Perfect Alignment

Chapter 6-2

As they walked out the hotel’s front door, the valet drove up in her rental car. She turned to Drew, but he grabbed her suitcase and wheeled it to the trunk, watching as the driver jumped out and loaded it. Drew paid the valet and held her door open, standing in front of it, letting her come to him. She walked right into him, laying her lips against his. He opened, pushed her open, took possession. She immediately got wet for him. His hands gripped her arms, pulling her closer before finally setting her back.

He cleared his throat. “I’ll call you.” Squeezing past her, he gently nudged her into the car, closed the door, watched while she lowered the top. Then he leaned on the door and lowered his sunglasses, meeting her gaze.

“You be careful driving home.”

She smiled. He just couldn’t help himself. “Yes, Officer.”

When she walked into the nail salon, she spotted Stephanie immediately. The bright streaks in her hair might be magenta today, cobalt tomorrow, but they were ever present, whatever the color. The natural blonde had decided to both embrace her given color and defy it. She spotted Emma’s approach and rose to greet her with a huge hug.

“Hey, girl,” Emma said, once she could safely breath again.

“Emma! I can’t believe you came all the way up here, finally, and you didn’t come play!”

“Oh, I played.” She couldn’t keep the satisfied smirk from her face. Didn’t even try, actually. “Just not at the club.”

“So he’s in the scene, then? I thought maybe you were trying out something vanilla.”

They paused to choose polish colors than moved to the spa chairs that they were directed to, picking the conversation right back up. That was one of the things Emma liked best about Steph. They could go months without seeing each other, but fell easily back into step.

She groaned as she placed her feet into the hot water. All her walking the day before had been in cute sandals instead of sturdy shoes. Oops.

“He’s in the life. It just…I don’t know…didn’t seem necessary to go to the club. He can get me in that space with just a couple of items and his imagination. We don’t need all the equipment. Hell, we don’t really even need the toys, they just make it more fun.”

“I get that, but don’t you miss the activity, the people, the energy? I hope you’re not turning into a fuddy-duddy on me.”

“Eh. I was never as much into exhibitionism as you. The only reason I didn’t go more toward the private rooms was I never developed enough of a relationship with any of the guys to trust them in private.”

Steph shrugged. “I guess. It just makes it so much more exciting, knowing other people are watching, getting off on what I’m doing. Being able to scope the whole club, see who’s doing what and who I want to try out next.”

“Believe me, any more exciting than what we’ve been doing and I’d probably have a heart attack.”

Stephanie perked up. “Ooh, do tell!”

They both picked up their remotes, turning the massage settings on. “Sorry, girl, I’m not telling you everything.”

But she did sketch out the main parts, related the basic story of how she and Drew had met. The other woman’s eyes glittered in appreciation and she tried to pry for more, but Emma laughed her off.

“Well, maybe once things settle in with you guys, you’ll come to Apex.”

“Maybe.”

Stephanie c****d her head.

“That didn’t sound like a very definite maybe.”

“It’s weird. I don’t know what it would be like to do a scene with him with other people around. I guess it would feel normal pretty quickly. But it was fun being at his house and at the hotel.”

“As long as you feel safe, I guess the location doesn’t really matter. But the equipment! All the things you’re missing out on playing with.”

“I’ll repeat, if things got any hotter than they already are, I’d have a problem.”

They high-fived.

“So tell me, what’s the new gossip. Anything good?”

“Well, I didn’t mention it since I know you won’t be up here next weekend, but they’re doing another one of those charity auctions. This time it’s the Doms being auctioned but there’s a twist. Someone bet someone else something about sports that I don’t care about at all.” She waved her hand to brush that part of the story aside. “But what it comes down to is that the Doms lost and they have to wear cuffs and collars in the auction.”

Emma’s mouth dropped open. “No! Who are the Doms?”

“Drake, Eric, and Daniel are the ones that you would know for sure. There’s seven in all.”

“Holy s**t, I wish you could take pictures. Eric and Daniel in collars?”

“Yep, full sub gear.”

She sat back into her chair, trying to picture the men she knew dressed like that. Then she tried to picture Drew dressed like that. Then she burst into laughter so strong she had to wipe away a tear.

Emma thought about her conversation with Stephanie on the drive home. With the top down and her hair once again up in a ponytail, she enjoyed the ride but kept a careful watch on her speedometer. Just before she hit town, she called Taryn, which netted her an invite to dinner. It was her policy to never, ever turn down Richard’s cooking, so it was a no brainer to accept the invitation, even though she knew her friend would try grilling her for more details.

When Caleb opened the door, he studied her. She wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he seemed to approve. He gave a quick grin, a hug, then turned and tugged her into the house. “I’m helping Richard cook. Taryn’s in the backyard. Go keep her company.”

“Aye, aye, Sir!”

He swatted her on the butt as she strode past him and out into the backyard. A week ago that would have shot fire through her body, but now, it only brought a smile. She had her own hot guy to play with. Besides, a week ago, he wouldn’t have done it. Interesting that he had now.

Taryn was kneeling next to a patch of dirt.

Emma frowned. “Are you gardening?”

Taryn sighed. “Yes. Supposedly. I have no idea what I’m doing, but yeah. That’s the idea.”

Sitting down in the grass, Emma laughed. “Then why are you doing it?”

“I don’t know, it just seemed like the thing to do. I have a house now. And husbands who mow the lawn and take out the garbage. I thought I’d, you know…” She gestured vaguely over the disturbed earth.

“Ah, I see.” Trying not to laugh, Emma leaned back on her hands. “Are you planting flowers or vegetables?”

“I hadn’t gotten that far. I was getting the dirt ready. I read a thing on the internet that said how you should prepare the spot. But I was thinking vegetables. And herbs. I thought Richard might like to have some fresh stuff.” She reached in and pulled out a few weeds and added them to her small pile.

“Sounds like a plan,” Emma said.

“It’s kind of annoying, though.”

“What.”

“This. It’s like…work.”

Their eyes met and they both lost it, laughing until they were lying back on the grass, holding their sides.

Emma managed to stop long enough to gasp, “But at least there are no people to deal with.” Which only set them off again.

Finally, Taryn wiped her hands together and stood. “Come on, I need to get cleaned up, and you need to tell me how your trip was.”

They trooped into the house. Music came from the kitchen and she saw the boys standing over the stove, Caleb’s arm around Richard’s waist as he did something with a pot. Their affection was so easy, like with her parents. She had to stifle a laugh at the idea of sharing that comparison with her boss.

Taryn jumped into the shower while Emma brought her up to speed. Again, Taryn demanded more details and Emma teased, but didn’t follow through. She offered to blow-dry her friend’s hair for her, and Taryn accepted. They bantered back and forth until Emma had told her everything. Mostly.

She’d never been very specific with her friend about the goings on at the club she went to, although now that she’d begun to see Caleb in a more commanding light, she wondered if that was a conversation they should have. But she was tired of analyzing her s*x life and desires for now, let alone those of her friend.

“So, let me make sure I have this right,” Taryn shouted just as Emma turned off the blow-dryer. She rolled her eyes and continued at a normal volume. “You don’t want to start a serious relationship. He doesn’t want to start a serious relationship. But you want to keep seeing each other, exclusively, for the foreseeable future.”

Emma thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess that sums it up pretty nicely.”

Taryn nodded. “Awesome.” She took a deep breath. “Come on, let’s go see what those wonderful smells are all about.”

Not hearing any sarcasm in the other woman’s tone, Emma decided her best bet was to take the comment at face value, and followed her down the hall.

After shift, Drew took his third shower of the day. He’d had one before shift, and one in the middle, after chasing an i***t burglar through the alleys and into the trash bin the dumbass had decided to hide in. Hell, he still wasn’t sure he didn’t stink. He hoped not, because Emma had called and he’d invited her over. He put on a little more speed than usual to get home, wanting to get there before she did so she wouldn’t have to sit around and wait.

He reached the house and was both relieved and disappointed to see that she wasn’t there. Fine, it would give him time to take another shower. Somehow he felt his own shower would get him more clean than the one at work. But he’d just unlocked the door and set his keys on the side table when he heard the engine. Leaning against the jamb, he watched the Mustang approach. He wondered what she normally drove, instead of the rental. s**t, maybe she didn’t even have a car. And then he just stopped thinking as she got out, came toward him. Her jeans were tight, her t-shirt snug and her toes bare but for the bright-pink paint she hadn’t sported last time he’d seen her.

He wanted to eat her up.

When she reached the top step, she paused.

He stared at her. The nearly black hair was thick and straight, just past her shoulders, with a little bit of bang that focused his attentions on her eyes. Those eyes. How could her brown be so much more compelling than those he saw in the mirror every single day? He didn’t know, but it was very true. He wanted to drown in the liquid heat of her brand of brown eyes.

He grasped her hips, pulled her forward. Pulled her into him. His lips met hers and she opened for him easily, eagerly. After what could have been a minute or thirty, he came up for breath. “Would you like to come in?” he asked.

She laughed. “Yeah, thanks, I’d like that.”

He pulled her up the stairs and to the bedroom, but she laughed again. “How was your day?”

“Smelly. Yours?” He gripped the hem of her t-shirt and pulled it up. She raised her arms but made no other move to undress. Fine, he could handle it all on his own.

“No speeding tickets on the trip home?” he asked.

“It was tempting, but no. I decided to wait for the cop who I know could give me what I wanted.”