Page 64 of Caught By Menace

“And now you like,you know, in public?”

“Sort of,” Hallie said. Dropping her gaze, she explained, “It’s the embarrassment of having other people watching my husband take me that makes me climax the hardest. I think, maybe, it’s because I was publicly humiliated as a criminal. Somehow that experience got hardwired into my brain in a really weird way. When I’m with Vicious and his hands are on me that embarrassment changes to something so powerful. I can’t…I can’t really describe it.”

Naya swallowed hard. “I think I understand.”

Hallie touched Naya’s knee. “You trust Menace, right?”

“I do.”

“So trust him to guide you through this,” Hallie suggested wisely. “If things go pear-shaped, you just whip out that safeword and reassess.”

Naya could feel Menace watching her but didn’t dare glance back at him. She scooted a bit closer to Hallie. “I think he’s going to make one of my fantasies come true tonight.”

Hallie’s eyes widened. Excitement flashed across her face. “Ooh! What is it?”

Overcome with embarrassment, Naya couldn’t bring herself to tell Hallie. “It’s just something I saw in one of those dirty movies.”

“Aha! The 900 range? Yeah.” Hallie rolled her eyes. “Vicious calls them the learning channels. Some of the things he’s persuaded me to watch on there!” She started giggling. “I mean,really?”

“There seems to be a sort of normal level of kink and then another level of frightening stuff that gives me the creeps.”

“But what you saw in this movie didn’t scare you?”

Naya shook her head. “It excited me. A lot.”

“So why do you look so worried? Menace obviously cares for you a great deal. He wants you to feel empowered and sexy. He won’t let anything happen to you that you don’t want.”

Naya wished she could bring herself to confess what had excited her so much. Then Hallie would understand why Naya was so nervous. She remembered Hallie’s advice and found some reassurance in that. “Safeword, right?”

Hallie nodded. “Safeword.”

A moment later, Hallie reached out and swept her fingers across the blue collar now hugging Naya’s neck. “It’s really beautiful.”

Naya touched the collar again. “It is.”

“Blue is your favorite color?”

“Yes, and it’s the safeword Menace gave me.”

“How sweet,” Hallie said and smiled genuinely. “Your collar is a constant reminder of who you belong to and how safe you are with him.”

The full gravity of Menace’s choice of collar hadn’t hit her until just then. The reality of just how much Menace cared for her hit Naya right in the gut. Her feelings toward him became so clear. A certain word danced in the forefront of her mind but she didn’t dare use it. She’d already made herself so vulnerable by trusting him completely. To admit that what she felt for him was something so powerful was too much, too fast for her.

“Kitten.”

Vicious’ voice cut through the music and conversation. Naya watched as Hallie turned her attention toward the general. He held up one finger. Hallie obviously understood the signal because she nodded. “That’s my cue to wrap it up.”

“Oh.” Naya felt so calm and at ease talking with Hallie. Once she was gone, Naya would be completely at the mercy of Menace’s plans.

Hallie grasped her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Come see me tomorrow. We’ll do a brunch and talk. How does ten o’clock sound?”

“Perfect.”

“Great.” Hallie hugged her and then jumped to her feet. She made her way to Vicious and stood dutifully next to his chair while he finished his conversation with Menace. When he was done, Vicious wrapped an arm around Hallie’s tiny waist and lifted her right onto his shoulder as he stood. He clamped his hand on her bare backside and left the area with Hallie dangling over his back. She wore a dopey grin and shot Naya two thumbs up for encouragement and luck.

Shaking her head at her friend’s silliness, Naya rose slowly from her cross-legged position and rejoined Menace. She started to kneel but he stopped her. Menace slid his arm around her waist and gently petted the spot above her bellybutton. He pointed to the dark-haired man sitting across from them. “Say hello to Hazard.”

Naya eyed the tall Harcos warrior. He had a kind face. “Hello, Sir.”

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