Authors: Cooper McKenzie
“And what the hell are you going to do?”
“I’m going to stop him.”
“Oh, no, you’re not, sunflower,” Bailey said as he pulled her away from the window. “I’ll stop him. You call the cops and then your brother.”
“But—”
Before she could finish her argument, he was out the window and working his way across the porch roof. Worried that Bailey might get hurt, she raced to the counter by the door where her cell phone stayed when not in use. She called 911 and reported a break-in, then called the bar. Adam was not there, whoever answered the phone told her. He and Tiny had just raced out the front door.
Once her assigned duty was completed, Eden grabbed her keys and headed out the back door. She unlocked the back door to the shop and then punched the alarm code into the panel to silence the alarm. No need to wake the entire neighborhood up with the noise just because her ex-husband was having some sort of crazy meltdown.
She hurried through her office, stopping only long enough to flip on the lights. Once in the main room of the shop, she stopped and pulled her phone out again.
“Nine-one-one operator twenty-seven, what is your emergency?”
“My name is Eden Xavier and I just called in a break-in at Eden’s Garden. Not only has someone broken in, but they also started a fire. And you might also want to send an ambulance as well.”
“They’ll be there in just a few minutes, Miss,” the operator sounded unusually bored considering the chaos that was happening.
Though the operator asked her to stay on the phone, Eden clicked her phone off and slid it into the pocket of her shorts before racing into Crow’s piercing studio and grabbing one of the sheets he had on hand for customers. Then she raced back out and began swatting at the fire Wade had obviously started on the carpet just inside the door.
Though she would have preferred to find Bailey and make sure he was all right, she had to save her store first. She heard the sirens and men’s voices, but kept swatting at the carpet, hoping to keep the flames from reaching the merchandise. Carpet she could replace easy enough, but she did not want to have to explain to the insurance company how her thousands of dollars of sex toys were ruined. She began to cough from the smoke and fumes, but just kept swatting at the fire
When someone wrapped their arms around her middle and pulled her out of the store, she began to fight but could not get herself free.
“No! I have to save my store!” she screamed as whoever it was carried her out the front door and into the parking lot.
“Shhh, sunflower. The firemen will take care of that. But you’re going to get another spanking for scaring five years off my life.”
The deep, dark, sexy voice cut through her panic and rage. “Bailey?”
“Yes, sweetheart. Bailey. Now what the hell do you think you were doing in there?”
“Are you all right? Put me down. I have to see you,” she demanded as she once again began fighting his hold.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, Eden twirled around. She looked at Bailey’s face then ran her hands down his arms then over his chest as far south as the waistband of his half-buttoned jeans. “Are you all right?”
“I’m just fine, sunflower. I wasn’t even needed. Adam and Tiny got there first.”
With that assurance, she threw herself into his arms and hugged him tight. He immediately returned the embrace and kissed the top of her head, something she found as comforting as the strength of his arms around her.
“And Wade?” She was not sure she wanted to know, but curiosity got the best of her.
“He was so drunk he’ll probably claim he doesn’t remember doing anything, but there are witnesses, videotape, and more than enough evidence to arrest him and keep him in jail this time. And I think I’ll ask that a couple of other charges be added to the list.”
“What kind of charges?”
“How does stalking and attempted extortion sound for starters. Plus, he drove here on a revoked license and he’s drunk as a skunk. I’m sure the police will be able to come up with a few more besides that.”
“So he probably won’t be bothering me again anytime soon?”
“I don’t think so,” Bailey said. “But to insure he stays away, tomorrow morning we’re going to the courthouse and ask a judge to issue a restraining order to keep him away from you while I’m gone.”
Before Eden could ask if that meant he was planning to come back to her after his deployment, Adam and Tiny joined them.
“The police need to talk to you, Bailey,” Adam said. “They have questions about what happened.”
“Of course they do. A broken front door and fire in the store isn’t enough to convict him,” Bailey muttered. He squeezed Eden tight before releasing her. “Behave yourself.”
Eden smiled up at him then wrinkled her nose. “Behaving is no fun.”
He winked but did not say a word. He did not have to. His eyes glowed with a heat that told her she might be getting another spanking in the not-too-distant future, whether she behaved or not. She shifted as her pussy creamed in automatic response.
“That’s a good man you’ve got there, Eden,” Adam said. He dropped his arm around her shoulders to give her a one-armed hug.
“I think so,” she agreed easily as they watched Bailey talk to the uniformed police officer.
It was nearly dawn before the police and firefighters finally left. By then Tiny had run to Adam’s house and retrieved a piece of plywood that he, Adam, and Bailey used to fix the door while she started cleaning up. Though the shop was smoky, the only real damage was to the carpet and front of the checkout stand near the door.
She wanted to avoid filing a claim with the insurance company because they had not wanted to write her policy to begin with. She was afraid if she filed a claim only three months after opening the shop, they might drop her, and then she really would have trouble. But looking around, she did not see anything major that she or Adam couldn’t fix.
She would have to wait a few days for the wood to dry, but she would have to repaint the wooden structure Adam had built. Thankfully, none of her equipment or papers had been damaged by either the fire or the extinguisher used to put it out. She stood staring at the carpet, trying to figure out if she could find another piece to match the rest of the room or if she should do something else, when Bailey stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
“Come on, sunflower. Let’s go upstairs and try to get a couple more hours of sleep,”
She nodded and allowed him to guide her through the shop. After setting the alarm and locking up, he picked her up and carried her up the stairs and through her still dark apartment.
“I know we need a shower, but I’m too tired right now. We’ll take a bath later and change the sheets,” he said as he set her on her feet beside the bed.
She nodded in agreement, all at once weary to her bones. But she could not sleep yet. She needed to share a few things with this man she had fallen in love with. Seeing Bailey race to her defense then the fire that thankfully did only minimal damage made her realize that all they had in life was this moment. No matter what the future held, she wanted him to know how she felt.
“Bailey?”
“Yes, sunflower?”
He helped her into bed then crawled in after her. They were dirty, sweaty, and smelled like smoke, but she did not care.
“I love you,” she said softly as she rolled over to face him then snuggled close. “And if you still want me to, I want to get my nipples pierced.”
She peeked up through her lashes. Bailey stared as her as if in shock.
“You love me?”
“Yes, my knight in dusty BDUs. I love you.”
“And you’ll get your nipples pierced for me?”
Eden nodded, though her stomach did a little flip in fear. “I want to overcome my fear of needles, but I’m going to need your help. Please, Sir, will you help me?”
“Oh, Lordy, I love you, sunflower. And I will help you any way I can to overcome your fears, push your boundaries, and expand your horizons for as long as we both live. Will you be my submissive, my woman, my wife?”
He ran a hand down her back to her ass. He froze when he realized she still had the plug in place. Pressing against the base, he smiled when she gasped then moaned as his hand reached down further and began to diddle at the entrance to her pussy.
“Ooooo, yes, Bailey. Yes, Sir. But can we wait to get married until you get back?”
Bailey frowned at her. “Why?”
“Because my first wedding was a quick, no-frills deal, and you’ve seen how it ended. With you, I want the long white dress and you in your dress uniform and all the bells and whistles. Because this will be the last wedding either of us will ever have,” she said.
Bailey thought about it a moment before nodding. “We’ll have the big brass band wedding when I get back, but tomorrow while we’re at the courthouse we’re going to have the Justice of the Peace marry us.”
When she opened her mouth to argue, he covered her lip with a finger. “That way if something happens while I’m gone, you will have my name and military benefits. And I’ll have the knowledge that there’s something more than a dorm room waiting for me when I return.”
Eden looked uncertain for a moment before nodding. “All right, but you’d better come home to me and in one piece.”
“That’s the plan, sunflower, to always come home to my beautiful, submissive sunflower. Now go to sleep. We have a lot to do tomorrow.”
Chapter 13
“Are you sure about this?” Crow asked for the third time as he stared hard at the piercing equipment he had laid out at Bailey’s request.
“We’re sure, we’re sure. Now get over here and do it already,” Eden said, knowing she sounded nervous, but too excited and aroused to care.
She tried not to move as she sat on Bailey’s cock, but it was difficult. She wore a full skirt that hid from Crow the fact that Bailey’s jeans had been pushed down around his hips and she was sitting on his cock with a soft black halter top that would keep her mostly covered as Crow did his work.
She clenched her pussy muscles and grinned when Bailey sucked a breath and tightened his hands that were holding her hips. Bailey was leaving in the morning, and this was her parting gift to him.
As he wanted, they had been at the courthouse in New Bern the next morning, and after filling out the paperwork for their marriage license, they asked a friend of a friend to issue the restraining order against Wade just before he performed the civil ceremony that joined them in marriage. Eden had posted a closed sign on the shop, and they had spent the last four days at the beach, walking along the ocean’s edge and talking between bouts of seriously hot lovemaking. Her anal training had continued, and as soon as Crow finished piercing her nipples, she had plans that would keep Bailey busy until Adam came to drive them to the base so she could see him off.
As Crow came at her, an alcohol pad in one hand and some sort of funky gun-looking thing in the other, Eden clenched her pussy muscles again.
“Sunflower, you keep that up and you’ll be getting a spanking because I don’t know how much longer I can hold you still,” Bailey whispered in his ear as he shifted under her.
He pulled her back to lie against him and wrapped his arms around her chest just under her breasts to keep her still. That move shifted the plug in her ass, causing her to suck a breath of her own.
Crow did not say a word as she closed her eyes. He pulled the left side of her top aside to expose her breast. Bailey tightened his hold and murmured words of love and praise for her bravery as Crow quickly swabbed her breast with a combination anesthetic and cleanser.