Punishing for Pleasure Read Online Free PDF Page A

didn’t feel quite right. Probably ought to be reconsidering that decision Ms. Harvard MBA.
    Meri had planned to speak with Jax and Micah about updating the security system at her home, but she hadn’t been able to catch them alone at the club. The last thing she’d wanted was for Dex Raines or Ash Moore to get wind of the trouble she was having. She’d seen the other former SEALs at the club in “overprotective mode” and it wasn’t pretty…heck, it was downright oppressive. And it wasn’t as if she actually belonged to Dex and Ash, they hadn’t acted the least bit interested in having a relationship outside of the club. Even that wouldn't likely change the fact they’d happily take the opportunity to punish her for not telling them about the recent trouble she’d been experiencing. Cripes, now that she thought about it, Kyle and Kent were probably going to go postal as well. Sighing to herself, she resolved to call Kent today on her way home, he was usually the most reasonable of the club’s brood of mother hens.
    Jax and Micah had been busy with Gracie and their new daughter. Their wife, Gracie, had a difficult pregnancy and little Miss Deaga Drake-McDonald hadn’t opted for a peaceful entry in to her parents’ life on any level, and from what Meri had heard, the little dark haired beauty was still giving them a run for their money. She dreaded adding to Micah and Jax’s burdens, but she had a sinking feeling her choices in the matter were narrowing quickly.
    Quite frankly, she was more than a little impressed Parker Andrews hadn’t already sung like a proverbial canary. Parker had worked for the Austin Police Department but he’d recently taken a special investigator position at the Texas Rangers state office in Austin. Meri’s family was well connected politically, so a couple of agents from the Ranger’s office had shown up after the most recent breakin. It wo n’t matter the incident should be considered confidential . Meri knew good Doms considered it their responsibility to protect submissives—in fact, most of what she’d read said it was their highest calling. Cramamolie , it’s just a matter of time before th is whole fiasco blows up in my face.
    Waiting for the hospital’s board president to finish his spiel, Meri tried to surreptitiously scan the courtyard. There were more people in attendance than she had anticipated, so obviously someone had gotten the word out, and that worked well for the ambitious plan they were setting into motion today. In truth, she’d been working on this project for almost a year, with her vision for expanded services only now becoming public. And while she believed in what she was doing, there was still a small part of her that worried her ex-boyfriend was simply waiting in the dark shadows surrounding the courtyard ready to pounce. There was something in the air…some underlying energy edged with danger lurking at the fringes of the crowd, but Meri wasn’t having any luck identifying the source. John Stevens’ threats to expose her as a slut with a predilection for pain scared her far more than she’d let anyone know. If he was behind her recent rash of trouble, she knew he would be very hard to catch. He wasn’t extremely wealthy, but he was very well connected and highly motivated to discredit her.
    Every lash of John Stevens’ tongue had left a ragged scar on her soul. Some were small…others were enormous, but each one had left an indelible mark and eroded her self-confidence. Despite what others might see, Merilee Dillon Lanham was still a woman with all the same insecurities other women faced. John’s scathing comments about her appearance had cut her to the core, she still heard them echoing through her mind every time she looked in the mirror. It didn’t matter that she came from an incredibly privileged background or that most woman would have been envious of her appearance. When Meri looked in the mirror, the first thing she saw was each of