Nobody's Lost (Rescue Me Saga #5)(45)

“Do you like being tickled?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Scratched?”

“Maybe, just not cut.”

“How about various types of sensation play?”

“Like feathers?”

“Sure, that’s one type of sensation. There are many others. Ice, chemical play—”

“Oh, I don’t want chemicals put on me!”

“You don’t even know what I would use. Could be as simple as toothpaste.”

“Where would you put that?”

“You’d be surprised what minty toothpaste can do when applied to certain parts of your body. Of course, some Doms use Tabasco.”

Oh! She clamped her legs together. “Okay, I suppose we could try something like toothpaste, but you can put Tabasco and other hot sauce on my hard limits list for now.”

“The best sensation-play scene would have you blindfolded again and not knowing what I would do—or when and where the various sensations would be applied. Would you trust me enough again to do that using my best judgment as to what you might like?”

“You always stopped when I admitted I was at my limit.”

“That’s one way to establish trust in a sub. You do need to be more open with me, though, and not try to tough it out when you really don’t like what we’re doing. Especially when you’re so new to kink. You could get hurt badly by making your Dom believe you wanted more of the same.” He stroked her arm soothingly. “Over time, though, you may find that things you once disliked might interest you enough to give them another try.”

“I’ll try to keep my options open.”

He chuckled. “You do that, Red.”

Megan rested her body against him and enjoyed having his arms around her. This might be all they would ever have, and if so, she’d come away grateful to him for helping her explore the world of kink in a safe setting with someone she could trust. Maybe someday she’d find a Dominant who wanted to have a sub. If not, she’d have a treasure trove of memories of her time here with Ryder.





Chapter Fifteen





Ryder awoke early the next morning and wanted to kick himself from his bed to San Diego for exposing Megan to his baser side last night. She was innocence and sunshine. He, death and destruction.

He glanced at her closed bedroom door on his way to the kitchen. He hoped she’d slept okay. Today, he’d watch for signs of subdrop with her, this being her first experience.

As he opened the refrigerator door to pull out the ingredients for breakfast, a gunshot rent the quiet morning.

What the f*ck?

He ran to the bedroom to check on Megan, but when there was no answer, he opened the door to find her slip of a nightgown lying on the bed.

“Megan! Are you in the bathroom?”

No answer.

Her camera case lay open on the dresser. Jesus Christ. She’d gone outside alone.

And all he had to protect her with was his Bowie knife. He didn’t even have his boots on, so he ran to the bedroom to retrieve them as well as the knife before running out the patio door. If he snuck up on whoever had fired the shot, he’d have a better chance of taking them down.

But what if he was too late?

Around the side of the house he crept, heading in the direction of the gunshot.

“Shit, shit, shit!”

Megan.

He followed her voice. Had she been wounded? At least she was alive.

“Oh, God. I can’t believe I did that.”

Her voice didn’t sound like someone under attack. “Megan!” he whispered loudly. “Where are you?”

Not bothering to quiet her voice, she called, “Over here! I think I’ve bagged your lunch.”

What the f*ck was she talking about? She’d said she couldn’t shoot furry little critters. He rounded the sage and rocks to find her crouched high on one of the larger boulders, a sidearm dangling from her hand.

“Are you okay?”

“No. I think my heart’s going to pound out of my chest.”

No visible wounds. He glanced around to see what she’d shot. Several feet away lay a rattlesnake, squirming slowly, but definitely out of anything resembling its strike position.

“You shot a rattler? Did it bite you?”

“No. I think I scared it as much as it did me. When it started toward me, I freaked out and just pulled out my gun and shot it. It’s not dead, though.”

He walked over to it and gripped his knife. The bullet had struck the snake right in the head. “I don’t think it will be using this body any longer. You’re a very good shot.”

“Patrick taught me.”

He’d have to remember not to get on either Patrick or Megan’s bad side. Fuck, if the man knew what Ryder had been doing with his little sister last night…

Offering a prayer of thanks to the rattler for sacrificing its life and for being a brave warrior within its territory, Ryder sighed and bent down. With one swift motion, he chopped off the head and, with another whack, the tail. Despite its appearing dead, he knew rattlers could bite for hours after death.

“Oh, God! Why doesn’t it stop moving?”

“It takes a while. Sorry.”

“It’s not suffering, is it?”