Perception (Club Destiny #6)(8)
Author: Nicole Edwards

And Samantha had enjoyed being with two men at one time. No questions there either.

However, Samantha was apparently hesitant because of her past experience and the attachment she’d made with the two men who had been involved in her relationship in the past. That part Mercedes understood, as well.

In order to help them out, Xander had the brilliant idea to introduce them to BDSM because it could provide the domination that Samantha seemed so fond of. Rather than having to introduce a third person for her to get her fix.

Xander had gone on to explain that, since Samantha obviously became attached, it made sense that they might need to shy away from the threesomes and look at another way to get her what she needed.

“Why me?” Mercedes had asked him again after his lengthy explanation, still not understanding why she had to be the one on the chopping block. There were a number of subs who would graciously accept his invitation.

“Because I don’t want to use anyone else,” he had told her.

Simple. Straight forward. No, it still didn’t make sense, yet here she was, agreeing to Xander’s plan to act out a scene.

With her as his submissive.

Sometimes she was just too damned nice.

Xander had assured her that she would merely be there as an accessory for the evening, so Mercedes had reluctantly agreed. He was her friend after all. She could help him this one time. Or so she’d tried to convince herself.

She wasn’t in an intimate relationship; therefore, she wasn’t stepping out on anyone. Her time was her own. How she decided to spend it was up to her as well.

Not that this would’ve been her first choice.

The sharp gasp from Samantha had Mercedes turning to look in her direction again. Her gaze stopped midway across the room where she noticed Xander absently caressing the flogger in his hands.

Of course he would pick that one.

Mercedes had requested him to use a low-intensity flogger for tonight, and he had laughed at her, then he’d followed his chuckle with, “What’s that?”

Ok, fine. He didn’t use low-intensity floggers. Then again, neither did she. Most of the time.

But looking at the high-intensity, latigo flogger in his hand didn’t have her ass singing a happy tune at the moment.

Not that she would let him know that.

Mercedes looked up to meet his intense, light green gaze and found her heart rate kicking up another notch. His mouth was a straight line, but his eyes were laughing at her.

Damn Dom.

“I’m waiting,” he informed her as she stared back at him.

He could wait all day as far as she was concerned.

For half a second, she contemplated being a brat, something that she personally had absolutely no tolerance for, but figured that wouldn’t fare well for her in the long run. Instead, without argument, Mercedes moved closer to the giant “X” securely positioned near the wall.

Pushing everything to the back of her mind, she tried to fall into the mindset of a sub. She’d spent enough time with them, knew what they expected of her as their Domme, so she knew what the desired responses were from Xander’s perspective.

Easy, right?

Um… no.

The next thing she knew, Xander’s enormous body was directly behind her, his front to her back, sandwiching her between him and the wooden cross in front of her.

The man was the human equivalent of a Mack truck.

“Hold this,” he instructed close to her ear in that sexy, rich baritone of his, placing the well-worn, braided handle of the flogger in her right hand as he crowded her up against the cross.

Mercedes gripped the nine inch handle tightly, tempted to slip out from beneath him and show him exactly how it should be used. Instead, she remained motionless, gritting her teeth as she anticipated what was to come.

Xander’s giant hands slid from her elbows up to her wrists, sending an unexpected, blinding frisson of heat coursing through her.

Ok wait.

Back up a minute.

That was not supposed to happen.

She wasn’t sure whether she was surprised more by how good his touch felt, or by how strange it was to have him now cuffing her to the cross. And the cuffing part wasn’t what got to her. She’d been there before in other demonstrations. No, it was actually Xander’s touch, or more accurately her own reaction to it, that had caught her off guard.

Once her hands were firmly secured in the padded leather cuffs, Xander slid his palms down her arms, over the sides of her breasts then down to her waist, but that’s where he stopped.

“You ready for this?” She felt his breath against her cheek, his voice low enough so only she could hear.

No. “Yes,” she whispered, irritated at how breathless she sounded.