X Marks the Spot by Melinda Barron

pain was not a good thing.
    They would have to be creative in their next few scenes, until they thought she was ready to take another flogging, or a cropping. The scene they’d just done was perfect. Arch had been sure when he’d seen the audition tape that she was the sub for he and Keifer to share on this event. What had just happened proved that, in spades.
    She was so different from the women he dated at home. The only similarity was they were all subs. But the ladies who he took to his dungeon in Boston were tall, thin and mostly blonde. He met most of them through his contacts at work. He wasn’t the only Dom at the firm; there were two others, and they’d both introduced him to three women, who had been fun to play with, but had never really captured his attention enough to want to collar them. None of them had feelings for him and had been content to play and then move on to someone else.
    Arch wondered about Lia. She was a paralegal, but that was all he really knew about her, except for what he’d seen on the tape. Her application had been light on information, only touching on her sexual needs. Obviously she didn’t have a Dom, or she wouldn’t be here. Unless her Dom had sent her here to learn a few things. But from what Arch could see, she didn’t need to learn too much.
    They were supposed to stay in character for the entire trip, so asking her these questions was, well, out of the question. He needed to find a way to pry into her personal life and not take away from the fantasy they were living out.
    “What the hell are you doing over there?” Keifer asked. “You’re staring at her as if she’s a steak and you haven’t eaten in months. You just had a taste of her.”
    “An appetizer. I think it’s time for the main course.”
    Keifer chuckled. He and his friend were at two different ends of the spectrum. They always had been, even when they were boys. Their parents ran in the same circles, and they went to the same private school as kids. They’d even attended Harvard together, but that was where the similarities ended.
    When Arch went to law school, Keifer decided he’d had enough school, and didn’t care to find a job. He’d traveled, first in Europe and then in the States, buying a motorcycle and taking to the highways. Sometimes, Arch wasn’t even sure where his friend was staying. But when he came home, they always got together, always went to a club and found a woman they could share.
    It had been two years since Keifer had stayed long enough in Boston for them to have fun, though, so Arch had proposed the Fingertip Fantasy trip. He could tell already this was going to be a perfect vacation.
    “Shall we plan a few scenes? Of course, you’ll be alone with her tonight, right?” Keifer asked.
    “Why don’t we just take it as it comes,” Arch replied. “And I think we both need to stay with her tonight.” His friend started to cough, hard, and Arch shifted his gaze to him. “Something wrong?”
    “You,” Keifer said, pausing to catch his breath. “You want to take it as it comes? Who are you and what have you done with Arch. Are you not the man who planned your birthday parties down to the minute, saying when the clown could come in and when he could leave?”
    “Maybe I’m up for a change in pace,” Arch said. “You plan the next scene.”
    “I’ve never planned a scene in my life,” Keifer responded. “I have an idea when it starts, but I go with the flow. You know that about me. It’s more fun when you’re not going by the rules.”
    Arch looked back at Lia. “We should start on the interrogation next,” he said.
    “I’ll go get more rope,” Keifer said as he stood. “Anything else you might need?”
    “A few clamps, if they have any that match the time period.”
    “I’m sure they do,” Keifer said in his usual jovial manner. He left, and Arch continued to study the woman in the bed. It would be interesting to see how she reacted to the remainder of the