Page 10 of Lesson In Honesty

He shifted his hips, taking the pressure off his cock as it swelled behind the zipper. He’d been tempted to take her again, but her attempt to walk to the bathroom after he pulled out had been… well, she’d probably kill him if she knew he’d found it comical.

So he’d wait until they got home and maybe, if he scrounged up enough patience, he might be able to love her without bruising her this time.

“Someone looks a lot more relaxed than she did earlier,” Violet crooned as she slipped onto the curved seat beside Liam. Taking a sip of wine, she tilted her glass down at Sierra. “I trust you spent your afternoon settling in?”

“One might say that.” Liam slid his gaze her way, then checked on his sub—she was listening, her eyes more aware but pointedly averted now. “Minx, are you going to say hello to Mistress Violet?”

A blush, hot and embarrassed, arrowed into her cheeks. “Hello.”

Smiling sympathetically, Violet sipped again. “How do you get anything done when you have her around? She’s so adorably shy, it must take some willpower not to just sit and watch her all day.”

“I just take the time to appreciate what I’ve got. She’s my world,” he murmured, exhaling softly. “It would be a cold, solitary existence without her in it. I don’t need willpower notto watch her all the damn time; I need it to stop myself from claiming what’s mine whenever someone looks at her.”

“Now that is spoken like a man in love.” Her Louisiana drawl thickened with approval. “So, Master Liam, why are you and your delightful Sierra all the way here in Denver?”

“Just helping out friends.”

“Oh, come now, there has to be more to it than that. Your reputation in Phoenix is impeccable—a more than competent general manager, excellent bartender, compassionate and skillful Master, and an all-around good guy.” She shrugged when he skewered her with a suspicious glare. “My ex-husband was an abusive, controlling asshole who crossed several boundary lines.” When Liam’s eyebrows shot up, she smiled ruefully. “Not something you’d expect a Domme to admit to, right? I could give you the standard ‘he wasn’t like that when I married him’ spiel, and it wouldn’t be a complete lie. He wasn’t abusive then, but he was controlling. I enjoyed the challenge of it, going head to head with an equal dominant force. So did he, until he began to realize he lost more than he won. Like any sore loser, he didn’t acquiesce with dignity and up his game for the next round; he used his fists and feet instead.”

“I’m sorry.”

“In the end, we both lost. It did teach me, however, that while two strong people can live together, it really doesn’t work when one has a hidden violent streak.” Violet looked at him with big, doe-like eyes, the depths calm and unruffled. “When Evander requested my presence here, I did my homework. Single woman relocating to a BDSM resort, basically living with a pack of unknown males. I’d be stupid not to make sure they weren’t serial rapists or closet murderers. Not that I don’t trust Evander’s security measures, but I prefer doing my own research.”

Liam sighed. It was a smart move, he couldn’t deny that. Perhaps it chafed his pride knowing she was privy to more information than he liked, but in the grand scheme of things, he’d put a woman’s physical safety over his personal privacy any day of the week. “That’s fair enough, I guess. Does Evander know you’ve run checks on his employees?”

“No. I see no need for him to know—everyone passed, I discovered no issues that I felt obligated to report, and I’m confident I’m workingandliving in the kind of environment he and Elias want to build here.” Taking a long sip of wine, she hummed pleasantly. “What I’ve learned will go no further than me, Liam. I don’t horde information to use against coworkers or friends. Any secrets I might have unearthed will remain protected.”

“We have nothing to hide.” Liam twirled the base of his beer bottle on his thigh. “I think you missed an asshole during your search.”

Violet’s eyes lit with humor. “Ah, yes, the reprehensible Blake. I admit, there were a couple of question marks on his file that made me hesitate, but nothing suggested that level of dickheadedness.”

He snorted just as he took a mouthful of beer, almost spraying it out of his nose. “Is that even a word?”

“Of course.” Violet’s gaze ticked down to Sierra before returning to his. “Am I allowed to offer my condolences for your loss, or should I wait until you officially tell me?”

The fast switch threw him for a long moment, bringing a punch of guilt he wasn’t expecting. Shaking it off, he exhaled heavily. “Wyatt isn’t a dirty little secret we keep tucked away. His death damaged us; Sierra took it especially hard. It’s one of the reasons we’re here. Phoenix holds a lot of memories, and we decided we needed to get away from them for a while.”

“I’m sorry. Losing someone is hard at the best of times; to have them taken well before they should go… I can’t imagine,” she murmured. “Was Sierra a Little before the accident?”

Accident was the ultimate understatement, he thought, but he wasn’t going to correct her and start speculation circulating. “Sierra isn’t Little. She shows the occasional tendency—she loves rescuing and rehabilitating stuffies—but her best friend is a full-time Little, so Lisha rubs off on her quite a bit.”

“Really?” Voice laced liberally with laughter, Violet gestured to his sub. “Does she always fall asleep sucking on her thumb?”

Well, hell, that was new. Astonished, Liam immediately dropped his gaze down to discover, yes, his pretty submissive was fast asleep in front of the fire, her thumb hooked to the roof of her mouth as she sucked rhythmically. “Fuck.”

“Trauma affects people differently. What were tendencies might now be an actual kink for her, especially if it brings her comfort.” She smirked and tipped her glass at him. “How are your Daddy Dom skills, Liam?”

Nonexistent.

Somehow, he knew it shouldn’t be a huge surprise—the stuffies, some of her behavior, her instant connection with Alicia… He’d believed it was just Alicia’s influence—along with Caera’s to a degree—transferring onto Sierra, and her love of stuffies came from being different to everyone else, being rejected and thrown aside like an old toy.

Not once had she asked him to try age play, or any form of role play that leaned in that direction. She’d given him no indication at all that she needed the structure of a Daddy Dom-little girl relationship.

Which, he mused darkly, meant she either didn’t know herself, or she’d been a very naughty girl, hiding it from him and denying herself something important.

Oh, they were going to have an interesting chat in the morning.

Even as his mind spun the possibilities around, Violet steered the conversation to safer topics—the differences in weather, the job she’d left in advertising to come to Serenity as a full-time Domme, how they saw the future of the club unrolling.

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