Of course she didn’t. She had her own life back in Danbury. She had a career, she had friends, she had her apartment. Alex sighed. Who was she kidding? She would give it all up in a heartbeat to share the amazing life these two men led. She’d never felt more alive, more vital, more self-aware.
Yes, she would admit she’d been greedy and not very obedient all of the time, but she would do better. Look how far she’d come in only four days. She was poised on the discovery of her true submissive self. Yet, instead of being permitted to explore and grow with it, she was going to be sent away because Daniel wanted to keep Liam all to himself.
In a flash, she realized that was it.
Daniel was afraid. He was afraid she was going to steal his man.
Alex shook her head. Such a thought had never entered it. If she felt any romantic feelings, they were for Daniel, not Liam. Liam had remained a kind of distant figure, only appearing at night to watch Daniel put her through her paces.
Yet it had been Liam who cradled her in his arms, carrying her so gently to the bedroom. Liam was more patient with her, more understanding. He was more nurturing. Perhaps it was because he was older, or because, as a Dom, it came more easily to him.
If Daniel were jealous, Alex would have to do something to set his mind at rest. Perhaps Daniel sensed her desire to be the one in the middle. In all her fantasies, she was nestled between the two men, both of whom focused on her as their object of adoration. Perhaps he had picked up on this and felt threatened. Could she blame him? She wouldn’t want someone else coming between her and her partner. They had been clear she was being brought into their home so Daniel could explore his dominant impulses. Not so she could make both of them fall in love with her. Yet she was forced to admit as she honestly examined her motives for the first time, at the back of her mind she had harbored a secret desire to ensnare them both.
“I can fix it,” she said resolutely to herself as she marched down the hall to her room. “I’ll be a model of submission for the next two days. When they inform me I’m to leave, I’ll thank them for the most amazing experience of my life and I’ll pack my things and disappear. I won’t beg to stay. I won’t throw myself on their feet and cry and promise anything for another chance.”
She entered her room and walked to her bureau. She removed the provocative outfit and put on a tank top and shorts, clothing more appropriate for chores. Next she sat on the bed and secured the leather cuffs around her wrists. It took some doing, but she finally managed to clip them together behind her back. She knelt on the floor and waited patiently for her Masters to come to her.
~*~
It was Daniel who found her. “There you are,” he said as he opened her door. She had changed her clothes. She was dressed now as he was, in a tank top and shorts. He saw she’d cuffed her wrists behind her back.
“Stand up,” he said, watching as she rolled to her side to enable herself to rise without the use of her hands for balance. She kept her head down, eyes on the floor. “Have you forgotten inspection?”
She looked up at him suddenly, her green eyes wide. “Oh,” she said softly. He waited for the excuses—she hadn’t realized because it was so late, she assumed things were different when Liam slept in, or whatever else she would come up with to avoid admitting she’d messed up—but she only nodded. “Yes, Sir,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.”
He moved behind her and released the clips of her cuffs. Alex at once pulled off her clothes and stood at attention, lacing her fingers behind her head. She kept her eyes on the swinging pendulum of the wall clock. Daniel moved close to her and cupped her breast in his hand. He expected her to lean into his hand, to try to rub her nipple against his palm like a sluttish kitten.
She didn’t move a muscle. He noticed a gleam of determination in her eye and a resolute tilt to her small, pointed chin.
He turned when he heard Liam at the door. “She’s ready for inspection,” Daniel said, stepping back. He didn’t add that she hadn’t been ready only a moment before. He appreciated her gesture of putting the cuffs back on and waiting on her knees. She did have potential, he couldn’t deny that.
Liam stroked Daniel’s cheek with the back of one finger before moving toward the girl. Daniel watched as he ran his fingers under her arms and down her legs, knowing the skin was smooth and soft as satin. Liam said, “You’ll do,” to Alex, who didn’t respond, her eyes straight ahead, breasts thrust proudly forward.