Page 80 of Wrangled

I stilled.

I want to be his Dom.

I want to come back to visit.

He needs this, and I have the time to do it.

ButcouldI do it? I’d never had a long-distance D/s relationship before. I had no idea if it could work. But would Robert be able to handle a D/s relationship without attachment? Just how close had he been to Kevin? Would he want more? And if he did, would I mind that?

I had to shut down that train of thought. It was leading down the rabbit hole, and it was way too early to be thinking about that.

What shocked me was I wanted to offer him more than whatever time was left to us.

I lifted his chin with my fingertips. “Would you like me to make it hurt a little less?”

His breathing hitched. “Please…” Robert gazed up at me, his expression almost serene. “Sir.”

He had taken one word and made it sound like a prayer.

I couldn’t hold back when I saw the naked longing in his eyes, the need burning there… I leaned in and kissed him, a sweet, tender kiss not intended to arouse him, but to seal the moment.

When I broke the kiss, he expelled a breath. “Thank you.”

I toyed with the idea of putting him in chastity—the cage was right there, for God’s sake—but it felt too soon. We needed to talk first. And right then he seemed a little… fragile wasn’t the word, but something was going on.

He froze as a mournful howl reached us, followed by another. It didn’t sound too close.

“What was that?” Then the howls came again, only louder.

“Aw shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“What you heard is a wolf pack. They like to hunt at night. Thing is, we can’t shoot ’em like we used to. Remember we told you they’re protected under the Endangered Species Act? So now we have to scare ’em off.”

Then it was my turn to freeze when I heard a door open downstairs.

“Boss?”

Robert stared at me in resignation. “You need me, Teague?” he called out. He grabbed his jeans and tee, and I cursed Teague’s timing. We might not have shared a full-on scene, but enough of one that I wanted to apply a little aftercare.

“Yeah.” He sounded miserable as fuck. It took me a moment to realize part of that misery was down to having to disturb his boss.

I laid a hand on Robert’s arm, stilling his frantic scramble into his clothing. “He’s not going to be surprised to find me here, is he?”

Robert shook his head.

“Okay then. Breathe. I’ll get dressed too, and I’ll go downstairs with you.” With all I’d learned about him—and the knowledge I was going to learn a whole lot more before it was time to leave Salvation—I figured there was little point in sneaking around.

Fuck, they all knew anyway. And if they didn’t, they would by the time I got to the bunkhouse.

We finished dressing, and went downstairs. Teague stood at the foot of the stairs. He didn’t even blink when he saw me. “Sorry to disturb you, boss, but we’ve got problems.”

“I heard. Who’ve you rounded up to go investigate?”

“I figured me, Zeeb, Walt, and Butch.”

“Figure me in there too.”