Safeword: Matte (6 page)

“Would your life story be involved in there somewhere, too?”

He smiled. “If you want to hear it, yes. But I asked first.”

She thought for a moment and said, “You were big in the Atlanta scene?”

He nodded and she pulled her cellphone out of her pocket, scrolling through her contacts until she came to Kirsten, hoping she wouldn't catch her at a bad time.

“Hi Sam.”

“Hiya Kirsten. Look, I know this is kind of an odd question, but do you know someone named Ethan Levi who lived in Atlanta?”

Ethan spoke before Kirsten had a chance. “You know Kirsten?”

Kirsten spoke through the phone. “Ooooh, I'd know his sexy voice anywhere. Yep, I know him. He's a good guy. A great guy, actually. You’ll probably want to wait to hear the details later, but I'll vouch for him. He learned a lot from Master James, the two of them are pretty good friends. Ethan's known for being a pretty intense sadist, and he doesn't mess around with the rules once he dictates them. He'll respect safewords though, and I think that's what you're really asking.”

“Yeah, pretty much. Were you and he an item?”

“Oh, no. But he dated someone I know in Atlanta. He was a good guy to her even after the breakup, and she was a bit of a bitch to him. Cheated on him and used him pretty bad.”

She realized Ethan could hear Kirsten through the phone and she didn't want to make him uncomfortable so she said, “I've been invited back to his place after the play party and I think I'm going to go.”

“Cool, call me tomorrow afternoon and we can gab. He's a great guy. Assuming, you know, you like sadists.”

Sam handled the end of call niceties and hung up, watching Ethan's face as she did so. “Kirsten says you're safe. I'm not opposed to the idea of sex tonight, but I'm not committing to it, either. I want to have my car there, so we'll need to stop and get it so I can follow you.”

He grinned. “You need an escape clause.”

“Yes,” she laughed, “I guess I do.”

Nodding, he said, “I'm good with that.”

They waited for Tyler and Viv to finish their scene and get past the aftercare to tell them she was leaving with Ethan. Tyler wasn't happy until he found out Kirsten had vouched for Ethan, and then kissed her on the cheek and told her to have fun.

Chapter Four

As promised, Ethan dropped Sam off at her place. She invited him in while she packed a toothbrush and a change of clothes, throwing in an oversized shirt and loose shorts to sleep in. She'd left him in the living room when she went up for her things, and he was in her kitchen when she went back downstairs.

“You have a beautiful home, Sam – what made you choose this one?”

“Lots of things – the view, the yard, the kitchen, the master bathroom, the location. It's more house than I need most of the time, but it's a great house for entertaining.”

“Do you want to fill it with a family someday?”

She shrugged. “I don't know. I mean, part of me thinks I should think about that stuff, about kids and a husband, but part of me knows my life is too hectic as it is. I work long hours, and when I'm not working I'm often at the dojo, or running, or...” She ran her hand through her hair. “I don't know, Ethan. I’d like to have someone to share my life with, but I've been pretty darn picky, and I don't see that changing. What about you, do you want kids and a wife and great big mortgage someday?”

“Picky is good. I'm kind of picky myself. I don't know for sure about kids – some days I think it's a good idea, some days I don't. I figure once I find my soul mate it’ll be a decision the two of us make together. I don't think I'm going to know for sure until I find her. If you're ready you can follow me. Give me your cellphone number and I'll call you so you'll have mine in your phone in case we lose each other en route.”

As they were on the way out the door it occurred to her to ask, “Where do you live, anyway?”

“Oh, I'm renting a place on the side of Signal Mountain. It's not much but it's remote, secluded, surrounded by woods, and has an awesome view. My game plan when I came here was to get a new branch up and running, with the idea that once it was self-sufficient I might move on to Nashville or Knoxville. But if I have a reason to stay in town then I’d certainly stay.”

“Don't you think we're getting ahead of ourselves? Yes, there’s been an attraction since the beginning. One we’ve both obviously felt, even though I was stubbornly denying it because of the whole kink thing. And now we know we're both kinky, and seem to have complimentary kinks, but this doesn't mean we’re going to live happily ever after Ethan. Give it time.”

He smiled, a cocky smile that said he knew differently but was going to let her think what she wanted until she saw things his way. “Okay, drive carefully, I'll see you there.”

* * * *

Ethan grilled steaks and vegetables while they talked, and pulled out a fantastic bottle of red wine to go with them. He made a raspberry dish with drizzles of chocolate over it for desert, and hand fed it to her, letting her lick his fingers clean between bites. She helped him clean the kitchen, with the conversation going all over the place – their most embarrassing moment in high school, the details of their first kiss, how they lost their virginity, how strict their parents were, what made them start taking martial arts, how they discovered the world of kink. When dinner was over, they moved out onto the screened in porch, which had an incredible view of the city below.

As Ethan leaned down to pour her some more wine she noticed the fuzz on his head again, and decided to ask about it this time. “You were bald when I first saw you, now you’ve got some fuzz coming in. Did you shave your head for the fight?”

He nodded but didn’t elaborate so she kept talking. “Why? Men don’t normally do the hair pulling thing in fights.”

“From my conversations with Tom since the fight, it sounds like you figured out a big part of my strategy is mental – psyching out my opponent.” He grinned and ran his hand over his head, “Apparently I look more intimidating without hair. I’ve seen pictures of you after your title fight and your hair was shorter than it is now. I think we all tend to pair things back when we’re training for a big fight. Mean and lean and all that.”

“Where did you see pictures?”

“Tom has one of you on the wall of his office, taken during the fight, but I also found some old news and magazine articles online that featured you as the winner.”

“You looked me up online? Why?”

He smiled, not at all embarrassed. “I’ve been intrigued by you from day one. The more I’ve learned about you, the more fascinated I’ve become.”

Uncomfortable with where the conversation was going, she steered it off into another direction. “Is that a tan, or are you naturally dark? It looked pretty even when you took your shirt off.” She grinned. “Not that I was noticing, or anything.”

“Of course not,” he drawled, a twinkle in his eye as he let a bit of his Georgia accent through. He took a sip of his wine and continued. “My great-grandfather was from China. One of my grandmothers is from Jamaica and the other grandmother is from Puerto Rico. Everyone else in the family tree seems to be German or Irish, with a few Italians thrown in for good measure. It’s like I’m one big melting pot all by myself.”

“I’ve never seen a melting pot as beautiful as you before,” she said, blushing as she realized how she sounded. She needed to recover from being embarrassed, so she quickly followed up with, “Do you speak any languages besides English?”

He shook his head. “I took the required two years of Spanish in college, but I can’t really speak it. What about you?”

“I’ve done a lot of travelling around the world, and apparently I pick up languages easier than most. I’m not really fluent in any of them, but I can order food and shop and ask for directions in about a half a dozen languages.”

They talked until three in the morning, and when she fell asleep mid-conversation, Ethan picked her up and took her to bed, rousing her enough to get her pants off, but leaving everything else in place. Sam woke up around six in the morning, used the bathroom and changed into her oversized shirt and shorts before getting back into bed and quickly falling asleep again. Ethan had made arrangements the night before so he wouldn't have to go into work, and Sam's plans for the day had involved grocery shopping and working out – both of which seemed pretty optional under the circumstances.

The next time Sam awakened the clock read 8:47 and she smelled bacon. She stumbled to the bathroom to empty her bladder again and brush her teeth, decided to run a brush through her hair while she was at it, then headed to the kitchen. The cabin was a great room with kitchen, dining area, and living room combined; one bedroom; one large well-appointed bathroom; and the huge porch with a hot tub. It truly seemed to be a vacation rental cabin, and she wondered what it was costing him to rent it long term. She made the bed and went into the kitchen.

“You're up. Welcome to Saturday morning, sleeping beauty. I guess we'll forgo breakfast in bed since you aren't in bed anymore.” He pointed to a cabinet. “Dishes are in there if you want to go ahead and set the table. We'll be ready to eat in about five minutes – how did you sleep?”

“Like a log.”

He turned and looked at her a second and then went back to turning the bacon. “You got up at some point to change clothes. I'm usually a light sleeper; my subconscious must really trust you to have not awakened me when you got up.”

Sam started to comment, but changed her mind. Most people were distrustful of attorneys on principle, and it was nice to have someone say she was trustworthy right off the bat, but bringing it up made it sound as if maybe he shouldn’t be trusting her. A change of subject, then. “What made you decide to start a moving company?”

“I worked at one starting in high school; paid my way through college doing it on the weekends and summers. I got a business degree and figured I should start a business I already knew about. I had years of watching what other companies did right and observing what they were doing wrong. Seemed like a no-brainer. What made you decide to be a divorce lawyer?”

“Originally I was going to be a civil rights attorney, be a champion for the constitution, but somewhere along the way I guess I took a right turn. I'm happy with the way it turned out. I love my job most days, and am only annoyed with it on the days I don't love it. I'm good enough I can turn clients down if I don't want to represent them, and I'm not shy about it if I think they’re being unreasonable. I'm known for being an advocate for joint custody when both parents are mature enough to handle it, and for sole custody when one parent can't be an adult – with custody going to the parent who
is
being the grown up. I'm not picky about whether it’s the mom or the dad, so I have a lot of men come to me when they’re trying for joint custody of their kids. Sometimes I get to show people how it can work, two people who thought there had to be a winner and a loser, and I get to show them another possibility.”

He was quiet, appearing to be mulling her words over as he pulled the bacon from the pan and put it onto a plate lined with paper towels. They worked together in companionable silence, and Sam was just about finished setting the table when Ethan spoke again. “I have a two person Sea-Doo; wanna take it out for a while this morning? I may even let you drive it some.”

“You mean like a jet-bike thing? Sure, sounds fun, but I didn't bring a bathing suit.”

He shrugged. “We can stop at the bottom of the mountain and buy you one, or we can run by your house and grab one. Be quicker to buy one, but I'm okay either way.”

“Sure I can buy one. There’s a Wal-Mart at the bottom of the mountain, right? I can get some sunscreen while I'm at it, too. Do you have a lot of expensive toys?”

“Says the woman with the Mercedes SLK?”

She grinned. “Point taken. I needed something that screamed
successful attorney, worth what I charge.
And I wanted something fun to drive. Two birds, one stone.”

* * * *

She bought a boring one piece bathing suit, wondering if he was challenging her, testing her to see if she would be too good for a Wal-Mart bathing suit. She chose a one-piece suit because two-piece suits just aren't practical when you're going that fast. She'd learned while waterskiing years ago how high impact crashes could rip a bathing suit top right off, never to be seen again.

They rode for hours – him driving a while, then her driving a while, swapping out a dozen or so times, kissing when they stopped. The person in back holding onto the driver, but the touch being an undercurrent, a part of the fun. When they finally headed back to Ethan's place, Sam was exhausted and hoped he was okay with the idea of a nap. She was wondering whether to suggest a nap or say it was time for her to go home when he spoke.

“How about we stop at the bottom of the mountain and get Chinese takeout and then go to my place and shower before eating?”

“Yeah, I don't want to eat with this dried river water on me. If you throw a nap in after we eat, it sounds perfect.”

* * * *

Sam was awakened by kisses on the side of her neck, and as she came out of her sleep-fog she realized she was spooned up against the front of Ethan. His chest to her back, his cock hard against her left ass cheek.