Down the Aisle (Dare Me 2.5)

“So, Rafe, I hear you like to tie women up?” Courtney said, an innocent expression on her angelic face. She popped a maraschino cherry into her mouth and chomped down. So much for playing cards right. That sounded downright confrontational.

Rafe reclined back on his chair, and a slow smile spread across his lips. “Did you, now?” He spared a dead-eyed glance at Cat, and she shrugged.

“What? You didn’t say it was a secret, and it’s way too juicy to keep to myself.”

Shane tugged at a red curl hanging over her eye and shook his head. “It makes my blood run cold imagining what you tell people about our sex life.”

Cat grinned and leaned in to kiss him on the mouth. “It shouldn’t. You should be very proud. They’ve heard nothing but good things, right ladies?”

Galen was rubbing Lacey’s back in slow circles and she was too mesmerized to answer properly, so she held up her index fingers, gauging about eight inches apart.

Courtney cracked out a laugh, and the guys all groaned.

“I knew you shared notes about that,” Galen said, shaking his head. “It’s a man’s personal business, you know. A lady shouldn’t kiss and tell.”

“I think the saying is that a gentleman shouldn’t kiss and tell,” Courtney said, taking a long gulp of her mai tai. “Nobody ever said anything about a lady. But back to Rafe.” She pinned him with her clear, hazel gaze and asked him again. “What’s the deal with you and the BDSM chatter I’m hearing tonight?”

The others got quiet, and Lacey wondered what the heck was going on. They’d been joking around about it, but suddenly Courtney’s interest seemed like more than just idle curiosity and tipsy conversation. She was a confirmed bachelorette and had insisted that she wasn’t in the market for any kind of relationship with a man. So why the sudden concern about Rafe’s sex life?

Rafe gave her a long, hard look and even from the sidelines, Lacey found herself wriggling in her seat. The two had only hung out in the group a handful of times, and Lacey didn’t recall this tension between them before, but maybe she just hadn’t been looking for it. Now, even Galen and Shane were paying attention.

“What do you want to know, Court?”

The words were spoken softly, like a challenge, and for a second, it looked like her friend might back down. But she threw her shoulders back and met him head on.

“Does it make you feel more like a man to dominate your lover?”

Cat winced with a whispered, “Day-um,” and the rest of them waited silently for Rafe’s response.

“No more than it makes my lover feel more like a woman when she submits to me.”

Courtney’s mouth formed an “o” before her eyes narrowed. “That’s what you like to tell yourself, I’m sure. But don’t you worry that doing things to a woman when she’s helpless and fantasizing about hurting her is a gateway to abuse? I have to wonder if it starts with a spanking in a bedroom and leads to a beating out of one.” Her questions were harsh, but the way she licked her lips nervously when she delivered them took away some of their fire.

Rafe seemed to consider her words but then shook his head. “Nope. You can wonder all you want, but if I deliver pain, it’s only to intensify the pleasure later. I would never harm a woman, and I spend a lot of my work day hunting down men who do.” He pushed back his chair and stood. “Now, if you’re through grilling me about my sexual practices, which you have no understanding or knowledge of, then I’m going to get myself a drink. Unless what you’re really asking for is a lesson? In which case,” he glanced at his watch and then locked gazes with a shaken Courtney. “You can pick up that hood and those cuffs, and I’d be glad to take you outside in the alley and give you the best ten minutes of your life.”

She stuttered and flushed, but then got hold of herself and flashed him a tight smile. “As tempting as that is, if ten minutes is all you’ve got in you, I think I’ll pass.”

His responding grin was positively lethal. “Ten minutes isn’t all I’ve got.” He bent low until his face was level with hers, and they all leaned in to hear his softly spoken words. “Ten minutes is all you could handle.”

Chapter Two

“Whew,” Lacey groaned, fanning her face as she leaned out the window two hours later. “That was something, right?”

Galen kept his eyes on the road and nodded. “Yeah, it was something all right.”

“I mean with Court and Rafe. What was up with that? There were sparks flying like crazy. I just don’t know if they were the good kind or the bad kind.”

“I think they were a little of both.” It had been a fun night, in spite of the tension between their two friends, but things with him and Lacey had been tense since this last round of fertility drugs had failed, and more than anything they needed some time together to bridge the gap that had been forming between them. Now, his wife-to-be was buzzed and amped, and he couldn’t wait to get her home.

“I was so shocked to hear about Rafe and his…preferences. Crazy, right?”

Galen shook his head and took one hand off the wheel to lace his fingers with hers. “Nope. I knew already.”

“You knew? Why didn’t you tell me?” Lacey asked, shifting to face him with an indignant frown.

Galen thought about it and then shrugged. “What possible reason would there be for that discussion?”

It wasn’t really anyone’s business what Rafe did behind closed doors…or in public, as it were, but still, he knew she hated being the last to know.

“We’re supposed to tell each other everything!” She slumped back into her seat and crossed her arms to sulk.

“Well then, let me tell you everything.” He proceeded to go through his workout for the day, what he ate, the conversation he had with his manager at the gym, and his discussion with the dry cleaner about the NFL draft, and within three minutes, his fiancé was dead asleep.

He tucked a honey colored lock of hair behind her ear and grinned. He had big plans when they got home, and if she didn’t wake up by the time they got there, they’d have to be postponed. But it was hard to be annoyed with her. She was so damned cute when she was drunk. She let out a soft snore, and he took that as his cue to drive a little slower so she could work in a power nap.

He pulled onto the main road and headed toward their house, which would officially be their first home together as a married couple. It was a nice place, especially since Lacey had moved in. She had great taste, and even though he’d had to give up his Sports Illustrated collection and move his keg-erator into the basement, he still preferred it now to life BL.

Life Before Lacey had been pretty empty. He loved his parents and sister and had a great core of friends with Shane, Rafe, and some of his old boxing buddies, but he’d never had a partner before. Not like this.

Which was why it was especially hard to see her so down lately. He knew the baby thing was weighing on her, but they were both young, and they had plenty of time to work on that some more. Once they’d found out their window of opportunity was closing due to Lacey’s medical issue, they’d done everything they could to get themselves into a position to be parents ASAP. Signed up with an adoption agency—and nearly had gotten a baby, but that had fallen through— and had just interviewed with another expectant birth mother and were waiting to hear. Not to mention the three rounds of fertility treatments that hadn’t taken. They were doing everything in their power, and the rest was out of their hands. Now it was just a waiting game.

His fiancé shifted in the leather seat and muttered something about “adding more gerbera daisies,” which he assumed was some reference to the wedding flowers. As much as he hated all the fussy details and didn’t know a Jordan almond from a French twist, he’d been doing his share, because the last thing he wanted was to add to the stress she’d been under.

It was such a relief to see her without that cloud of low-level sadness hanging over her for the first time in weeks, and he’d do just about anything to keep it at bay. So if they needed more gerbera daisies, he was on it.

She hunkered lower in her seat, murmuring his name on a breathy sigh, and he relaxed a little. She’d be fine. They just needed to shut everything and everyone else out for a while and remember how much they loved being together. The baby would come in time, one way or another. He’d see to that. In fact, if—

Nope. He wasn’t going to get either of their hopes up on “ifs.” Instead, he’d focus on the definites. And he definitely loved the shit out of his woman. Now, if he could just get some eggs and coffee into her, there were some good times waiting for them at home. Soft bed, hard sex. It was about to go down at Casa de Thomas. And then afterward, when they were lying in bed, he would try to talk to her again about how she’d been feeling instead of trying to keep it all bottled up, and they could work through it together. They had to, because she was starting to scare him.

By the time they pulled into the driveway twenty minutes later, her snoring had become constant, and he’d almost scrapped the idea of hot sex altogether. Until he picked her up in his arms, and she buried her nose in his neck and pressed her soft breasts against his chest. Time for breakfast.

She murmured softly as he carried her up the cobblestone walkway to the front door.

“Lace,” he whispered, and pressed a soft kiss on the forehead. “Babe, it’s time to wake up.”

She stirred and peered at him through bleary eyes. “I didn’t know you worked here,” she mumbled, then promptly closed her eyes again. He bit back a chuckle and tried again.

“Come on, I’ve got to put you down so I can unlock the door.”

This time, she opened her eyes and seemed to focus, her amber gaze locking with his. “Hey there, handsome. When did you get here?”

“I live here. And so do you. We’re home, squirt. Now come on, stand up for me, all right?”

He swung her so that her feet touched the ground and waited while she got her balance.

“I’m A-okay, Captain.” She lifted a hand and popped off a snappy salute, then veered to the side, about to take a header into the potted plants on the porch.

He grabbed and steadied her. “Easy there. Let’s take it one step at a time. You hold onto my back while I open the door. Deal?”

She nodded and wet her lips, then lunged forward to plaster herself against him like a baby possum.

He pulled the keys from his pocket and found the right one, trying to ignore the crush of her full breasts against his back. She was in no condition for anything he had planned, so he might as well get it out of his—

“Are you going to give it to me tonight?”

He froze, hand on the doorknob. “Give what to you?”

“You knoooow,” she said. “It. The hot salami. The long dog. The hot-beef injection. The wizard’s staff. The one-eyed Willy.”

She seriously needed to stop hanging out with his sister. “Ah, well, that depends on a few things.”

She hoisted herself up by his shoulders, wrapping her legs around him, then started climbing him like a tree. A second later, she made her way around to his side, clutching his middle with her thighs. “What things?” She craned her neck around so she could see his face and blinked up at him owlishly.

“Things like whether or not you can walk on your own two feet. Or, say, if you know your name.” To his amusement, she looked totally offended and released him, dangling her legs before she let go completely.

“Test me, Your Officership.” She set her chin to a mulish angle and closed one eye, focusing on his face.

“Test you at what?” he asked, too curious to see her next move to stop her.

“Walking a straight line.” She held both arms out to the side and made to touch her nose, but promptly poked herself in the open eye. “Ah, fff-udge. That hurt.”