Violet listened as Joseph told her a tale of a mischief-making nymph who enjoyed playing pranks on the new lumberjacks in an effort to make them leave but, more recently, because she loved frustrating them. There were two whom she especially enjoyed bedeviling, both because of their handsome good looks and also because they seemed to know she, a nymph and not a ghost, was the cause of all the trouble. They would call out, as if tempting her closer to flirt with her. And everyone knew a nymph couldn’t resist one handsome man, much less two. Sometimes she allowed them a tiny glimpse of her among the greenery, simply because they would grin and then give chase, calling after her what they’d do to her if they ever caught her.
“And today they’ll catch you, little sprite.” He adjusted the strap on the heavy pack. “I’ll show you the way to the path you must take.”
Biting her lip, Violet shrugged her shoulder, trying to settle the bulky pack. Weighty, but not so heavy she couldn’t carry it. She stopped at the door and looked up at Joseph.
He smoothed back the tresses at her temples and smiled down at her. “You’ll need this.” He placed a delicately crafted circlet of vines and wildflowers on her head and brushed her blonde locks over her shoulders.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything…as long as I don’t get the feeling you’re stalling.” The Dom’s determined eyes gleamed with purpose and one brow arched as he eyed her.
Violet shivered. Whoever he finally claimed as his sub was a lucky woman.
“Did Josh and Lucas ask for a fantasy scene?”
Joseph tsked as he contemplated the woods beyond the French doors, perhaps judging how much he should tell her. Finally, he shook his head. “They didn’t. It would seem their sole focus is fulfilling your fantasy. Interesting.” He tipped her chin so she’d look into his eyes. “Would you like to make a fantasy come true for them?”
Would reciprocating make it harder to leave, no strings attached, at the end of the weekend? Yes. “Yes.”
Her response, despite her hesitation, seemed to please him. “I have something in mind. On a scale of one to ten, with one being no trust and ten being absolute trust, how much trust do they inspire in you? Both of them. And be honest. There’s no wrong answer.”
He asked without telling her what kind of situation the trust was needed for. That made it hard to say. Josh could be so pushy, which probably indicated a dominant side, and Lucas was so playful she sometimes wondered if the twinkle in his eyes didn’t hide a slight sadistic bent. Neither of those possibilities was off-putting, but they were lingering questions. She wanted to give them credit but not be foolhardy.
“I’m talking about trusting them with safety precautions and having a safe word in place. You would give up control to them, but ultimately, the choice and the power are yours, Violet. You’re overthinking it.”
She knew what he was talking about. A power exchange. Was that what Josh and Lucas wanted? Wasn’t it another of her fantasies to try out some day?
“An eight, depending on how safe I feel and how public it is.” Should she have said nine? Was an eight giving them enough credit?
“Fair enough. I’ll see what I can arrange. For now,” he said as he opened the French doors for her. “What is your safe word?”
“Um…Rainbow?”
“Rainbow it is. I’ll show you to the path. From this moment forward, you may use that word to stop whatever is happening. I’ll let the others involved know what your safe word is.”
Others? That was an awfully ambiguous designation. “You mean Josh and Lucas?”
His nod and half-smile didn’t comfort her.
“Just remember, if you say ‘rainbow’ everything stops.”
Her self-consciousness had abated somewhat as they threaded their way through various groupings and scenes on the patio. Josh and Lucas were nowhere in sight, and their absence created an anxious stitch in her chest.
A happy groan with an odd, hollow note drew her attention, and she paused long enough to watch as a man sank down into a tub filled with…cooked macaroni? He was breathing through a snorkel, and she watched in amazement as he slowly slithered himself down into the midst of the pasta until it was over his head and the only way he could breathe was through the snorkel. Another snorkel moved around amongst the slippery noodles. She bit her lip to keep her mouth closed as two members of the wait-staff arrived with two large vats of—
She tugged on Joseph’s coat sleeve. “Is that cheese sauce?”
Joseph nodded to her as the workers slowly dumped the sauce over the pasta and the noodle-submerged occupants of the large tub. Pleased moans surfaced via the snorkels as they moved around, stirring the sauce in amongst all the noodles.