by Brandi Evans
She’d made arrangements with the boss to save the dungeon after class. The dungeon. She shivered. Was it weird the dungeon was starting to feel like home?
In all the ways which mattered, they’d made the dungeon their own. They’d painted the rock walls with her cries of pleasure. She fought the grin curling her lips. She’d never known it was possible to orgasm so much in such a short amount of time.
From somewhere on the pier, Buddy whined again. He’d made it almost fifteen minutes since the last time. He didn’t like being left alone, especially knowing one of his people was so close and yet so out of his reach.
She called to him. “I’ve already explained this, Bud, but I can’t let you in while I’ve got a shit-ton of boat parts laid out around me. It’s hard enough keeping the nuts and bolts from rolling as it is. Sorry. Not sorry.”
More whining.
“Nope. The begging might have worked last time, but it won’t work this time. If I let you up here, you’ll trample over everything. At best, you’ll scatter everything and get your hair everywhere. At worst, you’ll eat something, and I don’t have twenty-four to forty-eight hours I can spare as I wait for you to give said part back. But I’ll tell ya what…”
Gingerly as she could, careful to keep from rocking the boat too much and sending anything rolling, she made her way to the edge where she’d left what she hadn’t eaten of her lunch, grabbed the last bite of her sandwich, and tossed it to Buddy.
He yelped appreciatively and gobbled it up, but it didn’t calm him. It did the opposite.
Her cell phone dinged, and her watch buzzed. She lifted her arm to see the displayed text message from Maddox. He’s gathering his things.
Christ. This was about an hour earlier than she’d planned.
Careful to use a relatively smudge-free section of her pinky, she pressed the blue circle microphone icon and instructed Siri to send the following response: Stall him. I need more time.
I’ll try, Maddox returned, but he’s trying to leave early to get back to you. It’s ridiculously cute how fast he’s packing.
Carter had just turned into his housing division when Genny finally called him back. As soon as he straightened the wheel, he tapped the handsfree icon on his steering wheel and was greeted with a very winded lover.
“You sound like you’ve just finished a marathon,” he said. “Is that why you didn’t answer earlier?”
She snorted. “If I tried to run a marathon, I’d probably collapse by the time I hit the quarter mile-mark.”
“Then what’s with the breathing heavy? Are you spending time with another Dom behind my back?” He’d intended his words as a joke, but the idea irked him.
“Are you kidding? I can barely handle one Dom. Two would kill me.”
“Good to know.” He fought to keep from grinning like an idiot. “Then what’s up?”
“It’s a surprise. You’ll see soon enough.”
“I like the sound of that.” And he seriously hoped said surprise involved the use of something with tails and leather. “How about a hint?”
She chuckled. “It involves the use of a bathing suit, which is never my favorite thing to wear in public but, unfortunately, it’s a necessary evil.”
“You don’t sound extremely happy with your little surprise.” He stopped at the four-way intersection next to the house Genny loved.
“Well, it’s not a surprise for me, silly, so I don’t have to like it.”
“If it helps, you can always forgo the bathing suit and go au naturale. I wouldn’t mind that a bit.”
“I bet you wouldn’t, but having nothing on in public would only exacerbate my discomfort.”
“Pity.” He left the main area of the housing division behind. “Are you still at my place? Or do I have to wait even longer to get said surprise?”
“I’m sprawled somewhere in your backyard with Buddy in my lap. Your dog’s very needy.”
“I keep telling you. Buddy isn’t—”
“Your dog. I know. I’m not the one you need to convince, handsome. He’s yours; you’re his. Accept it.”
Very apropos. Was he in denial of the status of, at least, two of his relationships?
They chatted idly the rest of the way, and when he pulled into his drive, she cut the phone call after giving him one cryptic clue: See ya when ya find me. If you find me.
No, he most certainly wasn’t falling in love.
When he reached his backyard, it was noticeably Genny free. The backdoor was closed, and no one sat at the patio table. He ventured a little farther back. Nothing. Finally, he stepped onto the pier leading to his houseboat but stopped about halfway and gave the yard one final visual search.
Nada.
The girl was good, and he was too impatient to get her into his arms to keep playing. “Genny,” he called. “I give—”
But before he could fully concede his search, Buddy began wailing ecstatically from behind him.
Carter turned to see his dog—and great, he was speaking about the animal with possession too—bouncing frantically at the boat’s gate.
“Damn it, Buddy,” Genny yelled, “you four-legged traitor! See if I share my lunch with you anymore.” But she was all laughs as she spoke.
They were on the boat?
Carter closed the distance between himself and the boat with ground-eating strides and climbed inside. Genny sat on a floral blanket on the deck, a cooler half open beside her. She wore a simple, dark, one-piece with a deep purple cover made from a sheer fabric which was supposed to be see-through. She’d brushed her hair straight back, the strands still wet as if she’d taken a quick shower or a dip in the lake. Her feet were bare, and she held two glasses of some chilled amber liquid in her hands, condensation clinging to the goblets.
“Welcome home, sailor,” she said with trouble in her voice.
“What’s all this?” he asked as he bent to scratch Buddy’s head on his way to her.
“I thought we could have a picnic on the water as we christened your newly rebuilt engine.”
“Rebuilt? You didn’t…?”
“I did. You’ve done such an amazing job with the aesthetics, but now, her innards match her outside.”
“You seriously got her running?” He felt almost giddy.
“I did.”
He couldn’t believe it. “And you did all this today?”
“Not all of it, no.” She sat one of the glasses on the deck and patted the spot next to her. “I’ve been working on her most days after you went to work. Not to mention from sunup to sundown while you were out of town. I may or may not have slept out here a time or two, but ya know, a girl never tells.”
This girl was fucking amazing.
He took the seat beside her, ignoring the proffered glass, and took her lips in a hard, possessive kiss. It was a bury-his-fingers-in-her-hair, crush-her-against-him kind of kiss which grew hotter when she melted instantly into him—a kiss which came to a screeching halt when a cool liquid spread over his rapidly hardening cock.
He pulled back and looked down to see Genny, a glass of wine half empty and hanging limply in the hand caught between them.
“Oops.” She laughed. “Sorry.”
“You don’t sound very sorry.”
Laughing more, she sat the glass on the deck and dried her hand on her coverup. “Yeah, I’m really not.” She pushed to her feet and held her hands out to him, and when she’d helped him to his feet, she pulled him close, wet pants and all. “Go change into something more appropriate for sailing, and I’ll get her all revved up for ya.”
Interesting choice of words. She’d had him all revved up for weeks.
Carter made short work of stowing his badge and sidearm in the safe, even quicker work of pulling off his wet clothes and pulling on his swim trunks. He didn’t bother with a T-shirt.
When he returned to the boat, Genny was at the helm, smiling. She had a look of awe on her face. No, strike that. Pride, this was all pride.
“She sounds good,” he said.
“Yes, she does.” She revved the engine higher, the thick, guttural sound growing and cutting through the usually quiet setting.
“I still can’t believe you did this,” he said as he stepped behind her and propped his hands on her hips. “How much do I owe you for parts and labor?”
“Not a damn thing. It was my pleasure. Throwing myself into work like this helps me focus when I’m feeling frazzled.”
“Your mom?”
She nodded. “And you a little.” She tossed him a brief sideways glance but didn’t elaborate. Then again, she didn’t have to.
She’d been thinking about his gift.
Submission didn’t come easily for Genny, not with all the hardships she’d had to endure. She’d had to become strong and assertive to survive, whether she’d wanted to or not. Willingly giving up control and offering him her submission was a gargantuan task, and he was constantly awed by her strength.
“I want to pay you back,” he said. “If for no other reason than I know how much you need the money.”
“How about you pay me back in orgasms?”
He nipped at her neck. “I can do that.” He’d also pay her back in cash. Somehow. He had to be sneaky about it though. Give the money to Brock and have him sneak it into her pay for the class? Could work.
“But seriously,” she began, “you might wanna hold off on thanking me. You got home a bit earlier than I was anticipating, so I haven’t had the chance to test drive her. This could be a very short trip.”
“I have faith in you.”
She turned her head and touched her lips to his. “Oh, before we head out, I bought you a little care package, so we can properly christen her maiden voyage. It’s wrapped in butcher paper and sitting beside the cooler.”
“Genny, you—”
“I know, I know. I’m amazing.” Grinning, she kissed him again and then gave him a playful push. “Go get it. I’m ready to take her out.”
He retrieved the package and returned to Genny’s side before digging inside. The first thing he found was an abundance of blue tissue paper, which made him chuckle. Although whether the color was a nod to the water or his chosen profession he wasn’t sure. Either way, it was appreciated.
The first treasure he came across was a boat keychain, the big, bulky kind that floated in the event they were tossed overboard. Scrawled over the surface, in a font like that on his badge, was the name of his boat.
“Cute,” he said, turning it over in his hand. “I’m sure this’ll come in handy.”
“Very handy.” The left side of her mouth tipped up as if she were fighting a grin. “I may or may not have almost dropped the keys the other day while climbing inside.”
“May or may not?”
She shrugged. “I plead the Fifth.”
Shaking his head, he placed the key ring in her safe—clumsy? —hands and kept digging. “Two condoms. Very handy.”
She grabbed the rubbers and tucked them unceremoniously inside the bodice of her swimsuit. “These are for an entirely different sort of christening. Ya know, if you’re in the mood later.”
“With you, I’m always in the mood.”
He pulled one final object from the package, a bottle of red wine wrapped in mesh. He was about to open it when Genny placed a hand on his.
“No, don’t unwrap it. The bottle’s made special for boat christenings. The glass is designed to break easier when struck, and the mesh holds all the fragments inside.”
“Someone really knows her boat christening etiquette.”
“Nah. I’m just tight with Google and her search engines. She taught me all I know.”
“She?”
“What? You don’t think Google’s female?”
He laughed but didn’t answer. “So, tell me, mighty searcher of the all-powerful Google, how is this boat christening thing supposed to go?”
“Well, first, and I’m streamlining things a little bit, you’re supposed to call upon the sea gods and ask if they will bless your ship. Next, you give them thanks and ask that they also erase the old ship name. You then rededicate the ship with its new name. Then, you offer thanks again by breaking the red wine over the bow. We’re supposed to use red wine because red wine symbolizes virgin blood.”
“Sounds awfully complicated.”
“That’s the streamlined version,” she said with a cheeky grin.
He let Genny take the lead in the process, the silliness worth every second. Genny was too cute as she evoked Poseidon, which was, by far, the strangest thing he’d ever done. When it came to the actual smashing of the wine bottle over the side, she held the bottle to him.
“She’s your boat,” she said. “You should do this part.”
“We should,” he corrected. “Crime Pays wouldn’t be sailing today without you.”
“You sure?” For the first time since he’d stepped aboard, she looked uncertain.
“Positive.”
And together, they slammed the bottle against the railing, sending red wine in every direction. “I christen thee Crime Pays,” she said, and they laughed.
Raven lifted her head from her prone position and observed Carter. He looked so peaceful as he steered his boat through the water, his trusty sidekick, Buddy, at his side.
They’d been on the water for almost two hours, and she couldn’t remember seeing him so content. Oh, he exuded a certain amount of contentedness at the club, but nothing like this. This was a no-care-in-the-world ease, and she’d given it to him.
When she’d started the rebuild, she’d been thinking mostly of herself. Oh, she knew he’d get something out of it, sure, but mainly, she’d been all about clearing her mind. This was an unexpected perk she hoped she could find ways to duplicate as their relationship continued, and she did want it to continue. She’d likely always struggle with keeping submissive Genny and independent Raven separate, but Carter was worth it.
Please don’t break my heart.
He throttled the engine back, and the craft came to a slow stop, thrusting them into the kind of near silence only nature could provide. The gentle thwack, thwack, thwack of the water as it slapped the hull. The gentle ebb and flow of the waves as they jostled the boat ever-so-slightly. The soft call of some bird off in the distance. And every perfect sound was punctuated by the crystal-blue Texas sky stretching out for miles, as well as the crystal-blue of his eyes as he sat beside her.
“In case I haven’t said it enough,” he murmured, his lips still against hers, “thank you for this.”
“You’re more than welcome, Sir.”
A shiver chased over him like she’d hoped. Which one of them was affected more when she called him Sir?
“We should probably get dinner in before it gets too late,” he said. “We have to be at the club in a couple of hours.”
She nodded. “I kept dinner simple. Sandwiches, veggie chips, and fruit salad. I’d have made you a smoothie, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to plug in your Vitamix out here.”
He chuckled as he reached for the wine. He refilled their glasses while she dished their food onto ‘picnic plates’. While they ate, they chatted about this, that, and the other; it was the most perfect meal she’d ever shared with anyone.
As she finished off her wine, he broached the subject she hoped he’d avoid forever. “Have you given any more thought as to how you’re going to deal with your mom? I know you’re close to your deadline.”
She was. Less than ten days.
She shook her head. “Nothing beyond what I’ve already told you.”
He pushed a wayward tuft of hair from her forehead. “Maybe the people you’re buying from would be okay waiting one more month. And in the interim, you’re always welcome to stay with me. I’d never forgive myself if you ended up desolate on the street.”
She laughed despite the seriousness of the topic. “Thank you. I appreciate the offer, but I’m still not looking for someone to save me.”
; “I know, but I’m still offering. If you’re worried about privacy, you can use the houseboat. I’ll even charge you rent if being less altruistic would help.”
Grateful beyond words, she pressed a soft kiss to his lips. She’d meant what she’d said. She wasn’t some waif in need of saving, but she didn’t see a viable way out of this mess. And his offer warmed her jaded heart.
“I despise her,” she finally said. “Who she’s become, I mean. You’d think turning her in would be easy. Why isn’t it easy, Carter?”
“Because, behind all your bravado, you’re one of the kindest people I’ve ever known.”
“Shut up. I’m serious.”
He drew his index finger along her cheek and turned her face toward him. “I am too, Genny. She may be a drugged-out bitch, but she’s still your mom. And no matter what she’s done to you or will do, I doubt even she’d be able to kill those few good memories you cling to with every fiber of your being.”
He knew her too damn well.
Chest aching, tears fighting to break free, she turned her face into his palm. She covered his hand with hers and held tight. If she pondered this decision for the rest of her life, she doubted she’d be able to figure it out.
“I wish you’d let me get involved,” he murmured, his lips playing over the line where her hair met her forehead. “I’m not sure what I could feasibly do to help that doesn’t involve sending your mother into some serious trouble, but you shouldn’t have to suffer because of her continued mistakes.”
He’d said all this before, and if she were in his place, she’d probably tell him the same thing. It was good advice. It was but…
Keeping his hand firmly pressed to her cheek, she lifted her eyelids and met his gaze. Over the weeks they’d been together, she’d trusted him with so many of her secrets and insecurities, both inside the club and out. She’d come to depend on him more than she wanted to admit. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about offering so much of herself to someone who could hurt her, but as she stared into his amazing blue-gray eyes which held a lifetime of heartache, something inside her chest broke free.