“But you’re letting me?”
“Letting you? No. I set it up because you asked me to, and you’re doing what I asked with the protective gear because you know it makes good sense.”
If he hadn’t set it up and she’d asked about it, he wouldn’t have told her the timing didn’t work out unless it truly hadn’t, and she’d have been ticked if she thought he was making decisions for her. She sighed. “I love you. I won’t do this if you don’t want me to.”
“No,” he said, smiling. “It’s okay. Just don’t let him land anything and you’ll be fine.”
Sam rolled her eyes, bounced on her feet, stepped to the heavy bag to land a dozen punches, and finally kicked with both legs until she was sure she wouldn’t pull anything.
She met Dustin in the center of the sparring mat and threw a combination to his sternum and chin, and he only managed to block the chin. Her weight shifted and she spun on the ball of her foot, rolled her body around his, and kicked below his knee.
Ethan hadn’t gone down when she used the trick on him, but Dustin hit the mat and sprang up all in the same motion. There was no time to gloat, though, as he used his upward momentum to barrel into her with a round of bicycle punches and she was glad she’d donned the headgear.
Instincts brought her knee to her chest and she kicked out, imagining her foot traveling through his torso. Dustin took a few quick steps backward and Sam plowed forwards and tried to deliver a punch sequence that always worked, but Dustin used both inside and outside blocks and she didn’t manage to land a single strike. No one had ever used a mixture of blocks in quite this way before, and she couldn’t anticipate his next defensive move.
In Kung Fu it’s almost all inside blocks. When you stop an opponent’s strike with your right arm it moves clockwise and deflects their hand out. Some martial arts styles block primarily from the outside, but Dustin was switching it up and blocking her from all directions, and she couldn’t land any punches. She threw a couple of low kicks, blocked a few of his punches, and stepped to the side to avoid his right fist.
All in one motion she threaded her arm under his and over his shoulder, dropped to her knees, and flipped almost three hundred pounds of muscle over her back, slamming him to the floor before delivering a series of strikes to his face, but not too hard, as he’d be Ethan’s best man in the wedding tomorrow. It occurred to her it’d be just as bad — possibly worse — to give the best man a black eye as it’d be to have one of her own.
She backed off as his arms rose to flip her over him, and when he moved his hands into the traditional time-out signal, she leaned forward to catch her breath.
“Ethan’s right,” said Dustin, winded. “Your technique’s too good for me to handle you without using more force than I’m comfortable with in a spar.”
“I’m game to stop sparring until after the wedding as long as you’ll show me your blocking technique. How the hell do you manage to block from the inside and outside simultaneously?”
Justin laughed. “Wax on, wax off. Didn’t you see The Karate Kid?”
“Smart ass,” Sam laughed. “I know how to block from both directions, but I’ve never seen anyone incorporate them together quite so successfully.”
Dustin showed them his sequencing, and Ethan had Sam show Dustin and Justin her rabid-weed-eater combination.
When family began arriving, the four went upstairs and talked a few moments before Sam pointed Dustin towards a shower he could use and she went to her room to get ready for the day.
When she returned, a good portion of the family was in the kitchen, and Grams and Nana wouldn’t hear of letting Sam or Ethan cook, so they all sat and talked as a big southern breakfast was prepared for them.
The rehearsal wasn’t until three, and the family had a lot of time to talk and catch up until time to drive to the historic Read House. Sam’s parents joined them there, as her mom still seemed uncomfortable around Ethan’s entire family all at once.
Sam and Ethan had talked to the minister via Skype, as he was Ethan’s choice, but this was the first she’d met him face to face. During their online talks he’d told her several funny stories about Ethan as a child, and she understood he was a close family friend as well as the minister of the church his family attended. He handled the rehearsal with skill, and Sam felt the last of her worries fall away as the group made their way to a nearby restaurant for the rehearsal dinner.
“It’s only a few blocks,” Ethan told the group as everyone figured out who would ride with whom. “Sam and I are going to walk, and we’ll meet the rest of you there.” There were a few protests, and his voice was firm as he responded, “This will be our last chance to talk in private until after we’re married. We’ll see you there.”
“I talked to Kirsten about tonight,” he said once they’d separated from the group. “She asked me to give you permission to go a little wild tonight.”
“Just what do they have planned?”
“I’m not telling you details, but when you reach your final destination you have permission to grind, dirty dance, and even kiss someone if the mood strikes you. If you want to feel them up a little, even that’s okay…but no one touches you under your clothes, and you aren’t to have an orgasm.”
He stopped and pulled her to him, face to face in the middle of the sidewalk. “If you come I won’t punish you. I’ll just be hurt.”
“Okay, I understand, but I don’t think I want to kiss anyone besides you.”
“Then don’t. I’m merely saying if it works out so you want to, and it’s a fun celebratory kind of thing, you can. Male, female, or gender neutral — you have my blessing for any and all.”
“Okay. Noted. What are you not telling me?”
“A lot,” he said, grinning. “Oh, one more thing. Tyler and Kirsten arranged for ya’ll to have a limo to drive you around, and your driver apparently works with Tyler, so he’s also a professional bodyguard. He’ll be going in with ya’ll, and will dance and generally be part of the party, but he’s the designated driver so he won’t drink.”
“Kirsten doesn’t do anything half-way, does she?”
“No. You’re packed already, right?”
“Yes. You?”
“Yep. Wedding at four o’clock tomorrow, then the reception, and then we get on the elevator and go to our room, wake up the next morning, and fly to Hawaii.”
Chapter Fifteen
The rehearsal dinner was almost a prelude to both bachelor parties, with all of the participants trying to keep things toned down while still around family.
Ethan was being taken out by friends and cousins, while Sam was only being taken out by her friends. None of her cousins could keep their mouth shut to the rest of the family, so she generally only spent time with them while doing family approved activities, and she was pretty sure tonight would not fall into that particular category.
Ethan gave her a passionate kiss goodbye before helping her into the limo, and Sam was still blushing as the long vehicle slid into traffic.
“First things first,” said Viv, and she motioned to Dana, who handed a beautifully wrapped present to Sam.
Sam opened the gift and lifted what appeared to be a scrap of fabric, but shook out to be a tiny sequined dress, somewhere between eggplant and plum in color. “You have to be kidding.”
“Try it on before you say no.”
Kirsten pulled clothes from a duffel and tossed them to the other women, who began to strip and change, so Sam did as well.
When she had the dress on she went to her knees in the center of the limo to try to get an idea of how it fit. She was surprised to find it hung beautifully, and clung enough so she wouldn’t be worried about exposing herself even though it dropped four inches below her cleavage. It draped to almost mid-thigh, and highlighted her good parts while hiding the parts of her body she wasn’t thrilled about.
“Looks great,” Kirsten observed. “Jacob is truly a master.”
Jacob? Wasn’t that… sh
e looked to Dana, who was smiling. “It’s our honeymoon gift, but I figured you could enjoy it tonight, too. You’ll want something like this for evening wear in Hawaii, so make sure it gets packed. Jacob says if you wash it out by hand and lay it flat, the fabric should dry in a few hours.”
“Wow, he made this for me? How?”
“He found out what size you wear from Ethan, and he saw you in a swimsuit at the party. The material’s stretchy, so he didn’t need exact measurements.” He’d seen her naked, but Dana was keeping it clean for the few vanilla friends Sam had invited.
Sam looked at the dress, and then her comfy clubbing boots wistfully. “I have these dancing shoes that would’ve gone with this perfect, but I guess the boots will be okay.”
Kirsten laughed as she pulled Sam’s shoes from the bag and set them on the floor.
Dana explained, “We had Ethan take a picture of your favorite dancing shoes. It’s how Jacob picked the color.”
“Apparently,” Viv said, “he doesn’t take you dancing very often?”
“He can manage an okay slow dance, but refuses to dance to fast music.” Sam shrugged. “We’ve gone out with other couples and he was fine with me dancing with other guys as long as it let him off the hook. He didn’t even protest when I got a little down and dirty with them, other than to tell me how much fun he was going to have spanking me later.” She grinned and shrugged again. “He can’t be perfect at everything.”
“Damn, with that cock he doesn’t have to be perfect at much of anything,” said Dana.
“How have you seen Ethan’s cock?” asked Cassie.
“Ummm.” Dana looked to Sam and Kirsten for help, but Sam only laughed. She’d known the submissives would screw up at some point, and had only invited other friends she knew wouldn’t freak too bad at the sex talk.
Kirsten came to Dana’s rescue. “For anyone who knows someone he used to date, Ethan’s cock is something of an urban legend.”
“Not quite,” said Sam with a smile. “Urban legend implies it isn’t true.”
Cassie looked like she wanted more of an explanation, and Sam took pity and said, “It’s huge, Cass. It’s so big it looks out of proportion, even on him.”
Heather’s mouth dropped open. “Well, better you than me. As short as I am, I prefer them stubby and wide.” Heather couldn’t be more than four foot nine or ten inches tall, and probably didn’t weigh ninety pounds soaking wet.
Cassie laughed and shook her head as she said, “I had my eye on Dustin the whole night. I wonder if the big-cock thing runs in the family?”
“You might be better off looking at the other twin, Cass.”
The women cut up and gossiped until the limo slid to a stop outside a downtown billiard club. Sam got everyone’s attention and announced, “I pretty much only get sick if I mix it up, so I’ll only be drinking Jack and coke tonight, though I might resort to shots of Jack as the night progresses.”
Kirsten laughed. “She’s trying to tell you not to buy her a shot of something else unless you want her to puke on you.”
A gorgeous man opened the door and said, “Ladies?”
Eleven women spilled from the limo and Kirsten introduced them all to Kent. He wasn’t dressed as a chauffeur, but more like a rock star, complete with ripped abs showing through his skintight t-shirt.
“I’m the designated driver and bodyguard tonight. I’ll be close, but will appreciate a heads up if you go anywhere besides the bathroom.” He raised his hand to show his phone, turned it over, and touched the screen. “I just sent all of you a text. If you need something and I’m not in eyesight, call me. I shouldn’t be far, but it’s doubtful I’ll be able to keep eyes on all eleven of you for the entire night.”
Sam felt her phone vibrate against her rib cage, in the pocket Jacob had sewn into the dress in the perfect place to camouflage it.
“Oh,” Viv said, “while Kent’s a lot of fun to party with, don’t get your hopes up. He’s not interested in us girls.”
“That’s not entirely true,” he said with a grin. “I’m bisexual, not gay.”
“But Travis said—”
“Said you were safe around me, which is true.”
Kirsten whispered something in Viv’s ear, which apparently explained things to her because she seemed to look at Kent in a new light.
“No fair whispering it,” said Cassie.
Sam had a feeling Kent was submissive, and wanted to spare him the embarrassment of admitting it to people not in the lifestyle, so she said, “This is my party, and I want a drink. Are we going in or not?”
Kent looked at her in thanks and she smiled back as the group made their way inside.
Sam had her own money, but every time she went to pay for something either Kirsten or Viv was there to take care of the charges.
The petite Heather turned out to be the best pool player, and Sam was relieved when she heard Cassie talking to her about rock climbing spots. She hadn’t wanted Cassie to feel like an outsider amongst her other friends, and she seemed to be fitting in just fine.
They were nearing the end of their two-hour rental for the six tables when Kent got Kirsten’s attention and gave her a hand signal.
“Okay ladies, if you’re with us, finish up your game and head to the limo!” Kirsten announced.
Sam was playing a game with Viv, and they both burst into laughter because they knew it would be a while before they finished their game. “Why don’t we just finish our drinks and call this one a draw?”
“Works for me. Do you know what’s planned next?”
“I do,” she nodded, “but I’m not telling you.”
“Bitch,” said Sam, lowering her eyebrows and trying to look stern.
“Yep. ‘Specially on Tuesdays. I love Tuesdays. Oh, and Wednesday mornings. Mmmm.”
“You’re drunk already, aren’t you?” Sam asked as she downed the last of her Jack and Coke.
“Nope, just buzzed. Mostly. C’mon. Let’s go on out to the limo.”
Jacob was waiting for them in the limo, with eleven little zippered makeup pouches. He handed both women a pouch with their name on it, and Sam giggled when she opened hers to see eyeliner, lipstick, eye-shadow, and blush. “A makeover? In a limo? Really?”
“God, you’re toasted already,” he smiled. “I’d be honored to give you a makeover, but you can put it on yourself if you’d prefer.”
Dana stuck her head in and said, “For goodness sake, let him put it on you Sam. He’s great at make-up, and you might insist he help in the dressing room tomorrow after you see what he does tonight.”
“Fine” said Sam with a happy, slightly buzzed smile. “After the fantastic job you did on this sexy dress, how can I not trust you with my makeup?”
“I’m glad you like it. You’re a knock out, and I had fun designing it for you.”
Sam sat still as Jacob put eye shadow on her. She opened her eyes when he didn’t do anything for a few seconds, and saw him coming towards her with eyeliner.
“Oh no. Why don’t you tell me how you want the eyeliner, at least on the bottom? I’m not good at letting other people do it.”
He smiled and handed her the eyeliner and a mirror, and talked her through applying it thick at the outside and thin as she came towards her nose. He had her flip it around and smudge it, then she closed her eyes and let him apply it to the top lid. He finished with blush and lipstick, and held a larger mirror up for her to see the finished product.
“Goodness, Jacob. I look…glamorous. And a little sexy, but not in a naughty way.”
“Oh, I think you look very naughty,” said Kent, watching from the driver’s seat. He must have put the window down earlier, because it’d been up when he drove them downtown.
Jacob put Kirsten’s makeup on next, and Sam marveled that it took him less than three minutes to transform her into a sex goddess.
Not everyone wanted Jacob to do their makeup, and about fifteen minutes later they all said goodbye to him. Dana gave hi
m a kiss that had them all applauding, and then they were sliding through traffic in the long limo again.
Sam laughed when they pulled up to a bar famous for line dancing. “Wow, do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve done this? I didn’t even know this place was still open!”
The women spilled from the limo and headed in. Viv and Kirsten practically dragged Sam to the dance floor first, instead of the bar, and once she started dancing she wasn’t interested in getting a drink. Something about falling into rhythm with others, being part of the group, the music — why had she not done this in so long? It sounded corny to go line dancing, but it was so much fun.
Most of the women only stopped dancing a few times for a drink, and then only because they were truly thirsty. They danced, laughed, and cut up, and before long it seemed as if Kent were one of them, and she hadn’t just met him.
Which, in a way, he was kind of one of them. He was submissive, and attracted to men, which defined most of the women helping her celebrate her last night as a single woman.
Whoa. Her last night as a single woman? She’d never have sex with anyone but Ethan, ever again. She’d probably be flogged by other men, but only if Ethan wanted them to. She’d never really play with anyone else.
Sam stopped dancing in mid traveling-turn and Kirsten ran into her. “Hey, you okay?”
“Yeah, sure” she said, not really believing it, and she turned to walk off the dance floor.
“Jack and Coke, and make it strong, please,” she told the bartender.
Kirsten stepped beside her and said, “I’ll have the same.” The bartender nodded and stepped away from them and Kirsten continued, “You aren’t okay. What’s up?”
“I’m never going to have sex with anyone besides Ethan, ever again.”
“Probably not, but you knew this before.”
“Well, yeah, but I guess it just sank in? Or…I don’t know.” She paused as Kirsten’s words processed. “What do you mean, probably not? Ethan will never be okay with me having sex with someone else.”
Safeword: Matte - In Training Page 20