I Spy a Naughty Game

“Yeah, I get you. But know this — given the choice, fired or not, I’d do the same thing again. Nobody stands between me and her, period. I’m sure you can get that.”

A few tense moments ticked by, but the explosion he half expected never came. He waited until Michael broke eye contact and turned away, joined the two Feds, and disappeared down the hallway before taking Emma’s hand and walking off.

He meant what he’d said. The day he didn’t go after Emma was the day they put him in the ground.

The pang of remorse Emma had felt at not being able to visit J.C. was eclipsed by the larger-than-life presence of the big man at her side. God, she’d missed him. Had come too close to never seeing him again.

And she’d hurt him. Oh, he’d acted tough, but he hadn’t been able to hide his feelings — at least, not quickly enough. Yet he’d done essentially the same thing — right? Was it different because she’d slept with a man, the opposite sex, and he’d been with someone of the same sex? Was that a double standard?

Maybe. But oddly enough, it didn’t bother her to know he’d been with another man. In fact, it kind of… turned her on. More than a little. Another woman? That would’ve hurt, as she’d no doubt done to him.

Miserable, she watched as the nurse finished cleaning his cut with antiseptic and gave him a shot. Since no stitches were needed, the nurse covered the cut with a bandage and declared him fit to leave.

Thanking the nurse, Blaze took Emma’s hand and led her from the hospital, downstairs and through the compound, and out to his car.

“Where are we going?”

“Home, to sleep.”

She peered at him in the predawn light just beginning to peek over the horizon. “Home?”

“My house,” he clarified. “I’m exhausted and you must be, too. I don’t have the energy to drive you to your house and then drive myself home, even if I was willing to do that, which I’m not.”

“Why not?”

“You’re safer with me, and that’s where you’ll stay. We’ll pick up some of your stuff tomorrow. Or later today, I mean. Shit, I’m so tired I don’t know what I mean.”

“So am I, which is probably why I’m not kicking your butt for ordering me around,” she grumped.

“No, you just know I’m right and won’t admit it. If you have a flaw, that’s the one.”

“Oh, really?” He unlocked the car. She slid in and frowned at him, annoyed. “What flaw?”

“Your damned pride. When I’m wrong, I admit it.”

“I won’t dignify that with a response.”

“You need time to come up with one, more like.”

“Whatever.”

His sexy laugh made her scowl, because she knew he was right. Her pride often got in the way, like now. “Okay, you’ve got a point,” she muttered.

“What? Can’t hear you.”

“I said you’re right, you jackass. I’m probably safer at your house until Dietz is caught. Satisfied?”

“For now.” He grinned at her. “Maybe by then you won’t want to leave.”

She stared at him, unsure how to answer. Fortunately, he turned his attention to the road again and fell silent, leaving her to gather her wits. She could easily envision them together, forever. Falling even more deeply in love with him than she already was, completely entwining their lives and their future.

Who knows how far they’d now be as a couple if things hadn’t gone so horribly wrong?

Emma recalled the last time she’d been here, months ago. The night of their terrible argument, when he’d come clean with her about his lifestyle as a D/s master. Handsome face excited, nervous, and full of hope, he’d said he had something he wanted to share with her, and he’d taken her downstairs.

To the BDSM dungeon in his basement. She’d been shocked, but now she knew her reaction had been knee- jerk and completely unfair to him. She’d shut him down without even giving him — them — a chance and had torn out his heart, and hers, in the process.

“What the hell is all of this?”

“It’s my playroom, Emma. I’m a Dom, and—”

“What? Like whips and chains? You beat on people, tie them up?”

“No! I mean yes, but it’s for both of our pleasure. You liked when I cuffed you and tied you up, remember? Total submission is the highest sexual peak a body can reach. I started as a sub myself and worked up to being a master, and I’d never do anything to you I haven’t personally experienced.”

“I–I don’t know. Why can’t we just be a normal couple?”

“Come on, baby. Give it a try and you won’t regret it. Do you really want your only flavor to be vanilla for the rest of your life? Seriously? I promise you I’ll show you a whole new world of pleasure you never knew existed.”

For a minute, she’d actually considered it.

“I can’t do this, Blaze. I don’t belong in your world, and you’d never be satisfied in mine.”

“It’s who I am. Please, baby, give me — us — a chance.”

“No, it’s not who you are! It’s just a perverted game, and if we meant that much, you could walk away!”

“You’d ask that of me? To give up a part of my soul?”

“Hell, yes! You asked me to compromise mine!”

The devastation on his face just before she fled was a memory that still pierced her heart. She understood now why he’d taken refuge in his world at the club, why he’d drowned his sorrow the only way he knew how.

Looking back, she couldn’t blame him for being excited about sharing his dungeon with her. She had liked being tied up, although she’d run from that realization afterward. Had run from Blaze and his enthusiasm for teaching her his world.

“What are you doing?”

“Easy, darlin’. You trust me — right?”

Slowly, she nodded. Inside, she was jelly.

When he attached her wrists to each post on his bed with soft cuffs, she teetered on the edge of excitement and panic. To his credit, he worked slowly, making certain she was comfortable.

She lay on her back, pillow under her hips. When he parted her thighs and knelt between them, her heart pounded in her chest. She’d never been restrained in any way during sex and wasn’t sure she liked it. But his clever tongue soon made her forget the cuffs, blew to dust any thought except wanting more of him licking her pussy, feasting on her juices. He suckled and laved, driving her mindless until she writhed under the delicious assault, begging him to fuck her.

Rising to his knees, he lifted her, settling her legs over his shoulders. Then he pushed into her, so big, filling her completely. She cried out as he speared her again and again, working his cock in and out of her pussy like a piston. All too soon, her orgasm sent her flying into tiny pieces, and he followed, pumping her with cum.

“Good girl. You did well, Emma.”

She hesitated. The praise seemed strange, but she smiled. “Thanks. You weren’t so bad yourself.”

“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?”

“You know I did.”

His gaze was hopeful. “There’s more to experience, if you’re willing.”

“Like what?”

“Has anyone ever introduced you to rope play?” Her blank stare was all the answer he needed, and he smiled. “I want to try something new.”

She watched in equal parts trepidation and fascination as he pulled out and retrieved a long section of neon blue rope from a nearby chest. Bringing the rope back to the bed, he set it on the covers and