Holding The Cards (11 page)

She blinked. She was looking down at an elephant. A small, white elephant, but most definitely an elephant.

The elephant's crinkled dark eyes shifted to her and the creature made a curious crooning noise.

Apparently she was much happier now that she could see Josh. With some alarm, Lauren realized the earthquake had been caused by his devotee pushing her head and considerable weight against the pilings of the house.

The bright sun and the reminder that he had other responsibilities, albeit in a form she would not have expected, returned her to reality. She needed to push off the effects of the mind-boggling orgasm and not make too much of it. She wouldn't push him. It had been a night of fun, was all, and now they all had things to do. His words this morning about continuing the game were probably just a case of male morning horniness.

"So," she propped her elbows on the wood and ignored the peculiar sinking feeling the idea gave her,

"Are white elephants native to this island?"

Josh chuckled. "Here," he said, "You shouldn't be standing."

Lauren caught hold of his shoulders as he lifted her up to sit her on the wide railing. He kept his hand braced against her back, his fingers splayed over the curve of her hip, an automatic gesture to keep her safe that made her stomach flutter in emotional reaction. So much for casual. His posture put his body close to hers, so close she could still smell the scent of herself on his mouth.

"Isabel was in a movie," Josh said, looking down at the elephant, now stripping a six-foot sapling of leaves. "They injected dye into her skin to turn her white."

"I remember that movie," Lauren recalled. "That fantasy thing, like a Conan type…what was the name of it?"

Josh shrugged. "I don't see many movies. Regardless, when the movie was over, they didn't need her anymore." A shadow crossed his face. "The dye poisoned her blood."

Lauren, dismayed, looked back down at the elephant. Even while eating, Isabel kept one eye on Josh.

The eye, clear and bright, nevertheless possessed that ancient look of wisdom and mystery that pachyderms have, a reminder of their existence on the planet significantly earlier than humans.

"They think she has a couple years before organs start shutting down and she'll be in pain. They were going to go ahead and put her down. I was in a position to take her, and so I brought her here, on a barge."

He shrugged. "She likes to know where I am. I forgot to tell her I wouldn't be in the usual places. Of
Page 58

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

course," he smiled at Lauren in an open, affectionate way that erased some of her tensions, "I didn't know I was going to end up staying here at the command of a beautiful woman."

Lauren looked over the edge, pleased to feel his grip on her tighten. "Seems to me," she observed, "That you're at the command of two women. And one of us just decided Lisette's banana plants are fair game."

"Hey!" Josh called out sharply. "Isabel, no! Ah…son of a—" with another apologetic look, he scooped Lauren off her seat on the rail and set her down on the bench in a move so effortless it caught her breath.

He took the rail himself, swung out to the tree she had used for her descent the day before, and shimmied down the trunk.

Marcus chuckled and set down his coffee cup. "So, beautiful lady, what's your pleasure today? We can leave you to your own devices, to hobble around the house as best you may, or we can take you on our adventures."

The idea of being stranded in Lisette's house held little appeal. Lauren overlooked the fact that she had intended to do just that, nurse her hurts and wallow in dejected solitude for the weekend. Of course, she had put a more positive spin on it than that when she got in the boat yesterday.

Still, she hesitated to answer. Where did the events of the past half hour leave them?
Did
they just shrug it off, resume their separate schedules, or was there something happening other than a night of sex games?

Stop being a moron. She had never been a woman to doubt her own appeal to the opposite sex. She knew when attraction was there and when it wasn't. A D/s relationship did not evolve this quickly unless strong desire was driving it. She put a hand on her fluttering stomach. Strong might be an understatement for what she was feeling for Josh. She was shielding herself precisely because she sensed there was far more than the physical involved. She was being a coward.

"I'd love to go with you," she admitted. "But you're not here to entertain me. I don't want to impose.

After all, you took care of me all afternoon and evening." Her cheeks flushed at the double meaning of that remark.

"True," Marcus quirked a brow at her expression, and laid his hand over where Josh's had been on her waist, increasing the heat that lingered there. "This morning Josh planned a swim for eight a.m. You've put him behind schedule already."

Lauren chuckled. "I intended to take a nap on the beach about one o'clock," Marcus continued, "after we checked in to see how the Salerno's hot water heater is doing. We installed it earlier this week. After that, we usually go sit up on the Knoll, the highest part of the island. Josh brings a book and I do some wishful amateur sketches. We go through a six-pack of Heineken while we watch the sun go down over the waves. And that would be the end of one of our busier days. So you see," he ran his knuckles down the side of her face in an easy, affectionate gesture, "we asked because we like playing with you, and we don't want playtime to be over. I would have expected Josh to tell you that, first thing this morning," he lifted a brow, "but perhaps his mouth was otherwise occupied."

Lauren punched his stomach. "Worm."

"Regardless," he caught her fist, raised it to his lips, "We're three children on a deserted island, and we've designated you queen. Josh wants you to keep holding the High Card as long as you wish to play."

Page 59

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"It doesn't feel like a game to me, Marcus," Lauren said, loosing her hand from his grasp and hooking her fingers under her legs. The rough wood of the bench rasped against her skin. "Sometimes it is just playing, and that's okay. But this doesn't feel that way." She drew a deep breath, let it out. "And I don't want it to be just a game. That sounds stupid, doesn't it? I just met him what, less than twenty-four hours ago."

"No. I'm glad to hear it." All teasing left Marcus's emerald eyes. "It's not a game to him, either. You're the first thing that's gotten a rise out of him, physically or emotionally, for months."

"You're putting a lot on me," she said, staring down at the subject of the discussion.

"I'm putting nothing on you," Marcus responded; with a trace of flint that jerked her attention back to him. "I'm trying to tell you as subtly as possible without abusing Josh's trust that you're dealing with someone who has locked himself in a cage, as if he's afraid he's a danger to others."

"So you won't tell me what happened to him?" she said.

He shook his head. "It's not my story to tell. And," he admitted, frustration tensing his angelic features,

"he hasn't told me all of it. I know about his divorce, but something happened, something more. He was always very private about his life with Winona, everything, even sex, but I sensed something was wrong in that department, in a lot of departments. There was an unhealthy energy between them and…" Marcus stopped himself. "Regardless. Whatever happened, he's got it jammed up his ass like a railroad spike."

Lauren winced. "Visual."

Marcus lifted a shoulder. "I've got good intuition about people, Lauren. I have to know when a talented artist has more temperament than commitment. I have to know when one is close to the breaking point and needs breathing room, and when one needs stroking versus goading. I like you, very much. You're strong."

"We're all Sampson," she murmured. "Find our weakness and we'll shatter."

"Only if you happen to hook yourself up with Delilah, instead of the faithful and loving Ruth. On the other hand," the corner of his mouth tugged up, "Sometimes shattering is the best excuse to rebuild yourself on a better foundation."

He shrugged at the surprise on her face. "I think you and Josh have a gift to give to each other. It may be a small gift, just a step in the right direction, a couple days of simple pleasures and reminding each other what that feels like. Or, it may be a gift of life altering size. Either way, if you lose courage for it or the pleasure to pursue it, know what you're dealing with and don't crush him with your pain. I love Josh, very much. He is my friend, he is a brother, and he has a beautiful, intelligent spirit that is struggling to heal itself despite his best efforts keep the wounds open."

She nodded. Marcus's love for Josh as a friend, combined with his nature as a Master, would make him automatically protective. Hence, the frequent trips to the island to check on his well-being. She felt her regard for Marcus grow. Not all Masters were like that. But it was also the kind of Mistress she was.

"Marcus!" Josh called, holding onto Isabel's trunk like a harried parent trying to keep hold of a child on the verge of a tantrum. "Stop trying to impress Lauren with your jaded New Yorker routine and toss out a handful of peanuts."

Page 60

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"I'm actually trying to convince her that you would like her to spend the day with us, despite your dark, brooding personality. Perhaps you could take some pains to reassure her." Marcus shot her a look that seemed to say, "Ball's in your court, darling," and stepped back through the sliding glass door.

Lauren peered down as Isabel jerked Josh several feet sideways and he grunted, a sound of discomfort.

"Everything okay down there?"

"Nothing that a 2x4 wouldn't cure," he muttered as she wrapped her trunk around his waist and whuffled at his palm, trying to get past him to the banana plants.

Lauren chuckled. "Doesn't she realize she could just stomp over you?"

Josh looked pained. "Now that you've told her."

Lauren giggled and a smile crossed his face, so shy and hopeful it wrenched her heart. "You will spend the day with us, won't you? I mean," he grimaced, "I'm sorry, Lauren. I'm sure you have your reasons for being here, and they don't necessarily include company. We shouldn't be—"

"Why don't you let me decide what you should and shouldn't do for me, Josh?" she said, her decision made in that moment.

She pitched her tone low, but her direct, imperious gaze made the implication clear. She felt the air between them heat and her lips curved. "Didn't we get that straight, earlier this morning?"

He gazed up at her. The shy smile was gone, but what replaced it was no less potent. "Yes, you did," he murmured.

She nodded, and lifted an eyebrow.

"Well, then," he played with Isabel's trunk and slanted a look up at her, the expression of a mischievous boy. "If it pleases you, I'd very much like it if you joined us today."

"It pleases me," she said, and let it be at that.

While she cleaned up and changed, Marcus put together a packed lunch. Josh left them to go to his home and get the two men a change of clothes, which she discovered meant a pair of clean cut-off shorts and an extra shirt in case the day turned colder.

Gauging the day and where they might go, she changed into a sapphire blue bikini and a pair of shorts.

She had expected to be quite alone on the island, and so the bikini allowed for maximum tanning area.

She didn't care to bake bronze like some women did. She had no desire to resemble a Shar-pei pug by age forty. However, she did like to maintain a light golden coloring. The bikini top was a shelf bra style that raised her breasts up and together with padding beneath and on the sides. Besides displaying the generous rounded tops of her breasts and giving great play to their movement, the stretch of the garment molded over the jut of her nipples. The bikini's blue material had a sheen caused from sparkling threads in the weave, and was sheer enough that if a man tried to focus past the subdued glitter, he could see the dusky shadow of the aureoles. She expected at least one man would be trying.

Page 61

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Lauren brushed back her hair into a twisted chignon that exposed her delicate neck and would keep her cool. Right. Like that was possible with Josh around.

She put in a pair of silver hoops, and allowed herself the vanity of pale pink lipstick. She looked delicate; something a man would ache to touch. If she let him. Her lips curved. Therein lay the fun, seeing how long her mastery could hold out, how he would connive to get around it.

Playfulness mingled with healthy lust had never been part of her life with Jonathan. Was she rewriting history to help her heal? She frowned. Maybe, but there was more to it. Josh made it more.

Good God, she was beating this to death. She adjusted the strap to give her breasts an extra lift, turned from side to side to admire how the suit showcased them, and then headed up the hallway. Her ankle was feeling better, enough that she could give her hips a slight swing to offset the distraction of the limp.

Marcus lounged on the couch with a breakfast Bloody Mary. Josh sat restlessly on the counter, his bare feet just above the floor. His gray eyes ran over her soft pink lips, the exposed column of her throat, and down to her breasts. She managed to control a blush, just barely, as she felt the nipples peak against the material, a shiver of reaction that ran across the exposed tops of her breasts, down to the lower extremities beneath the shorts. His gaze seemed to follow her reaction, all the way down the lean muscles of her long thighs, to her toes, curling inside loose canvas sneakers with no laces. His eyes alighted on the ace bandage she had rewrapped.

His expression shifted from blatant male appreciation to a protective evaluation of her self-nursing. It caused an emotional tug on what lay beneath her breast, and that mental twinge plucked at the physical.

"So, I'm yours, gentlemen," she managed, looking between them. "Where do we go first?"

Josh slid off the counter and came toward her as Marcus gave a mysterious grin and slipped out the back door, Bloody Mary still in hand.

Lauren's gaze shifted to make her own thorough appraisal as Josh approached. She appreciated to the point of an audible purr the bare chest, the way the shorts cradled his half erect cock, the way the waistband of his cut off shorts slid along his deltoids, much the way she might like to slide her hands over them. She tilted her head back as he got to her, and gave him a raised brow and slight smile.

"You wore that swimsuit to torture me," he accused.

"Did I?" she arched her brow higher, considering, then nodded. "Maybe I did. Maybe I want you to be hard for me. Are you hard for me, Josh?" She kept her eyes on his, but as he leaned forward, she leaned back.

"That wasn't an answer, Josh," she reproved gently. "Put your hand on your cock, over your jeans, and show me how hard you are."

"Lauren," he said, a flush creeping up his neck.

She took another step back. "Do I hold the cards or not, Josh?" she asked. "Show me," she murmured.

"I want to know how hard looking at my breasts makes you."

He swallowed and then, with a quick look toward the door, lowered his hand and cupped himself.

Page 62

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Lauren followed the line of sight and smiled at the outline of his bulging groin cradled in his hand. The discomfort of it crept higher up his neck. She stepped closer to him, marveling at how much taller he was than she, how much more physically powerful.

She put her one hand behind his neck and her other hand over his on the source of his discomfort, keeping it there as she raised up on her toes. She pressed her breasts into his chest, shifting slightly to ensure the stiffened nipples would drag over his skin, and kissed him, a light brushing of lips, a brief touch of her tongue to his teeth. His other hand rose to her hip and held there, an anchor against the need that quivered through his muscles and communicated how much he ached to use that power advantage to crush her to him. But he didn't.

"I'm glad you wanted me to be with you today," she said, needing to give something to him. She needed to let him know she wanted him, too, to keep his discontent based in banked lust and not the brooding unhappiness that seemed to be waiting, simmering behind his extraordinarily beautiful eyes. "Show me your island."

He raised his hand, his fingers twitching once as they passed the side of her breast, but he kept the movement going until he rested his knuckles along her cheekbone, a feather of contact. She tilted her head toward the touch, then caught her breath as he scooped her up, taking her off her feet.

"You might get tired, transporting me this way," she teased, proud that her voice cracked only on the first note before she regained her composure. "I'm really fine to walk, just not fast."

"Not as far as we're going." He took her out the back door and down the steps. "We've got you a ride."

The light fresh breeze of morning in the islands touched her skin, bringing her the smell and sound of the ocean. Sunlight filtered over the tree tops, lighting the activities of the many island bird species. It was going to be a beautiful day, and her heart swelled with hope for new beginnings, cleansing, and forgiveness. Her grip tightened on Josh's neck, reflecting the sudden constriction in her throat, her reaction to the abrupt touch of happiness.

They turned the corner, and Lauren saw Marcus standing with Isabel. An oversized beach towel had been doubled and laid across the white elephant's shoulders to form a sitting area. Lauren grinned with pure delight, a reaction that dimmed somewhat as Josh carried her toward the elephant. Isabel eyed Lauren with at least a degree of the apprehension Lauren was beginning to feel as they approached and Isabel's much greater size became apparent.

"Now," Josh said smoothly, "she's a lot like a New York taxi driver. You can tell her where you want to go, and she'll eventually get you there, but she may take the circuitous route to get a better fare."

They reached the elephant and Lauren shrank back against Josh as the large pachyderm raised her head to give her a better inspection.

"Isabel, this is Lauren," Josh said seriously. "I'm supposed to take care of her, which means you have to help me."

"Josh, I don't know — "

"It's okay, Lauren," he looked down at her, tightened his hold. "You can trust Isabel."

He held her gaze for a moment more, and Lauren felt an unexpected peace steal through her. He
Page 63

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

wouldn't let anything hurt her. It was a dangerous, naive thought, one she was far too experienced to be having, but there it was, filling her, calming her.

Marcus stepped on Isabel's offered knee and swung up. Josh set Lauren with her weight on her one good foot on the elephant's provided step. He set his shoulder behind her knee, told her to reach up to Marcus, and then he laid his hand on her thigh, pressed on it to get her to sit on his shoulder. He straightened, and a gasp and a moment of weightlessness and she was there, seated before Marcus.

Josh swung up in front of her, ready with a peanut as Isabel lifted her trunk up to him to retrieve the expected treat.

"If it pleases the lovely lady," Marcus observed, "we might go to the beach first. Mornings are the best swimming times."

"It pleases me," Lauren agreed, running a fingertip along Josh's bare spine and enjoying the reaction of goose pimples along his flesh.

God, she had locked down her hormones for nearly a year, since Jonathan, and now she couldn't keep her hands off this man. Maria had warned her that celibacy for one of her sexual nature would result in an explosion of "felonious proportions". Lauren had laughed at her, until now.

However, Josh didn't appear to be objecting to her attentions. She recalled with a flush of heat the impressive evidence beneath her hand, matched by the heated steel of his eyes.

"Beach, Isabel," Josh requested. The elephant agreeably started down the steep drive to Lisette's home.

Lauren laid her hands on Josh's waist just above the line of his jeans and observed that she had an excellent view of his ass because of the way they rode low on his hips. Definitely not the gross exhibitionism of an overweight plumber. More like the provocatively loose "modesty" drape around the hips of a young Roman god.

Isabel reached the bottom of the drive, but instead of continuing down the slope, she went right and onto a narrow trail that began to climb upward.

Josh's shoulders lifted in a sigh. "New York taxi driver," he reminded Lauren.

"I almost prefer her to take the circuitous route," Marcus chuckled.

His voice came from somewhere below her, rather than under her ear as she expected. Lauren twisted about to see him lying on his back, his long legs bent and swinging just behind hers to keep his balance.

Lauren considered the way his posture strained the twill of his shorts over his groin and then, in the leisurely manner of a true sensualist, let her eyes graze up the equally appreciable ground of his bare, muscular chest. He was bronzed, not quite as dark as Josh, but still a nice compliment to his dark silky waves of hair.

He glanced down the line of his body at her, making it clear he knew what she had been doing, and grinned. He extended a hand. "Come down here. See why Isabel is smarter than the rest of us."

Lauren agreeably lay back; letting his hands on her shoulders guide her. She giggled as he snorted, caught her under her armpits and hauled her back about half a foot. "It may feel like a comfortable cushion at the moment," he said sternly, "But that's not the best place for your hard head. It makes a better neck rest."

Page 64

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv
erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Lauren nestled the back of her skull into the lower part of his abdomen, still smiling. She settled her hands on the armrests his thighs provided and followed the direction of his pointed finger.

A canopy of vines stemmed with broad leaves wove above her in various shades of green, from mint to a rich dark color that was almost grape. Spreading branches displayed splashes of color, the exotic blooms of a jungle environment. The rising sun sent streaks of light through the foliage to illuminate the pockets of light morning mist in the close air of the forest. One moment the early breeze shivered across her skin, and a breath later, a sunbeam stroked it away.

There was noise. No, that was wrong. Noise meant chaos, jobs, streets, cars, and too many people, all wanting something. This was a rhythm, like the movement of waves, a serene pattern expressed audibly, in the conferences of birds, the rustle of the tree dwellers, creatures foraging and chattering. Beneath the sounds, there was a hush, a cavern of noiselessness that Lauren associated with a Presence, something that lived quietly in Nature, but spoke only through its creatures.

It was like being in a church, she realized. It was spiritual.

"Come down here," she reached for Josh. He obliged, adjusting forward, so when he lay back between her spread thighs, his head rested just below her breasts. His hands, like hers with Marcus, slid down to rest on her thighs for stability. The base of his neck pressed against her crotch, and that pressure sent a pleasurable spiral through her belly beneath his head. She raised one hand from Marcus's leg and laid it on Josh's shoulder, stroking his hair and the side of his throat as Marcus did much the same to her.

Marcus was a true Dom, assuming all within range of his fingers were subject to his fondling, but she wasn't complaining. He would have made a good sheik, she'd warrant. She liked the feel of his long fingers stroking her hair. She ran her knuckles along the ridge of Josh's shoulder, drew a circle on his pectoral, idly traced his jugular. It pleased her when he raised his chin to give her better access. She kept up the motion, all the while looking up at the world above them. It was a world that existed without self-analysis, falling into a natural pattern without question of that pattern, of the wrong and right of it. It was much how this felt, the three of them together, part of it, and at least for the moment, Lauren knew peace.