“I understand your concern,” Adam replied gravely. “Meeting you, I understand where Shani got her inner strength and courage.” Allowing himself a small smile, he added, “And I’m not that young. I’m thirty-six years old and I know what I want. It’s true Shani and I haven’t known each other long, but I love your daughter, Nina. I’ve always traveled for my work, but I’m ready to make Portland my home base so Shani and I can be together. I’m content to wait as long as Shani needs, but I hope someday to make her my wife. And I hope, someday, you’ll give us your blessing.”
Nina took his hand and gave it a squeeze, her dark eyes looking deep into his. She smiled then, a broad smile that lit up her features, making her as beautiful as Shani. “You have it now, Adam. May you both always walk hand-in-hand, with beauty and joy.”
~*~
The second night of the Fetish Fair was as busy as the first. Adam looked good enough to eat. His black leather pants sleeked along his long legs as if the lean muscles had been dipped in ink, in pleasing contrast to his white silk pirate’s shirt. Shani wore a sheer black mesh dress with a plunging neckline. Her only adornment was a pair of dangling earrings shaped like large feathers she’d made with leather, sequins and tiny crystals.
Allie came out of her storefront as they were setting up Adam’s booth. “Hi, there! I wanted to talk to you last night but things got so busy I didn’t get a chance. How did you do with your sales?”
“I sold out,” Shani said, unable to hide her grin. “It was crazy. I honestly never thought this was something I could actually make a living at, but maybe…”
“You kidding?” Allie countered. “You’re an artist.” She reached out and lightly touched one of Shani’s feather earrings. “This is great. Yours, right?” As Shani nodded, Allie said, “If you’re thinking about doing this in earnest, I can help you with the business side of things. You can learn from my mistakes,” she added with a grin. “And believe me, I made plenty. The cool thing with jewelry making is you can work from anywhere, even a tiny island in the outer banks of North Carolina. I’ll show you how to set up an online store, if you want to go that route.”
“About that,” Shani said, still not quite believing everything had changed so rapidly in her world. Yet, she knew in her bones she was making the right decision. “I’m going to leave Desire Island. I’m coming back home to Portland. Adam is going to make it his home base as well.”
“Oh, Shani, that’s wonderful,” Allie cried. “Rylee had a great time scening with you guys last night, and I can already tell we’re all going to be wonderful friends. And whenever you’re ready, I have a jewelry design studio with space for another person. It would be awesome to have someone else to work with. We could pool our resources on supplies and bounce ideas off each other. A line of Native American-inspired BDSM jewelry would be just amazing.”
“It would,” Shani agreed, dozens of ideas already buzzing in her brain like a hive of honey bees. “I’d love to talk to you about it all in detail.”
“We absolutely will,” Allie agreed. “As soon as you’re ready.” Allie reached for Shani’s hands and clasped them in her own. “I’m so glad we met, Shani. I have a feeling—this is the start of something big.”Sales of Adam’s leather impact toys were brisk during the first two hours before the dungeon opened for play and Adam had a long list of backorders. There was a heart-clutching moment when Shani thought she saw Brandon Parker’s curly blond head and ruddy face bobbing along in the crowd. But when she looked again, he had disappeared.
So what? she told herself. Odds are, once you’re back in the Portland BDSM scene, you’re going to run into the guy. It will be a good thing—a chance to hold him accountable for what he did. And if he’s still doing it to someone else, a chance to expose him to the community once and for all.
Still, the possible sighting of the man who had haunted her nightmares for the past year left her on edge. Adam must have noticed, because as they were packing up his booth, he said, “You seem a little distracted tonight. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” she said quickly, determined not to let Brandon spend one more second rent-free in her head. “Everything’s great,” she said, perhaps a little too brightly. “I was hoping we’d get to use that cool bondage wheel they have in the back corner. It looks incredibly hot.”
“Absolutely,” Adam agreed. He ducked his head so his mouth was close to her ear. “I can’t wait to strap you in and set the wheel in motion,” he murmured in a low, sexy voice. “I think I’ll blindfold you first, so you can’t anticipate the kiss of my whip as you slowly turn, bound and at my mercy…”