Five Stars (Desire Island 5)

“Hey, forgive me for the hard sell,” he said. “You don’t have to decide this instant. How about let’s go down and get some breakfast? I never had dinner last night. I’m starving.”

Shani nodded, some of the tension leaving her expression. “Okay. Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe a quick swim in the ocean afterward. I like to exercise in the morning.”

“Perfect,” he agreed, taking heart that at least she hadn’t refused him outright.

When he came out of the bathroom, Shani had put on a silky little sundress, her full, lovely breasts bare beneath it. The dress was the same brilliant blue as the ankle bracelet she wore. The anklet was a delicate piece made from tiny turquoise beads artfully strung on thin threads of silver and gold, and yet another beautiful example of her skill as a jewelry artisan.

As he admired the lovely woman before him, he tried to be philosophical about the whole thing. She’d say yes, or she wouldn’t. Either way, they still had a whole glorious day and night to spend together. He wouldn’t waste another second worrying about something he couldn’t control.

“Ready?” he said, managing a smile.

“I am,” she agreed. She smiled back, but it didn’t reach her eyes.Chapter 4After breakfast and a refreshing swim in the ocean, Adam and Shani walked along the beach. Adam hadn’t brought up his proposal over breakfast, but it hovered in the air between them like a big, distracting balloon.

Shani was being a coward. She wasn’t behaving like one of the five noble warrior princesses from her and her siblings’ favorite story as children. She’d allowed Sir to hold her spirit hostage, even though she’d physically gotten free of him.

She glanced sidelong at Adam as they walked along the wet sand at the edge of the water, letting the wavelets lap over their bare feet. Maybe if she just told him outright about what had happened, he would understand.

She opened her mouth to let the sordid tale spill, but no words came. Instead, she found herself asking, “So, how did you first get into the scene? Did you always know you were a Dom?”

Adam looked out over the water. “That’s an interesting question. I guess I have to say the answer is yes. From the time I became aware of my sexuality, my fantasies centered around taking full control of a woman, at least in the bedroom. When I was old enough to find the porn sites, I was always drawn to BDSM—every aspect of it. And the whips and chains definitely got me going. But it was years before I acted on it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you should know something about me. I didn’t mention it last week because we weren’t really talking about our pasts, but I was married before, in my early twenties, for five years. We got married right out of college. I had never breathed a word about my sexual fantasies because I was under the mistaken impression back then that something was wrong with me. I defined myself as a sick puppy and only let my true nature out when I jerked off by myself. And my wife, Joanie, was as vanilla as an ice cream cone.”

Shani smiled at the image.

Smiling too, if a little ruefully, Adam continued, “Long story short, my need to express my true sexual nature started to get the better of me. Our marriage was floundering. I finally got up the nerve to admit my orientation to her. I guess I was hoping a change in our sex life might jumpstart things a bit.”

“And she was totally onboard and excited to try it?” Shani asked in a wry tone.

Adam barked a mirthless laugh. “Ha ha. I wish. No, she totally freaked out. She’d had a near rape experience in high school. Like a lot of folks in the vanilla world, she didn’t understand that consensual BDSM is nothing like that – as far from it as possible. To her credit, she tried to understand. I think she eventually got it, at least intellectually. She even agreed to try a bit of light bondage and spanking, but it just wasn’t her thing. BDSM only works when both sides are into it. It’s really not something you can fake your way through. Things really fell apart between us after that. I assumed it was because of the whole BDSM debacle. But it turned out she was having an affair with a colleague at work for a number of years. She finally confessed and asked for a divorce.”

“That sounds rough,” Shani commiserated. “But I guess the silver lining is once you were free, you were able to explore your true nature at last.”

“Yep,” Adam agreed. “I was like a kid in a candy store, gobbling up everything BDSM in my path. I was bored to death with my banking career, and since I was upending my life, I decided to do a total 180. I quit my job and cashed in my part of our nest egg.”