The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(91)

“I have just what we need.” Jake kissed the nape of her neck. “I ordered a privacy room and had it stocked.”

She was utterly out of breath. “I thought we were going to watch Ian.”

Jake growled a little. “I think we’ve seen enough from our team tonight. You can become acquainted with the whip at a later date. Tonight, you’re going to get the crop.”

She had to force herself to breath. The idea of Jacob’s crop hitting the flesh of her ass made her heart pound.

“You’re being punished for more than just kissing Liam.” Adam’s hands were on the chain that ran between her nipples. The pressure was very light, barely there. She wondered when they would turn the screw again. When Adam turned the screws on her clamps, would her nipples pool with blood and become deeply sensitive?

She’d written the scene so many times, but now it was real. Now it was visceral. They owned her body. It was a deep exchange that went beyond sex. It was about far more than a mere orgasm. It was about bonding. It was about being able to trust and depend on another.

She wanted that so badly. She couldn’t have it in the real world, couldn’t trust it, but she could pretend it was real here. Maybe, if she was lucky, she could keep the relationship where it should have been all along. A D/s relationship. A mentorship of sorts. No promises beyond the ones they made in a contract.

Jake pulled a collar out of his pocket. He must have had it on his person or kept it in his locker. It was a leather collar, thin and feminine, with a delicate silver ring on the front. He held it out, showing it off before he nodded to Adam.

Adam crowded her from behind, his thick erection rubbing against her backside. She shivered a little as he gathered her hair and held it up. With a solemn formality, he clasped the collar around her neck.

“It’s just a training collar. You can relax. It’s not a commitment. You don’t seem to want that.”

She wanted it more than anything. She just knew how much it meant. Doyle had committed. Her father had committed. Both had walked away when it became easier to do so than to stay. She knew she could be difficult. She lived in her head most of the time. It had been that way since she was a child. She could stop writing, but she couldn’t stop those voices in her head. Doyle had never understood that her inner life didn’t take away from her care for the outside world. It was just a part of her.

Jake and Adam would get tired of her remoteness in the end.

“I don’t want it. I just want the training.” The words sounded flat to her own ears, but he seemed to require an answer.

“If all you want is some real-life experience for those books of yours, then you shall have it.” He turned, every muscle rigid. “Follow. Don’t look the other Doms in the eye. It’s rude. Keep your head down and don’t speak unless you’re directed to. Any infraction will cost your ass five swats. I’ll pull your skirt up and spank you publically. If you aren’t ready for that, I would behave.”

Adam’s face was a careful blank as he took her elbow and started to walk her into the dungeon. The privacy rooms were to the side, but Jake walked past them, his long legs eating the distance between the entryway and the raised stage where a pretty sub with long, black hair was being strapped to a St. Andrew’s cross. Her naked flesh was on full display, her shoulders relaxed as she allowed Ian to tighten the cinches at her wrists and ankles.

A second woman was already secured. She was a brunette with a curvy backside. Her head was thrown back as though simply waiting for her punishment to begin. There was a hushed air of expectancy that ran through the dungeon. A small crowd stood, almost all in some sort of fet wear. Serena took it all in. There was enough leather to start a mega store. Most of the women had on skirts and bustiers, but several wore nothing at all. There were Doms and Dommes with their submissives, both male and female.

What were they like in their everyday lives? Her mind raced with the possibilities. Were they powerful in their own ways, each seeking a bit of peace that came with submission? Did they crave it because the stresses of responsibility ate away at their souls? Or were they like her? Did they need permission to let go, to trust in any circumstance?

“She’s gone again.” Adam looked down at her, a ghost of a smile on his face.

Yes, she’d done it again. “I apologize.”

“I wasn’t mad,” Adam said, his hand coming out to sweep against her cheek. “I just wish I knew where you went. I envy you.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s a whole other world in your head. I’ve been reading your books. I’m not a huge romance fan, but I know a good story when I read it. I know that you sink into every book. In that head of yours you’ve already lived a hundred lives, seen things, felt them in a way the rest of us can’t. I wish you would understand that I know how precious a gift that is. I want to protect it, to nurture it. I want to take care of the little things so that beautiful brain of yours can have the adventures it was built for.”

He really knew what to say to her. “You would get tired of it after a while. You would think I was ignoring you.”

He shook his head. “I would know I was in there somewhere. I would read what you wrote at the end of the day to find out about the stories you weave about me. You would be writing about me. I would make sure of it. I would love you so long and so well that you would have to write about me.”