With trembling hands, she peeled off her shirt and jeans. Then she put her clothes in the locker and slipped on the panties and bra. They were lovely, but she couldn’t let other men she didn’t know see her like this. A metallic taste filled her mouth as panic struck again.
“Here.” Wes came back into the room and handed her a large white dress shirt. “You may wear this over the outfit I selected, but that is the only concession I will allow.” His tone was dark and she knew she couldn’t argue out of this.
“Thank you,” she said. As soon as she slipped his shirt over her body, she relaxed. This she could live with. It dropped to her upper thighs and hinted at her curves rather than flaunted them.
His palm smacked her ass and she jumped. “Thank you, Master,” he corrected. “Now come along. It’s time to collar you.”
* * *
Wes’s heart was beating fast. Callie looked so delicious, so perfect in his shirt and nothing else. Her curvy legs and bare feet showed just how sexy she was. He was going to be the envy of every dom in the Cuff tonight. As he led her into the main room, every dom’s focus turned their way. Even the subs dared to raise their eyes curiously. Royce was reclining in an armchair, hands behind his head. Katrina, his sub, was seated at his feet on a large pillow to keep her knees from bruising.
Wes pointed to the floor by Royce, who tossed a pillow down where his friend pointed.
“Kneel, sub.”
As soon as he spoke the words, the doms gathered around them, all their submissives kneeling. Callie tried to mimic their pose as she sank to her knees next to Katrina and kept her head bowed. The cushion made the kneeling pose quite comfortable.
Pride filled him as he gazed down at her. She was his every fantasy.
“Tonight, I claim Callie Taylor as my submissive. She will be my responsibility, and I her master. Any punishments to her must be dealt through me as she now belongs to me.” He removed the collar from his suit pocket and leaned down over Callie.
“Lift your hair, little sub,” he instructed gently.
Her hands lifted and she caught her long honey-gold hair away from her neck. As he fastened the collar around her neck, a little shiver rippled along her skin when he touched her. Seeing his collar on her before had been a thrill, but now it meant so much more. She was his in the most permanent way he knew how to claim her. Normally, during a collaring, a submissive would endure an erotic punishment but it was up to their master.
“Stand, Callie.”
She rose and folded her cuffed hands in front of her and kept her head bent in respect. For a woman new to the lifestyle, she had good instincts.
He tilted her chin up and relished watching the little spark of surprise in her eyes.
“You are mine.” The words were soft, but he knew she heard them by the way a delicate blush pinked her cheeks. The vow he made had come true. He could see in her lovely eyes that she belonged to him in every way.
He couldn’t resist not taking what he wanted any longer. With little effort, he picked her up off the floor and carried her to a nearby couch. Reclining, he settled her onto his lap and curled his arms around her waist, grinning as he kissed away her squeal of surprise. Her lips parted beneath his and he delved inside with his tongue. She tasted sweet, like fruit and something uniquely her own. She melted against him and he let go of his control. He took her mouth, and his hands roamed her body, slipping up beneath the large shirt she wore, exploring her body freely as he staked his claim. The laughter and cat calls from the other doms were distant. His sole focus was on Callie and the way he could imprint her taste in his mouth.
There was a strange thrill at having a woman here at the club who was truly his, one he owned in a way he’d never had before. She was his, no man could touch her, and he could show all the other doms just what they were missing. Her little purrs, her kittenish sighs, and the wicked way she learned how to kiss him back that caused his trousers to tighten painfully as his body went rigid with need.
“Unless you plan on taking her to one of the private rooms, you’d better slow it down.” Royce’s loud jibe cut through the haze of lust in Wes’s brain.
Fuck. Why couldn’t he enjoy his little submissive?
“Don’t forget the plan,” Royce muttered as he leaned forward in his chair, eyeing Wes seriously. He then flicked his gaze to the Monet painting that hung on a wall ten feet away from them.
Royce was right. He needed to focus on the Monet, not on Callie. She was supposed to be his outward distraction to any in the club who might question him if he came alone.
With a sigh of regret, he got up from the chair and set Callie down on the couch beside Royce. She touched her kiss-swollen lips and smiled foolishly up at him. He loved that about her, the way she lost herself to passion and to him so easily and embraced every wonderful second of each kiss.
The sooner I catch the Illusionist, the sooner Callie and I can go back to Paris.
He stole one more little kiss and made sure he captured her complete attention.
“Remain with Royce. Do not speak to anyone unless they speak to you first. Remember to address doms as ‘sir.’ The subs have cuffs and collars and less clothes so you should be able to tell them apart. I’ll be back in a moment.”
He whispered quietly in Royce’s ear to watch over her before he headed to the back office.
Jaxon was seated at his desk, but then got up when Wes entered.
“Did you see the Monet?” Jaxon said as he gestured for Wes to go back into the main club room. Once there, Jax pointed to a wall across the room. Illuminated by a small horizontal light overhead, the Monet forgery was visible to anyone walking by.
“Yes, I saw it when I came in. I trust Vain helped to transport it here without any issues?”
Jaxon nodded. “Yes, he was extremely helpful. Kept an eye on it the whole time for me while we moved it here and set it up. I have my cameras on it. Anyone who gets close to it will be watched carefully.”
“Good.” He relaxed. This was the first night. They would give the thief a week to forge the painting in an attempt to make a switch.
“I hope this works,” Jaxon growled. “I want my Sargent painting back and once we find this thief, the FBI assured me they would get to the bottom of it and track down the other paintings this man sold.”
“Don’t worry, Jax. It’s my priority.” Wes noticed Stephen Vain approach Royce. Royce laughed at something Vain said and then waved a hand at Callie and Katrina. Both women got to their feet and walked to the bar together.
Knowing Royce, he’d sent them to get some water. It was important to keep a submissive well cared for. A healthy sub was a happy one, and a happy sub was more pleasing to bed, at least in his opinion.
A man entered the club’s main room through the door and Wes’s entire body went rigid.
Thomas Stonecypher. The man just didn’t know when to stay away. Between the incident at the gala and that attack at the polo match…
“Wes,” Jaxon cautioned, but Wes was already striding toward the other man.
“Wes, don’t.” Jax grabbed his arm, forcing Wes to halt. He spun to glare at Jax.
“What? I owe that bastard a crushed windpipe.”
“Everyone here is a suspect. Even Stonecypher. Let him be. We need to watch him and the others, or else we’ll scare off the thief and this will be pointless.”
Wes jerked free of Jax’s grip and snarled. “Fine.”
“Come on, I need you to help me watch some of the newer doms. You have a sharp eye. I don’t know them that well, and it could be that our thief is a new member.”
“Very well.” He glanced toward the bar again, where Callie was standing with Katrina. With a glass of water in her hand, she was chatting with the woman and smiling. Her other hand touched her collar every now and then, as though to check to see if it was still there. Seeing that made him smile. She would get used to wearing it. He wanted to see it around her neck often.