“Why not?” Kaden asked. “You’re good enough.”

“What if I hurt her!”

Leah smiled. “That’s sort of the point.”

Seth glared. “You know damn well what I mean!”

“You won’t hurt her through her jeans. That fall and popper can’t cut through denim. Not the way you’re throwing, at least. And that’s why I brought this.” He held up the jacket. “I’ll lay it over her ass while you practice. Once you’re sure on your distance, we’ll take it away and you can hit her on denim.”

Seth vigorously shook his head, nausea threatening. “No! I’m not ready to do that.”

Leah walked over and looked up into his face. Her eyes went wide. “Please?”

“Oh, no. Not the fucking puppy-dog eyes. Stop it!”

“Please, Seth?”

He clenched his jaw. “This isn’t fair. I’m not ready!”

She gently grabbed his collar and stood on tiptoe so she could kiss him. “Please, Sir? For me?” Her huge, green eyes melted him.

He closed his eyes and swore. “All right. But it’s your ass.”

“Thank you!”

Kaden laughed and handed Leah the jacket. She walked a short distance away and knelt on the ground, her rear facing them. She draped the jacket across her hips.

Kaden leaned into Seth. “You are so fucked, buddy. You know that? She’s got you wrapped around her little finger.”

“Look who’s talking.”

Kaden smiled. “Yeah, I know. Who’s really in charge, right? We’ve both got it bad.”

Kaden dumped some talc into his palm and laid the tip of the whip in it. “This’ll help you see where you’re hitting.”

Seth nervously gauged his distance before he threw, hitting her a little lower than he intended but on her right ass cheek. The faint white mark from the talc showed the strike.

Kaden nodded. “Excellent.” He grabbed the end of the whip, applied more talc. “Do it again.”

Kaden worked with Seth for fifteen minutes. Then Kaden removed the jacket from her ass and brushed the powder off. “Now, hit her like that.”

Seth’s nerves returned. “Man, I don’t know about this.”

“It’s okay. Go ahead.”

Leah looked like she was in heaven, the thuddy and not at all uncomfortable impact through the multiple layers of clothing nearly putting her in subspace despite the lack of an ongoing scene and relatively minor discomfort. She wiggled her ass at Seth. “Please, Sir.”

He took a deep breath. “All right.” On his first throw he choked and pulled at the last second, sending it wide and to the left.

“Stop.” Kaden walked over to him. “Don’t hesitate. That’s when you will hurt her. Or yourself. You changed at the last second. Just picture where you want it to strike and don’t hesitate. If you’re going to hesitate, it’s better to wait and not throw than it is to throw badly.”

“All right.” Seth tried again, this time hitting her exactly where he intended, on her left cheek.

Leah wiggled her ass at him and made a content sound.

“You okay?” Seth asked her.

“Ohhh yeah.”

Kaden leaned against another tree, out of the whip’s range. “She’s going to jump us once we’re finished, so you might as well nail her good now.”

After a few throws, Seth didn’t need the talc anymore. He slowly gained confidence as he took his time, carefully placing each strike to hit as close to the fleshy center of her ass cheeks as he could.

Kaden could easily go after her bare flesh. Seth knew it would take him some time—and a hell of a lot of practice—to reach that degree of confidence in his abilities.

After twenty minutes, Seth’s arm and nerves had reached their limit. He coiled the whip. “I’m done. I need a break.”

Leah sat up and pouted. “I didn’t get any sting out of that at all.”

Kaden laughed. He pushed away from the tree, handed the jacket to Seth, and took the whip from him. “Then get your ass bare for me and I’ll take care of that, love.”

Like a flash she was on her feet. She kicked off her shoes, jeans, and panties, then knelt on the ground again. “Thank you, Master!”

Kaden uncoiled the whip and took a moment to stretch his neck and roll his shoulders. As weird as it was, Seth never tired of watching Kade work with a whip. He was truly a master at it. Seth knew he needed to get plenty of video footage of them together, not just still pictures. Pictures couldn’t capture the confidence, the fluidity of Kade’s movements, the surety of his aim.

A true Dom.

“How are we, love?” Kade asked.

“Green, Master.”

“Set of twenty.”

“Twenty, Master.”

“Count.” He struck, nailing her square on the right ass cheek.

Leah sighed and said, “One, Master…”

Now she’d fully dropped into subspace. Even Seth could tell from the way her eyes looked glazed and the almost dreamy quality of her voice. Even when she didn’t need a session she still enjoyed them.

Kaden worked her through the full set, and she begged for another. After the second twenty he walked over to her and she curled in his arms, sated and content. She hadn’t climaxed from the session, and since she’d started it in a good frame of mind emotionally, she simply closed her eyes and cuddled with him.

Seth walked back to the house and left them alone. A few moments later, Leah, still naked from the waist down, ran into the kitchen and threw herself at Seth. He was forced to catch her, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him as she kissed him.

He turned, setting her on the counter before he managed to come up for air. “Whoa, hey. Hello to you, too.”

Kaden walked in. “Our girl needs some relief. I warned you she’d be jumping us.” He held up her clothes. “Go take these to the bedroom and wait for us there.”

She jumped off the counter, grabbed the clothes from Kaden, and ran to do it.

Kaden laughed and started unbuttoning his shirt. “Well? You can’t say you don’t want a nooner with her, can you?”

Seth rolled his eyes. “No, can’t say that.” He followed his friend to the bedroom.

* * *

Leah spent nearly two hours turning her men every which way but loose. When she finally fell asleep, contentedly tucked between them, Kaden fumbled for and found his glasses and the television remote. Seth needed a nap. He dozed next to Leah while Kaden watched TV.

It felt right. He wouldn’t deny it. With the initial weirdness out of the way, and except for his sometimes guilt, it felt right sharing her.

The woman they loved.

The right woman.

* * *

A few days later, Seth had conquered the worst of his hesitation over using the whip on Leah’s denim-clad rear end. Each time he did she always jumped the two men, who were more than willing to allow her to lead them to bed.

Seth was eating breakfast when Leah sidled up to him and wrapped her arms around him. “I know what I want for my birthday.”

He had a feeling it was a present he couldn’t buy. His friends had insisted on giving him an allowance when he refused to let them pay him for being there. He didn’t have to spend any of it and kept it in the joint account he now shared with Leah—yet another of Kaden’s careful plans. Seth was also a cosigner on their other bank accounts, but he didn’t want to have anything to do with those yet if he didn’t have to.

“What would that be?” He slipped his arms around her bare waist.

“I want you to use the singletail on me.”

He frowned. “How’s that a present?”

“On my bare ass.”

“Oh, no you don’t. That’s not fair!”

She broke out the puppy-dog eyes. “Please?”

“Why can’t I just buy you something?”

“This is what I really want. Please?”

“Stop the puppy-dog eyes.”

“Please?”

He groaned. “You’re killing me here, babe. Why are you asking me to do this?”

Kaden rounded the corner with his morning cup of coffee in hand. “What’s she prying out of you now?” he teased.

“I told Seth what I want for my birthday,” she said with a fake pouty lip, “and he won’t agree to it.”

Kaden took one look at her and burst out laughing. “You are too much, little girl.” He leaned in and kissed her. “And what are you trying to sucker Seth into now?”

“Using a singletail on my bare ass.”

Kaden’s spit take looked genuine. His rolling laughter certainly was. “Holy shit! She’s really got you this time.”

“How about a little backup here, dude?”

Kaden grabbed some paper towels to wipe up his spewed coffee. “No, I’m not getting between the two of you on this one.” He pointed at Seth. “You’ve got to man up and learn to stand up to her.”

“She used the eyes!”

Kaden laughed again. “I know. They’re lethal. That’s one thing I can’t teach you, buddy. You’re on your own there.”

Leah wore nothing but her heavy collar because they weren’t expecting any company that day. She pressed her body against Seth and squirmed. “Please?”

Kaden’s laughter didn’t help Seth any. “Dude, stand up to her.”

He looked at Kaden over her shoulder. “You put her up to this, didn’t you?”

Kaden leaned against the counter with his fresh mug of coffee and shrugged. “I might have suggested a course of action to her that would most likely get her the desired result.” He took a sip.

“Fucking traitor.”

“Fucking pussy. You’re her Dom. Stand up to her.”

She widened her eyes and pouted her lip. “Please?”

Seth closed his eyes and groaned. “I’m so fucking screwed.”

“Yep,” Kaden agreed.

* * *

That was how Seth found himself nervously staring at Leah’s bare ass a few hours later out in the backyard. The six-footer was too big to use in the playroom. With the Christmas tree in the living room, there wasn’t enough room there, either. With the lights on the lanai, in addition to the tables, it was easier to take her out back. Neighbors couldn’t see them anyway because of the woods.

“Your birthday isn’t for a couple of weeks yet. Why can’t we wait? Let me practice a little more?”

She wiggled her bare ass at him. She had donned a leather jacket and gloves at his insistence and Kaden’s agreement that it might be a good idea. “Please, Sir? I really want it.”

“What if I hurt you? Don’t be a smart-ass, either. I mean, what if I hit you in the wrong place?”

“You’re good. I’ve watched you. You won’t hurt me.”

Kaden sat with his back propped against an oak tree. “Pussy,” he taunted.

Seth turned and pointed the whip at him. “Don’t you fucking start on me. I’ll practice on you.”

He smiled and shrugged.

Seth took a deep breath. “All right. Just…hold still, okay? Don’t move.” He carefully lined up his throw, choked and stopped, walked in a circle, repositioned himself. “Hold still.”

He took another deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment to settle his nerves, then took aim and threw.

The hit landed squarely in the middle of her left ass cheek, leaving a pink welt behind.

Leah moaned. Not in pain, but in a “oooh, someone’s getting fucked soon and I hope it’s me” way.

“You okay, babe?”

She wiggled her ass at him. Her voice sounded deep and husky. “Don’t stop!”

Kaden laughed. “Go ahead. That was perfect. Could have stepped into it just a hair more. You barely touched her.”

“That was my intention.” He lined up another one. “Don’t move a fucking muscle.” He threw, landing the hit in the middle of her right cheek.

She moaned again. “Yes!” she hissed.

Kaden nodded. “Good. Now loosen up a bit. You’re too tense. You’re going to hurt yourself throwing like that.”

Seth took a moment to roll his neck and shoulders and another deep breath. “Okay, you ready?”

“Yes!”

He threw, then another one immediately after, both hitting their intended target.

“Okay, honey, please. I’m a wreck. Can I stop now?”

“Two more. Please?”

Kaden stood and motioned for the whip. Seth stepped out of the way and swapped him the whip for the video camera Kaden had been filming the practice with. “You’ll get more than that,” Seth said.

Kaden took over. “Where are we, love?”

She immediately slipped deep into subspace. Seth had suspected she was close but not that close. “Green, Master.”

“Set of thirty, love.”

“Thirty, Master.”

“Count.”

Seth filmed them, in awe of Kaden’s skill. Would he ever be that good, that sure of himself? Kaden told Seth he’d started with the bullwhips fifteen years earlier, after Leah had seen a demonstration and nearly came in her pants at the thought of Kaden using one on her.