great deal of mascara.
“Your safeword?” Liam guessed, using the sleeve of his black turtleneck to gently wipe her cheeks.
She nodded, looking at Patrick, her chin quivering. “I tried to say… I tried…”
“But we hadn’t even started,” Patrick whispered, his expression moving from anger to confusion.
“You need to pay attention!” Liam roared and Katie shrank back from him as he shifted focus to his brother. “Every minute. Every second. Every single fucking breath. ” Liam’s jaw clenched as he turned back to Katie, his massive hands gentle as he loosened her wrist straps, moving more carefully when he saw the fear in her eyes.
“I told you that you weren’t ready for this!” Liam’s words were meant for his brother but she felt them resonate in her belly like a tuning fork.
Patrick stood, blinking, his crop forgotten, falling to the floor. “Rookie mistake?” he whispered, his face pained as he watched his brother take Katie down from the restraints, her body collapsing. Liam cradled her against his chest.
“Not to her,” Liam snapped, his voice growing quiet as he shifted his attention. “What’s your name?”
“K-K-Katie…” she managed. She was shivering now, uncontrollably, although she had no idea why. She tried to speak, to tell him what had happened, that it was just a mistake, she’d made a mistake, but no words would come out, just little hitches in her throat from crying so hard.
“We’re going to get you dressed now, Katie, okay?” Liam stroked her hair as he reached behind her to unfasten her leg restraints one-handed. She clung to him-he was solid as a tree trunk, but far more pliable and warm. He got her other leg undone and pulled her fully into his arms.
“Patrick, hand me that blanket.” There was a black one in the corner, meant for sensory deprivation, Katie guessed-she’d read extensively about the subject. It was soft and Liam wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her slowly to a standing position, but her legs felt like jelly and wouldn’t hold her, so he scooped her up, his arm under her knees, like she was just a little bit of fluff, carrying her over to the big bed in the corner.
“Patrick, get me a glass of milk,” Liam ordered, sitting on the edge of the bed. Katie couldn’t quite grasp what was happening. Her mind felt as if it was going in slow-motion, not able to catch up.
“Milk?”
“Go!” Liam growled, waving his brother away. Patrick left, looking for all the world like a puppy slinking away with his tail tucked between his legs. Even still in costume, shirtless with his leather pants and snakeskin boots, to Katie, he looked like a little boy playing dress-up in his father’s clothes.
“I’m sorry.” Liam apologized, letting out a pent-up breath and wrapping the blanket more tightly around her. “Your first time?”
Katie nodded against his chest, not wanting to open her eyes and look at him-at anything. She wished she could disappear, or wake up from this crazy dream she was having.
“How did he find you?” His hand smoothed her dark hair down her back, the motion incredibly soothing. Her trembling was beginning to subside.
“I answered an ad, on…on Craigslist,” she admitted with a whisper.
“Sonofabitch.” His jaw tightened again. She could feel it. His arms around her tightened too. “Finally!”
Katie opened her eyes to see Patrick had reappeared holding a glass filled with milk.
“You stay right here.” Liam put her gently on the bed. It was covered in black silk-sheets, duvet cover. Except for the red heart accent pillows. Somehow she found those sweet-and strangely amusing. It made her want to giggle and she did, trying to stifle the sound with her hand.
“What’s the matter with her?” Patrick whispered to his brother as Liam took the glass of milk over to the dresser. There were candles there, unlit, and a decanter filled with amber colored fluid.
“Shock,” Liam said shortly, pouring from the decanter into the milk.
“I don’t understand,” Patrick whispered, looking back over his shoulder at Katie. He was looking at her like she had three heads or something. She hugged the blanket more tightly around her, even pulling her feet up underneath, as if she could make herself completely disappear. “She gave her consent. Everything was fine, and then all of a sudden…”
“It can happen. That fast.” Liam turned to his brother, holding the milk glass in his hand, cloudy with alcohol. “I’ve told you time and again, Patrick-you’re a top. You’re not a dominant. You can’t do what I do.”
Katie blinked up at Liam as he approached, holding the milk out to her. “Drink this.”
She reached for the glass, studying the liquid with a frown. She knew what Lori would say-could hear her friend screeching in her head about being drugged and raped and dismembered-but when she looked into the man’s eyes, she trusted him. Utterly. Completely. She took the milk and began to drink.
“Good girl.” When he smiled, just a brief flash, she thought she might faint. The world actually tilted sideway for a moment, and she clutched her glass like a little girl, her blanket falling away from her shoulders, making her shiver.
“Patrick, hand me her clothes.”
Liam took her half-empty glass and set it aside as he helped her get dressed. She flushed bright pink as he slid her panties-sexy, black lace, bought just for the occasion-up her thighs. He even turned her around so he could hook her bra before helping her pull the soft, brown cashmere sweater she’d worn over her head. Her hair stuck out, full of static, and he smoothed it before sitting her down on the bed, getting her into her jeans, one leg at a time.
“Drink,” Liam instructed, putting the glass back in her hands and sitting beside her on the bed. She did as she was told, watching as he took one of her bare feet into his lap. In spite of the fact that he’d just seen her completely nude and had rectified that situation mostly himself, there was something incredibly intimate about watching him put on her socks for her.
“Shoes?” Liam glared at his brother and Patrick produced a pair of brown clogs. Liam raised an eyebrow, looking at her. “These aren’t exactly made for the weather, are they?”
She flushed, murmuring against the lip of the glass. “They’re fashionable.”
He didn’t say anything as he slipped them on her feet, taking Katie’s offered coat from Patrick.
“Think you can stand now?” Liam asked.
“I’m fine.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed and slid off, setting the milk on the night table beside it. The world tilted again as she stood, but when she wobbled, Liam was right there at her elbow, solid as a rock.
“I’m sorry, Katie…” Patrick said as he watched his brother help her with her coat.
She smiled at him, trying to remind herself who he was. Oh right, he’s the guy from the ad, the one who was supposed to do all those things I wanted… For some reason, she’d almost forgotten he existed at all!
“It wasn’t your fault,” she murmured, Liam’s hands on her shoulders warm and heavy, a delightful weight.
“Oh it was, decidedly, his fault.” Liam’s voice was low and serious as he glared at his brother, retrieving Katie’s purse from the dresser where she’d left it. “How did you get here?”
“I drove.” She took her purse. Yes, she vaguely remembered bringing it with her, setting it on the dresser, looking at Patrick in his leather pants and snakeskin boots. They’d seemed so sexy at the time, but now all she could see was the hulk of a man in front of her, his gaze never leaving her face.
“I’m going to drive you home,” Liam told her, reaching around her to pick up the glass of milk. “Patrick will follow in your car.”
“That’s not necessary.” Sanity was beginning to return-at least, she thought it was. She was embarrassed by her actions. By this whole situation.
“Yes it is,” Liam insisted, holding the glass out. There was only a little bit left. “Drink the rest.”
She did, dutifully, and blushed when Liam used his sleeve-the one he hadn’t used to wipe her face earlier-to dab the milk mustache from her upper lip.
“Feel a little better?”
“Thank you.” She smiled up at him, buttoning her coat, strangely much more steady on her feet now, in spite of the alcohol. “You really don’t have to drive me home.”
“Keys.” Liam shook his head, holding his hand out to take them when she retrieved her key ring from her coat pocket. “I don’t want you driving, not in your condition. Besides, it’s snowing.”
“It is?” she asked as he handed her car keys over to Patrick, Liam guiding her up the stairs. Outside, the
