Free Safeword: Rainbow by Candace Blevins Page B

rely on all of those cool gadgets to do my job. My guess is that if nothing happens in the next day or two that Mac will go to a payphone and call the cell I called him from the other day so we can work on Plan B."
    "What is Plan A?"
    "The guy goes to your house looking for you and Mac kills him. There won't be any legal problems, with the hit Mac had on his passport and the documentation for why the hit was there, and then the guy going to the house... Mac won't have any trouble proving self defense. It will be considered an international thing and the agency will keep the DA from even thinking about doing anything with it."
    "How many people have you killed?"
    Tyler grimaced. "Let's not go there, okay?"
    "Sorry."
    "No, don't be sorry. I don't want you to be sorry for asking me questions. I'm going to have a bit of a learning curve, working on opening up and actually letting someone inside. But, there are some questions that I'm not sure I can ever answer, and that's one of them. Don't be sorry for asking though."
    "Have you ever had a long term relationship?"
    "Two. One in high school and one in college. I haven't allowed myself the luxury of one since. Not with the job I had at the time. But now that I'm out, and alive, I think it's about time I gave myself permission."
    "You're thirty-two years old Tyler; there hasn't been anyone since you graduated college?"
    "Oh, I had a few ladies that I could call up while I was in town. Probably a dozen or so in cities around the world. And I treated them as if they were special, but they weren't a relationship. None of them knew my real name."
    "Just Master James?"
    He figured she wouldn't like the answer, but he wanted to be honest with her. "Yeah."
    "If you could have found me when you came back looking for me, would I have turned into one of them? Just another submissive in another city?"
    "No. If I had found you I was going to tell you that it would be a couple of years before I could offer any hope of a relationship to you. I would have asked to see you when I could make it into town until I could release myself from the work obligations I found myself under."
    "Maybe it's just as well you didn't find me. I'd have assumed you were married and trying to get me to be your out-of-town mistress."
    "I think I hear your dad waking up, the smell of the food must have done it."
    She lowered her voice. "Something tells me you are a better liar than me, why don't you tell him about us meeting in New Hampshire, I'm not sure I can pull it off. I'll go see if he needs any help."
    "Let him do it without help. I know you want to care for him, but he's got a huge male ego and it's hard for him to let you help him. He'll be okay.
     
    * * * *
     
    Viv knew Tyler was right; it was time to start giving her dad more space. It took him ten minutes to get up and go to the bathroom and make it into the kitchen. But she sat and talked to Tyler and didn't go to him. She got up and started putting out dishes and silverware and pouring drinks. By the time her dad made it in, Tyler had dinner ready and they all sat down to eat.
    Viv took a bite of the vegetables. "Oh, my god, you were right. These vegetables are incredible."
    Her dad wasn't buying it. "Nice try Viv, trying to get me to eat vegetables."
    "You kind of have to, dad. Tyler cooked them and it would be rude to refuse to even try them. Besides, they really are incredible, at least try a bite."
    Mr. MacNeill scooped a very small amount onto his plate and took a bite and then looked wide eyed at Tyler. "Where were you when my wife was trying to stuff vegetables down my throat? These are really good . Who would have known you could make squash taste like this?"
    Tyler smiled. "I'm glad you like them, Mr. MacNeill. Eat up."
    "Umm, dad, you like Tyler, right?"
    "Of course I do, Viv. He's been a good friend to your brother. And he's been around more than you have since you've grown up. I understand you were busy, but there were a few Christmases that