Anticipation by Vera Roberts

Prologue

    She felt exhilarated.
    Stepping inside the club and looking around,
Krista Allen finally felt at home. As close to home as she could
get.
    The club was dark, but not so much where she
couldn’t see anyone or anything. Blue, green, and purple lights
faded in and out as the heavy air conditioning unit blew overhead.
There was a dance floor filled with sweaty bodies, bumping and
grinding against each other. The thumping bass line of a slow
R&B track tickled her ears as submissives and their Masters
paraded in front of her. Some were on leashes. Some were collared.
Some stood idly beside their Masters as they engaged in
conversation with other fellow Dominants.
    A couple walked past her wearing matching
latex outfits. A woman was being led on by a leash. Two women
flanked a tall man and they only wore stilettos and rope
intricately tied around their bodies. Another woman – oh God – had
two sets of chopsticks attached to her nipples.
    It was a fantasyland. It was a different
world. It was…the Dungeon.
    Krista was instantly jealous. She briefly
closed her eyes and let out another breath. She didn’t come this
far to be jealous and blow her chance at finding a real Dom before
it was presented to her. No, she needed patience.
    A lot of it.
    She blamed her obsession with romance novels
and movies that contributed to her obsession with all things BDSM.
She would be a liar if she said she wasn’t just fascinated with the
sex aspect but she knew there was more to it. The discipline. The
surrender of everything she’d ever known about her willpower and
spirit. The thought of having someone else cultivating her into a
different person before her very eyes.
    She’d searched far and wide for someone,
going on numerous BDSM dating websites and even a few dates. No one
could come close to what she wanted. Some wanted to have sex with
her and Krista scoffed at the idea. If she wanted just a bed buddy,
she had her pick of the litter in front of her in New York. With
curly black hair, baby-soft brown skin, curves that led to an
apple-shaped ass and toned legs, and a smile as wide and bright as
the sun, Krista had no shortage of dates. Some men had no idea what
it entailed in being a Dominant and she could tell they came from
the whips and chains school of thought.
    She knew what she wanted – someone to be her
coach when needed, a shoulder to cry on when necessary, and a
sounding board when the opportunity presented itself. She needed
someone to bring out the best in her and make her believe even if
she couldn’t. Occasionally spanking her with a flogger and making
her do unspeakable bedroom acts were just added bonuses.
    One night out of boredom and maybe a bit too
much wine, she came across a post on a BDSM lifestyle website
talking about an event happening at the Dungeon that weekend. The
Dungeon was a highly-respected and well-known BDSM club that was
owned by a mysterious woman named Sanora.
    The post itself was about a certain event
happening during that weekend, a medical demonstration by two
Masters – Nick and Scott. Krista was about to bypass the thread
until she saw the conversation about them from a variety of
submissives.
    “ Can you believe both Master Scott and
Saint Nick are going to be there? I’m climaxing just thinking about
what they’re going to do to that lucky-ass bitch!”
    “ For Master Scott to be doing it, you
know it’ll be hot. But with Saint Nick as well? OMFG.”
    “ I wonder if the poor girl is going to be
able to walk when they’re done with her. My bets are that she
wouldn’t.”
    Krista went from being a little interested
to very curious to stalking her wardrobe and wondering if she
needed to go buy a completely new ensemble for that weekend. She
was going to see if “Saint Nick” and Master Scott were living up to
the hype they had seemingly created in the throes of hungry
submisssives on an online message board.
    Or if they were full of shit – just like the
countless other