by Grant, Livia
“I told you, my Uber just pulled through the front gates of the property. I’ll be inside in two minutes. Please, just wait for me!” Stephanie shouted into the phone at the random employee she’d been talking to on her drive from LAX to Beverly Hills.
“It’s almost eight o’clock. Mr. Cartwright-Davidson said it’s no longer up to us. He’s going to let the last Dom make the decision as to whether he wants to proceed with the alternate who is already in the club or if he would prefer to wait for your arrival. I’m afraid that’s the best I can do.”
“Grrr,” Stephanie growled, hanging up the phone in frustration.
Nothing had gone as planned that entire day. If ever there had been a day when she needed a session at Black Light, today was that day.
God, I need to get laid.
She gathered up her sweater and other belongings, ready to jump out of the back of the Uber the second the car came to a stop in front of the massive front staircase that led to the Runway dance club. She normally entered Black Light through the back entrance reserved for members only, but she’d forgotten her membership card at home that she’d need if she wanted to get through the private gate.
Christ, I’m a hot mess.
Even as she thought it, she rejected the guilt. She wasn’t a mess. She was over-committed—incredibly busy running her successful business. There was a difference.
Steph didn’t have time to berate herself. There would be plenty of time for that later in the privacy of her own home. Right now, she needed to take the stone stairs two at a time, managing to break a heel as she rushed to the front of the short line waiting to be granted access to the mansion.
Hopping on one foot, Stephanie called out to the security guard, “Excuse me! I’m incredibly late. I need to get downstairs ASAP!”
A second guard standing nearby waved her to skirt around the Valentine’s Day Runway partygoers and join him at the door.
“Ms. Starr. We’ve been expecting you. Come with me. I’ll escort you to your destination.” The guard glanced around the busy foyer, careful not to disclose to the vanilla Runway crowd that the premier BDSM club on the West Coast was just one floor beneath their feet.
Stephanie schlepped her carry-on suitcase and oversized Gucci laptop bag as they weaved through the Runway rooms packed with Valentine’s revelers until they thankfully arrived at a locked door. The guard stepped forward to provide his retinal scan and the door’s lock hummed, allowing them access.
Her suitcase banged loudly as they spiraled down the winding stairs into the bowels of the mansion, Steph getting more nervous as each second ticked by. She’d been so busy traveling to San Francisco for the emergency meeting with her suppliers that she’d had very limited time to think about the Black Light event. Considering how her pulse was racing, maybe that was for the best.
After so many twists and turns, she wasn’t too sure where she was until the guard opened the locked door at the bottom of the stairs and she recognized they were at the end of the huge bar in the social area of the club.
“Let’s leave your suitcase and briefcase behind the bar for now. The lockers in the women’s locker room aren’t big enough to hold those anyway and Susie and her team can help keep an eye on your stuff.”
She let the guard wheel her things to safety, taking her high heels off and ditching them behind the bar as well to avoid hobbling in late with a broken shoe. She’d planned to get there in time to change into her sexy, skin-tight mini dress before the event—maybe even comb her hair and dab on a bit of make-up. Now, instead, she’d be arriving to meet her Dom for the night in her travel-wrinkled business suit… and barefoot.
I sure know how to make a great first impression.
The theater was jam packed. She had to hold onto the back of the security guard’s shirt to keep from getting separated as they weaved through the standing-room-only spectators jamming the aisles of the theater. The guy was tall enough she couldn’t see the stage until they were almost to the stairs leading to the elevated platform. The MC, Madison from Runway, was chatting away at the crowd with Chase Cartwright-Davidson standing nearby.
It wasn’t until the guard stepped to the side and used his arm to usher her to take the three stairs up to the platform that she caught her first glimpse of him—the sexy-as-hell, angry looking guy in the perfectly worn jeans and button-down shirt that was just tight enough to hug his muscular body. But it was his dominant glare of disapproval that took her breath away.
He was pissed. Still, she was relieved the alternate wasn’t already on the stage with him. Did that mean she’d get to play that night despite it being five after eight?
She got her answer when she heard her name being called by the MC on the stage.
“Okay, we’re ready for our last couple to meet each other and to see what they are going to roll on the wheel. Let’s welcome our last submissive, Karly Starr, to the stage to join her Dom, Master Wilde.”
Stephanie both loved and hated the use of her stage name while at Black Light. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of her seven years as the porn-industry’s leading female star, because she wasn’t. In fact, she was proud of the four AVN awards she had won. But it was just that she was so much more than the actress who’d made it big spreading her legs on camera.
Only when she stepped up close enough to him to catch a whiff of his yummy scent did she realize Master Wilde was seriously tall. He stood a full foot above her, making it easy for him to intimidate her when he encroached on her private space as he stepped up behind her to look over her shoulder as the MC handed her a small white marble and spun the wheel.
His voice was deep and gravely—seriously sexy—as he whispered against the shell of her left ear. “Roll us a good one, but know this… no matter what the wheel picks for us, you’ll be starting your night with a punishment for being late.”
The word punishment coincided with the release of the marble from her grip. It startled her enough that she used too much force, causing the ball to bounce and almost eject from the wheel completely. It seemed to take an eternity for the round glass to ricochet from slot to slot. The wheel was spinning too fast for her to read the kinks.
Just as the marble fell into its slot, the stress of the day and heat of the room combined with the dizzy feeling from watching the wheel spinning caught up to her. Stephanie wobbled on her feet enough that Master Wilde had to reach out and steady her with a tight grip on each of her hips. He crowded closer, molding his muscular chest against her back to help prop her up.
“Whoa, I’ve got you, baby.”
Baby? Stephanie Kranowski was no one’s baby. She sure hoped he wasn’t one of those Daddy Doms she’d seen around the club. Her need for hard-core, edgy sex was pretty much the anthesis of wanting to be coddled by a Daddy, although she had to admit, if there were a massage in it, she’d make an exception.
“I’m not your baby,” she whispered back, trying not to make a scene on the stage.
“Oh, baby. Tonight, you’re gonna be whatever the hell I want you to be.”
His ominous words flowed over her. Most women might be afraid of the edgy promise he’d whispered against her ear, but to Stephanie they were like a long-lost song she’d been waiting to hear again.
As the wheel finally came to a halt, her Dom for the night chuckled. “Hey, look at that. The perfect kink to marry up with the belting you’re going to receive. I’ll have to consider changing over to a nice crop instead of my belt.”
Just great. I rolled Pony Play.
Chapter 3
Sean
Karly Fucking Starr.
Rolling her as his roulette partner was kinda like choosing the door that had the expensive car hidden behind it. Thank God he hadn’t elected to play with the Lily lookalike.
And rolling Pony Play? Maybe he should buy a lottery ticket later, because today was his fucking lucky day.
The lights were coming up in the dim theater and all of the couples had been dismissed to begin their
night, yet Karly was still standing with her back to him, looking down at the roulette wheel as if the ball might miraculously jump to a different slot. It didn’t take much to spin her until she was forced to face off with him.
“Now… let’s get to know each other while we wait for the theater to empty out a little more.” Sean pinned her with his best Dom glare before adding, “Let’s start with you explaining to me why you were so late to such an important event.”
Annoyance flashed in her eyes. “Who are you, my father?”
Feisty. Exactly how he liked his play partners.
“Careful. You’re already in enough trouble for being late. I don’t think you want to add strokes on for insubordination and sass, do you?”
“Listen, I had to make a last-minute business trip to San Francisco today and traffic from the airport was a bitch.”
Tension was rolling off his little sub for the night. He knew just what she needed to relax. “Sounds like an excuse, but never fear. A nice belting will fix you right up,” Sean promised. The look of fear in her eyes took him off-guard as he still held her close.
“Now might be a good time to tell you that… well… I didn’t really join Black Light for the same reasons most people do. I’m not really into all of this game playing shit,” she protested, trying to wiggle out of his grasp.
“Then it seems odd that you’d sign up to play a literal game called Valentine Roulette. If you don’t like games, what exactly possessed you to sign up for tonight’s event?”
He loved the defiant glare in her eyes as she proudly answered. “I just want to get laid, okay? Is that so hard?”
“Funny. I’m pretty sure people get laid all the time outside of Black Light. Why here? Why BDSM?” He genuinely wanted to know so he could try to figure out what made her tick.
“Don’t we have to get started with our scene or something?” She tried to change the subject, glancing around as if looking for someone to come to her aid, forgetting that she belonged to him for the next three hours.
“Never fear, we’ll have plenty of time for you to be my little filly in heat. For now, I need to understand why you’re here if you don’t like BDSM?”
Karly opened and closed her mouth a few times as if searching for an answer before replying. “There are a lot of celebrities that have joined Black Light for the anonymity it brings them. This is Beverly Hills, you know?”
“Don’t lie to me. I met you five minutes ago and I can already see you like making grand entrances and have no problems using your celebrity name to make sure everyone recognizes you. Those are not the actions of a woman looking for anonymity.”
“Shit… this was a bad idea,” she whispered under her breath.
Sean would have kept grilling her for answers, but she swayed in his arms. “What have you eaten today?” he prodded her.
“Eaten? We aren’t on a date. I can eat later. I really think we need to get started or we’ll get disqualified.”
Sean suspected she was more interested in ending his line of questioning than actually getting started with their scene. He pulled her closer. “I plan on pushing you hard tonight. That means you’ll need energy. And while we’re getting a few things straight, maybe now is a good time to remind you that you signed up to be my submissive for the next three hours, not the other way around. You might want to start getting in the right mindset or you’re gonna find yourself pretty miserable.”
Sean watched several emotions flit across her face before she settled on her next taunt.
“Yes, sir, master. Whatever you say, master.” The grin on her face was like a waving a red flag in front of a bull to Sean. “Is that enough role playing for you?” she sassed.
He grinned back before adding, “You are digging yourself into a pretty deep hole. I’d stop if I were you.”
He didn’t give her a chance to reply. He could see the room had pretty much cleared out except for a few stragglers wanting to take advantage of the plush seats to have some of their own fun. Sean reached for Karly’s hand and headed toward the stairs of the stage, stopping to grab his duffle bag of toys from where he’d left it.
As he dragged her into motion down the aisle, he noticed she was barefoot.
Sean pulled them to a stop. “Where are your shoes? Did you arrive barefoot?”
“My heel broke. I had to take them off.”
Sean reached to pick her up and carry her, but Karly pushed him off. “I can walk on my own.”
What in the world had possessed this woman to sign up for Roulette? At first, he wondered if she was purposefully bratting to convince him to punish her, but as he looked at her deeper, he suspected she wasn’t acting. This was Karly Starr by day.
“I’m gonna thoroughly enjoy helping you shed your icy shell, Ms. Starr.”
“The only thing I need to shed is this business suit. It’s freaking hot in here,” she said as she took off toward the exit.
You think the room is hot. Just wait until I light that ass of yours on fire with my belt.
Tonight was going to be so much fun.
Once in the bar area, Sean flagged down one of the servers with a tray of appetizers and piled a napkin high with all kinds of goodies for them to share. When he didn’t see any of the beverage servers, he stopped at the bar and asked for a couple bottles of chilled water and then beelined it to a comfortable chair in the corner of the social area, out of the way of the major traffic. Some spectators had stopped to check out the silent auction table on the far wall.
Once seated, Sean motioned to Karly who was glancing around looking for another chair. “Kneel here in front of me. I want to talk more while you eat.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake, I told you we don’t need to waste time…”
“Sit… now,” he barked. He liked a sub that would challenge him, but he was beginning to think Karly Starr didn’t possess a single submissive bone in her body.
Sean waited for her to sink to her knees in front of him before lifting the crab-stuffed mushroom cap to her mouth.
“Open.” When she didn’t comply, he added, “Unless you have a food allergy, I suggest you open your mouth and eat now.”
They were in a standoff and he knew if he couldn’t convince her to eat a damn mushroom, the rest of the night would be a total waste of his time. He waited patiently for almost an entire minute before quietly informing the naughty sub at his feet, “I can keep this up all night, but know you already have at least a dozen strokes with my belt coming for arriving so late. And this is where I let you know you’ve reached the end of the line where my patience is concerned. I’ll be adding a stroke with my Lexan paddle to your count for each one of these eight appetizers you don’t eat in the next five minutes.”
“But…” The first flash of fear registered on her face but was gone seconds later.
He held the mushroom to her lips again. “Open.”
To his surprise, she did. Not once but again and again until all the appetizers were polished off. She ate in silence, which for them was an improvement. He used the quiet time to enjoy the view of the sexy pornstar on her knees, just inches away. Interesting—instead of skimpy fetish wear, she wore a stylish pantsuit—instead of layers of caked makeup, only a bit of eyeliner and mascara remained visible in the dim lighting. Her long, flowing, blonde hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, a few errant wisps curling to soften her face.
That ponytail will come in handy for our first scene.
He saw the annoyance in her eyes as he called her his “Good girl,” when she’d finished, but at least she held her tongue.
“Now, before we head over to the costume room, why don’t you tell me what your hard limits are tonight. I didn’t get that info from Madison.”
“I don’t have any limits,” she retorted proudly.
“Interesting, I didn’t list any either. You missed most of the introduction material. We’re using the stop-light system for safe words tonight. Got it?”
“I don’t use
safe words, either.”
“Well that’s bullshit. You’ll…”
“Seriously. You do know who I am, right?” she asked defensively.
“What difference does that make? We’re at Black Light. We play with safe words.”
“Maybe you do, but I can assure you…”
It only took him two seconds to lean down and grab her long ponytail, yanking her face forward to within one inch of his. When Karly opened her mouth to finish her sassy retort, Sean clamped his free hand over her mouth, effectively shushing her.
“Now… I’m perfectly aware of who you are, Karly, and what you’ve done for a living, but I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about that. Tonight, you’re my submissive and I’m your Dominant. That means I lead, you follow. If you’d like, I can ask Elijah, the Dungeon Master, to get us a dictionary and we can look up the definition of the word submit for you, because from where I’m sitting, you don’t seem to understand the meaning.”
Sean paused, enjoying the widening of her eyes as she internalized his words. Her spark of rebellion was still visible, but as seconds passed, he felt the tension leaving her body. He wasn’t sure what had her so wound tight, but he looked forward to seeing if he could help her relax before the end of the night.
“Now, I’m gonna take my hand away, and you’re going to answer me. And starting now and until you either safe word or it hits eleven o’clock, you’ll address me as Sir or Master when you speak to me. Got it?” Sean slowly removed his hand from over her mouth, but he kept her close enough he could still smell her sexy perfume.
Her breaths were fast and shallow as she contemplated her options, finally turning her gaze toward the floor and answering with an almost contrite, “Yes, sir.”
It was the first non-sassy thing she’d said to him. Progress.
“Good, girl. Now… let’s try this again. What’s your safe word tonight, Karly?”
“Yellow… or red, Sir, but…”
Sean saw the curve of her lips as she smiled mischievously.
“…I’m not going to use them.” Several seconds passed before she hurried to tack on a quick, “Sir.”
