by Tori Carson
It wasn’t the same thing as having a bunch of trainees in the house. For one thing, they never came into his room, and if they did they were punished.
Like a damn fool, he’d moved Adriana into his bedroom. It just didn’t seem right to have her apart from him. Adriana was different.
He’d always stayed detached from his trainees. It hadn’t even been difficult. He hadn’t been deeply in lust with any of them and he sure as hell wasn’t good friends with them. His contracts had spelled out exactly what his responsibilities were and he’d never deviated.
Adriana didn’t fit into a pre-made plan. She was messing with his well-run life…and he liked it. For so long, he’d felt dead inside.
He’d been honest with her, though. He wasn’t the get married and live in the suburbs type. As much as he’d like to be, it wasn’t going to happen. He’d made his choice when he’d decided to keep the club. Her family was important to her. She could never be truly happy unless she was actively involved in their lives and that meant he couldn’t be with her long term. He refused to be the wedge between them. He needed to figure out how in the hell he was going to manage the next four months.
He made a quick breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast. After he’d poured a glass of milk for them both, he headed back to the bedroom. He found her awake and sitting up. “Hey, sleepyhead, where would you like to eat breakfast?”
“Anywhere but in bed.”
“Let’s sit out on the patio. It’s a beautiful morning.” He walked into his closet and pulled out his robe. “Put this on.”
She tossed the sheet toward the end of the bed. In his business, nudity wasn’t exactly a rare thing, but his dick still jumped to life seeing her. Lately, she was the only one it worked for. It was a bit pathetic since their relationship was platonic.
Adriana slid her arms through the robe and wrapped it over her chest, but if he looked, he could still catch a glimpse of her pussy. She had a smattering of hair, suggesting she kept it shaved, but it now had a few days’ growth.
His mouth began to water at the idea of taking her and sucking her clit. Son of a bitch. He walked into his bathroom and washed his face, hoping the cold splashes of water would keep his cock under control.
When he came back into the bedroom, he saw her scooting toward the edge of the bed. “Just stay there, cher. Let me get everything set up.” He unlocked and opened the French doors. Outside, he pulled out two of his patio chairs and arranged them so her leg could rest on one. Back in his room, he stood by her side of the bed.
What the fuck? Now she owns half my bed? What was he thinking? He shook his head to try to clear his thoughts as he slid his arms behind her back and under her legs. “Up we go.”
She didn’t weigh anything. The heaviest thing on her was the brace. He intended to make sure she ate while she was with him. Once she was comfortable, he went inside and brought out their food.
“This looks delicious. Did you do the cooking for…your trainees?” She began to blush.
“No, they shared that duty. Adriana”—he met her gaze—“I don’t want to talk about them. I’m very angry with everyone involved, myself included.”
“I’m sorry. I was curious how the whole trainee thing worked.” She bit her bottom lip and looked down at her food. “I’ve never been anyone’s real sub before.” She shrugged. “I was thinking of asking Master Reed to train me, but I don’t know exactly what’s involved.”
He set his fork on his plate and tapped his napkin on his mouth, buying time for the rage to settle in his belly. Reaching for his glass of milk, he wished it was a snifter of bourbon.
“Why Reed?” He needed to figure out if killing him was necessary or if banning him from every club in the nation would suffice.
“I don’t know. He seems pleasant enough. I’ve spoken with him a few times when you were occupied with club business. Is there a reason why I shouldn’t ask Master Reed?” Her face was completely red now.
Sitting there swimming in his robe, she looked young and innocent. She’d just admitted she’d never submitted to anyone. So how in the hell had she stumbled into his club and why had she stayed? He wanted to punch something or pace, anything but continue to sit there and think about her scening with another Dom.
“Reed passed all the training modules and seems perfectly competent.” He tried to keep his voice neutral.
“I figured he was or you wouldn’t have given him Master’s rights. Everyone says you’re pretty strict about that type of thing.” Her head was down and she seemed focused on eating the food he’d cooked her.
Normally he’d be pleased to hear his reputation preceded him, but if it encouraged her to seek another man, it just pissed him off. It was odd. They’d spoken on just about every subject under the sun except sex. As soon as she’d learned about his subs, she’d shut him down cold. From that point, he’d kept all their conversations on safer topics. It wasn’t long before he’d learned about her love of all things family and that had put her in the untouchable range.
Except now he was contemplating touching her. This was fucked up. He knew he was no good for her, but he didn’t want anyone else to have her either. He pushed his plate away, unable to eat. In truth, Reed was a worse choice. He was looking for a poly relationship and Adriana had already made her view on that clear.
“There are a lot of abusive assholes that find the lifestyle to their liking. In some instances, a submissive places her life in her Dom’s hands. We can’t be too cautious.” He had numerous guidelines in place and yet Adriana had still been hurt. He hadn’t considered one sub deliberately hurting another.
“Can you think of someone better?” she asked shyly.
Yeah, me. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he kept his mouth closed. She’d already asked him and he’d turned her down. He couldn’t remember a single reason, but he was sure there had been plenty of very rational and logical reasons.
“What are you interested in, Adriana? We’ve never talked about it before.” He was pleased his voice sounded relatively normal. He just needed to treat this as he did any sub interview. Like that’s possible!
“How would I know?” She raised her hand as his eyes met hers. “That sounded snarky and I didn’t mean it that way. I get a little…okay a lot embarrassed talking about this subject. But since I haven’t done all that much, I don’t know. Does that make sense?”
Why does every sub think they don’t make sense? It must be something in their DNA. “Yes, it did. I’ll tell you if I don’t understand something so have no worries along those lines. No matter the dynamic, D/s, M/s, even DD/lg, it’s all about communication.”
“I’m horrible with abbreviations. I know M/s is Master, slave and I’d guess, D/s means Dom, slave, though I’m not sure I understand the difference.” She was gazing over his right shoulder.
He took her hand, hoping it would give her the courage to look him in the eyes. “You’re close. D/s is Dominant, submissive and DD/lg is Daddy Dom, little girl. You have a well-developed bratty side, but I really can’t see you as an lg or baby girl.”
“Oh, I know what that is. No, I don’t think so either.”
There, finally, she looked at him and smiled. The knots in his stomach started to loosen. “What made you interested in BDSM?”
“I suppose hot guys in leather would be the wrong answer.” Her eyes lit up as she teased him.
She sat there with mussed hair, not an ounce of makeup on and yet she was beautiful. When she teased him, his heart beat double time. To cover up what he was truly feeling inside, he scowled at her.
Adriana just laughed at him, the brat!
“When you growl at me I get wet… Does that count?” She winked at him.
“Oh, are you ever going to get it!” He scooped her up in his arms. Careful to keep her leg away from everything, he proceeded to tickle her until she was laughing so hard tears were running down her cheeks.
As she wiped the tears from her face, she complained, “I t
hink I need a safe word.”
He immediately stopped and became all business. “Why? Did I hurt you?” He pulled her tighter against his chest and headed inside.
“No, André. Not physically, anyway.” The smile faded and she rested her head against his shoulder.
Back in the bedroom, he sat in one of his overstuffed chairs with her nestled on his lap.
“What’s the matter, bebe? What have I done?” The thought of hurting her was more than he could take.
“Aren’t you supposed to safe word when you can’t take it anymore?” She looked up at him with tears still in her eyes.
“Was I too rough? Do you need your pain meds or the muscle relaxers?” He was tense and ready to get her whatever she needed.
“No, André. I just can’t take being around you and not being with you.”
“Bebe…”
“Don’t!” She put her hand against his chest. “Just hear me out. You’re not the get married and settle down type. I know. You’ve told me that for months now and I get it. But does that mean we can’t scene together? That you can’t show me the ropes, so to speak? I’m not asking for a ring or even a collar, just lose the big brother role and be yourself.”
What the hell did he say to that? “Adriana, I care for you, like I’ve never cared for anyone else. I couldn’t stay detached no matter how hard I tried. Our bond would grow stronger. Eventually, you’ll want more than a play partner and I can’t be that person. In the end, we’ll both be hurt.”
“André, fate has put me in your hands for four months. During that time, I want to explore my boundaries and live out some fantasies—as best as this stupid leg will allow—with someone I trust implicitly. I don’t want Reed or one of the other Doms. I want you. Is that so wrong?”
“No, it’s not wrong.” He shifted her slightly so he could see her face. “Adriana, tell me you aren’t harboring some foolish notion that you can change my mind. Because no matter how much I adore you, I’m never going to be marriage material.”
She closed her eyes and nestled back against his shoulder. “You’ve made that explicitly clear, André. I understand. I come from a big family. Believe me, I’m in no hurry to start one of my own. The whole idea of getting married and having kids scares the crap out of me. I went to a clinic when I was sixteen and started taking the pill because I heard the rumor you could get pregnant if you swam with boys at the community pool. It sounded pretty far-fetched, but I wasn’t taking any chances.”
They both laughed.
“Adriana, if we do this, we risk losing what we have. If at the end of the four months you want more than I can give, you’ll probably never want to see me again.” The idea that she might hate him was the one thing holding him back. If she was determined to learn about the lifestyle, he wanted to be her teacher, her Dom. He wasn’t sure he could handle seeing her with someone else.
“André, I know where you stand on this. I don’t see how I could ever hold that against you. You’re assuming I want more, that I want a ring and kids, and I honestly don’t know that I do.” She sighed.
“Are you tired, bebe? Do you need to lie down?” He didn’t want her to overdo it and have her leg begin to swell.
“What I want is a bath. Would you mind terribly?” She sounded all sweet and innocent.
”You aren’t going to give me a moment of peace, are you?” The thought of seeing her naked and wet had his cock tenting his jams.
“Nope. In the big scheme of things, four months isn’t all that long. I plan to enjoy every minute of it.”
“Need I point out, I didn’t agree to anything besides caring for you?” He could drag his feet, but there wasn’t a chance in Hell of him keeping his hands off her. “We can’t chance getting those stitches wet. We should wait a few days.” That sounded perfectly reasonable and yet, he hoped she’d try to convince him otherwise. Maybe he had a larger masochistic side than he’d suspected because he really wanted to touch all that perfectly smooth skin. It didn’t matter that she’d eventually leave or he’d toss her out for her own damn good, or that he was worried he wasn’t strong enough to pick up the pieces from there. He still wanted every minute of the four months too.
“I saw your tub. It has a wide ledge running all around it. I can rest my leg on there. We can wrap something around it to keep it waterproofed if you’re worried. It’ll work. Besides it’s either that or a sponge bath.” She wiggled her eyebrows at him.
He stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. “If we try this, if we decide to play together… You getting your way in everything will come to a screeching halt. Are you sure you want that?” Who was he kidding? He’d exert his dominance, but simply for the purposes of enhancing her pleasure or bringing her closer to a personal goal.
“You mean you plan to be…hard with me?” she baited him.
“Oh, bebe, I’m always hard with you. But if we decide to do this, I’ll be strict as well. You might want to think that through.” His mind was already designing scenes they could work around her leg. Down, boy! We’re not there yet, he told his cock.
He picked her up and carried her to the bed. After propping her leg up with pillows, he went and drew the bath.
When he entered the room again, Adriana asked, “What do you mean by strict, André? In what ways?”
“For starters, back talking would be out. My word would be law. You know…this plan is sounding better all the time!” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Sit still and let me find something to wrap around your brace.”
Just thinking about being intimate with Adriana had him feeling years younger. Before Adriana, he’d never cared whether an encounter lasted one night or a year. Whatever happened happened. When had he become so cautious and analytical? It was bunk anyway. No one knew what the future held. Live in the moment.
He’d probably come to regret this decision, but if she was sure she wanted to experience the lifestyle with him, he’d do it.
He went into his playroom and cut a piece of plastic sheeting he used for wax play. With a fleeting thought to things he’d like to do to Adriana once she was well enough, he returned to his room.
Adriana had peeled out of the robe and was lying on the bed nude. Damn, she was a luscious sight. He held up the sheeting. “I think this will work.” He made a few passes around her leg and taped it shut with medical tape he’d found in the bathroom.
“Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Absolutely!” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
He carefully carried her to the tub. “Can you stand on your right leg and I’ll spot your left as you sit?” As soon as she had her weight supported, he wrapped one arm around her waist and with the other he positioned her calf onto the wide ledge of the tub. When she was finally sitting, he let out a sigh of relief.
“Oh, André, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.” She rested her head back against the tub and closed her eyes.
“Don’t say that, Adriana. A couple of times now, I’ve woken in a cold sweat with the image of you crumpled on the gym floor.” He shivered. “That was too close to ever go through again.”
“The doctor said I was lucky.”
“You were lucky. They were afraid you’d broken your neck and had internal bleeding and all the other things they were discussing as they strapped you to the back board. To have walked away from that fall with only a concussion and an open fracture was a miracle. Listen to me. A week ago, I didn’t even know what an open fracture was. Look what you’re doing to me.” He grumbled as he used the shower wand to wet her hair.
“Oh, thank you. My hair is gross. Don’t worry about being gentle.”
“Of course, I’m going to be gentle, bebe. You still have stitches in your head.” Silly woman.
“I liked it when you pulled my hair the other night.” She began to swirl her finger in the water. “It got me wet.”
For someone who was embarrassed to discuss sex, she knew exactly what to say to garner a response. He t
ook a deep breath and slowly let it out while he gradually worked on the tangles. Poor girl still had bits of dried blood clumping the strands together.
“That’s a good thing, because I love your hair.”
“Speaking of hair…could you help me shave my pussy?”
Chapter Four
She was going to get in over her head, if she didn’t curb her tongue. But the feel of André’s fingers along her scalp was making her crazy.
For a moment, his hands froze in her hair. “Of course…but it will cost you.”
Her heart began pounding. “Oh?”
“I’ll definitely need a taste.” His voice was sure and arrogant.
“That’s a pretty steep price, don’t you think?” She loved bantering with him. Her cheeks were beginning to ache from the huge smile on her face.
“I’m sorry, cher, but the price is firm.” Male amusement was thick in his tone.
“I’m hoping that’s not the only thing that’s firm.” Adriana was having a hard time not giggling.
“Oh, you needn’t worry about that. Are you sure you trust me? I shave with a straight razor.”
This time she knew he was laughing at her.
She involuntarily drew her legs slightly together. “Do you know if my car is still at the club? I have my own safety razor in my gym bag.”
“It’s here. James and his buddies brought it over, but if you want my help, you have to accept my stipulations. I shave with a straight blade.”
“This is part of that whole Master stuff, isn’t it?” She pretended to be annoyed with the whole idea.
“I’m still curious how you stumbled upon the lifestyle.” His tone was serious as if he expected an explanation this time.
She had to be careful here. He hadn’t said much, but she’d gathered from his conversations with other men at the club that he considered what the trolls had done to be a betrayal. Apparently, he’d been stabbed in the back so often he just came to expect it. If he learned that her parents owned and operated the other competing BDSM club in the valley, he’d likely think she’d joined simply to steal his business secrets.
