Vulnerable [Suncoast Society] (Suncoast Society #29)(74)

“I’ve been living with her.” He sighed. “Good thing I was there, too.”

He pointed at the drawer in his bedside table. “Open that, please. I had Landry go by our place and get something for me.”

“What?” He opened it and found a small box. He handed it to Leo.

Leo opened it. “I wanted to give this to you the night of the accident.” Inside, a stainless chain with a small tag on it. A silver dolphin on a blue background, leaping from the water, with a sun in the background.

On back were their initials, LC and JM, with Leo’s on top.

Jesse didn’t dare presume. “I wanted to put it on you myself,” Leo said, “but I my hands are a little…” He smiled. “Is it unDomly of me to make you put on your own day collar?”

Jesse leaned in and tenderly kissed him. “Not at all, Sir.” He felt his own hands tremble as he lifted it from the box, unhooked the clasp, and put it on.

“Do you like it?”

“I love it.”

“Keep it tucked under your shirt,” Leo warned. “If Laurel sees it, she’ll want to know what it is.”

“You know she’ll see it eventually. What do we tell her?”

Leo reached up and fingered it before Jesse tucked it in. “I guess we’ll tell her it’s a necklace that I gave you because I love you.”

“Do you think Eva will really be okay with us living there?”

“She might be even better with us living there. It’ll force her to see she needs to move on and we’ll be able to find her someone faster. I hope.”

“Why a dolphin?”

He smiled. “Mote Marine. If Laurel really pesters me about it, I’ll say it means a lot to me and you and I found that for you.”

By the time Laurel and Eva returned, they’d hidden the box and settled back into their positions.

“Everything okay, Daddy?” Laurel asked.

“Everything’s fine, sweetheart.”

“Well?” she asked, hands on her hips.

“Well, what?”

“Are you moving back in with us or not? Duh.”

Leo pointed at her. “You need to be a little more respectful if you don’t want me and Jesse and your mom putting you in time out once I’m back home.”

Laurel let out a happy squeal and vaulted into Jesse’s lap, catching him in the balls in the process, to lean in and kiss Leo.

Eva, who’d spotted the accidental assault, jumped in to grab her. “Sorry, Jesse.”

“It’s okay,” he said in a pained voice. “Kind of getting used to it.”





Three weeks after being admitted, Leo was discharged.

To home.

Jesse had rallied the troops and they’d helped get them moved into Eva’s, including shuffling furniture around inside the house and cleaning the apartment so they’d get the security deposit back. Because of the circumstances with Leo, they waived the lease term without any argument.

Leo still had a lot of work, including rehab therapy appointments, exercises he had to do—and he had Eva and Jesse, and Laurel, to help him out.

As well as their friends in the Suncoast Society, who Laurel was calling her aunts and uncles.

Jesse had never been so grateful to be part of that extended family. They had been amazing, a life-saver in more ways than one.

And three months after the accident, their friends even arranged a night out for sushi and a movie for Laurel with Rob and Laura and their little girl so that all three adults in the Cooke-Morrow household could take a trip to Venture the night before the really big day.

Loren called for everyone’s attention. “This will be a fast one tonight, guys, for obvious reasons.” She smiled. “And it’s special.”

Leo snapped his fingers and without hesitation, Jesse dropped to his knees in front of Leo’s wheelchair.

“When I gave Jesse his day collar, I was still in the hospital. That hadn’t been part of my original plans, but we all know how fickle life can be.” He opened a small box and pulled out another necklace, the same kind of chain as the one he was already wearing, but on the tag was a silver tribal fish on a blue background.

On the back was engraved SIR, and below that, boy.

Then he called Eva over, who Jesse realized looked confused.

Loren handed Leo another box. He opened it and took out a similar chain. “I know we haven’t been around much but just for the record, in case anyone didn’t know, Eva is under our official protection. We’re not her Doms, but if anyone f*cks with her in the bad way, we might as well be.”

“Amen,” Tilly said with a smile.

On her necklace hung a smaller tag, the same fish, only with a hot pink background.

On the back, LC-JM had been engraved.

Jesse put it around her neck.

“When you meet a guy we can sign off on,” Leo said, “we’ll let him replace that. Until then, it’s a reminder of the fact that you’re safe with us, but that we’ll find you the right guy.”

She looked close to tears, hugging Jesse, then Leo. “Thank you, guys.”

“You thank us now,” Tilly joked. “You just wait.”





Leo had ordered a paddle from Cali, Max, and Sean. Jesse dropped his jeans, exposing the leather jock he was wearing under them. He bent over a spanking bench, and with Leo sitting next to him in his wheelchair, he laid the paddle over Jesse’s ass.