by Mia Ashlinn
A groan echoed through the room, this time from her left. “Behave,” Deke ordered, his voice taking on an edge that excited her.
“Make me,” she challenged playfully. However, she was the only playful one. Deke growled. Adam swore. Then there she sat, giggling madly. “I was just joking.”
“That’s not something to joke about,” Deke clipped out.
“Not yet anyway.” Adam squeezed her knee, his hand hot enough to brand her skin. Oh, how she wanted him to mark her.
Deke nodded, dropping his fork on his still-full plate with a clatter. “We need to talk before that.”
Nervous, she swallowed then squeaked, “Okay.” Unhappy with her mousy response, she repeated herself, sounding stronger and firmer than before. “Okay.”
Adam unexpectedly scooted his chair back then, in one fluid movement, hauled her into his lap. She situated herself, and he wrapped his big arms around her waist, resting his hand on her thigh. “There,” he said. “I feel better.”
So do I.
“You want to be our sub.” Deke reached for his wineglass and lifted his drink from the table. Tilting the glass, he seemed to find something engrossing in the deep red liquid. “But we want to make sure you know what that entails.”
Sarah’s heart sped in excitement, in anxiety, and a mixture of both. “Yes,” she managed around the giant lump in her throat.
“Good,” Deke murmured as he swirled the wineglass in his hand, still not looking at her. “We have a couple of options.”
Options are good.
Tipping the glass up, he inhaled slowly then, appearing satisfied by the aroma, took a sip before returning the drink to the table. “The first option. We can have you sign a contract.”
“No.”
She didn’t realize she’d spoken until Adam hugged her. “That’s my Sarah.”
“Option two, no contract. But we have to talk everything through before we touch you, really touch you.”
Sarah liked the second option. “We can talk about anything.” As long as I get to talk with the two of you and well do…other things.
“I love how she blushes,” Adam commented offhandedly as he caressed her cheek with the tip of his finger, his tender touch leaving a hot trail in its wake. “It makes me curious about what she’s thinking.”
Her cheeks flamed. “Nothing important.”
“Ah-ah.” Deke wagged his finger at her. “We want to know whatever is going on in your pretty head.”
Her jaw dropped. “Everything?” she asked incredulously. “You boys are going to get bored really quick.”
Adam chuckled. “Somehow I doubt that, sweet pea.”
“Just wait and see. My mind is a jumble of randomness.”
Cupping her face, Deke smiled indulgently. “We don’t care. Your mind is a part of you, and we want you. We want all of you. Your wants, needs, thoughts, and desires are as much ours as they are yours.”
Sarah smiled. “I like that.” And she did. There was something so freeing about being able to share everything with someone, no matter what it was, knowing that it meant as much to them as it did to her.
“Moving on,” Adam said, twirling a loose lock of her hair around his left index finger. His brusqueness shocked her, and she felt her face fall. But when he added, “So we can get to the good stuff,” she understood.
“Rule two—”
Sarah interrupted Deke. “Do we have to call it a rule? It makes me feel like a kid on the first day of school.”
Deke grinned. But as soon as she saw it, he wiped his expression clean. “What would you like us to call it then?”
She perked up. “I get to pick?”
“Sure,” Adam replied, sounding confused. “A true Dom wants to love and treasure his sub. He wants to pleasure his sub as a reward. And punish his sub when it is warranted, too. But most of all, a Dom wants his sub to be happy. If you don’t like something, tell us.”
“Wow.” She could barely believe her ears. Gavin had been a domineering jerkwad. He’d told her what to do, what to say, and how to act. According to Kylia, he’d been working on brainwashing her before the night he attacked her, too. What was I thinking?
“Why are you so surprised?”
Adam’s question caught her off guard, and she answered without thinking. “I thought you would want to control me.”
Adam sighed. “Oh, sweet pea—”
Scowling, Deke cut Adam off. “You thought we would treat you as nothing more than a possession? Why would you want that?”
She touched his chest with a tentative hand. “I didn’t know what to think. My first experience with a Dom didn’t exactly go well.”
As soon as she said the words, she regretted them. The last thing she wanted to do right now was delve into the past. And if she knew her Doms as well as she thought she did, they didn’t need a reminder of Gavin, his abuse, or his attack.
Surprisingly, Deke’s face softened as her words seemed to sink in. “Sassy, we want to control and dominate you—in the bedroom, but only in there. You have to understand that or this is never going to work.”
* * * *
Deke held his breath as he waited for Sarah’s response. Blessedly, she didn’t make him suffer long before putting him out of misery. “Okay,” she answered simply.
“Okay,” Adam echoed. “How about we call them guidelines?”
Sarah blinked, looking adorably confused. “Okay?”
“The rules, sweet pea,” Adam clarified.
“Oh,” she mumbled. “I like guidelines.”
Good, they were getting somewhere. “Guidelines it is,” Deke declared. “Since we’re talking about our life outside of the bedroom”—halting, he gave a sly smile—“and anywhere else we deem appropriate to fuck you, we should discuss the three nonnegotiable guidelines.”
Sarah gulped then nodded.
“I think Adam will handle this better. After all, he’s the soft one.”
He’d been mostly jesting, but Sarah and Adam didn’t appear to appreciate his attempt at humor. They were both frowning. At any second, he half-expected one or both of them to reprimand him. Lucky for all parties, they didn’t.
Shooting Deke a dirty look, Adam picked up his fork and pierced the chocolate cake on the plate in front of him. “Sweet pea, we’ve covered the first guideline—open communication.” Placing the fork in front of her mouth, he said, “Open.”
Dutifully, she listened to Adam, granting him entrance. Right away, he breached her lips and dipped inside. “Good girl,” he praised as he pulled the fork back out. “That brings us to guideline two—obeying.”
Swallowing her dessert too fast, Sarah choked. But she swiftly recovered and squeaked, “Excuse me?”
Deke jumped in to save his partner before she strangled him. “Sassy, he doesn’t mean obeying in the way you’re taking it. We don’t want blind obedience from you. What Adam means is that if we tell you to do something outside of the bedroom, we need you to do it.”
“What’s the difference?” Sarah asked curiously, a distinct question in her bewitching eyes.
Deke took Sarah’s small hand in his. “The difference is that when we tell you to do something, generally, we have a reason. We’re not going to boss you around, especially about the things that you are perfectly capable of deciding. However, we reserve the right to control certain things, at certain times.”
“Such as?” she pressed.
“For example, we might want to buy you clothes to wear or pick out what you eat for a nice dinner in. Sometimes, we’ll ask you to do things that you may or may not like, but you have to trust us. We have your best interest at heart.”
Adam chuckled. “And our best interests, too.”
“What do you mean exactly?” Sarah inquired, a mischievous smile tilting her lips up. “Are you going to be the kind of Doms that won’t let their sub wear underwear?”
“That goes without saying. We like easy access.”
Elbowing Adam, Sarah la
ughed. “What makes you think I’m wearing undies now?”
Oh shit. Deke groaned. That was not something he needed to know when there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Although, his thickening dick filed that information away for future reference.
“You shouldn’t say things like that while you’re sitting on my lap, sweet pea.”
Sarah grinned, wiggling her bottom noticeably and rubbing Adam’s crotch with it. “Aw. Why not? It’s the truth.”
“Truth or not, I’m not going to be able to finish this conversation with you on my lap.”
Before Deke could stop him, Adam lifted Sarah and plopped her down on his lap. As soon as her ass met his crotch, he groaned again. “Gee, thanks, Adam.”
“You’re welcome.”
Breathing through his nose and out through his mouth, Deke forced himself to not think about Sarah’s pussy being two thin layers away from his cock. “I guess since Adam isn’t capable of explaining the guidelines properly, I’ll take over where he left off. The third and most important guideline is you have to trust us implicitly. We can and will take care of you—always. Whether it involves your safety or your happiness, we are responsible for you.”
Sarah leveled him with the look. “I already trust you, both of you, with everything inside of me. Never doubt that.”
Even though he knew how much Sarah trusted him and Adam, hearing those words never failed to humble him. He’d had subs before, and so had Adam. With their dominant natures, they’d decided years ago that they needed to dominate someone on occasion. So they’d turned to a couple of the Doms in the club whose subs enjoyed the pleasure of sharing. Together he, Adam, the other Dom, and his sub would have playtime together. Only he and his partner never, ever fucked the sub. They could dominate him or her, but when the time came, Deke and Adam turned to each other.
Not anymore. Now he and Adam would turn to Sarah.
Deke’s already semi-aroused cock roared in his pants, demanding he set it free and turn to Sarah now rather than later. If he hurried, he could bury himself in her slick heat before he or she could blink. No.
Closing his eyes, he willed his cock to calm down. After a minute the raging fire dwindled enough for him to move forward in their conversation. “Good. Trust is key to a D/s relationship.”
Sarah smiled. “No worries on that account.”
“That being said, you need a safe word.”
Sarah nodded solemnly, appearing to have thought this through. “I have a few ideas.”
Sighing, Adam shook his head. “Sweet pea, I think it would be best if we use the standard ‘red, yellow, and green.’”
His partner took the words right out of his mouth. Until they helped her through her issues with BDSM, they needed to be able to know exactly where she stood. They couldn’t afford to do something that would scare or upset her. She needed to be guided cautiously with infinite patience and TLC.
Apparently, Sarah didn’t see the wisdom in their decision. Frowning, she asked, “Red, yellow, and green? I wanted something cool like Triceratops or Tyrannosaurus Rex. Ooh, or leaping lemurs or freaky fish sticks, and my personal favorites, hippopotamus and onomatopoeia.”
Deke didn’t laugh, even though he wanted to. “Maybe later, Sarah—once we’ve introduced you more thoroughly to BDSM. It’s too important for us to gauge your reaction to everything. When you’re ready, we’ll allow you to choose a cool safe word. Okay?”
Nibbling her bottom lip, she nodded then mumbled, “Okay.”
“What about a nonverbal signal?” Adam asked. “You need something to stop a scene when your mouth is…otherwise engaged.” He flashed a carnal grin. “I promise you that your mouth will be busy a lot, sweet pea.”
Sarah’s eyes grew round, and her face flushed. “Uhh…”
Amused by her flustered state, Deke gave her an out. “Thumbs up and thumbs down should work.”
Sarah released a long breath. “Y–Y–Yeah. That w–w–works.”
“Glad we got that stuff settled,” Adam said. “Now can we move on to the bigger issues—limits and requests?”
Deke felt sorry for Adam. His partner’s impatience was palpable. Like Deke, he knew how important conversation was, how essential. But they’d waited so long. It was as though everything had led them up to this point. Waiting now was just cruel.
Hoping to rush things along, Deke asked, “Is there anything you would never allow us to do or something you’re not sure about?”
Sarah dropped her eyes to her lap. “Please don’t cane me. I can handle the other impact toys, if you ease me into them. But the cane…I can’t do it. I won’t.” She spoke softly, so softly he had to strain to hear. When he did, he wanted to put his fist through the nearest wall. That bastard had caned her—brutally. Because of him, she would never be able to handle caning. In all honesty, Deke wasn’t convinced she could handle any heavy impact play, but they would have to wait and see about that.
“We never planned to use a cane on you, sweet pea,” Adam informed Sarah as he grabbed her hand and held it in his. “After all you’ve been through it would be detrimental to do something to remind you of him. Not to mention, I don’t think I could handle using a cane on you.” He shuddered. “It would bring back too many memories of what you looked like in the hospital afterward.”
Sarah lifted her turmoil-filled eyes. “And bondage…I–I–I want to try it, but the thought of being tied up scares me.” She swallowed. “I trust you. I really do. But that kind of vulnerability”—pausing, she shuddered—“and not being able to escape might remind me of…”
Sarah didn’t finish. She didn’t have to. Deke knew what she was getting at. Gavin had tied her to a fucking tree and left her there, naked and alone. Now she didn’t know if she could bear to repeat any part of that experience, not even with him and Adam, the men she loved.
Deke sighed, knowingly. Bondage would be the ultimate test of trust for Sarah. It would take time to get her to that point, but he knew he and Adam could do it.
“Sarah, there are things in the BDSM world that go beyond trust.” Deke stopped to clear his suddenly thick throat. “Some people fear things they can’t overcome—even with the people they trust most. That doesn’t make the sub any less trusting of their Dom. It means they are human.” He choked up for a minute. But he rapidly pulled his emotions back under control. “The fact that you would even try bondage is humbling.”
“Very humbling,” Adam agreed.
Sarah sniffled. “I’m sorry to unload this stuff on you right now. I shouldn’t have brought him up or what he did tonight. You worked so hard to make this perfect. And here I am ruining it.”
Deke frowned. “Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong. Gavin did. And even though I don’t ever want to think about him or what he did, it’s important that you share certain details, the ones that still affect you today.”
To his surprise, Sarah kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
Deke didn’t know how to respond to that. “Why are you thanking me?”
“Because I know how hard it is for you to talk about Gavin. Yet you’re willing to put my needs in front your own.”
“We’ll always put your needs first,” Adam said.
That went without saying. Once they got Sarah between them, she was their priority. They would take care of her and protect her and love her—in and out of the bedroom. And by God, the person who tried to keep them from her would pay the price.
Chapter 12
An hour later, Sarah was still between Deke and Adam. Only they’d moved away from the dining room and settled into the living space. They’d spent a lot longer than she would’ve anticipated talking about the things she liked and didn’t like. They’d talked about her fantasies and her nightmares. And they’d talked about everything in between. Now they’d lapsed into a companionable silence.
It was odd to Sarah that she could be in the room with two dominant men and feel completely at ease. After Gavin’s attack, she’d
never thought she would be able to do this. But she was stronger than she realized. And these men were noble and loving, and they would never hurt her. She knew that like she knew her own name.
“Deke, Adam,” she whispered. “Are you going to…” She felt her face flush, the heat racing up her neck and face and not stopping until it reached the roots of her hair.
With a throaty chuckle, Adam clasped her hand. “To what, sweet pea?” He flipped her hand over then traced the lines on her palm delicately with the edge of his fingernail. “Kiss you? Touch you?”
She shook her head and croaked, “No.”
On her other side, Deke ran the tips of his fingers up her bare calf. “Fuck you?”
A tiny thrill shot up her spine as Deke’s no-nonsense answer washed over her. For a person who loathed cursing, she loved to hear Deke and Adam use dirty words. It was hot and naughty. And boy oh boy, it turned her on.
She swallowed convulsively then nodded. “Yes. That.”
Adam lifted her hand to his lips. “We are going to fuck you,” he murmured as he planted an openmouthed kiss on her palm.
She shuddered in response. But that was only the beginning. As he kissed his way up her inner arm to the crease in her elbow, she trembled uncontrollably, one shudder after another wracking her body. “Yes,” she hissed.
Deke’s hand continued on its path up her body, coasting from the curve of her hip to the dip in her waist to the side of her chest before settling at her neck. “We’re going to fuck you a lot,” he whispered as he slid his hand underneath her hair and lifted the strands up, giving himself better access to her nape. “Whenever we can.” He licked her. “Wherever we can.” And again, he licked her, this time more deliberately, more thoroughly, as though she were a spoon coated with sticky, sweet honey. “And as often we can,” he whispered silkily, his voice caressing her, cocooning her, as he bit into her skin.
She cried, “Deke,” as the pain melded with pleasure, her arousal charging her system. Restless, she writhed from side to side. But they wouldn’t allow that.
Adam grabbed her then hauled her onto his lap while Deke lowered himself onto the floor. With a tortured groan, Adam widened her legs for his partner, who now kneeled in front of both of them. “But not tonight.”