Safeword: Rainbow (6 page)

Tyler finally got a word in-between them. "Speaking of groceries, I haven't figured out what to do about a car just yet. Until I know where I'll be moving there is no sense in buying one. If I take the job in Portland I won't want to drive it from here to there, but I'm not sure it makes much sense to rent one, either. I may just see if I can find a cheap motorcycle somewhere, but it's hard to go to the grocery store on a motorcycle."

Mr. MacNeill had an answer for that. "I've got a perfectly good truck out there you can use to go to the grocery store if you want, son. I'm glad you're here to cook, can't wait to get something decent to eat. These two never managed to pick up that particular skill."

"I wouldn't have pegged you for some kind of gourmet cook,” responded the beautiful Viv. “I guess I figured all of Mac's friends would be Neanderthals like he is."

Mac threw a dinner roll across the table at his sister and she caught it and took a bite, grinning at him.

Tyler missed having that kind of a family. It hadn't been so bad when his life had been one mission after another. But now that he was kind of at an in-between point in his life it would have been nice to have family to fall back on. Of course, Mac was pretty close to being family; they'd been friends since college and had been drawn into the government at the same time. They had even managed to work some missions together for a while. They made a good team.

When they finished eating Vivian volunteered to do the dishes while Mac helped their dad with some of his therapy. Tyler said he was going to go downstairs and work out. He started to volunteer to help Viv with the dishes, but he needed to put some space between them. Plus, with four plates, four glasses, and four sets of silverware, he didn't think it would take two people to put those into a dishwasher.

Vivian had other ideas though, and when she was through with the dishes she went downstairs and got on the treadmill and watched a few minutes as Tyler worked with the free weights.

"Are you seeing anyone, Tyler?"

Tyler hesitated, this was getting on dangerous ground. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, but there was no way he could fool around with his best friend's sister. "No, I'm not seeing anyone, relationships don't really mix with my line of work."

"But you just retired, right? So, you could have a relationship now, if you wanted?"

"Why, you got a friend you want to set me up with or something?"

She gave him a very direct look. "No, Tyler, I don't." There was no mistaking her meaning. Time to take the bull by the horns and get it out into the open. "Well, no offense, but you are my best friend's sister, so you're kind of off limits to me. Besides, you seem like a nice girl, and I'm not exactly a nice guy. So..." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Define, ‘not a nice guy', please? Do you mean you're a bastard, or do you mean you engage in the kind of sex games that good girls shouldn't engage in?"

Tyler just stared at her, trying to figure out how to answer.

"I know a little about what my brother is into, and while his brand of kink isn't exactly my own, I guess I just figured that any friend of his that's been around that long might be into something a little off the wall as well."

Tyler thought about that, she was telling him she was kinky, but not into what her brother was into. Tyler knew first hand that Mac was really big into group sex, often two guys on one girl, but he was okay with five guys on three girls too, or almost any other combination, if that's the way it worked out, and as long as it was all consensual. But Tyler was a sexual Dominant; he got into the whole domination and pain aspect of sex. The giving of it, not the receiving of it. And here was this beautiful woman hinting she was kinky and asking him questions about what kind of kink he was interested in. He should go back upstairs and end this conversation, but he just couldn't.

"And what brand of kink would you happen to be into then, if it isn't exactly like your brother's?"

"You first, Tyler."

He put the weight down he was working with and stood to leave. "Sorry princess, I don't take orders."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. You're a Dom, aren't you? I knew it. Almost the instant I saw you in the kitchen, I knew it."

He was momentarily speechless, but he'd had years of practice to keep his face from showing when he'd been caught off guard, so he just relaxed against the wall with his arms crossed and let his eyes slowly rove from her feet to her face before saying, "If you figured that out, then I'd have to guess you're in the lifestyle as well. Does big brother know about this?"

She stopped the treadmill. "Are you crazy? If he knew that men had spanked and flogged me he'd tear their balls off their bodies and stick them down their throats."

"Exactly, so what makes you think that you and I could have any kind of relationship when he knows I'm a Dom?"

"If I weren't my brother's sister, would you be interested?"

"Yes, I would, actually. But that's beside the point, because you are your brother's sister."

"Okay then. I'm going back upstairs, I want to take dad out on the porch and let him get some fresh sea air this afternoon before the sun goes down."

As he watched her go up the steps he imagined her ass with a butt plug in it and her hands tied behind her back. He shook his head, he couldn't think of her that way. Mac was like family.

* * * *

He had blown her off! Because of some chivalrous honor code about not doing your friend's sister! That gorgeous man with the Dom eyes and Dom voice. She thought she'd recognized him at first, but then she had started doubting herself. Master James' hair had been shoulder length and black, and Tyler's hair was dirty blond and was styled in a professional cut. Master James had spoken with a touch of a Canadian accent and Tyler didn't seem to have an accent at all. Plus Master James had brown eyes and Tyler had the most beautiful green eyes. But when she'd first seen him a trick of the light had made her think he might have been the man she'd fallen for in New Hampshire three years ago.

Both men had a similar smile that grabbed her heart, though. And they were both a touch over six feet tall with a slim but very muscular build. Tyler wasn't bulging with muscles like her brother, but something told her he was just as strong.

Of course, Tyler would know how to create a disguise that worked. And how big of a coincidence that Tyler is a Dom? No, if we're talking coincidence then what are the odds that the stranger she fell in love with three years ago just happens to be her brother's best friend? Right. Not likely.

Well, no matter who he was, she was attracted to him, and she wasn't giving up just because he happened to be her brother's friend.

Chapter Four

The next morning Tyler woke up early to run on the beach. He'd mentioned it last night and Mac had said he'd get up and run with him, so he expected that the coffee he smelled coming from the kitchen meant that Mac was up. Tyler usually didn't drink coffee, but he loved the smell of it. As he went out on the front porch he saw Viv sitting in a chair with her feet on an ottoman and her laptop perched on her lap with a large cup of coffee beside her. Mac was doing some stretches while they talked.

Viv looked up at him. "Hi Tyler, I was just telling David how I'd asked you to take me to a movie or something this weekend to get me out of the house and you said that you couldn't do that because I'm Mac's sister."

Tyler looked at Mac and Mac did not look happy. Shit.

"Viv, leave my friend alone. He's not your type."

"Oh, but big brother, I think he's exactly my type. I pegged him as a Dom when I walked into the kitchen last night. Don't look at me like that. I'm a big girl, and I know the kind of sex games you play, so you can't pretend you're all innocent or anything."

Tyler just wanted to escape. "I think this is my cue to leave and let the brother and sister sort things out. I'll take off down the beach and run solo this morning."

"No Tyler, I'm coming with you. This conversation with Vivian is over."

They probably ran for two miles without talking. Finally, Mack stopped and started pacing. "What does she mean that she pegged you for a Dom? What the hell did the two of you talk about when she followed you downstairs last night?"

"Pretty much what she told you. She hit on me, I told her that guys don't go out with their best friend's sister, she kept at it, and I told her I'm not a nice guy anyway, not her type. And she pretty much told me what type I am, and that I'm exactly her type. Blew me away. But I thought I'd gotten her to drop it, I thought the conversation was over. Look Mac, I told her the truth, you are my best friend and I'm not going to date your sister, okay?"

"If I say no at this point, I'm going to look like a bastard. I know my sister is beautiful, and if I didn't know what you like to do to women I'd be fine with you going out with her, to be honest. But knowing what you like to do... even with her telling me that you are her... type. That's gonna be rough, Tyler."

"Look, I can get my own place to stay while I'm here so that Viv and I won't be around each other. I don't want to do anything to hurt our friendship."

Mac's cell phone was going off; he answered it and stepped away from Tyler to talk. When he came back, he looked white as a ghost. "I know you came here to get away for a bit, but you may have just walked into something. Three years ago I came up against some twins on one of my missions, man and woman. I ended up killing the woman and taking the man into custody. We handed him over to his government and he's been in a prison in Kazakhstan since then. Last year he managed to find out my real name. He called me from prison, told me that when he got out he was going to kill my sister as payback. After that I managed to get the paperwork to go through so there was a notation with customs that if he entered the U.S. on his passport I'd be notified. He came through customs at Miami International Airport twenty minutes ago."

Tyler looked at his watch to start the clock ticking, the soonest he could be here was forty minutes, but since he'd have to rent a car it would probably be more like an hour. "What does he look like?"

"Black hair, dark eyes, thin, about a hundred and fifty-five pounds last I checked, five foot ten inches tall. Nose is just a hair crooked where it's been broken. Small scar above his left eyebrow."

"He won't know I'm here. I'll get your sister and your dad and take them to a hotel, get them settled in under my name, and then come back to help you deal with him."

"I'd rather you take them and stay with them so they are guarded. And he may know you are here, so nothing in your name, either. I can handle this guy here. But time's going to be short to get all of dad's equipment packed up. Let's go."

As they ran back Tyler thought about the best way to protect Mac's family. They'd need a hotel suite with two beds in the bedroom, and then Tyler could sleep in the living area. So much for getting him away from Viv, now it looked like he was protecting her. As they reached the house Mac said, "You explain to Viv and Dad while I start packing Dad's stuff. Have Viv get started packing as soon as you can, and then she'll need to make sure I've got everything Dad will need. Especially his medicines and therapy stuff."

As Mac ran in the house Tyler stopped on the porch. Mr. MacNeill and Viv were both there, and Tyler tried to say it as gently as possible while still getting across the urgency of the matter. "Several years ago Mac had a mission where he ended up in a firefight with twins, a man and woman. He killed the woman and the man has been in prison. He found out Mac's real name at some point and contacted him from prison that when he got out he would go after Mac's sister. Mac was just notified that the man passed through customs at Miami International Airport about thirty minutes ago. Mac is packing up your stuff, Mr. MacNeill. Viv, you need to go pack as quickly as possible and then make sure Mac got everything packed that you'll need for your father. Plan to be gone for four or five days at this point, though I hope it doesn't take that long. I'm taking the two of you to a hotel, Mac will stay here to neutralize the situation and I'll make sure the two of you stay safe."

Viv got up without saying anything and headed into the house. Tyler told Mr. MacNeill that he was going to go in and pack his things as well, and suggested that everyone come inside so they could lock the doors, just in case.

Twenty-five minutes later Tyler was driving Mr. MacNeill and Vivian in the truck, with all of their luggage in the back under a hard flat locking cover. Instead of a hotel they would be staying at a rental house in a gated community. The house was bigger than a suite would be and had a garage so they could hide the truck. They had used a secure VOIP connection to call the rental company, the owner was a friend of Mr. MacNeill so there had not been a problem securing it, and it was empty for the next four nights. There wasn't a hit on a credit card this way, so it would be impossible for anyone to find them unless Mac or Tyler screwed up and led them there. And four nights was plenty, if the situation wasn't resolved soon he'd be getting Viv and her dad out of town anyway, so that was probably more time than they needed. Tyler had been responsible for protecting civilians before, and had the whole spiel to give them on the way. "I'm in charge. If I tell you to stay inside, you stay inside. If I tell you to stay out of a particular room, then you stay out of that room. Until we get there I won't know specifically what those kinds of rules are going to be, but for now I know for sure that there will be no internet surfing and definitely no checking your email, just in case this guy is watching your email address to see where you are accessing the internet. Viv, if you want to use your laptop then I'll disable the Wi-Fi first and then you can use it. Also, I've already taken the battery out of both of your cellphones so you can't be traced that way. We will be stopping at the grocery store on the way and buying enough groceries to last for four days. If there is a place in the same strip mall that sells pay-as-you-go phones I'll get one for the two of you so you will have them in an emergency. But you are not to use them, or the rental house phone, to call home or to call any of your friends." He looked at Mac's dad. "While at the grocery store we will get a motorized cart for you, and we will all stay together. I will throw food in for meals, if there is anything you want besides that, get it as we go by, we won't be going back down any aisles."