Gale, Avery - Jenna's Submission [The ShadowDance Club 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (3 page)

But right now, all Colt cared about was calming down the beautiful woman in front of him. They had obviously triggered some very powerful memories for her to fall over the edge that easily. When Alex had remembered Ted Scott had stayed with their family for a week or so before returning to active duty, they’d all had a sinking feeling they knew what had taken place. After Scott had been killed during a cave explosion in a damned Afghan hellhole, they found out he’d been transferred to their unit because he’d been accused of sexually inappropriate behavior by several woman at the base where he’d been stationed previously. As they’d mourned the loss of a fellow soldier, it had never occurred to either Alex or Zach to make sure their sister hadn’t had trouble with someone they’d sent to stay in her home. Christ, just thinking about it had made Zach almost physically ill, and Alex hadn’t been able to do anything but stare out the huge picture windows into The Club’s gardens for hours on end.

Colt saw that her coloring was returning to something much closer to normal, and even though they seemed to always push each other’s buttons in a bad way, the look in her eyes told him she was grateful for his help. “I think your sister has had enough of that particular discussion for the moment. Let’s move on to something else, shall we?” Colt sat back a bit, but kept her hands held in his as he watched Alex shift position.

“Jenna, Zach and I are concerned that whatever has happened in the past may be the reason you seem determined to work yourself into an early grave.” When she’d opened her mouth to protest, he raised his hand to still her words. “No, hear me out. Mom and Dad have mentioned their concerns more than once. We’ve discussed it at the past several board meetings, all of which you’ve managed to be too busy to attend. So, as of this moment, you are on an indeterminate leave of absence.”

Alex was prevented from continuing when Jenna shot to her feet and shouted, “
What
? You can’t just take upon yourself to decide what’s best for me, King Alex. Goddamn it, you are so not the boss of me!” Colt struggled to not smile at what was obviously a well-used response to her older brother.

The minute the words left her mouth, Jenna knew she sounded like a whining child, but she couldn’t take them back, so she just forged ahead. “Zach, don’t you see how wrong this is? Can’t you do something with your asinine brother?” She looked at Zach with pleading eyes. “What am I supposed to
do
? I can’t just lounge around here until you decided I’m good to go…Damn, you guys are taking this alpha male thing out on me because Kat’s pregnant and you can’t wail on her ass, aren’t you? Shit, it’s going to take months before she can go The Club and play. You can’t possibly be thinking of keeping me captive at ShadowDance that long. Does Kat know about this? Boy, she is going to kick your asses when I tell her what you’re up to.” Jenna knew she was rambling as she stalked from one side of the room to the other. God, the nerve of her two Neanderthal, knuckle-dragging brothers. If this didn’t just about frost it, she didn’t know what ever would.

Alex watched as Jenna waged an internal battle, and he wondered to himself if he’d ever seen her this angry. So far she had followed Colt’s predictions down to the last curses. And she’d played right into their hands. Now that she was solidly pissed about their edict, they would present their counteroffer, which, even though it was going to sound like a compromise, was actually their original plan. Smiling to himself, he looked at his brother and said, “Well, clearly we’ve gone over the line by trying to look after sister dearest’s best interests. Perhaps we need to rethink this a bit. Any ideas for an alternate plan? Zach? Colt? At this point, I’m open to suggestions.”

Zach looked up in to space trying to look as though he was really giving Alex’s words careful consideration. Alex thought at that moment, his brother might have missed his calling, looked like Zach would have made a fortune in Hollywood as an actor. “Well, I don’t know. Any ideas, Colt? You seem to have reached Jenna when we weren’t doing such a bang-up job.” Alex laughed to himself, Zach had just set the trap, all Colt had to do was bait it and they’d sit back and wait for Jenna to bite.

“Well, if it is R & R she needs, I’m headed to the cabin this week. I’d be happy to take her along and see to it that she engaged in some stress-reduction activities.” Alex knew Colt was patting himself on the back for the double meaning of his words. Damn, this was almost too easy.

“What? I can’t spend a week with you in some flippin’ mountain cabin! Christ, you don’t even like me. Why would you want to spend the week with me?” Colt knew Jenna was giving herself a mental head slap. She would know she was giving the enemy too much information. She was nobody’s fool and had lived with two Dominant brothers her entire life.

Colt turned his head slowly so his face was just inches in front of hers and fairly growled. “What makes you think I don’t like you, Jenna?”

“Um, well, you are always picking on me about everything, and then after the wedding, well, that didn’t go so good for either of us, so naturally I just thought you’d want to stay as far from me as possible, ya know?” Jenna kept looking at him, but she wasn’t looking him directly in the eye anymore.
Interesting tell, sweet cheeks, hope you don’t play poker.

“It seems you have been misinformed, Jenna. I do like you, maybe more than I should. But, I’m not sure you are capable of following directives for a week though, so perhaps you’d like to rethink that lounging-by-the-pool-for-a-few-months plan your brothers mentioned earlier.” Bait and challenge laid out, now to wait her out. Colt knew they were gambling, but so far, she’d only surprised him twice, the first time was the intensity of her response to her brothers’ questions. And then again when she’d said she didn’t think he liked her, damn, if she only knew how wrong she was.

Zach leaned forward to draw Jenna’s attention before asking, “What’s it going to be, Jenna? We’ll let the questions about Ted Scott go
if
you can make your case to Colt that Scott had nothing to do with the changes we all noted in you.” He paused for several beats to let his words work through her anger before continuing. “You know exactly what Colt is offering. You spend the week with Colt, prove to him that his suggestion that you are a sexual submissive isn’t what caused you to run from your own home in the middle of the night like a scared rabbit after our wedding. More importantly, prove it to yourself. Spend a week exploring the obvious attraction between you both. If you come back at the end of the week and want to return to your old life, we’ll leave you to it.” Zach knew he stood a better chance of throwing down the challenge than Alex did. He’d always been her champion, she’d held his heart in her hand from the moment their mom had brought her home from the hospital.

Jenna stood staring into the fireplace for so long, Colt was beginning to wonder if he’d overplayed his hand…again. But after several long minutes, she finally said, “Fine. I know you don’t think I can do this, that I won’t be able to walk away when the week is over. But I can and I will. I told you once before, I’m not a sub, I’m too damned independent to take orders from a Dom who just wants to use my body to get his rocks off. Bring it, Matthews. Give it your best shot.”

Even though Colt wanted to strip her and paddle her ass for her belligerent words, he just slowly let out the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding during her little double-edged compliance speech. Oh, but he was going to enjoy training Jenna. The fire inside her was exactly what he found impossible to walk away from, and God knows he’d tried.

“Very well, Jenna, but I’ll caution you now, from this moment forward, you’d best check the attitude and hold your tongue, because as of right now, I’ll be keeping track, and rest assured, you’ll get every single punishment you earn. I will need to make some adjustments to the supplies I’d put together now that I’ll be feeding an additional person, and I believe Katarina had spa appointments for you both scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning. Why don’t you spend the morning with Katarina, have lunch together, enjoy some girl time, and I’ll pick you up at 3:00 p.m. Don’t pack anything except any medications you might need. I’ll send the clothes I’ll want you to wear. I’ll provide everything you’ll need during your time with me.” Colt knew she would notice the change in his voice, it was best she become familiar with his Dom tone now. It would save them time tomorrow.

Feeling as if she had just made a deal with the devil himself, Jenna took a deep breath before closing her eyes and nodding.
Great job, Jenna, way to walk straight into it…
As her brothers were so fond of saying, her life was officially FUBAR, but “fucked up beyond all recognition” didn’t even begin to cover it.

* * * *

Standing just down the hall, Kat had heard the power play taking place in her husbands’ office. She smiled to herself…
Oh, sister mine…you have just been played by the best of them.
If she hadn’t been so selfish in her desire to have her best friend and sister-in-law living closer, she would have stepped in and made sure Jenna was at least aware of the scheme Kat had known for a week the three men had been hatching. They always waited until they thought she was asleep, then they’d sit in the office and strategize. Yeah, that sounded much better than “plot and scheme.” Soldiers were always so fond snazzy terms for behaviors any seventh grade girl had down to a science. She rubbed her rounded tummy and spoke quietly to her unborn child, “But we want Auntie Jenna close, don’t we? And if this is what it takes for her to find happiness with the man who obviously adores her, well then, we’ll just let your daddies think they have gotten away with this one.” With that, she pushed away from the wall where she’d been leaning and headed in to greet the woman who was her sister in every way that had ever mattered.

Chapter 4

Jenna and Kat went to Rissa’s first thing the next morning. Sometimes, having the a mini-spa right next door was a to-die-for blessing if you were to ask Kat, but then, waddling like a duck tended to make a woman appreciate being primped and pampered. Jenna was on her third mimosa and seemed to be unwinding while Kat was drinking an orange smoothie. Even though she didn’t drink often, Kat was mighty envious of Jenna’s bubbly orange concoction. They’d both had facials, been waxed—Rissa had apologized but said she’d been given strict instructions that she planned to follow because she really wanted to keep her job—buffed, and massaged. Now they were waiting for their Barely There Pink and Sex on a Bus Red nail polish to dry, indeed there was nothing like a complete overhaul to make a woman sweet and mellow. Lying back on the padded lounge chairs, chatting with Rissa as she got things ready for her afternoon appointments, Jenna asked Kat how she was adjusting to married life.

“Well, your brothers are usually fairly easy to deal with, or at least they were before I got knocked up.” Then laughing, she added, “I’m still not convinced them forgetting my birth control pills when they packed my things for the honeymoon was entirely accidental. They didn’t seem very surprised I was pregnant, but holy shit were they ever thrilled! And for God’s sake, how many men buy EPTs to take along on their honeymoon ‘just in case’? I mean really, not exactly super sneaky for guys that did black ops for so many years. If they aren’t any better than that, it’s a miracle they survived.”

Rolling her eyes, Jenna had to agree, and knowing her brothers, it was no accident, her brothers did not
do
accidental…ever. Jenna knew they had been overjoyed to have Kat back in their lives and couldn’t wait to start a family with her. They had both told her they’d known for years about her dream to have a large family, and they planned to make that dream a reality at their earliest opportunity. And knowing those two masterminds, they’d created the opportunity, their thinking would have been,
Why trust for future to chance when you can master it?
Oh yeah, she was sure Kat’s suspicions were dead-on, but her new sister-in-law didn’t seem to mind, well, except that they were keeping her from playing at The Club like she wanted to.

One of the reasons Jenna didn’t usually drink around men was that alcohol was straight-up truth serum for her, and it made her say what was really on her mind, and her social filters didn’t seem to work well at all when they were pickled. Smiling to herself at her own joke, she turned to Kat and said, “So tell me about being a submissive to my two bossy brothers.” If she’d shocked Kat, her pal didn’t let it show.

“Well, I’m not sure you really want me to answer that. Even though we’ve always shared everything, it seems a little weird to tell you about sex with your brothers.”

“
Eww
. I didn’t think about it like that…Damn, how am I gonna get the lowdown on this thing before I have to deal with Colt Matthews for a whole fracking week? Hey, Rissa, wanna tell me about sub sex?” Jenna’s crude question sent her into a fit of giggles, and it didn’t take long for Kat and Rissa to join in.

Kat leaned back and thought how glad she was to have Jenna back, and she sure hoped Chief Snoop, as she’d dubbed Colt, could manage to behave himself long enough to convince Jenna to stay. Alex and Zach had assured Kat that even though she saw Colt as an arrogant buttinski—her words, not theirs—he was actually a much sought-after Dom, and The Club’s subs loved him. They swore he was as intuitive as they came and his aftercare skills were “to die for.” Again they’d insisted they were just repeating what they’d heard subs saying for years. They had told her that Colt had actually trained both of them years earlier, and they wouldn’t be entrusting their sister to him if they didn’t have every faith in his ability to show Jenna a side of herself they were sure she’d never taken time to explore.
Blah…Blah…Blah. I still think he’s an arrogant buttinski, but if he can get my bestie to stick around, I’ll cut him some slack.