For the Night, page 11
He wasn’t wrong. Domino’s for the win. Besides, it was one of the few takeout joints that promised the food was still hot upon delivery. Ordering a burger and fries from somewhere just made you disappointed. Then you sat there with your cold, limp fries.
“I don’t think you understand what a treat this is,” Camden said. “Daddy hates takeout. August, that is. It’s usually something Anthony and I sneak around with.”
I chuckled and bit into my slice of cheesy goodness.
Halfway through lunch, someone showed up with a carrier—one of those used for cats and small dogs—and the woman was definitely here for Penelope. Because she rushed over to greet the woman with a bright smile.
Then Penelope bent down to peer into the carrier. “Oh, he’s adorable, Sierra. Nora, get over here, please.”
Yes, Ma’am!
I wiped my fingers and scurried over there.
“You’ll have to make sure I bought all the right things,” Penelope told Sierra. “I almost gave myself a headache trying to figure out what litter was the best.”
Sierra chuckled. “I’m sure it’s fine, Ma’am. Mistress wrote you a helpful list too, and I brought food for a week, plus a baby blanket that smells of home.”
Penelope extended her hand to me, and I was happy to thread our fingers together.
“Nora, I want you to meet Sierra. She and her Mistress have helped me find the perfect early birthday present for Ash. Sierra, this is Nora, a hotheaded obsession of mine.”
Hotheaded obsession, huh?
I wanted that on a business card. Hotheaded Obsession of Mistress Penelope.
“The obsession is mutual, and it’s nice to meet you, Sierra.” I reached out and shook her hand.
“You too, Nora.”
It was my turn to peer down into the carrier, and my heart about jumped with the adorableness. Oh my gosh, the kitten was so cute! And tiny! Gray and stripey, with a white belly. Blue eyes.
“Oh, I want one.” I pouted. “Is it a boy or a girl?”
“A boy,” Sierra confirmed. “He turns ten weeks today, actually.”
I sighed and straightened up. “One day… One day, I want a house with a big backyard and all the animals.”
I caught Penelope’s curious expression in the corner of my eye, and she could file away that little tidbit of Future Nora.
Some ten minutes before Ash was due, I had ants in my pants!
I hadn’t left the floor of Penelope’s cabin since we’d let little Paws loose. It was the name I’d chosen for the wild sprite, but I could pretend to be understanding if Ash wanted to change it.
“At the same time, he needs to realize it’s the perfect name,” I said matter-of-factly.
Penelope laughed as she finished setting the table. “Would you say kittens trump lizards?”
Oh. Hmm. “I’d say they don’t really compare. I can’t cuddle with a lizard the way I can with a kitten.” Not that Paws was in a cuddle mood either. He was currently rolling himself over my leg while I leaned back against the couch. “Lane and Ty have invited me down to their place in Florida, and if all goes well, maybe I’ll bring a Mistress, and we can chase lizards and snakes together.”
She didn’t even hesitate with her answer. “I’m afraid your future Mistress will leave the reptile-chasing to her girl because the Mistress prefers furry animals.”
Unbridled excitement tore through me, and I lifted Paws off my leg before I rose to my feet and hurried over to her.
“You said future Mistress!”
She smiled and pulled me in close, right where I wanted to be. “Did I?”
“You totally did.” I snaked my arms around her neck and brushed our noses together. “My hopes are high, just so you know.”
I understood why she was careful. And maybe I was okay with her cautiousness because she wasn’t difficult to read anymore. Her eyes seemed brighter, and she wasn’t holding back as much.
She didn’t say anything now either, and she didn’t have to. She leaned in and kissed me instead, holding me tightly, speaking with her actions. She wanted to hope, and that was enough for now.
I deepened the kiss, tasting her on my tongue, and I eased my fingers up into her soft waves.
She always smelled so damn amazing, like some kind of flowers—never too sweet, more fresh and just…perfect.
She slowed down the kiss and squeezed my butt through my shorts, until she took a breath and rested our foreheads together.
I cupped her face in my hands and ghosted my thumbs over her freckled skin.
“I wanted to ask you something earlier.” She averted her gaze to my shoulder and slipped her hands beneath the waistband of my shorts. “In that house with the big backyard and all the animals, are there kids too?”
Welp.
It wasn’t a shock, at the same time as it was. Dating women who were older than me had taught me a thing or two, and this question tended to come up earlier.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I don’t want to claim I’m too young to have made up my mind, but I’m not in any camp yet, so to speak. I can say I’m not ready right now, all while sometimes saying stuff like, when I have kids… Kinda like that.”
The corner of her mouth turned up a fraction. “Good answer.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded and met my gaze again. “I was the same when I was your age. Then—nothing. Ella didn’t want children, and the notion wasn’t high up on my list either. But…being almost forty and starting fresh…” She winced. “I admit, I don’t want the door to be firmly shut.”
My stomach tightened with nerves in the best fucking way, because things were suddenly real. Maybe she didn’t dare hold out a lot of hope yet, but she was definitely gearing up for it. Otherwise, she’d never bring this up.
“It’s far from shut.” I kissed her again and mirrored her smile—
Goddammit! Two loud knocks on the door let us know dinner was here. And Ash.
“We’ll talk more later.” She gave me a quick smooch before she went to open the door.
I blew out a breath and instinctively sought out Paws so he wouldn’t escape.
Penelope opened the door. “Nora, can you grab my wallet? I gotta tip the delivery man.”
“You’re funny. You’re so funny that I can’t stop laughing.” Ash strode in, seemingly always wearing his work clothes, and dropped a kiss to the top of Penelope’s head. “Interestin’ venue change for dinner, by the way.” He nodded at me and smirked lazily. “Daughter.”
I gigglesnorted. “Hey, Dad.”
“Uhhh…” Penelope lifted her brows.
So I had to explain. “I texted him the other night at, like, eleven…? And he was like, go to bed, kid, it’s late.”
“So she called me Dad and told me to mind my own bedtime,” Ash finished.
Damn right!
“Well, all right, then,” Penelope said, closing the door. “Mildly disturbing I’m dating your child, but…”
Ash set the takeout bag on the table. “Oh good, so it’s official. I was waiting for you to pull your head outta your ass.”
“Is that how you speak to your daughter-in-law?” Penelope challenged.
Ash stood straighter and cocked a brow. “Is that how you speak to your father-in-law?”
“This is fun.” I grinned. But also, I was hungry for Chinese food, so I took my seat at the table and waited for their little staredown to end. “Are you gonna eat or what? And how much do I owe you, Sir?”
That seemed to break the playful pissing contest, and Ash huffed and sat down across from me. “Owe me for what?”
“Uh, the food?”
He looked at me like I’d grown a second head.
“She’s young, Ash,” was Penelope’s explanation. “They’re always Venmoing each other for something.”
Ash nodded once as he dug out a bunch of containers. “I’m not unfamiliar with it. I Venmo my kids money all the fuckin’ time. Gas this, makeup that—oh, but all my friends are getting it, Daddy! Why can’t I?” His mimicking what I presumed was his daughter’s voice was hysterical.
I figured it was best to stay silent. He seemed to be in a ranty mood.
“Worst is when they ask for somethin’ and haven’t done their chores yet, and I gotta reason with the little fuckers,” he muttered. “Have kids. Don’t have teenagers. I’m half kidding. I love my babies. Even when they’re terrors.”
Penelope laughed and went behind me, and I realized she was picking up Paws. Ash hadn’t noticed the rascal.
“Maybe the kids will do their chores if they can play with your birthday present afterward?” she suggested.
“Huh?” Ash stopped unpacking his chopsticks and looked up.
I beamed as Penelope brought the little kitten over to him.
“I know it’s early, but happy forty-sixth, friend. Nora named him Paws.”
“Which you can obviously change,” I added quickly. “If you insist.”
A dozen different emotions flitted past in Ash’s expression, from confusion and disbelief to wonder and however I would categorize “look how fucking cute that thing is.”
Then he exhaled a laugh and accepted the kitten. “Get outta town. Are you serious?”
“Of course.” Penelope touched his scruffy cheek, and we kind of lost Ash for a moment.
“Look at you…” He nuzzled Paws’s face and seemed immediately smitten. “You comin’ home with me, little guy? Huh? Fuckin’ hell, he’s cute. Yeah, you are.” Not to mention lively. Paws was all paws and curiosity. “I bet those baby teeth hurt like hell.”
I cleared my throat and scooped some rice onto my plate. “And the claws…” I had some scratches on my arm already.
“That’s okay. I like ’em feisty,” Ash murmured.
Penelope and I smiled at each other. Safe to say, she’d scored a home run with that present.
“I’ve taken care of all the kitty accessories too,” she added. “He has a litter box, some toys, food…oh, and I got a carrier.”
“You’re goddamn amazin’, sweetheart.” Ash leaned over and kissed Penelope’s cheek. “Thank you.” He returned his attention to Paws and smiled. “And you’re not allowed to leave me. That’s not how this works. No, you gotta love me forever.”
Yikes.
Someone should text Nathan…
It took Ash a while to refocus, but when we were almost done eating, he managed to set Paws down on the floor.
Paws was keeping his name, Ash had announced, but his kids might pick a middle name.
I was very okay with that.
As I munched on just one more eggroll, Ash pulled out a tiny notepad from one of the side pockets in his pants, followed by a short pencil I hadn’t even seen he’d kept behind his ear.
“Before we begin,” he said, grabbing a fried shrimp, “is Penelope joining as your Owner, girlfriend, or both?”
Ummm…
I glanced at Penelope.
She smirked a little. “I’m a protective observer trying to get to know her girl better. I’m here to gather information.”
Oof, I really liked that answer. Every now and then, she served me with a reminder that she was a Predator, and I couldn’t wait to play with that side of her.
“Copy that,” Ash replied. “So, since the last time we spoke, they’ve announced the names on the four stations at the event. Serve Your Owner, Suffer for Your Owner, Treat Your Owner, and Pose for Your Owner.” He’d written them down on his pad, and he circled the second one. “We haven’t discussed pain. Frankly, I thought it was gonna be straight-up servitude, but given that Reese and Pen are two of the organizers, I shoulda seen the sadism comin’.”
Penelope grinned wickedly.
Hot.
Ash turned to her. “I don’t suppose you’ll give us more than that? From previous years’ experience, you’d’ve sent out additional information for the Tops by now.”
She straightened in her seat and cleared her throat. “Not this time. The focus is on how well you know your partner—and with that in mind, with less info, it’s safe to assume the pain play won’t be advanced.”
“Fair enough.” Ash nodded with a dip of his chin and shifted his gaze to me. “You’ve already told me you have no issues safewording, so we’ll—”
“With the exception that she gets apologetic,” Penelope stated.
Nuh-uh!
Ash furrowed his brow. “Why would you get apologetic—and was this at the event last week? I heard Colt mention you safeworded but everythin’ worked out. I forgot to ask you about it.”
“It wasn’t a big deal,” I insisted. “I can understand why I’d come off as apologetic because I kept saying I was sorry, but I was more bummed out for cutting the scene short. I was having fun—I didn’t want it to be over. So it wasn’t like I felt bad for messing up or anything like that. And I didn’t hesitate to call red either. I felt the rope tighten around me when I slipped down the wall, and the moment I started panicking, I safeworded.”
“Rope…” Ash bobbed his head and scratched his eyebrow. “You were with Nathan?”
Shit. I nodded once.
So did he, and he cleared his throat and doodled another circle on his notepad. “I can deal with you slinging out you’re sorry like a Canadian, as long as you don’t hesitate for a second to safeword at any time. Standard color-system for safewords applies at events, and if you’re unable to speak, you will either have a safeword ball that you squeeze, or I’ll be close enough that you can pinch me. I don’t care how many times you do it, if you pinch, I’ll treat it as red.”
That worked great for me. “I solemnly swear to safeword without a moment’s hesitation,” I promised. “Also, I’m a little curious about where you draw the line before it’s advanced pain play. Like, harder beatings…?” I grinned.
Penelope chuckled. “It’s more about being able to anticipate it. Primal play, for instance, is advanced play because it’s driven by fear. When a Predator hunts you down, you don’t always see the next strike coming. What we’re saying about the level of pain for the Game is that you won’t be blindsided. If the pain becomes too much, you’ll be able to call yellow or red without shock running through your system.”
Ah, made sense. It was reassuring too. “Okay, got it. Plenty of room to react. But just so we’re clear, I love both fear-laden pain and receiving it for the sake of releasing pressure within me, so I doubt it’s an area I’ll safeword. I can take a lot of it too.”
“Shit goes wrong all the time, hon—that’s all,” Ash explained patiently. “No matter how high your tolerance is, dozens of factors can cause somethin’ to go sideways. So I need you to keep that in mind.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good. As for your reactions to receiving pain,” he went on. “Are you a screamer, a bratty little shit who’ll curse me out, do you get euphoric, do you moan, gasp, get excited…? Tell me what I can expect from your sounds and body language. Oh, and—” He faced Penelope. “With the protective observer’s permission, I’d like to give her a beating before the event so I can pick up cues easier.”
Uh-oh!
Penelope’s sadistic little smirk said it all. “I have time right now. Why don’t we torture her together in the club?”
Ash turned wolfish, and both looked at me.
Gulp.
CHAPTER FIVE
Penelope Darling
Ash circled the X-cross and inspected Nora’s body. “She wasn’t exaggeratin’ when she said she loved pain.”
No kidding.
We’d learned that she was a teeth-gritter. At least so far. No crying, no screaming, no gasping. She gritted her teeth and breathed heavily through each impact. She had only panties and a sports bra covering her, and I was officially obsessed with watching the marks appear on her perfect body. Her toned stomach, her soft thighs, the gorgeous curves of her hips, her arms…all flushed, all red with welts, all exquisite.
I picked up a new whip, this one a cat-o’-nine tails with tiny stainless-steel balls at the ends, and I noticed we’d garnered a bit of an audience in the club area. River and Reese both sat at the bar, eating their dinner and watching, and Shay was blindfolded and kneeling by River’s feet. Standing a little closer to the small demo stage were Beau, Walker, and Santiago.
I turned away from them again, and I watched Ash go through his inspection. He was really good with her, and I was looking forward to seeing them at the event. He pinched her flesh in different places to gauge her sensitivity level because, as we all knew…at some point, you stopped registering pain. But Nora was highly alert, highly sensitive, and she squirmed when he hit the jackpot around her thighs.
“Ow.” She sucked in a couple quick breaths and screwed her eyes shut.
God, I wanted to see the moment she broke.
“Green? Yellow?” Ash asked.
“Green,” she gritted out.
“All right—let’s proceed.” Ash checked her restraints and then returned to my side, and I stepped forward and eyed the soft flesh of her stomach.
How her muscles contracted with each heaving breath was fucking mesmerizing.
With the distance closed between us, I ran the ball-tipped ends of the whip over her skin, and she tensed up before exhaling shakily. I knew the metal would feel cold to her heated-up flesh.
I leaned in and kissed her jaw. “I will break you, baby girl.”
Her eyes flashed open, and the burning desperation seared into me. I had to kiss her. I kissed her hard, with all the promise I was dying to give her. Fuck, she was bringing me back to life, this girl.
I eased back and gave her cheek a light smack, and then I got in position while she caught her breath and squeezed her eyes shut once more.
After that…I let the pain rain down on her.
In complete silence, I was lulled into my own rhythm, reminding me of how much I needed this place. It wasn’t the parties or the big events; it was this right here. A few friends watching because they shared similar interests. A beautiful girl being beaten, taking my pain, suffering for me—wanting me. Only me. And fuck if I wasn’t falling into her trap, hook, line, and sinker.
