She stuck her tongue out at him before closing her eyes.

Chapter Thirteen

The men had kept extremely mum about what they were going to do. They were collaring her as their submissive, not their slave. It was an important distinction she appreciated them making for her peace of mind.

There would be plenty of time to take it farther. For now, this was a huge leap of faith on her part.

Fortunately for her, it was enough for her men.

The morning of their collaring, the men were cooking breakfast when Eliza showed up. “Why aren’t you dressed and ready to go?”

“Um, because it’s only nine o’clock in the morning.”

Eliza turned on the men. “Didn’t you tell her about the brunch?”

They froze. “You said you were handling that,” Toby said.

“Uh, yeah. The planning of it. I told you to have her ready.”

“Sorry,” Logan said. “Miscommunication.”

“Sheesh. Up. Dressed. Now. Hope you had a shower.” She started hauling Rebecca out of her chair.

“I did, and ow, easy there, girlfriend.”

“Let’s go.”

Twenty minutes later, Rebecca was in the car with Eliza.

“Lucky for you I love those dudes,” she said. “I told them to have you ready.”

“Shouldn’t someone have asked me if I wanted a brunch?”

“Irrelevant. You’re getting one.” Eliza grinned at her. “Then we’re all going to get our hair done.”

“Ugh. You can get yours done. Mine’s untamable.”

“Let them at least try for a fancy updo.”

“What’s going on?”

“Your guys wanted a nice semi-formal affair. I picked out a dress for you. You’re welcome.”

“You…what?”

“It’s gorgeous, a black sheath that will make your boobs stand out.”

“How do you even know it’ll fit me?”

“Because I rooted through your closet to find out your sizes. Duh. It’ll fit. Trust me.”

“You are worse than Tilly.”

“Thank—wait. Was that an insult or a compliment?”

“You choose.”

* * * *

The whole gang had turned out for this affair—Tilly, Loren, Shayla, Leah, June, Laura, Gabe, Jenny, Abbey, Essie, Mallory, Chelbie, and Cali. Clarisse and her men were stuck at home with a sick toddler but sent their love.

They brunched at a swanky resort restaurant out on Siesta Key before heading to the hairstylist. When they finally converged on Venture around five, Rebecca had to agree the dress was perfect, and she’d had fun.

With her friends.

Not imaginary friends, or friends that only existed inside her computer, either.

And friends who weren’t talking dogs.

There were also a lot of other people at the club, too. And from the look of the buffet spread, no one would leave hungry.

Her guys were already waiting there, dressed in tuxes.

As Loren led her up to them and called for everyone’s attention, Rebecca’s focus was only on her men.

“You guys…that’s hot. Can we keep the tuxes?”

The men shared a high-five. “You called that one right,” Logan told Toby.

“No, seriously. Can we keep them?”

“Sorry, sweetheart. They’re rentals. But you like?”

“Oh, yeah. Awesome.”

Loren shushed her. “This is your collaring. Don’t make me get Gilo’s duct tape.”

“It’s all right,” he called out. “I’ll share.”

“Shush, you,” Loren said. “Okay, folks. You poly people are starting to catch up with us monogamists. You’re making us look practically vanilla.” A small ripple of laughter flowed through the crowd. “Today we’re here to witness the commitment of Rebecca and Toby and Logan. Three good people I’m proud to call friends. The men have written their vows, so I’ll shut up and let them take over.”

Logan took Rebecca’s hands in his. “We know you had some struggles in your past. So did we. But sometimes when there’s something better, a risk has to be taken. We love you enough to know the risk is only a fraction of the reward of having you in our lives. I’m asking if you’ll accept and wear our collar, not just to be our submissive. We want you as our friend, our partner, our lover, our wife in pretty much every way. As a person in your own right, bringing your own energy to the table with us. We promise we’ll never control you in any way except how you want to be controlled. And even if you decide one day you don’t want to do BDSM, we still want you as our life partner.”

He handed her over to Toby, who took her hands in his. “We’ll not just take care of you,” he said, “but take care with you. We’ll never take you for granted, never forget you matter just as much as we do, never break your trust. Just like we know that you’ll never do anything to break ours. So, as he asked, we’d like to know if you’d please accept and wear our collar. Not as a symbol of our ownership of you, but as a symbol of your ownership of our hearts, our loves, our trust.”

She nodded, struggling not to cry. They’d pretty much said everything perfectly to trample any stray cobwebs of doubt that wanted to muck things up. “Yes,” she said. “I want that.”

Loren handed them a box. From it, they withdrew a beautiful shimmering blue Niobium chainmaille necklace with an intricate weave.

Before she could ask about it, Toby said, “We did kind of go behind your back for this. Took us forever to make it when you weren’t around.” He playfully smiled. “But we’re hoping you don’t mind us keeping secrets like this.”

Her hand flew to her mouth, the tears now breaking through. “You both made it for me?”

Logan nodded. “Did we do okay?”

“You did perfect.”

They got it fastened around her neck as she struggled not to ruin her makeup by slobbering all over them with snot-filled tears.

She kissed Logan, then Toby. The necklace probably took them a couple of weeks to make, at least. That they took the time and care to do that for her overwhelmed her.

“And that’s another one for the books, folks,” Loren teased. “Time to eat!”

* * * *

After food and cake and Eliza-ordered dancing to make it as close to a “proper wedding” as she could make it for her friend, Rebecca and the men changed clothes for play.

Well, the men changed clothes.

Rebecca simply got naked, except for her collar.

And that was what she thought of it as, a collar. Not just a necklace.

They took her over to one of the benches and laid a towel out for her. “Ready for some fun, baby?” Logan asked.

She smiled. “Give me your best.”

He smiled, pulling her in for a long, deep kiss. “I just gave you my best a little bit ago. I gave you my heart.”

“Okay, quit with the mushy stuff,” Toby playfully scolded. “I want to spank an ass.”

“Maybe I should spank your ass,” Logan said.

“Sure, but ladies first,” he replied.

She climbed up onto the bench and the men buckled leather cuffs around her wrists and ankles. Two loving pairs of hands roamed her body, quickly soothing her while at the same time teasing her, stoking the embers inside her, reminding her why she enjoyed this so much.

Because she trusted them.

They started with a light flogger on her back and ass that only served to make her hornier and beg for more. They took turns with light bare-handed spanking before working up to a paddle.

After five swats of the paddle, she heard a Hitachi switch on, and that was the last coherent thought she had for a while, until she finally called yellow on the orgasm play and they turned the vibrator off.

Toby, grinning from ear to ear, knelt in front of her. “Ready for more, or are you done?”

“More what?”

“Canings, coming, cuddling. I’m easy.”

“That’s what he said,” she teased.

“She’s still able to talk,” Logan said. “We obviously didn’t do a good enough job.”

Actually, they had. She didn’t want to expend all her energy right then and not have any for them later. “I’m good…for now.”