Excitable Boy Read online

  

  Suncoast Society

  Excitable Boy

  After work kept Tony away from home and away from his wife and slave, Shayla, for a hellish couple of months, he’s finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel that might not be an oncoming train. He can’t wait to get home to Shayla and for the two of them to take a long-overdue vacation.

  Shayla’s missed Tony like crazy, but it is his job, and he’s paid well. All right, so bad luck seems to be hitting them at every turn lately—or, more specifically, seems to be hitting her. It won’t matter once he’s home. The problem is, the closer they are to being reunited, the more Fate seems determined to keep them apart. And the hits just keep coming.

  Tony simply wants to get out of town for a couple of weeks. But it’s leaving both of them wondering if they’re even going to survive their vacation, because that’s starting to look pretty…iffy.

  Genres: BDSM, Contemporary, Romantic Comedy

  Length: 22,335

  EXCITABLE BOY

  Suncoast Society

  Tymber Dalton

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Excitable Boy

  Copyright © 2019 by Tymber Dalton

  ISBN: 978-1-64243-730-0

  First Publication: April 2019

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2019 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book or print book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at [email protected]

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  DEDICATION

  For Hubby, and for Sir. He knows why.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Tymber Dalton is the wild-child alter-ego of author Lesli Richardson. She lives in the Tampa Bay region of Florida with her husband (aka “The World’s Best Husband™”) and too many pets. Active in the BDSM lifestyle, the two-time EPIC award winner and part-time Viking shield-maiden loves to shoot skeet and play D&D with her friends. She’s also the bestselling author of over one hundred and fifty books and counting, including The Reluctant Dom, The Denim Dom, Cardinal’s Rule, the Suncoast Society series, the Love Slave for Two series, the Triple Trouble series, the Coffeeshop Coven series, the Good Will Ghost Hunting series, the Drunk Monkeys series, and many more.

  She loves to hear from readers! Please feel free to drop by her website and sign up for her newsletter to keep abreast of the latest news, snarkage, and releases. You can also find all of her Siren-BookStrand releases under all four of her pen names on her author page on the BookStrand site.

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  For all titles by Tymber Dalton, please visit

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  Author’s Note

  This is book 94 in the Suncoast Society series. You do not have to read all the books before this one to understand the plot or characters—most of the books in the series are standalone.

  Tony and Shayla’s feature books are The Denim Dom, Click, Open Doors, A Spanktacular Fourth, and Things to Do in Denver, although they appear in other books in the series as secondary characters, including Domme by Default, The Reluctant Dom, and others.

  Chronologically, this book takes place after the events of Things to Do in Denver but before the events of Happy Spank-O-Ween and It’ll Be Fun.

  Some of the characters in this book appear in or are featured in previous books in the Suncoast Society series. While most of the books in the Suncoast Society series are standalone works which may be read independently of each other, the recommended reading order to avoid spoilers and to not miss any backstory can be found on the Suncoast Society series page, along with character information and other trivia, on my website at:

  http://www.suncoastsociety.com

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  EXCITABLE BOY

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  EXCITABLE BOY

  Suncoast Society

  TYMBER DALTON

  Copyright © 2019

  Chapter One

  Goddammit.

  Shayla Daniels already wasn’t having a good Monday, and she hadn’t even crawled out of bed yet. Upon rolling over and glancing at the clock on her nightstand, she realized she’d once again forgotten to set her alarm and was now running ten minutes behind schedule.

  I will be so glad when Tony’s home for good.

  Her husband, Tony, was currently stuck working in Denver, where he was supervising the build-out of a data center for his employer, Asher Insurance.

  At least she didn’t have to kill herself to get to work on time this morning. She had to cover a county meeting which started at ten, and she would be going straight there instead of to the office first.

  Still, she’d planned on getting up at her normal time so she could catch up on e-mail.

  When she sat up and put her feet on the floor, she immediately realized the second way in which this particular Monday suuuucked.

  She felt the cold, gummy squish of cat yak under her foot.

  Goddammit.

  At least they had tile.

  She hopped on one foot into the bathroom to clean her foot off before returning with paper towel and cleaner to wipe up the yak.

  Only then could she use the bathroom, text Tony good morning, and get her coffee started.

  Their two cats, Bagel and Cream, sat awaiting her in the kitchen. “Thanks, you two. Just what Mommy wants to wake up to.”

  Bagel maowed at her while Cream rubbed against her legs.

  “Love you, too. Jerks.” That she’d slept through one of them hacking up a present for her right next to the bed spoke to how exhausted she was.

  She started the coffee and then handed them their morning treats. After thinking about it, she made a quick swing through the rest of the house, the parts that they had access to while she was asleep, and checked to see if there was any more yak.

  None found, fortunately.

  Her entire weekday routine normally revolved around Tony—and that was the way she preferred it. Part of what she’d agreed to by marrying him and asking him to make her his slave.

  That was what she’d wanted. And without him home, it was messing with her morning routine, not to mention their love life, and their social life, and—

  Sigh.


  They’d had one play night six weeks ago, the weekend he’d come home to attend his ex-wife’s funeral after she killed herself, but that whole weekend had been nothing but one gigantic clusterfuck, for them and for their friends.

  Now that Shayla was up and moving, and technically running a little late, she opted to leave earlier than she’d originally planned and stop to treat herself to a fancy coffee before she reached the county administration building, where the meeting would be held. Hell, she could check her e-mail in a coffeeshop just as good as she could there at home, right?

  Right.

  Besides, being home alone was starting to emotionally drain her. She knew Tony would be home within the next couple of weeks, but…

  Sigh.

  She didn’t want to tell him how she was feeling, because it would only make him feel bad when it wasn’t like he was doing this on purpose. He had enough to deal with in Denver to get out of there and back home to her. And it wasn’t like there was anything he could do to help her feel better.

  She missed him. She knew he wasn’t doing much better than she was, either.

  On the heels of that arrived the familiar backwash that she felt ashamed for mentally whining about their temporary separation when military families sometimes didn’t see their loved ones for a year or more, if they were lucky.

  She headed to a coffeeshop in downtown Sarasota just a few blocks from the county administration building, where she’d be covering a meeting of an environmental commission that was studying the red tide problem.

  She worked for Sunshine Attitudes magazine as a senior reporter and writer. Her current main project was a long-term series of in-depth investigative articles about environmental issues in Florida. Covering meetings like today’s was an integral part of her research. Especially talking to the meeting’s participants after the fact to clarify points covered during the meeting. It meant a lot of dull, boring reading and listening to even drier testimony and lectures and turning it into plain English that was both informative and engaging for the public.

  But officials all over the state, at local and state levels, had been praising her work thus far, and she took great pride in it.

  Fortunately, a car was pulling out of a space in the coffeeshop’s parking lot just as she pulled into it, so she didn’t have to wait for a spot or park on a side street. She grabbed her laptop case and purse and headed for the front door.

  Tony still hadn’t called her yet, so she wondered if he’d managed to sleep a little late this morning. He’d been having trouble trying to adjust to Colorado time, even a couple of months into this, and frequently woke up early.

  Their wedding anniversary three weeks ago had been…

  Well, a fiasco of her own making. Thinking she was going to surprise him, she bought a plane ticket and flew out to Denver.

  Just to learn upon arrival that he’d surprised her by flying home to Florida for the weekend.

  Surprise.

  So they’d spent that Saturday night at two different steakhouses in the same chain, but halfway across the country from each other, eating dinner with their laptops in front of them and using Skype to chat.

  A creative solution, although not exactly how she’d hoped to spend their anniversary.

  Now, she’d been tasked by him with shopping around for a new car. Specifically, an SUV. He wanted her to have something picked out by the time he returned to Florida, one at least as large as his, if not larger.

  Which she was subtly rebelling against. Her little Civic was the first car she’d bought for herself, it was paid for, and it still ran great.

  Tony wanted her in an SUV and had ordered her to start looking for a new vehicle. He wanted to take a couple of weeks off once he’d finished the data center setup, go on vacation with her, and wanted it to be a road trip in their new SUV.

  Which was another project on her plate—deciding where to go on vacation.

  Tony didn’t care, even though she wanted to leave the final decision to him.

  Shayla held the door open for an elderly couple toddling their way outside, smiling at them and nodding at their thank yous before she ducked inside.

  Caffeeeeeine…

  Yay, there wasn’t a very long line this morning, the worst of the early morning rush crowd having already departed. She glanced at her phone as she stood in line and tried not to think about maybe texting Tony again. If he hadn’t texted her back yet, he wasn’t awake.

  Shayla was about to step up to the counter to order a latte and a scone when she heard a loud crash that made her and everyone else in the store jump.

  Turning, she spotted a car, a large, older Lincoln Town Car, that had been parked directly in front of the coffeeshop, which had backed out straight across the aisle…

  “Ohhhh, no!”

  Into the back of her little Civic.

  She hustled outside to find the elderly couple she’d passed going inside were the occupants of the Town Car, both of them looking dazed, and the wife grousing at the husband, who’d been driving.

  The first thing Shayla did was reach in through the open driver’s window, shift the car into park, and shut it off. “Are you okay?”

  The airbags had gone off. And as others poured out of the coffeeshop, some of them on the phone to 911, the woman smacked her husband on the shoulder. “I told you you should’ve let me drive, Harold!”

  That set off a very lively exchange between the elderly couple, sniping back and forth at each other in a way that meant neither could be seriously injured if they were that…animated.

  Shayla turned to survey her car, which had been a little four-door coupe and now looked like an accordion. The much larger Town Car had shoved her Civic forward into a light pole with a heavy concrete base, also caving in the front end of her car.

  Also, the trunk had been relocated to the back seat.

  Shit.

  She started snapping pictures, since it was obvious others had fire rescue coming for the couple in the car.

  Guess I really do have to shop for a car now.

  * * * *

  Tony Daniels’ Monday morning wasn’t going well and he hadn’t even dragged himself out of bed yet. He slept poorly after tweaking his back and left shoulder late yesterday during the install. This morning he could barely move.

  But if he and Mike, one of his guys from the Sarasota data center who he’d brought out a few weeks ago to help him, could bust ass over the next couple of days, they could possibly be done by Friday.

  Jeez, I just want to fucking go home.

  He missed his bed, he missed his house—he missed Shayla most of all. It’d been six weeks since he’d last seen her, and that had been a hellish weekend neither of them had really been able to fully enjoy.

  Although he’d been home three weeks ago for their anniversary…while Shayla had flown out here to Denver to surprise him.

  He’d been surprised, all right.

  I am not a young dog anymore. I’m getting too old for this shit.

  Once upon a time, several months of back-breaking work like this would have left him tired but satisfied from a job well-done.

  Now, he was about two sentences from telling his employer they could shove this data center up their shitters, sideways, without lube.

  The only satisfaction he had was the VP who’d red-lined his extra help for this job in the first place, and diverted the money to a lobbying group, was now himself out of a job.

  And Darren, his own boss, was bending over backward to make sure Tony and Mike had whatever they needed to finish the install and troubleshooting.

  Yesterday, they’d finished reconnecting the last of the colocation servers they’d moved over to the new data center. Today would begin their final troubleshooting and, hopefully, being able to sign off on it. Four of the new crew hired to work here were already down in Sarasota and being trained on their systems there. They’d be flown back to Colorado tomorrow to work with Tony and Mike on these systems, and Mike woul
d fly out several times over the next few weeks to help make sure everything was running smoothly.

  Tony, however, needed to be home.

  Desperately.

  He winced as he stretched his hand over to the nightstand to retrieve his personal cell phone. He’d heard Shayla’s text come in a while ago and just hadn’t been able to move then.

  Not that he was much better off right now.

  He tapped out a reply.

  Good morning, pet. Love you.

  His phone rang seconds later, which was unusual. He thought she had a meeting to cover this morning.

  “Good morning, pet.”

  “Um, hey, so, listen, Sir. Please don’t freak out. I’m okay, but—”

  “Pet, no conversation that starts like that is going to comfort me. Are you safe and uninjured, and what happened?”

  He wasn’t sure whether or not to groan or feel relieved by the time she got the story out. “Well, I guess you’re definitely going car shopping now,” he said when she finished telling him the story. “Like it or not.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “I’m glad no one’s hurt.”

  She sighed. “Just my poor little car,” she muttered.

  “Sweetheart, I know how much that car meant to you, and I’m sorry. This is for the best. Make sure to clear everything out of your car, including the glove box. Take an Uber home or something and get mine. Drive mine, start making up your mind about what you want, and once I’m home we’ll go shopping and buy you something. And make sure you call Ed today and give him a heads-up. I want him to handle the insurance claim. I’m sure they’ll try to low-ball us on the payout.”

  She grumbled again. He couldn’t blame her. “Yes, Sir,” she finally said.