Back in Bliss

Chapter Seven

Georgia stuck her head out of the door and wasn’t immediately assaulted by a giant raging beast.

It was the first thing that had gone right all day long.

She stepped out on to the deck that faced the river. Wow. She wasn’t all nature girl, but there was no way to not find that view spectacular. The river was wide and the sound of it rushing by was soothing. It was the sound that had put her to sleep the night before.

It wasn’t like she’d never camped in her life. Her brothers had loved camping, and despite the fact that she’d been so young and had gotten into trouble a lot, Win always made sure she came along. At first she’d thought he felt guilty about everyone else getting to go because her brothers all went together, but later she learned that he’d left her behind once and when he’d gotten back her nanny was in bed with their father and she hadn’t been fed in two days. He’d never allowed her to be alone again.

She felt alone now. Was she always going to be that kid other people had to look out for? A burden. An afterthought.

Seth and Logan had practically run out the door this morning as though they couldn’t stand being there with all the tension between them.

Jerks. If they’d stayed, they would have gotten her world-class frittatas. She’d offered to make breakfast, but they had both turned a little green and went running out the door. Seth had a housekeeper in New York and when she’d known Logan, they had been at a resort. Neither man knew she could cook, and it looked like it might stay that way. She’d cooked her own breakfast, read the manual for the single-cup coffeemaker, had some awesome coffee, cleaned up, and then decided to bake some cookies because she was bored out of her mind. She had a horrible sweet tooth and baking soothed both her need for sweets and her nerves. She liked the kitchen. It was big and had every type of tool she could possibly want. Whoever Seth had hired to fill the place had known what she was doing.

After clearing up all of Seth’s e-mail and requesting some changes to the quarterly reports, she’d stuck her head in the fridge, found a whole chicken and dressed it with garlic and basil and stuffed it in a Crock-Pot for dinner. It was an old trick she’d learned in college. If she could get a chicken in early enough, it would be tender and perfect by the time dinner came around. There were potatoes in the pantry, and at three o’clock she’d peeled them and cut them and put them in the pot. She’d found fresh asparagus and steamed it with some garlic and citrus and made homemade biscuits, cut with a juice glass because the only thing she couldn’t find was a biscuit cutter. She’d grown up in LA, but their longtime cook had been born in New Orleans. Georgia had spent long hours of her life with Rene in the kitchens learning how to make roux and properly shuck oysters.

She’d spent the day wandering around because no one had come home and no one had called her to ask her to meet them. It was like they had forgotten she existed. At least in New York she had a job to do. She had a purpose. Here all she had was her e-reader. She’d restarted J.R. Ward’s books, organized her makeup, hung up her clothes, and wondered what the hell she was really doing here.

She wondered if they would even try her meal. Logan probably wouldn’t. He’d made it plain that she wasn’t good for much, and she’d probably reinforced the idea because she could be nasty when she felt threatened.

She’d gotten dressed in her nicest jeans with the most bling on the butt, her Elie Tahari blouse and new Gucci boots, and placed her brown sugar blondie cookies in a basket and headed out to meet the neighbors.

She stopped, staring at the cabin next door. She didn’t have long before dinner was done, but she didn’t know when Seth and Logan would be back. She didn’t even know if they would be back. Maybe they would have dinner somewhere else and she would be alone tonight.

What was she doing? She didn’t live here. Seth lived here apparently. Logan definitely lived here. She was just passing through. So why did she have the most insane urge to make a good impression?

Because these people mattered to Seth and Logan. Because even if they didn’t really care about her, she cared about them.

She looked back at the door. She should go inside and hide. She didn’t belong here.

What was that? A footprint?

It was there on the side of the deck, a thick muddy print. She moved across the deck and stared down at it. It wasn’t Seth’s. He’d been wearing size thirteen Louis Vuitton loafers. These were much smaller. Maybe a men’s nine. Logan was a ridiculously overgrown fifteen. No way it matched him. The print was round and curved in the middle before coming back out and rounding at the back. Sneaker. There was a second print, but it was only of the toe and pointed right under the big window that graced the living area. Someone had gone up on their toes, right foot dangling off the deck, as they tried to look into the cabin.

Maybe it was a worker. Seth had mentioned that the place had just been finished.

Yeah, that had to be it.

Except it felt wrong. She shouldn’t follow her instincts. Did she even have instincts? Usually her instincts were about men and sex, and they were almost always wrong. But it wouldn’t hurt anything to look around. The tracks came from the yard, and apparently the ground was soft enough that the imprint was still there. Had it rained in the last couple of days?

The tracks ran off to the west. It couldn’t hurt to follow them. They likely led to the driveway. Except they didn’t. She could see clearly where the tracks led back to the river. Someone had walked up to the cabin from the river.

“Hey, baby.” Seth walked around the house. She hadn’t heard the car pull up.

This morning she’d discovered that he’d had an Escalade purchased and waiting for him in the drive. The keys had been on the bar. She’d walked him out to the car because she’d kind of been hoping he’d take her with him, but all that had happened was he’d found a nasty note about the vehicle’s fuel efficiency taped to the windshield. She’d been offended, but he’d just smiled and folded the note up and shoved it in his pocket like it had been a love letter.

Logan’s truck was parked in the garage. He’d gotten a ride in from Seth. Apparently he would be coming home in a county vehicle.

“Hi.” She felt so damn awkward. What the hell did a girl say to a man who was her boss and had also made some sort of plans for them to become boyfriend and girlfriend in the future? She kind of wished he’d given her an exact date. She nodded toward the comfy-looking cottage next door. “I’m going over to say hi to the neighbors. I baked some cookies for them. I’ll be back in a little bit.”

He practically leapt onto the deck. “No. Oh, Georgia, honey, that’s not a good idea.” He tugged the basket out of her hands. “That’s Nell and Henry’s place. They are total vegans. They don’t eat cookies. I’ll just set these aside for me and Logan. Now, how about you get ready and we’ll head into town and have dinner and drinks.”

“I made dinner.”

She flushed with embarrassment as he obviously tried to figure out how to get out of eating at home. She could see the way his brain was trying to find any possible out.

“You did? Well, that’s really great. Uhm. I thought we would go into town.”

She heard the crunch of gravel this time and didn’t wait around to hear all the reasons Seth didn’t even want to try her food.

Logan parked his massive SUV. It was another Escalade, but it had county colors on it and was emblazoned with the words Bliss County Sheriff’s Department and had a set of lights on the top. “Dude, is this your doing? Because this ride is so fucking boss.”

Seth walked out behind her. He’d stashed her cookies somewhere because his hands were empty. “I thought the county could use an upgrade. I bought four and donated them to Nate. He was pretty happy with me. I might be able to avoid a ticket for a week or two. I’ve heard the dude is crabby.”

The two met in the middle and slapped hands and then did that guy thing where they halfway hugged and then proceeded to beat the hell out of each other’s backs. She stood in the background, completely ignored.

They started talking about everything that had happened during the day as they walked back toward the house. The tension from the night before seemed to have passed, and it was easy to see that they had been friends for a long time. Seth reached out for her hand, but he let her go without a protest when she stepped back.

They walked into the cabin, neither of them bothered by the muddy footprints on the deck. She probably shouldn’t be either. She frowned when she saw that Seth had set her basket behind the woodpile like he was trying to hide it. She picked it up and followed them inside.

Logan’s hat was on the bar, and Seth had set his keys down. Seth had the refrigerator open and passed Logan a beer.

“So I thought we could talk a little tonight. Maybe head into town. You said there was a new tavern, right?” Seth asked.

“Trio,” Logan replied. “It’s Callie’s place.”

Seth smiled. “We grew up with Callie. She’s a complete sweetheart, Georgia. You’re going to love her.”

She bet she would. She bet that if Callie had cooked dinner for them, they wouldn’t be planning how to get out of eating it. She just nodded and sat down at the bar. They didn’t seem to need her input.

“What exactly is it you want to talk about?” Logan asked, his voice tightening.

Seth set his beer down and took a long breath. “I want to talk about D/s.”

She heard him vaguely, but her mind was wandering. Guys changed when they got around other guys. Seth had been so sweet when they had been in New York. She’d felt like the center of the world. She didn’t need to be the center of everything, but she hated this feeling, like she wasn’t in on the joke. Or worse, like she was the butt of the joke. She got that a lot. Guys could be great when a girl was alone with them, but sometimes when a guy got with his friends, he changed. Seth seemed to be changing.

“Georgia?” Logan was staring at her, a serious look in his eyes.

“What?”

“Are you sure you want to go along with this?” Logan asked. “What he’s asking for is some serious shit. It would be very serious for me.”

Serious? Shit. What had she missed? Did she want to admit she’d drifted off? Wouldn’t that just make her look that much dumber? Stall them, Georgia. Maybe she could figure it out. “Sure. Uhm, why don’t you go over it again while I get the plates out for dinner?”

Logan turned a little green. “I thought we were going to Trio.”

“Well, I cooked.”

Seth reached out to touch her hand. “Sweetie, it’s our first night here. Let’s go out. We can have it tomorrow night. Or we could save whatever you cooked for lunches and leftovers.”

“You have to eat a thing to have leftovers.” That answered one question. They didn’t want to take her seriously at all and they weren’t willing to be polite to save her feelings. “Why am I here?”

Logan sighed. “I told you she wasn’t listening.”

Fine. She was dumb as dirt. Her stomach was getting tight, and anger was starting to boil a little. “No, I wasn’t. I was thinking about something else. So tell me why I’m here. Because I wasn’t brought here to work, and Seth left me alone all day, so I wasn’t brought here to meet your friends. Why am I here?”

Seth’s whole face softened. He was like a gorgeous puppy with perfect abs when he got that look on his face. It had worked on her before, every single time. “Baby, I can’t wait for you to meet my friends. It’s not the time yet. I thought I would give you a couple of days to get settled in.”

“I unpacked. I think I’m settled in.” She was on the fence. He could be very thoughtful. Maybe he was really trying to give her time.

Seth patted her hand. “Uhm, maybe you just need a little time to kind of figure out the social situations around here. Tomorrow I’ll really talk to you about small-town life. This isn’t New York. You have to act a little differently around here.”

“What he’s trying to say is that your big-city princess act won’t fly around these parts,” Logan clarified. He was watching her with hooded eyes as he tipped back his beer.

She got the subtext. Seth didn’t want her to embarrass him. He’d never minded in New York, but it suddenly struck her that he didn’t have anyone in New York that he actually cared about. She’d never seen him hug a friend in New York or smile the way he did here. He’d shown her off in New York because it didn’t matter. Now that they were someplace that it did matter, she wasn’t good enough, and he thought he could change her.

She’d really thought he was the guy. Logan was a pipe dream. She wasn’t even really sure what she’d felt for Logan had been love. It had been a crazy hot attraction. It was still there. Every time she looked at him, she felt like that dumb moth who just kept circling the flame, getting closer and closer with every pass. He’d saved her once. He’d kissed her silly and made her feel more than she’d ever imagined, but he’d made it plain that she was way too much trouble.

Seth had been reality. She’d fit into his world, kind of sort of. She’d thought he liked her the way she was, but it was just another lie. He liked the way she looked. Some guys went for the blonde bombshell thing because they thought the way she looked meant she was good at sex. Her body was better suited for the 1950s. Most of the people she came up against thought she was too fat, but maybe Seth had a curvy-girl fetish.

But it was obvious he didn’t really like her or he wouldn’t be hiding her away.

“That isn’t what I’m saying at all,” Seth said quickly. “I’m just saying it could be a bit of culture shock.”

Logan shrugged. “If she can’t be who she is, there’s no damn reason for her to be here.”

She rather agreed, but the way he said it stung. Tears threatened, but she wasn’t going to cry. Dawsons didn’t cry. They were tough. She’d watched her brothers. They were her only role models. Oh, she’d had a parade of stepmothers, but they were cold for the most part, and she’d seen that crying didn’t work with men. Anger worked. And she was definitely angry. Rage clouded her judgment. Win had been right. She should never have come out here. Now she was alone.

“Try the food.” She didn’t make it a polite request. She wasn’t feeling polite. She stared at Seth because Logan was a lost cause.

Seth stopped and studied her for a moment. She could see that big brain of his working, trying to figure out exactly how to handle her. After a long moment, he nodded. “All right. I would love to try it.”

He was a good liar. He’d even managed to say the words with a smile and an emphasis on the word “love.” She walked over to the Crock-Pot and picked the best parts of the chicken, ladling on some of the rich gravy that had formed. She scooped up some choice potatoes. The plate was pretty. Probably not what he was expecting, but then she was about to show him she didn’t always do what he expected her to do.

“Dude, she’s about to pull some shit.” Logan’s eyes had narrowed. He didn’t move from his seat, but he was watching her like she was a dog who was growling his way.

Georgia set the plate in front of Seth. Logan didn’t matter. “Eat it.”

Seth’s shoulders squared, his face tightening, and just for a second she caught a glimpse of the real man behind the sweet façade. He was ruthless, and he really didn’t like being ordered around.

Logan never took his eyes off her. “I’m telling you, man. Shut this shit down now or I’ll have to do it. You want me to teach you how to top her? It’s not going to be easy.”

Top her? Seth wanted to top her? Well, if he’d wanted to easily do that then he should have stayed her boss. She’d done everything he asked of her then. “I’m not a sub.”

She wasn’t going to admit any of her fantasies at this point. She wouldn’t admit that Nat had talked to her about the possibility that she would be happier in a D/s relationship. She definitely wasn’t going to mention that before she’d left Dallas, Julian Lodge had offered to find a Dom for her.

She’d thought about it. And then left because she’d only wanted one Dom.

“Oh, you’re a sub.” Logan said it with an arrogant little smile that just made her stupid heart pound faster. “That’s what we’ve been negotiating, Georgia. Seth wants me to train the two of you so you can have a D/s relationship. You’re just fighting it. You’re a little sub who likes to rage against the machine because you haven’t found a Dom yet who has the patience to handle you.”

“Well, we both know that’s not going to be you.” He’d made himself plain enough.

The smile vanished. “I might have made a mistake back in Texas, Georgia. Seth wants to explore the lifestyle. I want you. This plan of his gives us all what we want.”

Damn, she should have paid attention. Her heart stopped just a bit. He wanted her? He wanted to be her Dom? God, she’d fantasized about it because Logan was right. After a lot of talks with Natalie and Kitten, she was pretty sure that she was probably more submissive than she wanted to admit. She just hadn’t found anyone she could trust. Was she misreading the situation? She took a deep breath and forced herself to take the leap. “Do you really want me?”

Logan shrugged a little, his eyes sliding away. “Sure. You’re sexy as hell, Georgia. But you should understand that it’s a training relationship. There’s no ‘happily ever after’ here, so don’t get that look in your eyes. Seth is very generously allowing me access to you while you’re in training.”

“Do you have to make it sound so nasty? I think it’s something the three of us can enjoy.” Seth had the fork in hand, but the plate was just sitting there. “I think it’s a good way to explore a relationship. We don’t have to place arbitrary boundaries on it.”

Well, it certainly seemed to work for the boys. There was only one problem. She wanted them to love her, and they’d just proven that they couldn’t. Did they expect to keep her here like some dirty little secret? What would happen when they went back to New York? He’d said he wouldn’t take her back as his assistant. Was she supposed to go back as his submissive? Would he keep her in the apartment for sex and then go about his job and his life like she didn’t really exist? Was this his perverse way of firing her?

She wanted to cry. God, she wanted to wail, but it wouldn’t fix anything and it would just make her look weak. Her father had hated it when she’d cried, told her how pathetic it made her. She couldn’t cry, so she leaned on the one thing she could always fall back on. Anger.

“Eat it, Seth.” She was determined that he would take one fucking bite and then she would leave. They could take their little plan and go to hell. She would have to suck it up and admit to Win that she’d gotten played. Again.

“I’m telling you, man. This is about to go south,” Logan said. “That’s the voice she uses right before she starts throwing shit.”

Because he knew her so well.

Seth looked between the two of them like he couldn’t quite decide which one to obey. He finally sighed and took a bite of chicken and potatoes. He stopped, chewing thoughtfully, and finally a smile crossed his face. “Georgia, that is excellent. Seriously, Logan, you should try that. It’s really good. Sweetheart, you never told me you could cook.” He used his fork to pull off another piece of the chicken. “This is falling apart it’s so tender.”

Well, she was glad he liked it. And that was all his ass was getting. She pulled the plate out from under him, marched to the trash can, and dumped the whole thing in. He could afford new plates. He was Seth Stark. If he saw something he wanted, he just bought it and used it and discarded it.

“Hey, honey, I said it was good.” He was staring at her like she’d grown another head.

He’d never once seen her mad. It was a damn good thing she was leaving because after this, he would likely throw her out. Now that she knew what he was after—a pretty, trouble-free sex toy—she knew she didn’t fit the bill. She’d been careful around Seth, desperate for him to like her, but all that good behavior had been for nothing. He didn’t want her around his real friends even when she was playing nice. Well, except for Logan, but she was some sort of sexual sacrifice to him.

Stay. Maybe it could work out. And if it doesn’t, at least you’ll know if the sex would be good.

Those voices were back again, but she wasn’t listening. She grabbed the Crock-Pot and chucked that, too.

“Georgia!” Seth had his hands on his muscular hips looking every inch the disapproving male. “Stop it right now. I get it. I was being an ass. Now, sit down and we’ll talk about it.”

“She’s not going to talk. No way. No how. You’re lucky she didn’t dump the contents of that Crock-Pot on your head,” Logan pointed out.

Okay. That would have been a better idea, but she was kind of done with all of it now. Logan looked amused by the situation. She was so glad she could entertain him. Tears kind of blurred her vision as she looked at them.

“Georgia?” Logan asked, frowning and putting his beer down. He sighed. “Come on. Do what Seth says. Let’s sit down and talk this out like adults.”

Because she certainly wasn’t one of those. She was a toy to be kicked around and used up and tossed out when she was no longer pretty or useful. She’d seen it a hundred times before. Her dad had been crazy about her mom until he wasn’t and he’d kicked her out. He’d done it with four different wives and countless girlfriends, and finally he’d been done with each of his kids.

There was only one man she could count on. Win. Ben and Chase didn’t need their obnoxious sister hanging around with their new wife. Mark and Drew were god only knew where. She had one place to go.

She turned on her heels and started for the door.

“Georgia!” Seth yelled.

She grabbed her bag. Maybe he would be nice and send her things to her in Malibu, but he was just as likely to throw them away.

It didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting the hell out and never seeing either of them again. She had to hope she could find her way into town. But there was no way she was staying a second longer.

Logan put down his beer and hopped off the barstool. Seth was just staring at the place where Georgia had been standing before making one of her trademarked exits.

Except she hadn’t yelled at them or really thrown crap at their heads like she usually did when she was throwing a hissy fit, brat attack. She’d stared for a minute like she’d lost something and then she’d turned and quietly walked away. She hadn’t even slammed the door. Fuck, he didn’t like how quiet she’d been.

“Are you going to go after her?” Logan asked, praying the answer was yes because he was pretty sure if Seth said no, he would still be walking out that door. And the minute he laid hands on her this time, he wasn’t sure he would be able to stop until he’d stripped her down and spread her wide.

Damn. The minute that evil glint had hit her eyes, his cock had gone to full fucking mast. His whole body had been ready for a fight, ready to take her down, but the quiet exit had him near to reeling. That wasn’t his Georgia. His Georgia really should have tossed something at his head as she spat bile his way.

She’d looked hurt. He’d handled her like crap. Again.

“What the hell was that?” Seth asked. “She’s never once behaved like that.”

Logan frowned at his friend. “You don’t know her, do you? She’s a brat. She hides a whole lot of hurt under that mouth. Tell me something. Was the food really good?”

“It was great.” Seth started moving toward the door.

“How have you lived with her and you didn’t even know she could cook?”

“I have staff. She doesn’t have to cook.”

“Well, you don’t have staff here. And you left her alone all day?” He wasn’t in a huge hurry. She hadn’t grabbed the keys to either of their cars and she wouldn’t get too far in those heels she was wearing. God, the woman was wearing four-inch heeled, fuck-me boots out in the middle of the wilderness. She’d gotten all dressed up and she’d cooked dinner and made cookies. And they’d kind of been assholes. Total assholes. Fuck. Seth needed some goddamn training, too.

“I had stuff to do. I couldn’t take her with me.” Seth’s face became a grim mask as he opened the door.

“And you wanted to figure out just how to handle her before you shoved her out into Bliss,” Logan surmised.

“She’s very city,” Seth said quietly as he walked out onto the deck.

He knew it. Damn Seth. “She’ll be fine. She can talk shoes with Laura and art with Stef and Jen. Tell me something, were you going to let her talk at Trio? Or were you going to pick the booth in the back and hide her away?”

It really pissed him off. If Georgia was his, he would show that fine woman off everywhere. He would even sic her on some of the other women when they got too aggressive. Rachel and Laura could flay a man alive at times and he wouldn’t even go into what his mommas could do. If Georgia was his, he would hide behind her designer skirts at every given opportunity. Conversely, he would beat the holy living shit out of any man who treated her poorly.

Like he and Seth just had.

Seth’s brows came together in a frustrated V. “I thought I would give her some time to adjust. I wasn’t ashamed of her, damn it. I have to go get her. Where the hell does she think she’s going? And I told her the food was good.”

Logan followed Seth across the back deck and caught sight of her stomping across the yard. She was actually making good time in those boots of hers. And she was going the wrong way. She was about to pass Nell and Henry’s and make her way up to Hell on Wheels. He would die before he let her walk into that bar. But he had a couple of minutes to tell Seth a thing or two before they went after her.

“I want you to think about it for two seconds, Seth. God. This is how you work, you know. You make a person feel like they’re the most important thing in the world and then something else comes up and you just expect us to be sitting around waiting for you to come home. She’s not a puppy. You can’t lock her up for the day and expect her to wag her tail and be happy to see you. You have always fucking done this. She got prettied up. She cooked dinner. She made dessert. And we both treated her like it didn’t mean shit. We both thought there was no way she could cook, and then we told her what she was good for.”

Seth went pale. “Sex. Shit. We told her she was good for sex.”

“Yeah. And you’re surprised she’s walking out.”

Seth turned. “I have to stop her. I have to make her understand.”

“Let me get her. If this thing has half a chance of working out, we need to set ground rules now.” Seth had no idea what he was in for. Georgia wasn’t going to listen to sweet reason. They had passed that point. Now that he was looking back on the last ten minutes, he could see just how patient she’d actually been. They’d had a couple of chances to avoid Hurricane Georgia. Now they just had to deal with the winds.

“No. I have to apologize.” Seth took off after her.

Logan groaned. An apology wouldn’t work at this point. Seth should be ready for a full-on brat attack, with flying nails and screams. It was just how Georgia dealt with this level of hurt. It actually didn’t bug Logan all that much. He kind of understood it. Georgia had never had real boundaries. She’d had land mines, but no firm and loving boundaries. She’d had men she worshipped like her brothers, and every other damn man in the world had been a douchebag asshole who let her down, including her father, according to Ben. Georgia was a textbook case of needing a firm but loving hand. He was sure Seth could give her loving, but he wasn’t so sure about the firm part.

Logan stopped at the edge of the deck, his boots hitting some encrusted dirt. Someone had been all over the deck the night before. Had he made that mess?

“Go to hell!” Georgia’s voice carried over the sound of the river.

Logan looked out just as Georgia rounded on Seth, taking him down with one swing of her ridiculously oversized handbag. What the fuck did she carry in that thing? She said something he couldn’t hear but probably questioned Seth’s parentage, and then turned right back around and started across Henry and Nell’s yard.

Seth sat on his butt for a minute before getting up, obviously willing to give it another go. “Georgia, baby! Come on.”

Oh, he was asking for trouble. When Georgia got wound up like that, she was just begging for some boundaries. She was desperate for someone to stand in front of her and say “no.” She wouldn’t feel safe with some weak apology. He would bet she’d heard a million of those lame-ass, “I won’t do it again, baby” apologies. What she hadn’t heard was her Dom telling her to stand down and act like the intelligent woman she was.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t her Dom. Seth was her Dom-in-training. Damn it.

He should let this play out. Georgia would very likely leave, and then all of his problems would be gone. Well, all the ones he had tattooed on his chest.

Georgia turned, a look of unholy rage on that gorgeous face. Seth nearly tripped on his own feet.

Fuck. They needed him. Seth was being an idiot, and Georgia was too stubborn to let go of her anger. If he didn’t get involved, she would walk away and Seth would lie around like a mopey-ass billionaire.

And he would never know what it felt like to sink into Georgia Dawson’s body and lose himself there. He would never know what it felt like to share a woman who mattered with his best friend in the world. It hadn’t gotten past his brain that Seth was opening a door. He was letting Logan in without a real commitment beyond the training. The training could last as long as Logan said it did. And they would always need follow-up sessions. And play sessions. He could be fucking Georgia on a regular basis for the foreseeable future. They were young. Even if Seth married her, they probably wouldn’t have kids for a while. As long as there weren’t kids, Logan could come to their bed.

He would go back to Dallas because he wasn’t good for anyone, but at least he wouldn’t have to worry about Georgia. Seth could take care of her. At least financially. He’d done a shitastic job on the emotional stuff today.

“Georgia! You stop this right fucking now!” Seth shouted as she swung her purse around again. But he did a sissy thing where he ducked and tried not to let her hit him.

Logan growled. Yeah, he couldn’t watch another minute of this. Georgia was hurting, and she would lash out at anyone she could because she didn’t know how to handle it.

He was going to show her.

“You’re trying to make me into a prostitute!” Georgia screamed. Nice. She was going there. It was a good play. Especially since Logan just realized they had an audience.

Henry and Nell were sitting in lawn chairs. Each had a glass of what Logan suspected was organic wine in their hands, and they were watching the action. Nell sat forward the minute she heard the word prostitute.

“I’m not going to pay you, Georgia.” Seth’s voice held the kind of horror Logan had heard before in victims of terrible crimes. “God. What do you think of me? I mean, I’ll pay your living expenses and you’ll have a credit card you can always use and you won’t have to work, but you’re not a prostitute.”

Yeah, that had been the right thing to say. God, Seth had gone to all the right schools, but they hadn’t taught him a damn thing about not pissing off a chick.

Georgia sort of primal screamed and started swinging her bag in a hard arc.

Logan took two steps and managed to do what Seth hadn’t. He caught the bag and pulled it away in one neat twist, leaving her without a weapon to beat them with. He tossed it away before she could protest. “Stand down, Georgia.”

“You asshole. That is a Prada bag.” She was in full-on crazy mode. “You want to make me a prostitute, too.”

“Logan.” Nell was standing up now, her mouth turned down. “Are you trying to turn this girl into a prostitute? Because while I uphold a woman’s right to do what she wants with her body, I have to protest it when a young woman is forced into human trafficking. Not just young women. Any women. And men. And animals, too. Don’t think it doesn’t happen. I’ve seen it on the Internet.”

God, if he didn’t get this under control, they would all get a lecture on the evils of human trafficking. Still. He couldn’t resist. He’d grown so bitter and sarcastic in his old age. “I’m not planning on sending her around the world, Nell. And I’m not going to make her a prostitute. I’m going to teach her how to be my sub so she won’t smack me upside the head with purses anymore.”

“It’s a handbag, asshole.” Georgia turned to Nell, obviously sensing that Nell was the weak link. “He is totally trying to turn me into a prostitute. He wants to share me with his friend.”

Nell smiled as though deeply relieved. “Oh, thank god. I was worried for a minute. Welcome to Bliss.”

There were some advantages to living in America’s freakiest town.

“You should put a collar on that one, Logan. She looks like the type to run away.” Luckily Nell already had a Dom. Henry didn’t move from his chair. “Although she wasn’t going to get far in those heels. Still, you should get her a collar and a leash.”

Fuck. He’d just realized that. Henry fucking Flanders was a goddamn Dom. Now that he’d been properly trained, he recognized all the subtle signs. Henry was a quiet top, but Logan would bet he was nasty in the bedroom. Logan frowned. Yuck. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Henry was like forty and shit. Should he really be having sex?

Nell sent Henry a look that could freeze the balls off an ape on testosterone. “You can’t put a woman on a leash, Henry. You would never do that to me.”

Henry simply sat back, a smile curling up his lips. “Oh, you have your leash, my love. Why do think I buy you new Birkenstocks every couple of years? No one can run in Birkenstocks. They keep you tethered to me.”

“You’re a son of a bitch!” Georgia didn’t seem to care about the secondary conversation. She was going straight for the throat. “Did you think I would just spread my legs? Did you think you could treat me like crap and I would still fuck you?”

She had a point there. He’d treated her like she didn’t exist because it hurt to look at her when he couldn’t touch her.

But he’d made a deal with Seth, and he could touch her now. She was in so much trouble. They all were. And honesty was the best policy.

“You’re right, Georgia. I was a shit and I’m sorry. I would go home and have the very lovely dinner you cooked if you hadn’t already tossed the whole damn thing in the trash. Now turn that sweet ass around and get back to the cabin so we can sit down and have an adult conversation about this because it’s serious. It’s not something we should be talking about on Nell and Henry’s front yard.”

Henry smiled. “Don’t mind us. We don’t have cable. This is the best entertainment I’ve had in a while.”

Nell frowned his way. “Henry!”

Henry shrugged. “Tell me you’re not taking notes, baby.”

Logan tried to ignore them. “Come with me, Georgia, and we can do all this privately.”

“Fuck you, Logan.” She said all the right words, but she didn’t move. In fact, she leaned toward him, every action her body made calling to his senses.

His blood was pumping, thrumming pleasantly through his veins. This was where he wanted to be. And she was damn straight the woman he wanted to be here with. He had to give her every option. He couldn’t sit down and negotiate with her. Not yet. Not until Hurricane Georgia had passed. “I am giving you the rules right here and right now. You can walk back to our cabin and stand near my SUV and I’ll take you into town and find you a way out of here.”

“No,” Seth practically yelled. “No. She’s not leaving.”

He was being a drama queen. Of course she wasn’t leaving. She wasn’t going anywhere because she wanted this fight. She wanted to be taken down. She was practically begging for it. If she gave him one single tell that she didn’t want this, he would back off. All she had to do was say no, move away, turn her back, walk over to his SUV. But there was a glint in her eyes and worse, her nipples were rigid against that thin little shirt she was wearing.

She didn’t take a step back. Her lower lip came out, and she moved even closer to him. She utterly ignored Seth’s little outburst. “Fuck you, Logan. You can shove your SUV up your ass.”

Heat sizzled through his system. Why did this one woman make him crazy? Why couldn’t he find a nice, easy submissive and settle into a relationship where no one screamed at him or fought him like a scalded cat? He’d watched his moms and they never had moments like this. Their relationship was a placid lake of calm and a source of deep strength for both of them. What he and Georgia had was a flash fire that threatened to burn them both. He couldn’t see it lasting forever. He couldn’t live like that, but he also couldn’t let her go.

And if he couldn’t walk away, then it was time to take control. For all three of them.

“Georgia, are you sure?” He felt a certain peace come over him. Oh, his cock was hard as a rock, but he could see everything playing out now that he’d made the decision to take charge.

“I’m sure you’ve got a tiny little dick hiding away in those khakis.” Georgia wasn’t calm. Georgia was completely out of control. That much was clear.

He gave her a slow smile, loving the way that gorgeous face kind of screwed up because she couldn’t seem to figure out why he was smiling. He had her just a little confused, and it was about to get worse. “Your way, baby. Not mine. I was going to do this easy, but I think you like it rough.”

She opened her mouth, but before she could spit more bile at him, he lunged forward, sank his left shoulder right across her belly, folding her neatly in two for easy transportation.

“What the hell are you doing?” She screamed, and he felt her fists on his back. Maybe not so easy transportation, but it was quicker than dragging her caveman style. Though she’d be real cute that way. Especially if she was naked first. Yeah, they would have to try that later.

His cock approved of the image. Hell, his cock didn’t even mind that his back was being forced to take one for the team. He kept her off kilter, holding her thighs tight to his chest. Damn, but he could actually smell her arousal. She was just as turned on as he was. Why the hell had he waited? She wasn’t some virginal priss who didn’t know the score. He and Georgia could have some nasty, filthy, gorgeous sex and then he would turn her over to Seth, who could handle loving her. “Nell, Henry, I hope you have a pleasant evening. You’ll excuse me, but I have a sub to discipline.”

“If you lay one hand on me, you fucking meathead, I will call the cops on you,” Georgia vowed.

“I am the cops, darlin’.” He smacked her ass hard with his free hand.

Georgia gasped, a breathy, sexy sound. And then she seemed to remember that she was the victim here and screamed. “You pathetic, craphole, idiotic fuckmeister!”

Logan smiled at Seth, who had gone a little white. Yeah, he hadn’t met Hurricane Georgia until now. “She has a way with words when she gets like this.” He smacked her ass again, this time harder. “But she’s going to learn to keep it sweet, aren’t you, baby? You wanted the bull? You gotta take the horns, too. You are going to get a whole lot of horn tonight.”

Logan winked at Henry and Nell as he walked off. The day had been a shitstorm of crap, but the evening was looking up.