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  He smiled, and it was the sort of genuine amusement that lit up his entire face. “I think you were supposed to take it off now.”

  I frowned as something occurred to me. “That doesn't make sense.”

  “What doesn't?”

  “Why does Leia take off her nightgown before Chase gets undressed?”

  Erik looked thrown by my change of subject, but he answered anyway. “Why's that strange?”

  “Because Chase was out walking in the rain before Leia invited him in, so he's soaking wet.”

  A sheepish expression came over his face, as he admitted, “I was thinking more about getting the female character naked than I was about the rain.”

  I gave him a little smile. I couldn't deny that him being all dominant like Chase was in the book turned me on in a way I hadn't thought possible, but there was a part of me that liked that he wasn't perfect.

  And it made me a bit bolder than usual. “I guess that means you should be the one getting naked first.”

  He grinned and pulled his shirt over his head, revealing the muscular torso I hadn't been able to get out of my head all day. He tossed it onto my table and then made short work of his jeans. I supposed when a man looked like him, there was no need to be self-conscious about how he looked naked.

  He took a step forward and curled his fingers around the ragged hem of my shirt. “Your turn now, sweetheart.”

  I raised my hands, and he pulled my shirt up slowly, letting his fingertips trail up my ribs. I shivered as he pulled my shirt off, then made a squeaking sound as he turned me around and used my t-shirt to tie my hands behind my back.

  “Did you forget that Chase used Leia's panties to tie her wrists?” There was a note of concern in his voice.

  “I did.” I was suddenly more aware that I was naked than I had been when my shirt had first come off. Maybe it was the way my shoulders were pulled back now, pushing my breasts out. Maybe it was how exposed I felt.

  Or maybe it was because I knew that making a conscious choice to participate like this couldn't be dismissed as a heat of the moment sort of thing like before.

  “Are you okay?” He stepped around me, all amusement gone. His gaze dropped to my chest, and he swallowed hard.

  Seeing his reaction chased away my nerves, so by the time his eyes returned to mine, I was ready. “I'm fine.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I nodded, took a shaky breath, and said, “My bed folds into a couch, if you want to follow the scene exactly.”

  Erik cupped my chin and leaned forward to brush his lips across mine. “I think a bed will work perfectly for what I have planned.”

  My apartment was small enough that we didn't have far to go. Once there, I knew what was coming, but I still let Erik take the lead. Part of it was because we were following what Chase and Leia had done in Erik's book, but there was another part of me that liked letting him take charge. He didn't make me feel weak or helpless because, despite not having known him for long, I trusted him. He wouldn't do anything to hurt me.

  “I'm going to do everything Chase does,” Erik murmured as he nudged my legs apart. “But if, at any point, you want me to stop, I will. Chase and Leia's safe word is daisy. Is it all right to use that one for us?”

  I nodded. Daisy. I could remember that. I didn't think I'd have a problem with anything from this chapter, but I appreciated Erik's consideration. My anxiety had turned into anticipation – mostly anyway – and as he gripped the t-shirt binding my hands, I waited for the feel of his fingers between my legs.

  My eyes closed as his fingers slid down my spine, over my ass, and then down even further. He used my hands to hold me in place as he slid his middle finger inside me. I was still a little sore from earlier, but he used his index finger to make circles over my clit and the dull burn of friction mixed with pleasure.

  “It doesn't take much to get you wet, does it?” Erik murmured as he pushed a second finger inside.

  I was surprised I could remember Leia's response. “You were the one out in the rain.”

  He laughed, the sort of rich sound that sent flutters of heat through my belly. “I must not be doing my job if you can quote the book verbatim.”

  “Or maybe you're just a good writer,” I countered, then moaned as he twisted his hand inside me, knuckles rubbing against my g-spot.

  He kissed my shoulder blade, surprising me. “Sweet talker.”

  I started to laugh, but then he bit down. It wasn't hard enough to really hurt, but it stung enough to turn my laugh into a gasp. I could feel him waiting for me to complain, to use the safe word, but then he made a pleased sound, and I knew he'd felt my body's positive response to what he'd done.

  “You like pain, or just teeth, sweetheart?”

  It was getting difficult to concentrate on the questions Erik was asking because his fingers were still moving inside me, stroking me, building the pressure with each skillful caress. When I read this chapter in Erik's book, I'd wondered what it felt like to have someone be able to make me feel as good as Leia with just his fingers.

  Now I knew.

  And it felt fucking amazing.

  I let my head drop forward as I came, and Erik's grip on my shirt kept me from falling.

  “Damn, you're gorgeous when you come.” He removed his hand, chuckling when I made a noise expressing my disapproval. “Now, you didn't answer me, sweetheart.”

  “About what?”

  He pulled me upright, sliding his arm around me so that he could hold me up and get a hand on my breast at the same time. He put his mouth against my ear, his fingers rolling my nipple.

  “Do you like all pain, or just biting?”

  I turned my head so I could see him. “How would I know that? You know I'm – I mean, I was a virgin.”

  He gave me a searching look. “Yeah, but...” His eyes widened slightly, and his hand on my breast stilled. “Exactly how much – what have you done before...shit. You know what I'm asking.”

  My expression was wary as I considered the best way to answer that question. I didn't want a repeat of this afternoon.

  Erik brushed his lips across the corner of my mouth. “I'm sorry about before, and I promise I won't do it again. I just want to know, sweetheart. What other ways have I been the first?”

  I turned my head away, familiar heat flooding my face. “Pretty much all of them.”

  His hand was gentle as he took my chin and turned me back to face him. “Maybe it'll be easier if you tell me what you have done.”

  “Do we really need to have this conversation right now?” I shifted. “I'm not sure how much longer I'll be comfortable with my arms tied behind my back.”

  “Shit, I'm sorry.” He started to untie my hands.

  “Erik, Erik,” I half-turned. “It's okay. I'm okay. I'd just rather get back to the fun stuff and save the rest for some time when I'm...well, when I'm not so naked.”

  Physically and emotionally.

  “Are you sure?”

  I smiled, the concern in his voice warming me in a way that wasn't completely sexual. “Unless you want me to get dressed so we can talk.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Back to chapter twelve.”

  The tension that had eased a bit with his questions was back. He took a step behind me, his naked body pressed against mine, his cock half-hard against my hands. He reached around me and put his hands on my breasts, fingers rolling and teasing my nipples until I was pushing back against him.

  “Touch me, sweetheart.” He shifted his hips, rubbing his erection on my fingers, over my palms.

  I couldn't exactly touch him, not in the way I wanted to, but I concentrated on feeling every inch of soft, velvet skin, on feeling him harden again until he pulled back. I heard something tearing, then realized what it was.

  “You were pretty sure you were getting lucky tonight, huh?”

  He laughed. “I think hopeful is a better word for it.”

  He put his hand between my shoulder blades, the heat blazing
across my skin. The slight pressure he put on me told me what he wanted me to do. I bent at the waist, letting his grip on my shirt stop me. The new position put more of a strain on my shoulders, but I had only a moment to register it before Erik was sliding into me and all my attention focused on the place where his body entered mine.

  It seemed like he'd been inside me moments before, but at the same time, it felt like it'd been too long. My body stretched around him, and I moaned as pricks of pleasure and pain danced across my nerves. It was a different sort of pain than I'd had earlier, and it faded more quickly as Erik began to move after only a few seconds.

  The hand not holding my shirt moved around my hip to dip between my legs. I jerked back against him as his fingers moved over my throbbing clit. Every inch of me was overly sensitive, each touch and thrust sending sensations through my overloaded nervous system until I was racing toward release.

  Suddenly, my hands were free, and I caught myself as I fell forward. The change of angle made him hit me in a different spot, and I cried out. Remembering how thin my walls were, I shoved my blanket into my mouth, letting the fabric stifle the screams I couldn't stop as Erik drove into me. My second orgasm of the night was an explosion of sensation so intense that I barely registered Erik following me over the edge.

  Sixteen

  Erik

  Reb Union was the easiest one of my friends to spot in a crowd. An inch taller than me, he was well over average in height, but it was more about the way he carried himself than how tall he was. A musician, his manager encouraged the bad boy image Reb's clothes and tattoos portrayed, but I'd spent two years with him in college and knew better. He barely drank, and never enough to get drunk, not even the short time he'd been in school. Which was why I frowned when I saw him staring into a glass of something that was definitely not his usual beer.

  The dark-haired man next to Reb had a concerned expression on his face too. Alix Wexler was my cousin – our mothers were sisters – and a talented photographer. He was two years older than me, but we'd always been close. It'd been Alix who'd brought me to Gilded Cage after I'd expressed an interest in the BDSM lifestyle. I'd brought Reb a couple months later.

  That was how we'd met the oldest member of our group of friends, Jace Randell. He was an artist, but he'd inherited enough from his father that he was able to paint for art's sake rather than trying to make a living. All four of us were Doms, but we had different enough taste in women that we'd never had to worry about being interested in the same Subs.

  I just hoped that applied to Tanya as well. It hadn't been until now, as I walked toward my friends, that I realized it was possible she could find one of them more to her liking. My feelings must've been showing on my face, because as soon as I sat down, Alix was leaning toward me.

  “What's wrong?”

  I shook my head but kept my voice low. “Nothing. What's up with Reb?”

  Alix shrugged. “He won't say. I think he and Mitzi are having problems.”

  Ah. Mitzi.

  Out of the four of us, Reb was the only one with a girlfriend. Jace hadn't dated anyone since his girlfriend from a few years ago had broken up with him. Alix had dated on and off, but nothing recent. The three of us who were unattached usually found our partners here at the club because a bit of discussion before hooking up was necessary to be safe, which meant we were always able to set the expectation that we were only into sex.

  Except I wasn't looking for someone to fuck. Well, not someone new. Tanya was supposed to be meeting me here, and she was the only one I planned on being with tonight.

  We'd met a couple times since I left her place on Monday night, but it'd been all about work. She hadn't been acting cold or anything like that, but we'd both been too busy to indulge in anything else. At first, I thought she'd be mad that I hadn't stayed the whole night with her, but she'd actually thanked me on Tuesday, saying she wouldn’t have been able to get enough rest if I'd stayed, and she needed to be up early for work.

  “You said you wanted to tell us something?” Jace looked bored as he used a toothpick to poke at the ice in his glass.

  “I invited someone to meet me here tonight.”

  All eyes turned to me.

  “Are you fucking with us?” Alix said what the others were probably thinking.

  Before I could explain, Jace's jade eyes flicked over my shoulder, and he let out a low whistle. “She's new.”

  I turned as my friends followed Jace's gaze, and my stomach clenched painfully when I saw her. I didn't need to know that she was the one Jace had been talking about. She was fucking hot.

  Compared to the other women here, Tanya was dressed simply and modestly in a form-fitting sheath dress that made her practically glow, but I wasn't the only one staring at her. The saying “less is more” had never been more true than it was with her. No jewelry, no flash. Her heels were sensible, giving her just a couple inches of height. The neckline and hemline were both sensible, giving glimpses of what I knew was underneath, without giving it all away.

  “What do you think, guys?” Alix spoke behind me. “Are we calling dibs, or bringing her over to see who she wants?”

  A flare of jealousy went through me, even though I'd said some version of that question more than once over the last couple years. Whenever we saw a new Sub, it was a discussion among us. Women never came between us, and we intended to keep it that way.

  For the first time, though, I wasn't going to do things the way we'd always done them.

  “She's mine.”

  The words were out before I'd actually thought them through. I stood without looking back at my friends, making my way through the crowd to get to Tanya before someone else swept in. She and I hadn't talked about labels, and I'd made it clear to her how I felt about relationships, but I'd be damned if I let someone else get to know what it felt like to be buried inside her. Right now, I was the only man who could say I knew how tight she was, how good she tasted, and I intended to keep it that way.

  I ignored the voice in the back of my head that reminded me I never kept anyone. For now, she was mine.

  Period.

  Seventeen

  Tanya

  Oh shit.

  My stomach had been in knots all day. I wanted to be here at Gilded Cage, wanted more of what Erik and I had been doing. I didn't plan on getting close to him emotionally, to let him be in a position to hurt me when he decided to move on, but that didn't mean I had to give up the physical benefits he was offering. But no matter how much I wanted this, I couldn't help freaking out every time I thought about walking into a sex club on my own.

  The moment I stepped inside, a surreal feeling washed over me. Like I was somehow outside of my body, that I wasn't me. I supposed, in some way, that was true, because this wasn't like me at all. I was the girl who put work first, focused on her career to the point of ignoring sex altogether. I didn't interact with people on a personal level, and I sure as hell didn't frequent clubs of any kind, let alone this kind.

  But Erik had changed all that. At least when it came to him, anyway.

  Everyone was staring as I walked into the club, and I resisted the urge to tug at my dress. I'd splurged on something new, telling myself that I needed something nice enough to wear to work functions, but now I was starting to regret the moment of weakness that had led me to purchase the scarlet sheath dress rather than something more sensible. It was modest enough, especially compared to what I was seeing here, but it wasn't like what I normally wore.

  Maybe that was why I wanted it. Being with Erik had done something to me. Made me want to step out of the shadows. I didn't think I'd ever be the sort of woman who wanted the spotlight, but for the first time since my father left, I could see myself wanting more than just a job.

  I took a slow breath and willed myself not to trip, then started toward the bar. I hadn't thought to text Erik when I arrived, which I now realized had been a mistake. I'd never find him in this crowd. Before I got to the bar, however, the thro
ng in front of me parted, and I saw Erik coming toward me.

  His normally bright blue eyes had darkened, and there was something in them that spoke to a deep and primal yearning inside me. As he got closer, I saw that it wasn't only desire, but the sort of declaration that made the people around me take a step back. I'd done a little of my own research, and there wasn't a doubt in my mind that Erik was a Dominant, but watching people move out of his way without him having to say a word brought the point home with a new understanding.

  When he was just a few inches away, he wrapped one hand around the back of my neck, the other going to my waist. His eyes locked with mine as he pulled me against him hard enough to make me gasp. Then his mouth was on mine, claiming, possessing. This wasn't some sweet kiss, or even something a little more heated with the promise of more to come. No, this was the sort of kiss that told everyone watching that I was taken. I didn't really know what that meant outside of this moment, but I pushed aside any thoughts that weren't of now. I planned on enjoying each moment I had with him.

  When he broke the kiss, he was breathing as hard as I was, his fingers flexing on the small of my back. Without a word, he turned and took my hand, leading me back the way he'd come.

  We paused next to a table where three gorgeous men were staring at us.

  “Tanya, this is my cousin, Alix Wexler, and our friends Jace Randell and Reb Union. Guys, this is Tanya Lacey.”

  Each of the guys nodded as he said their names, and they all looked like they were trying not to laugh. There was no maliciousness in their eyes though, which made me believe the mirth was directed at Erik rather than me. Before I could attempt to figure it out though, Erik was moving us away from the table toward the back of the club.

  The music was loud enough that I didn't try to ask where we were going, but when we stopped at a door, the butterflies in my stomach took flight again. Erik pulled what looked like a credit card from his pocket, ran it through a scanner next to the door, then pushed heavy wood open.