Page 36 of Flog Me, Sir

Chapter Thirteen

Lissa

Swimming took everything away, leaving me weightless, free of my need for control. But Garret had done the same.

Lips pursed, I paused in my laps of feeling a sense of freedom, hand on the edge of the pool long enough for me to catch my breath somewhat.

Mom was doing well at a long term care facility until fully healed, which the doctors expected would take place within a matter of months. I was back home at the Laurents, confident in the law’s ability to keep Mom’s ex-boyfriend behind bars.

The stress eating at me for almost two weeks had eased when I’d returned to work two days earlier and Mrs. Hummel had wrapped her arms around me. I’d let loose then—and only then—sobbing against her shoulder, draining myself dry, but invigorating my depleted emotions.

I wrote three chapters that night on the manuscript I’d ignored since meeting Garret, my hero tying his love interest up tight and teasing her with a crop. I dreamed up the next five scenes the following day while scrubbing—and got those jotted down into my notebook as well, telling myself that reading and knowing were two different things when it came to floggers, canes, and cuffs. The fantasies, I would allow onto paper—a way of exercising the demons thrashing inside me, demanding more.

Hand cramped, I’d opted for the pool Lily had offered access to for whenever I desired.

Expelling a heavy sigh, I pushed off the wall onto my back, floating, once more weightless. My thumping heart and breaths sounded through the muffling effect of my ears being submerged beneath the water, and I focused on the slowing beat in my chest.

I wanted Garret to return. I wanted his hands on my body.

Closing my eyes shut out the view of the roof overhead, but not the thoughts in my head.

You’re safer without him,I told myself. Keeping to yourself like always.

A shiver licked over my skin even though the indoor pool was heated, and the feeling remained with me until I wondered if someone watched me.

Not just any someone. I recognized the shivers, the butterflies waking from sleep.

My pulse kicked back up, but I didn’t shift, didn’t give up my floating to doggy paddle and check to see if Garret had arrived at the estate unannounced—unexpected with the Laurents away for the weekend.

“I know you’re here,” I said out loud, my eyes clenched shut. Ears still submerged, I wouldn’t hear his reply. I sighed and twisted in the water, forcing my lower body beneath the water to kick and keep me afloat.

Garret sat on a lounger by the door leading into the main house, his face in shadow. “You feel me across the room,” he said, “same as I do with you.”

His low tone shivered my skin again, and I swallowed against sudden nervousness while nodding. “Happy birthday, Garret,” I said, my voice shaky as hell.

He blinked and paused from sitting up. “How did you know?”

“Mrs. Hummel,” I replied, somehow managing words.

“Can I join you?” he asked, fully rising to his feet, all dark and alluring.

Heat swarmed through me, and I couldn’t find my voice to answer.

He approached the pool, dropping clothing as he neared. Shirt. Belt. Shoes kicked off. Jeans and boxers in one downward swipe revealing every inch of his hard body—and hard cock.

Oh God.

I gulped as he dove into the water, my gaze tracking his torpedo-like glide toward me. My heart pounded like mad. My entire body shook.

He rose to the surface mere inches from me, hair and lashes dripping, his dark eyes piercing.

Lips parted, I stared as his minty breath wafted over me. “How are you?” he asked, his gaze searching.

“Okay.” I swallowed. “Better.”

A corner of his lips rose as he treaded water, his fingers brushing mine as I did the same. “Tillie girl said your mom is going to be alright.”

I nodded.

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