I could feel his smile. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“Because you know me and you know being watched turns me on.” I took a deep breath. “But I understand if you don’t want him to use them. If you think it’s too invasive.”
He turned me to face him. “There are two ways to look at it. For one, if someone’s looking at the picture, they’re in the club, right?”
“Right, but some might say you have more to lose.”
“Even if the picture was seen outside the club, all someone would know is it was of a couple with dark hair.”
I took his right hand. “As long as you ensure that this isn’t seen,” I said, twisting his ring. It was platinum and engraved with a unique pattern.
“True, there’s only one of these.”
“But other than that, I say we at least look at the other pictures. We can tell him which ones we wouldn’t mind him using.”
“Okay. I’ll let you know when he sends me the other shots.”
I nodded and he looked down at his watch. “I have another meeting starting in twenty minutes. When are you leaving to get the kids?”
“Not for another couple of hours.”
“Let’s go find a place in the playroom for this.”
“If you think you’ll have time.” My heart pounded just thinking about going into the playroom together, even though I knew we weren’t going to be doing anything.
He played with a strand of my hair. “I think I can spare a few minutes to hang a picture.” Then his voice dropped seductively. “Who knows? It might be that it only takes five minutes to hang the picture. Then I’ll have an entire fifteen minutes to fill.”
I took his hand and we made our way upstairs.
Chapter Ten
ABBY
On Wednesday night, two days later, I found myself kneeling in Daniel’s playroom for a demo with Nathaniel. My head was lowered and I closed my eyes as the almost highlike sensation I always got when we did something in front of people rushed through my veins. I couldn’t explain why, but lately the need for that high was growing and I was glad Nathaniel had these opportunities for us to be in front of people. I was on a platform in the playroom, and that only added to my excitement. I felt as if I were onstage.
I didn’t know what he had planned for tonight, but I had a feeling it was something different. He didn’t have me naked this time. And he’d had me wait in a side room while he talked with the other Dominants in private before we began.
Now I heard the sound of Nathaniel’s footsteps as they came near me. Then there was silence as he stood before me and I focused on the black leather of his shoes, which was all I could see with my eyes downcast. Excitement flooded my body.
“Hello, Abigail,” he said.
“Hello, Master.”
“Stand up for me.”
I slowly rose to my feet and met his gaze. His lips were curved up in a sultry smile that hinted at deliciously evil plans.
“I have one command for you today that you are not to disobey,” he said. “You are not to sit in the chair on the platform. Understood?”
I looked around. A chair sat to his side near the edge of the platform.
Simple enough. “Yes, Master.”
“Tell me, what is the one thing you are not to do?” he commanded.
“I am not allowed to sit in the chair on the platform, Master.”
“Excellent.” He looked down to the crowd. “Cole?”
My heart jumped to my chest. Cole? Nathaniel was going to invite him to participate? No wonder he’d asked me to wait outside while he spoke to the crowd. He probably wanted them to make note of the look of complete shock on my face.
I watched as the man in question rose from the crowd and climbed the stairs to join us on the platform. He wore a gray three-piece suit and it was beautiful. After being married to Nathaniel for as long as I had been, I knew a thing or two about men’s suits. The one Cole had on was clearly custom-made. It should have been ridiculous that he wore it to a BDSM meeting where he would be part of a demo session, but somehow on him it worked.
He appeared to know the impact seeing him dressed in such a manner had on me. The corner of his mouth lifted in a brief smile of acknowledgment before his expression once more took on the look I’d seen on him before in a playroom setting.
“Abigail,” Nathaniel said. “I’ve asked Cole to run the scene from here. Any command from him you can take as a command from me.”
The reason why I wasn’t naked suddenly made more sense. “Yes, Master.”
He nodded to Cole and walked down the steps.
“How are you doing today, Abby?” Cole asked.
“Slightly more anxious now, Sir.”
He chuckled. “Because of me?”
“Yes, Sir. Your reputation precedes you.”
“I’m sure you have nothing to worry about. Master West speaks very highly of you.”
“Thank you, Sir.” Nathaniel’s indirect praise warmed me and made me want to show everyone it wasn’t misplaced. Whatever Cole threw my way, I’d handle.
“Tell me your safe words.”
“Red, yellow, and green, Sir.”
“Very good. Go sit in the chair.”
I actually took a step toward it before I remembered that was the one thing Nathaniel told me not to do. I looked at him for some sort of direction, but his expression gave me no hint as to what I was supposed to do.
“Are you hesitating, sub?” Cole asked.
“No, Sir.” I shook my head.
“And yet you aren’t moving. It was a very simple command, one I would think a submissive of your experience would not find hard to carry out.”
“Yes, Sir. But you said—”
He snapped his fingers. “Silence. I know what I said.”
I was screwed either way. If I sat in the chair I would be breaking Nathaniel’s command, but if I didn’t I would be breaking Cole’s. There was simply no way to obey.
You are not allowed to sit in the chair on the platform.
Unless …
I squared my shoulders and walked over to the chair. It was a metal folding chair, and it didn’t weigh much. I picked it up and started carrying it past him to the stairs. A look of complete shock covered his face.
“What are you doing, Abby?” he asked.
“Master’s command was that I was not allowed to sit in the chair on the platform, Sir. I’m going to put it on the floor and then sit in it, so I can obey your command.”
There was subdued laughter from those watching and it occurred to me that my loophole was Not A Very Good Thing.
“Put. It. Down,” he said in a harsh voice.
I put it down.
“Now sit in it.”
I sat.
There was the thump, thump, thump again as he walked toward me. He crossed his arms and looked at me with blue eyes so cold I actually shivered.