Cherished: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella (6 page)

“Shit. You need to get rid of that answering machine. Join the twenty-first century.”

“I’m not completely out yet. She’s thinking about it, but you owe me.”

“Anything for my favorite client.” Mitch had been the one to smooth the way with the police after the “incident.” Even though the cop involved knew Will was innocent, there was still paperwork to be done and questions to be answered. Mitch had shown up, offered his services, and they’d become friends. Mitch was the one who convinced him to give Sanctum a chance.

“Get your ass over here so I can punch you in the face.”

“On my way.” The phone hung up and Will was alone again.

But not entirely. He’d learned to take stock of what was good. He breathed in the smell of the lasagna. His sister had made it for him. She’d turned into an amazing young woman. He looked over at Bridget’s wine glass and the salad he’d made. She hadn’t said no. And Mitch was on his way.

He was in control. He wasn’t going to end up some crazed addict, because he had things to live for and getting inside Bridget was definitely one of them.

He pulled the lasagna out and quickly made her a plate. He placed it on a tray along with a couple of cookies he’d bought at the bakery down the street. He wrote a quick note about wanting to make sure she ate a decent meal. He took it out the door and set it in front of hers. After pressing the doorbell, he stepped back into his condo and shut the door.

He couldn’t help watching her through his peephole and he didn’t miss the way she smiled.

He really had to stop the creepy-stalker stuff, but he was smiling, too.

Chapter Three

“Are you serious? He blackmailed every Dom in the club so that he could have you all to himself?” Serena asked before she downed a mini quiche. “That’s so romantic.”

Bridget looked around the small party at Grace Taggart’s house to see if someone was listening in. The subs were all here, all in their prettiest dresses and heels, and she felt like a troll.

“It is kind of sweet if you think about it.” Chris had driven her here. It was the weekly girls’ night—though that was kind of sexist. She amended the statement in her head. Weekly sub night. There were two whole guys at the party. Chris and Mistress Jackie’s sub, Harold, though he seemed to gasp at every single statement made.

“He’s kind of totally into you,” Serena said.

“He’s kind of an asshole,” Bridget tossed back. She also tossed back a shot of tequila. She definitely needed the alcohol. “But his sister is a great cook.”

“So you did have dinner with him.” Chris leaned forward. “Do you know if he can cook? If he can cook in the kitchen, he can probably cook in the bedroom.”

Had it only been last night that she’d found out what an asswipe Will Daley was? And then what a creepy-stalker kind of sweet guy he was who made sure she ate something? “No. He made me a tray and left it outside of my door.”

“So it could have been an evil tray and yet you ate it,” Chris pointed out. “He’s got you seriously turned around because you’re usually paranoid about everything.”

She would have protested but he knew her well. “I ate the whole thing. I knew it was him. Am I being an idiot?”

“No,” Serena said.

“Yes,” Chris replied.

It was good that they were in harmony. “I know I shouldn’t even consider it, but I am. I can’t help it. He’s kind of put me in a corner.”

Or against a wall. She’d thought all night about how he’d shoved her against that wall and crowded her before he’d lowered his lips down and taken her mouth like she’d only dreamed of before. She hadn’t been able to think when he had his hands on her. She’d been lucky he’d taken her seriously when she’d told him to stop because if he’d pressed his case, she might have gone under.

She might have ended up with her legs spread wide, pleading for him to put that big cock inside her. God, it had felt big. It had pressed against her belly and tempted her to find out what sex really felt like.

She was pretty sure it wasn’t a yawn. Not with Will Daley.

“Because no one else will go?” Chris asked. “I can find someone for you. I can walk right into the Tin Room and find you a date.”

The Tin Room was Dallas’s infamous gay strip club. Bridget was fairly certain Chris could definitely find her a date there for a price. The man would be gorgeous and have a perfect body and want nothing but cash from her.

Will was offering to give her something in return. He was offering to introduce her to D/s. She could figure out if she really wanted what she wrote about. She’d talked to lots of couples, played around a little, but D/s had always been a metaphor in her books. It was a way to talk about communication between lovers.

“I’ll think about it,” she muttered as Karina walked in the room. The gorgeous dark-haired woman had brought a friend with her, though they seemed a bit awkward together. Karina was lushly curved and her blonde friend looked like a starving Nordic supermodel. “I’m going to go talk to Karina. I’ll be right back.”

“She’s going to ask her about Will,” Chris said.

“Yes, she is,” Serena replied.

“No, I’m not.” She sighed. “Fine. I am since no one else will talk about it.”

She strode over to where Karina was ordering a club soda and her friend was ogling the bartender. “Hey, Karina, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Karina gave her a sure smile. “Of course.”

“I need a diet soda and skinny vodka, heavy on the vodka. Actually just give me the vodka. We’ll call it a martini,” the blonde said.

“Olives?” the bartender asked.

The blonde winked his way. “Only if I’m eating them off your body, honey. I don’t eat anything without some sort of physical activity. When do you get off? Work I mean. Because I can get you off three minutes after that. Seriously. My oral technique is superlative.”

Bridget watched them with a sort of shocked fascination.

“Maia, you promised,” Karina whispered.

Maia shrugged. “I promised I would try. I left the driver intact and he was lovely.” A long sigh came from her perfectly painted mouth. “Fine. But I thought this would be more fun.”

The bartender held up his hands, a wide-eyed look on his face. “I’m gay.”

“I could fix that for you,” Maia replied and then turned away. “Fine. But I don’t see how my not getting any is supposed to do anything but put me in a bad mood. You, entertain me.”

Bridget realized the rude blonde was talking to her. “You, go fuck yourself.”

A wide smile crossed the blonde’s lips. “Oh, I like this one, Karina.”

“Ignore her. She did Big Tag a massive favor and now we all have to put up with her for a year. I kind of want to kill Tag for that. I’m babysitting.”

“I did a favor for you, too,” Maia said irritably as she picked up her martini. “I handed you Derek on a silver platter. And I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Fine, I’m monitoring the beast,” Karina conceded.

“I like that so much better.” Maia looked out over the gathering.

Bridget really didn’t want to know more. “I wanted to talk to you about Will.”

Maia’s eyes lit up. “The good doctor? The ridiculously naïve one who almost got everyone killed a couple of months back? He had a very nice ass.”

She didn’t like the idea of Skeletor looking at Will’s ass, but she couldn’t miss the salient point. “Almost got everyone killed?”

Karina frowned. “That’s overstating it a little.”

“Well, they weren’t going to kill him. They were leaving him alive to take the fall for killing you. That man is superhot but he’s dumb as a post,” Maia said. “Actually that’s kind of how I like them. So beautiful. So very stupid. I should look him up.”

Bridget had enough of Maia. “He isn’t stupid. He’s a freaking neurosurgeon. What the hell are you? Some kind of dumbass, can’t do anything but smile for the camera model?”

Maia put a hand on her arm. “That’s so sweet. I always thought I could model. No. I’m assistant district attorney for Dallas County and I’m the one who got your crush out of the mess he’d gotten himself into. He had his perfect sub but she turned out to be using him. What he saw in that no-brain idiot, I have no idea.”

Karina put a hand up. “Maia, there’s Eve. Why don’t you go and bug her?”

Maia nodded. “Oh, those shoes. Yes, someone should tell her they make her look like a milkmaid. And that hair. Horrible. She needs an intervention.”

“Is that a good idea?” Bridget liked Eve. It seemed a horrible thing to sick a blonde demon on her.

“Eve finds her amusing. I believe she’s writing an academic paper on Maia as the new Narcissus.” Karina turned sympathetic eyes on her. “You’re interested in Will?”

Interested? Was she interested in a man she couldn’t stop thinking about? She’d tried to write this morning and her blond cowboy hero kept turning into a dark-haired doctor. “I’m considering going out with him.”

For a limited time.

“He’s a good guy. I met him while I was working a case having to do with missing girls.”

“Was he a suspect? Because I can’t see him physically hurting anyone.” He might break her heart, but she’d been safe with him. The minute she’d shown a hint of pulling back, he’d respected her decision.

“Only in Derek’s mind,” she said with a wink. “Derek was jealous, but I always knew Will was a well-meaning man. We met him in a club. Not a good one, but then he was testing the waters. I think he tried to hide his dominant needs for a very long time. He even had a cover story. He pretended to be an EMT so no one from the hospital he worked at would find out. I get the feeling there’s a lot Will likes to hide from the world.”

“Do you know about his mom?”

“Only after the fact. I dug into his background. He grew up really poor, Bridget. He’s likely not proud of the fact that he came from a trailer park and his mom was in and out of jail.”

He needed to be in control because so much of his life had been out of it. “He should be proud. He’s come a long way.”

“I happen to know for a fact that it never feels far away,” Karina said, her eyes softening. “When you come from someplace like that it always feels like you’re one step away from being right back there. Will isn’t hiding anymore. He changed hospitals and while he’s private, he’s not actively hiding now. I know he’s talked to his sisters about going to clubs.”

“And they didn’t have a problem with it?” Lisa didn’t seem to have a single problem with her brother.

“They adore him. He could murder someone and they would ask how they could help him. He raised them. He protected them. He had two jobs from the time he was fourteen and he got through school. He’s a hell of a guy, but I worry he still doesn’t know what he wants.”

He knew what he wanted when it came to her. He wanted a couple of weeks of casual fun. Was there really anything wrong with that? She hadn’t had sex in a year. Since she’d kicked her no-good boyfriend to the curb, she’d lived like a nun. “The evil one said something about him having a sub?”

“Her name was Starr,” Karina replied. “Well, she called herself that. She was more like a slave than a sub.”

“That’s what he wants?” She couldn’t do that, couldn’t suppress her own needs to give everything to some man no matter how good his abs looked. She’d met some of those women and a few she genuinely believed were happy, but it wasn’t for her.

“Like I said, he was exploring. Most Doms go through a phase where they want a very submissive playmate. And a whole bunch of them come to the conclusion that they would rather have a full partner. It works for some people. You know the saying. There are as many ways to practice D/s as there are people who practice it. Some people look at it like a religion and some of us adapt it to fit our needs. It’s simply a more open way for two partners to use their strengths and buoy each other’s weaknesses. Will came from a place where everyone was dependent on him. He’s comfortable handling the whole load, but that’s not necessarily what he needs.”

“I don’t know what I need either,” Bridget admitted. “I thought I needed stability and that led me to stay with a man who cheated on me for years. Maybe I need to follow my instincts this time.” And not give in to her fear that she was going to be the fool again.

“I think you could be good for Will, but I would advise you to take it slow.”

Slow. She didn’t have time to take it slow. Her cell chirped. Her sister. Damn it. “Thanks, Karina. I’ll think about what you said. I have to take this.”

Karina nodded. “I’ll go save Eve. Oh look. Charlotte Taggart threw a glass of water at Maia. Don’t you fight! She’s pregnant!”

Karina hurried off to stop the chick fight.

Bridget flipped her phone to answer it. “Hey, Amy.”

“Hey, big sis. I wanted to let you know that I got the private jet set up for you. I e-mailed all the details.”

“I know. I want to thank you for that. I kind of thought Pops would force me to fly commercial.” It would be considered a huge indignity in her father’s eyes.

“I handled it. Besides, everyone’s interested in seeing who you bring. By the way, did I apologize profusely for doing that to you? I was slightly tipsy. It was either that or I would have thrown a punch and I’d recently gotten my nails done.”