Take a Chance (13 page)

No comment, but then, he didn’t expect a
reply.

“
What exactly is that?” she
said, pointing to one of his favorite floggers. Soft deerskin
strands with pebbled beads at the end of each length. An image
appeared in his head, Dena spread on the bed, or better yet, across
the spanking bench, her hair pulled to the side so it fell toward
the floor, while he used the flogger on her back. He’d make her
come over and over before he actually took her.

“
Steve?”

Damn. He’d gotten lost in a fantasy while she
waited for an answer. “Let me show you.” He took the thing off the
hook and handed it to her, strands first. “Feel the softness?”

She nodded, hesitant but curious.

“
It’s called a flogger. The
user can regulate the force he uses to get different responses from
his submissive. A light tickle or a sharp bite of pain. The little
buttons at the end of each strand give the process a little more
sting.”

“
And you want to use this on
me. Don’t deny it. I can see it in your face. It turns you on, me
holding this thing.” Her lips curled up in a seductive grin and she
raised her brows. “Or would you rather I use it on you?”

“
Oh, hell no.” He lifted it
from her hand and let the strands dangle to the floor. “And yes,
I’d very much like to use it on you right now. Tomorrow. Whenever I
can get you naked and ready.”

Her lower lip quivered, as did her peaking
breasts, and her eyelids fell to half cover her eyes. Lips parted,
her breath stuttered in her chest.

She wanted him. She wanted what he could give
her.

“
Strip, Dena. I’m going to
give you your first lesson in BDSM.”

Her hand went to her throat, then slid down
her chest to the hem of her top. When she dropped it to the floor,
he chided. “You may want to wear that later. Fold it properly and
set it on the table.”

Her gaze flicked to his face but he refused
to smile. The dominance he’d held back flowed freely through his
body, the instinct taking hold. “Do as you’re told.”

“
Okay.”

He caught her chin in his fingers and brought
her eyes to his. “The proper response to your Dom is ‘Yes, Master.’
Say it.”

“
Yes, Master.”

The words, and her submission, rang in his
head. She was his. He’d make it happen, and he’d never let her
go.

“
Good girl. Now lose the
rest of those clothes.”

When every scrap she wore was neatly folded
and stacked on the table, he led her to the spanking bench. “Put
your feet next to the corners, doll, with your belly in the
saddle.”

He leaned to each side and wrapped both
ankles with a wide Velcro clasp connected to the bench to keep her
in place. Unable to wait, he smoothed the soft flesh of her back
with both palms, his dick hard enough to drive nails into mahogany.
This level of need was new for him. Unexpected, but welcome.

Dragging his fingertips from her ass to her
shoulder, he moved to her head and leaned down to kiss her cheek.
“Let your arms fall, Dena.” Two quick movements had her hands
fastened comfortably to the forward legs of the bench.

She gasped and he massaged her scalp. “Trust
me, Dena, and if you need to, use your safe word.” He separated the
thick locks of her hair into two sections and moved them over her
shoulders, out of the way of the strands from the flogger. Pressing
a kiss to her temple, he whispered, “Let the sensations wash
through you and feel everything I give you.”

Picking the flogger up from the table, he
laid it across her back and then inched it across her skin, letting
her feel every soft fiber and the cool discs knotted into each
strand’s end. When the last tentacle fell past her body, he took a
step back and raised his arm to the side, the flogger ready to
float and sting.

The first slap against her back was light,
giving her the intimate feel of the flogger as it shimmied over her
skin. She was quiet and still, analyzing the sensations with an
obvious surprise from the tilt of her head.

He repeated the light touch two, three times,
before stroking a tad harder. A breath shot out of her when the
strength of the lash increased, but she didn’t complain.

He added a little more to the next stroke,
increasing the pace and heat until her torso rose to meet each
swipe. A moan slipped past her lips and his body tightened even as
sweat beaded on his brow.

Dena was enjoying the act of submission.

He slipped two fingers between her thighs and
a gush of moisture coated them. Unable to wait, he dropped the
flogger and opened his fly. One swift thrust and he buried his cock
to the hilt. Her ragged moan urged him on, and he set a steady
rhythm while rubbing the lash marks on her back. Again and again,
she tightened around him and climaxed, and after he pulsed and
released inside her, he collapsed over the saddle, her body limp
beneath him.

Chapter 13

“
Private
Delights?”

He squeezed her fingers in his palm.
“Exactly. You should’ve seen the place when we bought it. Took us
four months to get it converted.”

Dena smiled up at him, her face still glowing
from their afternoon in the playroom. “I was here last year with my
family. Dad was a member.”

“
I doubt he’ll join this
year. It’s a privately run BDSM club. Members only.”

“
And you’re a
member.”

“
No, doll,” he said, pulling
into a parking spot. “I’m one of the owners.”

Her eyes widened and she shook her head.
“Surely, you don’t expect me to get naked in public.”

“
No, not tonight. But
eventually.” When he opened her door to help her out, she was still
shaking her head. “I’ll be patient with you, Dena, but you’ll do as
I ask when the time is right.”

The softening of her shoulders gave him hope.
She was everything he wanted in a woman and training her to his
taste in lifestyle was proving to be a delicious occupation. He
wouldn’t let go easily.

They walked through the entrance and he was
greeted by Joanne, the staff submissive, and one of her
assistants.

“
Welcome, Master Steve.
Please scan your card.”

“
Hell, I built the system.
Guess I’ll have to follow the rules like everyone else.” He laughed
and pulled out his wallet for the membership card. The barcode
recorded his information and kept a continuing record of members
and traffic through the club. A screen next to the card reader let
him log his guest into the system and he made a mental note to have
a card made for Dena.

“
Master Mark and Master
Derek are in the front lounge,” Joanne said. “And Master Mark said
you’d want this.” She pulled a slim box from a shelf under the
counter and handed it to him.

“
Thanks.” They stepped away
from the reception desk and he slipped the box open. A narrow white
leather band studded with small jade stones in one long row down
the middle sat on a bed of cotton. He handed the box back to Joanne
and showed Dena the collar. “This will tell all the men in the
building that you belong to me. Turn around.”

With wide eyes but no words to the contrary,
she followed his directions and he secured the leather collar
around her slim throat. “Perfect. You honor me with your trust,
Dena.”

“
Thank you,” she said, her
bright eyes watching his face. Time for another
reminder.

“
While we are here, you
won’t look at me or at anyone else without my permission. Keep your
eyes on the floor unless I tell you otherwise.”

“
Okay.”

“
Your response should be,
‘yes, master’ or ‘yes, Master Steve’ while we are here.”

She blinked. Then blinked again. And a third
time, her expression thoughtful.

Leaning in to whisper in her ear, he said,
“Remember, Dena. This isn’t a game I play. It’s who I am.”

“
Yes, Master Steve,” she
said with a sigh and her eyes dropped accordingly. It would take
him some time to show her the positive aspects of the lifestyle and
he was looking forward to the tasks ahead. For now, he’d take what
little she would give and encourage her submission.

With his palm on the back of her neck, he
guided her into the main salon. The room was huge, an open seating
area with couches and chairs scattered across the space. It was
still early, so there were only a few people milling around, mainly
board members who had been appointed by one of his best friends,
Mark Harrison. He kept Dena in tow and stopped next to the seating
area his friends inhabited.

“
Dena, I want you to meet my
best friends and business partners, and I’d like you to look at
them so you’ll recognize them when we see them again.”

He’d taken care to find her something
appropriate to wear to the opening, not too suggestive, but nicely
enticing, and she looked beautiful in the short red dress and heels
he’d found in her closet. His friends were already drooling.

“
Dena, this is Mark
Harrison, the managing partner of Private Delights.”

His heart lurched in his chest when Mark
offered his hand and Dena looked to him before shaking the man’s
hand. Perfect submissive behavior and she didn’t even realize
it.

“
Nice to meet you Dena,”
Mark said. “Steve told us how you met. Interesting
story.”

Her face flushed and her body nudged his, as
if she was trying to be absorbed by him. He was falling fast for
this little woman. “And this is Derek Lyons, my partner at G&L
Security.”

When Derek offered a handshake, she took his
hand and only slightly cut her eyes to her Dom. She was a fast
learner, as he’d expected.

“
You’ve found yourself a
beautiful woman, Steve,” Derek said, laughter in his eyes for the
first time in a long time.

Mark laughed. “True enough, my friend. I
wonder if her brother knows where she is tonight.”

When she flinched, Mark reached out and put a
hand on her arm. “Sorry, Dena. Didn’t mean to upset you. That jibe
was meant for Steve.” Then he leaned a little closer and lowered
his voice. “Forgive me?”

Dena’s head popped up and she turned to look
at Steve and said, “Is he supposed to flirt with me?” in a hoarse
whisper.

Steve grabbed her up in a tight hug and
sighed. “Mark has trouble keeping his eyes off hot women, and I
can’t fault him for that, but we’re trying to learn submissive
behavior.” He shot Mark a ‘back off’ look even as he grinned.

“
Beautiful Dena,” Mark said,
“Dump him and run off with me. I’m a much better Dom.”

When she turned back to him, Steve laughed.
“Go ahead and talk to them. We’ll work on submission in bits and
pieces tonight.”

Derek chimed in. “Dena, what do you think of
the place?”

“
It’s lovely, much nicer
than it was the last time I was here. You’ve changed so much that
it’s like a new building.”

“
Exactly what we wanted to
hear,” Derek said.

Dena watched the three men while they
discussed the club they’d created and listened to them move in and
out of a business discussion and private matters that had little to
do with the building and its purpose. She recognized the intimacy
between them and could only imagine the situations they’d
encountered together that had formed that closeness.

Mark, with his flirtation and easy charm was
a tall-dark-and-handsome type with his devil-may-care hair and rock
star swagger. His body language, like Steve’s, proclaimed him as a
womanizer without a care in the world. But she was quietly
discovering Steve’s idiosyncrasies one issue at a time, and she
wondered about his friends.

The other man in the cluster, Derek, was
different. Soft-spoken and intense where Steve and Mark tended to
get loud and pushy. He seemed closed off from the others until they
pulled him into the conversation.

Steve turned back to her as if he’d just
remembered he brought a date and grabbed her hand. “We’re going to
take a little tour before dinner.” He directed the comment to his
two friends and put his hand back on her neck. She wasn’t sure why
he chose that spot instead of her waist or shoulder, but it must be
some dominance issue she hadn’t learned about yet.

Head spinning, she let him lead her around
the room and then up the stairs. The drab swoop of steps from last
year’s party was still in place but it definitely wasn’t drab
anymore. With the wood rails refurbished and new carpet, the wide
stairs reminded her of the stairs in a grand hotel or an old
southern plantation.

The upstairs was as tastefully decorated as
the lower level, with thick carpet and warm colors on the wall.

“
This is my private room,”
he said, swiping his card to open the door. He flipped on the light
and took her inside, wrapping his arms around her body as the door
swung shut.

She recognized several items that mirrored
the toys he had in his playroom. She’d always heard about ‘boys and
their toys’ but her brothers never had playthings like Steve’s. His
were for a different type of sport, one she doubted her brothers
would acknowledge. Hell, she wasn’t altogether sure she was ready
to experience it, either.

“
We have a few minutes
before the dinner guests arrive. Come here.”

How could she disobey?

Chapter 14

Moving to him was easy.

Breathing while he crushed her to him was
tough but the gesture was welcome, his body heat infusing her with
a sense of rightness, a sense of calm. Whatever he asked of her
would be his.