The Masters of Falcon's Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (20 page)

She gave him a sidelong glance. “I don’t think I’d say that. You seem to be helping them—and they definitely need it.”

“Hmm. But it’s not really my place to help them. Finn can figure this out on his own.”

Allie gave a short laugh. “Are you sure about that? I’m not sure he could find his way out of a paper bag with a tracking dog when it comes to that girl. It seems to me that he needs you. For moral support, if nothing else. Daphne certainly responds well to you. I think, at least until they get their shit sorted out, you’re the only one that can keep them on track.”

“Great.”

“Is that a problem? Is it Daphne herself?”

Decker said nothing
,
and Allie spared a moment from turning the pancakes to glance over at him. He sat with his forehead resting on the countertop, his eyes closed.

“Are you in love with her?”

He started. “With Daphne? No. No, she’s way too high-maintenance for me. I don’t want to get involved in the kind of mess they’ve got going on.”

“Riiight, but that doesn’t answer the question of whether you’re in love with her.” Allie poured herself a cup of coffee and put a plate with a stack of pancakes and two slices of fried ham in front of him. She took three kinds of syrup from the fridge and fixed a plate for herself. Turning off the griddle, she set the rest of the batter to the side before joining Decker.

“It answers the question of whether I’m going to do anything about it.” His voice was firm, and at one time Allie would have been intimidated by his tone. But she was familiar enough with Dominants to know that he wouldn’t be nasty to her. She smiled at him.

“Tell me about Sharon.”

“What?”

“Sharon. What kind of person was she?”

He stared down at his plate, obviously caught off guard by her sudden change of conversation. Allie felt guilty for a moment for bringing up such a painful topic. But it was important for him to process what he felt about Daphne in the light of his past relationship. He was probably avoiding thinking about it, or at least thinking reasonably. Something was stopping him, and she thought she knew what it was.

“Sharon was great. Perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better wife, slave
,
or partner. She was incredibly strong. Everybody came to her for advice. She could have had a thousand submissives, but she preferred to be a slave. I don’t know why she stuck with me. I certainly didn’t deserve her.”

Allie took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be easy. “Okay, that’s wonderful. So she was perfect. You never had any fights or disagreements? She never did anything you didn’t like?”

Decker stared at her. From his sudden anger Allie knew she had accidentally hit on something important. She needed to tread carefully. “Of course we had fights. Who doesn’t?”

“But you don’t think you would ever be happy in another relationship?”

“I don’t know. I can’t imagine being in another relationship.”

She waited while he took several deep breaths, apparently trying to regain his composure. “You don’t think Sharon would have wanted you to be happy?”

After a moment, a small smile played on his lips. “You’re sneaky, you know that?”

They heard the sounds of several people coming down the stairs. Decker started to stand up, pushing his plate to the side. “I’ll go get the table set.”

“Just a minute. You haven’t answered my question.” Allie stayed sitting, even though every muscle in her body was straining to jump up and get the food ready.

Decker leaned toward her, both hands on the table, looking straight into her face. “Yes, I think Sharon would want me to be happy. She was an amazing woman
.
”

“And are you happy?”

He looked away. Allie resisted the urge to keep talking. Better an uncomfortable silence that made him think than useless words that he could just blow off.

“No.” He stood upright and opened the cupboard that held plates.

He obviously wasn’t going to stick around and let her build her argument. Allie went over to the griddle and poured another batch of pancakes. “It’s been long enough,” she said to his back as he gathered silverware and put it on his pile of dishes. “You need to give yourself permission to start living again. Sharon wouldn’t want you to shut yourself off. You have a lot to offer. Finn and Daphne need you. Think about it.”

He went silently through the connecting door into the dining room. He may have been angry. Allie couldn’t tell. She knew that what she’d said to him was true. Maybe he would think about it, and maybe he wouldn’t. But she’d done what she could. She shrugged and went back to her cooking.

* * * *

Decker had packed and unpacked his bag three times before he heard the crew break. He looked out his window and saw Finn and Daphne walking across the yard, clinched together and smiling happily into each other’s faces.

He sighed and tried to make himself turn back to the half-full suitcase on the bed. You should be happy, he reminded himself firmly.
That’s
not a situation you want to be in. She’s better off. He’s better off. You’re better off.

But it wasn’t helping. He wasn’t naturally jealous, and he was legitimately happy for both of them that their relationship seemed to be coming together. But part of him ached at the sight. He wanted to be involved with them
,
but he knew it wouldn’t work. He was concerned that his presence would throw off Finn’s attempts to be dominant
,
but also because he kept seeing Sharon’s face. Rationally, he knew Allie was right. Sharon would want him to be happy. She wouldn’t want him to give up the lifestyle, give up the rest of his life
,
and fade away because hers had ended. He just felt so guilty whenever he considered having sex with someone else. It was like that would mean he’d accepted her death, that it was okay. That would be disloyal. His brief interlude with Daphne had kept him awake all night wrestling with his feelings of guilt. He had even tried jacking off like a maniac, but it hadn’t helped. He couldn’t get away from the fact that he just wasn’t ready for Sharon’s death to be okay.

Then there was the scene he was supposed to do on Saturday with Finn and Daphne. He couldn’t let them down by leaving, but it would be ten times harder the next week. There was no answer to this situation.

Finn and Daphne disappeared onto the back porch along with the rest of the crew. Decker still stood at the window, debating with himself over his decision. He didn’t think he could stay here and watch the beautiful and talented Daphne pining for a man who had no clue how to handle her. He’d tried to teach Finn that a Dom needed to be strong but loving, firm but playful. A Dominant had to be able to bring out the best in his submissive. Find things she didn’t even know were in her. Make her want to achieve things—initially to please him, maybe, but then because she had discovered she could and that she wanted to. Being submissive to a good Dom would make her—make both of them—more than either could ever be on their own. Finn had the potential to be that Dominant for Daphne, at least as far as her career was concerned. God knew she needed someone to take her in hand, to structure her days into worktime and playtime, and to fill her nights with the kind of passionate sexual experiences she’d never dreamed were possible. But he wasn’t completely confident that Finn could pull that part off.

Suddenly the barn door banged open
,
and Blaze strode out. He looked like he’d been auditioning for a part as a member of a
‘
50s street gang in a cheesy musical. Stuffing something into his leather jacket, he pulled out a cigarette, or more likely a joint, and lit up. It looked as if he was talking to himself, pacing back and forth in front of the bright
-
red building. Then he looked up and apparently caught sight of Decker watching him through the window. His face contorted into a nasty leer. He took one last hit off whatever he was smoking, flicked it into the bushes at the corner
,
and presented his middle finger before striding off around the side of the house.

As he disappeared, there was a crash. Decker had been watching the bushes where Blaze’s cigarette had flown, but at the noise, he came to life and sprinted for the stairs. What the asshole had done, he wasn’t completely sure, but it was something, and Decker meant to find out what and make sure punishment was meted out.

Finn, Daphne, Allie
,
and Karl were standing on the back porch when Decker arrived on his way through. They were looking around, obviously having heard the noise.

“It was that ziptard Blaze,” Decker told them, pointing to the north side of the house.

They all started down the steps in that direction, and Allie sniffed. “Does anyone else smell something?”

In a moment they could see a wisp of smoke rising from the grass next to the barn. They raced over and began stomping on the sparks that were threatening to turn into an actual fire.

“What an asshole,” Decker said in disgust, checking his shoes for damage.

“I’m so sorry—” Finn began, but his phone rang. He flashed an apologetic smile and walked off, a hand covering his free ear to better concentrate on his call.

“Did we get it all?” Allie asked, peering around the ground. Karl, Daphne
,
and Decker helped her go over the area until they were sure there was no more danger.

“Yes, I think that’s it. But what was the noise?” Karl said, shielding his eyes to look back at the house. They began to walk in that direction
,
but Finn stopped them with a triumphant yell.

“Daph! Great news!”

The investigation of the mysterious noise was forgotten as four heads swiveled back to him. Finn was striding in their direction, waving his phone as if it had just spit out a winning lottery ticket.

“That was an LA station! They want to do a story about you! Tomorrow!” He grabbed Daphne and swung her around, planting a kiss on her lips.

Daphne let out a whoop of joy and threw her arms around his neck. Everyone else crowded around, congratulating and hugging them.

“We need to be at the station at six a
.
m
.
to get ready for the spot,” Finn said. They moved apart, still standing with their arms entwined, smiling happily into each other’s faces. “They need some archival footage of Daphne performing, as well as some current stills
,
sent over to them by e
-
mail.”

“In LA? Tomorrow morning at six?” Allie interrupted suddenly. “How are you going to manage that?”

Finn’s smile faded. He glanced at his watch. “I guess we’ll need to drive down tonight. I want Daphne to be able to sleep beforehand so she can look fresh.”

“That’s like a six-hour drive,” Karl said. “You won’t get there until midnight, even if you start right away.”

“Hmm. And we can’t start right away. I’ve got to get the information they want put together and e
-
mailed to them.” Finn rubbed his eyes. “I guess there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Decker tried to move his feet to go check on the damage Blaze might have done. But they were rooted to the spot. Instead he heard someone say, “There is something we can do.”

Everyone turned to look at him
,
and he realized the voice had been his. Finn froze in the act of starting for the house.

Then he heard himself saying, “I could borrow a small plane from a friend of mine and get us there in no time. Just let me make a phone call to get things in motion. I’ll need to file a flight plan and make some other arrangements before we get started. It should take about an hour.”

His mind was spinning at the enormity of what he’d just done—or what his mouth had done without his consent.
What did I just get myself into? I haven’t flown in nearly a year. I hope I can do this. I really don’t want to let her down.

“A plane?” Daphne squeaked, clapping her hands. “I love flying!”

“Really?” Finn stared at him.

Decker nodded silently, looking at the two of them regarding him as if he was a parent who had just offered them a trip to Disneyland. He had planned to be a hundred miles away from her by this evening, and instead he was now committed to flying her to LA and spending close to
twenty-four
hours in her company. He would probably be next door to her in a hotel listening while she fucked Finn. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that. His dick twitched at the thought, accompanied by a visual of Daphne inviting him over for a threesome. But that wasn’t about to happen.

“Thanks, man! We really appreciate that. I’d better get my shit done, then,” Finn said, pausing to shake his hand briefly before rushing inside.

Daphne stood up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! Just let me know what I can do to repay you.” She batted her eyelashes at him as she lowered herself to her normal height, a coy smile on her lips.

“Shouldn’t you negotiate that with Finn first?” Decker told her, trying to give her a stern look.