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  “Damn, what you do to me.” He kissed her again, a gentle kiss filled with tenderness. His arms wrapped around her as his cock slipped free and Lauren found herself regretting their uncoupling. She could stay joined with this man for a very long time.

  Chapter Nine

  Noon the next day found Lauren sitting at a table in a chain restaurant with an old friend, needing to confide in someone. Beth was her best friend, but would she understand? Beth had always been forthcoming about her sexual proclivities, and they weren’t what Lauren had last night. So she’d called up the other third of their triumvirate, Sarah Townshend. In high school, she, Beth and Sarah had been alternately called the Three Stooges and the three witches from Macbeth. All three had long brown hair then that they’d play with and set into the same style, pretending they were triplets. They’d been inseparable, until time and geography sent them in different directions.

  But Lauren was back, and so was Sarah. Funny how they all had returned to their roots after so many years. And now, after last night, Lauren had to talk—and Sarah seemed the only one she could trust to give her the straight answers she needed with no teasing. “I have something to ask you…but it’s kinda on the rude side.” Lauren’s voice trailed off.

  Sarah shook her head as she speared a forkful of lettuce from her salad. “We’ve been friends far too long for you to worry about offending me.”

  “Well, we haven’t seen each other in a long time and I was afraid that—”

  “Fear not. There’s nothing you can ask me that I would consider rude.”

  Lauren tried to explain anyway. “It’s just that it’s been so long since we’ve really talked. We graduated and hung out that whole summer. Then you married Tom and the two of you moved around so much I never saw much of you. September eleven happened and I joined the Army as a nurse and lived outside Washington while working for Walter Reed. Then I did a stint overseas.”

  “Being together over the years isn’t what makes a friendship, Lauren. Friendship is being able to pick up again as if no time has passed.”

  Lauren smiled, remembering how much she loved her best friends. “I’m so glad you met Phillip. After Tom died, the few times we did meet up, you seemed so…broken. But now…” She toasted her friend with her glass.

  “But now?”

  “You’re happy again. Phillip’s been really good for you.” Lauren put her glass down, serious once more. “In fact, it’s him I want to talk to you about.”

  She saw her friend tense and Lauren quailed. Sarah was the only one who might understand, who might be able to explain what happened last night. She saw Sarah’s chin come up, almost defying her to ask the question.

  “Go ahead and ask. You’re the only one who hasn’t.”

  “What?” Lauren sat back, suddenly confused.

  “About the trial and about our private sex lives.”

  Lauren shook her head. “No…that’s not it. Well, it is, but— I want to talk to you because of your,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “private sex life.”

  Now it was Sarah’s turn to look puzzled. “Maybe you’d better just ask your question.”

  “You know I had a date with John?”

  Sarah nodded and leaned forward to hear her better.

  “I need to know…that is, we…I mean, he… Oh for crying out loud. Why is this so hard?”

  Sarah smiled encouragingly. “I’ll tell you why it’s hard after you tell me what it is.”

  Lauren looked left and right to be sure no one was near. The other diners were engaged in their own conversations and paid them no attention. Satisfied, she leaned forward again and blurted it out. “John tied me up last night and made love to me. And I enjoyed it!”

  Sarah chuckled and Lauren hushed her. “I’m serious. This is wrong on so many levels.”

  “Whose levels? Society’s? The church’s? The government’s? None of them belong in the bedroom with you and John. Not even me, although I’m going to stay there for a little while, since you invited me in.”

  “Yes, I did. Beth sent me the clippings of what happened between you and Phillip or I wouldn’t have had the courage to even bring it up. But I thought if anyone could explain it to me…”

  Sarah’s smile could’ve lit up the restaurant. “If some good has come out of that terrible time, then it was worth it. Let me tell you you’re not crazy, you’re not weird or terrible or any other awful thing you’ve been calling yourself. What you are, is normal.”

  “Really?” Lauren hated the vulnerability in her voice but her responses to John’s lovemaking threw her completely. Sarah’s reassurance went a long way toward righting her world once again. Especially when Sarah pointed to the leather thong she wore tied around her neck.

  “This is my collar. Phillip ties it on me every morning as a sign of his dominance over me and I wear it as a symbol of my obedience to him. He is my Master and I am his slave. Believe me. Being tied down and made love to is so normal it’s almost mundane.”

  “Mundane? Not a word I would use to describe last night.”

  Sarah grinned again. “Sounds like a good beginning.”

  Lauren pushed her unfinished salad away as the waitress brought over their entrees. Suddenly she wondered why she had ordered the grilled salmon when her thoughts had her stomach roiling.

  “It’s a good beginning only if I can get over this feeling of guilt,” she told Sarah after the waitress had left.

  “It took me awhile too.” Sarah attacked her fettuccini alfredo with gusto, explaining her feelings to Lauren as she swirled the pasta onto her fork. “Society has conditioned you to think of some activities as being kinky. And that kink is wrong. It isn’t.”

  Lauren watched Sarah eat, remembering how they used to tease her because she could eat anything and not gain a pound. Apparently Sarah still could eat anything she wanted.

  Not so for Lauren. The diet and exercise required in order to stay fit and trim for active duty remained a part of her daily regimen. She picked up her fork and played with the salmon as she considered Sarah’s opinion.

  “So you’re saying that kink is okay?”

  “I’m saying that what goes on between a man and a woman in the bedroom is no one’s business.” A sudden thought came to Sarah. “Tell me again what John’s last name is?”

  “McAllen. John McAllen.”

  Sarah chuckled. “I just put it together. Of course!”

  Lauren frowned at her friend. “Put what together? Sarah, this is serious.”

  Sarah shook her head. “Of course it’s serious.” She waggled her eyebrows. “More serious than you think.” She chuckled again.

  “Okay, spill it. What do you know that I don’t?”

  Sarah smiled. “Nope. I think this might be one of those things you should learn from John.”

  “Sarah…” Lauren flashed her a warning look.

  Sarah put her fork down as well and took Lauren’s hand. “Look, Lauren. A little rope in the bedroom is no big deal. Obviously you felt something for him or you wouldn’t have been there in the first place.”

  “I did. I do. He…” She stopped and sat back, her breath coming out in a huge sigh. “I had a flashback on our first date. Dropped to the ground and everything.”

  “What did John do?”

  “Held me.” Lauren felt the tears burning in her eyes and fought them. When she was sure of her voice again, she continued. “He was understanding and loving…and patient, and kind. Everything I needed him to be.” She squeezed Sarah’s hand. “And then he was commanding and assured and then last night…he made love to me like…like I’ve never been made love to before.”

  “And you fell in love with him between one breath and the next.”

  Lauren nodded and a tear escaped to slide silently down her cheek.

  Sarah squeezed her hand in return. “Oh honey. That’s a beautiful thing. You’re going to be just fine.”

  “Of course she is. Did I miss dessert?”

  Laur
en wiped her eyes as Beth pulled out a chair and sat beside them. She didn’t miss the look that passed between Sarah and Beth, however. But ever the one to keep others’ secrets, Sarah didn’t say a word of what Lauren had just told her. Instead she dropped Lauren’s hand and turned brightly to the third member of their triad.

  “Of course not. We’ve just finished.” Sarah looked at Lauren’s barely touched salmon. “Well, one of us is, anyway.”

  “I’m eating, I’m eating.” Lauren assumed a false gaiety and put a forkful of fish into her mouth as proof.

  “Yeah, I’m buying that.” Beth’s droll tone implied the opposite. Lauren sighed. She couldn’t keep anything from either of these two. They knew her that well. With her fork, she gestured from Sarah to Beth. “Tell her,” she mumbled after a quick swallow. Putting her head down so she wouldn’t have to see the look of shock on Beth’s face, she shoveled in another mouthful so she wouldn’t have to answer any questions.

  Sarah turned to Beth, a wry smile on her face. “In short, John tied Lauren up last night and made love to her. And she liked it.”

  “Well, it’s about time!”

  Lauren looked up, confused. “What’s about time?” She managed around the mouthful of fish.

  Beth gestured to herself and Sarah. “We’ve known for quite a while you were submissive, just like Sarah. It was only a matter of time before you figured it out.”

  “I don’t get it. How did you know? I’m an officer in the US Army for crying out loud. I give orders.” She paused. “Correction. I gave orders. I’m not an officer anymore.”

  “Yes you are.” Beth’s tone dismissed Lauren’s self-pity. “You finished your last stint and simply didn’t re-up. But you don’t lose your rank. Like it or not, ‘Major’ is still a part of who you are.”

  “You’re proving my point, Beth-a-rooni.”

  Sarah laughed. “Now there’s the Lauren we all know and love. You get her, Lauren-bauren!”

  “Sorry, Sarah-silly, she’s whupped.” Beth’s grin turned sly. “But then, you finally discovered you like a good whipping, didn’t you?”

  Lauren’s cheeks burned and she glanced at the nearby tables. No one returned her glance or gave any indication that Beth’s rhetorical question had been overheard. Still she made a motion to silence her friend.

  Beth only chuckled and signaled the waitress. “I’d like the Decadent Chocolate Fudge Brownie. And three forks.”

  Lauren rolled her eyes but Sarah nodded. “A celebration. Definitely. Lauren’s coming into her own and that definitely calls for chocolate. Lots of chocolate,” she added, an evil glint in her eyes.

  “So,” Lauren fixed her gaze on Beth, “are you also telling me you’re submissive? From what you told me of you and Paul, I didn’t think—”

  “Heavens, no!” Beth reeled back in mock horror. Then she gave an equally evil grin and waggled her eyebrows as she dropped the other shoe. “Paul’s the submissive in our marriage.”

  Lauren sat back, as stunned as Beth expected her to be after dropping that particular bombshell. It made sense when she thought it through. Beth always took charge of the three of them whenever they planned any activity. She and Sarah went along for the ride, adding their own bits as they went. But Beth was the ringleader and always had been.

  But Paul a submissive? That was harder to understand. She knew Beth took the lead, but…a submissive? How could any man keep his self-respect and submit to a woman? Didn’t that make him hen-pecked?

  “Okay. For some reason I feel like I’m back in first grade. Start at the beginning and take me through this one small step at a time.”

  But both women shook their heads in unison. “Nope,” Beth said at the same time Sarah told her, “No way.” The two laughed and Beth motioned to Sarah to go first.

  “Everyone comes to understand their sexuality on their own path and with their own teacher. Phillip taught me, John will teach you.”

  Beth nodded her agreement and dropped the teasing tone from her voice. “I knew I loved Paul, but something just wasn’t quite right between us. We both knew it and neither of us could figure it out. Then Sarah and Phillip got married and I met Lady Aleshia at the wedding.” She smiled and Lauren thought she’d never seen her so happy. Beth continued. “Paul met Aleshia’s slave, Anton, and the two of them hit it off right away. We learned from them to identify what was missing. Once we started on our journey together, we tied the knot and, well, here we are!”

  Briefly Lauren wondered how they managed to make love with the baby around then decided that would be too much information to process. Her two best friends in the world not only didn’t commiserate in her agony, they welcomed and celebrated it. She pushed her lunch out of the way entirely as the waitress delivered a monstrous piece of chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and layered with hot fudge sauce on top. Three cherries sat on top of a mound of whipped cream and Lauren laughed for the first time all day.

  “Okay. I give in. Take away this grilled and good-for-me salmon and give me my fork!”

  “Ah, ah, ah, cherries first,” Beth commanded, lifting one of the red fruits in a toast. Sarah followed suit and Lauren picked up the remaining cherry.

  “To Lauren, who has just lost her BDSM cherry!”

  “To Lauren!”

  Blushing and ducking her head, Lauren added, “To me!” They clinked the fruits together then popped them into their mouths. Both Lauren and Beth pulled the stem off and dropped it onto the plate, but Sarah’s mouth worked a moment, then she opened it to show a perfectly formed knot in the stem.

  “Show-off.”

  Lauren loved these women—their foibles, their helpful empathy, their friendship. Lifting her forkful of chocolate brownie, she toasted them. “To friends.”

  “To friends!”

  * * * * *

  John strolled through the lot of a used-car dealer, listening to Will find fault with every truck they examined.

  “I’ll know it when I see it,” he kept saying, stubbornly refusing several perfectly good trucks.

  “There must be a really good reason you don’t want to give up that truck.” John shook his head as they headed back to the rust bucket.

  “He’s never told you the story?”

  John turned at the voice behind him and grinned. “Phillip, what are you doing here? Don’t tell me you’re looking for a new winter rat?” Phillip drove a beautiful sports car in the summer and stored it for the winter so the salt on the roads wouldn’t destroy the paint—or the frame.

  Phillip shook his head as he took John’s proffered hand. “Nope. Was driving by and couldn’t believe I saw that deathtrap sitting there. Gave me hope Will had come to his senses and was doing some serious shopping.”

  “Yeah, well, John-boy here keeps pestering.”

  “You have a hole in the floor.”

  “Details, details.” Will waved his hand dismissively. “It still runs good.”

  With an air of long-suffering, Will climbed into his truck. “I’ll look at one more dealership and if I don’t find anything there I like, you have to agree to stop nagging me to get a new truck.”

  John leaned on the open window of the passenger door. “Could be a deal if I knew the story behind why this one is so special to you.”

  Phillip came up to lean with him. “If you don’t tell him, I will.”

  Surrendering, Will blurted it out. “I like to take Jill for a ride in the bed of this truck, all right?”

  John turned to glance back at the truck bed. The metal showed through the paint where scratches and dents gave evidence of some hard hauling. A large black, plastic toolbox stretched the width just under the window to the cab and John noted the rings evenly placed along the side rails used to tie down a tarp to keep the bed dry. Nothing unusual for a truck bed. He shrugged, clearly not getting Will’s meaning.

  “Naked,” Will muttered.

  Narrowing his eyes, John leaned over and flicked up the catch on the toolbox. The inside had been di
vided into two compartments. One side held the normal tools one might expect from a handyman—a circular saw, a sander, a drill case and a smaller toolbox that John was sure would be filled with hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches and other small hand tools.

  But the side farthest from him and closest to the driver held more interesting items. Several coils of strong, scratchy rope, a roll of duct tape, a bag of cable ties and one leather hood—the kind that laced up the back. The kind with a built-in gag and no eye-holes. Suppressing a grin, John let the top slam shut.

  “Seems to me a man of your…interests…might want a more dependable truck,” John told his friend, his voice dry and droll.

  “Seems to me a man’s wife might want a truck more dependable. Wouldn’t want to see the bed fall off the truck while she was back there.” Phillip’s tone matched John’s as they drove their point home.

  Will leaned back and whined, “But we’ve had such good times there.”

  The two men laughed and Phillip gave John’s arm a playful hit. “I’ll meet you at Bonner’s. Forget used. He needs something brand-new and sturdy.”

  “Deal.”

  “Then lunch on me if he buys a new truck.”

  John grinned at Phillip. “Bribery?”

  Phillip shrugged. “Something’s gotta work.”

  With Will shaking his head in defeat, John climbed in beside his friend as Phillip went back to his sports car. “Think of it this way, buddy. Jill will want to try out the new truck and put it through its paces as soon as possible.”

  At that thought, Will cheered up. “She would, at that. We could…” His eyes twinkled with mischief.

  As Will plotted out scenes with a new truck and his wife, John thought of Lauren. Would she ever consent to such a public display? He doubted it. But then again, he doubted he’d have the balls to drive around with a naked, hooded woman tied in the back of his truck either. Too many things could go wrong and while living on the edge obviously appealed to some—he glanced at Will’s beaming face—he preferred his sex to be just a little less dangerous.