The door shut behind them. In an instant, Søren had turned her toward him. She was in his arms, his mouth on hers. He tasted like fire and wine. She pressed into him, the dawn of her body meeting the horizon of his. It had been so long since she’d given herself over to him. She didn’t care that Zach was waiting right outside. For a moment she didn’t even remember Zach or the promise she made Wesley. She stiffened as he grasped her by the wrist. With one adept movement he had her arm twisted behind her back, her stomach flat against the wall.
Panting with need, she closed her eyes as Søren lifted the back of her skirt. She knew what was coming and didn’t try to fight it. She breathed him in, inhaling his perfect scent, the scent of winter that clung to him in every season. His mouth lingered at her neck; his warm breath on her bare skin sent a shiver through her whole body. She waited for him to penetrate her but he was too cruel for that. She heard Søren release the slightest throaty gasp, and he came instead on the back of her thighs.
Nora swallowed a groan of frustration. He loved punishing her by withholding himself. Instead of taking her, he’d merely marked his territory. Bastard. Søren pulled away as she yanked her skirt back down and turned to face him.
“Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let’s talk, shall we, little one?”
“What did I do now?” she demanded. “Obviously I’m in trouble…again.”
A quiver of tension shot through her as Søren raised a single finger and ran it from under her ear, down her neck and across her naked shoulder. He leaned forward and whispered.
“Deep trouble.”
* * *
Zach sat next to Griffin on one of the barstools. He tried not to appear too gauche next to this unabashedly half-naked young man.
“So what do you think of our little acre of Hell?” Griffin asked, reaching over the bar to grab a bottle of water.
Zach glanced around—he saw naked flesh and leather wherever he looked. A young woman wearing not much more than her pale pink collar and cuffs sat at the feet of a slightly older man. The man said something to the girl and she nodded obediently. She tucked her toes under and rose straight up off the floor just the way Nora had in the kitchen that day. Suddenly Zach didn’t see the girl but a younger Nora. And in place of the older man was Søren smiling darkly down at her as she sat on the floor at his feet.
“Nora and Søren…how long were they together?” Zach asked, barely hearing Griffin’s question.
“He owned her about ten years, I think.” Griffin twisted the cap of his water and took a drink. “But she told me she’s known him since she was fifteen. Love at first sight, apparently. For both of them.”
“Ten years…” Zach couldn’t wrap his mind around it. His own marriage had lasted ten years. “She said he’s a sadist. I assume she means he’s…”
“A sadist,” Griffin said simply. “He’s sexually aroused by inflicting pain and humiliation. And he’s phenomenal at it. The Pope there is Machiavelli’s wet dream.”
“Phenomenal? It doesn’t seem that difficult to hurt someone.”
Griffin scoffed. “Look, any jackass with a baseball bat can beat up somebody in the street and in five seconds they’re begging for it to stop. Søren can beat you up and in five minutes you’re begging him to never stop. That’s his gift.”
“He’s a priest. A Catholic priest. He has vows—”
“Which he doesn’t break except with Nora, as far as I know. A Catholic priest who only has sex with one consenting adult woman? Jesus, they’ll probably make him a bishop. Real sadists don’t need to fuck. They need to fuck you up.”
“I can’t believe Nora could stay with someone who hurt her for so long. She’s so…”
“Dominant? Yeah, she’s one helluva Switch. She’s as dominant now as she used to be submissive. You wouldn’t recognize her if you saw her six years ago. Of course you wouldn’t see her face anyway because it’d be buried in his lap.”
Zach had started to take a drink of his gin and tonic but he set his glass down again.
“He forced her to do that in public?”
“Hell, yeah. Fucked her a few times in public, too. Well, not public—private parties. I got invited once. The only time I ever got to top that woman. One of the best nights of my life. He beat her, fucked her, passed her around. He and King would tag team her a lot. Most dominant thing you can do is give your submissive to someone else to play with.”
“Nora allowed that?”
Griffin choked on a laugh and turned to meet Zach eye to eye. “Allowed it? Man, she fucking loved it.”
Zach shook his head. “I don’t believe it. Who would enjoy being treated like that?”
“Believe what you want. All the submissives down here would sell their souls to belong to him. That’s why he’s number one. He’s the real thing. He doesn’t play to get laid. And he doesn’t do it for money like some people. He does it for pure sadistic pleasure.”
“But Nora…why does she do it?”
“Lots of reasons. But for him mainly.”
“Surely he doesn’t approve of her being a Dominant.”
Griffin gave him a sidelong smile. “What? You never pulled the ponytail of the little girl you liked on the playground? This is his playground,” Griffin said, sweeping his arm out to indicate the bar and the writhing pit below. “He’d never allow anyone but him to own her. So if she wants to play on his playground, she does it as a Domme. He doesn’t like it but he won’t stop it. Still loves her too much.”
Zach turned his head and saw the young woman in the pale pink collar return to her master. With her eyes and head lowered she presented him a glass of wine. The man set the glass of wine aside, took her by the hair and pulled her face between his legs. Zach tried to look away but found he couldn’t. The man leaned his head back in arrogant bliss as the girl wrapped her lips and tongue around him.
“God, I love it here,” Griffin said, and Zach could hear arousal in his voice. “I’ve gotta get a sub.”
Zach tried to ignore how aroused he was becoming by watching the girl. The man dug his fingers into the back of the girl’s neck as his hips twitched. Zach wrenched his gaze away as he finally let the girl go.
“Nora and Søren were just like that?” Zach asked, still in shock.
Griffin shrugged indifferently.
“Nora says he’s a great priest.”
* * *
“So what do you want to talk about? We’ve been having the same fight for five years. I guess we can have it again. Yes, I miss you. Yes, I miss it. No, I’m not coming back.”
“You would assume this was all about you, wouldn’t you?” Søren said.
“If it isn’t, then what?” she demanded, angry at herself for still being so affected by him even after all this time.
“I told you when I saw you again we would discuss Wesley.”
Nora took a step back.
“No, not him. He’s not on the table. He’s not up for negotiation.”
Søren’s eyes flashed at her. “Fitting as I do not negotiate.”
“I’m not giving Wesley up.”
“He’s not one of us, Eleanor, and you know it. You never should have allowed him into your home. This is a dangerous game you are playing and one or both of you will be deeply hurt by it.”
“Wes