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Chapter Three

Kingston

T he drive to Cedar Valley was uneventful. Ethan followed the directions from my very sexy Aussie GPS voice along the Number 7 highway all the way to Mission City. As expected, instead of being directed to the main strip, the voice instructed us to go up into the hills north of the town.

We turned onto a driveway that went several hundred feet before emerging into a clearing with an imposing mansion.

Ethan gasped. “Oh wow.”

“No one famous this time.” I eyed him. “Were the three packs of peanuts enough? This should also be a fairly quick job.” I didn’t want him begging for food. He was…unpredictable. And we probably should’ve stopped for something to eat, but I’d wanted to get here as quickly as possible. Nothing urgent, but my reputation of being prompt meant if I could go, then I went.

He batted his eyelashes. “I can work with deprivation.”

“People far more deprived than you are out there.”

“Right.” He bit his lip, apparently taking to heart my chastisement.

I shouldn’t have, though. Maybe, at one point in his life, he’d been deprived. Hell, maybe he was now. I didn’t know enough about him to be making grand assumptions like he had enough to eat.

Before I could say anything, he hopped out of the van, grabbed my crutches, and brought them to me.

I grunted in appreciation.

“Hello.” A young woman with her dark hair pulled into a ponytail came out to greet us, waving. A dog who appeared to be a husky followed at her heels.

Ethan knelt and held out his hand. “Oh sorry, is this okay? I just love dogs.”

She laughed. “It’s fine. Whalley, say hi .”

The dog approached him with what I’d say was caution. He sniffed Ethan’s hand, then backed away, his eyes wide.

Oh shit, right. That didn’t look good.

Then he backed up and lunged at my smaller companion.

Ethan caught him, but with an obvious effort.

The dog was big . I didn’t know much about dogs, but I guess seventy or eighty pounds.

“Oh, Whalley.” The young woman moaned.

“It’s fine.” Ethan managed to get the words out between all the licks the pooch was delivering. Seemed he wanted to lick every inch of bare skin he could reach. “Uh, does he chase squirrels?”

She cocked her head. “Yes. But he wants to play with them. It’s the weirdest fetish.”

Interesting choice of word.

“You’re Tarah Merrick?” I glared at Ethan. Enough blathering on about squirrels.

He gripped Whalley tighter to him. Almost like he was worried I might do something like insist he let the damn dog go.

“Yes, that’s me. Sebastian’s taking an emergency phone call. Uh, Dante recommended you.”

“He did.” I strove to remain neutral. Dante ran the most exclusive BDSM club in all of Vancouver. He’d needed my services a few times over the years—usually involving handcuffs, manacles, and door locks. Amazing the creative things BDSM folks could get into.

“Right. So you’re aware…”

“Tarah, there pretty much isn’t anything I haven’t seen in my more than twenty years of doing this.”

“How old are you?”

“I was going out with my daddy by the time I could walk. Learned from the best.” I tipped my head. “Including discretion.”

She laughed, with her bright-blue eyes sparkling. “Well, that’s a relief. We…hesitated.”

“Never with me. Whatever I see here will follow me to the grave.”

“Unless it involves the safety of children. I know.” She nodded. “I’m a teacher. I get it.”

“Oh, what age of kids do you work with?” Ethan grinned. “I love kids. I mean, most of the time, I feel like one, which is probably why they like me. Kids and dogs. Everyone in my neighborhood knows me, so I can hang out at the park, and people don’t think it’s weird, and all the kids and dogs know me. So many friends. But it’s hard that the kids grow up and then stop coming to the park, and I’ll see them later riding their bikes or even driving cars and I feel sort of sad.”

I stared down at him.

He still clung to the damn dog.

“You’re twenty-four. How does that math work?”

He squinted as if trying to discern my meaning.

“Why don’t you come inside. Is this young man your apprentice?” Tarah snapped her fingers, and Whalley disentangled himself from Ethan and came to his owner’s side.

I cleared my throat. “Uh, not my apprentice.” More like a pain in my ass. “He can be discreet as well. Unfortunately, I need him to carry my bag.”

Ethan huffed.

Lucky for him, Tarah didn’t appear to hear. We were going to have words.

I waited until he returned with my bag, and then we made our way into the house. The grandeur from the outside very much carried on into the inside. The soaring two-story foyer had massive windows with a stunning view of the trees between the house and the road, affording a great amount of privacy.

Again, Ethan toed off his shoes and then helped me remove mine.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Tarah winced. “And the, uh, door is downstairs. Oh, I wish I could somehow bring it up to you.”

Which was an adorable and completely impossible idea. “It’s fine. I’ll manage.”

“I’ll go right before him so if he trips, he lands on me.” Ethan grinned.

I groaned. “You’ll do no such thing. There will be no tripping. Stairs aren’t a big deal.”

He arched an eyebrow, undoubtedly holding back a snarky comment about how unsteady I still was on the fucking crutches. Well, I’d made it nearly forty years without ever having needed the damn things. Not my fault. And I was getting better.

Slowly.

Tarah pointed to a door. “It’s down here.”

“Sweetheart?” An attractive, tall man stepped out from a hallway. He spotted Ethan and me a fraction of a moment later. He frowned. “Are you okay?” Clearly the question was directed at me.

“My apprentice will help. Although if you could put a chair before the door so I can sit while I work, I’d appreciate it.”

“Absolutely.” He opened the door Tarah’d pointed to and disappeared.

Ethan gestured for her to go first.

She disappeared.

He eyed me.

I scowled.

“Well, I’m going to stand at the bottom of the stairs. Just don’t trip.” With that little quip, he headed down.

I drew in a deep breath, said a prayer, and approached the stairs with trepidation.

In the end, I was able to get down without falling. Came close twice, but managed to steady myself.

Ethan’s blue eyes glinted amusement in the low light of the hallway.

Tarah pointed to a door on the left. “That’s the entertainment room. Big-screen television, reclining chairs, pool table, area for the kids to play…” She pointed to the door on the right. “And that’s the playroom.”

Ethan frowned. “Your kids have two playrooms? Oh God, that’s just so much fun.”

Sebastian, who stood behind Tarah—with a hand at the small of her back—coughed. He caught my gaze.

“Apprentice.” I tried to keep my voice level. “I, uh, didn’t…” What’s the right answer to this? That I don’t trust him? Except I’m starting to… At the very least, he hadn’t told Tarah about meeting Ed from Grindstone—even though I’d half expected him to.

Tarah covered her mouth, obviously smothering a laugh.

Fatigue and aching pits had me easing onto the stool. I appreciated Sebastian had selected something that put me at eye level with the broken deadbolt.

Ethan was there to position my tool kit and to relieve me of the crutches.

“Thank you.” A bit harder to say than it should’ve been, but the little guy was getting on my nerves for reasons I couldn’t articulate.

“Would you like something to drink?” Sebastian eyed the lock. “Or would you like to be left in peace?”

“Oh, he doesn’t mind if we talk. Because, like, I have to tell you how pretty your house is. I mean, you don’t even have olive-green bumpy wallpaper or anything. Oh, but, do you have a pool? The last house had a pool. And it’s too cold to swim now, obviously, but like in the summer I think it would be so amazing to swim. And, like, even if you don’t have a pool, you have trees. So many pretty trees. My neighborhood has old trees too, but not as tall as yours. Oh, I’d love to climb your trees.”

With every word he spoke, my shoulders hunched more and more. Surely I had enough money to live on while I healed.

Yes, but people need you. Tarah and Sebastian would’ve hesitated to call just any locksmith, despite the fact most wouldn’t judge. Judgmental locksmiths didn’t get repeat business. The idea of missing calls because of a fucking twisted ankle was more than I could bear. So I’d put up with Mister Verbal Diarrhea and somehow not kill him.

But it’d be the biggest challenge of my life.

Of that, I had no doubt.

“If Kingston doesn’t need you, perhaps you’d like to take a walk with me to see the trees?” Tarah beamed. “You can’t climb them—liability and all that—but you’re certainly free to look around. But only if—”

“Kingston can absolutely cope. If you don’t mind showing him around…”

She grinned, looped her arm in Ethan’s, and guided him back up the stairs.

I let out a long breath.

“Apprentice?” Sebastian’s amusement was clear. “Dante didn’t mention him.”

“Oh God, please don’t mention him to Dante. He’s…temporary.” I pointed to the crutches.

“We could’ve called someone else. Just I mentioned the, uh, problem to my friend Smith, who happens to own Club Kink. He mentioned it to Dante, and the next thing I knew, I had your number, and I was texting.”

“I’m glad you did.” I eyed the lock. “Whoever installed this did a piss-poor job. Oh, sorry.” I didn’t normally swear, but between my ankle and my new companion, I was completely discombobulated.

Sebastian laughed. “Not an issue here, my friend. All good.”

I sorted through my tools before finding the one I needed. “But it’s going to take a bit of time for me to remove and then replace the lock. I’m assuming that’s what you want?”

“Oh hell, yes.” He coughed. “Don’t want some random young one wandering in there. Not that many of my friends don’t have ones of their own…”

“Still.” I squinted.

“Yeah. My honorary niece, Cara, has figured out door handles and is a damn curious child. She’s going to be hell on wheels, and her baby brother likely will be as well. Not to mention…” He waved me off. “Lots of kids happening.”

“You and Tarah?” I winced. “Sorry, normally I’m much more circumspect.”

“That’s okay.” He chuckled. “Planned. She’s still in teacher’s college, though. That said, I’m not getting any younger.”

I didn’t figure the guy was more than a year or two older than me. Hell, maybe even the same age or younger. We both had black hair. Maybe with a bit of gray at the temples, although I’d never own that. But while his eyes were a dark inscrutable brown, mine were gray. “You’ll work it out. I’m not going to say anyone’s too old since my dad was forty-two when he had me. Just hadn’t found the right woman. Perpetual bachelor. I think my grandmother despaired of ever having grandchildren, and my grandfather, who was all about upholding traditions, wanted someone to follow in their footsteps.”

“As a locksmith.”

“As a locksmith.” I caught the bolt as it slid out. “Would you mind…?”

“Happy to help.” He grabbed everything from me. “Seems a waste to throw this out. I knew that guy was trouble. Just…you know how you get a feeling?”

“I do.” I rummaged in my kit for the new bolt. Since I didn’t know who had helped Sebastian initially, I wasn’t going to comment.

Well, I wouldn’t have, even if I had known the guy.

“He kept asking all these questions about why we needed a deadbolt. He kept joking we were going to carve up dead bodies.” Sebastian scratched his stubbled jaw. “Tarah took off, and he started making derogatory comments about women. I was like, buddy, read the room. I love my wife. Would do anything for her. You disparaging women does you zero favors in this place. Just because she’s noticeably younger than me, doesn’t mean I don’t respect her greatly.”

“I can see that. I know what you mean.” I didn’t have any patience for misogynists. Occasionally I’d discover I had one for a client. I’d finish the job, walk away, and never go back. Same with racists. I’d rather go hungry than work for assholes like that. Usually men, but not always.

“Can you help me with this?” Should’ve asked Ethan to stick around. Less awkward to ask a theoretical employee than a client.

Wait.

What am I paying him?

Another question I hadn’t bothered to ask. Was he a proper employee? I’d never had one of those since I preferred to work for, and by, myself. I didn’t have a storefront—my entire business model relied on me coming to the people who needed my service. When I was no longer able to do that, I’d retire. Sell my equipment to someone else and enjoy my salad days.

Hopefully it would be a long time from now.

“Happy to help.” Sebastian moved to assist me, and thirty minutes later, he carried my tool kit up the stairs with ease while I struggled mightily.

It’s going to be a long fucking six weeks.

Chattering drew my attention.

Sebastian placed my equipment by the front door, then gestured toward the back of the house with his chin. “Do you want to come with me, or should I simply let him know you’re ready to go?”

Although intensely curious about what my chatty assistant was saying, my ankle throbbed. “I think we need to get going.”

“Right. I’ll get him. Bank transfer okay? Or would you prefer cash? I think I might even have a checkbook around here somewhere. Tarah’s on me about organizing my home office. Just so much to do….”

Including, as he’d casually pointed out, spending a fair amount of time in his BDSM dungeon—which they referred to as their playroom .

Not going to explain that one to Ethan. Probably a good thing he was out looking at trees by the time I got the door fixed.

“Bank transfer is perfect. Thank you.”

“Oh, there you are!”

Before Sebastian even had a chance to head toward the kitchen, Ethan came barreling from that direction. “Tarah offered to cook, but I said you wouldn’t want to impose. I was right, right? Because if I’m wrong, she said she’s got a great teriyaki chicken recipe, and—”

Sebastian groaned.

Tarah, who’d followed excited Ethan, poked her husband in the ribs. “That was one time.”

“Well, you are memorable. I’ll never forget the state of my kitchen—”

She poked him again.

He laughed. And turned to me. “She makes a mean chicken teriyaki for certain. And you’re welcome to stay. It’s almost dinnertime, and you came all this way.”

“It’s okay, we need to be going.”

“But I’m hungry.” Somehow, Ethan managed to elongate the word and sound like a whiny two-year-old.

“We’ll stop for some food.”

“Oh, you should try Fifties. The diner isn’t exactly on your way back to Vancouver, but it’s worth the little detour.” Tarah laced her arm in her husband’s. “Best burgers in Cedar Valley. Well, best I’ve ever had. Although I haven’t been many places—”

“Which we’ll rectify when you’re finished your studies.” Sebastian gave her a fond smile. Then turned his attention back to Ethan and me. “Their Monte Cristo sandwich is amazing, and the barbecue chicken wrap is good as well. If you’re trying to avoid the heavy stuff.”

Ethan vibrated. “Oh, heavy sounds heavenly. I’m so—”

“Hungry, yes, I got the message.” I glanced over at him. “If you wouldn’t mind taking the tool kit out to the van?”

I’d barely uttered the words before he was off like a shot.

Tarah laughed. “I’ll go keep him company.”

“You mean supervise.”

She cocked her head. “I find him charming.” She pressed a kiss to Sebastian’s cheek. “Back in a few.” She followed Ethan and, apparently, the dog who’d taken off after him.

“You know…” Sebastian followed me as I headed toward the front door. “My wife’s not easily charmed, and my dog’s a rescue who’d been abused and doesn’t trust easily. Your assistant seems to have wooed both.”

I met his gaze.

He shrugged. “I’m just saying there are worse things in the world than to be surrounded by that much joy. Something to think about.”