Page 54 of At Her Will

“The fit’s there. Hard to miss.”

Ros glanced at Lawrence, leaning against the side of the booth. Her beloved submissive would see Vera and Rev’s chemistry from a different angle. Because Revwasnew to this, it could cause unexpected responses, so Lawrence would pay particular attention to how Rev was doing.

Vera’s simple test of his responses had dazed him, a light-handed subspace, the knee-weakening kind. He didn’t seem embarrassed by it. Vera was right; there was evidence of alphaandbeta markers in him.

“Might be time to do a deeper dive on this one, boss,” Cyn said.

“Vera is our HR rep. You think she hasn’t already?”

Cyn shook her head. “If it was about one of us, she’d dive in like a CIA analyst. If it’s for her, she’s going to do the ‘respect his privacy’ blah blah bullshit.”

She looked at Lawrence. “It’s not an obvious fit to me. Blue collar, low skilled job, not well-educated. Vera’s not the slumming-for-a-nice-piece-of-ass type.”

At Ros’s expression, Cyn lifted a shoulder. “You keep me around to say the non-PC shit out loud. It’s in my job description.”

“Just don’t say it around her. Or him.”

“I know how to have tact. Or rather, I’ve seen it done. I can probably fake it.”

“Unlike an orgasm,” Lawrence said.

Cyn bared her teeth at him. “Faking tact is about being polite. Faking an orgasm is a lie to the universe that could shatter its foundation. More importantly, it’s a waste of my fucking time.”

Lawrence blinked. “Well, thank God you added that. The universe thing was so poetic I thought Skye had possessed you.”

“Can I beat him?” Cyn asked Ros.

“Do your best the next time you’re sparring with him at Roughnecks,” Ros said absently, referring to the boxing gym they used for workouts.

Picking up on her change in mood, Cyn nudged her. Lawrence shifted closer, offering reassurance from both sides. “She’s the most level-headed of all of us, Ros,” Cyn said. “All that spiritual juju.”

“I know. I just feel worried. I don’t know why, but my intuition is usually on the mark.”

“I expect it’s coming from his family. That cousin of his is a calculating dick. The aunt gives me the creeps.”

“From how Skye described them, she’s the zealot,” Lawrence agreed. “Skye says her certainty she’s right, that she’s acting in his best interest, sends any conflicting information right to the mental spam folder, so it doesn’t interfere with her world view.”

Ros brushed her glossy nails over his clipped beard and met his gold-flecked green eyes. In certain lights, they held a trace of blue. “I can hear Skye saying it. Probably in her Mark Gatiss’s Mycroft voice. What did she find? I’m sure she dug into them.”

Lawrence’s lips quirked. “Didn’t find anything other than some questionable uses of the collection plate funds.”

Ros studied him. “But you’re still on the same page with Cyn about them. Particularly the aunt.”

“People don’t need a criminal background to unleash hell on you. I remember two guys we lost because their team thought a woman was in trouble. When they’re close enough, she detonates the suicide vest under her burka. To increase the trust factor, she had her six-year-old daughter with her. The survivors remembered the look of certainty on her face, damn near bliss. So, yeah.”

He cleared the shadows out of his gaze with effort and attempted a smile. “That kind of crazy aside, best not to overlook how dangerous a woman can be. Ever.”

Or how appealing a dangerous man could be, especially one who delivered a statement like that, with his lips curved in that kind of smile. His tanned skin showed the genes of his Mexican father, while the handsome weathering of his face proved how much time Lawrence had spent exposed to extreme elements.

Ros let him see the heat her thoughts gave her, because she knew it would also help him balance the dark memories he’d just stirred.

She turned her attention back to Vera and Rev. No one was immune from the vulnerabilities their past gave them. Ros knew the wounds Vera carried in her heart. No matter her worriesabout the unlikeliness of the pairing, Ros felt a healing vibe from Rev, particularly in what he wanted to offer Vera.

She hoped his family wouldn’t cause Vera any problems she couldn’t handle, butherfamily would have her back if they did. Ros would make sure of it.

Vera continued Rev’s tour through the club, letting him see everything. Her short “experiment” had both narrowed and expanded his senses. Anything happening between a Domme and sub caught his attention, his body getting the direct impact of what his mind was processing, while he lost his sense of anything beyond this moment and the next. And the next.

Because of the arousal, the adrenaline, the nerves that made his skin feel like he was out in a summer rain, he knew he was at a gear that might be tuned a little too high. She knew it, too, her hand always upon him. Whenever he got too lost in a spiraling fog of sensual need, her voice would cut through it and bring him back to her.

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