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“Yes, Sir,” she murmured as he closed the door and rounded the hood. She clicked the belt into place as he opened his door and climbed in, starting the engine before securing himself. “Where are we going?”
“Wherever we feel like going, Connie. Where would you like to go?”
She smiled. She had the perfect spot in mind.
*
Two hours later, they were parked on the top of the ridge Connie had tried to explore in her drunken state the weekend before. Thane's truck had bounced up the bumpy track with ease, although Connie's ass was feeling the repercussions of her location choice. The damn plug felt as though it had been tapped deeper into her channel with every bump and hard knock, until she was left panting and desperate to come.
Thane hadn't been kind enough to alleviate the pressure, so now they were lying on a blanket beneath a sky smeared with blue and purple and pink, and black closing in as night fell. The remnants of their dinner had been pushed to one side—they'd stopped in at a little restaurant he claimed made the best takeaway burgers and fries, to which Connie could now attest—and she was stretched out on her side with her head resting on his abdomen.
His fingers stroked through her hair, relaxing her to the point of sleep. A full stomach, good company, and warm body could do that to a person. Right now, she was content to bethat person, drifting along under an open sky, with barely a care in the world.
There wasn't much she remembered from the first time she came out here. Most of those memories were drowned in whisky, but the ones she was making now were much better. Everything was better with Thane. Being out here and watching the stars come alive in a sky without light pollution, where there was no city noise and no traffic, was akin to smearing a balm over open wounds.
“Will you tell me about your leg?” she muttered sleepily, needing to hear his voice. She loved his voice, the quiet rumble of the words. If he got a job as an audiobook narrator, she'd listen to him over and over.
“You sure you want to hear it now, sugar?”
“Either that or recite the phone book. Yes, I'm sure. I'd like to know what happened.”
“All right. When I left the military, I decided to take my skills and offer them privately. Pick and choose who I worked for, as a private contractor. I’d had enough of being tethered to an institution and wanted the freedom of belonging to myself for the first time in my adult life. Three years ago, I was contracted to do a job in Germany. Not a problem, I went, I completed the job, and I came home. I guess I was still riding the high of a job well done as I was driving home from the airport. Maybe if I hadn’t been, my reflexes would have been faster.”
“Christ, Thane,” she whispered.
“I’d taken the I-90 because it was faster. I’d been travelling for hours, couldn’t wait to get home. Night had fallen, but the weather was good. A clear night, and the road was busy but not heavy with traffic.” His eyes were distant, memories darkening the amber. “I had the radio on, my fingers were tapping on the wheel in time with some bouncy country song, and I remember seeing the semi in the slow lane drift over a little. It was ahead of me, thirty feet or so, and I began to slow up, thinking it would correct itself.”
Connie pushed up on her elbow, her expression sorrowful. “It didn’t.”
“No, it didn't. The fucking thing veered across the whole damn stretch of road. Those of us who’d already started slowing up missed hitting it, but the vehicles behind were too late to slow down. Three cars—including mine—were slammed into from the rear, spinning us around and ramming us into the semi. More cars piled up before the flow of traffic eased.” He grunted softly. “Still don’t know what happened precisely, but the car next to mine lost its side panel, and the force of the collision shoved it through my door. Part of the metal sheared off on the outside, but a nice big chunk cut into my thigh like a knife. Missed the femoral artery by millimeters.”
“Thane,” she whispered, horrified to realize she could have lost him before she ever knew him.
“It’s okay. The emergency crews were amazing. They saved everyone they could, but two drivers were killed on impact. I lived through an accident that claimed lives and limbs, and I relearned an important lesson I’d been taught in the army—never take life for granted.” He stroked her hair as she rested her hand on his scarred thigh. “The front tire on the semi had blown. I cursed the driver for a few months, before I realized it hadn’t been his fault. Sure, he turned my life around, put things in motion that ended up with me here, but he didn’t intend for it to happen—it was an accident, period. If I think of it positively, I have to believe I suffered through that to end up here with you. I'm a big believer in fate, sugar, and moving to Phoenix, finding Avalon and then you…I figure I'm where I need to be, doing what I'm supposed to, and reaping the rewards.”
“I never saw you as a fatalist, Thane.”
“Hmm, mainly fatalist with a strong internal optimist streak, and a dash of realism.”
She drew a circle over his shirt. “So, you packed up your life in Chicago and moved here for a new start. You've got a gorgeous house, a social life, and someone to fuck whenever the urge strikes. Are you utilizing those army skills here?”
“Firstly, thank you for the house compliment. I fell in love with it when I saw it, had to have it. Not unlike when I first saw you.” He gave her hair a sharp tug. “Although I take exception to you being the someone to fuck whenever the urge strikes. You are so much more than that, sugar.” He ran his fingers through her hair again to soothe the ache he’d caused. “The three years in Chicago between then and now were…unfulfilling. My injury required a lot of physical therapy, and although I tried to carry on with my work, it just wasn’t possible. People were starting to annoy me, wanting to know why I was letting a physical hindrance stop me from working. I talked with my mom, and when I realized how happy she’d become by moving to Maine, it got me thinking. A few months ago, I started looking to move. Arizona has the heat my leg needs to be mainly comfortable, and Phoenix has an appeal of its own. So I sold my place in Chicago, called in the debts I was owed, and made the best damn decision of my life.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that. The money from the sale of the house, the money I was owed, was more than enough to buy my house here. If I spend what's left with a steady hand, I should be good for the next twenty or thirty years.”
“Early retirement?”
He chuckled. “Guess we could call it that. The doctors predict I'll be riddled with arthritis before I'm fifty, so I might just spend my twilight years as a man of leisure. In fact, speaking of leisure…” He changed the subject so quickly, it took her a moment to adjust her line of thinking. “I think it's time we remove that foreign body from your tight little ass, don't you?”
Connie stiffened. She'd finally gotten accustomed to her heavy hitchhiker, and she wasn't thrilled at the idea of it being taken out. She recalled the flare of discomfort as it went in, thank you very much. She knew how the muscles grasped a plug on the way out, the look of ecstasyand malaise on a sub's face, and she shivered at the thought of being the one unplugged. “Ah, no.”
“No? Interesting.” Thane rolled, pitching her onto her back, then knelt between her legs and stared down at her. Face in shadow, she could just see the glint of his eyes. He ran his finger along the inside of her waistband, then popped the button of her pants free and lowered the zipper. “Are you that attached to your plug, sugar, that you don't want to let it go?”
She licked her lips nervously before biting her bottom one. “Something like that.”
“It can't stay in forever, Connie, you know that.” He stood and offered his hand, pulling her to her feet when she accepted it. “Pants off, underwear off, then lie on your stomach. It's chilly, so if you want to leave your top half covered, I don't mind.”
