The staff kept telling him her near comatose state was a blessing as she wasn’t suffering with either physical discomfort or the constant mental anguish of her lost memories. No, at this stage of her disease, he bore the weight of all the suffering on his shoulders, and he carried the burden as a fraction of his penance for not being a better son when she’d needed him to be. Crossing one ankle over his opposite knee, Zach leaned his head back and began talking, telling her of his week as if she could hear and understand everything he said.
When he got around to mentioning Sandie, even he heard the change in his voice; the irritation upon finding her, a hint of humor when he mentioned his little stowaway’s tenacity when determined to get what she wanted, namely, him, and even a twinge of fondness when he recounted the games she challenged him to.
“You’d probably like her, Mom. She didn’t put up with any of my crap, and we both know how much of that I have.”
Sadness returned when Zach wondered if Carol had dated much after his father left. Closing his eyes, he remembered a high-school girl coming to their small apartment on occasion, staying with him when he’d been grade-school age and his mother had gone out for a few hours. But she’d always returned in time to put him to bed, and for some reason, that added to his sorrow. He didn’t like to believe she’d sacrificed a chance at another relationship because of him.
Opening his eyes, he started to rise then stopped short upon seeing his mother’s bright blue gaze riveted on him. The slow outstretch of her hand toward him coincided with a brief flash of clarity and small smile tilting the corners of her mouth. “Mom?” He held his breath, but she just closed her eyes with a small sigh, leaving her hand lying palm-up toward him. A lump lodged in his throat as tears blurred his vision. Squeezing her hand, he whispered, “Thanks, Mom. I’ll be back. Hang in there.”
Zach exited the home, stood a moment to inhale a deep breath of hot, muggy air and bask in the light-heartedness sweeping his senses. Usually, he disliked the sultry heat of late August unless he was enjoying a day on the ocean with its cool breezes, but right now he found it easy to like the afternoon temperature regardless of the stifling air. Deep down, he knew that too brief, special moment didn’t herald a change in Carol’s condition, but, damn it, he’d take what he could get. For one second, his mother had not only recognized him, but had shown pleasure in his presence, and that alone was worth everything.
Chapter 9
A low, impressed whistle drew Zach’s attention away from uncoiling the thick hemp from the dock anchor. Glancing up from his squat position, he smiled at the Carlson brothers’ appreciative gazes.
“How do you like her?” Rising, he strolled over the wood planked dock to greet Troy and Trevor, their identical, dark brown eyes surveying his yacht from bow to stern.
“Hell, what’s there not to like. She’s gorgeous.” Zach had heard that same, reverent tone from Trevor when admiring a woman. The guy loved anything depicted by a female pronoun, it seemed.
“You just had to go bigger, sleeker, and likely faster, didn’t you?” Troy asked, settling his fists on his hips.
“Of course. What’s the point of trading in if you’re not going to be trading up? You’re the first to arrive. Climb aboard and I’ll give the guided tour when Sean, Miles and Jackson get here.” Nodding down the pier, Zach added, “Here come’s Sean now.”
The three of them waited for the psychologist to walk close enough to notice the new replacement of his previous yacht. The sardonic curl of one side of Sean’s mouth told Zach the exact moment Sean noticed the switch.
“Only you.”
His dry tone belied the spark of humor glinting in the grey eyes he turned toward Zach. “Wait until you check out the added accoutrements. You’ll really be impressed then.”
Zach pivoted away from his friends for a moment, hiding his frown when the image of Sandie’s face popped into his mind, the neutral tone of her voice filling his head. Don’t you get bored spending your days counting your money and playing with the toys it’s enabled you to buy? He cringed inwardly as he recalled his callous reply of ‘hell no’ that had brought amusement to her face. He remembered thinking he would’ve found dealing with her censure easier than mirth at his expense.
“The ‘tie me up and spank me’ kind of extras?” Trevor asked on a hopeful note.
“Of course. Did you expect something else?” he answered, facing them again.
“Not from you. There’s Miles and Jackson. Just in time, now that you’ve aroused our curiosity,” Troy said.
They all looked to Jackson when he arrived and scrutinized the mega-yacht with a discerning look. Of the seven of them, he was the least fond of the water. Zach was hoping the larger vessel would bring him aboard more often than the smaller yacht he’d had before. “She’s about fifty feet longer, couple yards wider with three levels, sleeps fourteen without crowding, more if anyone wants to add an extra to their berth for the night.” He spoke to all of them, but his eyes sought out Sean who favored threesomes.
“Thought of everything, have you?” Sean said as he leapt aboard, his shrewd, shrink’s eyes on Jackson. Shaking his head, Zach wondered if the psych doc would ever get over his penchant for watching over all of them with the eagle eyes of a hawk.
“I tried to. Come on, I’ll give you a quick tour before I get us underway. I stopped at Joe’s Meat Market and picked up dinner, but there are snacks until then.”
“Food’s always good,” Miles commented as he brought up the rear boarding.
“I worry about you, bro.” Jackson shook his head, drawing grins from everyone as he shifted back away from the rail. The Carlson brothers were the ones who started calling each of them bro, but it hadn’t taken long for the rest, who didn’t have siblings, to toss about the nickname. “There’s something seriously wrong with a guy who thinks about food more than sex.”
Zach chuckled along with the others before slapping Miles on his broad back. “Follow me, and we’ll start at the top and work our way down.”
Leading them down the port side to the spiral stairs winding to the top deck, he heard Trevor snicker, “That’s how I like to go about it.”
Ten minutes later, after taking them to the bow and pointing out the fountain, hot tub and specially designed lounges, he leaned against the rail and observed his friends as they tossed out comments of pleasurable surprise or lewd observations. He didn’t need to show them the D rings attached in strategic places on the mermaid fountain as they had no trouble spotting them, and there were several suggestions on positions the metal loops would come in handy to maintain.
Trevor ran a finger over the mermaid’s clamped nipple with an exaggerated sigh of lust. “God, she’s hot.”
Troy shot his brother a dry look. “You’re a sick fuck.”
“Yeah, but everyone loves me.”
Zach chuckled along with the others, none of them denying Trevor’s statement. The hot tub was a hit, as he’d known it would be, as were the stashed chain stations along the starboard and port sides and cuffed legs on the lounges. Then Troy and Miles took an interest in the skeet shooting while Sean, Trevor and Jackson argued over shuffleboard, their minds switching gears from sex to fun and games without missing a beat.
“I’ll get us underway and finish the tour once we’re a few miles out. No skeet shooting until we’re away from the marina,” he warned.
Troy tossed an incredulous look his way followed by his sarcastic, “Hell, Vancuren, I am a cop, you know.”
“Just a friendly reminder.”
Even after over twenty years of close friendship, they never tired of sparring with each other and continued to have each other’s backs without hesitation or question. Zach wound his way down and took control at the helm, smiling as he heard their continued, friendly jousting. Starting the engine, he got them underway, finding it easier to maneuver the large vessel after the few days of experience in controlling the mega yacht last week. The only thing marring his pleasure wi
th having the guys aboard and their exuberant response to his surprise were the memories of those few days with Sandie that kept popping up.
He couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t forget her as easily as he had every woman who’d come before her. She’d irritated and pissed him off more than anyone else, which should have made it an easy task to put her out of his mind. But, as he’d strolled around the upper deck and pointed out all the added BDSM equipment, he couldn’t keep from remembering Sandie running around naked, laughing as he chased her, or the way she’d embraced being tormented, both on the lounge and secured at a chain station.
Worse was the guilt that kept creeping up whenever the memory of her flushed face and soft, startled gasp when she climaxed was replaced with an image of those wide green eyes filled with despairing dread. He gritted his teeth against the unwelcome reminder, but that didn’t prevent a low curse of frustration from slipping out just as Sean slid onto the co-captain’s seat next to him.