Nicole Edwards - Perception

Room three? Fucking hell. He’d been hoping for a private room, but he shouldn’t have expected any less.

“We’ll be in a private room upstairs,” another voice claimed from behind him and this time Xander turned around. He knew that voice.

Shit.

Elijah Penn.

Fuck. Could this night get any worse?

Xander watched as Sam turned to face Elijah, her eyes widening with obvious appreciation as he moved in closer.

“A private room?” Samantha asked.

“That’s right,” the Brit said, his hands in his pockets as he watched her intently. “That is if you’re game.”

Samantha turned to look at Logan, who nodded his head in response. Ok, so clearly these three had something going on between them. Xander was curious as to what, but it wasn’t his business, so he kept his mouth shut.

“There’s my date now,” Shane said and everyone’s attention was drawn to him.

Son of a fucking bitch.

Clarissa Tinsley.

When the woman approached, she smirked at Xander before placing a quick kiss on Shane’s lips in greeting.

“Clarissa,” Mercedes greeted the woman, moving toward her and embracing her gently. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” Clarissa offered, her gaze once again landing on Xander.

Fuck.

Tonight was going to be the worst night of his life; he could feel it.

Clarissa Tinsley, former assistant to a wannabe submissive Realtor, current Attorney-at-law. And one of Mercedes’s best friends to boot. Ever since that very first night at dinner when Clarissa had sparked Mercedes’s attention with her submissive admission, the two had become rather good friends.

The same couldn’t be said for old Tim Johnson. The wannabe submissive had crossed Mercedes one time too many and she’d kicked him to the curb. That was about the same time Clarissa was finishing up law school. The timing had been perfect.

But Clarissa wasn’t just a friend of Mercedes. She was also a trainee at Kink – a submissive trainee – and for the longest time, Shane had shown a great deal of interest in the woman. Clearly, he was still interested in her if he’d thought to invite her to Devotion.

Fucking hell.

“Well, we’ll likely catch up with you later,” Logan offered, obviously catching the vibe that was now coursing between the four of them. Xander nodded toward Logan, a silent thank you.

He was going to have a difficult enough time dealing with Clarissa and Shane being there, the last thing he needed was for Logan and Samantha to be a witness to this.

“We look forward to watching your scene as well,” Mercedes said to Logan, her attention divided between him and Elijah.

With that, Logan took Sam’s hand and turned away. Xander couldn’t hide his amazement when Elijah took her other hand, leading her away.

Oh, fuck. That was definitely going to be interesting.

When Mercedes moved closer to Clarissa, Xander moved behind her, trying to keep that one step behind rule in mind. The move allowed him to keep Shane and Clarissa in his sights as well.

“So, you’re interested in joining us tonight?” Mercedes asked Shane and Clarissa directly.

“If you’ll have us,” Clarissa said sweetly, her eyes darting up to Shane and then back to Mercedes. She seemed to be ignoring Xander.

Not that he cared. In fact, it would be great if he could be invisible.

“We’d love to,” Shane tacked on, wrapping his arm around Clarissa’s shoulder and pulling her to his side. “What did you have in mind?”

Clarissa was pretty, not mouthwatering like Mercedes, but she wasn’t hard on the eyes by any means. The emerald green silk sheath she wore clung to her body, accentuating her voluptuous breasts and her flared hips. The woman was small. Much smaller than Mercedes and Xander wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that.

He was a big man. Not just tall either. Weighing in at two-seventy-five, Xander worked diligently to build muscle and to maintain it. Based on how slight Clarissa appeared standing before Mercedes, he had to wonder whether she’d even be able to handle him if things headed that direction.

And he got a sinking feeling that was exactly what Mercedes intended to do tonight. It might not have been her initial plan, but it was just something she would do.

Mercedes turned her attention to Clarissa directly. “Do you understand what’s going on here tonight?”

“I’m sorry?” Clarissa asked, clearly confused by Mercedes’s question.

“Tonight isn’t what you think,” Mercedes stated clearly. “I know that you’ve always known Xander to be a Dom.”

“Two Doms?” Clarissa looked incredibly curious, and maybe a little confused.

“Not tonight, no. Tonight Xander belongs to me.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“We’ve been,” Mercedes looked up at Xander with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, “experimenting lately.”

Yeah, experimenting his ass. The woman was submissive, even if she was in denial.

He kept his mouth shut.

“What does that mean?” Clarissa asked, biting her lower lip as she glanced between him and Mercedes.

“It means that tonight, I’m in charge.”

“Oh.”

“But, I’m all for having you participate if it’s something you think you can handle.”

Clarissa stared at Mercedes as though she’d just been tossed down a rabbit hole, and she had no idea what was reality and what was fantasy.

“Can you handle it, Rissa?”

Clarissa glanced over at Shane, who was clearly amused by the situation. Xander did his best not to fist his hands at his sides. He was here to play along. That was the agreement and by God, if it fucking killed him, he would play along.

“I think I can handle it,” she said, her attention back on Mercedes.

Xander shook his head to let her know that was not the answer Mercedes would want, but at this point, it didn’t matter. The statement was out there, and Mercedes would likely inform her of her mistake.

“I’m going to be lenient with you tonight, Rissa. Only because you’re not used to seeing Xander like this. For tonight, you’ll address me as your Domme.”

Clarissa looked up at Shane, who nodded in response. So the man was willing to play along. He’d loan out his temporary submissive just to watch Xander squirm.

And Xander knew without a doubt that whatever was going on between Shane and Clarissa was temporary. There was no way in hell Shane would share a sub if he’d staked a claim on her.

But then again, the woman Shane wanted wasn’t a sub, which meant for the time being, he was still pretending he didn’t care.

“When I ask a question, I expect a straight answer,” Mercedes continued. “Yes or no would suffice. So, which will it be?”

Clarissa looked completely taken aback by the stern tone of Mercedes’s voice. Yep, that was her Domme side coming out in full force, something Clarissa probably wasn’t at all used to. At least not having it directed at her. However, Xander was familiar with it, even if he wasn’t used to being on the receiving end.

To his astonishment, Clarissa responded. “Yes. I think I can handle it,” she said, her voice quavering slightly.

Wrong answer again. Xander fought the urge to smile.

“You can refer to me as Mistress M or Ma’am. Say it, Rissa. Say ‘yes, Mistress M’.”

“Yes, Mistress M,” Clarissa repeated, her eyes glued to the woman in front of her. Thankfully Mercedes was facing away from him because he did grin.

He found it amusing, the easy way Clarissa submitted. She was a natural. Even if she was a little too agreeable most of the time. That was one of the main things that drove him crazy about some of the trainees at Kink, they acted like whipping posts. Then again, there were some on the opposite end of the spectrum who wouldn’t know how to submit if they spent a year in the role.