Yield (9 page)

Always wanting.
 

Chapter 7

As the fire sparked up into the night, Doyle tapped his phone that sat on the arm of the Adirondack chair. The warm weight of Dani sleeping against his chest was almost as good as it got.
 

“Claire thinks I should be worried about you. Pardon me. Concerned.” Oz Peters flicked quote marks with his fingers around the word. “I told her you were now a legal adult and could make your own decisions.”

“How’d that go over?”

Oz slanted a look at him, sipping his beer. “So consider me concerned.”

“This,” Doyle made air quotes, “totally gives you credibility.”

“I know. I also know you’ve been staring at that phone for about fifteen minutes. Unless you get your ass moving, you’ll miss the last ferry. You also have this ridiculously amazing friend who can zip you across the strait lickety split. Faster, then say, a ferry.”

“Ridiculously awesome friends don’t say lickety split.”

“They do when there’s a minor in the room. Last time we talked, there was all this “she’s not my girl” vomiting from you after you scared her out of my club.”

“Maybe it’s someone else.”

“Maybe I have erectile dysfunction. Considering I make my wife’s eyes roll back – well.”

“That’s the mother of my children you’re talking about.”

“Like a slot machine. Ping ping.”

“Jesus, Oz.” Doyle shook his head.

“Cashes out every time.”

“Minor in the room.”

“Please, she sleeps like the dead. I used to put a mirror under her nose to see if she was breathing.”

Doyle nodded. He had too. He smoothed his hand down Dani’s hair and adjusted the blanket they were bundled under.
 

Oz tapped his middle finger against the neck of the bottle. “You watch her. Before you approach, you watch her watching everything. I didn’t really notice her when she first joined. Pretty sub with careful eyes. There are a few, but I began to notice her because of you. Every time she’s in, she perches on the railing and watches with this palpable need to be in the pit. But if she’s approached she says no and watches. Then you came in.” Oz snapped his fingers. “It’s like she came online. Sure she fled like her ass was on fire, but zap. Awake. And you, my friend. You play. You find a willing girl but you don’t keep them. I bet you wouldn’t even recognize them if they were standing before you now.”

“Wow. Your opinion of me is stellar.”

“Don’t be an asshole.” Oz set his bottle down and leaned forward in his chair, staring at Doyle. “It’s all consensual and good dirty fun, but her. Her you see. Did you come in the other night looking for her?”

Doyle shook his head as he ran his index finger over the ring. “No.”

“You sure? Because you found her pretty fast. I watch, I observe. I’ve known you a long time, D. Am I wrong?”

“I’m not talking about this with my kid here.”

“Done.” Oz uncoiled from his chair, scooped up Dani and carried her inside.
 

“Damn it.” Leaning down, he grabbed a log and threw it in the pit, sending a shower of red sparks into the night. Bracing his elbows on his knees, he spun the ring around. He didn’t want to talk about this. At least Claire knew some of Kate’s history. He wasn’t about to dump her past in the lap of someone she didn’t know.

Grabbing his phone, he abandoned his chair and headed home. Instead of going into his house, he found himself veering down to the beach. He sat on driftwood that had escaped the logging industry and opened up the video Kate had sent him. What got him was how the image began to shake when she showed her logo and the sound of her shaky breaths that told him just how big that moment had been for her.

“Seriously, D. If we take the bird, I can get you to the mainland in under thirty minutes.”

“Jesus. You’re like a terrier. I just got home. The girls…”

“Have school tomorrow. They won’t miss you. A car can pick you up at the flight center and take you anywhere.”

The penthouse was two blocks away from where Oz landed his plane. His friend sat down beside him and picked up some rocks before throwing them into the water. “You think I don’t get it? The need to connect with her? I was on the opposite side of that water wanting to be over here with Claire. It’s the ultimate mind-fuck, the early stages, because you have no fucking idea what’s going on. So,” Oz grabbed Doyle’s phone and because the window hadn’t locked him out, he had access. He blocked with his elbow when Doyle tried to snatch it back. “Twenty minutes.” He hit send then handed the phone back.
 

“You said thirty.”

“Heh. I’m an asshole.”

Doyle watched a response text pop up.
What happens in twenty minutes?

Penthouse happens in twenty minutes.
“You’re beyond an asshole.”

“Dude, I’m family. You’re about to leave your subbie standing around if you don’t get up off your ass.”

Her
Yes, Sir
had him moving just a little bit faster while Oz’s laughter followed him into the house to grab his keys and wallet.

****

Kate’s heart slammed up into her chest when the elevator doors opened and Doyle leaned against the far wall, his tattoo-covered hands resting on the railing and his ankles crossed. He pushed himself away and reached over to the side.
 

“We can stay here or go to Edge. This is your call, Katey. What do you want?”

She rubbed a knot and stopped when a dark eyebrow rose. “Edge,” she answered in a low voice. He nodded and stepped out. The doors stayed open.

“I need to grab my kit.”
 

She followed him to the door and watched him enter a long code into a recessed panel as he unlocked the door. Without the penthouse crawling with people, it seemed a little eerie. He unlocked the door to his suite and she watched as he grabbed the back of his t-shirt while he entered the walk-in closet. She stood and watched him pull on a simple black shirt, exchanging the old jeans that held the faint scent of wood smoke for a pair of black jeans. He grabbed a black bag and her stomach went jittery at the sight. All kind of evil dom-y things were in that bag.

“Doyle?” She fidgeted with her bracelet and he nodded.
 

“Sit on the bed, I have to send the elevator down and lock the door.”

Exhaling slowly, she went and sat on the bed, her hands smoothing over the cushiony duvet. Within minutes he was back and her gaze locked on the bag he set down at the foot of the bed. The clink of metal made her heart race. She watched him walk alongside of the bed then stand between her legs. The man looked massively huge.

He ran his thumb down her cheek and her skin went warm at the contact. The room felt still in the silence. “We’re going to go a little slower tonight. I catapulted you into this the other night and you’re cautious by nature. Okay?”

She nodded and he simply looked at her, waiting. “Okay.”

“Why’d you run the first time we bumped into each other?”

Well, that was unexpected. His thumb traced her lower lip and her skin tingled in response. “Truth?”

“Always.”

“I was shocked, embarrassed.”

“Why? Never be embarrassed about who you are and what you need. I probably wouldn’t have flipped my shit on you if you hadn’t fled like I was the bogey-man.”

“You were an ass after.”

He nodded. “I was. You still ran though.”

The room felt warm as he gazed down at her, his thoughts hidden. “I didn’t run at the party.”

“You wanted to.”

Only because he was really overwhelming. Scary because of all the tangled things he made her feel.

“Stand up on the bed.”

Her eyebrows rose but she did as he asked, giving her the unusual benefit of looking down at him. His finger hooked in the neck of the t-shirt she had hastily thrown on when she had received his text. His other hand fisted in her hair and her stomach jerked at the sensation. He guided her head down toward his and he stopped her with a few centimeters separating them.

As she stared into the inky darkness of his eyes, she gripped the shoulder seams of his shirt.
 

“Why did you change your mind?” His gaze moved over her face.

“Because I’m scared of a repeat of the other night and the club is safe and neutral, only everyone would see. But if it goes great, everyone would see and I don’t want to share that moment with a room filled with strangers.”

“I need you to be very honest with your answers right now, Katey Jay, because they’re going to determine how this goes from here on out. That trip-wire I triggered came at a pretty pivotal moment. Were you raped?”

Her heart froze and her fingers spasmed. He rested his head against hers. “Are we stopping? Doyle?” Oh God, if this was stopping, she wasn’t entirely sure she could survive another failed moment. Because that would mean she was an utter failure at something she really, really wanted.

“No.” His voice was low and rough. “But I need a minute.” His arm hooked beneath her ass and he lifted her off the bed. The balcony door whispered open and a cool breeze drifted in. He lowered her, her body sliding down his. When her feet touched down, he turned her.

This was stopping. Her fingers fumbled over her bracelet as she stared blankly at the water. Always wanting. “It doesn’t define me, you know. I went to some support groups in university, after that bad sex I told you about, and…”

“Kate. What did I tell you on this very balcony the other night? I take this very seriously and I am going to handle any and all of your triggers just as seriously. Did you not say that what really pushed your button was the prep?”

She nodded.

“The prep isn’t about laying out the toys or picking what piece of naughty furniture to tie you to. It happens long before we step into the pit. It starts here.” His finger stroked along her temple and her eyes closed at the simple touch. “A touch, whether it’s my skin against yours or my gaze meeting yours. It is that first connection. It is that moment where you realize that I see you, I see what breathes deep in your soul.”

She shivered as his fingers caressed the side of her face, down her throat. Her head rested against his chest and he took her hand and rested it on the railing.

“Long before I put you on that cross, and make no mistake, girl, I want you on that cross, I’m going to let you know that every beautiful inch of you is safe beneath my touch. Gentle.” His fingers feathered over the base of her throat and heat moved through her body. “Or hard.” She sucked in her breath when he pushed on the knot resting against the soft flesh of her wrist. “Take it in,” he coaxed as his hand slid over her breast, the touch at total odds with the pain. “You have no idea how much I like this bracelet.”

The pressure eased and she found herself breathing heavily, her body well aware of what he could do with five little knots.

“Just like that,” he whispered against her ear. “Feel.” He lifted her hand and rested it over her other breast. Through the thin lace of her bra her nipple was hard, aching at the contact. His thumb feathered back and forth over her wrist as he caressed up her neck, tilting her head back. “My domination isn’t in the crop that I would flick over your nipples and clit or snap against your breasts, stomach, thighs and pussy. Your submission isn’t in that hot puff of pain or startling pleasure. They are simply an extension of here.”
 

Once again he rubbed her temple. “Here.” He moved her hand so it rested over her pounding heart. “Here.”

Her heart seemed to stutter when his mouth brushed over hers. He turned her so she wasn’t contorting against him. Doyle Kole was kissing her. That realization made her brain scatter into millions of pieces as his lips parted. She gripped the front of his shirt. He smelled of wood smoke and the ocean and she very much feared every time she smelled either she would think of him. As someone who lived around water and forest, she was doomed.

His fingers fisted in her hair, the tiny pulls making her gasp. She felt his lips curl in a grin before his mouth slanted over hers and the kiss was so beyond what she had dreamed of. It was strength and control, dominating, as he took her lips. His tongue didn’t so much as dip into her mouth as it utterly conquered. The slight sweetness that clung to him almost seemed wrong. He should taste dark and smoky. A familiar taste, but she didn’t have time to recall because his tongue moved over hers. Utter possession.

Kate rose up on her toes, eager and willing, taking every bold, invading plunge.

Yes
and
please
and
Sir.

Teeth nipped at her and the sting made her blood hum. Hands gripped under her arms and he dragged her up his body. Automatically Kate wrapped her legs around him. A hand slapped onto her ass; the sharp contact hurt even through her jeans. He swallowed the startled sound she made, his hand caressing under her shirt before he pinched the skin at the small of her back.
 

His laugh was wicked as he turned and carried her into the bedroom. He threw her onto the bed. Threw her. Before her body had time to soak into the softness of the covering, he grabbed her ankles and yanked her toward him. He gazed down at her as his thumb rested against her mouth, the underside of his ring pressing. She felt the band against her lips as he caressed her. “Now it carries your kiss. Want to see what’s in my bag?”

She nodded and he dragged the bag over. Whatever was in it clanked and clinked. Nerves began to prick at her as he zipped it open, the edges gaping. At his nod, she reached in and pulled out the first thing her fingers encountered. A simple flogger. Smooth leather strips that disappeared into the braided grip. She petted it and loved the silky texture on one side of the strip and the rough untreated side of the other.

She watched as his fingers curled around the grip while he lifted her arm.
 

“The beauty of this is that it can tease.” Breathing became a little difficult as he feathered the collection of strips over her arm. “It’s sensual. Even to watch it dance on the skin, but like everything in that bag, it can turn on you.”

She cried out when he snapped his wrist down. The sting and hot burn hit her skin, then sank deeper. Even as she tried to comprehend the pain, he was painting it lightly over the red spot.