She squeezed the receiver tightly. “Love you, too, Sir.” She no sooner ended the call when her cell rang again from the dive shop’s number.
Sarah sounded the all clear. “I think Steve was wondering what was going on but the guy seemed to take it okay.”
“What did you say?”
“He asked me if you were around and I told him that you had been here, but your fiancé picked you up earlier.”
“That’s it? Wow, that was easy.”
“He did ask to have you call him. Left me a card with his cell number.”
“Ugh. Not so easy.”
“This guy doesn’t strike me as easy to blow off.” Sarah paused. “Tell you the truth, there’s something not nice about him.”
“Why’s that?”
“I don’t know. It’s just a creepy feeling I get. Like the smile on his lips doesn’t go any further than his teeth, you know what I mean? It’s a mask.”
“I won’t be in tomorrow. Rob’s got the day off and I really need to spend the time with him. Can you guys handle the shop without me?” Laura had learned it wasn’t uncommon for her to work weekends and take days off during the week, especially if Rob was on duty. She’d always tailored her schedule around his as much as she could. Weekends were their busiest time, but there were plenty of others to fill in for her absence.
“Sure, no sweat. Take it easy, lay low. I’ll handle Mr. Green Eyes if he comes back.”
* * * *
She met Rob at the door wearing one of his T-shirts, her collar, and nothing else, which made him smile in a way that thrilled her.
He hooked his finger through the D-ring in the front of the collar and pulled her in for a kiss. “That’s a beautiful sight.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“The only thing better would be naked.”
“The pizza hasn’t arrived yet.”
He grinned and delivered a playful swat to her bare ass, which the T-shirt just barely covered. “Then you’d better lose that shirt as soon as it does.”
It felt like she was once again complete, even without the missing memories. “Yes, Sir.”
Rob grabbed a quick shower. Once the pizza was delivered, she ditched the shirt as ordered. They sat at the coffee table and she asked him about his day while they ate. He told her about the fire, and a wreck earlier that morning that sent a teenager to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
He studied her. “Okay, tell me what’s going on. There’s something on your mind.”
She filled him in on what Sarah said about Don Kern.
He frowned. “Do you want me to call this guy for you?”
“No, Sir. I think it’ll be okay. I just wanted you to know.”
“Good girl.” He paused. “Where’s your gun?”
“In the drawer next to the bed.”
He nodded. “New order. No matter what, until this is settled, if you’re not home you better be wearing that gun. Unless, you know, you’re at the courthouse or airport or something. But other than that, I catch you without it, you’re getting fifty with a cane. And I don’t mean funishment. Got it?”
She quickly nodded. “Yes, Sir.” She hated punishment with the cane. And she knew from the serious look on his face that he meant it.
He smiled. “Wait for me on the bed. Hands and knees.”
She jumped to do it, her clit throbbing as she heard him putting the pizza away in the kitchen. Her juices were already flowing, her libido in a constant simmer since the blow job the morning before.
A few minutes later, he walked down the hall and stood in the doorway.
“Now there’s the most beautiful sight in the world.”
She heard the sound of him dropping his clothes to the floor. He walked behind her and reached out and stroked her ass. “Light play tonight. It seems Tom and his wife next door can hear more of our play than we thought.”
Her face heated, but not from anticipation. “Yikes.”
“Yeah.” He lightly slapped her ass once, then stroked her again. “And I’m pretty tired. Tomorrow, at the house, we’ll make up for lost time.”
He stepped away and returned a moment later. He rolled a condom on and knelt behind her on the bed. “You can come as much as you want, baby girl.”
She let out a gasp as he drove his cock home, hard and deep inside her.
That made him chuckle. “Surprise you?”
“Uh-huh!” She thrust back against him, trying to get him to start moving again, but he wasn’t ready to. He reached around and found her clit with his fingers.
“That’s what I wanted,” he said. He started pinching it, rolling it between his fingers and quickly making her explode around his cock.
She buried her face in the pillow to muffle her screams. Damn it felt good to come! It felt even better to come impaled on his cock, her cunt walls squeezing it against her G-spot while he forced another orgasm out of her.
Pleasure and pain. She loved just a pinch of sadism with her sex, enough to push her over the edge again and again as he forced her to take what he wanted her to take, trusting him to know her body better than she did.
Usually he did it with a vibrator, but tonight she was so horny and desperate he’d had no trouble using his talented fingers on her.
After she’d lost count, he slapped her ass and started fucking her, hard and fast. As she had on the bench, that made her come one more time.
“Good girl,” he said, grunting the words as he thrust until he came and filled the condom.
They flopped over onto their sides, his cock still inside her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her. “It’s good to have you back, baby girl.”
“I’m not back all the way, Sir.”
“You’re back enough. That’s all I care about. I have you back.”
After a few minutes he got out of bed and cleaned up. She ducked into the bathroom, too, then climbed back into bed next to him. They fit together perfectly, like a couple of spoons.
His left arm was under her pillow, his right around her waist and gently holding her hand. He kissed her on the back of the neck. “Sweet dreams, baby girl.”
“Dream a little dream of me.” It was something they’d used to say to each other.
She heard his sharp intake of breath. “You are remembering more.”
Soon his breathing evened out, and she felt all of him relax.
We had plenty of fun nights that started like this. Bits and pieces of memories floated in, and before she knew it, daylight streamed through the window and Doogie had his chin resting on the bed about four inches from her face.
“Are you trying to tell me something, goofball?”
“Who are you calling goofball?” Rob hadn’t moved during the night, his body still draped around hers. She also realized more memories had returned.
She rolled over to face him. “I can’t promise you riches,” she recited from memory. “I can’t promise you a fancy house or new cars every year. I can’t even promise you I’ll be home every night because of my job. But I can promise you a true heart that would die for you if you asked.”
He stared at her for a moment before he finished the rest. “This ring isn’t just a piece of stone in a metal band. It’s my love for you that will never die.”
“You said you practiced weeks so you could say it without choking up.”
He brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I still did.”
“It was the most romantic thing I ever heard in my life.”
He buried his head against her shoulder. “Are you coming back to me?”
“In bits and pieces.” She tilted his head up. “Slowly but surely.”
“Maybe I should thank that guy Kern,” he said.
“Why?”
He smiled. “Apparently it’s triggered something.”
She brushed her lips lightly across his. The feeling electrified every nerve ending in her body. She felt his cock stiffen, but he made no move toward her, letting her t
ake control.
She wrapped one leg around his and kissed the tracks of his tears, then his cheeks, his forehead, tracing a tender line down to his ear.
“I want you, Sir,” she whispered. “Please?”
“You don’t know how badly,” his voice broke.
She pulled away and sat up to change position, but he stopped her.
“What’s wrong?”
“We’ve got a problem.”
“What?”
He motioned to Doogie, who still hadn’t moved. “Him for one. He’s probably about to pop. Two, I’m out of condoms.”
She let out a frustrated groan.
“I only grabbed one extra from Tony’s because they’re joined in pairs. I stuck the extra in my pocket. We never needed condoms except for toys. I moved all of that over to the house…right after. Didn’t want anyone poking around in it. Unless you want to get pregnant, which I don’t think is a good idea at this exact time, we need to get more condoms.”
“Hell.”
He laughed, pulling her on top of him and kissing her. “Hey, I had a case of blue balls for the past few weeks. I think you can survive a couple of hours.”
They grabbed a shower—together, and she shaved her pussy for good measure—and headed out to brunch. Then they returned to the condo to grab their stuff and Doogie and went to the house.
Rob smiled as soon as they were inside with the door securely locked behind them. “Do I need to remind you?”
She grinned and stripped, a little giggle escaping her as he buckled her play collar around her neck. Then he hooked a finger through the D-ring and led her into the bedroom.
With a smile he shoved her back onto the bed, where she landed with a bounce.
“Stay,” he ordered before kneeling down. He pulled stuff out from under the bed and she realized it was their storage tubs full of toys and other gear.
He triumphantly held up a condom. “Aha!”
“Yay!”
He also tossed her leather wrist and ankle cuffs onto the bed.
Then he stood, the Hitachi vibrator in his hand. “I think you know what I want to do with this, don’t you?”
She nodded, swallowing hard. “Yes, Sir.”
“Good girl.” He put it on the bed and rummaged around a little more to find what he wanted. He produced one of the less stingy paddles, a small riding crop, and several clips. “On your back.”
He used the clips to fasten her wrists and ankles together, then made her lift her legs and used a short piece of rope with clips at both ends to clip her wrists to her ankles.
She was essentially hog-tied, her pussy exposed.
He stripped and knelt in front of her, his eyes gleaming with mischief. It was such a relief to see that expression on his face instead of the sadness, or anger on her behalf, that he’d worn for the past few weeks.
He bent his head to her pussy and swiped his tongue along her shaven flesh. “By the way, don’t forget to keep yourself shaved from now on.”
She tried to focus, but she already felt herself slipping into subspace. “Yes, Sir.”
“Good girl.” He licked her again, swiping his tongue along her clit and making her moan. She felt him pick up the paddle and knew what would come next. “You may come.”
He continued licking her, even as he lightly slapped at her thighs with the paddle, not painful, just a little stingy, enough bite in each impact to send her over the cliff again and again as he sucked and licked her clit.
Then he sat up and gave her several hard whacks along her ass cheeks, in the crease where they met her upper thighs, making her howl.
“Aw, my poor girl.” Before the sting had even faded he bent his head and began licking her again, turning her howls into plaintive whimpers as he drove her toward pleasure.
He repeated this several times, until he was ready for something different. He put down the paddle, picked up the Hitachi and the riding crop, and changed position so he was sitting next to her, his back to her, and the arm holding the Hitachi rested against her restrained legs.
“Again, come as much as you want.” He flicked the Hitachi on and pressed it against her clit.
She didn’t bother trying to stifle her moans as a larger orgasm washed over her. He started slapping at her ass with the riding crop even as he forced orgasm after orgasm out of her until she sobbed and screamed and moaned and couldn’t tell pleasure from pain anymore.
He finally switched off the Hitachi and turned, a gorgeous smile on his face. “Any more complaints about being horny?”
She rapidly shook her head. “No, Sir.”
“Good girl.” He knelt in front of her, rolled the condom on, and got into position.
Slowly, savoring it, he slid his cock inside her.
He smiled down at her. “Such a good girl you are. My good girl.”
He took his time, building up and slowing down until she realized he was waiting for her to come again before he let his own release happen.
He cocked his head at her. “Do you need a little assistance?”
She finally nodded.
He grinned and stopped moving. She was about to change her mind and tell him no, she thought she could go over, when he grabbed the Hitachi and switched it on, pressing it against her clit.
He leaned forward, driving his cock deep inside her as she came. She closed her eyes and rode it, arching her back, helpless to do anything but lie there and take what he gave her.
She didn’t bother counting how many. It wasn’t until he laughed and switched it off again and started moving that she opened her eyes. He grinned as he fucked her, hard and fast, until his eyes fell closed and he came with a final thrust before falling still.
Winded, she lay there, eyes closed, happy.
He finally withdrew. She heard him in the bathroom before he returned and unclipped her.
Crawling into bed, she curled up in his arms, never wanting the moment to end.
“I love you, Sir.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I love you, too, baby girl. I love you so much, you have no idea.”
* * * *
Monday morning, they slept in a little and Rob was glad he didn’t have to go to work. He made the coffee while Laura let Doogie out the back door into the fenced yard. She walked around with him, watching him sniff until he decided on the exact spot. When he took an interest in one corner of the back fence, she followed him over.
“What is it?”
He let out a little growl, his attention focused on the wetlands beyond the fence.
Coming out of the mangroves, through the Spanish needles and tall grass, easily visible in the dew-laden morning, was a freshly beaten-down path. It stopped near the corner of the fence and looked like someone or something had stood there for quite a while from the size of the area and the way the grass and weeds were pressed down more than the actual path.
Laura turned and looked at the house. The living room and master bedroom windows faced this corner.
And they hadn’t closed the blinds the night before.
Terror erased all thoughts of romance. She grabbed Doogie’s collar and raced for the house with him in tow. She shut the door and locked it behind her, closing all the blinds in the living room. Rob walked in and looked at her.
“What’s wrong?”
She pointed out the path, visible from the living room window. He disappeared into the bedroom and came back with her gun.
He slipped into a pair of sneakers and went out the door. “Lock it behind me.” She did, watching from the window while he jumped the back fence and followed the path out of sight.
Fifteen minutes later she was about to call 911 when Rob emerged from the underbrush, apparently unharmed. She unlocked the door for him. He walked in, locking it behind him.
From the grim look on his face she knew he’d found something. “What is it?”
“The trail leads to a small sandspit in the mangroves. Looks like someone dragged a small boat up out of the w
ater. The tide hasn’t come in yet, meaning it’s recent.”
He put his hands on her shoulders. “Laura, I don’t want to scare you, but nobody ever comes into these mangroves. It’s too shallow for any decent fishing, and there’s too many mosquitoes.”
Her throat felt dry. “You’re saying someone watched us last night, Sir?”
The grim set of his mouth was all she needed to confirm her suspicions.
“We need to call Det. Thomas,” he said. “Let me get some stuff together and we’ll go back to the condo and decide what to do. Steve’s got that seasonal rental house over on Manasota Key. I’m sure if it’s vacant he’ll let us use it.”
While Rob packed, she called Thomas and left a message asking him to call her on the cell. Rob made a point of making sure all the doors and windows were locked and all the blinds closed before they left for her condo. Her cell phone rang as they walked through the door and she handed the phone to Rob, still too stressed to talk.
Thomas was there in twenty minutes, along with a deputy in a marked cruiser. It looked like they’d gotten Thomas up early because he was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, his badge clipped to his belt and his pistol tucked into a holster in his back waistband.
Leaving a deputy to watch Laura, Thomas had Rob take him to the house and show him the area. They returned an hour later, Thomas looking grim. He waited while Rob got in touch with Steve and got the okay to use the rental house. Steve called Carol and she brought the keys to them. Laura packed a weekend bag, her laptop, the journals, and got Doogie’s food and toys ready to go.
“Give me your keys and the alarm code,” Thomas said. “I’ll spend the next couple of nights there at the house. I want you to leave Laura’s truck there, too. Maybe we can bait this guy.”
“So you think it was him watching us last night?” she asked.
He nodded. “It’s a reasonable suspicion. This guy didn’t just fade into the woodwork. He didn’t get to finish what he started. I think he’ll try again, sooner or later. You’re a threat to him if you get your memory back.”
Carol spoke up. “How about Rob’s Explorer? Won’t the guy know it, too? They can take my car if someone can take me home. I can use my husband’s truck.”