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“Mac. ” Violet shook her head. She knew her husband understood the code of an alpha male. Lord knew she dealt with his temperament often enough. But he didn’t necessarily understand what was going on with Tyler right now. He thought he’d won a key battle only to find his opponent had s
lipped through his fingers. She suspected his automatic reaction was to shrug off rational thought, go run her to ground and either paddle her ass or fuck her until she couldn’t think beyond the climaxes, where all the emotion and pain were drowned in sensation.
But she knew Tyler was a better man than that. So instead of drawing back she pressed forward, meeting his hard gaze with her equally unflinching one until he let her go with an oath and she moved up a stair for better access. A tawser used improperly would break bones, not cut, but she’d caught him with the rough edge during her uncontrolled strikes. A stitch or two likely wouldn’t do him harm but she assumed he would heal well enough without them.
“Only luck kept her from knocking out an eye or boxing your ear, bursting your eardrum,” she said, an edge to her tone. “Read the note and stop thinking with your dick. ”
Tyler curled his lip in a half snarl but glanced down at the paper.
Tyler, I need to think. I’m not running from what happened tonight. I know you think you know what it means but I don’t. I don’t know anything right now. I’m going to go see my brother and then I’ll go home. I’ll call you tomorrow. Please have Violet or Leila take care of your cuts. I’m sorry. I owe you a formal apology and you will get it whether you want it or not. I’m not your wife. You don’t deserve to be beaten down emotionally or physically by my problems.
His hand tightened on the paper, his thumb rubbing over the bloodstained words.
At a moment that surely was agonizing for herself, she had thought of him. It moved him, made his heart cry out for her. As well as drove his fury and frustration to an even higher level. Where had she gone? He needed to be with her.
Also, for your future attempts to bully women, keep in mind that most of us carry a spare car key in our purses.
“Smart-ass. ” But he folded the paper, put it in his shirt pocket, took a deep breath and struggled for rationality. “I’m going to her house,” he decided. “I’ll wait there until she gets home and make sure she’s all right. If that’s okay with you. Or are you planning to cuff me?”
Violet pursed her lips. “In our household, that’s considered foreplay. And as tempting as it is to smack you around for being an idiot, I think you’ve been beaten enough tonight. ”
“I knew what I was doing. ”
“Yes, you did. It was still dangerous. She’s dangerous. You knew it, you told me about it and it was very clear tonight. She can be pushed to a point of no return. ”
“She’s mine. ” His expression hardened. “And I’ll take care of her. ”
“I know. ” After a minute, going on impulse Violet put her arms around his shoulders and hugged him close, though gently. Then, just because he’d pissed her off, she smacked him on the back and made him cringe. “Please just think it through, be careful and know we’re here if it doesn’t work out. Care about her enough to know if you need to give up, okay?”
He sighed, relenting, his arms closing around her waist and hips as he held her small body close, letting her friendship loosen the tight fingers of tension in his stomach. “I can’t do that but I hear you, Violet. Jesus, she has a good arm. I haven’t had a beating like that since Afghanistan. The Taliban broke ribs and I swear it didn’t hurt as much. Did she seem okay?” He lifted his head abruptly.
“I think she’s really rattled and scared, knocked off her foundation, which is why I didn’t go ten rounds with her. She knew what she needed at this moment. Space. I think you should give her a little. ”
The step of a high heel on the landing above them made them turn. Leila stood there, a medical first aid kit in hand. “And before you go anywhere,” Violet added, “I think you should let Leila look you over. Or I will handcuff you to make sure of it. She’s as much as said in her note she’s not going straight home. You can get tended and still meet her there in good time. ”
Tyler reluctantly nodded, glanced up at Leila as she came down the stairs. A professional nurse and the woman he’d trained as a submissive for over a year, she’d become a friend and lover who’d opened his heart again. Now her jade green eyes moved over him, assessing. “Well, you’ve had an adventurous evening, haven’t you, Master?”
She’d never stopped calling him that, even after they’d moved on to other relationships, the title one of affection and shared experiences that could get him hard just remembering. Until Marguerite. He took her hand and Violet’s to kiss both. “I’m blessed with the friendship of beautiful, loving women. ” Tyler shifted his gaze to Mac’s unreadable expression. “And I apologize for abusing our friendship and your Mistress. ”
Mac nodded, his lips twisting in a rueful smile. “Love can make the best man into a total fucking moron. ”
When Leila took Tyler’s hand in hers and the two went down the stairs toward the coed changing room where she could tend him and examine him more thoroughly, Mac’s expression sobered. “Violet, that note said she went to see her brother. ”
“That’s what it said. ”
“Hmm. You remember when we investigated her for the S&M killer case?” Violet pulled her attention away as Tyler and Leila disappeared behind the door. “I remember. ” She would never forget the case that brought Mac into her life and almost took him from her forever. The bullet and lash scars he bore were a permanent reminder of even the strongest man’s mortality to a woman’s madness. While she wasn’t ready to relinquish her anger with Marguerite Perruquet, she realized that a good part of the fury provoked by watching Tyler willingly expose himself to the risk had been galvanized by those terrible memories. She felt like she needed a large cup of wine and a mind-numbing dose of sex.
She knew where to get both fortunately. She wanted to immerse herself in the vibrant life of the man she loved so much, so that the turmoil inside her breast and all the nightmares raised by the evening’s events could be laid to uneasy rest again.
“He’ll be fine, sugar. ” Taking her hand, Mac pulled her down the steps to close her in his arms, lifting her off her feet. Violet wrapped her thighs around his waist with a helpful hitch from him.
“More than I can say for you. ” Cocking her head, she eyed him narrowly. But she couldn’t deny the sudden, urgent bite of savage lust that was the body’s natural response to threat and survival. “You’ve been a pain in my ass tonight. ”
“I won the wrestling match fair and square. Though I think Hank’s been showing you some new hand-to-hand tricks. ” His lips quirked, eyes heating as she rubbed against him, digging her nails into his neck when he would have lowered his grip to her hips. Obeying, he stopped, keeping his hands at her waist. As her lips hovered just over his without moving, he remained motionless even as his cock thickened, hardening.
“Not this one. ” Her hand went down between them, cupped and kneaded him as he suppressed a groan. “But you’ll beg hard tonight before you get to come in my pussy. And I might fuck your ass first to remind you what obeying your Mistress’s orders means. ”
“I love you. ” His lips parted, showing teeth. “My cock and everything else is all yours, Mistress. Always has been, always will be. I’ll serve your pleasure however you want it. ”
