about her drew him in—and it had since the moment she’d walked through the front door of the club looking like the innocent she’d been.
“Thank you, pet. I intend to honor your trust by reminding you that a good Dom always keeps his word. If I didn’t punish you as I told you I would, your mind would process that inconsistency and abstract it to any number of other circumstances. I want you to know—to know without question—all the way to the depths of your soul, that both Peter and I will always keep our promises.” Looping the straps of her shoes over the end of the handrail where he’d hung her dress at the back of the elevator car, he turned back to her with deliberately measured movements. He wanted to give her mind time to process everything that was happening. Ordinarily, Lara’s mind processed information at a pace worthy of a Mensa member, but this evening her thoughts were bogged down by all the emotional turbulence of her parents’ disappearance.
It was his job to push all the disquiet aside, giving her mind and body the break it needed. The success or failure of the next half hour depended in equal parts on her ability to put herself fully in his care, and his ability to push her just enough past her usual boundaries to clear out the emotional sludge weighing her down.
“Slide your feet into the toeholds. Perfect, now lean forward and grab this bar.” He’d chosen a bar low enough so she’d be forced to push her ass out, displaying it beautifully as if it were lifting and reaching for the strokes he planned to give her. But the toeholds weren’t adjustable and she was a petite little thing, so her sex was going to be very exposed and those sensitive tissues definitely couldn’t take the lashes his leather belt would lay across her ass so his placement was going to have to be very precise.
Lara wasn’t a pain slut, so this would certainly be a punishment, but he knew it was going to take a lot to get her out of her head. It was going to be a delicate balancing act—skating on the edge between giving her enough to push her where she needed to go, and steering clear of anything extreme enough to destroy the trust they’d already built.
Chapter Four
The fucking elevator was locked and that could only mean one thing. Peter took off for the stairs at a dead run, he was going to kick Fischer’s ass for taking off with Lara before he’d finished with his team. And if his little brother was fucking their sub in the elevator, he was going to be doubly pissed because his cock was so hard he was sure he could use it to pound nails and running up stairs with a hard-on was torture. Watching Fischer play with her downstairs had almost made him come in his pants and he hadn’t done that since he’d been old enough to drive for fuck’s sake. Reaching out mentally, he asked, ‘Where the hell are you?’
His brother’s answer confirmed they were in the elevator, but Peter was unprepared for the scene he found when he rounded the corner to peer into the small space. Seeing Lara naked, her small bare feet shoved into toeholds and gripping one of several bars he hadn’t even known were there brought him up short. But it was the red stripes across her upturned ass that had him freezing in his tracks. ‘ What the fuck are you doing? This is too much.’
‘ No, it’s not. It’s exactly what she needed. Stay quiet and watch her—really watch her.' Peter wanted nothing more than to cram his fist in his brother’s smug face, but he also knew if they intended to make this work long term they would have to work together and that meant appearing to have a united front. Any differences in opinion would have to be resolved out of Lara’s presence. She was much too perceptive and would be able to use any disagreements between them to her advantage—even if she didn’t do it consciously, it would still happen. Peter had seen subs play Doms against one another all too often.
By the time