The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(94)

Adam grimaced, but did what needed to be done. Ten smacks this time, the last one right between her legs. “Keep your mouth closed, Serena. Unless you have something sweet to say or want to use your safeword and save us all a lot of heartache.”

The little brat had nothing to say to that. God, he was still waiting for her to turn and ask him to kiss her, to hold her. He was still waiting for a forgiveness that wasn’t coming. He’d ruined everything with a few careless words, but he knew himself well. He would f*ck up again. He could be cruel. He could try, but if she put him through hell every time he was an idiot, then he would spend the rest of his life walking on eggshells.

Maybe she was right. Maybe this was the only way they could be together.

“Hold her cheeks apart for me.” This wasn’t happiness, but f*ck it, he couldn’t help himself. If this was all she would give him, he would take it and be everything she seemed to think he was.

Adam’s hands caressed the cheeks of her ass briefly before pulling them apart, revealing the rosette of her ass. Jake’s cock jumped in his pants. He wanted to take her there. He wanted to take her in every way it was possible for a man to have a woman. He wanted to fill her up, to know she was walking around with his semen deep inside her body.

Fuck. He wanted to get her pregnant. If she was pregnant, they would be tied together more tightly than any contract. Even if he managed to get her to sign a pure D/s contract with him, she could always walk away. He couldn’t hold her. He was very aware that his time with her was limited. When they found her stalker and she was safe, she would leave and likely never speak to them again, or their only contact would be in this club with him as her distant Dom.

But a child would force them all together.

He pressed the lubed plug to her ass, the idea playing in his brain. Serena would be beautiful all big and round and full of child. His kid. Adam’s kid. It didn’t matter. The baby would be theirs, and they would have to find a way to function as a family. She would need him. She would need Adam.

Serena gasped, the little sound going straight to his cock. He rimmed the rosette of her ass with the plug before starting to push in.

“Breathe out, love,” Adam instructed her. “Flatten your back. Let the plug slide in.”

Adam. Adam was the sweet one. Adam was the one she already needed. Adam took care of her everyday needs. Jake was just the muscle who was there to take any bullet that came her way. Who the f*ck was he kidding? Serena already knew the score. He was good for this, for research, for f*cking. He would never be able to sit down and talk about books with her the way Adam did.

Something nasty took root in his gut. If he did get her pregnant, she still wouldn’t want him around.

He pressed the plug in, forcing himself to be careful when all he really wanted to do was throw the f*cking plug away and shove his cock inside. The plug finally moved, burying itself deep.

“See, that wasn’t so bad,” Adam said, his hand tracing up and down her spine.

Adam got to be the good guy. Jake was always put in the bad guy role. It was his place on the earth. He grabbed the crop off the wall.

“No count is required this time, Serena. You’re getting fifteen for disobeying orders and protocol. Another ten for cursing me.”

“But Adam already spanked me.”

“And another five for questioning me.” She really didn’t understand the way this was going to go. “You wanted two Masters. Adam gave you his punishment. It’s time for mine.”

She was stubbornly silent, her ass in the air.

There was a little feeling of relief. He’d thought, for a moment, that she would tell him to leave. That he could lose both her and Adam in one moment.

But it had passed. And she still wanted the dark art he could teach her. Without a warning, he struck, bringing the crop down on her ass.

Serena yelped, her whole body shaking. Her cuffed hands held on to the sawhorse.

“No sound, sub.” He struck again, bringing the leather crop down on the pale flesh of her ass. He couldn’t help it. The sight of his mark on her just did something for him. She wouldn’t bruise. He was more careful than that, but the pink line would be there for a day or two, marking her as his sub. Two and then three more times, he brought it down, spreading the pain across her body, waiting for it to flare and sink into her bones, heating her from the inside out.

“Test her, Adam.” He needed to know if it was doing what it was intended to do. If she wasn’t getting hot, if pain was all she felt, then he would walk away now with the full knowledge that he had nothing to give her.

Adam’s fingers disappeared between her legs. He came back up, sucking those fingers into his mouth, licking up her juices. “She’s a ripe, juicy peach, my brother. She’s enjoying this.”

At least one thing was going right. She did want a Dom. He wished she wanted more, but he could do this.

He kept count in his head, forcing himself to bury his unwanted emotions. He’d tried for days to be the patient, loving man he thought she wanted. He’d tried to talk to her only to have her shut down. He’d dealt with the insurance agents while Adam had handled her business. And she’d sat staring at the computer screen, shutting them both out.

She’d given him one way to reach her, and even that she’d put limits on. He needed to take some control back. He needed to begin as he meant to go, and that meant establishing boundaries. Walls between them that would guide their behaviors.