Steal the Sun (57 page)

He nodded. “Not you, baby. I already took my share from you.”

Dev didn’t hesitate. His sleeve was already rolled up, as though he anticipated the need, and he came in behind Daniel, offering his wrist. He didn’t hiss at the pain. There was only a slight tightening around his eyes to show he felt anything at all as Daniel began to draw from him. I didn’t even yell at Danny for not pulling Dev in. That was a private thing and they wouldn’t do it in front of anyone but me.

“We have to hurry.” Nim used her sweater to wipe the blood from the sword. She tossed it away when she was done and held Excalibur out for Daniel to retrieve. “The test has been passed. The king’s blood has opened the veil and Merlin waits. I’m sorry for the violent nature of the test, Daniel, but it was necessary. There’s no question now. You are the King of the Sword. Are you ready to meet your mentor?”

Daniel released Dev’s wrist, licking the wound clean, and it quickly closed. He was on his feet and he helped Dev to his. Daniel looked down at his ruined T-shirt and sighed. He zipped up his leather jacket, covering the blood. Daniel looked down at me. He nodded to Dev and they each took an arm to escort me. It was how we had entered all state functions when we were in Faery. Daniel was signaling he wanted to continue the practice on this plane. “We are ready.”

The demon held out his hand to stop us. “Please allow me to educate you in this. Your Highness, you should go first,” Stewart explained. “It’s tradition. This is a very important moment. It will be commented on and talked about. We must get it just right. The king enters, and then the queen, and then the rest of your retinue. You are at the center of this kingdom and we follow you.”

Daniel actually threw back his head and laughed. “Stewart, you know nothing of my kingdom if you think I’m the center. I haven’t been the center of my world for at least twenty years and I don’t ever intend to be. As for tradition, well, it’s time I made my own.”

In between the two men I loved more than anything in the world, I made my way into the prison of Myrddin Emrys.

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Dungeon Games: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella

Masters and Mercenaries, Book 6.5

By Lexi Blake

Coming May 13, 2014

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Obsessed

Derek Brighton has become one of Dallas’s finest detectives through a combination of discipline and obsession. Once he has a target in his sights, nothing can stop him. When he isn’t solving homicides, he applies the same intensity to his playtime at Sanctum, a secretive BDSM club. Unfortunately, no amount of beautiful submissives can fill the hole that one woman left in his heart.

Unhinged

Karina Mills has a reputation for being reckless, and her clients appreciate her results. As a private investigator, she pursues her cases with nothing holding her back. In her personal life, Karina yearns for something different. Playing at Sanctum has been a safe way to find peace, but the one Dom who could truly master her heart is out of reach.

Enflamed

On the hunt for a killer, Derek enters a shadowy underworld only to find the woman he aches for is working the same case. Karina is searching for a missing girl and won’t stop until she finds her. To get close to their prime suspect, they need to pose as a couple. But as their operation goes under the covers, unlikely partners become passionate lovers while the killer prepares to strike.

* * * *

“If it helps, I think you’re beautiful, Karina.”

Kindness. It was the one thing that almost always disarmed her. She hadn’t had a whole lot of kindness from Derek Brighton, but then she hadn’t given him much of a chance. From the moment she’d laid eyes on him and felt that white-hot attraction she’d never felt before, she’d put up a wall between them.

“I thought I wasn’t your type.” She’d hated hearing those words and yet she fully understood that they weren’t compatible.

His mouth turned down showing lines she hadn’t noticed before. Worry lines. She wanted to smooth them away. “I can still appreciate how beautiful you are. You know what I want out of a relationship, right?”

She’d certainly heard the rumors. “You want a twenty-four seven relationship.”

“I do. I want a submissive who trusts me enough to take care of her. I want to be responsible for her. I want to take care of her financially, physically, and emotionally.”

She couldn’t do that. She knew deep down she wouldn’t be happy in that kind of a relationship. She enjoyed D/s, craved it, but she couldn’t give him what he needed. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to. She’d had the love of her life. A person only got one of those. He’d died five years before and she’d been alone ever since, likely would remain alone for all but small patches of time. She wouldn’t marry again, but did that mean she couldn’t ever have the comfort of another body against hers? The D/s scenes she performed with her friends didn’t ease the ache of loneliness inside her.

Was it really so wrong to take Derek up on his offer? Had she planned to spend the rest of her life without ever taking another lover?

“Just for the case.” She heard herself saying the words and her heart fluttered.

“Just for the case,” Derek agreed and patted his lap. “Trust me enough to take care of you as a Dom and as your partner.”

She was either in or out. It was so obvious. If she walked out the door, they might be able to work together, but she would never know why he made her heart pound in her chest when he walked in a room. Why did it have to be this one man? Why couldn’t it have been her husband who had earned her love?

Karina’s hands were shaking as she pushed the jeans over her hips and exposed her backside. Crisp chilly air hit her skin, but she still felt hot, like her skin was too tight and she couldn’t make it stretch.

She pushed the jeans and underwear down and turned with as much grace as she could muster. She’d been in the lifestyle for a very long time so she could handle turning with her legs bound. She managed to place herself over his lap and stared down at the floor.

Time seemed to stop. She stared at the clear plastic that protected the floor where Derek’s chair sat. This was where he sat every day and now he would have the memory of her laid out over his thighs. And she would have the memory of the way his cock pressed against her belly. He was so hard. Was that for her?

His hand covered her cheek, a soft touch as though he was the one hesitating now.

“Like I said, I think you’re quite beautiful, Karina. I’ve watched you for a very long time. How long have you been in Dallas?”

His fingertips were skimming her ass, drawing out the anticipation of what would happen. She wanted to squirm, to make him move faster. She kind of thought he wouldn’t take that well. She settled for honesty. He had questions? She would give him answers. “Almost four years, Sir.”

She’d stayed in their Brooklyn apartment until she couldn’t handle the memories a second longer. She’d come to Dallas because she’d worked a job or two for Big Tag and she didn’t have anywhere else to go. The heat of Texas hadn’t burned away her memories, but she’d been able to find her balance.

“You lived in New York?”

How little did he know about her? She figured after she’d called IA on his ass a year ago that he would do a search on her. “Yes. I was born in Queens, moved to Brooklyn. I decided I needed a change and Big Tag offered me a job.”

She didn’t mention Tommy. Somehow the thought of even saying her husband’s name seemed wrong here. This was between her and Derek.

His hands stopped their soft progress and he cupped her suddenly. “You’re not to make a sound unless it’s to tell me to stop. Do you understand?”

Oh, fuck. He was going to do it. He was going to lay that big, callused hand on her backside and light her up. Her whole body went on alert, waiting for that second that he touched her again, for the little uptake of air that would be followed by the sound of his hand cracking on her ass and the flare of pain that signaled that she could rest.

Tears pricked her eyes because it had been so fucking long. So long since she hadn’t simply scheduled this, since it came out of nowhere and she could turn her brain off for just a few seconds. She placed her hands on the floor to balance. She didn’t know how much he would want her to touch him so she wasn’t sure where to place her hands.

“Karina, do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Do you need this as much as I do?” The question came out on the sexiest little groan.

“Please, Derek. Please. I need it.” Now that she was here, she knew she couldn’t get off his lap without it. All the floggings she’d had from Simon had done the job, but there hadn’t been a well of emotion flowing between them. There was friendship and competence, not this deep need she could feel coming from Derek. How long had it been since the Dom giving her discipline needed her as much as she needed him?

She felt it. That little baby draft of air and then the loud smack that followed, and she couldn’t help it. She reached for his ankle, grabbing on more because she needed the connection to him than the balance. She wanted it all of a sudden, wanted more than the friendly exchange of service for service. She wanted to need someone, and though it was a bad idea that man was Derek Brighton, she didn’t care in that moment.

He smacked her ass again, sending that sweet burn through her skin. “That’s right, baby. Hold on to me. Let me know how it feels. Are you with me?”

“Yes, Sir.” She kept her voice low because he’d told her to keep it down. The hum of activity on the outside would likely mask the smacks, but if she called out there would probably be ten of Dallas’ finest trying to break down the door.

Smack. Smack.
The pain sparked along her skin, causing her to tense at first. It was just pain in the beginning, but she knew what came after. For the patient sub there was pleasure at the end, as though the body could reward her for hanging in there.

Derek wasn’t a softie. Tears dripped from her eyes as he laid into her backside. Over and over. She wanted to cry out, but kept her mouth shut and let herself go.

This was what she missed. She didn’t have to think here. She didn’t have to worry about falling off the wagon or feel regret for all the things she’d done as a kid. She didn’t miss anyone when she was in this place. She simply was. She simply endured and felt and let herself be. Peace. A blessed peace came with the pain. It didn’t for everyone. She knew that. But it worked for her, and she’d learned long ago to accept herself.

She lost count, didn’t care after a while. The tears were a release of all the horrible tension of the day, the last few weeks really. Though she didn’t scream out her pain, just the act of crying felt like someone had opened a valve inside her soul and released all the noxious emotions that had built up there—that she wasn’t worthy, that everything that had happened was her fault, that she’d always be alone and deserved nothing less.

All the pain she held inside on a daily basis seemed to leech away as he spanked her.

Finally, after the sweetest forever, his hand stilled on her cheeks. His palm covered her, holding the heat to her skin. He was back to caressing her.

“You did well. God, you’re fucking gorgeous like this, Karina. Your skin. It’s so beautiful.”

Spoken like a true Dom. The Doms she knew loved to see their marks on a sub, loved to see a pink ass and know it was there because of their discipline. Something about the way Derek spoke seemed to go straight to her soul. She’d never heard him talk to a sub intimately. He’d always seemed like one of those distant Doms who never let an ounce of emotion flow, but there was such heat in his voice that it melted all of her inhibitions. She let her body sag on his, her legs spread just the tiniest bit because her backside wasn’t the only thing that was hot and pink. Her pussy had responded to him by softening and getting ripe and ready for his touch.

She heard a shaky breath escape from his mouth and his finger ran down the seam of her ass.

Time seemed to still as he moved closer and closer to her pussy. So close. He would touch her, and suddenly she was terrified that she would go off like a rocket the minute she felt him. The very second those callused fingers of his breached her long underused pussy, she would very likely scream and moan and come all over his hand. She wouldn’t say a word if he shoved her on the desk, pushed his slacks down, and took her. She would let him. It had been so long. So fucking long.

He moved his fingers away and he was turning her over in an instant. She bit back a cry because she’d wanted him to touch her so badly, and now it was over and it hadn’t been enough. Not even close. He would set her on her feet and she would awkwardly pull her pants up, and they would go on like he’d never spanked her, never held her down and made her cry. They would go right back to being wary acquaintances. She would be back in the world and she wasn’t ready for it yet.

He flipped her over like she didn’t weigh a thing, settling her on his lap. “Relax. I want to play for a minute. You can tell me no, but I don’t shift quickly. I like to spend a little time in aftercare before I have to go back to normal. You can stop me at any time with a simple no.”

His hand was on the exposed portion of her thigh, skimming up toward her pelvis. Even more disconcerting was the little nest his arm and chest made. He’d situated her so she was oh so close to his body, her head naturally resting against his shoulder, nestling into his neck until she could smell the soap on his body, the clean smell of his skin. She brushed her forehead against his cheek, feeling the roughness of his whiskers against her.

“I like you like this, Karina. Soft. Sweet. I even like the way your jeans hold your legs together. I’d bind you up and then I would have to work to get at your pussy, but don’t think I won’t. I could tie you up so tight and I would still find a way to get inside you.”

He was almost there. She couldn’t stop the way she shivered in his arms because it was so much more intimate this way. She was so close to him. His cock pressed against her still-sensitive backside. His lips were oh so close to hers. All it would take was a slight twist of his head and his mouth would cover hers, his tongue licking along the seam of her lips as his fingers played in her pussy.