“But your sailing trip? Your plans for an extended vacation? What about all that?”
He shrugged again. “I’ll still have the boat. I can keep it docked at their marina and take it out for day trips. We can go out on your days off.”
Lainey’s smile faltered. “But what if… I mean, we’re still so new. If things don’t work out and you’ve gone and changed up all your plans for me…”
“Hey,” he said gently, placing his hands on her shoulders. “First of all, it’s not for you. It’s for me. Totally selfishly, I don’t want to sail away from the best thing that’s ever happened to me. This is about more than just a great physical connection. It sounds so corny to say, but I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. I was just waiting to meet you. And, yeah. I get it that this is moving super-fast. And no, I don’t have a crystal ball. But I can tell you this. I’ve never—not ever, not once in my thirty-four years—felt like this.”
“Oh,” she breathed softly. “Me, too. But…”
When she didn’t continue her thought, he said, “I’ve spent most of my adult life in a lab or in front of a computer. I’ve been so involved with work these past few years that I’ve let life kind of pass me by. I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to be fully present for my own life, if that makes sense.”
Lainey nodded. “It does.”
Encouraged, Cooper continued, “I’ve had relationships, both vanilla and D/s. I’ve been in love a time or two. I know that what can feel so real at this moment might not be so great a month or a year from now. And I get, too, that you’re still coming to terms with your submissive nature, and that’s fine with me. I don’t require anything of you that you don’t want to freely give. I’m not asking you to make any kind of commitment. Not now. All I do ask is that you keep an open mind. That we keep on exploring together.”
He paused, steeling himself in case she refused. He would not press her. But he was going to stay on the island. He’d do whatever it took to keep this amazing woman in his life.
“So,” he finally said. “Does that work for you, Lainey? Not an HEA, necessarily, but an HFN?”
Lainey stared at him a second and then burst out laughing. “Oh, my god,” she grinned. “You speak Romance Novel.”
Cooper grinned back. “I’m a man of many hidden talents,” he quipped.
“And a lot not so hidden,” she quipped back, placing her hand on the bulge in his jeans that hadn’t quite subsided, despite his best intentions.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her again, long and deep, anchored to the ground only by her embrace.
When they finally parted, she grabbed his hand and yanked him toward the sliding glass doors. Laughing as she tugged him along, she said, “Let’s go inside before I pull those jeans off you right here on the balcony and scandalize the neighbors. Come on, boy toy.”
He allowed himself to be pulled, laughing along with her. “That’s boy toy Sir,” he replied.
Epilogue – Three Months Later
“OMG. I never thought I’d see the day Lainey would be wearing a slave collar,” Abbie crowed, grinning mischievously.
The article in question was a strip of leather with a beautiful silver clasp that could only be released by a small key Cooper now wore on a chain around his neck. About one inch wide, it was made of the softest leather, dyed a rich burgundy red. The single possessive word, Cooper’s, was tooled onto the leather. A gift from Cooper the day before, Lainey wore it on her right ankle. She absolutely adored it and had eagerly shown it off to her friends at the first opportunity.
“It’s not a slave collar,” Lainey retorted hotly. “It’s more like a”—she paused, trying to come up with the right word—“a sub anklet. Just a symbol, really, of my submission to Cooper.”
“That’s what a slave collar is, silly,” Skylar remarked, eyes twinkling as she touched the pretty collar around her own neck. “A symbol of your commitment to your Master.”
“He’s not my Master,” Lainey cried.
“Yet,” Maya offered knowingly, a smirk on her face.
As Lainey geared up for another retort, all three girls burst out laughing. Kendra, also seated with the others by the pool, sharing a late afternoon glass of wine, put her hand lightly on Lainey’s arm. “They’re just busting your chops, Lainey. They do it to me all the time. They can’t quite conceive of submission without the whole Master/slave thing. It’s not their fault. They’re blinded by their fixation with a total power exchange.”
“Ouch,” Skylar said, though she was still grinning.
“She’s right, of course,” Abbie added, her smile kind. “We’re just messing with you. You’re such an easy target.”