She stiffened a little. "I don't think I like the sound of that."
Cooper leaned in. "Come on, Lea. Don't be scared. You know Dane likes to play. It's just who he is. He needs to feel like he's in control." His voice dropped to a whisper. "If he thinks you're afraid, he'll pull away. His ex-wife told him he was a pervert, and I don't think he can handle it if you feel the same way."
Talib liked to "play," too. Oh, her cousins had tried to hide that fact from her, but she'd snuck into Tal's "dungeon" when she was a teenager. The locked door had always intrigued her, and they'd never let her in or explained. Unfortunately when she'd finally figured out how to sneak in, Tal had been playing at the time. She'd hidden, of course, but she'd heard the moans, the slaps of leather on skin, the gasps-the sounds of satisfaction.
And she'd heard the tenderness he'd shown his submissive afterward. The praise he'd given her. The woman's sighs of contentment. They had both enjoyed themselves. There hadn't been anything wrong with it. She'd heard that the dungeon was open again and her cousins played with Piper, teasing her and loving her. Tal needed the control after what had happened to him.
What had happened to Dane?
She sat up and stared at him, illuminated by the fire. He had a bland, somewhat expectant look on his face, but she was starting to really know him. His anxiety revealed itself in the hard line of his shoulders, in the stiff way he held himself. "What if I'm not submissive?"
And just like that, his body relaxed, and the teasing Dom was back. "Oh, you are."
"Maybe I want to be in control. Maybe I need it after what happened to me." How would he handle that?
A smile softened his face. "You'll always be in control. That's the great misunderstanding about the lifestyle. The submissive can stop the scene at any time. Any play is meant for your pleasure. Any rule is meant to protect you, build trust between us, and lift you up. It's why I won't listen to you talk badly about yourself. I'm willing to spank you over that so you'll remember. Even if you hate me, I need you to believe how amazing you are."
She didn't necessarily understand, but she was pretty sure she couldn't hate him. Ever. "We have to go slow with the whole play thing, Dane. I might never be able to handle it, especially the bondage. Being unable to move … it scares me."
Which meant she might never be able to please him.
"Hey, it's going to be okay. We'll go as slow as you need," Dane assured her. "Trust isn't an overnight process. We'll take it one baby step at a time, if that's how it's got to be. For now, I want you to kiss Lan slow and deep. He's going to sit back and let you have your way with him."
Lan smiled at her, placing his hands behind him and using them for leverage as he tilted back. The move left his big chest on display. "I'll keep my hands to myself, darlin'."
She rose to her knees. Her having control while she had her way with Lan confused her. "That doesn't sound terribly submissive, Dane."
"There are as many ways to play as there are players," Dane shot back. "We don't have to follow any rules except our own. Now kiss him. I want to watch."
The idea of Dane watching her as she kissed Landon made her heart pound in a sultry rhythm. She'd been kissed before by men, yes. But she'd never been the aggressor.
Men? Hah. She'd dated boys. Not a single one of her few boyfriends had been as masculine as Landon or Cooper or, oh god, Dane. They were big and broad and hard. They oozed testosterone. They had protected her today. They had made sure she was comfortable and safe and warm. They always would.
No, she'd never dated even one man before. Those rich boys had been cultured, some even really intelligent and interesting. And she would bet they would have panicked and screamed like girls the second they realized the plane was going down. They wouldn't have put that much time, energy, or thought into making sure she lived. Hell, Coop had all but volunteered to commit suicide by palm tree just to put the plane down in a visible location that might give the rest of them a better chance at being rescued.
And Landon … She stared up at his stony face, his gorgeous, sculpted mouth. His lips were thick and perfectly curved. His cheeks already had a sexy growth of beard. And his blue eyes were so hopeful.
Kiss him. She wanted to. She could even feel blood rushing to her nipples as she thought about it.
With a little smile, she leaned in and brushed her lips against his, getting just a hint of his warmth and the firmness of his lips before she pulled away.