Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
Dana
“You think”—she tried to choke back the growl but failed—“it went well? ”
“Dana…”
“What?”
“Patience.”
“Kurt,” she snapped in a voice as tight as the bitten-off rumble, “in the seven years you’ve known me, has that ever been my strong suit?”
He chuckled. “Point taken, but this time, you need to be, okay?”
“Yeah, sure,” she agreed, though she doubted Kurt bought it any more than she did.
They both turned to gaze back out the window, staring at the early autumn sun beginning to slip behind the crest of the Sapphire Mountains. Shadow was already beginning to creep across the valley floor where Rawhide Ranch sat, but despite the beauty of the country around them and the opulence of the building in which they stood, Dana’s thoughts were only on a dirty, broken-down, hundred-year plus old mine tunnel less than fifteen minutes away.
“So,” Kurt broke in, “what would you like to do now?”
Dana turned to him with a resigned sigh. “Honestly, I’m gonna go back to my room and… I dunno. Take a nap, punch my pillows… something.”
Kurt started to reply, then stopped himself, clearly reconsidering whatever it was he was about to say. “Okay. Meet you for dinner later?”
“Yeah, that’d be nice.” She started to turn away, but he gripped her arm, pulling her back.
“We’ll get in there, Dana. We just need to give it a little time,” he said earnestly.
“I know.”
He smiled down at her, and when he let go, she slipped from his grasp without another word, heading to her room.
Oh, I’ll get in there, alright. One way or another.
When Kurt asked what she wanted for dinner, she chose Italian, and as they headed to the restaurant, Kurt explained something he’d discovered.
“No check?”
“Nope. Everything here is either already paid for, or you’re billed separately for it at checkout. I tried to pay for a drink at the café, and I got a lecture on how that isn’t the way things are done.”
“Did we miss that during the little orientation speech we got?”
“I dunno.” Kurt shrugged. “But it’s definitely… different.”
“Yeah, I know. Pretty much everything we’ve discovered about Rawhide Ranch is different than what we’d expected.”
Which was true. They’d both anticipated a dude ranch with a bit of kink on the side, but it was becoming abundantly clear Rawhide was far more than that.
The restaurant was small but well appointed, and once she and Kurt had ordered, she took up where they’d left off that afternoon .
“I need to get into that mine. I have to get back beyond that gate and see what I can find.”
“‘I?’ Or ‘we’?”
She swallowed. “‘We,’ of course.”
“Uh huh,” was all he replied, but Dana could see the look of guarded wariness that ever-so-slightly narrowed his eyes.
“Well,” he continued, “ we’ll just have to wait until we get word back from Mr. Hawkins. Hopefully, those lawyers of his aren’t risk-averse, and we’ll get permission.”
“Kurt.” Dana glanced at the restaurant around them. “All my kidding aside about your reasons for wanting to be here, I was serious. If I can’t get into that mine, this is a completely wasted trip. And that doesn’t mean three days from now; I need to get in there tomorrow if I’m going to have the time I need to do a thorough search.”
Kurt sighed. “I get it, Dana, but there’s not a lot we can do except be patient. Our hands are tied.”
She licked her lips. “When we were back there, I took a look at that security gate.”
“Dana.”
“It’s not high tech. It’s just a steel gate with a padlock, and the padlock’s probably a hundred years old itself. I can get in there, I know it. I wouldn’t even need bolt cutters…”
“Dana!” He stabbed his finger at her. “No. We can’t, and we won’t. Not this time.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s irresponsible and dangerous!” he growled.
“South America was irresponsible and dangerous and look what it got us. ”
“Yeah, exactly! You laid up in the hospital for two fucking months. You could’ve been killed!”
“But I wasn’t. That mine in Argentina is gonna be worth millions, like all the others I’ve discovered in the past, and just like this one will be, too.”
Kurt’s eyes flared. Slowly, he leaned across the table, his gaze a burning circle that trapped her in place. “Listen to me carefully, Dana,” he said with unyielding intensity. “No. Do I make myself clear?”
Her nerves tingled.
Why?
Kurt had told her no plenty of times in their years together, but now? This time, there was something in his tone, the way he leaned across the table, the… fire in his eyes as he’d glared at her and said no. Something that made her almost shiver as a voice at the back of her head whispered warnings.
But that was what was weird. They weren’t angry warnings. They felt almost… good.
“Okay, fine, have it your way. We won’t sneak in.”
Kurt leaned back. “Thank you.” He spoke politely, but heat remained in his eyes, and that tingle was still threatening to become a shiver.
She picked at her dinner, trying to find other things to discuss, but all her head could focus on was getting into the mine. She’d already told Kurt she was expecting to find the mother lode here, but that wasn’t really the point. If all she found was an indication, it would be enough, because that alone would confirm that somewhere in this mountain range was a deposit. And if it wasn’t in the Rawhide Mine, that was fine. It being somewhere away from the bustle of this place would be better .
But to make sure of that, she needed to get in there. Now.
“Piccata not to your liking?” Kurt asked quietly.
“What?” Dana looked down, startled. “Oh. No, it’s fine. I’m just… distracted.”
“We’ll get in.”
She made a dismissive gesture with her fork. “I know, I know, it’s just…”
He shook his head. “I swear, this part of your personality has been one of the most frustrating and yet stimulating aspects of our relationship.”
“Our relationship,” she said, raising an eyebrow.
“What? You don’t think we have a relationship?”
“A work one? Or are you thinking personal?”
“Both, honestly.” He took a sip of his drink. “I know we’re only friends with benefits, but you are my closest friend, Dana, the clubs and bedroom aside.”
“And that comment you made, was that about the former or the latter?”
“Again, both.”
She smiled and took a second bite of her dinner. “I’ve never hidden the fact I identify as submissive in the clubs and bedroom, as you put it. I’ve also never hidden that outside of them…” She gave a slight shrug.
“Believe me, I’m aware,” he agreed with a smile. “If I was to speak solely to the frustrating, it would be predominately in our work relationship. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly exciting watching you work, too. You…” He tapped the edge of his plate. “You have an intensity that’s hard not to fall into, and being there when you validate your latest research?—”
“ Our latest research, Kurt,” she insisted. “Don’t try and minimize what you contribute.”
“Dana, come on. I know I’m good at what I do, and I know I’m an equal partner in this relationship , but let’s be real: when it comes to the discovery side of things… that’s all you. I’m simply along for the ride.”
“That’s… that’s nonsense,” she said self-consciously, focusing on the table.
“Except it isn’t. It’s true, and there’s nothing I’d do to change that.”
“Nothing?” She looked up.
Kurt pursed his lips for a second. “Okay, maybe not nothing. I think you could do with some self-discipline, or if not that, then maybe with some help, but otherwise…”
Discipline. Dana frowned internally. Similar to when he’d told her “ no ,” she felt a tremor flit through her at his use of that word.
But why?
“Anyways, if it sounds like I’m trying to be self-deprecating, I’m really not. I know my strengths, and I know yours. I think we work well together as a team, and I’d hope you do, as well.”
“Of course I do.”
“And—again—I mean that both professionally and… personally.”
Dana caught the look in his eyes, and her pulse rose in response. “ Work well together as a team” was hardly romantic language, and yet…
Kurt changed the subject, and for the remainder of the meal, the conversation was light, mostly centering on what an unusual place Rawhide Ranch was. Once they’d both finished eating, he stood, reaching for her hand.
“Come on, I’ll walk you to your room.”
She hesitated for a second, then accepted the gesture, slipping her fingers into his.
They headed through the lobby, stopping for a second to contemplate the massive fireplace, the flames flickering sinuously, the reflection in the windows casting patterns of orange and yellow throughout the space. Kurt tugged her gently, and they moved down the main hallway of their wing until they came to her room’s doorway.
“Come inside?” she asked quietly, staring at him.
Kurt offered only half a breath’s pause before he answered, “Sure.”
Once she’d opened the door, she slipped into the room, and Kurt followed. She tossed the keycard onto the dresser before moving to the foot of the bed and turning to face him.
“So, are you going to be stupid and leave me alone tonight?”
He cocked his head. “Do you want to be left alone?”
She sighed. “So, you are going to be stupid.”
“Oh, c’mon, Dana. That’s some bullshit, and you know it.”
“Oh, do I?”
“Yeah. You were the one who kept telling me nothing’s going to happen while we’re at Rawhide, and now… this.” He made a sweep of his hand.
“All I said was I knew what you were hoping for.”
“And you also said that wasn’t going to happen because you ‘had your reasons’.”
“Okay, you know what, if you don’t want to fuck me again”—she shot him a pointed look—“that’s fine. I mean, we’re here at a BDSM resort, but if all the sudden you want to stop acting like a Dom and let me top from the bottom?—”
She gave a soft “ oof! ” as Kurt grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her back to the wall and pressing her against it. As his fingers dug in and his waist pinned her in place, what pressed into her answered her original question fully.
“Consent is a fucking thing, Dana,” he growled into her ear. “I’ve never done anything without your consent.”
She drew in a breath, forcing her voice to sound unruffled. “Then I’m telling you I consent to you fucking me tonight. Now whether you can Dom up enough to do that or not is entirely up to you.”
Before she could say another word, her body began to slide upward.
When Kurt wanted to, he could move quickly, and this was one of those times. He dropped his hands from her shoulders to under them and picked her up until her feet dangled off the floor. A second later, he spun away, slinging her over his shoulder.
“Kurt!” she gasped.
“You remember on the plane,” he growled, closing the few steps that separated them from the bed. “When you told me you one hundred percent weren’t a Little.”
“Yes?”
He came to a sudden stop, and before she could say another word, he tossed her to the mattress.
“Well, let me tell you what you are ,” he rumbled, his gaze aflame as he towered above her.
“You, Dana Aziz, are one hundred percent a fucking brat.”