Chapter One

Club Dominion, Dallas—Thursday afternoon

THWACK! Logan Edgington smacked the submissive’s reddening ass in time with the dark beat of the old-school Depeche Mode tunes pounding through his dungeon at Club Dominion. Clenching his jaw, he curled his palm into a fist, then shook out the sting.

The sub gasped and stuck her butt out for him. Oh yeah, Callie liked pain and punishment, which was why she frequented this BDSM club. But the past two hours had proven that her attitude didn’t submit half as well as her body. Given enough time, he’d change that.

Perspiration sheened across her back, and some damp tendrils from her black pixie-cut hair clung to her neck. She bowed her head between her outstretched arms. Logan stood back, watched, while she writhed as much as her bonds allowed. Her pink pussy looked drenched and swollen.

“More!” she demanded.

He leaned down, growled in her ear. “You’re not learning. Who’s in charge?”

“But I need it,” she whined.

“You need discipline, which is why you’re here with me now. You say you want to learn to please the Master you hope to have someday, but I’m not seeing the dedication. I think you just like a little pain to make your orgasm better and the rest is bullshit.”

“That’s not true. Don’t be an asshole!”

Smack! “You’re disrespectful, sub. What do you call me?”

“Sir,” she gasped. “I’m sorry, Sir. I’m so close. You’ve kept me on edge forever—”

“For thirty minutes,” he cut in. “It’s your role to stay on edge for as long as I wish and to accept my commands with grace and dignity—and silence.”

Callie bowed her head, and Logan pressed his shoulders down, stretching his neck. He waited, swallowing cold water from his bottle. She was going to have to decide whether her long-term goal or her immediate need for orgasm was more important.

Her breath hitched. She sobbed, then caught herself. “Yes, Sir. You’re right, Sir. I’m sorry.”

Damn, that was the most progress they’d made all afternoon.

“But,” she cut in with a mewl, “it would be so much easier to submit if you’d just give me what I want.”

And we’re back to square one.

Behind her, Logan shook his head in displeasure and walked around the sub in a slow circle. He crouched until she could see the thunder on his face. Callie demanded her orgasm the way a toddler stomped her foot for a doll. She was going to take a lot of taming to reach her submissive potential. Idly, he wondered if he could possibly train her in the less than two weeks left of his leave. He certainly had the time to devote, since the only thing on his calendar until he returned to active duty was his older brother’s upcoming vow renewal.

He filtered his fingers into her damp tresses and pulled until she lifted her head. Her blue eyes looked glassy. “That’s not how it works. I explained that before we started. I know others have told you, as well. You’d be more likely to get what you want if you showed respect and complied.”

“Yes, Sir. It’s just . . . I’m so close, I can’t think. It’s like I’m already talking before my brain has decided what I should say.”

So Callie admitted that she had no filter. Since coming to Dominion, she’d been bounced from Dom to Dom. Few wanted to take on a “project.” Logan didn’t mind; he relished the challenge.

“You’re going to have to learn to control yourself.”

She bit her lip. “I’m trying, Sir.”

“Not hard enough. You know I have to punish you.”

Her entire body perked up. “Yes, Sir!”

Logan raced around her and smacked her ass again. “No coming unless I give you permission.”

Her head dropped between her shoulders as her hope deflated, but she took his edict in blessed silence.

Turning away, he rummaged through the nearby cabinet until he found what he needed: a pair of unforgiving clamps and a brand-new vibrating egg. Unwrapping both, he cleaned the egg, then inserted the batteries into the remote. After a quick pinch on each nipple, he applied the harsh clamps. This sub didn’t need much prepping; her nipples were already stiff red points.

She moaned and tried to claw at the padded mat beneath her. The girl certainly liked pain, and Logan had no problem dishing it out.

Finally, he crouched behind her and slid the egg into her soaking cunt. She tightened around it, bracing. Without a doubt, what he planned was going to be a trial for her.

Logan flipped the egg on.

Callie gasped. Clenching her fists, she wiggled her ass, trying to get enough friction for orgasm, but he’d tied her to a spreader bar, ensuring she couldn’t manage to rub anything together between her legs. And when she realized that, she wailed.

“Quiet. Take your punishment. You haven’t earned an orgasm. You’re not getting one for a long while.”

She endured. Not in total silence—that wasn’t her style. She cursed below her breath and alternately bit her lip. Logan watched her skin flush even more, her breathing hitch repeatedly, as need filled her. He smoothed his hand over her back, feeling her tremble, feeling her give in.

And finally, he felt.

Logan closed his eyes and inhaled, soaking in her uncertainty, her tumult, her quivering need. He savored her ragged breaths, tense mewls, and the pungent scent of her arousal. When he had a woman under his control and he stripped her down to her soul, exposing her most elemental self, then he could finally feel more than duty, anger, and nagging emptiness.

His own arousal multiplied. Blood rushed to his cock, hardening him until the sensation was nearly painful. It was perfect.

Well, as perfect as it got anymore.

“Sir!” The sub’s keening cry penetrated his haze, jacking him up even more.

He opened his eyes, slid in front of her until he fused their gazes together. Fuck, her wild, fully dilated eyes, red cheeks, and heaving breaths told him that she was close not just to orgasm, but to her breaking point.

“Callie . . .” he warned, dialing back the egg’s remote control to let her cool down. “No coming.”

This time, she winced, but didn’t complain.

“I’m sorry, Sir.” Her breathing hitched, and her head bowed completely. “How can I please you?”

He smiled. Finally . . . some measure of surrender.

“May I offer you my mouth?” Her voice shook. “My pussy? My ass?”

Technically, it was the right thing to say, but her offer left him cold. “No.”

“I want to please you.”

One look at the sub’s flushed face told Logan that, for once, she actually meant it. He softened. “Watching you, looking so feminine and submissive, so very close to orgasm, is pleasing me. I’m going to ask you to please me like that for a bit longer.”

“Yes.” Her breath caught. “S-Sir.”

Dropping to his knee beside her, Logan wrapped his arm around her waist, pressed his cheek to her back, then put his free hand over her pussy. “I like you on edge, trembling with the bite of pain I’ve given you, and the swell of need that only grows. Give me more. That is how you please me.”

Every inch of her skin was flushed rosy. In his head, Logan knew he’d kept her near orgasm for perhaps longer than she could comfortably bear. A part of him whispered that he should throw caution to the wind and enjoy her delicious turmoil for just a few minutes more. God knew she’d earned a little sensual torture for her defiance.

But a sub’s responsibility was to please whoever topped her. Still basking in the overspill of her emotion, Logan couldn’t deny that he was, in fact, pleased. And she’d even curbed her sass—at least for the moment.

A Dom’s role was to give the sub what she needed. Callie needed to come.

Rising to his feet, he made for the door, then pressed the security code. Instantly, the portal clicked open and his pal Xander, whom he’d dubbed his one man cleanup crew, prowled inside. “She ready?”

Logan glanced at the sub. “Just about. Give me thirty seconds.”

He turned back and dropped to his knees beside Callie, whispering in her ear, “Are you ready to be fucked? Think carefully about your answer.”

When he’d asked this question a few hours ago, she’d replied flippantly, as if she’d been entitled to pleasure. He’d untied her, left her alone in his dungeon while he’d found lunch—let her body cool completely before he’d started arousing her again.

Now, Callie averted her eyes respectfully. “If it pleases you, Sir, I offer myself for your pleasure.”

Xander snorted. Logan shot him a quelling glare. Maybe he should take the sub up on that. Maybe it would be all right. Though it would probably be like always. Afterward, he’d only feel crushingly empty and aware of all the fucking mistakes that had led to this shitty, hollow sex life.

“Thank you, little one.” He stroked her shoulder as the music throbbed around them. Then he curled a hand under her body, sliding his finger over her clit. “I would be pleased if you came for me. Now.”

With a little cry of surprise, she gasped, “Yes, Sir.”

Another light circle over her hard little clit, and Callie’s whole body shook, convulsed. Her nerve-laden nubbin turned to stone, pulsed under his fingers, as her cries rang in his ears. He opened his pores to her delightful storm of emotion, letting more sink in to him. God, how desperately he needed to feel something.

When her orgasm subsided, he removed the plastic egg as he kissed her shoulder. “Very pretty. It would please me now to watch you be fucked.”

She stilled. “Watch, Sir? I—I hoped . . . Yes, Sir.”

Logan heard the disappointment in her voice. So, she’d gotten the 411 on him, and like most of the other subs here, Callie wanted to be the one he finally fucked. That his celibacy had become a mountain for these women to climb really pissed him off. His reasons for abstaining were his own. He didn’t owe anyone an explanation or a stiff dick.

“You knew what would happen when you walked in this dungeon. I stated it clearly, and you agreed. If you’ve changed your mind, use your safe word and everything ends.”

The sub’s head snapped up. “No, Sir! If watching pleases you, then I will happily accept another. Please, I ache . . .”

No, it didn’t please him exactly, but in the long run, fucking her himself would displease him more. And afterward, he’d inevitably dismiss her harshly and hurt her without meaning to, which would only make him feel worse. It happened every time.

“Very well,” he murmured. “Xander?”

When Logan turned, his friend had already shucked his clothes and donned a condom over that big cock that made him a good living, even though he was already filthy rich. On silent footsteps, Xander circled Callie until he crouched in front of her. “I’m going to take care of you from here. Do you understand?”

The sub nodded, keeping her eyes downcast, but her body vibrated with excitement. “Yes, Sir.”

“You’ll please Master Logan by submitting to me now.”

“I understand.”

“Good girl.” Xander caressed her back, her ass, then helped her to her feet. He guided her to a spanking bench and clipped her in with the rings attached on her wrist and ankle cuffs, tossing the spreader bar aside once he had. With one hand, he plunged two fingers into her pussy. With the other, he smacked her sweetly rosy backside. She gasped.

That quickly, Callie was aroused again. And Xander didn’t hesitate. He gripped her hips, aligned his cock, and pushed his way in. She clawed the bench and cried out against the invasion. As Xander slammed her, she came again.

Logan’s work here was done. The sub was in the best hands possible. Xander would give her what she needed both during and after sex.

After smoothing a tender hand down Callie’s hair, Logan turned and left. Breath sawing in and out of his chest, he pivoted and headed to the end of the hall, pushing his way into the club showers. As he reached for the faucet and waited for the scalding water, his hand shook.

Damn, Callie’s lack of filter didn’t just apply to her mouth. Her emotions had mounted, one on top of the other, until they’d spilled all over him. Her fear, her thrill, her desire, her trembling greed for more had bled into him—and he’d sucked in every drop. Subs like her were the reason dominance worked for him.

Logan stripped, then stepped into the swirl of spray and hot steam. He wasn’t stupid; psychologists would have a field day with him, if he’d ever talk to one. Fuck that. He wasn’t opening his head for some shrink. He was simply wired this way, and his emotional disconnect worked professionally. Navy SEALs had to be collected, logic firing on all cylinders. When emotions got involved, people died.

Personally, however, it sucked. Sponging off women like Callie only took him so far. He remembered those high school days when all it had taken was one look, one kiss, and he’d been brimming with so many fantasies and wants that he couldn’t process them all. But that had been before . . . Nope, not thinking about her.