The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(37)

Adam punched in the alarm code and unbolted the locks. He swung the door open, and there was Master Storm, looking majorly pissed.

He was a lean man, roughly six foot. He dressed casually, his long, slightly graying hair in a ponytail, though she would bet he called it a queue or had some Asian term for it. He was a black belt in some form of martial art. He seemed to like to consider himself dangerous, but now that he stood next to Adam and Jake, he seemed less lethal than he had in the past. At one point in time he’d seemed mysterious, but now he looked small compared to her men.

Stop it. They aren’t yours.

“Who are you?” Storm asked, his brows coming together in consternation.

Adam opened his mouth, most likely to say something sarcastic, but Serena stared him down. He unlocked the glass storm door and opened it.

“His name is Adam. He and his partner, Jake, are kind of my own little security force for the time being.” She stepped back to let him in. He’d been patient with her, answering all of her questions, putting her in touch with some people in the lifestyle he knew. Despite his somewhat pompous manner, he’d been an asset.

He stepped inside, eyeing Jake and Adam but dismissing them like he would a waiter at a restaurant. “Would you like to explain to me why you suddenly need security?”

He was using that deep voice on her. It was funny, but suddenly she found it a little irritating. Jake’s voice was deeper, and he’d been taking care of her. He was the one who checked out the house before she entered, who placed himself in front of her. He’d earned the right to use that voice on her. Master Storm had mostly just talked at her. Still, she owed him a bit of courtesy.

“I’ve had some trouble with a stalker,” she admitted, showing him into her living room. It was usually covered in notes and papers, but Adam had neatly organized everything. Yet another plus he’d brought into her life. She was rapidly discovering just how much easier it was to work when she could find things.

His nose wrinkled up as he looked around. “Is this to do with those books you write?”

He didn’t approve of her books, though not for the same reasons others did. She’d been disappointed, but he seemed to think romance was beneath him. He seemed to think that any book that featured BDSM should preach the lifestyle in intellectual terms.

“Yes, it seems I have an overzealous fan,” Serena explained. “Won’t you please have a seat?”

He stared at her. “Is that how you greet me, little one?”

“Excuse me?” Adam asked.

Jake put a hand on her elbow as though he knew what she had been planning on doing. “Don’t you dare get to your knees.”

She sighed. “It’s nothing serious. He’s just helping me with my form.”

“I don’t give a shit,” Jake admitted. “You’re not kneeling for him. You’re not wearing his collar.”

Master Storm laughed but it was a bitter little huff. “Well, now I understand what’s happening, dear. I was a bit upset at the tone of our last two exchanges. I felt the need to come out and speak to you about it in person.”

She was at a loss. Their last two exchanges had consisted of a phone conversation and a very pretentious lunch at a Japanese restaurant where she’d been forced to sit with her legs crossed for hours. When she’d tried to stretch, he’d explained that sometimes discomfort was good for the soul. It had seemed to her that discomfort just sucked. But she hadn’t said it.

“Did I do something wrong?” Serena asked. The panic that normally accompanied that question wasn’t there this time. She wasn’t terrified she’d made someone mad or done something awkward. She was merely curious. Days spent with Jake and Adam seemed to have had an effect. She’d learned rapidly she could be awkward around them and they just laughed it off. Well, Adam laughed, and Jake’s normally stern face would turn up in a little uptick that let her know he was amused.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Adam insisted.

Jake sat down on her couch and tugged her down beside him.

Master Storm’s brows rose over his gray eyes. “I thought you said he was your employee, dear.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t call him that. It makes him mad.”

“She isn’t paying me. Her agent is. She’s my trial and tribulation. Little brat.”

Somehow when Jake said it she got a warm, gooshy feeling inside. Like he was teasing her with affection. “I am so easy.”

Jake shook his head. “She’s not easy. Do you know what I had to do yesterday? I had to take her and her friends to lunch. Sounds great, huh? Easy. Eat a little Mexican food. Relax. Those three spent the whole time talking about how to murder their characters. And then they talked about three-ways. And four-ways. And five-ways. After three margaritas, I’m pretty sure they talked about how to work a goat in.”

Serena giggled. “You thought it was going to be some boring discussion of the craft didn’t you?”

Jake’s head shook. “All I know is you ran off like five families, and I had to run off a whole table of * men who sat listening to you.”

Adam held a hand out, giving his partner a high-five. “They were wimps. All we had to do was flash a piece and they took off.”

Serena felt her jaw drop. “You showed those men at the table beside us your guns?”