by Lexi Blake
Taggart smiled. “It is that. I built this place to be a safe haven. For me and my wife and my friends. How’s my friend treating you?”
She didn’t even try to hold back the glow she felt. “Master T is wonderful. He’s been very good to me.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” His eyes were on the scene playing out to their left. They flared briefly, as though he was seeing something truly amazing, but she refused to look that way. Maybe Master T wouldn’t see it, but she wasn’t going to risk hurting him that way.
“Thank you so much for having me here. I know you don’t take many applicants.”
“Thank you for all your money. I hear you’re only going to use a portion of your yearly fee.”
That was something she was thinking about. “I don’t know. I’ve been ruminating on how to deal with it. I think I’m going to let it ride for now. We’ve got a month or so before I need to decide. I like Master T. He’s making me wonder if I shouldn’t stay here in the States.”
Taggart’s blue eyes were suddenly on her. “Are you serious?”
He didn’t believe her? “Yes. I really like him. I’m glad we had that three weeks to get to know each other. It’s made the rest of our time together so much easier. You did a very good job pairing us. I think we’re really compatible.”
“Of course. We consider a lot of factors when we pair Doms and subs.” His face split in a grin. “Actually we roll the dice and you two looked pretty hot together, so that seemed to be a good way to go.”
He was an ass, but a likable one. “Good to know.”
He was quiet for a moment, but it was an oddly companionable silence. Faith liked quiet. She could tell as much about a person from their silences as she could from their words. Ian Taggart was comfortable with himself, with his space. He owned the space around him, but not in a super-aggressive way. More like a benevolent king watching over his kingdom.
Up ahead, a woman approached Ten. She was dressed in what looked like a latex bodysuit.
“I thought you could be good for him,” Taggart said finally.
She looked over to the big blond Dom. “Really? How could you know?”
“Theo. I asked his opinion. I trust my brother’s instincts and I’ve read all the information on your background. In my business, you learn to size people up fairly quickly. I thought you could be very good for Master T. He’s had it rough.”
“I know. He had a hard start to life, but he seems fairly undamaged by it.” Master T seemed willing to accept affection in a way some people wouldn’t after being abandoned as a small child. He was charming and open.
“He buries a lot, Faith. Don’t think you see everything. There’s a hell of a lot of pain bubbling under his surface. Just take care.”
“Did he ever find her?” It was something she’d been wondering about.
“Who?”
“His mother.” She glanced back and the woman was still talking to Master T, thrusting out her chest.
“No,” Taggart said. “At least not that I know of. I don’t think he ever looked. He slipped through the cracks of the system, but he was adopted as a teenager. He has a sister. You met her this morning.”
And that adoption might have been what saved him. “Yes, Phoebe’s lovely. I like her a lot.”
“Has he mentioned his brother?”
She shook her head. “Brother? No. I didn’t know he had one. I only knew about Phoebe.”
“Ah, well, that would be one of those things bubbling under the surface. Forget I said anything. That’s his story to tell. Just know that you’re welcome here at Sanctum. Whatever happens between you and Master T, you’re a member now. You have rights. Oh, and you should probably go deal with that.”
Her jaw dropped. That woman was putting her hands on Master T. She was looking up at him and obviously pleading some kind of case because she was acting like a supplicant. Anger flared. God, she was jealous. She’d never been jealous before. Not like this, and she was stuck with the rules of the club. “I suppose I should let him handle it.”
“Only if you want every woman here to think you’re a door mat. Sorry, I mean that in the most politic way possible, but you should know the subs here at Sanctum aren’t exactly big on letting other women paw their men.”
That was good to know. The other clubs she’d been at had been a bit harder core, and the subs weren’t permitted to solve things on their own. It was the one thing she’d disliked. Sanctum, it seemed, valued its submissive members and their rights. And it was her right to kick some ass.
“Doc, if you break her, are you going to fix her?” Taggart was grinning from ear to ear as though he was really enjoying himself.
Damn Hippocratic Oath. “Yes. But I won’t use pain meds.”
“You’re going to fit in here, Doc.”
She stalked toward her prey, aware that every eye was on her.
Master T took a step back from the girl in front of him. Even from where she stood, she could feel the arctic blast from his stare.
“I simply wanted to offer myself to you, Master,” the woman said, her voice shaking prettily. She was a thin thing, her body graceful and lovely.
“If you touch me again, I’ll see you thrown out of this club. Is that clear?”
The sub went to her knees. “Please don’t, Master.”
“Sir. He’s Sir to you,” Faith said.
Ten’s head whirled around. It was obvious he hadn’t seen her standing there. For a second, she wondered if she wasn’t about to get into serious trouble. She would have allowed Roger to handle a clingy sub in a heartbeat, but she was rapidly realizing she hadn’t been invested in Roger. Not at all. She’d started this whole relationship because it would be relaxing and an amusing way to spend a few months. There was nothing relaxing about the ache in her gut at the thought that Master T might tell her to go away, might punish her.
He held his hand out, gesturing her forward. “Faith, I was about to explain to Shawna that I am not available.”
“But you trained me,” Shawna said with a pout.
“No. I worked with you on a few occasions, as did several of the other Doms. Now I’ve explained that I won’t play with you in the future. I have a submissive.”
Shawna wasn’t letting go. “I don’t understand this place. You’re the Dom. You can play with whoever you like. Tell your sub to accept it.”
“My sub is very good with a scalpel, so I’ll ignore your advice. Perhaps you should find another club. We don’t play that way here. Our submissives are cherished. Even if Faith wanted to invite others to play with us, I would refuse because she’s mine. And if she’s mine, that means I’m hers, and I won’t accept other hands on my body. So go.”
The man with sandy blond hair named Kai strode up and put his hands on Shawna’s shoulders. “Hey, why don’t we go somewhere and talk for a bit? I’ve explained that I’ll help you find a Dom, but you have to be patient. Why don’t you go to the bar and I’ll call your sister to come down.”
Shawna stood, her eyes teary, but there was some anger in there, too. “Of course, Master Kai.”
Master Kai winced as she strode away. “I’m sorry, Ten. She’s a handful, but she’s my assistant’s sister. Kori is an important member of the club, so we allowed her sister in, though she’s obviously got some issues. I hope she didn’t ruin your evening.”
Ten shook his head. “Not at all. We were about to go upstairs.”
There was a tightening to Kai’s face she didn’t understand. It was only for a second and then his face was wiped clean and a blank, polite expression took root. “Enjoy yourselves.”
She started to turn to watch him walk away, but Master T drew her attention back to him.
“You didn’t stay where I left you,” he said, his lips curling up.
“She was molesting you.”
He stared down at her. “And you were going to ride in on your white horse and save me? I think I like that. But it also gives me a very thin excuse to punis
h you in a way I think is going to please us both, so thank you on both fronts, darlin’. I think we should play a game.”
That got her heart rate up. “What kind of game?”
“The kind where I torture you and you scream for me. Come on. I want you to myself.”
He held her hand as he led her to the elevator. Faith felt her heart beating hard in her chest and knew deep down that this night would change everything.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Faith felt the slightest bit vulnerable as she stepped into the privacy room. Like everything at Sanctum, it looked like it had been designed with care and thought. There was a large, four-poster bed and someone had prepped it. The comforter had been turned down and there were ropes already attached to the ones on the headboard. A crop lay on top of what looked like soft sheets.
She had to force herself to swallow. He was going to tie her up and use that crop on her body.
“What’s your safe word, Faith? I have zero intentions of making you use it tonight, but I need to hear it. I need to know you’ll use it if you feel frightened.”
“My safe word is red, but I’m not frightened. Not really, but I will use it. I have before. I’m not one of those subs who thinks it’s something to be ashamed of.”
His face hardened. “When did you have to use it?”
“My old Dom spanked me a little too hard. When it got too rough, I safeworded and we talked. He apologized, though he didn’t need to. Everything went the way it was supposed to. We found my limit and he respected it from there on.”
“Did he bruise you? I don’t mind some redness, but I prefer not to bruise my submissives. I want to know if you think I’m leaving marks.”
“All right.”
They stood there for a moment. This was the first time she’d been utterly alone with him. No one could interrupt and there was nothing to stop them from taking the next step. This was what she wanted, but now she hesitated. She’d spent three weeks getting to know him, another few days in his actual presence. What had begun as something casual felt more intimate.
“Don’t be afraid of me.” He crowded her, his hands finding her hair and tangling in it. He gently tugged on it, pulling her back so she had to look into his eyes. “I’ll take care of you. As much as I can, I promise you that.”
It sounded solemn, like he was making an oath to her, and she couldn’t help but respond. He was giving her a safe place to play and explore and be the Faith she so rarely was.
It didn’t mean she had to get her heart ripped out. No one could know what would happen in the future, but Faith knew the future didn’t happen at all if she never took a leap.
“I’ll take care of you, too. I want to spend this time with you. I want it more than you can know.” She went on her toes and brushed her lips against his. He had a slight five-o’clock shadow, and she loved how the bristles felt against her skin.
“I want to show you something first. You should know what you’re getting into. You didn’t get a chance to really see them before. I want you to take a good look.” He stepped back and pulled off his vest, turning so she could see his back.
She couldn’t help her startled intake of breath. His back was a maze of scars, a collection of all the ways this man had been abused. Ian Taggart’s words floated back through her head. There was a wealth of pain bubbling under Master T’s calm surface.
He stood there, his back to her. His shoulders slumped slightly as though he’d felt the weight of that gasp, had expected it and was already accepting her choice.
Except she was fairly certain he didn’t understand her choice at all. She moved to him and immediately placed her hands on his ruined back, her fingertips tracing the scars.
“You were burned.”
“Yes,” he replied, his voice gravelly.
He’d likely been young because the cigarette burns looked older than the rest. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t seen before, but it always made her heart ache. It hurt more because she knew this man. “Foster care?”
“I had some good and some bad. That was a bad one, but if you look a couple of inches down, you’ll see a scar I got when I was trying to get through a barbed wire fence. I got stuck and the man who found me was one of the finest men I ever met.”
“He found you?”
“Like I said, I was stuck and I wasn’t moving. Barbed wire hurts like hell. Papa Jack. He took in kids from time to time. His wife made the best pie in the world. He was a former Marine and I learned more about American history and how to serve my country from that man than I did from years in…the Army. I still miss that old man.”
“What happened to him?”
“Cancer,” Ten explained. “Child services wouldn’t let him keep me when he got sick. I got sent to a group home after that. I just wanted you to know that it wasn’t all bad. I had some good people in my life, too.”
Those good people had obviously served to shape him into the man he’d become. She ran her fingers over some surgical scars. “Knife wound?”
He nodded slowly, but offered nothing else.
She moved down his torso, studying each scar, marveling at the strength of the man that could take such pain and still stand.
Master T’s body was strong, but sometimes even the strongest bodies housed souls in need.
“I think you’re beautiful.” She leaned over and kissed his back, moving along his spine. She let her hands move, palms against his skin. She’d thought the wrong words. His flesh wasn’t ruined, merely transformed by pain. There was still such beauty to it. She’d learn to find it everywhere. There was beauty in the worst scars, in places she’d never imagined beauty could take root.
“Thank you, Faith. I’m sure you’ve seen worse.” He turned, obviously happy to have gotten through those moments.
“I have, but I think you’re beautiful. Your body isn’t something I can handle, Master. It’s something I’m coming to crave. Please understand that. Your scars don’t make you less beautiful. They make you more.”
His jaw tightened and she could see he didn’t believe her, but he also didn’t argue. He took a long breath and then the charming smile was back on his face. “I want to see you. Let me get you out of that corset.”
He turned her, brushing her hair off her shoulders. The intimacy that had frightened her before now cocooned them, and she shuddered when he kissed the back of her neck. “You’re the beautiful one.”
His hands began to move, working the laces of her corset with a slightly unpracticed hand. He hesitated as though trying to figure out which thread to pull, but slowly and surely the corset loosened.
She took a deep breath. This was what she loved about putting on her corset. She enjoyed the way it curved and made her look and feel so very feminine, but she always looked forward to this moment when she could breathe again, when she could relax and feel her body shift.
“Lift your arms, darlin’.” When his voice got deep and that Southern accent took over, she couldn’t help but sigh.
She complied and he lifted the corset over her torso, freeing her. She could feel her breasts move, nipples puckering, and then she was standing half naked in front of him. She remained still. Her back was to him, but he would tell her when he wanted her to turn. This was his time. He got to rule in the bedroom. He’d been courteous and kind, allowing her to take the lead in their conversations. It had been odd at first because her old Dom had dominated any talk with his own stories. He’d taken the whole Dom/sub thing seriously, which was why she’d never considered a full-time relationship, but Master T didn’t seem to need it.
Which was likely why she was considering staying with him past their prescribed expiration date.
His hands came around from behind, cupping her breasts and making Faith sigh. Her skin felt electrified. Every molecule of her body seemed to come alive for him.
“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for someone like you?” His breath was warm against her ear.
She leaned back int
o him. “At least as long as I waited for you.”
He chuckled as his thumbs ran over her nipples, stiffening them further. “Not at all. You’ve had a Dom before. How long did you have a Dom?”
“A couple of years, but only for a few weeks at a time,” she answered honestly. And then what he’d said really penetrated her brain. “How many subs have you taken?”
“Not a one. You’re the first, sweetheart. You’re absolutely the first woman I’ve desperately wanted to top.” His tongue ran along the shell of her ear.
How was that possible? And yet it made a kind of sense. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. Why did you get into the lifestyle?”
His hands moved down over her shoulders and to her waist before moving up her torso again. He didn’t seem to be in a hurry, preferring to take it slow and easy. “I’ve been surrounded by it for a long time, but I kind of resisted it. What can I say? I’m stubborn.”
She sighed back against him as his big palms cupped her breasts. His warmth surrounded her. “What made you change your mind?”
He breathed her in, his thumbs rasping over her already stiff nipples. “I think watching Tag get so invested in building this place made me think I should give it a try. It wasn’t like I had tons of control in my relationships before. And none of them worked. I’m like every other man in the world. I’m looking for something that works. Now turn around and let me look at you.”
His hands were gone, his warmth taken away as she heard him move behind her. When she turned, he was sitting in the lone chair in the room—a comfy-looking thing she could imagine straddling him on. He was truly delicious with his strong chest on display while leather pants and boots covered the rest of his body.
He was clothed and she wore nothing but her heels, fishnets, and a tiny thong she was sure she was about to lose. She wasn’t sure why, didn’t care to delve deep into her psyche, but this feeling of vulnerability did something for her. It only worked when she wasn’t really vulnerable. She knew what it meant to have her life hanging in the balance, but this fantasy always got her blood pumping.
