Yes, Master (D'Amato Brothers/S&M Crossover Book 2) Page 2

  “You see?” Tony smoothed the blade against Nick’s face and dipped it in the hot water. “Whenever you do that, that means I stepped into something, so go ahead and give me a lecture.”

  “You’re purposely choosing the gold-diggers and promising them a lifestyle that you know will never happen. But then you complain about how there aren’t any good women out there.” Nick mentioned. “What you attract is what you want.”

  “I’m just weeding out the bad ones, man,” Tony explained, “I know I’ll end up with a good girl. But for now, I just need to run through these chickenheads, that’s all, man.”

  “If you say so, brother,” Nick dropped the subject, “just don’t be coming home with some outside kids and some incurable foreign disease.”

  “Strapped and protected each and every time,” Tony finished Nick’s shave and placed a warm towel on his face, “now sit there and chill for a bit. My lunch is here.” Tony went to meet the pizza delivery guy and paid him. He then placed a call next door to Faith’s salon. “Yo, the pizza is here. Come by whenever you’re ready.” He hung up the call.

  He gathered a couple of slices for himself and set aside some more for Nick, in case he wanted any. He said a quick prayer and patiently waited for his lunch date. Within minutes, she’d arrived. “You waited for me?” Krista smiled.

  “I’ll always wait for you, Krista.” Tony returned the smile. Ever since Krista worked at the salon next door, Tony was determined to become the woman’s friend, though his intentions were a bit more devious than that. “What did you want to drink? We have soda, water, and tea.”

  “I’ll have a soda. Thanks, Tony.” She grabbed a small plate and put two slices of pizza on it. She walked over to a corner table and waited for Tony, who quickly returned with her drink.

  After a small grace, the two of them conversed over a variety of topics while they had lunch. “So what have you been up to? You seem different.” Tony inquired.

  Krista smiled as she took a bite of pizza. Tony never commented on her appearance one way or the other and somehow she felt safe with him. It was unusual because Tony was never shy with words, no matter how good or bad they were. “How so?”

  “You seem like you did something different with…” Tony slouched back in his chair and studied Krista’s face. “I don’t know…your hair, maybe? Maybe it’s your makeup?”

  “My makeup?” Krista began to feel a bit self-conscious. “It’s the same style I’ve always worn.”

  “Yeah, but it’s something…” Tony shook his head. He admired how delicious Krista’s full lips were with a touch of pink brushed across them. Her cheeks had a bit of rose and her eye shadow, which boasted of a bold purple palette, was doing wonders.

  She was stunning. Tony briefly wondered if there was a new man in Krista’s life but she never mentioned a boyfriend or a paramour. Still, it didn’t stop the wheels from turning in his head.

  “Trust me, it’s nothing,” Krista replied. “I assure you.”

  “If you say so,” Tony got up and washed his hands. He went over to Nick and removed the towel from his face. He carefully patted Nick’s face with some light aftershave. “All done, big brother!”

  Nick turned around and admired his clean-shaven look in the mirror. “Amazing work as usual, little brother.”

  “Man, you know I got this!” Tony laughed. “Ain’t no other barber can do what I do.”

  “That’s what I’m saying, bro.” Nick gave his brother a hug after he gave him a generous tip. “Alright, I gotta jet back home. I’m hosting a dinner tonight for my colleagues so I need to get ready.”

  “Okay, but before you do,” Tony gathered the plate he made for Nick, “here you go. Don’t be starving on the way out.”

  Nick looked down at his plate and grinned. “Just like mama, you know that?”

  “Hey, we were raised by the best.” Tony shrugged.

  “Thanks for looking out, man,” Nick commented.

  “Tony, thank you for lunch. I need to get back next door,” Krista commented. She blanched and froze in her tracks when she saw Tony’s guest.

  “Sure thing, baby,” Tony beckoned Krista to come closer, “Krista, you remember my big bro, Nicky?”

  Oh, she’d remembered him, alright. She knew she’d recognized Him from somewhere, though she wasn’t sure where. Now it was very clear who He was and the dangerous territory Krista was entering.

  Before her was Tony’s brother, Nick–as in Saint Nick.

  Four

  Protocol. It was something He’d advised to her from the beginning. Either she was down with the program or she could step off. If she wanted just kinky sex, she had to go somewhere else for it. But if she wanted to become the best she could be, be enlightened, and be the woman every other girl would hate and want to emulate on the same matter, she had to listen to Him.

  She had to obey Him.

  Stacey Torres smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror. She hoped to make Him proud tonight.

  Tonight, Sir was going to host a few of His colleagues from the university at his home for dinner and Japanese tea service. She knew what that meant – she needed to be not only on her best behavior, she couldn’t disappoint Master by any means.

  She remembered the first time she saw Him. She was at a coffee shop and drowning herself into a mocha latte. She’d just broken up with her cheating boyfriend and in the process, found out he was primarily with her because of her money. She’d gained a considerable amount of weight and only left the apartment to go to work. Stacey had to admit she was impressed that she could easily turn the charm on for work and turn it back off the moment she left the hospital.

  She wasn’t suicidal but if she happened to get into a car accident, she would welcome death.

  “You seem like you need a friend.”

  Stacey wiped a tear from her eye. She looked up and saw the most gorgeous pair of blue eyes staring down at her. The sun behind him created a small halo and he honestly did seem like he was sent from heaven.

  Maybe Stacey did die and that was the angel Gabriel greeting her at the pearly gates of Starbucks. “Who are you?” She croaked.

  He held out his hand and Stacey felt a pull to grab it, though she didn’t know who he was. “A friend you can talk to.” Stacey grabbed his hand and they strolled down the street, hand-in-hand. “Let’s go somewhere and talk.”

  “What’s your name?” She asked.

  “Nick.” He replied.

  They talked for hours. They talked about her relationship. They talked about his work as a professor. They spoke about her hard but rewarding work as a nurse. They talked about his family business and why he went into a different path.

  During the meantime, he took her out to dinner. After dinner, he dropped her off at her apartment. Stacey grew sad as she knew it was probably going to be the last time she would see Nick but she thanked him for cheering her up.

  “You know if you want to change your life for the better, I can help.” He offered as he stepped out of her apartment. “But it’s up to you if you want the change.”

  Nick sounded like a spokesperson for a cult and Stacey warily eyed him. “What do you mean?”

  Nick pulled out a card to The Boundary. “Come by this weekend and see Me. If I don’t see you, I will take it that you’re not interested and our work is done here. But it doesn’t hurt to come by to check it out.” He then left.

  Stacey twirled the Boundary card between her fingers. She then went online to look it up and was astonished to see it was a BDSM club. She’d only heard about it through the media and figured it was for sexual deviants and freaks. Those who walked around in leather and ball gags, with their tits and asses hanging out and on display for the world to see.

  No, thank you.

  She wasn’t going to go. She wasn’t going to go. She was going to tear up that card and just relished in the thought that a friendly stranger was kind to her for a day.

  Oh, who was she kidding? She was totally go
ing to go.

  ****

  That was a few months ago and Saint Nick was right. Her life did a 180 and completely changed for the better. She lost a lot of weight and had an air of confidence that made her fellow nurses and doctors take notice in her brand-new attitude. She soon realized that she’d always been a submissive in some form and simply needed the right Dom to guide her.

  Saint Nick saved her life in more ways that one.

  It took her weeks to study chado and Stacey was confident, and a little bit nervous about the evening’s tea service. She took classes at the local tea room and purchased a kimono to wear during the service. Her Master warned her that some of His colleagues from the university might not fully grasp or even respect the lengthy preparation she went through for the tea service but that wasn’t Stacey’s concern. Her main and only concern was to please Master. Everything else was just secondary.

  “You’re nervous,” Nick responded from the doorway as He watch His submissive get dressed.

  Choosing a standard white blouse and black slacks, Stacey carefully put on her high heels. She glanced up at Master, who was dressed in similar attire, and smiled at Him. “A little bit, Sir. Tonight is the first night for chado so I hope everything goes well.”

  “I believe it will. You took your studies very seriously and I’m quite proud of you.” He walked into the room and grabbed her lipstick off the dresser. He opened it and His eyes smiled at the color – it was a deep ruby red.

  He remembered the day they picked out the color for her. He took her shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue to treat her and they stopped by the MAC counter. After trying on a variety of different colors, Stacey was about to give up when the make-up artist convinced her to try a last one. Nick remembered how hot and pleasurable her lips looked with the deep red glossing them and he wanted to see the color smeared on his cock while she sucked him.

  “We’ll take that one,” He quickly paid and they left the store.

  That afternoon, they wore out the bed in the play room, using almost every implement with the exception of a small few, and were completely too exhausted to even cook dinner. They ended up ordering pizza.

  Applying the deep red color to Stacey’s lips, Nick was tempted to cancel the dinner with his colleagues and having a rewind of the prior moment. No, he would wait until later. It was better to build the anticipation than to hurry out of the gate and bust his load before he was able to take off his slacks.

  He studied her light brown eyes and how the amber in them sparkled just right when the light shined on her. Her long hair was pulled up into a tight bun and she wore a light vanilla fragrance. She was perfection. “You look amazing, fiorellina.” He kissed her forehead. “Don’t be nervous. You’ll do wonderfully. If anyone gives you an attitude, I’ll deal with them.”

  “Attitude, Sir?” Stacey was caught off-guard by Master’s warning. “Why would anyone give me an attitude tonight?”

  Nick thought of two women in particular – Herschelle and Rosemary. It was no secret that Herschelle had the hots for him and Nick was pretty sure he could say the same for Rosemary, his boss. The two of them seeing Stacey in an intimate setting with Nick would only arouse jealousy between the women. He already had a vision of the women sucking their teeth whenever Stacey approached them, claiming they were just trying to get the food out.

  It was moments like Nick was very grateful for Stacey and Whitney. “Because you’re you, and they’re them.”

  ****

  Rosemary Rodriguez was the head of the English department and ran it like clockwork. While she gave the professors plenty of freedom to do whatever they want, they also had to run any ideas past her for approval. Normally she said yes and that was the end of the conversation.

  Except when it came to Nick. Whenever he wanted to present a fresh idea to Rosemary, he had to privately meet with her and through the course of thirty minutes, explained in full detail what he was planning.

  There was a reason for Rosemary’s special treatment – she had a crush on Nick and spent many hours fantasizing about him and how they would look as a couple. When her fantasies went more deviant, she thought about how good he must be in bed. She’d heard the rumors about him and until she’d received confirmation from Nick himself, they would just stay rumors.

  Delicious, enticing, and panty-wetting rumors.

  It was an open secret in the English department about how Rosemary felt and Nick wasn’t blind to her attitude. However, Nick treated all of his colleagues professionally and he wasn’t going to lead Rosemary in believing something could possibly happen between them when he knew there was no way in blue hell it would.

  Instead, Nick turned on the charm and spread it thick like molasses whenever he met with her. He winked and smiled a lot and made sure to wear the cologne she liked so much. So he had to kiss a lot of ass and practically pimped himself out to his boss. In exchange, he had a bit more freedom to teach his English courses the way he saw fit and that’s really all that mattered.

  “Who’s she?” Nick’s colleague, Herschelle Pastora, commented to Rosemary as they took their places at the dining room table.

  Rosemary turned to Stacey and watched Nick interact with her. It didn’t seem like an intimate relationship but she could tell Nick didn’t just hire her for the night. They knew each other on some level and Nick was very comfortable being around her. She did briefly wonder how did they know each other when Stacey was clearly their server and Nick was giving her instructions.

  Rosemary felt a surge of jealousy slice through her. How dare anyone flirt with her Nick? “I have no idea. She doesn’t look like a student that I’ve seen. Then again, I see so many students on campus I probably have seen her and forgot about it.”

  “They seem awfully friendly,” Herschelle studied their interaction. She always had a thing for Nick and was never shy about wanting to hook up with him for at least one night. “I wonder how he knows her. She seems pretty young for him.”

  “Meow.” Another colleague, Bob, muttered under his breath.

  “Excuse you! I’m not jealous.” Herschelle commented.

  “Okay, whatever.” Bob cleared his throat. “I guess I would feel uncomfortable as well if I saw my competition head-on.”

  “She is not competition, trust me.” Herschelle replied with a snarky attitude and Bob shrugged. They both knew Nick’s reputation with some of his female students and while age was not a factor in his conquests, all of the women had youthfulness to their advantage. “She’s got nothing on me and on this.”

  “Well, she’s got something on you,” Bob replied.

  “Oh yeah? What in the hell could that little girl have that I don’t?”

  Bob motioned towards Nick, who caressed Stacey’s arms and winked at her. “Nick.”

  Five

  Krista stepped aside and looked at the extravagant rose display at her station. All day she fielded questions from clients and onlookers alike, wondering aloud who sent her the flowers. Krista, wanting to keep her private life just that, refused to answer any questions. Instead, she replied with the same canned response everyone received – a good friend sent them to her.

  It wasn’t a lie. Sir was a good friend. No one else needed to know more than that.

  Krista, however, was not concerned with the whispers and ogling eyes regarding her non-existent romantic life. She’d received the surprise of her life when she encountered Nick yet again.

  He was dressed differently, wearing blue jeans and a cream mock turtleneck sweater. His blue eyes were soft and friendly. His cologne was light but fragrant, with notes of tangerine, musk, and wood.

  When he shook her hand, he revealed a brilliant smile and his eyes twinkled. He faintly remembered her from all of the run-ins at the shop but nothing more.

  He didn’t see me.

  Krista remembered spent the rest of her night with Sir so there was no way Nick would’ve seen her. Even if he had, by chance, his eyes didn’t indicate that he knew her. In fa
ct, his eyes and demeanor didn’t indicate anything at all. She began to wonder if Sir said anything to Nick about her…

  “Earth to Krista?” Faith yelled and Krista finally snapped out of her thoughts. “Finally! After calling your name for like a dozen times!”

  “I’m sorry I was lost in my thoughts,” Krista covered, “what is it?”

  “Lost in your thoughts…” Faith sauntered over to her best friend and shimmied against her. “Thinking about your boo thang?”

  Krista dismissed her best friend. “I was thinking about other things.”

  “Oh?” Faith noted the serious tone in her friend’s voice and responded accordingly. “Such as what? Talk to me, Kristabella.”

  Talk to Faith about what, exactly? Her sexual deviant behavior? Nick’s secret lifestyle? How much she wanted to bed Nick and his friend at the same time? How Nick knew the mysterious man that flooded Faith’s salon with six-dozen roses?

  Krista chose the safe route. “When you find out about someone’s secret and you know you weren’t supposed to, what do you do?”

  “I pretend that I don’t know it and it’s all good in the hood,” Faith replied, “if I’m not supposed to know it and they don’t know that I know it, there’s not point of creating drama for the sake of drama.” She eyed Krista again. “You know something you’re not supposed to know? Is that why you got all these flowers?”

  “No,” Krista replied, “the flowers and the secret are totally unrelated. It’s something else, though.” She hurriedly grabbed her items, “I need to leave, Faye. I’ll talk to you later.” She left the salon.

  Faith stood behind and crossed her arms. Krista never kept a secret from her before so it was unlike her start now. Faith was tempted to snoop but she didn’t know where to start. Oh wait, she knew where. The one place where the flowers came from – her husband’s shop.

  She quickly got on the phone with Eli. “Hey baby. Everything’s great. Just real quick…do you know who placed the order for Krista’s flowers?”

  ****