The Masters of Falcon's Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (16 page)

Decker’s voice seemed to be back to normal. “Forget about it. No blood, no foul. Okay, then. On the surface you aren’t too far off. A good Dominant is a capable manager. There are a couple major differences, though. As a Dominant you need to communicate and negotiate both of your needs, to include personal, professional, and if you take it far enough, even spiritual. As a manager, your main focus is on the business product, but in your role as Daphne’s Dominant, your focus will be on her. The other big difference is that you will have to believe in yourself. If you don’t feel capable, you’ll just come across as bossy and angry. You must have the self-confidence to know that your decisions are sound. That doesn’t mean that you won’t make mistakes. You’re human, so trust me, you will. As a Dominant, though, you don’t have the luxury of wallowing in self-pity. You will have her looking to you to be her anchor, so when you fuck up you have to be willing to pull yourself back into position and soldier on. When the day is done, if you don’t believe in you, how can she?”

Finn sat back, his head swimming. He closed his eyes for a minute, trying to process everything Decker was saying. Then he met the other man’s gaze. “Do you think I can do it?”

Decker stared at him wordlessly for a minute. “I have no doubt you can do the business stuff. You’re already doing it. The question is do you like yourself enough to give that girl what she needs to succeed?”

Daphne woke up more rested than she could remember feeling in a long time. Her mind was full of ideas for the song she’d been trying unsuccessfully to write. It was like something had inspired her. She went downstairs humming, the melody taking shape in her brain. Finn gave her a friendly smile instead of the dubious grimace that usually meant he was trying to gauge her mood and energy level.

She kissed him on the forehead, running a hand sensuously over his chest. “Good morning, Sir,” she purred in his ear, trying to position herself to see if he responded physically. He shifted a little, which gave her hope, but his pants were too loose to be able to see a change before he pulled his napkin over the area in question and pointed to the chair next to him.

“Good morning, Daphne. Are you ready to work?”

“Do you ever think about anything besides work?” She couldn’t stop herself before it came out, a little more grouchily than she’d intended. She gave him an apologetic smile as her hand crept slowly toward his thigh.

“Not when we’re in the middle of a project.” He caught her fingers just as they settled and firmly placed them on the table. “Now eat, please. The camera crew will be set up in ten minutes.”

Disappointed, Daphne turned back to her breakfast.

Decker came down just as Daphne was taking her plate and Finn’s into the kitchen. He greeted her
,
but she felt suddenly shy in his presence. She had, after all, been curled up against his leg last night, allowing him to drop cookie pieces into her mouth. Then she had most likely slobbered all over his knee while she slept. He wasn’t even the slightest bit into her. She scurried past him, mumbling a good morning, surprised at her reaction. She prided herself on not being
fazed
by anything, but for some reason Decker’s indifference took away all of her practiced coolness. It was disgusting.

As the morning progressed, Finn’s friendliness gradually returned. He was more decisive than usual, giving instructions instead of waiting for her to take the lead. Daphne found that she reacted well to this new, authoritative Finn. She gave him the suggestions that she’d woken up thinking about, and he considered them thoughtfully instead of brushing them impatiently aside. As they discussed her ideas she realized that he had a much better sense of movement and space than she’d ever given him credit for. Now that he was taking command, she could allow herself to be wildly creative, trusting him to take her creativity and pick out the useful parts, throwing the rest away. It seemed to take an enormous burden off her and, surprisingly, having him reject some of her ideas gave her both clarity and the freedom to allow new ideas to flow.

“We make a good team,” Finn remarked when they sat down for a quick sandwich at noon.

Daphne grinned at him, experiencing the same feeling of affection that she’d had last night during the movie. She wanted to dance better than she ever had before, simply to please him. The memory of his hands on her hair and shoulders sent a warm glow through her. Their energy seemed to meld together, creating a synchronistic exchange of ideas. It was like their minds were finally on the same wavelength. She had dreamt of this but never expected to experience it, after all these years of working together.

She wasn’t sure where Decker came into the picture. Somehow she and Finn didn’t seem to be able to sustain this kind of connection without him. She needed to find ways for the three of them to spend some time together, to nurture whatever this was. Decker would probably leave, but she was seized with the fear that if he left before this new bond took root, it would die like a seedling left in the frosty night air.

* * * *

Finn couldn’t believe how well they were working together. All of his despairing thoughts that Daphne didn’t want to work with him anymore seemed foolish now. They had just done a whole morning session without a single fight. Ideas had bounced between them and their communication had been clear and positive. He couldn’t remember that ever happening before. For the first time he began to believe they might finish the video on schedule.

She smiled at him as she picked up her sandwich
,
and he realized in astonishment that she hadn’t made a single comment about it being too fattening or heavy. She was simply eating it, looking content and thoughtful. He chewed on his own, an optimistic peace stealing over him. They were going to make this work.

“I want to do a scene.” He was jerked out of his complacency by her sudden announcement. Visions of movie scenes, commercials
,
and stage plays flashed through his brain.

He shook his head at her with a questioning frown. “A scene?”

“Yeah, a scene. Like at the club. I want you to top me.” Her eyes were glittering with a feverish, enthusiastic light that he’d learned over the years to view with trepidation. That look usually ended with Daphne in jail or naked in the tabloids. This couldn’t possibly end well.

“I don’t know, Daph. I’m not really into that kind of stuff.”

“That’s because you haven’t tried it.” She leaned forward confidently, putting a hand on his knee. “Decker can show you. He’s got loads of experience. Come on. It’ll be fun.”

“Fun. Sure. You mean you really want us to tie you up and beat you?”

She shrugged playfully. “Maybe. But there are other things
,
too. You remember what Allie and her guys were doing? That didn’t look painful. I’ve been asking her about it. People do rope suspensions, wax play, body art. I’ll bet Decker could show us hundreds of ways to play. Doesn’t it sound cool?”

“Maybe.” Finn sighed. This sounded crazier than any of her usual stunts. He made a mental note to familiarize himself with the location of the nearest hospital before getting into any kind of kinky scene with her. You just never knew. “Can we talk about it later?”

“You bet.” Daphne jumped up and stretched her arms over her head. “I’m going to go brush my teeth and have my makeup redone. See you in a few.” And she was off.

Finn sat for a minute, staring into space and wondering if it had been a terrible idea to bring Daphne here. It was quiet, true, and far enough away from the city that Daphne wasn’t running out to the bars every night. When he could get her to concentrate, they’d gotten a lot of work done. Thinking of it that way, he had to admit that maybe indulging her kinky side might be worth it after all.

“Brought you more food.” Finn jumped and turned around to see Decker standing behind him carrying a bag of sodas and a bowl of what looked like homemade potato chips. Only they probably weren’t made from potatoes, Finn thought, eying them warily.

“We figured since you were on lunch, we’d replenish your food supply for the afternoon. So how’s it going?” Decker filled the small refrigerator with drinks and began gathering up dishes and trash.

“It’s going okay, I guess.”

“Just okay? Last night didn’t help?”

Finn ran a hand through his hair. “It might have helped too much. We’ve been working really well together.”

Decker gave him a sidelong look. “But?”

“But now she’s decided she wants to do some kind of kinky scene. I’m supposed to ask you to teach me how.”

“Ah. That was bound to come up at some point.”

“It was?”

“Of course. She’s been really intrigued by the whole thing, hasn’t she? She’s curious about BDSM as well as D/s. Most people who are into one of them at least experiment with the other. You liked it last night when she was feeling submissive, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah. I guess so. But that’s different than the whole whips-and-chains thing, isn’t it? I don’t want to hurt her or anything.”

Decker smiled at him. “You probably don’t need to worry too much about that. True, there are safety considerations, but you can easily learn the difference between sensation play and assault. I’m not at all surprised that Daphne wants to try it. It would satisfy her need for attention, empowerment, and public display. I would be disappointed in her if she wasn’t curious.”

“What in the world does being tied up and beaten have to do with empowerment?”

“A lot.” Decker sat down in the chair that Daphne had recently vacated. “For many people, allowing themselves to be used in ways that most people couldn’t handle makes them feel incredibly strong. Some of them transform pain into endorphins, but even the ones that don’t enjoy the pain for its own sake like to see how far they can go. It somehow really intensifies the connection between the participants. When they combine that with the knowledge they’re giving pleasure to their
D
ominant, it gives them an intense high known as subspace.”

Finn shook his head. “I just don’t know if I can deal with this. Some of the things she comes up with are just crazy.”

“She would be a lot for any one person to handle,” Decker agreed, giving him an odd look. “Let me ask you a personal question. Are the two of you sexually involved?”

“No. We’ve toyed with the idea, and last year I thought we were going to—finally. But then she got all caught up with this politician. There’s always some celebrity or other that catches her attention. She’s had a pretty wild life. I didn’t want to just be her backup boyfriend between affairs.”

“I can imagine. But did you ever think that maybe the affairs happened because she didn’t have a stable relationship?”

Finn gave a bark of laughter before he could stop himself. “No, I can’t say that I’ve ever considered that angle. I don’t know if I could deal with trying to keep her happy and in line at the same time. I’ve been trying to settle for keeping her in line.”

“Maybe if you concentrated on making her happy, she’d be easier to keep in line. She’s a beautiful girl and obviously very sensual. She needs an outlet, and she needs intensity.”

Finn stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, think about last night. She was pretty happy curled up on the floor being petted, wasn’t she? And today you said she’s been easy to work with. You might want to think about the correlation.” Decker stood up and grabbed a handful of whatever was in the bowl.

“But wouldn’t it affect our professional relationship if we got involved like that?”

“No doubt. But from what I’ve seen of your professional relationship, that could only be a benefit.”

Decker walked away, munching the mystery chips and humming. Finn watched him go, suddenly suspicious again. Decker had admitted that Daphne was beautiful. Well, of course she was. Anybody could see that. Did he want her? Was he trying to sabotage Finn’s chances by pushing him into something that was bound to be a disaster? Finn knew that he claimed to only want to help last night, and he’d been really starting to like Decker. But now he wondered if it was going to come down to Daphne choosing between them. He was old news. They’d been together for so long and were so familiar to each other that he couldn’t possibly win a contest like that. She’d fallen asleep with her head on Decker’s knee last night, not his. Of course someone new with “loads of experience” would be more attractive to her. He had that tragic past going for him, too. Women just ate that shit up, didn’t they? He was handsome, strong, naturally dominant. He probably made Finn look like a pathetic weakling.

But
Finn
could make her a star. They were so close to succeeding. Her career was just about to take off, and he was the one that had accomplished that. Well, they had done it together, but she wouldn’t have made it without him. He went back to work with a renewed sense of purpose. He loved her, and he was going to take her to the top, even if she just dumped him later for some strutting
D
ominant. He knew that was unfair
,
but full of righteous indignation, he allowed his imagination to run wild.

* * * *

Daphne’s mind was racing all afternoon with fantasies about what a scene between the three of them might be like. Finn had a sweet, tender quality—when he wasn’t ragging her ass about partying too much—and Decker was totally stern and commanding. The energy among the three of them last night had excited her, got her thinking about the possibilities.