Page 21 of Danger and Dominance (Black Fox Security Doms #1)

David

Get a fucking grip on yourself, man.

He’d started going over rules, but he’d only actually had one prepared and had to make up the most ridiculous additional rules on the spot and hope he didn’t sound too ludicrous. If he’d been thinking, he would have just told her his expectation without calling it rule number one out loud, but…

Well, fuck.

He’d been flustered.

He hadn’t wanted to admit that he wanted very badly to scene with her and that he was going to have to rein himself in from flipping his shit if she scened with someone else.

Having her agree to scene with him had felt like a sigh of relief, even though he knew he was going to have to put up with his team ribbing him for it.

Already, Claudia was smirking at him from her seat, like she’d guessed what was about to happen. Naomi was smiling slightly but with a warning in her eyes, silently sending the message— don’t fuck this up. Yasmine gave him a little nod, but she was cautious, too.

Stepping to the side, keeping his grip on the back of Cassidy’s neck, he at least got them facing the same way so he could lead her away from her little group.

More privacy was better at this point. He could at least tell his team that he wanted to make sure she was okay scening in the club and that it didn’t have anything to do with how badly he wanted to get his hands on her.

No one was going to think badly of him for making sure she was alright to scene or wanting to get a handle on what she liked so that he could make sure she found appropriate partner pairings.

“Over here,” he said, leading her to the balcony that looked over the lower floor of the club.

When the Outlands had first opened, that had been the only floor of the kink club, and this upper level had been a restaurant during the day and a dance club at night.

Now, it still functioned as a restaurant in the evenings on this floor, but only for kinksters who wanted to come have a meal before the evening’s festivities started—and they started earlier than they used to.

Master Gavin had said he was too old for everything to start at nine o’clock at night now.

The restaurant opened at four, and the downstairs opened at seven instead.

Cassidy’s eyes widened as she got her first good look over the balcony rail, and David watched her watching the people below.

Her lips parted as her gaze darted around.

The overlook was very large, showing off most of the floor beneath them.

Most of what couldn’t be seen were the private rooms, so even once they headed down to the lower floor, they wouldn’t be able to see what was going on in those, anyway.

From here, they could see the various St. Andrew’s crosses and nooks around the walls of the Dungeon, as well as the tables, chaises, benches, and various other pieces of bondage equipment that were set up around the club.

At one, a woman was bound to a doctor’s examination table while another woman dripped hot wax onto her breasts, making her cry out and writhe against the straps holding her in place.

The spanking benches were occupied, but most of the attention was going to a male submissive who was getting caned.

By the way he howled every time his body jerked, David suspected there were probably weights or something else hanging from his balls, even though he couldn’t see from this angle.

Mistress Michelle looked like she was enjoying herself thoroughly.

The alcoves were half full of people in various stages of undress, either chained to the wall, clinging to a cross, or bound to a frame.

Leather smacked against flesh. Moans, cries, whimpers, and gasps filled the air, punctuated by the barking orders of the tops and dominants, with the low hum of a violet wand strumming beneath it all.

Sex was in the air, and David found himself stroking the side of Cassidy’s neck with his thumb without meaning to.

He couldn’t help it. Her skin was so soft.

Plus, it seemed to soothe her, so as a good Dom, he couldn’t stop in good conscience.

She turned her head to look at him, her hazel eyes alight with eagerness and desire.

Despite what had happened to her, she didn’t seem at all hesitant to be here in the club with him. She trusted him. And that was even more of an aphrodisiac than the outfit she was wearing.

“I’ve already read over your survey and limits,” he said.

It had been part of his preparation for watching over her tonight.

Stronghold’s survey wasn’t exactly the same as the Outlands, but it was close enough, and Master Patrick had sent it along with her file as well as providing a copy to Gavin.

“Is there anything you want to specifically stay away from this evening?”

She hesitated, and he could feel her tense slightly under his fingers. There was something, he could tell, but she didn’t want to tell him.

Giving her a stern look, David tightened his grip on her a little.

“Cassidy, tell me.”

“I don’t want to be tied up,” she blurted out. “Or cuffed to anything.”

She didn’t want to be helpless with a Dom she’d never scened with before, unable to get away.

David nodded immediately and felt her relax again, her sigh of relief almost inaudible but noticeable.

The fact that she’d been anxious about making such a reasonable request made him want to go find Douchebag Don and pound the asshole’s face into the ground.

Fucking abuser masquerading as a Dom. He was the kind of shitbag who gave the lifestyle a bad name.

Now, it was David’s turn to let out a slow breath as he pulled in his emotions. Cassidy’s ex had no place here; he needed to focus on Cassidy herself. Not just because he wanted to but because she deserved it.

Cassidy

One day, she would be able to tell her Dom a preference without feeling fear racing up her spine, but today was not that day.

Even though, logically, she’d known that David would not be upset by her request. She didn’t want him feeling like she didn’t trust him—she did, or she wouldn’t want to scene with him at all—but she hadn’t been able to be secured in place without panicking ever since that scene with Don.

She’d been working on it at Stronghold, but always with her friends.

Other submissives. Mistress Julie or Mistress Olivia.

Never with a male Dom. Now was not the time to jump into trying that, especially during a real scene and not deliberate exposure therapy.

Especially because the last thing she wanted to do in front of David was panic and embarrass herself.

They’d barely managed to get to the point of agreeing to scene together.

The fact he’d mentioned possibly scening together in the future gave her hope that this wouldn’t be the last time, but she had a feeling that hiding her stipulation, then panicking because she’d hidden it, would be a deal breaker for him.

Don wouldn’t have cared because he wouldn’t have cared that she was panicking, but none of the dominants she’d made friends with at Stronghold would have tolerated that from their scene partners.

“Anything else?” David asked. “Implements that you want off the table? Are you okay with public scening, or would you prefer private?”

“I’m fine with any implements that aren’t already on my no list.” Canes were a hard no for her, as were single tail whips, but she was completely open to floggers, paddles, crops, and others.

There were a few kinds of nipple clamps that were hard noes for her as well, but it left plenty open.

“Private if there’s any sexual contact.”

She didn’t particularly want an audience for her first time having sex post-Don.

“No need to worry about that,” David said, breaking eye contact to turn his attention back to the activities below them. “We’re going to keep it completely platonic. It would be unethical of me to scene with you otherwise. If that changes how you feel about scening with me, I understand.”

“It doesn’t.” She would rather scene with him without sex than scene with anyone else with.

Why she would be willing to jump into bed with him so soon after meeting him, when she hadn’t found anyone back home that she felt interested in doing so with, she didn’t know. Her unexpected attraction to him had locked on hard.

Though, she wished that he was maybe a little more unethical. Or that the circumstances didn’t make him feel that sleeping with her would be unethical. But she kind of got it. She’d read bodyguard romances before. They definitely weren’t supposed to sleep with their clients.

Too bad this wasn’t a Lexi Blake novel. That security team always ended up sleeping with their clients.

David didn’t seem the type to unbend, though. She was surprised he was even scening with her.

His thumb moved up and down the side of her neck as his gaze returned to hers, as if he was stroking her for giving the right answer.

Caught by his eyes, Cassidy pressed her thighs together, trying not to whimper.

Knowing that she was getting no sex, she didn’t want him to know how turned-on she was.

Just a scene.

Platonically.

No biggie.

“We can still check to see if there’s a private room available if you prefer.”

Did he prefer a private room? Maybe that’s what he was trying to say. He might not want his entire team watching them scene, especially since she was technically their client. Even though she knew he was trying to give her what she wanted, what she really wanted was to give him what he wanted.

However, she wasn’t going to challenge him on how he was supposed to be the one making decisions right now. With his hand on her, their agreement to do a scene together, she did not want to ‘learn a lesson’ tonight.

“Whatever you prefer, Sir.”

His green eyes warmed, the edges of his lips curling up. Yeah, she’d uno-reversed him. Successfully, this time.

“Okay, little spark. Let’s go downstairs.”

Little spark. Why that made her feel melty all over again, she wasn’t sure. Maybe it was just because he’d given her a nickname at all, even though she didn’t entirely understand it. And she wasn’t going to ask and make him explain. It didn’t matter.

She let him lead her around the edge of the balcony over to where the stairs down were.

The door for an elevator was right beside them for anyone who needed it.

Cassidy liked walking down the stairs, though, because more and more of the bottom floor slowly came into view, like a striptease of a club.

Though the far side that was under the balcony was mostly walls and doors, there were more alcoves set along the wall between the doors.

There were also photographs similar to the ones in the lobby at Marquis.

Striking images in black and white, the light and shadow on the people depicted within them made them appear especially dramatic.

All of them were kink-based, adding to the eroticism in the room on what would have otherwise been a blank space.

The noise seemed to get louder as they descended, and she felt her excitement rise in response. It didn’t matter that most of the scenes happening didn’t directly involve more than two people. There was a sense of community just walking into the space, even more so than there had been upstairs.

She and David garnered several curious looks, but no one approached the way they had upstairs. Cassidy got the impression that meeting someone new around the bar was one thing, but now that she and David were in the Dungeon, everyone was going to mind their own business. For now.

It was very much like at Stronghold.

It added to her sense of community and being in a place of friends. Just friends she hadn’t met yet.

All of which paled compared to how it felt to walk through at David’s side, his hand on her neck gently guiding her through the crowd.

She knew it was likely her imagination, but she couldn’t help but feel like he had a possessive hold on her.

Probably because she wished it was a possessive hold.

It was definitely protective, which made sense.

“I think that alcove is open,” he said, bending to speak low in her ear, sending a little shiver up and down her spine.

It took her a moment to realize which one he was talking about because all the ones she saw were occupied, but then she realized the one in the very far corner was empty.

Its corner space in the back of the room made it more private and harder to see into.

The wallpaper in the alcove made it look like brick, and there was fake ivy hanging down from a few places.

The whole little area was set up to be its own little mini torture den, depending on what the Dom wanted.

D-rings and hooks were inset up and down the sides, waiting for rope or chains, as well as along the ceiling.

There was space for a St. Andrew’s cross if they wanted one.

Between the various D-rings and hooks were hanging implements and little handles on what looked like might be drawers. The brick pattern of the wallpaper made it harder to tell, but she was pretty sure they were drawers, reminding her of the way Stronghold and Marquis had spaces for toys.

Cassidy jumped when a submissive appeared beside David, a small bag in hand.

“Here, Master David, enjoy,” the man said, grinning and winking at Cassidy. She smiled back.

“My club bag,” David explained as the man walked away, setting the small bag down at his feet. “If I’m not planning on scening, I tend to leave my regular bag at home, but I like having some things here in case I change my mind.”

Made sense to her. But that meant he hadn’t been planning on scening?

Had he changed his mind because he wanted to scene with her?

Or had he decided to scene because he thought she wanted to scene with him?

How pathetic am I in this scenario?

Stop thinking about it. You’re already in it. Just enjoy. It doesn’t matter.

It did matter to her pride, but she could shove that aside for now. Even if he hadn’t planned to, he seemed eager now, and that would have to be good enough for her.

Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice that she was all up in her head. He was staring at the alcove, frowning in focus. She recognized the look. A Dom who was thinking about what he was going to do for his scene, how he was going to torture his submissive.

Cassidy’s pussy clenched, her insides fluttering in anticipation. She was also way more nervous than she had been at Stronghold. None of those scenes had felt like they mattered, other than to prove to herself that she still craved kink, that Don’s abuse hadn’t changed that.

This…

They weren’t going to have sex.

David had been clear that everything was going to stay in the club.

But, somehow, it still felt like it mattered.