by Dakota Trace
“I know, Dominic, but it’s easier said than done.”
The familiar spark of attraction flared between them when he pressed her hand against his lips. Her breath caught in her throat when he nibbled on the tender flesh of the inside of her wrist. Streaks of pleasure and pain as he nipped at her skin had her closing her eyes. Dominic LaFontane had come into her life when she needed a strong man the most. Add to that his constant praise of her ability to please him and he was perfect.
When she had arrived in L.A. two years ago, she’d been nothing more than a wounded, heart-broken woman. One who didn’t understand why the man to whom she’d given her ultimate submission had turned her loose. Then she’d met Dominic on her first day of her internship with one of the prominent architectural firms. All it had taken was one look into his dark chocolate colored eyes for her to know she’d found a kindred soul. The familiar pain she saw in her own eyes every morning was reflected in his. He’d been hurt just as she had.
A few months later after a few drinks - all right more than a few if she wanted to be honest, Dominic had carried her out of a fetish club after seeing her hanging limply from a Saint Andrews cross barely conscious. He’d taken her home before telling her firmly that he would tolerate no more of her antics. She wasn’t going to willing endanger her body just because her heart was broken…
Sitting on her couch, she tried to fathom why the man in front of her cared whether or not she lived. She ignored the pain of her torn back while wishing she could slide into the welcoming darkness of unconsciousness. She’d gone to Gilded Lily in hopes of driving the feel of Josh’s touch out of her memory. Surely one Dom was the same as another.
She’d paid the manger of the club all the spending money Caelan had sent her. She’d wanted someone - anyone - to cane her while she was bound. She hadn’t realized at the time that the Dom would ignore the agreed upon safe word. Evidently Safe, Sane, and Consensual wasn’t practiced by the members of the Gilded Lily. All she could remember is the numbing pain before the familiar face of her brother’s friend filled her tear-filled vision. He’d took her down from the cross before walking out of the club without regards to the vehement protests of the Dom who she’d paid.
“Do you have a death wish, Kalinda?” Raking his hand through his short dark hair, Dominic paced back and forth across the small living room of her efficiency apartment.
She barely was able to mumble a “No” before she slipped back towards the welcome darkness of unconsciousness.
“Oh no, you don’t! You’re going to talk to me this time. This has got to stop or you’re going to end up dead. I’ll be damned if I have to explain to your brother why the hell you self-destructed while I did nothing to stop it.”
She cried out in fresh agony as he jerked her off the couch. The cuts and welts on her back throbbed when he dragged her down the short hall to her bathroom. Efficiently he began to strip her despite her slapping hands.
“Stop.” Her sobs seemed to have little effect on him.
He growled and gave her a ‘not so gentle’ shake. “No! This is gonna stop. If you need a Dom look no further. I’ll dominate you before I’ll let you continue on this destructive path.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and wobbled on her feet. “No.” Stumbling away from him, she turned on the water as hot as she could stand it. Standing under its pounding spray she whimpered as the hot water touched the cuts and welts on her back. When she finally couldn’t stand the pain anymore, she shut the water off, and stood trembling on the cold porcelain while Dominic carefully wrapped her in a towel. Cradling her in his arms, he’d walked out of her bathroom to carry her to her small twin bed. Laying her down on her stomach across the towels he’d covered her bed with, he sat down next to her hip. Reaching for the bottle of witch hazel, he opened it.
“This discussion isn’t over, chérie. Rest tonight. We’ll deal with this in the morning.” Taking the soft cotton handkerchief out of his pocket, he folded it in fourths before dumping a generous amount of the fluid on it. Setting the bottle back on the small nightstand next to her bed, he began to gently dab at the various cuts and welts the riding crop had left on her pale skin…
“You’re doing it again, Kalinda. Don’t make me have to spank you again, chérie.”
She pulled his hand to her mouth. “I wasn’t thinking about him, Dom. I was thinking about the night you saved me.” She rested her head on his shoulder. While Dominic had never offered her his permanent collar, he was now the only man she trusted aside from her brother. Dominic’s understanding but firm hand when she’d shown up at his apartment to kneel for her needed punishment had given her peace. When it became too much, he had gotten through to her when nothing else had. While their relationship hadn’t started out as sexual in nature, about six months after he’d found her at the Gilded Lily, they’d become lovers.
A low sigh escaped him. “That’s nearly as bad. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw you hanging from that cross. You’re never to endanger yourself that way again, Kalinda.”
“Of course not!” She tipped her head to stare over at him. “Next time I’ll take you with me.”
“Brat!” He pinched her side.
“So I’ve been told.” Letting her head rest on his shoulder, she took comfort in his presence. “Thank you for coming with me, Master.”
“I’d never let you face him alone, chérie.” He pressed his lips against the top of her head.
* * * *
Standing outside of Caelan’s door, Josh paced while he waited for his friend to answer. The door finally opened to reveal Caelan’s sub, and the best embroiderer that Josh employed, wearing nothing more than a short robe and her thin silver collar engraved with the Claddagh.
“Master Josh?” Her eyes sparkled with mischief. The little imp knew why he was here.
“This isn’t funny, Nisey. Where’s Caelan? Since you won’t give me the information, I’ll get it from him.”
She simply giggled. “Ah, sorry about that, Master Josh. I’ve been bad, haven’t I?” When he scowled down at her, she giggled once more before stepping back. “Well don’t just stand there, come in. Máister is in his study.” With a flick of her dark red ponytail, she walked back down the hall.
Closing the door behind him, he followed. His frustration grew as he waited for Nisey to complete her formal greeting to Caelan. His foot tapped impatiently when she knelt at the door to Caelan’s home office. Although he couldn’t understand Caelan’s words, he could tell by the tone of his friend voice that he’d obvious interrupted their playtime. He had no sympathy for him though. If that damn Irish bastard would’ve at least picked up the phone, he wouldn’t have had to make a trip over to his house and Caelan could be dominating Nisey to his heart’s content without any interruptions.
He vaguely heard Nisey’s formal request as she let Caelan know he was waiting.
“Master Josh is here and wishes to speak to you.”
Josh heard the roll of casters before Caelan appeared in the open door. His white dress shirt was open to the waist while his dark hair had a mussed look to it, as if his sub had been running her fingers through it.
Caelan paused beside his sub after he placed his hand on her bowed head. “Go to the playroom and wait for me there, slave.”
“Yes, Máister.” Standing to leave, Caelan stopped her before she got out of ear shot.
“Nisey?”
She glanced over her shoulder and nibbled on her lower lip. “Yes, Máister.”
“Lose the robe. I want you bent over the spanking bench when I come down. I have some punishment to dole out to my impulsive slave.”
Nisey blushed before nodding. “Yes, Máister.”
Caelan watched until she disappeared down the hall before he turned back to Josh. “So why did you come all the way out here, Josh? Surely a phone call would’ve sufficed.”
“It would’ve - if you’d have picked up the damn phone,” Josh retorted as he followed Caelan into his
office. Sitting down in the chair adjacent to Caelan’s desk, he waited for the other man to reply.
“Hmm, that’s odd, the phone never rang here.”
Josh’s faced flushed. “Are you calling me a liar?”
Caelan laughed. “Hell no!” Pulling his desk phone closer to him, he chuckled. “Naughty little slave.” He looked back up at Josh. “Seems like Nisey was being greedy, or didn’t want you to talk to me.” He shrugged his shoulders. “She turned the ringer off. Sorry about that. So what can I do for you?”
“Two things. One, tell me what flight your sister is coming in on and two, make sure you give naughty Nisey an extra stroke from me.”
“Really? Now why would I do that?”
Josh raked his hand through his already disheveled hair. “Because she’s being a brat and wouldn’t give me the information for your sister’s flight. If she had, I wouldn’t have had to drive out here. She keeps overstepping her boundaries, Caelan. I know you told her to give me the information after we spoke on the phone last week. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was trying to stop me from seeing Kalinda.”
Caelan pressed his fingers together before answering him. “That she may be, Josh. You tore up Kalinda pretty bad when you sent her out to LA and away from you. Nisey doesn’t take very well to the idea that her friend is still hurting.”
“God damn it! You know why I made her go. If I hadn’t she’d have been tied to my side and she was too young to be collared. Hell, she was only twenty-two. I couldn’t in good conscience do that to her. She deserved to explore the scene before coming back to me. The last thing I want to ever hear out of her mouth is that I deprived her of her chance to explore. You know once I collared her that would be it. She’d be mine. We both know I don’t share what I consider mine.”
Caelan nodded his understanding, before reaching for the yellow pad on his desk to rip off the top page. “This is the information for Kalinda’s flight.” He held the paper out to him. Josh nearly decked Caelan when he pulled it back as he reached to take it.
“Give it to me.” Josh tried to keep his voice calm, but by the look on Caelan’s face he knew he’d failed.
“Are you sure you want to do this? She’s bringing a friend home with her.”
Josh narrowed his eyes. “Man or woman?”
“A man. I met him on a trip out there. He’s good for her.”
“So she picked up a boy-friend. Do you honestly think she’s going to be satisfied with a vanilla relationship after having experienced our lifestyle?” The memories of how Kalinda had burned in his arms had been preying on him since he’d found out she was coming home. He hadn’t been able to think of much else. Between the memories and new ideas of what he had planned for Kalinda to welcome her home had made him such a basket case at work, not only had his sister threatened to brain him, so had Nisey.
Caelan shook his head. “Vanilla is the last thing I’d call Dominic. He’s a member of the BDSM club I visit when I’m in L.A. He’s a Dom, Josh. In fact, he’s the one I asked about the internship for Kalinda. He put in a good word for her…”
A low growl emerged from Josh’s chest at his friend’s words. “You sent her out to L.A. to a known Dom?”
“What the hell are you mad about, Josh? Isn’t that the reason you wanted her to go?”
“Yes, but I wasn’t expecting you to set her up with one of your friends! I figured she’d observe and…”
“…come back to you for the actual experience?” Caelan shook his head in disbelief. “You’re deluded if you ever thought that would actually occur. Kalinda is too impulsive to ever just stand on the sidelines and you damn well know it.”
Josh crossed his arms over his chest. “I wanted to be the only one to show her everything she wanted to experience.”
“Then you shouldn’t have sent her away. I’m trying to be understanding and see your side of things, but I happen to know and like Dominic. He’s a wonderful…”
Josh slammed his fist against the edge of the desk. “I don’t want to hear about how great a Dom he is, Caelan!”
“Shut the fuck up and listen, you bastard.” Caelan rose from his desk to lean over it, his nostrils flaring with anger. Josh realized he may have actually pushed his friend too far. He kept silent until Caelan took a deep breath before he continued.
“Now as I was saying, he’s been a wonderful friend to me and ultimately Kalinda. He was there for her when you weren’t. He’s the friend who called me the night that my baby sister went off the deep end.”
Josh clenched his jaw and mentally counted to ten. He couldn’t help but hear the accusation in Caelan’s voice. Arguing with him wasn’t getting them anywhere. Releasing his breath he strove for calmness before replying. “What exactly are you accusing me of? You think I had anything to do with what she did or didn’t do out there? All I did was let her go.”
Caelan sank back down into his chair. “I thought I understood your reasoning when you let her go. Not to mention, I swore to you I’d never get involved or takes sides between you and her, but it was damned hard not to when I get a two in the morning call from the man I asked to keep an eye on her telling me that he found her at the Gilded Lily.”
Josh paled as he recognized the name. It was one of the most extreme clubs in L.A. They didn’t have set rules or safe words from what he’d heard. He’d specifically warned Kalinda to stay away from that particular club before she’d left. “Fuck! I told her not to go near that place.”
“Either my sister didn’t know what she was getting into or she did it to spite you. My guess would be the later.”
“Damn her!”
“It gets worse, Josh. Dominic found her tied to a St Andrew’s cross being caned. From what he told me, she had used her safe word but the man caning her refused to stop. She was barely conscious when he finally took her off the cross.”
Josh paled. “Jesus Christ! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because having you rush to her side would’ve only made it worse for her when you left again.”
Josh had a sinking feeling in his stomach. “If I’d had known, I wouldn’t have ever left her again. I didn’t want her to endanger her life, Caelan, you got to believe me…” He closed his eyes against the burn of tears. “Please tell me she recovered from it.”
“Yes, she recovered from the cuts and bruises…but that’s all. She’s changed. I just hope you’re not expecting to her to fall back in her previous role in your life. She went through pure hell trying to exorcize you out of her system. Whether she did or not, I don’t know. Although you and I are going to come to blows if it happens again, friendship or not.”
Josh stilled. “So what am I supposed to do? Forget her? Forget about the missing part of me? I’m telling you right now I can’t do it.”
Caelan nodded. “You really fucked up when you let her go, didn’t you? I can’t stop you from approaching her, but I going to ask that if she’s not willing to rebuild your relationship, you let her go - whether you want to or not.”
Clenching his jaw, Josh tried to subdue the urge to slug his best friend in the mouth. His friend knew how hard it had been for him to let Kalinda go in the first place and it went against the very fiber of his being to not reclaim her now that she was coming home. “She’s mine.”
“She was until you choose to let her go. You can’t expect for her to come to your side like a well-trained dog. It’s not going to happen. Despite your best intentions, she took it hard. If Dominic hadn’t been there, I don’t know where she would’ve ended up.”
“And I’ll thank him for that when I meet him.” He rubbed his hand over his face before looking at Caelan once more. “Damn if I don’t know how to royally fuck my life up. I was trying to do the right thing. But all I know is that I’ve missed her like hell since she’s been gone. The prickly attitude she’s given me on her short trips homes hasn’t helped. All I’ve wanted to do is say screw it, then bend her over my knee before reclaiming what is mine wi
thout regards to her age.”
Caelan looked sympathetic. “I know this hasn’t been easy for either of you. If you weren’t such a hard-headed bastard, you wouldn’t be in this position now. You should’ve never forced her to go, and she should’ve knocked you upside the head for even suggesting it. You were perfect together. But it did happen and now I have a friend who still wants my baby sister and a sister who’s changed - but not for the better I’m afraid.”
Silence grew in the room as Josh struggled with how to respond. He knew he’d fucked up royally not even a week after she’d flown out to L.A., but he had stayed true to his own personal code despite the pain and void of her absence in his life.
“Here.”
Dragging his eyes to the outstretched piece of paper Caelan was holding in his hand.
“Take it.”
“You’re giving it to me? Even after what happened…” He couldn’t believe that Caelan was doing. If it had been Hillary, he’d have beaten the hell out of Caelan.
Caelan nodded. “But you’ve been warned. Don’t hurt her again. Try to give Dominic the respect he deserves, he’s earned it. He’s gone through hell with her and having you try to play top Dom won’t do anything more than piss him off. I won’t back you if you do and he decides to take his frustration out on your stubborn ass.”
Holding the paper in his hands like it was more precious than gold, he gave a weary chuckle. “I do believe you’d do that.” He sobered. “Has he collared her?”
Caelan gave his shoulder reassuring squeeze. “No permanent collar yet. But it’s not that he doesn’t want to. The last time he spoke to me about it, he said he wouldn’t give her a collar without making sure she was over you.”
His heart nearly burst through his chest at Caelan’s words. “So this is a test to see if she’s over me, so he can claim her?”
“You’re going to have to ask him that, Josh. If I were you I wouldn’t wait too long.”