Bound to be Tamed: Emergence, Book 2 Read online

  Dedication

  I want to give thanks once again to my biggest support on this project: Lea Griffith—reader and cheerleader extraordinaire, and Christa—chief fixer of all things broken! You both shaped this series and made it shine!

  Chapter One

  The snick of Dane and Aiden’s apartment door behind Stephanie’s back resonated like a gunshot in her mind. She leaned into the solid wood and stared at her feet. Her heart pounded so hard and so fast her ears rang.

  Had she made the right decision coming to this penthouse apartment this morning, giving herself over to two sexy men who proposed training her to be their full-time sub?

  After the toughest weekend of her life, she now stood before her two Doms with fear traveling up her spine until her body shook. And man, did the two of them ever look hot. They were dressed in worn jeans and T-shirts, but since she usually only saw them ready for work, they were mouthwatering this morning.

  Dane spoke first. “Are you sure? You can still leave.”

  She shook her head. She couldn’t leave. In fact, she had no idea why she’d spent the weekend fretting over the decision. There was only one choice.

  The nail-biting, pacing and exasperating struggle to quit her job and choose these two men over her previous life had all been a result of preconceived notions that there was something inherently wrong with this choice.

  Who in their right mind gives up their free will to another human being, or two?

  The answer? Someone who recognizes the amazing freedom total submission brings to her life.

  “Please, come sit down,” Aiden said. “You look petrified.”

  Stephanie released her grip on the door behind her. She’d flattened her hands against the wood as though she could hold on to the outside world for one more minute with physical contact to the barrier. Or perhaps her molecules could seep through the thick door and back out into the corridor where she’d previously stood for twenty minutes, building up the courage to knock.

  Gaze still lowered, Stephanie slid her purse from her shoulder and set it on the small table next to the door. She then stepped farther into the room, shuffled really. Her feet barely registered the commands from her brain.

  She knew enough about what this arrangement would entail to be both confident and terrified.

  After the weirdest week of her life, she was well-versed in the world of submission. However, no amount of research could possibly prepare her for the day-to-day experience she would encounter.

  Stephanie sat on the edge of a leather armchair, perched with her hands on her knees. She wasn’t following any rules yet. Would they give her some leeway for the first few minutes?

  Neither man said a word about her stance. She breathed easy, in and out of her mouth, a desperate attempt to slow her pounding heart.

  Dane strolled out of the room and returned moments later with a clinking glass. He handed it to her. “Water. You look faint.” He knelt in front of her and met her gaze.

  She sipped the cool liquid, the glass shaking in her hand and threatening to spill over the sides. Dane took the precarious water from her and set it on the coffee table.

  Aiden crouched next to Dane, his hand resting on Dane’s shoulder. “Tell us what you’ve decided, Steph. We don’t want you to feel pressured.”

  She cleared her throat, but her voice still squeaked when she spoke. “I’d like to be your sub, Sir.” She glanced at Aiden. “And yours, Sir.” She turned her gaze toward Dane.

  “You’ve read the letter we left and thought about our requests then?” Dane asked.

  “Yes, Sir.” She gripped her knees together, something they would certainly not allow in the future. They were extreme sticklers about her thighs being open. But for now, she was safe. No one reprimanded her…yet. She clenched her pussy against the onslaught of arousal pulsing in her lower lips from the declaration of her submission.

  Aiden continued, “We didn’t come to this decision lightly. We consulted Lori Polluck, our sponsor, and came up with a plan we feel is the best fit for all of us.” Aiden set his hand on her knee, stilling her bouncing leg.

  Dane gripped her other knee. “Just so we’re clear. We’ll use this morning to negotiate a plan for your training. Lori is coming over to meet with the three of us. We want you to get to know her and use her as a resource for any questions you might have.

  “Life as a full-time sexual submissive is intense at first. There is so much for you to learn. Aiden and I will be learning at the same time. What we know for sure after spending the week with you is that we adore you and can’t think of anything we’d rather do than include you in our lives as our submissive.” Dane gripped her leg tighter.

  There was only one viable choice. Submit.

  As she’d spent the last forty-eight hours attempting to list all the reasons she shouldn’t do this, she’d been bombarded with that one word over and over. Submit. Submit. Submit.

  The sexual energy she felt when those two syllables were uttered or thought was palpable. She’d never felt more alive than this past week under the care of Aiden and Dane. When they commanded, her body responded physically. A low ball of tight need lodged in her belly. Her pussy pulsed and squeezed with want. Her nipples hardened and abraded against whatever she wore.

  Hell, when she even watched the two men interact with each other, her mouth watered. She’d never been so turned on in her life as she had seeing them fuck or suck each other off.

  She would forever regret any other choice than the one to give herself to them completely and comply with their requests.

  “I’m yours, Sirs.”

  Both men exhaled.

  Dane took her hand. “Do you have any questions or concerns?”

  “Well, I just quit my job and ruined my financial security, so that’ll be my biggest concern. I have some savings, but it will disappear quickly.” That was by far the worst part of this arrangement. After three solid years of independence, during which Stephanie had silently vowed never to become dependent on any man in her life, she’d not only broken that vow this morning but had run completely amuck in the opposite direction.

  She still didn’t recognize the woman she’d become since meeting Aiden and Dane one week ago. The fiscally intelligent, hard-working, professional woman who’d been vying for a huge promotion at work had disappeared. In her place was someone Stephanie had never known existed but couldn’t keep herself from exploring.

  A submissive. Aiden and Dane believed she was a natural. Her body had to agree with them. Even with the whirlwind of decisions she’d made in the last hour alone, every atom hummed with the need to be possessed by these two men as though they had a spell on her.

  “Stephanie?” Aiden broke her from her thoughts.

  She flinched and looked into his eyes. “Yes, Sir.” The phrase was becoming natural.

  “You realize we aren’t going to destroy your identity, right?” He raised one eyebrow and then exhaled. “Okay, maybe you don’t know that yet, but I assure you we have no intention of turning you into some sort of domestic slave. This is a sexual arrangement. What we know unequivocally is that all three of us are incredibly turned on by the idea of entering into a relationship together. Agreed?” He glanced from Dane to Stephanie.

  “Yes,” she mumbled. “Sir,” she added.

  Dane nodded. “I have no doubts. It just feels right. I knew it the moment we first spoke. Aiden and I have known for years we wanted a female third. Stephanie, I believe you’re the perfect woman for us.” He squeezed her hand.

  Aiden cleared his throat. “So, what we’re saying, Steph, is that we want to give this a shot. We won’t leave you in financial ruin no matter what ha
ppens. I promise. I know that’s important to you. And we do take some responsibility for having demanded you quit your job. Even if you walk out that door right now and never come back, I won’t feel sorry for that decision. Your former bosses are the biggest assholes on the face of the earth. You’d be justified in calling the police to report them, or at least human resources.”

  Stephanie stiffened her spine. “No. Please. I’m so done with them. I don’t even want to go there.” Running into them Friday night at the fetish club she’d gone to as Aiden and Dane’s submissive would have been horrific by itself. But the two men had propositioned her. Hell, that wasn’t quite true. Jack Cane and his partner, Harold Reeves, had offered money to fuck her.

  She shivered to consider the ramifications. She just wanted to put the entire thing behind her.

  Dane squeezed her hand tighter. “We won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do, Steph. However, we did turn them in to the owners of the club. They won’t be welcome at any clubs in the area once word gets around.”

  She sighed. It was something. “How did you accomplish that?”

  Aiden smirked. “Hon, no BDSM establishment allows its members to be harassed in any way. They have rules. If anyone breaks these rules, they may not return. And that message is passed to other clubs.”

  She jerked her hand free of Dane’s grip as a thought occurred to her. “We aren’t going back there, are we?”

  Dane shook his head. “No. We didn’t figure you’d ever want to darken the doors. Our friend Steve belongs to another club nearby. We talked it over and decided we did want to be able to be a part of a club scene. Since Friday night’s location is now out of the question, we sent an application for membership to Steve’s favorite dungeon.”

  “Dungeon.” She leaned back.

  “That’s what a lot of clubs are called.” Aiden stood. He’d been crouched in front of her for so long, his knees would have to ache. He grabbed her hand from her lap and hauled her over to the couch where he proceeded to take a seat, tugging her alongside him.

  Dane sat on her other side.

  So much for trying to keep a slight distance.

  “What’s so special about these public clubs?” she asked.

  “It’s part of the life.” Aiden grasped her chin and turned her face up to meet his. “We want to explore every aspect of D/s with you. Some things we may decide don’t work for us, others we will incorporate into our day-to-day life. There’s a lot to be gained from joining a club. You can’t imagine how much you can learn from watching other people.”

  “And being watched,” Dane added. His hand skimmed down her back, raising goose bumps all over her body.

  She widened her eyes, which only made Aiden chuckle. “Steph, we’re going to expect you to go outside your comfort zone. Often.”

  Stephanie bit her lower lip between her teeth. The things she’d seen at that club on Friday night had boggled her mind. She couldn’t imagine participating in anything like that…in public. Hell, she could barely contemplate what the three of them might do in private.

  Aiden pushed her hair behind her ear and danced his fingers across the rim until a chill raced down her neck. “We’ll worry about club scenes later. I’m betting you didn’t eat. Let’s get you some breakfast before Lori gets here.”

  Dane took off before Stephanie could stand. He was the king of the kitchen after all. In the week since she’d known the men, she’d eaten better food than ever before in her life.

  It didn’t hurt that they owned an Italian restaurant in which Dane was the head chef.

  Right now, however, Stephanie couldn’t fathom eating anything. The stress of the weekend had left her depleted of energy. It wasn’t the ideal way to start out this new adventure, but making the decision to quit her job and enter into this submissive role with two men had zapped her appetite.

  Aiden guided her toward the kitchen island with his hands on her hips. When they reached one of the backless stools, he lifted her onto it, forcing her to straddle her legs to get her ass over the seat.

  He smoothed his hands down from her waist to her thighs and gripped them, his thumbs grazing the crease of her crotch. With a slight pressure, he pushed her legs apart. “Interesting choice of attire for this morning.” He breathed into her ear. “Did you think the jeans would somehow protect you from us?”

  She cringed. She had no idea how soon the men would end the charade of dancing around the elephant in the room and insist she enter the submissive role once and for all.

  So far, they were both being cordial and relaxed. Would they stay that way at least until Lori came and left? Or would they insist on stripping her bare, figuratively and literally before the woman even arrived?

  Ugh.

  Deep inside, she knew she would eventually get exposed to other people, but she didn’t feel ready yet.

  The jeans were a barrier, buying her some time and providing her with the strength to make this monumental decision. The padded bra she wore and the loose T-shirt helped also.

  She didn’t respond to Aiden’s inquiry, so he continued, “Lift your heels onto the upper rungs on the sides of the stool.”

  She glanced down and did as he said, realizing quickly how the act exposed her—or would if she weren’t wearing a denim protective barrier. Her knees rose higher than her waist and splayed out.

  Aiden slipped his palms lower and opened them over her legs. He smoothed them up her thighs and across her crotch with enough pressure to stiffen her entire body against the assault on her senses.

  All her blood rushed to her sex, leaving her light headed and needy. And she’d only been here minutes. Amazing what kind of pull she had toward these men.

  She lifted her face when she smelled bacon. Her stomach growled as she wrapped her hands around Aiden’s much larger ones, attempting to force him to stop pressing on her clit. The intensity was unnerving.

  “That isn’t wise, little sub. You should remove your hands and let me do as I please. This pussy is mine. If I want to fondle you through your thick blockade, I will.”

  On a sharp inhale, she released her fingers from his and set them on the island in front of her, her thumbs under the edge of the granite top, squeezing until all her knuckles were white.

  “That’s better. It’s bad enough you wore jeans.” Aiden nibbled on her ear and then her neck, nosing her hair off her shoulder. “I’m betting you also have on panties. Don’t get used to it. We’ll let you keep these clothes this morning, but that’s not how we’re going to roll in the future.”

  “I hope you’re hungry.” Dane turned from the stove. He wore his usual starched white apron, which she’d seen him in more often than not since he wore it both at the restaurant and at home when he was cooking.

  She smiled at him. And if I’m not? She had little doubt she would be eating what they placed in front of her no matter what her thoughts were on the subject. Luckily, the smell and sounds of crackling bacon were perking up her taste buds. Before last week she couldn’t remember when she’d last eaten more than a yogurt for breakfast.

  Stephanie lifted her chin and closed her eyes. The smell of coffee wafted over the bacon. She needed a cup to survive the next few hours.

  When she glanced back down, Dane was in front of her across the island. He set a plate and a steaming mug of coffee on her placemat.

  Aiden’s chest inched closer to her back. She had to hold steady to avoid being flattened into her plate. His damn fingers continued to torture her pussy, stroking through the lips of her sex and across her clit with aggravating intensity. The denim did nothing to keep her from growing more aroused by the second.

  Dane leaned on his elbows, his face angling closer to hers over the granite surface. “Eat. We don’t want you wasting away.”

  Ha. She figured she had a bit more meat on her bones than she needed, bringing her chances of starvation to nil.

  When Aiden squeezed her lower lips together with his fingers, she moaned. Her head fell
back on his shoulder. Through gritted teeth, she begged, “I can’t concentrate with you touching me like that.”

  What she needed now was to come.

  “You can.” He relented marginally however, releasing one hand to splay on her belly while the other cupped her pussy.

  Dane reached across the counter, lifted her fork and held it out to her. “Cold eggs suck.”

  The plate had a fried egg, two slices of bacon and toast on it. More than she’d eaten for breakfast since kindergarten.

  Her mouth went dry as Aiden’s middle finger stroked through her folds. How had she thought the jeans would help her out this morning? If anything, he was more determined than he might have been if she’d arrived naked.

  Stupid choice.

  Stephanie released her grip on the counter with one hand and took the fork. She licked her lips, set the utensil down and reached for the coffee. Even the first sip did a lot toward gearing her up to eat.

  The hot steam tickled her nose as she held the mug to her lips, the scent reaching all the way inside her to warm her body and tempt her with the caffeinated elixir.

  She moaned around the lip of the cup as she sipped. Though whether or not the sound was caused by the coffee or Aiden’s damn fingers was anyone’s guess.

  “Eat.” He blew the word into her ear and released her to sit on the stool next to her.

  “Am I the only one having breakfast?”

  “We ate before you got here.” Dane nodded at her plate.

  She doubted that was true. For one thing, these two never got up this early. There was no physical evidence they’d been in the kitchen besides to make coffee. And, most importantly, if their stomachs were anywhere near as tangled as her own, they wouldn’t have had the appetite.

  Stephanie didn’t argue. She picked up a slice of toast and nibbled on the corner. Even a simple piece of toast was a delicacy when Dane made it. The man was a food god.

  Dane stepped back for a second and returned with a glass of orange juice.

  The tangy sweetness of the first sip awakened her taste buds. Maybe she could eat—if she could avoid thinking about either man for two minutes.