Willing Sacrifice (Knights of the Board Room) (22 page)

“Their own Seal Team Six,” Dale noted, his lips curving. “Gayle will take care of her.”

“Yeah. She’s about seven months along and doing well, but…”

“But after your experience with Savannah Kensington, you’re hyperalert about it. Nothing wrong with that. As long as Jenny doesn’t tell Lewis the guys are stalking her.”

“If they can be detected in the bushes outside her house or while shadowing her at the grocery store, they deserve to be busted.” Max tapped his mug to Dale’s. “As you said, you get your practice where you can.”

“You never know when you’ll be called to serve.” Dale gave him a considering look. “I know you love me, but I’m thinking you’re here for another reason.”

“Still a Master Chief,” Max snorted. “Even if you won’t let me call you that.”

“I have to know my place in this world. The other can be like a drug, you miss it so much. But if you slip and call me that every once in a while, it doesn’t hurt my feelings. Ack Ack.”

“Yeah.” Max’s lips twisted at the nickname his fellow operators had given him. He knew all about that feeling Dale was referencing. It was something hard to explain to others, how much he missed those days. Days spent freezing cold, tired, on edge. Adrenaline cycling through his veins like coke, even as his core stayed dead calm, focused, doing everything necessary to flush out, hunt or bring down the target. But Dale got it. “Thanks, Master Chief.”

A grim smile touched Dale’s mouth. “What’s up, Max?”

“I’m getting involved with a woman. And she’s a Domme.”

“Hmm.” Dale took a swallow of his coffee. The guys sometimes called him “Merman”. With his odd blue-green eyes, the name fit, but the real reason was because of several missions where circumstances had forced him to deepwater dive in his rebreather gear, well beyond its twenty-five-foot rating. And he’d survived.

He and Max shared the distinction of having graduated BUD/S at one of the youngest ages allowed, seventeen, though of course Dale was a decade or so ahead of Max when he got there. He’d served with Dale on missions and trusted him entirely, and Dale returned the favor, but Dale was right. It was more than the desire to visit with him that brought Max here today.

Dale was a sexual Dominant, a Master in the same vein as Matt Kensington and his executive team. Dale occasionally used his membership at Club Progeny, but most of the time he hung his whip, so to speak, at a smaller, nonprofit membership club in the area. Though Max had never had the opportunity to see him operate in that capacity, he expected Dale brought a psychological intensity to his sexual Mastery that Janet would appreciate greatly.

“You’re no one’s boy toy, Max.” Dale gave him a serious look. “Are you trying to convince yourself you are, just to get what’s behind her whip and boots? That doesn’t work.”

“You can’t see me in collar and leash?” Max asked, arching a brow.

Dale snorted. “Yeah right. Sorry, man. I had to ask. There are a few mistresses out there who are convinced every guy wants to be Dominated, and if a guy says he doesn’t, he just hasn’t met the right Domme to do it. That’s not the case, any more than every woman I meet wants to be my sex slave, more’s the pity. However, those kinds of Mistresses can be pretty convincing, especially when her target is thinking with his dick. Which, admit it, happens to the best of us.”

Max inclined his head. “She’s more than that to me.”

“Okay then.” Dale sat back with his coffee. “So what do you need from me?”

“I’ve seen her work out with subs at Progeny, and she’s pretty tough, has her hands firmly on the reins. But with us, it’s more of a give and take, like we’re figuring out how to dance with one another. With each meet, it gets more complicated. Like starting with the waltz and moving into the tango. Without giving specific details—”

“Please God don’t.”

Max grinned. “She does make me feel like doing things I normally wouldn’t consider doing with a woman. It’s the way she gets lost in it, aroused by it…it’s fucking mesmerizing.” He took a breath. “So, sight unseen, and given there are a lot of variables, does it ever work, if it’s in the blood of one, but not the other?”

Dale considered the question. “I’ve seen it happen, yes. But it’s different for every pair and—I won’t lie to you—often it’s only a short-term success. Some crash and burn when they approach it for the long haul, because if she eventually needs you to go deep, and you can’t do that, that might be a problem. Unless her reasons for going deep are mixed with other factors, things you can satisfy without that dive. This isn’t a linear thing. It’s more like a maze, and we all find different paths. You’ll be able to find the answer for yourself, good or bad. Just keep all your senses open and follow your instincts. What do they tell you about your chances with her?”

“It pays to be a winner, right?” Max gave the maxim from BUD/S training with a serious expression. “If I want her, I make it work. I don’t accept defeat.”

“Hoo-yah. Unless she puts out a restraining order on you.”

Max snorted. “If I became that much of a problem, she wouldn’t want the cops involved. She’d handle it herself, with extreme prejudice.”

“I’m already liking her. Bring her around sometime.” Dale set aside the coffee, rubbed his knee. When Max glanced at it, he shrugged it off. “Damn humidity. Works it up a little.”

“You’d be better off in a less tropical climate.”

“Yeah, but who’d watch after your dumb ass, kid?” Dale kicked him lightly with the shoe covering the prosthesis. Though he looked amused, Max felt a twist of guilt, knowing that there was some truth to it.

“You don’t have to stay around here, Master Chief. I can clean my own house.”

“Did I say you couldn’t?” Dale asked, pleasantly enough, though Max recognized the don’t-bullshit-me-unless-you-want-to-do-a-thousand-pushups edge to the tone that had made him a scary and effective SEAL trainer. “I have plenty to keep me here. Swing sets to build, flower boxes to make. I’m also watching after Eddie’s dad and his dogs, over at the junkyard.”

Max smiled, though his gut twisted, remembering the day they’d lost Eddie. How they’d brought his personal shit home to Ed Sr. “Is he still doing good?”

“Yeah, but the cancer’s catching up to him. He doesn’t give a damn. Keeps a cigar clamped in his teeth like a Rottweiler with a bone practically twenty-four hours a day and says it just means he’ll get to see his boy and wife all the sooner.”

“Now I know where Eddie got his stubbornness.”

And his bravery. He’d thrown himself on a grenade to save three other team members.

Dale shifted, bringing them back to the present. “As far as this woman goes, do I know her, or do you prefer to keep her anonymous?”

“You might have seen her, though she usually wears a mask on the public floor.” Max hesitated, but it wasn’t due to concerns about Dale’s discretion. He was anticipating his reaction, which meant he was being chicken shit. “She’s my boss’s secretary.”

“Shitting where you work, Ack Ack. Problematic.”

“Yeah, but I’ve already run through worst-case scenarios. I’ll be the one to clear out if it goes sour. I won’t let that be an uncomfortable place for her. I know I tend to be protective, but…” He shook his head. “She’s a tough woman, but K&A, the club, the life she has here, it’s been carefully constructed and reinforced. I see Matt watching me a little bit closer these days, and not just because he’s a protective son of a bitch when it comes to the women he considers part of his world. It’s like he has intel about her he can’t share, and he’s gauging whether I’ll be able to handle it when I figure it out. And I think I’ve already figured out a piece of it.”

“Well, preparing for the unknown is something you’re trained to do. Sounds like you’re already pretty deep with this woman.”

“Not fully. Still playing in shallow waters, a couple quick trips to the deep end. But I’m ready to go deeper. I want to go deeper.” Max met the other man’s gaze. “She calms something inside me, even as she also stirs it all up. I didn’t expect that to happen, not with Amanda and everything else, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to be significant, wherever this goes.”

Dale pursed his lips. “Okay then. For what it’s worth, I’m not getting any alarm flags from what you’ve told me. If you need me, I’m here.”

“Thanks.” Max rose, his mind already resting easier from the simple reassurance. “Have to head to work, but I’ll come back this weekend. Help you build that swing set before the gangbangers run off with the lumber you have stacked out here.”

“Sounds good. Tell Matt he can’t hide behind his wife’s pregnancy anymore. I expect him back for poker third Thursday. He better bring a healthy wad of cash.”

Max grinned. “Cut the man some slack. He’s got two demanding women in his life now. And God knows, one is more than enough.”

“I’ve seen Savannah. If ever she gets too demanding, I’ll be in the front of the long line to pick up that slack.”

“Yeah, and you’ll lose that other leg.” Max waited a minute, saw Dale’s blue-green eyes sharpen. The Master Chief knew what he wanted to ask. Max always asked about it. But Dale still waited for him to voice the question.

“The other thing…anything new on that?”

“I’d have told you first thing if there was any verified intel.”

“Yeah. Roger that.” Max lifted a shoulder. “Just got a funny itch lately.”

“Might want to get that cleared up before you and your lady get more involved. They don’t tend to appreciate that kind of thing.”

“Suck me. Respectfully.” But it was an absent comment as Max lingered in the doorway. Dale cocked his head.

“You heard anything from the teens at Dana’s church?”

Max volunteered regularly there, helping out in the soup kitchen and with maintenance. It had been a natural evolution from his job as Dana’s primary driver, but it was also a strategic position to form bonds with the kids who inhabited that rough area. Dale’s neighborhood rubbed edges with it.

“Nothing yet, but if he ever surfaces and comes back, I’m feeling pretty sure they’ll be the ones to find out about it first and let me know.”

“Good. The other guys are keeping track of things in Mexico and Colombia. He’s been buried deep for all these years. He’s either piss-scared of you, acquired a new identity better than we can detect, or he’s dead. Drug dealing doesn’t lend itself to longevity.”

“Yeah.” Max nodded. “Thanks, Dale.”

“Keep your head and ass down.” The man opened the case of beer and threw him one. “Take this for a snack later. It’s New Orleans, after all.”

They parted amicably enough, but Max could feel Dale watching him cross the backyard. Fucking intuition could be contagious among those who’d served together, and he’d probably just raised Dale’s antennae. He’d meant what he said though. He appreciated Dale helping him with intel, but that’s where he wanted his Master Chief’s involvement to end. When he finally paid this debt, it would be his ass alone on the line.

* * * * *

As Max held the door for Dana, ensuring she was comfortably situated in the limo, his phone beeped. Closing the door and moving up to the driver’s door, he called up the message.

Since you passed the first evolution, I have another for you. If you’re not planning to DOR yet, come to my house after work today. There will be pizza. -J

For some reason, a T-shirt logo spoofing the Star Wars movies came to mind—
Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies.

Max shook his head at the note. An evolution referred to an event in the SEAL training schedule. He needed to get her away from the Internet. That thought led to a pleasing idea, one he mulled over as he took a seat behind the wheel. Dana shifted onto the padded seat behind him, curling her fingers into the shoulder of his coat, playing with the hair at his nape. “Are you sexting while on official K&A business?”

“Since when are you official K&A business? You’re the punishment for my many sins.” He flicked at her nose with a finger and she wrinkled it at him, swatting his fingers away.

“So I hear you and Janet are seeing one another.”

He shouldn’t be surprised. He wasn’t sure anything happened at K&A without the five-man team mysteriously and instantly knowing about it, which in turn meant their wives knew about it.

“She’s just using me for sex.”

“I fully support that. I just wish I could see video.”

He chuckled. “Do you ever behave?” When she gave him a smug smile he caught in the rearview mirror, he pulled into traffic. “So how did things go today?”

“Pretty good. We’re set for Tuesday’s spaghetti dinner, and the revival at the end of the month should be a great event for the community. Reverend Morris is still doing cartwheels over the fact the Godspeed Players will be performing for it.”

When he braked at a stop light, she brushed her knuckles along his cheek. It was an unexpectedly tender gesture that drew his gaze back to her. As she usually did when she wasn’t at home, she wore sunglasses that concealed her obvious blindness, but the bemused curve of her lips gave him an indication of her mood.

“You deserve to be happy, Max. You do realize that, right?”

That was a loaded question, one that twisted things deep in his gut. His mother had deserved happiness. Amanda had deserved it. Who decided who deserved what? Maybe it was just all a big game to that faceless deity.