Every Which Way Read online

  “I just wanted to talk to someone a bit first, to see what my options are.”

  “Every option is open to you, Veronica. What do you want from your relationship with Ian?”

  God, he was intense. Only someone who had been hurt deeply could be that intense, but that intensity was what made her feel a real connection with him. Something about him reminded her of the way she’d felt right after her parents had been killed. Sort of like a wounded animal, alone and hurt.

  “First off, you can stop calling me Veronica. I mean, it is my full name, but I used it because I wanted people to stop seeing me as Ronnie the mechanic and start seeing me as Veronica the woman. No matter what, Ian still calls me Ronnie,” She grinned, remembering the night before. “And he definitely sees me as a woman.”

  Adam smiled, his eyes gentling, and Ronnie bit back a sigh. He was gorgeous when he smiled.

  “Ronnie it is.”

  “Okay,” she said. “So, backstory for you. My parents died when I was ten, and I moved here from Oklahoma to live with my aunt and uncle. I hated it. Kids made fun of the way I dressed, the way I talked, and I had no friends. Ian lived next door, and he was one of my cousin’s best friends. Dave, my cousin, did everything he could to help me try to fit in. So did Ian, even though I wasn’t his cousin. Which, of course, made an amazing impression on me, and I developed a huge crush on him. He moved away, and, fifteen years later, we met again, here. And guess what? I still have a crush on him.”

  Adam laughed. “I think he has a crush on you, too, Ronnie.”

  “If last night was any indication, I’d say hell, yeah, he does!”

  They laughed, and, suddenly, Ronnie wasn’t worried anymore. She might not have seen him in fifteen years, but she still knew Ian. He had been a good guy when they were teenagers, and he was a good man now. The fact he hadn’t simply taken over and told her how things would be, that he’d told her to think on it all and arranged for an impartial mediator proved that.

  “Okay, now?”

  “Yeah.” She looked at Adam sitting across from her and nodded. “Nerves are gone.”

  “But you still have questions?”

  Was the guy a freaking mind reader? “Yeah, I do. I mean, I know a bit of what to expect from shit that happened before I joined Overwatch, and the training classes helped explain a lot more, but I’m still not sure what sort of boundaries I wanna set with Ian. I mean, it’s easy to think in terms of soft limits and hard limits for a scene, but to set limits for any and all time I spend with him right now seems so….permanent.”

  “You’re overthinking this. If scene to scene is easier for you, then tell him you want to negotiate each scene beforehand. If you’re confident in what your limits are now, but worried they’ll change later, then tell him you want to be able to change your limits, and renegotiate if you need to. If you want, you can be submissive only here in the club, but, outside of it, you are equals. Or you can pick days and times like weekends only, or only when you’re alone and in private. You can set any boundary you want, and if, after you set them, you find out they’re not sitting right with you, then renegotiate.” He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “I’ve known Ian for more than a few years, Ronnie, and he’s one of the best Doms I know. He might not always give you what you want, but he’ll give you what you need, so stop letting your brain get in the way of what your instincts want.”

  Wow. That was the most she’d heard Adam say at one time except for the welcome speech he’d given the first night she was at the club. And, just like that night, he made complete sense.

  “Okay,” she said. “You’re right. I wanted a man I could trust, and I got one. So, it’s time to relax and enjoy.”

  They sat and chatted, and Ronnie felt like she was with a long lost friend. He told her about the gym he had next door and invited her to visit sometime for some self-defense lessons. They talked ink, and she showed him the flower that was for her mom and the classic Navy anchor that was a replica of the one she remembered from her dad’s forearm. He didn’t say anything about the ones he wore for everyone to see on his arms, but he lifted his shirt to show her the black-and-white snakeskin design that covered his ribs and represented his old army unit, and she tried desperately not to drool over his absolutely unbelievable abs.

  Of, course, that was when Ian showed up.

  The club was half full when Ian walked in minutes before nine, but he spotted Ronnie in the far corner immediately. It was as if some invisible force guided him right to her. He liked that. What he didn’t like was what he saw…Adam Kessler standing in front of her chair with his T-shirt lifted up to show off his washboard abs to Ian’s woman!

  When Ronnie reached out and ran her fingers over Adams ribs, Ian had to literally bite his tongue to keep from snapping out something nasty. Adam saw him coming from over Ronnie’s shoulder and dropped the hem of his shirt.

  “Ian,” Adam said.

  “Adam.” Ian nodded. The bastard might not be smirking, but Ian could see a hint of laughter in his eyes. He thought it was funny. “Everything okay here?”

  Ronnie stood and came to his side. “All good. Adam and I were just talking tats while we waited for you.”

  Both men looked at her, noting the way she’d automatically gotten up and moved to his side. Adam smiled at Ian.

  They’d known each other for almost five years now, and Ian still felt like he didn’t really know Adam. He knew things about Adam, like he was ex-military and had served with several of the guys who belonged to the club, as well as that he owned the gym next door to the club. He knew that, despite owning the kink club, the man rarely scened in it. And even though Ian didn’t know the details of the story, he knew Adam had built the club because something, or someone, in his past made him almost obsessively protective of submissives and kinksters.

  He also knew that despite his rough appearance and hard exterior, the man had a solid core of integrity. Which meant Ian needed to calm the fuck down because Adam hadn’t been hitting on Ronnie.

  “I’ll be going upstairs now that you’re here,” he said, “Eden will be over in a minute.

  Adam leaned in and wrapped his arms around Ronnie in a hug, and Ian heard him say softly, “You’re a kick- ass woman, Veronica Mack. Be honest about what you want, and you’ll be fine.”

  After Adam left, Ian glanced down at Ronnie, relieved to see excitement and eagerness clear in her expression instead of the doubt he’d seen when she’d left his place that morning.

  “Sit,” he said gesturing to the chair she’d gotten out of.

  He sat across from her and smiled. “Why the smirk?”

  “You’re already ordering me about.”

  Heat crept up his cheeks.

  “It’s okay, Ian,” she said, settling deeper into her seat. “If I didn’t like it, I would’ve said something.”

  He took that opening to make a point that couldn’t be stressed enough, even though he knew she’d heard it over and over again during her training classes. “Remember, you can always say when you don’t like or want something. That’s what a safeword is for.”

  “What about when we’re not in a scene?”

  “You still have opinions and can always voice them, with respect.”

  “And the same goes for you, right? Always with respect.”

  “You will always have my respect, Ronnie. Always.” He leaned forward and reached out to her. He put his hand over hers and stared into her eyes. “Even when I’m spanking your ass or calling you a bad girl, you’ll always have my respect. Not only because I care for you, but because it takes an amazing amount of strength to give up control the way you do.”

  “How do you know how I give up control with only one night to judge?”

  “Hey!” Eden’s voice cracked over them like a whip, and Ronnie jumped. “Did you start without me?”

  Ian glared up at her. “We were just talking. Relax, woman.”

  “You know what helps me relax?” she asked
, stroking a fingertip along the edge of the clipboard she held. “Whipping a big strong man when he’s tied up and restrained for my pleasure.”

  She stared at Ian, and he grinned back, baring his teeth.

  The Mistress shrugged, and they both laughed. “Okay,” she said before dropping into the third chair in their little corner. “People are starting to arrive, so let’s get this going before all the moaning and screaming gets too loud.”

  He met Ronnie’s gaze, and they shared a smile. Somehow, he knew she liked the background music of moaning and screaming. Which was a good thing because he did, too.

  “Ronnie, I’m here to act as both witness and advisor. I want to make sure you’re both comfortable with the final arrangement and make note of both the agreement and any changes in your limits for the club’s files.”

  “What we agree on here will be in the club’s files?”

  “Yes. The club’s confidential files.”

  “Okay. I’m ready.” She rubbed her hands together. “Can I go first?”

  “Of course,” Eden said. “What would you like?”

  “How about no boundaries?”

  A thrill ripped through Ian, his blood heating and his heart pumping before his brain engaged. By the time he calmed himself down enough to say something, Eden had already leaned forward. “Uhmm, Veronica, that’s really not a good place to start.”

  Ronnie waved her hand through the air. “Don’t freak out, you guys. I meant no set time limits or bedroom boundaries sort of thing. Hang on, let me think about how to explain this.”

  Eden scowled at him. He met her gaze and shook his head. He didn’t know where she was going with this. He hoped it was where he wanted to go, but he really had no idea.

  Ronnie took a deep breath and sat up straight in her seat. “I’ll be honest. I sorta freaked out about all this today. All I could think about was, what was I supposed to do? When do I want to be submissive, and when do I not want to, or how often. It was very weird because, as much as I’ve dreamed about having a real relationship with a Dominant man, I’d stopped believing it could happen. I’d given up on the dream and joined this club to find the sexual reality of it. Then I walked in, and bam! The guy I had my very first crush on, the guy who gave me my first kiss and who starred in my first sexual fantasies, was right in front of me. Even though you were here during the training classes, Ian, I still never really let myself believe I could have it all. Not until last night, when you said if I went into your place there would be no limits for either of us. Then, this morning, you said we had to set boundaries, and it made my head swim a bit because there was way too many options to think about. At least, until I got here tonight. And you know what I finally decided after talking to Adam? To stop thinking so damn much.” She looked straight at Ian, and he saw the confident eagerness that had appealed so deeply to him when he’d read her application to the club. “I trusted you when we were kids, and I trust you now. Not only would you never hurt me, but you are so much more knowledgeable and experienced at this than me. We’re together, now. I’m not a slave, and I think we both know that, but simply being around you makes me all soft and submissive and eager to please just so I can see you smile, so I want to go for it. I want to give you complete control whenever we are together.”

  Holy Fuck! Ian closed his eyes for a moment. Breathe. He’d never thoughtshe’d jump right in. He should’ve expected it, though. The woman was fucking fearless.

  Ignoring Eden, Ian smiled at Ronnie “Come here,” he said.

  When she stood in front of him, he pulled her down onto his lap, wrapping one arm around her back and cupping her cheek with the other hand. “When I said no limits for us last night, I meant emotionally, because as much experience as I have with BDSM and dungeon play, I’ve always held that part of myself back from any subs I play with. I don’t want to hold it back from you. I can’t hold it back from you, which is why I said no limits. It was my way of saying, I want to give this a serious go, and not only in the club. But it wasn’t me telling you that you couldn’t have any limits for the play side of things. You understand?”

  She nodded. “I knew what you meant.” She threw a smile at Eden before looking back at him. “You guys are great trainers, so I know how important limits are, and I’m not throwing them all out the window. My hard limits stand as they were, but the soft limits, well, I’d like them to disappear because if you want to try something with me, I’m open to it. If I don’t like it, then it’ll go onto the hard limit list because everything can be renegotiated if I’m unhappy, right?”

  Damn, she was smart.

  “Ian?” Eden’s voice tugged at him, and he realized he’d been gazing silently at Ronnie for some time.

  He cleared his throat, shifting her on his lap, highly aware of the hard on he had going on. “So, to be clear, you’re saying you don’t want to limit your submissiveness to the bedroom, or the club, or any specific days and times. That you’re willing to give me control in everything?”

  “Yes. When we are together.” She glanced over at Eden then back at him. “I’m still me, and I have a life I’m not willing to give up, but, yes, full control whenever we are together.”

  He pressed his forehead against hers, breathing in her scent. “Okay.”

  “Ian, do you have any hard limits you want to make clear?”

  He shifted back, and glanced at Eden. He’d never had a sub he truly considered his own, so it was new for him, but he knew what his limits with Ronnie were. “No playing with anyone else without permission.”

  Ronnie grinned. “Does that mean I might actually get permission sometimes?”

  The thought of watching another man top her brought a landslide of mixed feelings in him. He’d always had a bit of a voyeuristic streak, but she was his, and only his. “Maybe.”

  “Any others?”

  “No silent treatment. If I’m screwing up, you need to say something. I’m not a mind reader, and you’re still pretty new to this. I need to know you will use your safeword if you need to and talk to me about anything that bugs you.”

  They talked basics for a few more minutes, with Ronnie deciding to stick with the club’s stoplight system as her safeword. Clean health checks were shown, and Ronnie assured Ian she was on birth control. Then they went over her list of hard limits they had on file. No changes there, yet. Although Ian was pretty sure from what he’d already seen of Ronnie, that some of those limits would disappear fairly quickly.

  After a few more minutes of general conversation and Eden checking in with Ronnie, she rose to leave. Ian stood, too, and Eden gave them both a hug, whispering something in Ronnie’s ear that made her blush and giggle, then she sashayed off, swinging her leather-clad hips and finally leaving them alone together.

  Ronnie turned to Ian when they were alone again and raised her hands. “Who hoo. Time to play!”

  He laughed, gave her a quick hug before dropping back down into the chair and pulling her onto his lap. Wow, it was so weird to feel all girly on his lap, and so fucking turned on at the same time. It was different from the dark intensity of their previous interactions, but just as sexy.

  What she loved even more than the feeling of closeness he’d created so easily was that they didn’t talk. He held her, one arm around her waist and the other across her legs, and they people watched as the club filled up, without feeling the need to fill the silence.

  A new sense of pride filled her as she noticed several of the members walk by and nod or wave hello to Ian. Only once did he wave someone over to introduce them.

  Beth was a pretty brunette with bright green eyes and an open smile. She also had the exact type of body that made men highly aware she was a woman, with curves all over, and breasts spilling out of a tightly tied corset.

  “Solo tonight?” Ian asked.

  “Just making myself scarce while they plan something. It’s my birthday this week so Mark has asked Darren to do something special. They’re over there plotting.” She gav
e a mock shiver and grinned. “I love it when they plot together.”

  “Happy Birthday.”

  A mental snapshot flashed in Ronnie’s mind of the curvy brunette wrapped tight in bright green rope and sandwiched between two tall men. “Wait, I saw you guys last night,” she blurted out. “You have two doms, right? A blond and a brunette.”

  Beth laughed, her breasts bouncing over the top of her corset. “One husband and one Dom. My husband, Mark, isn’t really into kink. But bondage totally gets me off and he loves me, so he indulges me.”

  “Mark is good with basic bondage, but Darren is a top notch rigger,” Ian explained. “Sometimes Mark helps out when Darren is working Beth, but usually he’s just there for Beth, watching and sharing the experience.”

  “Then taking reaping the benefits of a horny bondage bunny,” Beth said with a giggle.

  “Bondage Bunny Beth!” she blurted.

  The others laughed as heat crept up Ronnie’s cheeks. This is why she never really got along with women. Her mouth ran away with her and someone would get all insulted. Only Beth wasn’t insulted. She seemed totally cool with it. Even pleased, and Ronnie liked her even more for it.

  After that she sat quietly while Ian and Beth talked. Ian’s hand rubbed up and down Ronnie’s thigh, inching under her skirt and spreading her legs a bit more. She squirmed a bit, but stilled when he pinched her lightly in warning. He hadn’t even looked at her.

  Beth’s glance fell to Ian’s hand and she winked at Ronnie, reminding her that they were in a damn kink club. There really was no need to be shy. She relaxed, wiggled again, this time deliberately pressing her ass against the erection beneath her. Ian didn’t pinch her this time. He simply turned he is head and gave her a look. The same one she’d seen when he’d grabbed her hair and pulled her off his cock that morning.

  She licked her lips, thrilling at the way his gaze dropped to them.

  “Looks like we’re just in time.”

  Ian rubbed her back before focusing on the newcomer. “Hi Mark, Darren. How are you both?”