“I never believed this was you, Allie. You know I never thought—”
“Maybe what you believe is wrong,” she interrupted. “Maybe it’s time you gave me a chance to show you how wrong you are about me, Mick.”
“So?” Jamie asked him.
Goddamn this girl. But she was no girl anymore—he could see that much. But what was she going to be after he took her to The Bastille and let loose the beast that lived within him on her all-too-willing flesh?
That was what the ropes were all about. Restraining her. Containing the fire that burned inside him, the animal snarling to get out. Was it possible this was what he needed? Or was that some excuse he was making to get his hands on her?
He dragged a hand through his hair, blew out a long breath. “Fuck. Fine. Let’s talk terms.”
“That’s better, buddy.” Jamie leaned forward in his chair. “Let’s start with any health complaints. Allie?”
“Just one—I sprained my right ankle last year, and it still gives me some trouble from time to time, so I can’t do any inverted suspension.”
“Jesus, Allie, where did you learn about inverted suspension?”
She just glared at him. “Next question, Jamie?”
“Hard limits?”
“No face-slapping, no gags, no age play, no watersports or scat, no humiliation or degradation, no rape play, no pony or puppy play, no heavy canes. Oh, and no blindfolds.”
“That’s it?” Mick asked, incredulous. “That’s your entire list of hard limits?”
She nodded, watching him. “Other than the usual non-consensual stuff.
“And sex?” Jamie asked.
“Fuck, Jamie, you can’t ask her that!”
Jamie shrugged. “It’s a standard aspect of negotiations. You know that, Mick.”
“She and I will talk about that later,” he growled. “Move on.”
Jamie stared at him for several moments, challenging him, but no one was going to win this power struggle but him. Not when it came to Allie.
“Okay. I’ll trust that you won’t try to skip that part.”
“You know me better than to believe I’d shirk my duties, buddy.”
Jamie nodded, ceding the point. “I do.” He pulled a piece of paper out from somewhere. “Here’s a list of her kinks. Her preferences, if you will.”
He slid it across the table toward him. Mick picked it up, folded it and tucked it into his back pocket.
“Aren’t you going to look at it?” Allie asked.
“I’ll study it later, then we’ll talk more.”
She looked surprised. But it had had exactly the effect on her he wanted—to allow him to take back control of the situation.
“Tell me how I contact you, Allie. Email.”
He caught the slightest flaring of her nostrils. She was a little mad. Maybe more than a little. Okay, he could allow her that. He knew he had it coming. And he’d find a way to work the anger out of her in his ropes.
Jesus Christ. He was going to have Allie—Allie!—in his ropes. Under his hands. His body . . . his mind . . . both were in some sort of slowly building turmoil. That and a hard buzz of desire like a pulsebeat beneath his flesh.
“Mick, don’t you want to go over your limits as a Top?” Jamie prompted.
“That’s easy enough. Don’t fail to use your safe words if you need to. Total honesty with me about what you need, what you want, what you don’t. Total honesty after a scene if something didn’t work for you. Don’t ever try to play if you’re sick—I don’t want you pushing yourself too hard. And I won’t draw blood on purpose, so if that’s something you’re looking for—”
“It’s not.” Allie’s brown gaze was on his, smoldering with heat. A heat that went through him like a small electric shock. Jesus—she wanted him. Wanted in the same way he wanted her.
Despite his arguments, this was about to get interesting.
“But you intend to push me,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
He smiled. “If you’ve done your research, then you know I’m a sadist, Allesandra.”
She smiled. “That’s why I’m here.”
* * *
WAS IT? ALLIE knew in her heart that was only partly true. She was there for Mick, kink or not. Although the fact that there was going to be kink, well . . . it was a big part of what had led her back to him. That and knowing she had something to prove in this arena. To him. Maybe to herself when it came to him. That she could be the woman he’d never believed she was. The woman who was exactly right for him, if he’d drop the damn savior complex and let her show him.
If this didn’t work, nothing would.
“So?” Jamie asked before she had a chance to. “Are you both in?”
Allie nodded. “Yes.”
“Mick?”
“Goddamn it, Jamie. Yes, I’m fucking in. Okay?”
He ran a hand through his hair, something she knew he’d always done when he was agitated. Apparently, Jamie recognized it, too.
“Buddy, you and I will talk more before this happens.”
“Damn right we will.”
“And you and Allie need to talk more, too.”
“When are we doing this?” she asked.
“Give me your email and I’ll contact you tonight,” Mick said.
“But I—”
“Allie. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it my way. I’m still the Dom. And you’re about to find out to what degree I mean that. I suggest you start with some level of compliance to show me you know how to be a proper submissive.”
She could almost feel steam coming out of her ears.
“I am submissive, but there’s nothing proper about me. And I suppose you’re about to find out to what degree I mean that.”
They stared each other down, and she never blinked. But the intensity of his gray eyes was making her legs go weak. Mick Reid was going to be one wicked Dom. She looked forward to it, even if he was pissing her off. She knew she’d go down with a struggle. But the fact was, she was going down. For Mick. It was everything she’d ever wanted. She wasn’t going to ruin it by allowing him to be an ass—Dom or not.
She grabbed a pen from her purse and scribbled her email on a napkin, pushed it toward Mick.
“Good girl,” he said quietly, and despite the cocky smirk on his face, those words went through her like a magic wand dusting her with pure pleasure. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her for a moment.
“So,” Jamie asked, “is there anything else you two need me here for?”
“No,” they said simultaneously.
“Okay, then.” Jamie rubbed his hands together. “Looks like my job here is done—for the moment. You are still under my protection, Allie. Tell me if you need anything. Anything.” He stood up. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to get to know each other again. Don’t stay out too late, kids.”
Mick glanced up at him with a growl. Jamie ignored him and leaned down to plant a soft kiss on Allie’s head.
“Thank you, Jamie.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. See you, Mick.”
Once he’d left and it was just the two of them, the space between them suddenly seemed too small. Allie shifted in her chair.
“I can’t believe you set me up like this, Allie,” Mick said, his tone low and smoky. A little threatening. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Mick. Partly because I’ve been gone for so long and I’ve been through changes, grown up. And partly because you refuse to see me for who I am. You always have.”
He watched her for several long moments. “You know this is not going to end any differently than it did before,” he said finally, his tone low.
“Meaning you think you haven’t grown or changed in all these years, Mick?”
“Sure I have. But I can’t change history—my history. At the core I’m still who I’ve always been. Oh, I’m not the troublemaker I was in my teens, but I’m not any better for you now than I was when we were in high school, or when we were in college. Not any better for a girl like you than I’ve been this whole time. Some things I can’t do anything about, Allie.”