The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(87)

Jake shrugged, obviously leaving that part to Adam. Jake and Liam walked out, talking about the case, and Adam was left to handle the cleanup.

He sighed and picked up the discarded bottle. At least he was good for something.

Now he needed to make sure he was good for Serena.





Chapter Eighteen


Serena sat in the back of the car wondering just why she was here.

Damn it. She knew why she was here. Because she wanted to be here, but she intended to make sure they didn’t realize exactly why she was willing to go with them. Because she couldn’t stop thinking about them. Because the very idea of being forced to spend a night close to them made her heart start to beat again.

“You okay back there?” Adam asked. He’d slid into the driver’s seat.

Okay? She was anxious. She was on the edge. She was restless. “I’m fine.”

They were ruthless bastards who knew just how to get to a girl. They knew that to get to a girl, a man went for her curiosity. This might be the last time she got to go into a real-life club. The whole debacle with Master Storm had made her realize it wasn’t exactly safe looking for someone to shepherd her through this world. Maybe putting up an ad on a social networking site wasn’t the best idea.

Then there was the fact that she wanted one more night with them. She knew it couldn’t work out now, but they had more to teach her than just a couple of spankings and some great sex. She wanted to know what it felt like to be between two men. Just once. It was the fantasy of her lifetime, and they were her fantasy men. She would take the experience and hold it close. She would write about it forever, long after they were gone and had a new woman.

If only she could figure out how to make it happen without giving too much of herself away.

Adam pulled up to the front door. Sanctum was an unspectacular building in a decent part of town. Nothing about the structure screamed hot sex club, but the man who stalked out the front door did that all on his own.

Liam was dressed in leathers and a pair of boots, and nothing else but a smile. He opened the door to the back of the car and held his hand out. “Your escort has arrived.”

She couldn’t figure out what bugged her about the gorgeous bodyguard, but something was off. He was hiding something, and she found it fascinating. If she was going to write him as a character, he would have a tragic past that clouded his future. He would be in hiding. And just like that she figured out what bugged her.

“That isn’t your real accent, is it?”

The Dom looked at her, his eyes widening and then his Irish flowed. “Fuck me, the girl is good.”

She smiled. There he was. “You don’t look Midwestern.” The flat cadence had never gone with the rest of him.

“The girl also already has an escort.” Jake got in front of Liam, reaching in to take her hand.

Liam, for all his hotness, didn’t get her heart racing the way Jake did. She didn’t try to pull away. It had been made very clear to her that this trip to Sanctum was dependent on her very good behavior. She allowed Jake to help her out of the car.

“Ian wanted to make sure we didn’t have a repeat of last time,” Liam explained as Adam drove off to park the car. Adam and Jake had made it plain they didn’t want that either. Security inside the club was very good, but they intended to drop her off and pick her up at the door. They had gone over all the protocols. She was to be close to one of them or Liam at all times. She wasn’t allowed back into the car until Jake or Adam had checked it out and came to get her. She would then be escorted on the short walk from the club to the car by not one, but two men.

This was her life now.

“Hey,” Jake said, squeezing her hand lightly. “It’s going to be okay. Come on. Ian’s supposedly working on punishing some of the subs. It should be fun.”

“He’s got his six footer out,” Liam said with a wink her way. He was so different with his real voice, lighter, more at ease.

Jake hustled her to the door. “The six footer scares the crap out of me. I can’t handle it.”

They were talking about a whip. Ian intended to use a six-foot whip on some poor sub’s backside. Or if the sub was a total masochist, he could be intending to use it on some lucky sub’s backside. It was all in how a person looked at it. It was what she loved about the lifestyle. It was utterly open to what a person needed.

She needed Jake and Adam. Why did she have to need them? Why couldn’t she just come out of her damn corner? She let Jake lead her inside. She was already dressed for the evening in a miniskirt and a bright pink tank top. And absolutely nothing else even though she’d explained to them she wasn’t having sex. They had been adamant about no bra and no underwear.

And she was kind of hoping to have sex.

Serena groaned inwardly. She couldn’t stand this indecision.

“I’m going to drop my keys and shirt off in my locker. Can you keep an eye on her?” Jake asked Liam.

Liam grinned down at her, waving Jake off. “Sure thing.”

“Eyes on her, Li. No hands.” Jake sent him a dark look before he walked toward the lockers.

Liam gave her a sexy smile and leaned against the front desk. “So, you’re enjoying playing with the boys, are you?”

That felt like a loaded question. “I’m not playing with them. We had a brief affair, and now it’s over.”