“I didn’t make a mistake, did I?”
“I don’t know. What’d you do?”
“Jumping in like this?”
Her voice dropped, serious but kind. “Listen to me. She needed help, you happened to be in the right place at the right time. You know I done broke Momma and Papi’s hearts by not being a good little church girl, but even I have to admit that maybe there was a higher power out there somewhere looking out for her and you and Louis, all three of you.
“I’m gonna do my damnedest to run this through to the end, no matter what it takes or how long it takes. It might get ugly, and it might take a while, but I’m not going to give up. I have several good legal arguments already, thanks to a lot of the stuff Holly gave me. She’s good. Smart. She might have eventually gotten to this point on her own, but she’s not an attorney and it would have taken years.”
“I don’t know if we’re going to reach the dating stage yet,” he admitted. “I think she’s worried I’m going to dump her because of her fibro.”
“Then at least tell her I told them that so she’s on board. I suspect she won’t mind playing along.” Kimbra laughed. “Maybe she’ll pretend herself right into being your girlfriend for realz.”
Walt pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re trying to play matchmaker again.”
“Duh. What, you think I’m gonna turn my nose up at a perfect opportunity to see you happy?”
A twinge of guilt trickled through him. “What about you?”
Even over the phone he heard her let out one of those sighs, one he was more than familiar with from their years knowing each other. “What makes you think I’m not happy?”
“You don’t have anyone.”
“I have who I need in my life right now. Why do you think I need to have a boyfriend to be happy?”
“I just feel—”
“Guilty,” Kimbra finished for him. “And stop it. You got no reason to feel like that on my behalf. I don’t want a relationship right now.”
Another sigh. “Walt, I’m always gonna love you as a friend and family. I thought I was in love with you back then because I thought that’s what I was supposed to do. I don’t regret what we had together, I really don’t. You’re a good man. But I like my life. I enjoy my work. You like caning people’s asses, and I get the same kind of adrenaline jolt when I stand up in a courtroom and skewer someone’s ass on the stand. That’s my ‘fix.’ And I saw the way she looks at you. If you two don’t act stupid, you could really have something here.”
“I don’t want to move too fast and screw it up.”
“Then don’t. Prove to her you’re a good guy by just being there and staying there. Be someone she can count on. See you seven sharp on Wednesday, Fingers.”
She ended the call, leaving Walt staring at his phone.
Almost immediately, it vibrated in his hand with an incoming text, startling him.
From Holly. Are you busy?
No, why?
Got a minute to talk?
He called her. “Does that answer your question?”
“I’m not interrupting you, am I?”
He could tell, just from the sound of her voice, that something was wrong. “Talk to me. What happened?”
“Wow, you’re good at this.” She told him about her inevitable run-in with Joyce. “So now I’m sitting here in the downtown Sarasota Publix parking lot and trying to decide what to do for lunch.”
He glanced at the time. “I’ll be there in less than ten minutes.”
“What?”
“I haven’t eaten yet.”
“I didn’t mean you had to—”
“Stop,” he gently said. “This gives me a ready excuse to get out of here for a little while. I’ll see you in a few.” He was already up and moving toward his office door before he even ended the call.
Maybe I am addicted to being a white knight.
Was that such a bad thing, though?
It actually took him eight minutes to get there. Fortunately, his office wasn’t far from the Publix. He pulled up next to her car, rolled down his passenger window, and crooked a finger at her.
Without hesitation, she left her car, locked it, and climbed in with him.
“Hi there,” he brightly said. “Long time, no see.”
She offered him a wan smile. “I didn’t mean to pull you away from work.”
He threw the truck into park and turned to face her, holding up a finger. If things were going to work out long-term between them, she’d have to get used to this side of him now.
“Rule number one, sweetheart. When I do something, I do it like an adult. If I couldn’t come, I wouldn’t have offered. I expect you to believe me and not question me when I offer to do something. Okay?”
She nodded, a delightful pink blush creeping into her cheeks as she did.
Down, boy. His cock throbbed in his jeans. He’d rubbed two out the night before after getting home.
“Rule number two,” he said, holding up another finger, “is that you don’t apologize to me when I offer to do something for you. All right?”
She nodded.
He reached out and lightly brushed the fingers of his right hand over the back of her left hand. “Rule number three, if I hurt you in the bad way, even accidentally, you need to tell me so I don’t do it again. Does this hurt?”
“No, that feels good.”
He raised his right hand and caressed her left cheek with the back of his fingers. “How about that? Does that hurt?”
He didn’t miss how she leaned in a little, nuzzling his hand. “No.”
Reaching up, he tucked her hair behind her glasses. “Just to clarify, you’re not currently dating anyone, right?”
She snorted. “No.”
“Neither am I. Kimbra warned me that she fibbed a little to her parents and told them we’re dating. So Wednesday night, during dinner at their place, be prepared for me to play your boyfriend. All right?”
She nodded, meeting his gaze.
“I liked it when you kissed me last night,” he softly said.
Finally, a smile from her. “I liked it, too.”
“Can I have another one?”
She leaned in and kissed him, a little harder, a little longer than last night. He made no move to hold her or deepen it, letting her set the pace.
When she finally leaned back, she was staring into his eyes.
“See, you’re convinced I’m going to get tired of you,” he said. “The truth is, you might get tired of me. And that’s another rule. If I’m overwhelming you, be honest and tell me. You won’t hurt my feelings. I won’t lie to you, and I expect you not to lie to me.”
“Deal,” she said. “Can we seal that one with a kiss?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” This time he leaned in, lightly brushing the tip of his tongue across the seam of her lips, letting her in to explore but not pressing farther. He reached up with his left hand and lightly palmed her right cheek, barely touching, not even holding her there.
His eyes fell closed as he kissed her and he knew.
He just knew.
He knew it the way he’d known it when he’d first met Kimbra.
All he had to do was convince her how right this was.
* * * *
Holly could barely pull together a coherent thought. She’d never been with someone like Walt before. He was patient and kind and yet she felt his Dominant right there, below the surface and in control.
Damn if she didn’t want to just completely let go to him, no matter how much that thought terrified her.
Mostly because it was so soon, and wouldn’t that make her no better than Joyce?
The difference being she’d sort of known Walt for a while, had acquaintances in common with him, and knew he was a good guy. He had a good reputation, and he apparently wasn’t a man whore.
When he ended the kiss this time, he touched his forehead to hers. “What do you want for lunch, sweetheart?”
&nbs
p; Brain no worky.
Seriously, it did not want to work. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed with him. Again, totally unlike her to throw caution to the wind.
“Anything’s fine,” she finally managed.
“Sandwiches? I know a little shop off Main Street that makes great Cubans, with real Cuban bread.”
“Okay.”
He pressed one more kiss to her flesh, this time in the middle of her forehead. “And yes, I plan on being there around seven tonight to work on that sticky back sliding door you told me about.”
She stared at him as he got situated behind the steering wheel. “I…I don’t have anything to cook for dinner unless you want a frozen pot pie.”
“I didn’t ask you to cook me dinner tonight. I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself. Would you like me to bring you dinner?”
She found herself nodding. “Yes, please.”
“Then how about I grab a chicken dinner from good ole Publix on the way over and we’ll eat together?”
She nodded again. “That sounds nice.”
He grinned. “See? Isn’t this easy?”
“What?”
“Making a sadist happy.”
“But…we didn’t do anything.”
“Oh, that’s what you think.” He crooked his finger at her to lean in again and he gave her a quick peck on the lips. “Another rule—you never lie to me about your pain levels, and you never gloss over them when I ask you how you’re doing. Understand?”
“Yes, Sir.” She hadn’t meant to say it, it just slipped out.
His grin widened. “Yeah, that. If you want to call me that.”
She nodded, not sure she trusted her voice at that moment.
“So here’s the thing—I’m going to let you set the pace. I won’t pressure you for sex or sexy play. I will ask you about play that might help your pain levels. If you feel pressured, you tell me, and I’ll back off. Understand?”
“But…” She didn’t know how to finish that thought.
“But what?”
“Does that mean you don’t want to sleep with me?”
He smiled. “On the contrary. I won’t pressure you for it, though. You want to sleep with me, you tell me. That happens on your timetable. FYI, I’m not sleeping with anyone else right now, and I’m not dating anyone else. You know about Tory, and there are a couple of other people I sometimes play with like that, but nothing sexual.”
Hell, at this rate she wasn’t even sure how she’d manage to make it through the rest of her work day. “Okay.”
His smile widened. “You’re not even sure what to think right now, are you?”
She shook her head.
He broke into a beaming grin. “Then score one for the sadist.”
* * * *
Walt bought her lunch and gently teased her in a sexy way all throughout their meal. He damn well knew what he was doing to her.
Yes, he could get his sadistic fix by mentally keeping her on her toes like this.
When he dropped her off at her car, she’d leaned in and kissed him, harder this time, more insistently, and with a lot more tongue.
He’d gladly let her.
“Seven o’clock?” she asked.
He arched an eyebrow at her. “Yep.”
“Can I make a special request?”
“Of course.”
“Could you please bring your violet wand kit with you and work on my back again?”
Reality slammed into him, that this wasn’t only about fun for her. What he did with her could bring her some genuine pain relief, even if only temporarily.
“Of course I can. If you want, I can leave it at your house so it’s always there.”
“But what if we’re at your house?”
He didn’t even want to get his hopes up, but that was as hard as his cock. “Then I guess I’ll have to remember to make sure it travels with me so I always have it for you.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
He smiled. “You have no idea what hearing you say that does to me, do you?”
She shook her head.
He leaned close to whisper into her ear. “It makes me hard. The first time you let me make love to you, be prepared to spend a long time on your back with my face between your legs, because I plan on making you come so many times you lose track.”
A delicious little squeak escaped her as he sat back with a smile on his face. “That’s just one way a sadist has his fun. Seven o’clock, then?”
She nodded.
“Have a good afternoon, sweetie.”
She nodded, but made no move to open her door.
“Did I fry your brain just then?”
She nodded.
He slipped his fingers under her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed the back of it. “Get used to it, sweetheart.”
Chapter Twelve
Yep, thinking-wise, Holly was pretty worthless for the rest of the afternoon. She ignored Joyce, who was already back from lunch when Holly returned to her workstation.
Between calls, it was all Holly could do not to think about Walt. About the way they’d kissed.
The sound of his voice.
Still…it was hard to think she could ever be that lucky.
Not her.
Never her.
When it was time to clock out for the day, she was still on a call but Joyce left even though they usually waited for each other if one was still on a call.
Good.
One less confrontation for her to deal with.
Tonight, Holly was actually eager to get out of there and get home. Normally going home simply meant she could collapse and shut out the world. It was a retreat, not a respite.
Not tonight.
Tonight she looked forward to Walt coming over.
* * * *
Walt’s stomach grumbled in protest at the delicious aroma of the chicken dinner filling his truck’s cab. After work, he’d stopped by home to grab shorts and a T-shirt, his violet wand kit, and his tools, before hitting Publix on the way to Holly’s house.
For the first time in a long time, he was eager to be leaving work to do more…work. Even more eager than when it was a Friday before a planned play night.
Something to do. Someone to spend time with.
Holly.
When he reached her house, she opened the front door for him as he made his way up the walk with the food.
“Hope you’re hungry.” He brushed a kiss across her lips as he passed and realized how natural and easy it felt being that comfortable with her.
Taking the food straight to the kitchen, he started setting it out on the counter as she followed him.
“Thank you for this.”
“My treat. Beats eating dinner alone.”
After they ate, he changed clothes but had her stretch out on the couch, facedown and without her shirt on, so he could work on her back with the violet wand.
“Oh, my god, that feels sooo good,” she mumbled.
“I’d say it’s supposed to, but technically it’s not. Still, my inner sadist is happy to be huffing ozone on your behalf.”
She let out a snort. “Inner sadist? You’re totally an outie.”
“Thank you. I think.”
Once he had turned her into a puddle of happy goo, he left her stretched out on the couch, the TV on low, while he went to see about the sliding glass door. It led out to the lanai and would get stuck in the tracks, making it nearly impossible to wrench it open.
He’d spent some free time between patients that afternoon watching videos on YouTube and doing research so he’d know what he was looking at when he got there. He cleaned the track and tried to lubricate the rollers, but pretty soon, he realized the problem and knew he’d have to order parts for it.
“It needs new rollers on the bottom. Looks like the fix isn’t that hard, though.”
“How much?”
“Not much at all.” He’d taken pictures of the wheels, and measurements, and knew what he’d nee
d. “Just need to get them and put them in. Meanwhile, don’t use the door.”
“I rarely go out there anyway.” She sat up and pulled a throw from the back of the couch around her. “We used to spend a lot of time out there, having cookouts and stuff.”
Walt mentally swore that she’d gone from looking relatively peaceful to sad again. He wanted to get her mind refocused. “You know, I had a good laugh when Kimbra called me today and told me she sort of fibbed to her parents about us dating.”
“Oh.”
A tendril of worry filled him. Maybe that was the “too much” that pushed Holly over the line into retreating from him. “I hope you’re not mad about that.”
“I’m not, but why did she tell them that?”
“Her mom sort of hassles her for divorcing me. Not seriously,” he quickly added, “just kind of teasing. So Kimbra told her mom we were dating so her mom would ease up on her.”
“Ah. Are they really going to be okay having me there?”
“Oh, yeah. They love the kids bringing friends. You have to understand, they have a large family. Kimbra’s got three sisters and a brother, and cousins out the wazoo. You’ll fit right in, believe me.”
“I hope I feel up to it.”
“She already warned them about your fibro, too, so that’s not going to be an issue. I want you to enjoy the evening. Take your mind off things.”
“Is that an order?”
He grinned. “It can be, if you’d like it to be.”
“What if I want it to be?”
He stepped a little closer. “Maybe I’d like it to be.”
“Are we negotiating?”
“Are you going to answer everything I say with a question?”
She glanced down. “What if I want to answer everything you say with a question?”
He struggled against his cock, which wanted to get hard. So he sat in the chair across the coffee table from her. “Holly, if you’d like to play with me, if you’d like to do more, let me make it absolutely clear—I’d like that, too. I’d like whatever privileges you want to give me.”
“You’d never want me as a play partner,” she said, staring at her hands in her lap.