“Pain you’ve been holding on to?”
“I guess.” She shrugged, playing it off. “I’m more emotional today since I lost a fiancé.”
He clasped her head in his hands and drew her gaze squarely to his. “Cherry, if he’d been really important to you, you’d still be with him now, trying to patch up your engagement, not here falling into subspace for me. Think about that tonight for me. Please.”
Tara blinked at him. God, was he right? She tried to wipe the emotion off her face, but feared that she was failing.
“And now I have something else to tell you.” He caressed her back, his face full of regret. “When you left, you forgot your phone. Bocelli couldn’t reach you, so he called Thorpe.”
Her stomach clenched with fear. She grabbed Logan. “Please tell me that Darcy isn’t . . .”
“Not that we know.” He soothed her shoulder with a light touch. “But the first submissive to disappear, Laken Fox? A fisherman off the coast of Key West found her body, bound, tortured, and strangled, early this morning.”
Chapter Seven
TARA felt the bottom fall out of her stomach. God, she was going to be sick.
“Th-They killed her? I thought their plans were to sell submissives and . . .”
Logan nodded, looking pensive. “Based on the fact that they found her in the U.S., I don’t think the victim had been sold yet. And given the description of her corpse, I’d say someone lost patience during the training or likes to play way outside the boundaries of the safe, sane, and consensual. These people are beyond hard core, Cherry. If you’re going to pursue this case—and I wish to hell you wouldn’t—then you have to set aside everything. You can’t hold back with me.”
Fear tasted brackish in her mouth, but Tara had no doubt about the resolution beating inside her. No way was she leaving Darcy or any other woman to suffer. No way was she giving up on this case. This had gone way beyond pleasing Adam or serving some uncertain ambition of being a field agent, and into crusading. She needed to save these victims.
Logan was right; she had to step up to the plate. Kidnapping and sex trafficking was terrible enough, but adding torture and murder upped the stakes. No matter how she felt about Logan personally or his motives, the last twenty-four hours had taught her that she’d be hard-pressed to hide her true responses from a well-trained Dom. Learning to submit was necessary for her mission. And if she was brutally honest, being submissive was filling some void inside her that she hadn’t wanted to acknowledge. It scared the crap out of her, and she’d been fighting Logan from the second she’d hit his dungeon door. Now, she didn’t have that luxury.
“Point taken,” she agreed. “I’ll focus completely on learning.”
Both relief and pride crossed his face as he brushed a hand over her cheek. “Excellent, Cherry. You’re so damn brave.”
Tara swallowed. She didn’t want to think about how good his approval made her feel. As Brad had pointed out, Logan had wreaked a lot of misery on her life. If she was going to truly submit to him, then she had to put that out of her head. But she had to protect herself somehow. Otherwise, she wouldn’t make it through this training with her heart intact.
“You have to promise me something.”
He cocked his head. “Tell me, and I’ll consider it.”
“I’ll give you everything I’ve got. No more fighting or holding back. No pretending that submitting to you doesn’t arouse me. I’ll give you total honesty sexually. In exchange, once this mission is over, you’ll walk away and never seek me out again. If those terms aren’t acceptable, I believe my stepfather is still in contact with Admiral Pierce, who can revoke your leave immediately,” she bluffed. “What’s it going to be?”
LOGAN stared at his clever little Cherry. Getting angry would be easy—and pointless. If he didn’t agree to her deal, he’d likely be back in some third world shithole by tomorrow, fighting tangos, which would pave the way for another Dom to train her.
Fuck, no.
Logan set her aside on the silken sheets and rose, scrubbing a harsh hand down his face. Talk about topping from the bottom. Either he refused her deal and gave her up now, or he took his chances and hoped that in their remaining time together, he could both teach her what she needed to know and recapture her heart. No contest.
“All right.” He grabbed her chin, forcing her gaze up to his. “But I need your complete cooperation to get this done, so I have terms of my own: if you push back even once, if you lie or fail to trust me, the deal is off.”
“Fine.” She bristled.
“Make no mistake, Cherry. If that happens, once this mission is over, I will come after you hard, with everything I’ve got.”
Tara jerked her chin from his grasp and glared, clearly trying to understand his motivation. If he hadn’t known her well, he would have missed the curiosity and confusion she tried like hell to bury. He wished she’d just ask; he’d be more than happy to tell her why he’d cut her loose years ago. He’d gladly admit that he still loved her so much that it hurt. But she didn’t trust him yet. That stunt he’d pulled with Brad earlier today hadn’t helped his cause. Logan knew that if he blurted his feelings now, she likely wouldn’t believe him. And why should she? It wasn’t like he’d been at her door every day, trying to win her back. No, he’d been trying, in his way, to move on, just as she had.
She glared, then nodded once. “All right. But I need to speak with Bocelli before it gets any later on the East Coast. I have a sparring appointment with Agent York at six, then dinner with my stepfather at seven thirty. Somewhere between all of that, I need to find a place to stay, since I moved my things out of Brad’s house.”
She’d been living with the asshole? It probably shouldn’t have shocked Logan, but her words were a blow to his gut.
“You can stay with me.”
Tara just shook her head. “That’s not a good idea. Misty said she knew of some decent nearby motels. I’ll start there. It won’t interfere with work.”
“If that’s the way you want it. But you’re not leaving this dungeon before five today. I have something planned for you this afternoon. In fact, we’ve got a lot to cover before you’re ready, so we’ll be putting in long hours. For the rest of the week, we’ll start at oh six hundred.”
“Fine,” she bit out.
Logan let out a breath, tried to stay focused. All he could think about was picking Cherry up and throwing her in his truck, taking her to his condo, to his bed—where he’d never taken any woman—then strapping her down and getting deep inside her. So fucking deep, she’d never forget the way he filled her up.
God damn it, what irony. He’d refused a string of subs who’d assumed that giving him sex would please him. He finally found one he was dying for, and he couldn’t have her.
At least not yet.
While she spent tonight dealing with all the crap in her life, he’d get his head screwed on straight. And plan. His time with Cherry was limited, so he had to pull out all the stops to show her how he felt. He’d do his fucking best to ensure that by the end of the week there was no way she could fail on this mission—and no way she’d ever again deny that he was in her heart.
“STAND for me,” Logan commanded.
Without a word or a moment’s hesitation, Tara rose to her feet before him, hands behind her back, breasts outthrust, defiant stare glued to his.
“Careful with your attitude,” he warned, voice silky. “Ever heard of edge play?”
“I have.” She struggled to retrieve the information from her brain with Logan’s unnerving gaze on every naked inch of her. “It can mean activities on the ‘edge’ of the safe, sane, consensual, like breathplay or cutting.”
“Right. That’s a hard limit for many, including me, so we won’t go there. I’m talking about a different sort of edge.”
Moments later, Logan punched in his security code to the dungeon door. Tara looked up to see another man saunter inside.
He was tall, with dark hair, and eyes somewhere between green and gold. Hispanic? Italian? His bronzed complexion bespoke some exotic race. When he entered, he’d looked bored. The second his eyes latched on to her, they lit up like he’d found a fascinating new toy and couldn’t wait to play.
Tara raised her arms, intent on crossing them over her chest.
“Stop,” Logan demanded, his voice low.
Body taut, she forced herself to drop her hands to her sides.
Logan nodded his praise. “This is my friend and fellow Dom, Xander.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“Normally, I wouldn’t answer that question for a sub, but since we’re training for a mission, I’ll explain. In the BDSM world, it’s considered polite to share your subs with other Doms. Agent York may be called upon while you’re undercover to let others touch you. You have to get used to the idea that it will both happen and that you’ll have absolutely no control. Now, present yourself to us.”
A thousand thoughts swirled through her head. Anger and shock that Logan wanted another man to look at her. To touch her? He’d just done everything possible to remove Brad from her life.
But he also had to prepare her for whatever might happen undercover.
Tara refused to reveal her anxiety or renege on their deal, so she merely nodded and did as Logan demanded, sliding onto the cold concrete on her knees in front of them both. Xander looked at every inch of her bare skin, just as Logan had ordered her to let him.
“She’s gorgeous.” Xander’s deep voice slid over her skin, and she tingled with the sincerity in those words.
“Cherry always has been.”
Warmth sang in Logan’s tone. The whole situation was twisted, but for some reason, hearing his desire and pride made her hopelessly wet.
“She’s also smart and prickly sweet,” Logan added. “And submissive.”
“Lucky bastard,” Xander murmured. “May I?”
“Go. I’ll direct.”
Before Tara could wonder what their exchange meant, Xander held out a hand. What did they expect? She cast Logan a questioning glance.
“She already looks to you,” Xander said, clearly impressed. “You’ve made a lot of progress in barely twenty-four hours.”
“We have a lot more to go,” Logan replied, then turned to her. “Put your hand in his, Cherry. Do whatever he asks unless I say otherwise. Do you understand?”
“O-Okay, Logan.” She laid her fingertips across Xander’s rough palm. His skin was burning hot. He smelled like cut wood and rain and something very male. Without a word, he helped her to her feet and guided her toward the bed.
Logan crossed his arms over his chest, watching. Knowing that he wasn’t too far away was somehow comforting, even if his next words weren’t. “Strap her down, wrists and ankles.”
Tara’s immediate response was to protest, but she bit it back and forced herself to examine her reaction. The command caused a pulse of sensation behind her clit and it scared her. She hated to admit that. But she’d promised honesty and couldn’t squirm away from it. If she allowed Xander to do as Logan had ordered, it would make her utterly vulnerable to them. It would also arouse her more. Somehow, Logan knew that.
“What’s going on, Logan?”
“You don’t get to ask that, Cherry. Unless you’re pushing back?”
“I’m not.”
Tara took a breath, willed herself to remain calm. Then Xander’s large hand all but swallowed hers as he led her to the black silk sheets, melting her composure. With her heart racing, she clenched her fist. Gently, Xander squeezed back in reassurance.
“I won’t hurt you,” he whispered.
No, but he’d push her way beyond her comfort zone. And Logan would tell him exactly how to do it. And as much as it discomfited her to admit it, that thought made her flushed and faint.
All too quickly, they reached the bed. Xander helped her onto the mattress, then secured her ankles with Velcro straps at each corner. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, achingly aware of her naked sex.
Sitting back on his heels, Xander spread her thighs wider with searing palms and stared directly at her pussy. Lust narrowed his dark-lashed hazel eyes. He reached out, rubbed a thumb directly over her slick clit.
The shock of arousal stung her. Her body bucked.
“Hmm,” Xander murmured. “I love bare pussy, but I can see why you haven’t shaved hers. With this deep red fringe and pink flesh, she’s like a jewel.”
Logan edged closer, brushed a hand over her aching nipple, her cheek. “I could spend a whole day playing with her, touching, toying, tasting, watching her come over and over.”
Tara gasped. Logan’s words turned her inside out. Being held down helplessly as he teased her with his fingers and lips, teeth, and tongue, all for the purpose of giving her unending pleasure . . . Need tightened her body.