Doms of Dark Haven 2: Western Night (13 page)

There was huge emotional comfort in the fact that he was completely in tune with her.

Now that her physical responses were once again under control, she forced her rear out again and waited for him. She might not know what to expect, but she knew, totally, that she could trust him.

As if the sound were from somewhere far away, she heard the slight groan of the door opening.

“Good afternoon, Master Trevor. Master David.”

She recognized the sound of Master Xavier’s voice.

Shelby’s body went rigid.

Having David there watching her beating was bad enough, but having Master Xavier in attendance made it more intense.

“Destiny wanted me to check in,” Master Xavier said.

Shelby heard sounds, as if the men were shaking hands…shaking hands while she lay strapped to the horse, her ass sticking in the air, her pussy exposed.

“We’re halfway through the sub’s beating,” Master Trevor said.

“Please continue.”

She’d never get accustomed to being spoken about as if she weren’t there.

She uncurled her fingers, knowing the strokes wouldn’t feel as intense if her muscles were more relaxed.

He caught her upper thighs, in that tender spot just below her buttocks.

She gasped. She thought she’d been ready, but it seemed she was never completely ready for the first blow. As she wriggled back into the obscene position of exposing her female parts, she said, “Six, Sir. Thank you.”

“Good,” Master Xavier remarked. “Quite a change from last week. Turns out you don’t need a gag after all.”

She felt a flush of joy, not only for herself but for Master Trevor. His reputation, even with Destiny, had to go up a notch because of her behavior.

“I’d gag her just because I’d like the sight of a ball in her mouth,” David said.

As if he’d ever get that chance.

She liked playing with Master Trevor. In the future, she doubted she would want to play with anyone other than him.

The men were silent while he delivered the next few stripes. She concentrated on the rhythm, on her breathing, of the forward then backward sway of her hips as the flogger rose and fell against her skin.

The tenth and final stroke hit her like magic, a caress, a promise that would remain unfulfilled.

Tears stung her eyes, but it had nothing to do with pain. “Ten. Thank you, Sir.”

“Wow,” David said. “Impressive. And if she had a gag in her mouth, she wouldn’t be able to say thank you. Good choice on leaving her mouth available.”

She wasn’t sure what Master Trevor had almost said earlier, despite what she wanted to hear. Even if he did want to have a scene later, she wasn’t sure she could handle it emotionally. She was in love with the man. Since she was so emotionally invested, she couldn’t have a casual hookup on the rare occasions she was in San Francisco.

Even though she was desperate to see him again, it was probably better for her if she never did.

“Maybe I’ll send in Destiny to receive a beating,” Master Xavier said. “Well done, both of you.”

From her peripheral vision, she saw Master Trevor hang the flogger on the wall.

“I agree,” David said. “Well done, Master Trevor.”

Master Trevor returned to her. Gently he lifted her hair and unfastened the collar.

She was no longer aware of her physical exposure. Compared to her emotional fragility, being tied naked to a punishment horse seemed trivial. Bravely she tried to swallow the sudden knot in her throat.

He held the collar in his left hand and smoothed back her bangs with his right hand.

“Buy you a drink?” Master Xavier asked, the question obviously directed toward Master Trevor.

“Thanks,” Master Trevor said, moving away from her without a backward glance.

Then, suddenly, the room was silent.

Just like that, it was over with Master Trevor.

“Damn. You took that well, Shel. I’m impressed. Never knew you had it in you,” David said, crouching next to her to release her restraints. “I guess I wasn’t the right dom for you.”

She barely heard him, and she wasn’t capable of responding. She wanted to be back home, where she could be alone with her fragile emotions.

Like a good friend, David helped her from the horse and into her coat once she’d managed to dress.

Thankfully he had no need to run his mouth.

He draped an arm around her shoulder as he walked her to the club’s exit door.

She kept her gaze down, not because it was the respectful thing to do but because she wasn’t sure she could keep it together if she saw Master Trevor on her way out.

Chapter Seven

“Jesus.”

Trevor looked up from the papers he’d been staring at. He’d vaguely been aware of the overhead bell jangling as the front door had opened. But it hadn’t been enough to galvanize him into action.

He’d arrived at David’s law offices long before dawn, telling himself he wanted to get a jump on the day. But the truth was that seeing his company’s progress, studying the checklists, verifying things were on track gave him something to do and got him out of his godforsakenly lonely home.

David stood in front of him, holding a cup of to-go coffee from the local place down the street.

“How long have you been here? It’s not even six yet.”

“Just got here. Maybe ten minutes?” Probably more like an hour, but he’d sound pathetic if he admitted that.

“Are you sleeping at all?” David asked.

“If that’s your way of saying I look like shit, it wasn’t very subtle.”

“I save subtle for court,” he said. “You haven’t shaved, maybe in a week. So, yeah,” he said easily, “you look like shit.” He offered the cup to Trevor. “You need this more than I do.”

As a testament to how tired he really was, Trevor accepted the offering without even asking what the beverage was.

He took a sip and gagged. “Christ! What the hell is this? Caramel something-or-other?” Figures the man would order a froufrou drink. “What the fuck happened to real men drinking real coffee?”

“I just gave you a five dollar latte.
My
five dollar latte. With whipped cream. Show a little gratitude.”

“Gratitude for something that tastes like dessert at six o’clock in the morning?”

“It’s Shelby’s favorite.”

Fuck.

Just what he needed, a reminder of the woman he’d let walk out of Dark Haven and California. But what real choice did he have? She had a life and successful career in Denver. He loved San Francisco with its moody weather and sometimes-nasty ocean. He couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

He’d enjoyed his week with her, but it had been little more than a diversion for either of them, albeit a diversion that still knocked him around emotionally.

He’d been to Dark Haven once in the month since she left. There had been a few subs at the club who were curious and indicated they were available for him. Since they didn’t have the protection of a dom, he could have played with any of them. But it turned out he hadn’t wanted to. He only wanted a particular olive-skinned, dark-haired, green-eyed beauty with a very round, sexy little butt.

He’d had a drink with Master Xavier, exchanged glares with Destiny—one day he really was going to have to beat her—and then returned home. He’d showered and masturbated to memories of Shelby.

He’d learned, in the week they’d shared, that he no longer wanted a meaningless relationship, no quick fucks.

He wanted someone like Shelby, in his bed, in his collar, twenty-four hours a day. She was more of an I’ll-be-a-sub-when-it’s-convenient-for-me type of woman. Playing in the scene on weekend visits to Dark Haven wasn’t going to work for him.

“She’s as miserable as you are,” David said casually as he moved toward the office coffeemaker. He measured grounds into the basket, then turned on the tap and filled the carafe.

“Excuse me?” Trevor asked.

“She says she won’t play with me ever again. Seems she only wants to play with one dom, and I’m not him.”

David’s statement shouldn’t have mattered. There were numerous reasons a relationship between him and Shelby wouldn’t work.

“I tried to call her last week to check up on her. I couldn’t reach her by cell phone.”

Trevor told himself he wasn’t interested in how many times David called her or talked to her. He liked the man, but the sudden feeling of jealousy made him want to catch the other man with an uppercut to the jaw. Nothing serious. But laying him out for several minutes would feel good.

David poured the water into the coffeemaker. “The secretary told me Shelby took a few days off work last week. I guess she went backwoods camping. Said she needed to get away.”

“Alone?”

“In the Rocky Mountains, yes. It was evidently just her, a backpack, some food and water, and a tent. I think she had a flashlight.”

Trevor’s jaw tightened. The woman needed a keeper. Hell, she needed more than a keeper. She needed a Master.

“She’d told me she was thinking of going away. I asked her not to go, especially not alone,” David said. “But she wouldn’t listen to me. She never listens to me about anything. I kept trying to call, but she either had her phone off or it wasn’t getting reception. Are there grizzlies in the Rockies? I forget.”

Grizzlies?

With that kind of disregard, she’d be better off taking her chances with a grizzly than with him.

David turned on the coffeemaker. “No hard feelings that my women would rather be with you.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a business card. David studied it for a moment. “I wrote Shelby’s home address on the back,” he said. “Travel safe.”

* * *

A vibrator made a lousy companion. But it was better than nothing, at least most of the time.

With a sigh, Shelby dug through the junk drawer in her kitchen, searching for a fresh battery. This trusty bullet had been more than powerful enough to get her off until she’d met Master Trevor. Now that she’d experienced real sexual satiation, the bullet just didn’t provide the kick to get her over the edge.

But since she had no interest in anyone but him tying her up and beating her, she was stuck with toys and batteries.

The weekend loomed. It was only six o’clock on Friday. Who knew two days could feel like eternity?

She’d been back in Denver for a month, but she hadn’t settled back into her life. She enjoyed her job, but she hated the rest of her life. She was bored, restless, and lonely.

The few days she’d spent at a remote cabin had dragged. She’d gone up there hoping to find peace, maybe a few answers. She’d gotten little out of the trip except frozen toes from dipping them in an alpine lake.

Half a dozen times, she’d picked up the phone to call Master Trevor. The last time she’d spoken with David, he’d given her Trevor’s phone number and said that Trevor wasn’t seeing anyone else. He’d evidently visited Dark Haven, but he hadn’t played with anyone while he was there.

Part of her was desperate enough to fly to San Francisco to enjoy a scene with him, if he were willing.

She always pushed the End button before the call completed the circuit.

Being with him, playing with him, would be fantastic. But then she’d have to say good-bye all over again. The feelings she had for him right now would only intensify.

No, for better or worse, she was better off trying to get on with her life, as impossible as that seemed.

She inserted the new battery into the bullet and twisted it to the On position.

The intensity seemed better than before, but still, it probably wasn’t enough.

She went into her bedroom and stripped, then lay on the bed and parted her thighs. She closed her eyes and remembered that final time in the club with Master Trevor.

She recalled him tying her to the horse and stroking her pussy while she was helpless. David had been there, watching, but she’d been unaware of anything but Master Trevor’s touch. He’d made her wet, and he’d pinched her clit.

With her left hand, she spread her labia. Just as he had, she pinched her clit, making it big and swollen.

She was back at Dark Haven, her ass sticking out as she waited for him to strike her with the flogger.

Finally, aroused, she turned on the vibrator and placed it on her clit.

She began to gyrate as the pulsing sensations went through her.

She wanted his hand, wanted a spanking.

She wanted
him.

The climax was close, but no matter how sharp and focused her thoughts were, the orgasm loomed just out of reach.

She dug her heels into the mattress, seeking that relief.

A pounding on the door interrupted her.

“
Damn it
.” So close.

For a moment, she ignored the pounding and continued pressing the wiggling, pulsing little bullet against her clit. No one she knew would drop by without calling first. Her house was on a quiet semirural street. She had few neighbors, and those she did have mostly kept to themselves.

“Goddamn it, Shelby, open this door!”

She dropped the vibrator. Master Trevor? No. It wasn’t possible. What would he be doing here?

“Open it,
now
!”

There was no mistaking that voice or that no-nonsense tone. Master Trevor was here, and he sounded determined.

Shaking from nerves, from excitement, she snatched up the vibrator and turned it off before dropping it back on the bed.

Her whole body suddenly felt alive.

She grabbed a short robe and pulled it on as she headed to the door.

“Three spankings for every second you make me wait.”

“Coming, Sir!” She finally managed to tie the knot of the satiny robe less than a second before she turned the dead bolt.

She opened the door. For a moment she forgot how to breathe.

She’d forgotten how devastatingly handsome he was.

Dark hair, steely blue eyes, firm set to his jaw.

He wore a black T-shirt and black jeans, along with black boots. He smelled of man, of a cool outdoor evening, of determination. She could drink him in. She had no idea why he was here, and it didn’t matter. If he wanted to screw her and leave, right now, she’d allow it. She was suddenly shameless.