave her just a hint of tongue. Though the arms he wrapped around her felt cold at first, they made her feel warm and tingly inside. One of the cats—Vanessa she was sure—twined around their legs, asking for her share of her Master’s attention.
“That’s the way I like to be welcomed when I come home,” he said when he broke the kiss and untangled Vanessa from around his legs. “Did you watch the game?”
Talia smiled. “The kitties and I curled up in front of your giant-screen TV and spent the entire afternoon and evening watching football. I just heard one of the announcers say the Rebels made the playoffs. Congratulations.”
“Thanks, sweetheart.” She loved the way his smile lit up his handsome face.
“Do you want something to eat? I could—”
He shook his head. “There’s no need. We ate on the plane. What I want to do now is crawl into the Jacuzzi and then hit the bed. I feel every muscle in my body, and they’re all protesting. Our defense did a good job of stopping the Sentinels, so we spent more time than usual on the field.”
“I liked seeing you catch all those balls.” She’d kept her eyes glued on Sid’s number-seventeen jersey whenever he was on the field. “You’re really good.”
He ruffled her hair as they walked down the hallway and then bent to kiss her at the guest bedroom door. “Thanks, sweetheart. I’m also beyond beat. Go on, sleep tight. I’ll be okay in the morning once I get to the training room and let the guys there have at my bumps and bruises.”