by Angel Payne
He traded glances with Kellan again. What if we’re a couple of those pain-inducing scum bags?
“Gentlemen? Are you still with me?”
It didn’t escape Tait that they both drummed nervous fingers on their thighs because of a voice in a box smaller than a SIG magazine. “Affirmative,” he stated. “Here and acknowledging you, Dragon.”
He purposely used Franz’s call-sign in hopes of shifting the man back toward a mission logistics mindset. But fate wasn’t in the mood for leg-ups today.
“That’s mighty good to hear, T-Bomb—especially from you.”
“Especially from me why?”
“I sent you there to deal with your past. Hokulani Kail is more than a passing look-a-like for a big piece of that past—in walking, talking, sass-slinging form.”
And moaning, writhing, climaxing form. And screaming, too, if his cock hadn’t been buried in her throat…
He gritted his jaw to force the image from his mind. “Uhhh, yeah. It didn’t escape my attention, Captain.”
“And yet you’re still functioning.”
Beneath his breath, Kellan cracked, “Guess you could call it that.”
Tait kicked him in the shin. “Lani’s an understanding person.” And insightful. Generous. Smart. Sweet. And passionate…holy hell, is she passionate… “Being around her and Leo has been…weirdly therapeutic.”
“I know the feeling.”
His reflective mood was replaced by a surge of alarm. And yeah—he went ahead and admitted it—jealousy. Had Franz and Lani been an item? Were they still? “Uhhh, you do?” He had no idea how he kept his tone so neutral.
“Absolutely. The vibe between those two is addicting. They’re good kids. And Hale Anelas…well, you’ve probably discovered that the place lives up to its name. There’s something magical about that little valley.”
They’re good kids. Whew. So Franz looked at Lani like a little sister of sorts. Now he just hoped that the “of sorts” part had casual connotations, not protective, testicle-stabbing ones.
“Agreed.” Kellan jumped in, ensuring he didn’t have to shoulder this part of the conversation alone. “We convinced Lani to let us help with a few repairs around the place, too. T’s been great with the horses.”
“Horses?”
“Believe it or not, my boyhood wasn’t completely wasted,” he answered to the amazement in Franz’s voice. Uncle Jonah had made sure of that, thank God. “Been around a few flying hooves in my time and managed to avoid most of them.”
“Outstanding.” Their CO burst back into his hoo-rah GI Joe mien, accenting with a loud hand clap. “Sounds like you’re making progress, then—which makes me even more grateful that you two are in the right place at the right time. Mahalo, Sergeants, from everyone in my ohana.”
From everyone in my family.
Tait purposely didn’t look to Kellan now. He already knew what evidence he’d see on his friend’s face. The same conflicted conscience that stabbed guilty needles into him.
“Captain, there’s no need for that. I’m just glad to be doing my job again.” At least every word of that was the truth.
Kellan helped guide the conversation deeper into the safety zone by cracking, “Oh, yeah? Tell that to my Remington, sitting in the closet here with nothing to do.”
Tait rolled his eyes. “I still can’t believe you brought that thing.”
“The sniper rifle stays in the closet, Slash,” Franz mandated. “With any luck, this is going to be a babysitter’s club of a gig for you. Easy and fast. Make sure Benson doesn’t go near the Kails or the ranch, and stay sharp on gathering more intel.”
“Roger,” they answered in tandem.
“Let’s round the wagons up again in ten hours, at nineteen hundred hours. Call me at the same number unless I text otherwise.”
“Roger,” Tait repeated.
“Maybe by then we’ll find something for me to shoot,” Kell muttered.
“Dear Christ,” Tait retorted.
“Sergeant Rush, keep your hands off the Remington. And Sergeant Bommer, keep your hands off Hokulani Kail. And both of you, try to keep the island intact for another day, would you? Dragon is peace outtie.”
The line went ominously silent.
Tait still leaned and peered at the phone’s window, making sure their CO had really hung up before falling back in his chair, slamming the butt of a fist against his forehead. “Fuck. Me.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Now he tells me to keep my hands off her?”
Kellan sank into a chair opposite him. “I think I feel shittier. He thinks I’ve been sitting around mooning over my rifle.”
“He pinned half of it right. You have been mooning, in a sense.”
“Ha fucking ha.”
“True fucking true.”
Kell’s eyes bugged before he slammed them shut and shook his head. “Why do I feel like we just slept with the boss’s sister?”
“Because we did.” As crushing a weight that settled on his chest from that, his next admission took his lungs into the freshly-crushed category. “But that’s your issue to deal with now.”
“What do you mean?”
He cocked his head. “I mean that you don’t have to worry about me going gonko over everything that’s recently—errr—transpired. I may have thrown out a few morose moons of my own over Luna, but I’m shooting way more straight with this situation.” He leaned forward again, deliberately casual with the posture to balance his dip into serious intent. “What happened last night…was a gift. One I’ll never forget. So thank you.”
Kellan’s dark perplexity wasn’t on his list of expected reactions. “What the fuck are you talking about?” He spread his feet and cupped his knees with both hands. “Tait, I can’t believe you don’t see the gift you gave me, not to mention Lani.” He snorted, seeming damn near amused. “The way she reacted to that spanking…the place where it took her…she looked so fulfilled. So peaceful. And holy shit, when she finally orgasmed…”
He laughed, watching his buddy’s eyes roll back. “Pretty good, eh?”
“Thought I’d never get my cock back.”
“Not necessarily a bad thing.”
“Not at all.” Kell cleared his throat and joined in on the laugh. But a second later, he sobered again. “I had no idea,” he murmured. “I had no concept at all about what this D/s stuff could really be like.”
Tait smiled. “I’d always sensed there was a Sir Kellan buried under that thick skull somewhere. You kept coming back to Bastille with me, so I knew you remained curious.” He shrugged, another attempt to diffuse the impact of his words. “But you’re not the first one who’s been scared off by witnessing that kind of an intense connection.”
Despite softening the statement, he braced himself for Kell’s backlash. The man never let anyone past tab one or two on his well-ordered emotional file, where there was never anything out of place or needing to be “examined.” His parents were still together, sent him cards for every holiday imaginable, and doted equally on Kadian, his younger sister. He’d come from the heart of baseball-and-apple-pie USA, meaning there couldn’t possibly be anything missing in his head or his life. In this friendship, Tait was the fucked-up one needing advice—and Kellan never forgot it.
Until, apparently, today.
His buddy lifted a smile that actually touched on self-deprecating before answering, “Connection. Shit. Yeah…that’s what it is, isn’t it?”
“There’s no way you can give a subbie what she needs without it,” Tait offered. He let his smile grow reflective as he went on, “To watch her skin shiver, then form little drops of perspiration…to feel the pulse beneath her wrists and neck…even to hear her every breath, and know that you can heighten all of it with the power of your domination… Hell yeah, connection is key. It’s everything.”
“It’s amazing.”
His friend’s confession came on a guttural grate. To Tait, it was also the most meaningful th
ing his friend had ever said. “Amazing is also a damn good way of putting it,” he replied.
“But for her, too, right?” Kell lifted a stare that was darker than usual. “For the submissive. She’s just as connected back to you, isn’t she?”
He nodded. “Her freedom to let go and fly comes from your strength as the Dom.”
“Which was what you gave to Lani last night.” Kellan let his hand go flat on the table. “And exactly what she needed. So who’s the one thanking who for ‘gifts’ around here?”
Tait turned his gaze out toward the sea. The turquoise and azure depths still swished with whitecaps, clinging to the violence from last night’s storm. His psyche felt the same way. Part of him craved to be back on that couch, lost in the sensual symmetry of what the three of them had shared; another part already accepted the fleeting fantasy of it…perhaps the stupidity of it.
Because now, life felt even emptier than before.
Which made his next statement even harder to form.
“Yeah, well…from now on, you’ll be the one giving her what she needs, man.”
Kellan let out a heavy breath. “Fuck. You—you really think?”
“Hell, yes. Take it in little bites—or in this case, gentle swats. You and Lani have the most important element already. Open, considerate communication. Talk to her. Ask her what feels good and what doesn’t. She’s very good at expressing herself.”
I need to please both of you…at once…
Dear fuck, was the woman good at self-expression.
“Okay. I can do that.” The statement was Cool Hand Luke, but Kellan’s fists, now twisting with each other atop the table, were complete Joan-Crawford-with-a-pile-of-wire- hangers.
Despite the throb in his groin, another grin was surprisingly easy to produce. “Hey, it’s all right to be a little scared.”
“A little?”
“Breathe, Slash-aroni.” He chuckled. Kellan didn’t.
“T…I have to say something. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this way for a woman before.” His gaze flew across the floor as he worked his jaw back and forth. “I don’t know what this shit is. And I don’t know whether I even like it.”
“But imagining your life without it is impossible?”
Kell gawked like he’d just revealed the secret formula for time travel. “Exactly!”
“Imagining your life without what?”
The interruption came from the doorway to the house—and the woman standing there, a little sleepy, a little disheveled—and a lot of too fucking sexy. Tait adjusted his position to try hiding his hard-on, already given a kick-start from the flashbacks of last night. Lani wasn’t helping things a goddamn bit with her girlish stance and robe-covered body. The garment, clearly borrowed from a female’s closet somewhere in the house, was a pale pink contrast to her hair, which she’d tugged into a loose side braid. He wondered if she was still naked under the thing. Part of him prayed yes. Part of him bellowed no. If Kell decided it was time to start “communicating” with her right now about their newfound discovery of kink, it was going to be time for a long, long torture session of a run for him. Or maybe he’d just go out to Waimea Canyon and wear himself out on a ball-breaker of a wilderness trail. Or five.
“Well, good morning, starshine.”
Thank fuck one of them was still able to function. Besides, it made more sense for Kell to go greet her, rising and pulling her close with a tender kiss on her lips, which were still plump as ripe strawberries from all the attention they’d gotten last night.
Stop staring at her goddamn lips. Stop thinking about anything they did with you last night. Or to you.
Tait rose as well, but headed as far down the lanai as he could without seeming a reclusive douche. Lani peeked around Kell and gave him a mock scowl, anyway. “What, no ‘good morning, dreamgirl’ from the T-Boner?”
What was that word Franzen used for her? “Sass-slinging?” Yep, that was about right. Every muscle in his body longed to stalk back to the woman, hike up that pretty kitty robe until he saw pussy of another kind, and make her “sling” sounds of a different kind until she apologized for letting that snark fly.
Instead, after tossing a shit-eating smirk of his own, he swept a low, teasing bow. “You twinkle above us, babe, and we twinkle below.”
She giggled.
His pulse raced.
Yes, his fucking heartbeat raced, like a line from a bad pop song by a guy with good hair.
Shit, shit, shit. Time to lay low—translation, cut the hell out of—this bantering with her. It was playful and innocent yesterday. It was outright flirtation today. All three of them knew it.
Thankfully, Lani let the moment slide, as well. She wasn’t benevolent enough to give him mercy from her sweet smile, swinging it to both him and Kellan. “Thanks for letting me sleep in. Guess I needed it.”
Tait studied her. “Guess you did, considering all the times you got up to pace.”
A glance from Kellan indicated Tait had stolen the words out of his mouth. So his buddy had noticed her nocturnal ramblings, too. Kell hooked a gentle hand to her elbow when Lani turned, presumably to gaze over the ocean. “You were up at least three times, sweetheart.”
“Four,” Tait corrected.
“Wasn’t counting her stop at the head.” Kell said it without breaking his attention on Lani. “Care to share what’s going on in that beautiful mind, sweetheart?”
The pause before her reply was long enough to notch up Tait’s apprehension, as well. “I’m fine,” she finally asserted. “Really. Just fine.” Her averted eyes, gleaming bright as the foam topping the waves, said otherwise.
“And I’m Tinkerbell.” Tait strode back with slow but purposeful steps. “You want to try that one again? Keep in mind that your audience is a couple of guys who’ve been trained to tell someone’s lying in less than a minute.”
“I—” She gave a little huff. Pursed her lips. She was clearly going for frustrated, but Tait was so entranced by her effort, he hoped she never got there. “I just have a lot on my mind, okay?” In a surprise turnabout, she dropped the insecurity for a new, saucy smile. “Besides, it was fun watching the two of you sleep.”
“Oh, how sparkly vampire of you.”
Hell. How long had he lasted on the ban to the bantering? A minute? But the jibe was too good to pass up. Lani’s impish grin said she agreed. Damn. He could get addicted to that smirk of hers…to the warmth it spread through his senses, pleased as hell with himself for lightening her day. But that was the problem with addiction. The words itself had synonyms like dependence and enslavement. And somewhere in that mess, there was guilt, leading him back to the throne in his soul reserved for the one woman who’d ever dared occupy it.
Luna.
She was still there, all right. He felt her, reclining in her serene feline glory—but why the hell was she only smiling, giving him cute little golf claps of approval?
Why are you playing with me like this, woman? Where the fuck is my slam of remorse, my gut punch of grief?
They were gone.
And he was confused.
Thank God for Kellan and his disgusted scowl. “Sparkly vampire? Did you really just go there?”
Lani laughed louder. Another box added on the addiction list. “He totally did. And it was cute.”
Tait narrowed his eyes. “I don’t do cute.”
“Yes, you do.”
Kellan joined her on the comeback. His friend sobered fast after that, running his touch up to her shoulder. The guy’s features went gooey in a way Tait had never seen before. “You want me to take you back to the ranch?” he queried. “I’m sure you want to see Leo.”
Lani returned the Valentine’s card stare, running a thumb across the stubble on Kell’s jaw. “He’s up and off to school by now. At least he’d better be.”
During her statement, the phone on the table binged with an incoming text. Tait knew that because the phone was his. “I can confirm the school arrival,” he sa
id, reading the window. “Killer K says he’s going to first period, sends his love to sis and Slash-gasm, and promises there won’t be any cave explorations on his behalf again today.”
Lani’s face relaxed. At the same time, she slanted him a curious glance. “Killer K?”
“The kid doesn’t have a monopoly on creating dumb nicknames.”
She smiled at that, but the look was a more subdued version of her norm. Once more, Tait observed that Kellan shared his insight. There was a deeper issue on the woman’s mind, and a rocket science degree wasn’t necessary for figuring it out. “Tait’s made some coffee,” Kell offered. “Let’s all go grab some then sit down for a talk.”
Tait wasn’t surprised to watch Lani’s posture stiffen. Fuck. He knew the feeling. So much to say. So few ways to say it without everyone signing up for Camp Uncomfortable. Forget wanting to spank her. Now, he just wanted to pull her close one more time, inhale the jasmine of her hair, and tell her everything was going to be all right. Everything. They were going to protect her land from Benson, and he was going to save her spirit from conflict.
What she and Kellan had forged together already was clearly awesome. He refused to be the dickwad to stomp all over that, no matter how incredible things had been over the last forty-eight hours. All he had to do was say that, right? A cup of coffee, a few lines of speaking the truth, and they could all shelve that last couple of nights into the closet of damn good memories. Best plan for everyone. Safer for all. Especially Lani.
“I don’t want to talk.”
Except if the woman herself dropped a grenade on the plan.
Kellan slid his hand from her shoulder to her nape. “Sweetheart, I think we need to. I can speak with confidence for Tait in this case. We’ve both come care about you—a lot. And while the last two nights have been—errmmm—enjoyable for everyone—”
“Enjoyable?” Tait shoved out a snort. “Step down, Poindexter. You aren’t talking for me anymore. They were fucking awesome.”
“All right,” Kell muttered, “what he said.”
