Kaden turned his body to hers, put his hands on her shoulders, and met her glance straight on. Instead of answering, he said, “I want you to know that I’ll always be honest with you, and I expect the same from you.”
“Okay,” she said, wondering where he was going with this.
“Does my relationships with Tate bother you?”
She had the strange sense that she was being tested. “No. I mean I just never met two men who weren’t lovers, yet shared everything. It might take me a moment to get used to it, but it doesn’t bother me.”
“Good,” he said, and she couldn’t help but feel like she passed some personal test of his. It made her feel especially happy to see that he was pleased with her. She suddenly couldn’t help but wonder what it was about him that made her want to please him. “As for downstairs, it’s called Sanctuary,” he said.
“Sanctuary?”
“It’s a place where we can leave all our troubles, worries, and fears behind.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.” She swallowed to hide her sudden bout of nervousness. Kaden must have sensed it anyway, because he went to the bar and grabbed a glass of water. “I would offer you a drink, but where we’re going, there is no alcohol allowed.”
She took a sip, then placed it on a coaster. Before she could press to find out where they were going and why alcohol was prohibited, Tate came back into the room. Dressed similar to Kaden, in jeans and a button down shirt, he looked at Kaden. “Have you prepared her?”
Prepared her?
“No,” he said, taking her purse from her and placing it on the table beside her water. “Tonight, we’re sidestepping the measures put in place.”
As Kaden and Tate exchanged a long, careful look, Janie’s body tightened. What the hell was going on, and what was she going to find in Sanctuary? Every instinct she had told her to get the hell out of there, but when she met Kaden’s trusting glance, she felt a measure of comfort…a measure of curiosity.
“Okay,” Tate finally said. “I trust that you know what you’re doing.” With that, Tate pulled a navy blue wristband from his back pocket and handed it to Kaden.
Kaden took it and reached for Janie’s arm. “I want you to wear this,” he said as he placed it around her wrist.
“A wristband?” She looked over the rubber band with the small dials on the sides. “What is this for?”
“It’s to let everyone know you’re new and that you’re with Tate and me only.”
“Oh,” she said, wondering exactly what was going on. Was he having some kind of party in his basement? Was that why there were so many cars parked along the street? Then again, what kind of party didn’t serve alcohol?
Tate pulled out two more matching bands and fiddled with the small dials on the side before handing one to Kaden. “This is our connection to you,” he explained. “This mansion is huge, and if you should be out of my sight for any reason whatsoever, although I don’t plan for that to happen, I’ll know exactly where to find you.”
She looked over the band, still confused. “So it’s like a tracking device?” she asked.
“Yes. Sanctuary is all about trust, and I want to make sure you feel safe.”
Kaden put his arm around her waist, and they followed Tate through the mansion until they came to a set of double doors. Tate opened them and stepped back for Kaden to lead the way. They descended a long set of steps, and when they reached the bottom, Kaden tightened his hand on her waist, holding her against him. It was a good thing, too, because after seeing what Sanctuary was all about, not even two locked knees could keep her standing.
She swallowed, every nerve in her body alive as she took in the activities taking place in Kaden’s basement. When she’d decided to mix things up and go for a guy who seemed completely different, she had no idea just how different he was going to be.
* * *
“Welcome to Sanctuary, our small, private, members-only club, where each participating member is screened by Tate and me before being granted admittance,” Kaden said as he judiciously gauged Janie’s reactions to the scenes taking place around them. While her lashes blinked rapidly and her cheeks flushed with color, there was no denying the curiosity backlighting her eyes as she watched a sweet little sub, who was currently bent over a spanking bench, getting her ass flogged by her Master.
“I think the lady needs more water,” Kaden said as he turned to Tate.
Tate nodded and disappeared down the hall while Kaden pulled Janie closer. He put his mouth to her ear and whispered, “Are you okay?”
He felt her body tremble beneath his hand. “This is a BDSM dungeon,” she said.
“Yes, it is. It’s a place where you’re free and safe to do whatever you want.”
She turned to him, the shock on her face giving way to anger. Her eyes flared hot as they met his. “Why did you bring me here?”
“Because I believe it’s exactly where you need to be.”
Her pulse jumped at the base of her throat. “How do you know what I need?” she asked.
In a bid to put her at ease, he touched her arm softly and lowered his voice, “I’ll know when you tell me.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, her voice inches away from hysteria.
“Whatever happens will be whatever you want to happen.” As soon as the words left his mouth, her body responded, and he felt the quiver that moved through her. “But just know, I plan to push you, Janie. I plan to take you to the end of your limit and push you an inch further, and when I do, you’ll experience pleasure in a way you’ve never experienced it before.” He could hear her throat work as she swallowed and recalled the way she watched him at lunch two days ago. Everything in her eyes told him she needed something…everything…from him. “Tell me you want that. Tell me you’ve been bored with the men in your life, that you’ve been looking for something…more.” When she remained quiet, he said, “Or tell me I’m wrong, and I’ll take you straight home. You have my word on that.”
A long moment passed as she turned from him to watch a couple dressed in head to toe leather walk by. Another Dom and sub dressed in devil and angel costumes respectively nodded to Kaden as they made their way to one of the many back rooms, where some indulged in private or public kink. Silence fell heavy for a long time, then she finally turned back to him
“You’re not wrong,” she squeaked out quietly as she looked at her clothes like she was considering the pinup costume she wore beneath.
“Do you want to play, Janie?” he asked in a soft yet commanding voice.
“I… I…”
Afraid to push too far too fast and scare her off, he said, “Before you make any decision, I’d like to show you around, show you that you have nothing to fear and that no matter what happens, you’re always going to be in charge.”
She eyed Amanda again, who cried out in painful bliss as the flogger hit her ass. “Tell me how she’s in charge?” Janie asked.
“Her Master is giving her what she wants. She might be the one bent over the bench, but she’s the one in control, and it’s her Dom’s responsibility to ensure her safety. He takes care of her, and she wants to please him. But she does have a safe word if it becomes too much.” He touched her hair and lowered his voice. “If it’s something you think you might like to try, I can guarantee you that Tate and I will take care of you, too.”
“Both of you?”
“Like I said, we share everything, and we’d like to share you.”
“The costume?” she asked, touching the strap around her neck. “Why did you want me to wear it?”
“Many here wear costumes, and also, if you want to play the part of a pinup, then I wanted to show you what it really means to be pinned up.” He gestured to his left, and when she turned and spotted a sub with her hands shackled above her head, her Dom flogging her ass.
“Why me?” she asked quietly.
“Because you’re special, Janie.” He looked at her a moment
longer, finding it hard to put into words what he really saw in her, what he really felt after watching her from a distance for so long. All he knew was that there was something different about her, something that set her apart from other women and drew him in. Christ, he sounded like he was about to fall for her. She looked at him with skeptical eyes, and he brushed his thumb along her jaw, his heart pounding a little too hard as he worked to put her at ease. “I knew that the first time I set eyes on you.”
She went quiet for a moment, like she was mulling that over. “I… I’ll let you show me around like you want, but then I think I should go.”
He put his mouth close to her ear. “When you’re ready to come to me—”
“Kaden…”
He pressed his finger to her mouth. “All you have to say is ‘Sanctuary’.” A shiver moved through her as he put his hands on her waist. “And when you do, we’ll give you everything you’ve ever needed.”
Chapter Three
All you have to do is say ‘Sanctuary’, and we’ll give you everything you’ve ever needed…
Good God, that’s all Janie had been able to think about since leaving the mansion late last evening. Now here she was, some ten hours later, having coffee with her friends at her favorite downtown café across from the popular running park—one she’d seen Kaden frequent in the past—last night’s strange turn of events the main topic of conversation.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Angie said, her dark brown eyes so big they looked like they were going to pop out of her head.
Janie gave a slow shake of her head. “I’m seriously not kidding you.” She leaned forward in her café chair and sipped her caramel latte as her three friends stared at her in disbelief…and maybe even something that looked like excitement.
“You mean he really wanted to tie you up?” Angie asked, her jaw practically hanging on the table.
Janie nodded and thought back to the question she asked him. Why me? He’d said he thought she was special, but he didn’t know the real her. Men liked the roles she played. They liked sexy and feisty Samantha Carmichael, and the truth was she never let anyone get close enough to see the real Janie Monroe. The one who went to great lengths to keep her control close so she could protect her heart from hurt.
“And he wanted to spank you, too?” Angie queried.
“Yeah, but I think he wanted to do more than that.”
“I knew it,” Maria said. Janie looked at her friend, who had the same smirk on her face now as she did last night when Janie had dished the details over a tub of ice cream. “Didn’t I tell you, Janie? Didn’t I tell you he was into kink?”
“Yeah, you called it all right,” Janie said. She sank back in the café chair and watched the warm summer rain fall against the window. As she listed to the soft, hypnotic sounds and continued to try to wrap her brain around the things she’d seen the night before, she glanced across the street. People hurried about, some holding newspapers or shopping bags over their heads while others ducked under their umbrellas. She zeroed in on a man standing on the curb, mindless of the rain, staring at the café—at her. Everyone and everything was in motion—except him. There was something familiar about him…the way he stood, the cut of his clothes, the tilt of his head. A bus drove between them, and the next thing she knew, he was gone. Her heart leapt, and as she worked to quiet it, she wondered if her mind was playing tricks on her. Simon’s texts must have bothered her more than she’d thought.
Angie threw her hands up in the air, then waved them toward herself in a gesture for Janie to dish. “And so…what happened? Did you let him?”
“What?” Janie asked and stole another look across the street…just to make sure.
“Did you let him?” Angie asked again.
“No, I didn’t,” she said, turning her focus to her friend and putting all thoughts of Simon out of her mind.
Angie cocked her head and gave Janie a look that said she was insane. “Then what happened next?”
“He showed me around first, which actually took forever. The mansion is huge.” She thought about the wristband he’d placed on her arm and how Kaden said it would help him always know exactly where she was. She wasn’t sure why, but she couldn’t bring herself to toss it. Instead, she’d dropped it into her purse. “And then after the tour, he took me home like I asked.”
Angie blew on her tea. “So what exactly did you see in this secret dungeon of his?”
A fine quiver moved through Janie as she recalled the bondage scenes, the spankings, and even the live sex acts. “What didn’t I see?” she mumbled under her breath.
“Ooh, how clandestine,” Maria murmured, rubbing her hands together.
“I know, right?” Angie said. “Come on, Janie. You have to tell us everything.” She leaned in and lowered her voice as a man walked past them. “And don’t leave out a single detail.”
Janie stole a glance at Eden, who’d been far too quiet as she rehashed the details of her date. “Well,” she said to Eden. “What do you think of all this?”
Eden shrugged one shoulder, a glint backlighting her eyes like she knew firsthand what Janie was talking about. “You did say you wanted to mix things up. I think this is about as mixed up as you could get.”
“I know but, he wanted to shackle my hands while he and Tate did things to me.”
“Things?” Angie’s teacup clattered against the saucer. She leaned forward in her seat, her palms flat on the tabletop. “What kind of things?”
“Naughty, dirty, delicious things,” Maria piped in helpfully.
Janie stared at Angie, surprised by her interest. She expected at least Angie to be on her side, considering she was the logical and rational one in the group, yet she seemed the most excited by the prospect of two men tying her up and doing naughty…dirty…delicious things to her body.
Oh Gawd…
“Is Tate just as hot as Kaden?” Eden asked. “Hell, even half as hot would do.”
Janie ran her hands through her hair and pulled it back from her face, her mind going back to her first meeting with Tate. “Oh yeah, he’s hot, and rich.”
Maria groaned. “Well if you don’t want them, can I please have them?”
“I never said I didn’t want them,” Janie said quickly, then clamped her hands over her mouth. She looked over her fingers at her friends, eyes wide with shock at the admission she’d just given up, not only to them, but to herself, as well.
Maria grinned. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
“Then what’s holding you back?” Angie asked.
Janie’s fingers slid from her mouth and steepled against her lips as if in prayer. When she thought about what was preventing her from partaking in the underground activities, a knot tightened in her stomach. “You know what’s holding me back.”
Eden touched her arm in a comforting manner. “There’s nothing safer than a BDSM dungeon. This might be hard for you to understand, but you really are the one in control.”
“What?” Janie asked, her hair flaring as she spun to face Eden. “Wait a minute. Those are the exact same words Kaden used.”
Eden shrugged. “He’s right. It’s just a different kind of control.”
“Different?”
“Freeing.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just do. And everything stops when you use the safe word.”
Maria tossed her napkin onto the table. “Well, I don’t know anything about dungeons, but I do know that if I had two hot guys who wanted to pleasure me, I wouldn’t be sitting here drinking latte’s with you three. No offense.”
Janie’s glance went from Eden, to Maria, then to Angie. “Are you guys really saying you think I should go for it?”
“Yes,” they all said in unison.
“Holy Christ,” Janie said, shaking her head. She thought back to last night and couldn’t deny that there was a part of her that was more than a little curious.
Eden nudged her with her elbow. “I thin
k you might actually enjoy it.”
“I’m just not sure…”
“You should try everything at least once,” Eden said.
Janie picked up her latte and sank back in her seat. Needing time to sort through matters, she turned the conversation to Angie. “So I hear Nick is back in town.” As soon as the name left her mouth, she watched a heated tremble move through Maria.
Having successfully switched the conversation to Angie’s hot firefighter brother and Maria’s wicked crush on him, Janie sipped her drink and half listened. Her brain was still preoccupied with Kaden and Tate and the things they wanted to do with her.
Surely she couldn’t do what they were asking. As she mulled that over, Kaden’s comment kept racing through her mind.
All you have to do is say ‘Sanctuary’, and Tate and I will give you everything you’ve ever needed…
The bell over the door jingled, and Janie glanced up, only half her attention on the people in the café, but when the man walking through the door zeroed in on her, her blood drained to her toes.
“Janie, are you okay?” Eden asked, but then gasped when she followed Janie’s glance. “Shit, Simon’s here,” Eden said to Maria and Angie.
Maria shifted her chair to block his path, but she wasn’t quick enough. Before Janie could do anything, Simon was standing directly beside her, a darkly dangerous smile on his face.
“You’re not supposed to be anywhere near me,” Janie said, deepening her voice in a firm, authoritative manner like she was taught in the self-defense classes she’d taken with Maria.
“It’s just a coincidence,” Simon said. He turned to Maria, who was pulling her phone from her purse. “I thought since we were all here, I could join you.”
Janie gave a hard shake of her head. “I think you should leave.”
More patrons came through the door, and the jingling bell sounded like it was a million miles away as she shook her head and faced off against the man who mistakenly believed he loved her and that she loved him. The truth was he loved her character, Samantha, not her. He didn’t even know who she was.
Every Which Way Page 22