Finding Master Right (Masters Unleashed 1)

That was the plan, anyway.

***

“A slave?” Janine grimaced, holding out a glass of iced tea. “That’s hard-core, even for me.”

“I know.” Kate took the drink, and they walked back to the living room. It was Janine’s turn to host their date night. “The chemistry is there, but we can’t keep going like this if that’s all he’ll settle for. Both of us are too stubborn to budge.”

“Well, some things you just can’t force.” Janine gave her a regretful smile, then sat down on the overstuffed couch. “It’s not meant to be, I guess.”

Kate took a seat next to her as she contemplated her friend’s words. Wasn’t meant to be. Did she even believe in that? Fate and destiny and all that shit? No. She was way too much of a realist. Besides, other couples in the lifestyle had to have the same problem once in a while.

“How did it work for you and Chris? You didn’t match up straight away, right?”

She laughed. “Nooo. Far from it.”

Although Kate had only met Janine two years ago, they’d quickly formed a deep friendship. Janine was already married at the time. She’d hid her kink for about a year, but then started slipping. Kate was well-versed enough from erotic novels to recognize the signs. When she’d asked Janine point-blank, she had let out a big breath and said, “Thank god I don’t have to fake vanilla anymore!”

Kate had been perving their relationship ever since, slightly envious but mostly glad for Janine. It wasn’t often someone found true love and kinks that lined up. Her friend had hit the jackpot. If only she were as lucky.

“I hated Chris when we first met, remember? Ugh. He was an insufferable know-it-all prick!”

Kate burst out laughing. Most Doms were a bit cocky, but she couldn’t imagine Chris acting like a prick. He’d always been sweet to her. “Yeah. You ended up changing him though.”

“Sort of. We had a rocky start, but I saw the sweetness under all the bravado. It was because of how he was raised. Strict military dad. I mean, Chris has always been dominant, but I knew he wasn’t naturally a jerk. He was trying too hard to impress girls.” Shaking her head, she added, “And he’s turned into a total softie since.”

Kate sighed longingly. She wanted to say that about somebody one day.

“Well, not a total softy. He can be a mean fucker.” Janine squirmed a bit, giving the impression they’d played recently.

She chuckled. “You love it.”

Janine smiled and sighed in that lovesick way girls do. A moment later she snapped out of it. “Hey, you know what we should do?”

“What?” The mischievous look in her eye made Kate wonder.

“Watch porn.”

“What?” she yelped. Not exactly their regular movie-night choice.

“For research.” She shrugged. “You can’t exactly swear off something you don’t understand, right? Let’s see if we can find some videos of the Master/slave dynamic so you know what it’s like.”

“That’s a terrible idea.” Watch porn with her best friend? Her cheeks already felt warm. Though it was more likely to become a giggle fest than anything hot and heavy, she still crinkled her nose. “Is Chris okay with you watching porn?”

Janine rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a baby. And, yes, he’s okay with it. He fully supports anything having to do with me and porn.”

Kate gave her a skeptical look.

“Well,” she added as a second thought, “short of starring in it, of course. Come on.” She jumped to her feet and practically skipped to the computer desk on the other side of the room. “This’ll be fun.”

With a sigh, Kate gave in. “Might as well.” Maybe it would be an educational experience. Awkward, but she should stay open to learning something.

If this slave thing wasn’t that bad, maybe she and Banner had a future after all.

Janine sat in front of the computer, and Kate pulled up a seat next to her. She didn’t have much experience finding porn online—erotic books were more her thing—so she hoped Janine knew what she was doing.

A few clicks with the mouse and Janine had a kink site up. Ads played on the sidebar, some so extreme Kate had to look away.

“Ugh. Is there a way to get rid of those?” She pointed to the video clip showing anal fisting in an endless loop. “I mean, I get that’s some people’s kink.” She had her own anal kink, so don’t throw stones and all that. “But it’s too hard-core for me.”