The Exposure (26 page)

“Yes, her. And if you're going to be all jealous over Guy, you should at least tell me
her
name so I can annoy you properly.”

“Her name's Louisa.”

Louisa? That was worse than Ophelia.

“Louisa? Really?”

“Yes, but I call her Lu.”

He would have a pet name for her. Meagan wondered how long they'd known each other. And for some reason, he was finding this conversation funny. He looked straight ahead, but she could tell he was holding back his laughter.

“Does Lu have a last name?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“And it's what?”

He wasn't even trying to hold back his amusement now. “DeVaan.”

She wasn't certain she heard him clearly. “What?”

“Lu DeVaan. My sister. She lives in New Orleans and happened to be in town for the weekend. To be honest, that wasn't my first choice of places to eat, but I'd taken her there once before and she said she couldn't be in New York and not eat there.”

“Oh,” was all she could think of to say.

He was smug now. The bastard.

“I think I like you jealous,” he said, then reached over and squeezed her knee. “I'm sorry if that made you feel bad. Seeing Lu and thinking I'd moved on. Trust me. I hadn't.”

She placed her hand over his, thankful for his warmth and his strength. But most of all, for his forgiveness and that they were together now and the dark days were behind them.

“I like it when you're jealous,” she said. “It makes you go all caveman.”

“Caveman, huh?”

She nodded.

“I'll keep that in mind,” he said, but he didn't mention it for the rest of the drive to her house.

She'd have forgotten about it altogether if he hadn't picked her up with one swoop and thrown her over his shoulder as soon as they'd made it inside her house and she'd locked the door.

She beat on his back. “Put me down. What are you doing?”

“I'm going to show you just how much of a caveman I am.” To prove his point, he gave her ass a hard slap. “And you're going to take it.”

“U
h-oh.” She didn't sound too concerned, but her hands stilled.

“
Uh-oh
is right.” Luke smiled to himself as he carried her down the hall into her bedroom. “I thought you were a Top. Where are all your toys?”

“I'll never tell.”

He put her in the middle of the bed so she was on her back and he hovered over her, his arms on either side of her body. “I can call and have Fritz come over.”

“Hall closet. Top shelf.”

“That's more like it.” He brushed her cheek with his lips. “I'll be right back. When I make it back to the room, I want you naked.”

He climbed off the bed and found her box of toys in the closet, just like she'd said. He looked over her collection with
an appreciative eye, and then selected a few items to take back to the bedroom.

She was naked, like he'd asked, and sat on the edge of the bed. “What did you find?” She craned her head in an attempt to see what he carried.

“Meagan, Meagan, Meagan. We've been over this numerous times.” He gave a sigh as though he was exasperated. “Who's the Top right now?”

She frowned. “You are.”

“Right. So who gets to ask the questions?”

“You do, O High and Mighty One.”

“You have your sass back, I see.”

“Never really lost it, Sir.”

“I do like you sassy and I like you addressing me with respect, but I think I heard a bit of sarcasm in your reply.”

“No, Sir.” She shook her head.

“No?”

“You didn't hear a bit of sarcasm—you heard a lot of it. And if you think for one minute I'm going to sit here and let you use
my
toys on me, you're delusional.” She finished by crossing her arms and nodding her head.

“Is that so?” He liked it when she played the brat; it made everything so much fun. “Does that mean you're going to try to stop me?”

She tilted her head in thought.

“I'll take that as a
no
.” Then, before she could argue, he pinched one of her nipples and slid on a clamp he'd taken from her closet.

“Fuck! That hurt!” She tried to bat his hand away, but he was already working on her other breast.

“Then I suggest you prepare for this one,” he said as he placed the second one on.

She sucked in her breath. “Damn it.”

“Now, be nice and I won't go back and get the clit clamp.”

Apparently, that was the only warning she needed because she didn't say anything further; she simply nodded. She hated the clit clamp. That was good to know.

“Am I delusional now?” he asked.

“No, Sir.”

“Take my cock out.” He crossed his arms and waited for her to obey.

He didn't have to wait long. She quickly undid his pants and fished his cock out of his shorts.

“Does that feel delusional to you?” he asked.

“No, Sir.”

“Suck it.”

She dropped her head and took him in her mouth. He watched as he disappeared past her lips and then closed his eyes as the pleasure overtook him. The only downside to this position was he couldn't play with the clamps. Next time, he'd have to remember to get a chain.

He smiled, knowing that there would be a next time.

“Know what I'm going to do tonight?” he asked, while he worked her mouth with slow and purposeful strokes.

She mumbled something around him.

“Right, you can't talk with your mouth full. That would be bad manners and bad manners will get you punished. You just keep sucking that cock while I tell you my plans.”

He dropped his hand to rest on her head and fisted her hair. She bobbed up and down on his shaft a few times before he held her still.

“Enough. Take me all the way in. I want to feel the back of your throat.”

She took a deep breath, and then he held her head steady while pushing his way fully into her.

“Yes. Damn. That's good.” He thrust a few times, finally pulling back to allow her some air. “And this is just the beginning.” He entered her mouth again. “Tonight you're going to offer every part of your body for my use and I'm going to thoroughly fuck each one of your holes.”

She moaned in pleasure and redoubled her efforts on his cock. It made him even harder knowing his plans turned her on.

“Right now, I'm using that sassy mouth of yours and, in a few minutes, I'll fill that wet pussy. It is wet, isn't it?”

She nodded around his cock.

“Then, when I'm so hard I can't think straight and I can't last another second, I'm going take your ass and ride you to completion.” He bit back a moan as her lips tightened around him. “And only then are you allowed to come. Only then, when I'm buried deep inside your ass, will I let you come.”

He had to pull out of her mouth or else he'd lose it right then and there. She fell back to rest on her knees while he finished undressing. Once he was naked, he motioned for her to get on her back and he pressed his body down on hers, holding himself up slightly so his full weight wasn't on her, but enough that she could feel him.

He bent his head and gave her a kiss, noticing when he pulled back that there were tears in her eyes. “Meagan?” Had he hurt her? Or been too rough? “Are you okay?”

She gave him a smile that melted his heart. “Perfect, Sir.”

He brushed a tear away with his thumb. “Why are you crying?”

“I've spent my entire life feeling like something was missing and that I didn't belong. And tonight I realized I've been looking
in all the wrong places.” She ran a hand up to cup his face. “It's been right here all along. I found it in you.”

“Meagan,” he whispered. “You'll never feel lost again. Not while there's breath in my body.” And then he kissed her with enough passion to take hers
away.

Six months later

L
uke's New Jersey club was packed. It wasn't surprising that I didn't know most of the people in attendance. What was shocking was the number of vanilla people who crowded into the kink club for the party marking the release of Luke's book. Of course, it was Meagan's, too, but she had requested her identity not be revealed. Even if you knew her, you would never know she was the model unless she told you.

Just like you'd never know she now considered herself primarily a submissive.

Tonight she looked stunning in a glamorous pale pink gown, standing beside her Dom as he signed copies of
The Muse
. Every so often, Luke would look her way and the two of them would share a smile that increased the temperature of the room by several degrees.

“I'd tell him to get a room, but since he owns the place . . .”
Nathaniel said, coming up beside me and slipping his arm around my waist.

“Right?” I leaned into him. “She looks beautiful, doesn't she?”

“If you go for the tall blond type.”

I laughed. “Smart man.”

“I've been married long enough to know the proper answer to
that
question.”

“She's blissfully happy,” I said, thinking back to how she'd changed in the last few months. Being with Luke grounded her. She was more mellow and not as high-strung. She was also no longer my boss, as a result of a promotion she took. Though I hated not reporting to her anymore, I knew she was thrilled with her new job as a morning news anchor.

“I'm happy for her,” Nathaniel said, and I knew he was telling the truth. “Who's that beside her?”

To her right was a man I'd never met, though I'd heard a lot about him. “That's her brother.”

Nathaniel lifted an eyebrow. It wasn't a secret Jake had recently been released from rehab. I'd been wary when Meagan told me he was coming, but she assured me he'd done a one-eighty in therapy.

“He's applying for a job at Luke's downtown gallery.” Meagan had told me hours ago when she pointed him out to me shortly after he arrived.

“Not here?” Nathaniel asked.

“I doubt Meagan wants her brother to see her here with Luke, when they aren't as . . .
put together
.”

“Put together?” he whispered in my ear. “As opposed to when he has her naked and tied up for being a mouthy brat and is working on her ass with a flogger or two?”

“Yes,” I choked out. “That exactly.”

In fact, we had been at the club the night before and he'd been doing just that.

“I see your point.” He looked around the club. “Have you seen Lynne?”

Lynne had approached us a few weeks ago, asking for a recommendation for joining our BDSM group. We had agreed, with a provision that she attend tonight's party first to meet Luke and some of the other members. We explained she needed to meet everyone first in an environment that wasn't a play party.

I stood up on my tiptoes. “She was over at the bar the last time I saw her. I don't know if she's still there or not.”

“She is.” Nathaniel had a better view of the bar, being so much taller than me.

“Is she alone?”

“Looks that way.”

I sighed. “I'd really hoped she'd meet some people. I worry about her. Especially since she spends so much time with Henry and Elizabeth. I mean, it's not like she has a happening social life.”

“I hope we haven't done her a disservice by hiring her.” Nathaniel spoke the fear I'd been hesitant to voice.

“Me, too.” But she was so good with the kids. I didn't want to lose her. And she'd already made plans to attend some classes online in order to work toward her teaching degree. “Maybe we should make more of an effort to get her out.”

“As long as we keep in mind she's a grown woman, capable of taking care of herself and making her own decisions.”

I rolled my eyes at his warning. “I have no intention of being her mom.”

“It's not your motherly instincts I'm worried about.” He must have seen someone he recognized because he nodded at them.

“It's not?”

“Hello, Nathaniel. Abby.”

I turned to find myself looking at Simon, Lynne's ex as well as her one and only attempt at a D/s relationship.

“Hello, Master Simon,” I said, my mind spinning with possibilities.

“No, definitely not your motherly instincts.” Beside me, Nathaniel sighed. “It's your matchmaking ones that have me worried.”

Turn the page for a first look at

Master Professor,

the first book in Lessons from the Rack,

a new series by
New York Times

bestselling author Tara Sue Me

coming out in April 2017 from
Berkley.

I
n the history of dumb and stupid ideas, Andie Lincoln couldn't shake the feeling that her current endeavor was the dumbest and stupidest idea of them all. She stood beside the large glass window in her Oregon hotel and wondered when exactly it was that she'd lost her mind.

She shouldn't even be in Oregon. She should be spending her summer working as an intern chef in a Seattle restaurant like she'd told her parents she was. It still bothered her that she'd lied to them. But seriously, what was the alternative? Tell them she was entering an exclusive BDSM school because she'd begged Terrance to find a way to get her in?

Hell, half the time, she didn't believe it herself.

And they would never believe that it was her idea. Oh no, they'd think he had somehow brainwashed her into going. They would never understand that she wanted this. Wanted to be trained in the BDSM world as a submissive.

Her phone rang, pulling her away from the window and thoughts of her parents. She smiled when she saw the display.

“Hey, Terrance,” she said.

“How's my girl?” he asked.

The noise in the background confirmed he was still on the movie set. He must have had a break and used it to call her.

“I can't believe I'm here on the West Coast—finally, I might add—and you're on location in Pittsburgh.”

He laughed. The softly seductive sound that never failed to make moviegoers swoon. She pictured him raking his fingers through his blond hair, and her heart sped up.

“I swear, if it wouldn't upset the production schedule and put the entire thing behind, I'd be with you right now.” His voice was deep and determined, and she had no doubt he was speaking the truth.

“I understand,” she said, because she did. “Besides, it's not like I'm going to be here long anyway. Tomorrow morning I head over to the academy.”

“And how awful is it I'm not there for you?” He sighed. “Damn it, Andie. It's not right.”

She loved it when the protective side of him came out. The side she knew would always put her first. It was a big part of the reason she asked to be trained for him.

They had been friends forever. Even Terrance leaving and becoming a household name hadn't dampened their friendship. And as time went on, the friendship had grown into something more. He said he loved how she wanted him for him and not who he was. And she loved him because he was kind and patient and made her laugh.

Then
that
night had happened. The night they both realized there was more between them than friendship, and he'd sat her
down and told her he had things to tell her. Things he must tell her before they went any further.

He'd confessed he was a Dominant and wasn't going to give that part of himself up. She'd heard of the term, but really had no idea what it meant, so later, when she was alone, she did her own research and . . . Holy hell. Her vibrator had had one hell of a workout.

“You can't help it,” she assured him. “I know you'd be here if you could, and I completely understand why you aren't.”

“It still doesn't sit well with me.”

“In that case,” she teased. “I'll allow you to make it up to me the next time you see me.”

“That I'll do.” He laughed. “Call me tomorrow when you get settled.”

“I will.”

“How are you feeling? Are you nervous?”

That was another thing—ever since he'd brought up being a Dom, he was always asking about how she felt and what she was thinking. It took some getting used to. At first she thought he was asking just to be nice or because that was what he was supposed to do. Eventually, though, she realized he really cared.

She let out a deep breath. “I've moved beyond nervous, but I'm not quite at the scared-shitless stage. It's just hard to wrap my head around the next few months. I mean, I'm not a prude, but I am a virgin. And when I think about what enrolling at the academy will mean . . .”

Another one of those
What the fuck am I doing?
thoughts hit her, but she shook it off. When she took the time to really think about enrolling in the academy, she was more excited than anything. Thoughts of submitting to Terrance fueled her fantasies. She dreamed of the day she could give her whole self to him.

“Are you having second thoughts?” he asked, concern in his voice. “You don't have—”

“I know. I want to.” How many times would she have to assure him? “I think it's completely normal to feel anxious, but I'm not having second thoughts.”

“I've known Lennox for years,” he said, speaking of the academy owner and headmaster. “He's a great guy, and I trust him and his staff completely. I have to, or else I'd never even think about you being there.”

She twisted the curtain covering the window. “I know. And it makes me feel safe and protected when you say that.”

“That's my job,” he said. “Even though we're apart, I want you safe and protected.”

There was a slight murmuring over the phone, and she knew before he spoke that break time was over.

“I have to get back to the set,” he confirmed. “I'll call you tonight before it gets too late.”

“Okay. I'm going to go for a walk and grab something light for dinner.” Maybe she'd call her parents, too. Assure them she was fine and everything was covered. That way maybe she could go a few days without calling again. She didn't want them to suspect anything.

They said their good-byes, and Andie slipped her phone into her purse, determined not to let her nerves get the best of her.

*   *   *

F
ulton Matthews knew he was going to have to tread carefully with his boss, Lennox McLure. After all, the man had just promoted him a month ago. At the time, Fulton had been thrilled with the new responsibilities, but he was starting to see they came with their own set of problems.

The door to Lennox's office opened, and his boss waved him inside. “Come have a seat, Master Matthews.”

Without waiting to see if he'd listen, Lennox walked over to his desk, sat down, and templed his fingers. Fulton crossed the room and took a seat in the leather chair across from his boss.

“I know why you're here.” Lennox nodded toward the papers Fulton brought in. “Those are the papers I gave you yesterday, aren't they? Andie Lincoln's application packet.”

“Yes.” And that was one of the questions he had. He was in charge of the new enrollees who would be arriving tomorrow, and one of his duties was to create a tailor-made curriculum. Why had Lennox waited until the last minute to give him the information?

“Go ahead,” Lennox said.

He was a smug bastard—Fulton gave him that. Of course, he had reason to be. He'd single-handedly made the academy into what it was today: an elite BDSM learning center, known and respected throughout the kink world. Lennox himself was just as respected, although Fulton had never seen him participate in a scene. He'd once asked another staff member why that was, and the person shook his head and told him to leave well enough alone.

“My first concern is why I was only given this yesterday,” Fulton said. “The other enrollees have had their curriculum set for months.”

“I have my reasons. And I know you'll have her curriculum ready by the time she arrives tomorrow.”

Not if I can help it.
But he kept that thought to himself.

“What else is bothering you?”

“To be perfectly honest, I'm wondering why she's here. She's not our typical student, and several red flags came to mind twice while I was reading through her file.”

“You've heard of Terrance Knight?”

Fulton frowned. “The actor?”

“Yes. Terrance and I go way back. Ms. Lincoln is to be trained to be his submissive.”

The situation was worse than Fulton had thought. He tried to think of a way to discreetly tell Lennox he had a potentially fucked-up mess on his hands, but he couldn't come up with one. Not one that wouldn't get him fired, anyway.

“It appears to be a really bad idea,” he decided on.

“Which part?”

“All of it.” He took a deep breath. If Lennox wanted reasons, he was going to give him reasons and damn the consequences. “Ms. Lincoln is a virgin with zero BDSM experience. And apparently she's only interested in submission because her hotshot Hollywood boyfriend is a Dominant.”

“Is that all?”

Was that all? Hell, he was serious.
“Isn't that enough?”

“No, unfortunately, it's not.” Lennox pushed back from his desk. “Ms. Lincoln arrives tomorrow. I want you to do her initial interview and assessment. And I'd like to see the curriculum you design for her by five o'clock today.”

And just like that, Fulton was being shown the door. Heading to his own office, he resisted the urge to crumple up the papers he still held in his hand.