Bare Knuckle: Vegas Top Guns, Book 5 (38 page)

Trish’s pale blue eyes widened as she looked from him to the glimmering diamond. He’d taken a long time selecting the perfect ring, an emerald-cut center with balanced baguettes alongside. The stone was only a quarter karat, but Eric had made sure it was as flawless as his showgirl.

Her bottom lip shimmered with gloss, and her eyes with tears. “Eric?”

“I don’t need note cards this time.” He held her hand, thumb smoothing over her delicate skin. “I love you, Patricia Beauregard.”

Her throat clenched. “I love you too.”

“I need you in my life. I’d be a lesser man without you and your endless optimism. It still blows my mind that you want to share the good and the bad with me. I want to be there with you. Good and bad.” He took a deep breath and smiled. “Will you marry me?”

She was incandescent. He loved being the one to have given that to her. If he had any say, he’d make it the purpose of his life.

“Yes, Eric. I’ll marry you.”

He slipped the ring onto her left hand then cupped her face. “Thank God, showgirl. I didn’t want to have to haul you out of here just to talk you into it.”

“There’s my caveman.” She laughed, loud enough to gather a few stares. Attention from random strangers hadn’t ever been his thing. But it didn’t matter. Nothing else did.

Not so long as Trish was his.

Author’s Note

The 64
^th
Aggressor Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit assigned to the 57
^th
Adversary Tactics Group, stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, Nevada. The pilots’ objectives are as we’ve described: to fly as adversaries against allied pilots from around the world, teaching them to better counter enemy tactics. The unit dates back to WWII when it participated in multiple theaters of operation.

Now, the 64
^th
and other “bandits” from the 57
^th
ATG regularly conduct dogfighting simulations in the United States, known as Red Flags, and Maple Flag exercises in conjunction with Canadian Forces. They also add their expertise to the USAF’s Weapons School syllabus and travel the country to provide training and test mission support to various units.

All individuals described in this story are fictitious. Research mistakes are entirely our own.

In the meantime, we enjoy assuming that at least one of these dedicated, highly skilled bandits is a keen shutterbug.

About the Author

Katie Porter is the writing team of Carrie Lofty and Lorelie Brown, who’ve been friends and critique partners for seven years. Both are multi-published in historical and paranormal romance. Carrie has an MA in history, while Lorelie is a US Army veteran. Generally a high-strung masochist, Carrie loves weight training and has no fear of gross things like dissecting formaldehyde sharks. Her two girls are not appreciative. Lorelie, a laid-back sadist, would rather grin maniacally when Carrie works out. Her three boys love how she screams like a little girl around spiders.

To learn more about the authors who make up Katie, visit
www.katieporterbooks.com
or
www.Facebook.com/MsKatiePorter
, or follow them on Twitter at
@MsKatiePorter
,
@carrielofty
and
@LorelieBrown
.

Look for these titles by Katie Porter

Now Available:

Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Vegas Top Guns

Double Down

Inside Bet

Hold ’Em

Hard Way

Club Devant

Lead and Follow

Chains and Canes

Coming Soon:

Club Devant

Watch and Wait

Pretty and Twisted

Blaze and Betrayal

The Boston Boys

Own

Snap

Bind

A Dom double-teamed by two submissives? He doesn’t stand a chance.

Chains and Canes

© 2013 Katie Porter

Club Devant, Book 2

Wealthy businessman Daniel Baker doesn’t have a creative bone in his body, but he knows art and craves beauty. Contemporary dancer Naya Ortiz, his fiancée of three years, embodies both. His protective commitment to her happiness extends to hiring Dominas to satisfy the sexual masochism she craves.

The balance of their relationship is tipped when Naya dances with reckless Cajun choreographer Remy Lomand. His magnetism as a Dom carries over to a backstage encounter that leaves Naya breathless—and Daniel unable to look away.

Remy knows the deal. The fancy people want to play with a disposable boy toy. He’s fine with that…but not with letting Daniel remain a bystander. As their sessions intensify, Remy guides Daniel’s awakening as a sexual submissive. Their no-strings threesome reveals the physical connection Daniel and Naya have lacked—and the emotional depth Remy fears.

When Remy and Naya tirelessly work to found a professional dance company, Daniel is left on the outside looking in. And although he and Naya are ready to submit to Remy for the rest of their lives, the man they call
Sir
may not want their love at all.

Warning: A sexy-as-hell Cajun choreographer plays slap, tickle, chains and canes with a caliente Puerto Rican dancer and her repressed businessman fiancé. What could possibly go wrong?

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Chains and Canes:

“Naya’s safe word is red.”

“My, oh my. Safe words and everything.” Remy rubbed a thumb over the edge of the belt wrapped around his hand. Even that small twitch made his carved biceps shift all the way up to the shoulder decorated by a circular black tattoo. He lowered his arrogant chin, his expression filled with mirth. “Did you two learn that from a naughty book? Maybe one with a black-and-white cover?”

Daniel chuckled. He hadn’t expected to like Remy’s dry sense of humor. It should’ve been enough to see the liquid way he moved, as if he were the personification of dance, even off the stage. Just like Naya. The bonus was a whipcord-fast mind and bitingly incisive observations.

“No,” Daniel said. “We’ve been at this a while. You’ll see.”

If he were a different man, he would’ve jerked Naya’s thick hair and forced her to her knees in a deliberate echo of Remy’s backstage behavior. The problem was that he
wasn’t
that man. The right moves occurred to him, knowing intimately what Naya craved…but it wasn’t in him to bring her down.

Remy didn’t have that problem. At all. “On your knees, hands behind your neck. Present your pretty self to me.”

Daniel’s stomach flipped with a surge of excitement. Naya dropped. Her knees spread to shoulder width apart, toes together behind her ass. She lifted her elbows, which dragged the T-shirt up to display her flat stomach. She buried her hands beneath the glossy fall of her hair.

Unable to help himself, Daniel stepped back. He wasn’t supposed to be in that tableau, not when Remy loomed over Naya. The Cajun was a sinuous curve of muscle and tendon. His dark hair skimmed the back of his neck and stood up straight on top, as if he’d run his fingers through it before getting off the elevator.

Naya’s gaze dropped to the renewable wood floors. The bamboo had been polished to such a shine that she’d be able to see them both watching her. She’d feed off that. Submissive and showoff together. The worst punishment a Domina had ever inflicted was ordering Naya to put her nose in the corner. The blonde had left her there for over twenty minutes.

That unpleasant memory returned Daniel to the topic of rules. They’d learned so much as a couple, despite the fact Daniel had never lifted a hand to do her harm. “No blood play. No needles or permanent marks. Humiliation does nothing for her.”

“There’s a difference between humiliation and being presented such a lovely gift.” Remy’s gaze roamed over her beautiful pose. Then he looked up and pinned Daniel with his magnetism. A simple silver bar pierced his right eyebrow, accentuating his eyes.
Look at me,
it said.
Pay attention here. I’ll teach you things.

“Permission to speak?” Naya asked in a soft voice. Her tone was different now. She wasn’t the firebrand who could drill a phrase of steps into two dozen dancers in just a few minutes. She’d already hit that headspace, which Daniel desired almost as much as she did.

His chest clenched on a greedy jolt. This was the good stuff, his angel reaching her full potential and happiness.

He lifted his eyebrows at Remy. “Well?”

The grin that shaped Remy’s finely carved features was…slinky. Knowledgeable. “Am I in charge yet? No other rules? You’re leaving me a lot of room to play. I like that.”

There were other things Daniel could say. Warnings that Naya wouldn’t fuck Remy, that the sexual aspect was something only Daniel shared with her. After she came down, safe and cared for, she always turned to him.

Except for the first time, he didn’t want to say that. He didn’t want to…close it off.

“If Naya says red, it’s all off. No matter what.”

“Of course. A gentleman always respects a lady’s wishes. I decided awful young I didn’t want to be a man who didn’t.”

He dipped his head, which made Daniel wonder once again what secrets he hid. Some of them, at least, were unhappy.

Only Remy didn’t look unhappy now. “Permission granted, sweetling.”

He’d made her wait all that time, assured that she
would
wait. That it was his
right
to make her wait. Daniel could’ve achieved the same display of authority around a boardroom table. Easily. That would have involved strategy and power and defeating lesser opponents. None of that applied to the woman he loved.

Her lashes fluttered. The face-down pose didn’t permit a hint of her thoughts, but Daniel read how her shoulders remained curved and loose, even with the hands behind her neck still perfectly poised. With her dancer’s physique, holding the position was nothing too strenuous. Instead it was the meaning of it, kneeling at the feet of two men.

She cleared her throat, as if asking permission again. “I don’t know what to call you.”

That was new. Daniel flicked his attention between Naya’s down-turned head and Remy’s. On previous occasions, she’d waited for her Dominant’s instructions. Naya had never asked.

Remy passed his hand over the crest of her head, softly stroking her hair before tangling his fingers into the heavy mass. Naya lifted her face against what had to be a bite of pain. Her eyes were hazy, lids at half-mast. Her dusky-pink lips parted.

She looked beautiful.

“You may call me Sir.” Remy’s words hit a deeper timbre. Rougher. More assured. “Go to the couch. Stay on your knees. Keep your hands where they are. I want to see those gorgeous tits of yours take the lead.”

A growl tightened Daniel’s chest. “I warned you about humiliation.”

The look Remy snapped toward him was electric and powerful. He knew that look, when he flashed his power around the business world, when necessity meant taking down ambitious hotheads.

“Did the girl say red?”

“No.”

“Then
I’m
the one giving a warning. I know what I’m doing. We all know it, or I wouldn’t be here. I heard what you had to say, Daniel. Red means red. Decide whether you can abide by that rule, or we don’t play at all.”

Daniel’s first thought was
fuck off
, but he shoved that reaction down, far away. They were so close, sitting on the edge of something new. Giving up at this point wasn’t what he’d hoped. This was for Naya. This was about giving her what she needed while he enjoyed the beautiful view.

Remy had been right. Naya hadn’t said a thing. No safe word.

Underneath her slim-cut shirt, her nipples had beaded into sharp points. She gave Daniel a tiny nod. Many people would’ve missed it, but in that moment, between the two of them, it spoke volumes. She was still on track.

Daniel met Remy’s challenging stare and said, “Fine. Your way.”

“Good.” The word was a long, dark purr. “Now stand behind the couch. Decide where you want Naya to kneel. She’ll look right at you as she takes every one of my blows.”

Fuck, Daniel was hard. And so early. That hadn’t happened before either, not before Naya actually started crying out in relieved pain.

But he went. Without even thinking about it. He’d reached a place where he wasn’t sure how or why he was playing along…but he definitely was.

He stood behind the couch, midway between matching end tables. White leather stretched smooth beneath his hands. The supple material wouldn’t absorb wetness. Tiny salt trails would mark the path of Naya’s tears.

If Remy could even get her there.

It was a small doubt, but Daniel felt the need to prepare should this go wrong. Naya’s disappointment would far outweigh his own. He’d shaped a huge portion of their life around
not
disappointing Naya. She was the star he wanted to see rising in the sky.