Page 13

CHAPTER 13

Kayley

I thought after we dropped our new purchases in our room that we might explore outside but, instead, we headed downstairs.

To the Dungeon.

I nervously hesitated outside the double doors where a man stationed there respectfully nodded to us but didn’t speak.

“What’s the plan here?” I asked Vic.

“Just to look around,” he assured me, resting a hand in the small of my back. “That’s all.”

The man opened the door for us and in the foyer handed us off to a cheerfully helpful woman who went over the rules, encouraged us to ask as many questions as we wanted, and briefly pointed out the various features before turning us loose to…

Explore.

There were several themed private rooms, only one of which seemed to currently be occupied. A changing room with lockers was probably more helpful for people who weren’t staying on-site, but there were also costumes available, which I wasn’t really in the mood to explore yet. Plus a bar. While it might have been five o’clock somewhere, here it was still morning and I was not in the mood for alcohol.

Down in the main play area, a man was tying up a woman with blue ropes. She wore a G-string and nothing else.

Vic steered me toward the seating area where we had a clear view of the play going on six steps below us.

He leaned in. “This is something I’d like to learn more about,” he softly said.

I remembered there was a 101 rope class listed on the schedule. “I might be willing to be tied up like that, as long as it’s safe,” I said.

The ropework looked beautifully intricate. The couple didn’t speak loudly enough for us to hear them over the unobtrusive music, but from their body language, it was quite obvious they were involved with each other to some extent.

I’d seen pictures and watched videos of shibari and other forms of rope bondage, but I was definitely not an expert. Some of what I’d viewed could absolutely be called art.

I wasn’t a fan of the ties that veered into sadistic territory, though.

But, again, to each their own.

About twenty minutes in, I was aware of another couple, a man and a woman, who entered the space. He wore jeans and a black leather vest over a long-sleeved black shirt with the sleeves neatly rolled up to his elbows. She wore a delicate black leather collar with a leash attached to it and a thigh-length black dress over black leggings and plain black ballet flats.

I watched Vic turn his head slightly, study them, then give them a barely perceptible nod no one else likely would have recognized.

The man nodded back and then he and the woman settled onto a sofa on the far side of the viewing area and focused on the bondage scene.

I leaned in and whispered in Vic’s ear. “That’s them, right?”

“ Shh ,” he said. “Just watch.”

Which in and of itself gave me the answer: they were our secret shadows.

I couldn’t fault my brother for sending them but it simultaneously irritated me. I’d wanted this vacation to be just Vic and me without having to worry who might see us.

Or what they might see us doing.

Phones weren’t allowed in the Dungeon, but I didn’t like the thought of people from our “world” who knew our true identities witnessing intimate moments between us.

In the play area, the man hoisted the woman into the air via ropes run through a ring hung from the beefy metal A-frame they were playing under. I raptly watched and, a few minutes later, realized I wanted to be her, only with Vic’s hands wrapping my body with rope.

That’s when an unexpected wave of fear slammed into me when my gaze fell on the other couple again.

“Let’s get back to the tour,” I muttered, already rising.

Vic grabbed my wrist once more, firmly, tugging me back down. “What’s wrong?” he whispered.

I couldn’t meet his gaze, at first. “Can we please move on?”

He studied me for a moment before nodding and standing with me, leading me to the space’s other entrance.

We stepped outside and found ourselves by the hallway leading to the indoor pool, gym, and indoor playground and arcade areas.

He led the way down the hall, stopping just outside the pool door before turning to me. “What happened?” he whispered. “Do we need to go back to our room and talk?”

I knew he wouldn’t move until I gave him an answer one way or the other.

“Just a bout of anxiety, okay?” That wasn’t exactly a lie. “We can talk about it later. Let’s keep going.”

Still, his gaze studied every inch of my face for a long time before he nodded. “Okay. We will talk about it later, though.”

I hoped he didn’t hear my relieved sigh. “Yes, we can. Later . I just want to get the tour over with before we meet Derek.”

Thankfully, he believed me and we finally continued.

That anxiety was mine to unpack, not his.

I would give him access to those thoughts on my terms, not his.

And that was another thing he’d have to learn to accept from me if we were to make this all work, that he couldn’t fix everything for me, and anything like that had to happen on my timeline, not his.

The Rawhide Ranch complex was massive. Once we’d finished our inside, and then outside tour, except for a trip over to the mine, it was still an hour before lunch. Vic went to the front desk and asked the woman working there if we could adjust our appointment to get it over with, and fortunately, Derek was free.

“Any questions so far?” Derek asked once we were seated in front of his desk.

Both men looked at me.

“It’s a lot to take in,” I admitted. “I definitely want to swim and hike and ride. I haven’t been riding in years.”

“But do you have any questions ?” Derek repeated.

“I’m sure I will,” I said. “Frankly, I’m still stuffed from breakfast and might need a nap here shortly.”

He smiled. “We never let anyone leave hungry.”

“Ah, I see you’ve met my mother,” I teased.

Derek laughed while Vic slightly cocked his head at me.

“That was a joke,” I added, directed at Vic.

“We like to take care of people,” Derek continued. “As I told you last night, the safety, comfort, and privacy of the people here are my priority. So let’s get into this.”

We spent the better part of an hour mostly going over things I’m sure meant more to other visitors to the Ranch, especially first-time visitors, but weren’t truly applicable to us.

Still, I kept my mouth shut and listened and resisted the urge to speed this along.

Since we would not be interacting in intimate ways with anyone else during our stay, a lot of the ground rules and guided questions Derek covered were moot, although I found some of it educational and enlightening.

A few times I caught Vic watching me, as if trying to decipher my thoughts, and I felt a little self-conscious in ways I didn’t understand.

It was something else I would unpack later when I could do so without distractions.

And without observers.

When we reached the end of our chat, Derek leaned back in his chair and studied me for a long moment.

“I’m feeling better about this… situation”—he circled a finger at me—“than I did last night. I spoke with your brother again, and with the head of my security, who’s also been talking with him. I’m hoping this works out for all of us. I’ve been assured, again, that unless some major stuff goes down, there should be minimal to no impact on our operations.”

“That’s my hope, too,” I said.

The last thing I wanted was to interrupt the daily operations of this place. Especially now that I knew more about it, about how they cared for people in need. How they were a refuge and sanctuary and even provided educations for some, and they were far more than a kinky playground for rich people.

Although considering my income bracket, I supposed I also ticked that box even though I didn’t live extravagantly and felt more like an “average” person for the most part.

Eh, before I became the First Sister-In-Law, that was.

When we emerged from Derek’s office, before Vic could say anything I said, “Let’s go back to the room for a little bit. I need to… decompress.”

I hadn’t seen the other couple since we’d left them in the Dungeon, but I felt certain one or both of them were most likely hanging around and watching us, even now.

Dammit .

Vic gently squeezed my hand. “Sure, baby. Let’s do that.”

I struggled not to look around for our secret shadows, to focus straight ahead of me during our walk to the room. Once we were finally safely behind our locked door I kicked off my shoes and headed toward the bedroom to change into something comfy.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Not yet,” I said. “I’m surprised I’m still vertical after that breakfast.” I stripped and pulled on leggings and an oversized T-shirt before flopping face first onto our bed.

That’s when I finally processed housekeeping had tidied up while we were out.

Duh . They would have known we were talking to Derek.

Vic followed me into the bedroom and I heard the pop and hiss of a soda can. I looked and spotted he was sipping ginger ale.

He’d already removed his shoes and he settled on the edge of the bed. “What would you like to do next?”

I rolled over so I could rest my head against his thigh. “Decompress for a few minutes, at least,” I said. “I’m too full for sex,” I added.

“ Aww ,” he playfully said, but I knew he was teasing.

“How about we take a walk and head down to that smaller lake?” I suggested. “I’ll be your Little Red Riding Hood, and you can be my big, bad wolf.”

That pulled a smile from him. “Maybe you’ll be Little Red Ride-Your-Ass,” he teased.

I groaned. “That has to be a very old and bad pun.”

“Maybe among kinksters who aren’t me,” he said, turning so he could sit up against the headboard and stretch his legs out.

I shifted position to snuggle tightly against his side. “Was that a huge ball pit I saw down in the arcade?”

“I believe it was. Why?”

“I don’t know. Can someone who’s not a Little go jump into it?”

He laughed. “I’m sure they can. I’m willing to bet it’s cleaner than 99.9% of any public ball pit, too.”

“Do you think they have trouble with the pet-play people running off with balls in their mouths?”

He snorted, which turned into choking. I sat up as he turned to set the can on the table as he still choke-snorted.

“Dammit,” he said when he finally recovered. “It should be illegal to make me do a spit-take with soda.”

I smiled. “I didn’t think it was that funny.”

“Well, when I thought about two different kinds of balls it was.”

Now it was my turn to laugh.

This was something else—I never laughed so hard as I did when with Vic. We managed to crack each other up on the regular. When alone, I frequently caught myself smiling over something I knew would have sent him howling.

His gaze caught and held mine for a long moment. “I love you, Kayley,” he said, all humor vanished from his tone. “I really want this to work between us.”

I took a breath to allow me a moment to collect my thoughts. “No fair trying to make me brain in the middle of a pancake coma,” I said.

He reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. He loved to do that, and he’s the first partner I’d ever had who did it and it didn’t annoy me.

From him, it always felt tender and loving, not patronizing.

“It won’t always be like this,” he said. “We’ll have a ‘normal’ life.”

I folded my legs to sit criss-cross. “You keep using that word but I don’t think you know what it means.”

At least that earned me a smile. Something else we had in common was that we understood each other’s pop-culture references, like movie and TV show lines randomly peppered in conversation.

“We can make ‘normal’ mean whatever we want it to mean,” he said.

“Yeeeaaah, no. I call bullshit. Between you and Leo, ‘normal’ is the last word I’d ever use to describe my future. The two of you are twins like that. I get it—you both love me and want to protect me. But as long as my brother is still breathing and holds sway with the Secret Service, I will never know ‘normal’ again, and that doesn’t even take your precautions into consideration.”

An unexpected wave of resentment washed through me.

Huh . I thought I’d dealt with that.

Mostly.

Kinda.

Sort of.

Vic cocked his head as he watched me. “Talk to me, baby.”

I sighed and slowly shook my head. “SSDD. I don’t begrudge his happiness, or Jordan’s. Or even Elliot’s. I just wish it hadn’t come with this particular price tag.”

He took my hands in his. “Once he’s out of office?—”

“Yeah, yeah. ‘Once Elliot’s out of office. Once everything calms down. After the next election’.” I studied his hands, the calluses on his right index finger I knew were from the long hours he spent when off-duty training at the shooting range.

“We should talk about this,” he said.

“Can we add it to the list?” I pulled away and climbed out of bed. “On second thought, let’s take that walk now, while it’s nice out. Maybe it’ll help me digest breakfast faster.”

Although I wasn’t fooling either one of us, I needed the distraction to help me digest the choking portion of reality I hadn’t truly started eating yet.