“But you have agreed to be his sub while we’re here?”
“Yes,” she whispered. She didn’t know why she was so embarrassed by this conversation. It wasn’t like Archer hadn’t heard her being spanked earlier.
“Then he’s going to treat you as such. Something precious. I’m not criticizing, and you don’t have to answer, but did Dave have any training as a Dom?”
“Ahh, he’d done some playing before. But he’d never had any formal training.”
“You ever go to any clubs?”
She shook her head. “After everything that happened back home, I could never have gone anywhere public. We left Spencerville, found this place and bought it. After everything, it was such a relief not to be so scared. Not to be judged constantly. Sure, it’s lonely sometimes. But I always have my stories.”
Issy came back and crouched down in front of her. He placed his hands on her thighs. “Ever thought about moving from here?”
She shook her head. “No. Move? I can’t move. Where would I go? I can’t leave here. This is where Dave…”
She swallowed, cutting herself off. Talking so much about Dave to Issy probably wasn’t the thing to do, right?
“It’s okay, you can talk about him.”
“Seems like you haven’t had anyone else to talk to,” Archer added. “It’s good to get it out. You don’t want to bottle everything up. Believe me, we know how badly that works.”
“Me. He means me. I bottle shit up, stew on it and let it eat away at me,” Doc told her dryly.
“The two of you seem better,” she ventured tentatively.
“Yeah, we had a talk,” Archer told her.
Doc stood, reaching out a hand. “Come on, your bath is ready.”
“My bath?” He’d run her a bath? She reached up and he took hold of her wrist rather than her sore hand, just another sign of how careful he was with her. It was something she could too easily get used to.
Which wasn’t a good idea considering these guys would be leaving soon.
“Yep. Will help with your sore muscles. Then I’ll give you a rubdown before bed.”
* * *
“You sure I can’t wash your back?” Isaac asked.
“No. Thank you for running me a bath. But I got this.”
He noted the way she couldn’t quite look at him, instead, she kept her gaze on the floor, her cheeks red.
He reached out, tilted her face up and kissed her gently. “You have nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about. I’ll let you take this bath on your own. Just this once.”
She sighed. “Anyone ever tell you that you’r
e a pushy bastard?”
“Language,” he scolded. But his eyes twinkled. “And yes, all the time. Enjoy. I’ll go whip Archer’s ass at another game of poker. When you’re finished, stick your head out the bedroom door and holler. Then get on the bed, face down, naked. I’ll give you a backrub.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Okay, Doc or okay, Issy,” he said in a deep voice.
“Issy?” she teased. “I thought you didn’t like that nickname.”
“It’s growing on me.”