Initiation (Master Class Book 1) (3 page)

“Joe told me to be here by six.” He’d probably figured that Logan would be half an hour late, which he had been. Fortunately, no one had been waiting and Logan had found the spare key affixed to the underside of a rain gutter. That had been fun in the dark and cold.

He took her oversize bag and placed it on the floor, wondering if she had any toys hidden in it.

Jennifer unfastened the belt around her waist, then removed her wool peacoat. He couldn’t stop thinking of the way her skin had felt when he’d helped her into it a few weeks ago.

She stood before him, ridiculously close since he hadn’t taken a polite step backward.

As he might have expected, she was dressed in a short leather skirt that highlighted her feminine curves. It was appropriate for a kink event—which he anticipated this evening’s party might become—but it wasn’t so scandalous that it would be whispered about at a vanilla gathering.

Her white turtleneck was another matter. It hugged her body, showing off her breasts and trim waist.

She’d completed the outfit with tights and those sexy boots.

His blood pressure spiked. “May I?” he asked, extending his hand.

“Thanks.” She gave him the coat and he placed it on a nearby peg.

“Let me just get Noelle’s present and my phone so I can take pictures of her when she gets here.”

Jennifer bent to unzip the bag, but the way she angled her body ensured he couldn’t see everything in there. She extracted a gift and handed it to him, then she grabbed her cell phone from a small purse before straightening.

“Where are we waiting?”

“In the kitchen.” He shrugged. “Unless you have a better idea?”

“I’m not good at the whole surprise thing,” she said, following him.

Joe had built the house with entertaining in mind. This part of the home featured an open concept with the kitchen seamlessly transitioning to the dining area adjacent to the living room.

The most stunning feature was a bank of picture windows that faced east and overlooked downtown Denver. Generally the view was breathtaking, but this evening a layer of threatening clouds loomed, making it seem as if he and Jennifer were cut off from the rest of the world. Until now, he hadn’t appreciated it.

Festive streamers hung from the soaring wooden beams. Red and white balloons were everywhere, tied to chairs, attached to end tables, floating at various heights over every flat surface.

“The place looks great,” Jennifer said.

“Joe missed his calling as an interior decorator.”

“He did this, really?” She glanced at him. “I figured they hired a company.”

Logan made a circular motion near his temple. “He says it’s relaxing.”

“I wouldn’t think so. Cleaning. Cooking. Inviting people. Tracking the RSVPs. Prep work.” She shuddered.

Yet Joe did it routinely. At least once a month, he made the trek from his Cherry Creek home to his house in the foothills to organize play parties for his closest friends.

“If there are only going to be a few people, this is a lot of cupcakes.” She looked toward the three-tiered structure on the dining room table.

Plates were piled high, sitting next to the napkins and silverware. Glass dishes were filled with mints and nuts. An inviting, expensive bottle of bubbly was chilling in an elegant stainless-steel bucket.

A chime sounded and Jennifer checked her phone.

A moment later, his phone vibrated and he pulled it out of his pocket. Seeing there was a message from Joe, Logan entered his pass code, then read the text.

Surprise!

Logan frowned.

“What the hell?” Jennifer sounded disconcerted.

He glanced up from his screen.

“It’s from Noelle,” she said. “It says
surprise
.”

Logan turned his phone so she could read it.

“Now I’m really confused,” she confessed.

Both phones signaled new messages.

Happy Valentine’s Day! The house is all yours. Don’t do anything we wouldn’t, and enjoy the evening! We love you both… Joe and Noelle

P.S. The champagne is for the two of you to enjoy.

“I think we’ve been had,” Logan said unnecessarily.

She closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them, he again noticed how intense they were, but tonight the blue was spiked with gold flecks of anger.

“Noelle knows I hate Valentine’s Day. I’ll kill her. Kill her. Long. Painful. Slow. Very freaking slow.” She focused her gaze on him.

“I had nothing to do with it. I swear.” Still holding his phone, he raised his hands. “I hate Valentine’s Day too.”

“Do you?” She put a hand on her heart and tipped her head to the side, regarding him skeptically.

“Rather have a root canal than deal with it.”

“Yet here we are.”

The truth was as cold as the Colorado windchill. “Set up by our best friends,” he said.

“Some friends.”

He lowered his hands.

“All this stuff. We can’t just leave it out since we have no idea when they’ll be up here again.” She dug a hand into her hair, sending a lock spilling in front of her eyes. As she raked it back, she said, “God.”

“What?”

“We don’t even get to enjoy the party, and we have to clean up the mess.”

“Who says we don’t get to enjoy it?”

Their phones lit up again.

We’re celebrating in town. So feel free to spend the night.

Jennifer replied to the message. He didn’t know it was possible for a person’s fingers to move so fast. But then she stared at the screen as if expecting Noelle to respond instantly.

After thirty long, painful seconds, it was obvious no reply was coming. Instead, Jennifer touched an icon to call Noelle.

From a few feet away, he heard Noelle’s voice mail message.

“She turned off her phone,” Jennifer said, shock echoing in her voice. She tried Joe’s number and got the same result.

With a deep sigh, she tossed her phone onto the island. “Now what are we going to do?”

“I have an idea.” Logan dropped his phone into his pocket then crossed to the bucket that held the bottle of champagne. After pulling it from the ice, he looked at the label. “Expensive stuff. I’d hate for it to go to waste.” He removed the protective wire cage, then gave the cork a quick turn before popping it off. “How about a drink?”

Along with survival instincts, common sense urged Jennifer to get back in her car and head back to Denver. As she’d told the Divas the other night, the man spelled
danger
, in capital letters. It wasn’t just that compelling scar that zigzagged between his scalp and his right eye. His size intimidated her. He stood over six feet tall, and he was impossibly broad. Then there was his shadowy past. Noelle had said he was some sort of detective, but what kind of detective wore motorcycle boots, a faded-to-gray button-down shirt and a watch that cost half a year’s salary?

His raven-colored hair was cut military short. Everything about him warned her to stay away. The man made her feel vulnerable, but she couldn’t make herself leave.

After pouring the champagne, he held up both flutes and tipped one in her direction.

She wanted him. And just as desperately, she wanted
not
to want him.

Noelle’s words, though, echoed in Jennifer’s head.
‘They say he’s an exceptional Dom. Unrelenting, demanding, but patient.’

Part of her still wanted to experience exactly that.

Rationalizing that her friend trusted him and that no harm could come from sharing a simple glass of champagne, Jennifer walked into the dining area.

When she accepted one of the flutes, electricity jolted through her.

Jennifer snatched away the glass. Some of the expensive liquor splashed over the rim. She licked it off, then became aware of his gaze on her.

“So you hate Valentine’s Day?” he prompted.

“I didn’t always.” She took a breath to steady her pulse. “I had a bad experience a couple of years ago.” At first, Brett had seemed like the ideal boyfriend. He was thirty-four, wore Italian suits, had an impressive portfolio, a stunning mansion off Eighth Avenue in Denver, a ritzy downtown office and he was a successful criminal-defense attorney. Her parents had loved him. But his expectations had started to wear her down. He was looking for the perfect wife, someone to host his events and organize a high-profile social calendar, and he’d made it clear that he expected her to forget her dreams of starting her own CPA firm.

“What happened?” Logan asked.

Dragged back from the unpleasant memory, she asked, “Does it matter?”

He shrugged. “I’m curious.”

Time and distance had helped. “Short story? A public humiliation.”

Logan kept his gaze steady.

His silence, nonjudgment and the fact that he didn’t immediately jump in with sympathy encouraged her to go on. “My boyfriend proposed at dinner on Valentine’s Day. When I said I wasn’t ready for his demands, giving up my dreams to become Mrs. Someone Else, he dumped my ring in a glass of water. Then he stormed out, leaving me to pay the bill and find my own way home.” Adding insult to the mortification, the meal and wine had been considerably more than she’d been able to afford.

“He sounds more like a child than a man.”

She nodded. “I tell myself that the unfortunate incident was better than a lifetime of misery. And honestly? I love my career, and now I have the time to invest in making my business a success. At certain times of the year, I work double shifts. I need the freedom to do that.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a CPA.”

“So you’re not available the first half of April?”

“From mid-March on, actually. But there’s always corporate work, extensions. It never really ends. And I’m hoping to go out on my own within a year or so.” Because of Logan’s patience and interest, some of her resistance to him faded. Maybe he wasn’t as dangerous as she’d originally thought. Feminine intuition shrieked in her ear. The fact that he was easy to talk to made him more dangerous than she’d originally thought. To silence the roar in her head, she asked, “What’s your story?”

To his credit, he didn’t stall. “I was an idiot. Actually, the world’s biggest asshole. I forgot it was Valentine’s Day. Worked late. Didn’t buy her a card or a gift.” His lips were set in a tight line. Although his words were light and easy, the underlying betrayal of pain in his voice was unmistakable.

Like he’d done for her, she waited for him to continue.

“When I got home, all the lights were on, but Helen and her belongings were gone. She left a note with two words on it. You can probably guess what they were.” He grinned wryly.

Their confessions had created an intimacy between them and she smiled back. “I bet I can.”

He angled his flute and they clinked their glasses.

“We got off to a bad start the first time I met you,” he told her. “I was an oaf, came on too strong. I apologize.”

“An oaf?” She toyed with her glass. “I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone actually use that word in a sentence.”

“I’m one of a kind,” he said. “Say you’ll forgive me.”

How could she refuse?

“I’m disappointed that you didn’t call.” His soft, sexy, sultry voice sent pinpricks up her spine.

“I’m surprised you gave me a second thought,” she confessed, stunned, thrilled.

“Every day. I’m ashamed to admit I asked Joe about you.”

She decided not to tell him that he’d been the topic of discussion at the Carpe Diem Divas’ dinner meeting.

“Joe said you were worth having.”

“Did he?”

“He suggested I try groveling.”

Feeling lighter than she had in months, she teased, “Let me guess. That’s not one of your finer skills?”

“Finer skills? It’s something I’ve never heard of. I had to look up the word in the dictionary.”

She laughed.

Logan took a step closer. He filled her vision, intimately close, making her nerve endings vibrate with awareness.

“You’re a newbie to BDSM.”

She wasn’t sure whether he’d guessed that or whether Joe had told him. “And?”

“If we had scened the other night, you would have given me your phone number and taken my call the next day. And right now… Right now…?”

Nervously, she gulped.

“You’d be remembering how good it was. You’d have confidence, and you’d be on your knees begging me to take you to the basement.”

Jennifer drew a shaky breath. “Look, Logan—”

“Be as honest with yourself as I’m demanding you be with me. If you had been totally into that scene with Simon, you wouldn’t have turned to look at me. And at the end, you were disappointed with the experience, wondering if it could have been better. In fact, you’ve talked to Noelle, maybe read some things, watched some videos. You think it can be better.”