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Defended Page 3


  “Stop messing with it,” Peggy hissed, letting go of Melody’s other hand to slap the one fiddling with the corset. “Your boobs look amazing.”

  Elliott glanced over his shoulder but Peggy shoed him on ahead to Melody’s relief. She did not want to talk about her boobs with Elliott.

  “I hope so, since everyone will be able to see them,” Melody muttered, but she dropped her hands to her sides as Peggy glared at her. Her bestie had no problem prancing around in her corset and short leather skirt. If only she was more like Peggy, slimmer and more confident, she'd feel sexy instead of silly. Or maybe if she had more confidence she would have insisted on wearing clothes she actually liked and felt comfortable in, instead of letting Peggy dress her like a doll. But it was too late to bemoan all of that now.

  At least she'd let Melody wear a slightly longer skirt, rather than a mini-skirt like the one showing off Peggy's legs.

  “I told you, we had to cover your legs, so we needed to show off your boobs,” Peggy whispered. Oh right. It wasn’t that Peggy had let her wear a longer skirt, she’d insisted on it. Because of Melody’s chubby thighs. Melody smoothed her hands over the skirt. Somehow her thighs being covered made her feel almost as uncomfortable as her boobs being out. Peggy had no patience for her hesitation though. “Come on.”

  Elliott was waiting for them, talking to a Hispanic guard at the entrance to the back hall of the shop.

  The scar down the side of the guard’s face made him look pretty threatening, but he gave her a little wink, his lips curving up in a smile that softened his expression. Melody gave him a little smile back before scrambling after the two.

  Ugh. She totally felt like a third wheel.

  And the sparse, not-very-well-lit hallway was not making her feel any better either. Peggy was hanging off of Elliott's arm, taking all of his attention, although he did glance back to make sure Melody was behind them a couple times. She gave him a little finger wave.

  Yup, still here.

  When they finally reached a door that led to a reception area, Melody couldn't help but stare at the the ceiling. The combination of black lights and recessed lamps bathed the room in a purple glow that bounced off the wall of small lockers.

  "Melody." Elliott's amused tones interrupted her perusal of the ceiling, and she blushed as she brought her attention back to him. He and Peggy were standing in front of a desk where a security guard was seated, and all three of them were looking at her. "Come over here, sweetheart, you need to sign some forms."

  "Right, sorry," she said, feeling her cheeks blush even brighter. Who got distracted by pretty lights?

  Me, that's who.

  Moving over to them, she saw a woman behind a window to the right of the security guard's desk, also watching with amusement. She'd been hidden by Elliott at first. Startled, Melody nearly tripped, making Elliott reach out to catch her.

  "Careful, sweetie," he admonished, although his smile was kind. "If you have trouble walking in those heels, take them off and go barefoot, okay?” Peggy rolled her eyes at the clumsiness and Melody gave her a little shrug of apology for taking her boyfriend's attention before looking at the sheets Elliott handed her.

  Holy mother of all non-disclosure agreements…

  "Read and initial each page and then sign on the last one," the woman behind the window said, her instructions audible through the small opening at the bottom of the glass.

  "Right," Melody murmured, acutely aware of everyone's eyes on her. She read it as quickly as possible. Nothing in it looked surprising considering all of the secrecy, and she initialed and signed with the pen Elliott passed to her. As she put the last flourish on her signature, she could feel her heart hammering in her chest.

  Anxiety? Excitement? A too-tight corset?

  An overwhelming combination of all three?

  Probably that last one, if she were being completely truthful with herself. "Have a good night," the security guard said as she passed over her papers, giving her a broad grin. Somehow his welcoming expression made her feel a little less nervous. Too bad he was behind the desk and not inside the club.

  "She's just going to be watching," Peggy said, leaning into Elliott again and giving his arm a squeeze as she arched her back to give them all the best view of her cleavage. "But we're definitely going to have a good night."

  "I'm sure Melody is too," Elliott said, turning his head to smile reassuringly at her and making Peggy frown, her eyes darting back and forth between Melody and her boyfriend. "Watching can be a lot of fun at Black Light."

  "Well, of course," Peggy said, her slightly irritated tone conveying that she didn’t like being rebuked.

  "Probably not quite as much fun as doing," Melody said, smiling at Peggy. Her best friend beamed back at her, obviously happy that Melody was smoothing things over for her. Melody was used to Peggy's little comments; they could be thoughtless, but she didn't mean them the way they sometimes sounded. She knew better than to take them personally. Elliott would learn too if he and Peggy stayed together for any length of time. "But I'm still looking forward to it."

  A locker popped open for them, breaking the tension to Melody’s relief. Although letting her phone out of her grip felt strange to Melody. She hadn't realized how connected she was to that little device until now. It was a safety net, but now it was gone. Elliott had reassured her about all the safety measures in the club though. She didn't need the phone if she was in trouble. All she had to do was yell the club safe word, 'red'.

  “Good.” Elliott flashed her a friendly grin. “Don’t forget, you’re under my protection while you’re in here, so no one should bother you. Unless you want them to.” He winked at her. “Let’s go in, ladies.”

  Arm wrapped around Peggy's waist, Elliott ushered her into the club, checking over his shoulder again to make sure Melody was right behind them. He slowed once they entered, so that she could come up beside them.

  Wow.

  That was her first thought. Leather laced with vanilla... that's what the club smelled like. And sex. Could a place smell like sex? Or maybe it was just her imagination supplying that, because my goodness there was a ton of sexy in the air. Melody felt her jaw dropping slightly as her eyes attempted to look everywhere all at the same time.

  Spanking benches, stocks, leather floggers falling through the air in a cascade of black tails striking pinkened flesh. Lots of flesh. Oh so much flesh... She suddenly felt overdressed instead of underdressed.

  "Steady there, sweetheart," Elliott said, chuckling, cupping her elbow to help keep Melody on her feet as she tried to turn too fast and nearly toppled over again. Peggy laughed at Melody's reaction.

  "Told you it was incredible," she teased, snuggling up to Elliott's other side. "Aren't you glad I made you come out tonight?"

  "Yes," Melody murmured, although it felt like her eyes were about to pop out of her head. This was... it was so much more than she'd ever imagined. So much rawer, so much more shocking, and so much hotter.

  "Come on, let's go over to the bar and get you a drink, then we'll give you the tour," Elliott said. It wasn't quite a command, but it was more than a suggestion.

  Thankfully, he kept his hand on her elbow, helping move her through the club, while his other arm was around Peggy. Melody needed that steadying hand to keep her from veering off course as her head swiveled around, still trying to see everything and everyone they passed on their way to the bar. She felt flushed, all the way through her body.

  Was a full body blush a thing?

  Her nipples itched inside of the corset, desperate to be rubbed, and she could feel how slick her pussy had become with every step she took as her wet lips rubbed against each other. Everywhere she looked was sin and seduction and sadistic sexual fantasies being meted out.

  "What do you want to drink?" Elliott asked her kindly when they reached the bar area.

  Melody let out a long breath. "Um, dirty Shirley Temple, please? Uh, Sir?"

  His blue eyes sparkled with amus
ement, but he didn't chastise her for the belated honorific that she tacked on to the end of her request, even though he'd told her before entering that she needed to call him either Sir or Master Elliott.

  She looked up at the alcohol bottles displayed above the bar while Elliott and Peggy turned away to order their drinks, giving herself something to focus on other than all of the... well, everything. While she could still hear moans and the smacking of leather and flesh against flesh, at least she had something else to look at while she tried to wrestle her wayward hormones under control.

  And that was when it happened.

  "Ms. Williams? Is that you?"

  Her insides clenched because she could not, could not, be hearing that voice here.

  The world seemed to slow as she pivoted, the air thicker than molasses, dragging her movements, drawing out the awful moment. She wasn't imagining things... it was him. Standing beside a tall, handsome man in a suit and a petite brunette wearing a school girl outfit, looking like he'd stepped right out of her fantasies in a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, it was her sexy lawyer, Mr. Park.

  Hide! Her brain shrieked. Except there was nowhere to hide.

  So she just reacted and, of course, made an even bigger fool of herself.

  Ms. Williams moved so quickly that Kawan jerked forward, trying to catch her, before he realized she'd dropped on purpose. He stared down at the figure now curled up in front of him, crouched into a ball with her arms wrapped over her head. It reminded him of when his nephews were still young enough to think that if they couldn't see him, then he couldn't see them.

  The woman was definitely his former client, Melody Williams, although he'd barely been able to believe it when he first spotted her being led through Black Light. With her curves now fully on display in the tight-fitting corset and skirt combination she was wearing, she definitely didn't look like the buttoned-up twenty-something she'd appeared to be in the courtroom.

  Not that he could see them at the moment.

  The woman and man she'd walked in with turned to stare down at her, and the redhead burst out laughing when she saw Ms. Williams' position. "Mel, what are you doing? You look like an idiot."

  Kawan shot her a dirty look as the little ball that was Melody Williams shook, because that was not going to help the situation. Thankfully, the Dom she was with immediately took her in hand, literally wrapping his hand around the back of the redhead's neck and whispering in her ear. From the stern look on his face and the way her mirth immediately faded, he was handling her.

  Which left Kawan to handle Ms. Williams.

  He shot an apologetic glance at Alexander and Sienna. They were both still watching curiously, but didn't move to intervene.

  Crouching down, Kawan settled with his elbows on his knees, close enough to the mortified young woman that he could speak without anyone else being able to hear him. She flinched slightly when he cleared his throat.

  "Ms. Williams?" He kept his tone gentle. "May I give you a hand up?"

  He was pretty sure he heard her moan. "Could you just pretend you haven't seen me at all?" she asked in a small voice.

  Despite himself, Kawan chuckled, hoping she realized that he wasn't laughing at her. At least, not in a mean way. He actually found her reaction completely adorable. She turned her head slightly, peeking at him through her arms. Even with her face partially obscured, he could see that her cheeks were bright red.

  “Now why would I want to do that?” he asked, instinctively using his Daddy Dom tone, as if he were addressing a baby girl who was playing with him. It wasn’t until after the words were out of his mouth that he realized what he’d done.

  Fortunately, she didn’t seem to take issue with his manner.

  “Because you want to be nice to me?”

  He wondered if she realized that she was very much using a ‘little girl’ voice to answer. All week he’d been looking forward to coming to Black Light and hopefully finding a submissive to play with. Now, right in front of him, was the woman he’d been pushing out of his mind ever since he’d met her… except it seemed he didn’t need to anymore. She was here and, he assumed by the way she was behaving, submissive.

  Possibly even a baby girl?

  Slow down. Stop getting ahead of yourself.

  “I think I have a different idea of what being nice to you would entail,” he said, holding out his hand where she’d be able to see it as she peered at him. “Be brave, Melody, and stand up with me.”

  She stared at him for a long enough moment that he wondered if perhaps he’d read her wrong or maybe she just wasn’t attracted to him the way he was to her, but then she reached out and put her hand in his. Her fingers trembled, but her gaze never wavered.

  “Good girl,” he said. This time, he was sure her blush wasn’t from embarrassment at all.

  Chapter 4

  The kindness and understanding in Mr. Park’s dark eyes were the only things that gave Melody the courage to actually straighten up. She felt like a total idiot. She knew she'd looked like one. Even though Peggy had been the only one to laugh out loud, she knew everyone who had seen her childish reaction was probably laughing internally at her.

  "Melody, these are my friends, Master Alexander and Sienna," Mr. Park said, gesturing with his hand, although he didn't take his gaze from hers. Melody was the one to reluctantly look away, because it would be rude not to greet his friends.

  "Hello," she said shyly, feeling awkward even though they were both smiling at her—neither of them seemed like mean smiles either. If they thought she'd looked like a twit, they were doing a good job of pretending otherwise. "Um, this is Peggy and El… uh, Master Elliott. This is Mr. Park."

  "Kawan, please," he said, giving her hand a squeeze.

  "Kawan," she repeated softly, emphasizing the second syllable the same way he did as the others exchanged greetings around them. And he was still holding her hand, which was feeling increasingly warmer.

  Was it possible for a hand to be an erogenous zone? Because she was feeling pretty warm and tingly all over even though that was literally the only place he was touching her.

  "Are you a member here?" he asked, cocking his head to the side as he looked down at her. "Or a guest?"

  "Guest," she said, trying not to squirm. There was something about the piercing look he was giving her that made her feel extremely vulnerable for some reason. Like he could see all the secret thoughts inside of her head—including the vivid ones she'd had about him while she'd masturbated at night. "Um, Peggy wanted to take me out to celebrate you getting me out of jail... I mean, not that I was in jail yet, but you getting me out of having to go... anyway, I've read some books about this stuff but that's it, so she thought I'd like coming here and Elliott's a member so... yeah." She finished lamely, realizing that she was babbling.

  She pressed her lips together to keep more words from spilling out of her mouth, something that was all too likely to happen since he was just standing there not saying anything. But something about the way he was looking at her made her feel like he thought she was cute, not crazy, so that was a win. Still, better to cut it off now, in case she crossed the line.

  "You're not here to play with Master Elliott then?" he asked, glancing at the other man.

  Melody nearly sagged with relief as he finally looked away from her. Holy cannoli being under his scrutiny was intense—way more so here at Black Light than it had been in the courtroom!

  "No," she said.

  "She's just here to watch," Peggy said, right over top of her.

  Startled, Melody turned to look at her friend, who was eyeing Kawan—should she call him Master Kawan?—with suspicion and dislike. She could be a little overprotective sometimes. Normally Melody just brushed it off, but right now she felt a well of irritation stirring in her chest.

  Next to her, Elliott shook his head, his hand clamping down on Peggy's shoulder as he looked at Melody. "Would you like to spend the evening with Master Kawan, Melody?
"

  Peggy opened her mouth, probably to answer for Melody as she sometimes did, but Elliott's fingers tightened and he shot her a stern look. The redhead's mouth snapped shut, but she didn't look happy about it. Elliott turned his attention back to Melody, his blue eyes softening when he looked at her nervous expression.

  "Yes," she whispered, acutely aware of Kawan's fingers, which were still wrapped around hers. Clearing her throat, she deliberately didn't look at Peggy for fear that she'd lose her nerve in the face of her friend's disapproval, as she raised her voice a little and answered Elliott. "Yes, I'd like that. If, if that's what he wants."

  She couldn't think why else he might have asked if she was there to play with Elliott or why he was still holding her hand, but she didn't want to assume either. Peeking a glance at him, she tried to look hopeful, not desperate. That was a thing, right?

  "Yes, I do," Kawan answered firmly, enjoying the happy—and slightly relieved—smile that bloomed across Melody's face. Hadn't been sure of him, had she? While part of him liked that she didn't make assumptions, if her reasoning behind that assumption was a lack of confidence on her part, then they were going to work on that.

  Well, assuming that things went well tonight and that they wanted to see each other again.

  He wasn't sure whether the chemistry between them would lead to anything, but regardless, he was happy to oversee her first time in the club. So far he hadn't met anyone else he wanted to play with tonight, and even though she was no longer a client, he still felt some degree of responsibility toward her for some reason.

  And a lot of attraction.

  The outfit she was wearing fit right into Black Light, although he’d loved to see her dressed as a baby girl. The dark red corset pushed her breasts up into enticing mounds with deep cleavage between them, the almost knee-length flirty black skirt would be easy to flip up over her bottom, and the high ponytail she had gathered her brown hair in both exposed her neck and gave a man something to grip if he were so inclined. The dark eye makeup and red lipstick completed her vixenish look