“I’m good,” Heather smiled sheepishly.
“Wait, we were the first couple to finish,” Bianca interjected.
Her poor parents glanced between her and Kevin. It was easy to guess that this was a scenario they’d never dealt with before.
“That is not in the rules,” Kevin shot back.
“Now, kids, keep your voices down,” their mother cautioned, her hands fluttering.
“I won. I touched the table first,” Kevin insisted.
“But the race is a team competition,” Bianca countered, facing off with her brother.
“Dad, who won?” Kevin crossed his arms over his chest. Minus fifty pounds and some muscle and he would be the quintessential teenager, pouting because he wasn’t getting his way.
Clay looked from his brother-in-law to Heather, who was clearly uncomfortable, embarrassed and possibly hurt, and Kevin didn’t even seem to care. No competition was more important than Bianca. He put an arm around her waist and tried not to glare.
His father-in-law glanced from them, to Kevin and Heather, to his wife. He seemed to consider the answer in her gaze for a moment before shrugging. “Kevin and Heather are the winners. Sorry, Bianca, maybe next year will be your year.”
“Yes! Woo-hoo!” Kevin pumped his fist and turned to his wife.
His heart fell. They’d been so close, and then he’d let her down.
“Hey.” Bianca cupped his cheek and brushed a kiss across his lips.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, drowned out by the sound of Kevin’s one-man celebration.
She slipped her arms around his waist and leaned against him. “What for? We had a great time. I wouldn’t have changed anything. Would you?”
“I wanted to win. For you.”
“I did win. I got to have fun with you. And you know what? I think we really are the winners, but Dad didn’t want to listen to Kevin whine for a whole year. I mean, who would, really?”
He glanced at Kevin, settling down between his mother and wife. “No, you’re right.”
He pulled out a chair for Bianca and seated himself, glad for the light appetizers already on the table.
It took the other two couples almost forty-five minutes to arrive. Michael and Jennifer sat down a whole twenty minutes before Jason and Amy, each couple more surprised than the last to see Bianca and him already there.
“That fucking bell screwed us up,” Michael proclaimed during the first course of their Winner’s Dinner. “We went through the whole damn tour before we realized we missed it and had to go back.”
“We figured it out after we’d passed it and pissed everyone off by going against the crowd back to it,” Kevin chimed in.
“What pissed me off was getting all the way here and having to go back to the apartment to change,” Jennifer groused.
“We did the same thing,” Heather grumbled.
Throughout dinner, Bianca held his hand, rested her knee against his or darted knowing glances his way the rest of the family missed, but each reaffirmed that he hadn’t failed her. They’d enjoyed the race in their own way.
“What about you guys? How’d you guys get here so quickly?” Jason asked, interrupting some commentary Kevin was repeating about his heroic leap for the table.
Bianca glanced at him. “Good teamwork.”
“Better watch out, Kev, our little sister’s going to try to beat your ass next year,” Michael said around a mouthful of bread.
“Whatever. Bring it. We’ll take you on,” Kevin replied.
“We didn’t even prepare for this race, and we pretty much beat you anyways.” The words were out of his mouth before he realized he’d spoken.
The table paused for a moment, everyone darting a glance at someone else.
“Oh I think someone just threw it down.” Kevin tossed his napkin on the table and threw his hands up. “What? You want to bring it, short man?”
They devolved into hurling insults worthy of junior high, laughing and enjoying themselves. And for the first time, with Bianca nestled against his shoulder and her family surrounding him, he felt as if he belonged.
These people were his family too.
Epilogue
Bianca’s heels beat a staccato rhythm across the hardwood floor. She’d heard the chime of her email from across the room and had to investigate. She couldn’t help but grin when she saw Amy’s name pop up in the new messages. She leaned over the desk and clicked the icon.
From behind her Clay groaned, no doubt enjoying the view. Let him stew for a few more minutes.
She double-clicked the email and waited for it to pop up in a new window.
Hi Bianca!
Sorry I haven’t gotten back to you since your last email. It was a lot to digest and class was getting back into swing. I’m loving getting the chance to teach at a charter school. It’s very different from public schools. Anyways, I finally took your advice. Or some of it at least. I’m not ready for “toys” as you call them, but I went shopping, and you were right. Lingerie and a few additions make a difference. I’ll spare you the details, but thank you. Seriously, thank you, thank you, thank you.
She grinned at the email and closed it. She’d answer Amy later and suggest some more tamer things. Whatever Jason thought about his wife’s new wardrobe, she didn’t want to know, but she hoped they were happy.
She sighed and turned back to where Clay lay on his back, strapped to the ottoman, his head turned sideways watching her.
“Did you talk to Jason about the cruise?”
Clay nodded since the gag kept him from speaking.
She straddled his waist and laid her chest against his. They’d left something dark from his past in Paris, something he hadn’t shared with her in words. Whatever it had been, she hoped it never returned. In the weeks since, he’d been happier, quicker to smile than before. Maybe he finally realized she planned to keep him, that he was part of her life from now to eternity, because she loved this man who raced with her heart in his hands.
She unbuckled the ball gag and let it fall to the floor. Digging her hands into his hair, she took his mouth in a deep, passionate kiss.
He could race with her anytime.
About Sidney Bristol
It can never be said that Sidney Bristol has had a “normal” life. She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict. She grew up in a motor home on the U.S. highways (with an occasional jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents. Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and teenagers. She now lives in Texas, where she divides her time between a job she loves, writing, reading and belly dancing.
Sidney welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Sidney Bristol
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Ellora’s Cave Publishing
www.ellorascave.com
Collar Me in Paris
ISBN 9781419943768
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Collar Me in Paris Copyright © 2013 Sidney Bristol
Edited by Jillian Bell
Photography and cover design by Syneca
Additional photo: Fotolia.com
Model: Georgio
Electronic book publication February 2013
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