Love and Let Die (Masters and Mercenaries #5)(51)

Ian’s eyes closed briefly and that straight jaw tightened as though he was holding in a laugh. He stifled it, but his eyes were warm as he stared down at her. “I’m pretty, huh? I have never once been described as pretty.”

She was sure he’d been described as hot, as sexy, as intimidating. “Then they haven’t looked at you, Sir, because I think you’re the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

There were whispers all around and she heard some people talking about how Taggart wouldn’t take “that” from a sub.

Had she f*cked up again?

His hand came out, tilting her chin up. “I think we should check your eyesight, love, but I’ll take it. And all the Doms out there giggling behind their hands like schoolgirls can shove it up their asses because apparently I’m prettier than all of them put together. Now show them how pretty my sub is. Let me get you out of that corset.”

Warmth filled her. He was a man who could take a compliment when it was well meant. He’d taught her how to accept them, too. Before Ian there had been no compliments, no sweet words from men.

No scary fire.

She took as deep a breath as her corset allowed and lifted her arms up, ready for him to work on the laces.

Instead he held up a knife. “You won’t need this for the rest of the night.”

He placed the knife under the laces and lifted up as though he was moving it through butter. In an instant, she was exposed, the corset falling aside. Cool air hit her skin and her nipples puckered immediately.

Ian placed the corset and knife aside and dropped to one knee. His hands came up to her waist, pulling at the skirt and dragging it down her hips. Shivers ran along her skin everywhere he touched her and she couldn’t miss the way he stopped at her * and took a long breath. He was such a nasty pervert and it made her spine curl, her heart soften.

He tossed the skirt aside and got back to his feet. That icy look in his eyes from earlier was completely gone, replaced with what she knew was a deep anticipation. He was looking forward to the scene. It wasn’t just a punishment for her. It would bring him pleasure. It made it so much easier for her to move forward.

“Should I lie down, Sir?” She wanted to call him Master so badly.

He leaned over and picked her up with an ease that took away her breath. “I’ll put you where I want you, sub. Don’t worry about a thing. All you have to do is lie there and look pretty. It shouldn’t be hard for you.”

When he talked like that, she melted in his arms. So much of her life had been about being told where she’d failed, how she was flawed, how she needed to make up for all her shortcomings. But Ian thought she was lovely and that was all she needed. It was a miraculous thing to find the one person in the world who made all the bad things meaningless. Ian was her talisman against the dark.

He carried her to the table, laying her down on the sheet that covered it. He studied her for a moment, those hot eyes of his roaming her body. A single finger traced one of her scars absently as he inspected her. He smoothed back her hair, dragging it out of the way gently and twisting it to the side. “It’s very important to make sure your sub’s hair is well away from the play space. The play space, of course, is all your sub’s fun parts.”

He tweaked a nipple and she felt it in her *.

He turned away abruptly and she hated the loss of connection. When he was touching her, there was no hesitation. When he looked at her, she felt confident, peaceful. The minute he turned away, all her doubts and fears returned—that she didn’t deserve him, that she’d already betrayed him so badly there was no hope.

“So I know some of you have been asking about fire play. I thought we could take this time to do a little demo. If there are enough Doms interested, I’ll teach a class in the next couple of months, but you should all know damn well, there’s no play until I say.”

Because even among Doms he was a control freak. He would never allow a Dom to touch a sub in his club until he was sure the Dom knew what he was doing.

“Ryan is the only one here besides me with experience, so you can ask your questions of either of us. This is my personal submissive. Her name is Charlotte and this is her first fire play. I think.”

She opened her eyes and sent him a look. What was it going to take to get him to believe she hadn’t been gallivanting about with every Dom in the Western world? “Yes, Ian. It’s a first for me. I haven’t been out there setting myself on fire.”

“We’re having to perform a fire play scene tonight because her ass is already red from multiple spankings. She’s a brat of the highest order, but we’re working on the problem.” His hand came out and quickly twisted her nipple, causing her to gasp. “When I need your input, I’ll let you know.”

“Where did you learn?” Jake was standing close, Serena at his side. “I’m sorry, but I’m very curious. I’ve never seen this done. I’ve certainly never seen you play this way.”

“I learned it in England. You were too busy playing house with Serena. Li was working when he wasn’t f*cking our objective. Alex was mooning over Eve. So I had some free time on my hands and I have a British friend who is an expert at explosives of every kind.” He seemed so confident and comfortable standing in front of this group. He usually stood in the back, watching and waiting, but this was his home. This was his club and these were his people.