some fun, and then
tomorrow night after you and Abbott are done, we can talk about it again, if
you want.”
“If it’s fun you want then taking the yacht out won’t do it,
we’ll need to take the ski boat. C’mon.”
Kendra followed him outside and down the walkway, where she
saw a smaller boat cradled by a small crane-like contraption on the back of the
yacht. Eric flipped some switches and the smaller boat was slowly lowered into
the water, and Eric opened the railing so they could walk through it. He
offered his hand to help her down, and she accepted it, but then floated from
the walkway to the other boat instead of climbing down.
He seemed to take it in stride. “Show-off.”
“In two weeks, when the moon is new, I’ll take you night
flying without a hang glider, if you want.”
He stepped to the steering wheel. “Seriously?”
She kissed his cheek before she settled in the seat beside
his and replied, “Seriously.”
As Eric slowly headed out of the slue and towards the river,
Kendra thought a turtle could swim faster, and she knew she could swim
faster.
“I thought you said this boat went fast?”
“This is a no wake zone, so you don’t knock the boats around
in their slips. Don’t worry, give me a few minutes and I’ll give you your
adrenaline rush.” He paused a moment before asking, “Do vampires have
adrenaline?”
“I don’t know if it’s biologically the same, but we’re still
capable of the rush you get from danger, so whether it’s still technically
adrenaline or not, it works the same.”
True to his word, just before they would emerge out into the
main part of the river, he gunned the engine and they took off. Kendra’s blouse
had been unbuttoned, just layered over the t-shirt, and she had to button it to
keep it from billowing.
Her hair blowing behind her was exhilarating as he drove
like a madman, skipping and skating over the surface of the Tennessee River,
but it was obvious he was in control and having fun with it.
It was a beautiful fall night, with the moon close to full.
The river was so wide here it looked more like a lake, and the surface so
smooth on the widest sections, it felt as if they were gliding on ice at times.
After a while, he stopped in the middle
of a wider spot in the river and shut the engine off. He reached for her,
pulled her to him, and didn’t seem to care she was a vampire. He vibrated with
energy, and she could smell the sunshine in his skin as his lips took hers,
opening, demanding, possessing… she had to focus to keep her fangs retracted,
and his blood coursing through her body heated her as it had warmed his body.
Suddenly, she had to have him, but this was a small boat, built for speed, and
she didn’t think it was the best place for their first time.
She started to say something, but Eric beat her to it.
“Since you aren’t used to submitting, I’ll assume you don’t have a safeword?”
“Correct.”
“Okay then, raindrops . Your safeword if you need me
to lighten up on the intensity, or maybe just talk about things but not go out
of power exchange is raindrops . When you’re hang gliding, if someone
yells raindrops , you look around to see if it’ll stay a light rain so we
can stay up, or if it might turn into a downpour, in which case we’d all head
to the ground. However, if you want to end the scene and go completely out of
power exchange then your safeword is storm clouds . Okay?”
She smiled. “Raindrops and storm clouds. Got it.” She shook
her head and added, “I have this, I don’t know, mantra, I guess. It’s a saying
I use when times are bad, to remind me things’ll get better. I tell myself it’s
just a matter of riding out the storm until blue skies return. It’s kind of a
perfect safeword.”
He pulled her into his embrace, and she relaxed into his
body. His arm rubbed her back as he said, “I know we haven’t negotiated, and I
know I need to take it slow in some areas, but...”
He hesitated,
Breena Wilde
Rafael Sabatini
Valerie Douglas
Andy McNab
Janet Woods
Zoe Blake
William W. Johnstone
Stephen Leather
Madison Stevens
Paul C. Doherty