Below Deck (Anchored 5)

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yes,” I say honestly. “I’d like nothing better, but I can’t right now.” As much as I want to come clean with June, I can’t risk sacrificing this mission. I can’t sacrifice catching this bastard. He’s been running this smuggling ring far too long. He needs to be stopped and I’m the only one who can do it.

I just hope it’s not too late.

“Oh,” she says. Then she takes a deep breath and kisses me on the cheek. “Well, I’m sure you’ll tell me as soon as you can,” she says, and then June wraps her arms around me and smiles. “You missed a call. If you want to call them back, that’s totally fine. I’ll be waiting for you in the shower.”

Then she gets up and sashays into the bathroom, leaving me staring at the phone and wondering how the hell I managed to find someone so fantastic.

June didn’t yell, didn’t shout. She didn’t get upset. She just supported me, and that’s how a relationship is supposed to work. It’s not how they usually work, of course. We all have drama and baggage and childhood issues we bring to relationships. We all have our own troubles that can impact whether or not a relationship is successful, but June is going above and beyond.

She’s demonstrating complete and utter trust in me, and that’s such a rare thing.

The bathroom door closes and suddenly, I’m alone. I’ve got to call my supervisor back and find out what’s going on. He rarely calls me unless there’s been some sort of development on the case. Usually, I’m the one who calls him, so it must be important.

I grab my phone, hit his number, and ring him back.

Jake answers on the first ring.

“Ryder,” he says. “It’s go time.”

Chapter 12

June

When I step into the shower, I feel like a different person than I was an hour ago.

I shouldn’t, but I do.

Something changed when Ryder tied me up. Something shifted deep inside of me when we were together that way. Maybe it’s because I’ve never offered up my trust to a Dominant partner the way I did tonight. Oh, I’ve played with Doms and Dommes before, but tonight was different.

Tonight was a surrender, and I think he knew it.

Ryder and I have been dancing around this for awhile now, but tonight was the first night we finally let go.

It feels good.

The water washes over me and I realize that he was able to completely get me out of my own head. For a little while, I wasn’t worried about how sorry I feel for myself about losing Grams. I wasn’t thinking about

how sad I am or how lonely. I wasn’t thinking about feeling overwhelmed with work.

For a little while, I was just me.

For a little while, I was just a sweet submissive with her Dom, and it felt magical.

It felt wonderful.

I never want that feeling to go away.

I hear the bathroom door open and a minute later, Ryder pulls back the shower curtain.

“Hey,” I say, turning around. “Are you going to join me?”

Only, Ryder’s dressed.

“I can’t,” he says, shaking his head.

“Work emergency?” He didn’t explain why he has two phones, but I’ve been waiting for a long time for Ryder to trust me. He doesn’t have to trust me today. He doesn’t even have to trust me tomorrow. As long as I know that we’re slowly, carefully working toward that, I’m happy.