Sloan loved watching her move. It was the thing he’d first noticed about her. Well, okay, it was the second thing he’d noticed. How graceful she was. The way her hips swayed as she walked. It never failed to turn him on. Watching her was one of his favorite things.
The first thing he’d noticed was how fucking hot she was. She wasn’t stick-thin like society seemed to think women should be. She had curves where she was supposed to have curves. The moment he’d seen her he’d known he had to have her. He just hadn’t realized how far that need would go, or that six months later he’d be in a relationship with her.
A relationship of sorts, anyway. They’d talked and talked about their Dominant-submissive roles. What they expected from each other. Their limits. Their needs. They’d talked until he was tired of his own damn voice. Speaking about this sort of stuff wasn’t his forte, but it was his responsibility as her Dom to keep her safe. He couldn’t do that unless he knew what her hard limits were. Knew her fears. Her desires.
Their relationship hadn’t really progressed beyond that. They went out for dinner sometimes. Then they’d end up back at his place. In his bed. Sometimes they spent the whole weekend together. Usually when she’d been naughty and needed his full attention.
He loved those weekends.
How she didn’t see how gorgeous she was, he didn’t know.
Women.
With those red-blonde curls, her pale, perfect skin, those sparkling blue-green eyes, and her full lips, she was a goddamn goddess.
He was lucky he’d gotten to her before anyone else had.
He lowered her skirt and took her hand in his to lead her into the dungeon. Why didn’t he take move their relationship forward? He should. He should be making certain she was his. Always.
But there was something holding him back. At first, he’d thought it was Sarah. But she’d been gone nearly five years. He’d been a different person back then, less sure of himself. Only just coming to understand his role as a Dominant. March had shown him who he truly was. He tensed. He tried not to think of James March all that much. The other man had been his best friend, his partner—not sexually, but they’d had a relationship all the same. They’d shared Sarah, dominated her together, although March usually took the lead role.
And like an idiot Sloan had followed him.
“Sloan?” Kinley whispered, staring up at him in concern as they stood outside the large, ornate doors that led down to the dungeon. The doors had only been put in a few months ago. Apparently, Sam, one of Roarke’s submissives, had decided to do a bit of “redecorating.” Roarke had pissed him off somehow, the details weren’t clear, and Sam was the kind of guy who believed in, “don’t get mad, get even”. These doors were over the top. Like something out of a badly-scripted medieval movie.
But rather than being pissed off or ordering the doors removed, Roarke had just laughed. Then he’d taken his sub down the stairs, tied him to a St Andrews cross and brought out the whip.
Sam had left with a smile on his face. And the doors had stayed.
“Are you all right? Don’t you want to play?”
He stared down at her. Maybe it was time to think about laying those old ghosts to rest and telling her everything.
She’d understand about Sarah. Kinley had a lot of empathy.
He wasn’t so sure she would understand about March. Was he part of the reason Sloan couldn’t move on? Because he’d never finished things properly with March?
Damn it, he wasn’t some soft cock who needed to go on Dr. Phil to sort his shit out. Talking about his feelings was like pulling teeth. He preferred action over words.
Maybe that was it. He should have just beaten on March for a while. Yeah, that would have helped. He’d have felt better, and it wasn’t like March didn’t deserve it.
But now wasn’t the time to come clean. Kinley deserved all his attention right now. She deserved all he could give her. He wasn’t wealthy like some of the other members. He wasn’t powerful. He wasn’t a somebody.
But he had Kinley and he wasn’t letting her go.
His needs were simple, mostly. A day’s work, a cold beer, good food, and a sweetly submissive woman with a bit of attitude. That’s all he needed. All he’d ever wanted.
If the memory of a man he should have long since forgotten threatened to ruin all that, he knew he had to work harder to exorcise his ghosts.
He was damn lucky that she’d chosen him. He’d make certain she’d never regret it.
So, he pushed aside his thoughts and smiled down at her. There was no way James March was going to ruin this. He would never be allowed near Kinley. He would never have a chance to hurt Kinley the way he’d hurt Sarah.
The way he’d killed her.
Kinley was worried as she followed Sloan through the dungeon. As they stood in front of the ridiculous doors Sam had installed, she almost sensed a sadness coming from him—and a darkness.
She wondered if she should have pressed him to tell her. But she’d held her tongue. If he wanted to tell her, he would.