Page 144 of Wrangled

“It’s more of a don’t-fall-for-me kinda rule. And—you know what? It doesn’t matter. All you need to know is… I’ve fallen for you. And I left without telling you because… I thought if I shared that, you wouldn’t trust me as your Dom. How could you, if I broke my own rules?”

Oh God. He’d thought…what?

Then I thought about it. I’d knocked his confidence when I turned him down for the long-distance D/s relationship, not that I’d meant to do such a thing. But once I’d done that, he’d have found it even more difficult to tell me he’d broken his own guideline as a Dom, thinking I’d…

My brain wouldn’t cooperate. “You’ve…”

He walked up to me. “All the way here, you know what I was thinking about? Lobsters.”

I blinked. “Now you’ve lost me.” He was close enough that I could smell him, that familiar scent that had clung to my pillowcase, the same pillowcase I’d refused to wash for a week after he left.

“Put a lobster in boiling water, and it’ll fight, but put it on slow cook, raise the temperature, and that lobster won’t even know it’s being boiled.”

“Please, tell me there’s a point to all this.”

“You put me in the club, introduce me to a sub, and I’ll stick to my rules. I’ll avoid getting entangled—falling in love…”

Lord, my heart…

“But take me away from D/s, put me on a ranch where I’m just getting to know someone, and I won’t even notice I’ve fallen for them until… well… until it’s too late.” He looked me in the eye. “I want to stay—if you’ll have me.”

“But what about San Francisco? The club?”

“My business partner will run it. I’m a silent partner anyway. But… I’m not looking for a twenty-four/seven submissive. I want a partner who’ll share my lifestyle, sure—but also my life.” He smiled. “And this is the part where you kiss me.”

I didn’t hesitate. My hands were on his face, his beard, my lips locked onto his, and I kissed him with all the vigor of a drowning man who’d just found a lifebelt.

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah. I’m not certain I’ll be any good at helping run a cattle ranch, but I had a few ideas about the dude part of it.”

“The dude ranch is what supports the rest.”

Toby’s eyes lit up. “Then maybe I’m on the right track.”

“What do you mean?”And why are we talking, when we could be kissing… and touching?

“How about offering a different sort of experience?”

I stilled. “Such as?”

“What if one week out of every month, Salvation opens its doors to people like us?” When I arched my eyebrows, he grinned. “Kinksters. Doms. Subs.”

“Why would they come here?” Despite my need to hold him, to convince myself this was real, he wasreally there, my curiosity got the better of me.

“There’d be guys who want to push their boundaries, in a place where they can focus, relax, set aside their day-to-day worries.”

“I like the idea in principle, but… I’m not sure there’d be enough interest.”

He smiled. “Trust me, I have enough connections to get the word out. We could bring in… guest speakers, I suppose you’d call them. Someone to talk or demonstrate whips, Shibari, sounding, wax, you name it. We get people here to try something new. And you know what? It’d be profitable too. Gay guys with no families? We’re talking alotof disposable income.”

Okay, now hereallyhad my interest. “I love it. But…”

“But?”

“We have to put it to the hands. I know it wouldn’t impactthem—they’d still work with the cattle and the horses—but—”

“But they’re your family. I agree. When?”

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