Power Play [Pleasure Playground 2] (5 page)

Jennifer crinkled her forehead as more of the night before rushed into her mind. Her Irish devil had given her an explosive orgasm and then simply put her to sleep. He'd not fucked her or even demanded she suck him off. For the first time in a very long time, she'd slept like the dead with not a care in the world. Jennifer shook her head. She really didn't get him or this crazy situation.

Once again, she pushed up on her arms, this time ignoring the aches and pains of the day before. Right now she needed a little ibuprofen and her morning yoga routine to get her feeling normal again. And maybe something to make her forget the colossal mistake of the night before.
Yeah right
. As if any pill could make her forget. Another flash of the pleasure she'd received at Daegan's hands shot through her brain. Did she really want to forget that?

Never.

Lost in her thoughts, she'd failed to notice both men turn silent. When she slowly swiveled her head, she found them both smiling at her like men with a big-ass secret.

"What?"

"I think you've been giving Chase here a show."

Chase laughed. “It wouldn't be the first time."

Something dark and ugly crossed Daegan's face for a brief second before he smoothed out his features and lifted her from his lap. In a split second, he'd maneuvered her behind him, blocking most of her body with his.

"We got locked in last night. Which ended up a stroke of luck as far as I'm concerned."

Jennifer rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her breasts. In her line of work she had absolutely no issue with her nudity in front of others. Hell, Chase and Murphy had seen her naked more than any other men in her life. Now that her ordeal had ended, she was more than ready to go home. She had a shoot later this afternoon, and she needed a shower desperately. Jennifer slid along the leather and attempted to scoot past Daegan.

He grabbed her wrist and stilled her movements.

"I need to find my clothes so I can get dressed and go home. I've got a schedule to keep."

"Not yet. First we need to talk."

She sighed. This was exactly the kind of discussion she'd been trying to avoid.

"I think that's my cue to leave. Jennifer, I'll see you later.” Chase winked at her before disappearing out the door.

"Look, Daegan.” She reluctantly turned to face him. “A lot happened last night, and I don't disagree that we should probably discuss it, but I have a shoot this afternoon, and it takes time to prepare.” Not that she really wanted to get into all the nitty-gritty details about that.

"Running again?"

She narrowed her eyes and pressed her hands to her hips. “No, I am not running again. I fully remember what happened here last night. As crazy as I think it is for us to take one night and try to turn it into something I don't understand, I'm not going to pretend I didn't mean what I said."

He shifted his stance and stepped closer. “I think crazy is underrated."

Damn. Just when she thought his arrogance would fuel her anger, he turned on her with something different.

Jennifer took a shaky breath. “Why do you do that?"

He smiled. “Do what?"

"Say things that throw me off-balance."

Daegan stared at her for a long moment. “That's nothing compared to this."

"What?” she whispered.

Instead of responding, he cupped his hand behind her neck and pulled her forward until their lips hovered precariously close. Her sudden intake of breath disappeared when their mouths met. His left hand touched her cheek, shattering her almost nonexistent resistance as the kiss turned hot and hard instantly.

Their tongues met and tangled as the sheer strength of his possession consumed her. Unable to catch her breath, she clung to him like a life preserver in a violent storm. Daegan growled into the kiss seconds before his teeth grasped her lower lip and nipped the sensitive skin.

All the reasons she couldn't agree to Daegan's deal evaporated under the incredible onslaught of tongue and teeth working their way around her mouth. The only thing that mattered was the way he made her feel in that moment. Wanted. Cherished. Desired. He made it so easy to let everything else slide away.

Under her hands, his muscles flexed and bunched as she inched her way across the heated flesh of his broad shoulders. Jennifer gave in to her desires and poured everything she'd held back in that kiss. He inspired her to be something she rarely was—honest about her needs.

Pressure built deep in her chest, starting a vibration inside her that escaped from her mouth in a low moan of sweet ecstasy. The fear she'd been swamped with from the moment she'd woken up with troubling memories faded to a distant part of her mind. Not forgotten but demoted to unimportant.

Heat surged between her thighs, preparing for Daegan to take what he so obviously wanted from her. Excitement bubbled in her stomach. She moved her hands, first across his pecs and then trailed her fingers along the faint line of hair that led lower. His abdominal muscles twitched, and his fingers pressed harder to her cheeks, spurring her to keep going until she reached the barrier of his pants. When she tried to attack the button that would remove them, he covered her hands with his and pulled from the kiss.

"Daegan?” She kept her voice low, not wanting to break the moment.

A harsh curse word sounded between them, and Jennifer closed her eyes against it. Tears sprang to her eyes, which she valiantly kept from falling. There was so much tension between them now it felt like hot, thick air on the worst Southern summer day. Daegan rubbed the back of his neck, more evidence of his agitation.

"You need to go now, Jennifer."

She blinked, taken aback by the sudden change in his demeanor. “What?” She definitely didn't understand him at all. The bulge in his pants and the way he touched her indicated that he wanted her, yet he didn't take what he needed. Wasn't that what it was all about? “I don't understand."

"I know you don't. That's why you need to leave now.” He backed away from her and scooped her clothes from the floor. “Get dressed."

Jennifer snatched the garments from his hand and hastily put them on. She had no idea what his problem was. He'd asked for her to be honest and that's what she'd tried to do. This attitude of his was for the birds. She'd left her purse in the office before she'd entered the Dark Room last night, but she still needed to find her keys. She turned in the direction of the platform and wanted to cry when she spied the bench he'd had her on last night. Had it only been a few hours ago? It felt like an eternity since he'd had her naked and needy enough to make her agree to his wild offer just to achieve release.

She balled her fist and stuck it in her mouth, biting down until the need to weep passed. Tears brought on by emotions were the weakest kind. She straightened her spine and rounded the seating area on the hunt for her car keys.

"Looking for these?"

She whirled back to him to find her keys dangling from his fingers. Suspicion immediately filled her mind. How did he have those? She started to ask the question and clamped her lips into a thin line.

Get out. Don't engage him anymore.

Sanity stopped her from giving him another chance to make a fool of her. One of these days she'd remember to use her brain first. Determined to save a scrap of self-respect, she stalked toward him only close enough to take the offered prize. If he noticed her movements were jerky and filled with anger, he didn't show a single outward sign. As far as she could tell, he'd turned cold as ice.

She turned to leave, and his hand clamped around her fingers, rendering her immobile.

"I'll meet you here after your shoot. We can go to dinner and discuss how this arrangement between us is going to work."

Jennifer made the mistake of meeting his gaze. For a moment he'd let his guard down and she saw everything. Desire, mirth, and sadness. The last took her aback. Of all the emotions storming through her, she'd never expected his to be so complex. Now she wanted to know why.

Damned curiosity.

"Yes, Daegan.” The words came out of her mouth, she knew they did, but she had no idea why. What exactly was wrong with her?

"No more running, little rabbit."

With that, he turned and strode out of the Dark Room, leaving her there in a complete mass of confusion. After a few minutes of standing still at a complete loss, she glanced down at the keys in her hand and remembered she had somewhere to be. With no small amount of effort, she put one foot in front of the other and followed the path blazed by the devil.

She had no idea what time it was, but there was no doubt her schedule was shot. She needed to shove this weird sensation to the back of her mind and concentrate on what needed to be done. When in doubt she could always rely on the comfort of her routine.

And as far as Daegan was concerned... Well, if he wanted to sport blue balls by the end of the day, it was certainly his right. Who was she to tell him what an idiot he was? For a fleeting moment, she'd thought maybe Daegan would be different. She almost laughed out loud.

Jennifer grabbed her purse from Eve's desk and hurried out the door. Whatever tricks he had up his sleeve, she'd handle. She had to.

Daegan stood in his office and looked out the window. Despite the beautiful view of Uptown he had, his gaze remain transfixed on the parking lot below him. Jennifer's dark blue classic ‘69 Fastback Mustang taunted him—almost as much as the woman did. She'd been in the building for hours, and he'd not seen or heard a word from her. He bided his time, giving her some space to not only think about the night before but also finish her work.

Staring down at the blacktop reminded him of the first time he'd laid eyes on her. She'd pulled into the parking lot on his first day on the job site. At first, it was the classic car purring like a kitten that caught his attention... Until he'd glimpsed a flash of blonde hair as she rounded a curve. He had a hard-on for classic cars, and one with a pretty girl could only be better.

She'd parked in a parking space not far from the door and quickly emerged from the fine machine one incredible bare leg after another. He'd literally held his breath as she stretched to her full height. With a miniskirt that barely covered her ass, she'd been all legs. Whatever Chase had been telling him about the building went in one ear and out the other.

All too quickly, she'd disappeared inside, and he'd been forced to return his focus to the job at hand. Truth be told, the instant attraction bothered him. He wasn't exactly immune to a beautiful woman, but he'd sought her out more than once over the next few weeks. He'd discovered pretty quickly that her beauty came with a hard outer shell she didn't want cracked. She avoided close contact with anyone, which made no sense for a woman whose job it was to get naked, tied up, and photographed in every imaginable scenario.

But there were rare moments when she thought no one was looking, like the night before in the gallery, when the vulnerability he spotted on her face ripped through his resolve.

That was the woman he needed.

Since then, his wanting for the woman was driving him insane. Every instinct he possessed pushed him to claim her. A thought that nearly made him laugh out loud. Jennifer was not that easy. He doubted she'd every truly submitted in her life. At least not in the way he had in mind for her. Daegan shook his head and asked himself why. Why her and why now? The thought of his wife always pushing for more crowded his mind. His commitment to her had led them both astray to almost the very end. One thing had become abundantly clear. He did not need another long-term relationship. Not now. Not ever.

None of which stopped him from his relentless pursuit of Jennifer. He'd approached her numerous times before finally making his latest offer. He needed a short-term arrangement to work whatever this was out of his system, and she needed to be taught how to embrace what her mind and body begged for. Like him, she had desires that could only be ignored for so long. He craved the power dynamic between a submissive and a Dominant. It was impossible to deny the exhilaration he experienced every time he discovered the key to a submissive's pleasure. That's what he sought with Jennifer.

He thought of her eyes. They were often a deep blue with the harsh light of the studio shining down on her. She'd play for the camera, move seductively through pose after pose, but when Chase didn't have the camera pointed in her direction, a wisp of vulnerability would drift across her face. She was bloody good at her job, but something made her sad. After Murphy had nearly spilled the beans about Jennifer's background, Daegan's curiosity had gotten the better of him. He'd pulled some strings and managed to get some basic information about her. Where she lived, how much money she made, that kind of detail. What surprised him more than anything was the sealed file he couldn't get his hands on with any amount of influence. Something had happened when she was a minor that had given the American courts cause to legally emancipate her from her parents at the tender age of sixteen. When most girls were worrying about boyfriends and school, she'd become a legal adult and learned to support herself by taking on the responsibilities that should have been her parents'. According to his information, she'd been alone ever since.

Many sleepless nights since had his mind wandering down too many paths of possibilities. Like today, he'd pulled out the file and combed through it once again. He'd damn near memorized every word, and still he searched. Hoping for a clue that would miraculously tell him everything. Or lay to rest the turmoil she stirred in him.

A twinge of guilt surged through his gut. He didn't imagine Jennifer would enjoy knowing he'd pried into her private life without her knowledge. Hell, even Chase or Murphy would have his ass if they found out. They might be committed to Eve, but they protected Jennifer like a couple of papa bears.

As if on cue, a knock sounded at Daegan's door. He turned away from the window and his wayward thoughts and took a seat behind his desk. “Come in."

Chase entered, looking tired as hell. He had no idea what it took to create the magic his friend did with a camera, but he imagined it wasn't easy. Daegan watched him drop into the leather seat across from his desk and waited patiently for him to talk.