Masters of Pleasure

Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Iris

“What else do you need, Dad?” Iris dusted off her hands as she walked back inside.

Even though it was hot as balls, she’d worn jeans because she knew she’d been kneeling in the dirt.

Her dad loved his garden, but he was having more and more trouble keeping up with it and with the house, so she and Andrew made a point to spend at least one Saturday a month helping with the things he couldn’t do so well on his own.

“You to take a break.” Grinning, he turned and put a glass of cold water on the counter. “Here, hydrate.”

Smiling, Iris sat down. Andrew and Kate would probably be inside in a minute, too. They were trimming the bushes in the backyard that had gotten a little overgrown.

“Thank you.” Not much tasted better than cold water when she was hot and sweaty. She could practically feel the cells in her body cheering with relief. August was a bitch of a month in Maryland.

“How have you been doing? How’s work?”

For the sake of peace, Iris decided to ignore the odd note in his voice when he asked about work. She knew he was trying. Doing someone else’s busy work wasn’t his idea of a job, but he couldn’t exactly argue with the money. His prediction she would be miserable hadn’t come true.

“Good and good. Mrs. Hill told me she wants to decorate the house for Halloween and Christmas this year. I get to go through all their decorations and decide where they go.” Iris grinned, and her father smiled.

“You always did like decorating the house. You’ll be good at that.”

It was something she and her mom had done together before her mom passed. While it sometimes felt bittersweet, Iris always felt closer to her mom when she was putting up decorations.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what they have and if they’ll let me add to it,” Iris admitted. After their mom passed, things had been tighter financially, and buying decorations had not been on the list of priorities. Before her mom passed, they’d bought at least one new decoration every year.

Living in an apartment, Iris had some of her own decorations and bought a new one every year, but she had a long way to go before she’d have the collection she wanted. She bet the Hills had some epic decorations tucked away in their attic. Maybe even National Lampoon level.

There was every chance Mrs. Hill would give her permission to add to them. She’d already let Iris start ordering fresh flowers monthly for the vase in the entry hall. It was almost more fun spending someone else’s money than spending her own.

Her father’s lips quirked, but he didn’t comment, which she appreciated.

“How is Noelle? You haven’t brought her by in a while.”

“Yeah…” Iris let out her breath on a long sigh. The answer to that question was so complicated. “We’ve been growing apart, I think.”

That was true, but it was also true spending time with Noelle wasn’t as fun as it used to be. Was it because she had new friends she had more in common with? Or was it because Noelle had become less fun? It was hard to figure out.

What she knew was she didn’t enjoy hanging out with Noelle like she used to, but she felt guilty about not enjoying it and not doing it as often.

That even her dad had noticed said she really had stepped back.

She didn’t feel like getting into the fact she and Noelle weren’t talking since Iris still hadn’t apologized for going out last night.

She hadn’t had much of a chance. She and Noelle had barely seen each other for two minutes before she’d left this morning, but she also hadn’t wanted to. She didn’t feel like she should have to.

The back door slammed open, and Andrew held the door open for his fiancé as they came in from the backyard. They were even sweatier than Iris when she’d first walked in.

“Oh my God, air conditioning feels so good,” Kate said with a little moan, using the back of her arm to wipe her brow. She used her other hand to lift her long blonde ponytail off her back.

“Sit, sit.” Iris’ dad was already hopping to his feet and hurrying over to get them glasses. “I’ll get you some water.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Andrew said, going to the kitchen table and pulling out a chair for Kate before he plopped down on his own. Grasping the hem of his shirt, he pulled it up to wipe his face, flashing his stomach as he did so. Iris rolled her eyes.

There were plenty of women who would have appreciated the view, but she wasn’t one of them. It never ceased to amaze her how her brother could be ‘on’ at all times. She was grateful Kate had come back into his life, and they’d gotten back together. Especially because she adored Kate.

“So, what were you guys talking about?” Andrew asked, letting his shirt drop, now wet and soggy at the bottom. Blech.

“I’m decorating the Hill’s house for Halloween and Christmas this year,” Iris said, pushing a cheerful smile onto her face. While her dad had been trying when it came to conversations about her job, Andrew still had no problem making his opinion known.

“I can’t believe you get paid for that.” He shook his head.

“Says the guy who makes decorations.” Granted, with his carpentry skills, he made a lot more than decorations, but their dad didn’t know Andrew also made BDSM equipment.

“And furniture.” Andrew frowned at her. “I’m creating something.”

“So is Iris. She’s making a comfortable and beautiful home for someone else and allowing them to enjoy their free time when they manage to get it.

” Kate shot her an apologetic look before turning a much less pleasant look upon Andrew, but Iris didn’t blame her for not being able to keep Andrew under control.

There was only so much one could do when he was determined to be an ass.

Besides, as her big brother, he felt morally obligated to give her a hard time, and she returned the favor. “I wish I could afford an Iris.”

“We don’t need an Iris.” Andrew rolled his eyes. “We can do our own laundry.”

Iris scowled at him. She did a hell of a lot more than laundry.

“Because we have the time, but think about everything we could do with our free time if we didn’t have to do things like laundry, grocery shopping, and keeping everything in the house running smoothly.

We could just spend our free time enjoying ourselves.

Besides, you hate doing laundry. Think about how much nicer the house would be without you bitching through folding your laundry. ”

Andrew’s mouth opened. Closed. He frowned.

Kate winked at Iris, who desperately wished she could throw her arms around her brother’s fiancé and hug the fuck out of her.

Kate had been on her side from day one, and she so appreciated that.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her dad nodding his head.

“I’m so glad you’re back,” she said fervently.

Sure, she’d said similar things before, but it didn’t make its way through the men’s heads until Kate was the one who said it.

It had been the same way when she’d been growing up, so she’d long gotten over resenting it.

Now, she was grateful they listened to someone, especially if they laid off the third degree afterward.

“Me, too.” Kate grinned at her. Andrew made a grumpy noise, but that was nothing new. Since they’d exhausted the topic of her work, apparently, he moved on to the next thing he wanted to hassle her about.

“I hear you have a date next week.”

“What?” Her dad sat up straighter, appearing interested but also wary.

“How did you hear about that?” she demanded.

One of the cardinal rules of being siblings who were both into kink—thou shalt not mention kink in front of the parents.

At least, that was the unspoken rule in their household.

Andrew had gotten around it by calling it a ‘date,’ but that just made things more complicated.

“You were at Marquis’ bar last night. Shane told Olivia, who told Lexie, who told me. And Lexie told Patrick, who told Andrew.” Kate shrugged, sending Iris an apologetic look.

“Who is Shane?” her dad asked, obviously confused but also amused. He was used to playing catch-up to their conversations.

“The bartender,” Andrew replied.

“Oh my God… do you all not have anything better to do than gossip? It’s worse than high school,” Iris complained, rubbing her hands over her face.

She would never get used to how fast gossip spread like wildfire through the clubs.

She wouldn’t have pegged Shane as gossipy, but then again, even if he only told Olivia, who was his boss, that was enough to get the whole train started.

“So, does that mean you have a date? What’s his name? What does he do?” Her dad was ready with the third degree.

Before she could answer, Andrew was already jumping in with his version of events—which would have pissed her off, even if it hadn’t included his opinion.

“His name is Lawrence, he’s a lawyer, and he’s too old for her.”

“He’s like maybe ten years older than me.” She glared at Andrew. “And it is none of your business. It’s not even a real date… it’s a hang-out date. You know, we’re hanging out together since I struggle to get any real dates thanks to my overprotective big brother.”

Andrew scowled but said nothing, probably because he couldn’t think of anything to say since it was one hundred percent true.

“Ten years isn’t too bad,” her father said slowly. “So, he’s in his early thirties.”

“Yes.” Iris stuck her tongue out at Andrew.

“It’s not a question of years but maturity,” Andrew muttered.

She flipped him off when their dad wasn’t looking. Who cared if Law was too mature for her? Maturity was overrated.

Law

The week was dragging by. Law knew it was because he was looking forward to the end of the week and scening with Iris, but that didn’t help. If anything, it made him more anxious about scening with her.

When was the last time he had actually looked forward to scening with a submissive? A particular submissive?

Easy answer? He hadn’t.

Ever.

That wasn’t how he operated.

He was having trouble focusing, so he’d decided to take some work home. Whiskers stated his objection to Law’s at-home hours by walking across his keyboard as much as possible, which didn’t help, either. Dammit. When he’d called Iris trouble, he hadn’t meant for him personally.

“Get down from there.” He picked up Whiskers, ignoring the cat’s angry hiss, and set her on the floor. She tried to swipe at him, but he’d learned his lesson from the past and easily got his hand out of the way. “Now, stay there. I have work to do.”

Glaring at him, Whiskers sat completely motionless, exactly where he’d set her down. It was a little freaky, but he did his best to ignore her.

Ten minutes later, his phone buzzed, and it was a text message from Iris. The little jump his heart did wasn’t something he wanted to think about too hard. He felt like a teenager, excited about getting a text from a girl. That was bad.

For the first time, he felt pulled in two different directions.

What he wanted and what he thought he needed usually aligned.

Now, what he wanted was Iris, and he was pretty sure she was the opposite of what he needed.

Even if he’d wanted a relationship, she was too unpredictable. Too wild. Too impulsive.

But under my eye, she’s been a good girl. She’s kept out of trouble.

Maybe I’m what she needs.

That thought tugged at a part of him he’d thought long dead and made him want to run even faster, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to run away from or to her.

Pushing aside his conflicting emotions, he checked the text.

Just wanted to give you a heads-up. My brother knows about Friday night, in case you want to back out while you can. =P

The silly face emoji didn’t take away from the resignation in her words. She was expecting him to back out because of her brother, just like every other Dom at Stronghold and Marquis had backed away from her outside of the class, where they’d been required to scene with her.

Shit.

She needed this. Deserved it, even.

Something Law couldn’t ignore, no matter how conflicted his emotions were about the situation. Other people came first. He’d been selfish in the past—there was no way he was going to put his needs before hers. Especially not when he’d been the one to make the original offer.

Nope, not going to back out. The only way we’re not scening on Friday is if you cancel on me.

That would leave things open on her end in case she got cold feet. Part of him almost hoped she would, but it would disappoint as hell the rest of him if she did.

The message she sent back made his chest hurt for her.

Thank you.

Yup, Law kind of hoped Andrew said something to him because he would love a good excuse to give Iris’ big brother an earful. Although he wasn’t sure, Iris would want him to do that.

Sighing, he looked down at Whiskers, who was still glaring up at him.

“What?”

Sniffing haughtily, she stood and stalked away, tail high in the air, as though she couldn’t believe he’d even asked the question. Watching her go, Law chuckled, then turned to get back to work.

Oddly, it was a lot easier to concentrate, as if not backing out had settled something inside him. Hell, maybe it had.