Out of the Storm (2 page)

The horse barn had been converted into a fitness center, including a full size boxing ring, a gym that would rival most commercial facilities, and both men’s and women’s locker rooms. The entire property was surrounded by beautiful oak and pine trees, and there were now several paved and rock lined walking trails and outdoor scene areas that were monitored by state of the art audio and visual equipment. All of the cameras were motion and sound activated so anyone using those areas was as safe as someone inside the club itself.

They utilized the enormous main structure as the home to The Masters of the Prairie Winds Club. The BDSM club included a bar and dance area as well as several demonstration and stage areas.  They’d added numerous themed rooms that could be easily opened up for the viewing pleasure of others if the participants happened to be exhibitionists. The basement had been transformed into a dungeon that looked like something the early Texas settlers would have assumed an old European castle would look like. He and Kent had enjoyed working with a designer to incorporate elements of both old west and Middle Ages traditions.  All the basement walls and floors had been rough faced and the electrical wiring for the wall sconce lighting and monitoring equipment had been tap drilled so it was hidden from view.  The entire dungeon was almost spooky in its realism.  It was easy to forget where you were until you started looking around at the padded black leather equipment and the implement wall, which held over a hundred different devices.  Most were for various types of impact play but there were other treasures hidden there as well. 

Kyle and Kent shared the top floor’s spacious apartment. Kent had turned the space into something that looked like it belonged in some fucking magazine in Kyle’s opinion and of course that meant their mom had ooed and awed until Kyle and both of their dads had been rolling their eyes. Both Dean and Dell West had finally conceded that it was beautiful, but had steadfastly insisted it was also stuffy. Kyle spent most of his time in the media room or sleeping, so in the end the décor hadn’t really mattered to him at all.

Kent had agreed to let Kyle design the rooftop garden and outdoor kitchen. And Kyle had made sure the area’s casual ambiance made it a great place to relax and entertain.  He’d chosen a hot tub that would easily seat ten people and the small outdoor kitchen area was perfect for their needs. The “patio” as it had quickly become known also had a hidden entrance to their personal playroom. 

The playroom had been Kyle’s favorite personal project and it really was something to behold. God, he was proud of that room. He’d intentionally made it as modern and sleek as possible because he hadn’t seen any reason to create another dungeon when they had one just three floors below. Their personal play area had dark oak flooring and with its corner location meant there were two walls of windows and he’d lined the other two walls with mirrors. The closets, bathroom, and shower area were hidden behind mirrored doors and the equipment in the room was all stainless steel and black leather. Exposed polished steel beams lined the ceiling and chains on ball-bearing rollers could be positioned at almost any location throughout the room.

They’d spent almost a year remodeling and adding on to the main building, and then getting everything set up before opening just a few months ago.  He and Kent had agreed that they wouldn’t spare any expense, and the finished product was something they were both extremely proud of. Thanks to large trust funds from both sets of grandparents and their fathers’ extremely sound investment strategies, money wasn’t a concern for either of the West brothers. But being independently wealthy had never meant their parents hadn’t pushed them to be the best they could be no matter what challenge they’d been facing. Both of their dads had believed in hard work and had passed that mindset on to both he and Kent. Both he and his brother had a tremendous amount of love and respect for all three of their parents and their parents’ polyamorous relationship had never seemed odd in Kyle or Kent’s opinions. As a matter of fact, he and Kent had decided when they were just kids that they wanted to share a wife as well.

Muttering to himself about the fact the storm seemed to be intensifying rather than abating, Kyle was momentarily blinded by another brilliant flash of lightning and it took him a few seconds to process the fact there had been someone standing in the middle of the highway.
Holy fuck.
Slamming on the brakes was his first instinct but he quickly backed off them when he felt the back of his truck begin to fishtail and he certainly didn’t want his ass end swinging around and hitting a pedestrian. Thanking God above he hadn’t been going fast because his reduced speed had meant he’d been able to miss the lunatic standing in the middle of the road by the slimmest of margins.  Why someone would stand in the middle of a water-filled roadway in an electrical storm waving their arms was something Kyle just couldn’t imagine.  He slowly managed to maneuver to the side of the road and it took him a couple seconds to calm down his racing heart.

Kyle could almost feel the adrenaline pumping through his system as he grabbed a rain slicker from the back of his truck and pulled it on. It wasn’t like it was going to make any difference with the rain coming sideways, but he felt better knowing he’d made the effort. Jumping down out of his truck, he turned around to face a very wet and extremely pissed off angel.

****

Tobi Strobel was livid…completely over the top pissed. From the moment she’d burst into her boss’s office at Austin Gardens and Homes and met Lilly West, her entire world had seemed to tip on its axis. Tobi had been on a tear about the interview she’d been trying to schedule with Prairie Winds “cad” owners, Kyle and Kent West.  And she hadn’t even bothered to knock before she’d blown into the small room like a Cat 5 hurricane. When the beautiful dark haired beauty had introduced herself as the “cads” mother, Tobi had wanted to melt into the floor. But Lilly West had been the epitome of grace and only laughed as she’d agreed that her sons were a handful for sure, even though she claimed to be withholding judgment on the “cad” determination.  Tobi had felt drawn to Lilly in a way she hadn’t really been able to explain, and the only reason she could come up with was because she’d lost her own mother when she’d been so young.  The excuse sounded weak even in her own mind, but it was the only reason she could come up with…at least it was the only one she was willing to accept.  Lilly had assured Tobi that her assessment of Kyle and Kent avoiding interviews was dead on and had promised to help her secure an appointment the following day.  Before Lilly had left the small magazine’s office, she’d given Tobi a long hug and then kissed her on the forehead saying, “They are going to be thrilled to finally find you.”

Later that night Tobi had laid awake wondering at the woman’s strange words, but her musings had been cut short by a text message from Kent West giving her directions to Prairie Winds and asking her to arrive at precisely seven the next evening. Tobi hadn’t minded the fact she’d be giving up her Friday evening because she never really went out anyway.  It wasn’t like she had any disposable funds for entertainment, and quite frankly, her small apartment wasn’t in a neighborhood that was safe to be out and about in after dark.  What she hadn’t planned on was the fact she’d be facing a storm so fierce she’d been forced to pull over to the edge of the road because she hadn’t been able to see where she was going.

Thank God she’d left her seat belt fastened because she had no sooner put her small car in park than a large truck had barreled past and barely clipped her back bumper, sending her ancient Toyota nose down into a deep ditch. The ditch was rapidly filling with water, so Tobi grabbed her things, wrapped them in a couple of plastic bags she found under her seat and climbed back up to the roadside. Amazingly, not one single person had stopped despite the fact she’d been standing right at the road’s edge.

The next time she’d seen lights headed her way, she’d moved to the center of the road and had begun waving her arms wildly over her head. Just as the enormous black pickup had gotten close, a bolt of lightning hit in the field to her right and the flash had illuminated the startled expression of a man Tobi could only describe as movie star handsome. She’d only gotten a glimpse of his dark intensity before she’d found herself jumping to the side to keep from becoming his newly mounted hood ornament. By the time he’d managed to screech to a stop, she was hopping mad and stalking toward the large black pickup as fast as her short legs would carry her. She was only five foot two, but as she liked to remind those around her, what she lacked in size, she made up for in attitude.

Tobi had almost reached his truck by the time he finally stepped out, “You almost ran over me. Holy smokes Batman you could have killed me with that monster-mobile of yours.  Damn, a drowned rat.  My whole life is spiraling out of control faster than a Kardashian marriage I tell ya. Shit, shit, double shit. My car is probably floating toward the lake and my stuff is in trash bags.
Trash bags!
  That’s a whole new level of the wrong side of the tracks, even for me.  I’m so wet I’m pretty sure I won’t be dry for a month of Sundays, hell’s fire I’ll probably mold.  And you are freaking huge and probably some serial killer on the top of some most wanted list.  I’ll end up on the evening news and my brother will never even know what happened to me because he refuses watch the damned news. My crazy ass neighbors will pick apart my apartment before the broadcast is even over and I’ll be a footnote on some unsolved mysteries show a few years from now. And I still don’t know what Lilly West meant by finding me. Damnation this sucks big green donkey dicks I’m telling ya for sure.” When she finally came up for air and realized the tall hunk in front of her was simply staring at her with his mouth in a grim line, all she could manage to do was blush.  He had to be at least a foot taller than she was and his dark hair was barely visible under the Stetson he was wearing.  His eyes were a deep chocolate brown that was quickly turning even darker.  She realized she was staring at him just as he spoke. 

“How do you know my mother?” Mr. Tall, Dark and Intimidating demanded.

Did he just say mother?  That’s it...that is the final straw. I’m officially certifiable and straitjacket ready.
“Mother? Lilly West is your mother?” Looking up at the sky, she asked, “You’re kidding me, right, God? First, you put their mom in my boss’s office just as I have a meltdown about the infamous kink masters not returning my calls. And then of all the people on this planet, you let me almost get run over by one of the men I’ve been trying to schedule a meeting with for weeks? Is this some kind of a joke?” Just as the words left her mouth the world around them exploded in light and a crash of thunder that was so immediate she was sure the bolt must have hit right beside them. 
Holy shit!  Reminder to self…do not challenge the Big Guy.
 

“Get in the truck,
now.
” His words had been more growled than spoken and ordinarily she’d be giving him a piece of her mind for thinking he could give her orders, but right now she was more afraid of becoming a crispy critter in the middle of the highway than she was of Lilly West’s son. Tobi briefly wondered whether he was Kyle or Kent as she scrambled into the big black beast when he opened the door and motioned her inside, but judging by his clipped tone she was guessing Kyle.

She’d done her homework on the owners of Prairie Winds because she’d been hoping to interview them since she first heard about the BDSM club they were building just a few minutes from her home.  Sure, she worked for a magazine that spotlighted all things bright and beautiful in the Austin area, but in truth, her interest in the club was much more personal. Banishing those thoughts for the moment, she turned and plopped her soggy ass in the passenger seat and turned to see him staring at her as if he’d never seen a woman before.
What the hell?

Chapter Two

Kyle West had been speechless after he’d stepped from the door of his truck and almost been steam-rolled by a tiny wisp of a woman who had reminded him of sunshine for some odd reason even though she looked more like a spitting mad wet kitten. Hell, she was seven kinds of pissed and ranting about a variety of things that hadn’t made a lick of sense and he hadn’t put too much effort into trying to sort through it until he’d heard his mother’s name. He knew his brother was meeting with some reporter from Austin Gardens and Homes this evening, but the guy was supposed to have been at the club an hour ago. The beauty he’d been face-to-face with was not how he’d pictured someone named Tobi.  Her long blonde hair was plastered to the sides of her face and even wet it was the color of sun-ripened wheat on a hot Texas summer day and he’d found himself wondering what it would look like dry.  Would it be white blonde?  Was it straight or wavy?  Would it feel like silk as it covered his thighs while his cock slid over those plump lips?

He just stood in the middle of the highway in the pounding rain and let her vent until they had both almost been hit by lightning. Kyle had literally felt the air around them sizzle from the electrical charge so he’d quickly ordered her into his truck. When he’d opened the door and motioned her inside he hadn’t expected her to comply so quickly and he damned well hadn’t expected her to crawl all the way across the truck’s bench seat.  That move had displayed her luscious ass in vivid cock hardening detail thanks to the soaked thin cotton skirt she was wearing. The lightweight fabric was molded to her like a second skin outlining every sweet spankable curve. He immediately flashed to her bent over the spanking bench in their private playroom. They would tie her to the bench with silk scarves because she was too delicate for metal or thick leather cuffs. Then they would stand back to admire their handiwork before proceeding. Her ass would be a lovely shade of hot pink from the paddling she’d get for that smart mouth of hers. He wondered if she knew that she was a natural submissive. She might be full of piss and vinegar, but her instant response to his command to get in the truck had been telling indeed.