Tempting the Domme Read online

  “From you.” His tone had gentled, but he’d hit on the main point, the main concern bothering her right now.

  She stared up at the ceiling. “Yes.”

  “We can’t control the future. Or really even control our submissives, as much as we might like to try,” Jared said, almost ruefully. “Although, with their consent we can sometimes alter some of their behaviors. All you can do is wait and see what happens. Unless you think you want to cut and run.”

  She’d already tried that, but Luke had proved pretty persistent. All this time, he’d waited her out. At the very least, he deserved for her to be patient and give him some time too.

  “No,” she said slowly. “I don’t think I want to do that.”

  “Oh good. I’ve been hoping for some entertainment at the club,” he teased.

  “Dick.”

  ******

  Marquis was quiet in the morning, which was why Olivia liked the early hour. To her surprise, she wasn’t completely alone though. She came in through the back rather than the front, thinking she would be, but Nick and his sous chef Avery were already there as well.

  “Good morning,” Avery said cheerfully, looking up from whatever she was chopping.

  “Morning,” Olivia said, giving her and Nick a wave. Whatever they were making, it smelled good, which boded well for the restaurant. Since Avery went right back to work and Nick had barely looked up, Olivia didn’t stop to chat.

  She headed upstairs to her office, smiling as she walked through Marquis’ main floor. It was all cleared out again since the submissive class wouldn’t return until Tuesday. Every time she walked through she got a little proprietary thrill, especially in the mornings when everything was quiet and no one else was there.

  When she stepped into her office, her footsteps slowed as she saw there was something waiting for her on her desk again. Two boxes. No flowers. Moving closer, she could see a raspberry chocolate bar placed next to them, and her lips immediately curved into a secretive smile.

  As she came close enough to see what was in the boxes, she had to laugh.

  One anal training set with gradually larger plugs, five in all, and a very large tube of lube.

  Well that was one way to make a statement.

  She was still giggling when her phone went off, and somehow she wasn’t at all surprised to see Luke’s name on her screen. Choking down her laughter, she hit the call accept and lifted the phone to her ear.

  “Hello?”

  “Do you like your present?” he asked, and she could hear the smile in his voice, the teasing. He sounded more himself, not as forced as he had been since the scene in her apartment.

  “That depends, who am I supposed to be using these on?” she parried, giving him a little of his own back.

  Luke just chuckled, and her body warmed to the sound. “Me.” He paused. “Not immediately, maybe, but yes, me.”

  “Are you sure?” she pressed a little harder, her amusement fading away because this was a serious conversation even if he’d initiated it in a lighthearted manner.

  “Yes. I wasn’t before, I’ll admit. Not all of this is easy for me.”

  “I don’t want to make you do something you’re not truly into, just for me,” she said, running her finger over the plugs. They were a nice set. The largest one was just a little larger than her favorite strap-on dildo. “That’s not my kink.”

  “It’s not mine either, Scarlet,” he drawled. Olivia felt her lips twist. She was never going to admit to how much she liked him calling her that. Just like she had a feeling he was never going to admit to liking being called ‘cupcake’. “Like I said, my main problem was enjoying it too much. It made me question some things about myself, brought up some odd feelings, but I’m going to work on it. I want this. I want you.”

  Olivia did like a man who knew what he wanted. “If it’s any help, liking taking it up the ass doesn’t make you gay. Although if you did want to test those waters, there are plenty of Doms at Stronghold who would love to assist.”

  All too true. She had a feeling Kincaid wasn’t entirely immune to Luke’s charms either. Patrick had let her know exactly how many of the gay and bi Doms were intrigued by Luke coming out as a submissive.

  “Definitely straight. In fact, I’m starting to feel like I’m really only interested in submitting to one very specific person.”

  She had to work hard to squelch the giddy little bubbles rising up in her chest. Dammit. She wasn’t a teenage school girl with a crush, no matter how Luke occasionally made her feel like one.

  “Well you’re going to continue working with Mistress Lisa during classes for at least another week,” she said firmly. Olivia still didn’t want to mix business with pleasure, and the class was business, although if pleasure worked out she’d be willing to revisit the issue…

  “I can live with that. Are you going to be at Stronghold tonight?”

  “Yes.” Oh Lordy. If he managed to make her feel any more like a giddy teenager she would not be able to hold together her intimidating Domme persona. The little bubbles in her chest continued to fizz and she had a stupid smile on her face which she couldn’t push down no matter how hard she tried. “See you there.”

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  Chapter 12

  As first ‘dates’ went, not that tonight had been an official date, it was pretty much a bust. Luke sighed as he watched Olivia head down the stairs to the Dungeon to take over as Dungeon Monitor for Will, who had just been called out because his girlfriend Gina had slipped on some ice. She’d called the club from the emergency room and Vicki, who was manning the front desk, had immediately gone running for Will. As far as she knew, Gina was mostly okay but she’d torn a ligament, needed crutches to walk, and driving was completely out of the question.

  Unfortunately for Luke, Olivia had been the first person who could step in as Dungeon Monitor that Will had spotted when he’d come upstairs in a panic to leave. Being who she was, of course she’d immediately agreed to take his shift. Although, there hadn’t been too many other options anyway. Although Andrew was at the club, he and Kate were downstairs in the Interrogation Room, Jared was on door duty, and Michael and Ellie hadn’t arrived yet. Patrick probably would have taken over, but he was overseeing a scene with a new couple who were in the lifestyle and had applied to the club after just moving to the area. He liked to ensure someone watched new members scene together if they claimed they didn’t need the newbie class, and tonight he was the one observing.

  They’d barely had twenty minutes to actually talk before Will had come upstairs.

  “Hey Luke! Are you here alone?”

  He almost jumped at the greeting. He’d been so wrapped up in his own thoughts and wistfully watching Olivia go to work that he hadn’t even noticed Domi and Rae coming up to the table where he was sitting. Domi’s curls were held back by a headband tonight, which seemed to make them appear even wilder in the back, as if any bit of constraint had them attempting to revolt. Her dark-rimmed eyes went with the black and red corset she was wearing and the lacy black skirt. Beside her, Rae looked like the picture of innocence even though she was also wearing all black too. Her black skirt was fluffy and short, showing off her long legs, and the corset she was wearing somehow looked softer and more feminine than Domi’s more aggressive look. Luke found it amusing how Domi, who tended to look like an ethereal fairy when she wasn’t wearing club gear, went for a more hard-edged look while Rae, who could appear a little fierce in her regular clothes, tended to soften herself for the club.

  “Ah, for the moment,” he said, answering Domi’s question. Despite her attire, she smiled sweetly at him as she hopped up onto the barstool next to him. Rae flashed a smile at him too, but she was looking around the club.

  “Mind if we join you for a bit?” she asked. “We were gonna go downstairs and watch what’s happening the Dungeon, but I wanted to get a drink first.”

  “Sure, come sit down and join me,” he
said teasingly, making her giggle. Having finished her look around the room, Rae took a seat as well.

  “I hope we’re not crashing your night,” she said, sliding onto the stool next to Domi’s. “Domi wanted a drink but we didn’t want to go into the Lounge and make anyone think we’re here to play.”

  Since the Lounge was the official-unofficial area for submissives looking to be picked up for a scene, and none of the class was supposed to be scening outside of the class yet even if they could visit the club, that made sense.

  Luke smiled. “I’d be here all alone if you hadn’t, so thanks for keeping me from looking pathetic.”

  Both of the girls laughed. A club sub named Traci came around to take their drink orders; Domi got a beer and Rae a Dirty Shirley Temple. They amused themselves talking about the class, the Baby Doms (although Luke didn’t tell them the guys were called that), and the people on the dance floor. About half an hour later they were joined by Kincaid and Zach, then Michael and Ellie finally showed up, followed by Leigh and Sharon. Luke amused himself watching all the group dynamics flowing.

  Kincaid was eyeing Sharon, but there was some weird tension going on between him and Zach as well. Domi kept looking at Kincaid, but it was hard to tell if there was any real interest there on her part—she was a hard read. Sharon, who wasn’t very submissive, ignored both Kincaid and Zach for the most part, keeping her attention on Leigh while the other woman waited for Jared to finish his door shift. Rae, for all she paid attention to Domi, was constantly distracted as she kept looking around the room, almost like she was expecting—or hoping—to see someone. Luke sympathized, since his eyes kept going to the stairwell of the Dungeon hoping to see Olivia return. He wasn’t sure who Rae might be looking for.

  Unsurprisingly, Michael and Ellie were wrapped up in each other and not really paying attention to anyone else.

  When Patrick came upstairs, done observing the new couples’ scene, and asked Michael and Luke if they wanted to come to his office to talk about Marquis’ upcoming opening, he figured why not. He hadn’t seen head or tail of Olivia since she’d gone downstairs to monitor; might as well do something useful.

  ******

  Olivia poked her head into Patrick’s office before leaving, having been informed by Sharon that Luke had gone in there with Michael and Ellie. After being reassured they weren’t talking about anything she needed to be updated on, she gave Luke an apologetic smile before leaving. When he started to make a move to follow her, she shook her head at him.

  She really just wanted some down time. Some her time. She’d come to Stronghold ready to… well, maybe not play but ready to flirt and enjoy her evening. Instead she’d ended up Dungeon Monitoring, which wasn’t a bad evening but it’s not where her head had been at. Every scene she’d watched had just made her think of all the dirty things she wanted to be doing to and with Luke. She’d started planning out what they might do.

  Now she was all revved up and she didn’t want to just take him home with her like he was her own personal masturbation toy. Okay, that was a lie, she definitely wanted to do that, but they weren’t there yet.

  Which meant she needed to go home alone, and it would be a lot easier for her waning willpower if Luke didn’t walk her out to her car, because she would be very tempted to jump him in the parking lot.

  When she finally walked outside, the frigid blast of air which slammed into her body convinced her she probably hadn’t needed to worry about molesting him in the parking lot. It was too damn cold. Although she could have used him for body heat… Yeah, and this was why she’d come out alone.

  As she walked to her car, she heard footsteps coming up quickly behind her and immediately spun around, going into a defensive fighting stance, her heart pounding…

  Only to realize the footsteps had sounded closer than they actually were. Someone was hurrying across the parking lot, too bundled for her to recognize them, headed for the warmth of the club. She might have tried to convince herself she wasn’t worried about whoever had keyed her car, but obviously Luke hadn’t been the only thing she’d been swimming in denial about.

  Sighing, she quickly got in her car and started it, pulling out of the parking lot before it had fully warmed up. If she was going to be truthful with herself, she didn’t feel completely comfortable just sitting there in her car on her own. Even though Patrick had added new cameras and now constantly kept an eye on the lot—and probably would for a while—she was still too antsy to just sit there waiting.

  Twenty minutes later she was back at her apartment building and looking forward to maybe taking a bath and breaking out her waterproof vibrator.

  Maybe her sense that something was off in the parking lot had been some kind of psychic warning, because the chill that ran up her spine when she saw her apartment door felt very similar to how she’d felt back at Stronghold. Red paint made angry slashes out of words across her door, standing out stark against the brown paint behind it.

  I’M COMING FOR YOU CUNT!

  Fucking great.

  The anger welling up inside of her helped drown out some of the immediate fear as she spun around in a circle, looking for a possible culprit and already knowing there was no one else there. When had this been done? Was the person still here?

  Was it Roland?

  How did he know where she lived?

  The hair on her arms and the back of her neck were standing straight up, her heart beating fast the way it did when she was sparring, only with more anxiety. Fucking dammit.

  Moving forward, she tested the door… still locked. So that was something at least. Being that close to the paint creeped her out though. She could actually see some of it running a little; clumps slowly moving downward due to gravity. Whoever had done this, they hadn’t done it that long ago.

  Spinning around so her back was against the wall beside the door, Olivia’s hands shook as she pulled her phone out of her purse. She sure as hell wasn’t going inside by herself, even if the door was locked. For all she knew, her harasser had managed to get inside and then lock the door behind him—or her—and was inside waiting.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck. She felt like she was starting to lose it a little. She couldn’t even tell if that was really a legitimate concern or if she was just being paranoid and freaking out.

  “Hello?” Kincaid’s deep voice drew her back to reality, anchoring her a little.

  “I…” To her horror, her throat was choked up and she realized her eyes were burning slightly with the need to cry. Not because she was scared exactly, although a little bit that, but because she was so angry. This was way more upsetting than her car being keyed in a public lot, a larger violation, and she felt fucking helpless because she didn’t even know who was doing this.

  “Olivia?” She could hear the rising concern in Kincaid’s voice.

  Clearing her throat, she pushed back her angry, upset tears, forcing herself to a calm she didn’t actually feel. “Hi Kincaid. I need you to come to my apartment. Whoever keyed my car knows where I live and left me a message on my door.”

  ******

  The sparkle was gone from her gray eyes.

  That was the first thing Luke thought when he saw her standing outside of her apartment, talking to Kincaid while a uniformed cop talked with an older man Luke assumed was her neighbor. The person inspecting the paint on her door must be some kind of forensics, because she was scraping some onto a slide, presumably for evidence. Kincaid had called Patrick on his way over to Olivia’s while Luke and the others had still been in Patrick’s office, which of course meant they all immediately left Stronghold to come over. Luke had no doubt Lexie had probably been busy texting everyone else on the way.

  The noise the five of them made getting off the elevator had everyone in the hallway turning to see who they were. Olivia groaned at the sight of them, her expression drawn and tight with stress.

  “Oh good grief, what do you people think you are, the Scooby-Doo Gang?” she asked, snapping the words ou
t.

  Neither Patrick nor Michael seemed upset at her antagonistic tone though. Probably because they could see the same things Luke could—her eyes were flat, her skin pale, and she was holding one arm across the front of her body so she could grip the opposite elbow. A defensive, protective stance. Not the usual open, wide spread stance she usually stood in.

  “If I say yes, can I have a Scooby-snack?” Luke asked, jumping in quickly to make sure he was the first person to speak. Hoping to lighten her upset and unsure of how any of the others would respond.

  She didn’t smile, but the flatness of her eyes warmed a little and he thought she might have almost smiled. “You are not nearly as cute as you think you are, cupcake.”

  He scowled. “I don’t think I’m cute at all, Scarlet.”

  “The two of you are too cute for words,” Lexie said, moving past him and heading straight for Olivia with arms outstretched. For a moment, he thought Olivia wouldn’t accept the hug, but she opened her arms as Lexie reached her and pulled the younger, smaller woman into her embrace. It took Luke a moment to realize Lexie needed the hug maybe even more than Olivia did, and—as always—Olivia made sure everyone else got what they needed.

  Which was why he was going to focus on what she needed tonight.

  “Is there any reason we’re still out in the hall?” he asked, coming forward to stand next to and slightly behind Olivia. She was still cuddling Lexie, who was practically clinging to her. Patrick placed his hand on the back of Lexie’s neck, his dark eyes looking over Olivia like he was trying to see inside of her.

  “I just wanted to know if my neighbors knew anything,” she said, looking over to where the uniformed officer had just finished up his interview.

  Overhearing her comment, the man shook his head. Looking to be in his mid-twenties, with sandy-blonde hair, his eyes flickered over all three women now standing there, making both Patrick and Michael move a little closer to their respective girlfriends. Making Luke wonder if he had the right to do the same. He shifted his weight a little bit closer to Olivia.