Chapter 66

The next morning, after the first restful sleep in a while, I slipped from Mandy’s tight embrace. But even as my hand reached for a towel, I stopped to scan her huddled form.

“Special,” I mumbled.

Yes, she’d called me that, but she was a much better example than me. All I’d ever been was a soldier. My role: to fight. Or die. Of course, the latter had been stolen from me.

But she was far more. Sexy, of course. Sure, she’d come into her own at the resort. Plus, she’d become more than either of us had imagined. She’d called me her rock, but as my heart roared, I nodded. There was more to our team than what we did.

“Mmm, Jim,” she murmured as a long, dark eyelash fluttered open. “You’ve got that look again. Wanna fuck your naughty little slut?”

At her quiet giggle, I burst into laughter. A lightness invaded my soul; she indeed meant so much more to me.

“Yes. Always. But not right now. It’s still early.” I glanced at the sealed louvered doors. “Gonna go for one last swim.”

“Okay,” left her in a low whisper.

It was followed by soft snoring. Yeah, the previous day may have ended in a calamity, but she’d enjoyed herself to the point of exhaustion.

Under the first russet rays of sunshine, the surf was nonexistent. As I cut through the glassy water parallel to shore, my mind wandered. But no great fears wracked me. Only the standard concerns over what was moving in the shadows, but they could await my return. With Mandy by my side, I was truly in paradise.

While heading back to the cabana beneath the swaying palms, I wore a grin. Snug to my waist, the towel flapped in a gentle sea breeze. For that matter, I was even whistling under my breath.

But it died on my lips when I stepped onto the shared veranda behind our building. Just outside a room, a brunette was being lowered to her knees. Svelte, yet shapely curves were wrapped only in a leather harness. After attaching a chain from her neck to the wall, a man was placing a sign beside her. Curiosity piqued, I strode closer. At my footfalls, she looked up.

The entire universe stumbled to the side. Brilliant in the early morning sunshine, hazel pools blazed. As I gasped, my heart stammered.

It was the stunning beauty from the previous night. After those eyes blinked in recognition, they swept over my approaching frame.

Stunned or so amused there was no point in snickering, the gods were silent. After a pleasant greeting, I should’ve walked past them. It was our last day. Even as a weird tug on my core had my spine curling, I started to shake my head. Nope, no reason to halt.

But I did stop. Air hissed from me as I scanned her slender, kneeling body. Shackled, her wrists were bound to her ankles. With her toned thighs spread wide, a thin leather strip was all that covered her mound. Similar straps encircled her firm tits. Deep red areolas and very sharp nipples greeted my inspection.

The sign beside her proclaimed, “Rent Me.”

Chest tightening, I looked closer. The harness was of poor quality. Slender, ragged stitching, and with unfinished edges. The kind you’d buy sight unseen from some Chinese website or on a lark at an adult store in the mall. Creases announced it had just been pulled from a box. Far too thin, a flimsy chain swung from its collar to a utility hook stuck to the wall. It, too, was new.

“Novices,” I muttered.

Right then, I should’ve continued on my way. But there was something about her quiet, unhurried breathing. Plus, the depth those unblinking eyes were burrowing into me.

Clarity. My feet had halted because of who I was. Or perhaps what I was. Then again, after Cinder, maybe what I’d once more become was more accurate.

Yet, from their perches, the gods continued their silence. Only the soft gusts rustling the palm fronds and the distant surf filled my ears as a surreal calmness flooded me. Until, at a gasp, I looked up to find the man’s white-rimmed eyes. He’d recognized me from the night before as well. That sealed his wife’s fate.

“Okay, I’ll take her,” I said while flashing him my broadest smile and leaning over her to disconnect the chain from the wall.

Just as I unclipped the flimsy metal, a gust swept aside my towel. Like lightning, she moved so fast I was still gasping when her lips spread wide to engulf the knob of my cock. At the gentle sweep of her tongue, I looked down to find those hazel pools had widened.

And as she slid forward to take more of me into her mouth, our pact was sealed. No way could I let her be rented to anyone else. Not in such a ridiculous outfit. As a slower lick had my shaft engorging, my gaze lifted to her husband. Plus, not by somebody like him.

“Hmm, she’s a hungry little thing.” I chuckled even as she swirled her head to engulf another inch of my thickening flesh. “How much?”

At first, he only stared. At me, then down at his wife, leaning as far as she could into my towel. After I bent to detach her wrists from the ankle shackles, he gulped.

“Er, well,” he stammered in a hoarse, faint whisper. “Um ... I ... Uh, we...”

When she sucked so hard my knees twitched, I groaned. At the massive pulse in my rod, a muffled moan escaped her. That message was loud and clear, and I widened my grin at him. All the blood rushed from his face as her hands lifted to spread the towel and clasp my swelling pole.

“Sign says she’s for rent.” I gestured at the hand-drawn lettering. “So, how much? I remember you from last night. Can I do anything to her? Never got to check out her ass.”

Right as she moaned once more, her body shuddered. Oh, his eyes became saucers.

“You know what”—I pulled the chain and thrust my cock into his wife’s mouth. After only a swift shift of her angle, she again swirled that velvet smooth tongue around my throbbing hardness. “She’s a damned good little cocksucker. Any prob if I take her for the day?”

Before he could reply, I doubled up the thin leash and gave her back a brief snap with it. Those hazel pools flashed, and at her muted yelp and abrupt suction, I smiled at him.

“Oh, she’s a real kinky one, huh? Bonus.” And with a quick chuckle, I tugged my rod from her lips.

As he stared at the thick drool connecting her still open mouth and my shaft, propping the towel wide, a tremor rippled through him. He said nothing when I grasped her by the center of the harness and yanked her to her feet.

At that point, I had no words to share with him. Well, there was a mix of “what the fuck were you thinking?” and “really, you’re gonna let me get away with this?” But I kept silent.

As did she, when, with the cheap chain in my hand, I gave him a quick wave and turned. While my fist dragged her behind me by the stretching leather straps over her tits, the first chuckle escaped the gods.

Again, after so many years, I was who I was.

Once in our room, I flung her forward onto her back beside the mound of covers over Mandy’s sleeping form. Arms wide, she made no attempt to move as I inspected her.

Only the tiniest tremors shook well-toned thighs. They glistened, as did the swollen flesh around the strap buried in her petals. The scent of her need flooded my nostrils. When I released a shoddy snap to loosen the taut band and peel its tacky leather from her pussy, she huffed but said nothing.

Although I dipped a finger into her sloppy seam, she only bit into her trembling lips. But those eyes became liquid hazel fire. Yes, it was a test. For both of us. Mandy was one thing, but this woman was something else entirely. Much more passive than even Cinder.

And that, as it always had, intrigued me.

With my gaze intent on her, I pushed my finger deeper, piercing her tight clenching gate. Her only reaction was a louder hitching breath. At the brief swat of her chest with the doubled chain, she arched, and her fingers clawed deep into the covers. But still not a word.

From her.

“What?” came from Mandy in a surprised whisper, though.

With a chuckle, I met the slitted blue eyes peeking from beneath her disheveled hair. At a second strike, the woman’s walls clenched my finger as I swirled it deeper into her slippery tightness.

“She followed me home.” I laughed louder before giving her a pair of quick snaps of the cheap chain. As she arched her chest into the blows and a moan tore free of her at last, I laughed again. “I swear it.”

“Um-hmm, master.” Mandy stretched under the sheets beside the woman, nudging at her outstretched hand. After sweeping aside her dark tresses, she sighed while scanning the writhing brunette. “Sure.”

But said nothing more as I landed additional slow strikes and moved my finger ever quicker. No longer able to hold herself quiet or still, she was moaning as the thin straps over her squirming back scratched along the covers.

“This your fantasy, huh?” I muttered to the woman while dragging the doubled chain over a stiff nipple and pressing my fingertip into her most sensitive flesh. “To be a submissive little toy? Being owned?”

Mouth wide, gasping for air, she gave me a quick nod. At Mandy sitting up, I looked at her, but she only grinned while gathering her hair. With the woman’s pussy tight to my frozen finger, I again found her red-flooded face.