by Jan Irving
In the workplace, Fred was used to doing the mentoring, to being someone his people could look up to, learn to trust. And in trusting him, they learned to trust themselves. They became better people and better fire fighters as a result.
But asking Taz to mentor him because it was rumoured Taz was an experienced Dom was totally different. But what else could he do? He couldn’t get his woman out of his head, yet at the same time he was out of his league. He had all these fantasies, this hunger. Would he repulse Dharma? He felt so clumsy.
He’d already blown it once.
Fred said tersely, “I don’t know how to do this, to romance someone like Dharma.”
“Romance?” Taz’s lips curled.
“Yes, romance. Sex begins in the brain and the heart. If you ever dated smart people, you’d know this.”
He hated remembering the look on Dharma’s face when he’d rejected her.
It was killing him.
When he’d visited the coffee house this morning Dharma immediately went into the back, leaving Sian to serve him. It had made him ache. Damn, he needed to talk to her. Just needed her…
Somehow he had to win her back, give her what she’d asked for when she’d made herself so vulnerable to him on his kitchen countertop.
“Will you teach me how to enthral her?”
Taz blinked, then his eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“Just…the best Doms are obsessed with the needs of their subs.”
Taz grinned, but then his expression became instantly impassive as a slender brunette crossed from her garden to his, carrying bulbs and soil.
“What are you doin’?” he demanded. “I told you to stay off my property, Jenny.”
Hurt moved through the young woman’s large vulnerable eyes. Fred felt instant annoyance with Taz. “You are such an asshole,” he muttered, going to the stranger.
“Hi, I’m Fred. Are you Taz’s neighbour?” He stuck out his hand and Jenny flushed, putting down the bulbs and taking off her garden glove so she could shake.
“I’m Jenny Ann Green, and yeah, I am.” Her accent was Southern, which went with her old world Laura Ashley style of dress. Christ, she was about the same age as Dharma but they couldn’t have been more different. This girl was shy and uncertain. Fred felt an instant kinship with her.
“My condolences on having Taz as your neighbour.”
“What are you doing here?” Taz crossed his arms, looking big and scary.
“I…I forgot I’d cut these bulbs out for your yard. My grandma taught me to share—”
“Take your bulbs and get lost.”
Jenny paled, but then with cool dignity, turned her back on Taz and retraced her steps.
“How could you be such an asshole?” Fred demanded. “She’s obviously a sweet person.”
Taz stared after Jenny, face hard.
“Taz?”
“She needs to stay away from me.”
“I’m sure she will since you’re acting like such a jackass.” Fred headed back to his SUV. No way could he ask Taz for help now. No way. Not after witnessing how cruel he’d been to someone innocent. He needed someone with heart to give him advice on Dharma, not just an unfeeling sex manual.
“Wait…”
Taz was at Fred’s door. He didn’t meet Fred’s gaze. In a voice so soft, Fred could barely catch his words, Taz said, “Jenny scares me, all right?”
With that, Taz strode back to his house.
Fred shook his head. “Who the hell are you, Taz?”
* * * *
“She’s very pretty.”
Fred pretended not to hear the comment. “The girls are thrilled you’re coming to the dance recital.” He turned the SUV onto the side street that offered the best chance of finding parking at the busy community arts centre.
Marilyn shrugged. “Least I could do since I’m in town.”
“How long are you staying?” He had offered her the guest room in the house, but he didn’t want her there.
“Just until the wedding. They grew so fast,” Marilyn noted as they walked towards the centre. “I never thought… The years just went by so fast.”
“You need to respect their home, their routine. I’ll fight you to keep them, Marilyn. You’ll have to take the time to know them before I’ll let you make off with them for half a year.”
“The voice of the man in command. I always found it very sexy.” She sighed. “I also forgot how influential you are in this town. Judges, lawyers…”
“I’m telling you I won’t let you play with their feelings. I protect them. Always.”
Marilyn bit her lip. “What if I…really want to try to make a new connection with them?”
Fred wanted to shut her down, but he couldn’t do it, not if she was sincere. Even if it killed him. “We’ll see,” he muttered. “But no more talk of taking them from me or all you’ll get is a handful of cactus.”
“All right. Is your friend Dharma going to be here?”
“No.” He wished Dharma was. He couldn’t sleep, he was having trouble eating and he was grumpy with the girls at home.
“I like her name. It’s means good destiny, the opposite of karma.”
“I know what it means.” Now that he’d handled this crisis with Marilyn, he could reach out to Dharma.
He wanted to make her his woman. And he was through waiting.
* * * *
Dharma was exhausted.
It had been a long night working at the bar. Her feet ached since she’d become unaccustomed to high heels in no time. Her back ached from a peculiar tension—all night she’d felt as if someone were watching her, stalking her.
And she was depressed.
She’d gone to work just like she’d told Fred she would. Go her.
But she’d felt even more of a loser than she had when he’d rejected her on his kitchen island. Why? It was stupid to feel that way.
Men found her gorgeous. They wanted to touch her, she could see it all night in their lust-glazed eyes as she flirted and served drinks. But something was missing. She used to enjoy the job in a light way. Now she was close to tears after a single shift.
“I’m driving you home.”
The soft voice behind her made her screech. She grabbed her chest, panting. “Are you trying. To kill me?”
“Nope.” Fred’s expression was grim. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans with a plaid shirt. His features looked stark, all tired, mouth-watering man with a capital M. And she’d missed him this past week. Goddess, she’d missed him.
“What are you doing here?” she sighed.
He shrugged. “I told you I needed to look out for you.”
“Look out for me?” she repeated.
“Said it clear enough.”
She saw dark fire in his eyes. Oh, he was angry, was he?
“You don’t want me, remember? You…” She sucked in a breath so she didn’t do something stupid, like start crying. “You made it clear.”
“I want you.” His voice was soft. “I’m just so scared and intimidated by you that—”
She blinked. Was she hallucinating because she was so weary herself? “Hey, you just need some practice. Just think of how you are on the job, all take-charge and confident. I know I do. It’s incredibly sexy.”
Colour darkened his cheeks. He shrugged again. “Thank you.”
“Why are you scared?” Despite herself she’d walked closer to him so they stood face to face, her arms wrapped around herself while his hands were in his pockets. But she could feel the yearning sparking between them like a force field. If they got too close, they’d burn up.
“Because you make me want things I told myself I can’t have.”
She wanted to reach out and touch the side of his face, stroke him, soothe him. Crazy. “And what is it you think you can’t have?”
He avoided her gaze. “For one thing, it kind of turns me on to see you working in that place, to see men looking at your beautiful tits. Only thing th
at would make it better was if they knew who you belonged to.”
Her mouth opened, closed. “Really? I thought you hated me working there.”
“I do, when I’m not around to protect you and…to watch you.”
His gaze was on his scuffed cowboy boots.
“You’re into voyeurism?”
“I… Ah…”
“Because there’s nothing wrong with that, even though I don’t need you protecting me.”
His jaw bunched. Now he looked at her with flaming blue eyes. “I need to do it. And I don’t care if you like it.”
Shock punched her. Because what she was seeing was not a man who didn’t care about her—Fred cared too much.
Tentatively she reached up and brushed his cheek. His eyes flashed to hers, burning her. He was shy, awkward, on fire.
“What if I told you I don’t mind you showing me off?”
“I… You don’t?” His tone was all what-the-hell?
She had to grin.
She wanted to curl one of her legs around his thigh. But what if he pushed her away again? It would hurt so much. It would smash her pride in the dirt.
Holding his gaze, she still couldn’t stop herself from moving closer, from rubbing her red high heel against his boot. The scraping sound it made echoed between them, heavily suggestive in the still night air.
He groaned, shuddering as if she were touching him somewhere much more personal. He caught her arm, holding her firmly. “Don’t play with me.”
Humiliation rose, but she shoved it down, determined to see him this time, to not make assumptions. Fred was subtle, almost as if he needed her to draw him out.
To help him with his confidence.
But at heart she could feel he was steel and fire.
“I wish you would play with me.” She was being totally honest, leaving herself emotionally bared to him. “What do you want, to tie me up? To put a leash on me for the night and parade me around in front of other men?” His eyes flared even hotter. “To spank me? I get wet thinking of you doing all of those things, sugar.”
“You…can’t.”
She cocked a brow at him then took his big callused hand in hers, dipping it under her short skirt and up to her panties. He gasped when he touched her, felt how hot and wet and ready she was.
Never taking his eyes off hers, he delved under her thong, stroking her with one long finger before suddenly impaling her on it. She grabbed his arm in shock, her body quivering on the edge for him already.
“You like that?” His voice was hoarse, but commanding. “Take off the panties.”
Then, as if remembering they were standing just outside the bar, he took her wrist and tugged her into the deep shadows of the woods where his SUV was parked. She leaned against the passenger door and he caged her with his arms.
The only sound was their ragged breathing as she reached down and tugged her thong free so it fell onto the unpaved dirt. She stared at it, finding it somehow weirdly significant that this was the second time she’d done this for him. Would she be stripping at a word from him in future? She suddenly craved it.
“Now lose the skirt.”
She moaned, squeezing her thighs together. His no-nonsense tone was turning her on so much. What would he do to her?
She pulled the hook free on the pink leather and it fell in a rustle at her feet.
Fred kicked it away, along with her panties, leaving her lower body totally exposed to his gaze. He didn’t touch her, he just looked at her.
Then he reached out and cupped her pussy, squeezing it possessively.
When he met her gaze, that hint of colour was back in his cheeks. He was bashful and yet totally in control. It was a hot combination that completely enthralled her.
“Is this mine?”
“Yes,” she whimpered.
He cocked his head as if he was considering just what to do with her. Her pulse thudded in her ears. She couldn’t help pushing herself wantonly into his hand.
He flicked his fingers sharply against her in dismissal and she gasped at the splinter of pain and pleasure. He wasn’t shy in how he handled her.
“You look like you’re doing just fine, boss,” a deep voice said.
Taz.
Dharma swung her head around in shock, seeing the other firefighter watching her with Fred. As her gaze flew to Fred’s, she sensed this wasn’t an accident. For some reason her shy older man wanted Taz here.
Taz made no secret of studying her partial nudity, giving her a considering and appreciative look. That look did not discomfort her. If she hadn’t been so crushed on Fred, she knew she’d probably have slept with Taz by now. He was sexy.
“I asked Taz for, um… I don’t know what I’m doing here.”
She wanted to tell Fred he was doing just fine, but she felt his edginess. He wasn’t comfortable yet with this domineering side of himself.
“I’ve been in that bar all night, bored out of my skull. I came to lend a hand.” Taz reached out, and without hesitation, Dharma took his hand. One quick look at Fred and she saw a look of fascination. He likes to watch. But she sensed that if Taz did anything he didn’t like, he’d take over as coolly as he did as chief at the fire hall.
“Up.” Taz ordered and Dharma found herself sitting on the hood of Fred’s SUV. “Relax,” Taz chided.
She let herself fall back onto her elbows, all too conscious of the concentrated stares of both men on her open body.
Teasingly, she lifted one leg, flashing them both. She had never been a shy person and she loved this.
She saw Fred’s hands ball into fists, as if he were keeping himself off her only with an effort.
“Bad girl.” Taz lightly slapped her thigh. “You do that only when we ask for it.”
She wet her lips but then nodded. Not at Taz, but at Fred since she was his.
His eyes darkened, the pupils large and black, swallowing her reflection as she lay spread out on his vehicle.
Taz looked at Fred. “May I touch?”
“Yes,” Fred agreed tersely. He didn’t look away from Dharma. She knew if she had any doubts about what was going to happen, he’d listen to her. He’d stop Taz.
But she’d been telling the truth about Fred’s fantasies. They intrigued her. She wanted to experiment.
Taz grazed her leg lightly with a fingertip. The touch was gentle, but it made her jump in surprise.
“Careful,” Fred growled.
“You’re definitely her daddy, aren’t you?” Taz said with amusement. He looked at Dharma. “He didn’t take his eyes off you for a second all night.”
Fred gave Taz a cool look that seemed to say ‘Don’t push me’.
It was delicious, being owned by Fred, even if it was only for this night, for this moment. Delicious to imagine him watching her, ready to intervene if any of the customers got too friendly.
“Spread yourself wider, honey,” Taz said.
Colour burned Fred’s cheeks, but he watched, rapt, as she obeyed. For her part, she only had eyes for him. Taz felt like a sexy extension of this man she was so hung up on.
When Taz touched her, she cried out, “Fred! Goddess, Fred…”
Breathing hard, Fred loomed over her, watching her face as Taz stroked her, teased her. She instantly lit up, riding the edge.
“You’re my woman. Mine to share.”
She’d never imagined a surrender could be so total, so extreme. She’d played light bondage games, a little spanking, but she’d never imagined letting herself be given to another by the man dominating her.
No wonder Fred thought his fantasies were too dark. They were, dark and wild so that she trembled, her body glistening with her obvious arousal.
“Put a finger in her,” Fred ordered Taz.
She gasped as Taz complied, rubbing her almost harshly, just the way she liked. Fred stroked her hair as Taz saw to her pussy, rubbing and playing so that she dug her nails into the hood, her body screaming to come.
“I want to fuck
her. Now,” Taz growled.
A forbidden thrill raced through her as Taz looked not at her, but at Fred.
“No.” Fred looked into her eyes. “Come for us. Do it now. Make it good for me as I watch you.”
Taz speared two fingers into her, giving her a careless caress. Legs splayed wide, bared to them both, Dharma let herself go, her neck arching as she cried out hoarsely, riding every bit of pleasure Taz offered at Fred’s direction.
After, she just lay there, trembling, her body feeling the aftershocks. She’d never come so hard and Fred hadn’t even touched her. And yet this had somehow all been about him.
She felt completely mastered for the first time in her life.
Fred reached out and lifted her into his arms, holding her as if he treasured her.
She didn’t see Taz as Fred placed her carefully in the passenger seat. She figured he’d already split, leaving her to Fred. “I thought I’d take the bus,” she said groggily.
“Like hell.” Fabric on her ankles, smoothing up her legs. Fred was replacing her clothing, caring for her.
Unexpected tears stung her eyes again. She gritted her teeth, forcing them back. Why was she so emotional? When Fred put her skirt back on, his hands gentle but awkward on the tiny clasp, she watched him, feeling herself ache…to be held? Is that what she needed?
She’d never needed that before. Usually she laughed and joked after sex, but with Fred…
“I can’t believe I went that far.” He laughed, but there was an undercurrent of embarrassment in his voice. “I’m sorry.” He was back to not meeting her gaze.
She swallowed, reaching out to stroke his cheek. “It was hot, what we did.”
His gaze flew to hers. “You liked it? You like me?”
She nodded.
“I’ve never…done anything like that. God almighty!”
His bashfulness after his display of mastery was adorable.
“Me either.”
“Never?”
“Fred, I have had a spicy sex life but that was…” She didn’t have words. “I never imagined sharing something like that before. I never thought I’d find it so hot, so…liberating. But I could be like that because I knew you’d take care of me.”
“Absolutely.” His eyes shone with that inner core of steel. “Watching you like that was the hottest moment of my life.”
