Caught by Menace (29 page)

never imagined her extremely modest friend baring that

much of her body in public.

The shiny white fabric of her tiny skirt had been

flipped up to give Vicious total access. As he talked,

Vicious slid two fingers in and out of Halie as if it were

Vicious slid two fingers in and out of Halie as if it were

the most natural thing in the world to penetrate his wife

while talking shop. How her friend managed not to

squirm or squeal, Naya would never know. Apparently

Vicious had trained her wel.

It occurred to Naya that the depth of Halie’s love and

commitment to her husband must have been limitless. If

Menace ever asked her to do such a thing, she’d use her

safeword and then promptly knee him right in the nuts.

She glanced at Menace and found his amused smile

incredibly aggravating. He tugged her along to an empty

chair.

Vicious noticed him then and smiled. “Menace! Good

to see you and your beautiful wife.”

“And you,” Menace said before taking the empty

spot. He gestured to the floor. “Kneel.”

Naya narrowed her eyes but shot him a sickly sweet

smile. “Of course,
my liege
.”

Across the seating area, Vicious laughed. “When you

get home, I’d cuff her to the bed if I were you. I’d hate

for you to wake up with a pilow over your face in

retribution for whatever you plan to do to her tonight.”

Menace gave her hair a tug. It wasn’t enough to cause

pain but enough to get her attention. “I’l take it under

pain but enough to get her attention. “I’l take it under

advisement.”

Vicious had described what he considered to be a

punishment, but Naya’s nipples tightened at the very

thought of being cuffed al night. Menace would take

advantage of her limited motion and leave her so limp

and breathless she would wake with shaky legs.

The general tilted his head as if studying her. “Or

maybe not.”

Menace chuckled and stroked her back. “When

you’re finished with Halie’s punishment, I’d like to

request permission for my wife to speak with yours. It’s

her first time at the club and she’s feeling skittish.”

“Oh, this isn’t punishment.” Vicious worked his hand a

bit faster. “This is foreplay. Halie’s been such a good

wife this week I decided to reward her with her favorite

things.”

Favorite things? Halie, sweet and innocent-looking

Hallie,
liked
to be taken in public? Naya couldn’t wrap

her mind around it.

As the pilot engaged Menace in friendly conversation,

Naya dared to lift her gaze to Vicious again. Al of his

attention remained on Halie’s naked bottom. When he

attention remained on Halie’s naked bottom. When he

puled his fingers from her body, there was no ignoring

the glistening nectar coating them. By the looks of it,

Halie was enjoying her precarious position very, very

much.

Vicious reached down and grasped Halie by the

waist. She was so light he didn’t strain when he lifted her

off the ground and onto his lap. The massive, intimidating

general cupped her face with such gentleness and spoke

so softly only Halie could hear what he said. He teased

his mouth over hers once, twice, before finaly claiming

her lips.

Watching Vicious kiss Halie was one of the most

erotic things Naya had ever seen. She finaly understood

why so many of the other wives gossiped about Vicious

and Halie’s love life. The man oozed such raw sexuality

and complete control that it mesmerized her.

Menace’s lips ghosted across her ear. “Jealous?”

She glanced back at him and saw the teasing smile on

his face. “No,” she answered honestly. “Intrigued? Yes.

Jealous of another woman’s husband? Never.”

Menace rubbed the back of her neck and kissed her

temple. “Good answer.”

She snorted. “Whatever you say, Master.”

She snorted. “Whatever you say, Master.”

It was another minute or two before Vicious finished

kissing Halie. He whispered something in her ear and

then let her climb off his lap. To Naya’s astonishment,

Halie turned, bent over and lifted her skirt once again.

Vicious smacked her backside twice, the pops so loud

that Naya flinched. Halie actualy had a grin on her face

when she straightened and smoothed down the shiny

white fabric of her miniskirt.

Would tonight’s surprises ever end?

As Halie walked toward her, Naya caught her first

look at the tattoo now exposed on Halie’s left side. It

curved along her hip and rib cage toward her breast.

From what Naya could see, it had many of the same

elements of the painting hanging in the couple’s entryway.

Remembering the way Menace had explained the Harcos

tradition of honoring one’s family with tattoos on the left

side of the body, the side closest to the heart, Naya

realized that some wives did this too.

Halie gestured to a smal silver mat on the other end

of the seating area. Naya looked to Menace who

nodded his permission. Knowing she was a bit off

balance because of her cuffed arms, he grabbed her

balance because of her cuffed arms, he grabbed her

waist and helped her stand. “Thank you, Master.”

His only reply was to caress her thigh and give her a

little pinch. She yelped but didn’t stick around to let him

swat her. That big hand of his had given her a few good

whacks last week. She’d felt the sting for two days and

wasn’t in any rush to relive that experience.

Sitting cross-legged in front of Halie, Naya stared at

her friend. Halie blushed and nervously fingered the end

of a braid. She’d parted her hair in the middle and

braided each side, adorning the ends with hot-pink

ribbons. Halie spoke first. “So…um…”

“Yeah,” Naya said with a nervous laugh.

“Al I can say is that seven months ago, I was where

you are now. Al of this terrified me. Vicious showed me

so much patience. He made sure I felt secure and safe

while we explored the different aspects of this part of

their culture.”

“And now you like,
you know
, in public?”

“Sort of,” Halie said. Dropping her gaze, she

explained, “It’s the embarrassment of having other

people watching my husband take me that makes me

climax the hardest. I think, maybe, it’s because I was

publicly humiliated as a criminal. Somehow that

publicly humiliated as a criminal. Somehow that

experience got hardwired into my brain in a realy weird

way. When I’m with Vicious and his hands are on me

that embarrassment changes to something so powerful. I

can’t…I can’t realy describe it.”

Naya swalowed hard. “I think I understand.”

Halie touched Naya’s knee. “You trust Menace,

right?”

“I do.”

“So trust him to guide you through this,” Halie

suggested wisely. “If things go pear-shaped, you just

whip out that safeword and reassess.”

Naya could feel Menace watching her but didn’t dare

glance back at him. She scooted a bit closer to Halie. “I

think he’s going to make one of my fantasies come true

tonight.”

Halie’s eyes widened. Excitement flashed across her

face. “Ooh! What is it?”

Overcome with embarrassment, Naya couldn’t bring

herself to tel Halie. “It’s just something I saw in one of

those dirty movies.”

“Aha! The 900 range? Yeah.” Halie roled her eyes.

“Vicious cals them the learning channels. Some of the

“Vicious cals them the learning channels. Some of the

things he’s persuaded me to watch on there!” She started

giggling. “I mean,
really
?”

“There seems to be a sort of normal level of kink and

then another level of frightening stuff that gives me the

creeps.”

“But what you saw in this movie didn’t scare you?”

Naya shook her head. “It excited me. A lot.”

“So why do you look so worried? Menace obviously

cares for you a great deal. He wants you to feel

empowered and sexy. He won’t let anything happen to

you that you don’t want.”

Naya wished she could bring herself to confess what

had excited her so much. Then Halie would understand

why Naya was so nervous. She remembered Halie’s

advice and found some reassurance in that. “Safeword,

right?”

Halie nodded. “Safeword.”

A moment later, Halie reached out and swept her

fingers across the blue colar now hugging Naya’s neck.

“It’s realy beautiful.”

Naya touched the colar again. “It is.”

“Blue is your favorite color?”

“Blue is your favorite color?”

“Yes, and it’s the safeword Menace gave me.”

“How sweet,” Halie said and smiled genuinely. “Your

colar is a constant reminder of who you belong to and

how safe you are with him.”

The ful gravity of Menace’s choice of colar hadn’t hit

her until just then. The reality of just how much Menace

cared for her hit Naya right in the gut. Her feelings

toward him became so clear. A certain word danced in

the forefront of her mind but she didn’t dare use it. She’d

already made herself so vulnerable by trusting him

completely. To admit that what she felt for him was

something so powerful was too much, too fast for her.

“Kitten.”

Vicious’ voice cut through the music and conversation.

Naya watched as Halie turned her attention toward the

general. He held up one finger. Halie obviously

understood the signal because she nodded. “That’s my

cue to wrap it up.”

“Oh.” Naya felt so calm and at ease talking with

Halie. Once she was gone, Naya would be completely

at the mercy of Menace’s plans.

Halie grasped her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Come

see me tomorrow. We’l do a brunch and talk. How

see me tomorrow. We’l do a brunch and talk. How

does ten o’clock sound?”

“Perfect.”

“Great.” Halie hugged her and then jumped to her

feet. She made her way to Vicious and stood dutifuly

next to his chair while he finished his conversation with

Menace. When he was done, Vicious wrapped an arm

around Halie’s tiny waist and lifted her right onto his

shoulder as he stood. He clamped his hand on her bare

backside and left the area with Halie dangling over his

back. She wore a dopey grin and shot Naya two thumbs

up for encouragement and luck.

Shaking her head at her friend’s siliness, Naya rose

slowly from her cross-legged position and rejoined

Menace. She started to kneel but he stopped her.

Menace slid his arm around her waist and gently petted

the spot above her belybutton. He pointed to the dark-

haired man sitting across from them. “Say helo to

Hazard.”

Naya eyed the tal Harcos warrior. He had a kind

face. “Helo, Sir.”

“Helo, ma’am.”

Ma’am? That wasn’t at al what she expected. His

Ma’am? That wasn’t at al what she expected. His

easygoing smile settled her nerves.

“Hazard is an old and dear friend of mine. He doesn’t

get to spend much time in this area but he’s on a one-

week layover on the
Valiant
. Hazard has agreed to help

me make your fantasy a reality tonight.”

Naya stiffened as the implication hit home. Last week,

when Menace had been flipping through the various

channels available in the 900 range, he’d landed on a

prison scene where one woman was being taken by five

guards.

At first, she’d experienced utter revulsion at the very

idea, but then something primal had flicked on deep

inside her. Living on the streets as a child, her greatest

fears had been kidnapping, arrest, interrogation and

sexual assault. Like Halie, Naya’s body seemed to have

confused the signals between fear and arousal. The things

that terrified her most seemed to arouse her the most.

She gulped and glanced at Menace. “You want your

friend to… With us?”

Menace’s fingertips stroked the swels of her breasts.

“Possibly.”

She relaxed a little. It was clear Menace wasn’t going

to just let Hazard have free access to her body.

“This is fantasy, Naya. It’s a chance for you to explore

the things that arouse you and frighten you in a safe

environment.” He grasped the front of her colar and

tugged her face down until their lips were almost

touching. The controling gesture made her bely swoop

with excitement. “Are you ready?”