Sanctum (Masters and Mercenaries #4.5)(5)

Taggart. As in the owner. Not him. “All right. I’ll be back at six thirty.”

“Five. Staff meeting is at five and it’s catered. Don’t worry. Taggart takes care of that too. No sandwiches. It’s pure five star around here.”

Her stomach nearly groaned in joy. She and Ashley had agreed that paying the bills and making sure Emily had formula was more important than their bellies. She’d been living off ramen and mac and cheese for months. “Thank you.”

He nodded and looked to his laptop, obviously dismissing her.

She turned and walked out, totally sure she’d just made a mistake and completely unwilling to take it back.





Chapter Two


Jill looked up from her paperwork to stare out at the dungeon. From her little bar home, she could see the stage area of the dungeon, a slightly elevated space where the club ran major scenes. It was dominated by three St. Andrew’s Crosses mounted to the back wall and normally held any number of nasty apparatuses, from sawhorses to spanking benches. But today, all of that had been shelved in favor of folding chairs and a PowerPoint presentation. It was the start of Dom Kindergarten, as she liked to call it.

“Adam? Do you need some coffee? Because you’re snoring.” Ryan was not amused.

She couldn’t help the grin that slid over her mouth. Ryan actually looked totally hot when he was not amused. Three weeks into her new job and she was already obsessed with the boss. He was standing there in his leathers and a white T-shirt that he would take off in a few hours in favor of a leather vest, and all she could do was count the hours until she could see his chest again.

“Damn, that man is hot.” Joe set a case of vodka on the bar. “Too bad he’s celibate. I thought he might play for my team for a while, but I’ve tried everything on him. If he’s not attracted to me, he couldn’t possibly be gay.”

Jill rolled her eyes. Joe was sure every hot guy who walked in was gay. “I can assure you, Ryan is not gay.”

Joe’s dark eyes flared. It really was an affront to women everywhere that he only liked other men. He was a hottie of the first order, as her little sis would say. “Then the rumors are true. You two have a history.”

Shit. How had that gotten out? She hadn’t talked to anyone. “I knew him a little from before.” She was a horrible liar. The words started to roll out of her mouth like a snowball picking up steam and crap along the way down a mountainside. “I mean, I saw him a couple of times. You know. From afar. Uhm, we used to work in the same building, and I would get coffee and he would be at the florist getting flowers and stuff…”

Joe snorted a little, incredulity plain on his face. “That man hung out at a florist?”

“They were very masculine flowers.” She bit into her bottom lip, hoping he would let it drop.

“So you were sleeping with him,” Joe concluded.

“Fine. We had a relationship once. We don’t now. End of story.”

“Really? Because I don’t know if that story is over. When you’re not looking, he does that ‘longing stare’ thing. Oh, it’s all properly dominant, but he looks at you like you’re a juicy steak and he’s been on a vegan diet for a month.” Joe sighed. “I did that once for a boyfriend. Tofu. The things we do for a little sex.”

She’d done way more for a little sex. A lot of sex. Loads of filthy, gorgeous, amazing sex. She’d had two lovers before Ryan, but nothing compared to him. She hadn’t really understood what making love meant before she’d found her way into his bed.

Sex. They’d had sex. She’d given up her identity for a little sex.

“What do you know about him?” She shouldn’t ask the question, but the temptation was just too great.

Joe leaned against the bar, his eyes narrowing as though he was trying to figure out just how much to tell her. She couldn’t blame him. She was new, and the club was a little family. They protected their own. “I know he seems to be a good guy. He’s been fair with all of us. He’s a good Dom, but he doesn’t have one sub in particular he likes more than the rest. I don’t know. The guy’s a bit of an enigma if you ask me. He holds himself apart.”

He always had. The whole time they had been together, he’d always been the boss. She would talk to his employees and they were always intimidated by him. Even when they used to go to staff parties, there was a piece of Ryan that had been untouchable, as though he’d warded and placed walls around himself. He would be pleasant, charming even, but the essential Ryan Church had been saved for when the doors closed and they had been alone. Then Ryan had been true.

Or not. God, she couldn’t even blame him. Not really. He’d never said he loved her. He’d told her how beautiful she was, how much he wanted her. He’d never lied. He’d never told her it was forever. That was the lie she’d told herself.

“Do you know anything about what he did before he came here?”

Joe’s well-manicured brow rose over perfect brown eyes. “Isn’t that something you should know? You were the one who slept with him.”

“He was the CEO of a company that produced software. He was working on something that was going to change the way people shopped on the Internet. I’ve been looking for it. It should have been ready to go by now. He was close.”