Page 45 of Savage

“Oh, Cooper? How do you feel about tattoos?”

“On myself?”

“On your dom.”

Cooper looked at me, and I couldn’t get over the drastic change a bit of makeup and prosthetics could do. “I think that’d be hot,” he said, but then a teasing gleam entered his eyes. “As a matter of fact, I think you should cover his entire body with tattoos. Every. Single. Inch.”

I arched a brow, but kept my thoughts to myself. What I wanted to say was that I knew he didn’t need a visual to get off to. He needed a few choice directives from a man in a mask.

Lucien nodded and said to the makeup artist, “Let’s do a sexy tattoo going up his neck, maybe peeking out of his shirt. Something to give him a bit of an edge.” He clapped his hands to dismiss everyone. “Thank you, let’s make some magic, people.”

As everyone scattered to their respective corners, Cooper settled back in his chair like he was grateful for the momentary reprieve.

“He’s a friend of yours?”he asked.

“Lucien?”

He nodded.

“Are you asking on or off the record?”

“Does it matter?”

“I’m in the security business, Cooper. I can’t have stories dropping about me or anyone I’m involved with.”

“I understand. Don’t worry,you’renot my story. Whatever we find, you won’t be included in the narrative. Promise.”

Did I believe him? Considering I dealt in a world of half-truths, I never trusted anyone a hundred percent. Cooper’s real-world naivety made me inclined to trust him, but that didn’t mean I’d put it past him to do whatever served him best in the end. It was what most people would do.

It was whatIwould do.

“Oh, Lachlan?” Lucien tossed something in my direction. “Have your sub give those a whirl.”

Cooper leaned over to get a better look. “What are those?”

“Give me your wrist.”

Cooper held his arm out, and I buckled on the first leather cuff.

“Wow, we’re really leaning into the dom/sub thing, huh?” He lifted his wrist to inspect the cuff and saw the silver hook attached. “Wait, what’s this for?”

I motioned for his other arm and then wrapped the second cuff around his wrist. “Are you familiar with the relationship between a dominant and submissive?”

“Can’t say I’ve ever looked into it.”

As I buckled the cuff, I let my fingers linger a little longer than they needed to over his smooth skin. I traced one of his veins and didn’t miss the way he trembled. “In public a submissive follows orders, bites their tongue, does whatever the dom wants and needs from them. It’s something both participants enjoy, but the truth is, the submissive has all the power. Everything is consensual, and at any point if things go too far, if you want things to stop, all you need to do is say the safe word and we’ll leave. No questions asked.”

He swallowed. “What’s the safe word?”

“You tell me. Something you’ll easily remember that would fit into this world we’re about to step into.”

“Okay.” He chewed on his lower lip. “Since everyone will either be high on sex or drugs, how about…‘euphoric’?”

I nodded once. “Euphoric. Done. If that word comes out of your mouth, everything stops. Deal?”

“Deal. But I can handle it. Whatever happens.”

We would see about that. There was no telling what we were walking into without getting a rundown of what to expect beforehand.

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