“What’s the difference between a Dominant and a top?” Nikki asked, relaxing a little for the first time. Maybe she could learn to deal with this stuff.
“A top is someone who is in charge of a scene,” Allie explained. “If I were flogging Brad, I would be the top. If we were sitting in the public area and he was giving me a foot rub or bringing me food, I’d be his Dominant. The term top refers to one scene, or a preference. The term Dominant can be used for anything from one scene to a lifetime commitment. Master is usually reserved for a very intense commitment. It can also be a term of respect given in recognition of accomplishment and service to the community. Even if someone is generally referred to as Master So-and-So, it doesn’t mean you have to call them Master. At a party, Sir would work fine and some don’t mind if you use their regular scene names. If they insist on being called Master, it usually means they don’t deserve the title.”
The back door open flew open and Dante came in. Nikki gasped a little. He was wearing nothing but jogging shorts and shoes, his hair pulled back and his muscles glistening with sweat.
“Good run?” Allie got up to pour him some orange juice from the fridge. She also poured glasses for herself and Nikki and checked the dish in the oven.
“Great. Thanks.” Dante took the glass from her and grinned at Nikki. “Morning. Sleep well?”
“Not very,” Nikki mumbled, feeling her face go hot again remembering last night. God, she was really going to have to toughen up if she was going to hang out with this crowd.
“Breakfast will be ready in half an hour,” Allie told him, glancing at Nikki with a suddenly worried frown. “But Kane said he probably wouldn’t be down until ten.”
* * * *
Dante and Nikki were sitting at the dining room table at quarter after ten when Kane stumbled down the staircase. He groaned internally when he saw Nikki’s face, a self-righteous scowl proclaiming her displeasure. Great. Now she was going to turn into one of those early-bird-gets-the-worm people.
Her mouth opened and he held up a hand as he went past. “Not before I’ve had my coffee. Please.” He continued into the kitchen, feeling her eyes boring holes through him. If the coffee ran right out his back and trailed along the floor behind him it would be her fault. He hoped Allie made her mop it up. What a waste of a good cup of joe that would be. Shameless, really.
He came back out a few minutes later with a nice steaming mug and a couple pieces of toast. Nikki was practically snorting flames as she sneered at his “Write drunk. Edit sober” T-shirt. “Do you always sleep this late? How are we expected to get any work done? We’ve got to redo the first scene and brainstorm the next one—”
She stopped as he picked up a folder from the hall table and tossed it in front of her. He sat down. “For your information, I do my best writing late. There’s the scene we saw last night, without the commentary, of course. I also went through the one you wrote yesterday and made some suggestions. It actually wasn’t bad, although if you ever sneak in another trust-fund CEO on me, I will personally shove him down your throat.”
She stared at him openmouthed for a moment, then slowly reached out and took out the manuscript.
Kane turned to Dante. “So I’m thinking we’re going to need to make another run to that liquor store in town before tonight. I already went through all the wine, and I see many, many sleepless and frustrating hours in my future. Maybe we should see if they deliver and put them on speed dial.” He looked over at Nikki and was pretty sure her lips twitched a little as she read.
“Sure, man.” Dante glanced between them as if trying to figure out whether or not to be worried, but when Nikki didn’t react, he grinned. “You guys are going to be a hoot to work with.”
“Oh, yeah. It’ll be a carnival.” Kane gave him a wry smile in return. “You know, I’m really glad you’re here. I may need a corroborating witness to get away with a plea of justifiable homicide.”
Nikki was completely engrossed in her assignment and didn’t even look up.
Dante leaned forward and grinned broadly at Kane. “I finished your first book this morning. Brilliant!”
“Thanks. I wouldn’t have pegged you for a romance fan, though.” Kane took another sip of coffee and raised his eyebrows.
“Well, not before this, no, and to be fair I wouldn’t have guessed you were, either,” Dante admitted. “But I think I’m getting a good idea of what you’re doing and I like it. I’ve got the next five on my Nook ready to go.”
“Wow. Thanks.” Kane considered him. He really was beginning to enjoy Dante’s company. He had a feeling he was going to need an ally while he and Nikki figured out how to work together. Romance writing was such a female-dominated industry that having another male viewpoint might come in very, very handy.
Nikki finished and looked up at him, all signs of the harridan that had been waiting for him gone. Her eyes were hopeful. “You really thought it was okay?”
“Yeah, I did.” He leaned back and sipped his coffee. “Even though we obviously disagree on the definition of the word ‘regular.’ I’ll have to buy you a dictionary for Christmas. You, of course, will be buying me an island to thank me for turning you into a runaway bestselling author right out of the gate. I, however, will hire my own helicopter pilot. Your guy’s hopeless.”
Something that sounded like a chuckle came from her as she bent her head over the scene he’d written last night. He waited patiently as she read through it, watching in amusement as the color rose in her cheeks.
“Well? What do you think?”
She put it down, visibly steeling herself to meet his eyes. “It’s great. You really captured the essence of what we saw.”
“Do you have any edits to make to it?”
“No.” Her voice was hesitant.
“But?”
She paused, looking down at her lap. “But I’m realizing the difference between reading about kinky sex scenes and actually writing them.”
“Or experiencing them.” He made his voice as gentle as possible, smiling when her face went even redder.
“Do you think—” her voice caught.
He waited.
“Do I really need to try that stuff?” It came out in a squeak.
He let his chair come back to all fours and leaned forward, making it obvious that he was waiting for her to look at him again. When she finally did, he nodded in approval. “It isn’t absolutely necessary, no, but it would be a good idea. You have a decent imagination and an excellent way with words and I’m sure you could bluff your way through it. But why not try it for yourself? If you aren’t at least a little intrigued, why do you want to write it? It’ll be a lot easier and much more meaningful if you know what you’re writing about.”
“Can I say something?” Dante sounded hesitant, as if he might get in trouble for disrupting their process.
“Of course, man.” Kane nodded at him. “We definitely need your input here.”
“I don’t want to interrupt—”
“Not at all. Interruptions are very welcome at this point. Come two in the morning when my muse is up and working, I may stab you with a pen. But for now, interrupt away.”
“Did you put something in that coffee?” Nikki looked suspiciously at the mug he was nursing.
“Not yet,” he told her sternly. “Now listen to Dante. He’s obviously more awake than I am and I think he’s got his head on straight. It would be good if at least one of us did.”
She narrowed her eyes but remained silent. Dante looked between them both, then settled on Nikki. “I think it would be a really good idea for you to try some of this stuff. I just wanted to offer, in case you’re interested, to help you get a little experience. I’d be happy to learn to tie you up.”
“Hey!” Kane had to stop himself from jumping to his feet, fists clenched. Maybe he’d been too quick to change his opinion.
The look on Nikki’s face stopped him. She was staring in horror at Dante, who gave Kane an apologetic shrug.
“Sorry, dude. Didn’t mean to step on any toes. I just thought she might be more comfortable with me. You’re a little intimidating, you know?”
Kane forced himself to calm down. Nikki certainly didn’t look like she was about to take Dante up on his offer. That might be a good sign. Of course she hadn’t shown any signs of wanting to do anything with him, either, but that could wait. The most important thing was the book right now. If they couldn’t work together, there wasn’t any point in trying any other kind of relationship. He needed a cowriter more than he needed a girlfriend.
Or did he? She was obviously submissive, even if she wasn’t aware of it yet. Maybe if they got involved it would be easier to work together. Then there would be less of this attitude from her, as if she had to assert herself before he started oppressing her or something.
“If she wants to experiment, wouldn’t it be better to do it with someone who’s more familiar with BDSM?” Kane asked reasonably.
“I don’t know,” Dante countered. “It seems like—”
Suddenly Nikki was on her feet. “I’m still here, you know,” she said, sounding genuinely angry. “Don’t you think I should decide for myself who I want to play with—if anybody?”
They both stared at her. “I was just saying—” Dante began again, but Nikki’s face was bright red and she seemed to be shaking as she grabbed up her papers and turned away from them.
She stopped at the doorway and spoke over her shoulder. “Please refrain from deciding who I am or am not going to sleep with while I’m gone. I’d like to be part of that conversation.”
Chapter 8
Nikki picked at her lunch, trying not to look at Kane sitting across from her. She’d spent the remainder of the morning in her room, trying to come up with plot ideas for the book, but it hadn’t gone well. She was so intimidated by Kane that nothing seemed to be good enough to present to him. This was ridiculous.
For a few minutes this morning, she’d had hope that the partnership might work. He’d said that her writing was good, even though he hadn’t really liked the characters she’d come up with. But then he’d taken her characters and written a beautiful sex scene, complete with all of the elements Allie and her guys had done the night before. He’d even asked for her critique of his writing. There was no way that was going to happen. He’d been a little mean during their discussion, but she’d begun to suspect that was his way of joking around.
She could deal with that, if she knew that he respected her as a writing partner. But they just weren’t there yet. Then to have them start arguing over who she should experiment with. That was just too much.
If she allowed herself to, she could have been flattered. Kane had obviously been offended that Dante offered to do a scene with her. Did that mean he wanted her for himself?
No, it couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible. He had to be ten years younger than her, successful, and he was gorgeous. Why wasn’t his girlfriend with him?
Dante came out of the kitchen. He plopped himself down next to her, sipping on some oddly-colored drink. “So, what’s the plan for this afternoon?”
Kane shrugged. “Since somebody went off in a huff this morning before we could do any brainstorming, I think that’s what we’ve got to work on. We might as well start now. Nikki, do you have any ideas about where you want the book to go?”
Nikki took a deep breath. Why was he expecting her to come up with all the ideas? He was the experienced writer here. Maybe he was testing her. She tried to think through all the writing books she’d read over the last few years.
“Well, we need some motivation for the main character,” she began.
“You’ve already started to set that up,” Kane reminded her. “Remember, she has a young daughter that she’s afraid is going to be taken away from her?”
“You want to use that?”
“Of course. It was a good start. She’s recently divorced, moved to a new city, and got a job with our tall, handsome, and oh-so-rich CEO, who may or may not be a secret deviant. Now, who or what is going to try to take her daughter away?”
When she didn’t answer, he turned to Dante. “Care to help us brainstorm? A fresh perspective is always good.”
“Can I read what you’ve got so far?” Dante looked eager.
Nikki realized with a start that the first scene was upstairs in her trash can. Oops. She’d thrown it away thinking that Kane didn’t like it. Now she remembered that he hadn’t actually said that. He’d seemed to like it for the most part, but because she was mad she’d assumed that everything they’d done previously was junk.
“I’ll go get it,” she said, jumping to her feet.
“You can finish your lunch first,” Dante offered, but she was almost to the staircase already, an irrational fear taking hold of her that Allie would have emptied her trash and the papers, along with Kane’s suggestions, would be gone forever.
When she came back, Kane and Dante were discussing possible plot points in very serious tones.
“No, I don’t think a kidnapping would be a good idea,” Kane was saying. “I like to stress the emotional aspects of the relationship, and that would be too much of a distraction.”
“That’s what I love about your books,” Nikki heard herself saying. Both of the men turned to her. “I don’t mind a good suspense story, but you do such a good job showing people’s motivations and how they change, your stories don’t need all the drama.”
She sat down and handed the pages to Dante, taking the opportunity to finish her sandwich while he read. Kane reached under the table and brought out his iPod and speakers. He shrugged at her raised eyebrows and started the music.
“I like it,” Dante said finally, putting the pages down. “Your character Laura is likeable, even though she’s obviously deluded about men.”
“Really? Why do you say that?” Nikki turned to him in surprise.
“Well, because she’s assuming that since—Dirk, was it?—is rich and handsome that he’s only going to go for supermodels.”
Kane grinned at Nikki’s expression. “Go on.”
“That is so not always the case.” Dante sounded like this was a soap box he got on regularly. “Yes, on television it’s always the tiny little women that get the guy. In real life, though, beautiful women come in all sizes and shapes. Only the really shallow guys don’t see that.”
Nikki suddenly couldn’t look at either of them. There seemed to be an unspoken comment hanging in the air. If either one of them said, “Look at you. You’re not skinny, but you’re attractive enough,” she was going to scream and go throw up.
“It’s not a bad assumption to start with, though,” Kane said finally. “If she’s convinced that Dirk and—who was your goofy pilot? Alan?—Alan couldn’t possibly love her because she’s not anorexic, we have one conflict area already. They’ll have to convince her that she’s desirable. But that’ll come later. Speaking of later, we still need to make these two into regular guys somehow.”
“Don’t we need some kind of external conflict?” Nikki asked, desperate to get off the topic of desirable women.
“We could do that,” Kane conceded. “Something that she does or is involved in that will look bad.”
“Like BDSM,” Nikki said. “Allie said that people can easily lose their kids if they’re outed for being kinky.”
Kane frowned. “Maybe, but it’s way too early in the book for her to discover that she’s kinky. She can get involved with it later. But we need more for the beginning.”
They sat there while Allie came out and took their plates and brought them coffee. For another hour, they came up with mediocre ideas and suggestions, always shot down by Kane. Nothing else seemed to please him, and nothing sparked any new ideas in any of them.
Finally, Kane reached over and turned off his iPod. “This isn’t working,” he said. “I’m going to teach you a trick. Let’s go outside. Dante, you’re welcome to come, too.”
Exchanging a look, Nikki and
Dante followed him out the front door and around the side of the house to the back yard.
Nikki wanted badly to ask if he was taking them to the barn for a kinky scene and to let him know in no uncertain terms that she was not ready for that kind of thing. But then she was glad she hadn’t said anything as he led them to the trailhead at the back of the lawn.
Kane stopped and looked down at their feet. “Sorry, I should have asked if you had suitable shoes for hiking.”
“Hiking?” Nikki stared in horror at the path that led down between the trees in a fairly steep incline. She hadn’t been hiking in years, and had never been particularly athletic.
“Yes, hiking,” Kane said firmly. “When you’re out of wine, you have to improvise. Getting out and doing something physical is the next best thing to stimulate ideas.”
“I like it,” Dante said enthusiastically. “Not that I have anything against wine.”
“Of course not,” Kane said. “Who would? But then you take the chance of being labeled a drunk who throws empty bottles out the window at noisy neighborhood kids.”
Nikki shot him a look, trying to decide if he was joking or not.
Dante laughed. “That sounds like it should be in a book.”
Kane had the grace to look embarrassed. “Not yet. The community service is done, but not the time on the deferred sentence. I have to wait until that’s up, but then I guarantee there is a judge who will meet a creative and very painful end in a novel.”
Nikki felt a need to get him out of that conversation, although she wasn’t really sure why. “I’m not really up for a hike.”
“Of course you are,” Kane said with a grateful look. “Don’t worry. We can carry you back if you don’t make it.” He led the way into the forest and Dante swept a hand for her to go ahead of him.
Writes of Submission Page 7
