Jace’s lips grazed the curve of her neck before slipping the robe over her shoulders. He took her hand and laced his fingers with hers. “Come on, babe. Andre’s right. No need to rush. We have a few things to discuss first.”
Rushing was exactly what she wanted to do right now because she feared that if she thought this through too much, she’d be hightailing it out the front gates. But he was right. They probably needed to talk before jumping in, even if it was as two “other people.” This whole lifestyle was a mystery to her, and she had no idea what kind of dominant Jace was, what he would expect from her, and if she could, in fact, handle whatever that was.
She followed Jace on shaky legs to the cart. Andre sat in the driver’s spot, and Jace joined her on the seat that faced backward. His arm banded around her waist. “Hold on, short stuff.”
She stiffened at the old nickname he used to call her when they were teenagers, the little zing of ancient affection stirring within her. It was affection she didn’t need to reignite. “Please don’t call me that.”
He glanced down her, his eyes flashing with regret. “Sorry. It just slipped out.”
She turned her head and looked out at the expanse of vineyards flanking the east side of the property, her chest clenching with cold fingers of fear that she was making a big mistake. That she couldn’t trust her heart to stay out of it with Jace. “It’s okay. Just call me whatever a dom calls a sub. No past, right?”
He nodded resolutely as the cart started moving. “Right, pet.”
TEN
Jace set his jaw in determination as Andre parked the cart in front of their sprawling cabin. This was a fucking disaster. If he had wanted to venture back into the world of one-on-one, doing it with someone he used to care about was the absolute worst way to go about it. The fact that he was even feeling such a drive to have Evan should’ve been testament enough that this was a bad move.
But the minute Colby had taken control of her, all of Jace’s solid logic had disintegrated into a cloud of testosterone-laced dust. He’d wanted to break Colby’s fingers one by one for having the nerve to touch her at all. Then Jace had done the stupidest thing of all. Kissed Evan.
After that, there was no going back. The primitive part of him had staked his claim. She was his. Even if it was only for the weekend. And now he was going to have to deal with the fallout of that decision. The only hope he had left was that maybe she’d become open to the idea of ménage, and Andre could come into the picture and ease some of the intensity of the situation. But right now, Jace was done analyzing it.Author: Roni Loren
Screw it all—the guilt over how he’d fucked up things in the past, the anger at Evan for leaving and making him worry she was dead on the street somewhere, and the fear that he hadn’t done the one-on-one thing since Diana. All of it was shit he couldn’t do anything about right now.
What he could do something about was the fact that a beautiful woman—one he’d fantasized about for the last two weeks—wanted him to dominate her, to fuck her. That he could do. Evan clearly didn’t want to dredge up their history, so he definitely was more than happy to go along with that. This was about sex. Plain and simple. That’s all he needed to focus on.
He stared past the house to the moonlit lake beyond, channeling the dark part of himself that laid in wait for nights like this, and slipped fully into his dominant role. This is when he felt most comfortable, most free to be himself. Usually he kept it casual and was one of the more laid back doms, subscribing to the belief that fun didn’t have to be mutually exclusive of D/s. But with Evan he was going to need all the armor the dom role could offer him. Boundaries needed to stay hard and clear. She’d said she didn’t want half-assed. Well, she was going to get her wish.
“Welcome to our humble hacienda.” The cart dipped as Andre climbed out. “I’ll leave you two alone. I’ve got a few things to take care of before I head back to the main building.”
Jace waited until Andre slipped into the house and then pinned Evan under his gaze. “The Ranch’s safe word is Texas. No, stop, quit don’t mean anything here. Texas is the only thing that halts whatever’s happening. You can say yellow if you need me to ease off some activity but don’t want to stop everything. If you’re gagged and can’t speak, I’ll give you a hand signal for a safe word. Do you understand?”
Her eyes widened a bit, but she nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“I don’t give a shit if your fiancé gave you permission to be here. While you’re here, you’re mine. And when you go back home, you will not tell him that I’m the guy you were with. My business is important to me. And no matter how okay Dr. Dan may be with you doing this, no guy wants to work with the man who’s fucked his woman.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice wavering a bit, but heat flickering in those pale blue eyes.
The corner of his mouth lifted, his confidence about the situation building. She was already feeling it—the rush a sub got when her dom took control. He stood and hooked a finger in the O-ring hanging off her collar to pull her up to stand. He cupped the back of her neck. “Do you have any hard limits—anything you’re absolutely not open to?”
Her gaze shifted sideways.
“Pet, you need to tell me so that I don’t push you too far.”
She sighed. “Fine. I still have a thing about the dark, okay. Blindfolds will be fine as long as I can tell there is light on in the room.”
The admission tugged at him. She’d never told him why she had that fear, but he knew she’d been left alone for days after her father committed suicide before the authorities had come for her. So he had his suspicions and none of those suspicions were pleasant. “Anything else?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never done this kind of thing, so I don’t even know what my limits are.”
He nodded. “Fair enough. We’ll explore your boundaries together.”
She wet her lips. “All right.”
He had the urge to lean forward and taste her freshly moistened mouth, but he held back. Patience would make it better for all involved.
“Now, I want you to go into the house, find the sliding glass doors in the back, and go onto the deck. There’s a hot tub there that looks out on the lake. It should already be heated, but go ahead and turn on the jets. Wait for me there.”
She nodded and moved to head that way, but he caught her arm in a firm grasp.