The Reluctant Dom (7 page)

“It's not like that,” Leah insisted. “I get as much out of this as Kade does. With you, too.” She blushed. “I mean, when I'm doing things for you. Like cooking dinner and stuff.”

Kaden patted her thigh. “Go fix us some pie, please.”

She kissed him and went to do it.

Kaden dropped his voice. “It's not about sex, either. That's tied into it, but in our case it boils down to giving her what she needs to function. Some people are in it for the sex. Yeah, the sex is hotter for us because of this. I won't lie, you'll find it's the hottest fucking sex you've ever imagined. But it's not about the sex. It's about fulfilling a need for someone. She needs to serve, she needs the structure, the safety and security. And the release for her emotional pain. Just keep an open mind. Have I ever lied to you?”

Seth shook his head. No, Kaden had never, as far as he knew, lied to him.

He was probably the one person Seth knew never would lie to him.

Kaden stood and motioned Seth to follow him to the kitchen. They took up two seats at the counter and watched while Leah finished the preparations. She even nuked Seth's a little to warm it before adding the ice cream.

The perfect way he liked it.

She handed Kaden his first. When she slid Seth's plate in front of him, she touched his hand and waited until he met her eyes.

“It's okay,” she said. Then she gently squeezed his hand before letting go and fixing her own plate.

He hated himself that her touch made him harder than a rock.

“Any house rules I need to know about?” he asked to distract himself more than anything.

Kaden shrugged. “Toilet seat down after you go but you're good about that anyway.”

“I figured you'd tell me rules about the dungeon,” Seth snarked.

Kaden laughed, then sighed. “Honesty. Never lie. The only way this works is if we all talk to each other. It's going to feel weird and uncomfortable at first. It will get easier, I promise.”

“Can't get much fucking worse,” Seth muttered.

Kaden continued. “Whenever red is called, whatever's going on immediately stops without question, regardless of whether it's her or you or me calling it. You'll learn the routines and protocols as we go. It becomes automatic after a while. Oh, I'll give you keys in the morning. You already know the gate code, and the house alarm code is 1218.”

“Leah's birthday.” Seth didn't realize he'd spoken aloud until he looked up and saw her sad smile.

“You remember.”

Kaden also smiled, to Seth's surprise. His friend clapped him on the arm, squeezing briefly before letting go. “See? You'll do fine.”

They finished. Finally, Seth excused himself. “I need to go to bed, guys. I'm worn out. Frankly, my brain's fried. I don't know how I'm going to get through class tomorrow.”

He walked to what was now his bedroom and closed the door behind him. Looking around, even though he'd stayed here before, he saw it for the first time. The bed was perfect, king-sized, a helluva lot better than the rock-like mattress at his brother's. Not that he'd ever complain to his brother, because it had been free and a roof over his head. He always slept good when he spent the night at Kade's. The room was nearly twice as large as the one at his brother's, and the attached bathroom as large as many master bathrooms in smaller homes.

He'd started unbuttoning his shirt when he heard a soft tap on his door. He opened it. Leah stood in the hall. Kaden had apparently gone on to bed, because their door was shut.

Seth's heart hammered, panic threatening. “Leah, I meant it when I said I can't do anything—”

She shook her head. “No! No. I ... I just wanted to say goodnight. And thank you.” She looked up at him. “And you didn't give me my hug when you got here tonight.”

He laughed but it came out sounding harsher than he intended. “You sort of caught me off guard with that outfit.” This one wasn't much better, especially now that he knew what was under it. Or rather, what wasn't.

After a long moment, he opened his arms to her. Even though he tried to lean his upper body into it, to keep her away from his hips and feeling his hard-on that demanded attention, she pressed into him. Not lewdly or even seductively.

Desperately.

When he realized this he relaxed and held her tightly, worried she'd cry. But she didn't, despite clinging to him like a drowning woman.

It took several minutes before she relaxed a little. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I know this sucks for you. I'm sorry.”

“Hey.” He made her look at him. “Stop. If things were different and we were single, I'd...” Suddenly, that sounded like a really stupid thing to say under the circumstances.

But she smiled again. “Yeah. I would, too.” She rested her head on his chest for a moment longer and he'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it.

“Just ... go easy on me, okay?” he said. “You guys are going to fry my brain at this rate.”

She stretched up and kissed his cheek. He was a little taller than Kaden's five-eleven, and knew that would be an adjustment for her.

“Just remember, I can and do have the ability to stop anything I don't like,” she assured him. “I always have. There have been times in the past I've red-lighted a scene. Kaden usually does before I do, but I have. So don't ever worry about going too far. As long as you respect the safe word, you won't hurt me.”

She left, quietly closing the door behind her.

* * * *

Seth got up around two a.m. to get a drink of water. Leah had left a robe hanging on the bathroom door for him. Instead of getting dressed he pulled that on. When he opened the door he heard a soft, strange, rhythmic noise he couldn't quite place.

The house was dark. A few carefully placed nightlights and his familiarity helped him make it to the kitchen without incident. The noise sounded louder now and almost sounded like ... splashing?

He spotted a dark shape on the lanai. When he stepped out the kitchen slider, he saw Kaden standing in the shadows, staring at the pool and leaning against the wall near the sliders leading to the master bedroom.

The pool light wasn't on. In the dark water, Leah maintained a blistering pace down and back. He knew she swam a lot, one of the reasons Kaden had the large twenty-five meter pool built, but ... day-amn.

Kaden didn't look at him, never took his eyes off the pool. He leaned in as Seth stood next to him. “Your first lesson. Never leave her alone when she's like this,” he murmured.

“Does she know we're watching her?”

“No. If she cries before she gets out, she'll be okay. If she comes out looking like a fucking zombie, I'll immediately take her to the playroom.”

Seth stared at Kaden. Kaden smiled in the dark. “Sorry. That's what we call it. Sounds better than dungeon, don't you think?”

Seth stood vigil with Kaden for nearly an hour. He couldn't believe she was still going when she finally pulled up short at the shallow end and stood, gasping, leaning against the edge. She stood frozen for several minutes, then sank beneath the water.

A low moaning sound floated out of the pool, accompanied by a flurry of bubbles. She broke the surface and took a long, hitching breath before sinking below the water again.

Kaden nodded. “That's good.”

“What the fuck?”

He looked at Seth. “She's screaming.”

She repeated this for nearly ten minutes before resting her head on her arms on the pool's edge, softly crying.

Kaden nodded again and gently tapped Seth's arm, pointed to the kitchen sliders. They went inside and closed the door behind them.

“What the fuck?” Seth asked again.

Kaden shrugged. “She wears herself out in the pool, pushes herself to the point of physical exhaustion. I mean, she can't spank herself. She promised me she won't cut herself, although right now I'm scared she might not be able to keep that promise if we can't keep on top of things. She punishes herself. If it was daylight, she'd probably go run five miles or something. She hasn't had to do this in a long time. I thought she might do it last night but she didn't. She was too exhausted from crying.”

“How will I know?”

Kaden looked grim. “You'll know. You might think you'll sleep through it but you'll get to the point where if she rolls over in bed at night, you'll know it.”

Seth glanced out the sliders, where in the soft moonlight he watched Leah crying in the pool. “Shouldn't we go out there to her?”

Kaden shook his head. “Not right now. Not in a case like this.”

“Fuck.”

“There will be times she'll come to you and outright ask to play.”

“Play? Is that whips-and-chains-excite-me code?”

Kaden smirked. “Yeah. Whatever. There will be times she gets bratty.”

“Bratty?”

“I know. It's a lot to explain. When she's bratty, sometimes she needs play, sometimes she needs punishment.”

“Whoa.” Seth rubbed his forehead. “If whipping her isn't punishment, what is?”

“Withholding.”

“Huh?”

“Not letting her play. You'll learn the difference about what she needs.”

“You've so fucking confused me now, I'm lost.”

“If a kid begs for ice cream in a store and pitches a tantrum, do you give it to them?”

“What the fuck do I know about kids?”

“Well?”

Seth sighed. “I don't know. I guess not.”

“You don't give it to them. It's rewarding bad behavior if you do. A lot of times you'll know from her body language, how she's talking, interacting with you. You'll see her start to ... I call it dull down. It's like she's zonked out. Not just tired. Like she's detaching. It's fucking spooky. You'll learn to tell the difference between normal tired and that. Then she needs a session. Under normal circumstances our regular trips to the club are enough to keep her going without extra sessions. We might have very light play sessions here during the week.

“But now...” He looked out the sliders. “I'm hoping once the shock wears off and she's helping teach you that it will give her enough to focus on and I can back off on the sessions for a while. We'll have to keep a close eye on her.”

It sounded both weird and right for Kaden to say “we” when talking about her. “Why aren't we out there with her right now?”

“Because when she does something like this and can find release on her own, it's better for her to handle it on her own. It's helping her cope in a healthy way. She'll come find me—or you now too, I guess, depending on what's happening—if she needs aftercare.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “Great. More vocabulary.”

Leah climbed out of the pool. Now it registered in Seth's mind that she was naked. In the low light he hadn't noticed before.

Kaden headed for his bedroom. “I'll talk to you in the morning.”

Seth finally got his drink of water and returned to his room in a daze.

What had he said yes to?

Despite his swirling mix of emotions, he knew he couldn't back out now.

[Back to Table of Contents]

Chapter 4

Seth awoke to the smell of coffee and...

Mmm. Bacon.

Leah was a great cook. He remembered his stay with them after his surgery, when she cooked every meal for him. They'd spent a lot of time talking while he was with them, with Kaden gone to work every day. Leah stayed home and took care of him. She was always comfortable to talk to.

He rolled over and looked at the clock. Seven-thirty.

He was about to get up when he heard a soft tap on his door. He pulled the sheet back over him because he'd slept naked. “Yes?”

The door opened. Leah peeked in, smiling. Despite her puffy eyes the smile seemed genuine. “Coffee.”

He nodded. “Thanks. I'll come get some in a minute.”

She pushed the door open. He was relieved to see she was wearing a long T-shirt in addition to the collar. “No, silly. I have your coffee.” He realized she carried a steaming mug.

“Oh. Thank you.” He nervously smoothed the covers to hide his morning boner, then realized that might have made matters worse.

She walked the mug over to him and set it on the bedside table. “You don't have to thank me.”

“Um, it would be rude if I didn't, babe.”

“I owe you, not the other way around.” She took a deep breath as her smile faltered before she regained it. “I've got maple bacon, scrambled eggs, and I'm starting the French toast now.”

“Jesus, Leah. I'm going to look like a water buffalo in a month.”

Her playful grin finally reached her eyes. “Don't worry. I'll help whip you into shape.”

She left him laughing.

* * * *

He'd take a shower at his brother's before he went to class. He dressed, then walked out to the kitchen. Leah stood at the stove. The place smelled great. He had to admit he'd really missed this. During his earlier stay, he'd quickly grown to love being with Leah and Kade.

It felt like a home. In a way he'd never felt, even with his ex wives.

“Where's Kade?” He took his usual place at the counter.

“He'll be out in a few minutes.” She walked over and took his mug without asking, poured him more coffee.

“Thanks.”

She started to say something but he held up a hand. “Listen. Y'all are just going to have to get used to me saying thank you.” Leah smiled again. He studied her. “I'm still convinced this is a really whacked out nightmare or something. No offense, hon.”

He wished he'd kept his fucking mouth shut, because she looked sad again.

Kaden's dying.

She nodded. “I know,” she whispered. “Me too. No offense.”

They both froze, then nervously laughed. He stood and held out his arms. She went to him and he hugged her. For once his cock decided to behave.

“You know,” he said, “after a month you might get sick of me and toss me out on my ass.”

She pressed tighter against him. “No. Never. We'd never get sick of you, Seth. I'll never get sick of you.”

He retook his seat while she returned to the stove. “So what does one wear to a dungeon?”

She laughed. “You'd be surprised. Jeans are okay if you want, for tonight. Black jeans if you have them. I don't think Kade's will fit you.”

“Don't feel like wearing clam diggers, even if I thought I could pull them over my gut.”