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  Chapter Three

  Ronnie arrived at the club early. Ian was supposed to meet her there around nine, but she walked in the doors right after it opened at eight. It had been a tough choice, but, instead of driving, she’d left Delilah at home and taken the bus. Ian was the man, and the Dominant, so she figured it was only right that she let him drive and be in charge. Still, there was no way in hell she was going to leave her deep-purple 1970 Barracuda in the club parking lot overnight. Nope, her baby was tucked up safe and sound in the underground parking at home.

  After signing in to the club, Ronnie stepped through the last set of doors into the main room, and a thrill ran down her spine. She was a member now, still a newbie, but a member nonetheless. And she had a Dom of her own. Probably. Maybe. Hell, she was still unsure of exactly how this all worked. Could she call him her Dom if he hadn’t given her a collar? One of the many stupid questions that filled her mind at the moment.

  Which was another reason she was there early. She’d called Adam, the club’s owner, earlier that day and arranged to meet him right after the place opened. He wasn’t on the main floor, and she didn’t see him up on the observation deck, so she walked through the mostly empty club to the bar. Eden Morgan, the manager, was behind the bar. A tall brunette with a model’s body and penchant for fetish clothes, she was so sexy even Ronnie kinda wanted to serve her. And Ronnie had never been into women.

  “Hi, Eden. Is Adam around?”

  “Not yet,” she said. “He doesn’t always come down on Saturday nights since even he needs a night off now and then. Is there something I can help you with, sweetie?”

  Eden was really nice. She’d been one of the trainers, along with Ian and the darkly handsome Simon Sharpe, and the woman certainly knew her stuff, but Ronnie’d prefer Adam. Something about the man had connected with her, and she knew he was the one she could talk to.

  So she sat on one of the barstools and smiled at Eden. “No, thanks. I’ll have a tequila and water though, please.”

  “There you are, Veronica,” she said, setting the drink in front of Ronnie with a smile. “Ian called and asked me to mediate for you guys tonight. You excited?”

  She started a bit. Even though it was her idea to go by her more feminine full name of Veronica when she joined the club, she still wasn’t used to it. Would likely never get used to it, especially since Ian still called her Ronnie.

  She smiled, the butterflies in her stomach flitting about at the thought of Ian. “Yeah, I’m excited. Nervous, too.”

  “Nervous is okay,” A deep voice said from behind her, making Ronnie jump in her seat. “As long as its excitement and not fear that’s causing it.”

  Ronnie turned and grinned at the total badass who stood behind her. “Definitely not fear.”

  Adam was six feet of lean, mean, fighting machine. You knew just by looking at him that he wasn’t a man to fuck with. It wasn’t the tattoos that made him intimidating, it was the way he moved like a predator on the hunt. Put that with the calm confidence in his brown and gold eyes, and you knew the man could — and would — be unstoppable.

  He could be intimidating with his tatted-up muscles and the hint of barely restrained violence surrounding him, but she was one of his, and, as he’d told her the first night she set foot into Overwatch, that meant he would always be there for her. She believed him.

  “Let’s go sit and talk, Veronica,” Adam said, guiding her off her stool while giving Eden a telling look. “Let me know when Ian gets here, would you?”

  Adam led her away from the bar to where there were four club chairs pulled together for a conversation corner. Once they were settled, she looked at him and spoke first. “I don’t want you to think I don’t want this relationship with Ian just because I wanted to talk to you first.”

  “That’s not what I think,” he said with a small smile. “I’m aware you knew each other years ago, and I watched you together during your classes.”

  “I 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?” His gaze pinned her to her seat, as he waited for her reply.

  God, he was intense. He missed nothing. Not only was every word she said and every movement she made noted, catalogued and remembered, but she got the feeling that he saw past the words and movements, to what she was thinking, and feeling. That fierceness was what made her feel both seen by him, and safe with him.

  “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 features 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 ten year old 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 Ian for fifteen years, but she still knew him. 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?” Adam asked, as if sensing the change in her.

  “Yeah.” She looked at the man 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’ll be honest…I can’t seem to get a grasp on 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 is…”

  When she just looked at him, unable to find the right words, he stepped in. “You’re overthinking it. It’s simple, really. If scene to scene is easier for you, then tell Ian you want to negotiate each scene beforehand. If you’re confident in some of your limits are now, then tell him what they are. You can be submissive only here in the club, but, outside of it, you’re equals. Or you can pick days and times like weekends only, or only when you’re alone and in private, or make it only sexual. 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 it all make complete sense to her.

  “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.”

  With Ronnie’s nerves gone and mind clear they settled back in their chairs to chat and Ronnie felt like she was with a long-lost friend. He told her about the gym he had next door, called The Gy
m, 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 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 Adam’s 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 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 met almost five years ago, but Ian still felt like he didn’t really know Adam. He knew things about the man, 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,” Adam 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 glimpsed just before they 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 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 bared his teeth in a not so friendly smile.

  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 frames or bedroom only boundaries sort of thing. Hang on, let me think about how to explain this.”

  Eden scowled. Ian met her gaze and shook his head. He didn’t know where Ronnie 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 weird because, as much as I’ve dreamt of having a real relationship with a Dominant man, I’d stopped believing it could happen 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, 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 it made my head swim a bit. 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 the confident eagerness that had appealed so deeply to him when he’d read her application to the club stared him in the face.

  “I trusted you when we were kids, Ian, 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. We both know I’m not a slave, 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 control whenever we are together.”

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

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

  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 played 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 relationship 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’ll use your safeword if you need to and talk to me about anything that bugs you.”