The Men With the Golden Cuffs (36 page)

“That isn’t your real accent, is it?”

The Dom looked at her, his eyes widening and then his Irish flowed. “Fuck me, the girl is good.”

She smiled. There he was. “You don’t look Midwestern.” The flat cadence had never gone with the rest of him.

“The girl also already has an escort.” Jake got in front of Liam, reaching in to take her hand.

Liam, for all his hotness, didn’t get her heart racing the way Jake did. She didn’t try to pull away. It had been made very clear to her that this trip to Sanctum was dependent on her very good behavior. She allowed Jake to help her out of the car.

“Ian wanted to make sure we didn’t have a repeat of last time,” Liam explained as Adam drove off to park the car. Adam and Jake had made it plain they didn’t want that either. Security inside the club was very good, but they intended to drop her off and pick her up at the door. They had gone over all the protocols. She was to be close to one of them or Liam at all times. She wasn’t allowed back into the car until Jake or Adam had checked it out and came to get her. She would then be escorted on the short walk from the club to the car by not one, but two men.

This was her life now.

“Hey,” Jake said, squeezing her hand lightly. “It’s going to be okay. Come on. Ian’s supposedly working on punishing some of the subs. It should be fun.”

“He’s got his six footer out,” Liam said with a wink her way. He was so different with his real voice, lighter, more at ease.

Jake hustled her to the door. “The six footer scares the crap out of me. I can’t handle it.”

They were talking about a whip. Ian intended to use a six-foot whip on some poor sub’s backside. Or if the sub was a total masochist, he could be intending to use it on some lucky sub’s backside. It was all in how a person looked at it. It was what she loved about the lifestyle. It was utterly open to what a person needed.

She needed Jake and Adam. Why did she have to need them? Why couldn’t she just come out of her damn corner? She let Jake lead her inside. She was already dressed for the evening in a miniskirt and a bright pink tank top. And absolutely nothing else even though she’d explained to them she wasn’t having sex. They had been adamant about no bra and no underwear.

And she was kind of hoping to have sex.

Serena groaned inwardly. She couldn’t stand this indecision.

“I’m going to drop my keys and shirt off in my locker. Can you keep an eye on her?” Jake asked Liam.

Liam grinned down at her, waving Jake off. “Sure thing.”

“Eyes on her, Li. No hands.” Jake sent him a dark look before he walked toward the lockers.

Liam gave her a sexy smile and leaned against the front desk. “So, you’re enjoying playing with the boys, are you?”

That felt like a loaded question. “I’m not playing with them. We had a brief affair, and now it’s over.”

“It doesn’t look like it’s over for them. They seem very serious about you.”

Yep, this was more than a friendly conversation. “I was convenient.”

“Do you want to see just how convenient you are? Do you think a man would try to kill his friend over a convenient lay? Trust me on this one. Adam damn well deserves this.” Liam reached out and put a hand on her waist, pulling her close, her chest bumping against his.

“What are you doing?” Serena asked, her wide eyes taking him in.

“Proving a point. I’m about to make you deeply inconvenient.” He leaned over, and before she could protest, he brushed his lips against hers.

She had a brief shock of recognition. Liam was intensely hot. He was insanely sexy. He had those deep green eyes and shockingly dark hair, and that accent that melted her female parts. She felt a moment’s curiosity. She hadn’t been kissed very often. She’d had a few boyfriends, but Doyle comprised the majority of her sexual experience.

It was different to kiss Liam. She viewed the experience from an intellectual standpoint even as Liam molded his lips to hers. He didn’t use his tongue. She might have protested that. There was an almost lackadaisical interest coming from Liam. She felt oddly safe with him.

And while the man knew how to kiss, she really didn’t want him to kiss her. Because she belonged to someone else. She belonged to Adam and Jake. Adam and Jake were the ones who moved her. She wouldn’t have been thinking if she’d been in their arms. She would have been living that kiss.

Suddenly, it felt brutally wrong to be in Liam’s arms. She started to push against him, but she didn’t need to. She fell back on her ass as she was shoved out of his arms. Adam didn’t play the gentleman. He didn’t scream or ask what had happened. He didn’t reach out to lend her a hand. His eyes were dark as night as his fist came out.

“Now, Adam, I was just making a point,” Liam said, holding his hands up in a placating gesture.

Again, not a word passed Adam’s lips. He struck out, his fist flying and catching Liam directly across the jaw. The Irish Dom cursed.

“Fuck all, Adam, you know you deserved that. Sean would high-five me.” Liam had a shit-eating grin on his face.

Adam simply launched his body at the other man and rammed his knee in his gut, causing Liam to grunt in pain.

“What the fuck is going on?” Jake asked, offering Serena a hand up.

Serena wasn’t sure how to explain. She was watching two men fight. It was oddly quieter than she had expected it to be. Liam obviously decided he didn’t like the way Adam had nearly kneed him in the groin and had stopped taunting him, obviously preferring to pay him back. He kicked out, trying to catch Adam. They were really fighting. Over her.

Well, Adam was fighting over her. She rather thought Liam was just fighting.

“Serena, I asked you a question.” Jake glared at her, forcing her attention back to him.

“Adam didn’t like something Liam did and so they started fighting.”

Jake stared down at her. “What the fuck did he do? Tell me now.”

“He kissed me.” She couldn’t think of a lie, and she was worried what he would do if she did lie. He liked to spank her, after all.

Jake nodded, and for the briefest of moments, she thought he would be reasonable about it. They didn’t have a commitment. They weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. Or was that boyfriends and girlfriend? It didn’t matter because Jake’s moment of reason was deeply short lived. He turned and jumped into the fray. He punched Liam right in the eye.

“Goddamn it.” Ian walked into the lobby, a fierce frown on his face. Alex was beside him. Both men were dressed in leathers and looked like a calm in the storm.
Thank god
. Someone could break this up.

Ian waded into the throng and pulled Adam up by his collar. Alex got a hand on Liam.

“You three need to calm down,” Ian ordered, his deep voice blatantly military. Serena had no problem envisioning him handling a unit of elite soldiers. Or really mad Doms.

Alex held on to Liam’s neck and then suddenly punched him straight on the nose. Liam shouted out, cursing.

“What the fuck?” Liam held his bloody nose.

“That was for Eve,” Alex said, his shoulders set. He turned and walked away.

Liam held his hands up. He turned and looked at Ian, his eyes wide with apparent shock. “What was that about? I’ve never touched Eve.”

“He knows you’ve been spending time with Eve. He suspects you’re sleeping with her.” Ian gave Adam a little snarl. “Don’t fucking try anything else. That means you, too, Jake.”

Jake gave him a mulish stare. “He kissed my sub.”

“She doesn’t have a collar on,” Ian pointed out. “Get a collar around her throat and we’ll talk. And you,” he turned to Liam, “need to stay away from Alex’s wife.”

“Ex-wife.” Liam frowned. “And I’m not fucking Eve. Not even close.” He grinned Serena’s way. “Though I will fuck that one.”

Both Jake and Adam started for him again. Ian hauled Liam behind his own enormous body.

“Back off,” Ian commanded. “He’s being an asshole.”

Liam crossed his arms over his chest and looked over at Serena. “There you go, dear. That’s your answer. You’re very inconvenient now. They’re risking their jobs, and their jobs are pretty much all they have. You’re being brutally stubborn. You’re hurting all three of you. Come out of that corner, Serena. You don’t really want to be there anyway.” Liam backed away. “I’m going to clean up. You three better figure something out or it’s going to be over.”

He walked away. Ian practically had steam coming out of his ears. “What he fucking said. I’m sick of this shit. I have a sub to whip.”

He stalked off, and she was left with the two men who had completely turned her life upside down.

Adam seemed to calm a bit. He straightened his clothes, a white dress shirt and his leathers. There was a scratch on his face, but otherwise he seemed to have fared well. “Come on then, Serena.”

She felt rooted to the ground and deeply unsure. “I think we should probably talk about this.”

“And I think someone is due a bit of punishment,” Jake said harshly.

“Punishment?” Why the hell did that word make her pussy clench? Punishment meant they would put their hands on her. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Did you or did you not sign a contract when we first brought you into this club?” Jake asked. His face was set in hard lines. She had the sudden desire to get on her knees in front of him.

“You know I did.” Ian wouldn’t let her in without signing a contract. It stated that Jake would act as her Dom, and he would be responsible for her behavior. It covered all sorts of things like confidentiality and how she should behave. She felt her face fall. It had also made it plain that according to all rules of this club, she belonged to her Dom. She stared up at Jake. This wasn’t her fault. “He kissed me, not the other way around.”

“You weren’t fighting him,” Adam said. He seemed calmer now. “You were still in his arms. I know you, Serena. You would have fought him if you hadn’t wanted it.”

“I didn’t want it, damn it. I was just curious.”

Jake’s smile held not an ounce of humor. “You know what curiosity did to the kitty cat. I think you’re about to find out what it does to your pussy. Now, Serena. Or we can go back home and go right back to you sitting in front of the computer getting absolutely nothing done.”

Adam put a hand on her shoulder. “Serena, aren’t you curious about this?”

She was. Damn it. And it was just punishment. Punishment that might lead to sex. Sex that might lead to something else. No. She wasn’t going to go there. She wasn’t going to start planning a future with them. She was done with that. But she could have another night. Maybe a few more nights.

She dropped to her knees, trying to find the proper position. She wasn’t going to deny it. She wanted to explore with them. She’d written about this lifestyle, studied it, and dreamed about it. Letting go of this chance because she knew it couldn’t work with Jake and Adam seemed wrong.

She was nervous and so confused she couldn’t see straight. She wasn’t in a place to make any kind of decision, but she could have this. Just for a little while.

Jake’s hand came out, forcing her chin up. “I’m not going easy on you tonight.”

She didn’t want him to. She wanted this experience. She wanted to ache and burn and to come like she never had before. And she wanted it with them. “Yes, Sir.”

There was no way to mistake what that one simple word did to Jake’s cock. It strained against his leathers. She remembered just how good that cock felt deep inside her body. She’d never felt so connected as she had when she’d made love to Jake and then again with Adam. For those brief moments, she’d been truly intimate with another human being. She’d felt more alive than ever before.

Was she making a terrible mistake? Maybe. But she couldn’t just jump in again with her whole heart. Her body was another story.

“You’re not going to give me an inch, are you?” Jake asked, his face losing its harshness. A cloud of sadness descended over him. “Adam is right. You’re never going to forgive us.”

“I forgive you.” They were easy words to say. She didn’t really have to mean them.

“I told you,” Adam said, his voice deep.

Jake turned to Adam, and they had one of those silent moments she always envied. They seemed to be able to speak to each other without saying a word, as though some event long ago had connected them in ways few others could understand.

Jake finally looked back down at her. “This is all you’ll give us?”

“It’s all I have to give.” She was still aching on the inside. She’d handed them her heart and gotten back a mottled mess. She just couldn’t get past that moment when they’d rejected her. It would happen again. Potentially over and over again. Doyle had asked for a divorce three times before he’d finally gone through with it. Each time she’d allowed him to talk his way out of it. He was sorry. He’d said it in the heat of the moment. He hadn’t really meant it.

But he had. Even if they hadn’t meant it this time, they would in the future. She couldn’t risk it. Not again.

“I’ll take it.” Jake took her elbow and helped her up. “All you want out of this is a D/s relationship. Do I understand you correctly?”

Serena latched onto that thought. A D/s relationship wasn’t a love affair. It didn’t have to involve anything except an exchange of power. Some D/s relationships didn’t even involve sex. She sure as hell didn’t want that, but a D/s relationship didn’t necessarily have to end when the case was over.