by Lexi Blake
“What about your writing?” Stef asked quietly.
Nell snorted. That was a pipe dream. She’d been writing since she was a kid. She’d started out writing little stories, faery tales really, about the other world her mother loved to talk about. Then she’d grown up and realized she needed to write adult books, books that could change hearts and minds. Well, they might be able to change them if anyone ever actually read them. “Uhm, apparently no one wants to read thrillers about social justice. I thought it was a good idea at the time. It’s sort of a Steve Berry–meets–Les Misérables story all set around the man-made disaster that was the Dust Bowl. An intrepid farm girl finds the clues to saving mankind buried deep in Oklahoma, but she has to fight dust storms and misogyny and rabid politicians to save everyone. I really thought it would sell.”
For the first time since she’d met him, Stef seemed at a loss. Yeah, that was pretty much the way every agent and editor she’d submitted it to had reacted. “I, well, I could make a call.”
She sighed and let her head rest against the back of the hot tub. “Don’t bother. I think I’m pretty much doomed to failure on the writing front. Unless someone starts picking up my Doctor Who fan fiction, I’m pretty much out of luck.”
“You write Doctor Who fan fiction?” The question came out of Stef’s mouth on a laugh.
She let a smile curl her lips up. “It’s erotic fan fiction. I think multicolored scarves are intensely sexy. I also find British accents soothing.”
His jaw dropped for a minute, and then a long laugh boomed through the space. Stef laughed for a good long while, the sound filling her with joy. Stefan Talbot didn’t laugh often. It was a good thing to give the young artist a bit of respite from what seemed like a too-serious life. She often thought that was why he’d stayed in Bliss, though he likely belonged in New York or Paris. He stayed in Bliss because he could laugh here. He took a deep breath. “I’m going to have to look that up online.”
“You’ll have to find me. Good luck. I don’t write under Nell Finn.”
“All I have to do is look for the story that has some message about recycling.”
Damn him. He knew her too well. “I’m sure I’m not the only activist who writes fan fic.”
His smile dimmed slightly. “What do you know about this guy?”
She stared at him.
“I’m not going to be protested, Nell. You don’t have a dad and your mom can’t protect you the way she would like. That means the men of this town have to look out for you.”
The men of Bliss seemed united on that front. “There is so very much wrong with that statement.”
He held his hands up. “Would it help if I told you I would do the same for Logan? Hell, I’m trying to convince Noah that he’s in trouble. I don’t like the woman he’s dating. She tried to hit on me two days ago, but Jamie doesn’t think Noah is willing to listen.”
So it wasn’t a completely sexist “protect the women” play. She couldn’t exactly protest if Stef was treating her the same way he treated Noah. And Noah was in for some trouble. She’d met Ally, an actress working with the Bliss Repertory Theater, and Nell hadn’t been impressed. Ally had seemed very interested in moving up the social ladder, and she needed money for that. Noah had recently come into a trust fund and Ally had moved her attentions from his brother, James, to Noah.
But she didn’t have Noah’s problems.
“Henry isn’t after my money,” she assured him. “He knows I don’t have any.”
“I’m not worried about him being after money. You have plenty of other attributes a man could want.”
Oh, yes, now she was curious. “Like?”
Gray eyes rolled. “I don’t need to go into that.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Come on. Don’t make me say it.”
She was pretty sure she knew what he was talking about. “Is this the submissive thing?”
“Yes, Nell. It’s the ‘submissive thing.’” He used very sarcastic air quotes. “It’s not a thing. It’s reality. You would most likely be very happy if your sexual relationship was controlled by a strong partner.”
Stef was a true believer. Unfortunately, in this case, he was also right. “I know.”
A long sigh came from his chest. “A lot of men would love to take advantage of your nature. I think you would be happier with a Dom. Not a full-time D/s relationship. I think that would be too confining for you, but you need a partner who can be patient because he loves you and adores you for the unique woman you are. He needs to be able to understand you.”
“Jeez, you’ve just described like one person in the whole world. Where on earth do I find this saint?” She felt like crying. Henry couldn’t understand her. He’d said it last night. They were so far apart when it came to their ideals. Henry was smart, but he didn’t seem to care about the same things she did. He would put up with it during their affair, but he would be gone in a week or so and he would find someone who wasn’t as difficult as she was, someone who could get along with people and who didn’t protest businesses on a regular basis.
Someone who wasn’t so weird.
“I can introduce you to some people,” Stef offered. “Give me a couple of weeks and we’ll go to Dallas. I have a friend there who’s quite good at matching submissives with well-meaning Doms.”
She shuddered in horror. The thought of getting set up was awful. She was about to tell Stef all the problems with that scenario when a low voice cut through the quiet bubbling sound of the spa.
“She has no desire to go to Dallas.”
“Henry.” She looked up and realized he’d stepped into the spa room, and she hadn’t noticed. She’d been so involved in conversation with Stef that she hadn’t realized they weren’t alone.
“Mr. Flanders.” Stef didn’t look put out. He actually stood up and held out a hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Is it?” Henry stared at Stef’s hand, but made no move to shake it. “Tell me, what sort of protocol do you follow that you feel perfectly comfortable being alone and naked with another man’s sub?”
“Henry!” That wasn’t polite at all. Henry looked positively territorial as he stalked forward.
Stef squared his shoulders, too. “I follow the protocol where a Dom puts a collar on a sub and then she’s off-limits. Until then, she needs the men who give a damn about her to watch her back and make sure she’s taken care of. Honestly, even if she’s got a collar on, I would still look after her if she needed it.”
The testosterone was flying around. She needed to calm the situation down. “I can make my own decisions.”
They completely ignored her. Henry had a small bag in his hand and looked delicious. He’d shed his coat and wore only jeans and a T-shirt that showed off his leanly muscular arms. “You can’t expect a man to put a collar on a woman the day after he meets her. These things take time and honestly, I think putting a collar on this one will be tricky.”
“I wasn’t aware you had that kind of time here.” Stef stepped out of the hot tub. If he was uncomfortable being naked around a clothed man, he didn’t show it. He simply reached for a towel and took his time drying off.
And Henry stepped between them, obviously trying to eliminate her line of sight. “And I was unaware I needed to ask you if it was all right to have a relationship with Nell.”
Stef slipped into his robe and turned back to Henry. “She’s special.”
Nell sat back, well aware that those two really didn’t want to hear from her. “Special.” Yuck. Everyone said that. She kind of worried they meant it in a “she’s not altogether there” way. The other men of the town could talk about her specialness all they liked, but none of them had ever made her feel the way Henry did. She resented Stef’s interference the tiniest bit. Not enough to actually protest him because his heart was in the right place, but certainly enough to sulk a little.
But then she also resented the fact that Henry had walked in acting all caveman like. He wa
s leaving soon so she wasn’t sure what was up with all the possessiveness.
Of course, on the other hand, the possessiveness made her feel cherished and beloved, but she rather thought that was her vagina talking. She’d recently learned that sexual activity had caused her vagina to revert from its pure feminist roots to something primal that didn’t care about anything but getting some more sex from the right man. Perhaps when Henry was gone, she could find her vagina a proper organic, earth-friendly vibrator that ran on rechargeable batteries. Maybe then it would stop screaming at her to pounce on Henry.
“Earth to Nell.” Henry had turned and stared down at her.
“Sorry, did you say something?”
Stef chuckled. “We worked a few things out while you were thinking. You’ll find she can drift away at the oddest times.”
“She’s a writer. She’s creative. It’s only to be expected.” Henry’s voice had gone a little gruff while he defended her.
And her vagina was talking again. Yep, it didn’t seem to want to shut up while he was around, and it didn’t like the idea of an organic vibrator. It wanted the real thing.
Stef crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, all right then. Nell, you take care. Henry, if there’s anything I can do, I’ll help out.”
Henry didn’t miss a beat. “You can figure out a way to lock the door when you leave.”
He couldn’t be thinking that way. Nell looked up at him. “This is a public space. It’s meant for everyone.”
But Stef simply smiled. He walked over to the small closet where the towels were kept and reached toward the back. He produced a sign. Closed for repairs. Someone had drawn two naked people climbing into a hot tub and then placed a large X across them. “You’re not the first, Flanders. You won’t be the last. I’ll hang it on my way out. You’ve got an hour before they’ll be in here setting up for the Hot Tub Fun Spa party. You want to be out of here by then. I hear they’re waxing some of the men in an effort to keep the Squatchers off them.”
The door closed behind Stef.
“Dare I ask?” Henry pulled his shirt over his head, and Nell couldn’t help but watch. She was mad at him, but gosh, he was pretty. She knew she shouldn’t think like that. He was a human being, and he deserved more than to be seen as a sexual object.
She forced her eyes away and concentrated on the question at hand. “The wax thing or the Squatchers?”
She heard the rustle of clothing being folded away. “I get the wax thing. Hairy guys, lots of pain. Yeah, the Talbot guy is right. I should avoid that at all costs. What the hell is a Squatcher?”
“It’s a sort of cryptozoologist.”
“So a scientist of some type?” She heard the smallest splash as Henry slid into the hot tub.
“Yes. They study Sasquatch, or as the creature is known in other circles, Bigfoot.” She felt comfortable enough to look at him again. She shouldn’t have. It wasn’t merely his hunky body that got her heart racing. His face was so handsome, all square-jawed and warm brown eyes.
Those eyes widened slightly. “Bigfoot? Seriously?”
“Henry, are you being judgmental?”
An innocent look crossed his face. “Not at all, sweetheart. Bigfoot is probably very serious around here. Now why don’t you come over to my side of the tub and give me a kiss?”
She wasn’t ready to melt in his arms. “You can’t treat my friends like you just treated Stefan.”
All innocence was gone, and his jaw formed a hard line. “He was naked in the tub with you.”
“It’s a nudist resort. They don’t allow clothes in the hot tub. What did you expect? That he would hop in wearing a turtleneck and jeans?”
He didn’t seem willing to give on this subject. “I would expect he would respect a few boundaries. You’re lucky I didn’t start a fight.”
She couldn’t help the way her eyes rolled. “See. That’s why this can’t work. Violence isn’t the answer.”
“It can be, but I’ll give you that this time it wasn’t. The minute he stepped out of the tub, I had all the answers I needed. I have to admit, the naked thing can be useful at times.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
Henry leaned forward, his hands finding her knees under the water. “He wasn’t hard. He doesn’t want you that way. He really is just looking out for you. And he’s a lifestyle guy. Serious from the looks of it. If he says he’ll take care of you, he means it.”
Nell gasped and pulled away. “You were looking at the size of his penis to decide if he was interested in me?”
Henry pulled her back. “No, I was looking at the state of his erection. You see, I’ve been hard since the moment someone told me you were in the hot tub. A man who wants you is going to have a hard-on whenever he thinks about how soft your breasts are or how good it feels to slide inside your pussy or how much he wants to fuck your mouth.”
Her vagina was definitely threatening to take over. His hands moved up her thighs. “Henry, anyone could walk in. Shouldn’t we talk about what you found out? Is it safe for me to go home?”
She had to start cleaning up. She needed to find a job. She had to sell her computer. Surely someone would pay a few hundred bucks for it. She would miss her computer. She had a whole community of friends on the Internet, and she would have to go without them.
“Hey.” Henry pulled her close. “Don’t disappear on me. No. It’s not safe to go home, but I have a list of suspects I want to check out. I don’t want you to worry.” His fingers came up and brushed away tears she didn’t know she’d shed. “Don’t cry, baby. I’ll take care of everything.”
He would try. She had no doubt he would find the culprit and try to make things safe for her before he left, but then she would be alone again. Her mother would still be dying. She would still have to move, and she would do it without any support this time.
And that wasn’t Henry’s problem.
“You’re killing me, Nell.” His arms wrapped around her, and just for a minute, she felt safe. She let her head find his shoulder. “Tell me what to do. I don’t know how to help.”
He didn’t sound like a man who wanted to get his happy fun time in and leave. He had a job to do, but maybe they could keep in touch. She cuddled close. “Take my mind off things for a while.”
It was all she could ask.
“I can do that.” Henry’s lips touched her forehead. “I want to play. Will you play with me?”
Submit. He wanted her to submit to him. She hated the word, but her vagina was once again loudly stating its opinion. It wanted to submit and, when she thought about it, it was just another choice to make. Henry hadn’t done anything to her that hadn’t been pleasurable, so why not “play” with him?
“Yes. I want to play.”
He pulled lightly on her hair, forcing her to look up at him. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”
She couldn’t help but smile. She could feel what she was doing to him. His cock was hard and poking at her belly. She let her legs drift around his muscled hips. She would like to watch him work out. “I’m trying very hard not to turn you into a sexual object, but you make it difficult for me.”
A low chuckle rumbled from his chest. She loved that she could make him laugh. She rather thought he didn’t laugh often. “Don’t try at all. I want to be your sexual object. Don’t turn this into an intellectual thing. This has nothing to do with your brain. This is chemistry, baby. This doesn’t come along very often.”
“Doesn’t it?” She was curious. She had almost no experience. “It’s not this way with your other lovers?”
He shook his head as he rubbed their noses together. “I’ll be honest with you. I would have told you this differently before I met you, but now I am pretty sure I’ve never had a lover before. I had women. Plenty of women, but they weren’t meaningful. You’re meaningful. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, I have to leave, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget you.”
It was all s
he could ask for at the moment. He had to get back to his job, and she had to take care of her mother. One day she would look him up. If he wasn’t in a relationship, maybe they could try again. But she had today and a couple of tomorrows.
“I won’t forget you either.”
A look of sadness crossed his face. “You will and that’s all right. The most I want is to be a distant memory. I want you to be happy. I don’t think I ever wanted anything as much as I want that.”
He seemed to be struggling with something. She wanted to ask, but this wasn’t something she could push for. He had to be ready to talk to her. Maybe Henry needed to forget his troubles, too. They could give each other that much. She brushed her lips to his. “Did you bring the condoms?”
She wanted to feel him moving inside her. For those brief moments, there was no aloneness, no singularity. They were together without question when he was making love to her.
He calmed a bit and a hard look came into his eyes. She was starting to associate that look with sex and pleasure. “I brought them, but I won’t use them until I’m ready.”
He could be so bossy. “I’m ready right now. You’re ready right now. Let’s go.”
He shook his head. “Are you trying to take charge of this? You know what happens when you do that. Turn around. Put that ass in the air.”
Yeah, she’d been kind of going for that. Henry had liked spanking her and she had to admit, she’d liked it, too. He seemed to get even hotter when she was a little bit bratty. Nell turned, her body relaxing for the first time since he’d walked out the door this morning. She stood up on the seat of the hot tub and leaned over, shivering as she placed her ass in the air.
He moved behind her. “This is a count of twenty. Who’s in charge of sex?”
“You are, Henry.”
“Damn right, I am. I’m not going to let you forget it.”
Nell nearly screamed as his hand met her backside. The heat of the water had softened her skin, making the smack so much more intense. Pain flared, racing across her skin as Henry began spanking her over and over again. Tears squeezed from her eyes, but just as she was about to call a halt to it, heat spread, engulfing her. Her pussy was so wet as he smacked away. The tears that came out felt purifying as though all the troubles of her world were slipping away as they fell from her eyes. Over and over again he slapped her ass, making her muscles weak. She lost count, trusting him to keep it. She would be sore tomorrow because he wasn’t holding back. She would feel this moment every time she sat down, and she would remember the way it felt and how it sounded. She would remember the startling sting and how it turned into something so much sweeter when she was patient.
