Hot In Here (Ashton Heights Fire # 3) (16 page)

At length, Blair said, “I think you can do
anything, Ally Cat. Starting with learning to obey my
commands.”

He put her blindfold back
on and proceeded to show her how easily he could make her submit,
how thoroughly her body belonged to his. He used the flogger more,
harder this time, and left her flesh burning in a not-unpleasant
way. He lubed her ass and made her take a butt plug. The
constriction in her back passage made the emptiness of her cunt
even more acute, and Ally struggled against her bindings, pleading
for an orgasm that Blair denied her for a long, long
time.

He teased and tortured her until she was
crying out her need for release and calling him Master without a
second thought. Only then did he finally allow her to come. It took
only a single stroke of his fingers inside her, one swirl of his
thumb on her clit, to set her off. She was still in spasms when he
entered her with his cock and fucked her bound body like he truly
owned it.

Ally thought perhaps he really did, and fell
asleep later that night with that thought in mind. She woke in the
early hours with not one, but two male bodies beside her. Leo had
come home from night shift and slipped into bed with her and Blair.
Ally lifted her eyelids to find him gazing at her from the opposite
pillow, a somber light in his green eyes.

“
We need to
talk.”

Ominous words if Ally had ever heard them.
“What about?”

Leo shared a glance with Blair, who Ally
realized was awake behind her. It was Blair who responded to her
question. “I lied last night, Ally. I can’t handle the secret
anymore. Not after what happened between us.”

Ally opened her mouth to
argue. In the end, she couldn’t. Blair was right. She’d given him
everything last night, had not only submitted but had been
his
submissive,
body, mind and soul. That meant something.

“
Blair told me what you
said, Ally,” Leo said. “I understand you’re wary of trusting in
this. It’s never going to be a conventional arrangement. But you
wanting to hide it…it hurts, baby.”

“
I
don’t
want
to hide
it,” Ally said. “I just—”

“
Don’t think it’s going to
last so figure there’s no point admitting to it?” Leo filled
in.

Ally clamped her mouth shut. Releasing a
sigh, Leo rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Cold air
brushed her shoulders as Blair got out of bed altogether.

Leo’s voice was flat. “I don’t think we
should see each other anymore, not until you’re ready to admit
you’re involved with us.”

It was like the slap of an
icy hand on her face. “You don’t mean that. Why can’t we just keep
going as we have been, and I’ll tell my family when the time is
right? Why are you rushing this?”

Turning swiftly, Blair
planted a hand on the pillow on either side of her head and pressed
his face in close to hers. “Because you’re mine now, Ally, mine and
Leo’s. I made you mine last night, and I won’t stand for the world
not knowing it anymore. I won’t stand for guys at the Sovereign
trying to pick you up because they think you’re
available.”

“
That only happened once.”
In their presence anyway. It had happened three more times that she
hadn’t told Leo and Blair about. “I can handle myself.”

“
We know that, baby,” Leo
said quietly. “It’s not about that. We’re proud to be with you. We
only wish you felt the same way.” He got out of bed and slid on a
pair of shorts.

“
So what…are you kicking me
out?”

“
For now, yes,” Blair told
her as he straightened. “At least until you grow up.”

“
Grow
up
?”
Ally stared at him, incredulous. She transferred her look to Leo,
but he wasn’t offering any contradiction to Blair’s assessment. She
survived the sting by allowing her anger to replace her hurt.
“Neither of you have ever treated me like a child,” she
snapped.

“
So why don’t you stop
acting like one?” Blair asked, before turning on his heel and
storming out of the bedroom.

Ally turned her stunned
look from the now empty doorway to Leo. “Leo—”

“
He’s falling for you,
Ally.” His quiet statement knocked the wind out of Ally’s righteous
anger. “He’s only protecting himself.”

Ally’s heart thundered at the thought of
Blair falling for her. Was it true? The man had completely slayed
her last night, he’d ruled her body, had control over every one of
her responses. She was the one who ought to be protecting herself,
because if he could master her body that way, it was only a matter
of time before her heart was lost forever.

It felt as though it was lost already as Leo
started walking out. Ally stopped him with an impulsive question.
“What about you? Are you falling for me?”

Leo threw a sad look at her over his
shoulder. “I fell for you the first night we spent together.”

A week and a half
later

Blair sat at a table in a
back corner of the Sovereign, nursing his beer and scowling. He’d
avoided coming to the pub since he and Leo had sent Ally away
because he didn’t want to see her. But the guys were having
farewell drinks for Mitch West, who was transferring to another
station. Mitch had been a good chief, and Blair at least owed him a
proper send-off.

So here he sat, trying to pretend he wasn’t
having a miserable time. Trying to pretend he wasn’t watching Ally
Wachawski wait tables out of the corner of his eye and silently
cursing her for ruining his favorite watering hole for him.

“
Hey.”

Blair barely looked up as
Leo pulled out the barstool opposite him and sat. “Hey,” he replied
grouchily.

“
You have to try and cheer
up, Blue,” Leo said. “Mitch will think you’re pissed he’s
leaving.”

“
Look who’s talking.” The
shadows beneath Leo’s eyes bespoke of a string of restless nights.
“You look like shit.”

“
Yeah, well.” Leo’s gaze
strayed to the restaurant area of the pub. “It’s not easy to see
her.”

Blair silently concurred
with that assessment. When he’d told Ally to grow up, he’d been
fueled by a righteous fury that had covered for the hurt he felt
deep inside. He’d kept himself busy working and pushing himself at
the gym ever since. He might have avoided the Sovereign forever if
Mitch hadn’t up and taken that transfer. As far as Blair had been
concerned, if he never saw Ally Wachawski again it would be too
soon.

But now that he’d laid eyes on her, he
couldn’t seem to drag his gaze away. Those lush curls were secured
at the back of her head in a ponytail that didn’t stop Blair from
recalling how it felt to have those tresses gripped in his hand.
She was wearing a short black skirt and knee high boots with her
white blouse. He saw several men eyeing her ass as she moved
through the tables.

That’s my ass,
Blair thought bitterly.
That’s my woman.

Possessiveness was a new experience for him.
He didn’t like how much of a jerk it made him sound in his own
head.

“
Maybe we were too hasty,”
Leo said, rousing Blair from his bleak thoughts. “We shouldn’t have
pushed her for a commitment she wasn’t ready for.”

“
We didn’t ask her for
commitment, just honesty,” Blair pointed out. “I won’t be with
someone who’s ashamed of me—ashamed of us.”

“
I know. But we could have
been more patient.” Leo stared down into his own beer, appearing
despondent. “Hell. I miss her. I want her back.”

“
What are you
suggesting?”

Leo’s lips tilted mirthlessly. “We beg for
another chance.”

“
I don’t grovel,” Blair
snarled.

“
Jesus. Could you can your
stupid pride for five minutes and at least consider it?”

Blair opened his mouth to deliver a
comeback. He was stopped from speaking by the clap of a huge hand
on his shoulder. “Blue. Chats. What are you two looking so down in
the dumps about?”

Blair and Leo both looked
up into the grinning face of Corey Wachawski. Blair was hit by the
blue of the other man’s eyes, so similar to that of Ally’s. Leo’s
words reverberated in his head. “
I miss
her. I want her back.”

Shit. So did Blair. And here in front of him
was the reason they’d broken up.

“
Ask your sister.” The
words were out of Blair’s mouth before he even knew he was going to
say them.

Corey looked at him quizzically.
“Pardon?”

“
Blue.”

At the warning tone in
Leo’s voice, Blair stifled what he’d been about to say. Instead, he
muttered, “Nothing. How’re Erica and Griff?”

“
They’re fine.” Corey
folded his arms over his chest. His massive barrel chest. The pose
pushed out his huge biceps, made them look enormous. He was no
longer smiling. “What were you saying about my sister? How do you
even know her?”

“
We’ve
met,” Leo said before Blair could give a more graphic explanation.
Not that he’d been going to. He might be grouchy, but he wasn’t
completely insane.
I tied her up and made
her call me Master
was definitely not
something you said to your girl’s older, muscle-bound
brother.

Corey raised a brow at Leo. “Since she’s
been working here?”

Never one to tell a convincing lie, Leo let
out a sigh. “No. From before that. The truth is—”

“
Chats.” This time it was
Blair’s turn to use the warning tone. “It’s not up to
us.”

It had always been Ally’s job to tell her
brother the truth. Just because she’d decided a relationship with
them wasn’t worth facing a conflict with Corey didn’t mean they
could spill the secret for her. It wasn’t their place.

“
It’s sure gotta be up to
someone to tell me what’s going on.” Corey leaned in closer to
Blair. He was standing and Blair was sitting, so the pose was
threatening. “I don’t think you want me making the assumptions I’m
starting to make.”

Blair didn’t take well to being stood over,
so he rose out of his chair and faced Corey on a more even level.
Or tried. He still only came up to the guy’s jaw. How tall was
Wachawski anyway? Six-four, six-five? Blair refused to break eye
contact. “What assumptions might they be?”

“
That you and Leo tried to
chat my sister up.” Corey’s gaze narrowed. “I know what you guys
are into, but that’s not Ally’s thing.”

Blair snorted. “You sure about that?”

Leo stood as well and came to wedge himself
in between Corey and Blair. “Guys, this isn’t the time or
place.”

“
You need to have a serious
talk with your sister,” Blair said, ignoring Leo’s attempt to
smooth things over. “And stop putting pressure on her to be what
you want her to be.”

“
What the hell are you
talking about?” Corey asked.

“
She’s not some china doll
who needs to be wrapped in cotton wool. She’s tough and snarky and
funny and hella sexy. If you knew her better, you’d see
that.”

At the word
sexy
,
Corey flinched. “You want me to see my sister as
hella sexy
?”

“
No,” Leo said levelly.
“But we’d like you to deal with the fact that we do.”

Corey’s eyes flared. He took a step towards
Leo. “Don’t talk about Ally that way.”

“
In what way? Like I’m a
woman and not a little girl?”

All three men turned at the sound of Ally’s
voice. She stood a few feet away, glaring at them. Her hands were
planted on her hips and her blue eyes snapped in much the same way
as her brother’s. She was so puffed up her blouse strained across
the front of her chest.

She was magnificent.

“
I’m not a kid anymore,
Cor,” Ally pointed out. “I don’t need you threatening every guy
who’s trying to get into my pants.”

“
So
they
have
tried to
pick you up?” Corey asked, missing the point entirely. “Do you
realize that they’d want… Hell, they share women,
sis.”

“
I know.” Ally stood
straight and tall, facing her brother with not a touch of red in
her cheeks. “Because they’ve shared me.”