Sanctum (3 page)

Or not. God, she couldn’t even blame him. Not really. He’d never said he loved her. He’d told her how beautiful she was, how much he wanted her. He’d never lied. He’d never told her it was forever. That was the lie she’d told herself.

“Do you know anything about what he did before he came here?”

Joe’s well-manicured brow rose over perfect brown eyes. “Isn’t that something you should know? You were the one who slept with him.”

“He was the CEO of a company that produced software. He was working on something that was going to change the way people shopped on the Internet. I’ve been looking for it. It should have been ready to go by now. He was close.”

Joe shrugged. “I don’t know much about business, but I know this is his only job now, so something must have gone wrong. What happened between the two of you?”

“It wasn’t a grand love affair. We met at a play party. I was a sub. He was a Dom. We signed a contract and after a year, he wanted out. No harm. No foul.” Except that he’d tried to give her away to his friend. She might have been able to handle things if he hadn’t attempted to pawn her off like she was a used book he could trade in.

“I don’t know about that,” Joe said with a shake of his head. “I can still feel the tension between you two. He shuts down when you walk in a room, and you suddenly seem interested in looking anywhere he isn’t.”

“There’s nothing between us.”

“You want to put a little bet on that? I happen to know how Dom Kindergarten goes. I’ve watched it the last three times Ryan has taught the class. In about ten minutes, we’ll get to the Spanking 101 segment of the day, and I know at least one of those Doms doesn’t have a partner. I have a plan. I just need to talk to Adam when they have a break. Are you in?”

It was a bad idea. She didn’t need to push Ryan. She just needed to stay out of his way. So why did she lean over and nod? Why did she listen to Joe’s plan?

“Yeah, I’m in.” She was in on the plan and completely out of her mind.

* * * *

Adam Miles was a never-ending pain in Ryan’s ass. He was supposedly some computer guru and communications expert with a former black ops background. The rumor was he’d gotten forced out of the Army because he’d run afoul of his CO. Ryan rather thought Adam’s former CO got sick of his sarcasm. Unfortunately, Ryan had to put up with him because he was Ian Taggart’s employee and one of the founders of this club. Though Sanctum had originally been started by Ian Taggart and Alex McKay, it was universally acknowledged that Jake Dean, Adam Miles, Eve St. James, and Sean Taggart had rights to the club no one else had.

The one right Miles didn’t have was Master’s Rights because he was too lazy and had never taken the class. Now Ryan got to deal with him twice a week for two months, three hours each session. Lucky fucking him.

Adam was the most experienced of all the students, and he was also the only one without a sub at his feet. The other five Doms all had subs—three women and two men. He oddly felt more comfortable dealing with the gay couples. They didn’t remind him of everything he’d lost.

It hadn’t gone unnoticed that she was standing not twenty feet away, talking to Joe and doing her careful inventory. He was surprised at just how competent she was. She’d never shown any interest in work at all when they had been together. It was a different side of her. It made him wonder just how many sides he’d missed because he’d been captured so thoroughly by the submissive side.

But he had a class to teach.

“Does anyone have questions about contracts?” Ryan asked.

“Yes, why are they so freaking boring?” Adam asked. “I get it. Make sure your sweetheart signs on the bottom line before you plug her ass. Did Ian make this class exceptionally boring to punish me? Because it’s working.”

“The door is right back there, Mr. Miles. Feel free to use it.”

Miles sat up, a frown on his face. “I can’t. Come on, Ryan. Do me a solid. I’ll take any tests you like, and you can just sign me right on through. You know I know this shit. Ian is just being a bastard.”

“I’m the Dom in Residence here, Mr. Miles, and I have no idea what your training is. I’m not certifying anyone until they’ve completed my course. If you want Master rights here at Sanctum, you’re going to go through me.”

Miles groaned. “I’m like Billy Madison, stuck in kindergarten.”

“You’re IQ seems to be in the same place,” another Dom muttered. Ryan seemed to remember his name was Jeff. He was a police officer just beginning to investigate the lifestyle.

Miles rolled his eyes. “Imagine if you had to go back to the police academy and deal with pimple-faced recruits. No offense, man.”

Jeff replied with his happy middle finger. The red-haired sub at his feet laid her head in his lap as though she knew what it took to calm her Master. He immediately began stroking her head, his anger tempered.

Jillian had been able to do that for him. Now he had to manage his own rage.

At least he could move on with the class. “Do your homework on contracts. There’s a standard contract in your packet, but you need to fill in the blanks. Be sure to go over safe words and hard and soft limits. Don’t leave things blurry. These contracts should make everything plain, including the rights and responsibilities of each party.”

It is the Dominant’s right and responsibility to offer safety and comfort to the submissive. Comfort will be in all forms including emotional, physical, and financial support.

Yeah, the financial support was what had tripped him up. His eyes strayed toward Jillian, but he refocused on his class. “Let’s move on to light discipline. Today we’re going to practice some spanking techniques.”

“Thank God.” Miles sat up straight. “I’m interested in this. Let’s spank some subs!”

If only there was a Domme in the room who could spank Miles.
“First off, the ritual is important, and it’s also necessary to know if you’re spanking for pure discipline or if your intent is more erotic. I’d like to watch your techniques, and we’ll go from there.”

Miles frowned. “Serena’s on a deadline. I couldn’t bring her with me today.” He took a quick look around. “Hey, Jillian! Come here and let Papa Adam smack your ass. Pretty please? I promise you an ARC of Serena’s latest.
Sweetheart Unleashed
is coming out in a couple of weeks. You know you want it.”

He was surprised when Jillian practically ran from behind the bar. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that would be respectable on someone with less perfect breasts, but they bounced in a way that made his mouth water.

“Are you talking about Mace, Len and Cat’s story? I’ve been waiting forever. I’m holding you to this, Adam. I want that book.”

“Book?” Ryan asked.

Miles was grinning. “My wife writes erotic romance of the ménage and BDSM type. It’s gotten me in tight with all the subs. Not that I want, like, in the subs. I don’t. I’m perfectly happy at home, but some of the subs are excellent bakers. I’ve been known to trade books for cookies. Serena can’t cook to save her life, and apparently baking is beneath Sean. I’m just a man. I need my sugar. Jilly, honey, whenever you feel the need to make those brown sugar things again, you just send some my way.”

Ryan felt his brow start to twitch. She was fucking cooking for Adam Miles?

She grinned, the sight kicking his heart into overdrive and making his cock twitch in his leathers. She had a smile that could light up the room. Room? Hell, when she smiled, his whole fucking world seemed to brighten. “We’re all crazy about Serena’s books. I like to call them sub fantasy books. The Dom always gives in in the end.”

All of the Doms groaned, but the subs, even the males, were nodding their heads in agreement. They all seemed to know Jillian. In the few weeks she’d been here, she had really made a place for herself. Before she’d been utterly content just being with him. Or had he forced that on her because he was a possessive prick?

“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, suckers,” Miles said with a grin. He winked Jillian’s way and gestured her to his side. Ryan felt his blood pressure tick up as she gracefully fell to her knees beside him.

He took a deep breath because he would very likely cause gossip if he did what he wanted to do. Yep, twisting Miles’s perfectly coiffed head off his body with his bare hands and then playing around in his blood would very likely get him in some trouble with the owners.

Jumping him later in the parking lot was a better idea. He wouldn’t kill him. Just break his kneecaps so he would remember to keep his fucking hands off Ryan’s sub.

He forced himself to talk. “Does anyone have any questions before we get started?”

He wouldn’t be able to do it. How the hell was he supposed to watch Miles spank Jillian? He knew Adam was telling the truth. He had no sexual interest in her. It was blatantly obvious to anyone who saw him with his wife that he was madly in love, but he was younger than Ryan. Adam was successful. What if Jillian had a thing for him? She’d practically jumped over a table to get to him.

Jeff held up a hand. “We’ve been playing at home a little. I think I might be spanking her too hard. She’s fair skinned and she moves around a lot. Her skin gets so red.”

The sub at his feet looked down. Ryan noted that Jeff immediately set his hand on her hair and began to stroke her. He gently guided her head to his lap and whispered something to her that had her clinging sweetly to him.

This was a problem he could solve. “You just don’t have the proper training. I assure you that if you use the correct technique, you won’t leave a mark on her. Does she enjoy the spanking?”

Jeff nodded down, giving his sub permission to speak.

“I think so,” she replied quietly. She kept her eyes averted. “I don’t mind it. Sometimes I think it feels good.”

An idea played in his head. A sweet, slightly manipulative idea. Jillian was fair. Her skin was practically porcelain, so smooth and soft. And she’d loved spankings. Why should Adam Miles get the pleasure of spanking her? What had he done to deserve it? He got to go home every night to his submissive, his wife. He got warmth and comfort, and Ryan got a crappy apartment that would have fit into his old bathroom. And he stayed there alone. Always alone. He’d been alone since the moment he’d let her go.

What if he could have just another moment with her? They were both here. He was a Dom. She was a sub. Maybe she was as lonely as he was.

“I’ll show you. Jillian, I need a partner. Please come join me.”

She stopped, her heart threatening to cease its intended function. “What?”

Ryan was standing there, a chair at his side. He looked so tall, imposing, sexy as hell. And he couldn’t have said what she thought he’d just said.

“If you wouldn’t mind joining me,” he offered. “You made yourself available for use when you took Miles up on his offer. You’re not wearing a collar. I require a submissive for training purposes.”

What he wasn’t saying was that part of her contract gave him this right. She ran the bar, but she was also available for training purposes until such time as her status as an uncollared sub changed. Only Ryan, Ian Taggart and Alex McKay had rights to train, but she’d never dreamed Ryan would claim them.

“Go on, sweetie.” Adam winked down at her. All the subs loved Adam because he was a big old softie, and getting through this training class wouldn’t change him. “For all the hell I give him, I hear he’s actually a great guy. He won’t hurt you.”

Not physically. Nope. He would never do that. Now casually ripping her heart out of her body and tossing it around like a football—that was another story.

Everyone was looking at her. She was brutally aware that if she didn’t get her ass up quickly, it would make Ryan look bad. It would make her look bad.

She got to her feet though her knees suddenly felt a little wobbly. This hadn’t gone exactly as planned. Joe had mentioned that Adam would need a partner, and she was the only female around for another thirty minutes. It had seemed like a good experiment. She wanted to dip her toes back in the D/s pond, and Adam was perfectly safe.

Ryan wasn’t. He wasn’t safe at all.

But maybe this was the perfect way to prove that she was over him. She’d been in love with Ryan. That was what had made the sex so good, the attraction so heady. She wasn’t now. She’d moved on, so she could handle this.

Maybe. She moved to his side.

“Excellent,” Ryan said. “I’m going to demonstrate on the lovely Jillian, and then we can all practice. Jillian, remove your clothing and kneel.”

Jill felt her eyes go wide with panic. He wanted her to get naked? In front of a room full of strangers? In front of him? She swallowed. The last few weeks had gone a long way in making her comfortable around him, but she wasn’t sure she was ready for this.

“Is there a problem with my instructions, Jill? Was I not clear?”

It was a challenge. A momentary anger flared up. What right did he have to challenge her? Then reason took over. This was D/s. This was BDSM. Nudity was accepted, even expected. If she wanted to get back into the lifestyle, she couldn’t be squeamish. Besides, it wasn’t anything Ryan hadn’t seen before. No one was going to laugh, and no one was going to jump her hot body.

She shakily pulled off her T-shirt and jeans and handed them to Adam. He gave her a little thumbs-up. Hell, she’d seen Adam naked a couple of times. Everyone got naked here. It was normal. It was fine. When her bra came off, Ryan walked over and fingered the little gold rings at her nipples.

“You kept them,” he growled and tugged one lightly. He’d been the one to talk her into her piercings.

It was like there was a direct line from her nipples to her pussy. She immediately softened as she whimpered, remembering all the times he would run a delicate chain between the rings and a longer one that ran down to the piercing above her clitoris. He’d held her hand as the piercer had done her job, but only after assuring her that the woman touching her had been the very best.

Jill could barely breathe, but something deep inside her was relaxing. This was where she had lived when she was with him. Nothing had mattered but pleasing Ryan.