by Leah Braemel
Rosie glanced over to where Kris had positioned himself by the door to the patio and saw Tawny wrapped around him like a clinging vine. Kris’s already red face flamed completely scarlet when she swiped her tongue up the side of his face while sliding her hand down his pants.
“Merde, I’ve warned her,” Jocelyne apologized before she left them to rescue Kris.
The vibrations created by the device in her harness stopped and started a dozen times through the evening, sometimes lasting only a few minutes, and once the entire length of a slow dance Sam talked her into. By the time the string quartet finished the last note, she was clinging to Sam, resting her head on his chest as she willed away a threatening orgasm.
Wrapping his arm about her waist, he led her off the dance floor. “Ready to go find a quiet corner yet, Rosebud?”
As tempting as the thought of finding relief here and now, she hated the thought that Andy and Kris would notice their disappearance, or worse, Chad, and know what they were doing. “How about we go home?”
Placing his fingers beneath her chin, he lifted her face and pressed a kiss to her nose. “Can’t. I’ve got that board meeting, remember? You stay here with Andy and Kris, this’ll only take about an hour.”
“Stay here? No,” she protested. “Where you go I go.”
Even though Sam lowered his voice, she couldn’t mistake the thread of authority running through it. “Not this time, Rosebud. This meeting is private so you’re stayin’ here.”
“Where’s the meeting?”
“Up in Coop’s penthouse.”
“Then I’m going to check it out first.”
“Rosie—”
“This is not negotiable.” She pulled away from him, ignoring the glances she drew. “You’re not going anywhere that I haven’t checked out first, and I’m not leaving you alone.”
Silence blanketed the room, so his next sentence carried to all listeners, even though he spoke quietly. “You can check out Coop’s apartment first, but you’re not staying for the meeting.”
“Sam—”
“No.”
“I’m staying with you, Sam. I’m your lead op, remember?”
“Rosie, if I have to handcuff you to Kris and order him to take you home, I will.”
“Right back at you, buddy.” She called to Andy. “Have the limo brought ’round—Mr. Watson is leaving.”
“The hell I am.” Sam wrapped his fingers around Rosie’s forearm and marched her into the hall. As soon as they left, the silence in the party room rose to a crescendo of babbling whispers.
“Now you listen here, Rosebud. These people are both my friends and my business partners. They are not a threat to me or to anyone. You take Kris and Andy and do your search for bombs or what have you, but you will keep your ass out of that apartment once the meeting starts. Do you hear me?”
“As your team leader, it’s my duty to remind you that you are putting yourself in unnecessary danger.
“One of those precious friends in there may be your stalker.”
Sam shook his head. “Give it up, Rosie. You’re seeing shadows where there are none.”
She jammed her hands on her hips. “Excuse me for being suspicious of everyone but that’s what you pay me to do. If I have to treat everyone as an enemy to protect you, I will.”
“Sounds like something they say in the 101st Airborne,” Cooper’s voice grated behind her.
“I beg your pardon?” Rosie asked without turning around.
“Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.”
She nodded her head once. That about summed up her training.
“What’s this about a stalker, Sam?” Cooper continued. “And why didn’t you tell me you were having security problems?”
Sam exhaled and swore under his breath as Rosie faced Cooper directly.
“As head of Sam’s security team, I need to verify the security of the room where the board meeting is being held. Plus I want to actually be in the room during the meeting.”
“I will allow your team to check out the security of my apartment, Miss Ramos, but I’m afraid only members of the Board are allowed to be present during our meeting. But allow me to apologize for my attitude when you called about the guest list the other day. If I’d known you were head of Sam’s detail, I would have gladly given you the list.” He turned to Sam. “What the hell type of threats have you been getting, Sam? Is there any link to the club?”
“Don’t worry, Coop, the threat’s to me specifically, not to anyone at the club.”
While Sam explained about the photos and phone calls, Rosie left Kris to guard Sam and went up to the penthouse with Andy to check out the security. Once she’d given Kris the all clear to escort Sam up, she waited at the front door of Cooper’s apartment as Cooper, Sam, Thalia and Jocelyne, along with five others filed past. But when she attempted to follow Sam back in, he stopped her with a glare. “I told you. You are not followin’ me into this meetin’. Now go downstairs and have another glass of champagne. I’ll be down in about an hour.”
“No, Sam. I’m staying. I’m the head of your detail, remember? You’re my responsibility.”
“Miss Ramos,” Cooper joined Sam at the door, “while I appreciate your concerns for Sam’s safety, I cannot allow you to be a part of our meeting. If you wish to position a guard outside the door, you are welcome, but that’s as much as I can allow. Club bylaws are very specific.”
With that he shut the door in her face. She snarled when she heard him throw the bolt, locking her out.
Chapter Eighteen
“Thanks, Coop. I thought I was going to have to pick her up and carry her downstairs.”
Chad cleared his throat. “In Rosie’s defense, you know she’s right about insisting one of her detail stay with you, Sam.”
“I know, but she has to trust my judgment, too.”
“Quite a little spitfire you’ve taken on there, Sammy,” another of the founding members laughed. “I bet you’re having fun bending her to your will. I can just picture the flogging that little lady’s in for tonight.”
“Yeah, can I watch?” asked one of the men seated in Cooper’s living room.
“Hell, can I help?” added another.
“Easy boys, apparently Ms. Ramos is Sam’s bodyguard, not his trainee.” Cooper grinned at the inevitable hoots at that claim, and the jokes about what part of his body she was guarding. But he lowered his voice so they couldn’t hear. “By the way, Sam, you can’t tell me you’re not doing her. If you ever have need of a third, call me first. I’d love to see her in action.”
His growled repetition that Rosie was his employee not his slave was at complete odds with the hard-on he was sporting. Damn, he could just picture her in his private suite at the club, her eyes flashing in indignation above her gag. He’d start with the flat of his hand, nice and gentle but enough to bring a pretty pink blush to those bitable ass cheeks of hers. Then once she’d got really hot and wet, he’d switch to the deer skin flogger—Fuuuck. He shifted in his seat to give his cock extra room in his pants.
“Okay, people, let’s get this meeting started,” Cooper intoned. “Our first initiate is sponsored by…”
Sam let the discussion flow past him as he considered the challenge Rosie had issued downstairs, if she was even aware how turned on he’d been by her arguments. Would she ever be the sub to his Dom? Not likely, from the way she’d behaved tonight. Strangely that didn’t bother him. A few years ago, heck a couple months ago, he might have been frustrated by her stubbornness, instead he was lovin’ her sass.
“So that’s the five of them,” Cooper announced after ninety minutes of long hard discussion over Ms. Kinson’s candidate. He settled back in his chair and stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankle. “Or do we have six this year, Sam?”
“Nope, that’s it.”
“You’re not sponsoring your little spitfire?”
“Come on, Coop. He’d need to get her mor
e malleable, more submissive, before I’d approve her,” Bert Fordyce suggested. “Frankly, I’d have had her on her knees licking my boots for her little display earlier. And then I’d have her sleeping on the floor at my feet for the next week until she showed proper respect.”
“Maybe Rosie is a Domme, not a sub,” Thalia suggested, cutting Sam’s growl off before it filled the room.
Bert barked a laugh. “Not if Sam’s fucking her. Tie her up and flog her, Sam. Teach her to submit like a good little slave. And if you can’t, send her to see me. I’ll have her begging for punishment in no time.”
Sam faced Bert, his hands held loosely at his side, but never had he felt more ready to punch a man in his piggish snout than he did right now.
Cooper stood, his chair scraping on the ceramic tile when he pushed it back. “Jocelyne, why don’t you and Robert escort Bert and the others downstairs and finish up the rest of my champagne?”
The rest of the members murmured their farewells, leaving Sam alone with Cooper and Thalia.
“Ignore Bert, Samuel.” Thalia touched Sam’s hand. “He’s still living back in the Victorian ages.”
Cooper nodded. “He’s an ass, but he’s an honorable ass when it comes to other people’s subs. He wouldn’t touch Rosie if you sponsored her unless you gave him permission.”
“I told you, Coop. Rosie’s not my sub. And she’ll never see the inside of the Porte.”
Cooper and Thalia exchanged a glance. Was there something they hadn’t told him? Maybe Rosie was right about checking the membership again.
Sam wheeled Thalia to the door. “I think maybe I should take another look at the club files. Make sure there’s nothing there.”
Cooper gave Sam a troubled look. “Could your stalker be a club member?”
“I don’t know. There’s no proof one way or another. But…” Sam let the rest of the sentence hang. None of them needed a reminder that it had happened before.
Sam rubbed Thalia’s shoulder when she visibly stiffened. “I don’t think it’s any of the members, Thalia. Chad and I go through the list regularly, but it might not hurt to take a second look.”
Cooper opened the door, revealing Andy standing on one side, Thalia’s husband, Spencer, on the other.
Sam glanced down the hallway, surprised to find no one else waiting.
Andy shot him a wry grin. “If you’re wondering where Rosie is, I tossed for who got to stay up here guarding you. I won.”
Cooper’s laugh echoed down the hallway. “Two headed coin?”
“No, just lucky.” When Sam raised his brows, Andy shrugged. “Hey, it happens. Anyway, Rosie just about blew a gasket when you locked her out so I had Kris haul her downstairs.” Andy’s smile broadened. “I got a bet with him that you’re sleeping on the couch tonight.”
“Thanks for the heads up, but I sorta figured I would be sleepin’ on the terrace tonight. Without a blanket.” He shook his head. “Go get the elevator, will you, Andy? I’ll be right there.”
Once Andy walked away, Cooper chuckled. “I envy you, Sam. Your Rosie’s going to be a helluva lot of fun to train.”
Sam stuck his hands in his pockets and stared down the hall. “She’s my employee, Coop.”
“So you said, not that I’m buying it for a second. Anyway, knowing that you’re being threatened, if your Miss Ramos needs access to the membership files, I’ll see that she gets it. She’s a Hauberk employee after all, and since she’s with you, I reckon we can trust her.”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t let her into the club. If she wants the files, ship ’em over to my office—but only the background reports, okay? She doesn’t need to know that much information yet.” I’m not about to let her near that place. I’m not about to lose her the way I lost Jill.
“I’m not comfortable with the files leaving the building, Sam. There’s too much personal information on our members to put at risk. If she wants to look at them, she can come to the club in the mornings, when things are quiet.”
Sam sighed. “If I tell her that she’ll be camping on your doorstep first thing tomorrow.” Somehow he had to keep her away from there. She’s your lead op. You can’t stop her from doing her job. If you try to stop her, she’ll just go without telling you. “I’ll send Andy over in the morning, get him to take another look at the files.”
Cooper rocked back on his heels. “That works too.”
Sam said his good-byes, then stabbed at the button to call the elevator even though Andy had already pressed it.
With an elegant move of dismissal from Thalia, Spencer stepped back, as did Andy, allowing her to speak to Sam privately. “Kneel down, Sam. I don’t like you hovering over me like a giant. I want to look you in the eye.”
When he had done as she bid, she said gently, “About your Miss Ramos—how come you have not told her about the club? About your part in it? And don’t try to tell me she’s simply your employee, I know better.”
“Thalia, you know it’s against the bylaws to discuss the club with non-members. Besides, I’ve only started to introduce Rosie to the scene.”
But so far she hadn’t shown any hesitation in accepting any of his suggestions. If he did take her there, maybe she’d take to it like a duck to Lake Arrowhead. Hmmph, the thought of other men getting a look at her delicious little body made him feel more like a wolf guarding his territory.
“Are you worried she’ll think by submitting she’s betraying women everywhere?”
Relieved she’d given him an excuse, he grabbed onto it with both hands. “I’ve not exactly broached it with her, but yeah, I can see her worrying about somethin’ like that.”
And if she did think that, it was likely he would be visiting his gonads at the zoo after all.
“When she comes to the club, have her come see me. I’ll answer any questions she may have. I’ll help her realize that exploring that side of her won’t lessen who she is. Your lifestyle won’t take away her control, if anything it will give her more power in the relationship.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
“To be honest, Thalia, I’d prefer if she knew nothing about my part in the club.” Did he dare admit that he’d found the whole scene boring lately? That he’d had more exciting sex with Rosie in the past month than he had in the last several years?
“If you try to deny that part of yourself, you’ll find yourself dreadfully unhappy. However, I think you may be misjudging Rosie. From what I’ve seen, she’s a strong woman to have made it to where she has in a man’s world. I think you’ll find she’ll enjoy letting go of the reins on occasion. Not every time, but I think you’ll both be satisfied.”
“To force her to accept my needs over hers will be a surefire way to lose her. You talk about my nature being Dominant, but I can’t see Rosie following an order I give her without arguing. It’s not in her nature to be submissive.” And hell, he got such a charge out of her arguments, he’d often provoked her just to see her get angry. Why would he want to deny himself such pleasure? Or stifle her passion?
The elevator door opened, but no one moved to get into it and the door quietly swished closed.
“Sam…” Thalia stroked his cheek and smiled, “…Rosie is most likely an alpha submissive, which is what you require. She may even be a switch. You should train her to handle a flogger so she can whip you one day.”
If she’d gotten out of her chair and walked, he couldn’t have been more shocked. “I beg your pardon? I’m the Dominant in the relationship, remember?”
“Around any other woman, you are definitely a Dominant, but when it comes to your Rosie, I think you would willingly get on your knees and crawl across broken glass if she ordered you to.”
“I—I would do no—” He’d crawl across broken glass to save her life, but just because she ordered him to? Not bloody likely.
“Sam,” she interrupted, brooking no dispute. “Close your eyes.”
She had to clear her throat before he obeyed her, a precursor to punishment
from his training days. “Now, imagine yourself strung up between those two lovely posts in your suite and Rosie behind you holding a flogger.”
Oh, Christ, his cock instantly got hard at the image. “Are you telling me I’m a goddamned switch?”
Thalia’s chuckle had him opening his eyes. “No, my dear friend, you are not a switch. But there are times an alpha submissive can step out of their role and take care of their Dom. I also remember you very much enjoyed yourself when I wielded the whip on you. Or was that not come shooting out of your magnificent erection during our training sessions?”
“Sonuva—” he bit out.
“Reveal your true self to Rosie, Sam. Trust her. If she does not understand, if she walks away, she’s not the right woman for you and it will be for the best for both of you if she leaves.” She signaled to Spencer who quickly returned. “But I think she’ll surprise you.”
Sam pushed himself to stand and pressed the elevator button again. “I’ll think about it.”
“Bring her to the club tomorrow morning. I’ll answer any questions she has and then she can look through the files. And don’t forget, Samuel. Reveal your true nature to her tonight. Before someone else has the chance.”
Chapter Nineteen
Rosie stomped in front of the elevator on the ground floor like a guard dog on patrol. “Tell me about that car again.”
Kris leaned one shoulder against the wall and shook his head. “I saw it pull out from the building opposite Sam’s and it followed us about half the way. When I mentioned to Andy that I thought it might be following us, he didn’t think so. To prove it, he took the next turn and it didn’t follow.”
“But you said you thought you saw it again when we were pulling up here.”
“There was a car that looked similar, yes.”
“Kris, how many blue 1964 Shelby Cobras with a white stripe do you think there are in this town?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a couple.”
She’d bet one. “Why didn’t either of you tell me someone might have been following us when we got here?”