Jenna's Consent (14 page)

Nick must have made a face because she laughed and hugged
him close, tucking her small frame into the cocoon of warmth he offered to her.
“That’s impressive.”

“I’ve learned a lot and enjoyed most of my journey to get
here. I love tying.”

“It shows in your rope when you’re up onstage and everything
else goes away.”

“That’s how it is too when I tie myself. It’s faster because
of how much I practice at home. I—”

“So that’s where you’ve been practicing? Your home?”

“Technically my kitchen, well the entryway between my
kitchen and living room.”

“Frame?”

“Yep. It’s on the other side of the open doorway but at
least that way I have enough space to rig how I want to. And I don’t have to worry
about running out of room.”

“Bringing me to my next point. You know you’re not supposed
to tie alone right?”

She tried to speak and he kissed the lie right out of her
mouth, unwilling to let her keep perpetuating the same lies she’d been feeding
him and everyone else for months. In some cases, years. “Jenna?”

“Yes, Sir. I don’t tie alone. It’s irresponsible and
dangerous. Last night was the first time I’d suspended alone in ages. I always
have a spotter if I’m going to suspend. Don’t worry. I won’t do it alone again.

“I’ve been beating myself up over it the entire morning. I
know that’s one of the first rookie mistakes new riggers make. Overestimating
their ability and or underestimating the strength or time needed to complete a
tie and then rig yourself out of it too.”

“Who’s been spotting you?”

“Someone I trust and not someone I will rat out if anything
happens that jeopardizes their position in any shape or form.”

The fact that she wouldn’t tell him who it was should have
pissed him off. Instead he had to fight the urge to give her a high-five.
Loyalty wasn’t favored as highly as he thought it should be.

“I know some of us can be our worst critics and since you
are so knowledgeable in this area I’ll assume you’ll be kicking your own ass
over the mistake. It scared me, Jenna. Especially not knowing your skill level.
Thankfully it didn’t take me long to realize you were so talented but rope
injuries suck.”

“I know.”

“They can leave you with abrasions all the way to complete
nerve damage.”

“I know.”

“You promise it will not happen again or I will wear your
ass out so hard you wouldn’t be able to even think about sitting for two weeks
without flinching.” He pulled her hand from his waist and placed it over her
heart.

“I promise.”

“Good. And safety equipment?”

She tugged her hand free, withdrawing a pair of safety
shears from her back pocket.

He took them, opening them and checking their edge to make
sure they could cut through quickly if she needed the help immediately.

“I always have a mini-knife on me too. It’s in my hair or in
my corset, so I can get to it when I’m suspending.” She pulled a small
cylindrical type item from between her breasts, handing that over to him as
well for him to inspect.

He studied both of them, knowing immediately they were both
good quality. The shears were the same brand he used and kept in his rope bag.
“Why hide all of this for so long?” He asked the question while handing back
her belongings.

She nibbled her bottom lip, maybe trying to figure out what
to say. “Something tainted what I had in rope—”

“Something or someone?”

“Both, I guess. I shoved it all down deep for a while.”

“Didn’t take long for it to reemerge, I hope?”

“Several months, I guess. Then I just did it for me. I
stopped traveling. Stopped talking to all of my original rope people. I had to
take all of that away and just get back to me and my rope. I didn’t start
self-suspending again until after I’d moved here and taken the position at The
Library.”

He brushed hair away from her forehead using the tips of his
outstretched fingers.

“Rope’s no longer on your hard limit list.”

“But—”

“No buts, Jenna. Do you really need it to be on that list?
Even a little bit?”

“For my mental sanity I do.”

“You’re made of tougher stuff than that.” It was the God’s
honest truth. All of the bravado and winking she normally did, he’d expected
her to be so full of self-confidence he’d have to swat it down.

He’d been wrong originally, which was a hard pill to
swallow.

Apparently it depended very much on who was giving either a
compliment or chastisement for her. Some she could let roll off her back either
way and it didn’t affect her. He liked seeing satisfaction brighten her face at
his assessment of her.

He couldn’t even call it a compliment. It was more a simple
truth than anything else.

“Thank you, Sir.”

“You’re very welcome. Now about tonight—”

“Jenna, hello? Did you get lost? I still need that
screwdriver at the main stage. Are you coming? Ha! I just asked if you were
coming. I’m a riot tonight.”

She grabbed the radio. “Damn. Sorry, Oscar. I’ll be there in
just a couple minutes.”

He didn’t even take five seconds to respond. “Say hi to Nick
for me.”

Her eyes squinted and she brought the radio to her mouth
again. “Don’t be pretentious, Oscar.”

“Yeah, but I’m right. That means I’m smug, not pretentious.”

“Smart ass.”

“Still waiting for the screwdriver.”

Nick took the radio, speaking into it. “And you’re going to
wait a few more minutes.”

“Knew it. I’m patiently waiting. Waiting—”

Nick turned it off and handed it back to Jenna. “I need you
dressed in a corset and panties in the second playroom at midnight. Wrist cuffs
only. Oh…” He stared along her body until his gaze locked on the spiked
high-heeled shoes she wore. “And those shoes. I like fucking you with heels
on.”

“Pretty sure I can handle that. Anything specific on the
corset?”

“You have lots of different kinds, correct?”

She simply raised an eyebrow at him.

“That’s what I figured. Wear an underbust garment and some
flimsy barely there kind of see-through top with it.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“One more thing. Where’d you get the mask you wore last
night?”

She hesitated, chewing on her lips. “I made it.”

“I wondered.”

“You did?” She sounded so hopeful and he pulled her into his
arms again, holding her close.

“Your stuff is remarkable. Surely you already know that.”

“It’s nice to hear though.” She squeezed him back.

“Kinky Pinky? Your brand?”

Her eyes found his when she tilted her head up, her eyes
nearly glowed with pride. “Yes, it’s something I’m gonna talk to the girls
about this afternoon.”

He smoothed his hand over her ass while she inputted her
password and swiped the screen.

“Mmmm,” came out as he rubbed on her again. “It’s Wednesday.
I have to be to CJ’s in a couple hours and still have a few things to finish up
here before I can take off.”

“Such as supplying Oscar with a screwdriver.”

“Among other things.” She tucked her phone back in her
pocket beneath his hand. “Are we done or did you have anything else to say?”

He tilted her chin up, holding her jaw, smoothing his palms
up to cup her cheeks. He kissed her lips. “I won’t hold you up. I have plans
for you tonight anyway so I need you free by midnight and all of your work done
so you can enjoy it. I promised not to interfere with your work and it sounds
like girl time today might definitely fall into that category.”

“We’re always working.”

He raised his eyebrow at her, clearly not convinced.

She smiled that “cat who ate the canary” smile and pulled
away. “We work at being bad, at getting in trouble and making life for our men
interesting.”

He made a swipe at her ass but she jumped out of range just
in time. His fingers grazed her pants but he didn’t connect.

“Brat,” he yelled after her.

“Sadist,” she called over her shoulder with a smile. He
watched her walk away, and damn was it a sight to see.

“Holy shit.”

Nick turned around and Jared’s mouth hung open. “What?”

“You smiled.”

“Duh.”

“Duh nothing, Casanova. You don’t smile. You smirk. You
sneer, but you don’t smile. Not that ‘I love you so much I want to have your
babies’ smile.”

“You know I hate that nickname.”

“Duh.” Jared stepped closer, with a self-satisfied smile on
his face. “All kidding aside, I’m glad you guys finally got together. She
brings out the best in you.”

Jared clapped him on the back and stalked off to cause
trouble in some other unsuspecting employee’s domain.

Nick pulled his phone out to text Bryan, as uneasiness crept
in.

Midnight. Tonight.
He sent it, willing the pissed off
male inside him to shut the hell up. Jenna needed it and he’d always been down
for sharing some gorgeous piece of ass. She was that, but she was so much more
to him, even that quickly.

Didn’t take long for a message to come back.
Where?

He’d originally wanted to have her in his room again but to
share her? For some reason at the last minute he decided to move it to a more
neutral space. Something that didn’t touch their space together.

That…

That was just theirs.

Second playroom and make it twenty after. I don’t want
her to suspect anything in case she’s going to be late. I’ll take care of the
rest.

Text came back even quicker.
I’ll be there. Safe word?

Ian.

Nick waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Did you get her safe word? All good?

Got it. Trust me, I won’t forget it.

“You have that ‘just fucked’ glow about you. Care to share
the deets?”

Jenna hadn’t even fully sat down in their booth at CJ’s,
when Skye started in on her. “Ha! No beating around the bush for you, is
there?”

Skye shrugged, taking a sip of some fruity concoction in a
glass that could have doubled as a fifty-five-gallon drum. “What’s the point of
making small talk about inane bullshit when all of us, including the lovely
ladies across from us, smiling like loons, really want to hear about Nick and
his domly Dom skills. Can I have an Amen?”

“Amen.”

“Preach it, sister,” Cyn and Haleigh chimed in from across
the table.

“You guys are a bunch of nuts.”

“I’d rather be a nut than a flake any day.” Haleigh blinked
innocently, as she played with the end of her long braid.

“Let me at least get some liquid courage before I have to—”

“Good evening, ladies. I see you have a new arrival.”

Holy hot guy, Batman. Whatever Jenna was going to say
dribbled out of her mouth along with a fair amount of drool over the bartender
standing next to her.

Tall, tanned and bald with quite a few muscles peeking out
from the rolled shirt sleeves of his CJ’s T-shirt. He was a bit older, maybe in
his late forties and fine as all hell.

Before she could finish her window shopping, Cyn chimed in.
“Jenna, this is Douglas, as his shirt suggests.” His name was embroidered on
his right pec. “He and two of his friends are the new owners of CJ’s, as well
as temporary members of a certain other establishment we all know and love.
Their permanent status should go through in a few days.”

“Can I get you something to drink, hot stuff?” He winked at
Jenna and she couldn’t help but smile.

She held out her hand, and he took it, kissing the back of
it.

“Pleased to meet you, Jenna.”

“You’re quite a flirt, Douglas. I like that in a man.”

“As are you, I see. If you were a few years closer to my age
bracket I’d show the youngins behind me how it’s really done.”

He turned to look and several guys who couldn’t have been
more than twenty-five quickly looked the other way.

He faced them again, shaking his head. “Novices. What can I
get for you?”

“Whatever you have on tap is fine, as long as it’s cold.”

“Light or dark?”

“Surprise me.”

He smiled again and made a sweep of the other three.
“Anything else for the rest of you, ladies?”

“No thanks.”

“I’m good.”

“Nope.”

“Have it back in a minute. Nice to meet you.” He sauntered
off, giving the evil eye to a table full of college dudes and they quailed
beneath his gaze once again.

“Cyn, you’ve really been holding out on us.”

“The sale was quick. The guys have been exhausted for months
trying to run both places even with a new manager and seriously we all needed
to put our eggs in one basket so we could have more time together.”

“Are you guys any closer to setting a wedding date?” Haleigh
asked.

Cyn blushed. Damn adorable. Jenna just wanted to wrap her
arms around her and give her squeezy hugs.

“That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to all of
you guys. We’ve decided to get married at The Library in about a month. In our
playroom, actually. The space has been tainted since I was attacked last year
and I’m not willing to give that asshole any more power over me. So. I’m taking
it back. And I wanted to know if the three of you would be my maids of honor?”

Haleigh squealed, hugging her close.

Skye gave her a high-five and Jenna leaned across the table,
pulling her close so she could kiss her square on the mouth.

“Congratulations!” echoed around the table.

“I’m sure I speak for all of us. To say the least we’re
beyond thrilled for you and of course we all say yes.”

“Yes, yes,
yes
!” Haleigh added.

She was the socialite of the bunch, who also happened to
like piercings and tattoos. An all-around handy girl to have around.

Douglas showed up with Jenna’s beer and left with another
wink in their direction.

She raised her glass and the other women did the same.

“To Cyn.”

“Hear, hear!”

They clinked their glasses together and each took a drink.

Jenna licked her top lip as Cyn spoke.

“Low-key, Haleigh. We’re only going to have close friends at
the ceremony and then we’ll have food brought in for the reception. Then we’ll
go to City Hall a day or two afterward. The guys are going to flip a coin to
see who gets to marry me.” Her smile said it all.

She was a woman in love and Jenna couldn’t be happier for
her. Jared and Chris were two of her best guy friends and they deserved the
love of the woman who sat across from her.

They’d loved each other forever and never knew it. The
brothers had kept her out of their kink life, certain she couldn’t handle what
they needed.

Turned out she was the missing piece to both of them.

“As part of your maid of honor harem, I completely take on
the responsibility of planning your reception. It’ll be my wedding gift to you.
And I want to take pictures, too.” Haleigh smiled so sweetly and beamed at Cyn.

“I was hoping you’d offer. If not I was going to ask. Your
pictures are amazing.”

“It’s such a wonderful hobby that I really hope to do
something with it one of these days. Scott and Kyle have been helping me look
for places but nothing’s been just right yet—”

“Actually that’s part of what I wanted to talk to you guys
about.”

“What? Haleigh’s studio?”

“More like a strip center with each of us having a piece of
it.”

Leave it to Skye to bring it down to reality. “I don’t get
it.”

Jenna took another drink, setting it aside and pulled a
piece of paper from her purse. She unfolded it and laid it in the middle of the
table. On it were two logos.

One for the Nice and Knotty Boutique and the other for
Jenna’s Kinky Pinky brand.

“Oooooh.”

“The name of the boutique is obvious and the other is the
brand I’ve come up with. I’ve actually been using it for a few months. I
started as soon as my trademark was approved.”

Nice and Boutique
were both in a girly font, feminine
and pretty and Knotty was in a rope font with the tail of the y extending back
underneath the first three words.

Kinky Pinky was dark and naughty with an icon that looked
like someone had kissed it with slut-red lipstick on.

“These are both gorgeous, Jenna.” Cyn said it and Haleigh
moved the paper closer, scrutinizing it with an artist’s eye.

“They’re actually really great. Love them both but what are
they for?”

Haleigh handed the paper back and Jenna ran her fingertips
over it. “You guys all know how much I like making clothes and costumes, and
accessorizing our people.”

She looked up and they were all with her, nodding.

“I want to be able to offer what I make to a larger market.
Plus, offer custom-made rope and restraints. Some made here and some imported
from some of my friends in Japan. I want to be able to sell across the country
and even internationally but every time I think about it, each of us has
something to offer.

“Haleigh, you’ve been talking for weeks about opening your
own studio. That’s an amazing tie-in with what I make. I could make orders for
people and they could have boudoir photos taken.”

“I love that idea. Love it. Maybe we can even find a makeup
artist to help with the shoots. I know you can do it but you’re already
stretched so thin.”

“Exactly. I’d help when I could but we’d need someone else
to fill in too.”

“But what about me?” Jenna faced Cyn and her eyebrows were
pulled down low in concentration. “I can’t make clothes, sure as hell can’t
take pictures.”

“You already help me with ordering all the restraints and
shoes and jewelry. We could even expand and have our own line of lotions and
perfume, maybe even offer novelty items, fun and serious.”

“But that’s just doing the books and creating a database and
stocking level software. It’s not hard.”

“For you it isn’t but if I had to go back to ordering I’d go
nuts. But you have your magical spreadsheets, and—”

“Mmmmm. Spreadsheets.” Cyn closed her eyes and had a moment.

“You know how wrong that is? Right?” Skye asked her.

“They’re sexy, what can I say?”

“Maybe you need to get out more.” Skye offered. “All of that
makes sense but I don’t have anything to contribute.”

“Bullshit,” Jenna called behind her fist.

“What in the world?”

“You’re a painter, Skye. An amazing painter.”

“All my stuff sucks lately.” She gripped her glass hard and
Jenna half expected it to break.

“Have you ever wondered if you just lost your muse because
you weren’t looking for her in the right place?”

“I’ve looked fucking everywhere. That bitch deserted me.”

“I think she’s hiding,” Jenna offered. “At The Library.”

“Huh?”

Jenna took her hand and held it. “You’re a submissive,
through and through. You understood it even when you fought it for so long.
You’re work has always tended to be a bit dark but I think you could find
inspiration with the scenes at The Library. The people, the tools and
furniture. Don’t tell me you’ve never wanted to sketch some things you’ve seen
their?”

“All the damn time. But there’s no market for—”

“There is,” Cyn added. “Fetish art is a huge market. I’m
talking gigantic. You should really look into it. Sketches, pencil drawing,
single line art pieces, paintings. You name it, art collectors cream themselves
to get ahold of good erotic art.”

“And for the people that come in to do photo shoots, a
painting could be added as part of their packages.”

Haleigh turned to her. “You’ve really given this a lot of
thought.”

Jenna nodded. “I really have. I think it would be
successful. Widely successful, if we can find the right place, the right rent
and get the word out there.”

“I’d call my portion The Mantel. You know—since that’s where
a lot of paintings get hung. I also like the idea of a really kinky painting
being just different enough that it doesn’t look like straight-up sex.”

“More like sideways sex?” Haleigh asked, tilting her head to
the side.

Skye laughed. “Exactly. And it could be maybe a gallery too,
with my studio in the front or the back.” She actually sighed and Jenna rubbed
her knee.

“I know it’s what you’ve wanted to do full-time for a while,
but…”

“But,” Skye agreed along with an eye-roll.

Cyn and her analytical brain kicked into high gear. One more
reason Jenna loved her so much. She even pulled out her phone and pulled up the
calculator app, crunching numbers even without her spreadsheets in front of
her.

“With all of us cross-promoting each other we could create
some amazing packages and just think about the events we could cater to.
Weddings, bachelorette parties, divorce parties, fiftieth birthdays. This could
be truly epic, you guys. So we’d need a space big enough to house three
separate stores—”

“Four actually,” Haleigh interrupted. “The guys need to
expand the shop and we were actually looking for space for both of us.
Inktastic Tattoo Shop and Photography Studio. They’re so busy all the time they
need to hire a couple more full-time tattooers, and I really think they would
tie in well with the rest of what we’re thinking about doing. Hours-wise we’d
stay up late anyway, and I’d love to still be able to see them as much as
possible.”

Cyn cleared her calculations and began again, her fingers
flying so fast that Jenna never would have been able to keep up.

“So, four retail spaces at least and maybe a fifth for us to
rent out, to recoup some of our rental amount each month.”

“I’d never thought of that.” Jenna thanked her lucky stars
she’d met each of the incredible women sitting in front of her.

“Do not doubt the almighty power of the spreadsheet.”

Jenna held both hands ups. “Forgive me.”

“This time.” She went back to her numbers for a few seconds
and said. “This is really doable. We’ll obviously need start-up money but if we
all pool our resources I think we could totally make it work.”

“Real estate is going to be the key. It needs to be prime
with easy access, preferably move-in ready so we don’t have to wait for
renovations. We also don’t want to lose a lot of our start-up funds, turning
the spaces into what we need. Obviously we’re going to have some of that, but
we want to cut it down as much as possible.”

“I’ve looked around. A lot. And I’m having a hard time.”

“What? Finding something that’s right for this?”

“No. Finding something that’s zoned for this.”

“Ugh. Zoning.”

Jenna figured Cyn would understand after having probably
talked to the twins about all the research they’d had to do about the ins and
outs of zoning when they’d taken over CJ’s, much less The Library.

“We won’t have to get an alcohol license for what we want,
and that’s great. But we would still have to go before the city council to get
the C.O. and the license to operate a novelty shop.”

“What’s a C.O.?” Skye asked.

“Certificate of occupancy.” Cyn answered before Jenna could.

“And no matter what kind of business we opened wouldn’t we
have to get a license to operate?”

“Sure, but asking for a license to open a Christian book
store on the edge of the bible belt is much more likely to get a ‘yes’ than a
novelty shop.”

Haleigh leaned in close and waggled her eyebrows. “Isn’t it
really a sex store?”

Jenna snickered. “We will be selling sex toys but we’ll have
to call them novelties. We may even have to get little stickers to put on the
toys that say cake topper or something ridiculous like that. And because we
want to sell those things I think we’ll be taken more serious if we call it a
boutique and leave out anything else.”