Authors: Avery Gale
Smiling at him, she hugged him back. “I love you, too, big brother, married life has been good for you.” Then looking at Zach, she added, “You two are going to make great dads. But, me? I am going to be the world’s best aunt…you just watch and see!” Then she moved over to hug Zach. “I love you, too, BB Zach,” she said using the nickname she’d called him as a toddler, it had stood for “Big Brother Zach” even though she often substituted “Big Bear Zach” because she’d always considered him her cuddly teddy bear brother. It hadn’t ever mattered to Jenna that Alex and Zach were literally mirror images of each other, and she had never understood why other people weren’t able to tell them apart. Finally, turning to Kat, Jenna said, “I’ll see you soon, sweet sister, but right now I’m beat, and frankly this is a battle I don’t have the energy to fight nor do I particularly want to win.” Smiling at Colt, she let him take her hand. They all agreed to rendezvous after dinner in Alex and Zach’s office as Colt led Jenna up to her suite.
As Colt walked her up the stairs, he placed a chaste kiss on her lips and whispered, “Well handled, princess. I do believe you have a reward coming.” Jenna smiled up at him through her thick dark lashes. “Thank you in advance, Master.”
Great gads am I going to get a nice prenap orgasm or what? Hooray for me!
Chapter Nine
Rissa began to surface from what she knew had been a drugged sleep.
What the hell happened to me?
For just an instant she started to panic, but as soon as her hands fisted the silk duvet on the bed she knew she wasn’t back in the cage. Immediately roughened fingertips were brushing the hair back from her temples in gentle caresses, and Rissa began to realize someone was speaking in soothing tones close to her ear. She wasn’t awake enough to understand the words, but the tone of his voice was almost hypnotizing, the whisper touch of his fingers through her hair calmed her more than anything else could at that moment.
Bryant knew the instant Rissa started to come awake. Even though he’d been sitting across the room working on his laptop, he’d sensed when her muscles had tensed and her breathing had hitched. He’d been at her side in an instant, and he wasn’t at all surprised to see Mitch standing at the door less than a minute later.
Mitch’s gift of empathy would strengthen as his bond with Rissa grew. Mitch had explained it to Bryant in detail over the years and the nuances of his friend’s ability never ceased to amaze him. Bryant knew Mitch had been outside moving wood into the bins near the fireplace but that growing bond would have alerted him immediately when she had started to surface from the drug induced sleep of the dead. They’d decided to only use the fireplace and candles for light this evening, hoping to keep Rissa in a state of calm reflection. They needed to spend some time listening to her, and they intended to make it as stress free as possible for her. While they had appreciated the support they’d gotten from Alex, Zach, and Colt, it had been the words of wisdom from Katarina and Jenna that had made the most sense. Keeping his voice low, he asked, “How is she?” Until Rissa became more aware of her surroundings, Mitch wouldn’t be able to hear much, and as it was he was just feeling the slight increase in her energy.
“She just started to stir, but was sliding into a panic.” Bryant had not changed his tone of voice or altered his touch while he answered. Sighing at the sight of the beautiful woman lying before him, he whispered, “I don’t care what it takes, she’s worth it. We’ll help her through this and build a life with her.” Looking up at Mitch’s smiling face, he knew his best friend was completely on board.
“Isn’t she the most amazing woman you’ve ever met? I have been trying to get to this point for the past eighteen months. Hell, I knew she was perfect for us even before you left for Japan, but couldn’t get her to give me the fucking time of day. It took me months to get her to even say ‘Good morning’ to me!” Mitch chuckled as he remembered all the days he’d spoken to Rissa only to have her duck her head and dart out of the room. “And dinner was pure torture; she would respond to questions others asked her but religiously avoided any contact with me. Her thoughts would race, and all she was focused on was escaping my presence.” Sighing and running his hands through his hair in frustration, he continued, “That is one of the main points I want to work on tonight. I want to know why and I want to begin building a foundation of trust.”
Rissa had been listening and was nearly overwhelmed with feelings of guilt. Mitch Grayson had been beyond patient with her and she’d hurt him with her own fear and insecurity. “I’m sorry.” Her whispered words drew both men’s attention immediately.
Mitch knelt by the bed and leaned forward, his lips grazing her temple before speaking. “What are you sorry for, pretty girl?” He watched as Rissa’s eyes slowly opened and focused on his face, her expression softened and for the first time he noticed true affection in her expression.
“For being so rude to you when you have been so kind and patient with me. I never considered that I might be hurting you.” Taking a deep breath before continuing, her voice had become so quiet it was almost as if she was thinking out loud. “I was so busy worrying about myself, I…well, I was just being selfish, and I wasn’t raised that way.” Rissa smiled but knew it hadn’t reached her eyes.
Smiling down at her, Mitch watched her expression change like the clouds of a turbulent storm. “Well, in that case, apology accepted. Now, let’s get you up and downstairs for something to eat. We have a wild and crazy evening planned and we wouldn’t want you to miss out on a single minute of firelight staring now would we?” Mitch and Bryant both grabbed a hand and helped her up from the bed. “I’ll see you both downstairs. I have a few things to prepare.” Mitch knew it was important for Bryant to have time alone with Rissa, too. They’d spent years planning how to share a woman in the kind of permanent relationship they wanted to establish with Rissa, so it wasn’t hard to know when to push and when to pull back. They would make sure that Rissa understood it would never be about “equal time,” and it certainly would never be her responsibility, planning would always fall on their shoulders. Knowing this was just one of many things they wanted to discuss with their woman this evening, Mitch made his way to the kitchen and loaded the trays with all her favorite foods and began moving them in to the living room.
Rissa and Bryant were sitting in the living room on the sofa facing the fire by the time Mitch brought in the last tray with their filled wineglasses. Rissa was wearing a peacock-colored silk wraparound robe because they’d wanted her to be as comfortable as possible while they talked. “You look beautiful, baby, that color looks great on you. Did Bry tell you he brought it back from Japan just for you?” He’d sent Bryant thousands of pictures of Rissa during his year-long absence from ShadowDance so his best friend hadn’t had any trouble knowing what would look great with her porcelain skin and rust-colored hair. Rissa’s cheeks went instantly bright pink, damn she was adorable when she blushed. “Well, I see by that sweet blush, he did.”
“Yes, he did. Thank you both for it, it feels amazing. I love the silk. I’ve never owned anything that feels this luxurious before.” She’d been absently rubbing the fabric between her thumb and forefinger; that small tell hadn’t escaped his or Bryant’s notice.
“Sweetness, you are a beautiful woman, you are
our
beautiful woman, and we’ll take great pleasure from giving you everything your heart desires and even many things you’d never think to ask for.” His sexy grin told Rissa he was talking about a lot more than just clothing. “Mitch and I both make a lot of money, and we’ve been investing it wisely for a very long time. We’ll enjoy spending money on you, and you will honor us by graciously accepting our gifts.” They had already anticipated she would be resistant to accepting expensive gifts so he had decided to head her argument off at the pass. Rissa’s natural submissive nature would lead her to decisions and choices she knew would please her Masters as long as they could keep her listening to her heart. They knew the problems would all result from her tendency to overthink things.
After a couple of glasses of wine, they were all relaxed and enjoying the snacks and the joy of one another’s company when a loud beeping from the office had Mitch on his feet before Rissa had barely been able to blink. “What’s that?” Rissa’s voice reflected the tension she’d picked up from Mitch’s instant reaction to what sounded to her like an alarm.
Mitch didn’t answer her, but looking at Bryant, he merely nodded. “Sweetness, that is one of the perimeter alarms. We aren’t expecting any company, and we’d like to check it out.” Mitch was already moving down the hall, and Bryant was as much as pulling her down the hall right behind him. “We hadn’t wanted to introduce you to our playroom quite this soon, but this room also serves as our safe room, so I’ll ask that you keep that in mind as we cross this threshold.”
“We have to go to a safe room? Why can’t we just answer the door if they make their way up to us? They might be lost. It’s so cold outside, what if they need help?” Rissa wasn’t even going to think about the horrible threats her captors had shouted at her as they’d been led away in handcuffs two years ago. As far as she knew, they were all still in jail awaiting their trials or had been convicted of lesser charges and were serving long prison sentences in federal facilities back east. As if the Universe had heard her thoughts, Mitch’s cell phone rang.
“Talk to me.” Mitch’s clipped tone told Rissa all she needed to know…Keep up and keep quiet. The tension radiating off both Mitch Grayson and Bryant Davis felt like waves crashing over her. “What the fuck do you mean you just now realized the connection?…Seriously?…When did you get the notification?…Well, get somebody out here ASAP. We’ve had a perimeter breach, and we’re going into lockdown…Keep us posted.” Mitch had dealt with the conversation and never lost a step, he was clearly back in a military mindset, preparing and assessing seamlessly.
Bryant looked at his friend and raised his eyebrow in silent question. Mitch’s head shook almost imperceptibly. Her three glasses of wine fueled her bravery, and she dug in her heels and fisted her hands on her narrow hips before speaking forcefully. “Well don’t clam up on my behalf, geez, Mitch, I’m not made of glass, and we all need to know what we’re up against here.” Rissa was starting to panic, and she was sure it was as much because they weren’t telling her what was happening as it was that someone had broken through one of their “perimeter moonbeams” as Kat referred to the security-overkill mentality that seemed to pervade all the men at ShadowDance. Personally, Rissa had always thought the security was a bit overdone also, but more often than not, she merely chalked it up to “soldier boys with cool toys.” Turning to Bryant, she stayed planted and moved her feet shoulder width apart then moved her arms so they crossed under her ample breasts, completely unaware of how she’d put them on display for both of them. She stood there scowling at them both. “You know something you aren’t telling me, and I’m not going anywhere until you do.”
Bryant leaned over, put his shoulder in her stomach, and lifted her effortlessly. “Oh, but, sweetness, you most certainly will do exactly as you are told and you just earned yourself a nice paddling, too.” Even though he’d heard her gasp in outrage, he’d also known that sweet pussy had immediately flooded with her sweet cream because he could smell her essence, and when he ran his fingers up the insides of her thighs, he found her wet enough to slip a finger deep inside. “Don’t even try to tell me you don’t like the idea of being bent over my lap with your bare ass burning under my palm, pet, because you are creaming at just the mention of it.” Bryant’s words were stern, but she could hear the underlying humor.
They’d entered the playroom, but Rissa hadn’t gotten much of a chance to look around until Bryant dumped her unceremoniously on the large bed in the center of the room. When she started looking around, she was amazed to see how much it reminded her of the main lounge at ShadowDance, but with a medieval-dungeon-meets-cave twist. The equipment was beautifully crafted and polished so that the room was filled with the smells of rich leather and lemon-scented polish. One wall was entirely rough-cut rock owing to the cabin’s history as a former mine. The natural springs working through the rock fed into a hot tub that had various levels of smoothed rock surfaces no doubt used for water play. The hot tub was huge, and Rissa could see that there were lights and jets concealed in the rock walls, and she couldn’t wait to be able to use it. She had always loved water and relaxing in water swirling around you was about as good as it could get in her opinion. She saw Mitch put his hand to a small panel on the wall and then watched in wonder as the wall slid aside and another room appeared. “Holy shit, that looks like some kind of NASA control room. You guys really take this security business way too seriously, you know that? Jesus, Joseph, and Mary! Can you launch nuclear weapons from this place? Damn, does the government know about you guys? Oh shit, what am I saying? Of course they do…they trained you fools…This is insane.”
Mitch didn’t particularly like what Rissa was saying, but he was more concerned about the rising panic he heard in her voice. He hadn’t wanted to scare her, but obviously her imagination was doing a bang-up job of that all on its own. He turned to her just long enough to make eye contact. He said, “Rissa, that phone call was from one of Dylan Marshall’s deputies. They received a notification that one of the men who held you hostage has jumped bail and absconded. The agents that searched his house found a note with your name, address, and cell phone number. Likely they have traced your phone to this location.” He saw her eyes widen and felt the wash of cold fear that he knew he was picking up from her emotions. “STOP! Don’t let yourself fall over that edge, Clarissa. We need you to be with us right now. We’re going to bring up the outside cameras and you’re going to help us figure out who we are dealing with.” Mitch had known the only way to keep Rissa from spiraling into debilitating fear was to make sure she had a role to play. He knew her well enough to know she was a submissive through and through, even when she fought it. As a true submissive, she would set aside her fear to serve a master she respected and even if they hadn’t yet established the deep bond they were working toward, he knew she had a firm foundation of respect for all of the Doms at The Club.