Page 83 of Bound By Words

Nathan laughed as he rummaged in the drawer at his waist, pulling out the wooden spoon I’d discovered when looking for flashlights. I’d thrown it back in the drawer when I was searching for batteries for the candles. “Wonder if Chase has any more of these,” he mused as he turned it over, studying the laser-engraved message on the backside. “This might leave some interesting marks.”

“No! You are not coming near me with that thing. I don’t want to know which one of them got spanked with that,” I pointed at him, narrowing my eyes.

He continued to chuckle as he finished making his breakfast, sliding it onto a plate. “Enjoying flagellation might be hereditary, sunshine.”

“Don’t test me,” I growled.

“I’ll order you something custom if you’d like. They should’ve mirrored the text on this.”

“Why would that ma…” I trailed off at the smirk on his face. Ah…so it’d leave an imprint of the text on your skin so you could read it.

As I unlocked my phone, I frowned when I saw a number I didn’t recognize with a Chicago area code about halfway down the list.

The messages from my brother and Chase were first.

Evan: Are you alright? Heard there was a weather front coming through the area.

Evan: I can’t get ahold of Nathan either. Can you please text Chase to let her know you’re alright? She’s freaking out since the alert for the security system indicated a power outage.

Chase: Are you alive? Is Nathan still there with you? Liz from the grocery store texted me that you got a foot of snow.

Chase: And that she thought he was hot.

Chase: And that you were a lucky bitch. Heard you’ve been listening to one of my books in public, you freak.

Freak?

She was the one who wrote it!

Chase: You better not be dead in my house since you’re not replying. You can’t ever get rid of that smell…or the stench of raunchy sex.

I laughed, shaking my head at my ridiculous sister-in-law until I read the next one.

Chase: If you do it in my bed, burn the mattress.

Nope, just on your couch cushions. And the comforter from your guest bedroom. And you might want to touch up some spots on the wall in your closet.

There were also a few from Kristine, checking in since she hadn’t heard from me in a few days.

Kristine: How are you holding up? The offer for Sam to pay a visit to Trent still stands. I’ve heard a lacrosse stick to the kneecaps hurts like a bitch.

Kristine: Word on the street says you’re snowed in with a hunky lumberjack. How’s that going?

Kristine: Tal told me she shipped a very interesting package to Evan’s house a few days ago.

Geez, my friends were nosy. Although it appeared that everyone knew we were stuck here and likely enjoying our time together—a lot. Nathan still hadn’t shown me what Talia had sent him, but I trusted he would when I was ready.

“Anything interesting?” Nathan asked as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, kissing my neck.

“Just my nosy sister-in-law and her equally nosy friends. They’ve been passing information about us.”

“Oh, I know they have,” he laughed, holding up his phone with a few text messages from Talia.

Talia: How’s the sex nest going?

Talia: Did you guys get hit by the weather? Did the package get there alright?

Talia: Did you play the game yet? Let me know how it goes. My followers want a review in my next blog post.

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