Page 26 of Fool's Desire

He was selfishly pleased that she couldn't witness the state he was in. He didn't want her to know how much she affected him or just how much of his precious control she could undermine.

Vaguely, he was aware that Jake had rushed to Desi's side and had started to release her from the restraints. He didn't object. Wouldn't have, even if he'd been capable, since for all intents and purposes, Desi was wearing Jake's collar. It may only be for show, but that still placed her as firmly under Jake's protection as his own.

Joel tore at the buckles on the other side as he desperately tried to clear his head while Jake rose to find a soft subbie blanket.

His friends rallied around him, Connor searching the tiny fridge and Logan ushering the onlookers out of the room to give them some privacy.

Joel scooped Desi's limp body into his arms and collapsed into a chair. Jake tucked the blanket around her and dropped to his knees while he rubbed on her hands and wrists to help her circulation after the confinement. Logan closed the door behind the last of the spectators and moved to close the blinds while Connor approached, carrying a bottle of water and a bar of chocolate. It was Connor who final broke the silence.

"Well, that was quite spectacular!" he commented, obviously impressed. "I have to admit that I really did think she was a myth. All those stories you told me about the perfection of your ideal submissive, I honestly believed were tinged with over exaggeration and wishful thinking."

Desi started to stir and Joel adjusted her position on his knee, lifting the bottle of water to her lips.

She drank thirstily, desperately quenching her parched throat, and Joel had to slow her down. Connor passed him the chocolate and he placed a square on her tongue.

"Suck it!" he demanded earning himself a smouldering look from her heavy-lidded eyes.

A smile tugged at Joel's stern lips and he winked at her. Desi sighed in contentment and snuggled into his shoulder.

Joel gave his cousin a pointed look, and Jake rose to his feet, then bent to kiss Desi on the forehead.

"Call if you need me," he whispered in her ear, stroking her hair before he turned back to Joel.

"Make sure you look after her," he reprimanded sternly. "It's been eleven years since she last scened and the potential for sub-drop is colossal."

Joel's lips thinned in annoyance and he stared his cousin down. He didn't need or appreciate the reminder, but he supposed he couldn't fault Jake's concern.

He didn't bother answering, but he knew they understood each other. Jake was finally satisfied enough to leave. Connor and Logan followed behind him, and at last, he and Desi were alone.

Chapter Fifteen

Joel gazed down at the small bundle of woman curled up in his lap like a contented kitten and flexed the muscles in his back.

"The first thing I'm going to do, if we buy this place, is invest in some comfortable aftercare seating," he mused, tightening his arms around her.

"Mmhmm." Desi nuzzled his neck as she nodded, and he felt the tiny movement arrow straight to his groin. Good grief, there was no way he could be getting hard again. Joel almost groaned. He was completely spent. He wasn't sure he had the energy to even pull himself up and walk out of here. He just wanted to collapse in his bed and sleep for a week, but clearly, his cock was not on board with that plan and had an agenda all of its own.

Joel sighed. He'd have to spend the weekend with her. He'd thought that scening with her would provide a cure for his raging lust, but evidently, it had yet to be slaked.

That was fine, though. He needed to stay with her anyway to watch for sub-drop. He could kill two birds with one stone.

Yeah. A weekend with Desi would fix him.

His mind wandered back over their scene as he fed her another piece of chocolate and placed the bottle of water into her hand. Damn, she was so soft and cute! Lying in his arms right now, naked, sleepy and dishevelled—this was the Daisy he remembered.

He hadn't gone easy on her, the opposite, if anything. He hadn't realised it had been so long since she'd scened last, though he'd had an inkling that it had been a while, based on the results of her background check. Eleven years, that meant she hadn't been involved in the lifestyle since…him. Joel wasn't sure he wanted to dissect that piece of information, so he put it away for later.

He hadn't deliberately set her up to fail, well, not exactly. Somewhere in his subconscious, he had realised that he wanted to test her restraint, he'd wanted to push her. So maybe he was guilty of wanting her to lose control since she constantly had him on the edge of his own. He resented the fact that whenever he was around her, he always felt like he was hanging by a thread.

And deep down, he had wondered if his memory of her was false. If, as Connor had suggested, he had built her up into something that she was not, setting his ideals on an impossible reality that could never exist, that never had existed.

He hadn't wanted to demean Desi, but he did want to prove to himself that he was chasing a dream. Simply so he could put it aside and finally be happy with something…less.

But damn, if she hadn't gone and outshone even his memories, chasing away his dusty recollections with an even more impressive reality. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Closing his eyes briefly against his inner turmoil, Joel decided that all he could do was deal with the present.

"Hey." He tipped Desi's chin up to look at her. "How are you doing now?"

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