STORY EXCERPT

Sinjin Gallagher stared at the space where his house had stood in shock. All that was left of where his log cabin had stood three weeks ago were the fireplace and chimney, and the stone foundation upon which his cabin had been built two generations ago. The stones, as well as everything within a dozen yards of the foundation, were covered in black and gray ash. Everything was gone. His clothes, his treasures, his beloved books.

At least he had taken his computer and collection of stick drives that contained his years of creativity and work with him when he had gone to New York for meetings with his agent and publisher three weeks earlier. But after being out in the world away from his solitary life in the Cascade Mountains outside Twisp, Washington, he was exhausted. Only there was no bed for him to fall into.

Turning around, he climbed back into his Hummer, a gift to himself after his third book earned a million-dollar advance. He headed down the driveway, stopping at the lodge of the Twisp Ski Lodge, a business he owned on paper but had nothing to do with the running of. Madison and Roger Malone ran it as they had since before he had bought it from them. They were great managers and caretakers of the business, keeping the lodge and outlying cabins booked solid year around.

He parked by the kitchen door, knowing at this time of day Madison would be cooking something. Frozen shock held him tight in its grip as he climbed the steps and entered the building.

As expected, Madison was in the kitchen, baking cookies by the smell of it. Her back was to him, so he walked around, keeping well out of arm’s length in case she had a knife and his appearance startled her. That had happened before, and the Marine Corps veteran’s quick reactions had ended up slicing his shirt.

As soon as she caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye, she put down the spoon and wiped her hands on the denim chef’s apron she wore over her jeans and sweater.

“Welcome home, Sinjin,” she said at the same time her hands made the fluid American Sign Language movements. His attention split, he read both her hands and her lips. He also saw she was nervous.

“What the hell happened to my house?” he signed in return, his motions jerky due to the shock of what he had found up the mountain.

“It was a freak lightning strike on Tuesday. The house was fully engulfed by the time the fire department got up here. Once they arrived, they were more concerned with keeping it from spreading to the rest of the mountain than trying to save the house. I’m so sorry,” Madison said. Tears filled her eyes, and one escaped and rolled down her flour-dusted cheek.

Sinjin took deep breaths, hoping to contain and control the mix of emotions that raged in his gut. It took a moment before he could sign, “Was anyone hurt?”

“No. Roger contacted with the insurance company, and they came out this morning. He says that come spring we’ll be able to rebuild it, if you want,” Madison said.

“Oh, I want. We are definitely rebuilding, but why wait until spring?”

Madison sent him a gentle smile. If anyone knew him, she did. She understood what his cabin, what his privacy, meant to him. “It’s November. The snow is going to start flying any day now, and they can’t build in the snow. Plus Roger thought you might want to add on an extra room or two and maybe a porch.”

Sinjin frowned as he considered the suggestion. “A porch would be nice, but what do I need extra rooms for?”

He was a single man, deaf and mute since birth. He lived alone. His parents had written him out of their lives as soon as they sent him to boarding school when he was in high school. Then they had divorced and gone their separate ways. His father had remarried and given him a stepbrother, Gunnar Nilson, who was the only person who had ever visited him here. Since he only had one bed, he had given that to Gunnar and slept on the couch. He had not seen Gunnar in four years since he had settled in North Carolina with his submissive, Jillian.

None of the ladies he occasionally picked up at one of the ski lodges in town came home with him. Madison and Roger were the only ones who set foot in the place, and that was only to clean it every other week or deal with any handyman-related issues he had had over the years.

“Where am I going to live until spring?” Sinjin asked, feeling shocked and overwhelmed on top of his emotional and physical exhaustion.

“That’s going to be a problem. We are booked solid from now until Easter. Maybe you could go back to New York and get a room at one of those fancy hotels that can cater to your every need. Or if you don’t want to be that far away, you could go to Spokane or Seattle.”

Sinjin sent her a look that sent her into what he understood was laughter before he said, “I don’t think so.”

“Until you decide, you can stay in our guestroom,” Madison said, “at least until the Halloween party next week.”

“Thanks, Madison, but I think it will just be for tonight. Can you call Gunnar for me? Tell him what happened, and ask if he’s up for a visitor in a week or so. When I wear out my welcome there, maybe I’ll spend the rest of the winter driving around and seeing the country.”

“You’ll need a translator to go with you,” she said.

He shook his head. “Call Gunnar.”

An hour later, with Madison acting as translator, Sinjin had agreed to meet his stepbrother at the Boise, Idaho, airport in two days so they could drive across the country together. It had also been decided that Sinjin would stay with Gunnar and Jillian. He would have his own suite of rooms and could write and live in New Bern, North Carolina, until his cabin was rebuilt, which would probably take the better part of a spring and summer.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Mary Claire, I would recommend you keep your mouth shut if you don’t want me to come over there and gag you. Master Sinjin might not be able to hear you, but I can, and you’re harshing my mellow,” Master Gunnar commented as casually as he would about the weather.

“Yes, Sir,” Mary Claire said.

But keeping her mouth shut and being still time were not talents she was known for. Doing both at the same time would test every submissive fiber in her being.

When Master Sinjin stopped stroking between her legs, Mary Claire took two easy breaths. Then she felt the razor glide down one side of her mound. Since the only person who had ever been this close to her for this long was the woman who waxed her on a monthly basis, which she had missed this month, she began to tremble.

Then she began to hum.

She did not really think about what she was humming, other than it was one of her favorite funny Christmas songs and it always made her smile when she heard it.

On the second time through, she began to sing the words. “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas…”

Master Gunnar’s low dark chuckle told her she was not singing as softly as she had hoped.

Another minute and an ice-cold wet rag took her breath away again as Master Sinjin cleaned her up. Once he finished, the scarf came off her face and she looked at him to see him looking amused. Had he been reading her lips? Or was Master Gunnar translating everything she had said and sang?

Her cheeks began to burn with embarrassment as Master Sinjin looked her up and down. Finally, he lifted his hands and said, “Now you look like a proper submissive should.”

Without being able to use her hands, she glared at him for a few seconds before sticking her tongue out at him. Feeling very put out and brattish, she wanted out of the cuffs so she could stand up and move around. Maybe she would even take a swing at the beautiful blond Master who had somehow gotten her to do what no one else in her life had ever been able to do, stay still for more than two minutes.

Sinjin’s response was a wider grin and a tap of one finger on her nose.

“Please let me go, Sir,” she begged as she struggled within her bonds.

Instead of releasing her, he leaned down and gave her a peck on the lips before shaking his head side to side.

“Please?”

He shook his head again then turned away and pulled something else from the basket. When he turned back, she saw it was a vibrator. One very much like the one she had at home. The one she called her purple crayon.

His smile broadened even further as he sat down on the table beside her and began to run the vibrator up and down her body. He traced around and around her breasts, buzzed the nipples, then drew a line of vibration down her sternum, over her belly, and to the top of her slit.

His actions changed her need to be free into a need to feel that long, thick purple pretend cock inside her. When he pressed the tip between her lips and began to slide it up and down from the top of her slit to the entrance of her pussy, Mary Claire began to flex her hips, needing more. She needed to feel it slide deep, filling her and buzzing her clit from the inside out.

She had just about given up when Master Sinjin pushed it, fast and hard, into her, filling her. Her head went back and she cried out as the thrumming grew even stronger and then stronger still. She was so close, so very close. She needed more, just a little more.

Opening her eyes, she met his gaze with a wide, need-filled expression. “Please,” she mouthed. “Oh, please, please, please. Please, help me, Sir.”

He held her gaze as he slid the vibrator completely then slid his thumb up to cover her clit. Her eyes widened further as he began to rub over the knotted flesh.

She was now chanting, “Please, please, please, please, please,” needing that one thing that only he could give her. Though she wanted to come with every cell in her body, she had been trained to wait until given permission by her dominant.