A crooked grin curved Bren’s lips. “Life, Noelle. I heard it’s like that.”
She made a face at him. “Who would ever believe I’d have more luck getting sex in Eden than I have in the heart of O’Kane territory?”
“Well, you’re looking at it backwards.” He spun her slowly under one upraised arm before drawing her close again. “You can go anywhere and get fucked. You come here to get it good.”
This time, pressed against him, she shivered. “You O’Kane men are all very confident.”
“That sounded almost like a complaint.”
The words came without warning, bubbling up and out in a tangled jumble. “He wants me to figure out what I want but he won’t give it to me and something tells me he won’t be any happier if I get it from someone else.”
Bren brushed his thumb over her lower lip and nodded. “Now you’re starting to catch on.”
She licked the pad of his thumb. “Maybe I’ll just decide not to care if he likes it or not.”
“If you figure out how to stop giving a shit whenever you want, let me know how, huh?”
Time to be bold. Time to be a fearless member of the O’Kane gang instead of a sheltered fool from the city. She bit the tip of his thumb and gave him what she hoped was a sultry look. “I could start by having sex like everyone else.”
He shook his head, a genuine look of regret painting his features. “Nah, you don’t want me. I’m convenient, that’s all. But I appreciate the offer.”
“You’re more than convenient,” she protested, because it was the only thing to do other than sink into the floor and die of mortification.
“Are you always this apologetic?”
Noelle hesitated. Considered. “I suppose…yes.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what I was raised to be.” She dropped her cheek to his shoulder and closed her eyes. “I was supposed to marry an important man and entertain his important friends. I was supposed to be invisible except for when I was supposed to be decorative, and capable enough to keep everything running smoothly. If anyone was dissatisfied with anything, it meant I wasn’t doing my job.”
Bren pressed his lips to her temple. “But you’re not in Eden anymore.”
His touch was almost tender, and Noelle melted against him. “I thought you were supposed to be scary, but you’re sweet.”
“I’m both, darling. Most everyone here is.” He paused. “Remember that.”
Lex
She ducked into the closest room with a door that locked. The storeroom was packed high with boxes, but it also held an extra corner booth from the Broken Circle, its table stripped away, leaving only a semicircle of plush black leather.
She didn’t have to wait long.
Dallas closed the door and twisted the lock. “Your little pet’s growing up fast.”
“Isn’t she?” Lex backed up to the wall beside the leather seat. “It’s enough to give a woman ideas.”
“Why am I not surprised?” He slid onto the leather and stretched his arms across the back of the booth. “The boys are stroking their dicks half raw imagining what you do to her every night when you close your bedroom door.”
She eased onto the seat beside him. “You don’t have to imagine. You could watch.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Is that an invitation to start something, or confirmation that you’re corrupting her when the lights go out?”
It was hard to tell which answer he preferred. “It could be an invitation,” she murmured. “If Jas doesn’t mark her soon, you could step in. No one would fault you for it.”
“No one except Jas.” Dallas continued to study her. “I can’t tell if you want me to fuck Noelle or collar her, but I’m sure as hell not doing the latter.”
“Don’t you like her?”
“She’s not my type, love. If Jas handles her right, he’ll have a sweet little sub to pet and cuddle. That’s fun for a night or two, but it’s not for me.”
And yet Lex could have sworn that was exactly what Dallas wanted—a woman who would gladly, happily be owned. “I think it might be—under the right circumstances.”
His dark gaze didn’t shift from her face. “And what are those?”
Always so intense, and it was that intensity that drew her closer even as she felt locked into place. Ensnared.
Lex straddled his leg and settled with her hand resting lightly on his fly. “I know what you were thinking the other night. What you wanted to see while she was sucking your dick.”
His expression remained bland, but his dick hardened. “What did I want to see?”
She leaned in, putting her mouth close to his. “My head between those pretty, pale thighs, for starters.”
“Your head between anyone’s thighs is a hot sight.” He stroked her cheek and then brushed his thumb over her lips. “You’ve never been under me. You don’t know what I do with the women in my bed.”
The lack of personal experience was irrelevant. “I know what you like, Dallas. What gets you off. I pay attention.”
He nodded once. “And when you bring Noelle to my bed? What do you imagine we’ll do with her? It would be both of us, wouldn’t it?”
“Nothing so inflexible.” Lex grinned and tugged at his pants until the button and zipper both opened under her fingers. “Did you like watching her touch me?”
Dallas growled. “What do you think, Lex?”
His cock jumped in her hand, rigid and hot. “You liked it. Maybe…” She fought to steady her breathing and stroked him slowly. “Maybe you’re more interested in watching her eat my pussy. You’d have to teach her how.”
“I think we’re into your fantasies now.” He sank a hand into her hair. “Not that I wouldn’t enjoy the hell out of watching her lick you with her shy little tongue. It’d take her forever, but that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?”
“Part of it.” The rest was the thought of control, both seizing and relinquishing it.
Maybe it showed on her face, or maybe he just knew her that well. “She’d do anything I told her to. I don’t think you’d be as obedient.”
“You don’t want me to be.” Lex leaned over and let her hair trail over his dick.
He jerked the hair he held twisted around his hand and hauled her head up. “When I want your obedience, I’ll get it.”
He seemed so sure of that, as sure as he was of everything else, and the realization both terrified and comforted her. There was no mountain Dallas O’Kane couldn’t climb. No woman, either.
She swallowed hard. “Noelle would mind herself, kneel at your feet and await your command. So would that new girl—Six.”
“Probably,” he agreed mildly. “Noelle doesn’t know any better, and Six has been beaten down.”
“Not me.” An unpleasant possibility drew Lex up short, and she stared at him. “Is it a problem?”
“Now what part of what I just said made it sound like a problem, Lexie? You think I want you to be clueless?” His hand relaxed, cupping the back of her neck as he smoothed his thumb over her throat. “You think I want you beaten?”
“No,” she whispered. “But I’m starting to think you don’t want me to be the way that I am.”
Dallas sighed and closed his eyes. “There’s what’s good for the gang, what’s good for business, and what’s good for you. What I want doesn’t rate on the list most days.”
She couldn’t let him own her, but it still hurt to watch him like this. “Is this about Trent?”