Page 40 of Lieutenant

Then again, he keeps doing it with me, so who’sreallythe masochist?

“How’s my pet tonight?” he quietly asks inthatvoice.

The voice that makes my body tingle and turns me into someone I don’t recognize, but who I enjoy becoming, for a while.

I don’t know how to answer him without lying, and I don’t want to come right out and say it. That’s why it takes me a moment to muddle through it in my brain before I open my mouth.

“Preoccupied, Sir.”

He leans forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped. “You might as well tell me, pet. I knew there was something going on, even before Owen left. You’ve acted tense all evening.”

“I love you, Sir.”

“I love you, too, pet.” All three of us have said that to each other now, countless times, meaning it as friends.

“I…I mean, I’minlove with you, Sir.”

And there it is.

I refuse to breakPrimedto wipe away the tears now rolling down my cheeks, but I hear the sigh that escapes him, see the way his gaze softens a little.

“I guess it’s time we had a talk our own, then, isn’t it, pet?”

“I know your rule, Sir. I’m sorry.”

I still haven’t been instructed to move, so I hold my position and sniffle back tears, hating that I feel so weak and vulnerable.

Something I’m definitelynotused to feeling. Not like this. Except I also know that’s kind of the wholepointof this. Carter wants to gently break me down, wants me to understand things from this end so that I can be a better Dominant to Owen. He wants me to understand what we’re doing to Owen—only more drastic in Owen’s case, since Owen has so many unhealthy thought patterns Carter needs to rid our sweet boy of first, deprogram what his fucking mother did to him

Except…

I’m starting to see it’s also pretty addictive, feeling like this. I wonder if Owen feels addicted to me and what we do the way I’m starting to feel addicted to Carter.

Or if Owen feels like this about Carter, too.

He studies me for a long time. “You know Owen is in love withyou, right?”

Stunned, I study his gaze, note he’s smirking, and I’m completely at a loss for words.

“Really, pet? You couldn’t tell?”

“I-I mean, I know helikesme, and loves me as a friend—”

He laughs. “Pet, hebelongsto you. Totally. There is no one else in his heart.Youare the only one on his mind in that way. He’sinlove with you. Madly, deeply. And therein lies a slight…problem.”

“Problem, Sir?”

“Yes. Well, not a problem so much as a complication. I’minlove with Owen. I have been since the first day I met him. You know that. I also meant what I said to you about you not falling in love with me, unless you’re prepared to marry and submit to me.”

My throat dries up as I contemplate that. Sure, I’ve masturbated to fantasies of being sandwiched between the two men, especially since Carter takes great pride in using those kinds of fantasies on me, but that’s one of those impossible things.

Isn’t it?

He continues. “I don’t want to break up the band, so to speak. Before we go any farther, I need to know—honestly—how you feel about Owen.”

“I like him. A lot.”

“Do you love him?”