by Lexi Blake
And he wasn’t going to let Logan fuck it up either.
Win Dawson took a long breath and closed the file. “This is a long line of dominoes you’ve set up, Stark.”
Seth had known Win wouldn’t need a lengthy explanation. “Yes and they end in my hostile, but easy takeover of DawComm. I estimate it will take about ten months and a hundred and fifteen million or so, but I can have your company if I want it. I suppose you understand that I wouldn’t keep you around.”
He could see the minute Winter Dawson decided to take him seriously. “What do you want?”
That was the easiest question he’d had all day. “I want Georgia. I intend to marry your sister. I intend to make her my queen, and I won’t allow you to come between us.”
Win frowned. “Wait. You want to marry her? You’re going to marry Georgia and take care of her for the rest of her life?”
“That’s what marriage means.” His parents’ marriage had been a piece of shit, a cold contract between two wealthy people. Seth’s marriage was going to be different. It was going to be about passion and love and friendship, and it was going to be the slightest bit illegal because he wanted a threesome and he intended to have it at any cost.
“Why the fuck didn’t you say that?” Mark asked, rolling his eyes.
“If you’re willing to marry her, we’ll welcome you with open arms, man,” Dare said.
“It’s not as simple as that,” Ben broke in.
“She’s in love with Logan Green.” Chase neatly summed up what should have been his problem.
“I’m counting on it.” If she didn’t love Logan, nothing would work.
Win groaned and let his head hit the desk. “God, I don’t get the ménage thing.”
Mark and Dare shared a high-five. “We do.”
“Oh, because you’re so fucking original,” Chase said, shaking his head.
“We’re the originals,” Ben agreed.
He must be in love if he was willing to deal with these insane idiots, but they weren’t exactly scaring him off. Family was important. He should know since he’d never truly had one. But a man couldn’t pick his family. It tended to be thrust upon him, and the Dawson brothers were going to be his. Luckily, Logan seemed to have liked at least a couple of the Dawsons.
And if Logan hadn’t wanted Georgia, he would sell his company stock for a penny.
Georgia was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. She was curvy and sexy and had a submissive streak that Logan would need. Seth required it, too, but not the way Logan did. Seth would be utterly content to quietly top her without ever acknowledging who was in charge. He would smile and tell the world that he was pussy whipped and happy to be so.
Win’s eyes narrowed, and Seth realized this wasn’t over. “How are you going to handle the whole acting thing?”
The rest of the room groaned.
“She’s still auditioning occasionally. I’ve taken care of it. She was cast in an off-Broadway play, and I managed to get it shut down.”
Ben frowned. “She got cast and you shut it down?”
“The director is known for fucking his actresses and tossing them aside. He cast her as Lady Macbeth. Do you honestly see her doing Shakespeare? And it was, shall we say, a nontraditional version with an enormous amount of nudity.” That director had recently left New York when it had become apparent to him that he wouldn’t be hired here again. Seth had made damn sure of it.
Ruining the lives of those who truly deserved it was his gift, and he genuinely enjoyed doing it.
All five brothers froze, predatory eyes zeroing in.
“Yes, I felt the same way,” Seth explained. “He was using her because she’s gorgeous and naïve, and so fuckable it hurts.”
“Not to sound like my sister,” Mark began, “but ewwww.”
Seth shrugged. They should get used to it. “I think she’s the most beautiful woman on the planet. I don’t intend to allow others to use her. She’s actually a quite horrible actress. She’s brilliant at improv, but if you give her a few lines, she turns into a robot. I could get her parts on Broadway, but I haven’t figured out how to bribe the entire world to say she’s good. She would get her feelings hurt, and I won’t allow it.”
“You’re a manipulative little shit,” Win said with something akin to respect.
He wasn’t that freaking little. He was six foot two, and he might not be the bulkiest guy, but he was strong. He worked out every day. He couldn’t help it that the Dawson brothers were overgrown Neanderthals.
Logan was bigger than he was. Logan was more masculine. What if Georgia only wanted Logan? Sure there had been that one night when she’d tried to kiss him, but she’d had a bit too much to drink and he’d been playing a long game.
If he’d slept with her that night, she would have run the next morning, or she would have stayed but for the wrong reasons.
He stared at Win. Win was the hardass. The others would fall in line if Win gave the okay.
“I’m going to marry Georgia, and I’m going to share her with my best friend. I’ll do it whether you like it or not. If you try to come between us, I’ll bury you. I’ll play it smart. She won’t know what’s happened, and she won’t believe you when you try to tell her what I’ve done.”
Win’s eyes narrowed, and he saw the shark that lurked beneath Winter Dawson’s three-piece suit. “If I want to, I’ll make her believe.”
“Do you want to start a war with me? Perhaps you could win, but your sister would lose a man who would die for her, a man who firmly intends to put her first, to take care of her. Make no mistake, I am in love with your sister.”
Win studied him, the silence heavy in the room. After a long moment, he held out his hand. “Welcome to the family, Seth. Good luck with her. You’re going to need it.”
He was suddenly surrounded by Dawsons. They slapped him on the back and started telling all kinds of stories about Georgia’s childhood and the trouble she’d been.
He listened, enjoying the feeling of being accepted, but it was hollow without his brother by his side.
Unfortunately, his “brother” was twelve kinds of fucked up. Logan was in a bad place, and it was up to Seth to bring him out of it because his long dark period was starting to look like a permanent state of mind. He couldn’t lose Logan like this. And he wasn’t about to lose Georgia.
Seth was going back to Bliss, and this time he would never leave.
And he damn straight wasn’t going alone. The plan was already in motion. He was hours away from the call he’d been waiting for, and then he would take Georgia and start his real life.
Chapter Two
“Earth to Logan. Come in, Logan.”
Logan Green opened his eyes and frowned up at Leo Meyer, who should know better than to interrupt a nice nap. He glanced over at the clock on the wall. It was barely three in the afternoon. He didn’t have to be on the dungeon floor until nine. He had hours and hours to sleep. Though he probably shouldn’t have tried to do it during a counseling session. “It’s your fault, man. This couch is comfy.”
Leo frowned. “Blame Shelley. She insisted on redoing my office. She said it wasn’t patient-friendly enough.”
Leo’s office before had been a whole bunch of Asian stuff and weird rock garden tables. There was still a waterfall on the wall, but the rest of the room had been transformed into something infinitely comfortable and yet wholly masculine. Logan yawned. “I don’t know that I need this anymore, Doc.”
The talking thing didn’t work for him. Talking about shit made him antsy. Now working the dungeon floor soothed him. Leo had been right about that. He’d managed to find a happy place where he could tie up a sub and spank her pretty ass and send her on her way and everyone was satisfied.
“I asked you a question. The customary reaction to having a question posed to you would be replying with an answer, not a snore. Have you had your sinuses examined? I think there might be something wrong with you.”
He’d alw
ays been a snorer. It didn’t bug him at all since he didn’t have to listen to himself. “I’ll check into that, Doc. Are we done here?”
Leo frowned in a way that let him know he was rapidly losing patience. “I asked about the women you’ve been topping in the club. I was asking about any trouble you might have had.”
Logan sat up. The one thing he took seriously these days was his job. “Did someone complain?”
His brain raced, trying to come up with a name. He hadn’t had problems with anyone since he’d taken on the full-time Dom job after he’d left Kitten duty. He had several regulars, and he was starting to work with Wolf on training the new staff, both tops and bottoms. He’d never had a single complaint that he knew of.
“Yes, several of the women have been complaining,” Leo explained.
He was a damn good Dom. He took care of his charges. He felt a fierce frown cross his face. “I haven’t done anything bad. I’ve been careful.”
“Yes, that’s the problem. They’ve been complaining that you won’t have sex with them.” A smiled curved up Leo’s lips now. “Not on the record, of course, but Shelley’s been hearing it in the locker room. They’re calling you the Priest. You’ll hand out the discipline but you won’t take any pleasure.”
He couldn’t. He couldn’t get a fucking erection anymore if the woman wasn’t a gorgeous brat with blue eyes and blonde hair and the sassiest mouth in the world. “I wasn’t aware I should do that.”
“I realize that you signed a contract that banned sexual relations with Kitten, but she was a special case. The women who come here have been fully screened both psychologically and physically. You can fuck any one of them who consents.”
Logan groaned. “Do we really have to talk about this?”
“The women who come here tend to be looking for relaxation.”
“Dude, you make me sound like a hooker.”
“I believe the male equivalent is a gigolo, and now, obviously you aren’t being paid to have sex and you don’t have to have sex with someone to top them, but most men of your age would view The Club as a sexual free-for-all. I sure as fuck know I did.” Leo leaned forward. “Now would be a good time to point out that patient confidentiality works both ways.”
Logan nearly rolled his eyes. Leo didn’t want his almost wife to hear about his former life at The Club. “I’m sure you were a legend.”
“Maybe not a legend, but I did enjoy myself. After I got divorced, I cut quite a swath through the subs here. I didn’t take sex seriously until I met my fiancée. I negotiated a lot of sex with submissives. You don’t even talk about it with them. I have to admit, I was surprised. I expected you to become one of the dungeon studs. Is there something I don’t know?”
“No.” What the hell was he talking about? “Dude, I spent a summer fucking my way through half of Southern Colorado’s female population with your brother. I get it. You had a ton of fun when you weren’t like old and stuff.”
Leo wasn’t old. Leo was like thirty-five or something, but he also had his whole life together and was happily sharing an amazing woman with his brother and enjoying his dream job of fixing fucked-up people. Logan was one of those fucked-up dudes, so he felt the need to needle Leo about his age since it was all he had on the man.
“Nice, asshole. I’m not that old.” Leo wasn’t the most formal of shrinks. “And I’ve heard about your escapades with Wolf. That’s why I’m surprised you haven’t partaken of the pleasures offered here at The Club. I’ve heard Haven has been rather…persistent with you.”
Haven Welch. Sweet girl. Pretty. Thin. Glossy black hair. Deeply submissive. “She’s a nice girl. She’s been complaining?”
Leo snorted. “Dude, she practically presents to you every time you walk in a room. It’s disturbing. Seriously, you haven’t picked up those signs, yet?”
“Uhm, I top her. That’s the extent of the relationship. She filled out a form, and I do what I’m supposed to do.” He hadn’t thought to go any further. Had he fucked up? He was good at fucking up. He didn’t think of Haven as anything but a client. She wasn’t the woman who would spit bile at a man and pretend to toss his phone into a grove of fucking rosebushes. She wouldn’t push his every boundary and make him fucking hard at the thought of getting her on her knees in front of him. Yeah. He would make her beg for his cock. She would fucking know who her Master was when he was done with her.
“Or maybe you really like her. Wow, that is a massive erection,” Leo pointed out.
Fuck. Logan sat up, trying to shift so his cock wasn’t poking out of his sweat pants. Damn her. “I wasn’t thinking of Haven.”
“Were you, perhaps, thinking of Georgia Dawson?” Leo asked the question in an innocent tone of voice.
He wanted to growl and punch something. That was what Georgia brought out in him. Georgia Ophelia Dawson. He could still hear her in that oh-so-proper voice introducing herself to him like he was the hired help. She’d turned that button-cute nose up at him and proceeded to talk on her phone, ignoring him until she wanted him to pick something up or help her out of the car. She’d been a snot-nosed, brat princess.
Who had nearly melted for him because it was all an act. He could still feel her arms around him, clinging to him as she cried and thanked him for pulling her out of that hellhole she and Nat had been thrown into.
I didn’t think you would come for me. I wanted you, Logan. God, I prayed for you to come for me. Logan, Logan, I love you so much.
She’d sobbed into his shirt on their way to the hospital, and for a minute, he’d thought about keeping her at his side. He could have collared her in a heartbeat. She needed a Dom so badly, wanted a real lover who wouldn’t let her get away with that bratty shit she pulled for attention. She was starved for affection, and he’d thought about marrying her in that moment and realized he couldn’t. He couldn’t take her home to his moms. He couldn’t go home, and it wasn’t because he was ashamed of her.
He was ashamed of himself.
He was a ball of hate, and he couldn’t bring her into his world because any life here in Dallas was a half life.
Fuck it all. He wanted to go home, and he couldn’t. He wanted Georgia more than his next breath, and he couldn’t have her.
“That was a whole lot of emotion playing out over your face,” Leo said with a self-satisfied smile. “Good. We’re getting somewhere. So, this is about Georgia.”
“There’s nothing going on between me and Georgia.” Because he wouldn’t allow it to happen. He put his hand over his heart. The memento he’d had inked over his left pec had done exactly what he’d wanted it to do. It reminded him that letting her go had been the best thing for her. And him? All he truly deserved was that damn elaborate G he’d had tattooed on his body the day after she left. He’d been careful about the placement. It was hidden under the leather vest he wore, and he showered privately now. That G was his. No one else needed to know.
Leo sighed, a deeply patient sound. “We haven’t talked about that day.”
“Because there’s nothing to talk about.” Nothing he was willing to talk about. The minute he’d known she was in danger, his whole fucking world had stopped. He’d thought he’d been through some serious shit. He’d been brutalized, his whole being boiled down to pain and survival, but he realized he hadn’t known real fear until Georgia had been put in the same position.
He’d been helpless, as helpless as he’d been when the fucking, goddamned, scum-sucking Russian mobster had tied him down and beaten him until he’d begged for death. Knowing that Georgia was in the same position had been worse. And he couldn’t fucking talk about it.
“I’ve had sessions with Ben about that day,” Leo offered.
Ben was a talky, touchy-feely kind of guy. Ben had never been tied to a fucking desk and shown the truth of the world. Ben had never prayed that the next second was the last, the end to his pain. “Good for Ben. I hope he feels better.”
“I’ve had sessions with Chase.”
Yeah, that news made him feel like the freak of all time. Fuck. Chase Dawson was one of the world’s premier curmudgeons and he was talking about his feelings? Curmudgeon. He only knew the damn word because he’d had to help Seth with his SATs.
How long had it been since he’d talked to his best friend? How long was he going to duck Seth’s calls because he didn’t want Seth to know how low he’d sunk?
He’d told Seth everything. No moment of his life since he was seven years old had been real until he’d talked to Seth about it. But that day in the sheriff’s office in Bliss, Colorado, had been hyperreal, and he couldn’t discuss it with Seth.
He’d sent Georgia away because he didn’t want her to know how fucked up he was. Was he going to drive Seth away, too? Would he end up with two tats on his body one day and absolutely no friends?
“Do you wonder where she is?” Leo asked.
Only every minute of every day and all night long, even when he managed to sleep. “She’s got a job somewhere. Dude, it doesn’t matter. She’s a Dawson. She’s rich and has a whole bunch of brothers and shit. She’ll be fine.”
“Really? What gave you that impression?”
A bite of uncertainty flashed through him. Georgia was fine. She had to be. “Uhm, she’s a Dawson. They all have cash. She’s back in LA becoming some sort of star.”
She was beautiful enough to do it. One day he would be sitting in a movie theater and she would come on the screen, and he would tear up knowing that she’d been the one and he’d been too screwed up to take her, to hold her, to make her his. The truth of the matter was she deserved way better than him. He’d found out what a pathetic piece of shit he was that day he’d been tied down and tortured.
A sympathetic look crossed Leo’s face. “I don’t think you understand the Dawson clan. Georgia’s father cut her off. She doesn’t have a dime to her name. She left Dallas because she found a job in New York, but she wouldn’t let Ben pay for her way. She went there on a bus. Ben and Chase didn’t know about that at the time. To say they were upset would be an understatement. Do you know how expensive New York is?”
