The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(92)

Jake didn’t look her way. He kept his eyes on the stage, but there was an intimacy to his voice that gave away the fact that he wasn’t entirely unemotional. “And I would force you to come out of it from time to time. I would keep you with us. We could keep you grounded, Serena. You don’t have to hide all the time. I get that you love your work. I want you to. But you can love your reality, too.”

Her reality was horrible right now. Her reality was someone trying to kill her and the men she loved being far away from her. She knew it was her choice. She knew she was being stubborn, but she couldn’t quite reach out and grab them. “You’ll pardon me if I don’t enjoy real life right now.”

Jake looked down at her. “I didn’t mean enjoy, Serena. Enjoy is a lazy word. I know your life sucks right now. But your reality is you have a family around you. It might not be the one you wanted when you were six years old and had a child’s dreams that everything would be perfect, but it’s a family all the same. Bridget and Chris have been calling for days, and you’re ignoring them.”

She wasn’t ignoring them. She just didn’t know what to say. And she didn’t want them hurt. “I think they should stay away from me for a while.”

“Adam.” The name came out of Jake’s mouth like a sharp command, and Adam seemed to know just what to do.

“First turn of the screw, sweetheart,” Adam said, his hands going to the clamps on her breasts. He turned the screw, her nipples peaking as they were tweaked.

She whimpered a little. Yeah, she felt that. “What was that for?”

Jake leaned over and whispered in her ear. “First off, I didn’t ask you a direct question, so that’s five, though we’ll count this as a warning and leave it for the privacy room. The next time, it will be right here in public. Secondly, I’m attempting to do exactly what you just hired me for. You don’t want me as a lover. You want a Dom. Well, a Dom’s job is to correct the behaviors in his sub that cause her trouble and heartache. To instill discipline. You’re pushing away your friends. It’s going to cost you a couple of people you can’t afford to lose. You will call them in the morning. You will reach out to them. Permission to speak, but keep a civil tongue.”

Oh, that permission to speak shit was bugging her, but Jake had that superior look on his face. The one that told her this was what she got from the pure Dom. Not a boyfriend. A hired Dom. Damn it, she hadn’t meant it that way, but she wasn’t sure how to fix it. “Jake, what if this guy decides to hurt me through my friends?”

Adam turned her to face him. “Would you dump Bridget if she was in trouble?”

“Never.” Bridget and Chris were her lifelines. And she would be devastated if they didn’t let her help. If this was happening to Bridget and Chris, she would want to be there, standing right beside them. “I’ll call them tomorrow.”

“Excellent. Ah, Ian’s ready to start.” Adam turned her back to the stage. “Our little sub is finally thinking a bit.”

“Good. I wasn’t certain she was educable. She’s very stubborn.”

“I think she can learn. I also think she’ll require an enormous amount of punishment.”

Neither man looked at her, their object lesson clear. This was how they treated a submissive they had been told specifically to have no attachment to. She’d told them it was what she’d wanted.

She didn’t know what she wanted. Ian was on stage saying all sorts of formal protocol stuff that would probably be really good for her next novel, and all she could think about was how miserable she was. And how she didn’t know what to do about it.

Ian held out his whip, presenting it to both subs who kissed it reverently before he stepped back. His muscular arm flipped back, and there was a cracking sound that split the air around her.

“Does this do anything for you?” Adam asked. His arm wound around her waist, hauling her close so his mouth was right against her ear. She was nestled against him, back to front. One arm stayed around her waist, but the other was on her thigh, creeping up toward her unprotected-by-panties *.

Yeah, that did something for her. It made her breath quicken, her pink parts pulse. She was half naked in a club full of other naked people watching a seriously hot dude whip two women, and one of the sexiest men she’d ever seen was cuddling her close, his hand hovering above her *.

“Yes, Sir.” The scene was interesting, but more than anything, she was interested in the arm around her waist and his breath on her ear. She cuddled close to him. Yes, her * was fluttering, but she really wanted to feel close to him, to both of them.

Jake was suddenly in front of her. His hand went to the chain between her breasts. “Then why are your eyes half closed? You aren’t watching the scene at all. I thought you were curious. I thought you wanted to learn about D/s.”

He pulled at the chain, and Serena felt her eyes water. Her nipples flared with a brief pain that turned to almost unbearable erotic stimulation.

“I do, Sir.” But she wanted to learn it from them.

In the low light of the dungeon, Jake looked harsh and unrelenting. “I think you’re more interested in an orgasm than you are in the lifestyle, little tourist. Do you know how we handle bratty tourists in this club? We show them the truth. By the end of the night, you’ll either be in or you’ll be out. I bet you’ll be out. I suspect you won’t be able to handle it.”