by Avery Gale
Mitch had paused for so long, Jamie was starting to get nervous. Mitch finally took a deep breath and said, “She wants to stay, but she wants to know for sure that you want her. Remarkably, that incredible woman is insecure. She loves her new friends, and she wants to practice medicine again—here—almost as much as she wants you two. But, she is also worried about her dad and whether or not he’d ever be able to fit in here in Climax. Oh, just FYI, he is apparently a hell of a carpenter and handyman as well as a communications specialist. Go figure.” Then he nodded at Alex before continuing, “Anyway, I’ve already talked to Alex and he doesn’t see a problem with helping him out once the feds are finished with him.”
Alex was leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on his ornate desk and merely nodded in agreement. Mitch continued, “Word is her medical license is a done deal and she knows it. Catherine called her about an hour ago. So I’d say she’s letting it all ride until she is convinced she’s ‘enough’ for you and Jantz.” Mitch seemed to sigh with relief that he’d gotten it all off his chest, but he turned back one last time before walking through the door. “Bree Hart is golden, don’t fuck this up.” Everyone in the room understood the significance of what Mitch had just said. “Golden” was a team term for pure, honest, and good through and through. While Jamie appreciated the validation, he’d already known it was true.
Now all he and Jantz had to do was convince Bree that she was everything they’d always hoped and dreamed for and more…
Chapter 33
Jamie knew that he and Ethan had discussed Bree’s first visit to The Club in excruciating detail, including requesting assistance from several other Doms along with their very willing subs. After working with Bree on both her hard and soft limits, they’d been able to set up various scenes. Some of the scenes they fully expected to totally turn her on, while a couple of others they were guessing she wouldn’t be as interested in. They had read and reread the detailed reports of her captivity so they had purposely not included any equipment that they felt might serve as a reminder of that time. Bree was still healing so avoiding anything that might trigger a PTSD episode was a priority.
Everyone involved in this evening’s activities, including each of the dungeon monitors, had been briefed. Nothing was being left to chance—Bree was just too precious to put at risk.
They had decided Ethan would be taking the lead as Bree’s escort while Jamie would be nearby monitoring the incoming texts and troubleshooting. The only thing that had Jamie worried they might have overdone the planning was the fact that Alex Lamont had reviewed the plan without making one single adjustment. Their boss was well known as being meticulous to a fault, so if he hadn’t want to make any changes, everyone had agreed they’d moved deep into the “overkill” zone.
They had given Bree a few minutes to go to her suite and freshen up, but it was almost time to meet her at the bottom of the front stairs. Jamie made sure he was in place because he wanted to see her as she descended the beautifully curved staircase. The stairs were ornately carved mahogany and had always reminded Jamie of Scarlett’s home in Gone with the Wind. He looked up just as Bree started down the stairs and it was as if the whole world had gone into slow motion. The low light from the wall sconces sent golden rays out to dance over her lightly tanned skin. Her hair was the stuff of every man’s fantasies and grey eyes were filled with apprehension and curiosity.
He held out his hand and helped her down the last step before saying, “You are a vision, chère. Are you ready to go?” She had simply smiled sweetly and nodded so he led her out of the house. As they walked the short distance along the edge of the gardens making their way to The Club Jamie stopped and lifted Bree up onto one of the rock ledges so he could look directly into his tiny sub’s beautiful eyes. “I want to take just a minute before we enter The Club to remind you of four things.”
“First, during this first trip, we’ll expect you to have a lot of questions and we encourage you to ask each and every one. But be sure you ask Ethan’s permission before speaking to anyone other than Ethan or me. The second thing is, make sure you speak very quietly while observing a scene. It is considered very rude to distract the participants or your fellow observers. Third, even though Ethan will be your principle host for this evening, remember I will never be far away.”
What he hadn’t explained was that he would be closely monitoring the data feeds and incoming texts. His military training had included a lot of emergency response medical information that had given him a good working knowledge of the body’s symptoms and signals of an emotional break, so he would be using the data from Grayson’s prototype to watch for more than just sexual responses.
Ethan had been the logical choice to take the lead tonight because being a Dom was imprinted on his DNA. He came from a long line of Dominants. His father had literally started training him from the time he’d been a small child. Whereas Jamie had been raised by his grand-mère so his introduction to the lifestyle had come much later.
Jamie enjoyed being dominant in the bedroom, but didn’t have any problem at all enjoying romantic interludes of straight vanilla lovemaking. Ethan on the other hand would be left completely unsatisfied by a vanilla encounter. And as a true submissive, Bree would also suffer because her deep desire to please her Dom would prevent her from enjoying any scene that left him unfulfilled.
Placing his hand along the sides of her heart-shaped face, Jamie lightly stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. He would never get over his gratitude to the Universe for giving him this second chance with her. Everything about her enchanted him. Even now, as anxious and as apprehensive as she was feeling about this plunge into the deep end of the BDSM pool, she was totally “in the moment” with him.
Jamie took a deep breath and said, “The fourth and by far the most important thing you need to remember is that I love you. Keep that written in your heart and you’ll always know right where to find me.”
When her eyes filled with unshed tears, he worried that he’d gone too far, but her words washed away his doubt. “I love you, too, probably more than I should because my life really is still a bit of a mess. I know I’m not fully recovered and I’m not even sure I ever will be, but I know that I love you and Ethan both. I’m so grateful to Catherine for sending me here.”
Jamie felt as if his heart had doubled in size and he spent long seconds just floating in the love he saw written so clearly in her expression. Knowing he’d given Ethan plenty of time to see to the last-minute details, he finally found his words. Leaning close so his quietly spoken words would move against her ear like a warm caress over her delicate ear, he said, “Let’s go, chère. Master Ethan and a whole new world awaits you.”
Chapter 34
Ethan watched as Jamie led their lovely woman toward The Club’s garden entrance. The dress she was wearing was just barely on this side of transparent and the back lighting of the garden’s fairy lights was highlighting her curves. She was still too slender, but with Selita’s wonderful cooking coupled with the self-defense training she’d been practicing with the other women, they were starting to see shades of the woman she had been before her kidnapping. He still had to tamp down his rage every time he thought about how her life had been thrown so tragically off course because she had simply had the misfortune to be born to parents who weren’t smart enough to protect their greatest treasure.
He could see her silky blonde cloud of curls cascading around her shoulders before falling down her bare back in a waterfall of varying shades of yellows and golds. As she got closer he could see her eyes were shining with apprehension laced with anticipation—Perfect.
When he held out his hand to her, Jamie placed the small hand he’d been holding in Ethan’s larger one. It was a small but symbolic transfer of power and watching as her eyes dilated with arousal, Ethan knew the significance hadn’t been lost on her. “Welcome to The ShadowDance Club, my love. Both Master Jamie and I are thrilled you are here. We have been looking forwar
d to this evening for a long time. More importantly, we have been waiting for you forever.” He paused as much to let his own thoughts catch up with his emotions as he did to let his words settle over her. He was pleased to see a bit of the tension drain from her posture.
“I know Master Jamie reviewed some of the rules, but I want to add a couple of things as well.” Reaching to the cuffs clipped to the back of his belt, he unhooked them so she could see the soft leather was lined so they wouldn’t chafe her delicate skin. “Give me your wrists, love.” Watching her eyes go wide as her body trembled in excitement was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. Her breathing had hitched, but she had immediately placed her wrists in his open palm. “Such a good girl, thank you for your trust.”
He used his thumbs to rub small circles over her pulse points after he’d buckled the cuffs and checked that they weren’t tight enough to cause any cutoff in her circulation. “These will tell anyone who sees them that you belong to us. They are actually protection. I don’t plan to ever be more than a breath away from you, but this is a way to make sure no Dom approaches you directly. You will see various leather and jeweled ways that Doms mark their subs. Feel free to look for those so you will have some ideas for your own when that time comes.”
When he saw her glance warily at her wrists he knew exactly where her mind had gone. “No, love, these cuffs have never been on any other sub. We would never degrade you with something that had been used on another woman. Everything that touches your sweet body will have been purchased with you in mind.” When he saw a hint of doubt, he stepped closer, crowding into her personal space before letting some of his usual steel back into his voice. “Think of it this way. We are your Doms and that means that your body is ours to care for and use as we see fit. And each and every decision we make will be with your best interests in mind. Don’t ever doubt that we will always take very good care of what belongs to us.” Ethan continued to watch her as her fingers continued tracing lightly over the soft leather cuffs.
His heart nearly burst when she looked up at him through her sun-kissed lashes and smiled sweetly before she said, “Thank you for the beautiful gift, Sirs.”
Tucking her small hand into his elbow, he simply nodded to Jamie before turning and walking Bree into what he hoped was going to be one of the most wonderful nights of their lives. He was keenly aware of the fact that this was a make-or-break moment. There was so much riding on their success in introducing Bree to their lifestyle he’d lain awake last night scrutinizing every detail of their plan. While he loved Bree deeply, he wasn’t sure he’d ever feel fulfilled in a permanent relationship with her unless she recognized his need for dominance or freely gave him her submission. Ethan knew Jamie was behind them and he’d seen him slip his phone out and glance at it, and the smile that had twitched at the corner of his friend’s mouth had told him what he needed to know…It was show time.
Chapter 35
Bree had barely had time to catch her breath after her experience on the back deck. If you had asked her a few weeks ago if she was an exhibitionist she would have given you an unequivocal No! But when Bree had been “introduced” to Mitch Grayson’s newest invention, knowing that there were other Doms watching had been a major turn-on. Jamie had brought her to an orgasm that had sent her spiraling into orgasmic oblivion and nearly turned her bones to mush. I still think Jamie could talk me into an orgasm using nothing more than that sex-in-the-form-of-sound voice of his.
Ethan and Jamie had given her way too few minutes to get herself together for “Round 2” as Kat had labeled it. Thank heavens her new friend had helped her freshen up because she wasn’t sure she could have remained focused enough on her own. You gotta love those endorphins. She had quickly learned Kat could be a force of nature. The tiny woman had kept Bree moving and made sure all her “bits” as Kat had called them were covered, well, as covered as anything could be in a dress made of fabric so thin you could probably read through it.
When she had walked down the front stairs into Jamie’s waiting arms she’d felt like Cinderella heading to the ball. Well, until she realized her Prince Charming was one of two and the ball was a kinky sex club. It had taken all of her willpower to not giggle at her own musings.
Standing in the gardens listening to Jamie’s last-minute coaching and reminders had given her a chance to steel herself for what was to come. And his sweet confession of love had wrapped itself securely around her heart. She knew that her future was finally firmly within her reach and the significance of her acceptance of their lifestyle was not lost on her.
Walking in the garden entrance for The Club the first thing she noticed was the heavy beat of the music. Kat had explained that most kink clubs played very hard driving music, but The ShadowDance Club liked to keep things more varied so they played a variety of music. Bree had never really gotten into the whole music fan thing like most young women. Because of the remote locations they’d lived in valuable computer time was reserved for studying. Whatever was playing now seemed to have a nice Caribbean beat and she remembered they’d all sung along to this song during their margarita party. She smiled knowing Kat had kept her promise to make sure she felt at home from the minute she walked in the door. Bree had learned Katarina Lamont was a huge Kenny Chesney fan, so the music was Kat’s way of saying “Welcome.”
Entering the Main Lounge they made their way over to the bar where Ethan introduced her to Cort Douglas, who they explained was their bartender, and Sally Reed. It had been obvious to Bree that the two were a couple and Ethan had explained later that until recently, Cort had also headed up The Club’s training program for submissives, but after he and Sally had finally gotten together, he resigned from that position. Sally had requested permission to address Bree directly and both Cort and Ethan had agreed but Bree was still a bit surprised when the gorgeous young woman wrapped her in a big hug. “We are so glad you are here. Those two men of yours have been looking for their third for a long while and it’s obvious to everyone who sees the three of you that you’re the one. And I surely do hope you stick around, I have a little girl and I’d like to take her to a doctor who didn’t scare the bejeebus out of her.” Sally leaned in and gave her another quick hug before saying, “Now, I need to get moving, but if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I promise you can’t ask anything that will embarrass me.” With those words, Sally moved away and Bree was lost in her own thoughts for a minute before she felt Ethan move in behind her.
When he wrapped his arms around her and cupped her breast through her dress she recognized it as the power shift she was sure he had intended it to be. “It’s time for us to move on, love.” He pushed her hair to the side and leaned down so that his words were spoken directly into her ear. “Do you see how the other subs are dressed? Note that some of them are wearing nothing but the adornments their Masters have chosen. They are not hiding their bodies because it pleases their Masters to show off what belongs to them. Would you enjoy being naked if it pleased your Masters, love?” Bree felt her breathing catch and even she knew her pulse had quickened, but it was the rush of moisture from her pussy that had really given her away. Ethan had pulled up the hem of her dress and run his fingers through her folds and chuckled behind her. “I think that idea excites you, love. Good to know. That is something we can explore, but not tonight.” Bree had been so focused on the feel of his breath on her skin and the feel of his fingers sliding over her rapidly swelling labia that she hadn’t even realized he had exposed her bare pussy to anyone who had been looking. Holy hell, I may be an exhibitionist after all.
When he turned her toward what he called “The Play Room” she saw that it was actually the other side of the lounge area. As they walked closer it reminded her of a movie set. She was surprised to see how varied the scene areas were and she shuddered involuntarily at the realizations that brought forth.
Ethan stopped and turned her so she faced him. “Are you cold, love? Or have you seen something that caused that
shudder?” Damn, he isn’t going to miss a thing.
She wanted him to know she was still “on board” so she met his gaze before speaking. “No, Sir, I’m not cold. I just realized that the scope of this lifestyle is much broader than I’d realized. This whole…well, this area kind of reminds me of a movie set and I just hadn’t realized how much there was…it’s overwhelming, but exciting, too.”
His smile had been enough to melt her heart. She couldn’t help but see the sense of relief that flashed in his eyes. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear those words, love.” When Ethan turned her toward the scene area and said, “Let’s go explore, shall we?” she felt a rush of excitement race through her entire body. And for the first time since he and Jamie had started talking to her about their plans for this evening, she felt everything really was going to work out fine. She felt some of the tension drain from her body and hurried to keep up with his lengthy stride.
As they approached the first scene Ethan reminded her, “Remember to be completely honest in your answers to my questions, love. Your honesty is paramount.” When she looked up at him, he kissed her on the forehead and added, “That includes being honest with yourself, sweet Bree, never forget that.”
At the first scene Bree saw a lushly curved woman strapped to a padded leather table. There was soft music playing nearby and Bree noticed the woman’s eyes were covered by what looked like a silk scarf. Even though Bree couldn’t hear what the Dom was saying to her, she could hear the woman’s soft moans as her Dom brushed a feather over her skin. His movements reminded Bree of a Renaissance artist painting his greatest masterpiece, and she was struck by how the words all seemed to fit in an odd left-of-center sort of way. She knew Ethan had seen her smile when he leaned close and said, “Tell me what that thought was, love.” After she explained, he had smiled and agreed. Whispering close to her ear, he prompted, “Tell me what you see and feel when you watch this scene.”
