Page 48 of Dance for Me

She shook her head, shyly hiding behind the curtain of blonde hair falling over her face. “Thanks, Sir, but I think I’m going to, ah, go watch Master Jasper at work. If you don’t mind?”

Polite little subbie. “Your time here is yours, Archie. Have a good night.” When she skipped off, literally, Braun shook his head in wonderment. Some subs had more energy than they could contain. “All right, my precious subbie, time to make a move.”

“I don’t want to.”

“That’s a shame, little one. As your Dom, I’m overriding I don’t want to and replacing it with Master knows best.” He rose with ease, sidestepping out of the booth. He swore her heartbeat was audible above the chatter of the club. “Just give Connie a chance, that’s all I ask. Hell, sit and talk about the weather if that’s what you want.”

Her nails dug into his skin through his shirt. A stranded kitten clinging frantically to the last inch of solid ground, claws hooked into anything it could. The trouble was this little kitten had a lifeline right beside her if she’d only reach out and snag it. “Braun, please.”

“Tell me the truth. Are you frightened of Connie or of what she might get you to say?”

The bitch flickered back to life. “I’m not frightened of anything.”

“No? Then we don’t have a problem, do we?”

She growled.

“Enough.” Although he kept the volume down, his tone was sufficiently sharp to halt several people and conversations in their tracks. He skirted around them, weaving through them, as he struggled with the urge to flip her over the nearest piece of furniture and turn her derriere red. “One thing you won’t do is intimidate me, little one. Flash those teeth, snap and snarl and growl, you won’t assert your dominance over mine.” He leaned down, risking her teeth, and whispered, “Because you’re not dominant, Boadicea. You are submissive.”

He counted his blessings he made it to the walkway before she started fighting him. She really did get mad when she heard something she didn’t like. “Gonna sleep like a baby tonight, little one.”

“I’m walking out of the fucking room as soon as you’re gone!”

Braun just nodded. “Of course, you are. So long as you can get past Connie.”

“If she lays so much as a hand on me—”

“Oh, Bodie. Bodie, Bodie, Bodie,” he said sympathetically as he kicked open the door to his office and walked inside, “the Mistress won’t have to.”

*

“The Mistress won’t have to what?”

Bodie bucked, scrabbling to get out of the thick, warm blanket she’d all but nested in. This wasn’t how she’d envisioned the rest of her evening, and she cursed herself for letting Braun set her up. She’d walked into his trap without thinking, and now she was well and truly screwed.

Why hadn’t she just kept quiet like she usually did and played along with being the nice, sated submissive he expected instead of kicking off with an attitude? The attitude always landed her in hot water, and now she was in up to her neck.

She couldn’t backpedal her way out of it, even though all she wanted was to go back to cuddling on Braun’s lap.

“Boadicea’s feeling somewhat insecure about this,” Braun explained, sounding completely unruffled. “I think she believes you might have torture devices hidden away.”

Connie laughed and walked over to them. A sultry, seductive glide across the carpet in another pair of killer heels. “No torture devices to hand, I’m afraid. I wasn’t exactly prepared to work tonight.” There was a note of censure in her tone. “Besides, you won’t give me a spot of bother, will you, sweetheart?”

Bodie’s body flattened into Braun’s of its own volition. The woman had a lethal voice, all soft and calm and soothing. It wound its way into Bodie, skating like a balm over open wounds. “I’m leaving now.”

“So soon?” Connie smiled sadly. “That’s too bad. I was looking forward to having a girlie chat; it’s been too long since I had a good natter with someone without decades of testosterone surging through their veins.”

Braun grunted.

“Why don’t you take a seat on the couch and we can have a proper introduction? I’d like to get to know you better as a person if Braun’s going to keep you on as the club dancer. You’ve made quite the impression on the club, Bodie, and the members are thrilled we’ve got someone so talented willing to entertain us.”

Braun carried her over to the couch where a cozy heap of pillows waited. He laid her down, tucking the blanket around her so she didn’t flash her nakedness—because, goddamn him, she was absolutely without a stitch of clothing—before he bent and kissed her sweetly. “I won’t be far away, little one. All you have to do is shout.”

As he straightened, her hand whipped out of the blanket and latched onto his. “I’m not staying here with her! I changed my mind. Please, please don’t leave me here.”

“Shush, Bodie. Give it twenty minutes. Twenty, that’s all I’m asking.”

Nuh-uh. Who knew how much information the woman could siphon from her in that time frame? Connie was a Domme for God’s sake, she probably chewed up mere mortals like Bodie for breakfast and went whistling on her carnivorous way.

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