Jace shook his head. “It’s been five fucking years. Won’t people let that go?”
“Sorry, man. I shouldn’t have gone there.” Aaron lifted his ball cap and scratched the top of his shaved head. “I thought enough time had passed that we could, you know, joke about it.”
Considering Jace hadn’t made up with Eagan after their father passed away, he really didn’t want to talk about his brother.
“Did you come in here for something?” Jace went to a window and twirled the wand to the blinds that covered them to open them.
Workers filled the small subdivision, moving back and forth to the various houses in different states of completion. They all looked great. He needed people to buy them.
“Apparently I didn’t come in my office to see you for your wit and sparkling personality.” Aaron stood. “Since you’re here, I can ask you about a couple of things. You have any plans for that building outside of Town Center?”
Jace turned to Aaron. “The one in Virginia Beach?”
Aaron nodded.
Aaron started working for Jace nearly fifteen years ago, when he first started his building company. Back then, he did small jobs: additions, renovations, repairs, handyman work. As he saved money, his business grew and grew until he made C.J. Morton Builders the top residential construction company in the Tidewater area of Virginia. With all Jace had been through to get to this point, he wondered why his employee questioned him on a piece of property.
“Why are you asking?” Jace rested his hands on his hips.
Aaron shrugged.
“No, don’t do that. You asked me for a reason. I want to know what it is.”
The window unit whistled as it pumped cool air into the small trailer. It felt good in the middle of a hot summer day.
“Okay, I was approached by a developer. He’s offering top dollar for it.”
Jace felt like he’d been punched in his gut. “Why would you be discussing my business with anyone else?”
Aaron took a step back. “I wasn’t. Like I said, the cat approached me. Besides, last I heard, we’ve only sold one house in here, and we’re building twenty. The real estate market is turning, but not that much.”
Jace took a decided step forward. “Have I ever not paid you or paid you late?” Heat simmered at his feet nestled inside his expensive leather shoes and eased up his body.
“No.” Aaron shook his head.
“Have I ever said my business was in trouble or laid anyone off?” The flames licked at his thighs as it made its way up his body.
“Never.”
“If you ever come in here with suggestions on how I should run my thriving business, you will be out, understand?”
Aaron tilted his head back and walked backwards to the door. “Understood. I figured after so many years, you would respect my opinion.”
Jace didn’t say anything to the man who he’d found as a day laborer in front of a hardware store so many years ago. He should have trusted Aaron. Jace shared with him what he would have told to Eagan.
Aaron rested his hand on the doorknob. “Since you are in town, Cherryce wanted me to invite you to dinner.”
Now Jace felt like an asshole. Aaron’s wife had been nothing but kind to him and looked out for him like a brother. “Let me see how the day plays out. I’ll let you know.”
Aaron nodded before he turned to the door.
“Hey, wait.” Jace walked toward his employee.
“Yeah?”
“She didn’t invite anyone else over, did she?”
Aaron stared at Jace for a beat before turning away.
“Damn it, man. I don’t need to be fixed up.” Jace shook his head.
“Cherryce thinks if you had someone in your life, you might…” Aaron trailed off.
“Might what?”
Aaron exhaled. “Relax a little. You’ve been a little high strung lately. Snapping at people and thinking about smoking again.” He pointed to the desk.
Jace felt his shoulders bunching up around his ears. “They’re not even my cigarettes. They’re yours. You should consider quitting, too.” At this point, his body felt like flames surrounded him. Here he thought not living with his mother he would have avoided awkward conversations like this.
“Now you sound like my lady.” Aaron scratched his chin. “We’re concerned about you. I haven’t seen you with a girl—”
“Woman,” Jace said, interrupting Aaron.
“Since Michelle, the cute chick with the short haircut that was swept off to the side and them lips.” Aaron licked his like a dog ready to eat a rare steak.
“Don’t make me call your wife.” Jace wagged his finger at Aaron.
Aaron waved his hand in front of Jace. “No need. Honey and I talked about you two. She liked Michelle. It impressed me that you were down with the swirl.”
Jace felt his eyebrows crawl to each other like a meeting of the minds. “What?”
“You know.” Aaron pointed at him. “White dude. Black girl.”
“Woman.”
“Right. Put the two together.” Aaron moved his hand around as though stirring an invisible pot of Kool-Aid. “Swirl.”
“I didn’t go out with her because of some saying. I liked her.” Too bad Michelle didn’t dig being tied up or spanked.
She had allowed him to take some liberties with her one night, thinking Jace wanted to do something kinky. When he’d tried to incorporate his BDSM side into their relationship again, she couldn’t take it. It didn’t help that she’d known about his brother’s damn show.
“A family of freaks,” was what Michelle had called Jace and Eagan.
Since then, Jace had kept to himself. No use dragging anyone else into his personal hell. “Check on your crew. Let me know about the tile.”
“And dinner?” Aaron quickly added.
“If I show up and there’s someone there I don’t know, I’m walking right out.”
“Fine. You still heading out of town tomorrow?” Aaron opened the door.
A rush of hot air filled the trailer.
“Depends. If I know everything is cool here, I’ll head out to Arizona tomorrow for a couple of weeks, then Florida for another few weeks. I’m trying to go national.”
“Trust me. Everything will be fine. I’ll look after things here.”
Jace shook his head. “I didn’t get where I am by trusting a whole lot of people.”
Aaron snickered. “Wow. Whatever, man.” He started to step out of the trailer when he stopped and backed up. “Come on in.”
Jace looked at the doorway to see who Aaron had ushered into the office space. As soon as he saw Ananda’s smiling face, he couldn’t help but see his brother. She hugged Aaron first.
“Good to see you. How’s Cherryce?” she asked as she patted his shoulder.
“The same, ornery but fine as hell.” Aaron smiled. He peered over at Jace. “Hope you can cheer your bro-in-law up.”
“Get back to work.” Jace pointed out the door.
“See.” Aaron nodded toward Jace. “Talk to you later.” He closed the door behind himself.
Jace remained in his spot, so Ananda strolled to him with her arms outstretched.
“So good to see you, Jace.” She embraced him.
Jace left his arms dangling by his sides. Even as his sister-in-law hugged him, he thought about their snub a couple of weeks ago when they couldn’t be bothered to see Jace at the awards dinner. Jace had been to Eagan’s movie premieres and had even attended a couple of award shows where Eagan’s work had been nominated. Weeks after his event, he hadn’t heard a word from Eagan or Ananda.
Ananda had been kind and sweet. Like Cherryce and Aaron, Ananda had invited Jace over for dinner on occasion, except she never had a surprise waiting for him. She never tried setting him up with anyone. Maybe, unlike Cherryce, Ananda didn’t find Jace to be loveable.
One thing he did have to commend her on despite everything else, he liked the fact that it didn’t take her long
to adjust herself from calling him Christian, something Eagan hadn’t done yet.
“You tracked me down here.” He peered behind her at the door, half expecting it to be flung open, and see Eagan coming through it. “Here alone?”
“I called your office, and your assistant said you would be here.” She pulled back from him. “Eagan is in California promoting Infinity: The Great Beyond. It was such a blessing that the first movie did so well, even after losing Dris Markham.”
Jace stepped back near the desk. Without invitation, Ananda sat in a chair across from it. He kind of hoped her visit would be short and sweet. He didn’t need to hear her making excuses for herself or Eagan. At this point in his life, he wanted to be left alone.
“You didn’t go with him this time?” Jace remembered when Infinity had been released, Ananda had gone with him to all the press junkets.
Of course, Love My Way still had some heat on it since the series had gone on DVD and streaming systems everywhere by that point. As Eagan and Ananda promoted the movie, they also had talked about the show. Jace didn’t watch any of it. To him, Ananda provided Eagan another reason to avoid him.
Ananda shook her head. “Not right away. I have work of my own this time, which is why I’m here.”
“This new project the reason you and Eagan couldn’t make my awards dinner?” Jace glared at her. “Mom was there. I called and left Eagan messages.”
She sighed and kept her gaze down to the floor, probably out of shame. She brought her face up to answer him. “I am so sorry that we missed your event. I thought, though, that Eagan had called you to let you know we wouldn’t be able to make it.”
Jace shook his head. “No, he didn’t.” Then he shrugged. “It’s okay. At this point I’m used to him being a no-show in my life.”
“That’s not fair. He wants to be more involved. He’s—”
Jace stopped her line of excuses for her husband by holding up his hand to her. “Stop. I’m sure he has an excuse. I don’t have time to hear it. So what is it that you’re doing?” Jace couldn’t imagine what Ananda could be there to do or ask.
“I’m going to produce my own show.” She smiled.
Jace understood how Eagan could fall in love with this vision. Her face lit up when she smiled. She had her hair cut to chin length and left shaggy but stylish. Her almond-shaped eyes had him wishing he had a woman with eyes like that who would look at him that way.
He’d heard that Ananda danced professionally and had even choreographed a few numbers on that High Stepper show. Her body showed off her hard work. She kept it trim and lean.
Looking at Ananda had him thinking about the vision he’d encountered at the Cavalier. He normally didn’t go for shorter women, but this one had him thinking twice about his choices. She had her chestnut-colored hair in a bun that he wanted to take down and grab in his fist. Her plain, black dress showed off her curves. She had a full rack that he managed to take a quick peek at while she spoke to him. Her long legs had him imagining what they would be like around his body. Her complexion carried the same shade as a rich cup of coffee with a splash of cream.
Then she talked. If given some time, and if he had the inclination again, he could make her into a great submissive. He didn’t have any interest in getting back into that old life. He snapped out of his thoughts about his mysterious stranger to give Ananda his full attention again.
“So you’re producing now like Eagan?” Jace stood and moved to the other side of the desk. He sat down in the chair. “Why are you here to see me? You have all the Hollywood connections.”
“I need a location. I was hoping to use your huge house in Virginia Beach.” She smiled as though she had mentioned something wonderful.
Jace thought he had misheard Ananda. The same woman who didn’t have time to go to his awards dinner now wanted something from him. He had to hear this. “You want to use my house for filming? Filming what?”
“A new reality TV show.”
Jace snickered. “I hope it’s not another Dom looking for a sub.” He sat back and rocked in the swivel chair. The coils underneath squeaked in rhythm as he moved back and forth.
“No. Not this time.” Her smile softened. “Although for me, it was a great experience. I want to shock viewers like we did the first time.”
“Oh, yeah? How are you going to do that?” Jace stopped rocking for a moment to hear her sales pitch.
“This time, I have a submissive searching for her Dom…or Domme.”
The flames that he felt surrounded him before now died down and had been replaced with thick sheets of ice. “You can’t do that.”
“Yes, I can.” She pointed to him. “And you’re going to help me.”
Jace bolted to his feet, not accustomed to being spoken to like that from anyone. Before he could spout his demands of how he should be addressed, like he stood in a dungeon instead of in the middle of his trailer office, she continued.
“I need a place to shoot and people from the lifestyle.” Ananda clasped her hands together.
“And why would you think I need to help you? Because of who you’re married to?” He started to pace to relieve some anxiety that began to build.
“We are family.”
Her statement halted him in his tracks. “I know what family means. Too bad not everyone does.”
Ananda dropped her gaze. “Eagan understands the importance of family. Believe me. I wish you two would talk. You would see that—”
Not interested in hearing her arguments about why Jace should reconnect with Eagan, he interrupted her speech. “Why not use your home? It was fine to use when Eagan did his show.” Although Jace hadn’t seen it, he heard about it from Eagan when he’d called him and their mother to apologize for being distant after their father passed away.
“I don’t want Master, um, Eagan to know.” She averted her stare for a moment.
Jace didn’t know if Ananda had any acting classes, but she deserved an Oscar for her performance today. The slip, intentional or not, of calling his brother “Master” sparked a reaction in him.
“So you’re not going to be a hands-on producer?” Jace held his hands up.
“I can’t. Not this time. When Eagan comes home, he wants us to go to Greece to scout out locations for his next movie. I had already promised to go with him. If I back out, he’ll know I’m up to something.”
“So wait. You plan on not telling him about this project at all?” Although he liked the idea of keeping Eagan in the dark, it didn’t fit Ananda’s character. She seemed pretty open.
“Not yet. When it’s finished, I want to surprise him.”
“That’s a heck of a surprise. A whole show.”
“I know. I want to show him I can do this. I want him to be proud of me.” She crossed her legs under her long dress. “But in order to pull this off, I need the right players. I have a director.”
“Okay, what about a star? Who’s the sub?” Jace wanted to know if she picked someone he would know from the lifestyle or someone new.
“Her real name is Dorothy Lopez, but on Love My Way, she was known as Meadow.” After making the statement, Ananda stared at Jace as though waiting for him to acknowledge the name. “You don’t know who she is, do you?”
Jace shrugged. “I didn’t watch the show at all. I know people on it because you’ve mentioned them in the past.”
“She was a fan favorite. After the show, fans wanted her to find her Dom. I’ve been after her for weeks, trying to get her to agree. I think I got her last night. She said she’ll meet me for lunch today. Before I meet her, I wanted to be able to say that we have a location to shoot.” She put her hands in prayer form. “Please. I really don’t ask you for much.”
“Neither do I. I asked for support, and didn’t get it.” Jace shook his head. “This is a big one. Using my home to film a reality TV show is huge, especially since I won’t be there.” He went over to the window unit and billowed his shirt to get some cool air against his overhe
ated flesh. “And the reason I said you can’t do it is because, logistically, it won’t work.”
Ananda stood. In her wedge heels, she almost reached Jace’s six-foot-four-inch height. She still had to look up to peer him in his eyes.
“Why do you say that?” She crossed her arms over her chest as though ready for a fight.
“Slaves don’t pick their Masters or Mistresses.”
“I know.” She smiled harder. “That’s why Meadow will go in as a submissive. Submissives have more power. They regulate play during a session. They sit down with prospective Doms and Dommes to see if their style of play is appropriate for them. It would work.”
Ananda had learned a lot in her five years with Eagan. That impressed Jace. He still didn’t like the idea of filming the show at all, and especially, doing it at his house. “So how many people will she have to choose from?”
Before she answered, Ananda reached into her purse and pulled out her tablet. She swiped her finger over the screen and turned it to Jace. “I’m thinking sixteen.”
“Sixteen? You are going to have her ass worn out after the first week.” He laughed, but when he noticed Ananda didn’t share in his joy, he clarified himself. “I’m assuming you’re going to have these Doms—”
“And Dommes.”
“Yes, and Dommes, play with her during the show, right?”
Ananda shook her head. “I have a plan for that. I’ll have house slaves so that Meadow can watch the play.”
“So she’ll never be played with at all?” Not that Jace cared about the show. The more questions he asked, the more intrigued he became.
“No, she will for the final four or so. Until then, she’ll watch. She can see how each Dom plays with different slaves to know which style suits her.” She flicked her finger across the tablet screen. “See. I have each episode planned out. I need a few crucial items.” She stared at him and held her tablet against her chest. “Please.”
“I still don’t see why this can’t be filmed at your house. He’s not going to be there so he won’t know anyway.” He tried staring into her eyes to get the truth, but Ananda kept looking away. “What is it?”
Slave To Love Page 5
