From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(33)

He needed a minute. He needed to get himself under control because she was pushing all his buttons in exactly the right way to get him hot and bothered. The need to sink his hand into all that hair and force her down to her knees in front of him was almost overwhelming.

She stepped back, her eyes on him as she moved more fully into the scene space.

“Does Sanctum set the protocol?”

Jared had asked the question. He’d nearly forgotten Jared was there. Damn it. Kori sank gracefully to her knees in front of him and he had a difficult time concentrating. Teaching. He was supposed to be teaching, and that meant answering questions and not worrying about the fact that he had a boner to end all boners and likely everyone could tell.

“There are certain protocols set up in Sanctum contracts. As you’ll see when we go over how a training class would work, submissives and Dominant members have roles and duties they owe to everyone in the club. Discretion is first and foremost. We don’t talk about what happens in the club with outsiders.”

“So no gossip,” Jared said.

“Oh, the club runs on gossip. If we put that terminology in Big Tag would get kicked out of his own club.” Fuck, but she looked sweet kneeling on the middle of the stage. When had she perfected that pose? As far as he knew she didn’t practice protocol with most of the Doms she played with and yet her spine was perfectly straight, her knees splayed so that if she weren’t wearing the boy shorts, he would have a lovely view of her *. Her hands were palms up on her thighs and her head bowed submissively. He could almost believe she loved this. No one could look that perfect and at ease without loving it. “We talk very freely amongst ourselves, but discretion is urged outside the confines of the membership.”

Jared stepped up, coming to stand at Kai’s side. His brother looked down at Kori, his eyes watching her, taking in the lines of her form, the swell of her breasts. “And this protocol?”

“Doms and subs form their own protocols based on their needs, but this is generally accepted here as a proper way to greet a Dominant partner and begin a scene.” He placed his hand on her head, the connection nearly making him sigh. What the f*ck was he doing? The question kept running through his head, but it was drowned out by louder voices that told him to go with it. She’d agreed to the scene. They hadn’t done all the normal bargaining he would have with another sub, but then there hadn’t been a lot of time. They’d gone from casual talk to him nearly bending her over and f*cking her right there. He was worried if she turned that saucy mouth on him again, he might do just that.

“So this is what you would do with a submissive who doesn’t know your habits?” Jared was the one who sounded academic now.

He needed to get his shit together. This wasn’t a pleasure tour. This was about the contract he’d signed to train his brother. It was also about showing his assistant that he could control himself. She was pushing him. For what reason he had no idea.

Because she wants what you can give her. Because she’s always wanted it and she’s hidden it from you because she’s f*cking afraid.

Yeah, he wasn’t listening to inner caveman or inner Dom anymore. “Yes. By bowing her head she shows me she’s ready to submit. I accept her gift with a touch of my hand. Let me help you up.” He held out his hand and she stared at it as though trying to decide if she was going to rise on her own. “Don’t push me further than you already have, Kori. I’ll need an explanation of why you disrespect me in that fashion.”

Her hand came up, sliding into his as she allowed him to ease her up. “I’m not used to being helped up.”

“I suspect you tend to move before your Dominant partner is ready,” he surmised.

She was looking up at him, her hand still in his, though she was steady on her feet. She never wore heels. He liked the fact that she was shorter than him, small compared to him. “Probably. It never seems serious. No one ever punished me for it.”

“Because you keep everything light. Because you never select a Dom who wants more out of you than a little fun. I need more tonight.” He needed everything. “Jared can’t learn if he doesn’t see something real.”

She was silent for a moment and that electricity was still there between them, though it had quieted to a low simmer. “All right. For Jared’s sake.” Her eyes held his for a second too long before turning to his brother. “There are a million different ways to play. There are as many ways to practice BDSM as there are people who practice it. I wouldn’t be this serious with a Dom usually. My play is typically more about fun than pushing boundaries.”

“Why do you do it?” Jared asked.

The real value in this impromptu scene hit him and rather forcefully. Jared would ask the questions, but Kai could hear her answers. He’d never talked to her about this, not about the lifestyle because it seemed far too intimate. She hadn’t wanted to play with him so he’d dodged the topic. They talked about everything else—well with the singular exception of his brother it seemed—but in this she was a mystery to him.

“I need you to treat him as you would any other Dom in this club,” Kai ordered when she didn’t answer.

Her lips curled up in an impish grin. “Are you sure about that?”

She was the beloved brat of the club. “How about I amend that to asking you to be on your best behavior?”