A few other guests milled around. Tara stared at them—a motley collection of Doms and Dommes, most tagging a submissive or two along who were often dressed far more scantily than she. A few submissives had come alone.

Logan surveyed their surroundings, too. “You see anything interesting?”

She frowned. “Yeah. See the submissive talking to Jordan, the one in the latex corset with her boobs hanging out?” she whispered.

He shot her a wry glance. “Sort of hard to miss her. She’s really working it.”

“Totally, but notice how she’s greeting Jordan like an old friend?”

“Or flirting up a storm.”

Tara shook her head. “I don’t think so. Most every sub looks a bit apprehensive, like they’re not sure what to expect next. She doesn’t. And she keeps glancing at the door on the other side of the room, like she’s expecting someone to enter from that direction.”

After a watchful minute, Logan nodded. “You’re right. But she might work here. We know from Xander that they employ Doms to top the single submissive guests. Maybe the reverse applies.”

“Possible. But I think she may be our best bet to start getting the lay of the land.”

“Agreed.” Regret crossed his face. “I’d really love to touch you now, but it doesn’t serve our purpose. So, this is where I’m going to pretend to strike up a flirtation with the little sub. You hang in the corner and see if Jordan comes your way. He may chat you up once I’m gone.”

Tara didn’t like that idea at all, but she’d come to Fantasy Key to investigate. “Agreed.”

Logan nodded, his eyes already across the room on the other woman. And her large, enhanced breasts with the bloodred teardrop crystals hanging from her pierced nipples.

In the corner, Tara did her best impression of a sub who had been relegated to the back burner by her Dom. She dropped into a slave position, head down, and waited. A collection of boots—both men’s and women’s—wandered past. Tara felt eyes on her, scanning, accessing. One man even walked a circle around her. She tensed, blocking out the feeling of being alone and vulnerable in front of a stranger. Looking up or telling him off would be seen as a punishable sign of disrespect.

“You’re not collared, pretty sub. You have a lovely ass,” the deep voice said from just behind her, near her ear. “Do you have a name?”

Answer? Don’t answer? Before she could decide, a familiar pair of loafers came into view.

“This sub is spoken for,” Jordan told the other Dom. “I’ll advise her Master over there”—Tara looked up through the fringe of her lashes to see him point—“that he must clearly mark his property or be prepared to lose her.”

The Dom stood closer to Jordan. “If he’s not claiming his territory, perhaps there’s a reason. And he looks rather busy with another sub.”

Tara risked a peek across the room at Logan—and jealousy stabbed her heart. He looked at the virtually topless blonde as if she fascinated him. She spoke, eyes drifting down for a second. Logan leaned close and ran a knuckle under her jaw, then over the swell of her breast. Before Tara could stop it, she gasped.

Jordan stepped into her line of vision. “Did your Master leave you here?”

“Yes.” She willed herself to lower her gaze, and stared hard at the green-and-gold-patterned carpet. Logan was doing his job, she told herself. Yes, but did he have to look so enthusiastic about it?

“Are you being punished?” Jordan asked.

“No.”

“No, Sir?” he corrected her.

She brought her full focus back to Jordan. With Logan seemingly otherwise occupied, was the dungeon master trying to establish a rapport with her? As much as he raised her hackles, getting in good with him would help their cause.

“No, Sir,” she repeated, doing her best to sound breathy and chastised at once.

“Look at me.”

Immediately, she raised her gaze to his. Without the driver’s cap, he was almost too attractive. Sharp bone structure, a lean swimmer’s sort of body, dark hair with a hint of curl around his ears and just tousled enough to make him look like he could find trouble and be happy reveling in it. Very Abercrombie. Something about him chafed at her instincts.

“Very good.” He glanced at his watch. “We have a few minutes before the orientation begins. Would you like a little bonus tour?” He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “You won’t see this part of the resort unless you’re invited.”

The VIP area? If that’s what Jordan meant, it would be an awesome break for her case. She glanced back over at Logan, trying to catch his attention. He didn’t veer for a second from Miss Plastic Double-D Cups.

“You won’t be gone long enough for him to miss you,” Jordan promised, sidling closer.

In fact, every time she acted a bit shy and overwhelmed, he seemed more interested. She’d noticed it on the boat and again just now. So she played the reticent card by looking down once more and angling her shoulders away from him.

“He might get angry. I don’t know . . . Sir.”

“Hmm,” he moaned very near her ear, like just hearing that word on her lips turned him on. “If he’s angry, I’ll talk to him, let him know I led you away.”

In truth, she didn’t want to go anywhere with Jordan. She could feel his lascivious gray eyes scanning every inch of her flesh, lingering especially on her nipples. But turning him down now might mean the opportunity would never come again.

“A—all right. Thank you, Sir. I’m very curious.” She tried to sound breathy and flattered.

Jordan reached for her arm, grazing the side of her breast with his long fingers. She gasped, and he chuckled in her ear as he guided her out the door. “I’ll bet you’re a very curious pet. There are many things here I’d love to show you.”

Tara didn’t have to pretend to shiver, though she hoped he’d interpret it as excitement.

As they neared the door leading deeper into the resort, Logan cast her a sidelong glance, even as he all but buried his face in the blonde’s neck. The other sub looked flushed and she swayed toward him like she was ready to lie down and spread her legs.

Shoving the feelings of betrayal down, Tara let Jordan lead her out of the room. She and Logan were assuming identities and behaving like those characters for this case. But as she nibbled at the side of her cheek, Tara felt old insecurities sneak back into her head. The sub Logan flirted with reminded her so much of Brittany Fuller from high school, the girlfriend he’d taken to bed both before and after her.

Logan had told her just this morning that he loved her. But in the past, love had never equated with being faithful for Logan. He’d left her to protect her before, yes. But had it really been necessary to punctuate their breakup with an exclamation note by fucking Brittany at a party that night and letting the whole school know? Granted, he’d been celibate these last few years, but what if she’d “cured” him of that so he could now move on with someone else? Even if he didn’t really want this blonde, would he take her to bed in order to wheedle information from her? Did he want to?

“You’re thinking awfully hard, little sub. Understandable since your Dom isn’t here to do it for you.”

Blech. Did he really just say that?

“So let me help,” Jordan continued on. “There’s nothing to worry about. If you aren’t getting the proper attention from Logan, I’ll make sure you receive it. I would love to take you under my wing for the duration of your stay.”

Yeah, how often did he use that line? He probably had success with it or he wouldn’t be using it now.

She forced a smile, fluttered her lashes, and looked away demurely, holding back the urge to vomit.

Jordan looped an arm around her shoulders. “So sweet. You haven’t been submitting long?”

He phrased it like a question, but clearly he knew the answer. Tara jumped to mental attention. Jordan was a Dom—and clearly a smart one. Unless she wanted him to figure her out and get suspicious, she’d better stay on top of her game.

“No. Master Logan is my first Dom. I’m trying to learn, but I fear he’s . . . losing interest in me.”

A nice add to their cover story. Jordan instantly took the bait.

“I won’t let you spend your time here alone.” He picked up the pace down a long hallway, then used a key card to enter an elevator to a higher floor. Inside the car, Jordan caressed her hips with his thumbs, and Tara felt his breath on the back of her neck as he nestled his hard cock against her ass. It was all she could do to stand there and let him touch her.

When they emerged into a hall, it was empty, except the superplush decor. Tara stopped in alarm. For all she knew, Jordan was taking her to a deserted part of the resort to abduct her now. It’s not like she was wearing a gun with this getup—something she intended to talk to Logan about if she got free.

“We’re almost there, sweet sub.”

“I—I’m afraid.” She kept playing her shy almost-virgin card. “Where are you taking me?”

He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. “The VIP room. It’s a very special place where your fantasies can come true. Would you like that?”

Tara’s stomach jumped. This definitely was a break, and she needed to stay in Jordan’s good graces.

“Really? Yes, Sir.”

“Look.” He led her down to the end of the hallway, then used his key card to access a set of double steel doors. After they clicked open, he shoved them wide.

Before her was a BDSM heaven—or hell. Three naked men stood around a flushed brunette who was bound and blindfolded. Tara tried not to let her jaw drop as they each took turns feeding their cocks into her mouth or pussy. Her tight breasts bobbed with every thrust.

“Does that excite you?”

It was titillating and repelling at once, but she played along. “Oh my . . . yes.”

“This slave’s fantasy was to experience complete submission to strangers while her Dom watches. I think they’re both enjoying it.”

With a glance across the room, Tara spotted an older, very urbane man lounging in a recliner, watching the scene with a faint smile as he sipped a glass of brandy. In the chair beside him, another man watched. He looked more official, and she realized he wore the same black garb that Jordan did, emblazoned with the resort’s logo in turquoise on the front. He also wore a matching tie. Another dungeon Master? Someone higher up the food chain?

The man looked her way, sized her up. Tara had to resist the urge to take a step back. When Jordan glanced at her, it was like he sized up a sex object he couldn’t wait to get his dick into. This man looked at her like a commodity he couldn’t wait to exploit.

The brunette across the room gasped, then screamed, as if she were in pain. Tara swung her gaze across the room, stunned to see the sub, now bent at the waist, taking the cock of yet another man, this one wearing a latex hood. His penis was blue at the head and enormous. She’d never seen equipment that large on any guy. And he was ruthlessly shoving it into the woman, between her legs that had been tied obscenely wide apart.

Tara stiffened.

“So innocent.” Jordan laughed. “She wants this. She enjoys the struggle of taking a man this size.”

Seriously? Given how painful it looked, she couldn’t imagine why. And the woman was going to fail. Though the man pounded away at her, at least three inches of his cock remained outside her body.

The woman’s well-dressed Dom rose and doffed his dark blue blazer, sauntering across the room. He lifted her head to him by fisting a handful of her hair and yanking.

“Do you like it, slave?”

“Yes, Master. Thank you, Master.”

“Take more of his cock. You’ve got inches to go.”

The words alone nearly made the woman come, given the way she gasped and moaned. The man behind her shoved more of his dick in her pussy. She screamed again. Her Dom angled her head toward the man to her left, who rapidly stroked himself, then came in her open mouth.

“Swallow,” her Dom demanded.

She did, then groaned again when the other two men around her, also masturbating, came in fluid strokes across the smooth olive skin of her back. As they did, she arched and stuck her butt out. The stranger with the huge cock thrust even deeper into her pussy, until most of it disappeared. Then her Dom settled his fingers on her clit.

“You want to come, slave?”

“Please, Master. Please.”

“You have my permission.” He rubbed furiously between her legs as the hooded stranger shoved into her. The brunette’s mouth opened in a silent O for a long moment. She closed her eyes, focusing. Then she screamed loudly, her entire body convulsing as the hugely hung stranger groaned in release.

Tara let out a breath. It was a scene she wouldn’t want to participate in, but the submissive had clearly enjoyed herself. And that freedom of self-expression appealed to Tara.