Passion's Hope (The Doms of Passion Lake Book 3) (12 page)

“So does this mean we’ll be sleeping together?” Jay was asking when she realized that they had resumed talking.

“You are welcome in my bed any time, of course,” Nik said. “But I will understand if you wish to keep your room and join me only when you feel the need for a Daddy. But don’t you think our plans need to look beyond even that?”

“You talking about Charlotte?”

Charlie’s ears immediately perked up. They were talking about her! And she was unashamedly listening to every word.

“
Da.”
Nik nodded. “I’m talking about Charlotte. I think your reaction to her was the same as mine. Everything about her called to something deep inside me. She’s been hurt and abused and claims she’s through with the D/s lifestyle. But I could see the longing in her eyes, her eagerness to please. She’s not only a natural submissive I suspect she may be a ‘little’ who needs to be loved and cherished and looked after and I think we are just the ones to do it.”

“I think so, too, Nik.”

“Now all we have to do is convince
her
of that.” Nik chuckled. “A pretty tall order, given the depth of her mistrust. But we’ll give her all the love and encouragement we’re capable of. And if she needs therapy, I’ll give her Art Portman’s number. Luc seems to think highly of him. He helped the Raffertys. I understand he also helped Sarah, Jesse and Adam deal with the aftermath of her being kidnapped and sold to that slave trafficker.”

“Holy shit! That beautiful woman was sold to a slave trader?”

Charlotte didn’t even realize that she’d spoken out loud until she heard Jay exclaim, “Charlotte! You’re awake!” She felt the bed jostle and opened her eyes to see Nik sitting on her left side, Jay on her right. Fumbling beneath the blanket that covered her, Jay found her hand, and lifted it to his lips, pressing a kiss to the backs of her knuckles. Not kissing her so much as taking her temperature. She was still feverish.

She placed her elbows on the mattress and tried to prop herself up, and that’s when the blanket slid down and she noticed that she was holding Mr. Floppy. And there was an IV line in her arm.
Wait. What?
She frowned.

“Hey, where am I?” Hugging Mr. Floppy to her chest, she looked around the room. It appeared to be a bedroom and she was lying on a massive bed, the biggest bed she’d ever seen in her life. The room was very masculine in décor, with chocolate brown sheets and a navy blue comforter with wide brown and copper-colored stripes. The furniture was heavy and dark. French doors in one wall probably led out onto a patio.

Charlie’s wandering gaze came back to Nik and Jay. And that’s when she noticed that both men were naked. Totally, unabashedly naked. “Ummm.” She also realized that she was staring. Totally, unabashedly staring. And thinking that, even soft, their cocks were pretty damned impressive. Big. And gorgeous. And Nik’s was uncircumcised.
Oh, my.
Charlie had never seen an uncircumcised cock before and couldn’t stop staring at it—catching herself, she lowered her head and bit her lip.
Okay, that’s enough of that.

“Look at me, little one.” Forcing her eyes upward, she met Nik’s amused gaze. “Like what you see?”

“Nothing I haven’t seen before.” She shrugged, hoping it looked as nonchalant and disinterested as she tried to make it. “How did I get here? And, again, where
is
here? Why can’t I remember anything?”

“You’re in our apartment at the Passion Lake Lodge,” Nik said. “More specifically in my bedroom. We found you passed out in your car by the side of the road. You were holding that rabbit so tightly, we had to pry it out of your arms in order to bathe you.”

“He’s not an ‘it’,” she huffed, annoyed. “He’s a ‘he’. His name is Mr. Floppy, and”—her eyes widened—“Oh, my God, you
bathed
me?”

“We had to get your temperature down,” Jay explained.

“You mean…naked?” With her free hand she grabbed the blanket, pulling it up and clutching it to her chest.

Jay’s lips twitched. “That’s standard bathing attire, I believe.”

“And this?” she asked, indicating the IV.

“We called Lucas McKay. He said you’re dehydrated and running a fever.” Nik nodded toward the bag hanging from the IV pole. “It’s just glucose and a full-spectrum antibiotic.”

Once again she tried to push herself up, but Nik’s firm hand pushed her right back down. “Please stay in bed,
malyutka.”
Even though he said please, it was definitely an order and not a request.
“
You need to rest.”

She gnawed at her lip. “Actually,” she said with a nervous little laugh. “I-I need to pee.”

“Here, darlin’ girl, let us help you,” Jay offered. Before she knew what was happening, Jay had come around to Nik’s side of the bed. While the big Russian pulled back the covers and scooped her up in his arms, Jay unhooked the IV bag.

“Hey, I can walk!” she protested, kicking and squirming in Nik’s arms, pushing against his broad chest, trying to make him put her down.

“Stop, little one. Or you will earn a punishment.”

Holy shit!
“You can’t punish me,” she said, her voice laced with defiance. “You’re not my Dom.” But she subsided, realizing that provoking him was probably not the best course of action under the circumstances. It would be like poking a grizzly bear with a sharp, pointy stick. With pretty much the same results.

He just quirked an eyebrow and gave her an amused look.

Holding the bag of glucose up over their heads, Jay followed Nik and Charlie into a spacious bathroom. Built to accommodate Nik’s size, everything was large, the walk-in shower with its decorative stone tiles and overhead skylight, the long vanity with three vessel sinks.

Three sinks? Seriously? Who needs three sinks?

Nik set her down on the toilet seat. Hunching over to hide her nakedness, she made little flapping gestures with her hands. “Well, I can’t…you know…
go
…if you’re in here,” she protested. “It’s too private!”

“Nothing between a Dom and a sub is private,” Jay informed her. “That’s the beauty of a D/s relationship.”

“Well, I’m not a sub and we don’t have a relationship, D/s or otherwise,” Charlie retorted. “So I would appreciate a little privacy, please.” She firmed her chin and jutted it out to show she meant business. The flapping motions turned into shooing motions. “Out. Out. Out.” They might be big, bad-ass Doms, but they weren’t going to push Charlie Fielding around! No sirree!

The two men just looked at each other lips twitching in amusement. Then, with a shrug, Jay handed the IV bag to Charlie. “Hold it up,” he admonished. “Call us if you need our help. We’ll be right outside.” He and Nik left the bathroom and very quietly closed the door.

Sinking back against the toilet tank, Charlie let out a sigh of relief. Her pulses were racing so fast, she swore she could
hear
the blood rushing through her veins. It took a few seconds, but she was finally able to empty her bladder and flush the toilet.

But when she tried to stand up, her legs were so wobbly, she sat right back down.
Damn! I’m as weak as a newborn kitten! What’s up with that?
Taking a deep breath, she tried again, only to cry out as she fell back again, half on and half off the toilet seat, dropping the IV bag on the floor. “Damn!”

Instantly the door opened and Nik and Jay rushed in. She noticed they’d both put on jeans. “What is it, darlin’ girl?” Jay asked, bending over to pick up the bag of glucose and handing it to Nik.

“Can’t stand…”

“Don’t worry, love, we’ll help you.” He picked her up, carried her out of the bathroom, and set her down on the bed. Her eyes met his and the gentleness she saw there was more than she could take. It completely unraveled her.

“I can’t stay here,” she said through a throat suddenly thick with unshed tears. “I have to leave. I have that audition on Saturday morning.” She started to sit up but again Nik’s hand on her shoulder stopped her.

“You are not going to make it to that audition,” he said firmly.

“But—”

“No buts,” Jay added. “You’re sick. Let us look after you until you’re well enough to leave.”

“Why should you look after me?” she asked indignantly. “I’m not your sub, I’m not your responsibility. You don’t owe me anything. And I sure as hell don’t want to owe
you
anything!”

“Charlotte!” Nik’s deep bass voice, accompanied by the upward hike of one black eyebrow, put an end to her outburst.

She turned her head, gnawing on her lip. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, losing her battle to hold back her tears. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I-I guess I’m just”—she gulped—“scared.” A sob shuddered through her. “I’ve never been so close to having
nothing
before. So close to—”
Oh, great. Let them know exactly how vulnerable you are, why don’t you? Way to go, Fielding.

Without a word, Nik walked around to the other side of the bed and crawled up onto the mattress. He turned and sat down beside her, rearranging pillows behind him and leaning back against the headboard. “
Malchik moy
, help Charlotte sit up, please,” he directed his partner.

Jay slid his arm beneath Charlie’s back and raised her to a sitting position. After helping to lift her up onto Nik’s lap, he crawled up onto the bed and sat down beside Nik, lifting Charlie’s legs over his lap. The denim of Nik’s jeans was rough against her abraded backside, making her squirm.

“Relax, little one. I just want to hold you and talk for a while. Is that okay with you? Here.” He reached over and grabbed Mr. Floppy, holding him out to her.

Except for Mr. Floppy, Charlie had never been the touchy-feely type. She’d seldom been hugged in her life, except by Mama Rosa, and being enfolded to
her
ample bosom those first few times had triggered a panic attack in Charlie instead of the warm fuzzies. Mama Rosa’s hugs had been likely to come at her like a silent ninja attack, without warning and from any direction. Fortunately Mama Rosa had soon realized that she was frightening Charlie instead of comforting her and had started announcing her upcoming hugs like the TV weatherman announces the cold front sweeping in from the north, or the gate clerk at the airport announces that Flight one ninety-two to Detroit is now arriving at the gate. Making a game out of it had reduced Charlie’s anxiety and it hadn’t been long before
she’d
been the one initiating the hugs.

Her reverie was interrupted by Nik’s deep voice above her head. “Tell us about yourself, Charlotte.”

“Everyone calls me Charlie,” she countered.

“Charlie,” Jay murmured. “It suits you.”

Charlie gave him a shy smile through the shiny black curtain of her hair, finally lowering her guard enough to let her body relax against Nik’s hard chest. She let out a little sigh which Nik seized on with gratitude. He was tempted to tighten his arms around her, but didn’t want to frighten her, so instead, he raised one big hand and lifted her face up toward his, soothing the wayward mass of her hair back off her face.

“Tell us about your parents,
devushka?”
he said. “Do they live in Virginia?”

“I don’t know,” she confessed. “I never knew them. I was raised in the foster care system.”

“Poor baby,” Jay said sympathetically. “I hear the foster care system can be pretty brutal.”

Charlie just shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad, I guess. I mean, I wasn’t molested or abused or anything. Just, basically, ignored. Except for the Anthonys. Mama Rosa and Papa Vito and their five children. I was with them from the time I was seventeen until I aged out of the system a year later. Mama taught me how to cook all her family’s favorite Italian dishes, and Papa taught me how to build a house. He was a contractor.” She smiled impishly. “Okay, it was a dog house, but still, a house is a house, right? So if you’ve got any work that needs to be done around here, you know, new tile in the bathroom, drywall, leaky faucet”—she jabbed her thumb against her chest—“I’m your man.”

Nik chuckled as his hand stroked down her bare back and came to rest on the enticing curve of her right hip. “One thing you definitely are
not
, Charlotte, is a man. You were Bradford’s prisoner for three weeks. Did no one report you missing?”

“No. I-I don’t have any close friends. And my boss just assumed I had quit.”

“That must have been very lonely for you. How long have you been singing?”

“Since first grade. I always got the singing parts in the school pageants. Plus I was in the choir all through high school, and tried out for all the musicals the drama club staged. I sang in a few bars with my foster brother’s rock band The Malignant Narcissists. The bars were awful. We were more awful. I was glad when they broke up. Tried singing with a country band, mostly in bars—better bars. But they kept breaking up, too and I finally just got tired of looking for bands to sing with.”

Conversation lapsed and she seemed content to just lie quietly against Nik’s broad chest. But inwardly she was at war with herself. All she wanted to do was curl up in this man’s lap and let him and Jay take care of her. Nobody had ever taken care of her, not really. Not her parents, not any of the foster families who had tolerated her because she was a source of income for them. She’d been looking after herself pretty much all her life. And she’d always longed to be looked after. Maybe two big, sexy Daddy Doms were just what the doctor ordered.