Pleasure Bay

by Maddie Taylor

  “Honey, you know I’ll pick up your car and you, but I wouldn’t be your friend if I didn’t say I think you’re being foolish. You have quite a track record of falling fast and hard, only to find out a month later the guy’s really a jerk. Then you spend the next three months crying on my shoulder about it. I’m trying to save us both here, sweetie pie.”

  “I know, but it’s been two years this time. It’s different, Tammy, I’m telling you.”

  “It’s been two and a half days, Jen. Let’s be realistic for a minute. The guy works for a pleasure resort. He gets paid to be what every girl wants him to be, including you.”

  “He doesn’t work for Pleasure Bay, and it’s not just some little resort either,” Jen snapped. “I paid 25K for this trip, and I’d pay it all over again in a heartbeat. These people really care about their guests and I’m sure not all their guests hit it off as well as Adam and I have, and maybe you’re right and I don’t know… Grr! Damn it, Tam. Why can’t you just be happy for me? Or at least wait until Wednesday before you dash my hopes and dreams by pointing out the other side of the coin?”

  “Twenty-five K? You really put out that kind of cheddar for a fantasy?”

  “Don’t judge.”

  “Okay, okay. You have fun with your fantasy man for a few more days. Call me when you’re close to the marina and I’ll come get you.”

  “Thanks, Tam. Love you.”

  “Love you too, doll. Just remember, I’ve been your friend a lot longer than he’s been your lover. Bye, sweetie.”

  * * *

  “There’s my sweet little princess,” Adam said when Jen came up the stairs. “Mmmm… and you smell all squeaky clean.” He grabbed her around the middle and picked her up, giving her a twirl that ordinarily would have made her giggle. She just wanted a cup of coffee. Then her brain could level out and she could get her mind off what Tam had said about old habits.

  “Do I smell coffee?” she asked, eyeing the tray sitting on the table.

  “Yes, you do—scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes too—with blueberries. Not as good as Chef Byron’s, but they’re edible. I hope.”

  “I just want some coffee,” she said, taking a seat at the lovely table he had arranged for them on the top deck.

  “After last night and again this morning, all you want is coffee?” He adjusted the big umbrella that shaded the table and took a seat next to her.

  “I’ve got a bit of a headache.” She reached for a mug and then the coffee.

  “You didn’t have a headache before you took a shower. Are you sure you’re not having second thoughts about taking the long way home?” He took the lid off the pancakes. The smell drifted up to Jen’s nose and made her stomach growl.

  “I wasn’t until I talked to Tammy,” she huffed, taking a sip of her coffee.

  “Let me guess. Tammy is your best friend and she doesn’t want to see you fall head over heels for the rich millionaire who’s going to break your heart because she’s the one who’ll get stuck picking up the pieces?”

  “Pretty close.”

  “I have no intention of breaking your heart. Your pace, princess, remember?”

  “There’s more to it than that, Adam. Tam knows me and what she said is a stiff reminder of my bad habits.”

  “Which you already told me all about yesterday afternoon. You think every guy is the one… until he’s not, right?”

  She nodded, trying to give him a smile.

  “We’re not making plans or setting dates, honey.”

  “I know that, but it’s starting already. I can feel it. I’m getting attached to you and I shouldn’t. But I don’t know how not to.”

  “Would it help if we agreed on no sex during your trip home?”

  “No! That would really drive me out of my mind.”

  “It would be good for you.”

  “How do you figure?” Jen couldn’t deny her rumbling tummy any longer and grabbed a pancake.

  “I knew you were hungry,” he grinned, passing her the syrup. “The only way to break bad habits is by creating new ones. I want to be a new habit, Jen—a good one. You said last night you wanted to take things slow and get to know each other before jumping into a commitment.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t mean we should cross sex off the list. How am I going to handle being around your hot body for the next three days and keep my hands off it?”

  “I could tie you up and put you in the cargo hold.” Adam winked, reaching for a piece of bacon.

  “Not funny! And I don’t want to be sexually frustrated the whole way home either.”

  “What is the key to any good relationship?”

  “Trust.” Jen took a piece of bacon too, but after one bite put it down. “You burnt the bacon.”

  Adam chuckled. “I warned you I was a lousy chef.”

  “What are we going to do for the next three days?” she asked, helping herself to more coffee.

  “Learn about each other. Talk. Watch movies. Snuggle and cuddle.”

  “Snuggling and cuddling are going to lead to sex, and you know it.”

  “Ah—you don’t trust me.” He raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s not that. I have no reason not to trust you, Adam. But I know I won’t be able to sleep next to your hot body and not touch it.”

  “That’s why you’ll leave that up to me, sweet cheeks.”

  Jen sighed, looking out over the water.

  “Come here, princess. You need something to release all the tension you have inside you right now.”

  “But you just said no sex.”

  “Who said anything about sex?” He patted his lap.

  Jen sat on his lap, putting an arm around the back of his neck.

  “Not quite what I had in mind, baby.”

  “Adam!” she squealed as he turned her and positioned her over his knee. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to give you what you need, little girl.”

  “I don’t need a spanking.” She squirmed, trying to wriggle free, but the iron arm he put around her waist held her tight.

  “Trust me to see to what you need, honey.” He lifted the soft material of her tropical sarong and then pulled her bikini bottoms down around her knees.

  “Adam, please! I don’t want a—”

  His hand came down hard before she could finish.

  “Ow!”

  “This isn’t about what you want.” He peppered one cheek repeatedly, while she squirmed and yelped. “It’s about what you need.” He moved to the other cheek. “Let it out, baby. When we’re done here you’ll feel a lot better and we can get underway.”

  Her ass was starting to feel like an inferno and before long Jen found herself crying in earnest. Not because he was spanking her, or because her ass was on fire. Okay, partly because her ass was on fire. But more so because she was crying out all of her worries and frustrations. Letting go of all the ‘what ifs’, and freeing herself from doubts. What Tammy said no longer mattered. She’d let Tammy talk her out of getting back in the lifestyle for the last year. There was always going to be a risk when meeting someone new, no matter what the circumstances. The fact was, she was sick of being alone and Adam was kind, intelligent, caring, and sexy as hell. Not to mention he already knew how to read her like a book. The chemistry between them couldn’t sizzle any better between the sheets either.

  When he stopped, he was panting and she was sniffling. Immediately, Adam pulled her up into his strong arms and held her close, soothing her and telling her it was going to be okay.

  “Thank you,” she murmured into his neck.

  “You feel better?”

  “Yes, sir. I forgot how emotionally freeing a good spanking could be. “

  “Good girl. Now let’s go to the wheelhouse and you can help me get this baby rolling.”

  “Adam?” she asked on their way over.

  “Yes, princess?”

  “When can we have sex again?”

  He gave her hand a squeeze and winked at
her. “We can talk about that next weekend; providing you still want to see me after you take a few days to let things settle.” Adam sat down in his captain’s chair and pulled her onto his lap while he started the yacht’s motors. Once they were underway and pulling out of the bay, they saw the plane taking off from the island.

  “There they all go,” she said, watching the plane bank for Kingston. “I wonder if they’re as happy with their fantasies as I am with mine.”

  “Am I still just a fantasy, baby?”

  Jen felt his fingers inching their way between her thighs and into her bikini. “Hey!” She squeezed her thighs shut, trapping his fingers. “I thought you said no sex.”

  “I did. And I meant it.”

  “Then what are you doing?”

  “Giving my girl what she needs,” he whispered while softly kissing her neck.

  Jen relaxed her thighs and his fingers slipped between her pussy lips, making her gasp when he softly pinched her clit. “I don’t understand,” she said softly, opening for him as she leaned back against his sexy bare chest.

  “No sex, little one. However, I never said anything about orgasms. After you’ve had a good strong release, I’ll just want to hold my happy girl.”

  “Oh, Adam,” she cooed, “you’re my dream come true.”

  * * *

  Sydney watched out her window until the island faded in the distance, replaced by unrelenting oceans of sparkling blue, the only blip on the empty sea a large luxury yacht that looked big enough to house a dozen or more people.

  The entire plane was subdued, with the exception of Shane and the dark-haired woman she learned was Katie. The two of them were holding hands and talking softly. They must have found what they were looking for. She was happy for them.

  As her eyes swept the other passengers, they fell on Mariah, in the very back of the plane. She looked lost and as forlorn as Sydney felt.

  Unable to leave a wounded creature to suffer, Sydney moved to the empty seat across from her. As she sat, she took Mariah’s hand and squeezed. Simultaneously, single tears tracked down each of their faces.

  “Man trouble, honey?” she asked the desolate blonde.

  Mariah blinked back tears and with a tilt of her head gave Sydney a watery smile. “It’s that obvious, huh?”

  “Only because you look as lost as I feel. It’s Master D, I presume. What in the name of hell and humanity were we thinking to get involved with these dominant men?”

  “I have no freaking idea, but first thing on my agenda is getting my head examined.”

  “I’m feeling the same way. Do you want to be alone, or could you use some company?”

  “I don’t feel much like talking, but some sisterly commiseration wouldn’t go unappreciated.”

  “Misery loves company, or so I hear,” Sydney said wryly as she settled back against her seat. “Do they serve cocktails on this flight? I could sure use one about now.”

  Wordlessly, Mariah stood and crossed to a sliding door that contained a small refrigerator. She produced two small single serving bottles of champagne. Unscrewing the caps, she handed one to Sydney and took a big swig of the other. “Fortunately, I’m off duty.”

  “Are you taking a break from your work on the island?”

  Mariah nodded, a silent tear tracking down her cheek. “Yes, permanently.”

  Startled, Sydney was unsure what to say, and had no idea how to comfort the other woman. Heaven knows she was the last person to give relationship advice. They lapsed into silence, lost in their own unhappy thoughts.

  After they landed in Kingston, Sydney gave Mariah a friendly hug before gathering her few belongings. Turning to leave the plane, she dragged her feet, feeling as if she were severing the last connection to Jaxon and Pleasure Bay. She took a step, but paused, looking back to consider Mariah. On Friday when they met, she seemed to have it all. “Are you going to be okay?”

  “I really don’t know, Sydney. Where do I go after a man like Dimitri De Luca?”

  “I know exactly how you feel, honey. There is only one Jaxon St. Clair.”

  They stared at each other until they were the last ones on the plane. Clearly, they were both broken-hearted. Eventually, the attendant cleared her throat as she tried to move them along.

  Mariah finally broke the silence, shaking her head sadly, as she stood to exit the plane. “Men… our lives would be so much more peaceful without them. Maybe we should switch teams.”

  “Heaven forbid,” Sydney exclaimed with a small smile, the first time since leaving the island. “Some of those dommes looked scarier than the men.”

  “You must not have met Gunnar.”

  “The Viking dom with the whip? I met him; forgive my selective amnesia.”

  As they deplaned, Mariah inquired of Sydney, “Is there no chance for you and Jax beyond Pleasure Bay?”

  Sydney shook her head sadly. “It was wonderful, but it seems this is the end of the story. What about you and Mas—uh, Dimitri?”

  “No, it seems our story has also come to an end. And in our case, there’s no hope for a sequel, especially after what I’ve done.”

  * * *

  Jax and the security team had assembled in the conference room when Dimitri came striding through the door Friday morning. Although he was dressed neatly and groomed in his usual meticulous fashion, Jax thought he looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

  “It’s been five days; tell me you’ve located her.”

  “Not yet,” Vance answered regretfully.

  Jax knew he wanted to have better news for the boss, but Mariah was covering her tracks well.

  “We have some leads,” Vance continued, “but they’re weak. Jax is heading to New York after the meeting to follow up on a lead on a college roommate. I’ll be in Miami this afternoon to oversee the investigation there. We’ve dedicated as much manpower as we can to finding her.”

  Dimitri nodded, his face a mask of composure. “Tell me what you do know.”

  Jaxon spoke up. “Mariah Charmant, formerly Marilee Claremont, was born Marilee Baxter to a teenage mother who was declared unfit. Marilee entered the foster care system at age four and got lucky enough to be placed with a good family. Home life was stable until age ten when her foster mother became seriously ill. She was bounced around the system after that until she came of age. She was a tough kid to have done as well as she did, no juvenile record and an excellent student—4.0 GPA. In fact, she received a free ride to USC where she majored in psychology.”

  Jaxon glanced up before continuing, his gaze landing on a stoic Dimitri, who stood up and walked to the windows. “Marilee met Robert Claremont, age forty-eight, in her senior literature class at age twenty-one. You guessed it… the prick was her professor. Evidently, he had a thing for innocent young co-eds. This all came out after his death. He used his authority to get into their pants by threatening their scholarships with a failing grade. Can’t be sure about Marilee, but he got his claws into her somehow. They married shortly after her graduation. The following year, there were two domestic violence calls on Claremont—”

  A loud bang stopped him abruptly. When he looked up this time, a red-faced Dimitri was pulling his hand out of the drywall. Jax could see streaks of blood where the skin had split across his knuckles. That would hurt like a bitch when the adrenaline wore off later.

  “Why didn’t the police intervene?” D asked with deceptive calm.

  Jax’s eyes flicked to Vance, who sat across the table nearest to Dimitri. He just shook his head, his concerned eyes steadily on their boss.

  “She refused to press charges and the DA didn’t pursue it without her cooperation.”

  Dimitri nodded, turning back to the windows, his back to the room. “Go on, Jaxon, I’ll try to control myself while you finish uninterrupted.”

  “No problem, boss.”

  “Just stop calling her Marilee, dammit.” The hole in the wall and the emotion in his voice just now were the only times in the last few days that he
’d allowed the cracks in his iron-willed composure to show.

  Jaxon continued with his report, making a mental note to change all future entries of Marilee to Mariah. “A year after the wedding, twenty-two-year-old Mariah was arrested on second-degree murder charges. The trial was a circus side show.” He slid a file with news clippings across the table, watching as Dimitri returned to the table, sat stiffly and opened it.

  Jax saw him flinch. The top picture had caused his own gut to clench painfully at the sight of a tearful, frailer, and much younger Mariah, cuffed and being hauled into the police station through a gauntlet of photographers and reporters.

  “Sex sells, boss. It was a feeding frenzy of paparazzi and mainstream news. As the sordid details came out, it made national headlines for weeks. Kinky sex, a beautiful young blonde accused of killing her wealthy conservative husband who turned out to be an abusive, sadistic son of a bitch; yeah, you can’t make that shit up.”

  Dimitri calmly sifted through the file. The only sign that he was affected was his flushed face and the muscles twitching in his tightly clenched jaw.

  “The trial lasted less than two weeks and ended in an acquittal on all charges. Hands-down it was self-defense, especially when three of the play party guests came forward to testify on her behalf. After that, she moved to the east coast, legally changed her name to Mariah Charmant, earned her master’s degree in psychology, became licensed, and set up private practice near Boston.”

  “Jax is right. Mariah is tough and strong-willed; she had to be to survive that cluster-fuck all alone and come out on top in the end.” This came from Vance, with a healthy dose of respect. They were all very fond of their resident matchmaker.

  “The money trail,” Dimitri urged, refocusing their attention on their task. “What have you found there?”

  Jax had the utmost respect for his boss and he felt for what he was enduring right now. He wasn’t so sure he’d be so calm in the face of such devastating news about the woman he loved. Then to have her run from him in such an emotional state… Well, Jax felt sure he would have done more than punch a hole through the wall.