Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 114284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“Yeah, see, I didn’t have to share squat with anyone until Marina came along, and suddenly, her chubby little baby paws were in my cereal.”
I cracked up hard.
“Ma quickly declared she preferred her granddaughter over me too,” he muttered into his coffee. “I’m just not great with sharing.”
Christ, the man made me laugh.
“Well, here you are, sharing your Lagavulin with me.” I accepted the glass and took a whiff of it. Damn, my mouth watered.
“I can buy another bottle,” he replied. “I can’t pick up another Lane.”
I smiled. He was really into that boy.
“I gotta make him mine somehow,” he sighed.
Mm, but now, let’s focus on the whisky. I took a small sip and closed my eyes. Those who didn’t appreciate this didn’t know what they were missing out on. They would never know how a drink could fly you halfway across the world and make you feel another culture. And this right here was Scotland. Smoky but not overly so, far from it; it was just one component of many. Definitely sweet and strong, smooth and…I didn’t know how to explain it, but a sip brought me to an unforgiving seascape with cliffs and crashing waves.
I’d been to Scotland a couple times. Lovely country. Beautiful nature.
“It’s like being back in Scotland,” I murmured.
Ty snapped his gaze to me. “You read my mind. You been there a lot?”
“No, just twice—for work. I never made it far enough to visit the distillery.” I held up the glass before taking another sip. “You?”
“Once. The other side, though. A buddy from the Air Force had family in Inverness,” he said. “Shortly after Savannah died, he offered to bring me along, and Ma thought a week away from the grief would do me good. She wasn’t wrong. Every day I was there, I went out with my friend’s old man on his fishing boat.”
I could imagine that would do the trick for me too.
It made me yearn for the spring, when I could return my boat to the water.
A loud cracking sound thundered around us, and it was followed by the distinctive sound of glass shattering. A lot of it. We both shot off the couch and abandoned our whisky. Holy fuck, my heart started hammering.
Terra woke up and barked, and Ty hurried over to the patio door and peered out.
“Do you see anythin’?” I stalked over there too, shocked to see how much snow had fallen. Had to be a solid ten inches, and much of it was smashed up against the wooden fence.
“I think a tree fell over the neighbor’s porch,” he replied. “I can usually see the crown from here. The idiot installed a glass roof last summer.”
A mistake he probably wouldn’t make twice.
I pulled out my phone, wanting to check in with Macklin, but go figure, no service. “Does your phone work?”
He hauled out his too, then shook his head. “Not a single bar.”
I wasn’t too surprised. Not particularly worried either. Macklin was home. He was all about safety. He didn’t even like it when I drove home from work in the rain.
“Let’s go make somethin’ to eat,” Ty said. “This storm is makin’ me hungry. Come on, girl.” He tapped his thigh, and Terra followed happily.
“Will she need to go out?” I asked and trailed after.
“She’d refuse anyway,” he answered. “If things haven’t calmed down in a couple hours, I’ll see if she’s still too fancy to go on the pad I’ve kept for emergencies. She can be a right diva.”
I chuckled. “I’d think a diva would prefer a pad over this weather.”
Ty snorted and dug out a lighter from a drawer in the kitchen. “Not this one. If there’s no grass, she ain’t playin’.” Next, he gathered a few candles from various spots and put them all on the kitchen table and lit them. “Now. We have a fire, so let’s take advantage.”
I folded my arms over my chest. It was definitely colder out here. “Put me to work, boss.”
“No, you have a seat right here.” He pulled out a chair for me and everything. “I have more questions about kink for the Master.”
I smirked, curious and intrigued, and complied. “You didn’t strike me as a beginner on the island.”
In fact, I knew he wasn’t.
“I’ll rephrase. I have questions about D/s.” He turned away from me to rummage through the dark fridge. “Lane was pretty clear about not wanting a too intense D/s component in his future, theoretical relationship, but I don’t know. The way he acted around me—the way he behaved around the other Doms, and Macklin too—the boy’s a natural subbie, isn’t he? It’s who he is. It’s how he responds to someone with authority.”
I nodded slowly. “I suppose that’s my impression of him too. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he wants a total power exchange or anything like it. He’s a headstrong boy too—one with a demanding job.”