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And offered to me by one.
A decision formed in her mind. It would take things deeper than she'd intended tonight, but it felt right and she was going to run with it. It wasn't a late-night booty call craving. She knew the difference between that and this.
She put her hand on his face. "Normal date is over. We'll pick up my car, and then you'll follow me back to my place."
The look she gave him told him what she wanted. His own reflected heat and more confusion, mixed with some residual anger he hadn't been able to let go. But she knew he received the message from how he responded.
"Yes, Mistress."
Chapter Nine
Regina lived in a waterfront bay community near the Tampa airport. She told him the address in case they were separated, but he kept pace with her car, pulling into her driveway after a fifteen-minute drive. During that time, she caught glimpses of his face at stoplights, but couldn't read much from it. From the neck up, the boy was a hell of a poker player. Other body language gave her far more insights into what was happening in his head.
"This is probably stupid," she told herself for the second time. Or maybe the third. She'd been technically alone with him at the stables, but she knew that was a rationalization. A pair of security guards monitored cameras throughout the grounds from an office in the clubhouse, where they stayed discreet and invisible. They didn't disrupt scenes in process unless it looked necessary.
She didn't have that safety net in her home. But there was a reason it was called Risk Aware Consensual Kink, right? Yep, they could put that on her tombstone when she pushed him too far and he was in prison for murdering her in a fit of rage.
Stop it. If you're really worried about it, call it off. If not, keep following your gut.
Getting out of her car, she motioned him to follow her inside as she unlocked the door and left it open behind her.
The two-story sand-colored stucco home butted up to the deep-water canal that led to the bay. The water views made the sun porch and back patio endlessly enjoyable for relaxation. Inside, it had all the amenities she wanted. The four bedrooms and three baths had given her an adult playroom, spacious enough to host the occasional small party with kink friends. Her upstairs home office offered her an impressive view of the bay beyond the canal. Her bedroom was a first-floor nest on the western side of the house, where morning sun wouldn't wake her. When she'd traveled more often, her hours had often been irregular.
She dropped her keys on the granite countertop in her kitchen. She enjoyed cooking, though living alone, she didn't always take the time to do it. That made the conveniences of the modern kitchen a nice-to-have, but not as important as the features offered by other spaces. Like her playroom and the outdoor living areas.
Unzipping her ankle boots, she pulled off them and the stockings beneath, sighing with her usual contentment as she stepped onto the living room carpet and let her toes curl into the softness. One lamp was on, a golden glow contrast to the silvery illumination coming through the bank of living room windows, thanks to the lights lining the canal boardwalk.
She was aware Marius had come into the kitchen and stood behind her, saying nothing. As she pivoted, the lack of light in the kitchen put him in the shadows.
"Take off your shoes. Socks, too." Her gaze slid over him. "Actually, take it all off."
"Sure you want the normal date to be over?" His expression might not reflect his thoughts on the matter, but his words offered her the chance to keep this a simple late night fuck, rather than complicating it with the Dom/sub stuff. That would keep it easy for him. Easy for them both.
She wasn't in the mood for easy.
Moving to him, she cupped his nape. He was more than ready for her, meeting her mouth with an abundance of banked hunger. She braced her feet when he would have pushed her against the counter, instead holding him with one hand on his neck and the other against his chest. His fingers curled into her waist and hips like talons, holding her belt loops. She teased and tangled with his tongue, slowed them down. Putting a palm flat on his chest, she broke the kiss.
"Take all of it off and stay here until I come back."
She would have enjoyed watching him remove his clothes, but she gave up that pleasure to invest in another form of indulgence. Going to her playroom, she set out what she wanted and covered the items with a towel so he couldn't immediately see them when she brought him there.
Returning to her kitchen, she found he hadn't obeyed her. He stood fully dressed on the tile, fingers half curled at his sides, his eyes broody and mouth set. The expression coupled with the darkness in the kitchen caused a ripple in her vitals and took her back to her internal debate in the car.
Yes, he wasn't entirely safe to bring home. Tyler would have snarled at her for it, but sometimes a Mistress or Master had to follow instincts and rely on emergency services to do their job if the worst happened.
The spurt of grim humor came with the memory of the night Tyler had agreed to let Marguerite top him in a semi-public session. He'd tapped a bad internal trigger, one that made her lose control and beat the hell out of him. But whatever breakthrough they'd had that night had made him say, more than once, that it was the best error of judgment he'd ever made. So if he wanted to lecture her, she'd just remind him of that. Though Tyler being Tyler, an old school Southern male, he'd say without an ounce of shame that it was different, because he was male and Regina was female. Yeah, right.
"Problem?" she asked, her tone neutral.
Marius shook his head. "I think I'm going to go. Shifting gears like this. I wasn't expecting it." He stopped, obviously struggling with what he was really trying to say. Or how to escape without actually saying it.
"Okay. Fair enough. You want to split some of the spinach puffs I had them box up, and take them home with you?"
His gaze lifted to hers, slowly. "I'm not invited into a woman's house often." He moved another step toward her, fingers flexing at his sides. The shadows cloaked his eyes now, making them impossible to read. "Not alone, like this."
The alarm tingle got a lot stronger. She moved forward, so she could see his eyes. He had a cool, detached stare, but a lot was happening behind it. He was fighting on a battleground far from here, and this golem left in his stead might still spill blood in her kitchen. If she left him here, and walked calmly into her living room, she could make it to the rear patio door and be outside in a blink, within calling distance of plenty of help. And--
