Nina's Dom (3 page)

Nic
swallowed and rolled his eyes at the stupid nickname that he’d heard more times
than he'd flogged a sub. Lue might have called him “Dom, my Dom”, but to
everyone else he was Nic, or Master Dominic. He wasn't sure he was going that
far, not now. Even though his body tightened as he watched the conservatively
dressed woman laugh at something one of her friends said, and stand by the door
to let the girl in the veil enter first.

Yet
again he was struck by her unusual looks. With her long red wavy hair and blue eyes
she drew him to her. The lack of excitement in those eyes, her serene
expression—both at odds with the bouncy excitement of her friends—made him
wonder what she was doing there. Her dress was demure, and her top covered what
Nic judged—if his eyesight wasn't defective, and it wasn't—perfect breasts.
Unless of course she was well padded.
Somehow he didn't
think she was the type of woman to resort to that sort of artificial aids. Why
he was so definite he couldn't say. It was a gut feeling that surprised him.

The
small curvy blonde walked up to the desk, and Athol took a step forward.

"Karin?"

Karin
nodded.
"Yes, hello.
This is Monica, our
bride." She pushed the pink tiara clad, giggling Monica forward. "We're
all here. A couple had to cry off."

Nic
risked a look at his mystery redhead. He reckoned she wished she'd cried off as
well. Her eyelashes and eyebrows were dark—dyed he assumed—and wondered if her
other hairs, if she had any, were dyed or natural. He hoped he got the chance
to find out. His fierce reaction to her stunned him. Even at the space of
several yards he would swear her scent teased him.

She
glanced at him and lowered her eyelashes again. Not in the manner of a sub,
though he'd swear she was no Domme. It was more a case, he surmised, of not
letting her feelings show, and thus upset her friends.

Athol
cleared his throat. "So we've decided the best way to show you ‘round is
one of us to one of you."

We have?
Nice
to know.
Please God I don't get the bride.

"We'll
meet back up in the conversation pit, and you can say if anyone fancies a
demonstration," Athol said. “Remember anything tonight will be minor. If
you're really interested, there are lots of nights and events you can sign up
for, as well as a monthly vanilla munch." Karin put up her hand, and Athol
grinned. "Oh, I'll talk about that later.” He began to match the ladies
with the Doms. "Nina, you're with Master Dominic."

The
redhead looked startled. "Oh,
er
, right."
She looked up at Nic with disinterest. He was sure if she'd been chewing gum
she'd have popped it.

Nic
had a sudden and violent urge to change her expression. He smiled. She looked
startled, and Nic realized he had smiled in a way that Lue had called his “don't
diss with the Dom” look. Nic did his best to temper the look, but wasn't sure
he'd succeeded.

"Nina?
I'm Dominic. You can call me Sir."
Shit,
do I sound up myself or not?
However, he reasoned they were in the club, he
was the host, and he owed it to Linsey to be the Dom he was there as.

"Dom
the Dom?" she said and chuckled. Nic raised one eyebrow. Apart from his
closest friends, not many people had the guts—or the stupidity—to say that to
his face.

"Sorry,
but I do have a weird sense of humor." She took several steps away from
her friends, and he followed her. The other girls began to follow their Club
partner out of the foyer. Athol checked the main door was locked, winked at Nic
and Nina, and sketched a wave.

"Play
nice, peeps, see you later maybe."

He
walked into the club proper before Nic had a chance to question him regarding
his choice of words.

"Look,
Dominic," Nina said. "I'm sorry, but I'm only here to make up the
numbers so to speak. I'm not interested in the lifestyle. If you'd rather spend
your time doing something else," like filing your nails or watching paint
dry, her tone intimated, "feel free. I've got my tablet, so I can easily
pass the time until they're ready to go." She gathered her hair in her
hands and pushed it behind her ears so it fell like a flaming waterfall down
her back.

I'd love to see her with her hair
teasing her nipples. Before
I
…
Nic stopped mid thought.
Do not go there, you've only just met her,
and she says she's not interested.
Nevertheless, Nic was.
Very, very interested.
His reaction astounded him. All this
time, so many chances, and he'd never had the glimmer of interest. Now all he
wanted was to find out how he and Nina could mesh.

"Not
at all, it's my duty as a Dom to show you what my life involves."
Well did involve, and maybe will again now.
He took her arm, and was pleased when after a long look at his elegant hand,
dark against her pale skin, she didn't shake it off.

"Why?"
Nina asked. "We're ships that pass in the night or whatever you want to
call it. I don't need to know any more."

"You
do, you know." He was amazed how easily he slipped back into Dom mode. "How
else are we going to decide to progress our relationship?"

She
opened her eyes wide, and he saw the golden tints in their blue depths. Then
she shook her head. "We don't have a relationship."

"We're
going to."

Chapter Three

Had
she heard him correctly?
 
Nina wanted to
press her ears, as she replayed his words over in her head. He was crackers, and
Athol had left her with him.
Now she knew what that wink
meant.
Damn Athol
. He must
have thought over her chat with him and Edan, put two and two together, and
made goodness knows how many. Astute should be his middle name.

The
darned man in front of her was sex on legs. Dark hair, going grey at the
temples, cut short, and with a slight hint of a curl over his forehead framed a
face that interested her. His skin was the color of fine chocolate, and his
eyes were that almost indefinable color, neither blue or grey, but deep and all
seeing. Nina mentally shook herself for that fanciful notion, even as she
squirmed inside. They certainly seemed to be looking deep inside her.

"Look,
I think we need to have a chat," she said as he continued to stare at her
like a specimen on a slide. "Can we? I honestly don't want to look ‘round."

"Hmm.
Why don't you? You need to see
what turns you on. I'm sure we can find something, or else why would you have
come? If you hadn't been interested you'd have pleaded a headache. So?"

"Because
it's my friend's bloody hen night, that's why." The man was like a chisel
digging into her. "And I have to suffer sodding karaoke afterwards."
She shook her head. The thought depressed her. "I'm tone deaf, can't sing
in tune, and it'll be inferior wine and half cold curry. Sod it, so not my idea
of fun." Nina put her hands in the pocket of her skirt and wished it
wasn't so fitted. His X-ray eyes followed her movement, and Nina swore they saw
through the denim and tutted at her boy shorts with cartoon cats all over them.

"We'll
have to work on that language, pet. It doesn't suit you."

The
reprimand was mild, but, however, the tone wasn't. Nina ignored the shivers
down her spine and the way her pussy muscles tightened as his deep voice flowed
over her and hit her in the gut like a solid punch of displeasure.
That
had never happened before.

"I'm
not a pet, or any type of animal come to that, unless you count me being a
bitch when the occasion warrants it," Nina said. She had to make something
clear even if it annoyed him. They were mere acquaintances, so why did she have
that horrid shivery “oh God what will he say or do” feeling she got before she
went to the dentist? "I hate animal related nicknames. They make me want
to baa or cluck or whatever. I have a perfectly good name, which my parents
gave me, and if anyone wants me to answer, that's the name they use when they
address me."
Grief,
do I sound pompous or what?
"Look,
Dominic, the others are all happily checking out the floggers on each other or
pulling straws for who gets to feel a
Wartenburg
Wheel on their arms or whatever. That's fine. Now please.
Can.
We.
Talk?"

"They
won't be. Tonight is much more watch, not play. You know for someone not
interested you know an awful lot. How many people,
not
interested, have heard of a
Wartenburg
wheel?"

"Lots
I should think. They read."

"Hmm.
If you say so."
He stared at her, and then almost as if he couldn't help it trailed one finger
down her cheek.

His
touch scorched her skin. How she didn't gasp, Nina had no idea. She was darned
sure her mouth dropped open and she gaped like a fish.

"However,
I think we must talk. Follow me." He turned without waiting to see if she
followed, and walked toward a different door than the one the others had used.

"Hold
it. Where are you taking me?" Nina stood where she was. Who did he think
he was giving her orders?
A Dom, that's
who
. She needed to know more. After all, Athol might
have paired her off with the guy, but she didn't know him from Adam.

No way am I disappearing into wherever
without letting someone know where that wherever is.
She mentally winced at her
tortured wording, but held fast to the sentiments. It was only safe, and sane, to
do so, and unless he agreed she couldn't add consensual to her thoughts.

He
stopped and turned around. His expression was unfathomable, but it made Nina
want to check her nipples weren't standing out. They felt tight enough to poke
through her top.
Damn the man, his
presence is just too overpowering.
Even though she had no inclination to bow
to his demands, he still made her feel like a chastised schoolgirl.
And he hadn't done or said anything to
make her feel that way. It was all in his look.

"To
talk, pet.
As you requested."

"I
also said I'm not a pet." Nina gathered her wits. That nickname, or
whatever you'd call it, was enough to make her determined to stand her ground. She
fished her phone out of her pocket. "Where do I say?"

He
grinned.

Sheesh,
that
should be bottled and sold as an
aphrodisiac. Even I want to roll over and say “take me, I'm yours”.

"Well?"

"Who
are you ringing? All your mates will have turned their phones in. And you
shouldn't have yours."

She
hadn't thought of that. "I'm not in the club yet, so we bypassed that bit.
What about the dungeon masters?"

Nic
shook his head.
"Nope."

Suddenly
Nina remembered something. "You have one of
those
mini pager, walky-talky things. Every dungeon master or Dom on duty does."

"Now
how do you know that, I wonder?" Nic raised one eyebrow. "No matter
you'll tell me later."

Not if I can help it.

"So?"

He
stared at her. It took all of Nina's resolve not to fidget.
Grief, he makes a ball gagged sub a
chatterbox.
Just as she wanted to scream or thump him, he spoke.

"Yes,
I do."

"Then
may I borrow it?"

He
stared and then raised one eyebrow. "Why?"

"Oh
for fuck's sakes, this isn't twenty questions." The words shot out of her
mouth in a staccato rhythm. "And I know, I know, my language is crap. But
seriously, I'm not going anywhere other than into the main club with you unless
you tell me where and I tell someone else close by. So I reckon if I tell Athol
that'd do."

"I
won't ask how you know Athol … yet. Or that someone has some explanations to
make. Here." He handed a tiny oblong walky-talky to her. "Press three
and leave a message. He'll be alerted it's there. We're going into the small staff
lounge. No one else will be there at present. Be warned I'm in a need to know
mood. Know you that
is
."

Nina
ignored the last sentence. She took the plastic box from him with a murmured
word of thanks and pressed the appropriate key.

"Athol speaking.
What's up, Nic?
Nina done
a runner? Or has she got you over the bench and
introduced you to living again?" Athol's voice was loud and clear.
"Maybe she's the one over the bench, eh? Whatever floats your boats, the pair
of you
need
each other." Nina almost dropped the
instrument. Evidently it hadn't gone to voice mail. She glanced at Nic, who
looked as stunned as she felt. So whatever Athol had planned, Nic wasn't in on
it. That thought pleased her more than she thought possible.

"He
might not be alive if you don't fess up, you bastard."

There
was silence, and then Athol's raucous laugh sounded in her ear. "Ohh ho,
busted. So honey-pie, why are you on the end of this thing and not deep into
sub sp…"