by Livia Grant
Despite her smudged makeup, her blue eyes sparked to life. “Oh no you don’t. You aren’t getting rid of me.”
“But… I can…”
“I thought you said The Punishment Pit was our business now,” she sassed.
“I did. But I also told you to call me Sir until we got back upstairs and I see how much you listened to that.”
“You’re right about that. Sorry, Sir. But I’m not sorry about wanting to stay down here with you.”
“No. You aren’t sorry, are you?” Turning to Elijah, Lukus held out his hand. “Thanks again for all you’ve done for us this weekend. I mean it. I expect to see you in Chicago this summer.”
“Deal. And good luck with Goldilocks.”
They only had a few steps to go until they hit the bar. Maxim was already there, waiting in the same booth in the corner where Lukus had interviewed the DMs earlier, which somehow seemed appropriate.
On the way over, Lukus waved to get the attention of the bartender, motioning they needed service in the corner. She nodded, moving to follow them.
Lukus let Tiffany slide in first before sitting across from Max. Once they placed their drink order, an awkward silence fell.
“You got me here. Are you finally gonna tell me what the hell this is all really about?”
There were so many questions to ask. Things to discuss. Lukus started with a big one.
“What do you do for a living?”
The cocky smirk on Max’s face disappeared. “That’s not important.”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Lukus said before tacking on. “You have family out here in L.A.?”
“Fuck this. I’ll pass on the drink,” Max groused defensively as he slid to the end of the bench as if getting ready to leave.
“Wow, pretty touchy. These aren’t really that hard of questions.”
The only thing Lukus’s barb accomplished was making Max stop his departure long enough to tell Lukus, “My life is none of your fucking business.”
It was Tiffany that broke into the men’s confrontational conversation. “Hold on. Don’t leave,” she ordered Max in her perfect sassy Tiffany voice. “You know we’re on our honeymoon. We’re from Chicago. In fact, we own our own club there. It’s called The Punishment Pit.”
The guy sitting across from him looked confused, unsure what this new information had to do with anything. He had more time to think about it as Susie arrived with their drinks, taking a few seconds to lay down Black Light cocktail napkins and the glasses.
Max took a drag of his Wild Turkey bourbon before answering. “Fine. So why come here to play? I still don’t understand.”
Lukus squeezed Tiffany’s leg under the table to take control back of the conversation. “We didn’t just come to play.” He paused, “I came to interview all of the Black Light Dungeon Monitors to see if any of them would be a good fit to take over the center stage shows at The Pit. Like Black Light, we are a BDSM club. Unlike Black Light, we offer up stage shows of punishments five nights a week. It’s pretty hard core.”
“So, what, you fire the last guy or something?”
“I am the last guy, well unless you count the string of guys we gave a shot at the job but who struck out.”
Max sat quietly for a second, glancing back and forth between the two of them until he started to grin. “So, the little woman doesn’t like you playing with other subs?” he teased.
Lukus pushed down his defensive reaction. He still fought the urge to just lay down the law like the Dom he was. But had he done that, he was certain he and Tiffany would not be on their honeymoon right now.
Tiffany saved him by answering for them. “I hate it.”
“And you think I could do the shows?”
Lukus answered truthfully. “I do.”
“I’m no showman. I just like to play hard.”
“Bullshit. You love the audience watching. I bet you draw a crowd every time you come here. You could pick up chicks at any bar and take them home to play for free. You pay the big bucks to come to Black Light because you get off on the crowd,” Lukus shot back.
The asshole didn’t contradict him, so Lukus kept going. “I watched you tonight. You have the intuition to read a sub’s subtle cues, knowing how to push their buttons without going too far. You seemed to keep things sane, safe, and consensual, while taking play to the edge. That’s exactly what we aim for at The Pit.”
Max nursed his drink as he thought about what Lukus had shared. After a full minute, the guy finally spoke. “I don’t know. I just moved here a couple of months ago.”
Lukus was more careful with how he worded his next question, trying not to make Max defensive again. “Fine, you don’t have to tell me what you do, but are you able to work from home? The shows are all at night.”
Max had been looking down at the rocks glass, mindlessly swishing his drink around as he thought. When he looked up and pinned Lukus with a hard glare, the whole atmosphere changed.
“You’ll do a background check, yeah?” Max asked defensively.
“Of course.” Lukus cut off.
Shit, the asshole has big secrets he doesn’t want me to know about.
“Sorry, but that’s a deal breaker.” Max took the last swig of the liquor, coughing at the burn before adding, “Thanks for the fun night, but…”
“Wait!” Lukus hated the desperation in his voice. But at least the asshole had stayed seated. He pressed on. “You know I have to do some type of background check. I can’t bring in someone without knowing what I’m dealing with, but The Pit isn’t my only business. My primary business is Titan Security. I’ll handle this one myself. Not just in house, but for my eyes only. Well, mine and my business partner, Derek. If everything checks out, I see no problem why we can’t keep your private life private.”
He felt a shift in the tension levels at the table. His new assurance had Maxim actually considering the offer.
“Okay, let’s pretend for a minute that I’m interested. How would this even work?”
Lukus pondered how much risk he was willing to take on a guy who clearly had secrets he wanted to keep buried. Had his search for a Master Dom just started, he would probably be half way up to their suite by now. But knowing how impossible it had been to find the right Master Dom, there was no way in hell he was walking away without trying to see if this could work out.
“I’ll pay to get you and the stuff you’ll need for a month to Chicago. I’ll even pay to put stuff in storage if you need to. Just like here, I have suites on property I rent out to members. I’ll put you up in one of them as part of your salary package. We spend a month trying each other out. Give me four weeks. Then we both re-evaluate. You don’t like the job and want out, you leave. No harm, no foul. Same on my side.”
He hadn’t stormed out yet which was a good sign. Tiffany squeezed his thigh under the table. She felt it too.
“How much money we talking here?”
“Obviously free membership to The Punishment Pit. The title of the job is Master Dom. You’d be on five nights a week—seven shows. And you obviously have the freedom to play with any willing members looking to scene with you before and after the shows.”
Lukus quickly did some math in his head, deciding how much he should gamble. “Let’s say we set your salary at $1,500 a week—$6,000 for the month.”
“That’s not enough,” Max shot back quickly.
“You won’t have any rent.” When Max sat silent, he tacked on. “We’re both taking some chances here. Let’s start here for the first month and then if things work out, we can renegotiate. And don’t forget, you’ll have your days free. You can even get another job if you wanted.”
He could see the other guy thinking through all of the info Lukus had thrown at him. Lukus sipped at his own drink, giving him time to work through his questions.
When Max looked up, he asked a question that surprised Lukus. “Tell me more about Titan Security.”
“Why? That doesn’t really have anythin
g to do with The Pit, other than they are both housed in the same building.”
For the first time since they’d met earlier that night, the younger man sitting across from him looked vulnerable. For a moment, he let that cocky veneer slip and Lukus got a glimpse of a person he realized he knew nothing about.
Finally, Max leaned so he could pull his wallet out of his back pocket. Digging into the leather, he came out with a business card, holding it out to Lukus. At the last second, he pulled it back, a look of uncertainty on his face.
Lukus could have grabbed the card. It was only a few inches from his outstretched hand, but he waited. The guy clearly wanted to keep something from his past private.
Max finally flicked the card across the table. It landed writing down. When Lukus flipped the card over it took a few seconds for the irony to register.
Maxim Rojas
Special Agent ~ McMillian Security
“You’re in security?” Lukus asked.
The answer came slowly, as if he dreaded saying the words. “An old family friend owns this place. He hired me a few months ago. I left the Miami P.D. almost a year ago.”
“No shit.”
Tiffany brightened up next to him, jumping back into the conversation. “How perfect! Almost all of my brothers are policemen. Aiden is even in Chicago.”
Max looked like he had eaten something sour. “No offense, but that’s actually a con for me, not a pro.”
Lukus’s brain was on overdrive, processing one possible reason after another that hiring this guy would be a bad idea. He obviously had some heavy shit in his past he was running away from.
“It sounds like there’s a story here,” he hedged, hoping Maxim would provide some simple explanation for his secrecy.
Maxim sighed. “This is gonna be the easiest background check you’ll ever perform. All you need to do when you get upstairs is do a Google search on my name and Miami P.D. Read it all. Half of the coverage is total bullshit. Half isn’t. You decide if you can deal with it and then give me a call if you still want to talk. My cell is on the card.”
He was already on his feet, ready to leave when Lukus knew what he had to do.
“Wait!” When Max turned back around, Lukus stood up, stepping closer. “I don’t need to do the Google search.”
“You really should,” he said with the defeated tone of a man who’d been through hard times.
“Maybe you’re right, but my gut is telling me you’re the new Master Dom. And I trust my gut. So, give me a month—no matter what comes up in the background check. You want some extra hours, we have openings at Titan too.”
A spark of the guy’s previous confidence flickered in his eyes as the men stood face to face. He wanted to say yes.
“Come on, say yes. Give it a month to see if my gut is right.”
For the first time since they’d started talking about the job offer, Max smiled. “You know, I follow my gut too.”
“Yeah? And what’s your gut saying?” Lukus asked, holding his breath.
“That I’m a dumbass to agree to move to Chicago in January. I’m gonna have to buy an actual winter coat, aren’t I?”
Lukus laughed out loud. “And boots, a hat, and even gloves. Does this mean you’re saying yes?”
“I’m saying yes. I can’t pass up the chance to play with different subs every night and get paid for it.”
It felt like a weight lifted the second Max agreed to give it a try. He hadn’t been bullshitting the guy. Lukus really did trust his gut. He knew this was the right decision with the same certainty he’d had when he’d jumped headfirst into his relationship with Tiffany, and that had turned out to be the best decision of his life.
He held out his hand, shaking on their agreement, but adding, “I still think you’re an asshole.”
Max grinned. “You aren’t wrong. What’s next?”
Lukus took his own business card out of his wallet and handed it over, adding. “We’re leaving tomorrow for Hawaii. We won’t be back to Chicago for two weeks. You wrap up what you need to here in L.A. and plan on being in Chicago no later than that Monday. We’ll talk before then but I’ll bring Derek up to speed so he can help if I’m out of pocket.”
Just mentioning Hawaii and how he will be officially on vacation made him glance back at Tiffany, still sitting in the booth.
“Right now, my wife is fading fast. It’s time for me to get my sassy sub up to bed. We have to leave for the airport early.”
Tiffany groaned. She was not a morning person.
The men picked up their duffle bags from the corner where they’d thrown them in before the three of them walked together to the velvet curtain that separated the main club from the bar.
Max thumbed in the direction of the main exit. “I’m parked out there.”
“And we’re taking the elevator upstairs. We’ll see you in Chicago in a few weeks?” Lukus hadn’t meant to turn it into a question, but that was how it came out.
Max nodded, the cocky grin back on his face. “You two have fun fucking like rabbits in Hawaii. I’ll see you in Chicago.”
Even Lukus was feeling tired by the time they opened the door to their suite upstairs a few minutes later. Housekeeping had come and tidied up, turning down the bed and leaving mints on their pillows.
Tiffany kicked off her shoes and started peeling off the robe, dropping it to the floor as she shuffled towards the king-sized bed.
“Excuse me, Mrs. Mitchell, but you need to shower tonight before bed.”
She groaned as she fell onto the cool sheets. “I’m too tired. We can shower in the morning.”
He’d been shedding his own clothes almost as fast as Tiff.
“Do you really expect me to sleep with you in my arms while you have another guy’s cum dried all over your back?”
“I can’t believe you let him do that,” she mumbled, her eyes already closed.
I can’t believe I let him do that either.
Giving up on the shower idea, Lukus went to the bathroom to pee before turning off the lights and crawling into bed next to his already sleeping wife. He lifted the covers over them so she wouldn’t get chilled before nuzzling in behind her, pulling her body close to spoon.
His mind raced with the memories of their eventful day at Runway and Black Light.
He was surprised when Tiffany mumbled softly, half asleep. “I can’t believe we found a Master Dom.”
“I know. And I promise. No more working on this trip. We are now officially on vacation.”
He was sure she was asleep this time until she hit him with a litany of questions. “Are you going to tell me now how many islands we’ll be going to?”
“No.”
“Okay, but how many flights will we need to take?” When he didn’t answer she added, “Did you rent us a car?”
He chuckled, hugging her closer. “Enough. Let me just take care of you.”
He was almost asleep when he heard it. Her quiet, “I love you, Lukus.”
“I love you more, Mrs. Mitchell.”
The End.
You guessed it! Of course, Maxim has to have his own story. Deceiving it All is coming in the spring of 2021! You won’t want to miss all of the scandals coming to The Punishment Pit once Master Maxim gets into Chicago. If you haven’t started this series yet, you are missing out! Grab Wanting it All for only .99 pennies right now and see what everyone is talking about!
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About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author Livia Grant lives in Chicago with her husband and furry rescue dog named Max. She is fortunate to have been able to travel extensively and as much as she loves to visit places around the globe, the Midwest and its changing seasons will always be home. Livia's readers appreciate her riveting stories filled with deep, character driven plots, often spiced with elements of BDSM.
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Also by Livia Grant
Black Light Series
Infamous Love, A Black Light Prequel
Black Light: Rocked
Black Light: Valentine Roulette
Black Light: Rescued
Black Light: Roulette Redux
Complicated Love
Black Light: Celebrity Roulette
Black Light: Purged
Black Light: Scandalized
Black Light: Roulette War
Black Light: The Beginning
Black Light: Roulette Rematch - coming February, 2021
Black Light: Rolled - coming 2021
Punishment Pit Series
Wanting it All
Securing it All
Having it All
Balancing it All
Defending it All
Protecting it All
Expecting it All
Celebrating it All
Deceiving it All - Coming 2021
Stand Alone Books
Blessed Betrayal
Royalty, American Style
Alpha’s Capture (as Livia Bourne)
Blinding Salvation (as Livia Bourne)
Anthologies
I Have Lived & I Have Loved
Out of Print Books
Psychology of Submission, Corbin’s Bend Series
Life’s Unexpected Gifts, Corbin’s Bend Series
Melting Silver, Red Petticoat Series
Call Sign Thunder
Bite Me – Vampire Anthology
Just Breathe – Anthology
Royally Mine – Anthology
Heroes to Obey – Anthology
A Lovely Meal – RWA Anthology