Thank God, Sam had given her his shirt. Although considering Spencer had stripped down in front of her, maybe Thalia would insist she do the same. A sort of quid pro quo. Damned if the idea of stripping down wasn’t making her horny.
A quick glance showed the only eyes on her were Thalia’s and Sam’s which were shuttered, his emotion unreadable. Spencer stood in proper submissive form, two paces behind Thalia’s chair, eyes on his toes.
“Rosie, your master has given you an order,” Thalia said quietly. “By hesitating, you defy him which not only insults him, but embarrasses him in front of his guests.”
Order? Oh, right, Sam asked her to go over there. Her legs carried her to the middle of the foyer, just in front of Sam, and assumed a position mirroring Spencer’s. “I’m sorry for insulting you, Master.”
Shit, this submission stuff was tough when there were witnesses.
“How is dinner progressing?” Sam asked, just a little too casually.
She narrowed her eyes at him, then glanced at Thalia who smiled right back at her. “It’ll be a while yet. Master.”
“Will you be joining me, Thalia?”
“Thank you, but no, I’ve already eaten.”
He nodded. “Princesa, you may continue cooking. When dinner’s ready, you will wait for me beside the table.”
Thalia waved a hand toward the kitchen. “Spencer, help Master Samuel’s slave.”
Did he think that just because she wasn’t in the room she couldn’t guess they were going to talk about her? It was like being back in high school where the rich kids huddled together in their group and snickered at the kids from the barrio. Gritting her teeth, Rosie tromped into the kitchen and pulled two dishes from the cupboard.
“You’ll only need one place setting,” Spencer whispered. “Slaves eat what their master or mistress serve from their own plates.”
With a huff, she shoved a plate back into the cabinet, wincing slightly at the crash it made. At least it hadn’t broken.
“Tell me you didn’t, that she didn’t.” Sam’s voice rose, echoing through both the foyer and living room. “What the hell were you thinking?”
The rest faded back down to a harsh whisper, low enough that she couldn’t hear what they were talking about. But she had a pretty good idea, especially when he practically shouted, “She what?” followed by “Rosalinda. Get your ass out here. Now.”
Drawing herself up to her full five foot one, she sauntered to foyer as if she were a queen. “You called, Master?”
“I understand you disobeyed my orders and left the office area of the club the other day. And that you’ve since returned several times.”
Oops.
Narrowing her eyes, Rosie shot a glance at Thalia. So much for women sticking together.
“I also understand,” Sam continued through clenched teeth, “that you helped punish Spencer this afternoon.”
“I- Yes, Master. Mistress Thalia-” was that how she was supposed to address another slave’s mistress? “-Mistress Thalia was instructing me in the use of a flogger. She wanted me to demonstrate my ability with it.”
“Were you aware that by administering the punishment to her slave, you bestowed her the right to administer punishment to you if she caught you misbehaving?” Every Hauberk employee had heard the legend that when Sam’s voice got quieter, when he lost his drawl completely, he was beyond anger and it was every man for himself.
She took a half-step back and ran smack dab into Spencer. Oh, crap. Did that mean she was Thalia’s slave? “As my master, isn’t it your duty to administer punishments? Your right?”
“It should have been my privilege, but the club rules are that in accepting the flogger from her, you granted her the right.” If his teeth clenched any tighter, they’d shatter. “Let’s get this over with.”
He stalked down the hall and into the bedroom.
“Why didn’t you tell me you would get to do this, not him?” Rosie snapped.
“You have to trust me on this, Rosie. It’s for Sam’s own good.”
“Sam’s good? I’m the one whose ass is about to get flogged.”
“All part of your training, my dear. Now you’d better follow him before he completely loses his patience and doubles your punishment.” Thalia signaled to Spencer to take his position behind her chair.
Her heart beating so fast and so loud she could hear the whooshing of blood in her ears, Rosie followed them to the bedroom. If she’d been facing just Sam, she knew she’d be running to follow him, as horny as hell. But knowing it would be Thalia wielding the whip, her confidence fled so quickly she was surprised they hadn’t heard a sonic boom.
Sam stood in the walk-in closet, the panel hiding his secret room wide open.
“Come here.”
Hoping her legs wouldn’t give out and betray her nervousness, Rosie strode into the room. When he snorted, she realized she’d made a mistake by not acting surprised at the room’s existence.
He pointed to the bench. “Kneel down on the lower part of the bench then grab the handles on the other end.”
“Yes, Master.” Wiping her palms on her thighs, she followed his instructions so she ended up in the same position Spencer had been earlier.
Leaning over her, Sam adjusted her so her ass was even higher in the air, then firmly fastened the leather restraints around her legs and wrists, along with a strap over her waist. There was no way she could move if she’d wanted to. Which probably a good thing because she was beginning to shake.
Satisfied she couldn’t move, he opened the cabinet containing the floggers and stepped aside so Thalia could choose from the selection.
“She’s never been flogged before so I have no idea what level of pain she can take.” His voice was flat. Cold.
The shaking in her legs increased.
“She’ll take what is administered,” Thalia replied calmly. “Spencer, we’ll use the deerskin.”
Rosie jerked against her bindings. Would Thalia be administering her flogging? Or Spencer? Crap. Once she’d seen his reaction, she hadn’t held back that afternoon. Would he try to return the favor? Would Thalia be any less forgiving? Between the two of them she knew she didn’t stand a chance.
Sam returned, crouching down so she could see his face. “You are so in over your head, baby, and I can’t help you. Just remember, if it gets too much, don’t be afraid to use your safe word. But once you use it, the scene is ended. Completely. And you’ll be sleeping alone tonight.”
She had a feeling that, with or without the safe word, he’d never allow her to try another scene again. Why hadn’t Thalia told her what administering Spencer’s punishment meant? She wanted Sam to be the one punishing her. Wanted him holding the whip, not Spencer. Not even Thalia.
“How many stripes did you give Spencer, Princesa?” he asked quietly.
“Ten. I was supposed to give him twenty but I chickened out.” Because it had made her too horny, but suddenly she didn’t want to admit that to him.
He winced. “Damn it, Rosie, that means Thalia can give you ten tonight, and you only deserve a third of that. Why in hell did you leave the office area when I specifically told you not to?”
Because she’d trusted Thalia. Something she wasn’t going to do again any time soon. And gave her somewhere else to look in her hunt for the stalker. Maybe despite Thalia’s insistence that she didn’t hold Sam to blame, there was a lingering resentment.
“I’m sorry. I wish it was you giving me the punishment.”
Oh boy, did she wish it was him. With him she knew she’d come with no problem. With him, she’d be begging him for more.
“Do you wish your slave to be ball gagged, Samuel?” Thalia called.
“No. If she wants to use her safe word, I want to be able to hear it. And she’s not my slave.”
“Has she any device inside her that will stimulate her?”
“No.”
There was a pause. Then the sound of a drawer sliding open. “Use this one.” Was she choosing a different flogger? One that would hurt more, or less?
Two seconds later, she jumped when someone touched her labia. Her face flamed that Spencer might have touched her so intimately.
“Sam?”
“It’s all right, baby, it’s me.” Something cool pressed against her labia, and slid deep inside her vagina. Shoot. Another dildo. A big one. Hopefully this one wouldn’t vibrate, her inner tissues were still sensitive from the orgasm she’d just had. But who had inserted it.
Sam smoothed a hand over her behind before stepping back into her sight.
“Now that she’s ready,” Thalia said, “we shall begin.”
Rosie jerked against the restraints at the sound of a flogger striking something. She waited for the burn on her ass, but none came.
As if sensing Rosie’s rising panic, Sam placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “Stop trying to psyche her out, Thalia. Just get it over with. You’ve got ten lashes. No more.”
He knelt down so she could see his face, putting his hand over hers. “Look at me, baby. I’m right here.”
As soon as he’d finished speaking, the flogger snapped across her ass. She let fly a curse. Damn, it stung more than when Sam had spanked her. She scrunched her eyes closed as the flogger cracked through the air again.
Sam’s fingers tightened slightly on hers. “Open your eyes, Rosebud. It’ll help you concentrate on something other than the pain in your ass.”
The flogger struck again. Strangely enough the pain changed to heat that radiated from her ass to her pussy. It got worse when Sam let go of her hands and slipped his hand beneath her, teasing her nipples. When he tugged on them sharply, the sensation shot straight down to her core and had her moaning. Her hips writhed beneath the third punishing strike. Her thigh muscles trembled, clenching together, the dildo exciting her already inflamed sheath. Wow, now she understood Spencer’s reaction.
She bit the inside of her cheek to try and distract herself from the impending orgasm.
No, she wouldn’t come. She wouldn’t come when the attention didn’t come from Sam. That was for Sam. Only Sam.
The flogger hit for a fourth time. Then a fifth.
Oh, God, she couldn’t hold back. She needed to come. But she didn’t want to get off knowing it was someone else administering her punishment. “Sam?”
“It’s all right, baby. Just let yourself feel it.” He was further away now. Standing beside Spencer?
Another punishing strike that had her barely able to hold back her orgasm.
“Sam? I have to come, please, Sam. I don’t want to do it for anyone but you.”
She cried out when the leather harness holding the dildo in place was removed and again when the dildo itself slid from her body. Oh, God, was this part of her punishment to feel so empty?
The flat of a hand cracked against her already heated cheek, then quickly hit the other. And then she felt warmth against her thighs, and a blunt object, a cock, slid into her pussy in one smooth stroke. Tears ran down her face as she struggled against the straps, struggled against her body’s internal need to clench around the cock no matter whose it was, to milk it dry.
“No. Oh, please, no. I want Sam. Only Sam.”
“It is me, baby,” Sam said from behind her. “Thalia and Spencer left.”
Before he’d finished speaking, conscious thought took flight and her body responded, her head arching back and her body tightening around him, milking him as he pumped into her.
Sam bent over Rosie, holding himself up on shaking arms. He’d been so angry that Thalia had insisted on the game. But he was also grateful. If Rosie had changed her mind, if she’d used her safe word, she’d remember Thalia as the giver of pain, not him.
Beneath him, around him, her muscles continued to spasm and quiver, stroking every inch of his cock. A lightning sensation speared from the base of his spine and through his balls. He reared back and shouted as a second climax rocketed through him.
He tried to hold his weight off her as his legs gave out. Nope, no good. Fumbling, he released her ankles from their restraints, then padded around to the front and similarly freed her wrists. “Come here, baby.”
Slinging one of her arms around his shoulder, he carried her into the bedroom and collapsed onto the bed. He cradled her on his chest, smoothing his hands over her warm behind.
Bath. That’s what she needed. He should get up and run one for her. In a minute.
The minute turned into an hour before he was ready to take his arms from around her. He rolled off the bed and plodded to the bathroom. While the tub filled with water, he tossed in a cup of Epsom salts. Once the water was to the right height and temperature, he went back to the bedroom and lifted Rosie, who slumped in his arms, utterly content.
Leaving her to soak, he wandered out on the terrace and lit up a cigar. He lifted a hand to Jocelyne’s husband on the balcony across the way. Robert waved back then ducked his head to look through the telescope pointed at Sam’s building, but several floors below. Ah, the couple in 906 were giving Robert a show tonight also.
What the hell was he doing? He’d gotten carried away back there. He’d forgotten to use a condom when he’d replaced the dildo with his cock. He’d forgotten what it felt like to take a woman bare. He’d felt every tremor of her pussy, like a thousand tongues lapping his cock, how the heat increased as she’d come, the tiny rippling aftershocks. She’d wormed her way so deep into his heart that he’d never be able to let her go now. Not after tonight.
The cigar was almost a stub by the time the door to his bedroom opened. Rosie padded out, wrapped up in one of his bathrobes. The danged thing trailed behind her like a queen’s mantle.
“When did Thalia and Spencer leave?”
“After the fifth strike.” Spencer had simply tapped him on the arm with the flogger and presented it to him, then turned around and left. Thalia had smiled at him then silently wheeled out behind Spencer. Quid pro quo for Rosie walking out on him earlier perhaps?
Whatever, he was grateful to have had the chance to be alone with her. And furious that he’d been a spectator rather than a participant.
“Was that planned? For you to switch over like that?” She flipped a strand of hair out of her eyes, tucking it behind her ear.
“No. But I’m glad he di-”
Without warning, she’d hooked her leg behind his and pushed him to the ground, splaying her body over him.
Sam chuckled and wrapped his arms about her waist, cinching her up higher so he could nuzzle her neck. “Honey, if you wanted to do it out here, all you had to do was ask. You didn’t have to ambush me like that. Not to mention I’ve got some perfectly fine furniture over there with pillows that’ll make it a helluva lot more comfortable on my ass. Or your knees.”
“Stay down,” she whispered. “There’s someone across the road with a rifle.” She patted her waist. “Damn it, I left my Berry in the bedroom. We have to get you inside.”
Sam jerked as if he’d been tasered. He flipped her over, shielding her body with his. “You’re tryin’ to shield me from a sniper? Are you fuckin’ insane?”
“Of course I’m trying to protect you. It’s my job, remember?”
The thought of Rosie willingly taking a bullet had him seeing scarlet. “Where is this fucker?”
“Penthouse. Middle balcony. I saw a flash off his scope.”
His muscles relaxed when he realized what she’d seen. He rolled off her, leaning against the concrete planter while he fought the adrenaline rush. “That wasn’t a rifle scope you saw. It was a telescope.”
“What? How can you be sure?”
He leaned his head back, forcing oxygen into his lungs. “That’s Jocelyne’s apartment. Robert’s a voyeur-he spies on his neighbors with a telescope. That’s who you did your little show for earlier. I saw him out there while you were in the tub. He was watching the couple in 906 getting it on-they always leave the drapes open for him.”
“Eeew. You mean there really was someone watching me? That’s sorta creepy.” Rubbing her arms, she scooched over to peer through the slit in the balcony then scooted back out of the way. “Are you sure it’s just a telescope and not a gun?”
He couldn’t do this.
Things were right back to the way things were eight years ago. How had he forgotten someone was out to kill him? He couldn’t make Rosie a target. Couldn’t let her be hurt. Couldn’t lose her the way he’d lost Jill.
But damn it, he couldn’t set her aside either. He needed her more than he needed the air around him. He loved her. And would do anything to keep her safe. Whether she wanted him to protect her or not, dammit. Even if that meant making her as mad as hell to keep her away from him, to keep her safe. And safe meant away from him.
His jaw clenched, Sam pushed himself to a stand and stalked to the bedroom.
“Ay!” Rosie scrambled after him, catching the door before he could slam it shut. “I’m sorry. All right? I didn’t mean to ruin your game. I’ll be good and obey you. Master.”
Sam glared at her. “I will not have someone else die because of me. I’ll not have one hair on your head hurt. Not now. Not ever. Do you understand?”
Damn. He was thinking of Jill. How had she forgotten what he’d lost already? In an effort to distract him, she sank on her knees in front of him and once again assumed a subservient position. She caught the laces of his fly in her teeth and tugged.
“Stop it, Rosie.”
“Princesa, remember?”
“Stop it! It’s not a fucking game, Rosie. This is important, why don’t you see that?” His shout echoed off the walls.
“Sam…”
He retied the laces and folded his arms across his chest. “We need to slow things down between us, Rosie. It’s best if you sleep at the other apartment from here on in.”
He was sending her away? After what they’d just shared? After he’d held her for the past hour as if she were fragile porcelain, even drawn her a bath?
When she moved toward him, he took a step back, the distance between them forming an uncrossable abyss. An overwhelming agony compressed her chest. She was losing him. “You mean break things off, don’t you?”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t know. I can’t… I just know I need… I can’t do this again.”
A chill rippled beneath her skin at the fierce look on his face. Until she remembered that she wasn’t just his girlfriend or his lover. She stood up and rounded on him, jamming her finger into his chest. “I’m your bodyguard, remember? I’m supposed to protect you. So if I have to jump in front of a speeding car to push you out of the way, I will. If I have to cover a grenade with my body to protect you, I will. If I have to push you down on the pavement and cover you with my body, I will. I will not let someone kill you.” She poked him again. “Got that?”
Sam shook his head but wouldn’t look at her. Instead he stared over the terrace, a bleak look on his face. “Don’t sacrifice yourself for me, Rosie. Ever. Promise me.”
“I won’t. I mean, I won’t promise you that I wouldn’t do that again.” She flattened her hand on his chest, felt the muscles bunched beneath her fingers, the thick scar down the center. “Even if I wasn’t your lead op, I couldn’t stand by and watch you get killed.”
He whirled away and slammed his fist into the wall, punching a hole in the drywall. “Damn it, promise me! You will not get yourself hurt because of me. Please.” He lowered his voice. “Please, Rosie. Don’t you ever put yourself in the path of a bullet for me. I’ll transfer you to Australia if that is the only way to keep you safe. I’ll fire you if I have to. I’ll destroy your credibility so you’ll never be hired by another protection agency, you’ll never be able to get a job that’ll put you in the line of fire again.”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
“Damned straight I would.”
She searched his eyes, saw his determination. He wasn’t exaggerating. “All right. I promise I won’t put myself in the path of a bullet for you.” For the first time in her life, she made a promise she knew would willingly and knowingly break.
God forgive her.
Sam forgive her.
*
His back to the wall, he sipped his Guinness, only half paying attention to the flatscreen over the bar. Chad allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction as the Saints’ quarterback heaved a pass to the end zone. According to the phone call he’d received, Sam was completing his own pass. Thalia’s hare-brained scheme had worked.
As a cheer went up when Washington intercepted the pass, the door to the bar opened. A frown on his face, the bar’s newest patron scanned the crowd and found his target. He pushed his way through the throng and slumped into the booth.
“What are you doing here, Andy? Why aren’t you at Sam’s place?”
Andy signaled to the waitress and ordered a cola. “Because he just fired me.”
“What? Why?” Had Sam found out about their plan? Would he be next?
“He said I put Rosie at risk by letting her go with Thalia into the public part of the club.” Andy worried his goatee. “I didn’t know she’d left the security office until they returned. But he’s right. I should have been in the office with her and at least gone with her.”
“Crap. All right, first off, you’re not fired. Take a week’s vacation while I talk to Sam and calm him down. It’s my damned sister’s fault, not yours. When Thalia gets something into her head, there’s no stopping her.” He waved toward the television. “Those football players have nothing on her when it comes to offensive strategy.”
Look at him. He’d let her talk him into assigning Sam and Jill to her club in the first place. And ended up in front of a media firing squad, his career in flames.
Andy chugged half his drink before the waitress had managed to get two steps away from the table. “You guys may have to come up with a new plan ’cause there’s trouble in paradise.”
Acid from his stomach slicing at the back of his throat, Chad stilled. “They were fighting?”
“Rosie thought she saw a sniper in the building opposite and threw herself over him. Livid doesn’t even begin to describe Sam right now.”
Crap. Crap. Crap. When Thalia had proposed the scheme of having Rosie as Sam’s bodyguard, he’d argued against it for this very reason. All they needed to make Sam withdraw from Rosie was to remind him of how he’d lost Jill. He rubbed his temple against the headache that stabbed behind his eyes.
“All right. We’ll wait and see how things shake out. Rosie won’t let Sam pull away without a battle.”
“And if she does?”
“Then I guess I have to call in the big guns.”