But none of that mattered. It was time for her to do the job she’d been selected for and see just what she could get out of Mason.
And hope Mason wouldn’t take too much of her in return.
Chapter Three
Mason sipped his scotch slowly. He relished the burn, savoring the only drink he’d have for a while. He wouldn’t allow his judgment to be hindered by alcohol. It had always been one drink before a scene to take the edge off and one drink after to help him relax.
But this time, he wouldn’t be conducting the scene, not where it really counted. Fuck. He gulped the last of his drink and slammed the glass down. He’d made the right choice. Each time his body fought the decision, he knew it was right.
Keep telling yourself that.
The door of the club hadn’t opened in seven minutes. Mason would know. He’d been watching it like a hawk, waiting for Shelby to arrive. He hadn’t decided how he was going to break the news to her about the change in their arrangement, but he’d already brought Rafe up to speed. Mason had told his friend and business partner to give him some time alone with her before he came over to start. Rafe would be good for her…at least for introducing her to spankings. It was an area the other man excelled at.
When the main door finally opened and Shelby walked in, his heart raced as he stood. Jesus, she was a vision. She had on a pair of black jeans and a white blouse, nothing fancy, but the beauty was in its simplicity. Much better choice than leather. She signed in with the bouncer and looked around a little unsure of herself, but not as timid as she’d been the first night.
Her eyes met his, and he stood unmoving, waiting. He wanted to see how easily she came to him, and was immediately rewarded. She not only walked toward him, but with a sense of purpose in her stride. God, her will was an entity all its own. Beautiful.
Shelby stopped within a couple of feet from him, and her gaze dropped to the floor, an instinctual response that warmed him no matter the sub, but when she did it, his blood rushed in his veins. Instead of warmth, it was a raging fire.
“Hello, Master.”
Mason reached for her. He couldn’t help it. His arms were moving of their own accord, and his hands had clutched her as if they had the right. His. In this moment, she was his possession. It wasn’t meant to last, but right now, he savored it.
“Hello, pet.” He bent and kissed her cheek. “I take it you are ready to begin?”
“Yes, Master. I am.”
“Good. Come. We have some things to talk about first.”
Mason took her hand and guided her to one of the halls that housed playrooms. Some of the rooms were designed for scenes to be conducted with an audience, some had windows that allowed for viewing and intimacy, and a couple of them were completely private. He was taking her to one of the private rooms.
He opened the door, turned on the light, and motioned for her to enter while watching her reaction. Her eyes widened when her gaze landed on the riding crops on the wall, but that was her only response to the set up. She was resolved, really was ready to do this, to explore this side of her sexuality.
And he very much hated he wasn’t going to be the one showing her.
Mason clasped his hand around hers again and drew her to the couch in the corner. A blanket was already there and tossed to the side for later. It helped with comforting after an intense scene and would come in handy. But now, they needed to talk, and it was a conversation he wasn’t looking forward to.
“As a Dom, I must make decisions that I feel are best for you and me,” he started, then took a resolved breath. “I have decided Rafe will be topping you tonight. His favorite play is spankings, and I trust him. He’ll do an excellent job.”
Shelby tried to yank her hand away, but he held onto it, refusing to let her go. He knew this was going to be hard for her—it was fucking brutal for him. He couldn’t lose the connection of her touch right now. They both needed it.
“No. I want you. I only want you to do it,” she said frantically. “This whole thing is hard for me. It’s why I came to you.”
“I know, pet. That’s why I’ll be right here with you, but this is for the best.”
“Why?”
Why indeed? Because he knew himself better than anybody else, and if he started dominating this woman, he wouldn’t want to stop until she became his for real. He couldn’t explain it to himself as he’d never felt this strongly toward anyone this fast, so he knew there was no explaining it to her. But no matter the connection, there was no way he could encourage it. He had too much going on in his life right now, and anything that might develop with Shelby would get in his way. Any distraction beyond errant fantasies equaled a loss of control.
He would not allow that.
“Because you’ve asked me to dominate you, and as your Dom, I get to choose how we go about it. If you don’t like the way I do things, then we can stop now.” Jesus, part of him hoped she decided to quit and put an end to this insanity, but the other part demanded he do whatever she wanted if she just stayed. He had to stay strong, though. He would. To not be was failure.
After several long, agonizing moments, she finally said, “So Rafe will be doing the scenes and not you.”
“No, pet. Rafe will be doing the scene tonight. He is best at spankings. Jedrek will do the binding scene, and Emory will do the whipping.” There wasn’t any chance in hell he’d let just one of them take over completely. He didn’t want to risk her becoming attached to one of the other men. Besides, he’d assigned them scenes based on their specialties, so he knew she’d be in the best possible care.
“What about fire?” she asked softly.
Mason shut his eyes. There was only one person he trusted to do that scene, and there was no way around it. “I’ll do that one, pet. I’m the only one who practices it enough for my liking, and it’s too dangerous to let someone else do it.”
Shelby nodded and then cleared her throat. “Do you expect me to have sex with them?”
He gritted his teeth. He’d shared many women with his business partners, but the few he’d been in relationships with he’d kept to himself. He wasn’t in a relationship with Shelby, but he didn’t want any of the other men being that intimate with her…at least not before he could. But it wasn’t his choice to make.
“That’s up to you, pet. The club safe word is red, but since you are new, any indication that you want to stop, including saying stop, or no, or anything similar will be honored. Nothing will happen that you aren’t completely comfortable with.”
“We didn’t really talk about sex before,” Shelby said. It wasn’t phrased as a question, but her eyes asked anyway.
“No, we didn’t.” He hesitated, thinking how best to continue. This was something else that would’ve been handled beforehand had her training been scheduled the proper way. “Scenes don’t have to include penetration.”
“I know,” she said, almost too quickly.
“There are some who don’t have sex at all, but there are others whose scenes are extremely sexually explicit. Depends on the individual. Personally, I don’t like going into a scene with a lot of hard limits. I honor them, of course, might even entertain requests, but I want to be trusted to read my partner and for my partner to read me. In fact, I usually reject potential subs who are more focused on their limits than what they can learn.” She frowned and looked around the room hesitantly. Mason realized he needed to be a little more open to help ease her concerns. “If you think about it, pet, the four scenes I use initially aren’t directly sexual. There’s a reason for that.”