Chapter 29

Rough ‘n Ready was busy, even for a Monday evening. Being the only official BDSM club on the island, it made sense to Rory.

It was a nice club. Huge even. The red and black was to be expected, but not every club could make you feel welcomed the moment you walked through the door. Micah Ross had the ability to do that. He'd never really been one for clubs, except to play out some of the scenarios with a sub. Sometimes a sub needed certain things that only a club would allow for in a safe way. Public submission was one of them. Rory had a feeling that this club had some great playrooms. He was still irritated they weren't going to get to use one of them

"I'm going to say hi to Dee," Maura said. Then, she looked at him. "If that's alright with you."

Rory fought to keep a smile hidden. Maura might say she wasn't that experienced, but she understood that she was his to order around in Rough ‘n Ready.

"Yes, love, go ahead."

She smiled, gave both of them a quick kiss, then ran off in the direction of the bar. They both watched her and he would have been amused if it weren't so damned pathetic. Maura had dressed in the tiny little dress he'd picked out. He thought it would be great to see those long legs all night long. Now that he noticed all the other men watching her, he realized he'd made a mistake. It took all his control not to beat the shit out of the men looking at her.

There it was again, that possessiveness he couldn't seem to fight. It had only been three days and he wanted everyone to know that she belonged to Zee and him.

"I don't think that dress was a good idea," Zee said.

Rory sighed. "Not much we can do about it now."

"I want it noted I told you the dress wasn't a good idea."

"Hey, don't tell me that you don't enjoy seeing her dressed like that. A woman with a set of legs like that should always wear short dresses. And you have to admit she looks fantastic." They walked through the club and stopped when they came to a demonstration floor. "They must make a fortune here."

"As a matter of fact, we do," Micah said from behind them. Damn, he was losing it if a six-foot plus man could sneak up behind him.

When he turned Micah smiled. "Welcome to Rough ‘n Ready. And don't feel too badly, McAllister, I used to be a bounty hunter. I know how to sneak up on people. Want me to show you around?"

"Maura will be right back."

He glanced past them. "Lord, give that idea up for right now. May's here and they are all over there gossiping."

Rory followed his line of vision and saw Maura talking to Dee and another woman. Even through the darkened club he could see she was stunning. Hawaiian from what he could discern, and with hair as long as Micah's. She said something that had Maura throwing her head back and laughing. Something tickled the back of his throat and his chest suddenly felt tight. Damn, what the hell was happening to him?

Another man joined the group, almost as tall as Micah, dressed in a pair of jeans that looked like they had seen better days.

"Evan, this is Rory McAllister and you know Zeke."

He shook both their hands, and said. "I think we met at the wedding. Does that mean Maura is here?"

Rory had to bite back a growl—although Ross gave him an amused glance. Rory realized he hadn't kept the sound as quiet as he thought. Bloody hell, this was getting embarrassing.

"Don't worry about it, McAllister. May is Evan's wife."

It still didn't make him feel any better. The jealousy he kept feeling in regards to Maura was troubling. He had never dealt with it before when it came to a woman.

"Want to take a look at our store?" Chambers asked interrupting his thoughts.

He had been so focused on watching Maura—and watching the assholes who were watching her—he hadn't realized they had a store. He nodded and followed the owners and Zee into it. He had to fight the urge to look back and check on Maura. It was getting pathetic that he would feel that need. As a Dom, he'd never had a problem with it before. Not just the possessive feelings, but also the worry that she wouldn't obey him. He didn't like the fact he wasn't sure he had complete control over her.

"We have everything you would need here," Ross said.

"Or we can special order anything you want," Chambers added.

"And you take in a hefty profit?" Rory asked.

Ross shook his head. "A bit, but we use a lot of locals for our leather work. In fact, we're working on a deal with Maui Kink about having a few special pieces made up just for Rough ‘n Ready. They do some wonderful work. We believe in supporting the Hawaiian economy and what better way to do that than use folks here?"

"Because of that, we lose the hefty profit we would get with a mainland outlet, but for Micah and myself, it's more important to support our adopted home," Chambers said.

Rory walked around the small area. It was well lit but not overly bright. The design was deceptive because you thought you were heading into something dark and dim, but when you approached the shelves, you could see everything easily. The small lights behind every shelf gave them enough illumination to shop.

"It's my design."

He looked over at Evan. "Yeah?"

"I'm a contractor. I wanted to make sure it was easy to shop but people aren't going to walk into a store for sexual toys if it's lit up like a freaking Walmart."

He chuckled. "I have to agree with that."

"We do have an outside entrance for shopping during the day. We just started that. There weren't a lot of places to shop here on the islands, so we decided to test it out."

"And?" Rory asked.

Chambers shrugged. "Business has been steady. We only do a few days a week."

Rory headed over and picked up a nice black leather crop. He had a feeling that Maura would like to play a little like this. Her reaction to the nipple clamps had been a little more than he had expected. He wanted to push it up a notch. He held onto it, turned and then he saw the collars. There was a wall of them, from floor to ceiling. They had everything from the heavy duty to the pink fuzz. In the center there was a bright red collar, smooth leather, with some rhinestones on either side. There was a spot for a name.

Without thinking, he headed over to it. He picked it up off the shelf and realized he'd been wrong. There was a name on it.

Ours.

He smoothed his fingers over the fine leather. It was supple, well made and it wouldn't damage her skin. The letters were stamped into the leather. He could imagine the way it would look around her throat.

"Nice," Ross said. "I remember when that came in a couple days ago. Everyone was in a tither over it."

Rory fought the urge to immediately put it back like he'd been caught doing something wrong. He forced a smile and glanced at Ross. "I've never bought a collar before."

Ross crossed his arms over his chest. "I've never been into it, and I have feeling that Dee would scalp me if I tried. She likes play, but collars…no. I'm pretty sure that's not her thing. But, the right woman...she would like it."

Was he hinting Maura would like it? Zee had told him that Ross hadn't trained Maura, but what did Ross know about Maura's desires? He didn't like that the man apparently speculated on the subject enough to think she would want a collar. And just what the hell did Maura think she was doing telling people about her likes and dislikes?

Apparently the club owner read his thoughts. "Whoa, son. I didn't train her, but she did have a lot of questions. I'm off the market in the training department as is Evan. We're old married men now."

Bloody hell. He drew in a deep breath and pulled his temper back. He was losing it and not in a good way. A woman's past had never really been all that important to him. All of his lovers had a past, just as he had. He always found it hypocritical of men he knew who judged their lovers' past behavior. But, with Maura he was dealing with feelings he had for no one other than Zee.

"Old my ass," Evan said as he walked up. He looked at the collar in Rory's hands. "Nice."

Zee frowned down at it. "Not sure if she would go for that."

He nodded knowing Zee was probably right. He didn't even know if she wanted to be with them past this week and it had only been three days. People didn't get serious that quickly…and he really didn't know if he wanted to.

"Probably not. But the workmanship is first class." He set it back on the shelf. "Let me check out."

He sensed Ross watching him as he walked away. He heard him say, "Let me show you the new security system we want to do."

That was all Zee had to hear. "I'll be up in the office."

Rory nodded as they walked away.

"The stairs are on the left side of the club. Just come on up when you're done." Ross glanced at the collar then at Rory. His lips twitched and he followed his friend and Zee out of the shop.

Rory looked at the collar from the corner of his eye as he moved up in line. He set the crop, along with a box of condoms on the counter. At the last minute he said, "Wait."

Before he could change his mind, he rushed over and grabbed the collar. He gave it to the female clerk who smiled at him.

He didn't have to give it to Maura, but just in case… he could keep it around. None of them knew what would happen after this week. He knew Zee loved her and Rory was man enough that he could admit he was starting to have more than just sexual feelings for her.

Shit. He walked out of the store and decided to take the bag out to the jeep and lock it up. He would decide what to do with the collar later. Hell, he probably wouldn't give it to her but he could always sell it. The workmanship would bring in a pretty penny.

After locking it up, he headed back into the club. He couldn't think about that, about next week, about anything beyond tonight. He was already being seduced by the idea of keeping her with them. Always.

He learned a long time ago, wishing for things like that would lead to heartache.