Show Me The Ropes ~ Lothario Series ~ Book 2 (11 page)

She flipped on the headset. “Richard. Aft elevators are secured.”

“Good work. Get the passengers off now.”

“Will do.” The lifeboats and tenders loaded and took off for the island with surprising speed, thanks to a well-trained crew. Fallon hustled passengers to the waiting boats while she fought down the panic building inside. An empty tender returned from the island and Ryan Callahan leapt off. “Ryan! What are you doing here?”

“Candace and I are at my house on the island. We saw the
Lothario
come in a day early. What’s going on? Where’s Richard?”

Fallon drew him aside. “There’s a fire in the main elevator bank.” He didn’t wait to hear more. Fallon returned to her task, relieved that Ryan was back onboard. Richard could use the support of his best friend and business partner. Finally, crew members began to arrive with reports of all clear in their various sections. Fallon saw them onto the waiting boats, and when she was sure the remaining staff could handle the situation, she broke into a run.

The controlled chaos on the Odyssey Deck sent her heart into an uneven rhythm. The ship’s medical crew tended to several groups of passengers scattered around the main lobby. All five elevators were open and empty, the center one nothing more than a dark, gaping hole. Richard and Ryan stood in front of the open shaft, talking. She ran, almost knocking Richard back into the chasm when she wrapped her arms around his neck. She buried her face against his chest and nearly wept with relief.

“What are you doing here? You were supposed to go with the crew.”

“I couldn’t leave you here. What happened? Are the passengers okay?”

“Yes. There were a couple of crew members in the elevator and they were able to help evacuate the car. Everyone is going to be fine, just a little shaken up.” Richard’s calm voice and the feel of his arms wrapped around her eased some of her anxiety.

“What happened?” she asked. Richard loosened his hold on her and she brushed unshed tears from her eyes as she stepped away from him.

“We’re not sure yet. It looks like a small fire was set in the central shaft. Nothing big enough to cause serious damage, but enough to cause a commotion.”

“Who would do a thing like that?”

“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out,” Ryan said, a sense of urgency in his voice. “Let’s go see what Sean has on the security cameras.”

Ryan waved over a couple of crew members to guard the elevator shaft, and sent a couple more to the island to inform the staff, and Candace, that all was well. Fallon followed Richard and Ryan to Ryan’s cabin where Sean was waiting with the video tape evidence.

Sean played the tape, pausing on the grainy image of the perpetrator. “This camera records every ten seconds. Looks like a woman, but unfortunately the camera missed her tossing a pile of what appears to be crew uniforms down the shaft. It looks like a lighted cigarette was used to ignite them. This was on Deck Three, well below passenger access.”

“It was a crew member?” Ryan asked.

“Looks that way. This image isn’t very good, certainly not good enough for a positive identification. Whoever it is, they know what they’re doing.” He pointed out the way the suspect had averted her face to avoid identification on all the hallway cameras. “Unfortunately, not all the cameras were recording. Some are only turned on as needed, and this one with the ten second gaps doesn’t tell the whole story. Whoever this is knew that, and took advantage of it. We can’t follow them back to where they came from.”

“I can’t believe any of the crew would do this,” Fallon said.

“It could be a passenger. Anyone with enough cunning could figure out how to get past security and to the decks below the waterline. Looks like she’s wearing a crew outfit, though.”

Richard and Ryan both leaned in closer to study the black and white image. “Yeah, it does. If it was white it would show up better on the tape,” Richard offered.

“So what are we going to do?” Ryan asked.

“Let’s get this ship back to as normal a state as we can. We’ll close off the main bank of elevators until my crew can inspect the other four for damage. If they’re all right, we’ll open them back up. Drew is working on it as we speak. We’ll set up interviews with all the female crew, see if anyone fits the bill. It’s going to take a while to verify everyone’s whereabouts at that particular time.”

“Thanks, Sean. I’m going back to the island. Candace was out of her mind with worry. She’s taken a liking to this ship. Who would have thought?”

Fallon smiled. She’d become friends with Candace, and couldn’t be happier for her and Ryan. They both deserved to be happy, and from all accounts, they’d found their happiness together. “I can’t imagine why,” Fallon teased.

Ryan laughed. “You’ll have to ask her. I’m not telling. Why don’t you come with me? Richard and Sean can take care of this. I know Candace would love to see you. She hasn’t had much girl talk since we left the
Lothario
.”

Fallon protested. As much as she wanted to see Candace, and have some girl talk of her own, she didn’t want to leave Richard. She only acquiesced after Richard promised to join them later.

* * * * *

Candace glowed. The reserved, naïve schoolteacher was gone, replaced by a woman confident of her sexuality, and very much in love. “You look wonderful,” Fallon said as the two women hugged. “Ryan must be treating you very well.”

“He is. I’m so glad to see you.” She took Fallon’s hand and led her away from the house and toward the beach. “You look pretty good yourself. Tell me about it.”

“There isn’t much to tell.”

“Oh, come on. Richard is a hunk. What’s he like?”

“What makes you think it’s Richard?”

“Ryan told me. Richard’s had a thing for you for ages.” Candace stopped in her tracks, forcing Fallon to stop too. “It is Richard, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but we haven’t. . . . ” Fallon resumed walking. Candace scrambled in the soft sand to catch up.

“What? Why not?”

Fallon dropped to the sand just beyond the surf. She told Candace everything, ending with the faint rope lines that had marked her the night before, but with the morning light had been gone.

“Wait. You mean the rope outfit in the gift shop? The one on the mannequin?”

“Yep. That’s the one.”

“Wow. That must have cost a fortune.”

“I’m sure it did. And get this, Richard commissioned it for me.”

“That’s so romantic! So why haven’t you been to bed with him?”

“He hasn’t given me a chance. He won’t even let me touch him. Sometimes I think I’ll explode if he doesn’t make love to me, but he always makes sure I come. He won’t even let me taste his cock. I don’t understand.”

“I think I do. Ryan was like that too, at first. He made sure I found my pleasure, but he wouldn’t make love to me. He did let me, well, he ordered me to suck his cock. The lingerie you helped me pick out did the trick though, that and not letting him out of my cabin until he made love to me.”

“I remember the lingerie. At least you got to touch him. Richard won’t let me near him. I’m an expert in fellatio, for crying out loud.”

“Maybe that’s it. Maybe he doesn’t want you to think that’s all he wants from you.”

“I’ve seen him, you know. He brought a woman to a research session once.”

“Really? Ryan said the sessions he went to blew his mind. Not like the one with me, but you are good at what you do.”

“I’m glad you think so. You’re okay with Ryan and me? I never touched him, not in that way. It was clinical, in the way of instruction.”

“I know, and I’m okay with it. You’re a professional. Besides, he’s all mine now.”

“Not going to share him?” Fallon teased.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so? What does that mean?”

“Well, you know. . . . If the right couple were to come along. . . . ”

“Candace Williams. You surprise me! You’d really do that?”

Candace shrugged. “Maybe, if Ryan wanted to. Right now it’s enough that we have each other, but someday. . . . ” She changed the subject. “Tell me more about the ropes. You like it?”

They spent the next hour talking about the dynamics of being a submissive. Fallon outlined her new research idea. “I think it could work, but I’d have to stay on the
Lothario
. I can’t imagine any other place I could do that kind of research. Of course, I’ll have to talk to Richard and Ryan about it. They’d have to approve it, and renew my contract.”

“It might not be that simple, Fallon. Richard hasn’t told you?”

“Told me what?”

“They’re going to sell the
Lothario
.”

She thought she knew the answer, but she had to ask. “Why?”

“Ryan says he’s doing it for me. I suspect Richard has a similar reason.”

“Do you want Ryan to sell?”

“No. In fact, I’ve been trying to talk him into going back. I don’t want to live there forever, but I think we could have a good time, spend a few months onboard, a few here.”

She didn’t have time to ask Candace any more questions as Ryan and Richard joined them on the beach. It wasn’t the time or the place to confront Richard, so Fallon let her questions lie unanswered.

The ship was secured once again, and Sean had already begun his search for the saboteur. There wasn’t much more they could do besides enjoy the afternoon on Ryan’s private beach. They swam, then ate a delectable meal Candace and Fallon prepared. Candace explained that she and Ryan preferred their privacy, and thus only had people come in to clean the house and stock the kitchen once a week. The rest of the time, they were free to roam the house and grounds as they pleased. Fallon took it to mean the lovebirds made love any time and any place the mood struck them. When the couple disappeared late in the day, Richard and Fallon returned to the ship.

* * * * *

“That was fun. They’re such a cute couple,” Fallon said as the tender reached the ship.

“Cute? Don’t let Ryan hear you say that.”

“I don’t think he’d mind. He’s so much in love, I bet he hears birds chirping in his sleep.”

“I don’t think he gets much sleep.”

“You’re probably right. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other.”

“I noticed.”

“They weren’t shy about. . . you know.”

“Doing it in public? We weren’t exactly the public, and they only did it once, and they were discreet about it.”

“He could have taken her a little further out. When the waves washed out, you could see everything.”

“I know.”

“You looked?”

“You did, too. Don’t tell me you didn’t. I saw you.”

“Well. . . I’m a professional. I observe.”

“And what did you observe?”

“Two people so much in love they forget there are other people in the world.”

“Hmm. And I thought it was my best friend making love to his fiancé in the ocean.”

“Fiancé?”

“Yeah. He’s going to ask her to marry him.”

“She’s going to be the happiest woman on earth.” Fallon sighed, remembering the love evident on Candace’s face every time she looked at Ryan.

They stopped in front of her cabin, and Richard drew her into his arms. His lips came down to cover hers in a heated kiss. “I’ll be back in an hour. No ropes tonight. I want to take you dancing.”

“Okay. I’ll miss the ropes.”

“Tomorrow I’ll bring you the final pieces of the ensemble. Tonight I just want to party, forget about what happened earlier.”

An hour later Fallon was dressed in the short white toga trimmed with gold braid that she found lying on her bed. She added the gold rope leash as a belt, unwilling to do without the symbolic ornament for even one night. When Richard saw her, he advanced on her like a wolf stalking his dinner. He took the end of the leash in his fist and wrapped it around his wrist, pulling her closer with each circular motion, until her hips met his. With only his fist between them, he bent his head and took her mouth in a kiss that spoke of possession and desire.

“Mine,” he whispered against her ear.

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Let’s go before I forget my good intentions.”

“Would that be so bad?”

“Yes, tonight it would be.”

Richard managed to keep the leash wrapped around his wrist, and slid his arm behind her so her hip pressed against his as they walked.

She’d been to Muses many times, always to watch the passengers dance and to enjoy the music. The eight women who made up the Muses band were skilled musicians. Even though they wore costumes fit for a gathering on Mt. Olympus, they played a mix of classic and contemporary rock that invited dancing, and in many cases, dirty dancing. Fallon had always thought the mating rituals inherent in dancing would make a good study, but she wasn’t the one to do it. Her interest had always leaned toward a more intimate level of sexual communication. Richard commandeered a table near the dance floor, but secluded from the rest of the club by a wall of scarlet veils. Richard had changed back into a passenger’s toga that matched the one Fallon was wearing, but he was still recognized by the staff as co-owner of the ship, and treated accordingly.