“Very funny. Hey, before you leave, I have one more question. Where the hell did she learn to play basketball like Michael Fucking Jordan?”
“Oh, Jesus. Don’t tell me that’s why you need a shower? Don’t ever play against her. You’ll lose every damn time. Believe me. I learned the hard way.”
“Too late. She already whipped my ass. So, how did she get so good?”
“You didn’t ask her?”
Lukus smiled a sly smile. “We were a little busy.”
“Right. Well I’ll let her give you all the details, but she had a full ride scholarship to play women’s basketball at the University of Michigan. It’s where she and Bri met and were roommates for four years. She got good because she comes from a large Irish-Italian Catholic family. She has a boatload of athletic brothers, almost all of them cops if I remember correctly.” Markus started to chuckle. “Now that I think of it, I’d be careful if I were you. They’ve always been pretty protective of her.”
Lukus let out a full groan. “Fucking great. That’s just what I need. A boatload of protective cops breathing down my neck.”
“Hey, it could be worse. They could all be lawyers like me.”
“Well, that’s the truth.”
Markus headed towards the door then turned to look back at his friend. “Hey. I just want to say thanks again for all that you did for Bri and me the last few days. I know I’ve been a complete and utter ass to you where she was concerned and well… I just want you to know I’m sorry and I truly do hope you can give me a chance to make it up to you.”
“It’s okay, Markus. I didn’t understand until I met Brianna, but it makes sense now. Just don’t ever try to pull some shit like that on me again.”
“Deal. Night and good luck with Tiff. I think you’re gonna need it.”
Yeah, I think I’m gonna need it too.
Tiffany
Tiffany knew she’d been stalling long enough. If she didn’t get going soon, Lukus was going to come looking for her and when he did, it would only take him two seconds flat to realize he’d made a mistake leaving her alone in his room.
What the hell am I doing? I’m going to get my heart broken for sure. There’s no way in hell someone like Lukus is going to be happy with someone like me.
Tiff had been so excited to go join Lukus in the theater that she had sped through her shower, barely taking time to wash her long, blonde hair. And even though he’d left her a new toothbrush, she’d used his instead. She knew it was childish to want to share his toothbrush, but something about it seemed so intimate.
Curious and wanting a bit of fun, she’d even spent a few moments rifling through his bathroom cabinets, subconsciously looking for clues into the mystery of Master Lukus Mitchell. And it had been fun, right up until she opened the cabinet holding all of the tools of his Dom trade.
I should have listened to my mother. She’s always told me curiosity killed the cat.
As hard as she’d tried, Tiffany hadn’t been able to slow her heart rate since spending several long minutes inspecting each and every item in that cabinet. She’d taken the time to evaluate how each implement made her feel and finally came to the conclusion that while a few toys—like the paddles and the fleece-lined wrist and ankle cuffs—had turned her on, most of the items just plain scared the shit out of her.
Sure, she’d always enjoyed racy romance novels that included scenes featuring anal plugs, fierce nipple clamps, and other bondage devices. But in reality, the closest she’d ever gotten to them was as a spectator in the BDSM clubs years ago with Brianna. Even then, the club scene had always had an air of theater. She’d very much enjoyed being a witness to naughty subs being punished and played with in all sorts of creative or even artistic, ways. The visions stuck with her and even years later, she could still conjure those memories as if they had happened yesterday.
But here in Lukus’s private space, the sex toys were real. She’d touched them and she had no choice but to confront how she really felt about the possibility of his using them on her. For that matter—and she hated to admit it—she was going to have to confront how she really felt about his having used them on others before her. She suspected it was many others and that caused her a moment of near panic.
How is he ever going to be happy with me when he can have so many other women who aren’t afraid to let him do whatever he wants with them. If he thinks he’s ever going to give me a damn punishment enema, he has another think coming.
Tiff finally forced herself to leave the bathroom and finish dressing. Sitting on his bed, she tried to calm herself. She wasn’t sure if it was helping or hurting, but she hugged Lukus’s pillow to her face, enjoying his masculine scent that lingered there. She forced herself to remember Brianna’s words earlier in the day—how in spite of all of the punishments Lukus had layered on her, Brianna’s trust for him had grown. Tiff recalled the unwavering trust Brianna placed in Lukus, even forgiving him tonight after he and Markus had tested her resolve to be faithful to her husband.
Why can’t I trust him, too? He hasn’t done anything that’s hurt me.
That was when it hit her. It was as if Brianna was right in the room, admonishing Tiff for always trying to make things harder than they needed to be.
Tiff and Bri had always been good chess players. While thinking strategically may have been key to the game of chess, Brianna was the one who finally recognized that Tiff had the nasty habit of trying to think so far ahead in her relationships that she would often torpedo men without even giving them a fair chance, simply because she suspected the game wouldn’t turn out as she’d planned. It was as if she wanted to strategically plan out her next three moves on the board at the beginning of a new relationship to make sure the moves she was making were the right ones.
Brianna had told her over and over that being in a relationship wasn’t like chess—a game they both loved—and Tiffany knew her friend was right when she told her she couldn’t plan all the moves in life ahead of time. People weren’t pieces on a board, and where the rules of chess were rigid, the rules of the relationship game were not fixed. They changed. Tiff’s tendency to keep one step ahead was not only a waste of time, but could be destructive.
Hell, Lukus himself said it tonight when he asked me, “Please, can’t you at least give us half a chance before you throw it away?”
Tiff recalled what she felt earlier as—bound and helpless—she was made to watch Brianna’s punishment. In her mind’s eye, she could still see the men working together on stage to bring Brianna such pain, but also such pleasure. She recalled the sound of the riding crop as it whizzed through the air before snapping against Bri’s already tender skin, the sight of Markus fucking Brianna so punishingly hard and fast on the stage floor, the sound of their cries betraying just how much they loved each other.
She realized what she was feeling now at these memories was not fear, but excitement. And that excitement grew as she remembered the feel of Lukus’s erection pressed against her as they shared their first kiss—a kiss that had somehow felt different than any other before. Afterwards he’d made a startling confession, that he was as off-balance as she was about whatever was happening between them.