by Lila Munro
“While Joel was home over Christmas we rented a cabin up at Blowing Rock and spent the holidays there.”
“That’s not exactly what I meant. What do you like to do?”
“I used to like to do all sorts of things. I’m not really sure what I like to do now.”
“Well, how about if we figure it out together.”
“I thought Joel got you to…” Nina closed her lips tightly and peered around the side of the booth then turned back and whispered. “To service me. You sound like you’re trying to date me.”
“A good Dom knows his sub. I can’t get to know you unless we spend time together. If we’re going to spend time together, we might as well get comfortable with it and have some fun,” Tammer said, chucking her chin. “Don’t you think?”
He had a point.
“Does Joel know this is part of your plan?” she asked, moving back a bit so the waitress could slide her steaming plate in front of her.
“Yes, he knows. I won’t do anything he doesn’t know about,” he explained, popping a fat, crispy piece of okra in his mouth. “He’s aware telling me what you like and me experiencing it with you are two totally different animals. What kind of music do you like?”
Over an hour later, they were the last people seated in the restaurant as the staff started lifting free standing chairs on the tops of tables to begin the evening cleaning.
“I think that’s a hint,” Nina said, finishing her tea and scooting to the side of the booth where Tammer helped her to her feet.
“I’m not normally one who has to be told twice,” he said, flipping a couple of twenties on the table and picking up their pie before waving at the waitress and leading Nina out.
She yawned all the way home. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt like she could fall asleep before midnight. After Tammer parked and took her to the door, he took her key from her and unlocked it then stood back as she stepped inside.
“Um, Sir Tammer,” Nina said, scrunching her eyebrows today. “The bedroom is inside.”
“Well, I’d hope so,” he answered.
“Aren’t you coming in?”
“Not tonight.” Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he winked at her. “Enjoy the pie. We forgot the whipped cream and I’m still too full anyway.”
“But what about my punishment?”
“Well, defiance, that was your punishment.”
“Dinner? Dinner was my punishment?” Nina asked, not understanding this new Dom’s way of thinking at all. Joel would have had her on the wrong end of a cane for being mouthy and disobedient. “But there were supposed to be two.”
“And your second one is to go to bed. Right. Now. No arguments and no more working tonight,” Tammer said, backing up almost to the steps. “I mean it, defiance. I’ll see you again soon.”
He waved, turned, and hopped down the steps. After Nina watched him climb back into his monster of a vehicle, she didn’t close the door until his taillights disappeared around the corner.
As it turned out, Tammer did mean it. Twenty minutes later as Nina settled into bed, propped up on her pillows and her laptop on her knees, her cell rang. Sir Ass flashed across the screen.
“Very funny,” Nina said, placing the device to her ear.
“Put the computer down and close your eyes, defiance,” Tammer growled, sending Nina’s heart into a pitter-patter.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good night, Nina.”
“Good night.”
Chapter Four
When Tammer finally got home and settled in front of his computer, he found an invitation to chat flashing from Joel. He glanced at the clock at the bottom of the screen. It was lunch time in the Middle East and he figured the man was hanging around his desk, pacing and eating a sand laced sandwich on pins and needles awaiting Tammer’s report.
You there, man? Tammer typed then opened a search window to do some surfing while he waited for a reply. It wasn’t long in coming.
Yeah, how did it go?
You know you could have given me a picture that did her justice. Why didn’t you tell me she was so pretty? Instant wood. No offense…
Tammer switched windows and Googled wine tours in North Carolina. Within seconds more than a dozen attractive looking offers popped up boasting the best vineyards in several counties. Of course they were all the best. Huffman, Duplin, Hinnant Family…
Try being me, Joel typed back. At least you get to do something about it soon.
Fuck off. Just remember this was your idea. LOL
Tammer read what he’d written and immediately regretted it. Joel could have had any one of dozens of service Doms from the service but he’d approached Tammer because they knew each other personally. Well, as personally as top secret missions could afford two people. Eating the same patch of dirt in Tammer’s book was personal. Did that make two men BFFs? Not really, but it did make them tight. If a man was willing to give up his own soul for someone else’s, knowing each other’s shoe size was irrelevant in the scheme of things. Joel was having a hard enough time as it was and Tammer understood that. Being a special ops man wasn’t marriage friendly. It was why Tammer had never been married. The fact Joel trusted Tammer enough to entrust his wife and sub to him was huge and goading the man was just inconsiderate.
Sorry. If you’ve changed your mind, now’s the time, buddy, he scribbled before hitting send and going back to his search while the cursor flashed. Either there was a lapse in transmission or Joel was thinking. The tiny pencil which moved when either party was typing hopped, skipped, erased and finally moved quickly as Joel formulated his answer.
Duplin winery in Rose Hill looked promising. They had daily tours and a bistro in house, the complete wine and dine experience, perfect for seducing his friend’s wife. Tammer shook his head and nearly laughed at the thought. Really, who did this with permission, anyway? Just as he was jotting down some details and perusing the menu, his computer beeped telling him Joel had finally sent something back.
No, I haven’t changed my mind. I appreciate the help and I’m not so selfish I can’t see I owe her at least this much. In truth, I owe her more. She’s been more patient with my career than any woman should have to be. How did it go? After she figured out you were a gift and you were safe?
It went well. Thinking of a trip to a winery Saturday. Showing up unannounced and interrupting her strictly structured calendar should keep her off balance.
So you noticed her anal tendencies with that fucking thing?
Tammer rolled his eyes before answering. Yeah? Your warning didn’t quite prepare me. How long has she been like this?
Always, but like I said, with me being gone so much, it’s getting worse. I think it’s the control that keeps her centered since I’m not there to give her that. It’s not been easy…I should be there more.
You can’t keep beating yourself up about it. You’re doing something to help her now. That’s what counts. And you obviously love her or you wouldn’t be doing anything at all. Trust me, she thinks the world of you and is completely devoted. If you’ve ever doubted it, forget that right now.
He wouldn’t tell the poor man she had in fact doubted for all of five minutes when in the throes of her fright, she’d accused her husband of sending an assassin after her. Tammer knew she never believed that for a minute. Joel didn’t need to hear it.
If I didn’t trust you, you wouldn’t be in the process of dating my wife. Have fun Saturday and I’d say kiss her for me but we both know the rule on that.
I have no intention of breaking your rules. Tammer would be lying if he didn’t admit to himself, kissing her had crossed his mind more than once already. Joel needed reassurance he’d picked the right man and Nina was safe under Tammer’s care. He didn’t need to worry he’d possibly chosen wrong and Nina’s loyalty was at risk. Wine, eats, and play time…that’s it.
Yep, play time. Cut and dry. Tammer was well versed and practiced in staying within the boundaries wh
ere his clients were concerned. Not coming inside someone wasn’t a problem as he could think of so many other ways to use a good hard on. Spending the night wasn’t an issue either as he rarely stayed in a woman’s bed longer than a couple of hours at a time anyway. Ever. For the same reasons he’d never had a wife, Tammer had never afforded himself any sort of long-term, meaningful relationship that involved much more than fucking and playing. Since leaving the military, as with so many of his habits, the keep them at a distance rule died hard. But his mind made no hesitation in drifting back to thoughts of Nina’s lips and how he’d like to plunder them.
Well, keep me updated. Gotta go. Thanks again.
No problem, man. Keep your ass down and your head in the game.
Without any further response, Joel’s chat handle went white and he disappeared.
At ten Saturday morning, Tammer stood on Nina’s doorstep once again having to press her doorbell repeatedly before he heard cussing and fussing on the other side as she made her way to the front of the house. Off balance was exactly where he wanted her and that’s exactly where she was when she flung open the door and stood there as she had not two days ago in a long UNC sweat shirt and a pair of enormous socks, one gold and one blue, Tammer noted. Bohemian eccentric crossed his mind and he smiled. He glanced back up to find her hair in a disheveled, messy knot on top of her head and a scowl on her face.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, pouting.
“Don’t you mean what are you doing here, Sir Ass?” Tammer said, dying to lick her full mouth. Staying the urge, he pushed around her and invited himself in. “That won’t do.” He waved a hand up and down at her attire. “You’ll need a shower and real clothes. Jeans, a sweater, and a pair of those cute clogs with shit painted on the toes. Do you have any with grapes on them?”
“Grapes?” Nina slammed the door and turned, rolling her eyes then heading back toward her office.
“Yeah.” He chuckled and followed her, leaning over her desk as she took her seat and turning her computer off before she had a chance to make the first key stroke, thoroughly irritating her if the look on her face told the true tale. “Grapes. That’s a hint as to where we’re going today.”
“You know what, Sir Ass,” Nina said, crossing her arms under her breasts and draping one leg over the other then tapping one socked foot against a desk drawer handle. “We never had those negotiations did we? So here’s what I propose for the first point of compromise. We need to establish a schedule. I need to know the day and time you’ll be coming by each week. This popping in business won’t work for me. I’m a very busy woman.”
“So busy I’m only afforded one day? Is that why you and Joel only played on Thursdays? You’re schedule only afforded him one day, too?” Tammer asked, spearing her with a heated Dom glare. “Not a very accommodating sub, are you? Considering your husband is only home a few weeks a year, I’d think he’d be top of the list when he is.”
“I’m not at the top of his list,” Nina argued.
“Harsh, defiance. That’s just harsh.”
“Pick. A. Day.” Nina’s nostrils flared and her cheeks flushed beneath the wisps of hair that had fallen out of her makeshift hair do. “When is most convenient for our play dates for you?”
“Well, that’s difficult to say really.” Tammer wasn’t in any way, shape, or form going to give her the upper hand. Joel wanted her brought around center and sane when he got back stateside and that’s exactly where Tammer intended to put her provocative little ass.
“Enlighten me. Please.”
“You see, working for the service isn’t my day job. I have one of those, too. This is more a side gig I have to work around the other one.”
“And what are your day job hours?” Nina asked, uncrossing her arms, snatching a pen from the red pen holder on her desk holding an even dozen of the same, and wielding it over her day planner.
“They fluctuate,” he said, biting his lower lip in an effort to contain the laugh threatening to erupt when she frowned and looked at the ceiling then laid her forehead on the desk.
“Oh. My. God,” she moaned, the words muffled by the fact her head still lay next to the meticulously tended calendar, so neat it made Tammer’s head hurt looking at it and trying to decipher all her color coded appointments and deadlines. “You’ve been sent to drive me completely insane. I think I’d rather you shot me.”
“Actually, no,” Tammer assured her, grabbing her by the bun on top of her head and pulling her up. “I’m here to save your sanity. Get up, go get a shower and dress so I can get started earning my gold star. Now.”
“I have work to do.” She quirked up one side of her mouth and wrinkled her brow in obvious frustration but her eyes spoke a different language.
Nina wanted to cave. In fact, Tammer could have sworn she was ready to toss the computer against a wall and fall to her knees. Nina was a woman, a sub, starved with need and she was struggling to maintain her neat and tidy life and ignore her needs at all cost. It was his opinion when she stared at his lips and licked her own, part of her problem was the same one he was having a hard time corralling, the line in the sand Joel had drawn. Had Joel considered for a minute Nina might need more than Tammer was allowed to give?
Not that it mattered. Rules were rules and he’d just have to work within the parameters and make what he could offer Nina the most he possibly could and hope it was enough.
“Not today you don’t,” he said, turning loose of her hair and standing to come behind the desk. He ran his arms beneath hers and pulled her up then planted a firm slap to her ass. From the reverberation that ran up his arm, he’d have bet she was without panties. Heat swamped his groin setting his dick to stirring. “Now go upstairs and get ready or that will turn into way more than one and we’ll miss the tour before dinner.”
Chapter Five
Nina hadn’t been touched in so long the one slap Tammer administered to her ass sent a tingle zipping up her spine she couldn’t repudiate. Although Joel had spent a few short weeks home between missions at Christmas, they hadn’t really played as much as they should, mostly due to her. Tammer was right, she’d been avoiding play time with Joel and dictating for the longest time when and how often, but not because she was trying to Top from the bottom. The fact was she was avoiding him because she figured if she didn’t get used to him being around or used to playing regularly while he was home, she wouldn’t miss it so badly when he left in a whirlwind again. It was easier to deny you wanted something you never got anyway.
But she did want. And to lie about it was becoming a futile study in denial.
When she stepped out of the shower and began applying her make-up, she realized this was the first time in she couldn’t remember how long she’d taken so much care in getting herself put together. Nina knew she looked fine without make-up and was renowned for sneaking off to Harris Teeter with none gracing her face, but as she spread eyeliner at the corner of one lid, she realized she missed this. Missed the ritual of making herself look pretty. Anticipation settled in her womb while she finished up then spread her favorite lotion up her freshly shaven legs.
After she’d undressed and looked down, she thought it a mere wonder Tammer hadn’t noticed the prickly mess covering her legs and told her to not only shower and dress but drag out a weed eater and take care of her out of control, hairy situation. Yet another product of being alone. But why should she care if her legs went untended when there was no one around to know if they were stubbly or not?
The problem was well in hand now and she reveled in the silky feel of the moisturizer along her skin and vowed even if Tammer decided she was too much of a handful and bailed, she’d not let this task go again.
Twenty minutes later, in a pair of jeans, a sweater, and a pair of her Swanx just like he’d requested, Nina made her way downstairs. The shoes didn’t have grapes on them, but they did match her sweater color so they’d have to do. She found Tammer in the front room staring at her an
d Joel’s wedding picture with a look on his face she could only decipher as what? Jealousy?
Funny, he probably knew everything there was to know about her from his and Joel’s meetings, but all Nina knew of Tammer was his basic driver’s license information, that he liked soul food as well as she did, and that he had a day job, although what that entailed was still a mystery. And the fact his hand felt damn good landing on her ass. Did he have any family? Kids? She assumed he was unmarried, but had he ever been? She almost laughed. What difference did it make if he was married or not? It wasn’t like he hadn’t been gifted to her no strings attached. His marital status and whether or not she was the other woman or if she had a future with Tammer beyond whatever Joel had ordered for her was irrelevant. She’d probably do well to remember that as she stood here staring at him, the heat that had bloomed in her belly earlier back, this time accompanied by something that felt all too similar to a prickling in her heart.
Had she been denied emotional nourishment aside from the mumbled I love you over a crackly, unsecure line for so long she actually had a crush on her sub-sitter?
“That was in St. Martin,” Nina offered. “Before Joel decided to try for special ops. When life was a little more normal.”
“Normal is a perception,” Tammer said, turning and eyeing her from head to toe, warmth reaching out and touching her from the depths of his pupils. “You look good enough to eat.”
Visions of him doing just that set Nina’s clit on fire and it throbbed with want. She cleared her throat and looked down, holding one foot up and wiggling it. “Will pink daisies do? I’m short on grapes.”
“They’re cute. So are you.” He smiled, winked, and pointed at the vintage black purse with pink flowers beaded into the pattern. “Your purse matches? For a hard ass on the outside, you’re all girl on the inside, aren’t you?”
“Guilty.” Nina blushed at his recognition of her inner female goddess who used to rule with a velvet fist but had been pushed further and further into the recesses as the situation dictated she fend for herself more and more.
