Temporary Master (3 page)

Sabella
was just putting away the final bag of groceries when the phone rang. Glancing
at the time, she wondered who was calling after ten on a Thursday night.
Folding the sack, she lifted the receiver off its base to wedge it between her
shoulder and ear before walking back across the kitchen, where a stack of
canned goods awaited her on the counter.

“Hello?”
Picking up two cans of peas and a box of rotini, she was shoving them into the
cupboard when her ear got blasted by her best friend.

“Girl,
what are you doing Friday night? You have to come to the club with me!”

She
winced at Lauren’s demand over the line as well as the loud sound of music in
the background. It sounded like her friend was already at the club. But after a
long day at the youth center, a meeting with her agent, and a round of late
night grocery shopping, all she wanted to do was kick off her shoes, read the
next chapter in the steamy book awaiting for her on her Kindle and go to bed.
“I’m sorry. But I don’t think so, Lauren. Not only has it been a long day, but
this entire week has been hectic with Dad’s appointments and everything. I’m
planning on coming home early tomorrow after taking Dad to his support group
and hibernating.
Maybe next time?”

She
didn’t have to hear the loud sigh to know that Lauren was fed up with her
ongoing evasions. “That’s what you keep promising me, but next time never
comes. This has to stop, Bella-mía. You’ve been back for over three months. You
can’t continue to ignore your needs. It’s not healthy.”

She
opened her mouth to protest but what could she say. It was true. She’d been so
wrapped up in re-establishing herself in Cali as both an artist and as a
daughter,
she’d woefully neglected her sexual needs.
But
I’m not a mindless animal controlled by my body’s urges.
“Not everything
has to do with…with…sex.”
Christ I can’t even say the word without
stammering.

“Of
course not, but most of the good things do.” A pleading note filled her ear.
“Come on. It’s subbie night at New Beginnings.”

Sabella
had another refusal on the tip of her tongue when what her friend said finally
registered. “What on Earth is a ‘subbie night’?”

Lauren’s
voice seemed to perk up. “It’s a night dedicated to submissives. It’s something
unique to New Beginnings. The owners have set up a safe environment for
uncollared subs to come in, mingle with unattached Doms under the house Dom’s
supervision...” Her tone dropped an octave as she cupped her hand over the
mouthpiece, or that’s what Sabella assumed since the background noise became
decidedly distant. “…and if we tease all
the wanna
-be
Doms who pay through the nose for just a glimpse at a true submissive, all the
better.”

Sabella
nearly dropped the can of peas she was putting away. “Lauren!” Aghast at the
idea of teasing any man, let alone a Dom, was foreign to her. And even if it
wasn’t, the chance of a Dom, even a wanna-be one, taking what he wanted despite
what the submissive wanted, sent apprehension through her. “Submission isn’t a
game! A sub could get hurt…”

“Oh
relax, Ms. Priss. It’s perfectly safe. As if Davis or Ethan would ever let
anything non-consensual happen to any submissive under their watch.”

“But
what if they can’t watch everywhere? I’d be scared to even walk back to my car
after such a night. Who says one of those Doms won’t follow you out…
”

“Oh
my God, you’ve been in New York too long, girl. This is Napa Valley - not the
big city.” There was now more than a thread of exasperation in Lauren’s voice.
“Not only are there several experienced Doms monitoring the floor, there’s also
a bouncer who escorts all submissives to their cars if requested. You worry too
much. New Beginnings is a place to start over. In fact, I believe that was the
owners’ intention when they opened up two years ago.
A place
to start anew.”

She
waivered.
Lord only knew she needed a fresh slate, and it seemed as if the owners had
thought of everything. But even if she longed to let down her hair for a night,
she wasn’t sure she should. She knew herself. The first Dom who showed her the
least amount of attention, and she’d be begging them to collar her. All in the
hope of finding that elusive release which had plagued her in every
relationship she’d ever had, whether it had been BDSM or vanilla. And after the
catastrophe with Louis, she wasn’t sure she could trust herself. Perhaps it
would be better if she waited.

“Sounds
tempting, but I don’t think I’m ready to break my celibacy yet, Lauren.”

“Aw
come on. You can’t turn off the need to submit that easily. When’s the last
time you even spoke or saw someone in the scene? And you can’t count Kaleb.
He’s your boss and I know he won’t touch you while you’re still his employee.”

“Ew….I’m
so not going there, girl. That’s wrong on so many levels.” It was true Kaleb
Terzis was eye candy and if the situation had been different, Sabella might
have been tempted, but he reminded her too much of a protective old brother.
There simply wasn’t any attraction between them.
At least not
on her part.

“You
can’t, can you?” Lauren taunted.

Sabella
wanted to reach through the phone and smack her friend. Good grief the woman
was like a pit bull when she wanted something.

“So,
I’ve been out the loop for awhile. It’s not the end of the world.”

“Bella!”
Her father called out from the
living room, interrupting whatever argument Lauren probably had prepared, but
she took it as an opportunity to end the conversation.

“Look,
Dad’s yelling for me. We’ll get together this weekend, okay?”

“Fine,
but I get to pick the place.”

Sabella
quickly agreed, but should’ve taken Lauren’s warning to heart.

* * * *

The
rest of the week passed in a blur and before Sabella knew it, it was Sunday.
After fighting with her father about the new diet his dietitian wanted him to
start, and doing her lesson plan for the youth center for the following week,
Sabella was looking forward to getting out of the house. She was just getting
ready to walk out the door, when Andrew stomped into the kitchen. The scowl on
her father’s face had her sighing. She knew the look well. It seemed like he
was always in a grumpy mood because she wouldn’t let him have his Twinkies and
Pepsi. She was trying to switch him to the diet version of his favorite soda,
but so far hadn’t had much luck.

“Aw
come on, Dad. Did you even try it?” She strove for patience.

He
tossed his barely touched meal into the garbage and then gave her a look that
dared her to comment. “Tastes like crap. You eat it,” he muttered as he stomped
out of the room, pausing to grab a tube of salted cashews.

“Well
at least you’re eating something that isn’t going to hurt you.” She wanted to
scream but refrained. Hooking her purse over her shoulder, she let herself out
of the apartment. “I’ll be back later, Dad.”

A
muffled reply was all she got as she stepped into the hallway. Pulling the door
shut, she headed down to her car. Within moments she was headed towards
downtown Napa. Her destination was the Bistro Sabor, a favored Latin restaurant
of hers and Lauren’s. Not only was the food great but it was affordable even
for a starving artist’s budget. As she parked, she looked for Lauren’s Mustang.
It was her friend’s pride and joy since she’d rebuilt it from the ground up.
Finally spotting the jet black car, she pulled into a parking spot a few cars
down from it.

After
locking her own car, she strode into the bistro. Her stomach rumbled as the
delicious scents of the
sofrito
they used on their Latin delicacies reached
her nose. Scanning the thinning lunch crowd, she finally spotted Lauren. With
her blonde hair twisted up into an elegant but slightly messy French twist, she
looked nothing like the mechanic she was. But as Lauren rose to wave at her,
that’s when she realized she wasn’t alone. There was a behemoth of a man
sitting next to her friend, sprawled comfortably in the booth, his long frame
filling out the seat with no room to spare. As Sabella got closer, she could
see the darkened shadow of his beard. He was quite the specimen of manhood.
Anger rushed through her. It would be just like her friend to try and set her
up.
And if I weren’t so pissed for her trying something like this, I might
be attracted to him.

“Lauren….you
didn’t tell me we were going to have a guest.” Keeping her voice even was a
miracle, especially when the blonde had a cat
who
ate
the canary expression on her face. Sabella wanted to do mean and evil things to
her girlfriend.

“Pish
posh, if I’d told you, you’d have never come.” Lauren pulled her into a hug.
“Just give him a chance, Bella-mía. I didn’t bring you here to set you up with
him.” She drew back, raising her hand.
“Scout’s honor.”

An
exasperated sigh escaped Sabella as she slid into the booth seat, closely
followed by Lauren. She’d just snapped open her napkin when Lauren began the
introductions.

“This
is Davis Clayton. I mentioned him the other night on the phone. He’s one of the
co-owners of New Beginnings.” Her friend flashed a grin at Davis. “Davis, this
my best friend Bella Johnston and the reason I asked you both to lunch. I think
Bella might be the solution to the problem you mentioned to me earlier.”

If
Sabella needed any more proof that Davis wasn’t in cahoots with Lauren, his
expression would’ve told it all. A frown furrowed his brow as his fingers
tightened around his drink. “I thought this was a date, Lauren.” His voice had
the slightest touch of frustration in it. That’s when Sabella knew what was
going on. Lauren was up to her usual flirtatious tricks – stringing the man
along, raising his hopes that she might settle for being collared, when reality
it was nothing more than a complex game to Lauren. Her friend would never
settle down.

Lauren
gave him an indulgent smile. “Well, if I hadn’t led you on to think it was a date,
I wouldn’t have been able to drag you out of bed much before noon.” Lauren
flashed an indulgent smile at Davis before turning to face Sabella. “You see
he’s in a bit of bind which I think you could help him with, girl.”

Before
she could answer, a waitress set a glass of ice water down in front of her.
“Are you ready to order?”

 “Sure,
I’ll have the fish tacos with a small order of chile relleno.” The familiar
order had the waitress smiling before she left.

Sabella
turned her attention back to Lauren. “Well, you got me here under false
pretenses, but I suppose I might as well hear you out, since I’m not leaving
without tasting my yummy fish tacos.”

Davis
growled but sighed. “You’re lucky you’re not my submissive, Lauren. I’d have
warmed your bottom for a stunt such as this. In fact I may still do it, if this
turns out to be a waste of my time.”

Lauren
pouted. “That’s so not fair. I wasn’t doing anything against your will. You’re
the one who said yes when I asked…”

Davis
drummed his fingers on the table, his gray eyes snapping. “That’s when I
thought you were going to take my offer seriously…”

Curiosity
piqued, Sabella broke in. “What offer?”

Lauren
actually blushed. “It’s nothing…”

Crossing
his arms over his chest, Davis arched one dark brow. “I wouldn’t call my offer
to scene with you as nothing. I’m very selective, as you well know. Any other
sub would jump at the chance to feel my whip against their back.” He bestowed a
smile on Sabella. “I’ve
been wanting
to see my marks
of domination against your friend’s back for several months now. She has the
most incredibly pale skin. One which I think will take a whipping very well.
The very idea of seeing her lose control under my touch makes me hard as rock.”

If
it were possible Lauren reddened further. “Davis Clayton, you’ll stop that,
right now. We’re not in your club. This is a public place…”

Sabella
nearly giggled as Lauren glanced around the room nervously. This was a first.
Her friend was usually the one pulling the rug out from under a man, not vice
versa. Sabella finally took pity on her friend when it looked as if Davis was
going to continue in this thread.

“So
what’s this favor you need, Mr. Clayton?”

“It’s
not really for me, but for my club, Ms. Sabella. I’m sure you realize New
Beginnings is quite new to the area?” When she nodded, he continued. “Well, as
such, we’re still building our customer base, and I managed to finagle an
invitation to demonstrate out of the Portland Leather Alliance. They’re going
to allow my partner to teach and demonstrate kinbaku at their upcoming
Kinkfest.” He toyed with his water glass. “Do you know what kinbaku is?”

As
the waiter set down her sampler plate, she unrolled her napkin before
answering. “Yes, it’s a form of shibari bondage.
One which
dates back long before the recognized form of modern shibari.
It is
believed to be a direct descendant of the old
Hojōjutsu
form of martial arts. It differs from
shibari in the fact that it’s more traditional in nature as only hemp rope is
used, and unlike shibari it uses no formal knots but instead uses…”