Deep Surrendering: Episode Four (9 page)

“I would have been here sooner, but I got tied up with work. Too much to do and not enough time to do it in.”

“Welcome to life, Fin Herald.”

“Thank you.” He reached for me across the table and I stood halfway up so we could kiss. The hostess (already fed up with me) cleared her throat and we broke apart. Once she saw Fin, though, she changed her tune. I was used to this happening when people saw him. It wasn’t just women he affected. It was everyone.

We ordered drinks and then tried to decide what we wanted to eat. I was deciding between a soup and salad or a sandwich and soup when something started moving up my leg.

“Are you trying to play footsie with me, Mr. Herald?” I said, not looking up from my menu.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Miss Everly.” The foot moved even higher. Oh, two could play that game, and I could make things very interesting for him.

I slipped my heel off and mirrored his movements. His elbow banged on the table, and he made a noise when my foot reached his lap. I laughed and kept going, glad the tablecloths reached all the way to the floor. Not that I would have minded some of the other people seeing what I was doing. The idea of doing something naughty in public kind of turned me on.

“Having a hard time?” I said innocently.

“You are pushing your limits, Miss Everly. I might have to take you somewhere and teach you a lesson.” If that was supposed to deter me from my current course of action, it only made me want to do it more.

I curled my toes and stroked him hard. It wasn’t easy with the way I was sitting, so I had to lean back in my chair to stretch my leg to hit the right place.

Fin closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

“I’m sorry, but I’m enjoying this way too much,” I said as his hands clenched hard on the menu. I could feel how well this was working on him. I kind of wished we could sit next to each other so I could give him a handy under the table. Now that would be something.

Finally, he’d had enough. Probably didn’t want to ruin his pants. He grabbed my ankle and squeezed.

“Okay, okay. I’ll stop. But it was fun while it lasted.”

“Fun for you, maybe. Now I have to go back to the office with a raging case of letdown, if you know what I mean.”

I nodded. “Feeling a little blue?” He just glared, and the waitress chose that moment to come over with our drinks.

I hid a smile behind my hand as she set down my mojito and Fin’s whiskey sour, but we composed ourselves enough to order.

“And I thought I’d be the bad influence on you, Miss Everly.”

I winked at him and crossed my legs. “I guess you just bring it out in me.” He brought out a lot of things in me. Things I didn’t know were inside me.

“Naughty girl.”

I sighed heavily. “You should probably punish me tonight.”

He lowered his voice and leaned in. I recognized the look in his eyes, and it made a shiver go down my spine and certain areas of my body tingle in anticipation.

“I’m going to do a lot of things to you tonight. I want to leave a lasting impression. So you won’t forget me.”

God, I almost climaxed just hearing about it.

“Looking forward to it. And may I say I have similar plans for you.”

“I, too, am looking forward to this evening. I hope you’re feeling … open.”

“Wide open,” I said. Fin’s eyes flicked over my shoulder, and then he crooked his finger for me to lean in further.

“That woman behind you is totally eavesdropping on our conversation. Should we mess with her?”

“Hell yes.”

Fin sat back and I did the same.

“So I’ve got the chains all oiled and ready in the dungeon. Oh, and I’ve got the key so you won’t get stuck up there like last time,” he said in a conversational tone. He was so bad. I wished I could see the woman’s reaction.

“Oh, good. I think my wrists and ankles are still sore. Master.” I added the last part and he grinned.

“You’re such a good little submissive. Which flogger would you like me to use tonight? Ladies’ choice.” How many kinds of floggers were there? I was a little deficient in my flogger knowledge. Maybe I should have Googled that.

“Oh, I like whatever you pick, Master. I only live to serve you.” Unable to resist looking, I said, “I wonder where the bathroom is,” and looked over my shoulder and came face to face with a woman about my mother’s age. She had a look of horror on her face, and I gave her a quick smile before turning back around.

“That was so worth it,” I whispered to Fin, and sipped my drink.

“Absolutely.” He raised his glass and clinked it with mine.

“So I’ll pick you up at six?” Fin said while I got out of the Town Car as Carl dropped me back off at school.

“Yes. Can’t wait.” Instead of spending our last precious hours in public, we’d mutually decided to spend it at his place. He was going to order a bunch of food and we were going to watch a movie, though I didn’t know if the movie would happen. I could barely keep my hands off him now.

“See you later, Mari Cherry. Hope you’re ready.”

I just kissed him goodbye and headed off to my next class.

My final classes ended just before five and I turned my phone back on to find a bazillion texts from Chloe. I’d definitely neglected her in the past few days. I’d broken Friend Code, Rule Three.

So as I headed home I called her.

“Oh my God, you’re alive. Have you just been having amazing sex for the past two days? And you’re welcome for the candle party, by the way. I sold that shit like it was the apocalypse and I had the last cans of rations.” She wouldn’t be pissed at me for long. She loved me too much.

“Um, sort of. Listen, he’s leaving tomorrow and this is our last night together. I’m freaking out and sad and excited and a million things, all at once.”

“Aw, Mari. You really, really like him. Even though he’s a kinky fucker. I told you that you had a thing for bad boys, didn’t I?”

I was glad she couldn’t see me rolling my eyes. “Yes, yes you did. You were right, as always.”

“Damn straight. Are you going to need me to come pick your sad ass up off the floor tomorrow?”

“Um, probably. He said he doesn’t want me at the airport, so I’m going to respect that. It’s probably because his dad will be there. Oh my God, I haven’t told you about his dad.” I launched into my story of surprising Fin at his office. She immediately asked me if I’d showed up naked wearing just a trench coat. This was why we were friends.

“No, I did not, and that was a good thing.” I continued with the story, and she kept interrupting and asking questions, but I didn’t mind.

By the time I got to telling her about my previous evening with Fin and how well it had gone, I still hadn’t given her concrete details of our kinky fuckery, but I gave her enough.

“So anyway, I feel like I should do something for him. Actually, I feel like I should have prepared more for this. I knew he was leaving, but I didn’t want to think about it, so I didn’t, and now it’s here and I don’t know what to do.”

“You could make him a Marisol Kit.”

I finally reached my apartment building. “And what, pray tell, is in a Marisol Kit?”

“I’m glad you asked,” she said. “It’s a kit of things that represent you so he can pull it out and look at it when he’s missing you. Put on a shirt that has your smell on it, a few pictures of you, little keepsakes that remind him of the dates you’ve been on, that kind of stuff. Anything that will make him think of you.” I felt like a moron for not thinking of it myself.

“Okay, I think I can do that. I have about an hour until he comes, so I basically have no time to get this together. Therefore, I’m going to go do that. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

I was going to go to classes and study like normal. At least until Fin let me know that he was in the air and gone.

“Good luck, lover. Call me.”

I dashed up to my place, dropped off my school stuff, and started rushing around my apartment, gathering things for the Marisol Kit. First to go was the tank I’d worn last night. I spritzed it with a tiny bit of my perfume. I wanted to include pictures, but most of what I had was on my phone, so I took a few selfies and then used my photo printer. I’d filtered them in black and white, and they weren’t the greatest, but they’d do.

I found a takeout menu from the restaurant we had lunch at today and added that. What else, what else?

I thought about putting the rubber duck in, but he’d given that to me, and I wanted to keep it. But there was a cute little novelty store not that far from my place. I grabbed my purse and headed out the door.

I was a woman on a mission.

“I have a surprise for you,” I said after Fin had given me the requisite sprig of lilacs and purple vase to hold them in. “I wanted to get you something that you could take with you.” I handed him the purple wooden box with a huge white bow on it.

“You didn’t have to get me anything,” he said, undoing the bow.

“You get me things all the time. Why can’t I get you stuff? Besides, I didn’t buy some of the things anyway. You’ll see.” He looked at the box as if it contained a bomb. “Just open it.”

He did, and I gleefully waited for his reaction.

“It’s a Marisol Kit,” I said as he pulled the items out, one by one.

There was the tank top and the pictures, along with a purple duck that had a little white bowtie, the takeout menu, a postcard with a picture of lilacs on it with a little note from me, a little coil of rope, a DVD of
Casablanca
, a pin that said “Spank Me,” and a card with my phone number, email address, and physical address all written on it.

He looked at each of the things carefully before putting them back in the box and shutting it.

“Come here,” he said, holding his arms open. I fell into them, and he held me so hard I thought he was going to squeeze the air out of me.

“I’m going to miss you so much,” he said in my ear. “So much.”

“Me too.” He sniffed and I wondered if he was crying. I felt like I wanted to.

He let me go and wiped his eyes with his hand. “That was not how I planned for tonight to go, but you derailed my plans, Mari Cherry.” He wrapped his hands around my waist.

“My bad,” I said, not the least bit sorry. “But you like it?”

“It’s perfect. And I have to confess that I got you something to remember me as well, but it’s back at my place. Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah.” He picked up the box and tucked it under his arm, taking my hand with his free one.

Carl greeted me with a huge smile, and I realized that I was going to miss him as well. These past few weeks had changed my life so much. I couldn’t imagine going back to life pre-Fin. God, things had been so boring. I’d just been going through the motions. Yes, I loved school and I still did, but Fin had reignited my passion for just being alive. Everything was better when I was with him. I hoped that didn’t change.

I stayed close to Fin the whole drive. I couldn’t pull myself away from him. How was I going to do this tomorrow?

No. No. I wasn’t going to think about tomorrow. I was going to live in this exact moment. And this one. And this one. Fin was still here, and he was still with me.