The Runaway Sub [Libertine Island 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Diane Leyne

few times over the years. Duncan called him within an hour of receiving the résumé, and they talked for another hour as Duncan described the resort and what he expected.
    Duncan had offered him the job at the end of the call, and Caleb had accepted it. They arranged for him to start in a week. Caleb sent in his resignation to the hospital. He had a twinge of regret and guilt over quitting the clinic, but he knew he would never be able to go back to the place where he’d been shot, even if the shooting hadn’t been related to the clinic.
    He got all his ducks in a row. He’d come up with a plan for Rey to join him full time and another plan for Rey to come out for a month and visit regularly after that. He’d paced. He’d cooked Rey’s favorite dinner. He’d fallen asleep after midnight, the food congealing in the pans when Rey didn’t return home.
    Caleb had fallen asleep on the couch, waiting. He heard the sounds outside the door first, the laughing and stumbling of a couple of inebriated men. His heart began pounding. Was it someone come for revenge?
    Then he heard the sound of the key in the door, and Joe dragged Rey’s drunken ass in with him. Caleb had tucked him into bed and then begun to have second thoughts about his decision.
    He’d tried to talk to Rey about it that night after Rey sobered up and then the next day and the next. Finally, he realized that Rey didn’t want to talk about leaving Miami or talk about any possible PTSD from the shooting or, especially, talk to Caleb about his own PTSD. Finally, they day of his flight to Libertine Island came, and he and Rey still hadn’t had a proper conversation about it.
    Caleb had two choices, stay or go. He grabbed Rey as he was about to walk out the door.
    “Rey, we have to talk. I can’t stay here anymore. You can’t stay here anymore. It’s toxic for both of us.”
    “This is my home, Caleb. I’m not leaving Miami.”
    “Rey, I can’t be here anymore. Look, you have lots of time off owing. We can go to Libertine Island. I’ll look after bruises and sooth rope burn, and you can fish and drink tropical cocktails on the beach and arrest people for littering, and we can be we again. We can use the playroom and have fun together again.”
    Rey had just looked at him for a moment. “You do what you want. I give you permission. Stay. Go. What-the-hell-ever. Now move. I’m going to be late for work.”
    And so he had left. He packed his bag and called a cab and went. And he’d been here almost four months. It was everything he’d hoped it would be and more. The location was amazing. The facilities were first rate. The resort was the last word in luxury. And there were no guns or gangs or violence except the consensual kind that ended in orgasms for all.
    But he was lonely. He had made friends, but most of them had partners and most of the guests came with partners, so he was the only one to go to bed alone. And then he met Jen. She was smart and funny and, of all things, female, but he found that he was attracted to her. She was vaguely in the same field as Rey, being a lawyer to his cop. But she was as physically opposite as it was possible to be, even excluding the gender issue. Rey was tall and muscular with bronze skin and long dark hair and eyes that looked almost black. She was average height and on the thin side with pale coloring. But she was smart and funny and a sub that had lost her Dom to violence. It was a car crash and not a bullet, but it was still violent and sudden and had changed her life without warning.
    Last night had been special. He thought she felt the same. He’d woken up early, and all he’d been able to think about since he woke up was Jen. Last night, he’d walked her back to her room and left her at the door after kissing her good-bye. Tonight he knew that it would end differently if he wanted it to. She wanted him. She needed what he could give her. He knew he felt the same way about her. They were both people who