The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(43)

“Really?” Serena asked.

Ian nodded. “Yes, really. I’m not some monster. Well, not most of the time. I started this club to help little subs like you. And, hey, those excerpts I read were hot. You might want to tone down the whole ‘* Dom’ crap, but otherwise, I know a lot of the subs here would love your books. Maybe you could do a signing or something.”

Jake sighed. That would go an enormously long way to settling Serena down.

“I could totally do that. And I would love to talk to subs and Doms. I have a million and one questions. Like when did you know you were a Dom? What were your first indications?”

It was time to take control of his sub. “Serena, stop.”

She had the good sense to go quiet.

Ian looked back at Adam. “Do you need backup?”

He shook his head. “I have it. It’s a simple trace, and I need to go through the tapes I got from the libraries. I have hours of footage from the two libraries with CCTV. I think I found a way to use facial profiling technology to compare the two. I’m looking for some connection, and the time stamps should help me. It shouldn’t be difficult, just time consuming. I could actually do it in the morning.”

“Do it now, Adam,” Ian barked and then walked away.

Jake turned and looked at Serena. “You’re going to be trouble.”

Adam’s hand found her hip. They were crowding her, her half-naked body in the middle. “Which is precisely why I should stay. She needs two Masters. She’s too much trouble for just one.”

“Or we could all go home and you could do the job we’re getting paid to do.” Jake stared at his partner.

After everything that had happened today, how could he possibly be thinking about putting off the case? Jake had looked at those books, and they had turned his stomach. Whoever had sent that package had a deep need to hurt Serena. Every dirty word, every *, f*ck, cock, cunt, even damn had been marked through. There was no note. No words on the page. The books had simply been cleaned of anything the reader thought of as filth. Nothing this stalker had done before had scared Jacob the way this little stunt had. The attention to detail had made his hair stand on end. How long had he sat at a desk with his marker, decimating Serena’s books? How far would he go to hurt the woman herself?

He locked eyes with his partner, felt Serena tense beside him.

“I’ll go get changed.”

“No,” Adam said quickly. “Stay. Enjoy the club. Have a good time with Jake.” Adam leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I’ll still be here. I set up my gear in the conference room. I can work from there so if you need anything at all, I can be here.”

That was what Jake wanted to hear. The whole computer search thing was Adam’s stock-in-trade. And tonight, Jake’s job was to keep their sub’s mind off all the bad shit. Client, he corrected himself. Client. She didn’t belong to them. He had to remember that.

Adam winked at her and walked toward the conference room.

“We don’t have to do this,” Serena said after a long moment of silence. “We can go and help Adam. Or we could just go home. I know this wasn’t your idea.”

Jake took a deep breath and really looked at her. Despite the sexy clothes, there was still an air of innocence that clung to her. And there was definitely an air of self-doubt. Her husband had turned her away for wanting to be dominated sexually. She’d written down her deeply held fantasies, and yes, they involved sex, but more than that all of her fantasies involved true love and acceptance. She’d been looking for that acceptance for years, and if she didn’t find it soon, she might stop looking altogether. It might occur to her that it would be easier to shove that part of herself away, to bury it deep down where it no longer mattered. He didn’t want that for her. She was beautiful, and it went bone deep. He wanted her to be free.

“You don’t want to play? I thought you would at least want to watch a few scenes.” He still found it hard to simply say what he wanted.

She smiled, a wan little thing. “I want to try it all. I want the whole experience, Jacob, but I know you don’t think of me like that. It’s okay. We can just watch. I promise not to be too obnoxious with the questions.” Her eyes trailed after Adam. The longing there made Jake jealous. “Adam said he would help with the rest of it.”

Had he? How very f*cking nice of Adam to offer to help with “the rest of it.” Something nasty took root in Jake’s gut. It wasn’t fair. He knew it. He’d been the one who’d tried to push her away in the beginning, but living with her these past few days had made him draw close to her. He couldn’t help it. He’d watched her, grown to care. And now Adam wanted him to stand beside her, watching scenes while he plotted and scheduled her training? Adam wasn’t half the Dom Jake was. He wasn’t as vested in the lifestyle, but he thought he would train the sexy little wide-eyed natural sub?

Fuck no.

“What exactly is the other stuff, Serena?” The words came out in a harsh grind.

Serena flushed, her fair skin pinkening prettily. She would look so f*cking good draped over his knee. His cock settled into a deep, throbbing rhythm.

Her eyes slid away from him. “The protocol stuff.”

He cupped her neck, his palm on her spine, forcing her gently to look up. He slipped the collar around her neck, adjusting it to a comfortable length. He touched the collar as he spoke. “I’m responsible for you. Not Adam. I’m the one with rights here. If you want to learn something about the lifestyle, you’ll go through me. Let’s start at the beginning. Show me how you greet your Master.”