by Avery Gale
Chapter Sixteen
One week later
Callie McGregor tapped quietly on the doorframe of her husband’s office because she heard unfamiliar voices coming from inside. She had walked up from the dock below their house and had noticed an unfamiliar boat so she wasn’t surprised Ian was in a meeting. What did surprise her was that she’d gotten a text as she’d come in the door instructing her to come directly to the office.
Checking her appearance in the reflection of the kitchen windows and kicking off her shoes she didn’t even bother setting down the samples she was carrying. She smiled at the feeling of the cool tiles against the bottoms of her feet. Ian wanted her barefooted as much as possible and certainly anytime he hadn’t specifically asked her to wear shoes when they were at home. She’d teased him about just wanting to be able to say he was keeping her barefoot and pregnant, but he’d growled something along the lines of it being insurance that she couldn’t run away from him, or at least that she wouldn’t be able to run fast.
When he beckoned her inside, she kept her focus on her handsome Master as she made her way across the room. Their marriage may not have been in the D/s lifestyle for a long time, but she understood the importance of not making eye contact with anyone other than Ian until he’d given her permission to do so. The fact that he sometimes did and other times did not was largely dependent upon the visitor not Callie. He’d explained that he often dealt with people he didn’t particularly like and therefore he wanted to keep her exposure to them at a minimum. She suspected her loving Master would be even more protective of their child and that was fine by her.
“Carlin, come here.” She knew the minute he noticed the packages she was carrying. Jumping to his feet he took them from her and set them aside. “Tell me why my sweet pregnant sub is carrying her own packages when she knows perfectly well we have staff that would be more than happy to help.” His eyes were twinkling and she knew he’d just given her a hint about the man sitting in one of the leather chairs facing his desk.
Callie suppressed her smile because Ian without fail sat single visitors in the chair on his left. The chair on the right was the one he’d sat her in the night he and Jace had caught her sneaking onto the island and it held special memories for them both. Ian had told her that he’d known the exact moment when she had realized the evidence of her arousal was wetting the leather of the chair beneath her. After Ian had showered her to remove the black smudge she’d painted on her face for her unsuccessful under-their-radar entrance, he’d given her one of his shirts to wear. She remembered exactly how cold that leather had felt against her bare pussy and ass, and the fact he didn’t like anyone else sitting in her chair always made her feel like a warm chocolate sundae inside.
When she blinked up at him he was smiling down at her and she was glad she had her back to the other man. She knew from Ian’s sly smile that she had spoken at least some of her musings out loud and she felt herself flush. He leaned forward brushing a kiss over her forehead letting her know he wasn’t angry. Turning her around he spoke over her shoulder, “Callie, this is John Parsons.” Before he’d even finished introducing her to the man sitting in front of her Callie had taken an involuntary step back.
There was something about John Parsons that set off every alarm Callie possessed. And while she didn’t know anything about him, she did know that he wasn’t what he pretended to be because deceit was practically oozing from the man. Ian had wrapped his arms around her and she felt herself shudder. “I’m sorry, my love, it appears you are more tired than I knew.” Turning his attention to the man sitting in front of them he added, “Excuse me Mr. Parsons, I’d like to get my lovely wife and child settled. I’ll be right back.”
Ian quickly led her down the hall and then turned her in his arms after closing the door on the master suite. “Carlin, I’m sorry, but thank you for confirming what Mitch and Logan both said about the man in my office. He was reluctantly introduced to Alex and Zach by General Franklin. And during his first conversation with them he asked for an introduction and guest pass to Club Isola. Everything about it reeks but no one knows exactly what he’s up to. I know that he is very highly placed in the CIA and that is actually more than I cared to know. Your immediate reaction to him was all the confirmation I needed that something is very wrong here.”
Callie hadn’t had a chance to get a word in, but she took it in stride knowing it was a common occurrence with her wonderful husband. His brilliance sometimes came out in a tumble of information. There were times that she knew he might appear to be talking to her but he was actually just processing information out loud. She also knew that he’d have a sudden realization of what he was doing and rectify it quickly by asking her dozens of questions. She loved him more each and every day, and she didn’t let a day go by that she didn’t thank God for the blessing that was now settling her on their bed and covering her with a cashmere throw. He was looking down at her with such love that she couldn’t resist taking his hand in hers and pulling it to her lips. Pressing a kiss in his palm she simply said, “I love you.”
“I love you more. Rest a bit. We’re having guests for dinner before we go to the club. I have a surprise for you.” His smile was wicked and she felt her pussy respond with a sudden flood of moisture and the walls of her vagina contracted. Ian tapped the end of her nose and smiled. Damn he knew exactly how he affected her. “Hold that thought, my love.” He pressed his lips against hers and the kiss she’d expected to be short and sweet turned into a possessive promise of things to come that left her panting for oxygen and desperate for more as he left the room.
* * * *
Abby stood in front of the bathroom mirror and studied the outfit Kalen and Logan had given her to wear. The dress, if you could really call it a dress barely covered her ass and without panties it had the potential to be downright obscene. If she hadn’t spent an hour over the spanking bench yesterday for asking if they were “fucking serious” about another pseudo-dress they’d brought her to wear she might have questioned this outfit. But Abby liked to think of herself as a quick study, as do most Mensa members, so she decided to can the commentary.
You’ll just have to remember to not bend over or take any deep breaths or move. Crapping crickets this is going to suck. “What exactly are you planning to suck, baby?” Logan’s voice was full of amusement and his eyes practically danced when she swirled around to find him leaning in the door.
Slapping her hand over her heart to try and keep it from jumping right out of her chest, she gasped. “Holy shit, you scared me half to death. It’s not nice to sneak up on people you know…especially when they are acting crazy and talking to themselves.” By the time she’d finished the dots dancing in front of her eyes had started to fade.
Logan nodded once letting her know he’d heard her without committing to agreeing with her assessment. “What was that about sucking? You didn’t answer my question, Abby.” Uh oh, when Logan used her name rather than calling her baby he was usually in Dom-mode so she knew this wasn’t a time to let her smart mouth out to play. Hell’s bells she still flinched when she sat down. Damn that wooden paddle they’d used last night had left her with plenty of reminders about the dangers of being flip with your Dom.
“Well…it’s going to suck that I can’t bend over or move freely tonight without flashing my ass…etc. to everyone. And I don’t much like showing that view to anyone but you and Kalen. And…well, damn, I really don’t want to show my girly bits to my brother…geez, that’s just not right.” Abby felt her shoulders slump and she hated being negative, but the dress really was too short.
“Abby, look at me.” Logan’s voice let her know he meant business, so she raised her face to look at him. She hadn’t realized he’d stepped right up in front of her. “Do you trust Kalen and I to keep you safe?”
“Yes, always.” She had answered immediately because it was the absolute truth.
“Then you’ll have to trust us that you are not going to flash
your brother tonight.” While his words made her feel a bit better, they seemed…odd somehow.
Deciding to let it go, Abby nodded and just said “Thank you” before turning back to the mirror. She was ready to go, but needed the distraction because Logan’s heated gaze was moving over her in soft strokes that had her pussy weeping already.
“Bend over and spread your legs. I want to check for bruising and get you ready for tonight.” Abby didn’t hesitate to do as he asked because she really didn’t want to show up at Ian and Callie’s with her ass glowing from another punishment. “Very good, baby.” She felt his cool fingers moving over the heated flesh of her ass and sucked in a breath and jumped when he pressed into one of the spots that was the most tender. “We’ll have to be careful with you tonight, you are showing some signs of deep tissue bruising and we don’t like to see that.” He didn’t say it, but he fucking hated it, always had. He never wanted to leave any mark on a woman, punishment or not, that lasted more than an hour or two after a scene. And seeing the dark purple beginning to show on her ass made his stomach turn. Logan knew Kalen was going to be equally upset when he saw it.
“Shit,” Kalen’s voice sounded behind him and Logan knew his friend was as unhappy as he was. Hell, the most important woman in the world and they’d hurt her. The realization was like a knife to the gut. “Have your treated those bruises yet?” Logan shook his head and watched as Kalen gathered supplies from the cabinet. Logan didn’t like the idea that the bruises would probably get a lot worse before they got better over the course of the next day or two and now what they had her wearing to dinner tonight was a real Catch-22. If they had her change into something long that would cover the marks the message to her would be that they were trying to hide what they’d done from their friends. And if they let her go in the dress she was wearing, she was going to be uncomfortable knowing everyone was looking at her - wondering what she’d done and what the fuck they’d been thinking.
Kalen and Logan both began massaging arnica gel into her ass cheeks and the backs of her thighs. “Love, we are sorry for this. We should have checked you closer this morning, hell, we shouldn’t have kept you on the bench so long last night when we really didn’t know how your body would react.”
“I have always bruised easily. I’m sorry I was so snarky.” Logan had heard Abby’s hisses of pain as she’d spoken and wondered what they should do about her clothing. “Can I ask a question, please?”
“Yes, baby. What’s your question?”
“Could I maybe find something a bit longer to wear so that everybody doesn’t figure out what a bad sub I am? It would be kind of embarrassing for you, and since I’ll have to be returning to Houston soon, I don’t want to leave having everybody thinking I got sent away.” Logan could tell that Abby was fighting to not cry and he fucking hated it. Leave soon? Sent away? Was she kidding? Of course she isn’t kidding, we’ve kept her locked up in this damned apartment for most of the past week and she has to be going completely stir-crazy.
Logan was grateful Kalen had turned her to face him because at this point he wasn’t sure he had it in him to be rational, and most of his frustration was directed inward. “Love, I understand about a longer dress and I think it’s a fine idea, but not for the reason you do. I don’t think anyone will think you are bad sub, but they’ll damned well wonder why your Doms had their heads up their asses. And I want you to know that us caring for you and wanting you is not predicated on you being a good submissive. Fuck, it isn’t even dependent on you being a submissive. We want the brilliant and vibrant woman that you are inside. And for this past week we’ve done nothing to prove that to you.”
Kalen’s words were exactly right in Logan’s view. They’d kept Abby locked up away from her work and she’d had minimal contact with anyone but them. She’d talked with her family on the phone and had jogged the paths of the island several times, but that certainly wouldn’t be enough to keep someone as smart as Abby challenged. And it was a given that she wouldn’t be happy unless her mind was working and she was contributing in some way. There hadn’t been any significant developments in the investigation of her kidnapping, but Logan didn’t really expect them to unravel it quickly. Government agencies investigating one another was always a recipe of foot dragging and competing agendas. Cover-ups were the norm rather than the exception and Logan doubted this instance was going to be any different.
Logan turned her to face him. “Abby, one of the purposes of tonight’s dinner is to discuss Ian’s plan to start another club in Houston. He’s been planning on expanding for some time, but hadn’t picked a destination. We asked him to consider something in the hills west of Houston and that he transfer us both there so we could be close to you.” When he saw the look in her eyes he held up his hands. “Hold on. It’s not a done deal yet, it’s still being considered and I don’t want you to get your hopes up just yet. But we don’t expect you to give up your lab or work at Garrett Oil. And from what Ian said, your parents have been thinking about relocating the company headquarters closer to the ranch so your dads didn’t have to drive so far, so it would be perfect.”
He wasn’t sure exactly what he’d expected her to say, but the longer she just stood there the more nervous he became. Damn, he wished she’d say something, hell anything would be better than this silence. Logan had been in the SEALs long enough to read body language and anticipate the moves of an opponent regardless of their age, gender or culture, but Abby took him completely by surprise when she sprang straight up into his arms—hell, he hadn’t even seen her bend her knees. But he caught her and when his hands cupped her bare ass cheeks she hissed which made both he and Kalen laugh. She was kissing him like there was going to be no tomorrow and leaned over to do the same to Kalen.
When he finally set her down, he turned her back to the cabinet and nodded to Kalen. He saw Abby’s eyes go wide when she saw the items Kalen laid out on the countertop. Logan lifted the dress over her head and bent her at the waist so her hands were resting on the counter. “Arch your back and push your ass out. We’re going to play a bit during dinner, oh, and don’t you dare come without permission.”
Chapter Seventeen
Kalen almost laughed out loud at the look on Abby’s face when she saw the flesh colored butt plug and Ben Wa balls. She was going to be even more surprised when she found out that they were both remote controlled and that he and Logan each had one of the controllers in their pocket. They had purposely mixed up the two small remotes so that even they didn’t know which device they were controlling.
Once she was in position, Kalen began lubing the plug and rimming her rosette. After spending several hours with this plug stretching her beautiful rear hole, they knew she’d be ready to take them both at the same time when they got home. They were just going to do a quick walkthrough of the club on the way back to the apartment and had already arranged for two of their friends to be double fucking one of the club’s more experienced subs. They’d seen Abby talking to Lizzy late one afternoon when she’d been out running. The young woman had just been arriving at the club’s dock as Abby had been running past and they’d struck up a conversation that had lasted several minutes. Abby had come bouncing back in the apartment excited that she’d made a new friend and told them all about Lizzy.
They’d both laughed later at her “news” because they had known Lizzy Jantz for a couple of years and had done her background investigation for club membership so there wasn’t much about her they didn’t already know. But one thing Abby had said that had been news was that Lizzy was being transferred to Texas in a couple of months. She’d told Abby that she had recently gotten a promotion and would be taking over a small FBI field office near the western edge of Houston. Lizzy had been happy to be the creamy center for tonight’s show after she’d learned it was intended to help Abby see exactly what was going to be expected of her.
Watching the largest of the butt plugs they’d bought for Abby breach her ass was making him so hard he
was worried he might have to find a bit of relief before they left for dinner. He tried to view the encounter as a training session at the club but it wasn’t helping at all thanks to Abby’s soft moans and sighs as he kept fucking it deeper and deeper into her ass. Once it was fully set into place he used his fingers to finger the lips of her labia and smiled at her in the mirror. “Abigail, you are amazing and I can hardly wait for tonight’s games to begin. But first Master Logan has another toy for you.”
Kalen stepped back and watched as Logan slipped the Ben Wa balls deep in Abby’s vagina. Logan leaned down and bit down on the sensitive place where her shoulder joined her neck. They had quickly discovered that spot and the palm-sized spot at the base of her spine were two of their best bets to setting her on fire. Anytime they were walking next to her, one of them kept his hand on her lower spine, just barely above the crack of her ass. She had freely admitted that touch was one of her favorite things and they were happy to oblige because it also sent a clear signal of possession to every other man watching. Abby might have seen it as comforting or protective, but it had a much more powerful meaning in Kalen’s mind – it was the equivalent of his inner three year old screaming Mine.
When they stood Abby up she wavered for just a few seconds before he saw her eyes glaze over and the audible moan that came from her lips sounded like something right out of every porn movie he’d ever seen as a teenager. “Jesus, baby, give a guy a break, please.” She looked up at Logan, her confusion clearly written in her face. “The sounds you are making are mainlining straight to my cock and I’m going to have to relieve it if you don’t stop.”
