Zurlo, Michele - Two Masters for Samantha [Awakenings 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (10 page)

Stefano set his mug down on the low table in front of the couch and sat down. It wasn’t like Lex to worry about a woman’s reaction the next morning. “I think the fact she passed out from orgasming speaks for itself.”

He sounded a lot cooler and nonchalant than he felt inside. Now that the shower and the caffeine had time to work their magic, his mind was functioning again. That first reaction, dismay at waking up without Sammy’s soft curves pressing against his body, returned in full force. Sammy had been a beautiful and responsive submissive, whether she claimed the label or not.

“She passed out because she was tired. It’s not like she came to us fresh and well-rested. Remember when Anastasia and Lila were bridesmaids two years ago? They were up at the crack of dawn running errands for whoever the hell got married.” Alexei punctuated his flat and cynical delivery of his disagreement with swallows of coffee.

“Deanna,” Stefano supplied. He sipped at the hot liquid in his mug. “Hot little bitch who kept offering to give us blowjobs whenever she’d stay the night with Ana. She ended up marrying some poor son of a bitch connected to the Fords.”

Lex grunted. “I want her again.”

They both knew he wasn’t referring to Deanna. Having resisted that temptation at the tender age of sixteen, neither felt the need to revisit the idea. Deanna had been fifteen at the time, a whole year older than their little sister, Anastasia, and damn hard to resist. However, they knew if Ana ever found out they had messed around with one of her friends, her fury would not be worth the experience.

Stefano stared into his empty cup, wishing his insides didn’t feel just as hollow. “So do I.”

Without a word, Lex pushed buttons on his phone. A few seconds elapsed before a soft voice answered on the other end.

“Sabrina?” Alexei frowned. “Are you all right?”

Stefano listened. From the bits he heard, he surmised that Sabrina was pregnant and suffering some ill effects. Alexei conveyed congratulations from both of them and asked about Samantha.

Alexei sat up, scooting to the edge of the couch cushion and slamming his cup on the flimsy pressed-wood table. “Hello? Are you still there?”

For as long as he could remember, people assumed he and Lex had some kind of special twin connection. Maybe they did, but it wasn’t of the supernatural variety. It came from spending so much time together, from having similar likes and dislikes. Right now, Stefano knew something was wrong, but not from any special vibe.

Alexei’s expression darkened as he struggled to keep his temper in check.

“Why not?”

Very few people could withstand the steel in Lex’s voice when he got like this. Stefano watched his brother’s fists tighten.

“When?” Alexei listened, the knuckles on his fist tightening, and then he growled. When he spoke again, he had mastered his emotions. “I understand. Thank you. Have a great trip.”

Lex’s tight tone had sent more than one woman to her knees. None of their tactics had ever worked on Sabrina Breszewski, not that they had ever seriously tried. She was the daughter of their mother’s good friend, she was a year older, and she had been intimidating as hell. The woman was made from stern stuff. Her Dom definitely had his hands full.

Throwing the phone to Stef, he said, “Your turn.”

“Sabrina won’t give you Sammy’s number? Why?”

He sighed. “You know how she is. She said she’d give Sam our numbers the next time she sees her. In two weeks. It seems Samantha is traveling for work. She caught a flight this morning.”

Stefano exhaled hard. “I’ll call Drew.”

Five minutes later, Stefano stared at the ten digits he’d written on the hotel’s stationery. What if last night was enough for her? She’d left without a word or a note.

“Is there a reason you’re scowling at the number instead of calling it?”

“We should wait,” he said. “If we call her now, we’ll seem too eager, not in control. I’d like to see if she comes to us first.”

Alexei frowned, but he didn’t disagree. “This could backfire.”

Yeah, it could.

The wheels touched down on the runway at Detroit Metro. Despite the smooth landing, Samantha’s stomach lurched. She didn’t mind flying, but the takeoffs and landings sucked. Three days and four nights in subpar hotels had done little to sweeten her mood.

With a sigh, she thought about how the flight to
Alaska
hadn’t been as bad. She had been thoroughly relaxed. However, by the time evening rolled around, she was horny again. One night with the Morozov brothers hadn’t been enough. Briefly, she thought about asking Sabrina for contact information. Then she jettisoned the idea. Stefano and Alexei probably didn’t lack for booty calls, and most of their partners probably lived in
Florida
with them instead of all the way across the country.

At least she knew now what the problem was. She was too much woman for one man. By the time she picked up her luggage and freed her car from long-term parking, she had returned to her earlier grim mood. Knowing she needed two men and finding two men willing to share her were two different things.

Because it was Thursday afternoon, the traffic on Ecorse, Middlebelt, and
Eureka
was merely heavy. It would only take thirty minutes to get to her rental in
Wyandotte
.

Her phone rang as she slammed on her brakes at the
Allen Road
light. This one was a killer. It meant the stoplights on the rest of her route would be timed so that she would hit them all. She didn’t bother to check the expletives pouring from her mouth as she hit the green button to answer.

“I take it your trip wasn’t all you hoped it would be?” Ellen’s question was punctuated with chuckling.

“It was fine, just not up to Keyes’s standards.” That was an understatement. The pictures the hotel had sent must have been photoshopped or they had been taken when the place was new and in good repair.

“The potty mouth is because?”

“I hit a light.”

The other end was silent. Samantha might have thought the call dropped if she hadn’t heard Jake squealing in the background.

“Figuratively, right?”

Samantha sighed. Ellen was not from the Downriver area. Only people who spent any significant amount of time there could commiserate. She opted to change the subject. “What’s up?”

It was a valid question. Though she saw Ellen frequently, Ellen was like an older sister. She was there when you needed someone, but when she called, she always wanted something.

Ellen laughed again. “I hope you’re not busy tonight.”

“As a matter of fact, I am.” A shower was the first thing on her list. Then there would be Chinese food, delivered hot and ready to her front door. The remainder of her evening would consist of fulfilling her obligations to her illicit love affair with her DVR.

“I need you to come with me tonight.”

There it was. “Where?”

“A new club has opened up. They’re advertising classes.”

Ellen owned the Southfield City Club, known to its patrons as The Club. The main part of it was a swanky dance club. The members-only part of it was a bondage club where submissives paid to be whipped, spanked, bound, or whatever else made them happy. Samantha frowned. “Dance classes? I don’t think people learning to do the Electric Slide to Lady Gaga’s latest is really a threat.”

“Not those kinds of classes.”

Samantha was silent. Ellen had talked for years about hosting classes and seminars where people demonstrated safe bondage techniques, but she had never moved beyond the planning stages.

“Ellen, I don’t want to take those kinds of classes.”

A grunt came through loud and clear. “You don’t have to watch, just go with me. Ryan is busy and Jake is staying the night with my parents. If we look like two lesbians out together, people will leave us alone.”

It was Sam’s turn to laugh. “Not tonight, Ellen. I’m beat.”

On the other end, Ellen’s tone brightened. “Okay, I’ll pick you up at eight.”

“That’s not what I…” Samantha stopped. Ellen had already disconnected. Sam knew from past experience that Ellen was as good as her word. If she said eight, she meant eight. If need be, she would drag Samantha from the house forcibly. However, that wouldn’t be necessary. What was it about this woman that made it impossible to say no to her?

* * * *

The doorbell chimed at
seven forty-five
. Sam was in the bathroom putting the finishing touches on her makeup. She used a minimal amount. Her goal was to make it home by
midnight
. The rumpled sheets in her bedroom from her earlier nap beckoned, and Samantha sorely wanted to curl up there with a good book until her heavy eyelids took over. She wondered if Ellen would take the hint if nobody answered her knock.

Samantha sighed and went to the door, dragging her feet the entire way. No matter how interested she might be in the subject of bondage, she had no desire to watch someone else get tied up.

After greeting Ellen with a grim glare, Sam turned and shuffled away, dragging her feet across the wooden flooring.

“What crawled up your panties and died? Sabrina told me you had a good time the other night. You should be floating on clouds.”

Since the voice followed her into the kitchen, Samantha surmised Ellen hadn’t taken the hint. That was no surprise. Ellen ignored hints she didn’t like.

Samantha avoided the question. She grabbed her purse and keys. “Are you being an evil bitch because Jonas is out of town?”

“That’s pregnant evil bitch to you.” She grinned, enjoying Samantha’s foul mood. “And no, I’m not. If he were in town, I’m sure he’d want to bring Sabrina. There’s nothing more fun than watching your favorite submissive watch someone else being bound. Ryan usually loves this stuff, but he has some kind of meet-and-greet going on with freshmen that he can’t get out of.”

Ellen’s husband, Ryan, was a high school science teacher. Samantha focused on Ellen’s revelation.

“Congratulations. When are you due?”

“April,” she said. “One month after Sabrina. I’m not looking forward to telling Jonas. He’s going to say something nasty, I just know it.”

Samantha rolled her eyes and headed for the door. “You handle him like no one else can, Ellen. If I know you, you’ll tell him in front of Sabrina so she can get mad at him if he starts making inappropriate comments.”

“I don’t know,” Ellen said as she followed Samantha to the car. “Now that she’s pregnant, he’ll only do light bindings and spankings with her. He won’t whip her or bind her in positions that are uncomfortable. She’s kinda pissed about that. I don’t think I want to give her more of a reason to go off on him.”

They climbed into Ellen’s minivan and sped off. Samantha silently cheered her brother. At least he had some sense in that thick skull of his. She didn’t know the exact details of what happened in a BDSM bedroom, but she did know Sabrina pretty well. It was hard to believe she’d want to do something to jeopardize her pregnancy.

“Why?” The question burst from Samantha after a long silence.

Ellen glanced over from the driver’s seat, startled. “I need your untrained eye. It’s been years since I’ve been to one of these kinds of meetings. I’ll probably be picking apart the presenters instead of paying attention to what’s going on in the audience.”

Samantha had wanted to know why Sabrina was pissed about Jonas placing limits on their play, but this worked, too. “Why do you care what’s going on in the audience?”