Free Dark Citadel by Cherise Sinclair Page B

stepped back and shook her head. Her instinctive reaction reminded her of Master Dan asking how her body felt about something. Maybe she’d listen to her body for once. “I’m sorry, Buck. I don’t want to—” Let you have any control over me .
    That would be rude. Oh, she just wasn’t comfortable saying no to people or hurting their feelings. She glanced at the diminishing group of singles and realized she didn’t want to be with any of them. That solved her problem nicely. “I’m afraid I’m not staying for the practice part. But thank you for the offer.”

    Nolan strolled into the club room and smiled at the underlying scent of sweat, fear, pain, and sex that Z’s fancy cleaning crew could never remove. Muscles he didn’t know had been tight started to loosen.
    As he crossed to the bar, he checked out the changes. A few new pieces of equipment—a lacing table, a spiderweb. There’d probably be a few other things in the theme rooms. Z liked toys.
    “Hey, Nolan, welcome home!” Rising from a bar stool, Raoul shook Nolan’s hand, a grin on his swarthy face. He glanced at Nolan’s gold-trimmed vest. “I see Z already tagged you for DM duty.”
    “Nolan!” Cullen’s yell set his ears ringing as the bartender leaned across the bar to thump his shoulder. “Damn, dude, where have you been?”
    Nolan thought on it for a minute. “Here and there. Mostly Baghdad.”
    “No alcohol there, I bet.” Cullen slid a cold Corona over.
    Nolan stared at it. Nobody else drank Corona around here. “That beer over a year old?”
    “Nah. Z told me you were back. I stocked up,” Cullen said.
    The welcome made Nolan’s chest tighten. “Thanks.”
    “You still look like a nasty bastard,” Cullen commented, ignoring a couple of newbies signaling for his attention. “You’re gonna have the subs all scared and clamoring for your attention. How’s your pretty slave doing, by the way?”
    “I uncollared Felicia before I deployed,” Nolan said. And although he’d missed her, he hadn’t realized how much of a strain being a master twenty-four/seven was 46 Cherise Sinclair
    until she was gone. “So it’s been a while. I’m looking forward to playing again.” He sucked down half the brew, something else he’d missed. “Anything new?”
    “Z has a sub now, a cutie. Grabbed her before she even made it through the door,”
    Cullen said. “Hell, he had her before she even knew she was submissive, but she hooked him right back.”
    “Z? Hooked?” Nolan set his beer down. “Seriously?”
    “Looks like. Good match,” Raoul said. “I thought for a minute Dan was going to follow in his footsteps. He took on a beginner Monday, a sweet little sub, and looked pretty involved, but he chilled out again.”
    “That the pretty sub Jessica was talking to? Kari?” Cullen asked.
    “Yep.” Raoul nodded toward the group of beginners. “Little, round, really polite.”
    “I like her.” Cullen scratched his cheek. “And Dan needs someone to kick him out of his rut. When Marion died, seems like she took him with her. The asshole hardly laughs anymore.” He studied the beginner class. “Yeah, she might be good for him.”
    “Z must have thought so. He asked Dan to take her on.”
    Nolan listened idly. Dan’d had a rough time there, losing his wife like that. It was time he came out of that dark shell. Turning, he checked out the class. The singles had dwindled until only a few remained. He identified the sub whom Raoul and Cullen had mentioned, watched a wannabe Dom brace her, try for her. She not only turned the guy down but left the group entirely, heading toward the bar. Very pretty, short, and curvy like he preferred.
    “Heads up,” he warned Raoul. “Incoming.”

    Kari walked away from the other newbies, feeling like a failure. She’d made it here, attended the class, but she’d basically blown the final by not practicing what she’d learned. But she just couldn’t. Not with them. Face it, she’d been