Nicole Edwards - Perception

However, since they’d entered the play room, she had changed her clothing. At his request. The black corset with its fiery red ribbons, the short black skirt and knee high black boots with the four inch heels was one of the sexiest outfits he’d ever seen her wear and yes, he’d seen her wear plenty, not to mention less.

After all, this wasn’t the first time he’d watched her closely.

Torn between eyeing the woman whose gaze was boring into him and doing what needed to be done, Xander glanced between her and the St. Andrew’s cross.

He met her eyes again and nodded slightly.

“Over to the wall.” His instruction was gentle yet firm, not offering any room for confusion or argument, which, of course, was the intention.

Time to begin.

Mercedes crossed paths with Xander as she moved to the far side of the room as instructed. She met his gaze as she did and noticed the sexy smirk tipping the corner of his lips.

Arrogant bastard.

He seemed to be getting a huge kick out of this. Then again, it wasn’t often – translated to never – that anyone would get Mercedes to agree to something like this.

Then again – her hesitancy notwithstanding – she had to admit, she was both nervous and excited about what was going on here tonight.

Since the day she’d been introduced to Xander Boone many years ago, they had spent a lot of time together. In the simplest of terms, they were business associates, not to mention, friends.

Close, yet very platonic, friends .

When they weren’t dealing with the ins and outs of the real estate market, they would often spend time together outside of work, as well. A lot of that time was spent at one of Dallas’ most exclusive BDSM clubs – appropriately named Kink – where they were both now members.

Their friendship had started almost instantly, and they had grown close through the years. It didn’t hurt that they had several things in common which had strengthened their friendship from the start: they both believed that business was business, play was play, and when it came to the latter they were both looking for something, and nothing , at the same time.

Namely, fun with no strings attached.

Simple.

Uncomplicated.

Just the way Mercedes preferred everything in her life to be.

Only there was one problem… Xander had recently presented her with a proposition that was neither simple nor easy.

Their lives consisted of both work and play, and they went to the extreme on both counts. It’s just who they were. Within the category of play, they were both intimately familiar with domination and submission. However, if she didn’t know better, she’d have thought Xander had recently received a blow to the head that had clearly warped his good sense.

If Mercedes weren’t mistaken, Xander Boone wanted her submission.

And that was where the problem lay. Mercedes couldn’t give him that because she was not a submissive . Key word being not .

She was a Domme, and her reputation was well established and highly respected in their circles and he knew it. So how the hell he’d talked her into this said a lot about his powers of persuasion.

His request had come one night, about two weeks ago, when they had met for dinner after work. Prefaced with, “Because neither of us has a pet (as Xander liked to refer to his submissives), I’d like to call in a favor.”

A freaking favor .

First of all, for the record, Xander never asked for favors. Hell, he didn’t usually ask for anything. So, not only was he low maintenance as far as friends went, it was hard to refuse to help a friend when they looked at her the way Xander had.

That was when things started to go downhill.

Based on his explanation at the time, and his rebuttal to every one of her suggestions – What about finding a sub or a trainee from Kink? What about that one woman… yeah, he hadn’t even let her finish that sentence – Mercedes was under the distinct impression that Xander was playing a dangerous game with her, trying to get her to submit when there was no way in hell it was going to happen.

Except for tonight.

Somehow he had convinced her to come here, and she had no choice but to deal with it – because a promise was a promise and Mercedes didn’t go back on her word.

Now, as she fought the urge to sneak out when he wasn’t looking, Mercedes divided her attention between the power couple and the sexy as sin man who was waiting for her to do as he instructed.

It was apparent that Xander’s request had something to do with the beautiful couple who had made their way into the room. From what Xander had told her, Logan had been the one to approach him in the beginning. Logan and Samantha weren’t vanilla by any means, but according to Logan, they had never experimented with BDSM. Xander came up with the idea for giving them a little taste of his lifestyle.

Strange request, huh? Actually, it wasn’t all that uncommon.

Only, somewhere along the way, Xander had turned the tables on her. Something she would certainly pay him back for at a later date.

It was just a shame that she considered Xander so damned attractive, and strangely irresistible – in a very platonic sort of way – because she certainly wouldn’t have hesitated to tell him to fuck off with his invitation. But, in her defense, she wasn’t the only one who found Xander physically appealing. Most women did, and just like them, she wasn’t immune to his charm. Unfortunately.

At the moment, Mercedes could think of a more apt word to express what she thought about him: Incorrigible. Yes, that certainly described him nicely.

Even though she had some reservations about his intentions, or whether or not he had the potential to be reformed, Mercedes had to admit that there was one positive in this entirely screwed up situation: Looking at Xander was a treat for the eyes.

She got the feeling that if you looked up sexy, or sophisticated, or relentless, or alpha male, and let’s not forget incorrigible, in the dictionary, there beside the definition would be Xander’s picture.

At six-foot-six-inches, two hundred seventy plus pounds, he was an exquisite male specimen. His body was honed to perfection, from his chiseled jaw to his sculpted muscles down to his routinely pedicured feet. His perfectly styled dark hair was an intriguing contrast to his light green eyes, and it was no wonder he’d been repeatedly categorized as one of Dallas’ most sought after bachelors.

Not only was Xander intimidating in a very physically provocative way, he was also ridiculously successful and insanely wealthy.

Oh, and he was Trouble with a capital T.

Ok, so yes, saying a man was beautiful, especially a man like Xander, would probably be an odd way to describe him, but in Xander’s case it was true. Beauty, at least in his case, wasn’t just skin deep, and because of Xander’s strength of character, his charm, and his sophistication, he wasn’t just the perfect package on the outside. The man was so much more than that.

For the record, no, she did not have a crush on her friend.

Ok, maybe a little one.

Not that she would ever even allude to it.

Fearful that she was ogling him a little too much, Mercedes forced her attention away from Xander and glanced over to Samantha and Logan, noticing they were both watching her intently.

That raised the question of what had Xander told them about her?

As much as she wanted to ask, she was well aware that she wasn’t going to get that answer tonight, so she opted to greet them rather than dwell on what he’d said to entice them to join them tonight.

“Nice to see you again,” Mercedes called from her spot several feet away. “If you need me, I’ll be…” She turned to look at the St. Andrew’s cross, for the millionth time wondering what the hell she was doing. Looking back at Samantha and Logan, she followed up with, “Uh… yeah. I’ll just be… over here.”