* * * *
Brandon’s question reverberated in Lara’s mind as she shielded her eyes from the sun with the palm of her hand, tipped her head back, and studied the sign above the store in front of her. From the equally discreet and pervotic displays in the windows, she guessed Divine Playthings wasn’t a store filled with children’s toys.
She’d noticed the store on the main drag among the shops several times in the week since she’d stepped onto the island, but hadn’t yet gotten the courage to venture inside. She hadn’t seen the need to, either, until last night. She’d noticed how Brandon seemed to have a fixation with her ass, how he often touched it, and how he liked to play around her anus during sex. She didn’t know why it hadn’t occurred to her before last night that he wanted to fuck her there.
No man had ever done that to her. Before Brandon, no man had even touched her there. She knew some men liked to have anal sex. She even had a few girlfriends who had talked about how much they enjoyed it.
Brandon and John had given her so much satisfaction the last few days. Finding out that she hadn’t been giving at least one of them what he really wanted had actually brought tears to her eyes. She’d fallen for both of them. She knew that now with a certainty she couldn’t ignore. Leaving the island when it was time to go would tear her apart. Brandon’s furlough would end in a week. John would remain on the island, of course. It was his home. But she had a home, a life back in Washington, and she’d have to return there soon. Attempting to survive the fallout would damn near kill her, but she’d make it through somehow.
She’d told Brandon yes last night. She would let him do that soon. She would let him fuck her ass while John fucked her pussy. She wanted it, even if she did fear it more than she cared to admit. She’d convinced herself knowing that she gave the men she’d fallen in love with what they wanted as equally as they had given it to her would make it a tad easier to walk away.
But, holy hormones, Brandon’s cock was longer and thicker than John’s. His dick stretched her pussy every time he fucked her. If she had trouble taking him there, she didn’t know how she would ever survive his cock inside her ass.
Which is why you’re here. Now quit lollygagging and go inside.
She took a deep breath, held it for as long as she dared, and then puffed it from her lungs. Without giving herself another moment to have second thoughts, she wrenched the door to Divine Playthings open and forced herself to step inside.
She stopped just inside the door to give her eyes a moment to adjust from sunlight to florescent.
“Welcome to Divine Playthings.”
The male baritone had her vision adjusting real quick. Her heart stilled in her chest and it was all she could do to keep her jaw from dropping. It hadn’t occurred to her that a man might own the place. Heat crept into her cheeks as she swallowed slowly and attempted to find her voice.
“Um, hello, and thanks.”
The man rounded the purchase counter on her left and made his way toward her. Sharp blue eyes studied her from a movie-star worthy face. He was tall with surfer-boy sandy-blond hair, the body of a swimmer, and the tan to go with it. Nice looking, she decided, if a woman liked that type.
“You’re Lara Hampton, the US senator’s daughter.” He beamed a friendly smile at her and extended a hand. “I’m Chad Divine.”
Lara shook his hand and felt herself fall into her own little political mode. It was like a switch being flipped inside her. She didn’t want to have anything to do with any form of a political office, but the mannerisms were ingrained in her blood.
“How do you do, Mr. Divine.” She angled her head and gave him a suspicious look. “That’s not really your last name, is it?”
He chuckled and dropped his hand to his side when she released it. “That’s what it says on my birth certificate. The island has been buzzing about your visit. You’ve been here about a week now, haven’t you? I hope you’ve been enjoying the island.”
“It’s great! Kenneth and Marcus have created a special place here and the people are fantastic.”
His blue eyes twinkled with mischief. “Hmm, including our sheriff and his Navy SEAL friend, huh?”
Just like that, the switch flipped off. Her cheeks heated again, this time no doubt so brightly she probably looked like she was attempting to compete with the fire engine down the street.
Chad laughed. “I wondered if they were going to let you out of their sights long enough for you to get out and meet some of us islanders.”
“That’s what I’m here for. To meet the islanders,” she qualified quickly. “I’ve stopped in several of the shops on the main drag. I guess you could say I’ve been working my way down to yours.”
He turned slightly and backed to the purchase counter, leaning against it and crossing his feet at the ankles as a sly grin unfolded on his lips. “Is this a casual visit or are you looking for something special to take home to the sheriff and his SEAL friend?”
“Casual,” she said far too quickly. She could see from his expression that he didn’t buy it. She’d made a point of going into some of the other stores on the main drag first so that her stopping into Divine Playthings would appear normal to anyone who happened to be watching. God, the last thing she wanted was for people to start talking about her sex life. Except, they already were, weren’t they? Chad knew she’d been spending time with John and Brandon. Something told her he wasn’t the only islander privy to that information either.
“Well, then.” He straightened and gestured to the small store with a flourish of his arm. “You’re welcome to look around all you want. Let me know if you find anything you like or if there is something you’re looking for and can’t find.”
“I’m not looking for anything in particular,” she lied. “But I will have a look around. Thanks.”
She ignored the sensation of Chad watching her as she swept her gaze over the store at large before heading for the clothing racks along one side. She’d only been in a porn store once, during college with her dorm mate. They had stepped inside, walked around slowly at first, and then made a hasty retreat when the things they’d seen had appalled them.
As she made her way through racks of lingerie and down aisles of scented candles, flavored body lotions and creams, oils, and videos, she immediately decided Divine Playthings was nothing like the porn store she’d been in before. Everything she saw was tasteful, sexy, erotic and even tempting. She ventured onto an aisle with various vibrators and clit stimulators and considered the vibrator she’d ordered off line might be due for a replacement. Then again, she wouldn’t need that replacement until she left the island, so what would be the point in buying one now?
Thinking of her stand-in cock brought two lively cocks to her mind. She’d waited until Brandon had gone out for his morning run and John had left for his shift at the sheriff’s department before she’d come here. She couldn’t imagine walking through this store with them at her sides.
Talk about feeding the island grapevine!
She continued to the end of the aisle, pivoted, and worked her way down it again, this time perusing the stock on the opposite side, and stopped in her tracks when she came along the various selection of anal toys.
“If you’re unsure which one you would like best, I can make a few suggestions.”
Lara startled, jerking a hand back she hadn’t even realized she’d reached out toward an item hanging from a peg. She whirled around to find a woman about her height with a short bob of flaming red hair and a friendly smile plastered to her pretty face.
“Oh, no thank you,” Lara recovered quickly. “I was just—”
“The anal beads you were reaching for are one of our best selling items,” the woman bulldozed over the excuse Lara was about to make up.
Lara felt her eyes widen in surprise. “They are?”
The woman nodded. “They’re great for the cautious beginner or the experienced user because of the difference sizes of the beads on the strand.” She re
ached past Lara and snagged the iridescent purple toy from the peg. “The smallest bead is a quarter of an inch in diameter. The largest is a full inch.”
“How does it work?” Lara heard herself ask before she could stop to think. “I mean—”
The woman’s smile turned comforting and she cut Lara’s excuse off again. “Beginner, huh? No problem. You lube the strand up real good and let the sheriff,” she waggled her brows, “or Brandon. That’s his name, isn’t it?” She waved the question away before Lara could answer. “Have one of them push each bead into your anus as slowly as you want. You need to be comfortable and relaxed. He doesn’t have to push all of them in if you aren’t yet ready for the larger sizes.”
“What’s your name?” Lara couldn’t believe what she was about to do. She glanced behind her, rose on her tiptoes to peer over the aisles, and didn’t see anyone else in the store except Chad, who had made himself a statue once again behind the purchase counter.
“Oh, Michaela Gleason,” she said brightly. “I own the shop with Chad. I’m assuming you met him when you walked in?”
“I did, yes.” Lara glanced at Michaela’s left hand and didn’t see a ring on her finger. “Is he your boyfriend?”
Michaela shook her head, sending her flaming red bob of hair flying. “I’m his plaything.”
Lara drew her brows together. “I’m sorry?”
Michaela giggled. “Trust me, girlfriend, I’m not. He’s a fantastic sex partner. He’s highly dominant when I need him to be and soft as a teddy bear when I want it gentle.”
“But you’re not in a relationship?”
“We’re friends with benefits.” Michaela shrugged. “In this day and age, with all the sexually transmitted diseases going around, a single person can’t afford to be promiscuous. I love him and he loves me in the best friend kind of way, but we’re not in love. Do you know what I mean? It works for us while we waiting for the one, or ones, to find their way onto the island and sweep us off our feet.”
Lara didn’t know what to say so she kept quiet.
“I surprised you, huh. I’ve heard so many people, not on the island, of course, but when I was on the mainland, say that politician’s daughters are like preacher’s daughters. You know, how the stereotype says they’ll fuck anything with a dick between his legs. I’ve never really believed that, and I definitely don’t believe it about you.”
“Even though I’ve been on the island barely a week and I fell into bed with not just one, but two men, my first night here?”
Michaela gave a half laugh at that. “Even though. I’m a firm believer of love at first sight. Although, the buzz is you have a history with John and Brandon that goes way back.”
“I guess I do, in a way.”
Michaela waved a hand through the air. “It doesn’t matter. In case you haven’t realized, people on the island don’t judge others. That’s why most of us are here.”
“They sure talk a lot,” Lara muttered.
Michaela laughed again. “That’s the small island grapevine for you. It’s like being in a small Southern town. The thing is, people talk about who has the hots for who or who is hooking up with who, but they don’t talk about the personal shit like intimacy and what those couples may or may not do when they have sex. That’s between the couple or ménage or whatever you want to call them.”
Lara chewed her bottom lip as she made up her mind. “So, if I take you up on your offer for a few suggestions, it won’t get around the island?”
* * * *
John spotted Brandon at the weight bench the moment he walked into the Island Fitness. He’d gone to his house first and then to the cottages Brandon and Lara rarely used before combing the beach. When he hadn’t found either of them, he’d figured he would find Brandon here. The man might be on furlough, but the fitness routine instilled in him by the Navy demanded he follow it even when on leave. John should know. He still worked out as ruthlessly as he had when he’d been a SEAL nearly every day of the week.
He made his way toward Brandon, noting with his ingrained training and keen observation skills that more visitors than islanders were making use of the gym’s facilities today. He waited until Brandon finished his reps, not wanting to distract his friend when the man was lifting more than double his body weight.
Brandon settled the weight bar on the V brackets and sat up, reaching for the towel he’d set on the floor near his feet.
“When is the last time you saw Lara?”
Brandon paused in the act of wiping the sweat from his forehead and looked up at John. “When I left your house this morning for my run. Both of you were gone when I got back. Why?”
“I can’t find her. She’s not at either of the cottages or the house. She’s not on the beach. She’s not at the bookstore or the bar or the clothing shops.” It was like she’d vanished, which really escalated his heartbeat. He hadn’t worried about letting her wander the island alone. He’d been certain she’d be safe with everyone in the know on the lookout for Harold Taggart’s face. But, after the phone call he’d received and then not being able to find her now, he was getting genuinely concerned.
Brandon finished wiping his face and hooked the towel around his neck. “She said this morning she planned to spend the day exploring the island.”
“She’s apparently been doing a lot of that today,” John muttered. He’d checked half the island shops, the ones he expected a woman like Lara to go to, and talked with the owners. Elen over at Pleasured Minds said she’d wandered around the store for a good half hour, made good conversation with the bookstore owner, and had left more than an hour before John had showed up looking for her. Ashley at the gallery said Lara had stopped in there, too, but, once again, John had been too late to catch her. He’d spoken with other island shop owners, too, and none of them had been able to tell him where Lara had been heading next when she’d left their store.
Brandon gave him a strange look. “I thought that’s what she was supposed to be doing anyway. Isn’t that why she came to the island in the first place?”
John scowled. “She came here to get away from Taggart’s bullshit. The whole nonsense about publicity for the island is pretty much just that and you know it.”
Brandon swung a leg over the weight bench, but didn’t get up. “Yeah, but she’s still putting up a good show about it. What’s up, anyway?”
John raked a hand over his hair. “Taggart has been spotted in Silver Springs.”
That got Brandon to his feet. “Where in Silver Springs? When?”
“There’s a little bar called the Paradise Lounge. A lot of the SSPD hang out there. I’ve made a lot of friends on that department since I took the job as sheriff on this island. One of them is pretty damned certain it was Taggart he saw at the lounge last night.”
“He must know Lara is on the island. Why else would he be that close when his sorry ass belongs in Washington?”
John rolled his eyes. “Of course he knows she’s on the island. Anyone in America that watches the fucking news knows she’s here.”
“Shit.” Brandon sighed. “Yeah, that was pretty stupid. Forgive me if I’ve managed to forget our woman has a name that’s known through half the freaking country.” He glanced away and, when he met John’s gaze again, he looked livid. John had only seen his friend truly pissed a handful of times, but he knew he was adding another instance to the list now. “Why in the hell didn’t this friend of yours arrest that fucker?”
“He couldn’t arrest him without probable cause, McCormick. You know that. None of us can.”
“Well, I can damn sure beat him to bloody fucking pulp without probable cause if he gets anywhere near our Lara.”
Despite his own anger and fear the fucker, as Brandon called Taggart, had already somehow managed to get to Lara, he found himself hiding a smile. Our Lara. Brandon had been using that phrase a lot lately and John was glad for it. Together, he firmly believed they were making their Lara happy.
John slapped
Brandon on the shoulder. “I’ll be right there with you, man.”
Brandon headed for the door to the fitness center. “And, right now, I’ll be right there with you, helping you find her, if for no other reason than to make you feel better.”
John grinned. “Once we find her, I’m sure she’ll make us both feel better.”
Brandon chuckled as he pushed through the door and stepped outside. “Yeah, I bet she will. She’s damn good at that.”
* * * *
After carefully considering Michaela’s suggestions, Lara decided on a butt plug. She bought what Michaela called the starter kit, which came with two crystal jelly plugs, and a whole lot of lubrication. She carried her package close to her chest, hoping to conceal the red bag with the black bold letters that clearly read Divine Playthings on the outside, as she made her way to her cottage. She’d been spending every night since she’d gotten to the island at John’s, returning to her cottage only to shower and change each day. He’d told her she could move all of her stuff to his place, but she hadn’t wanted to forge the feeling of actually living with him and Brandon. It was going to be hard enough returning to her empty house in Washington after her island paradise vacation ended. Keeping the cottage and using it to complete her hygiene tasks was her way of keeping it fresh in her mind what it was like to live alone.
As she stepped into the small living room, closing and locking the front door behind her, she was glad she had the privacy of the cottage. John was working his shift at the sheriff’s department. He wouldn’t be home until five or later. Brandon, however, came and went as he chose. He’d be done with his daily workout routine by now and might even already be inside John’s place.
She headed to the bedroom, her attention fixed on the bag still cuddled tightly to her chest. Privacy was definitely a requirement for what she was about to do. Brandon had told her he’d prepare her body to accept his cock before he attempted to fuck her anally and she didn’t doubt that he would be gentle, but she wanted to try it out by herself first. She thought she might even want to make sure she was ready completely to accept his cock so that the next time they had sex she could tell him she wanted him to fuck her in the ass.
Safe and SEALed with Ecstasy [The Heroes of Silver Island 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 12