The Reluctant Dom (17 page)

Close to bed time he sensed her disquiet. He pulled an ace out of his sleeve.

“Love,” it still felt strange to call her that, “I want you to sleep with me tonight. I'm very tired and just want to cuddle.” He leaned close and dropped his voice to a firm growl. “But
only
sleep. If you don't behave, I'll have to tell Master you were not a good girl.”

She smiled. “I'll behave.”

He kissed her forehead. “Very good. I think I'd be more comfortable if you slept in my bed tonight. Go get ready.”

“What should I wear to sleep in?”

While he'd let her run around naked more often, there was no way he could share a bed with her naked. “Long T-shirt.” She started to look pouty and he growled again. “Listen, I'm going to be sleeping with you. Remember, you're letting me ease into this. It's one step closer.”

That lifted her spirits. She went to get ready and he returned to his bedroom and left the door open.

He usually slept naked but tonight he put on a pair of sleeping shorts. No way in hell would he risk it.

When they finally curled up together he spooned against her back and enjoyed the way his arm perfectly fit around her waist. Did she fit Kaden's body this well?

Oh, cut that shit out
right
now.
That was not a healthy line of thought. Not a place he even wanted to think about going.

Surprisingly, even though he thought his cock might want to stiffen, he fell asleep. And he awoke from that sound sleep around two a.m., when he felt her shift in his arms and sit up.

“What's wrong?” he mumbled.

She didn't answer. His heart hammered in his chest and he sat up, pulling her to him. “What's wrong?”

She still didn't answer but let him pull her closer. “I miss him,” she finally whispered.

“I know, babe.” He tried to relax. “It's okay.”

He coaxed her into lying down next to him but she wasn't settled by any stretch of the imagination. In a fit of inspiration, he told her to roll onto her stomach. She did.

He gently stroked her back and enjoyed the soft, pleasant sounds she made at his touch.

Now his cock tried to stiffen.

“Do you need to feel the bite?” he whispered.

“A little,” she admitted.

He swatted her, bare-handed, across her ass. She jumped. He swatted her again and he knew he didn't imagine it when she wiggled her hips against his hand and buried her face deeper into her pillow.

He spanked her as hard as he could, a total of twenty swats, leaving his hand stinging. When he finished she was breathing heavily, her body practically vibrating on the mattress next to him.

“Where are we, love?”

“Green, Sir,” she said with a sigh.

He slid one hand between her legs and found her clit. She squirmed against the mattress, and in a few minutes she moaned into the pillow when she came.

It was almost like she melted into the bed from the sudden relaxation that swept over her.

He curled around her again, hoping she was too out of it to feel his stiff erection pressing against her backside.

After another hour, he finally fell asleep.

* * * *

When he awoke the next morning, he almost panicked when he realized she wasn't in bed with him. “Leah?”

“I'm getting coffee,” she called from the kitchen.

Deep sigh of relief. If he fucked up and she did something while Kaden was gone, he'd never forgive himself. He got out of bed and used the bathroom. By the time he finished she was walking through the bedroom door with a beautiful smile on her face and his cup of morning goodness in her hands.

“Thank you, sweetie.”

She paused, as if waiting for something else. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. He wanted to plant a deep one on her lips and knew that would lead to spending all day in bed with her.

Wait, why was he fighting?

Because she's still my best friend's wife, that's why.

“You're welcome, Sir.”

Oh crap, formal.

“Are you okay, hon?”

She nodded and only a little cloud flitted through her eyes. “Is it okay if I'm formal?”

“Sure.”

She relaxed. If it helped her, he'd do it. “Thank you, Sir.”

“What's on the agenda for today?”

“Master said for me to work with You on the ropes and the singletail.”

Seth also knew he needed to mow. It'd been nearly a week. In the wet Florida climate the lawn was growing at a jungle-inducing rate. “I need to do some chores first.”

“Will you go grocery shopping with me, Sir?”

Of course he would. He'd go to hell and back for her. Publix was easy. “Let me get my chores done first, and then we'll go.”

She fixed his breakfast. Later, he noticed that she sat either on the front porch or back lanai and watched him mow. She reminded him of a lost child.

He was in the shower when Leah knocked on the bathroom door. “Sir?”

He'd grown comfortable with her coming into the bathroom when he was in the shower as long as she didn't try to open the shower door.

“Yeah, hon?”

“Master's on the phone. He said He has to talk to you right now.”

“It can't wait until after I'm out of the shower?”

“No, Sir. I asked. He said it can't.”

Argh.
“Hold on.” She only had her arm stuck through the bathroom door, anticipating he'd be naked.

At least she wasn't trying to push him too hard.

He stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his hips, and then took the phone. She pulled the door closed.

“Dude, shower time. What is so fucking important it can't wait five minutes?”

“Is she all right? She doesn't sound right.”

Seth shivered when he felt the A/C kick on. “Yeah, she seems okay. Can't this wait?”

“No, it can't. She sounded out of it.”

Seth dropped his voice, unsure if she stood on the other side of the door or not. “She had a little episode last night. Nothing major. I took care of it, didn't even have to take her to the playroom.” It felt weird talking to Kaden about Leah like this.

“Why is she being formal?”

“She asked to.”

“That's a warning sign right there.”

Seth's gut curled in an unpleasant way. “Well, fuck, you could have told me that shit before you left! Is there anything else I need to know, genius?”

“Just keep a very close eye on her. Don't give her any more time by herself than you have to. Spend the whole day with her. Keep her busy.”

“I'm going to the store with her in a little while.”

“Good. You might want to get her to the playroom before you go to bed.”

His stomach curled again. “Why do it if it's not necessary?”

“Blow off some pressure before it builds up. Use training as an excuse. It'll help.”

He hated using the harder implements on her even though he knew it was relatively safe. Swatting her on the ass with his hand, he could dig that. Frankly, it was kind of hot the way she squirmed and enjoyed it and he knew he couldn't hurt her. “Can I just play it by ear?”

“Don't leave her alone today. Seriously.”

“All right. Fine. Let me get back in the shower, I'm fucking freezing.”

He hung up and peeked out the bathroom door. Leah was nowhere to be seen, hopefully she hadn't listened in. “Leah?” he called.

She appeared in the bedroom doorway a moment later. “Yes, Sir?”

He held out the phone. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome, Sir.”

He climbed back into the shower, turning the water hotter to get rid of his chills. While he had been planning on blowing off a little of his own tension, the worry now pulsing through his mind killed his boner.

* * * *

With Kaden's words echoing through his brain, Seth kept close tabs on Leah. If she was slipping into a deeper sadness, she was doing a damn good job of hiding it from him. He drove Kaden's truck and talked Leah into taking a few side trips before hitting the grocery store, getting parts he really didn't need for the mower, and items he did need to add some external electrical circuits to accommodate Kaden's amped-up plans for his biggest light display ever.

It apparently worked. By the time they returned home late that afternoon and he helped her unload the groceries from the back of the Ridgeline, Leah seemed fine.

He was out in the garage when the sound of shattering glass and Leah's strangled cry scared the living crap out of him. He ran inside and found her clutching her arm, red splattered all over the kitchen floor. He slid to a stop at the edge of the kitchen, only marginally relieved to see the red covering the tile floor was red glass from a shattered pitcher.

“I'm sorry! I'm sorry!” Leah cried. She looked panicked. He spotted a trickle of blood between her fingers where she had her right hand clamped around her left forearm, just below her elbow. “It was an accident, Sir! I was trying to get the pitcher down so I could make the sangria!”

“It's okay, hon.” He forced his voice to stay calm and steady. “I know it was an accident, I can see that. Don't move.” She was in bare feet and he had already kicked his shoes off. The kitchen floor was a minefield of red glass. The step stool and open top cabinet door were more proof of her intentions. “Stay right there. Do
not
move.” Seth raced to the front door, yanked on his sneakers, then carefully stepped into the kitchen.

Glass crunched under his feet. Now she trembled and he worried about her going into shock. “How bad is your arm?”

“I'm scared to look. It hurts really bad. I didn't mean to do it, I swear! I lost my balance when I was stepping down. I guess I hit the pitcher on the counter.” The slate counters looked totally stunning but were fucking murder on anything breakable. He'd already broken two glasses and a plate himself. A few pieces of glass on the counter also supported her story.

The sight of her blood turned his stomach. He tried for a masterly tone. “Calm down, love. You're okay. It was just an accident.”

She nodded, her eyes tearing up.

He grabbed a dishtowel off the counter. She lifted her fingers enough he could slip it around her arm. From the amount of blood, he suspected she'd need stitches.

Fuck. Great. Kaden goes off for two fucking days, and I have to take her to the ER. Fuck!

“Hold that there. Don't let go.”

She nodded.

He carefully scooped her into his arms and stopped at the doorway so he could kick his shoes off. He didn't want to track glass through the house. Seth carried her down to the master bathroom and set her on the counter. First things first, he checked her feet for glass so she could walk. She had two scratches along the tops of her feet, probably from bouncing glass, and one small shard still embedded in the side of her foot. She told him where the tweezers were, and he removed the glass from her foot.

Next, her arm. Yes, it was deep, fortunately not into a vein, from the looks of it. He put the dishtowel back and clamped her hand over it.

“Okay. Listen to me. You have to get stitches.” Her eyes welled with tears and he shook his head. “This was an accident, love. Stop worrying. Master will not be mad at you. If anything, he'll be pissed at me because I'd asked you to make the damn sangria in the first place.”

At that she smiled a little.

“We've got to get you dressed. And that—” he pointed at her collar, “has to come off.” While it was the thin leather collar, and her long hair hid the locking buckle in the back so she could wear it in casual situations in public without worry, there was no way in hell he could take her to the ER wearing it.

She blanched, vigorously shaking her head. “No! Master put it on me, I can't take it off!”

Fuck.

“Leah,” he sternly said, “Master told you I'm in charge and you listen to me, right?”

She finally nodded, her eyes wide and brimming with tears.

He kept his voice firm and stern. “It has to come off. I take you to the hospital wearing that, they'll call in the cops to ask how the fuck you got hurt and accuse me of doing it. Where's the key?”

She finally answered him. “On a silver chain, in the top left dresser drawer. My day collar is there too.” The locking silver necklace looked completely harmless in vanilla situations.

“I'll make you a deal. I'll put your day collar on you. Okay?”

She relaxed a little. He needed to speed this up because blood had started seeping through the dishtowel. He had to drive her to the emergency room and get her taken care of. He rushed into the bedroom, found the key and her silver necklace, and made the switch. Then he guided her into the bedroom and helped her get dressed. He had to change the sodden dishtowel out and grabbed a bath towel for her to hold around her arm.

“Where's your purse?”

“Living room.”

He found it and carried her out to the Lexus, ran back inside to grab his cell phone and lock the house. Now the adrenaline crash hit him and he had to focus to keep his hands from shaking as he got into the car and started it.

Leah looked pale. “Talk to me, love,” he said.

“It hurts.”

“I know it does, love.”

“I have to call Master and tell Him. I have to tell Him immediately when something happens.”

“Hey, kiddo, I was right there. Remember, I'm in charge. It's okay. I'll call him once we get you taken care of.”

She nodded and rested her head against the seat.

He gently slapped her thigh. “Don't close your eyes.” They were ten minutes from the closest hospital. He didn't know if she'd go into shock over something like this but he wasn't taking any chances. “Stay awake. Don't go to sleep.”

She nodded again but he didn't like her pale skin tone.

At the hospital he parked, then carried Leah into the ER. The triage nurse took one look at her arm and immediately directed them back to a bed. Within five minutes Leah was being examined and sutured. At least she'd kept enough of her wits about her to drop the formal act.

Seth handled registration and insurance for her while she was being treated. Kaden had set up medical power of attorney paperwork already but Seth never imagined he'd need it for Leah. When asked his relation to the patient, Seth took a nervous breath.