“Maybe there’s going to be rain in the desert after all,” Damon teased.
“Maybe it’s not your business.” Ty heaved a sigh and turned to the store. It was time for some more research.
There was no way he was going to take a chance on disappointing Amy.
* * *
Ty studied.
Research was how he confronted every challenge in his life. He researched, he studied, and he aced the exam. He researched, he studied, and the stock portfolios under his management were the most profitable ones. He researched, he studied, and he won. Over and over again. The strategy worked for everything else: it had to work for sexual games.
He didn’t have performance anxiety, especially about sex. Ty knew he was a good lover, at least when he knew the lady’s expectations. What concerned him about Wednesday night was his lack of certainty over Amy’s expectations.
And his determination to give her exactly what she wanted, whatever it was.
What options was she going to choose? He had to be ready for all of them.
On Monday night, Ty had watched a ton of the instructional videos that were for sale in the club’s shop, and read the instruction books, too. He was looking for diversity, and for games he’d never played before. There was a surprisingly high number of them. Some variations made him feel that he’d lived a very sheltered life—human pony training was oddly fascinating—and he was surprised to find some images titillating.
He crashed late, rose early, and told himself that it was a good thing that Amy wasn’t meeting him for lunch. He wouldn’t be at his best.
He took his e-reader with him and picked up a couple of digital books in the store, then read them at lunch. Anaïs Nin was a gimme. He was studying, but it felt covert.
Illicit.
Cassie was waiting for him in the lobby of F5 when he came home Tuesday night.
That gave him a bad feeling.
It wasn’t just that Cassie looked like the proverbial cat who had swallowed the canary. The way she waved her tablet at him seemed portentous.
Had Amy canceled?
“Your girl came to fill in her forms,” she said, much to his relief.
“Really?” he replied, trying to sound casual and indifferent when he was relieved—and not.
“Really,” Cassie said with conviction. “Check out the lady’s preferences. Pretty conservative, if you ask me.”
Ty hoped so. He said a silent prayer that it wasn’t too heavy of a scene Amy wanted, shoved a hand through his hair, and looked.
Spanking
Bondage.
Blindfold, hood, and/or gag.
He dared to be relieved. It was just like what they’d done in the class, but in private.
Still fully clothed, too.
Okay. He could do this.
“She’s not much of a risk-taker,” Cassie said, drawing her fingernail along the row of options. “But some women like the tease.”
“It’s not bad to be cautious,” Tyler found himself saying.
“Maybe that’s what you two have in common. Nice people making cautious moves.”
“Maybe I’m not as nice as you think,” Ty replied, knowing he wasn’t nearly as nice as Amy thought he was.
Cassie flicked her finger to make the display scroll. “Don’t miss the best bit. It surprised me.”
Shibari.
“Should I know what that is?” Ty asked warily.
Cassie smiled. “The Japanese art of binding captives, often suspending them.”
Ty caught his breath.
“It’s a tricky one,” Cassie confided. “No pressure, but the captive can get badly hurt if the person tying the knots doesn’t know what they’re doing.” She practically strutted to the gift shop as Ty’s heart stopped cold. She picked up a coffee table book. “The only reference we have, but she had a good long look at the open copy.”
It was titled simply Shibari and had an image on the cover that was artfully lit. The nude woman had been photographed from behind, her hands bound behind her back with heavy jute rope. The knotting was elaborate, from shoulder to wrist, ensuring that her arms remained outstretched behind her in a precise position. Her legs were crossed in a way that looked uncomfortable to Ty and, judging by the shadow beneath her, she was suspended from the three ropes that stretched upward.
“Complicated,” Cassie mused without sympathy.
“Fuck,” Ty said under his breath.
Cassie laughed and shook a finger at him. “No, no, none of that. This isn’t a brothel, you know. It’s about the sizzle, not the steak.”
He gave her a glare that could have melted glass and seized the book.
Cassie pretended to swoon. “Put that in the jar and it’ll rain for forty days and nights in the desert,” she said, but Ty was already striding across the lobby.
Shibari.
What was in Amy’s mind?
How was he going to master this ancient art in one night?
Mild panic set in. Ty blew off his work-out and headed upstairs to cram. He hadn’t gotten through half of the materials he’d taken the night before, and there wasn’t much time left to get it right. He had to multi-task.
Upstairs, Ty loaded another DVD. This one was about pain and pleasure. The narrator had a British accent. He couldn’t decide whether that made it more ridiculous or less so.
“Trace the letters of the alphabet on her clitoris, with your finger or tongue…”
The video showed just that, a drawing of a clitoris with the letters of the alphabet being languidly traced over it. They were in lower case.
This would be the pleasure bit.
Ty had this covered. He opened the Shibari book and flipped through it. He’d choose one pose and master it. They were both beginners, after all. Just one, an easy one. The narrator droned on as Ty sought a comparatively simple option.
He was irritated when his door buzzer sounded and snapped “What?” over the intercom.
But it was Lauren and even over the intercom, she sounded odd. Upset, maybe. She never came by his place unless there was something really wrong. Ty buzzed her in.
He opened the door to the corridor to wait for her to step off the elevator, wanting to make a guess at what was bothering her before she put a good face on it. Her head was bowed, her long hair obscuring her features, but he was sure that when she glanced his way, she blinked back tears.
Her smile was certainly forced.
“What’s up?” he asked, keeping his tone light.
“I need a reason to visit you now?” she asked, a break in her voice.
“Of course not, but it’s been a while.”
“You just don’t like having anyone in your cave.”
“There is that,” he admitted, then made a guess. “How’s Mark?”
“Fine.” Lauren seemed to bite off the word. Mark might be fine, but Lauren’s view of him wasn’t. She slipped past Ty into his apartment and stopped dead. “Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”
Shit. Ty realized that his study materials were strewn all over the coffee table, couch, and dining room table. There was a drawing of a clitoris filling his television screen. Ty felt the back of his neck heat even as he cleared the coffee table.
At light speed.
“J. K. L.” continued the voiceover with the British accent, at least until Ty shut off the video with a savage gesture.
“Seriously,” Lauren said. She propped her hands on her hips and gave the apartment another look. “You, of all people, are into this? And so into it that your pristine retreat is—be still, my heart—a mess?”
“It’s not a pristine retreat,” Ty said with some irritation. “And it’s not a mess.”
“Sorry to correct you, bro, but you’re wrong on both counts.” Lauren picked up a black leather flogger and tried it against her palm. “I find it really hard to believe that Amy is into this.” She spared Ty a glance. “Or are you seeing someone else on the side?”
�
�It’s really not your business.” His look should have warned her to let it go, but Lauren wasn’t daunted.
“Oh, but it is.” She lounged in one of the leather chairs that was still clear, crossing her legs and bouncing one foot. “Seeing that Amy is going to be my sister-in-law any minute now.”
Ty nearly dropped the stack of books he was moving to the floor. They did land harder than he’d planned. “I beg your pardon?” he said with care.
If he had proposed, he would know it.
Lauren leaned forward, eyes sparkling. “I should warn you. Mom is seriously planning to put the moves on her at the wedding. She says it’s high time you settled down, and if you won’t put things in motion, she will.” She leaned forward. “Amy didn’t even flinch when they tossed Ethan at her with a loaded diaper. What did you expect?” She started to hum Here Comes the Bride and he chucked a book at her.
She caught it, turned it over and her eyes widened. “Who are you really seeing?”
“Amy. Why?”
Lauren tossed the book on the coffee table. It was the one featuring the guy Ty didn’t like, the candidate for castration. “Because she’s totally not your type.”
“I like women. She’s a woman.” He raised a hand.
“No, you like gorgeous women. Sleek, polished women who could be models. But they’re not. They’re all super-ambitious career machines with hearts of ice.” Lauren made a face. “Barracudas, every one of them.”
Ty was startled. “That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?”
Lauren shook her head. “Take Giselle. She had you in her sights like nobody’s business. I think you were the airline retirement plan.”
“Maybe.”
“What made you finally realize that I have shoes with greater empathy?”
Ty sighed. “I knew that right away. I only ever went out with her the once.”
“Really? To Grandma Trixie’s eightieth birthday? Strange choice for a first date.”
“It was an act of pure desperation.”
Lauren pointed at him. “That I understand.”
Once Ty started to confess, the truth came easily. “I was on the flight home from Beijing. Giselle was the stewardess in the first class cabin. Very pretty.”
“She is that.”
“Charming. Interested.”
Lauren rolled her eyes. “Proof only that she was heterosexual and had a pulse.”
Ty ignore the implied compliment. “Mom called before we pushed back. Mom called again when we landed.” He met Lauren’s gaze steadily. “Mom had an agenda item to resolve.”
His sister grinned. “Grandma Trixie’s eightieth birthday party. And more importantly, the great showdown between the Preston sisters.” Lauren sat back and nodded, then mimicked their mother expertly. “You know, dear, that Aunt Teresa’s children are all married and she has nine grandchildren already…”
Ty made a dismissive gesture. “I knew before we even got to the party that I’d made a mistake.”
“Kudos to you for that.” His sister toasted him. “I was afraid you might have been thinking with your dick.”
“Thank you very much.” Ty sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. “I’ve been listening to Kyle for too long. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Even pretending you were still seeing her?”
“Even that. Kyle thought it was brilliant. Me, not so much.”
“Good. The longer I heard about Giselle, the more I worried about you.” Lauren folded her arms across her chest. “Are you still taking advice from Kyle?”
“Why?”
“How could you bring home a woman who looks like a kindergarten teacher and expect us to believe it’s love?” She shook her head. “Seriously?”
Amy had been right about Lauren’s skepticism. Ty had some damage control to do. He sat down opposite his sister, intent on making a case that his sister found persuasive. “Seriously. Amy’s different and that’s the point.”
“How so?”
“The others were predictable,” Ty explained, having analyzed the heck out of his own dating dry spell. “I knew exactly what they’d do when and how the relationship would evolve. I knew when the demands would start, and the arguments, and the shrill bits.”
Lauren seemed to be fighting a smile. “The shrill bits?”
“I hate the shrill bits,” he admitted and she chuckled. “So, I’d break it off a week or two before we got to that part. I’d meet someone else, sparks would fly, and the whole thing would progress exactly the same way. I could see Giselle starting down that path before we even got to the party.”
“Your future unfolded before your eyes.”
“Sure. The hot sex after the party. The forgotten something or other in my apartment. The phone calls, the dropping by, the contrivance of coincidence.”
“And then the shrill bits.”
“Inevitably.” He shook his head. “Only truly stupid people keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. Something had to change. I didn’t know what, so I stepped back.”
“To analyze and assess.”
“Call it a weakness.”
“Until you got stuck in an elevator with a woman who looked like a plain little mouse but ended up setting your straight.”
Ty smiled, recognizing a truth when he heard it. “It was different.”
“I’ll bet.”
“And Amy’s not plain.”
“I know that, but most men wouldn’t notice. Those cheekbones are awesome, and her complexion…” Lauren rolled her eyes. “I’d love to get my hands in that hair. How long is it?”
“Just past her shoulders,” Ty guessed, remembering the length of her ponytail in the class.
“Lots to work with. Feel free to give her my number.” Lauren winced. “But be smooth so she isn’t insulted.”
Ty nodded, although he had no intention of stepping into that minefield. He knew well enough that suggesting a different stylist to one of his sisters carried the possibility of launching the nukes. “The thing is that the more I look, the more I see. Her eyes are like Sophia Loren’s. She has opinions I don’t expect. She’s not innocent, but is vulnerable. Yet she’s worldly in ways that I’m not. She surprises me…”
“And so she’s a riddle you feel compelled to solve.”
“Exactly.” Just uttering the word sent a rush through Ty, and that was when he knew.
Amy was the one.
He’d found Ms. Right, in the most unlikely of places, when he wasn’t even looking for her.
Chapter Nine
As Ty came to terms with his revelation, Lauren kept talking.
“Have you considered that you might be married with a couple of kids by the time you figure out the enigma that is Amy?” she teased.
Ty laughed, not having a problem with that at all. “I might have already sent them to college. I might never be able to anticipate her.” He shook a finger at his sister. “And that makes me determined to see her again.”
“And again and again and again.”
“Yes. Even when she sets me straight.”
“She did it again?”
“Sunday. I distracted her when it looked like an accident would go down on the freeway. I didn’t want her to worry about it. When we got out of there and she figured it out, she said I’d been condescending.”
Lauren gave a low whistle. “Well, it is, when you think about it.”
“But I hadn’t. I was just trying to protect her from the truth, but she doesn’t want to be protected like that.”
Lauren smiled at him. “What if she doesn’t actually need you, big bro?”
“Then maybe I need to convince her otherwise,” Ty said with resolve.
That was the nut of it. He looked around his apartment, amazed by the truth that had just fallen from his own lips. It gave him a new sense of purpose.
He looked at Lauren. “Your turn. Why are you really here? Something up with Mark?”
She winced. “Ri
ght to the chase.”
“You want a drink?”
“Definitely. If you still have some of that single malt Scotch that Katelyn bought you for Christmas, make mine a double.”
Ty did. When he came back with the two drinks, Lauren was playing with the flogger again. He took it out of her hand and gave her the drink instead. “Cheers,” he said, lifted his glass and savored a substantial sip.
“To Giselle and her usefulness,” Lauren said and took a sip. At Ty’s glance, she nodded sagely. “Giselle was useful, and not just in changing your priorities. The idea of her was useful, so long as she didn’t need to show up anywhere. You had almost five entire months without the matchmakers coming after you.”
“That was the plan,” Ty started, then bit his tongue. He’d been about to say that if not for the wedding, he wouldn’t have talked to Amy.
Lauren eyed him. “What aren’t you saying?”
“If not for the wedding, I wouldn’t have introduced Amy to all of you,” Ty said, which was true but not all of the truth.
Lauren nodded agreement. “I hear you. I sometimes wonder if I only married Mark to stop Mom’s pestering.” She sipped her drink and stared out the window.
“She means well.”
“Yes,” Lauren said in a long exhalation. “That’s always the rationale.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
“Bumps in the road,” she said lightly and he knew she wasn’t ready to tell anyone more. “We’ll work it out.” Her words didn’t ring with her usual cheerful confidence, though. She claimed the flogger again and spun it around, flicking it in the air. She snapped it against her palm. “It does sting a bit.” If it was an attempt to distract Ty, it didn’t work.
“You know where I am if and when you want to talk.”
Lauren widened her eyes and brandished the flogger. “But you might be all tied up when I need you.”
“Ha ha.”
“Seriously, what is this about? Is Amy the damsel you want to distress?”
Ty ducked that question, his urge to protect Amy and her reputation amongst his family not something he could dismiss. “I’m curious,” he said. “The club is offering classes and they’re really popular.”
“Let me guess. Kyle’s idea?”
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