Secret Scandal (Trinity Masters Book 7) Page 17

  Jasper didn’t point out that being afraid to touch the art was not a good trait in an art thief. It was almost as if Eli didn’t want to be an art thief… Jasper smiled to himself.

  “I think I’ve got it.” Eli peered at the tiny screen of the camera.

  “The blueprint next?” Jasper flipped the painting around as he carried it back to the crate. Eli made a distressed noise as he watched Jasper, reconfirming their decision to have Jasper handle the pieces.

  The line drawing, which Irina had referred to as a blueprint, was the last item to photograph. Because it was behind glass, it would also be the most difficult to take pictures of.

  Jasper sealed the Nolde in its crate, then put that crate back in the cage with the others. He was briefly distracted by Irina, who was doing either Pilates or yoga, wearing nothing but tiny little shorts and a sports bra with lots of thin crisscross straps. She had an old iPod shuffle—which she assured them wasn’t Wi-Fi enabled—clipped to her shoulder, the white headphone cord dangling. She braced her hands on the floor then tipped forward until her whole body was balanced on her hands, her upper arms tight along the sides of her body. With exquisite control, she extended her left leg, tucking her right in until she braced her foot flat along the inside of her left thigh.

  Jasper realized he was staring, and turned back to his task. Eli was watching Irina too. He had to nudge Eli with his elbow.

  “Huh?”

  “Art.”

  Eli hummed. “That right there is art.”

  Jasper huffed out a little laugh. “True. Let’s get this done. Then we’ll ask her to do that again, but this time naked.”

  “Naked yoga…” Eli shook like a dog after a bath. “Hurry up.”

  Jasper reached for the blueprint, which was propped against the wall, when there was a knock at the door. Jasper froze and looked at Eli.

  They both looked at Irina, who was frowning at the door—body still balanced on her hands. Whatever she was listening too must have been quiet enough that she’d heard the knock too. With almost frightening control, she lowered her feet to the floor and stood. Barefoot and silent, she crept toward the door. She stopped there, seeming to consider. There was a peephole, but anyone on the outside would be able to tell when she looked through it because of the change in the light. She waved for them to go upstairs.

  Eli shook his head and crossed his arms. Jasper raised his eyebrows and tipped his head to the side in a “you can’t be serious” gesture.

  She waved again, more empathetically. Eli folded his arms, face set in a stubborn expression, and Jasper crept towards the wall, where he’d be out of sight of the open door.

  The knock sounded again.

  “Irina, Eli, Jasper? It’s Darling.” The voice was faint through the thick door.

  Irina popped up from her crouch, looking at Eli and Jasper. Jasper frowned at the door, unsure how he felt about a second visit with those two.

  He shrugged, then tossed the large scarf he’d been using earlier over the cage where they were storing the art. It didn’t completely cover it, but it did a good enough job. Irina lobbed a few pillows to Jasper, who propped them along the bottom of the cage, covering some of the areas the scarf didn’t.

  Irina opened the door.

  “Darling.” Irina’s voice cooled several degrees. “Caden.”

  Caden looked down at Darling, eyebrows raised in an “I told you so” expression. Why ever they were here, it was Darling’s idea, not Caden’s.

  “Would you three like to join us for brunch?” Darling asked.

  “Actually, we just ate.”

  “That’s fine.” Darling smiled and took a half step forward. “We’ll talk here and eat after.”

  Irina hesitated just long enough to let Darling know she wouldn’t be cowed, but then stepped back to let the couple in.

  By daylight, Darling and Caden seemed like different people. Darling was self-possessed and almost regal. She wore a fitted sheath dress in deep royal blue. Her arms were slim and toned. Her hair, which last night had been sex tousled, today hung in a perfect black bob. Behind her, Caden wore all black—black slacks, black tailored dress shirt. His belt was black, as were his shoes. His shirt had French cuffs, and the cufflinks winked in the light—onyx. He had strong features and thick dark brows. His eyes were framed by equally thick lashes. He was handsome in a way usually associated with male models in perfume commercials—ridiculously masculine.

  Jasper was well aware that out of his trinity, he was the least good-looking. Irina was lovely, and Eli handsome. Jasper was, at best, charming. But all three of them were outclassed by Darling and Caden. It was disconcerting, but also made Jasper almost absurdly grateful for his triad. He’d known, from almost the moment he met them, that he could love Eli and Irina.

  He doubted he would have had the same feeling if Caden and Darling had been the ones in the altar room with him. God help whoever ended up as their third.

  “I wanted to apologize for last night.” Caden took a few steps into the room, looking around with mild curiosity. “And to offer you something.”

  Irina had her hands on her hips. If she was discomfited by having this conversation while wearing what amounted to underwear, she didn’t show it. “Why would you apologize?”

  “I worried that our rather unorthodox childhood, the training we talked about, might turn you off of,” Darling smiled and wiggled her eyebrows, “taking advantage of all your room had to offer.”

  Jasper warmed toward Darling. He’d been hoping for a little—or a lot—of sexy times, and after last night that had seemed like a dim possibility.

  “We didn’t come here to have kinky sex,” Eli said.

  Caden looked at him. “Then why are you here?”

  No one answered. The silence stretched to the point of awkward.

  Jasper cleared his throat. “Besides the fact that you’re not practicing safe, sane, and consensual play, you certainly scared us off having kids.” Jasper’s intention was to change the focus, put them on the defensive, especially when Caden’s gaze drifted over to the cage they’d concealed with the scarf. But what came out of his mouth was the truth. Jasper frowned, head tipping to the side for a moment before his gaze shifted back to them. “We just talked about how we’d planned to live openly as a triad, but now I think I understand why people don’t.”

  Jasper kept talking, wishing that Darling and Caden weren’t here, so he could have this conversation with his spouses in private. But now that he’d started, he couldn’t stop—he needed to say what had been percolating since last night. “If you raise your kids as either a single parent or a couple, then you have the option of never telling them about the Trinity Masters. You can protect them from…”

  Caden barked out a laugh, the sound completely unexpected. “From ending up like us?”

  “Yes.” Irina took a step closer to Jasper. He held out his hand and she took it. He pulled her into his side. Eli came up behind them, laying a hand on each of their shoulders.

  Caden looked at them, a sardonic twist to his mouth, but Darling looked distressed.

  “That’s why I wanted to come here.” She sighed. “Caden and I are not typical. But I can’t stand the thought that you three won’t explore every aspect of your sex lives because you’re worried you’ll turn into us.”

  “You won’t turn into us.” Caden’s voice was dry. “You’re all clearly too well adjusted.”

  “Uh, thank you?” Eli said.

  “Jasper, Irina, do you believe me?” Darling asked.

  Irina shifted her weight. “Will you promise me that you’ll tell the Grand Master how you feel about each other? At least try to be happy?”

  “Yes,” Darling assured her. “We will. I will. I’ll tell her.”

  “If you’re embarrassed, I’d be happy to say something.”

  “No.” Darling looked at Caden. “There are other things we need to tell the Grand Master.”

  “I would not want to end up as
the third person with the two of them,” Eli whispered.

  “Mmmhmm,” Jasper murmured.

  “Shh,” Irina hissed, then to Darling. “I really do hope the two of you end up together. And in couples’ therapy.”

  This time Caden’s laugh burst from him, rich and without malice. Darling looked surprised then smiled as she watched him hold his stomach. When he didn’t stop, she rolled her eyes. Walking over to one of the chairs near the little stage, she flipped it around to face the room and sat, crossing her feet at the ankle.

  “Ignore him,” she said. “In case you haven’t figured it out, he’s really quite weird.”

  Caden laughed harder as he staggered over to Darling. He grabbed her out of the chair, spun her in a circle, kissed her, then plopped down and pulled her onto his lap.

  Darling crossed her legs, feet dangling. “As I was saying…”

  Jasper felt Irina relax. Eli squeezed his shoulder then dropped his hand. Darling and Caden had changed again, now seeming like perfectly ordinary, if alarmingly pretty, people.

  Irina cleared her throat. “I was…reluctant to try anything kinky after our conversation last night. Especially since we sort of, uh, veered down that path once before. But I’ll stop projecting. Thank you for that.”

  Darling looked at Caden, then back at Irina. “I actually came here with a specific conversation in mind. I want Caden to show you his party trick.”

  “It is not a party trick.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “What party trick?” Jasper asked, interested.

  Darling pursed her lips. “Caden and I are members of several…clubs.”

  “Sex clubs? Are sex clubs a real thing?” Eli sounded only mildly curious.

  “Yes, they are. But of course the really good ones are secret. And members only. And expensive.”

  “Figures,” Irina muttered.

  Jasper glanced at her. She sounded resentful, as if she were irritated she wasn’t a member of a secret sex club. She must have felt him looking because she caught his gaze, then blushed and studied the pattern on the carpet.

  Jasper felt his neck prickle in a way he knew meant someone was watching him. Caden was staring at him and Irina with an intensity that made Jasper think he’d seen the body language byplay.

  Jasper’s curiosity, already aroused, jumped up a few levels.

  “You’re members of BDSM clubs, dungeons,” Jasper said, hoping to restart the conversation.

  “Yes,” Darling agreed. “Caden—or more appropriately, Master Anderson—is the one they call when a sub is misbehaving, or a Dom is having trouble making a connection.”

  Irina eyed Caden with a mix of suspicion and inquiry. “And why is that?”

  Caden tapped Darling’s arm and she slid off his lap to stand by the chair. He rose to his feet. All trace of laughter was gone. “They call me because I can tell what people really want. What they really need. I see what they try to hide, even from themselves.”

  “That’s your party trick?” Eli sounded doubtful.

  “When a sub is pouting and begging to be spanked, I can tell what she really wants is to be fucked roughly in front of a crowd. Or if she panics at the sight of a gag, what it really means is that she hasn’t fully given up control, or doesn’t fully trust her Dom.” Caden stalked forward, eyes on Irina. “The facades people build are the enemy of true pleasure, true acceptance of what and who you are. That is my ‘party trick.’ I can look at someone and know exactly what they want. What they need.”

  Jasper stepped in front of Irina, getting between her and Caden.

  Caden met his gaze and tipped his head slightly.

  “What is it you think I need?” Jasper asked, wanting to pull attention away from Irina.

  Caden looked from Jasper to Eli and back. He circled around them, and Jasper had to resist the urge to turn. Irina did pivot in place, keeping Caden in her sights at all times.

  “You’ve had sex, but not enough to really know each other,” Caden declared.

  None of them responded.

  “You’re wary of one another, because each of you knows, even if you’re afraid to admit it, that you’re all holding back.” Caden peered at Eli. “Or maybe you’ve hinted at what you really want. Have you, Eli? Have you told your husband and wife exactly what you’d like to do to them?”

  “What are you, like the Sherlock Holmes of sex?” Eli yelped. He was blinking hard behind his glasses.

  “Lucky guess,” Irina hissed to Jasper, but Caden heard.

  “You’ll be the last one to admit what you really want. You’re strong, but you also feel…defensive.” Caden examined Irina’s face as if he were trying to pick out words on a faded manuscript page. As if all this information was right there for the taking if you knew how to find it. “You’re aroused by the idea of submitting to both of them, of being used by them, but you’re afraid of it too. You’re scared you’ll be outnumbered, or overpowered, when it comes to the rest of the relationship. You need to have some authority, so you won’t admit that you’d like to be gagged and…no, not that.”

  Caden circled her again, and the sound of Irina’s breathing was loud in the suddenly quiet room.

  “Irina?” Jasper asked, worried about her.

  Caden stepped up behind her, in her personal space, but not touching her. “Tell your husbands what you want. Tell them you want to be displayed on that stage, to be stroked and kissed—inspected as if you were a pleasure slave for sale. That you want them to be rough while they worship you. Tell them you want to know what it’s like to have one of them in your mouth while the other one fucks your pussy—”

  “Enough,” Eli snarled. He shoved Caden away from Irina. Eli seemed to tower over the other man. “No one talks to my wife like that.”

  Caden’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “There he is. I knew that gentle giant thing was a facade. A big man like you, you’ve been hiding your dominant streak your whole life. You want to take control of your sex life. You want to finally, just once, be completely honest without worrying what people will think later. You want to tie him down,” Caden’s head jerked toward Jasper, “and make him watch as you fuck her. Torture him with it, then sit back and watch as he fucks her, once he’s been driven crazy by lust.”

  Eli’s hands curled into fists. Jasper and Irina both sucked in a breath, and it wasn’t because they were scandalized. Eli’s shoulders bunched at the noise.

  “Tell me I’m wrong,” Caden said.

  Eli didn’t say anything.

  Irina stepped forward, laid a tentative hand on Eli’s shoulder. “Eli?”

  He flinched away from her touch. Jasper looked at Caden, who met his gaze but offered no insight or advice.

  Running on instinct, Jasper joined Irina at Eli’s back, and slid his fingers up under the hem of Eli’s shirt, finding smooth, warm skin. “We’ve done a little bit of that, but didn’t take it all the way. Is that what you want, Eli? Because it sounds really fucking hot to me.”

  Irina hummed in agreement.

  Eli whirled. “You…you’re not…”

  Irina pulled his glasses off. “No, we’re not.”

  Eli started to reach for them, then paused, looked at Caden. “And what about him?” he asked the other man, pointing to Jasper.

  Caden considered Jasper, who tensed.

  “He’s the gasoline to your fire. Every time you get…complacent. Every time you think you’ve found a rhythm or a rut, he will light you up until you burn white-hot.” Caden shifted to watch them. “Jasper will push you, he’ll demand that you please one another, that you not stop until each of you is exhausted and spent. Until you own one another, body and soul.”

  Jasper wanted to shake his head, to deny it. What Caden said sounded so intense that it couldn’t possibly be a good thing. People liked simple, they liked predictable. Eli and Irina wouldn’t want to feel like he was always harassing them and prodding them. Jasper started to take a step back, as if to prove that Caden was wrong, b
ut Eli caught his hand. Their gazes met.

  “Good,” Eli growled.

  Irina nodded quickly, her eyes bright with desire and her nipples visible through the material of her sports bra.

  Caden was gazing at the wall, frowning. Darling came up beside him. He whispered something in her ear then she melted away again, walking toward the wall. Before Jasper could question that, Caden’s voice broke into their little moment.

  “Eli, you begin. Take them to bed. Demand their obedience. Give yourself permission to use them. Trust them. Trust them to tell you when it’s too much. Use a safe word if you want.

  “Then it’s Irina’s turn. Fulfill her fantasy. Put her up on that slave block. Test her skills as concubine. Inspect her. Play with her. Don’t let her come.

  “Then, Jasper…”

  Caden leaned toward Jasper, whispered in his ear. Jasper’s eyes widened, then he nodded.

  “We’ll leave you to it. Goodbye, Jasper, Eli, Irina.”

  Caden took Darling’s hand, kissing her fingers as he led her to the door. Just before they walked out, Darling looked over her shoulder, not at Eli, Irina, or Jasper, but at the sheet of brocade fabric that only partially obscured the blueprint they’d been planning to photograph. A flash of emotion crossed her face. The door closed behind them with a thunk.

  Irina and Jasper stared at one another. Eli was looking down, his hands braced on his hips. He raised his head, oh so slowly.

  “Upstairs,” he growled. “Now.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jasper went willingly to be bound. Eli secured his husband to the head of the bed—seated with his back resting comfortably on a pillow. Jasper’s arms were stretched to either side, and secured to the restraints bolted to the headboard. Jasper was still completely clothed, his casual button-down shirt stretched taut across his chest.

  Eli finished buckling Jasper’s right hand in place and slid off the bed. Jasper’s eyes were heavy-lidded as he tracked Eli’s movements, before switching his gaze to Irina.