Man Handler (Man Cave - A Standalone Collection Book 3)

by Shari J. Ryan

  I try to give her as much control as I can, but I need to take over and we have that understanding down, so I twist her off me and onto her back. I thrust into her and place my hand behind her head, knowing where we usually end up. She’s holding onto the rails of my headboard as I continue with the force I know she can handle. “Harder,” she cries out. It’s like a challenge, but I give her everything I can. “Yes, right there. More. More, Austin. I need more.” I swear, every time I have her in bed, it feels like I’m running the best fucking marathon of my life. “Yes, yes, yes!”

  “Should I stop?” I tease her.

  “Don’t you fucking dare,” she yells.

  “What about now?”

  “Austin Trace, do me, now!”

  Her back arches up, and her breasts are in my face, smelling of perfume and vanilla lotion. It’s all it takes to finish me off. Her body convulses around mine, and I collapse on top of her, dripping with sweat and out of breath. “You made it rain,” she says.

  I close my eyes and laugh as I smother my face in her silky hair.

  After a minute of stillness, I hear a deep breath. “Want to go out for dinner after work tonight?”

  “I can’t take you into public,” I tell her.

  “Sure you can.”

  “Will you behave yourself?” I ask her.

  “No,” she says with a smirk.

  “Fine. Dinner at eight? Sherman’s?”

  “I’ll be there,” she says.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Scarlett

  “Hi honey, how was work?” I approach Austin who’s standing in front of Sherman’s Grill.

  “Honey? Are we there already?”

  “I thought I would try it on to see if it fits.”

  “Does it?”

  “No, I prefer, loser, or jackass.”

  “Yeah, I was gonna say, it doesn’t fit your tone of voice either,” he adds in.

  I shrug. “Oh well, let’s go, loser.”

  “Okay, bruiser.”

  We walk into the restaurant and find it fairly empty. Then again, it’s eight at night and most people are in bed at this time here. “Do people really go to bed this early?”

  “I guess. I’m not sure what people are doing behind closed doors, but since I’d rather they not know what we’re doing, I suspect it’s about the same, at least for some.”

  “You think everyone is having hot rabid animal sex every single night?”

  “Rabid animal sex?” he asks. “What in the hell is wrong with you, crazy?”

  “You’re asking me what’s wrong with me?”

  “Yeah, I think I am.”

  “It took you this long to ask?”

  “Two please,” Austin interrupts our important conversation to ask the hostess for a table.

  She takes two menus and leads us to the back of the restaurant. I kind of like it here. It’s casual, but a little upscale. There are white lights hanging from the barn ceiling, but the tables are draped with white tablecloth. It’s a good date-night spot.

  “What’s with the big purse tonight?” Austin asks as we settle down at a table.

  “It went with my outfit. I don’t know.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that purse.”

  “I have a lot of purses you haven’t seen, Austin.”

  Austin opens his menu, covering his face. I almost start laughing, but I contain myself. He’s going to kill me, but he’ll thank me later, I think. I reach into my purse and grab what I need.

  “I’m getting the T-Bone,” he says.

  “I’ll get that too,” I tell him. “I like my steak thick and juicy.”

  “Can I seriously not take you anywhere?”

  “What? I like a big, thick, juicy steak. I don’t see why that’s embarrassing?”

  He closes his eyes and folds his hands. “Oh, Austin, Austin, Austin. You need to get used to me.”

  “Okay, why are you acting extra annoying and weird tonight?”

  “That’s just rude,” I tell him. “You know what? I have to go—powder my nose. Is that what I’m supposed to say?”

  He looks up at the ceiling, trying not to laugh. “Oh, darn it, I dropped my phone.” I tap my foot on the ground, but realize I tapped my foot after I announced that I had dropped my phone. That was dumb.

  “Huh?”

  I look around and see no one is looking this way so I take my chance and climb under the table, completely concealing myself with the white tablecloth.

  Austin’s hands are resting perfectly on his lap already, so I clasp, clasp—he’s cuffed. “What the—”

  “Shh,” I whisper.

  “Scarlett, get up here.”

  “Shh,” I tell him again.

  “You gotta be shittin’ me right now.”

  “You look like you’re talking to yourself. Shut up and enjoy the entertainment.”

  “What entertainment?” he says through gritted teeth. “You know how you said to let you know if you’ve crossed a line? It’s like you’re a professional pole vaulter tonight.”

  “Pole vaulter, huh? You’ll take that back,” I whisper.

  “Scarlett, come on.”

  I unzip his jeans, reach in and release his cock from the seam of his boxer briefs. I try not to waste too much time so I get to it, leaning over his clasped hands to his erect cock. I wrap my hand around the base so he doesn’t get scratched by his zipper, and start off slow.

  I see the tablecloth move a bit, but his hands are cuffed, so he must be leaning forward. I reach into my bag that I pulled under the table and grab an Altoid. I was saving this trick for a special occasion. I remove my mouth for a quick second and pop the mint onto my tongue, chewing it up quickly before rewrapping my lips around his cock. I exhale gently as I move up and down, feeling his legs jerk around as if he’s out of control. I’d do anything to see the look on his face right now. “Can I take your order, or would you like me to wait for your wife to return?” Wife? Geez, lady. Way to go with assumptions. I keep moving up and down, sliding my tongue in the way he likes. “Uh, we’ll—I uh—uhh—mmm—I’ll wait.”

  “Oookay,” the waitress says.

  “Sc-ar-lett,” he mutters. I keep going, making deeper motions until his cock hits the back of my throat. “Hi!” I hear with a squeaky voice.

  “Oh, hi, Austin, where’s Scarlett tonight?”

  Mom? Oh shit. I pause. Pausing doesn’t amount to good things.

  “She’s—uh—in the bathroom, I think. Yup,” Austin says quickly.

  “Whatup, bro,” I hear Jack say from a distance.

  Austin is quiet again. “I’m going to go find Scarlett in the bathroom,” Mom says.

  I continue what I was doing to avoid any discomfort on his end, moving faster, with deeper strokes. I grab another mint with my free hand and toss it into my mouth, chewing it once and nearly swallowing it whole. I go in for the last round of light breezes, a pull, suck, and that’s all it takes for Austin’s warmth to be dripping down the back of my throat. The hint of mint really adds something special to my appetizer. Bad idea.

  I reach up and grab a napkin, finding it on the first try. “Is um, everything okay under there?” The waitress asks.

  “Yes, she’s just fixing her shoe, I think,” Austin says.

  “Um, oh, okay. I’ll just be back in another minute, then,” she says, sounding suspicious.

  “You know what? We’re both going to have the T-bone with mashed potatoes and slaw. Cook them both medium, please. Oh, and two of your drink specials.”

  “The Sex on the Beach?” she asks, and I stifle a small giggle.

  “Yup. That. Thanks.”

  “I’ll be right back with your drinks,” she says.

  I clean up my mouth and tuck Austin’s cock back into his pants. Just after zipping his pants up, I reach into my purse for the keys to the handcuffs and pull them out. I stick them in to the keyhole and twist.

  It’s not twisting.

  “Scarlett?” Aus
tin whispers in a hushed yell.

  “Yeah?”

  “What is going on?”

  “You’re welcome,” I say, sounded a bit disgruntled as I try to dislodge the key.

  “I think I grabbed the wrong keys,” I say out loud and to myself. Crap. Crap. Crap. This just went from what I thought would be the hottest experience ever, to the scenario of a breakup scene.

  “What?” he hisses.

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “You have two sets of handcuff keys?”

  “One set is fluffy pink, and the other is this ... ”

  I climb out from under the table just in time to find Mom walking around the corner. “Scarlett, what are you doing under there?”

  “Mom? What are you doing here?” I ask her.

  “I’m having dinner with Jack,” she says with a wink as if it wasn’t already obvious.

  “Ah, well, don’t let us keep you.”

  “Nonsense, why don’t we eat together?”

  “No, no, no, we were just leaving.”

  “It doesn’t look like you ate anything,” she says.

  “I’m not feeling well,” I reply.

  Jack has been watching this whole event unfold, and he’s quietly laughing so hard from two tables away that I think I see tears rolling down his cheeks.

  “Whelp, this is embarrassing.”

  “Have you done this before?” Austin asks.

  “No, why?”

  “It was obvious,” he says.

  “I was trying to spice things up,” I tell him.

  “Scarlett ... the wolves from the mountains fifty miles away, think they have competition with the way you sound at night. Do you really think you need to spice things up?”

  I smile because that’s cool. “I’m really sorry about the key. Do you want me to—”

  “What? Drive to the hotel to get them?” he snaps with frustration. I can’t say I blame him for his anger, but it wasn’t intentional.

  “No, they’re at your house,” I think.

  “Oh good. The answer is still no,” he huffs.

  “Miss,” I say as the waitress walks by. “Could I ask you a favor?”

  Without letting me get another word out, Austin interrupts me. “My wife here, she’s got really bad morning sickness, and it lasts all day for some reason. She’s about to lose her lunch momentarily. Could you rush our order and pack it up in a doggy bag?” The only thing I’m thankful for at the moment is Austin’s volume control. God help us all if Mom heard what he just said. In any case, I deserve that.

  “Oh, goodness gracious! I’ll do that right away, you poor thing. You certainly are glowing though.” The waitress leans over to me and cups her hand around my ear. “Honey, your breasts are seriously amazing. Gotta love what pregnancy does to a woman. Am I right? So jealous!”

  “Ha, yeah, right?” I reply.

  “You’re in so much trouble right now,” Austin says.

  All I can do is smile because this wasn’t what I planned. “Don’t be mad. I really didn’t mean to mess this up.”

  “I’m not mad,” he says before clearing his throat.

  “Yes, you are.”

  “Scarlett. Your mother is here with Jack. You were under the table giving me a blowjob with curiously strong mints, might I add. Oh, and you handcuffed me, and lost the key! I’m just glad you didn’t handcuff me to the goddamn table.”

  “Yes, but none of that except the handcuffed blowjob was planned. How was I supposed to know my mom would be here tonight?”

  “Here you go, guys. I hope you’re able to keep this down tonight. Feel better,” the waitress says, handing me the bag.

  “You’re so sweet. Thank you.”

  “Scarlett, you need to go distract your mother so I can get the hell out of here without anyone seeing my hands in cuffs.”

  “Got it. I’m on it,” I tell him.

  “Let me have your sweater,” he says.

  With a bit of confusion as to why he would make such an odd request at a time like this, I remove the thin layer I was wearing as an accessory to my outfit, and hand it to him. When he doesn’t reach for it, I realize why he wants it. “Oh.” I drape it over his hands. “There, now no one will see.” I smile and pat his hands before rushing over toward Mom and Jack’s table. I lean over Mom’s shoulder and whisper, “My stomach isn’t feeling too well, so I think we’re going to take off.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m sorry. Have a little bit of peppermint. It will calm your stomach a bit. Maybe some ginger tea would may be good too?”

  “Yup, I got it. Thank you. Have fun, you two crazy kids,” I tell them.

  “See you two later,” Austin says, leaning over Mom’s shoulder and giving her a quick peck on the cheek. “Come on, Scarlett, let’s get you home.”

  Austin runs ahead for the door. “I think he’s the one who needs to use the bathroom,” I hear Jack say as I follow Austin outside.

  “Who does this?” he asks.

  “Me?” I offer, sheepishly.

  We manage to make it back to Austin’s house without running into anyone, and I immediately locate the other set of keys in the bottom of my overnight bag. “Got it,” I tell him.

  He holds his wrists out to me and I unlock them. I unlink both cuffs and they slide down his hands, but he grabs ahold of them.

  I’m laughing so hard, my stomach does actually hurt now. I can’t believe I did that.

  “You think this is funny?” he asks.

  “I do.”

  “There is a time and place, Scarlett.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t like those times or places.” I smile, but Austin is in the mood for revenge. That much I can see on his face. He ducks down and slides his shoulder under my stomach, flipping me over his back.

  “You know how you complain about how slow I like to go sometimes?”

  “Ummm.”

  “Yeah, well, now I’ve got handcuffs to amplify the fun.”

  “Maybe this is getting out of hand,” I tell him.

  “Oh, is it?” he asks, playfully. “You just turned up the fun dial a whole new notch, Scarlett. I don’t know who you think you’re playing with, but I think you may have met your match, darlin’.”

  Just as my back hits the bed, my phone starts ringing in my back pocket. I go to reach for it, but my hand is grabbed, and so is the other. “I’m making these loose, so you don’t hurt your wrist. Normally, I’d cuff you to something, but you’re lucky I know better.” My good wrist isn’t spared, however. I can’t move that one around much at all.

  “My phone is ringing!” I tell him.

  He reaches under me and slides my phone out of my back pocket. “It’s Brendan. Can you call him back?”

  “He never calls me this late at night. Something might be wrong,” I tell him.

  Austin clicks the answer button and holds the phone up to my ear.

  “Brendan, you okay?”

  “I have the most exciting news in the world,” he says.

  “Oh, sweetie, can this wait for maybe an hour? Austin’s hand moves down my thigh, squeezing to the point where I might make the wrong noise on the phone. “Or two hours.”

  “Scar, this is important,” he says.

  “Well, what is it?”

  “Kalvin and I are getting married,” he shrieks. I can’t pull the phone away from my ear because Austin is still holding it there.

  “No freaking way. I’m so excited for you. When is the wedding? What are your plans?” Austin is no longer being friendly about this phone call. He’s tugging my pants down with his free hand and frees them enough to give him the space to slide two fingers inside of me. He hits the right spot at the just the moment Brendan is telling me about the tuxedo he’s going to wear, and I cry out loud.

  “You’re so sweet, Scarlett. This is why I wanted to call you first. Want to know the best part?”

  Austin slides in and out of me again, hitting the same spot he’s gotten good at finding on the first try. “Yes, yes,
yes, yes!”

  “Wow. See, I knew you’d be excited. We want to get married in South Carolina, near you guys.”

  “Oh my God. Don’t stop,” I shout.

  “In fact, I was hoping we might be able to convince Austin to have the wedding on his beautiful property at his house—maybe?”

  “That’s it. Right there … yes, yes.”

  “Thank you so, so much. You are truly the best friend a guy could ask for.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Austin

  FOUR MONTHS LATER

  Daisy has been in her glory for the last couple of months since Brendan asked her to help plan their wedding, especially after I offered to have the whole thing at my house. The property outside of my house has been completely transformed with wedding decor and flowers. I have to admit, it’s beautiful. Brendan and Kalvin kept sending money, and we made the rest happen. We—as in— the ladies. I’m not much of a wedding planner.

  “I can’t believe they’re getting married. I know this is all Brendan has ever wanted, and I’m glad they were able to work out their little snafu,” Scarlett shouts from the bedroom as I comb my hair back, making sure all the pieces are placed neatly. Scarlett told me I wasn’t allowed to have sex hair today. “Crap, Austin. I can’t zip my dress all the way up.”

  “Says the girl who never needs help with anything. Odd.”

  “No, I’m pretty sure the dressmaker is a dude who only thinks about the fashion, not the function of this damn zipper.”

  “I’ll be right in,” I tell her.

  I add a little more hair wax to the sides and tell myself I look pretty good. I don’t remember the last time I had to get this dressed up. I don’t think I’ve been to a wedding since I was a kid.

  I head into the bedroom, finding Scarlett in a royal blue, skintight, knee-length dress. Her hair is clipped up loosely with curls dangling over her shoulders. She looks over at me with dark-lined eyes and red lipstick, and I fall in love with this girl all over again. How in the hell did I get this lucky?