Essential Master (Doms of Napa Valley) (8 page)

“Do you want us to let you go?” This time
it was Nicky.

He thought for a moment. “No, not really. I
just don’t want to talk about what happened or about her. Can we talk about
something else? Something pleasant?”

“Sure. What topic would you like to talk
about, Sexy?”

He glanced out the window as the sun
started setting. He was curious about them, and wasn’t sure where to start. He wanted
to know everything, then he thought about their earlier meeting where they’d
all laughed and fed the ducks. “Well, since you both know one of my favorite
retreats is the duck pond behind Ethan’s, do you have one? A place you like to
think?” He prayed the question wasn’t too inquisitive. Maybe he should’ve stuck
with their favorite colors or something.

“My study. It’s quiet and comfortable. I’d
stay in it for hours if Steph let me.” Nicky answered promptly.

“And I have a glider out back of our house
I love to sit in. I can see the neighboring wineries’ grapes and everything’s
so peaceful.”

“It does sound peaceful, Steph.” He closed
his eyes and leaned back against the pillow as they continued to speak softly,
chuckling every so often as they filled him in on their home life, when Nicky
wasn’t touring for his books or writing. This was definitely better than
watching television, or even going to the club. They treated him like he was
their equal, something he was going to have to get used to.

Chapter
Seven

“As soon as the nurse comes in with your
discharge papers, Zebadiah, you’ll be free to go.” Dr. Sanderton gave him a
smile. “Next time try to stay away from trouble, young man. I’m truly tired of
seeing your ugly mug in here. You should be out having fun, not cooped up in a
hospital room.”

Zebadiah nodded. “Believe me I’ve seen
enough of hospitals to last me a lifetime, and if I never see that bitch again,
it’ll be too soon.” He touched the stitches at the back of his head. “Come back
in seven days to have them removed, right?”

“Yes, now excuse me, I have other patients
to see to.” The kind doctor scurried out of the door, and Zeb leaned back
against the bed. He was still dressed in the hospital gown since his own
clothing had been unwearable, especially the blood covered shirt. He was now
just waiting for Davis or Ethan to bring him a clean set of clothing from home.

As if thinking about them made them appear,
Davis and Ethan strode into the room. Shaking the sack before he dropped it on
the bed, Davis greeted him.

“Morning, Zeb. You ready to get sprung?”

“Hell, yeah.” He reached for the sack while
Ethan shut the door allowing him privacy to change. “Have you heard anything
from Harmond? I’m assuming one of you called him for me?”

Davis moved towards the window, as Zeb
jerked off the hospital gown and tossed it towards the end of the bed. “Get
dressed and we’ll take you to lunch.”

Dread pooled in the pit of Zebadiah’s
stomach as he slipped the shirt on over his head. “He fired me, didn’t he?” he
asked, as he pulled the shirt down.

Davis sighed, but confirmed his suspicions.
“Yes. But you have a very good case against him, Zeb.”

“I’ll think about it, Davis. I don’t know
if I want to go to court over it. Harmond took a chance on me when I came back
from culinary school. But right now I just want to get out of here.” Pulling
out the socks, underwear and jean shorts, he laid them out on the bed as the
men turned their backs to him, but stood close enough to help if he needed it.
Rising, he swayed but managed to keep his balance long enough to pull clean
underwear on. By the time he’d managed to fasten his shorts, beads of sweat had
popped out on his forehead. Sinking back down on the mattress, he gritted his
teeth. His head still hurt like a bastard, but he wasn’t going to tell them. He
wanted out of here.

“Can’t blame you there, Zebadiah.” Ethan
moved closer. “But it’s still something we should discuss at lunch, along with
the idea of perhaps opening your bakery now.”

Zeb donned the socks before he requested
Davis to hand him his shoes. By the time he donned them, all he wanted was to
go home and lay back down. He didn’t want to make any decisions right now. He
didn’t want to think about the fact he lost his job, nor the financial risk of
opening a new business that would probably fail within the first year.

“You know, guys, I don’t think I’m up to
this. Can we skip lunch?”

Before they could answer, the nurse
shuffled in with a stack of paperwork in her hands. “Dr Sanderton said you’re
getting ready to leave us, Mr. Pellegrino?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I have your discharge papers here.”
She sank down on the bed next to him. “It’s pretty straight-forward stuff. Are
these your roommates?”

“Yeah.” He resisted nodding. “Unlucky
bastards they are. They get stuck with nursing me back to health again.” He
strove for a light heartedness he wasn’t feeling. He really hated being
incapacitated.

 
* *
* *

By the
time they pulled up at the house, all Zebadiah wanted to do was crawl into bed.
As Davis put the SUV into park, Zebadiah reached for his seat belt when the car
door opened. Expecting to see Bella, he was surprised when it was Stephanie
smiling down at him, and reaching across to unbuckle his seat belt.

“Stephanie. What are you doing here?” The
question came out as a croak.

A brilliant smile crossed her face. “Nicky
and I thought you might want to take it easy today, so we came over to see if
you wanted to watch a couple of movies with us. The Sy-fy Network has an
all-day marathon of Firefly episodes today, followed up by the movie,
Serenity. Didn’t you say you hadn’t seen it
yet?
”

He was tempted. He really was, but he
didn’t think it would fair to them. “I’m not really the best of company today,
Steph. My head aches and I won’t be a good conversationalist.”

Concern crossed her face. “Nonsense. We’re
your friends and we’re not expecting anything other than being with you. Nicky
even promised to not get upset if you doze while we’re watching. Come on, Sexy,
we just want to be around you.”

Davis chuckled. “I’d accept if I was you,
Zeb. I have a feeling she might cart you off if you don’t.”

He arched his brow at Steph. “You
wouldn’t?”

Placing a hand on her hip, she smirked at
him. “Want to test me? I’ve carried bigger than you.” She leaned in, then
whispered softly. “Don’t tell Nicky I told you, but I once carted him halfway
down the mountain when he fucked up his knee skiing. Big baby threatened me
with severe consequences if I told anyone.”

A soft chuckle escaped him at the idea of
Steph hauling Nicky around. True they were close in height, but her Master had
to outweigh her by at least fifty pounds if not more. “Really?”

“Yeah, so you, Sexy, wouldn’t be a problem.
However, if I do pick you up, I may just kidnap you, and take you home with
me.”

“I’d take her seriously,
il mio colibrì,
although you won’t hear
me protesting,” Nicky said softly from behind her.

And that easily he gave in. “Okay, on
threat of kidnapping, I’ll go peacefully.” He moved to get out of the car, his
body brushing up against Steph’s as he straightened. He hissed as his face
brushed the softness of her breasts while she helped him out of the car. His
face heated. He only could hope she mistook the sound for one of pain. When he
stole a peek at her face as she stepped back, his heart jumped. The desire in
her eyes was unmistakable, along with the knowing glance she exchanged with
Nicky, and he knew he’d been found out.

“Relax, Zeb.” She hooked her arm through
his as Davis and Ethan joined them. “Nothing is going to happen but popcorn,
and an all day marathon of yours and Nicky’s favorite TV show. Now let’s go get
you settled and I’ll make some of my famous kettle corn.”

Allowing her to guide him up the path, he
could only hope he was doing the right thing by following her. The presence of
Nicky at his back was comforting, and assured him Steph wouldn’t get out of
line.

Once they entered the house, Ethan and
Davis begged off, stating they had piles of work to do. Davis disappeared back
outside to head to his office downtown, while Ethan walked towards his office
in the public portion of their home. It was one of the perks Ethan enjoyed by
housing his private psychiatry practice in his residence.

Settling down on one of the sectionals with
built in recliners in the great room, he toed off his shoes and wearily leaned
his head back against the supple leather. He didn’t even have the energy to
recline the section he was sitting on. A sigh escaped him as he listened to the
murmur of Nicky, Steph and Bella from the kitchen. Already worn out from the ride
home, he closed his eyes. It couldn’t hurt to rest his eyes for a few moments.

* * * *

The
soft drone of television and warmth on his left side finally woke Zebadiah. It
took him several moments to catalog where he was. The cushy leather beneath him
was obviously not the dreaded hospital bed he
’d
woken up in earlier. And the tantalizing scent of Stetson mingled with popcorn
definitely wasn’t the antiseptic they used to clean his room. So he obviously
wasn’t in the hospital. He slowly opened his eyes, reluctant to give up the
peace he’d found in slumber. He didn’t want to move. A quick glance on the
screen showed Mal, the captain of the Serenity, and Wash, his pilot, tied back
to back around a coil as the villain, Niska, tortured them.

“Zoe is gonna kick Wash’s ass - after she
rescues him,” Steph commented from her position on the floor in front of him.
Leaning against his leg, she was munching on popcorn. There was a loud slurp as
she sucked on the straw of her drink.

“Naw, she loves him.” Nicky’s voice rumbled
under Zeb’s ear. “She won’t hurt him too bad. Now Niska, on the other hand, I’d
say his days are numbered. That’s one girl I wouldn’t want to piss off. Not
only is she sexy as hell, she can kick some serious ass.” Nicky chuckled. “In
fact she reminds me of you when you try to go all dominant on me.”

She giggled. “Flattery will get you
everywhere, Master.”

Zeb bit his lower lip to keep his groan
from escaping as she flirted with her Master. What would it be like to be on
the end of her teasing? His cock twitched at the thought of kneeling in front
of her as she stepped close enough to tease him with her body, but refused to
let him touch.

“I do believe our friend is finally awake.”
Nicky lightly brushed a kiss over the top of his head before helping him sit
up. Zeb’s cheeks flushed as he finally realized he’d not only hogged up over
half of the sectional, but he’d also managed to drape himself over Nicky as if
the man were his and not Steph’s, making the man’s sub have to sit on the
floor. Even if he were lucky enough to be included in their relationship
sometime in the future, Steph’s needs were higher up on the ladder than his.

“Sorry.” He rubbed his hand over his face.
“I warned you I wasn’t fit company.” He shifted, pulling away from Nicky to make
room for Steph to sit between them. “Here, why don’t you come up here, Steph?”
He patted the spot between him and Nicky. “I didn’t mean to hog the couch. You
should’ve woke me up or kicked me or something.”

A frown crossed her face as she placed a hand
on his knee. “You know, Nicky, by the look on his face, I do believe Zeb thinks
he intruded on something he shouldn’t have.”

“Really?” Nicky sounded curious, even as he
tugged Zeb back against him before tilting his chin up to gaze down at him.
“You wouldn’t be thinking that would you,
il
mio colibrì?”

“
Ah well, I fell asleep and then woke up to
find Steph on the floor, and me hogging you…I mean the couch.”

Nicky sighed. “Nonsense. You were sleeping
when we came back in, and both Steph and I joined you on the couch. She later
moved to the floor because she thought you looked uncomfortable sitting
upright. And she was right. You sprawled out on top of me as soon as she
moved.” He brushed his thumb over Zeb’s lower lip and dipped his head until Zeb
thought he was going to kiss him, but just before their mouths met, he drew
back with a muffled groan when Steph cleared her throat. “Personally I think it
wasn’t just because she was worried about you, but because she didn’t trust
herself to keep her hands off you, which right now I’m struggling with myself.”
He shifted Zeb off him and stood swiftly. “Take care of him, Steph.” Then he
strode from the room, leaving Zeb alone with Steph.

“Sure thing. Hurry back, Nicky. You don’t
want to miss the climax. Zoe storming the castle, or rather the spaceship, is
going to be kickass.”

Nicky flipped her off over his shoulder
before disappearing down the hall. Towards the bathroom, Zeb could only assume.

Steph giggled at the sight. “Hey, Zeb, you
ever wonder if he’ll ever realize giving us the finger is nothing more than an
invitation to jump his sexy bones?”

A dry chuckle built in him. “Probably not.
Most men take it as insult and usually just flip the bird back.” He spoke
without thought, as he watched the retreating man. When Nicky disappeared from
sight, Zeb suddenly realized he was alone with Steph. His skin crawled
uncomfortably as she wrapped her hand around his bad knee. He braced him for
the pain of punishment for hogging her master now that there were no witnesses.
But when she did nothing more than continue to munch on popcorn and watch TV,
while lightly kneading the tight muscles, he relaxed.

“I’m not going to attack you, Sexy.” She
tipped her head back against the couch, and stared up at him. “So I wish you’d relax.
I understand your hesitancy to be around me, but I swear I’m nothing like the
bitch who hurt you.”

He forced himself to stay calm. The last
thing he wanted to talk about was Allison. “I…I’m sure you’re not.” He only
prayed he was right and she didn’t go Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on him. Taking a
leap of faith, he placed his hand over hers as they resumed watching while Zoe
stormed Niska’s strong hold in search of Mal and Wash. A few moments later the
great room rang with the sounds of explosions as Zoe stormed in with the rest
of the crew from the Serenity.

* * * *

Forgoing
the bathroom, Nicholaus let himself out the back door quietly. He
’d nearly lost it earlier when Zeb had turned those pretty
little lapis-hued eyes towards him and he saw the desire to submit in them. If
it hadn’t been for Steph’s clearing her throat, he’d have kissed the man and
said to hell with waiting.
It hadn’t
helped either that Zeb was much like Steph while sleeping, curling himself
around him until barely a breath separated their bodies. Zeb had ended up with
his head pillowed on Nicky’s chest while the fingers on one hand had burrowed
under the hem of his t-shirt to settle against his abs, and the rest of his
body had pressed against Nicky’s entire left side. Steph’s comment about them
looking like two bugs in a rug as they cuddled on the recliner at one end of
the sectional couldn’t have been truer.