The people of Bliss had spoken. If he couldn’t get hot pancakes and cold beer, life wouldn’t be worth living.
“I’m not going to ruin the earth this time. I’ve given up on those plans. The board is wrong about them. It’s why I finally had to strong-arm them down. I’m going to turn it into a nature refuge where people can pay to hike and enjoy bunnies and shit. Let’s see Nell Flanders protest me now.” He would never admit it, but he actually wanted to fit in there. And he definitely wanted to be able to get a cold one at Trio.
Kitten would like Bliss if she gave it a chance. She’d been there for a wedding, but she hadn’t seen the snow yet. Would they still be together when the winter came and he moved to the lodge? Or would she have moved on to a kinder Master?
“Will we make money off that?” Lea asked.
There was no real “we” there. She didn’t have stock in the damn company. “There are some things that are worth more than money. This is about our company image. That land is going to be a good tax shelter.”
It had been a shitty day where everyone questioned his judgment. He’d made a horrible mistake by not buying that property with his own cash. When it had come up for sale a few years back, he’d gotten it in his head to develop that land, to help the town he loved. Yeah, he’d been out of his head at the time. Now he couldn’t imagine what he’d been thinking. It was better as it was. He couldn’t imagine building on that gorgeous land.
The trouble was, he had some stockholders who wanted to do just that. It had been a hell of a fight.
“Speaking of Colorado,” Lea began with a long-suffering sigh. “That woman called again. She’s very rude.”
Gemma Wells was a pain in his ass. She ran the sheriff’s department for the county, but no one had told her she needed to be polite about it. “Tell her that if Nate Wright wants me to donate to the police fund, he should have a damn bake sale. I paid three hundred dollars in tickets the last time I was in town. He can kiss my ass. And while you’re at it, tell him he should get a better fundraiser. Gemma’s crappy. She just bitches at me until I give in. I’m not dealing with her anymore.”
Lea nodded. “I’ll just deflect everyone for you, Cole. You know I try to give you the peace you need. I’ll be in the outer office if you need anything at all.”
He shook his head. “Nah. Knock off early. I think I’m going to get out of here before the board decides to call another flipping meeting. Sometimes I wish my father had kept the company private.”
Stockholders were also a pain in his ass. He couldn’t wait. Four months and he could head to Colorado and leave everything in his second-in-command’s hands. He would have three months of freedom. He could be an innkeeper like his uncle for a few months. All he would have to worry about was whether or not his EMT caught a venereal disease.
He loved the lodge. He loved the staff. Sure Tyler Davis was a dipshit lothario, but Cole found him amusing.
Lea shook her head. “I stay with the boss. I’ll be here with you, Cole.”
The door shut behind her. God, he wasn’t looking forward to telling her he was leaving her behind this winter season. He’d decided it the first time he’d had a meeting at the house and Lea hadn’t been able to hide her disdain. Kitten was completely adorable. She was a bundle of sweetness, but Lea had taken an instant dislike to her. He wouldn’t put Kitten through that in close quarters the way they would be in Colorado. He wanted her happy and relaxed. He wanted her comfortable in Bliss so they could spend time there.
But he didn’t have to deal with that today. Lea could do her work from Dallas and Kitten would travel with her Master.
She was the one. He was almost sure of it. He felt something for her he hadn’t felt for anyone with the exception of Mason. He just had to control it better than he had with Mason. He had to always stay in control.
His phone vibrated. He’d turned it back on not five minutes before and he was already getting calls. Yes, he was counting down the days to Colorado where half the time he couldn’t get a signal. Ms. Hamilton. He slid his finger across the screen to answer. “Yes?”
“She took the Benz, sir.”
He had to think about firing Ms. Hamilton, too. He could only think though. He couldn’t actually do it. How could he convince her to retire? God, when had he become surrounded by grim reapers? He hadn’t noticed it until recently. Ms. Hamilton had been his father’s housekeeper. He had the feeling she didn’t really approve of his lifestyle, but he couldn’t care less. He hadn’t thought about it at all until she’d started giving him daily rundowns of all the ways Kitten was a disappointment. Ms. Hamilton had loved Emily. Emily had been perfect in her eyes.
Of course, he worried she was going a little blind.
“Did she tell you where she was going?” He struggled to find his patience. Kitten wasn’t a prisoner. At first he’d worried because Julian had told him she had a habit of getting lost, but he’d discovered quite quickly that Kitten liked to pretend to be dumber than she was. He was putting up with it—for now—but he saw through her act. She rarely didn’t know exactly what she was doing. She could be a manipulative brat.
And that got his dick a little hard. It gave him hope that they could get somewhere.
If he could just get past the fact that a piece of his soul would always be missing.
Lately he’d been wondering if he shouldn’t at least find out what was happening with Mason. Maybe he’d gotten his life together. Maybe they could talk. Maybe Mason would apologize and they could at least be friendly again.
“She said she was going to run a few errands.”
He frowned. He would have to be clearer. She wasn’t a prisoner, but he also didn’t like the vagueness of “running errands.” “I’ll call her. She’ll be fine. I’m sure she ran out for a snack or something.”
“I would be surprised. The girl refuses to eat. When you’re gone, she simply becomes difficult.”
“I’ll talk to her.” When he got her to Colorado, he would keep her with him all day. He would feed her himself, not in a commanding way, but indulgently. Slowly, he would draw her out of her shell. He would show her the good side of D/s.
“All right then. Also there were two calls on the answering machine I thought you might need to deal with. First some very brusque woman named Gemma Wells called and requested that you contact her. She seemed rude.”
“I’ll call her.” Gemma could be a bulldog when she wanted to be. Most of the time she wanted to be. He would have to be firm with her. “What was the other message?”
She huffed a little. “It was the hospital. You don’t need to do anything about it. I called them and told them we would have nothing to do with it.”
“With what? Who’s in the hospital?”
“Apparently Mason Scott hasn’t managed to drink himself to death yet. He was involved in an accident and he has you listed as his next of kin. The nerve of the man. I can only hope he hasn’t killed someone else with his recklessness. Why they didn’t prosecute him before I have no idea. The laziness of the police is atrocious.”
“What hospital?” His whole body had gone tense. Mason was in the hospital? God, he wasn’t supposed to give a shit, but Mason was in the hospital. Mason was hurt.
“Does it matter?”
“What fucking hospital?” He bit off every word. He’d been fooling himself. He’d pretended the world was all rosy and shit, but the thought of Mason dying still had the power to make his heart seize. He might never be able to forgive him, but he couldn’t leave him alone to die in a hospital.
“Parkland. They also asked if you would be responsible for the bill.”
“What? For his deductible?”
“Apparently he doesn’t have any insurance. I would only expect it from someone like him. Freeloader.”
How could Mason not have insurance? Mason worked for one of the biggest law firms in Dallas. Mason was a high-powered attorney.
God, had he lost his job because Cole hadn’t been ther
e to rein in his self-destructive tendencies? Guilt rolled in his gut. Had he made a mistake? He didn’t know. He was only certain of one thing. He needed to see Mason. “Tell Kitten I’ll be late for dinner.”
He hung up the phone, pushing away his unfinished paperwork. He had to get to the hospital.
When Lea called out to him, he ignored her. There were some things in life that were more important than work.
* * * *
Kitten looked down at Mason Scott as he settled into the bed in the pool house. She’d decided to keep him out here for a while because it was easier than dealing with Ms. Hamilton. She wondered if she could keep him a secret, like a little treat she kept just for herself. It was selfish, but it had been a long time since she had something for herself, something that had nothing to do with getting better or labeled as therapeutic.
“You’re so kind,” he murmured as his eyes drifted closed.
God, he was a beautiful man. He could be a male model with his to-die-for face and his lean body. Though he was a tad on the thin side, unlike her very muscular Master. She wondered if he was simply vain or if he didn’t get enough to eat. She intended to fix that though it meant either going up against Ms. Hamilton or sneaking around her.
What was she doing? She couldn’t hide the man. She’d been deeply impulsive, but she wasn’t sure what else she could have done.
He was alone and he needed someone and she hadn’t been able to help herself. She’d claimed him and was driving him back to the Master’s estate before she’d taken a second thought.
“You’re worried.” Mason’s eyes were open again, the gray orbs narrowed as he studied her.
“A bit.” She hadn’t really disobeyed the Master before. Not like this.
“I could leave. I could be gone before Cole knows I was even here. You don’t have to do anything more than call me a cab. Well, and loan me the money to pay for the cab.”
Somehow that would seem even worse than allowing her act to be discovered. “No. If he makes other arrangements, I’ll decide what to do.”
“You’re not his usual, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“His usual sub. You’re calm, collected. You already have quite a bit of discipline about you. You’ve been in D/s relationships before. Cole typically likes to do his own training and he prefers newbies.”
“Well,” she said with a little air of sorrow, “I’m sure I’m very different for Master Cole. I’ve been wondering lately if he didn’t contract with me as a favor to my cousin’s Master. I’ve been living under my cousin’s roof for a couple of years. They just had a child. I think it was time for me to move on, but nothing had worked out.”
She often wondered if Julian had thrown his hands up when it came to her. After her therapist had cleared her for a permanent relationship, Julian Lodge, the owner of The Club, had interviewed several Doms, but they always seemed to have something Finn didn’t like about them. One had flunked Leo’s psych evaluation. One had gotten so far in the process that he’d performed a scene with Kitten to prove to Julian, Finn, and Leo that they could work well together. He’d used a whip on her and opened up her skin. Though Kitten had thought it was just an accident, Julian had run the poor man off.
And then little Chloe had been born and she’d been out the door within two months. Cole hadn’t been forced to go through all the hoops because he was a longtime member of The Club.
Mason frowned. “I know Cole. He wouldn’t take you on out of pity. He might have helped to find you someone, but he wouldn’t take you on himself. I was just saying that you’re a bit different from the last sub I saw him with.”
“The one who died?” The Master never talked about her, but Mrs. Hamilton did. She constantly compared Kitten to Cole’s former submissive. It was no great surprise that Kitten found herself coming up short.
“Yeah. I don’t know how many he’s been through since then, probably a couple, but you’re much more innocent than Emily was.”
“I’m the first.” That’s what Finn had explained to her. At the time she’d thought she could help him. Now she’d decided that he was either still in mourning for his lost love or he had taken her in for Julian’s sake.
“The first?” Mason sat up as though the thought had deeply disturbed him. “Cole’s had a sub with him since he was eighteen years old. I just thought he would take a month off and then find some new subs. Most of the time he had two.”
Because he’d had Mason with him since he was very young. She’d been told to expect to have to share Cole with a male submissive at some point in time. Like her cousin, Cole was bisexual. But as far as she knew he’d been alone for a while. “Master Julian told me Master Cole hasn’t had a permanent submissive since Emily’s accident. He believes Master Cole hasn’t even dabbled. He’s been to The Club and he’s scened with unattached submissives, but he hasn’t taken one home.”
“No. I can’t believe that. Cole has the sex drive of a teenaged boy. He has to have it at least twice a day.”
Well, he didn’t seem to have a sex drive at all when it came to her. She shrugged a little. “Perhaps he’s changed since he only has me now and our relationship is only D/s.”
His hand came out, covering hers, making her skin tingle. It reminded her just how long it had been since someone just touched her. Nat hugged her when they got together, but she was busy with her husbands now. She had a small group of friends at The Club who were affectionate. Haven, Tara, and Marcy were always hugging her or reaching for her hand, but the males of The Club didn’t touch her unless they were giving her discipline. Cole was the same way. Mason was the first man in forever to simply reach out and brush his hand over hers.
Thank god he was gay. She would be in so much trouble if he wasn’t because she was totally turned on just being in the same room with the man.
“Cole takes his time with a new sub. It’s why he usually kept two. He was always looking for the perfect female submissive. Like I said before, I didn’t mean you weren’t gorgeous because, honey, let me tell you, you are.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her with a gallant little sigh. “You’re a vision in that dress. What I meant was Cole liked to deal with the fucked-up ones, and you’re obviously not that. Emily was brutally self-destructive. She was wild and required a Master-slave relationship to curb her more dangerous tendencies. Some people thought she should be in therapy, not D/s. I was one of them.”
She pulled her hand away because he had a deep misimpression of her. She would really like to continue their talk, but it seemed her past always caught up with her so quickly. And it explained a lot. At least she understood why Cole had agreed to take her in. She wished it didn’t hurt so badly. Just once in her life she would like someone to care for her because they found her worthy and not out of pity. “Well, I’m afraid many people believe the same thing of me. Is there anything else I can do for you? You don’t need to take your medications for another three hours. I’ll come back and make sure you can easily be awakened.”
“Hey.” Mason’s eyes had softened, his hand gripping hers now. “I didn’t mean to insult you. God knows I can’t claim any semblance of normalcy or sanity myself. I was trying to compliment you. You seem so calm and self-possessed. I find you quite lovely and it’s not just your looks. You have a glow about you that I find some submissives have. You enjoy serving and being worshipped for it. There’s something about being in the room with you that puts me at ease.”
Now she laughed and relaxed a bit. Perhaps he wouldn’t turn her away because she was damaged. “I don’t know that any of my friends would think I could put someone at ease. I’m actually behaving quite properly. I can be a bit of a handful on the dungeon floor.”
She was comfortable in her fet wear, walking the dungeon with a Dom as her guide. But she’d never walked a dungeon with her Dom. She understood who she was when she was in her PVC. She understood obeying a Dom’s orders. She still wasn’t sure how to ask for what she wanted
but she’d decided that particular problem went back further than her kidnapping. Her sad inability to assert her own will had begun when she’d been born to her suffocating parents.
But she didn’t need to think about them now. She had bigger problems. She had to figure out how to tell her Master she’d brought home a stray.
Mason’s hand played along her skin, his thumb rubbing across the back of her hand. “All I know is you’re an angel to me. I don’t know what I would have done without you. I have an apartment, but it’s kind of run down. And not exactly clean. I have a roommate, but I’m pretty sure he isn’t the nurse type.”
“Should I call someone for you? Your family?” He didn’t seem like a man who would be alone in the world.
He withdrew slightly, his high-voltage smile dimming. “No, dear. My parents would tell you that I deserve whatever I get. They didn’t appreciate my ‘lifestyle choices,’ as they would say.”
“They didn’t approve of your being gay?”
He shrugged, his eyes sliding away from hers. “Among other things. The fact that I was in a relationship with a man was certainly enough to get them to kick me out of the house.”
She knew how that felt. “How old were you?”
“The first time I was kicked out of my home? I was seventeen. Luckily enough my boyfriend at the time had a marvelous set of parents. They actually took me in and sent me to college. They were very good people.”
Like Julian and Finn and Dani had taken her in. Julian had offered to pay for her to finish college, but she wasn’t sure what to study anymore. The idea of being a parochial school teacher like her parents had planned seemed farfetched now. “That must have been nice. You lost one home and found another.”