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He reached for the rope on her wrist as she slipped it free from the loose knot, reminding him of how she’d truly acquiesced to him. Once again he cursed her hard limits that said he couldn’t hold her during aftercare, realizing he may need it more than she did.
When he moved on to the other wrist, disappointment flooded him that their time was up, but somehow happiness washed alongside it, too. He needed to think and understand her. “No pleasuring yourself when you’re not with me. That is my one rule for our month. Tell me what I mean.”
“I think I got it”—she rolled her eyes—“no masturbating.”
She had left off the sir now, and he was damn sure she’d done that on purpose. Her eyes were practically on fire now. To him, it seemed he’d angered her when he had gained her submission so very easily. He wouldn’t react, as he didn’t want her to trap him in her bad habits. Though as he searched into the depths of her soul, he realized that when he touched her intimately is when she went silent and submitted.
Interesting.
“That’s right,” he replied. “For the next month, your pleasure belongs to me.”
She frowned. “For only this one month, I’m fine with that.”
He smirked at her word choices. Not really giving him the power, was she? She changed the wording so it made it seem as if she was making the decision. That might bother some Doms. It didn’t bother Porter. Especially now that he had seen what she was hiding from everyone. He had seen her tamed, tasted her submission. Under his mastery.
Whatever crossed his expression made her glare at him. “Just because I’ve agreed to it doesn’t mean your rule isn’t stupid.”
She never disappointed him with that saucy mouth. He leaned down into her face and loved the hitch of her breath. “Ah, kitten, keep hissing at me. I’m becoming rather fond of it.”
Chapter Four
The Book Nook bookstore, located on the west end of the Vegas strip, was quaint, smelled like old tomes and dust, and was perfect, in Kenzie’s eyes. She strode through the store and the floorboards creaked beneath her as she passed the books on the antique wooden bookcases that had been there since the store was built in the late sixties.
She reached the romance section and stepped into the thin row between the bookcases, and she smiled. This past year, BDSM contemporary romance had been a big hit. The shelves were now filled with similar erotic stories. Covers of bound hands, of a diamond necklace, or even handcuffs were featured throughout the section. Kenzie had never felt more at home than this last season. Her sales had also never been better.
Gran would’ve been proud of what she’d done with the store. She had raised Kenzie after her mother’s death when she was eleven years old, and it had been only the two of them since her grandfather passed when Kenzie was a toddler. Her relationship with Gran had been special. There were no secrets between them, and Gran would’ve been amused that Kenzie’s alternative lifestyle had become such a hot read for women.
“My dear, whatever makes you happy is all that matters” was what Gran had said after Kenzie had told her that she attended a BDSM club, because Gran demanded to know where she got the bruises on her arm. Then Gran, with her soft blue eyes, winked and said, “I might be old, dear, but in my day, I knew how to have fun, too.”
Kenzie remembered laughing so much that day. She had thought Gran would be mortified, but she figured Gran was more worried that she was possibly being abused. That’s why she loved her grandmother. She was the most nonjudgmental woman Kenzie had known, and so full of love. That is, until Kenzie met other submissives like herself. Women who needed the kinky things other women didn’t.
With a sigh, she placed a book on the shelf, feeling her chest swell with pride. She missed Gran—who had been the only family she had, except for aunts and uncles she talked to infrequently, usually on holidays. All through high school, Kenzie worked at the store, and it was just assumed that she’d manage the store when Gran retired.
When Gran had died just after Kenzie’s twenty-second birthday, she’d given Kenzie the store in her will, along with the small apartment above. With all that Gran had done for her, including leaving her with a sizable bank account, Kenzie simply wanted Gran back. Her heart grew heavy as she scanned the store; she had changed little, here or in the apartment above, to keep the memory of Gran alive. Closing her eyes, her mood darkened, far more than i
t had in a really long time. Her mind wasn’t clouded like it usually was after a weekend in Club Sin. Her thoughts were all too clear.
She remembered happy memories of Gran.
Kenzie liked the happy memories, but the happy memories didn’t stay long. Painful ones always followed. Last night, Porter gave her nothing to ease that strain, and, in fact, only increased it. But yet somehow he had made her mind forget to make things difficult for him, to push him to bring her to the level of pain she required to implode the hurt she contained.
She never doubted the chemistry between them, and sexually she wanted him, but now she couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to it. Perhaps it went deeper than attraction—maybe something could really develop between them.
If she allowed it, of course, and she wouldn’t.
She had stopped more potential relationships in their tracks than she could count. Now she needed to keep her wits about her and hold on to the distance that kept her safe. If she let herself love, the past would return to haunt her and she’d be forced to share it. She refused to let that pain control her future. Firmly believing she had everything under wraps, she opened her eyes and ran her fingertips over the spine of a book, reminding herself why she couldn’t get too close to Porter.
Kenzie skipped behind the group of four older kids in excitement that her sister had let her hang out with the older crowd. She ran her hands over the long grass, feeling it tickle across her palms. Summer camp was always fun, but now that Kenzie was ten years old, it had become even better. She wasn’t the little sister anymore. And her sister, Joslyn, included her more with her friends.
Once she’d caught up to the two girls and the two very cute boys that reminded her of some of the boys on her posters at home, she noticed they’d arrived at a river that went through the town. She took in the tall railway bridge to her right, and then noticed a cement dam farther down the river.
Everyone began taking off their clothes, wearing bathing suits underneath. Her sister laughed in her easy way. “Come on, Kenzie, don’t be such a chicken. Jump in.”
Her sister’s blond hair waved in the air, and her brown eyes were twinkling with mischief. Joslyn was fourteen years old, and Kenzie hoped to be just like Joslyn when she grew up.
Her sister was beautiful.
At Kenzie’s hesitation, Joslyn shoved her arm, and Kenzie focused on the water and noticed the dam again. There were signs everywhere that said not to go in, but sweat slid over Kenzie’s skin, the sun beaming across her body. The water would feel good. Yet something made her pause. Danger, her senses told her.
