Free Dom Wars Round Two by Lucian Bane Page A

outside.
    ****
    Finally, it was time to get started. Lucian still seemed annoyingly relaxed as I took a deep breath and turned my attention to that new blonde announcer who angled herself slightly away from the camera after finishing her introduction.
    " Now, today's challenge consists of three phases." She included us in her conversation now. "The opening challenge leads into the second which leads to the third. The right to Dom in each challenge is determined by the winner.
    " The first challenge is a simple assembling together of a one hundred piece jigsaw puzzle. First to finish wins. Since Tara won the last competition, she'll get to choose her puzzle." We followed her to a long table holding a timer, several puzzle boxes, and two chairs. "You have five minutes to finish, and the number of seconds remaining on the clock will be multiplied by ten to determine your score. However, each second over the five minutes will cost points."
    Sitting next to Lucian, I looked over the four choices and chose the most complex design, knowing it would be the easiest to put together.
    "Thanks." Lucian selected his puzzle, apparently familiar with the same tidbit of strategy.
    " You're welcome." Mr. self-righteous. He was still acting like I was a hussy. I didn't do anything wrong taking that kiss. It was just a stupid kiss and I didn't even want it. And I don't care what he said, I saw him look at her tits. Bastard. And he sure didn't seem to mind when she kissed him on the cheek. I bet he was sorry he'd wasted the opportunity now. I bet I knew what he was up to. He was trying to make the big play, wrap me around his finger until I became his sub in real life. Add me to the little collection he no doubt still had. No more subs. Right. Sure. Sex was obviously his forte, his profession. I wasn't stupid.
    " On your mark. Go."
    I sorted my edges and found my corners then zoned out. Who knew all those lonely hours with jigsaw puzzles would come in handy?
    " Look at you fly." Lucian's voice sounded like he was smiling. "Aren't we full of surprises?"
    " It's a puzzle, not rocket science."
    " No, but you've clearly had practice. A lot."
    " I like puzzles."
    " Oh, I know."
    " No you don't."
    " Oh yes. You're one big puzzle. But don't worry, there aren't many puzzles I can't solve."
    " Good. Maybe start with those tits you couldn't get your eyes off of."
    "I just might do that. I was offered to suck them."
    Fury burned in my stomach at the idea , at the regret that he hadn't in his tone. The image of him doing just that threatened to superimpose itself over my puzzle. "Likely you've already done that and more with her."
    He made a sound that said I 'd burned him good and he was going to pay me back for it. Whatever.
    I forced a collection of images of Gramma into my mind to replace the tormenting scenes of Lucian with other women that kept interrupting my concentration. Using Gramma that way felt morbid and the need to do it made me pissed at him.
    I glanced at Lucian 's progress. Huh. It seemed I wasn't the only one who liked puzzles. Good, we needed the points.
    He clearly didn 't need money as badly as I did. Or he wouldn't have gone all possessive dominant under the Prince Charming guise. That was wrong on so many levels when he knew I had my Gramma to think about.
    But he sure got his eye fill of those tits, didn 't he? I saw that much. Acting like he cared. He cared, sure. Only because I was convenient. Men like him were good at making a woman feel loved. The problem was, they didn't know when to stop, and any woman within range was fair game. Bastard. Danielle was probably one of his subs, judging by the way she acted toward him.
    I slapped the final piece of the puzzle in place. "Done!" I glanced over at Lucian who maybe had five pieces left. Impressive since his puzzle was harder. I looked at the time. Almost three minutes left. We aced it. Thank God.
    " Done." He pushed his chair back and put his hands over his head, looking at the