“You what?”

As expected, Rowen didn’t take the news well at all. He glanced around Lincoln’s office, grabbed the first thing he could get his hands on—a magazine off the coffee table—and launched it across the room. It hit the window, but unfortunately it didn’t have the dramatic effect Rowen was going for.

“I can’t believe you.” He stomped in a haphazard circle, hands on his head. “This is my sister we’re talking about, not some slave girl you picked up on the street corner.”

Lincoln pulled his shoulders back and set his hands on his hips. “Watch it, Easton. I’m not some flunky asshole who wants to take advantage of your sister, and you know it. I’ve never had a Master/slave relationship, and I don’t intend to start now.”

Lincoln pointed a finger at his friend and continued. “And if I ever hear you imply your sister is for sale again, I’ll beat the shit out of you myself.”

Rowen spun around. “Please. Don’t you dare lecture me. I’m not the asshole who followed her to Breeze this evening to ensure she lost interest in the lifestyle, and instead came back three hours later with a hard-on the size of Texas and some elaborate plan to train her to be his own perfect submissive.” He leaned in closer. “She’s not even your type, Walsh.”

Yeah, Rowen was pissed. And Lincoln couldn’t blame him.

The door to the office was pushed open, and Carter stepped inside, closing it behind him. “What the hell is going on in here? You two are yelling so loud the entire club can hear you.”

Rowen faced their third partner and waved a hand through the air as he sarcastically brought him up to speed. “Lincoln here apparently hasn’t gotten laid in a while, so he thinks it’s a good idea to use my sister to remind himself what it feels like to have his cock inside a woman.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Lincoln fumed. Rowen was going too far.

Carter shot him a wide-eyed stare.

Lincoln kept talking. “You know I’m not that kind of asshole, Rowen. So shut the fuck up and listen to reason. Sasha is hell-bent on exploring her submissive side. That leaves you with two choices, let her go find herself with random strangers in a club across town or let me gently guide her in a caring way that won’t cause her any permanent damage when she realizes she isn’t cut out for this lifestyle.”

“He’s got a point,” Carter stated, leaning against the door and crossing his ankles, clearly prepared to watch the shit-show.

“He’s got a hard-on,” Rowen shot back. “I can’t even remember the last time he got laid.” He turned his gaze from Carter to Lincoln. “I’m not with my sister twenty-four seven and haven’t been for years, but I think I can safely say that she’s about as innocent as a twenty-two-year-old girl can be.”

“Woman,” Lincoln interjected.

“What?” Rowen yelled.

“She’s a woman, dude. Your sister grew up several years ago. Stop thinking of her as a kid.”

Carter spoke again, though perhaps unwisely. “He has another good point.”

Rowen spun around to face their partner, who also happened to be the club’s head bouncer and thus significantly larger than either of them. “Whose side are you on?”

“I’m on Sasha’s side. Someone has to be. The two of you have been acting like toddlers in here.”

Lincoln exhaled slowly. Carter was right. He needed to pull himself together. Think. Maybe Rowen was right too. This entire idea was stupid and ill-planned. He never should have offered to train her. Hell, where would he even work with her? It wasn’t as though he could do it here at the club under her brother’s nose. And considering how she reacted at Breeze tonight, he didn’t want her in a public BDSM club at all.

Rowen padded across the room and faced the window. He stared out into the night in silence for a long time.

“I’m sorry, man,” Lincoln finally said. “I shouldn’t have suggested it to her before running it by you. It just sort of happened. She was so adamant, and I was grasping at straws. I didn’t expect her to accept my proposal. I just wanted her to see reason.”

“You’re a sadist, Lincoln,” Rowen told the window. “Not the kind of Dom who trains service submissives.”

“What makes you think your sister even knows which sort of submissive she is or aspires to be?”

Rowen continued to face the window, but his voice was calmer. “I don’t think my sister’s submissive at all. I think she’s being rebellious to piss me off. What I know for sure is that she isn’t a masochist.”

“Agreed. But unless I work with her, she’s not going to be able to figure any of this out in a way that we can guarantee her safety.”

More silence.

Carter opened his mouth, but Lincoln stopped him with a hand. If the guy repeated that Lincoln had a yet another good point, Rowen would probably go through the glass.

Finally, Rowen turned around. He met Lincoln’s gaze and took a deep breath. “Promise me you won’t mess with my sister.”

“Come on. You know me better than that. I’m always careful with my submissives. I’ve never once hurt any of them.”

Rowen shook his head, gritting his teeth. “That’s not what I mean, man. Promise me you won’t fuck my sister.”

Lincoln stopped short. He blinked as he caught on. “Of course.”

“You train her. Teach her everything there is to know about being submissive so that in the event she decides she wants a Dom of her own, she’ll know how to be treated with respect and dignity. You got me?”

“I got you.”

He strung his next words out. “Better yet, do your best to make sure she doesn’t want anything to do with the lifestyle at all so we can continue to sleep at night.”

Lincoln nodded. That was his intent.

Rowen leaned in closer, his eyes so narrow they were mere slits. “You do not have sex with my sister. You teach her about the lifestyle and what a Dominant expects and how to properly submit. But you stick to D/s. Now is not the time to let your dick get in the way.”

“You have my word.”