Free Claimed by Her Web Master (Web Master #3) by Normandie Alleman

On the way out we’d seen some porpoises playing in the ocean, so I kept my eyes peeled for more. They were so graceful as they jumped out of the water and dove back in pairs. Their antics seemed a reflection of pure joy. Perhaps it was that way because there was usually more than one.
    Today that struck me as unusually poignant because I’d been feeling lonely. Odd when I was carrying another human being around inside of me, but there it was.
    I’ll bet Quentin would have enjoyed seeing Pearl Harbor. There was a seriousness and a depth to him that made me think he would have found it inspiring somehow. Who knows, he might have composed something magnificent after having stood in the place where such tragedy occurred, and from where our soldiers and our country drew courage. It might be just the thing, since he was working on the score for a war movie.
    There were so many times during the day when I thought of something I wanted to tell Quentin, something I wanted to share with him. But then I remembered—he’s no longer a part of my life. It was depressing, but whenever I grew tearful I blamed the pregnancy and tried to eat something. Unless I was nauseated, and then I tried not to throw up.
    The other girls in the wedding party hadn’t wanted to come. One girl had shown mild interest last night, but begged off this morning blaming a hangover. I hadn’t been to Hawaii since I was four years old and I didn’t even remember that, but since I didn’t get to the islands very often I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to visit one of our most famous historical national monuments. I’d always liked history. Probably the teacher in me.
    And it had been incredible. The still quiet of the place spoke with the silent voices of the thousands who perished there.
    Now, on the way back to the hotel, back to Shelby and her partying friends, loneliness crept into my heart and I promised myself I wouldn’t cry.
    It was the hormones. Had to be.
    Never in my life had the possibility occurred to me that I’d become a single mother.
    I’d been raised that people got married before they had children, and when I’d been married, the children never came. That was actually a blessing since my marriage had been unhappy for the most part.
    But now that I was pregnant, the father of my child and I were estranged. He said he wanted me back, but I wasn’t ready to entertain that possibility. As controlling as the man was, I wasn’t ready to tell him until I figured out some things.
    I waited until about a month after we broke up before I considered getting back out there—dating. I probably wasn’t ready, but it made me so sad to sit around my house moping all the time, that I decided to try to have some fun.
    But my relationship with Quentin had been so much more than girlfriend-boyfriend. It had been Dominant/submissive. And after I’d experienced that I worried I wouldn’t be happy with a more vanilla partner, so I tried to meet some men through the Internet site where I’d met Quentin.
    What a disaster that had been!
    The first guy who reached out to me insisted that we meet at his house, which he kept calling his “lair.” When I refused and told him I wanted to meet in public the first time he unleashed a diatribe on me that basically amounted to him calling me worthless, and me blocking him on every possible channel.
    The next guy was young, handsome, and willing to meet at a coffee shop. The fact that he was almost ten years younger than me made me nervous, and while I couldn’t see it turning into anything long term, I was interested in a possible play session with him.
    As we sat at a table in the coffee shop, sipping our drinks, the conversation floundered. I could tell he didn’t want to get too personal, but I had to admit I found myself attracted to his wavy blond hair, dreamy blue eyes, and his hard, young body. Just as I was starting to warm up to the idea of taking things further, he asked if I wanted to