Fire in the Hole Read online

  “Or all of the above,” Everett said.

  “Yeah.”

  “I know I said I wouldn’t ask you, but I’m pulling rank. Is there anything tying you to what happened?”

  “No. I had all the files stored on a TOR site, and used spoofing and a VPN to do everything. Untraceable. Plus, they were files I’d taken off his own laptop one night when he was asleep. He’d been a real shit with me and started a fight. That was before I found out he’d been cheating on me. I felt petty later and wasn’t going to do anything with them, but then I found out he was cheating on me and opted to keep the files as insurance. I saw the backdoor was still not patched when I was there with Cris and Landry, and I didn’t say anything about it.”

  Everett glanced at him. “You realize I have no idea what most of that meant, besides laptop and files, right? You have a short version answer you can give me that makes sense?”

  Wylie smiled. “It was literally untraceable, Sir.”

  “Okay. Good. That’s what I needed to know.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  With Mark at Breanna’s until late Sunday, Lara and Brad had the house to themselves. She helped Brad with his Saturday morning chores on the ranch, enjoying knowing that his cock was hard the whole time because he was wearing a butt plug.

  “Chores are fun,” she teased as they were driving back to the house in his pickup after checking on a couple of pregnant heifers in one of the far pastures.

  He arched an eyebrow at her. “I’m going to need to start wearing a padded jock or something. My dick’s going to be chafed at this rate.” He reached down to adjust himself.

  Tonight they’d be going over to Tilly’s at eight for the private party. Everett and Wylie had offered to let them ride with them, but Lara had demurred since she didn’t know when she’d want to leave the party.

  She spent the rest of the day enjoying edging Brad as he took care of chores inside the house naked. He now had a leather collar that they only broke out when Mark wasn’t home.

  He spent all day wearing that, too.

  And the butt plug.

  At one point, she pinned him against the kitchen counter and spanked him with one hand while stroking his cock with her other. The sounds he made as she did that turned her on, soaking her panties right through.

  To the point that she dragged him over to the sofa and she rode his face to two hard orgasms.

  Brad not only enjoyed it, she’d had to force him to let her up when she’d tried to get up and he’d pinned her down to the couch to go down on her again.

  Her faithful knight was as addicted to making her come as she was to his mouth.

  The deeper they dove into kink, the more she realized she had no desire to humiliate him, or degrade him in any way. But he loved being kept on edge, as long as there was an eventual orgasm in it for him, and she loved the nearly desperate quality his body took on as he worked to please her to earn it.

  This wasn’t some weak-willed man, or a man with no physical strength. He enjoyed teasing her as much as she enjoyed teasing him.

  And there were plenty of times when they couldn’t do a lot because Mark was home, so behind closed bedroom doors she’d wind Brad up and then let him go to town on her in any way he chose.

  Totally a win for her.

  He was both her Alpha wolf and puppy plaything, in one hunky package.

  Before they were going to get their shower, Brad left the bedroom and returned a moment later with his hands behind him.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  He walked over to her, kneeling in front of her. “Lar, maybe I should wait to do this, but it feels right to do it now. I love you. I don’t know how much more proof I need to know I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  He held up the ring, which suddenly doubled and tripled as her eyes filled with tears. “Will you marry me?”

  She dropped to her knees and kissed him, hard. “Yes!” she squeaked as he caught her left hand and slid the beautiful ring onto her finger. A diamond surrounded by blue topaz, her favorite—he’d obviously listened.

  Hell, now she realized he’d slyly pumped her for that information once, when they were watching a TV show about independent gem hunters.

  “I love you,” she said, kissing him again and throwing her arms around him.

  “You didn’t have to get on the floor with me.” He wore that sexy smirk.

  “We’re partners,” she said. “Yes, we do this, but we’re still equals, even when we’re Ma’am and mister. We’re still Lara and Brad, and don’t think I don’t remember that. I do.”

  Eventually, they dressed and headed for the party. She had him wear a suit—no briefs—and she wore a flirty sundress she hoped would be appropriate. They’d left the butt plug at home because she honestly wasn’t sure what the night might bring.

  She couldn’t stop wondering at the ring on her hand. Far nicer than the one Steve had given her, it felt right being there.

  Just like she felt right being with Brad.

  * * * *

  Brad had thought about waiting to pop the question until tomorrow, then decided not to wait.

  He was done waiting.

  Lara was the right woman, finally. She loved him for every part of him, not just the convenient parts. She didn’t see the fact that he wanted to submit to her as a weakness, either.

  It truly didn’t get any better than this.

  Plus Mark had been constantly hinting around about when the wedding was going to be.

  It’d make Mark happy to come home tomorrow night and find out they were finally on a trajectory toward matrimony.

  Tonight’s party would be interesting. He’d been wanting to try impact play and knew Lara did, too, but she was worried about hurting him in the bad way.

  Once they reached Tilly’s, they saw that Everett and Wylie weren’t there yet. Landry was the one who answered the door when they rang. Brad carried the tote bag with a couple of towels in it, and bathing suits in case they decided to swim or use the hot tub.

  Per Lara’s instructions.

  “Welcome again. Come in.”

  Lara kept her right arm hooked through Brad’s. “Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate Tilly giving me a lesson.”

  “No worr—what is that?” Landry held out his hand, indicating her left hand.

  She grinned, wiggling her fingers at him. “Not even an hour old yet.”

  “May I be the first to offer congratulations then?”

  “Sure.” She hugged him, then instead of a handshake, Landry hugged Brad, too.

  Tilly rushed in. “Congratulations? What’s going on?”

  Landry pointed, and Tilly didn’t wait. She grabbed Lara’s hand and let out a squeal before she nearly tackled her with a hug. “Congratulations!” She also hugged Brad. “About damn time!”

  Before they could get out of the entryway, the doorbell rang and Tilly reached out to open it.

  There stood Everett and Wylie.

  They didn’t even get a word out when Tilly grabbed Lara’s hand and shook it in their faces like Lara was a ragdoll. “Look!”

  Both men’s faces broke out into beaming grins. “Congratulations, honey!” Everett said, stepping in to hug her, then Brad. Wylie, too.

  Everett patted him on the shoulder, dropping him a wink. “Good job, you. I approve.”

  Lara stuck her tongue out at him. “Don’t need your approval, Mr. Viking…but I’m glad we have it.” She smiled.

  Instead of the subdued lesson Brad thought Lara would get, the first hour of the party was spent with Tilly happily showing off both newlyweds Everett and Wylie, as well as their newly engaged status, to all the other guests.

  “You might not understand,” Cris whispered to Brad at one point when he’d slipped away to refill Lara’s soda, “but Tilly loves happy endings for her friends. The literal ones. There’s nothing she loves more than seeing the people she cares for have their dreams come true. Thanks for indulging her.�
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  He patted him on the shoulder before heading off to talk to another guest.

  Brad turned and stared across the kitchen and through to the living room, where Tilly had hooked an arm through Lara’s, Loren on Lara’s other side with an arm around her shoulders, as they talked to Abbey and Gilo.

  He had friends. Acquaintances. Business associates and even some cousins.

  Never had he ever felt as close to a group of people as he felt to these people, the Suncoast Society group.

  Like an adopted family.

  A very kinky adopted family.

  Hopefully, when Jacob and Mark were old enough, if they were still together, Brad could introduce them around to some of their friends.

  From what he’d observed, he suspected Mark was his son in more ways than one. And while seemingly gentle, Jacob was definitely the Dom of the two.

  It’d be nice to have a trustworthy group of people he could entrust the boys to—once they were of legal age, obviously—to give them guidance and protection.

  Although he’d definitely have to make sure he wasn’t anywhere around when the boys were, as far as play parties went.

  He had no desire to witness that, or have Mark watch them play.

  He was open-minded, but there did come a limit.

  * * * *

  It was nearly ten o’clock before the lesson got underway. Before Brad even removed so much as his tie, the women went through quite a few implements with Lara, showing her how to use them, where to use them, how to test them on herself to see what they’d feel like so she’d know exactly the effect it was causing.

  And as Brad watched her learning, he knew he could trust his fiancée not to harm him.

  It was a half an hour before Lara was ready to actually try anything on him. She’d opted for four implements—a leather strap, an acrylic paddle, a wooden paddle, and a riding crop. The other women filtered away as Tilly remained behind to supervise from a discreet distance.

  Lara turned to him and offered him a smile before she pointed at the floor.

  With his gaze never leaving hers, he dropped to his knees in front of her.

  He never grew tired of that, of being able to stare up at her.

  She reached down for his hands and squeezed them. “Like they said, green, yellow, red, okay?”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  “Go ahead and get undressed and get on the bench.”

  He did. While he did that, she spread out one of their towels on the bench for him.

  He nervously climbed into place and closed his eyes when he felt Lara’s hands on his shoulders. She drew her fingers down either side of his spine, slowly, a sexy imitation of some of the back rubs she’d given him over the past couple of months.

  Back rubs that invariably ended up with them making love.

  She placed a lingering kiss at the base of his spine before she slid her fingers up his back again, repeating it.

  His cock hardened, throbbing. He couldn’t help it. Her touch always had that effect on him, even if it was something as innocent as her hand caressing his cheek.

  After a few minutes, she started in with light, bare-handed swats that picked up in strength until he felt a comfortable warmth drop over his consciousness. Likely subspace he now knew, but she had dropped him into that state many times before, just from what they already did at home.

  Before long, she seemed to gain confidence. She started using the strap on him, lightly at first, picking up the pace and intensity of the strokes the more comfortable she got with the strap. It still wasn’t what he’d call painful, but then again, he was used to working on a ranch. Every time she asked for a color, he said green.

  When she moved to the acrylic paddle, that started to feel stingy. He squirmed a little, then flinched when she reached between his legs and palmed his sac.

  She slowly stroked him. “How you doing?”

  “Green, and horny.”

  She leaned in and bit his left ass cheek. “You’ll get your reward for being a good boy.”

  The wooden paddle…okay, that’s when he started feeling the yellow. She found the upper limit between green and yellow and stayed there, his ass now feeling hot and stinging all over.

  It was the riding crop that pushed him over the edge into red, and only after she’d given him nearly a dozen strokes first that lay firmly in the green zone.

  She walked around to his head and kissed him, her fingers buried in his hair. “Ready to go home and fuck your Ma’am for being such a good boy?” she whispered.

  He reached out, pulled her head in, and started tongue fucking her mouth. He didn’t let go of her, either, until she was softly moaning and he knew he had her feeling as needy as he was at that moment.

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  * * * *

  Brad hoped they weren’t being rude to anyone by how fast they said their good-byes and left the party, but by eleven thirty they were back home and practically ripping each other’s clothes off by the time they hit the door.

  Once they were in the bedroom she grabbed him by his stiff cock and led him into bed. He flipped her onto her back, her ass at the edge of the bed, and knelt so he could bury his face in her pussy. With her thighs spread wide, he planned on eating her out until she safeworded, and then slinging those gorgeous legs of hers over his shoulders so he could plow her deep.

  After the long day’s edging, his balls were ready to empty and if she didn’t let him come soon, he was liable to explode from spontaneous combustion.

  When she tried to push his face away, he grabbed her wrists and held on tight, tracing her clit with his tongue and teasing her, licking, sucking, until he’d built her up to yet another orgasm.

  That time when he got her over, he stood, lining his cock up with her pussy and thrusting hard. She tried to urge him faster, harder, but now he knew he was in the driver’s seat, and he was going to fill her up. He leaned in, pressing her thighs against her chest, once again holding and pinning her hands on the bed.

  “I’m going to fuck this sweet pussy as long as I want to now, baby,” he hoarsely said. “You kept your pet on the leash all day long. Now, it’s my playtime. This is my reward.”

  He leaned in and kissed her, swallowing her moans and enjoying the way they bored straight through to his balls. He ground against her body at the bottom of every thrust, rubbing against her clit. He’d become an expert at her body in their time together and knew he could fuck one more out of her like this, especially at this angle.

  Pretty soon, he felt and heard her making those sweet, mewling sounds he knew meant she was close and struggling to make it. He picked up the pace until he pounded his cock deep into her wet pussy with every stroke. He’d just about crossed the point of no return when he felt the walls of her pussy clenching, grabbing at him.

  He lifted his head. “Yes!” With a few last, hard thrusts, he fell still inside her. He released her wrists and her arms immediately encircled him, her lips seeking his.

  Catching his breath, he untangled from her and climbed up onto the bed with her. “Oh, my god. One of these days, Ma’am, my balls are going to explode and you’re going to break your toy.”

  She giggled. “You can always safeword.”

  “I think I like it better when I take over and you funish me later.”

  Because, really, it wasn’t punishment. Not really. It was definitely fun.

  Oh, noes, don’t make me rub your feet, Ma’am.

  Especially when he’d discovered how hot it made her when he sucked on her toes, like a shortcut straight to her clit, nearly as intense as when he played with her nipples.

  She held up her left hand and stared at the ring. “It’s beautiful,” she softly said. “I love it. It’s perfect.”

  He laced fingers with her, kissing her hand before tucking it against his chest. “Just like you’re perfect.”

  “I’m not perfect.”

  “You’re perfect for me,” he amended.

  She rolled to
her side, draping herself over his chest. “And you’re perfect for me.”

  He nuzzled noses with her. “Whatever you want to do for the wedding, whenever you want to have it. I’d like Mark and my parents and your parents to be able to be there, though. And Ev, Wy, and Eve. Their parents. Jacob and Breanna.”

  She smiled. “Tilly.”

  “Well, duh. I’m surprised she isn’t already planning it.”

  “Oh, she is. She started asking me questions tonight.”

  He laughed. “I should have known.”

  “How’s the butt?”

  He wiggled against the sheets a little. “Not bad. More importantly, though, how’d you feel doing it?”

  “I didn’t mind it. I liked it. I don’t think I can ever play as hard as Tilly and Abbey play, though. I’d rather keep it on the fun and sexy side.”

  “Agreed.”

  She settled in, snuggled tightly against his side. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Of course.”

  “Do you still want to have kids? More kids?”

  He nuzzled the top of her head. “If you want to. Only if you want to.”

  “Okay. I was thinking maybe after we get married we can start trying. I don’t want to wait in case I have trouble getting pregnant. And I’d like Mark to be around at least a little to get to know his little brother or sister.”

  When he’d thought the moment couldn’t get any more perfect…it did. “Absolutely, sweetheart. Whatever you want.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lara groaned with relief as she climbed into her car at the office and got it started, sitting there for a minute while the AC kicked on and took the worst of the day’s heat out of the cabin. It was close to sunset, but the car still felt like a toaster oven.

  Three closings today meant a damned good paycheck in the bank, but she was now thoroughly exhausted and feeling brain-dead as a result of the days of hard work leading up to the successful conclusion.