words. Someone who was so open and honest about her needs would be a joy to initiate into the world of BDSM, which was why there was already a debate at the table over who would be this one’s trainer — and why his heart was suddenly pounding against his ribs.
“She’s delightful,” Eden said.
Simon was practically drooling. “She has no experience?”
“She’s not a virgin; she’s had lovers, even some playtime,” Adam said as he leaned forward and braced his arms on the table. “She’s got enough experience to know she wasn’t getting what she needed from them, so she placed an ad online and met some wannabes.”
Ian’s gut clenched, and he tamped down the rush of anxiety that hit at that bit of news. Eden groaned, and Simon cursed beneath his breath as he reached for another beer. The four of them were seated in deep, cushioned chairs around a low table in the middle of the closed club, an ice bucket of full of bottled beers in the middle of the table. Only select Doms and Dommes at the club participated in the core training program for Overwatch, and they all took turns. This round was Simon Sharp, Eden Morgan, and himself. All of them agreed the damn Internet made it too easy for the curious to find trouble.
It was dangerous, especially for submissives who didn’t know how to protect themselves. Ian knew the need to protect submissives, to provide them a safe place to explore and meet good Doms, was why Adam had opened Overwatch. He took their safety seriously. In fact, he was obsessive about it.
As the owner of the club, Adam vetted all the applications for membership and decided who would or would not be accepted. The man was strict as hell about any Tops who wanted in, but Ian had yet to see a submissive rejected. Those with little or no actual experience were required to go through the training program, which ran four or five times a year, and not all of them made it through the process, for various reasons, but it was always their choice to walk away. They weren’t turned away.
Since Adam limited the number of trainees for each class to ten or twelve, he liked to give the trainers a heads up on who would be in the class, beforehand.
As one of those trainers, Ian wasn’t quite sure what to do about the application in front of him.
Damn it. There really was only one thing he could do. “I know her,” he said.
Conversation stopped, and Adam’s eyes snapped to his. “How well?”
“Well enough.”
Adam nodded. “How do you want to handle it?”
Ian bit back the urge to shout Hell no , to those seated at the table. No way was he going to let his childhood friend’s little cousin join a kink club.
It was unusual for one of the trainers to know an applicant in their day-to-day life, but it happened. When it did, Adam let that trainer have the final say on how to handle the applicant. He could step back and get one of the others to take his place with this class or he could ask Adam to deny her application. Neither option felt right, so what was he going to do?
Simon and Eden remained silent while Ian considered his options.
Denying her was a knee-jerk reaction. He had no real reason to do it, other than thinking about what Dave would say if he said yes. What he should be considering was what Ronnie would do if he said no. Adam said she’d placed an ad online. God only knew what sort of men she’d met as a result, but they couldn’t match the Doms of Overwatch.
Would she place another ad if she didn’t get into the club? Where would she go to get her needs met? If she truly was submissive then she needed what they could offer her. What he could offer her.
Decision made, he lifted his gaze from the table and looked at the others. “Accept her.”
Ian’s work kept him busy, leaving him little time for a social life, and he liked it that way. Romance and emotional entanglements were not his thing, and most of the time, being a sexual dominant helped him steer clear of them.
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