Page 30 of Sub Mission

“Did you now?” His voice suddenly sounded flat. “Well, sorry to disappoint you. I do, however, assure you that gay people go to straight clubs and straight people go to gay clubs all the time, Baker. Alarm bells won’t go off as soon as my gay body passes through the doorway.”

Well, hell, I’d made him mad. I shouldn’t be surprised. Being dishonest and deceitful to someone normally led to anger. “What I meant to say, Seth, was that I’d really enjoy going to a gay bar with you.”

He stared at me so long I started to squirm in my seat. I’d been an idiot, acting like this was something more than what it was. No matter how many times I’d tried to remind myself that this was nothing more than a job to Seth, I kept forgetting. No, it wasn’t that I was forgetting the facts. I simply ignored them and tried to make it be what I wanted instead of what it actually was.

“Still experimenting, huh?” he asked quietly.

Experimenting? He thought everything I’d done was a fucking experiment? Experiments were letting another guy touch your dick or watching gay porn or jacking each other…hell, I didn’t know what all experimenting consisted of, but I damn well knew it didn’t involve me having fantasies about Seth’s cock in my ass. It sure the hell didn’t involve the things we’d done in the playroom. It fucking damn well didn’t involve the secrets we’d shared last night or the way I snuggled against his warmth when we were in bed. Experimenting wasn’t watching his hands perform simple tasks or memorizing his scent.

Experimenting wasn’t wondering what his lips tasted like.

“Sure. I guess,” I answered instead. No use making a fool of myself in front of my first real crush in life. “I’m good with whatever. I’ll dance and drink regardless of where I am. Tonight’s all about relieving stress before our big night tomorrow, right? I can party anywhere.”

“Of course, you can,” he snapped then leaned forward and told the driver to take us to a club calledSkittles.

It would have been enjoyable making fun of the club name, but I’d already ruined the mood for the entire evening, it looked like. Seth’s jaw was clenched so tightly his teeth might crumble into sawdust at any given moment. Why did I do that shit? More importantly, why couldn’t he see what he was becoming to me? What he already meant to my heart?

Not willing to throw the towel in on the evening, I asked, “Do you like dancing?”

“Not really, but someone told me you did. I thought it would be a nice evening for you to relax and have some fun before we hit thestagetomorrow night.”

He still sounded grumpy. Very grumpy. If his face froze like it was now, he’d forever be known as the grumpy hottie man. I’d go down in history as the SOB that put the grumpy there.

“Hmmmm,” I answered, not having a clue what else to say.Skittleswas a gay club. I’d read about it online and it had been the very one I wanted to go to. I supposed I’d gotten my way after all. I just wasn’t sure what the cost would be. “Are you going to dance with me?”

He turned to look at me, a very bored expression on his face. “If you make me.”

There was no denying that the thoughts of me making him do anything made my cock twitch—which wasn’t easy in the skin-tight leather pants he’d presented for me to wear tonight. He’d also brought in a mesh black sleeveless shirt, chunky black army boots, and a thick collar for my neck. After dropping the clothes on my bed, he’d mumbled something about the collar needing to be there in case we were still being watched.

The whole telescope thing had died down to a low rumble when Landon’s men noticed that it never moved, nor could they see any movement in the room at all. From what the IT department had been able to dig up, the room was listed as vacant and for all intents and purposes, it looked like it was—other than the telescope. Landon’s men had taken picture after picture, had them blown up and analyzed, but there wasn’t anybody manning the equipment. We all assumed telescope man was a bust, but Seth and Landon both insisted we keep up appearances wherever we were…just in case.

I didn’t mind. When I’d slipped the collar around my neck and fastened it into place, there was no describing the sense of calmness that washed over me. It felt perfect and if I had my way, I’d never take it off. Seeing that I wasn’t going to get my way in the whole Seth/Baker dynamic, I figured he’d make me remove it tonight when we returned home from the club. I would, however, get to wear it again tomorrow night.

Seth had been right, my online chatting with the group that attended Javier’s club on a regular basis had been a huge hit. Comment after comment after comment. Most of them hot and explicit about what they’d like to see Seth do to me. I agreed with most of those. A few gutsy Doms had tried to entice me into a conversation but Seth had immediately logged on and shut that shit down. Even if it was all pretend, I’d liked how he’d stamped a brand of ownership on me. There’d been a few ‘haters’ but I chalked those up to other subs. I hadn’t had a lot of experience with making friends with other subs, but from what I’d witnessed, they were the jealous sort. My popularity had stepped on a few toes, but nothing sounded dangerous or threatening. It was all about the fact that their asses were better than mine. What. The. Fuck. Ever.

Shit. I was falling into my own profiling.

“Are you still with me, Baker?” Seth asked quietly. He’d moved closer to me in the back seat of the car and had a strange expression on his face. His eyes were dark, the way they turned when he was aroused or in complete and sexy Dom mode.

“Uh…yeah. Why?”How long had I zoned out?

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because we’ve been sitting outside the club for about fifteen minutes and you’ve been doing nothing but sitting there, staring into space, and toying with your collar. Is it bothering you? Does it trouble you to wear someone’s collar, other than your Mistress, of course?”

I frowned. I hadn’t even been aware that my fingers had been toying with the soft leather of the collar. “I’ve never worn a collar before,” I answered. “Never even come close. Before Mistress Samantha, I switched Dommes every year. It’s different with Samantha, though. There are other…things involved, so I’ve stuck with her longer than any of the others.” When I noted the darkness in his eyes turned to anger, I tried to tell myself it was jealousy. I’d like to believe that, at least. “With Samantha, it is more of a business arrangement.” Weird. I’d never referred to her as Samantha before. Before Seth, she’d always been Mistress Samantha.

It was because she wasn’t my Domme anymore. My body and mind knew it. My heart still struggled. I could understand that, though. My heart didn’t usually participate in thegamesI played in the playroom.

His eyebrow arched. “Business arrangement? When I spoke to her on the phone, she didn’t mention a business arrangement.”

Yeah, I should have probably told him the truth regarding Samantha, but I couldn’t make myself say the words. I knew it would piss Seth off and I wanted to have fun with him tonight. I promised myself, however, to tell him the whole story before this mission ended. She should have told him.

I shrugged. “You must not have asked the right questions. It’s strictly business.”

“Like us, huh?” he muttered.

His words crushed my heart. See, that’s why the fucker never wanted to be involved with what happens in the playroom.

“Nothing like us,” I answered. “Whatever, Seth. Can we keep my Mistress out of the conversations tonight? I want to have fun. This isn’t fun.”

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