efforts to tamp it down.
“I am, indeed.” Cameron’s voice was full of pride, but Carl heard the roughened tone of barely leashed dominance that most people would have missed. Then turning to his slave, Cam’s voice became softer, a tone Carl doubted was the norm during their time inside Dark Desires. “Look at me, pet.” When she looked up into her Master’s eyes, Carl couldn’t tell if hers were really that dark or if they were just fully dilated, but it didn’t really matter because that look was a siren’s call to a Dom. “As you know we have a problem. Someone has made the incredibly poor decision to threaten what is mine.” Carl watched her eyes go glassy with unshed tears that he could only assume were a mixture of fear and uncertainty, but once again she didn’t voice her worry. Since her Master hadn’t asked her a question, she just blinked as if signally him that she’d heard his words. “The man sitting across from me is an old friend, he is also a member of the Prairie Winds’ team. He will be staying with us at least until this is resolved.” At least? What the fuck?
*****
CeCe had been struggling to keep her emotions in check since she’d taken Cameron’s call earlier in the day. Thank God she hadn’t planned to see patients today because she wasn’t sure she’d have been able to give them the attention they deserved. She had planned to finish up charting and make notes for the physicians filling in for her while she was on vacation, and even that task had proven difficult. Cam had planned the entire trip, including asking her sister and brother-in-law to care for Chloe. She’d been looking forward to the coming week for months, it was the anniversary of her collaring and spending time at their beach house in St. Maarten was always one of her favorite ways to unwind. Her surgical clinic had grown exponentially in the past two years and she often found herself so buried in work she forgot to eat. It was only a matter of time before her weight loss became an issue with her Master, he wasn’t the type to miss even the most insignificant change in her body, and he was even less apt to let it go unchallenged.
The small home’s wide wrap around porch with its comfortable furniture and spectacular views of the rolling waves of the Caribbean Sea was the perfect place to relax and play. The kitchen would be fully stocked by the time they arrived by the housekeeper who they’d hired several years ago to keep the place ready for visitors. But her favorite feature of the getaway was the small, but fully equipped dungeon on the lower level. The room faced the beach and when the large panel windows were opened, the entire space felt as if it joined the outdoors. The concrete floor had been stained the exact color of the beach and its rough texture only added to the illusion. Instead of the dark colors that were usually used in kink clubs, the beach playroom was a soulful blend of blues and greens with accents of all things nautical. Her Master had laughed when she’d told him how perfectly he’d met her “damsel kidnapped by a pirate” fantasy.
Cameron’s ability to disguise equipment designed to torture willing submissives so it appeared to fit in any room’s décor had always amazed her. She’d always considered herself a science nerd with the decorating style of a lab rat. When she’d first met Cameron Barnes he’d been on a mission in Italy while she’d been on vacation in Rome. She’d simply thought he was a rich playboy with the ability to set her entire body on fire, but his past was evidently far more complicated than the former Special Forces operative had originally copped to. CeCe had never been able to wrap her mind around the fact the man who so painstakingly surrounded her with beauty and could bring her so much pleasure with the simplest of touches had been involved in anything sinister.
The artistic side of the man always seemed incongruent with the Dom she knew so
Douglas Niles, Michael Dobson