His Unexpected Love. Anya Summers

and forget everything else, all her responsibilities and the people counting on her. Let his big body not only block out the sun but the rest of the world too.

      It had been her guilt more than anything that had kick started her fury. Guilt over her wish to relinquish her duties, even for a moment.

      Pathetic: table for one.

      “Did he do something, Jenna? If he so much as crooked a finger at you without your permission, say the word and this ends now. I will have him escorted off the island if he manhandled you in any way,” Jared asked.

      He would do it too. She could see it in his fervent gaze. Jared was one of the good ones, protecting her and the rest of the submissives on the island the way he did. Not that he wasn’t an exacting taskmaster, because he totally was. Yet he would put a potential partnership on the line for her if harm had come to her. There weren’t many men—let alone many employers—who would see to their employee’s welfare above that of the company. As much as that warmed her, and as much as she’d love to toss Carter under the bus, Jenna couldn’t allow Jared to lose business because of her own stupidity. It had been her issues that had initiated her internal combustion to nuclear meltdown levels.

      “No, Master J. It was my fault. And I submit myself to whatever punishment you deem necessary,” she said, straightening her shoulders. She owned up to her part in this. Would the cowboy?

      “Thank you for being honest. Strip and put these on. You will be publicly flogged in the club,” Jared commanded, putting a black pair of cuffs on his desk.

      “Yes, Sir,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

      Ignoring the fear and embarrassment at having to disrobe before her boss, Jenna undressed. She just prayed he didn’t want sex from her. If there was one thing she never mixed, it was who she slept with and her work. It was too important that she be able to earn a living. No man, no Dom was worth losing a job over. From what she’d heard about Jared, he didn’t sleep with the help, but she’d had bosses before attempt to use sex as a weapon.

      Jenna folded her waitress uniform up and stacked it on the nearby leather chair. Then she slid the cuffs on around her wrists, fastening the buckles. She wasn’t a prude by any means, but still she was uncomfortable. Jared rose from his seat and approached, looking every inch a Dom in his leather pants and shit-kicker boots. Her breath caught in her throat when she spied what he was holding. In his large palms was a black leather collar with silver chains attached to it.

      “Bend your head forward,” he ordered, his face a stern mask. Unwilling to spark his anger and chance risking her job, Jenna did as he asked. He affixed the collar around her throat. For her, it was akin to wearing a scarlet letter. Wearing a collar just for punishment, from someone who wasn’t her own Dom or Master, added to the humiliation—and besides, she preferred cuffs as a symbol of ownership.

      Then Jared connected her wrist cuffs to a short length of chain that imprisoned her hands together before her. He slid a black leather flogger into his back pocket, then, with his hand around the second length of chain that acted much in the same manner as a dog leash, led her out of his office.

      On the elevator, he gave her further instructions. “Once we are in the club, you are not to speak unless it is to use your safeword. Remind me again what it is?”

      “Red, Sir.”

      “Good. Easy to remember. Deep breaths, lass, this part will be over shortly,” he murmured, chucking her chin gently with his free hand.

      This part? What did he mean by this part? Before she could ask him, the elevator doors slid open with a quiet ding onto the club level. All other thoughts fled as Jenna ignored the interested stares of club goers and focused all her energy on Jared’s back. He stalked ahead of her, his long legs eating up the distance to the raised dais in the center of the club, and she had to hurry to keep up with him. In the center of the stage was a leather padded sawhorse. Shame inflamed her cheeks at needing to be disciplined before the whole club.

      She kept her lips tightly closed as Jared attached her wrists to the sawhorse. Jenna was bent forward, the horse turned into a stockade. The way he positioned her body, her naked rump was presented to everyone in the club. Then he spread her legs apart and fastened Velcro cuffs around her ankles. So now every club attendee had a direct view of her pussy.

      Lovely. Her day just kept on getting worse by the minute.

      Anticipation tingled along her spine as Jared moved around behind her. An unmistakable figure emerged from the shadows. His hard gaze was trained on hers with a satisfied gleam in their dark depths. She didn’t bat an eye or lower her gaze but stared at Carter head on.

      “Jenna, I’m going to begin. If it gets to be too much, use your safeword, lass,” Jared ordered quietly in her ear.

      She nodded. The flogger cracked against her bum. The leather straps snapped and cracked against her skin. Jenna cried out at the unexpected force of the blow.

      Then Jared swatted her three more times in rapid succession. Jenna’s gaze was unwavering as she glared defiantly at Carter. With every stroke, her blood heated. The air whooshed from her lungs. Her cry was a garbled, high-pitched moan. The more blows Jared struck against her ass cheeks, the louder her wails became. They were a mixture of pronounced pleasure and pain.

      And through it all, she stared at Carter. Not cowing or bowing to his dominant air, but daring him, defying him with every harsh lash against her ass. She’d earned this discipline, yet she would never yield to the likes of a Dom like Carter, who apparently thought the world should bend to his will. It was there in his bearing as he glowered at her.

      Except her body was enjoying their wordless glaring contest. A little too much. Jenna imagined it was Carter issuing her discipline. His rather large hands holding the flogger and raining brutal swats to her behind and making it burn. Flames licked at her core and sparked her arousal.

      Through the pain, she held on, not willing to give Carter an inch as he viewed her discipline. The rest of the patrons hardly existed. For Jenna, the only ones present were her and Carter. It infuriated her that this man had such a hold on her.

      The flogging reached a crescendo. The fever pitch of Jared’s whacks to her bum made her eyes water, and heaven help her but her body overrode her unwillingness to show weakness before the enemy.

      She came. Hard.

      Jenna screamed. “Ahhh.”

      Her body shook from the sheer force of her climax. She strained against her bonds as tremors racked her frame. But she never, for one second, took her eyes off Carter. The man didn’t blink, his face unreadable. His jaw was clenched, his mouth a firm, unyielding line.

      Then Jared put a warm blanket around her shoulders as he gently began undoing her restraints. Once her body was free from the sawhorse, Jared more firmly wrapped her form up in the blanket, hefted her in his strong arms, and carted her to a nearby couch.

      Her boss sat with her cradled against his chest. But she didn’t feel arousal with him, just comfort. Jared stroked a gentle hand down her blanket-covered back. “You did well. But that was only the first half of your punishment.”

      “What do you mean, Sir? I thought you said…” Then in her haze she remembered he’d mentioned something about ‘this part’.

      “That your punishment was to be of my choosing. There was more than one Dom you harmed with your actions today,” Jared responded, his gaze warm but firm in his resolve.

      “I don’t understand,” she replied, but oh, she did. The pit of her stomach sank into her toes. He meant Carter. The man who’d driven her to temporary insanity.

      “The rest of your punishment will be to serve Master Carter for the next week. Do you understand, Jenna? It means you will belong to him this week as his submissive,” Jared explained, the command behind his words firm and not a little daunting.

      All the air in the room vanished. Jenna had to beat back the fear clawing at her chest to keep herself from hyperventilating.