Micah sent Nathan a questioning look as he got up. Nathan knew what he was asking. Was he going through with Julie's threesome a second time? With a resigned sigh, he nodded. But this was going to be the last time, damn it. Sometime between now and the next time she decided she wanted an anonymous interlude, he was going to convince her that he was the only man she needed in her bed. Preferably for a hell of a long time.

He hadn't called. She'd honest to goodness expected him to call after their date and all she'd gotten was a big wall of silence.

Julie locked up her salon and walked toward her car, the frown she'd worn all day wearing a hole in her brain. She slid into the passenger seat and drew in a deep breath, appreciating as always the smell of expensive leather.

Her cell phone had remained silent. She'd checked messages on her home phone for the past two days and had come up with a big fat zero.

With her second night at The House looming, she was in a huge quandary. Go with it or call it off?

As she backed out of her parking space, she shook her head. Why the fuck was she waiting around on a man? Again. This was the kind of stupid shit she had done when she was younger and a hell of a lot dumber.

She hadn't panted after a man in a long time, and damn if she was going to start. Okay, so she'd been panting an awful lot. Drooling, more like it, but that didn't mean she was going to stay at home, twiddling her thumbs while she waited for Nathan to make up his mind.

No kiss, no come-on, no promise to call her, no asking her out on another date. The evening had ended in silence and the silence remained. Hello? Slow to get the message much?

"You're a dumbass, Julie. You've let another guy twist you around and make a total ninny out of yourself."

Just saying it made her feel better. The first step in becoming smarter was to admit what a dumbass you were.

She wished she could just be angry, but the truth was, she was hurt by Nathan's indifference. He seemed interested enough when they were together. He'd said some really sweet things and he'd seemed sincere.

"Don't they all," she muttered.

She swung into her favorite take-out place and waited for her order. Dinner alone at her apartment wasn't on her list of favorite ways to spend the evening, but with Faith out of town getting hitched and Serena having plans with Damon, it left her options slim. It wasn't as if Nathan was knocking down her door.

She had walked into her apartment, juggling purse, keys and food when her phone rang. Thoroughly disgusted with the way she leapt at the thing, she forced herself to let it ring more than twice before she answered.

"Hey, Julie, it's Serena."

"Oh, hey."

She had to force a light, cheerful tone because her disappointment was damn near crushing. You moron.

"Damon wanted me to check with you to see if things were still a go for tomorrow night?"

She frowned. "Why wouldn't they be.”

Serena paused. "Well, you know, you and Nathan went out . . ."

Julie snorted in disgust. "He's not interested, Serena. And I'm not waiting around for him. I get the feeling I'm his backup plan or something. Fuck that."

"Ah, damn. I was hoping he'd call you."

"You and me both," she muttered, too low for Serena to hear. "Well, look, it's not the end of the world. The threesome ... it was dreamy and it has the added benefit of not making me crazy.

Honestly, I was nuts for getting involved with Nathan to begin with. He's obviously not that into me."

Serena sighed. "Okay well, I'd hoped it would work out. But he's a moron if he passed up an opportunity to have you."

Julie grinned. "I love it when you get all loyal on me."

"I'll kick his ass next time I see him."

"Nah, he's not worth it. Besides, you'd just hurt yourself. Don't worry about me, Serena. I plan to have fun and forget all about Nathan Tucker."

As she hung up the phone, she shook her head in disgust. Her vow of forgetting about Nathan Tucker seemed to be a common one. So when was she actually going to heed it?

Chapter 15

“I want you to come to The House tonight," Damon said as he forked a small bite of steak onto Serena's tongue.

The two were enjoying dinner in front of the fireplace, which Damon kept burning year-round, no matter the outside temperature.

She cuddled into his side, forgoing the next bite that he offered.

"You're asking," she said in a puzzled tone.

It wasn't as if he had actually phrased it as such, but normally he wouldn't say anything at all. If he wanted to take her to The House, he did so. Their relationship was a study in submission. Hers. It was something she still questioned at times, but she'd never backed away. No, she wanted it, craved it, too much. Much as she craved him. His love, his protection.

"Julie will be there tonight," he said after a hesitation. "And as you know, so will Micah and Nathan. Even though they won't be in the common room, I wanted you to know that they would be there before I took you."

She cocked her head sideways, studying his features. His warm brown eyes that softened with such love every time he looked at her.

"Does the idea that they could see me excite you?"

Damon was nothing if not honest. Even to his detriment. She could see the arousal in his eyes and knew the answer to her question already, but she wanted to hear what he was thinking. She thought she knew some of his thought process, but to hear him? Already a low thrum of desire swelled in her belly.

"What excites me is for them to see that you're my woman. My love. The woman who has trusted herself into my care. Not just them. Anyone. In my eyes, there is no woman more beautiful than you when you dance under the lash of my crop. For others to see and recognize that beauty gives me immense satisfaction."

She had no words, no response. She sat there, staring at him with wide eyes, her heart fluttering wildly.

"Does my barbarity shock you?" he asked.

For a moment concern sparked in his gaze, but he regarded her calmly, as if he trusted her to accept him.

She touched his face, allowing him to slide his lips over her fingertips in a gentle kiss. "Has my reluctance made you insecure? It's not what I ever intended, Damon. I've tried to be so careful to be fair to you in my caution."

He smiled. "You've done nothing wrong, Serena mine. I won't lie to you. Do I expect the people you know to even know you're there? No. But the idea of them being there, of the possibility that they could walk into the room and see you naked, under my hands, so submissive. Mine. Mine."

"And if I said it bothered me, that people I'm close to would see me this way?"

"Then I would never make you go."

But an essential part of their relationship would be gone. Irreparably damaged. Trust.

"And if I told you that I would stand naked in front of the world while you marked me as yours?"

"Your trust humbles me," he said in a nearly silent, aching voice. "Sometimes late at night I lie in bed with you next to me, your wrist bound to mine, and I simply marvel at the idea that you're mine. That after spending so many years searching, I've finally found you. I know you worry that I'm in love with an idea, a facade that you can only hold up for so long, but you're wrong, Serena. I love you, not an idea."

Love. It bathed her in its warm, heady glow, comforting. Constant.

"Take me where you go, Damon. It's all I want. I'm in your hands. Always."

He silenced her with a kiss. His lips touched hers with a reverence that shook her to the core. There was so much feeling. Too much for her to bear. He shattered her every time he showed her his love.

When she didn't stop to analyze, when she merely accepted, she was completely and utterly bowled over by the intense connection between them. Searching back, it was too soon, too young, too fresh to be so strong, so stable, so . . . permanent. Wasn't it?

There were rules for relationships, surely, that didn't include falling in love in such a short period of time. They were supposed to date, bicker, break up, fight, get back together, ponder getting married, children, baby names and then be engaged for at least a year before settling into marriage like an old couple. Right?

Damon had taken everything she'd ever considered about love and turned it on its head. Ever since they'd embarked down the path of her fantasies their relationship had a surreal quality that she still struggled with.

But if it wasn't real, what was it? No one could fake this kind of emotion. Who was she to say that what she felt, what Damon professed to feel, what he showed her with each glance, every touch, was an illusion?

The realization of just how wrong she was staggered her. Every day she expected to be the last, as if one of them would wake up and realize they were deluding themselves or each other.

While Damon had been giving their relationship his all, she'd been giving it a time limit.

A low sob welled in her throat, catching and stealing her breath. She swallowed and swallowed again, but it tore out as painful as her lack of faith.

Damon went still, and then he pulled away, concern deep in his eyes. "Serena, what's wrong?"

He put his hands to her face, touching lightly, seeking, running them down her neck and over her shoulders then back up again.

"Nothing is wrong," she choked out. "Everything is very, very right."

He gazed at her with the look of a man completely befuddled by a woman. How was she to make him understand anyway? There was no way for her to make it right with mere words. No, not unless they were the right words. Just the perfect ones. "What shall I wear?" she whispered. "And when should I be ready?"

He fingered the band around her arm, the beautiful piece of jewelry he'd gifted her with. The symbol of his ownership. She'd never once taken it off, and she knew if she were to remove it that the impression would be branded onto her skin.

"Your stockings," he said after a moment's consideration. "The black ones. And your heels, the ones I just bought for you."

"What else?"

"Just your silk robe. The short one that hangs just below the band of your stockings. Nothing else."

"When should I get ready?"

He kissed her again. "Now. I find I'm unable to wait any longer. We'll leave as soon as you're dressed."

Chapter 16

Tonight she stood at the side of the bed, her back to Cole as he slipped the blindfold snugly around her eyes. Julie sucked in her breath as the room went dark. Immediately her hands went out, seeking the edge of the bed in reassurance. Cole caught her by the waist and held her there for a moment until he was sure she had her bearings.

For one brief second, she wondered . .. But no, he couldn't be one of her men. The hands were all wrong. His were smooth. Too smooth. Not rough like her guys.

"I'll leave you now," Cole said next to her ear. "Get comfortable. They'll be in shortly."

She crawled onto the bed and instead of lying down, she rested on her knees, letting her hands curl into fists on the tops of her thighs.

She didn't have long to wait. The door quietly opened, and the brief disturbance in the air told her they had come. Footsteps, barely audible, whispered along the floor. She sat there, fists clenched tight as she heard them discard their clothing.

Why was she so nervous? She was trembling, her mouth dry as she waited. She hadn't been this antsy the first time, but then she knew what waited for her this time.

A sudden thought hit her. Would they even be the same men? She swallowed back her panic. No, Damon wouldn't do that to her, would he? She hadn't specified that they'd be the same men, and she had no guarantee her original lovers would even want her again.

A hand slid over her right shoulder, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The light rasp of those work-roughened hands soothed her nerves. It was him. Her gentle lover.

He let his fingers wander downward to cup her full breast. He weighed it in his palm for a long second before brushing his thumb over the peak, coaxing it to full arousal.

She emitted a soft gasp when his lips touched her shoulder. Just a soft brush that sent chills racing up her neck, tightening all the tiny hairs at her nape. A warm, silken glide. The hairs of his beard scraped delicately over the curve of her neck, his soft breath spilling over her skin.

Her back arched as she bowed upward, seeking more of his touch, his tongue, those wonderful lips. His other hand slipped down her back, to the hollow above her behind and then caressing lightly over her buttocks.

Another gasp stuttered out when the other man's lips closed over her nipple, sucking hard. He nipped at the bud, grazing the puckered skin with his teeth.

Then a second mouth closed over her other breast and she moaned, throwing back her head to give them better access.

The dual sensations, so different and yet thrilling, captivated her. She knew without seeing which was which. Her gentle lover plucked softly at her nipple, toying, loving, while the other man suckled hard.

Carefully they laid her back and to her surprise turned her over onto her stomach. Hands, lips, the soft glide of tongues slid over her shoulders, her spine, her ass. She floated, lulled by the decadent wash seeping over her.

Firm thighs straddled hers. Fingers curled beneath her ass to grip her legs, spreading them slightly. She sucked in her breath when a cock nudged between her cheeks, sliding downward, seeking her pussy.