The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(36)

It was simple. Adam had taken over everything else on the business end. He answered her e-mails, only forwarding the ones that needed her specific attention. He’d dealt with the security system and the plumber she’d had to call when the shower had conked out. He’d gone to the grocery store and stocked her kitchen. He’d sorted through her mail. All those little things that seemed to stop her in her tracks, Adam had taken over.

And Jake. Jake had become her shadow. It had been odd at first. He wouldn’t say anything, but she could feel him there. It occurred to her that his very presence should be a distraction, and yet she found herself feeling so safe that the words flowed. For the first time in months, she could really sink into her story. Her new series, Happiness, Montana, was flowing like nothing she’d ever written before.

“You have an hour, sweetheart.” Adam put a plate on the table. She glanced down. Sandwich.

“I ate lunch. Are you trying to make me fatter than I am?” Serena asked the question lightheartedly. Adam seemed to feed her something every hour or so.

Jake growled in the background.

“You’re pissing off the Dom, sweetheart.” Adam winked down at her, pushing the sandwich closer. “Don’t screw with him right now. He’s already getting in his Dom space for tonight.”

She caught her breath. Tonight. She was going into a club with them tonight. Just going into Club Sanctum would be an amazing thing, but going in with two hot Doms was more than she’d ever dreamed of.

They aren’t your Doms, Serena. Slow that shit down, girl. They’re being nice to you. They’re getting paid to take care of you. You better not get used to this treatment.

She looked back at Jake who sat in one of her delicate-looking lawn chairs. Well, his enormous body made them look delicate. He frowned her way.

“Don’t you forget it, Serena. I’m in charge tonight. I hear one word out of your mouth about your body fat and you’re going to get very familiar with spankings.”

He couldn’t possibly know that she’d already played that scene with him a hundred times in her mind over the last several days. In each and every fantasy, Jake had been behind her, that big hand of his meting out punishment while Adam stood in front of her, pressing his cock to her lips, demanding that she suck him. She would be caught between them. She would have to take that big dick into her mouth even as Jake slapped at her cheeks. Heat would flow. She would feel it in her *. Every smack of his hand would send her higher, but she couldn’t focus on it because she had to take care of Adam.

“Serena, dear, have we lost you?”

She flushed and couldn’t miss the knowing smiles that passed between her bodyguards. God, they knew exactly what she’d been thinking. She took a sip of her perfectly brewed Earl Grey and tried to salvage her dignity. “I promise to behave very well this evening, Sir.”

If Jake could find his Dom space, then maybe it was time to play the sub. She enjoyed the way Jake’s eyes narrowed and he shifted in his seat. Maybe the sub wasn’t without her power, too.

There was a little chime coming from Adam’s phone. Jake’s went off at the same time. .

“Who the f*ck is that?” Jake asked, studying the screen of his phone.

Adam held his toward her. “Do you recognize this guy?”

Serena leaned over and looked at the screen. It was still hard for her to believe, but she now had a security system that fed directly into her bodyguards’ phones. Anytime the motion detectors caught anything bigger than a cat moving too close to her house, the security feed pinged their phones. It had made for some rough nights. Adam and Jake took turns sleeping in the room with her so she heard every time the system pinged. She’d never realized how many dogs ran around at night. And drunk teens. But she wasn’t surprised to discover Mrs. Renfroe from next door stole her newspaper. She’d enjoyed watching the woman nearly have a heart attack when Jake had caught her.

But this wasn’t a stray dog or a noisy neighbor.

“That’s Master Storm. What on earth is he doing here?” She stood up and started for the house.

Jake was in front of her before she could make the back door. “Don’t you dare.”

He was a huge hunk of muscle blocking her way. “Jake, I know this guy.”

“No, you don’t,” he insisted. “You’ve met him a couple of times. You don’t really know him. And he doesn’t have an appointment.”

“Nope. I handle your schedule, sweetheart. I know for a fact he doesn’t have an appointment,” Adam said smoothly.

The doorbell rang. “You can’t expect me to ignore him. He’s been my contact with the BDSM world for months. He’s helping me with research.”

“You don’t need him anymore,” Adam said. “You have us. Ask us anything.”

“No,” Jake said, standing aside. “I think we let Master Storm in. Let’s vet the guy a little. After all, some of this stuff started after you met him, right?”

There was no way in hell Master Storm was behind the stalking. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

The doorbell rang again, and Jake moved out of her way. “Invite him in. Let Adam open the door, though. You don’t ever open that door.”

She let Adam go first and then followed, feeling Jake right behind her. The men seemed to put her in the middle whenever they could. Even the night before when they had sat down and watched TV, she’d found herself comfortably squished in between their big bodies. It had been a nice, peaceful night. She’d enjoyed the last few days despite the specter hanging over her. Having Adam and Jake around had made her almost feel like she had a family again.