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"Wading is fine. I'm not going to ask you to compete in freestyle. Though seeing you do the backstroke would be every man's wet dream."
The teasing was putting her feet back under her, restoring her fire. She tossed her hair back. "I'm not here to be on display to others."
"No? So you had no interest in checking out the 24/7 area?"
Her bitten lip, the spark in her eye, told him she did. Leaving that for now, he moved around her, considering her from head to toe. "Stunning. But you're used to hearing that, aren't you?"
"No. It's a given in our world." She lifted a shoulder. "Vampires are sexy, sensual, erotic, beautiful, handsome. It is what it is. It doesn't mean anything."
"It means something to me." He stepped close to her, touched her mouth. "I'm not talking about your measurements, how pretty your hair is or the silk of your skin. I look at you and I see you in those restraints over there, begging. I hear you saying 'Master' for the first time in that desperate whisper, your voice trembling on the cusp of climax. When I take you out around other people, that's a window into who and what you are that they don't have, you spread and begging for me. It makes you more than beautiful. It makes you a goddess to me."
She lifted a hand, traced the scar over his face. "It works that way for me, too," she said, wondering. "I see far more than the way you look."
"A good thing," he said wryly.
"No." She shook her head. "I like the way you look, Garron. But it's a matter of opening your eyes to really see what's in front of you. I look at you and I feel the gentleness of your hands, hear that tone in your voice that makes me tremble for reasons I don't understand. I can break you, and yet I feel this delicious edge of fear when you threaten to punish me, tell me to obey you. You were frightening, right after I marked you. I was afraid of you and...it aroused me."
She had no idea how her words could take him to his knees, make him want to worship her, even as he visualized all the ways he could make her surrender to him. He settled for taking a tight grip on her hand, and clearing his throat. "Good."
He linked fingers with her, changed topics. "For the next little bit, you can ask me anything, talk about anything. I know part of you wants to stay in character full time, because it's easier for you to treat this as a pure fantasy, something that won't chase you once you leave here, but I think that would be the wrong tactic to get the most out of this. My goal is to give you what you need, not necessarily what you want."
She didn't yet realize how far he was willing to go with that, maybe because he was just starting to figure it out himself.
She frowned, obviously not liking him disrupting her effort to keep her expectations down to a ten day fantasy, but that was just tough. When he slipped the collar from her throat and pocketed the slim strap, he saw the flicker in her gaze, a protest she bit back.
"And another thing," he said casually. "From here forward, you don't get to call me Master unless you ask and I say yes. I don't let a sub do that automatically until I'm sure she understands exactly what it means to call me Master."
Oh yeah, he was pissing her off a bit. He saw the flash through her mind. She wasn't "a sub", any faceless submissive, one of his harem or another guest who came through the Eden club, paying for his services. He shifted a little closer to her, using the intimidating body language to tell her he was aware of the attitude. She stiffened but her gaze lowered. Progress.
"That goes for getting in my head," he continued. "You keep your mind open to me, but you need my permission to be in my head. I'm sure you can do it without me knowing, but I'll pick it up in how you anticipate me, and that will disappoint me, Kaela. It will tell me you don't respect the boundaries your Master sets."
"You said I couldn't call you that."
"It doesn't mean that's not what I am."
It gratified him to see her resentment about not being allowed in his head had nothing to do with the edge the information would give her. She wanted the connection and, after having it such a short time, he had to agree, it was fucking fantastic. He wouldn't mind it being two-way himself. He didn't care if she saw where he was going with things, but at the moment it was better if she just focused on one thing, and that was what he was telling her, not what he was thinking. What lay behind the orders would be way more complicated for her to handle at this juncture.
He touched her cheek. He didn't need a window to her mind to read it through her golden-brown eyes. Resentful, troubled, aroused, confused, pissed. She was never just one thing. He liked that about her. "I want you in my head, too. But for the immediate future, I want your focus on you and what I tell you to do."
She nodded.
"Okay. Let's go to the pool. I'll drop a rock in it and we'll see which one of you sinks faster."
I can rip your heart out of your chest, human.
She might not be listening to his thoughts, but she realized he was reading hers. He bit back a smile, though he wondered if hearing his response would unsettle her the way it did him.
You already have, my lady.
SS
Eden had no less than a dozen different types of pools. The lagoon pool, his intended destination, would be one of the quietest ones this time of night, but since it wasn't technically in an area where being buck-ass naked was okay, they needed to stop at his place so he could grab one of his own swimsuits. Passing through the trio of pools and adult water slide that were the main social hub for the party set was a necessary evil for that. Even at this late hour, it would be hopping.
Because of that, Garron snagged a sheer body scarf with beaded fringe from one of Eden's many discreet boutique shops. As well as a pair of matching rhinestone sandals to protect her feet. Having Kaela knot the scarf at her hip added a translucent veil over her backside that only enhanced the temptation of what was there, and of course didn't conceal the feast of her breasts at all. In the end, he gave her one of his extra staff T-shirts he kept in his room at Club Sin and had her put it on. Even though he was aware of her speculative look, he didn't respond to it. Yeah, it was kind of a surprise to him as well. He had every intention of indulging her interest in Eden's 24/7 BDSM area eventually. Hell, if he took her there, she might be stripped down to nothing but his collar.
Yet that didn't change his feelings a bit about exposing her to the mainstream jet set crowd. For whatever reason, he felt she was more vulnerable there, where less rules were in place. In a formal BDSM setting, behavior toward subs, no matter how beautiful, was structured and controlled by the respective Masters and Mistresses.
As such, he kept a light hand on her lower back as they moved into the area that was always too lively for his taste.
I get the feeling you prefer quiet places, she thought. Walks along the beach, a book, a cup of coffee in the morning. And no, I didn't read that from your mind. I've seen policemen going into a crack house who look more comfortable than you do.
She reached out, touched his side. "I'm fine, Garron," she said. "I have to be around humans quite often. I was one, remember?"
He gave her a rueful smile. "Sorry."
They'd just come out of an intense one-on-one that had been on-going, in point of fact, since she'd arrived. This was like emerging from a cave. Even in a normal sub session, he usually did something to transition himself from one environment to the other. His time with her had been ten times more intense than that, putting him as much into his head space as she'd been in subspace. He realized now he should have circled around the cocktail set. He'd been through enough PTSD therapy to know what triggers to avoid, and he was feeling too vigilant. Adjusting his body closer to her, his eyes noting every sound and movement, were indications of it. His instincts for danger were turned up to high volume in a way that didn't fit here and he knew it. Self-awareness didn't change his nerves being on edge, however.
Kaela's hand slid behind her, tangled with his on the small of her back, as if she was letting him hold her arm behind her back. But she exerted gentle pressure on his hand an
d shifted her body so that he was cupping her ass, his thumb sliding along the cleft in blatant ownership. The satisfying flare of arousal in her mind was matched by his.
He lifted a brow, glanced down at her. "Topping me, my lady?"
"No sir." Her full lips pursed as she lowered her lashes in a way that said she was doing something different. A combination of flirting and reassurance at once. She might not be in his mind, but she understood body language almost as well as he did. He'd never in a million years have expected her to call him sir like that, but it successfully snapped him out of the fugue and brought him into the present.
He gave her a squeeze and slid his hand back to her waist. Putting his hand on his submissive's ass in a club environment was an appropriate message. Doing it here would be disrespecting his lady, and he'd no more tolerate that than he'd tolerate anyone else doing it.
When he saw her cheeks tinge with color, the pleased surprise in her gaze, he tugged her long hair. "You are listening. Didn't we talk about that?"
