“Yeah,” Allie said wryly. “I know that now. When I talk about us having kids, it’s because I’m serious, but it wasn’t like that with Hiero. I thought of him more like a boy, and that ranch was something I dreamed about, not a real goal. Even then, I loved mathematics and machines, and horses were only a close third.”
“How far did it go before he figured out you weren’t serious?”
Even now, Allie could feel the guilt. “I slept with Selly Anderson, who had beautiful red hair and huge breasts, and he was fine with it. I really thought we were on the same page.”
“Ah. You slept with a man, and that destroyed him, didn’t it?”
Allie nodded miserably. “Ever since then, I have been very careful to be up front about the fact that I’m hypersexual.”
“You’ve always been clear with me,” Shank agreed.
Abandoning her examination of the ceiling, Allie looked at him. “Which is ironic because I’m not really feeling an interest in being with anyone else right now.”
Shank hurried to reassure her. “We’re surrounded by my family. Trust me, I am fine with your lack of sexual roaming. I really don’t need you comparing me to my own cousins, and I could get downright unreasonable if you so much as look at my brother.”
“No, it’s more a general sense of being happy sharing a life with one person,” Allie admitted, “balanced against a perfect fear that if I call myself monogamous, I’m going to immediately fuck up and destroy your trust.”
Shank chuckled. “I appreciate each time you choose my bed, and I won’t ask for more than that. Besides, you promised to try to corrupt my children with wasichu ideas about girls leading raids.”
“Hey, you may be great at leading the raids, but if you expect me to be the planner, we’re both screwed.”
Shank rested his elbows on his knees. “You can’t stop being white any more than I can stop being Lakota. Our kids will just have to be their own type of screwed up instead of following in our footsteps.”
“You’re not screwed up,” Allie quickly corrected him.
“Yeah, we all are, Allie.” Shank gave her an earnest expression. “Claire acted as if being tied up in the bedroom meant that I wanted her to control me all the time. And I liked the sex well enough that I let her get away with treating me like that.”
“How old were you? Eighteen? Eighteen-year-old men are supposed to be stupid.”
Shank raised one eyebrow. “I thought making generalities based on a person’s sex was evil.”
Allie shrugged. “Eighteen-year-old women are equally stupid. I think nature tries to trick us into being as sexually immature as possible before letting the hormones calm down. I bet even your mother did stupid things at eighteen. So”—Allie cleared her throat—”how much are you into the dynamic play?”
Shank studied her. “Pretty damn dynamic. I thought we’d established that.”
“Yeah, well...” Allie glanced up at the zero-gravity restraints hanging over the bed.
Shank followed her gaze, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed several times. Those restraints were designed to hold humans secure during violent ship maneuvers. Allie watched as Shank shifted, his cock already making a bulge in his pants.
“Are you that into dynamic play?” Allie asked. She was pretty sure Shank’s cock was into the idea of playing with the restraints, but she wasn’t sure his head was up to the challenge. If Allie ever came face-to-face with Claire, she was going to be hard-pressed to avoid stabbing the woman.
“You want me really helpless, huh?” Shank asked. When they’d played on the ship, Shank had squirmed out of her improvised bondage more often than not. At the time she’d enjoyed the passion Shank always showed when he got free. It was like he had to make it up to her when he escaped, and she did like his creativity when he was compensating. However, when he kept his hands behind his head, bound only by her order, he’d been just as excited, if not more. Allie was having a hard time reconciling the two sides of Shank, and she was terrified of fucking up. If they used ship restraints, he would not be getting free.
“Yeah, I was thinking about it,” Allie said, “but if you’re not comfortable—”
Shank cut her off. “I am.”
“I made that sound like a challenge, and I don’t want you to feel—”
“What? Are you afraid of hurting little old me?” Shank snorted in derision. “Trust me, I am very able to say what I think, and I think that looks like a great idea.” With that, he stood and stripped off his shirt. After tossing it aside, he toed out of his shoes and unbuttoned his pants at the same time.
Allie tried to say something, but she couldn’t quite figure out what to say. While she did some mental flailing, Shank stepped out of his pants. His hard cock stood out proudly, and he crossed his arms and considered her, head tilted to the side and muscles tense.
“Damn, you’re gorgeous,” Allie whispered. All the hard lines vanished as Shank chuckled.
“You’re giving me a big ego.”
“You deserve it,” Allie countered. “So, if you want to do this, get on the bed, arms over your head.”
