His hazel gaze searched her face, the suspense killing her until he slowly nodded. A sweet smile curved his lips.
The smile. The smile she realized would make her want to do anything if he’d just keep smiling like that. “I’ll talk to her tonight, then. Everyone is supposed to be at the club next week for Seth and Leah’s whip class.”
Gabe nodded.
He stepped back and knelt on one knee, taking her hands in his again. “Then next Saturday night, sweetheart, will you please marry me?”
In her mind, the prison walls shattered into dust, carried away on the wind. She could never go back to the way she was, years of loneliness and isolation.
She didn’t want to go back. She wanted to move forward.
With him.
She nodded, her vision doubling, tripling as she started crying. “Yes, Daddy. Please.”
“Aww, sweetheart.” He stood and pulled her close again, slowly rocking her as he held her. “Are you sure? I’d rather wait than have you do it just because it’s what you think you should do.”
“I’m sure, Daddy,” she said. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life. These are good tears, I swear.”
As she closed her eyes, her cheek pressed against his chest and listening to the sound of his heart beating in her ear, she realized that since returning from Chicago she hadn’t once heard even the faintest echo of any of Maria’s recriminations.
* * * *
The bottom dropped out of the sky on their way to the club. Despite Tilly’s beautiful outfit, a long, emerald green gypsy skirt and white peasant blouse, she let out the most unladylike of epithets as she waited for the light to turn green. “Fucking goddamn finicky Florida weather.”
Leah let out a giggle and turned to stare into the backseat where Gabe sat with Clarisse. “Hey, I heard rain on a wedding day is good luck.”
“Then we must be the luckiest motherfuckers on the face of the goddamned planet every summer,” Tilly grumbled as she let off the brake when the light finally changed. “It’s only March. Rainy season is still a good two months away yet.”
Loren, Shayla, and Laura were already at the club, finishing the preparations there. Tony, Cris, Landry, and Rob were in charge of Bill and making sure he got to the club on time, in one piece, and sober. No one knew what the bachelor party the night before had entailed, except that it had happened out in the Gulf. Mac and Sully had taken Bill and the others out for the evening on their boat, and had promised Gabe there wouldn’t be any strippers or loose women.
Of course, that promise had been more for Tilly’s benefit, since she’d promised to castrate anyone who considered bringing other women into the equation for the party.
That past Monday, Gabe had put in for a couple of days off, the Monday and Tuesday after the weekend. Walker had called her on her work cell before she’d even made it from her supervisor’s office to her desk, asking if she’d sustained a head injury, or been abducted by alien pod people, or something like that. When she told him about her impending nuptials, he’d gone uncharacteristically silent.
“You still there?” she asked.
“Yeah. Congratulations.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, why the hell didn’t you invite me? Am I still on your shit list from making you take vacation time? Like I said, I consider you a friend.”
She felt a little red in the face. “He just proposed to me on Saturday, and we’re doing it next Saturday. I haven’t really had a chance to tell anyone.”
“Same question, Gabe. What the hell? I thought we were friends.”
She closed her door and sat down at her desk. She didn’t want to lie and say they were eloping. “We are. It’s just… It’s going to be held at a private club. I’m not sure you’d approve or be comfortable there.”
“What kind of club?”
“This between you and me as friends, or me and a former boss?”
She heard his sigh. “Friends. Off the books.”
“It’s a…a kind of social club.”
“Swinger?”
“No!” She felt immediately ashamed over the way she said it considering she’d met some very nice swingers since joining the club. “No,” she said again, “but…it’s an alternative lifestyle group.”
He let out a long laugh. “Fifty Shades sort of stuff?”
She felt fifty shades of red in the face, but she mumbled, “Yeah. Kind of. Not really, but close enough.”
More laughter. She heard his voice drop in volume. “Gabe, let me tell you something. You’re not the first person, or the last, to be involved in…that. I am no stranger to consensual alternative lifestyles, for chrissake. E-mail me the deets. Private e-mail,” he clarified, not that he needed to. “My girl and I would be honored to attend. If it’s in Sarasota, I’m guessing it’s at the Venture? We’ve been members there for years. Why do you think we have a condo in Sarasota of all places?”
She blinked, stammered for an answer, and finally said, “Oh. Um, yes, it is. Okay then. We’d be glad to have you there.”
“You know, off the books and friend to friend, I sensed something that day at the initial task force meeting. Something between you and Bill Thomas. I didn’t know what it was, but for what it’s worth, I’m glad it turned out to be something good for you both. You deserve this. You deserve happiness. You’ve been unhappy for as long as I’ve known you, and you’re too good a person not to have someone good in your life.”
She felt like crying. Did this mean she really did have emotions buried somewhere deep inside that were finally coming out? “Thank you.”
“Hey, just out of curiosity, one question. As friends.”
“Sure.”
He laughed. “Who’s on top?”
Laughing felt good. Until now, she didn’t realize how little of it she’d done over the years. “I guess you’ll find out next Saturday.”
Tilly pulled the SUV into the club’s parking lot, forcing Gabe’s mind back to the present. The week had been a blur of activity of getting a marriage license and making arrangements, all while working. They would tell their vanilla friends and coworkers that they eloped, and invite them all to a reception party at some point.
Of course, some of their kinky friends would be there, too, and keep their secret about the real wedding.
Last night, the women had all stayed at Leah’s house to help each other get ready today after a long brunch and hair and nail appointments.
Loren’s car sat parked in the club’s lot, as was Laura’s truck. The women waited inside the vehicle for a few minutes with the engine running until the rain slacked off enough they could dash through the parking lot and make it inside without getting soaked.
Loren, Shayla, and Laura immediately converged on Gabe. “Holy crap, we were worried you’d get soaked,” Loren said as she examined Gabe’s outfit. Gabe had left her outfit selection up to Bill. He’d chosen a deep purple sundress with black embroidery on it. One with a back that didn’t come too low, plus he’d told her to wear her hair loose, meaning it hung down well past her shoulders.
She loved him for the choice, although lately, it’d been very easy to ignore the stubborn pangs of self-consciousness that threatened to dampen her enthusiasm for public play with him at the club.
All she needed to do was focus on his voice, on his eyes, and the feel of his fist in her hair, and she would find herself quickly spinning down into subspace.
When that happened, nothing else mattered but Bill. The world ended just outside the space he occupied when he took control.
“Are the guys here yet?” Gabe asked.
“Don’t you worry about that,” Tilly assured her. “They will be here or they will face my wrath.”
“Holy crap,” Laura muttered. “I damn sure wouldn’t want to face her wrath.”
“Exactly,” Tilly said. “So don’t worry.”
Gabe walked over to the tables set up on the social side of the club. “Wow, that’s
beautiful!” The cake, three tiers of marbled vanilla and chocolate cake frosted in buttercream, was decorated in beautiful purple-and-green flowers.
She felt tears starting and quickly sniffled them back. They’d assured her the mascara and eye liner was waterproof, but she didn’t want to risk it.
“Like it?” Laura asked from just behind her.
“It’s gorgeous.”
On the top, she noticed, a pair of bride and groom bears.
She fanned her face as she turned away. “Okay, I shouldn’t have seen that yet. I’m going to cry.”
“What? The cake?”
“The bears,” she whispered. Bill had warned her that he’d picked out a special topper for the cake.
She should have known.
And it was absolutely perfect.
“Who made her cry already?” Tilly yelled from where she was helping Loren make a few adjustments to the decorated arbor on the other side of the room. “I will absolutely kick some freaking ass if her makeup gets ruined before the wedding.”
Laura put her hands on Gabe’s shoulders and gently steered her away from the tables. “It’s okay. She just saw the cake, that’s all.”
Tilly put her hands on her hips. “Don’t make me blindfold you, kiddo. No tears allowed before the ceremony, happy or otherwise.” She considered what she said. “Those were happy tears, right?”
Gabe nodded. Tilly had come to be one of her closest friends. “Yes, very happy tears.”
Tilly nodded back. “Good. Because I don’t want to kick a Charlotte County detective’s ass. Might not be good for me, you know?”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Bill and the other men hadn’t arrived yet, although there was still nearly an hour before the wedding was to start, when Travis Walker and his wife arrived. She wore a beautiful silver choker necklace around her throat.
Gabe felt a little nervous when they walked over, but his playful smile put her at ease.
“If I’d known all it took to get you to relax was to introduce you to some of my other friends, I would have ordered you to take a vacation years ago.” He opened his arms to her. “May I?”
She nodded, gratefully accepting his embrace.
Leah’s voice rang out from across the room. “Trav, Jill! What are you doing here?”
She swept in and hugged both of them.
“You know them?” Gabe asked.
Leah nodded. “We’ve been friends for years…” Her eyes widened. “Oh, my god.” She laughed. “You worked with Travis in Miami?”
He grinned. “Yep. Sucked to lose her to you guys, but I’m glad she’s happy.”
Gabe was about to respond when the door opened again. Bill, followed by the other men, walked through.
She felt her heart thrum in her chest at the sight of him. Black jeans, and a black button-up shirt. Like a piece of iron to a magnet, she wanted to drift over to him and sink into his arms.
“What part of ‘call us when you’re on the way’ did I not make clear?” Tilly scolded them.
Bill shrugged and hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the others. “Blame your guys. No one passed that message to me.” But his eyes never left Gabe’s. When he stepped up to her side, she automatically pressed against him as his left arm settled around her shoulders.
Travis grinned. “And now I have the answer to my question,” he said.
Bill shook with Travis and his wife. “What question?”
Gabe felt her face heat. “Never mind, Sir.”
Travis laughed. “That question.”
Bill kissed the top of Gabe’s head. “Who’s Daddy’s good girl?” he softly asked, but loudly enough Travis and his wife could hear.
“Me, Daddy.” The words left her lips without hesitation, without caring who heard her.
She was his good girl, and she didn’t care who knew it.
“Bill, you’re a good man, and I know you’ll take good care of her. But one man to another, let me tell you this. I’ve known Gabe for ten years, and consider her a friend.”
Travis stepped in closer and dropped his voice. “You break her heart, I’ll make life holy hell for you, trust me.” His tone sounded light, but Gabe heard the unmistakably seriousness of the threat. They weren’t just idle words.
“No worries,” Bill said. “Believe me, I plan on keeping her so happy she won’t ever think about walking away.”
She looked up into his hazel eyes. “Thank you, Daddy.”
* * * *
Gabe would have been fine with a generic ceremony, but Bill wanted a little more than that. She knew he’d bought wedding rings, because the day after he proposed he came home with an engagement ring for her, and when she’d asked him about wedding rings, he’d simply grinned and kissed her.
I wanted a dominant man, that’s what I got.
She loved it, loved him.
When it was time for the ceremony to start and their friends were all assembled, Loren called Bill and Gabe to stand in front of the decorated arbor with her. Rob was Bill’s best man, while Gabe had asked Laura to do the honors for her. It was hard for her to make a choice between her friends, but considering Laura had been the first one she’d met at the munch, and who had basically introduced her to Bill, and since her husband was Bill’s best man, it made sense.
It didn’t hurt that her friends assured her none of them would have their feelings hurt regardless who she picked.
Loren held a couple of index cards and told them to join hands. “We’re gathered together today as honored witnesses to the joining of our friends, William and Gabriella. Not just in marriage, but more than that. As partners, as a Dominant and his submissive, a Daddy and his girl, an Owner and his cherished love, the yin and yang in a dynamic that only they can define, because they are the only two who matter.”
Gabe was a little surprised that he’d asked Loren to use her full name, but realized she shouldn’t have when she saw the playful creases at the outer corners of his eyes.
He would have this done his way.
Loren continued. “There are as many ways to hold a wedding, or a handfasting, or a collaring, as there are people involved in the ceremony. And all that matters at the end of the day is that the people involved are happy and satisfied.
“Gabriella, before you stands a man who, in the eyes of his friends and peers, is worthy, respected, and someone we consider a good guy. Someone who wants to take you in hand, by the hand, under his hand but never under anything less than the full love and devotion of his heart, and with the desire to do the very best he can to love, cherish, and care for you. What say ye?”
She smiled. “I say aye.”
“You need to say what you want, ask for what you desire.”
Okay, Bill had definitely planned this out. She looked him square in the eye despite the tears already threatening to blur her vision. “I want to take this man as my husband, my partner, my Owner, my Dominant.” Her voice hitched. “My Daddy. I want him to own me, to love me, to care for me.”
There were a few sniffles throughout the room, and Gabe even thought Bill’s eyes suddenly looked a little too bright.
“And what do you want to do in return for this?” Loren asked.
“I’ll love him—”
“And squeeze him and name him George,” someone muttered in the audience, causing a ripple of laughter amongst them and even making Gabe giggle.
Loren cocked her head as she glared at the offender. “Really, Gilo? Tilly, I thought you said he was gagged?”
Tilly, a scowl on her face, headed across the room. “Someone get me the fucking duct tape,” she darkly muttered.
Loren returned her attention to Gabe. “Sorry, sweetie. Let’s try that again. And what do you want to do in return for this?”
Gabe smiled, fighting the urge to repeat poor Gilo’s line. “I’ll love him, be faithful to him, trust him.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll obey him because I know he’ll only do things in my best interest.”
Bill
gently squeezed her hands, his smile seared across her soul.
“William,” Loren said, “before you stands a woman who, in the eyes of her friends and peers, is deserving of the one man who will make her happy. She asks for that man to own her, love her, care for her. Someone who is worthy of that one man, regardless of the label he takes in her life, be it husband, Dominant, Owner, or Daddy.”
Gabe gave Loren credit for remembering what she’d said.
All she herself could do was focus on Bill’s eyes, and how warm his hands felt holding hers.
Loren continued. “She’s willing to love, trust, be faithful, and obey that one man. Are you that man?”
He nodded, his eyes never leaving Gabe’s. “Aye. I am that man.”
“Can you give her what she asks?”
“I can.”
“Will you give her what she asks?”
“I will.”
“Before all those assembled, publicly state your vow, and ask her what you want.”
Bill brought her hands up to his lips and kissed them before holding them against his chest. She felt his pulse thundering, matching her own. It reassured her that he was as nervous as she was.
“I promise to love you, trust you, be faithful to you…” He smiled. “And respect you even as I own you. To care for you. To never let you walk this life alone if I can be at your side. I ask you to please be my wife, my partner, my submissive.” He kissed her hands again. “My sweet girl. My beautiful toy.”
That did it. She did her best to ignore the tears trickling from her eyes.
Loren smiled. “Gabriella, can you give him what he asks?”
“I can.”
“Will you give him what he asks?”
“I will.”
“Gabriella, your ring.”
She hoped Laura had it. Fortunately, she did. Her friend pressed it into her palm with a smile. Gabe turned back to Bill and held it ready.
Loren spoke again. “Rings are usually used to signify the eternity of love. No beginning or end, lasting forever. In our lifestyle, they can mean much more than a pledge of love or fidelity, but also of a trust far deeper than many people ever get to feel in their lives. By accepting this ring, William, you agree to keep this vow you’ve given in front of all who’ve assembled.”