My Wicked Valentine (Club Wicked 1) (24 page)

She smiled, relieved that he wasn’t someone she knew out in
the real world. “Oh, of course. How could I forget you in those leather pants?”

“My Mistress likes them as well.”

“I’m sure she does.”

He gave her a look that for some reason set her on edge
before saying, “Do you want to come play with me? I can show you some tricks to
being a sub. If I’m not mistaken, you’re pretty new at this.”

“Umm, no thanks.” He frowned, and she hurriedly added, “I’m
expected by some Doms.” She pointed to the corner where two men sat, observing
them.

“Yeah, you don’t want to keep Master Hawk and Master Jesse
waiting.” He tilted his head to the side. “I thought you were with Master
Isaac.”

Hurt sliced through her chest, but she managed to keep
smiling. “Oh, we’re more business partners than anything else.”

His jaw tensed, and his shoulders stiffened. “Well, I better
get going. See you around.”

She waved at his retreating back and wondered what she’d
done to offend him. Then again, he could be reacting to someone or something
else going on around them. He reached the far side of the room and knelt next
to an extremely pale woman with jet-black hair in a black latex dress. She
absently patted his head while continuing to chat with another Domme.

A brisk slap followed by a cry had her spinning on her heel,
instinctively seeking out the source of the sound. To her embarrassment she got
an eyeful of a woman’s jiggling buttocks as her Dom bent her over his lap for a
spanking. Memories of Isaac’s touch flared through her, and she turned away,
keeping her gaze on the ground until she reached the couches where Isaac’s
friends sat.

To her relief they were alone and drinking beers, with a
third unopened beer on the driftwood and glass table in front of them. They
both looked at her with such intensity that she almost bolted. If she ran now,
she wouldn’t stop running until she got back to her safe, boring little world
back at her apartment. Plus, she hadn’t come this far to be scared away by two
incredibly handsome men giving her a thorough visual appraisal.

The man on the dark suede couch was the same man she’d seen
at Wicked. His long black hair was held back in a tight braid, and he wore
skintight black leather pants and a black T-shirt that clung to his lean and
muscled frame. Yummy. He raised an eyebrow, and she flushed, realizing that she
was staring.

Switching her gaze to the other man, she smiled in relief as
she realized he was the big Texan she’d met at Wicked. He smiled back, and his
bright blue eyes gleamed with mischief. Dressed in a pair of well-used jeans
and a brown leather vest with no shirt beneath, he certainly was nice to look
at.

She gave them a little wave and shifted from one foot to the
other. “Hi, um, I’m Luc—er, Kitten.” Heat blasted up her chest and to her scalp
at how silly it sounded to call herself that.

Hawk spoke first, his voice low and mellow. “So this is the
little woman who’s been driving Isaac insane.”

The Texan tipped his bottle in her direction. “Have a seat,
Kitten. In case you forgot, my name is Jesse.”

She took a seat on the opposite end of the couch from Jesse,
intimidated by Hawk’s stern expression. “Nice to meet you.”

Jesse smiled and set his beer on the table before grabbing
the unopened one and twisted off the top before handing it to her. “Here, you
look like you could use a drink.”

Gratefully she took a sip and relaxed a little bit. “Thanks.
It’s been a heck of a day.”

Hawk grunted. “So we heard.”

Anger kindled in her belly as she thought about everyone
knowing her and Isaac’s personal business. “What exactly did you hear?”

“That Isaac has feelings for you, but he’s too chicken shit
to act on them.”

“He is not chicken shit!”

Jesse laughed, and Hawk’s lips turned up in the barest of
smiles. “Glad to hear you think that. He needs a woman who believes in him.”

Jesse propped the edge of his boot on the table, creating a
distracting sight with his jeans clinging to his muscled thigh. “Did Laurel
fill you in on our plan?”

She shook her head and promised herself later she would have
a little talk with Laurel about springing shit like this on her. “No. What
plan?”

“Well, I talked to Isaac about an hour ago and mentioned you
were here looking hotter than a June bride riding bareback in the moonlight.”

She giggled, unable to resist his playful charm. “That hot,
huh? But why did you tell him that when you hadn’t even seen me yet?”

“Because no man on earth who cares about a woman wants her
to be somewhere like this without him. Add to that Isaac’s possessive streak,
and you have a man that is hauling ass right now to come here and claim you as
his.”

She slumped back against the couch. “I don’t know if I
really want to be with a guy who only wants me like a toy that he has to keep
away from others.”

Hawk’s deep voice stroked along her skin like velvet. “Isaac
has never given a shit before if anyone wanted the sub he was currently playing
with.”

“Yep, he usually dumps them and lets the other Doms try to win
them over.” Jesse caught her bewildered look and shrugged. “He’s not a complete
ass. If he sees that his sub of the moment might have a chance at a real
relationship with someone else, he releases her.”

“But with you”—Jesse laughed and rubbed his lips—“with you
he threatened to cut my dick off and feed it to the goats if I let anyone get
near you before he gets here.”

His words both warmed and irritated her. “I’m a big girl. I
can decide who I do and don’t want to talk to. Besides, he said this morning
that there wasn’t going to ever be anything between us.”

Both men laughed, and Jesse leaned over to pat her knee.
“Honey, when I talked to him a couple of days ago, he was practically writing
sonnets in your name.”

She tried to keep from looking too hopeful. “Really?”

“Yep. He kept going on and on about how smart you were, how
brave, how beautiful, blah blah blah.”

The knowledge that he was bragging to his friends about her
helped thaw the chunk of ice she’d been carrying around in her stomach since
this morning. “Why are you helping me?”

Hawk leaned forward. “Because he is our friend, and he’s
been hurting and lonely for a very long time.”

“Besides, if you and Isaac don’t work out, it doesn’t hurt
to get a little flirting time in with you. See if you want to ride a real Texas
mustang.” Jesse winked, and she shook her head.

“You are trouble in a ten-gallon hat.”

He laughed and set his beer on the table. “Sugar, you don’t
know the half of it.”

Hawk grunted. “Don’t listen to him. He’s hung more like a
Texas mouse than a mustang.”

She burst out laughing, and Hawk’s lips turned up in his
version of a smile.

Giving Hawk an affronted look, Jesse adjusted himself. “Your
mom doesn’t complain.”

She covered her face with her hands. “Oh no, we’ve descended
down the intellectual ladder to the depth of
yo’ mama
jokes.”

“Hold on, my ass is vibrating.” Jesse reached into his
pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “Well, speak of the devil. Excuse me for
a second.”

She nodded and took another sip of her beer, her nerves
getting wound tighter by the minute. Her back was to the rest of the room, but
she could hear the festivities heating up. The sounds of flesh being smacked,
moans, and cries of passion blended in with the bubbling of the fountain. Her
imagination ran wild with all the things that could be happening, and heat
swept through her lower half as she imagined doing those things with Isaac.

“Hey, Isaac, what’s up?” Jesse grinned and pulled the phone
away from his ear, putting it on speakerphone so they could all hear.

Isaac’s voice blasted through the speakers. “Where is she?”

“Whoa, easy there. You almost busted my eardrum. Should you
be talking on your phone and driving at the same time?”

“Fuck you. I’m pulling up Laurel’s street now. Where is
she?”

“She who?”

She had to stifle a giggle at Jesse’s teasing expression,
and even Hawk cracked a grin.

Isaac’s voice came out in a deadly growl. “Lucia. Where is
she? I told you to keep an eye on her until I got there.”

“Oh, she’s okay. She’s with Hawk right now in the spider
room.”

“What? You rat bastard son of a bitch. You said you would
watch over her for me until I got there! I swear if anything happens to her,
I’m going to—”

“Jeez, what’s the big deal? Laurel said Lucia—sorry, I mean
Kitten—was here to learn about the lifestyle. It’s not like you give a shit
about who your subs play with after you’re done with them.”

“If he lays one motherfucking finger on her, I’m going to
kill him!”

“She sure is a sweet little armful, all curves and spice.
Does she purr when she comes?”

Isaac let loose a stream of profanity that was almost poetic
in its imaginative use of swear words, threats, and body parts.

“What? I can’t hear you, man. You’re breaking up.”

“Jesse, you better—”

“Sorry, man. I can’t hear you. Are you driving through a
tunnel or something? Oh, Hawk is signaling me to come to the spider room. Looks
like that sweet little Latina wants to play with two men.”

“I’m going to fucking—”

Jesse hung up on him, and she gaped. “Wow, he sure sounds
mad.”

“Yep.” Jesse grinned and stood up. “Mad like a man in love.”

Hawk chuckled and stood as well, giving her an eyeful of a
deliciously tight ass as he turned and stretched.

“Come on, Kitten.”

She stood and tried to arrange her outfit to cover as much
of her body as she could with trembling hands. “Where are we going?”

“To the spider room.” He winked and tucked her arm into his.
“We’re going to help you spin a web to capture a reluctant Dom.”

Isaac threw the keys to his car at the waiting valet. The
rage boiling through him must have shown on his face, because the valet dropped
the keys and picked them up with muttered apologies. Isaac kept walking and
brushed past the pretty maid inside of the front door waiting to take guests’
coats.

The sound of people having a good time grew louder, and he
fought the urge to run. How fucking dare she go with Hawk and Jesse? When he
found her, he was going to paddle her ass until it was as red as a stop sign or
at least until she admitted that she belonged to him and only him. Just the
thought of either of those men, even though they were among his closest
friends, touching her drove a spike of pain through his heart.

The hallway between the pool and the playrooms was crowded
with people chatting and laughing. He snarled his way through, leaving a path
of protests in his wake. All day long he’d been losing his mind over Lucia
being gone. The accusations that she’d hurled at him, all true, had not only
enraged him but helped to crack the final wall guarding his heart.

At first he thought her family had come to pick her up, but
Laurel had called him soon after to let him know Lucia was at her house. He’d
demanded to talk to her, but Laurel refused, telling him he didn’t deserve such
a kind and wonderful woman if he was going to treat her like trash. Then she’d
hung up on him.

Seemed to be a running theme in his life today.

For the rest of the day, he’d sat on his couch, staring out
the window and trying to decide if he should go after her or not. On one hand,
if he stayed away, they could make a clean break of things, and Lucia could be
happy. On the other hand the thought of Lucia giving her love to someone else
made him sick. That feeling only compounded when Jesse called him from Laurel’s
party and talked about seeing Lucia there looking all luscious and alone. His
primal side had roared to life at that mental image, demanding he get there and
show her who she belonged to, who would take care of her and see to her every
need.

There was no one else in the world who could possibly care
for her like he did.

The spider room sat at the back of the house in a secluded
corridor dedicated to the owner’s kinky side. The crowd thinned out the closer
he got to the play wing. He turned a corner and paused, trying to make sense of
the scene before him. A man with dark hair in a pair of black leather pants
held what looked like either a phone or a digital camera in his hand, and he
was trying to quietly open the door.

Isaac stepped back so the man couldn’t see him if he looked
down the hallway and watched the man wince when the door made a slight creak.
As he looked closer at the man, he realized it was Lady Morgana’s sub, and the
pieces started to fall into place. Adam, submissive to the woman who used to do
the parties for Wicked, and a graphic designer if Isaac remembered correctly.
Someone with knowledge of photo manipulation and a bone-deep desire to please
his Mistress.

Moving as silently as he could, Isaac walked up behind Adam
and wrapped his arm around the other man’s throat, getting him into a
submission hold. Adam gave a distorted scream and dropped his digital camera
while clawing at Isaac’s arm.

“What the fuck do we have here?” he asked in a deceptively
mild voice. Adam made some garbled reply, but he ignored it. “I’m going to
remove my arm, but if you do anything other than follow me meekly to talk with
your Mistress, I’m going to press charges against you. And trust me when I say
I have enough money to keep you in court for the rest of your life.”

Adam bent over, gasping. “I didn’t do anything.”

Isaac shook his head and picked up the digital camera,
easily fending off Adam’s halfhearted attempt to get to it first. “Really? So
what were you doing with this camera?”

The door to the spider room opened, and Jesse stepped out.
His smile fell from his face as he took in the scene, and he quickly closed the
door behind them. “What the hell is going on?”