The Runaway Sub [Libertine Island 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)
Libertine Island 3
The Runaway Sub
Jen Smith's been alone since her Master died five years earlier. Now, she's quit her job and come to Libertine Island to witness a marriage. She meets Dr. Caleb McKenna, who took a job on the island to get away from the big bad city after getting shot near the clinic where he volunteered, and the breakup of his long-term relationship. They are two lonely people who decide to have a fling, not expecting to fall for each other.
They are still trying to figure things out when Reynaldo Montoya arrives to bring Caleb home after tracking down the man responsible for the shooting.
Even though they were apart, he's not to happy to find Caleb in Jen's arms and decides to extract revenge, but when he sees how much they need each other, he realizes that maybe he's the one who should step aside unless the three of them can figure out how to make it work.
Genre: BDSM, Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre
Length: 47,903 words
THE RUNAWAY SUB
Libertine Island 3
Diane Leyne
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
THE RUNAWAY SUB
Copyright © 2013 by Diane Leyne
First E-book Publication: September 2013
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
To those who think that “money makes the world go around,”
you are wrong. It’s love.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
About the Author
THE RUNAWAY SUB
Libertine Island 3
DIANE LEYNE
Copyright © 2013
Chapter One
Jen Smith sat in the boat as it tore through the water. She looked across at her friend Maggie who grinned at her. Jen couldn’t help grinning back. Here they were in the Caribbean on their way to a private island for the wedding of one of their best friends. The sun was shining, the water was the most amazing shade of blue, and she was with the people she loved. How could it get any better?
A little voice in her head whispered that it might be even better if she had someone to share it with, but she ruthlessly pushed that voice away. Hank had been gone five years, and she still missed him, but she wasn’t jumping into a relationship just for the sake of being part of a couple. However, considering where they were going, she might consider a holiday romance. No pressure. It would just be fun and sex.
She looked over at Maggie. Maggie was a photographer and irrepressible in her enthusiasm about everything. She had her camera out and was happily snapping away when she wasn’t making eyes at JJ, who was piloting the boat.
Jen, on the other hand, was a trial lawyer, trained to be cautious and to hide her emotions, something she was naturally good at, having had many years of experience. She looked around. It really was beautiful and relaxing. After the wedding she could stay down here for a while, although she was not sure if the BDSM resort on the private island where the wedding was going to be held would be the best choice for a holiday. St. Maarten itself was an option. On the other hand, she was now unemployed. Rebecca worked at the resort. She could get Jen a job there, too. She grinned to herself. Surely they needed someone to wash dishes or clean their dungeon? After all, as a lawyer, she was the lowest of the low. Scrubbing toilets would probably be seen by many as a step up.
Besides, she had nothing to go back to, and there wasn’t nothing much that an ex-lawyer was good for. No one else knew it yet, but she’d quit her job. She’d worked for one of the biggest firms in Chicago for more than five years, and she’d had enough. At just thirty, she was a star on the rise. She routinely billed at least eighty hours a week, which made the partners happy, and when she went into court, experienced lawyers trembled. She was good, damned good. And she was sick of the whole thing. She’d gone into law expecting to fight for right and defend the oppressed, but she’d somehow ended up defending impersonal corporations from wronged customers.
She’d just won a huge case, and the senior partner himself, Mr. Charles Abernathy III, had come to congratulate her and hand her a big bonus, her share of the bonus the firm had received from a very satisfied CEO. He also told her she was on the fast track to partnership. Two more years of servitude with no life other than the firm, two more years of helping to screw the little guy, and she would b
e a partner. She’d be on her way to being rich, respected, and even lonelier and more unsatisfied than she already was, she thought as she looked at the file Mr. Abernathy left with her. More of the same, every day, it seemed. Big corporation against a little guy they’d wronged, and she was on the wrong side. Again.
That was when she’d gotten the phone call from Maggie. Aly’s crazy plan had worked. And not only was she able to get onto Libertine Island to check on their friend Rebecca by pretending she and Max, who was Maggie’s brother, were Master and sub, but she and Max had reconciled and were now getting married. Maggie excitedly told her to check here e-mail. They were invited to the wedding, which was in one week, and she wasn’t taking no for an answer. Jen was going to come and be a bridesmaid if Maggie had to kidnap her and drag her down to the Caribbean. Jen had laughed and assured her that, one way or another, she’d be there. She wouldn’t miss Aly and Max’s wedding no matter what.
She should have been working on her next big case, but instead, she clicked on the link and typed in the password that Aly had sent her. Libertine Island was so exclusive and private that she couldn’t even look at the website without being a member in good standing at an approved BDSM club, passing stringent background checks or being referred by someone of sufficient standing. Apparently Rebecca’s two Doms were part owners and Max was a member of an approved club, so Jen was able to access the site. She sighed to herself. Two Doms had always been her fantasy for as long as she could remember. She’d found happiness with Hank, and he’d been wonderful to her. She’d never told him about her fantasy partly because she’d never want to hurt him and partly because she was afraid that he would make it happen.
She’d asked for a week off to come down to the wedding, but had been turned down. In fact, Mr. Abernathy had been shocked that she’d asked. Other than when she’d had pneumonia, she hadn’t taken any time off in five years. And when he’d refused, she felt something in her snap. She thought of the island and her friends, and she had simply scrawled the words I quit on a piece of paper, gotten up and thrust the paper into Abernathy’s hand, grabbed her purse, and walked out. She’d left everything behind and had never felt freer or more terrified.
And now she was on her way there.
Thinking about the web link, Jen didn’t know whether to be amused or insulted. She was pretty sure that Aly had sent her the link so that she would be fully prepared for what she saw when she attended the wedding. It was funny in a way. Everyone thought she was such a prude with her conservative clothes and hair and the fact that she hadn’t had a serious relationship since law school. Only Max knew about her other life, and that was because he’d introduced her to Hank. Max was a dear friend, so dear that he’d been the one to hold her as she cried at Hank’s funeral.
She smiled over at Maggie, who grinned back. Maggie was wearing what she considered proper BDSM resort wear, which was a skimpy black thong bikini, which showed off her curves. Jen, on the other hand, had covered her thin form with a white tankini as she was nothing if not practical, and covered again by the floral cover-up which protected her pale skin from the strong tropical sun from wrist to ankle.
Maggie leaned across to shout above the sound of the motor, “You know, I thought I’d have to drag you here kicking and screaming. I can’t believe you took the entire week off!”
“Like I’d miss your brother’s wedding.”
Maggie gave her a quick hug and then shouted in her ear. “I’m going forward to take some photos.”
Jen just gave her a thumbs-up and settled back in her seat. Maggie would be shocked to find out that she was considering staying longer than that. After all, unemployed lawyers with seven-figure bank accounts didn’t have to rush back to the cold, impartial city. She could go back to St. Maarten or maybe Anguilla or St. Barts. Or she could even stay on Libertine Island. The site said that sometimes they took unattached subs for a training period. Maybe she would see if they could match her up with someone for a week or two or three. She had to suppress a groan. She envied Aly and Rebecca. Aly had her Max. She wasn’t jealous or envious except in the abstract. Max was like a brother to Jen, and she was thrilled that he and Aly were finally back together and happy. And Rebecca had not one but two Doms to look after her. Jen did envy Rebecca her two Masters.
She looked at Maggie happily snapping away. Maggie had no interest in settling down. She dated a different guy every month and Marriage or even monogamy wasn’t on her radar. Which left Jen, herself. She’d been happy once. Hank had been her lover and her Master, and then he’d died and she’d thrown herself into her career. And the years had flown by.
A few times a year she treated herself to a visit to a BDSM club, but only to watch and to enjoy the vibe. She and Hank had enjoyed socializing at the club even though their play had generally been private. Max had helped her to keep her membership up to date by vouching for her. It helped, but it wasn’t enough. She missed being in a relationship. She missed submitting. She missed Hank.
But Hank was gone, and she was alive, even though she’d been only half living. She’d taken getting invited to a BDSM resort on the same day she got that big bonus as a sign. She was going to be thirty years old, and she was tired of just existing. She wanted to live again. These few days were about the bride and groom. But once the wedding was over, she was going to start living again.
And she had seven days to figure out how.
* * * *
Dr. Caleb McKenna walked down the dock. He’d been deputized to meet the incoming boat with the groom’s sister and her friend. The wedding was in four days, and everyone else was frantically preparing. Apparently when a person lived on an island, everything was a major production. And when trying to prepare a combination wedding and collaring on an island, apparently things were that much more complex.
Maybe if they weren’t in such a hurry, planning would go more smoothly, but they’d broken up for eighteen months, apparently, and now that they were back together the groom and Master wanted to get his ring and collar on the bride and sub as soon as possible. Not that a collar couldn’t be removed or a spouse divorced, but he understood the desire to make a public commitment of the love.
And he envied it. He was in love. He had what he thought was a life partner, but now he was here on Libertine Island as the resident doctor, and he slept alone every night for the last four months on the island while Rey was back in Miami, as far as Caleb knew, still chasing down bad guys. Hell, it felt like he’d slept alone for longer than that. Rey’s job never seemed to be over and he was gone far more than he was at home.
He felt a throbbing in his side and rubbed it. He knew it was a phantom pain. The bullet hadn’t hit anything major. Hell, it wasn’t even the first time he’d been wounded. Before moving to Miami, he’d been in the army and stationed overseas. It was his military duty that had paid for his medical training. He’d been out of the military for more than a decade, but you never really forgot how it felt to be shot or how to react when confronted with a loaded weapon. But this time had been different. It had been personal and maybe that’s why it preyed on his mind so much. Or maybe it was he associated it with the final loss of the man he loved.
He pressed a hand against his side. It was more of a flesh wound really, and the flesh was long healed, but whenever he felt blue, he felt the ache and remembered the burning and fear when he realized he’d been shot.
But it was the expression on Rey’s face that he would never forget. The gunman had been swinging his weapon between Rey and Caleb and yelled at them not to move. At first he thought that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time or maybe as they were coming out of the clinic that it was a junkie looking for a fix. Caleb worked in a really bad part of town where most doctors feared to tread, but he knew he was needed. He’d been confronted by hopped up junkies and gang members and spent years patching up both kinds of patients and was getting burned out. The constant violence was wearing on him and he wasn’t sure how much longer he wou
ld continue to work there.
And now there was another gunman, and it was quickly clear that wasn’t this wasn’t like the last three times he’d been confronted. Twice he’d been able to talk them down and the third time his military training had taken over. Junkies and kids with guns didn’t compare to the kind of threat he’d faced overseas. But this was different. The gunman seemed more professional, polished. He wasn’t scared. He looked calculating as he shifted his gun from Rey to Caleb and back again.
Then he figured it had to be Rey who was the target. Maybe this was someone he’d arrested before. Whatever the cause, he could feel his lover start to tense before making a move just as the gunman seemed to be taking aim. Instinctively, Caleb had pushed Rey out of the way and gotten shot in the process. The mix of anger, fear, and love on Rey’s face had Caleb trying to reassure him.
“It’s just a flesh wound, and it’s gone out the other side. I’ll be fine, Rey. Just keep the pressure on both sides until someone can stitch me up. Hell, the crack on the back of my head from falling hurts worse.”
Rey had stayed with him until the ambulance came, tears running down his beautiful face. Reynaldo Montoya was the most beautiful man Caleb had ever seen, and he couldn’t believe how lucky he was that Rey seemed to find him pleasing, too. Caleb had no illusions about his own lack of beauty. He was originally from Scotland and had the ginger hair and fair skin of his people. He was always being teased about looking like Kevin McKidd, who played a doctor on Grey’s Anatomy and was from the same part of the world. In fact, the comparisons were valid. He had the same craggy looks and coloring as his countryman and same tall, rangy build.