Mina's Heart (26 page)

“Calling your Master names isn’t in your best interest, my dear.” Pete reached under her cards. From her yelp, Ever deduced that he also made it under her clothes to pinch her nipple.

“Ass waffle,” Micah contributed with a nod, proud of his suggestion.

“Penis waffle.” From the way Lydia smiled at Wilder, neither of them considered it a negative epithet.

Wilder leaned over and kissed her. “If you’re lucky.”

Her grin grew. “When you’re around, I’m always lucky.”

“I think ‘biscuit’ would work as well.” Micah drummed his fingers on the table. “Ass biscuit. Yep. It works.”

Jessalyn made a gagging sound. “That just sounds gross.”

Ever caught Isla’s eye from across the table and mouthed his thanks. She’d effectively diverted the topic away from Mina. Next to him, Mina visibly relaxed, and she made several more suggestions for creative curses.

Chapter Eleven

The end of the first round took Mina by surprise. While she hadn’t done too badly, she’d lost almost a third of her chips. Many of them had been replaced by other people’s chips. She wasn’t sure whether it was a better strategy to bet her chips or the ones she’d won. In the end, she’d hoarded as many of her chips as possible. When Micah directed everybody to count up their winnings and figure out how they were going to spend their loot, uncertainty kicked in.

Mina studied the cards of those from whom she’d won enough to redeem her chips. All of a sudden she didn’t have enough courage to demand a hand or foot massage from anybody. Though they’d all been nicer to her after Isla had changed the course of the conversation, she still wasn’t certain about her place with this group.

She leaned close to Ever so that she could speak to him without being overheard. “Do we have to cash them in?”

“No. You can save them up for the next round.” He brushed a kiss across her lips, taking some of her tension away with him.

Eva, another of the pretty blondes at the table, gave Mina a conspiratorial wink. “Are you saving up for a light spanking? We have a pretty adept crew here. Just don’t pick Sydney. She’s as much of a sadist as she is a masochist.”

Her husband looked like he had spent his formative years in the Marines. Pete was tall and broad-shouldered, and he seemed menacing, even when he was studying his cards. He narrowed his eyes at Eva. “My dear, if you want a spanking, just ask. I’m always happy to oblige. Anytime, anywhere.”

Eva turned a flirtatious smile to Pete, which Mina couldn’t understand. He really didn’t seem like the kind of man with whom one would flirt. Even his term of endearment had sounded harsh. “I’m saving up for a tit massage, and I’m not going to tell you from who.”

Pete growled, and Mina drew back. Was that the kind of treatment she could come to expect from Ever?

“Come here.” Ever tugged at her arm and issued his order in a stern tone.

Mina was uncertain she wanted to go anywhere, but she found herself obeying. She situated herself on his lap. He put his arms around her and held her against his chest.

“What’s wrong?” He spoke into the curve of her neck, his hot breath fanning the sensitive skin there.

“Nothing.”

“Liar. You look like you’re about to run and hide. Does Pete scare you?”

“A little.” She wasn’t sure whether Pete scared her or if she found the idea of Ever behaving that way scary.

“You’ll get used to him. Eva’s a bratty sub. She likes to push him until he punishes her. It works for them.” He rubbed his hand up and down her arm in a soothing pattern. “That kind of dynamic wouldn’t work for us. I like that you’re a sweet submissive.”

Mina didn’t consider herself particularly sweet, but she couldn’t see goading Ever like that. She nodded her agreement.

Ever pushed a pile of chips from his stack to hers. “I want you to go sit on Pete’s lap.”

His volume was sufficiently loud that everybody heard. Eva lifted a brow, but she didn’t appear otherwise concerned that Ever had just told Mina to go sit on her husband’s lap.

Mina opened and closed her mouth, apprehension coursing through her veins. “That’s not on my list.”

“I know,” he said. “But as your Master, I’m taking the liberty of putting it there. Do you have a problem with it, sub?”

She did have a problem with it, but she didn’t see a way out of this that didn’t include calling her safe word, which she perversely didn’t want to do, or getting a spanking for disobeying him. She knew Ever had a good reason for giving that order. She shook her head. “Now?”

“Yes.” He patted her knee and pushed her off his lap.

Mina trudged around the huge table, heading toward Pete. He pushed back his chair and held out his arm, inviting her closer. She glanced at Eva several times, wondering if Eva had an opinion on this development. In a cruel twist of fate, Eva also had a small stack of chips belonging to Mina.

She sat on Pete’s lap, perching as close to the edge of his knees as she could without falling off.

Pete slung his arm around her and scooted her closer to his torso. His touch was surprisingly gentle. He grinned at her and winked. “Don’t worry. I’ve had my shots.”

“Shots?”

Eva laughed. “He’s kidding.” She pushed her stack of chips with Mina’s initials on them toward Mina’s pile. “I’ll take a hand massage. I gave Master one hell of a handjob on the way over here.”

She extended her hand, parking it on Mina’s lap. Mina had only ever given her mother a hand massage before. Eva’s fingers were long and slender, mirroring her build. Mina turned Eva’s hand so that the palm faced upward, threaded her fingers through Eva’s to stretch the tendons, and set to work on the fleshy parts first.

Eva closed her eyes and moaned. “Damn, that feels good.”

After a few moments, the demands around the table picked up. The next thing she knew, shoulders, hands, and feet were being massaged. Some people moved to sit on the sofa in order to be more comfortable. Ever stood behind Sydney’s chair, brushing her hair. He glanced over at Mina and winked. She thought she might feel jealous, but she didn’t. For the first time that night, she felt like part of the group.

Mina relaxed on Pete’s lap as she concentrated on Eva.

The perky blonde rolled her eyes in ecstasy and made a quiet, high-pitched noise in the back of her throat. “Damn, girl. You are seriously good at this.”

“Yeah,” Pete agreed. “She usually only makes those sounds for me.”

Mina stiffened a little until she realized they were joking with her. She smiled up at Pete. “Maybe next time I’ll have to put ‘tit massage’ down as one of my second-round offerings. We’ll see what kinds of sounds she makes then.”

From the look on Pete’s face, he was already picturing it in his head.

“All right, everybody. We’ll take a break and get some food. Round two begins in twenty minutes.” Ever’s announcement interrupted anything Pete might have said, and for that, Mina was glad. She wasn’t adept at playful banter. Already she was out of her league with Pete and Eva.

Ever handed Sydney her brush and crossed over to where Mina was just getting up from Pete’s lap. He scooped her up and kissed her hungrily. She melted into his embrace and opened to his questing tongue.

People flowed around them, heading to the food table, the bathroom, or over to where Ever had arranged the two L-shaped sofas so that they faced each other in a loose square. It ruined the symmetry of the room, but it allowed for the large card table to take up half the space.

When he released her, Mina buried her face in his neck. He played his fingers through her hair and down her spine.

“You okay?”

Reluctant to remove herself from him, she nodded.

He pulled her head back and searched her eyes, a slight frown marring his chin. “Really okay?”

“Yeah. You’re right. Pete’s not so bad, and Eva’s pretty nice.” She was glad Jessalyn hadn’t chosen her for anything. The woman had lost badly, and she’d ended up giving more than one massage and painting Isla’s toenails. It was karma biting her on the ass for being so hostile toward Mina. It made Mina feel a little better.

* * * *

The second round had a more playful tone. Most of the group warmed up to Mina, especially since she proved herself to be a graceful loser. The cards had worked against her, and almost everybody had some of her chips. She hoped they’d been spread around thinly so that fewer people could cash them in for favors.

Ever eyed her tiny pile of chips. “You are not a good poker player.”

It wasn’t her first time. John had liked to have their friends over for games every now and again. She shrugged. “Sometimes luck is good, and sometimes it isn’t. Hopefully I’ll do better next round.”

He lifted his brows. “You don’t have to play it, you know. I’ll understand if you want to bow out. It’s probable that Wild and Lydia won’t play. Pete and Eva probably won’t either.”

That was likely because Eva had been running off at the mouth, testing out the waffle and biscuit theories. In the last ten minutes alone, she’d called Pete a whore biscuit and a twat waffle. The way he’d growled at her when she’d called him a vagina waffle had cemented the certainty of her punishment.

Mina wondered whether he’d wait until they got home or if he’d do it in front of everybody. She thought back to the spanking Ever had given her and decided she didn’t want to witness Eva’s punishment. She would be mortified if Ever did that in front of an audience, and she would be mortified for Eva if Pete were to turn her over his knee right now.

“I don’t see the harm,” she said. “Perhaps you’ll win enough of my chips to put me in a masturbation race.”

He pursed his lips. “Or somebody else will.”

There was no way she could win the race, no matter who cashed in that prize. However, she couldn’t dismiss his concern. “I won’t play if you don’t want me to.”

Ever shook his head, refusing to commit to a preference. “This is your decision. I just don’t want you to feel pressured to do something you don’t want to do.”

She still had a lot to prove if she wanted to be accepted by his friends, and she needed their approval if she had any chance of a future with him. Besides, she was having fun. “I want to. It’s been enjoyable so far.”

Micah pushed a huge pile of chips into the center of the table, and he kept his hard gaze glued to Jessalyn. “Bondage for a round, babe. Let’s see how well you play when you can’t move.”

Her eyes bugged out a little. Sara patted her hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you out.”

Jessalyn swallowed, and for the first time that night, her entire demeanor mellowed. “You’re doing the rigging?”

Micah grinned.

“Nothing uncomfortable. And I get to have one hand free so I can still play.”

Micah rose from his chair and disappeared into the playroom. “Ever, I’m going to borrow some rope.”

“Help yourself.” Ever shuffled the piles of chips in front of him. Mina noticed he had a significant number of Sydney’s and Sara’s. He pushed them toward the center of the table. “Ladies, it’s time to get naked.”

Mina started, staring at Ever as if she’d never seen him. She wanted to demand an explanation, but she didn’t think that would go over well. He ignored her.

Both of the women stood up. Sydney stripped away her teddy in two moves, revealed every inch of her curvy body. Mina watched, fascinated, as Sydney drank in the attention she garnered. Sara followed suit, though Mina noticed that she only seemed to be paying attention to Jude’s reaction.

Pete shoved a pile forward containing chips from Lydia and Wilder. “Wilder spanks Lydia.”

Jude played his chips next. “Sara, since you’re already naked, I’m going to flog your breasts.” He raised his voice to shout through the open door to the playroom. “Micah, grab a flogger.”

Lydia went next. She had a huge pile in front of her, though Mina noted that she seemed to have more chips than had been there a few minutes beforehand. Wilder had fewer. She scooted them toward Mina. “You get a breast massage. Everett will do the honors or designate someone else.”

Micah returned with a coil of thick rope. He tossed a flogger to his brother on the way. The corners of Sara’s mouth turned down, and Mina’s heart went out to the woman. Though if she hadn’t wanted to be flogged, she probably shouldn’t have put it down on her card.

Ever patted his knee. “Come on over here, honey. I promise I’ll do a good job.”

She tried to sit so that she was turned toward him as much as possible without straddling him, but he turned her so that her back was against his chest. He pushed the straps holding her teddy on her shoulders down. The stretchy material didn’t protest as he extracted her arms and folded down the top to expose her breasts.

“You know, Isla, it occurs to me that Eva is still wearing clothes.” Ever made his casual observation in the same tone he might use to point out that the lines on the sides of a road had been repainted.

Isla shook her head. “We can’t have that. No subs should remain clothed for the third round. It just seems wrong somehow. Unnatural.”

She shoved a small pile forward. “This should do it. Eva, why don’t you give your Master your clothes? I’m sure he can find a more fitting use for them.”

Mina hadn’t recalled Jessalyn or Lydia being told to expose themselves, but as she watched, Micah peeled away Jessalyn’s corset and hose. Wilder placed a pile of towels in the center of the table. Mina hadn’t noticed him leaving or returning.

One by one, the subs took towels and put them down on their seats. Micah began looping rope around Jessalyn, binding her at the ankles, knees, and waist first.

Ever’s hands closed over her breasts, bringing his brand of sweet heat. Until then, Mina had forgotten that her breasts were exposed. Now that every submissive except Lydia was naked, she didn’t feel so self-conscious.

He squashed her breasts against her chest until she sucked in a breath. It didn’t hurt, but it did make her nipples pucker into hard little points. Then he moved his hands and began kneading the muscles around her breasts. It felt so good that Mina couldn’t suppress a moan.

Next to them, Wilder had scooted his chair back. He directed Lydia to bend over his legs and brace her hands on the floor. Mina knew some people really liked this kind of thing, and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why they would find it appealing enough to try in the first place.