She dropped her gaze and cringed. “Yes, my liege.”

“Excellent.” He softened his voice. “If you’d like to meet someone or if you have problems, you may request to speak with me.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you know anyone here?”

She nodded, and her flush increased.

His irritation grew. “You’re here with a Dom? Your Dom?”

“Yes, sir,” she whispered.

He was tempted to toss her right out of his club. The disloyal beauty was apparently used to manipulating the men around her. “Take me to him.” When she started to stand, he shook his head. “You weren’t given permission to rise.”

Her eyes widened.

“Move.”

Unlike many Doms, he didn’t often make a submissive crawl, but in her case… She made her way across the room to kneel beside a man watching a scene.

Xavier recognized him. A longtime Dom, not strict, more into sex than dominance, and rich, which explained his lovely, young submissive.

Johnston glanced at her. “Tisha, what are—” He saw Xavier and rose. “Xavier. Is there a problem?”

“I’m afraid so. Your submissive offered to serve me.”

Face darkening, Johnston stared down at her. “You said you needed the restroom.”

“I…I just thought…”

No, she hadn’t thought. Xavier took a step back.

“Do you want anything done?” Johnston asked him.

“I’m sure you’ll deal with her appropriately.” As Xavier walked away, he heard a squeak behind him. Johnston might not normally be hardhanded, but that wouldn’t help the girl this evening.

Dismissing the annoyance from his thoughts, Xavier strolled through his domain. The energy in the dungeon was almost palpable. Some evenings were better than others. Sometimes, whether due to a bad scene or a bad mixture of play, the ambience could feel disjointed. But tonight the cries and moans and rhythms flowed from one side of the room to the other until scenes took on an added resonance.

But not all scenes. Apparently he’d done a poor job matching the receptionist and Seth.

Off to one side, the dungeon monitor watched with a frown. When Xavier nodded a greeting, Angela jerked her chin at the scene. “The bottom isn’t engaged at all.”

“I see that.”

Although fairly new, Seth also realized he wasn’t reaching Abby, and his frustration showed. He hadn’t bound her but had her gripping the cross as he lightly flogged her ass.

Xavier put his hands behind his back and considered. True, he’d pushed her into doing a scene with Seth, but she’d joined the club to learn. Had volunteered to be a receptionist so she wouldn’t have to wait. But she wasn’t even trying to be part of this session.

He’d topped submissives who’d needed to be pulled into engagement, but Abby was not only distant; her head wasn’t anywhere in the area. He followed her gaze to where a switch was topping a younger couple under the supervision of her Dom.

Xavier’s eyes narrowed. Although focused on the four people, Abby showed no signs of arousal. She had the expression of someone watching an interesting TV show.

Seth tossed his flogger into his bag, stepped in front of her, and said something.

Abby nodded. As she moved away from the cross, stretching her arms, Seth walked over to Xavier and Angela.

“That didn’t go well,” Xavier said.

Seth shook his head. “That was the flattest scene I’ve ever done. She wasn’t with me at all. She’s not mine and I don’t know her, so I wasn’t comfortable increasing the pain to draw her back.”

“She didn’t even try, Seth. Not your fault.” Xavier watched as Abby rubbed her shoulders. “Since she’s my responsibility, I think I’ll show her where I expect her head to be when she participates.”

Seth grinned. “Poor subbie.”

Xavier summoned a barmaid to fetch his toy bag and joined Abby.

“Hey.” Her smile faded at his silence. “My liege. Sorry. I’m not used to—”

“That’s obvious.” He kept his voice low but hard, akin to a swat on the ass. Her eyes widened. Yes, he had all her attention now. “When a submissive is in a scene, where should her gaze be? Her awareness?”

The tiny muscles in her throat worked. “On the scene.”

She was very new. “No, Abby. On her Dom. Unless you’re instructed to look at the floor, your gaze stays on the Dom. Even if you’re looking down, the rest of your senses stay focused on the Dom. Where was your attention?”

Her flinch was obvious. “On another scene.”

“Exactly.” He set his hand on her shoulder, pleased at the tiny quiver that displayed her physical awareness of him. “As staff in Dark Haven, you’re in essence my submissive, which means I choose your play partners. For that scene, Seth was your Dominant, and your behavior was disrespectful to both him and me.”

“Oh.” She caught her lower lip between her teeth and gave him a penitent look. “I’m sorry, my liege.”

“I forgive you. And I’m going to work with you to ensure it doesn’t happen again.” He guided her to a bondage table and covered the surface with a cloth from a service stand. “Climb up.”

Chapter Five

“Malum!” she muttered in Latin under her breath. A bad thing indeed. Xavier seemed more irritated than angry, but he certainly didn’t pull his punches. His bluntness, unleavened by any courtesy, was unsettling. Was this kind of honesty a Dom trait?

Wouldn’t that be an interesting research topic?

When he made a threatening noise, she dragged her attention back and quickly climbed onto the table. The padding under the rubber-backed sheet was black leather, like an ominous version of her doctor’s exam table. Wider, though. The dangling straps and inset D rings didn’t alleviate her insecurities at all.

“Lie back,” he directed. A barmaid handed him his overnight-sized leather bag.

Too insecure to comply, Abby stared at the bag. He’d have stuff in it. As a cry came from across the room, she glanced toward the scene she’d been watching and—

Disconcertingly powerful hands closed on her shoulders, and Xavier pushed her flat on her back. “I don’t think you’re deliberately disobedient, Abby, but you’re quite distractible.” His lips twitched. “You’ll dent a Dom’s fragile ego if you don’t pay attention to him.”

He really did have a sense of humor. It wasn’t slapstick blatant but almost hidden. And attractive. “You don’t have a fragile ego.” Not even close.

Pillowing her skull in his palm, he leaned on his arm. He stood close enough she could smell his aftershave of rich spices with a hint of exotic resins. Tiny flecks of gold warmed his dark eyes. His lips looked hard, but she remembered their velvety texture.

He kissed her. His firm lips moved over hers, then teased her mouth open. His tongue swept in, stroking hers in a leisurely plundering. Gripping her hair, he pulled her head back, giving him a better angle to take her mouth. His growl of approval whispered down her spine even as his hand curved around her jaw, securing her more fully. Aggressive—too aggressive—yet heat smoldered under her skin as if she stood in front of a wall heater.

Heavens, the man could kiss. Don’t get swept away. Regaining her self-possession, she tried to experiment, teasing with her tongue.

He lifted his head. “You have a very active mind, little fluff. Tonight I’m going to find out what it takes to turn your brain off.”

“You…what?” Her brain was who she was. She tried to sit up.

He chuckled and flattened her, reinforcing the movement with a look that promised bad things if she didn’t stay put. When she stopped struggling, he buckled a cuff on her left wrist and clipped the D ring to the side of the table beside her thigh. Then he did the same for the other wrist.

Well, this kind of bondage wasn’t too bad. She had a lot of freedom still, and her legs were free.

He started unhooking her corset.

“What are you doing?”

His face held amused exasperation. “Abby, how many submissives have you noticed wearing clothing during a scene?”

“Um. One.”

A smile flickered over his lips. “And that was because…?”

“The Domme wanted to cut his shirt off with her whip.”

When her corset fell open, he pulled it from under her and tossed it on a chair. The air cooled her damp skin and tightened her nipples.

He removed her skirt, and thank goodness she’d indulged in buying sexy underwear. The corner of his mouth lifted as he ran a finger across the lace of her dark-red, cheeky panties. “Nice. Lace and red both look good on you.” The compliment delighted her, but when he started to pull the pantie off, she instinctively closed her legs.

He administered a sharp slap to the front of her thigh.

“Ow!” The spot burned. The realization that he wouldn’t let her get away with anything sent a quiver of vulnerability through her…and woke excitement in her belly.

He continued stripping her as if he hadn’t done anything unusual. Does he smack women every day? The pantie landed on top of her corset. When he rested his wide palm on her bare stomach in the same way another man might take her hand, the casualness of his touch shook her.

“Abby, I’ve indulged you up to now because you’re new. You said you’d done some reading about BDSM?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then you know, intellectually, at least, how to behave.”

His sharp gaze sliced a pathway through her thoughts. “Yes, sir.”

“Do so. I warn you, if you start watching other scenes, I’ll increase the intensity here.” He picked up a strap, letting the end trail over her stomach. “We Doms are rather competitive, you know.”