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“I’m going to take Lucia upstairs for a little more intensive aftercare,” Master Anthony said, gathering her closer against his chest. “We’ll see you at dinner.”
Once they were gone, Beau reached up to release Lia’s wrists from the overhead ring. Before she could sag to the ground, he caught her in his arms. But instead of gathering her close as Master Anthony had done, he only helped her lower herself to a seated position on the mat.
Turning from her, he opened the mini fridge and removed a bottle of chilled water. Twisting off the cap, he crouched beside her and gave her the bottle.
“Thank you, Sir,” she murmured gratefully.
She held her breath as his fingers traced feather-light patterns over her thigh. He was so close she could smell the enticing scent of his clean sweat and masculine musk. Catching her eye, he smiled, his lips softening into a warm, inviting curve that made her heart race. His fingers still dancing over her skin, he dipped his head toward hers.
Her previous irritation with her trainer for withholding orgasm for the second time that day vanished, replaced by a jittery, thrilling anticipation.
Oh my god! He’s going to kiss me! Oh, oh, oh!
She lifted her face to his, the butterflies in her stomach circling in a swarm and taking off en masse, her entire body buzzing with excitement.
She could feel his warm breath on her cheek. Her eyes fluttered shut as her lips parted.
He planted a perfunctory peck on her cheek.
Her eyes flew open.A tumult of emotions—confusion, fury, embarrassment, longing—swept through her like a tide, nearly carrying her away with it.
Beau was already on his feet. He held out a hand to her. “You need a shower,” he said in a brisk, no-nonsense tone. “Let’s go get you cleaned up.”
He turned away, but not before she noticed the very clear outline of a full erection pressing against his black jeans.
Ha,she thought with bitter satisfaction.So, the bastard’s not totally immune after all.
Chapter 20
Beau remained in the bedroom while Lia showered. His damn cock ached. He thought about Anthony and Lucia, who were ensconced in their suite just down the hall. No doubt, Anthony was making love to his slave girl—a natural and fitting end to an intense scene.
If nothing else, these few days of training Lia in a place filled with loving, committed M/s relationships had really brought home how long he’d been alone.
Renee and he had been together for over two years and he’d genuinely believed she was the woman he would marry. Their physical attraction had been powerful and immediate. She was stunningly beautiful and as heavily into BDSM as he was. The intensity of their D/s connection had allowed him to overlook warning signs that had probably been there all along.
The pain of losing her had been compounded by the humiliation of being cuckolded. The out-of-town conference he’d been attending had ended a day earlier than scheduled. He’d caught an early flight back to Charlotte, thinking to surprise Renee, who worked from home. He’d surprised her, all right, along with her personal trainer, the pair of them in bed. Talk about a cliché.
Apparently overcome with remorse, she’d begged Beau for another chance. It had been an impromptu, stupid thing, she’d assured him tearfully. A one-time lapse in judgment. He was her true Master, she’d sobbed, prostrate with apparent grief as she begged him for forgiveness. She would suffer any punishment he decreed, if only he’d give her another chance.
While it didn’t sit right with him to exact some kind of penance in a BDSM context, he’d believed she was sincere in her remorse.Still in love, he’d been willing to try and patch things up.
Until he’d caught her againa few months later, this time with a guy she’d apparently met online through a BDSM hookup site. Fool me once…
The breakup had shaken him to his core and made him doubt himself. What had been lacking in him that had led her astray? If he’d been a more attentive lover, a sterner Master, a better man, would she have stayed true?
The passage of time blunted the worst of his pain, though a part of him had continued to hope she’d come back to him. Eventually, he heard from a mutual friend that she’d hooked up with some billionaire movie producer and had moved to California. It was only then that he accepted she was gone for good.
Eventually, he’d returned to the BDSM clubs, ready at last to move on. But the scar tissue that had built up around his wounded heart made it hard for him to trust again.
He had met attractive, sexy women in the scene, and even brought one or two of them home. But nothing had lasted. Even Sakura, as enchanting and utterly submissive as she’d been, had only been a rebound relationship, one with a built-in expiration date when he returned to the States.
Instead, he’d focused on his career, losing himself in his PhD work, telling himself he had plenty of time to find love again, or let it find him. Somehow three years had slipped by. He was thirty-five and, to quote Lia’s mother, “Not getting any younger.”
He resolved to change that aspect of his life going forward. He was in a new town with a new job and new possibilities. Thoughts of Renee, when he thought of her at all, no longer made him sad or angry. Yes, there remained a certain wistfulness, but he was relieved to realize he’d finally well and truly moved on.
He was ready to open his heart again. He would find a new submissive for his own. Someone strong and feisty, but completely submissive to her Dom. Someone like Lia, perhaps, though a decade older. The Garden, the BDSM club Anthony owned in town, would be an excellent place to start.
He heard the shower water turn off. His cock, he was relieved to see, had deflated sufficiently so as not to be embarrassing. Lia appeared in the bathroom doorway, toweling her cotton-candy mop, looking sexier than she had a right to. Damn if his balls weren’t tightening again.
