by Laura Kaye
“I know,” she whispered, visibly trying to pull herself together. “I’m sorry. I know this is probably embarrassing to you.”
He cupped her face and kissed her, a firm press of lips to prove he was there, to make her feel it. “You could never embarrass me, Olivia. Don’t ever say that again.”
“A prospective member propositioned her,” Master Alex said.
Oh, hell no. Beyond the possessiveness flooding his veins at the fact that this woman was his, Olivia wore a red cuff. And every person in the place—new or old-timer—had been made aware of the rules. Red cuffs equaled attached and therefore unapproachable for play by anyone but the submissive’s Dominant. Period. “Has his ass been escorted out? Because if not, I want to be the one to throw him the hell out the door.”
Alex nodded. “I just notified Quinton to pull him off the floor, and then he’ll have to be out-processed.” He gave a troubled sigh. “I’m sorry to say this is partly my fault.”
Wolf glared. “Explain, please.”
“Caleb was my guest,” Master Alex said. “I know him professionally. I never would’ve expected this behavior from him, and I’m sorry. I knew he was in the wrong the minute he started talking, but then Olivia disobeyed my orders to remain quiet so I could get to the bottom of the situation. That’s what you heard us talking about.”
“Caleb?” he bit out, then peered down at Olivia. In that instant, the name was too fucking unique for his liking. What were the chances?
She nodded, her eyes glassy again. “Yes, it was my ex. He…he saw us earlier. And then he found me here and…” She gave a helpless little shrug that shredded Wolf’s insides. “…he said a bunch of stuff. Wanted to spank me and wouldn’t let me by him to leave.”
Christ. Christ.
He wanted to get up in Master Alex’s face because the man had made a fucking colossal error in judgment that had put his submissive in jeopardy, but he wasn’t letting her go to do it. Not while she was still trembling and teary, and definitely not when she thought her efforts to defend herself—whatever they were—might reflect badly on him. As far as Wolf was concerned, whatever she’d done had been all the way in bounds. “Master Alex, that man was Olivia’s ex-fiancé, whose behavior was not honorable while they were together.”
The other man blanched, which was impressive given how stoic he typically was. Master Alex was a total hardass, a closed-off wall of a man who rarely showed emotion and was damn hard to get to know. The submissives—men and women—who craved masochism worshipped him, but he wasn’t one of the Masters with whom Wolf had gotten close over the years.
“Damn, Master Wolf. I’m sorry, to both of you.”
Wolf nodded, all the acknowledgement he could muster just then. “I hope you’ll understand I won’t be punishing Olivia. Not for anything that happened here.”
The other Dom held up his hands, his expression unreadable. “I’ll leave it to you.” He left.
Hugging her tight to his chest, Wolf pressed a kiss against her hair. “I’m so fucking sorry, Olivia.”
“Not your fault,” she whispered. He held her for a long moment, just needing her in his arms, proof that she was okay. “Can you please remove this toy from me?”
“Oh, hell,” he said. “Of course.” He made quick work of it, setting the vibrator on the floor beside his feet. And then they sat knee to knee on the couch’s edge, their foreheads leaning together, their hands entangled. “Are you okay?”
“Better,” she said. “I was scared.”
“Of what, sweetness?”
“Just…that I’d really messed up,” she said, peeking up at him. “That I’d reflect badly on you. I know how important this club is to you—”
“Liv, please look at me,” Wolf said, waiting to go on until she finally did. The tears had made her eyes startlingly blue, and he felt like he could fall into that gaze forever. “I need you to see that I don’t think you messed up here. More than that, I need you to know. If it came down to you or this club, you’d be my priority, Olivia. I’d choose you. Every damn time.”
She sucked in a breath, and her expression went so damn soft and sweet. “Master Wolf,” she whispered. “I like playing with you here. The other Doms. Kenna and Cass and Mia. I feel like I have friends for the first time in a long time. A community. I adore that we share that. And that’s saying nothing of the fact that this is a business for you, too. I don’t want to make you choose.”
He shook his head. “You’re not, because you did nothing wrong. Your asshole ex did, and Alex did, and I did, but you did not. But I just wanted you to know.”
She frowned. “You did nothing wrong, either.”
“I should’ve been with you.”
Liv squeezed his hand. “You can’t be with me all the time. That’s not how relationships work. Besides, I defended myself against Caleb just fine. If he’d have taken things one more step, I would’ve screamed my head off and brought half the club running.”
Her words eased him and made him admire her so damn much. “My girl is always so brave.”
“Your girl feels like kind of a mess,” she said, and he loved hearing her call herself that.
She was his. And after all of this, he needed her to know.
“I’d wanted to do this differently,” he said. “Make a moment of it. Make it romantic.”
“Do what?” she asked, peering at him.
He took her face in his hand again, unable to stop touching her, holding her, being close. “Tell you that I’ve fallen in love with you. I love you, Liv.”
Those turquoise eyes went wide and shimmery. “You…oh, my God, Wolf. I love you, too. I do. For weeks now. God, maybe even since the night at the park.”
“Jesus,” he rasped, pulling her into a tight hug. “I didn’t want to make you feel rushed, but I’ve been feeling it, too. For so long. Damn, Liv, for me it might’ve been that very first night.”
They laughed and kissed, soft, sweet, claiming presses of skin on skin.
“I want so much with you, Olivia. I just want to be in your life, and for you to be in mine, in every way.”
Smiling so damn pretty, she nodded. “I want that, too, Wolf. I have never been happier in my whole life, and I’m so grateful you rescued me that night.”
He chuckled. “Fate was looking out for us.”
She grinned. “It totally was.”
“Liv,” he said, moving closer to her. “Would you consider moving in together? I want to go to bed with you and wake up with you and have meals with you and come home to you. You can move into my house, or I’ll move into yours. Or, hell, we could look for a new—”
“Yes,” she said, pushing him back against the couch and straddling him. “Yes to all of it. To any of it. I want to be the person you come home to, and I want you to be that person for me.”
“Sweet, sweet woman,” he whispered around the edge of a searing kiss that quickly flashed hot.
But he was done sharing Olivia with a million other eyes. At least for tonight. “Let’s get out of here,” he said.
“I’d like that.”
He guided her through the club, taking a few of the security corridors back to registration to avoid the crowds.
“I have to grab my purse from the lockers,” Liv said.
Wolf nodded. “Meet you right back here.”
She’d barely left the room when the office door swung open and Master Quinton and Master Alex stepped out, deep-set scowls on their faces. A third man followed. Wolf didn’t need to be told who it was.
The anger he’d restrained suddenly flashed through his blood, and he stalked toward them. “You Caleb?”
The guy’s eyes went wide as he hung back at the door. Not so brave now, was he? “Yes, listen—”
“No, you listen—” Wolf ran into the wall of Quinton’s chest as the other Dom blocked him from getting any closer. It didn’t keep Wolf from trying as he jabbed a finger at the other man over Quinton’s shoulder. “You don’t come near Olivia
. You don’t talk to her. You don’t get in touch with her. You see her on the street, and you turn around and go the other way. Understood? And if you say a word about anything that happened inside these walls tonight, this club will sue you for everything you have and then some.”
“I’m a lawyer. I understand what an NDA is,” he said, his tone laced with poutiness and fear.
“Time to go,” Master Alex said, looming over Caleb as Alex escorted him to the door, then pushed it open. Crisp fall air spilled in. “I’ll be seeking a new firm on Monday morning. That doesn’t begin to reflect everything I’d like to do to your ass, but it’s all, unfortunately, I can do. Security, see this man off the property.”
Then the asshole was gone.
“Taking the trash out is my least favorite chore,” Quinton said, a valiant but ultimately failed attempt at lightening the mood.
Wolf laced his hands on top of his head and unleashed a frustrated breath.
“Sirs?” came Olivia’s quiet voice from the side of the room. “Is everything okay?”
“Aw, hell,” Wolf said. “Come here, sweetness.” The second she was at his side and in his arms, he felt better. “Everything’s just fine.”
“Is Caleb going to cause trouble for the club?” she asked, peering up at him.
But before Wolf could reassure her, Master Alex said, “He wouldn’t dare. Between the three of us, we made sure of it. And I’m sorry for the whole damn mess, Olivia. I hope you can forgive me.”
“I just heard you fire him for what he did here tonight,” Liv said, wrapping an arm around Wolf’s back. “That was pretty gratifying to watch. So please believe me when I say you are more than forgiven, Master Alex.”
With a glint of appreciation in his dark eyes, the Dom gave a single nod and left.
“Champagne’s on me next time, little Olivia,” Master Quinton said with a wink as he made for the club again.
“Sorry, Sir, but as good as I’m sure that would be, I don’t think Master Wolf or Cassia would approve,” she deadpanned.
He blinked, then broke out into a guffaw. “Well played, subbie. I knew I liked you.” He gave a wave and disappeared through the doors.
Here she was cracking jokes after the disaster of the past hour. There was only one thing Wolf could say about that. “I love you, Liv. So damn much.”
“I love you, Master Wolf. Can we go home now?”
It was exactly what he wanted, too. So he took her home, spread her out in her bed, and gave her a glimpse of what their forever was going to be. All night long.
Epilogue
That night, Liv had told Wolf she’d never been happier, and that had been true. The amazing thing though? Each day of the month that passed after it, it was even more true than the day before.
She arrived at Wolf’s office building and went up to the seventh-floor suite of M&H IT Security Services. She and Wolf had settled on a new place last week—deciding that both of their places were too small—and now they were painting and updating it before they moved in. And that meant they had a thousand decisions to make.
“Surprise, it’s me,” she said, knocking on Wolf’s office door with a bag of take-out in one hand and a folder of paint samples and catalog inspirations in the other.
“Hey, Liv,” he said, his face breaking out in a big smile. “Best surprise ever.” He rose and emptied her hands, then took her into his arms for a lingering, playful kiss.
“Hopefully you’ll still think that when I make your mind go numb trying to choose between atmospheric blue, vast sky blue, and bluebird feather.”
He chuckled as they set out their Chinese food and sat side by side behind his desk. “Who knew there were this many shades of blue?” he said, using his chopsticks on a mouthful of lo mein.
“Wait ’til I show you the whites.” She laughed as his eyes went wide and panicked.
As they ate, they settled on paint colors, furniture to order, and made a few calls to set up appointments for some of their other house-related chores. “I wish I could take care of some of this today,” she said, “but I need to get back to the store soon. I want to try to finish the arrangements for Mia’s gallery opening today so I can deliver them first thing in the morning.” Between Kenna’s association events, Mia’s art shows, and Blasphemy’s big masquerade costume ball coming up in just a few weeks, she’d gotten even busier at Flowers in Bloom. Busy enough that she’d hired some part-time help and might be able to bring on another person in the new year, too.
“We’ll work through the list, don’t you worry.”
“I know,” she said, cleaning up their lunch and finishing the rest of her water.
“Exactly how much longer do you have before you have to go?” Wolf asked, a look in his eyes that set off tingles in her belly.
She grinned and pressed the button on her phone to display the time. “Ten minutes. Maybe fifteen, tops.”
A slow, evil smile grew on his face. “Plenty of time for what I have in mind.”
She arched a brow. “And that is?”
Without another word, he took her hand, guided her down the hallway past his and Isaac’s team working in open-concept cubicles, and through another door, which he closed behind him. Then he drew the vertical blinds to the interior windows, blocking out the hall beyond. Mostly.
“I can’t have a meeting in here without thinking of your fantasy. And wanting to bring it to life.” He nodded to the big conference table behind her.
Liv’s body immediately heated. “Now? But your employees—”
“Which is why you’ll need to be quiet and I’ll need to be quick. Hands on the table, Olivia.”
“Holy shit,” she whispered, but she totally did what he said. Because who was she kidding? Just thinking about doing this, and that someone could walk in at any second, had her wet.
He roughly pulled down her jeans, but left them hanging at her thighs. And then he was behind her, parting the fly to his jeans and bumping her ass with his fist as he rolled on a condom.
“Hold on tight, sweetness, because this is going to be hard and fast.” He filled her in one punctuated thrust.
She slapped her own hand over her mouth and went face down to the table.
“That’s it,” he whispered. “That’s fucking it.”
While she hung on to the edge of the cool wood, Wolf hammered at her with fast, hard, rough strokes that had her wanting to scream at how good it was. Instead, she pressed her hand tighter to hold the threatening sounds in and imagined a half dozen men in sharp suits filling the chairs around them. Watching. Nodding. Maybe even wanting a turn.
“Oh, already, Liv?” he asked on a dark, hushed chuckle. “You’re squeezing my cock so damn tight.”
A whine spilled from her throat.
“Quiet,” he bit out. “They’ll hear you. They’ll come and see your cunt filled with my dick, Liv. Jesus, it looks so good, too.”
He grabbed her hips, yanked them out from the table, and absolutely drilled her.
She came on a smothered scream, her body shaking and thrashing against the wood.
Wolf was right behind her, jerking and shuddering until he collapsed down on her back.
And then the only sound in the room was their panting and the rush of her own pounding blood past her ears.
“God, Wolf,” she whispered, absolutely shattered in the best possible way. “I have to lay here forever now. I can’t move.”
“Oh, sweetness, I think that can be arranged,” he said, kissing her cheek.
They chuckled and dressed quickly, and then Wolf was guiding her back down the hall again, past the friendly faces of his colleagues, most of whom she’d at least said hello to before on previous visits.
Did they know? Had they heard? And would Wolf ever stop making her feel so damn alive?
She didn’t think so, and it was the best feeling ever.
He handed her the folder of materials and her purse, then walked with her to the elevator. “Have a good day, Liv. S
ee ya tonight.” He kissed her softly.
She loved knowing he’d be coming home to her. “You, too, Wolf. I love you.” She stepped into the elevator.
“Love you more,” he said, with a wink.
And she couldn’t stop smiling the whole rest of the day.
* * * *
Also from 1001 Dark Nights and Laura Kaye, discover Hard As Steel and Hard To Serve.
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