Oak, Sophie - Away From Me (Siren Publishing Classic) (4 page)

“Not enough to marry her,” Heather said under her breath.

Greg turned to his wife. “You have a lot of explaining to do, little one. Don’t look at me that way. This isn’t some small rebellion. This is you coming between me and my oldest friend. This is very serious.”

“I never lied to you, Master,” Heather said stubbornly. Cal knew she was flustered. She’d used his title at a decidedly vanilla party.

“Cal, if you would join me in the office. I think we should conclude this in private. Heather, see to our guests.” His voice went low. “I will see to you later, slave. It will not go well for you, love.”

Greg stalked through the crowd. Cal followed, anxious to hear Greg’s explanation. Gaby’s pale face haunted him. He’d used her ruthlessly, wanting to pay her back for every restless night he’d had since she left him. He could hear his cold words, calculated to hurt her. He was so ashamed of himself. He sank into the soft leather of the sofa as Greg closed the door behind him. Cal tried to steady his shaking hands as Greg quickly poured him a couple of fingers of Scotch. The single malt burned a path to his gut.

Greg’s head shook as he took his own drink. “I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am, man. All this time, I thought you knew.”

“Will you just tell me what the fuck I’m supposed to know? Give it to me straight.” He took another long swallow. He had the feeling he would need it.

Greg sat down and looked Cal in the eye. There was no anger left, only a weary sadness. “Eleven months ago, Gaby was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer.”

Cal’s hand tightened around the glass so he wouldn’t drop it. He knew her family history. Gaby’s mother had died of breast cancer when Gaby was just sixteen. She must have been terrified when she’d gotten the news. He hated the thought that she had been alone. He should have been by her side. He let his head fall forward as Greg continued to talk.

“It had spread to her lymph nodes. Given her family history with it, the doctors recommended she have a bilateral mastectomy. She refused at first. It was only in one breast.”

Cal’s head came up. He felt a moment’s pure panic. “Tell me she did what the doctors told her to do. Tell me they took both of those things off her body.”

Greg nodded, leaning forward. “Heather talked her into it. It was a really bad time. Gaby was worried no one would want her after the surgery. She was a little lost. You had just broken up with her.”

“Is that what she told you? I didn’t break up with her, Greg. She walked out on me. I got completely blindsided. She gave me an ultimatum. I had to tell her I loved her and would marry her, or she would leave. You know how I deal with ultimatums. Did she tell you I kicked her out?”

Greg rolled his eyes, obviously angry with himself. “No. She never said that. Heather never said it either. She simply didn’t correct my mistaken impression. I just couldn’t imagine that she would leave you. Gaby loved you so much. I could see it in her eyes when she looked at you.”

Guilt rose up like bile in his throat. “None of this explains why you thought I would hurt her like that.”

“Don’t blame Gaby. She had other things on her mind, and I never asked her about the situation with you. I was just angry. I’ve always felt a sort of protectiveness toward Gaby. She’s been friends with Heather for a long time. I suppose I viewed her as a little sister. I also felt guilty because Heather and I introduced the two of you. I was a little upset to hear you had paid her off.”

“She didn’t have a job at my insistence,” he explained. “Our contract had a clause I wrote in for her protection. She got fifty thousand if we broke up after two years. I didn’t miss the money. I signed over her car, too.” He thought for a moment. “I didn’t see it here. She was driving some little compact.”

“She sold the BMW to pay for her medical bills. She didn’t have insurance, and that money you gave her didn’t go far. She still owes a hundred thousand. She was going to forgo the reconstructive surgery because she couldn’t afford a plastic surgeon. Again, Heather convinced her to let us cover it. She still tries to pay me back.”

Cal was still pissed at Heather, but it also seemed like he owed her. “How much was it? I’ll write you a check.”

“Don’t worry about it. I took care of it. She won’t let me pay the rest of her bills, but she did let me give her a job. She’s managing the island.” He said the last bit with the slightest wince.

Cal went still again. “My Gabrielle is managing your sex resort?”

Greg flashed a short grin. “She’s really good at it. You would be surprised how hard it is to keep a good manager out there. Don’t get pissed at me. She needed it. It took her away from everything.”

“Yes, everything, like hospitals and medical personnel to monitor her condition,” Cal complained. “Did you think about that for a minute?”

Greg sat back, watching him. “Her second in command is a registered nurse. I hired him myself. She isn’t a fragile flower, Cal. She’s strong and smart. She has had all her checkups. That’s what she’s in town for. Heather took her today, and the doctors are very happy with her progress. Look, Cal, I am really sorry about this. I acted like an ass. I should have had it out with you, but I let Heather and Gaby convince me to let it be.”

“I didn’t help by pulling back. I haven’t called you or talked about anything but business. If I had just fucking called you, maybe I could have been there for her.” It was his own stubborn fault. After Gaby had left, he’d closed down. Now that he looked back, it was like she had walked out of his life, taking with her everything that made it worth living.

“You can stop worrying about her, Cal. Actually, I’m glad to find out you still care about her. Maybe you can talk to her. I’d like to introduce her to some Doms I know. It’s been long enough. She won’t be happy in a vanilla relationship, but she’s very shy. She’s worried about her body. I tried introducing her to Harrison tonight. It would go better if you could convince her it’s all right for her to join us at the club. She can mix and mingle.”

The very thought made his blood pressure rise. “Why the fuck would I want my sub mingling with a bunch of horny Doms?”

A knowing smile played on Greg’s mouth. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying stop trying to set up my sub with another Dom,” Cal ground the words out. He knew he sounded crazy, but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling. All he knew was that things weren’t finished between him and Gaby.

Chapter Two

Gaby let the sun warm her face, and a strange sort of contentment suffused her. It wasn’t happiness exactly. It was calm. She was calm here. It had happened the minute she got off the plane. A sense of peace passed over her like a warm wave.

Some people called it island time. The world just seemed to slow down on a tropical island, and the little things didn’t seem so insurmountable. With the sun warm on her face and the sound of the ocean in her ears, she seemed far from that place where her heart was broken. This was a different world, and she had another chance here. She wiggled her toes in the thick Caribbean sand and smiled at the couple walking past.

“Gaby, isn’t it a lovely day?” A gorgeous redhead in a teeny tiny white bikini called out a greeting. The woman held hands with a man she had not come to the resort with. Gaby was pretty sure her husband was fucking a blonde in the hot tub. She had briefly watched the couple as she instructed the staff to clean the deck. The couple hadn’t even looked up from what they were doing. Oh, the joys of swingers weekend.

“It certainly is.” Gaby nodded and gave the couple a friendly wave. The temporary couple walked off looking for privacy. It surprised her, since most of the couples didn’t bother with anything as bourgeois as privacy. Sometimes, Gaby wondered where Greg had found his first manager. Gabrielle was the second to manage this little piece of paradise, but she had no illusions that running a fetish resort required a certain sense of humor many people didn’t have.

“Seriously? I just saw that guy with two brunettes and a totally hot hockey player,” a familiar voice said. Gaby gave the newcomer her most brilliant smile. He shook his head as he watched the couple walk down the beach.

“We’re supposed to pretend we don’t recognize the famous people,” Gaby reminded her dear friend, Chris. He leaned into her. Chris didn’t believe in personal space when it came to his friends. Gaby slipped her arms through his. She loved how tactile he was. She could always count on a hug from him. “Especially when they swing both ways.”

A decadent grin crossed Chris’s face. He was a metro hottie with stylish dark hair and green eyes. He used far more product on his hair than she used on hers. When it came to style, she could learn a lot from him. “Honey, he was swinging more than two ways. I’d love to see what that man could do with a hockey stick and a tube of lube.”

Gaby laughed and pushed affectionately at him. “Pervert.”

“I wouldn’t work here if I wasn’t, G.” His green eyes had that sparkle in them that told Gaby someone hot was on the horizon. “Speaking of perverts…the man in the Angelina Suite is so hot, I think I could die.”

A smile slid across her face. She checked her watch. It was an hour before she had to check in on the luncheon arrangements. Her staff was a well-oiled machine. It made her life fairly easy and gave her time to listen to Chris’s amazingly detailed physical descriptions. She sank down into the sand and patted the ground next to her. “Hit me.”

Chris sighed as he joined her. “Okay, he’s roughly six-two.”

“Linebacker or swimmer?” Hot guys came in two categories in Chris’s world.

“Oh, swimmer. He’s lean, but so strong. His hair is dark as midnight. His face isn’t perfect. He’s hit thirty-five the hard way, but life and experience are just written all over him.”

Gaby snorted. “You should really be writing romance novels.”

He waved her off. “His eyes are blue. They’re a deep blue, and when he smiles, which he rarely does, there are these great creases around them. They give him character. He has sensual lips. No man should have those lips. I can feel them wrapped around my cock right now.”

“Don’t tell me he’s gay,” Gaby protested playfully. Everyone was gay in Chris’s fantasies. Even the most macho of men secretly harbored a love for guys in Chris’s world. “You just ruined all my daydreams.”

Chris looked serious for a moment, his brows coming together as he thought. “He’s not gay. I’m also not sure why he’s here this weekend. You know I’ve been around the lifestyle for a very, very long time.”

Chris’s parents were a D/s pair. They’d been in a loving relationship for thirty years. Chris often claimed his parents’ comfort with themselves had led to his own pain-free acceptance of his sexuality.

“This guy isn’t a swinger, and he’s straight as an arrow, unfortunately,” Chris said with a rueful sigh. “He’s a Dom. Trust me, I know one when I see one.”

“Did Heather send him?” Gaby groaned. “She’s been on my ass to find another Dom. I can’t seem to get her and Greg to understand that I don’t want another one.”

Chris’s eyebrow shot straight up. “You want a vanilla boy?”

She shrugged. “Sure, why not? Maybe I want a plain, old, boring love affair where I don’t have to kneel at his feet and call him Sir. Maybe I don’t want to get tied up or have my ass spanked the second I step out of line. Maybe I don’t want to get tortured by someone who makes me come for hours and then gently bathes me.”

Chris coughed. It sounded suspiciously like “bullshit.”

“I’m serious. I want a regular relationship this time,” she said firmly. The truth was she wasn’t sure what she wanted. She just knew it was far too soon to get seriously involved with another Dom. “But a hot affair for a weekend is a completely different story.”

“Now, you’re talking. I think sex would make you feel good. I think righteously nasty sex will make you feel even better.” His handsome face was deceptively innocent. He touched his hand to his heart. “You should listen to me. I’m your murse.”

Gaby rolled her eyes but leaned into him all the same. He called himself a murse, a meshing of male and nurse.