Molly's Man (Haven, Texas Book 4)

by Laylah Roberts

  Well, maybe not easily. She’d probably make him work for it. Would she get kicked out if she didn’t do as she was told? If she was too much of a brat?

  “Oh, shit, this was a stupid idea.”

  She walked past the print of the Eiffel Tower she’d hung on the wall of the small lounge. It was one of the few things she’d brought with her from her old apartment. She might not get there in person but she could look at it and dream.

  At least going to a BDSM club would no longer be a dream. She had to do this. If she didn’t do it now, then she never would.

  Jake didn’t know why he’d come to Saxons tonight. He had a pounding headache. He thought about just going home, watching some TV, doing some laundry, and getting some sleep.

  Shit. That sounded like the lamest Saturday night imaginable. When did he become so boring? So old?

  He settled into his regular bar stool and ordered a beer. He could have had a drink in the bigger bar on the other side of the dungeon doors. It was where most people socialized after they’d been playing. But he wasn’t here to socialize.

  “You know, I think you’ve been here more in the last month than you have in the past year.” Saxon sat next to him.

  Jake just grunted, not willing to reveal his reasons. Reasons that were entirely to do with a certain redhead and her interest in having her butt spanked. His cock stirred at the thought of getting his hands on that luscious ass.

  “I’ve been here five seconds. Could you at least let me drink my beer before you start in on me?”

  “No,” Saxon replied, but he was clearly distracted as he stared across the dungeon with a frown.

  “Problem?” Jake asked. He couldn’t see anything amiss.

  “I’ve got a new submissive I’m keeping an eye on. I’m not certain she’s all that submissive, although she assures me she’s no Domme as she has no interest in spanking a man’s ass.” Saxon grinned. “She’s quite a character.”

  Tension burned a hole in his gut. “You let someone in who isn’t serious about the lifestyle?”

  Saxon sighed. “I’m open to people testing the waters so long as they abide by the rules. She promised to obey, and I believe she meant it. Besides, she’s under the protection of one of the members here, so if there are any problems it falls on his shoulders, and I don’t believe she’d want that to happen. She’s not the type who’ll submit to just anyone, though. She needs a strong Dom. Someone with enough experience to tame her without crushing her.”

  A suspicious feeling grew.

  “Where is she?” Jake asked in a low voice. If it was Molly, he was going to find her and he was going to . . . what? Throw her over his shoulder and carry her out? Just because he didn’t think she belonged here didn’t give him the right to remove her.

  “You sound almost like you’re concerned about her.” Saxon waved his hand through the air. “Always the sheriff, aren’t you? Don’t you ever want a night off to just be Jake?”

  “Spare me your insights into my life. I’m fine.”

  “Sure you are. Well, you don’t have to worry about her. She’s a beauty. I’ve noticed she’s caught the eye of a few of the regulars. Alec Malone has been paying her particular attention.”

  Malone? That bastard? Alec lived on a huge spread. He was one of the richest men in the state and also one of the most reclusive. Most people steered clear of him and his crazy-ass brothers. The Malone’s didn’t spend much time in town. Just once a week to get supplies, and Alec came several times a year to the club. Of course, it just had to be tonight that he turned up. He might be bat-shit crazy, but he was also loaded, attractive, and charismatic.

  “Those curves, all that creamy skin, and her hair . . . I almost thought about teaching her a few things myself.”

  Jake jumped from his stool and turned to Saxon, pointing at him. “You don’t touch her. Understand me?”

  Saxon just grinned, and Jake knew he’d been played. He didn’t care. He had no doubts that Saxon knew how he felt about Molly. He seemed to know everything that went on in this town, so Jake’s encounters with Molly wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. He’d come over here to set Jake up to go searching for her. And that was exactly what he was going to do.

  “You just had to have stupid mood lighting, didn’t you?” Jake snapped.

  “Easy,” Saxon murmured back to him. “You’ll make people nervous. You have a murderous look in your eyes.”

  Yes, because his . . . his Molly was currently playing with some other man.

  “Come on, I’ll show you where she is.”

  He followed Saxon across the dungeon. There was no way the other man could have seen Molly from their spot at the bar. Jake growled under his breath, glaring at Saxon’s back. One day his games were going to get him in trouble.

  Jake just hoped he was there to witness it.

  When they got closer to the other side of the dungeon, he saw her lying over a spanking bench. Her ass was bare, and her creamy skin had red splotches. Her ankles and wrists were secured to the spanking bench. Everything looked fine. But he could tell it wasn’t.

  “Shit,” Saxon muttered beside him.

  The Dom participating in the scene was standing back, paddle in hand, staring down at her in puzzlement.

  “Mark,” Saxon said, coming forward. “Everything okay here?”

  The Dom turned to him, looking slightly relieved. He said something quietly to Molly then walked a few steps over. “Hey. Something’s going on, but I can’t get her to tell me what it is. She said she wanted to experience being tied up and spanked first by hand then with a paddle. I used my hand, but she’s tense and I’m not willing to move to the paddle when she’s like this. When I asked her how she as doing, she told me she’s fine. She hasn’t used her safeword.”

  Saxon nodded. “I guess this isn’t quite what she anticipated.”

  “I think you’re right. I’m not sure she even really wants to be dominated.”

  Jake studied her carefully. He didn’t want to address Mark because then he might be tempted to snap at the younger Dom, telling him he had no business touching her. That would create a whole lot of questions he wasn’t ready to answer. Besides, it wasn’t exactly Mark’s fault. He was doing just what she’d asked. Which could be the issue. Molly had taken control from the start. While she’d always be able to say her safe word, she needed to learn not to top from the bottom.

  “If it’s okay,” Saxon said to Mark. “I’ll take over from here.”

  Mark nodded, eagerly. Saxon looked around and spotted a petite brunette standing close by. He crooked a finger at her, and she nearly ran towards him. Jake rolled his eyes. No wonder Saxon’s ego was so big. All he had to do was snap his fingers and people came running to do his bidding.

  “Yes, Master Saxon?” she asked as she drew close, her eyes respectfully lowered.

  “Riley, would you like to scene with Master Mark?”

  She glanced up with a smile. She reminded Jake of a puppy. A very young, sweet puppy. “Oh, yes, please.”

  “Very well, sub,” Mark replied, his chest puffing out. That look of confusion faded. “Follow me.”

  Saxon turned to him. “Excuse me, Jake. I need to get Molly taken care of then find Duncan.”

  Over his dead body. Saxon might have set this all up, but Jake didn’t care. No one was looking after Molly but him. “No need, I’ll take care of Molly.” He was looking forward to it.

  Molly fought back tears. This night was not turning out as she’d expected. Instead of feeling turned on she just felt humiliated and sore.

  She wanted to go home, and yet she was too proud and stubborn to say her safe word. Besides, it wasn’t the poor Dom’s fault she couldn’t get into it, there was no reason to ruin the scene for him. He was only doing as she’d asked him to. Maybe that was the problem? Was it because it felt too fake? Or maybe it was because he was a complete stranger. She didn’t know him. Didn’t trust him. Wasn’t turned on at all by him. He barely looked like he was
out of high school. When Saxon had introduced them she’d nearly cried. She wasn’t looking for a boy, she wanted . . . Jake.

  Nope. Not going there. Jake wasn’t interested in her. And she needed to get that through her head. There were lots of other Doms for her to play with. Except, she didn’t want to play anymore.

  Surely this couldn’t go on much longer. She’d just stay quiet, take her punishment—at least that’s what it felt like—and then she’d go home and nurse her pride with a bottle of chardonnay, and her ass with a bag of ice.

  She heard someone approach. She tried to relax, but instead she just seemed to stiffen up more as he stopped next to her, laying his hand on her back. Only this time instead of feeling slightly chilled by his touch, heat filled her.

  What was going on?

  “Hey, Molly. How you doing?”

  Oh, fuck.

  Part of her wanted to close her eyes and hide. Kind of difficult to do when you were tied down with your bottom completely bare. Shit. Why did he have to be here tonight? Right now he was no doubt getting an eyeful of her overabundant curves. She really hadn’t thought this through.

  Idiot.

  Why hadn’t she asked for a private room? Or at least to keep her panties on? Calm down. She couldn’t do anything to erase the last few hours. But tomorrow she’d leave and never see anyone again. She’d just buy that ticket to Samoa and fly on out of here.

  Running, Molly? That’s never going to solve your issues. She squashed her inner, rational voice. She didn’t want to analyze her actions right now. She just wanted to cover her butt. She sniffled. Oh, crap. Now she was going to cry. Would the humiliation never end?

  “Molly, look at me.”

  Nope. Not happening. If she didn’t answer he would, hopefully, go away, then surely someone would untie her, and she could get out of there. Slink away and lick her wounds. Well, in this case she’d ice them. Not much she could do about her pride though.

  Why hadn’t she enjoyed this? It had been exactly what she’d asked for, and yet she wasn’t aroused in the slightest.

  “Molly. Look at me.” This time his voice was pure command, one she couldn’t ignore. She turned, staring at him through blurry eyes.

  He narrowed his gaze, studying her.

  “Can you untie me? Please?”

  Amazingly, he didn’t argue. In fact, he made quick work of undoing her ankles and wrists, rubbing them gently. When she was free, she quickly sat up, wincing as her ass protested. Where the hell were her skirt and panties?

  “Easy now,” he said in a soothing voice. “You’ll get dizzy if you move too quickly.” He placed his hands on her shoulders.

  “I’m fine. I need to leave. Now. Where are my clothes?”

  She glanced up as Saxon, the club owner stepped up next to Jake. Wow, between the two of them it was testosterone overload in this corner of the room. The dark, enigmatic, slick-looking club owner, and the stoic, serious sheriff. Saxon wore a crisp white shirt and black leather pants while Jake was outfitted more simply in a pair of dress pants and a slightly faded, navy-blue shirt.

  Saxon frowned down at her, and she winced.

  “I’m so sorry,” she told him in a soft whisper.

  He raised one eyebrow. “What for?”

  “This . . . I didn’t realize . . . I thought . . .” She took a deep breath. This wasn’t her. But she was rattled tonight. “I thought this was for me.”

  Saxon nodded solemnly. “And now you believe it’s not?”

  “Well, obviously.” She cleared her throat. Maybe they hadn’t noticed how much she’d hated what’d just happened. “It’s my fault. I thought . . . look, let’s just write this up as a mistake and forget it ever happened, all right? It’s a learning experience.”

  “A learning experience?” Saxon asked. “And what did you learn?”

  She looked up at Jake, who still had one hand on her shoulder, almost as though he was afraid she’d take off. He seemed content to let Saxon do the talking.

  “Well, I learned I prefer to have my clothes on in a roomful of people,” she attempted to lighten the moment. Both men remained quiet. If anything, Saxon’s face grew colder. Shit. Didn’t seem like she could joke her way out of this. She cleared her throat.

  “Does she always do this?” Saxon asked Jake.

  “She has a bad habit of downplaying things. And of saying she’s fine when she isn’t.”

  She didn’t do that, did she? Well, most of the time she was fine. Or is it that you’re usually the one listening to other people’s problems, so you don’t know how to talk about your own?

  Well, hell.

  “You need to work on that,” Saxon said to Jake.

  “I realize that.”

  “What do you mean he’ll need to work on that? What has Jake got to do with anything?”

  Saxon’s face grew cold. “Your input has not been requested, sub.” He turned to Jake. “She has a lot to learn.”

  What did he mean her input wasn’t requested?

  “Are you trying to talk me out of it?” Jake asked, sounding exasperated.

  “Not at all.”

  Okay, she was getting really sick of them talking about her like she wasn’t there. She didn’t care if they’d asked for her opinion or not.

  “Can someone please hand me my clothes. I want to leave. If you’re finished ignoring me, that is.”

  Jake turned so he stood in front of her. “We’re not ignoring you, Molly, but you have to remain quiet until you’re addressed. And, no, you may not have the rest of your clothing.”

  She gaped up at him in shock. “I think I want to leave.”

  Jake leaned down and grasped her chin, raising her face. “You came here for a reason, Molly.”

  “Because I thought I’d like it. But I didn’t enjoy what just happened. I don’t think I’m submissive.”

  Jake was silent for a moment and when he took a step back she thought he was going to let her go. Then he lowered his brows.

  “On your knees, sub. Now.”

  No one was more shocked than Molly to find she’d slipped off the bench and onto her knees without a thought.

  “What-what just happened?” She stared up at them both in confusion.

  “You are submissive,” Saxon told her. “Your instincts were right about your needs. But sometimes what you think you want isn’t what you need. Under the right circumstances, you’ll submit beautifully, but you have to learn to let go. Sometimes our heads get in the way, and we need to listen to our body more. What’s your head say right now?”

  “That I should get up, flip you both the bird, and storm off.”

  Both men gave her stern looks. Hmm, probably not what a good submissive would say.

  “Are you sure you’re being honest with yourself?” Saxon asked.

  Damn him. No, she wasn’t. She looked at Jake uneasily. This wasn’t something she wanted to admit, especially in front of him.

  “Molly,” Saxon warned. “I asked a question. I don’t usually have to ask twice, and you won’t like it if I do.”

  She thought about challenging him, but that dark glint in his eyes told her it was probably a stupid idea. Molly was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them.

  Her traitorous body wanted more but it wasn’t just a physical reaction. She liked Jake, she was attracted to him. And this was something she’d been interested in for a long time.

  “I want more,” she muttered.

  Saxon raised one eyebrow. “I think you thought you’d come here and maybe get an erotic little spanking. A bit of slap and tickle.”

  Slap and tickle, really?

  “But you never really intended to submit, did you? Anyone can give you a spanking, sweetheart. But a Dom is going to want your submission. When your experience didn’t match your expectations and you started to feel uncomfortable and upset instead of using your safeword you decided to just suffer through. Why is that?”

  “Because it was my fault. He did exactly what I
asked him to.”

  “So, you were still trying to control the situation. You’d withdrew into yourself where he couldn’t reach you. Now, you can run away and lick your wounds, or you can be brave and try again. But this time you need to be honest with your Dom. Tell him your true limits. If he asks you how you’re doing, you tell the truth. And if you need to, use your safeword.”

  “I don’t think he’ll want to scene with me again.” She worried at her lip. Could she do this again? Could she truly let go?

  “Oh, I’m not pairing you with Mark, sub.” Saxon turned to Jake. “She’s all yours. I’ll have the contract brought over.”

  He walked away, leaving her gaping at his back. Then she looked up at Jake.

  “He can’t just leave me to you.” She wasn’t some pawn to be given away.

  “He can and he just did. But you have the option to use your safeword and leave. Are you sure you want to walk away without knowing, though? Because you could spend the rest of your life wondering what if, and, believe me, that’s no fun. This is like falling off a horse. You get back on immediately or you probably never will again.”

  No, she wouldn’t be back if she left now. And the idea of playing with Jake . . . well, it both terrified and excited her. Was she brave enough to do this? No regrets!

  “I’ll stay.”

  “Good.” His expression didn’t change at all. Was he happy or upset? Damn stoic man. Couldn’t he show a little emotion? She started to wonder if she’d made the right choice when he gave her a smile.

  “It’ll be okay, Molly. I know it’s hard to trust, but will you give it a try. For tonight?”

  She licked her lips. “I do. I mean, I will. I do trust you, Jake.”

  A look of satisfaction filled his face. “Good, because I promise I’m not going to let you fall.”