Diablo Blanco Club, Unfair Advantage Read online

  She stilled, arousal warring with unease in her wide brown eyes. The arousal won.

  “I know you’ve listened to the rumors.” He waited until she nodded. “What have you heard?”

  “Th-that you like to tie up your partners and use…things on them.”

  “Toys.” Again, she nodded. He waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, he prompted, “Was that all?”

  She shook her head. “No. I…someone said you like to include another man sometimes. That you like to watch him have sex.”

  Holding her gaze, he trailed the fingers of his left hand down her arm. Unlike her reaction in the restaurant the evening before, she didn’t pull away or protest his touch. He could feel her body tremble beneath the stroke of his hand. “I must admit, I enjoy the feel of a woman’s soft curves sandwiched between me and Richard.” His smile grew at the feel of her shivering. “Are you really concerned that I might miss the life?”

  “If we marry—”

  “If?” He shook his head. “You’ve already said you’d marry me, Lawrence. There’s no going back on that.”

  “Yes, I’m concerned you might become frustrated or dissatisfied with the restrictions our marriage would put on you,” Mattie admitted.

  “And if I tell you I won’t?”

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

  Her face as well as her voice was devoid of emotion, the very nature of her response reminding him why he’d spent so many years building her trust in him. “How do you think we can resolve this, then?”

  Bryce wanted to hear her decision. Despite the maneuvering he’d done to get her to agree to marry him, there were no guarantees she would be comfortable taking on the role of a submissive. All his training and every instinct he had identified her as a true sexual submissive. Now it was just getting her to recognize that part of her nature.

  “I need to know.” Her fingers curled into her palms.

  “Know what?” She had to be the one to ask. The one to make the first overture. No matter how he ached to begin her training, Bryce knew she had to be the one to seek the pleasure her submission to him could give.

  She felt like a specimen under a microscope, he watched her so closely. With no expression on his face and despite the years of knowing practically his every mood, Mattie couldn’t figure out what he was thinking. A part of her wanted to drop her gaze from his, to show deference she didn’t normally show. She fought the feeling and forged on with the suggestions Lyssa had made last night. “I need to know what is required of the role.”

  “You would arrive and leave work with me. On days either or both of us feel we don’t want to deal with the traffic out to Pirate’s Folly, we’ll stay upstairs in the penthouse.” He continued his list as he moved to step around her.

  When Mattie attempted to turn as well, his voice stopped her. “Don’t move, Lawrence.” The callused tips of his fingers skated along the skin of her back, teasing the tendrils of hair that had escaped the braid earlier.

  “But there’s more to being a sub than that.” Forcing herself to disobey him, she turned to face him. “In the books I’ve read, there are names used—” She cringed at the thought of the names and the memories they conjured. Memories she’d kept locked away and didn’t like revisiting.

  “Depending upon the school or philosophy the Dom has adopted, the use of names can be part of the play.” Bryce stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Humiliation and degradation isn’t something I can…” She shook her head.

  “Nor is it part of what I find arousing.” He stepped closer, his body nearly touching hers as he held her gaze. “Let me make this clear, Lawrence. I like to be in charge when it comes to sex. I don’t need to humiliate and degrade my partner. I find nothing arousing about tearing another down until there’s nothing left of the person she was.”

  The heat of his body warmed her from forehead to toes. The rasp of denim and cotton against silk could barely be heard over the stuttering breaths she drew in. His gaze held hers, drawing her into the vivid green pools as they darkened from peridot to forest.

  “My focus is on seeing how far a submissive is willing to go to achieve climax. Not some simpering, juvenile shudder that lasts all of two seconds.” His voice caressed her ears as his fingers coasted over her jaw and down her throat. “No, I want your mind and body to explode, then reassemble and come back begging for more.”

  His nose nuzzled hers before settling at the crook of her neck. Leaning her head to the side, she gave him more access as his hands skimmed over her shoulders and explored the flesh on her back. Against her cheek, the gold hoop in his ear was a warm weight conducting the heat from his body to hers.

  “I want my sub to understand the pleasure in pain,” he whispered against her throat. “Surely, having read what you have, you’ve learned that.”

  “Yes.” Mattie fought to stifle her protest when his hands slipped away and he moved back. Wanting to keep her eyes on him, she started to shift when he stepped past her, but the firm tone in his voice froze her in place, again.

  “Don’t move, Lawrence.”

  She could hear him stop behind her.

  “I assume, in your readings, you’ve come across the concepts of ‘safe, sane, and consensual’?”

  Mattie nodded. “The idea of a safe word was one of the more appealing aspects.”

  “So establishing a safe word between us would be necessary, if you agreed.” Bryce circled back around to face her. “But your question was more about some of the things I would ask you to do if you agreed to submit to me, wasn’t it?”

  Allowing the master to slip free, Bryce watched Mattie as he began describing some of the fantasies he’d kept under tight control these last eight years. “One of the first things I’d have you do is strip out of your clothes.” Stepping closer, he smiled inside at the faint shiver going through her body. “I want to see every curve, confirm that your nipples are the same strawberry red as your lips.”

  Moving behind her again, he stepped close enough to allow his shirt to brush her bare back. “Then”—he leaned closer, dipping his head so it hovered next to her cheek, his breath stirring the curls that had escaped the braid and covered her ear—“I’d experiment with touch. Stroking over your body with my hands to find out whether you respond to a firm or light touch. Of course, in order to establish what arouses you, I’d need to slide my hand over your pussy. Tangle my fingers in your brown curls, maybe tug on them to see how the slight pain turns you on.”

  He shifted so his voice floated into her right ear, his eyes registering the increase in her respiration, the flutter of her pulse in the delicate flesh at the base of her throat, and the flow of color and heat from her chest, up her neck, and to her cheeks. He hadn’t even begun his seduction, and she was already responding.

  “Spreading those plump, wet lips, I’d next determine what kind of clit you have. Some women have obvious ones that enjoy the slide of a finger, cock, or tongue. While others have tiny little buttons that need to be coaxed out of hiding.” Dropping his voice, Bryce whispered, “I’m hoping you have a small button. A very shy, sensitive nubbin.”

  “Wh-why?” Mattie croaked, her voice barely audible.

  “Because I want to spend hours eating you, Lawrence. Days buried between your thighs. Stroking your lips open, building your arousal so the juices slide out of your body like water in a fountain. And using every kind of touch, lick, or nibble to get your clit so hot and hard, my breath blowing across it will make you come.”

  Stepping in front of her, Bryce watched her sway. “Spread your legs a bit, Lawrence.” His grin widened at her immediate compliance. “Does that sound like something you’d be willing to do?”

  She nodded.

  “I need to hear the word.”

  “Yes.”

  “Shall I tell you more?”

  Again a nod, but no reminder was needed when she added, “Yes.”

  Holding her gaze, he a
ssured her. “Your pleasure will feed mine, Lawrence. Just as my pleasure will feed yours. I may make you wait for it, but my cock doesn’t touch you, doesn’t enter, until you’ve come at least once. Understood?”

  “Understood.”

  He could smell her arousal. The musky scent blended with the clean smell of her skin and hair. “As for my pleasure, your mouth, hands, and body will take care of it. You asked about the Diablo Blanco before, and I’ll warn you, if you agree to submit, I’m going to take you there to display you and fuck you.” He nodded at her wide-eyed gasp. “Yes, in front of other men, Lawrence. I want them to see what your passion looks like. In the Club, I’ll make you come, probably more than once. Then it’ll be your turn. I don’t care what your other lovers have taught you. I’ll instruct you in the ways to give me pleasure.” The bitter tone in his voice surprised Bryce.

  The sexual experience of his previous partners had never bothered him before, but the very thought of another man having shown his woman how to suck him off grated on unfamiliar nerves. Shaking away the thought, Bryce continued, “You’ll use your hands first.”

  Lifting her right hand, he settled it over his hard cock, introducing her to the feel of his flesh through his worn jeans. “You’ll like having your hands over and around it. Up and down, applying the pressure I’ve taught you best pleases me. I haven’t decided if I’ll have you dressed or naked in the Club, but while the other members watch from the bar or seating areas, these sweet lips”—his right hand rose to stroke over her strawberry curves—“will swallow me down. What won’t fit in your mouth, you’ll hold in your hands, stroking and squeezing.”

  He let his grin slip free when he felt the flex of her fingers over his tumescence. “You like that idea, hmm?” Bryce asked, watching the flash of heat darken her eyes and the tip of her tongue stroke over her lips, wetting them. “Once I come and you’ve swallowed it, I’ll still require attention, but instead of keeping your back to the room while you slide onto my lap and I press my cock deep inside your slick pussy, I’ll have you face those watching. Your back will be to me, because I’ll want everyone to see how much you enjoy riding me.”

  Again a moan slipped past her parted lips and the lids over her eyes drooped. He watched her breathing increase as the images he’d described seemed to bloom in her mind and then waited until it had slowed before continuing. “You seem to be comfortable so far with my expectations.”

  “Tha-that isn’t what I was talking about, other than the…the audience.”

  Holding her gaze, he could see her working up the nerve to continue. Wanting her to voice her concerns without any input from him, Bryce stayed silent.

  “What else?”

  “What do you mean, what else?” He wanted her to tell him exactly what she meant. Their agreement might be based on a business arrangement, but it would be a real marriage nonetheless. If they were to proceed as he hoped they would, ambiguity could have no place in their marriage.

  Mattie heaved an exasperated sigh and settled her hands on her hips. “Will you expect me to do all of the other stuff you mentioned?” She fought the urge to wince at the eager, breathless tone in her voice.

  He didn’t try to hide his grin. “You mean the ass fucking, the ménage, and the bondage?”

  She sent him an annoyed grin. “Let’s not forget the spankings.”

  “Definitely, let’s not forget those.” He chuckled.

  The sound of his laughter rumbled through her belly, sending pinpricks of arousal through her body.

  “Do you want the bare-bones truth, or shall I sugarcoat it for you?” Bryce asked.

  That tone was back in his voice, Mattie noted. The inclination to dip her head and wait until he asked her to speak stirred, but she pushed it down, no matter how it excited her. Yes, she’d fantasized about Bryce controlling her, but now wasn’t the time to give in to it. If she was going to keep her head and use this opportunity to make him accept her, she needed to keep her wits sharp. “Bare-bones, please. I’m sure I can take—handle it.”

  He grinned and stepped closer, so the heat from his body seeped through his clothes and wrapped around her. “Bare-bones, it is. One of the first things I intend to do is clamp these hard little peaks.” Between the forefinger and thumb of each hand, Bryce pinched her nipples as they pressed against the silky fabric of her dress. “After I’ve gotten you used to the clamps or chains I’ll use, it’ll be time to bind you. First just your hands behind your back, so you won’t be tempted to distract me from my investigations. From there we’ll progress to tying you spread-eagle on the bed so I can see just how much you can stand to be aroused without climaxing.”

  Mattie swallowed, but the warmth filling her face was nothing compared to the inferno his descriptions were building in her body. She could visualize each step he described. In them, she could see the culminating events play out like images on a movie screen. Legs splayed wide, hands bound to the thick posts of his bed, Mattie could see him sliding into her wet, aching body, wrenching climax after climax from her. Even as her body heated and her pussy grew wet, he continued talking.

  “After the binding comes the toys. Not just because I like using them on my lovers, but it’ll be necessary.” One hand slipped away from the soft stroking of her nipple to cup first one butt cheek, then the other. “Although you’ve read the books”—his grin was wry—“I’m not seeing you let one of your boyfriends drill your ass, so I’m sure your tight little rose will need a bit of stretching.”

  Involuntarily, the muscles in her backside tightened, and Bryce’s chuckle grew throaty and raw as he pressed a finger into the crease, rubbing against the strap of her thong, with the soft silk of her dress the only barrier between her flesh and his hand.

  “You like that idea, don’t you?”

  Mattie didn’t know how to respond. Yes, she had to admit to liking the sting of the small plug she’d purchased for herself a few years earlier, but to actually allow him to enter her body there…her fingers became difficult to control. She clenched them into fists to keep from reaching for him.

  “Then you’ll enjoy the next step. After I’ve stretched you and spent some time enjoying your new territory, Richard will join us on occasion.”

  Swallowing, Mattie forced away the new images bombarding her. “You act as if I’ve agreed to these things already.”

  His hand stroked over her bottom before slipping under her skirt to slide over her wet underwear. “Your body seems to find the idea arousing.”

  “That I won’t deny, but what my mind and my body decide are often two different things.” She wasn’t sure she could make herself step away from Bryce, so she was relieved when he chose to do it himself. The temptation to groan at the loss of his touch was stifled, barely.

  “If you aren’t interested in submission, then why bring it up?” He didn’t sound annoyed or angry at her halting of his teasing—more curious than anything.

  “Because I need to know if I can take on the role of a submissive.” She stopped herself from adding, and if you can accept me as one.

  Arms crossed over his chest, Bryce watched her. “I assure you, our marriage won’t suffer if I don’t indulge in the lifestyle.”

  Mattie matched his stance. “And I think it would. It’s hard enough when two people love each other and they marry. We’re going into this without that connection. If we have to spend the next few years together, we should at least agree that keeping each other content will go a long way toward making sure the marriage lasts.” With a shrug, she added, “And it’ll go a long way in convincing the board that you have settled.”

  “So what are you suggesting?”

  “To give you two weeks to show me what it would be like to be your sub.”

  “And then what?” His hands settled on his hips.

  “We can begin making the wedding plans.”

  The light of battle darkened his green eyes to emerald. Ignoring the unnerving flutters building in her lower belly, she waited f
or his response.

  It wasn’t long in coming. “Too long. Dad’s retirement party is in just over a month. I want to be married by that time. Giving you two weeks would delay things, and I don’t trust the board not to act, especially once the Makepeaces learn we’re engaged.”

  “Twelve days, then.”

  “Three.”

  Again, Mattie shook her head. “You’ve implied that you won’t have any problem doing without the BDSM lifestyle, but you’ve had years to understand it. Three days doesn’t give me enough time to figure out what it could represent in our marriage, let alone the rest of my life. What about ten days?”

  It was Bryce’s turn to shake his head. “Still too long. Five days.”

  “Let’s split the difference and make it a week,” Mattie offered.

  Bryce thought about it and began to nod, but Mattie continued, knowing her next words would either piss him off or amuse him. “And no sex.”

  Chapter Four

  “Are you sure you’ve never dabbled in BDSM before?”

  Color filled her face, but the flush seemed more from embarrassment than from guilt at getting caught in a lie. “No. Why?”

  “You discuss rules of play rather skillfully, Lawrence.”

  A wry smile and small chuckle escaped her. “I learned it all dealing with you, Halsey.”

  Negotiating a scene with one of his past lovers had never been as stimulating as bartering for favors with this woman, but Bryce forced himself not to smile. Once he’d determined she was the best candidate to woo the board to his side, he’d planned on spending a week getting her well and thoroughly fucked. A test drive, so to speak, while he began introducing the idea of submission to her. Having her suggest experiencing his lifestyle struck him as rather ironic. Not to mention arousing. “Why?”

  She didn’t seem confused by his question. “Why no sex?”

  He nodded.

  Mattie shrugged. “If I decide I can’t take on the role of a submissive, I don’t want to associate the sex we have during our marriage to the type of sex we engaged in during this week of experimentation.”