"We'll be swimming, and sunning, a lot," Mike said, standing up. "And let me pay for the suits, okay?

The proprietary amount I got in the buyout? Just say it was in excess of ten mil. I can afford bathing suits.

Even very pretty, very expensive ones."

"And anything else you'd want!" Courtney said, her eyes wide.

"No," Mike said, pausing at the opening to the companionway and not turning around. "I can't buy the very real pleasure I'm getting from your company. I don't even mean the s.e.x, which, by the way, was incredible in case I didn't mention it. I mean the real honest pleasure I'm getting from just having the two of you around."

Chapter Six.

"Are we insane?" Pam said quietly, when the cabin door closed.

"If I am," Courtney said, lying back on the couch and closing her eyes, "I don't ever want to go back to sanity."

"I think that's the trap he was talking about," Pam said, shaking her head. "I think I know what he means.

I think if he told me to do . . . just about anything, I'd do it."

"Yeah," Courtney said, sitting up. "But . . . I trust him not to really hurt me. Except, maybe, break my heart," she added sadly.

"He really hit the nail on the head with that one," Pam admitted. "The M word."

"I'd marry him in a heartbeat," Courtney agreed, nodding. "And he says he can cook."

"I'm a great cook," Mike said, tossing her a brown T-shirt. "Sorry, I need to do laundry. It was all I had left clean."

"What is it?" Courtney asked, holding up the light tan shirt with "Alpha Five" stenciled on the front.

"One of my team shirts," Mike said, shrugging. "It will cover your lovely nakedness, which is a pity. Your gorgeous blonde bush is showing under the towel."

Courtney stood up and dropped the towel, posing.

"Does this make you think of anything?" she asked coyly.

"Nope," Mike said, shrugging. "Can't think of a thing."

"Take your pants off and prove it," Courtney said, stretching and arching. "Nothing?"

"You really want me to prove it?" Mike said, raising an eyebrow.

"You're serious?" Courtney asked, looking at his crotch. "G.o.d, you're serious."

"One of the requirements of being a good dom is control," Mike said. "Okay, I'll prove it," he added, backing towards the companionway. "Pam, could you take off your suit, please?"

"Uhm . . ." Pam said, looking from one to the other and then shrugging. "G.o.d, I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered, reaching up to untie her top.

When she was naked, Mike shrugged off his shorts and raised an eyebrow.

"You're not even alittlehard," Courtney said accusingly.

"Nope," Mike said calmly.

"How 'bout this?" Courtney said, writhing towards him, hands behind her head, hips working.

"Nope," Mike said, looking over her body disinterestedly.

"He's serious," Pam said, shaking her head and looking away.

"That's . . . sick," Courtney said, stopping and looking at him angrily. "It'sinsulting! Iknowyou like us!"

"Very much," Mike said in the same calm tone. "Would you like to seehowmuch?"

"Yes," Pam said, looking back, her eyes widening as he thickened and lengthened before her eyes.

"Jesus!"

Mike reached out quickly and took Courtney's jaw in a hard one-handed grip.

"So do you really want to challenge me?" he growled, looking her hard in the eye.

"No," Courtney whispered, panting.

"'No,master,'" Mike growled.

"No . . ." Courtney closed her eyes and panted for a second. "No . . . master."

"Very good," Mike said, smiling at her, his eyes hard. He released her and pulled up his shorts, then looked over at her. "Are you okay?" he asked gently.

She just looked at him in confusion and raised a hand that fluttered in the air like a bird.

Mike gently took it and pulled her into his arms, his face in her neck, holding her naked body gently.

"It's a strange feeling, isn't it?" he asked quietly. "But it's okay. I really do care. But if you tease or challenge, well," he said, pulling back and looking her in the eye, grinning, "this old dog has way more thanonebite."

"Okay," Courtney said, smiling and rubbing at his chest, still obviously agitated. "I won't tease."

"Unless youwantto get bit," Mike said, rubbing at her hair. "That's part of the play, too."

"Uh, I'm sort of . . ."

"Later, unfortunately," Mike replied. "We have real life to contend with for a while. You probably should get dressed and catch a breather; this is a lot to deal with all of a sudden."

"Yes," Pam said, softly, "it is."

He pulled Courtney back into his arms, then moved to Pam, bringing her into a group hug.

"We'll have fun," Mike said gently. "And any time,anytime, that you want to stop or just take a breather, you can tell me that and we'll stop for as long as you want. Permanently, if that's what you want. I'mnota rapist. I'mnota slave owner. We're, all three, friends. And we need to stay that way. Okay?"

"Okay," Pam said, smiling, her face working. "This is just . . ."

"Scary like a scary movie?" Mike asked, loosening up his hold. "Or scary like . . . Syria?"

"Truth?" Pam said. "Somewhere in between."

"Probably about right," Mike said, shrugging. "The a.n.a.logy isn't perfect. There's no physical touch in a movie. Speaking of which, did you call your friend back?"

"No!" Pam said, her eyes wide.

"Do that while I go get the anchors in and head back to the marina."

When he was gone on deck, Pam looked down, realized she was naked, and blushed scarlet.

"I think we're going insane," she repeated, putting on her suit and heading to her cabin to dig out her cell phone.

"I'm all for it," Courtney said, picking up the T-shirt and sniffing it. No smell of Mike, more's the pity.

"You're a s.l.u.t, Courtney," Pam said from the cabin. "Oh, c.r.a.p."

"What?" Courtney said, walking to her door.

"There are six messages," Pam said. "Probably all from Stacey. I hope she didn't freak out too bad." She hit the speed dial.

"Pam!" Stacey said, desperately. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Pam said, giggling. "More than okay. Really, reallyinsanelyokay, okay?"

"You didn't call!" Stacey said. "And you didn't answer your phone. I was going out of my mind! I almost called the police."

"Sorry, sorry," Pam said. "Don't, it's okay. It's really, really okay. It's not just okay, it's great."

"Me!" Courtney said, grabbing at the phone. "Me!"

"Courtney wants to talk," Pam said, handing over the phone.

"Stacey!" Courtney squealed. "You know the tall, dark, and handsome stranger? How about tall, dark, rich, dangerous, handsome stranger?"

"You're kidding," Stacey said enviously.

"Did I mention great in bed?" Courtney said, flopping down in the lower bunk and kicking at the top one happily. "Did I?"

"Just you or . . . ?" Stacey asked incredulously.

"Both!" Courtney squealed. "Pam . . . well, a bunch of times. Me once. Came twice!"

"Courtney!" Pam said, gritting her teeth.

"I think Pam came . . ." She looked over and shook her head. "How many?"

"Some." Pam sighed, shaking her head.

"Like, six?" Courtney asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Six?" Stacey shouted. "You're joking!"

"More like . . ." Pam said, shaking her head. "Give me the phone, Courtney."

"Come on," Courtney replied. "You can count that high, right? Three, four? Five?"

"Give me the phone," Pam said, holding out her hand.

"Stacey," she said carefully, "we're having a lot of fun. We're probably going to stay down here for a few more days . . ."

"Weeks you mean!" Courtney yelled. "Months!"

"Mike's invited us to stay," Pam said calmly. "He'd invited us to stay before last night and I think we'll take him up on his kind invitation."

"We're slaves!" Courtney yelled. "Slaves to his desire!"

"Is she out of her mind?" Stacey asked.

"Yes," Pam replied calmly. "And so am I. Completely round the bend. Head over heels in . . . l.u.s.t, I guess." She shook her head and sighed. "But Courtney's right. This guy is nice, he's . . . pretty handsome, he's got a body like . . . Christ you just want to spend yourliferunning your hands over his pecs. Great boat, we went fishing for dolphin fish, that's mahi-mahi, and we caught a bunch and then took them to this great restaurant he knows and the cook fixed them up great. Then when we got back to the boat Courtney kind of pa.s.sed out . . ."

"He didn't drug her, did he?" Stacey asked, suspiciously.

"No, she was just worn out," Pam said.

"Exhausted from looking at him," Courtney said, humming happily.

"It wasn't drugs," Pam said. "She went to bed while Mike was reparking the boat, then he was helping me put on aloe and . . ." She paused and sighed. "Whooo. Great hands. Did I mention great hands? And you know the bondage thing?"

"He didn't tie you up!" Stacey said.

"Not yet," Pam sighed. "But he totally took charge. I could barely think. It's like he reads your mind, it's just insane. I think we did it about four times last night and I came at least three times, but a couple of them were like one continuous . . ."

"Me, too!" Courtney caroled.

"Hush," Pam hissed. "Anyway, we're going to stay for awhile. We'll call our parents. And I'll call you, too. He was the one whotoldme to call you last night, and he reminded me that I hadn't called back this morning."

"Courtney said something about 'dangerous,'" Stacey said cautiously. "I'm still worried about the 'dangerous.'"

"He's a former SEAL," Pam said. "And just about covered in scars; he got really shot up somewhere.