Lord & Master (20 page)

Jake’s chest jerked as he sucked in a breath.

“You must think me quite the paragon,” Damien said. “I deserve two people to love and desire me, and you—apparently—barely deserve one.”

He’d startled my gaze to him. “I—” I shut my mouth, unable to continue.

“Yes, you see the flaw in your argument. If I deserve such a bounty, so must you. I’m not better than you. I’m the selfish cad who would lead you into perversion. You deserve us, Mia. Certainly, Jake does. He desired you for his own sake, but he seduced you for mine.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Jake interjected. “Seducing her was hardly a sacrifice.”

Jake’s eyes had creased with affection, the emotion as apparent as his wryness.

“You like me,” I said without thinking.

“Perhaps your upbringing led you to believe that was impossible. Perhaps you saw others in your family regarded with more favor. But Damien loves you, Mia, and I am inclined to think I do too. If I thought you wanted it, I’d be overjoyed to share my heart with you.”

Before I could absorb what he’d said, Damien took my hand between both of his. He held it lightly against his upper leg. “I told you not long ago that people sometimes benefit from pretending dangerous things in a safe environment. You’ve been pretending something dangerous yourself: that you need to be punished for wanting two men at once. It’s time to remember that’s just a fiction. Our happiness isn’t more important—or more deserved—than yours.”

“In other words, stop always putting us first,” Jake said.

“I don’t do that,” I said.

“You do,” Damien disagreed. “But you’re as good as we are. And you’re as good as Mike.”

My eyes stung so hotly I had to look away. Mike had been my parents’ favorite. To be honest, he’d been mine. When he died, part of me felt God thought I didn’t deserve a brother as wonderful as him. I hadn’t drawn the parallel between that and my chosen role-playing fantasy.

More than my Edwardian self believed I shouldn’t want both men.
I’d
felt I was asking for more than my fair share.

I lifted my face again. “Was I wrong to pick the scenario I did?”

Damien pulled me from my chair and into his arms. “Sweetheart. It’s not about wrong or right. It’s about knowing how wonderful you are no matter what you’re pretending.”

He kissed my hair as I held him back. “I deserve you,” I said, trying out the words. “Both of you.”

Damien growled and squeezed me tighter. For someone who used to keep everyone at arm’s length, he really gave awesome hugs.

“Jake’s right,” I said into his shoulder. “You make a good dominant.”

He pushed back and stroked my face. I enjoyed leaning so intimately in the harbor between his legs. It made me feel safe and protected. His thumbs found my eyebrows and smoothed them. The sensation was strangely relaxing.

“If you accept us,” he said, his voice low and rich. “You must demonstrate your trust.”

A quiver of interest ran down my spine. I knew what his huskiness signaled. “Must I?”

He drew his index finger teasingly down my nose. “Yes, you must. We intend to do things to you from which there will be no escaping.”

I glanced at Jake, whose smile was devilish. I concluded the men had planned this between them. “You were sure I’d sign your papers. And that I’d accept you!”

“We had little doubt,” Damien said, his crisp British accent back. “And, yes, I have your reward in readiness.”

My reward, not my punishment.

“What must I do?” I asked.

“Close the pocket doors and stand with your back to them.”

I obeyed him, of course. I enjoyed doing that. My body heated as I did. I wanted to rub my spine against the wood like a cat. I waited instead. I knew the men wished to satisfy the longing that rose in me.

“Good,” Damien said approvingly.

Now that I was where he wanted, he and Jake shifted a heavy silver centerpiece from the middle of the table. What Damien did next surprised me. He spun the table’s central leaves on their axis until their undersides faced upward. Scarlet seat-leather, tufted in diamond shapes, replaced hard mahogany. Resting suggestively atop this padding, four bronze rings marked the corners of a large rectangle. The rings weren’t shackles, though clearly things could be tied to them.

A series of metallic clunks announced the sections locking into their new position.

“I didn’t know this table was customized,” I said.

Damien smiled at my breathless tone. “I asked for the alteration. Because our mutual friend has such a
penchant
for tying people up.”

He gave the word its French pronunciation. Did my former husband possess linguistic talents I hadn’t yet discovered?

“Very considerate,” Jake observed. His voice was breathy too. I gathered Damien had also surprised him.

“If I’m to run this scene,” Damien said, “I’m allowed a few secrets.”

I noticed Jake didn’t protest Damien taking charge but simply cocked his head. “May I undress her?”

“Oh yes,” Damien said. “I really think you should.”

If Jake liked bondage, Damien had a similarly intense interest in watching others play. He leaned his hips on the table as Jake removed my clothes piece by piece. My progressing nakedness aroused him—and the fact that Jake orchestrated it. One finger pressed his lips while a hump rose steadily at his groin.

Though I did nothing but allow Jake to strip me, the sight of him hardening made me feel powerful.

“Leave the gloves,” Damien instructed when Jake would have tugged them off. “And the necklace of course.”

“Of course.” Jake stroked the rope’s glittering tails down the length of my bare stomach.

He hadn’t caressed me in earnest yet, only touched me in the process of disrobing. The light contact made me shiver. Jake’s mouth curved knowingly.

“Lift her,” Damien said. “And set her on the table.”

Jake did as instructed. Beneath my bottom, the leather made a noise like a too-new couch. Being placed there with my bare calves swinging heightened my awareness of my smaller size and my nudity. This was a dining room, as formal a space as any the house contained. Fancy parties might be thrown here, right where I was sitting. What we were doing would surely shock many attendees. Before meeting Damien and Jake, I’d have been shocked myself. Thinking of that, heated liquid ran from my sex onto the red leather. Wrong though that was, it aroused me terribly. I looked at Damien helplessly.

His hazel eyes smoldered. “You know what we’re going to do, don’t you?”

“You’re going to tie me to those rings.”

I could barely speak through my excitement. Damien was as fond of my rope necklace as Jake was. He took its tails and swung them lightly across my stiff nipples. Back and forth he teased the chains of diamonds like a hypnotist’s pendulum. The stones caught the light, sparking off in rainbows that danced across my breasts. Damien watched the display before looking up again.

He leaned close enough to kiss me, but that was a tease as well. “I could let Jake secure you to the rings,” he murmured.

My pussy clenched, but I shook my head. “You should do it and make him watch.”

His eyes darkened. “All right. That’s exactly what I’ll do.”

He swung up on the table without warning, sliding across the polished wood portion on the seat of his nice trousers. This was the shorter alternative to walking the long way round. It was such a boyish thing to do I laughed. I had to admire his athleticism. He was agile for a man with his powerful build.

“Show off,” Jake said when Damien landed neatly on his feet.

He grinned and opened the central drawer in the ornate sideboard. Atop the extra serviettes, he’d stashed a pile of black velvet ties.

“They’re nice and long,” he said, drawing one slowly through his fingers—for Jake’s benefit, I deduced. “I’ll be able to tie Mia properly. Additionally, with sashes so generous one can achieve decorative as well as practical results.”

“Thoughtful,” Jake commented.

The small involuntary shiver that rolled across his shoulders undercut his drollness. I looked at Damien, and we exchanged a smile. That felt better than I expected. I liked us being a team to tease the other man.

I had a sneaking suspicion I ought to enjoy it while I could.

For the moment, Damien took charge of me by himself. He was extraordinarily gentle as he attached my limbs to the rings. First he drew my arms above my head and out, after which he wrapped each of my gloved wrists three times.

Evidently, aesthetics were important. From there he spiraled the black velvet down my arms, taking care that each side was symmetrical. He crossed the bands to form an
X
between my breasts, then passed them underneath my back. He knotted the final lengths on my ribs in front.

“That seems secure,” he said as he arranged the diamond necklace above this new restraint. He turned his head to Jake with an arch expression. “You see how beautifully pliant Mia is?”

Both of us knew Jake saw. His breathing had deepened.

“You should tie her legs the same way,” he said.

Damien smiled at the roughness with which the words came out. “So I should.”

I didn’t mean to, but the idea of my sex being exposed made me struggle when Damien started to pull my feet apart.

“Are you truly afraid?” he asked softly.

I considered. Was I? The men had seen everything before. While my arousal over our wickedness might dismay me, they had no problem with it at all. Indeed, if I went by previous reactions, they reveled in my responsiveness. Hesitantly, I shook my head.

“Soothe her,” Damien said to Jake. “Pet her pussy while I secure her ankles.”

Jake’s hand was very warm. Him cupping it around my mons caused me to grow wetter. He must have felt this against his fingers. His eyes blazed, and he gave me a snugger massaging squeeze. I gasped at the sudden delicious pressure against my clit. My knees jerked, but Damien controlled my movements.

He spiraled the remaining ties up my legs in under a minute.

“God,” Jake swore, magnetized by the sight.

“One more knot,” Damien said. He drew the bands up between my thighs, framed my pubis, and passed them behind my back as he’d done with the first two. His final knot constricted the sashes around my waist at the front. He considered the picture he’d made of me. As if he sensed something missing, he tied the upper and lower bands together.

“Will that do?” he asked Jake.

Lust had suffused Jake’s face. He looked at Damien, opened his mouth to answer, and then had to draw a breath. “That’s perfect.”

The harshness of his voice set my blood on fire. Unavoidably agitated, I squirmed within my bonds.

I doubt Damien disapproved, but he laid his hand across my stomach to calm me. “Why don’t I help you take off those clothes?”

I was already naked. Damien meant Jake’s clothes. More erotic heat snapped through me. Jake released my pussy. He stepped back and waited, his arms quiescent at his sides. Damien had succeeded in bringing out the stable master’s hidden submissive.

“Excellent,” Damien said and began undoing Jake’s shirt studs.

Oh I did relish watching him undress his lover. Men’s bodies were still new to me, and I couldn’t deny Jake’s was beautiful. Damien freed Jake’s muscular arms, then helped him peel off his undershirt.

Presented with the lithe sculpting of Jake’s torso, Damien did just as I would have. He explored Jake’s chest with both hands, wordlessly praising its firmness and contours. Jake’s chest hair drew his attention too. He riffled through the cloud with his fingernails. When he scratched light arcs around Jake’s navel, the other man’s stomach twitched.

“Shh,” Damien said when Jake seemed about to move. The stable master stilled. As if to reward him, Damien kissed his left palm and then his right.

“Now,” he said. “Let’s show our pretty captive what the sight of her does to you.”

Damien used more strength than he probably needed to free the waist of Jake’s trousers. He opened the placket, spread the sides, and slid his hand inside to the wrist.

Jake moaned as Damien’s fist stroked slowly up his shaft.

I found that lovely to hear and watch, but Damien quickly released him. He moved behind Jake to pull down his open trousers. Jake’s whole body called for admiration, but my gaze arrowed to his prick. His cock was rigid, its natural color darkened, its thickness shuddering. As I stared open-mouthed at this wonder, Jake’s right hand moved to his balls. His fingers gripped tightly and tugged down.

My attention flew to his face. Jake wet his lips and swallowed.

“I’m too excited,” he said hoarsely. “Tugging my balls down will help me last.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Jesus, Mia, you look pretty.”

“I like how you say my name,” I confided impulsively.

He smiled and my heart beat harder. Was this the expression I’d worn when I looked at Damien? If it was, I understood the conclusion he’d drawn about my feelings. The emotion that rose behind his eyes looked very much like love.

“Say my name,” he said.

The demand was soft but I couldn’t mistake it for a request. I glanced at Damien, who nodded.

“Jake,” I said. Without even trying, my vocal chords caressed it.

The curve of Jake’s lips deepened. Damien laid one hand on his shoulder as if he approved of our exchange. I’m not sure why, but this made me writhe within my ties. Jake flushed darker at my twisting, his erection jerking higher between his legs.

“May I take her now?” he rasped to Damien.

“If she agrees,” Damien said. “But only if you promise not to come.”

Jake hesitated. “You’re going to join me soon?”

“I am,” Damien confirmed.

“All right. That’s incentive to hold off.”

My skin tingled as he climbed over me on his hands and knees. The dining table’s adaptations mustn’t have compromised its strength. The wood didn’t groan underneath his weight. Jake wet his lips again as he ran his eyes over me. He seemed to be deciding where to start.

I knew where I wanted him, but all I could do was try to catch my breath.

“Shall I kiss you?” he asked.

“Yes, please,” I managed to gasp out.