Chapter 17

 

The phone at his desk rang not five minutes after he sat down to begin work for the day, his list of unread e-mails so long he wanted to put a gun in his mouth. He picked up the headset, already rubbing a hand over his eyes, waiting to hear about the latest fuck-up, another delay, more change-orders.

“I thought about it.”

But rather than an irate jag-off project manager, it was the sweet sound of his wife’s soft voice.

“I want to go, Troy.”

“Go…?”

“White Valley.”

Yes!

He had to play it cool though. She needed to know what would be entailed.

“Um, okay. That’s great.” He leaned over the arm of his chair, craning his head outside his cube to see if anyone nearby might be within earshot. As usual, at six in the morning, the office was a ghost town.

“I already took a couple days off. I had paid time I was going to lose if I didn’t burn it before the end of the year. How… how long would we need?”

“What made you change your mind?”

There was the slightest tremble in her voice. She was either aroused or frightened. Maybe both.

“I haven’t the faintest fucking idea. But… what you told me. I’ve wondered about it ever since.”

“I didn’t really tell you much, Lace. I’ll have to give you a better picture though before we go — just to be sure you’re not surprised by what you see.”

“It’s, well, it’s male dominated, right? Like a sort of planned community?”

“That’s PC for a commune.”

“Potato, potahto.”

“Smartass. Be careful now.”

Her giggle made him grin like a fool.

“Look, it’s no commune, but it is a place where all the residents believe in living life on their own terms. There’s a… common lifestyle there, I guess. It’s maybe a little deeper than that, but it’s close. And yes, that lifestyle centers around female submission — and not just in the home.”

“Whoa.” He could almost hear her pulse begin to pound.

“You’re going to see things that might surprise you, or shock you. Hopefully, a few that turn you on too. I just want you to be warned ahead of time. I’ll be there with you, always, and you are one hundred percent safe. You got me?”

“I’ve got you.” She cleared her throat. “What will we… do? I mean what happens once we’re there?”

“Von will put us up. Maybe take a tour of the town, meet his wife and a couple others. Nothing overwhelming — at least this first time.”

“You mean it gets overwhelming later?”

He thought for a moment on how to frame it, and decided to go with unvarnished honesty. “It’s truly unbelievable, once you realize the full scope of things. I can’t explain it any better than that. I just think you need to experience it. After, we can talk about it. See where things stand. What you might want to do.”

“What about Hayden?”

“Hunter I’m sure can take him at least one day. I’m assuming your Mom would be willing to take him the rest of the time? Couple days, maybe?”

“To get a chance at having the kid all to herself? She’ll say yes before I finish the sentence.”

“And that means I’ll get to have you all to myself.” His slacks tightened at the crotch. “Mostly.”

“Mostly?” A hint of uncertainty crept into her tone.

“Like I said, the place is overwhelming. Once we get to town, get you settled in, you might forget I’m even there.”

“Hardly.”

He took a steadying breath, lowering his voice. “I want to be sure you’re not doing this because you think it’ll make me happy. I want you to go because you’re genuinely interested in what it’s like. In what you might find out there.”

“My intentions are purely mercenary. Mostly.”

He growled at her, and she giggled again.

“That’ll have to be good enough for me.”

“Oh… there’s something.” She made a tiny little sound of frustration that made him want to hug her tight. “Might be a… problem?”

“What’s that?” He was already smiling before she asked the question.

“Today’s Wednesday. If we’re there on, um, Friday… what do we do about…?”

“About what? Getting in your much-needed weekly discipline?”

She swallowed audibly. “Yes.”

“We’ll take care of that there.”

“Okay. When can we go?”

Troy wanted to jump up and roar in victory. He settled for a silent fist pump in the seclusion of his quiet cubicle.

“I’m calling my boss right now. As of about five minutes ago, I’m on vacation.”