Slave To Love (37 page)

Fear slammed the magazine he had been reading on his bed and stormed over to her. “I’ll be glad when I finally win this goddamn show.” He grabbed Solo’s arm and pulled her down the hallway, probably to the dining room.

After Jace finished his packing, he loaded himself down with his bags. He made it two steps out of the room when he felt a tugging on his shoulder bag.

“Excuse me, sir.”

He turned and saw Sweetheart behind him. Today she wore a deep purple dress that had a plunging neckline and went all the way down to the floor. When she smiled, he couldn’t help but stop and listen.

“Are you leaving?” Her full lips pressed together in a tight line.

When Jace saw her chewing on her lower lip, he had to put her out of her misery. “Switching rooms. Balancing out the space.”

She nodded. Relief swept over her face. “Good. May I help you with your bags?” Sweetheart tried removing a bag from his shoulder.

“Thanks, but I have it. Besides, you all can’t go into our rooms.” He traveled down the hallway to the room next door.

Bruiser walked by Jace and Sweetheart with his bags. Breeze stumbled behind Bruiser to help him with his bags. He, too, turned down her offer.

Jace would never get used to the house slaves camping outside of their bedroom doors whenever taping ended. He’d never had a slave. With her independent spirit, he couldn’t imagine Taren being a slave. Submissive? Definitely.

Jace started to unpack but noticed Sweetheart standing outside of his room each time he walked by. He abandoned the project to address her.

“I’d like some tea.” He strolled out of the room, knowing Sweetheart would follow.

“Yes, sir.” She managed to get by him to rush to the kitchen.

“I’ll take it out by the pool.” He sauntered through the dungeon to get to the back door.

As soon as he opened it, he heard splashing. Lord No did laps from one side to the other while Bubbles stood off to the side. She watched Lord No. At one point, it looked like she licked her lips, a strange reaction considering the hard time she’d been giving him since the start of filming. At one point during his swim, No sprang up on the same side of the pool where Bubbles stood. He stared at her for a moment before flicking pool water on her.

Bubbles wiped the water from her face. For a split second, it looked like she wanted to smile. As soon as her gaze landed on Jace, she straightened up and moved further away from the pool.

Jace took a seat at the same table he and Taren had had dinner. He ran his hand over the tabletop as he remembered that meal. He recalled how he’d had her on her knees. She’d depended on him for food. He would love to do that again, but this time finish off the night with a hard play session or sex, or both.

It didn’t take long for Sweetheart to bring him a tall, frosty glass of iced tea.

“Here you are, sir.” She stood by the table as he took a sip.

“Sit down.” He pointed to the chair across from him.

“On the ground?” Sweetheart started to lower herself.

Jace shook his head. “At the table with me.”

She almost looked disappointed as she scooted the black wrought-iron chair back and plopped down in it.

“I have to say that you ladies are the most dedicated slaves I’ve ever encountered, and I’ve played in a lot of dungeons.” He took a sip of his tea.

“Thank you.” Sweetheart dropped her gaze.

As long as he had time, he might as well get to know the woman assigned to him until Taren came back home. He glanced at the guesthouse and wondered if he could get Taren anywhere near it now. He directed his attention back to Sweetheart. “How did you get into the lifestyle?”

“Like a lot of people, I was curious about it.” Sweetheart started to smile. “I started off as a submissive. I learned from Master Do. Have you heard of him?”

Jace nodded. “He’s known for his rope skills.”

Sweetheart smiled. “He would use me as a demo sometimes.”

“So is he your Dom?”

She shook her head. “One of his main subs came back to him after she was on the first show.”

Jace blinked. “She was on
Love My Way
?”

“Yeah. She backed out of doing a challenge because she was so devoted to Master Do. After that, he didn’t play with me as much. So I bailed.” Sweetheart snickered. “No one likes to be thought of as second best.”

Jace studied Sweetheart’s face. Her beautiful dark skin and magnetic smile hid some pain. In this lifestyle, she should have expected pain. Unless she had it in a contract, nothing could be seen as a guarantee. When Sweetheart wiped under her eye, he felt a need to correct her perception.

“You know you can’t go into this lifestyle thinking you’ll fall in love. It may not happen.” He sounded like a broken record.

First Taren and now Sweetheart.

“I know. I’ve only been doing this for five years. I just keep hoping that—”

Jace cut her off. “You agreed to do a show where a submissive will choose one Dominant.” He had to bring her down to earth.

“I know.” She chewed on her lower lip.

“She could choose me.” He didn’t want Taren to at first. He didn’t even want to be a part of this show. Now he hoped he could be the last man standing.

Sweetheart gazed up at him. “Would you want that?”

He could have crushed her and told her the truth. “What I want and what could happen are two separate things. The fact of the matter is that you may leave this experience without a Dominant. Did you come here expecting to find someone?”

Sweetheart remained quiet for a moment. “Sandy got Sire Swift.” She moved her chair closer to him. “If you get eliminated, I mean if
we
get eliminated, you would be free to choose a submissive or slave for yourself.” She placed her hand on the table. “I’m so tired of people giving up on me so easily when I’m prepared to commit.”

Jace sat up taller. He knew what he had to do. His Dominant side told him not to touch her, don’t give her any false hope. His compassionate side refused to let anyone under him falter. He reached across the table and held her hand.

Sweetheart gasped at the connection and stared at him with her mouth agape.

“Nikki.” He used her real name to pull her out of the BDSM world for a moment. “I like you. You’re attentive, willing, and attractive.”

She squeezed his hand at the last compliment.

“You deserve to be someone’s first choice. If I don’t win this show, I don’t want you to get comfortable with the idea that you’re some consolation prize. You be the prize.” He patted the back of her hand. “I’m sure you will get a lot of recognition from this show. You’ll have your pick.” He leaned forward. “If you need a
friend
, I’m here for you.”

She chuckled. “Thanks. I needed that.” She kissed the back of his hand. “Will you please promise me something?”

“I’ll try. What did you need?”

“I know you Dominants can switch contestants around. Please hold onto me.”

Before he could respond to her request, the back door to the house opened. Mistress Night stepped through first before Taren followed behind her.

Jace stood. “I’ll do what I can.”

Sweetheart started to get up with him.

“No. Stay out here and enjoy the sun. I’ll be fine. I’ll be unpacking my things.” He strolled to the door, passing Taren in his trek.

He gave her a pointed stare before ducking back into the house. On the way to his new bedroom, he felt something brush by him. He peered down and caught Taren going to the front door. She looked back at him as she made her way out of the home.

Jace recognized a hint when he saw one. He followed her out of the house. Instead of being on the porch like before, he saw her closer to the road by the fence.

“Enjoying the scenery?” Jace sidled up next to her.

On a day like that day, he wanted to ditch the mask. He already felt sweat rolling down the sides of his face.

“Now I am.” She rested her hands on the top fence railing and looked up at the sky.

“Did you enjoy your shopping trip?” Curiosity plagued him. He wanted to know what she got.

“I did.” She stayed quiet before she turned to him. “You want to know what I picked?”

“Unless you want another spanking right here.”

She sighed. “Oh, don’t do that.” She gripped the fencing. “I ended up with a nice paddle. That was after I checked out their entire line of chastity belts.”

“So you are into being disciplined, huh?” He stepped closer to her.

“That and some other things.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out something black and slender.

“Did you get a TV for your room?” Jace didn’t slip this time and called it his bedroom.

Taren shook her head. “No.” She handed him the item. “You are right. It is a remote.”

Jace accepted the item and peered down. It had a red indicator light at the top. A power button sat under the light, and a speed button finished its functionality.

He stared at Taren, whose breathing now increased. She shuffled in her spot as though waiting for him to make the next step.

“Let’s see what this does.” He clicked the power button, then turned the remote around so that Taren could see the red light.

She gripped the fence like she needed to ground herself.

“Tell me what this controls.” Now he felt hot for a different reason.

Taren swallowed hard. “It controls—” She hesitated. “Me.”

Wearing the new mask that left the bottom half of his face uncovered gave him some relief from the heat, but not a complete reprieve. Taren had given him control of her pleasure. Right now he wanted nothing more than to rub his bare skin over her face and body. He looked back up at the main house. Damn TV show.

Jace pressed the speed button. Although he couldn’t hear anything, he caught the immediate reaction. Taren’s body jerked. She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.

“Where is this on you? What is it doing? Talk to me.” He didn’t increase the speed until he heard from her.

“Panties.” She licked her lips. “Ball inside of me.” She pointed to her vaginal area. “Feels so good.”

“Are you getting wet?”

She nodded.

Jace increased the speed. “Does Mistress Night know you got this?”

She shook her head.

“Talk to me.” He knew it would be difficult, but he wanted to hear from her anyway, hear the shakiness in her voice.

“N-n-no, no. She went to the, um, bathroom. I got it. Then I went to the bathroom and put it on.” She slid her hand down to touch herself.

“No. Don’t do that.” Jace patted the fence. “Keep a hold on the fence.”

Taren gripped the fence again.

“That’s it.” Then he turned up the tempo.

She buckled.

“Tell me how it feels.”

She nodded.

“Fucking talk to me.” He shouldn’t have tortured her like this. He caused himself more anguish while watching her.

His heart thudded so hard, he thought he would need to grab the fence himself to keep upright. His cock throbbed in his shorts. He wanted to take her right there.

“Vibrating inside.” She squeezed her eyes closed. “Good.”

He turned it up more. Apparently he had reached the peak of its speed, which may have been a good thing. Taren could no longer stand up straight. She bent her knees and looked like she had adopting a squatting position. The fact that Jace loomed over her made the scene appear surreal.

“May I?” She didn’t complete her query. She glanced up at Jace and nodded. “Please?”

He leaned over. He felt more heat coming from her body than from the July sun. Before he gave her permission, he had to educate her just like he had to with Sweetheart.

“Love the feeling, not who it’s coming from.” From his close proximity, he heard her breath catch in intervals. He watched her limbs trembling. He would have loved to see her completely naked, reclining in his bed and overcome like this.

“Never. Felt. Anything. Like. This. Before.” Taren braced her hands on the grass.

It didn’t take her long to curl on her side on the ground into a fetal position. She moved her legs back and forth while she hugged her body.

“Yellow,” Taren said in a whisper. “Come to the office. Please.”

“I can’t.” As much as he wanted to visit her, he knew he couldn’t with everyone congregating in the backyard right now. “Too many witnesses.” He brushed her hair from her face. “Come.”

Taren’s growl built into a loud moan that shook the ground near Jace. He quickly turned off the remote to stop her torment. In order for him not to strip out of his clothes and join her on the grass, he turned his back on her so that she could settle down.

“Taren? Are you okay?” Macabre asked from the front door of the house.

Jace looked back at Macabre, then down to Taren, who had managed to hoist herself up to a sitting position. “I’m fine. Just enjoying nature.”

“Okay. They’re wanting you to come in to film some comments in the confessional booth.” Macabre disappeared into the house before Taren could answer.

Taren looked up at Jace. “I knew I would like that toy.”

He held out his hand to help her to her feet. “It’s nice, but very difficult for me to watch you. I wanted to touch you.” He shook his head. “I shouldn’t be doing this.
We
shouldn’t be doing this. I’m keeping you from other Dominants.”

Taren took his hand and stood. As soon as she looked stable, Jace handed the remote back to her. “Thank you.” She slipped the item in her pocket. “You’re not doing anything I don’t want.”

Jace moved away from her. “What you need is to actually play with someone. You’ve gotten to know a little about us, but you have no idea about our playing styles.”

“That part makes me nervous, but I’m ready. It’s what I came here for, right?”

Jace searched her eyes for truth. She still looked like she held back some information.

He started to head back to the house. “I switched rooms so that I’m now with Mistress Night.”

Taren beamed.

“Why does that make you happy? What really happened at Club 4400?” Jace wanted to be in on the joke.

“While we shopped, she asked me to do something for her.”

With Mistress Night, Jace could only imagine the request. “What was that?”