by Anya Summers
“I’ll send you a few things to choose from—have them couriered over to your place tomorrow. Then, once you decide that our club is to your liking, we have a dress maven we work with for the subs. She custom makes and designs clothing for all the submissives.”
“That certainly makes things easy.” It would also keep Sadie from being embarrassed about going into Macy’s to buy seductive clothing.
“It does. I’ll get you set up with your key card for the parking garage. We’ll get your thumbprint into the system, and then you should be all set.”
Another item on the list of things she needed to accomplish in short working order. “I don’t drive. I don’t even have a car. I haven’t since the accident. I was the one driving, you see. But with Grace, it’s something I need to rectify because I cannot have a three-year-old riding mass transit. You wouldn’t happen to know of a good dealership in town that won’t take advantage of me because I’m a woman?”
“Depends on what you’re looking for, but I do have some contacts. Do you have a type of vehicle in mind?”
“Not a minivan,” she said, which got a smile out of him. “I was thinking something more in the vein of a SUV. And that means I need to buy a car seat as well. By Monday.” She took a few deep breaths at the enormity of what she was doing. In a few days, she would have a kid she would be legally responsible for. It was enough to make her hyperventilate.
“Let me make some calls. I have a place I think would work that I can take you to tomorrow morning,” Dante informed her.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that—”
He cut off her objection and pierced her with a glance. “Sadie, the longer you are a member, the more you will learn we look out for our own. It’s not a problem. I don’t mind at all.”
Fostering Grace, she was going to have to learn to start accepting help. She figured this was as good a place as any to start.
Chapter 26
Ram was in hell, and he wasn’t feeling that way because of the triple digit temperatures in Dallas the moment they’d stepped off the plane an hour ago.
“Before we get to your mom’s house, I want to ask again, are you certain you would rather stay with me than move to London with your mom and Brad?” he asked.
“I’d rather stay in Dallas but since that is not even a remote possibility, yes. At least with you, I can still see my friends here occasionally,” Angela replied with a deep sigh.
“I think it would be epic to live with you, Pops. But I don’t think Mom is going to go for it,” Rocky commented from his seat in the back.
“We’ll see. Let me talk to her, not you. At least, not at first,” Ram said, pulling the rental car into Kelly’s driveway and glancing at his son in the rearview mirror.
Kelly came walking out the front door looking chic in jean shorts and a flowing tank top. She had always been a beautiful woman with her dark hair, so much like Angela’s. She was a good mom, a great one, considering how well their kids were turning out.
They exited the vehicle with Kelly hugging first Angela and then Rocky.
“Hey guys. Ooh, I’ve missed you. Are you hungry? I’ve got plenty of snacks you can have before dinner tonight,” Kelly said, her love for their kids evident in her face and demeanor.
“Missed you too, Mom. Where are the snacks? I’m starving,” Rocky said. The kid was always hungry. Then again, Ram had been what his mother had called a human garbage disposal. His son was a chip off the old block.
“They’re in the kitchen, on the table for you already. Here, let me help with that, baby,” Kelly said to Angela, taking her backpack.
Ram and Rocky hefted their suitcases out of the trunk, carrying them up to the front door. They all got the luggage inside.
“Thanks for getting them back here, Ram,” Kelly said as they all crowded the entryway.
“No problem. If we could talk a minute?” Ram said.
She sighed in understanding, like she knew Ram was going to talk to her about the London move. “Why don’t you guys go on into the kitchen and I will be in as soon as your dad and I have had a chat.”
Rocky hugged him. “Love you, Dad.”
“Back at you, sport. We’ll go shopping tomorrow.”
“Okay,” Rocky said and headed down the hall.
Angela gave Ram a side hug, already on her cell phone, texting her friends. “See you later, Dad.”
“Try not to be on the phone all night, and spend some time with your mom.”
Angela rolled her eyes. “Sure, Dad. Whatever you say.”
Teenagers. God, it made him feel incredibly old.
“Why don’t we go into Brad’s office to give us some privacy?” Kelly said, nodding her head toward a room beyond the front parlor.
“Lead the way,” Ram said.
In Brad’s office, which looked like a turn of the century drawing room with a stately desk in the center, Ram took a seat across from her and observed his ex-wife. “You can’t really mean to take the kids to live in a foreign country.”
“What would you have me do, Ram? It’s Brad’s job. It’s a fabulous opportunity and, quite frankly, if he doesn’t take it, he could end up being squeezed out from his position here.”
“Kelly, I’ve not begrudged you a thing where the kids are concerned. I’ve always made sure that they were fully covered financially. I didn’t argue when Brad was transferred here five years ago —instead, I worked with you on making it something feasible for both of us and our kids. I’m asking you to do the same.”
“And what would you have me do?” She crossed her arms in front of her chest in a defensive position.
“Let them live with me during the school year. I will assume the responsibility there, and they can come visit you and Brad over the summer. We reverse the way things have been.”
“You want me to give up my kids? No. I certainly will not. I’m the one who has always been there for them, not you.” Kelly pointed at her chest, anger mixing with fear on her face.
“Jesus, are you serious? You want to rehash the past? I was in the military, for fuck’s sake, fighting a war for our country. Are you really going to go there? Because it was what you signed up for when you married me. And since I was discharged, I have been there, in the thick of it, with you. You were the one who moved them here five years ago and made sure that I didn’t see them all the time.”
“I’m not giving them up. I know that’s not what you want to hear. But I won’t do it.”
Ram stared at her, clenching his hands against his thighs, trying to keep his temper from exploding. In a calm voice, as calm as he was going to get, he asked, “Have you considered asking your children what they want? Because I can tell you, it’s not moving them to London.”
“Be that as it might well be, they’re kids. They don’t get to decide that, since they aren’t the ones paying the bills.” The woman could give lessons in being stubborn. And Ram thought he was bad.
“Kelly, I’ve been more than amenable to anything you have wanted to do with the kids. I pay for their private schools and activities, in addition to child support, and I’m asking you not to do this.”
“I’m sorry, but the answer is no.”
Ram glanced at his ex, at the rigid set to her shoulders and the scowl on her face. She wasn’t going to back down. He’d felt so guilty about their failed marriage and not being there to help when the children were infants that he had overcompensated. He had been doing it for years, making it seem like he was a pushover and wouldn’t put up a fight.
Fuck, Sadie had been right. He needed to ask for what he wanted and go after it. “Look Kelly, I’ve been easy going and agreeable to your wishes on everything to this point. We have joint custody, which means you need my permission to move them to another country. And you don’t have it. If I have to get my lawyer involved, I will. I don’t want to. I think there is a solution, it just may not be the one you want.”
“You would really do that? Take me to court over this?”
“To keep my kids in the damn country? You bet. You’re the one asking everyone else to make changes and adjustments, while being unwilling to compromise. It’s fine if Brad wants to keep climbing that corporate ladder, but there might be some sacrifices you need to make for all that prestige.”
“I can’t believe you would pull this.” Kelly shook her head and stared at him like she was looking at a stranger. Perhaps that had always been their problem. They’d gotten married so young that neither of them had really known who they were, let alone what it was they were looking for in a partner.
An image of Sadie’s face bloomed in Ram’s mind. He had an idea now.
“Kelly, if you’re really going to press me on this, what choice are you leaving me? Allowing you to take Angela and Rocky a few thousand miles away? At least with you here, it’s only a short plane trip for me to come visit. But London? Come on, Kels, I knew you hated me, but I never thought you would be so cruel as to do something like this.” When she just shook her head, he continued, “Think about what I said. I’m going to head to my hotel and will be back in the morning to take the kids school shopping.”
“I don’t know what to do, Ram.”
“What’s right for the kids, which might not be the same thing as what is right for you and Brad. I’ll see myself out,” Ram said.
Kelly needed time to digest their conversation. And so did he. What if Kelly emphatically denied Ram’s plea? Did he really want to get the courts involved? It would affect not just him and Kelly, but their kids too.
Ram drove to his hotel and, after he’d checked in, tried to call Sadie. She ignored his call because of course she did. He didn’t blame her for being pissed off. He could see the mistakes he’d made with her from the start. He had used calling their time together training sessions as a way to emotionally distance himself from her.
And why was that exactly? Because she made him feel—far, far too much. And she had crept past his defenses, walloping him with the intensity of those feelings. It had pushed him off his axis.
It was why, yesterday morning, Ram had gone to the hospital to see Grace. His buddy Luc had helped get him in to see her, under the guise of being a psychologist. He could see why Sadie was so taken with the little girl. He had to admit, if only to himself, that her big, puppy dog brown eyes had stirred his protective instincts. The poor thing hadn’t spoken since the accident that took her family from her.
But she had a very expressive face, and no problem understanding him as he asked her questions. When he mentioned Sadie, Grace transformed, beaming and becoming far more animated. Ram had left her hospital room with the dawning realization that he had been wrong in his initial assumption. Sadie fostering Grace would help the little girl, and it might just be the thing that helped Sadie push past her grief.
And he wished that Sadie would answer her damn phone so he could apologize for being an ass. Because he wanted to fix it between them. Hell, he wanted more. In fact, he wanted it all with her.
And wasn’t that just the kick in the family jewels he had not been expecting.
Chapter 27
On Saturday night, Sadie shivered as she exited her new sport utility vehicle, courtesy of Dante. The man had been true to his word and taken her to a Mercedes dealership, where she had been outfitted with the latest model mid-size SUV in a metallic denim blue with black leather interior.
Driving it had not been as horrible as she’d thought it would end up being. Granted, she was driving like a ninety-year-old woman, but that was beside the point. She was mobile again for the first time in two years. Not that she still didn’t hesitate in getting behind the wheel, because she did. More than once, she’d had to sit in the driver’s seat and repeat, I can do this, I can do this, until she believed it.
It was all baby steps. Conquering one issue at a time. But it did feel great to get past this hurdle. She had even gone so far this morning as to head out and purchase the toddler car seat. Pride swelled in her chest. She had done it herself, making her feel like she could do this, fostering Grace. Tomorrow, she was going to head to the grocery store and fill her pantry with the foods Grace had a yen for.
If only her stupid heart would stop replaying her fight with Ram and all the time they had spent together. Then maybe, just maybe, things would be cruising toward a full-on course correction for her life.
Instead, she was in club gear sent over by courier to her house this afternoon: a postage stamp-sized spandex dress in a deep burgundy that made her golden skin glow and left little to the imagination. The plunging neckline made it nigh impossible to wear a bra, so she went without. She was only a B cup, anyhow, and bras really didn’t do much for her other than hide her nipples. If there ever was a place for her to go braless, this was it.
The exclusive elevator for members only that could be accessed from the private parking garage opened up onto the second floor. She had texted Dante her arrival when she parked, as instructed, and that was why he was waiting for her just outside the doors.
His chocolate gaze slid down her body and back up like a whispered caress. The problem was, it was the wrong Dom doing it. Sadie knew that. But she pressed forward anyway.
“That color is delectable on you, as I knew it would be. Come, we’re going to sit over on the couches and watch the upcoming scenes,” Dante said. He was all in black once again, but this time, he wore leather pants. It made him look like a biker, a really hot biker.
Sadie stepped off the elevator and took his proffered arm—his rock-solid bare arm with skin stretched taut and smooth. Music pumped through hidden speakers. The volume wasn’t overpowering, but just loud enough to mix with the moans and groans already filling the space.
In the center of the club were several leather couches, all facing the scene areas, in which people could recline and watch the show—or, in the case of the couple they had just passed, give a Dom a blow job out in the open.
Dante led Sadie to one of the sofas that was already occupied. The man was a blond Adonis with eyes a deep, cobalt blue. His hair was a few shades darker blond than hers, and long, reaching his impressive shoulders. His angular jaw was dusted with a short beard, expertly trimmed, which made his already full lips appear delectable. Those same lips were spread in an easy, enticing grin meant to seduce. And holy moly, he was tall; she estimated he had to be a good six four as he rose with their approach.
“So this is the juicy tidbit you’ve told me all about and have been hoarding to yourself, Dante. Shame. I’m Master Michael, lovely, it’s a pleasure to welcome you to our club. I hear you’re going to sit with us tonight and get a feel for things.”
“Yes, Sir, if that’s all right with you,” she replied, trying to bat down the butterflies in her belly.
“You’re right, Dante. Then again, you usually are.” Michael glanced at the man over her head.
“About what, Sir?” Sadie asked.
“That if we are lucky, you will agree to scene with us. In public or private. We will allow that to be your choice,” Michael replied with a simmering glance.
Any other woman would have been over the moon to have not one, but two gorgeous hunks of man meat wanting her. Sadie blushed, but from the flattery only. Dammit. Her stupid body and stupid feelings needed to get over their obsession with Ram. “Thank you, Sir.”
“Come have a seat beside me,” Michael said with that commanding alpha steel in his silver-tongued voice that she was coming to recognize as the Dom voice.
Sadie had no choice but to comply. She ended up sandwiched between the two Doms on the couch, and once again couldn’t help but speculate what it would be like to be the center of their attention. They were potent alphas, who liked to take a woman together. Was it a little warm in here?
“Would you care for a drink this evening?” Dante asked, his voice seductively low and near her ear.
“Um, may I have a Bellini, Sir?” she asked.
Michael smiled down at her. “Are we celebrating?”
“A little,” she admitted.
“And what exactly are we celebrating?” Michael asked.
“Some personal victories, and that I am now a foster mom to a three-year-old girl.”
“Is that right, lovely? Then we certainly should break out the champagne. Dante?”
“I’m on it. Sadie, you will be safe in Michael’s capable hands for a minute while I put in our drink order and do a DM check.” Dante rose.
“We’ll get along fine,” Michael said with utter confidence.
Dante walked away, leaving Sadie alone with Michael. She fought the urge to fidget under Michael’s direct stare. His arm was on the back of the couch, not touching her but near enough that she could feel his heat.
“Now, kitten, Dante tells me you’re a nurse.”
“Yes, I am.”
“I noticed on your form that you didn’t mark the box with medical play. Is there a reason for that? Seems to me you would be a natural with it.” Michael’s fingers had caught a strand of her hair.
“That’s because you don’t work in medicine. I’ve been an ICU nurse for almost a decade and it’s exhausting, heartbreaking, with more bodily fluids than you can possibly imagine, and while I’m no wimp when it comes to shots, it’s not even remotely arousing.”
“What’s not arousing?” a deep voice asked, and Sadie glanced up into a pair of artic blue eyes, the fine lines at the corners crinkling as he smiled down at her.
“Graham, this is Sadie. Sadie, this is Master Graham. We were just discussing the merits for or against medical play,” Michael explained.
“Ah, the new sub. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sweetness. So you’re not fond of needles, I take it,” Graham teased.