Zurlo, Michele - Two Masters for Samantha [Awakenings 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (23 page)

She hopped up the seven steps to the deck and snagged the lounge chair next to Sabrina. A still-cold can of soda sat next to the chair. Jonas’s, no doubt. Sam picked it up, pulled the tab, and took a long drink. Fizzy bubbles tickled her nose, but the coolness refreshed her insides.

Sabrina looked over, a wistful expression darkening her big brown eyes. “How was the water?”

Samantha smiled, suppressing a laugh. “With how much you love to swim, I can’t believe you’re letting Jonas boss you around. What’s wrong with lake water?”

Sabrina shrugged and settled a protective hand over her abdomen. “The doctor said to avoid lake water. We’re not taking any chances.”

The strange quiet from inside the house caught Sam’s attention. No children shrieked or squealed. “Where is everyone?”

“Your parents are at a quilting expo. They’ll be gone until tonight. Amanda and Richard took the kids to that water park down the road. Jonas is on the phone or in the bathroom, possibly both.”

Sam smiled. “And you want me to leave so you can be alone with my brother.”

“No,” Sabrina said, shaking her head emphatically. “I want to talk to you. I haven’t had a moment alone with you this whole time. We head back in two days, and I have no idea what happened between you, Alexei, and Stefano.”

To be honest, the passing of time dampened Samantha’s understanding of it, too. She frowned.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Sabrina said. “It isn’t my intention to pry. I just…” She sighed. “I heard so many rumors. Good things, but…” Now she shook her head. “They were so mean to me growing up. I was always so glad my mom didn’t insist we hang out together. In high school, I had Stephen as a buffer, and they disappeared for college.”

Sam sipped Jonas’s drink. She couldn’t see either of the brothers being mean to anyone. “Why did you invite them to your wedding, if you didn’t like them so much?”

“They bought fifty-two percent of my grandfather’s company when his health went bad. Grandpa knew neither Mom nor I wanted to run it. Ginny had her hands full with Sensual Secrets. He didn’t want to sell it to someone who was going to dismantle everything he’d built. Stefano and Alexei paid fair market value for controlling interest, and they’ve done some pretty spectacular things with it since then.”

Her hand caressed her flat stomach. “I don’t have to work if I don’t want to. Even with the recession, we’re still in a good financial position. Mom, Ginny, and I each have sixteen percent of the shares. They tell us how to vote at board meetings. We generally follow their recommendations. It’s worked out well.”

Sam eyed the swirl of reds on the can. “So you invited them because they’re business associates.”

“And they came because they’re business associates. For the sake of family connections, they could have just sent a card like their dad and their sister did. Of course, they spent the rest of the week meeting with the Galens, so they had ulterior motives.” Sabrina laughed and leaned closer. “They’re hot, Sam. If they hadn’t been two years younger than me, I might not have been so grossed out when Stefano hit on me. I was ten and he was eight. A fifth grader does not date a third grader, no matter how cute he is.”

Picturing the exchange, Sam giggled. She had no doubt Lex and Stef were as assertive then as they were now.

“I had fun,” Sam said. She leaned her head against the woven pillow on the head rest. “They tied me up and whipped me. I didn’t think I’d like it, but... Wow. That’s the only way to describe it.”

Next to her, Sabrina sighed, a wistful sound. “I know exactly what you mean. That moment when everything blurs and reality ceases to exist. It’s you and your Master. Nothing matters but the peace growing inside, the feeling that all is right with the universe.”

Samantha stared at Sabrina. That had not been what she meant at all. “You make it sound like a totally Zen experience.”

Sabrina’s eyes flew open and her brown knit together. “That didn’t happen for you?”

“No, it didn’t. I have no idea how feelings of peace and tranquility can result from someone spanking and whipping you.” She did, however, completely understand what an erotic event it was.

“Subspace.” Jonas’s voice carried across the deck. He slid the heavy glass door closed and came closer. He handed bottles of half-frozen water to Sabrina and Sam before taking a seat at the foot of Sabrina’s lounger. Her short legs left plenty of room for his skinny ass.

He pushed a lock of curly hair out of his eyes. Sam wondered at that. She’d never seen him let his hair get this long. He spent most of his life hating the corkscrew curls and shaving them off.

Sam studied her big brother, noting the broad, muscular shoulders and the ripped stomach. Alexei and Stefano were wider, taller, and meatier, but they also sported broad shoulders and ripped muscles. She kept the skinny ass comment inside her head, knowing Jonas would throw her in the lake if she said it out loud.

“Subspace?” Sabrina’s question echoed Jonas’s statement.

“That’s what it’s called. A submissive achieves subspace when she’s given complete control of herself over to her master. Because you’re also a masochist, my love, you get there best through a good beating. Some submissives only need to be bound to get there.”

Sabrina frowned, her bottom lip trembling with a pout the likes of which Samantha had never seen on her always-composed sister-in-law.

“Don’t start,” Jonas said. His warning contained a chilling steel that even doused Samantha’s temperature, something difficult to do in the intense heat and humidity. “I’ll tie you up, honey, but I won’t whip you while you’re pregnant.”

As Sam watched, Sabrina’s expression morphed back to the cool composure Sam was used to seeing. “Sam was just telling me the details of her night with the Morozovs. If you don’t mind, I’ll live vicariously through her.”

Sam laughed, but Jonas just nodded. He picked up one of Sabrina’s feet and pressed his thumbs into her sole. “Let’s hear it, then. Ellen told us about when she took you to the demonstration.”

The cap of the water bottle crackled as she twisted it loose. The icy water felt so good she sprinkled droplets on her chest, arms, and legs. Without anymore preamble, she related the details. If anyone could answer her questions, Jonas and Sabrina could.

When she finished, a blush stained Sabrina’s face and neck. She fanned her face with a hand and rolled her water bottle over her cheeks.

For her own part, this wasn’t the first discussion Sam had with Jonas about sex. Her brother was open and honest about his lifestyle. He always had been.

“It sounds like you had fun,” he said. “But you don’t sound too sure about it.”

“They want to see me again. Stefano said he wanted me there for a long weekend. They want to train me.” She related her discussion with Stefano, leaving out the part where they had phone sex.

Sabrina frowned at Jonas. “What is this ‘hard boundary’ thing? We don’t have those.”

“Sure we do,” Jonas said. “Most people call them hard and soft limits. Hard limits are boundaries that will never be crossed. Soft limits are negotiable areas.”

“What are our hard limits?” Sabrina stared at Jonas as if he’d lost his mind.

He put her foot down and took up the other one. “No threesomes, and I can’t boss you around outside of the bedroom.”

“And yet,” she said, frost creeping into her tone, “you do.”

She yelped and tried to pull her foot away from Jonas, but he held fast. “I don’t make you walk around the house naked and I don’t make you wear a collar. I don’t choose your clothes or dictate your hairstyle. You don’t have to ask permission to do anything you want to do. I don’t even prohibit you from masturbating or coming without permission, and that’s pretty much a basic rule in a D/s relationship.”

The frost melted. Sabrina was again bright pink, but Sam was beyond caring. Alarm bells went off in her head. This was the part of the lifestyle that didn’t appeal to her.

She clapped her hands over her eyes. “I knew it.”

“Relax, Sammy,” Jonas said. “Those things come with a relationship or some kind of commitment. They asked you for a weekend. Think of it like a role-playing scene. When the weekend is over, you return to your life. They don’t sound like possessive Doms or Doms with unrealistic expectations. If you like that kind of play, don’t let aspects of the lifestyle with which you’re uncomfortable turn you off. Take it for what it is. Have fun. Figure out what you like and what you don’t like. That way you know what to look for in a lasting relationship.”

She peeled her hands from her eyes in time to see Jonas drawing Sabrina to her feet.

“You’re tired, honey. You need a nap.”

From Sam’s vantage point, Sabrina didn’t look tired. Given the expressions on her brother’s and sister-in-law’s faces, she knew it was only a matter of time before that status changed.

As they disappeared into the house, Sam turned her chair around to face the water and moved it into the shade. The expressions on their faces had been both lustful and loving. Though she was fond of saying she wasn’t looking for something serious, it was a lie. She wanted to find a man who looked at her the way Jonas looked at Sabrina and the way Richard looked at Amanda. And the way her father looked at her mother.

However, that kind of relationship took time to build and there was no one special in Sam’s life. Shaking away all illusions, she grabbed her cell from her bag and called Stefano. Maybe he and Alexei weren’t interested in her that way. They still offered her the opportunity to learn about herself. Jonas was right. She shouldn’t treat it like more than it was.

* * * *

Alexei opened the hidden door that joined his office to Stefano’s and stepped inside. Stef had paged him, as they had agreed, the moment Samantha called. He had been on his way out of the building for a lunch meeting. That summons had him calling to postpone his plans.

Stefano sat at his desk. The black steel furniture was an affect of the modern décor that graced the entire building. The
Miami
office was their favorite. They had founded it five years before, their first official act at the helm of the company their father had started before they were born.

The relief on his brother’s face spoke volumes. When Stefano had first told Alexei of his phone call to Samantha, Lex had been upset. She had been busy when he called. Her tone had been brusque. He had the impression she didn’t want more than what they had already given her.

Then Stef told him how receptive she had been to him later that day, and he realized her tone hadn’t been personal. She really had been busy. They had both been optimistic about the chances of a repeat performance.

But as eight long days drifted by without so much as a text or email, hope had waned.

“She said yes?”

Stefano nodded. Alexei understood his brother’s inability to speak. There was something about Samantha. She was different from the women with whom they normally played. She was feisty. She had a commanding presence. She demanded attention and respect simply from the way she held herself. Lex liked her easygoing manner and her bright smile. Everything about her was genuine.

Lex sank into the leather chair across from Stef. “When?”

“This weekend. She said she can fly out tomorrow afternoon, and she can stay until Sunday afternoon. She needs to be home in time to take care of some things before Monday.”

Lex processed that, running his weekend schedule through his head. Tomorrow was Friday. “Monday is Labor Day.”

“She has plans for Labor Day.” Stef studied a paper on his desk. “I asked.”

“That’s too bad,” Alexei said. “We could have taken her to the party with us. I’d love to show her off.”

Stefano shook his head and handed Alexei the paper on his desk. It took some doing to decipher his brother’s chicken scratch, but Alexei figured out it was a list of Samantha’s hard limits.