Love Another Day Page 23

  That sounded like a deliciously dirty threat, but she was fairly certain she’d pushed him too far already. There was a whole night to get through.

  No, there was a whole night to enjoy. Why did she think that way? Why was everything something to get through and not something to experience and enjoy?

  She moved to the conference table, not bothering to retie her top. Her breasts were out, but somehow that felt right, too. He hadn’t given her instructions to fix the top so she left it as it was. Her nipples were still hard and aching and the cool air seemed to soothe them mightily. She placed her hands on the flat top of the conference room table and moved her feet until they were shoulder width apart. What else had he commanded? Arse in the air. Yeah, she could do that.

  Breathe. Forget about everything but this moment. She took in the way her muscles stretched and how it felt when Brody’s big hand covered the small of her back, the way her breasts dangled. Nothing else mattered but how her body felt, how she obeyed her Master.

  Hours of respite. That was what he was offering her. Hours where she didn’t have to worry about anything but him, and he wasn’t anything to worry about. He was Brody Carter and he would never hurt her.

  A loud smack broke the silence and she nearly howled at the pain.

  Well, he wouldn’t hurt her in any way that didn’t do something for her. The slaps to her cheeks made her body heat in a way she hadn’t thought was possible.

  “Do you understand why I’m spanking you?” Brody slapped her cheeks, a nasty swat that made her whole body tighten.

  She knew she should probably say something submissive about disobeying her Master and this was the only way she could learn, but she knew that wasn’t the real answer. “Because you think this is the only way to get me out of my head, to force me to let go of all the crap that drags me down all day long.”

  Another whack, this one right on the split of her cheeks. His hand lingered, one finger pressing slightly against the swimsuit bottom, making her aware of her ass. “Yes. Because this is fun. Because this is play. Don’t you ever think for a second I don’t respect the hell out of you. Don’t think there’s anything dirty about this. The last thing I want is to give you something else to feel guilty about.”

  “I kind of like the thought that it’s dirty, Brody. It feels dirty, but not in a bad way. Believe me, babe, I know what it feels like to be dirty, like nothing in the world can clean me up. This isn’t it. This is different.” He’d told her what his fear was—that he would drag her down, too. She couldn’t let him believe that. Not even for a second. Not even with everything between them. “I’m not trying to get you to hurt me for any reason other than this feels good. I like it. I know what it means to try to punish myself and this isn’t even close. I know what to do to make it stop.”

  “I want to give you what you need,” he said, an ache in his voice. “But sometimes I worry about what you think you deserve.”

  “I agreed to agree with you all night. I deserve this. I deserve this playtime with you, Brody. I want it more than I can say.” Which was exactly why she’d tried to get out of it, but she had to change her thinking. She couldn’t go through the rest of her life like this. She could see that plainly now.

  Life often didn’t give her choices. Sometimes she felt as though she moved from one crisis to another, swept up in all of it. But perhaps that was the choice. Like Avery had said. She had to choose how to react to the things that happened to her, around her. She was being offered a choice now. Brody was giving it to her.

  For the first time in forever, she wasn’t going to overthink it. She was going to grab it with both hands.

  He slapped her ass another five times and then she felt him kiss the small of her back. “Stand.”

  She eased herself up, her body alive and aching with need. She suspected this was the real torture her Master intended to inflict on her.

  He retied the top of her swimsuit, but not before he’d kissed the nape of her neck and worked his way across both shoulders. “Better?”

  Considering the fact that her whole body was relaxed, her muscles eased, she only had one answer. “Yes, Brody.”

  “Excellent. Let’s go and see what sparks your interest.” He turned her around and didn’t try to hide the massive erection that pressed against the fly of his slacks.

  “That sparks my interest.” She glanced pointedly to his enormous dick. She was soft and warm and ready for a massive throw down. It was probably a good bet they wouldn’t be the first couple to do it in this conference room. From what she could tell, Big Tag and Charlotte had a never-ending quest to have sex in every possible place they could. They were like horny rabbits trying to mark their territory.

  It wasn’t a terrible idea.

  “You like what you see?” Brody asked, his voice deep.

  Such a vain man. He knew how gorgeous he was. “You know I do.”

  “Then think about it while we watch a few scenes. Think about the fact that I want nothing more than to bend you over and force my cock inside. I don’t think it would even be a hard thing to do at this point. I would bet if I had you get up on that table and spread your legs for me I would find that pretty pussy of yours is wet and ready to take me. Is that what I would find?”

  Her first instinct was to hop on the table and show him. She could drop the bottoms and climb up and spread her legs wide. Then they would see who could tempt whom.

  But that wasn’t being obedient. That was manipulating him to get what she wanted. Suddenly what she wanted was far more than an orgasm. She wanted to please him, to play this game by his rules and see what happened. Even though he’d left her once, she still trusted him.

  “You would find that I have become extremely aroused,” she replied with a smile. “I could go into all the hormonal reasons that under the right conditions a spanking can make a person sexually aroused, but I think I’ll take the short cut and admit I’m a bit of a pervert when it comes to you.”

  His smirk turned into a brilliant smile that kind of lit up the whole room. When Brody got to smiling, his face lit up and it took her breath away. “That’s good to know because I’m a complete and utter pervert when it comes to you. Now let’s go and figure out what your particular brand of perversion calls for. We’ll stay away from Jake and Serena and Adam though. I’m not sharing you with anyone.”

  She was perfectly okay with that. She let Brody lead her out, ready for the night to begin.

  Chapter Eleven

  Brody led her past the scene where Jake and Adam were supposed to be two teachers or something and Serena was the deliciously naughty schoolgirl. Something had gone awry because Adam was attempting to beat the shit out of his partner.

  “I told you to wait for me.” Adam ran at his best friend, his fist up.

  Jake really was the more physical of the two. He evaded Adam. “That’s not what you told Big Tag.”

  Serena’s eyes rolled as they walked by. “Yeah, keep moving. This scene is not going to be fun for a while. I swear, I’m going to kill Tag. He’s behind this.”

  He probably was. Big Tag liked to play the trickster. “You want me to stop them?”

  Steph’s eyes lit up like she would truly enjoy that. His girl had a little blood lust in her, or perhaps she simply enjoyed how big he was. Back when they’d first met, he’d realized all he had to do to get her eyes on him was pick up something heavy and offer to move it for her. Or chop wood. She could watch him do that for hours.

  Serena shook her head, looking back at her men. “Nah. Sometimes they work things out by punching each other. Adam’s been a beast lately because of the new company. It’s all starting up soon and I think both he and Jake are nervous about leaving McKay-Taggart. It’s made them antsy and irritable. They kind of need this.” Her lips curled up. “And honestly, after they’re done with each other, they’ll have a go at me. So I won’t kill Big Tag. He’s like a big, sarcastic genie. He probably overheard me saying that I wished they would just bea
t the crap out of each other and he found a way to make it happen. I will admit that sometimes I wish we could keep him in a bottle though. It would be nice to only take him out when we need his unique brand of help.”

  Somehow Brody didn’t think that would happen any time soon. “Do you know of any interesting scenes?”

  “Charlotte’s planning something with Mistress Day that might be interesting, but it’s suspension. If you’re looking for impact, Simon and Chelsea are playing with floggers somewhere. I heard Alex was planning on lighting Eve up tonight.”

  “Lighting her up?” Steph asked.

  “Fire play,” Brody replied.

  She shrank back slightly. No fire play for her. That might be a bit adventurous for her first night. “Come on. Let’s watch the suspension play scene.”

  He led her to the main stage and settled in to watch. He was incredibly surprised when the woman in leather and thigh-high boots who promised to suspend her bigger, heavier male sub turned out to be someone he’d met before.

  Steph gasped. “Is that…?”

  He leaned over and whispered. “The queen of Loa Mali, yes. Well, I’m sure it’s been an interesting time over here. Let’s watch.”

  Twenty minutes later he realized something was wrong between the royals that wasn’t going to be solved with suspension play. And Steph hadn’t relaxed once. They’d stood there and studied the diminutive Domme suspend the big strapping king and Steph had watched silently, not moving an inch, her shoulders bunched up. He’d tried to put his hands on her, but he could still feel the tension.

  Mistress Day was explaining how she could make the sub feel safe even suspended over the ground, but Brody realized his sub wasn’t at all feeling what he’d meant her to.

  He was pushing her too fast. They’d made love twice and now he had her in the middle of a sex club. She could be insecure.

  She was curious about this world, but watching a scene where the Domme and sub weren’t in synch wasn’t going to help. Then there had been Jake and Adam beating on each other. She hadn’t seen the best Sanctum could offer.

  It was up to him to save their night. His submissive needed privacy in these first days. She needed to focus on the two of them, not the outside forces around them.

  He leaned over to Big Tag, who was standing beside him, keeping his voice low. “Hey, I don’t think this scene is helping Steph ease into anything.”

  “Yeah, this scene is a clusterfuck,” Tag agreed quietly. “You know I give great advice. I should be a motherfucking relationship specialist, but no one listens.”

  So Big Tag had been getting up in everyone’s business tonight. That was par for the course. “Can I get into the training room?”

  Tag’s eyes flared briefly before he reached into his pocket and handed him a key card. “Sure. I hope one of the clients has a fun time tonight. I’ll let the full douche know where you are.”

  Poor bodyguards. “Thanks, mate.”

  He slid his hand into Steph’s and started to lead her away.

  When they were far enough from the crowd, he turned to her. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

  She followed dutifully behind him, but there wasn’t the joy she’d had earlier. She might never be a club girl, but that was all right. He didn’t need to fuck her in public to feel like a man. That was fine for the exhibitionists, but his sub needed something different.

  He would have beaten himself up for not seeing it, but somehow the last few days had taught him something. There was only room for one broody, moody arsehole in this relationship, and Steph had a lock hold on it.

  Sometimes relationships were about adaptation. He needed to adapt to fill in her weaknesses, and vice versa.

  He found the door to the training room and slid the key card in. He opened the door and turned on the lights. As with most rooms in Sanctum, this one had a dimmer switch, and he slid it to a nice, warm light that wasn’t too bright. The room was neatly kept and set up for a scene. Likely someone would be using this room in the next few days. There was a large massage table with a quilt over it and several pillows and blankets to make things comfortable. There were discreet lockers he knew were stocked with all kinds of impact play toys. One was filled with floggers and paddles and canes. There were whips in another.

  “Is this a privacy room?” Steph asked. She already seemed more comfortable. Her curiosity was back now that they were alone. She walked around the room, brushing her fingers over a plush whipping bench.

  “No, this is a training room.” He was grateful he’d spent time here and he knew the lay of the land. “This is a room where one of the tops who teach or mentor a D/s couple have sessions.”

  “I thought they had training classes for that.” She walked around the room, stopping to examine some of the equipment.

  It gave Brody time to get things together. The training room was ridiculously well stocked. Big Tag was a perverted Boy Scout. He was always prepared, which was precisely why this was the best idea Brody’d had all day. He opened the small toy closet and found a series of sealed bags.

  “They have group training classes for singles. This room would be for couples who want to explore or couples who are having trouble. I think it’s safe to say the royals could use a little time in here.” Despite the fact that Wade Rycroft now ran the club, Big Tag’s fingerprints were all over the place, including the pre-prepped perv packages, as the shelf was marked. Each bag included pre-sterilized small toys and everything the top would need to use on his or her sub. He glanced through a few of the packs—Grease ’er Up had several kinds of lube. Pup-Town Girl had a crystal encrusted water dish and bedazzled collars and leashes for puppy play. Gimps Need Love, Too included a few items Brody wasn’t even sure about.

  “I don’t know. He seemed very uncomfortable. If he’s an actual submissive, I don’t think he wants to be. It’s hard to move when you hate the core of who you are.”

  “Is that what our problem is?” If she was willing to start a discussion about it, he was more than willing to talk. He knew what was at the core of their problems, but she needed to acknowledge it, too.

  Her guilt. His insecurity. Neither of them had a place in their world anymore.

  “No, our problem is that you’re a jerk who can’t figure out how to answer the damn telephone,” she said, but she chuckled before sobering. “I don’t mind being a sub. Sexually that is. Honestly, even in some things outside of the bedroom, I wouldn’t mind giving over responsibility to someone I trusted.”

  “I know you don’t trust me, but I need time to change that.”

  She finally turned. “I trust you with my life, Brody.”

  “I want more than that.”

  “Then you should have answered the phone.” She turned again, the distance between them more than the few yards of floor he could cross in a second.

  Words were not going to fix this. He wasn’t sure he could fix it, but he had to try. “All right, let’s start small. Do you trust me in this room?”

  She leaned against the large massage table in the center of the room that would also serve as a bed when it came to sex. Like a lot of the items in this room, it would have more than one purpose. It would serve as a convenient bed, a flat surface to hold on to, a nice space for aftercare. He had to view himself like that table. He served more than one purpose. She wouldn’t allow him to play the doting lover, the indulgent and sweet boyfriend he wanted to be, but she needed more than that. Perhaps today she needed the Dom.

  “I trust you with my life, Brody. I certainly trust you with my body,” she admitted. “But I felt odd out there in the club. Last night was perfect. I didn’t think about anything but you and me and what we were doing. Tonight, when we’re with other people, my mind wanders. It’s hard to stay focused.”

  “Hence we’re now alone and I expect your focus to be entirely on me. In here we’re nothing more than a D/s couple who needs a bit of time to work out what we like, what works for us, what brings us cl
oser together as a Dom and a submissive.”

  She was silent for a few seconds, but then she nodded. “All right. I think that might be a good place to start.”

  At least she’d used the word start. It was the right word. They needed a new start. He knew what she was thinking. He’d given her another way to view their relationship, a less scary way. She thought if she could put their relationship into a D/s box, she might get the sex and pleasure she wanted without all the emotional connection that would frighten her.

  Such a naïve thing. She really hadn’t had a deep sexual relationship before him or she would know what kind of threat he posed. He wasn’t about to tell her. This was one trap he fully intended to spring on her.

  “Take off your clothes and kneel in the center of the room. When we begin a session, this is how you will greet me. Naked, hair down, knees wide, with your hands palms up on your thighs.”

  “And you’ll be dressed?” She managed to make it sound like that would be the worst thing in the world.

  He was willing to bend. After all, this was a consensual act they should agree upon. Also, he loved the fact that she liked his body. It was big and scarred, and he often thought he was more beast than man, but she made him feel worthy. And maybe that was a start. The last few years of working for Damon Knight had done something to his brain. He couldn’t merely look at the things she said. He had to view her as a whole, and oftentimes the way a person treated others was a tip-off as to what they themselves needed the most.

  Maybe he wasn’t such a dumb grunt anymore.

  “How about I promise I’ll start with my shirt off,” he offered. “I assure you I’ll be naked at some point in time because there’s nothing I love more than feeling your skin against mine.”

  She flushed, her color going a lovely pink. “Yes, I think most men like that feeling.”

  And so she ducked and feinted. That’s what they were doing, Brody realized. They were in a fight, and for him that meant jabs and feints and uppercuts. This fight was all about words and emotions. He’d made a direct hit and she was trying to take the point away from him. What did a good fighter do? He certainly didn’t go back to his corner. He came back out punching.