Hers to Choose (Cannon Cousins)
Read Hers to Choose (Cannon Cousins) Online
Authors: Lizzie Ashworth
Hers to Choose
By
Lizzie Ashworth
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This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference
might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names,
characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely
coincidental.
Text copyright © Lizzie Ashworth 2013
All Rights Reserved
Cover Art:
istockphoto
Warning: This e-book contains sexually explicit scenes
and adult language and may be considered offensive by some readers. This book
is for sale to adults only.
Disclaimer: Please do not try any new sexual
practice found in this book without the guidance of an experienced
practitioner. The author or publisher will not be responsible for any loss,
harm, injury, or death resulting from the information contained herein.
Bryn McClure raced up the back steps
of the old farmhouse and grabbed her phone off the table.
“Hello?”
“Miss McClure?”
“Yes?”
“Alex Cannon, we spoke
the other day about a hunting trip for me and my cousin Dan.”
“Yes.” She bit her lip
and gripped the phone more tightly.
“I understand you’re acquainted
with an old friend of mine, Wade Barnett.”
“Yes.” Should she say
anything about her conversation with Stephanie? Exactly how could she say that
she knew what he wanted, really?
He cleared his throat.
“Wade says I should ask you about a,
er
, special
favor I, uh, we, would want if we came there for a hunting trip. We would hunt,
of course. The place looks great on your website. That cabin—how old is that?”
“I think my granddad
built that one, but they say there was an earlier one in that spot before. I’m
the fifth generation,” she breathed, relief pouring through her at the chance
to talk about the land. “It really is beautiful here, and lots of deer. No one
has hunted in years, since my granddad…”
He
laughed,
a warm rolling sound that swept over her like a comfortable blanket.
“It sounds perfect. I’m
sure we’d enjoy ourselves, maybe get a trophy buck for both of us.” He cleared
his throat again. “But there is something else. I assume Wade has talked with
you?”
“His
wife, actually, Stephanie.
She mentioned your special request.”
“Submission—I understand
that’s the term. I don’t know much about it. My cousin Dan—he’s, well, there
have been some personal issues with him lately. I got this idea, knowing the
kind of man he is, and when I talked to Wade, he seemed to think the idea might
work.
“He, uh, Christ, this is
a lot harder to talk about than I thought. This idea—I think if Dan could,
er
, do some of this—stuff—he could get out of this dark
hole he’s in. Stuff, I mean, bondage and discipline,” he said in a strained
voice. “Hell, saying it out loud, I don’t even know you. Please don’t hang up.”
She laughed. Why did she
feel so attracted to this guy? Yes, he sounded genuinely nice. But attracted to
a voice? “I’m not hanging up, Mr. Cannon. I agree
,
it’s
an unusual topic.
Request.
I understand you guys don’t
have any experience with kink.”
“Thank you,” he exhaled.
“No experience. Whatever limits you want to set, however you want it to go, we
would abide by that. Wade says we could visit his place to see some sessions in
action.”
“That would probably
help.” She gripped the phone tighter. This had to be the craziest thing she had
come up with so far. But the back pay Thompson owed her might never
materialize. The new
parttime
job barely covered food
and gas. Everything in her life had come screeching down to this desperate last
hope. And it wasn’t like she exactly hated kink.
“I would be okay with
some scenes with your cousin.
For bondage.
Discipline.”
“Thank you,” he said
quietly.
They talked more. Their combined
nervousness slowly eased. By the time they got off the phone, Bryn felt eager
to meet Alex. Something about his personality traveled over the phone,
reassuring her, inciting her curiosity. Most of all, the assurance of enough
money to bring the farm’s mortgage out of foreclosure made her giddy with
relief. She washed up, put the eggs away, and smiled out the window as the day
shifted into dusk. Maybe she could get through this nightmare after all.
***
“Alex, damn it, this is ridiculous.”
Dan leaned forward in the seat with his elbows resting on his thighs, head in
his hands.
“You owe me,” Alex said,
shutting off the engine and staring at the nondescript building. “I assume you
remember punching me.”
“Yeah, I remember. I
admit I was an ass.
A drunken ass.
But you didn’t
mention hanging out with a bunch of
pervs
.”
“Not
pervs
.
It’s a lifestyle.
Or something.
Didn’t you read any of
the websites I forwarded?”
“No.”
Alex stuffed down his growing
frustration. “Look, I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to set this up.
Just go in there, watch for a while, and then you can leave.
You need to know how this is done before we go down there.”
“Alex, this whole thing
you’ve dreamed up—it’s absurd. Hunting?
And this bondage
thing?
I don’t want to beat on any woman—unless it’s
Cat.
”
His voice darkened. “I could definitely beat on that lying bitch.”
“It’s not beating, it’s
discipline. There are rules about how to do it, how far to go. People willingly
participate in this, it’s what they like.”
“Come on, Alex, just
drive me home. Surely you’ve got something to do beside annoy the hell out of
me.”
“Dan, this is the plan.
We’re sticking with it, you’re not weaseling out. So come on.”
Alex walked toward the
entrance and opened the door, waiting as Dan walked inside. Just getting him in
the door felt like a huge accomplishment. A girl with exposed breasts and short
leather skirt sat at a desk by the door. He closed his eyes and took a deep
breath. Christ.
Dan’s posture shifted,
maybe not quite as resistant.
After getting their
information and signatures on a form, she led them down a long hallway and
opened a door. Screams and other disturbing sounds cascaded out of the room. He
clenched his jaw. Maybe this wasn’t genius after all. Screaming? Dan glanced at
him with a wide-eyed look, questioning.
A muscular man with
bare chest and black leather pants walked toward them. “Alex? Hey, great to see
you again.
Been awhile.”
Alex shook hands with
Wade. Not quite the lanky guy he remembered from all those years ago in speech
class.
“My cousin, Dan.”
“Gentlemen, welcome to my
dungeon. As you can see, our members enjoy particular activities that some
might find strange. But I assure
you,
even the people
screaming are doing what they like.”
“That’s hard to believe,”
Dan muttered.
Alex gazed around the
room at a mind-boggling array of equipment and scenarios. Frames, chains, and
other equipment held naked or half naked people fastened in various
compromising positions. Aghast, he watched a woman fastened over a padded bench
with men going after her, one at each end. A woman cuffed to an x-shaped frame
shrieked as a large man landed another lash across her back, her buttocks and
thighs already crisscrossed with red marks. A naked man on all fours endured
similar torment at the hand of a woman in black as he licked her boots. At
another station, a woman with her arms and legs shackled spread-eagle endured
several people fondling her breasts, her genitals, her whole body, some of them
using little vibrators. She moaned as clamps were fastened to her nipples, and
her body sagged. All around the room similar scenes played out in shocking
detail.
“It’s a lot to absorb, if
this is your first exposure to BDSM,” Wade said cheerfully, walking alongside
them as they strolled through the huge dim room. “For people into this,
membership here offers safety of rules and oversight as well as all the
equipment they might want for their play.”
They stopped at a curved
bar where several patrons chatted over drinks.
“Play?”
Dan stared at him. “You call this
play?”
“It
is
play,” Wade
replied. “Everyone involved in a scene has given specific permission for what
they like. It’s not random. Some people get off on pain. Others get off on
giving it. Some don’t like pain but they like humiliation.”
Alex didn’t want to look,
couldn’t expose himself to this one more minute. “Dan, I’m leaving you to it.
I’ll be back in an hour or so to pick you up.”
Dan had folded his arms,
watching more intently as the woman being whipped writhed against her cuffs.
“Okay, an hour.”
Alex hurried out of the
place, relieved as soon as the door closed shutting off the distant cries. He
sat in the truck trying to get the nauseated feeling out of his throat. What
the hell had he set in motion? None of this made sense. Dan? This woman he’d
never met? Was Dan going to whip her? Is that what she wanted?
“Wade, my man, you’d
better know what the hell you’re talking about,” he muttered as he started the
truck.
Dressed in her best jeans, boots, and
flannel shirt, her curly red hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, Bryn McClure
stood on the porch anxiously watching two men climb out of their four-wheel
drive truck. The black Ram looked brand new. Its gun rack bristled with weapons.
Obviously they could afford whatever toys they liked. Including you, she
reminded herself. A jolt of panic speared through her stomach. Why had she
thought this was a good idea?
The products of her
morning’s labor spread cooling on the kitchen counters: chocolate chip cookies
bristling with chips and nuts, sparkling golden sugar cookies, fat peanut
butter cookies.
Anything to keep her mind from dwelling on
what she had agreed to.
Actually, she looked forward to her hostess
role. She loved to cook and was eager to share the beauty of
this
twelve-hundred acres. But in the time since agreeing to Alex’s request, the
submission thing had taken on a life of its own in her imagination. A dark
thrill went through her every time she thought about the arrangement.
Their heavy boots
crunched in the driveway gravel. As they neared the porch where she waited, she
realized that both men stood over six feet, well-built and outrageously good
looking. Somehow she hadn’t expected that. She could hardly tear her eyes away
from them.