And she had her purse.

  They weren’t taking a toybag, either, because they didn’t know exactly what kind of places they’d be staying in, if they’d even have privacy to play or not. Just a couple of implements, and the Hitachi, tucked in the larger suitcase.

  “We ready, pet?” he asked when he returned to the house.

  “Yes, Sir.” She hugged the cats one more time. Their neighbor, who was also kinky and wouldn’t be fazed by their playroom, would be housesitting for them and taking care of the kitties. “We’ll see you guys in a couple of weeks.”

  She hated leaving them for such an extended period, but this was the first long vacation they’d had together since they’d been married, and she was looking soooo forward to it.

  After getting their travel mugs of coffee she’d prepared for them, they locked the house, set the alarm, and climbed into the Pilot with Tony driving now.

  “Why are we leaving so early, Sir?”

  He smiled. “I want to be north of Tampa before it gets too late. I know it’s a Saturday, but one less aggravation.”

  She settled into her seat as he hooked up his phone to the radio. “I do have to admit, I like having your CRV’s radio,” she admitted.

  He smiled. “I think you mean your CRV’s radio, don’t you, pet?”

  “Well, I still think of it as yours. Even if it’s ours.”

  He arched an eyebrow at her. “Is this like the thing where you sometimes steal my shirts and wear them?”

  She smiled. “Maaaaybe.” Sometimes, when he came home from work, she’d snarf his button-up after he took it off. She’d put it on, loving how it smelled like him.

  “Silly pet,” he said. But the love in his tone made her want to squirm in her seat.

  They wouldn’t wear themselves out driving. No marathons. They’d stop as they wanted to, take their time, and have fun.

  Then they could have a leisurely dinner, retire to their room for the night, and fuck each other’s brains out.

  When they got north of Tampa, Tony turned off I-75 to gas up and then headed west to pick up the Suncoast Parkway toll road. They’d put her old SunPass in the Pilot, and as they cruised north on the toll road there was hardly any traffic to impede their progress.

  “This is pretty,” she said.

  He wore sunglasses now. “Yes, I’ve always liked driving through this part of the state.”

  She hadn’t really explored any of this area of her adopted home state. She drove down from Ohio when she moved to Florida, but she’d taken I-75 and only stopped for gas and food, not sightseeing.

  She grabbed her laptop bag and pulled a notebook and pen out.

  “You are not working, are you, pet?” But from his light tone and the smile curling his lips, she could tell he was teasing.

  “I just had an article idea. I mean, I know we get lots of snowbirds, and there’s already a ton of info out there about day trips, but maybe a series of stuff geared for people who have moved permanently to the state. The local tourist kind of thing. What you’ll want to see, the off-the-path stuff if you’re now a local, not the tourist-trap stuff. Like, if someone lives in Sarasota, they’d want to eat at Sigalo’s at least once, or go to a lecture at the Selby Library. The stuff that’s kind of invisible unless you’re a local who uses it all the time and knows it’s there.”

  He nodded. “That’s not a bad idea. I mean, I see lots of one-tank trips kinds of articles and books, but that sounds neat.”

  She quickly noted her idea so she wouldn’t forget it. When she looked up, they’d reached the end of the parkway and were heading toward US 19.

  They stopped for lunch in Crystal River, and he drove her around for a few minutes so she could see the town.

  “Man, it’s really grown up since the last time I was here,” he said.

  “Is this where the manatees are?”

  “One of the places you can see them. I’ve never done that. I think it’s not the right time of year, anyway. Usually that’s in winter, when the water gets cold.”

  They took their time heading north while Shayla looked up hotels and other places on her phone. They hit I-10 not long before dark, and found a hotel not far west of Tallahassee to stay in.

  * * * *

  The next morning, they slept late, made love, and had a long, hot shower and breakfast before getting on the road again. Tony was beginning to really relax and enjoy the trip, certain he’d put his spate of bad luck behind him for good.

  They were coming up on Pensacola when Shayla noticed they had a problem.

  “Uh-oh,” he heard her say.

  “What?” he asked.

  “There’s an accident this side of Mobile. The bridge is closed.”

  He smiled. “Then I guess we’ll head north.”

  She blinked. “Oh.” A laugh escaped her. “Yeah, I guess it doesn’t matter.”

  He reached over and took her hand. “Nope.”

  But when they stopped for gas and lunch just south of Evergreen, Alabama, before getting on I-65 to go north, another problem cropped up.

  Tony tried to swipe his bank card to get gas and the pump wouldn’t take it.

  He opened the driver’s door. “Pet, give me your bank card.” They’d set up an account specifically for this use, one they could transfer money into as they needed it and not worry about risking their main account with credit card skimmers, or risking their credit cards, either.

  She handed it over…

  It wouldn’t swipe either.

  That’s when both their phones, sitting in the console, started going off with text alert notifications.

  Tony finally put gas on one of their credit cards that he preferred not to use for stuff like this, and they pulled into a parking spot so he could call their bank’s customer service line and get their cards reactivated.

  That took the better part of forty-five minutes.

  Despite the fact that he had personally gone into their account and activated the travel notice feature to prevent exactly this scenario from happening.

  Maybe I thought I was out of the woods too soon. Maybe I should have hung that damn charm in this car.

  They got that straightened out, had lunch, and finally got back on the road. But instead of taking the interstate, he changed his mind and they meandered their way up toward Montgomery. He asked Shayla if she wanted to drive, but she was happy to be his passenger.

  Which was fine. He didn’t mind doing the driving.

  But he’d hoped to get her to fall in love with the Pilot so he could get his CRV back. He loved the Pilot, but he wanted her to drive it every day. It was bigger than his CRV.

  Sure, he could order her to drive it, but he wanted her to want to drive it.

  Besides, he’d feel like a shithead if he did that after she’d said why she loved driving the CRV so much.

  Because it was his.

  The things we do for our pets.

  They were trying to decide where to stop for the night when Tony realized the steering wheel was feeling…funny. Like the front end had a weird vibration in it, rapidly getting worse.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “I think we’ve got a flat.”

  She snickered. “Whoops. Hey, I’m glad I wasn’t driving.”

  He pulled over, but this stretch of two-lane road had the bare minimum of shoulder, with deep ditches on either side. Despite the posted speed limit being only fifty, he realized that was being treated more as a suggestion than a rule.

  Hell, he’d been doing sixty without realizing it.

  He put it into park and found the hazard flashers button. “Stay in the car,” he cautioned her. Then he had to wait until the road was clear to get out and look at the tire.

  Sure enough, it was flat.

  Dammit.

  Twenty minutes later, after overcoming a very crappy cell signal and Shayla figured out exactly where they were with her phone while Tony was on the phone with AAA, they were told it’d be at least three hours before they could get their tire changed.

  He hung up fuming. “Fuck it. I’m going to change it. It’ll be dark in an hour.” He pulled the vehicle up a little, sliding the SUV over to the right on the narrow shoulder as far as he dared without it sitting at too much of an incline. It gave him scant room to change the thing, but fuck it.

  “Tony,” Shay said, her voice sounding nervous, “are you sure this is a good idea?”

  “I’m sure it’s a terrible idea, but we’re not spending the whole night out here waiting for a wrecker when I can change it in a few minutes.”

  She got out and helped him unload the back hatch and set their luggage safely out of the way so he could get the spare and jack out. Then, working in bursts as Shayla warned him about oncoming traffic, he got the lug nuts loosened and the SUV jacked up.

  Once he removed the flat tire, he rolled it to the back hatch and was going to grab the spare when he spotted two cars racing along, side-by-side, and not slowing down.

  As they approached, it was obvious the one on their side of the road wasn’t fully in control. Their tire caught the edge of the pavement, pulling them off the road and right toward them.

  “Shit!”

  Tony grabbed Shayla and dove for the ditch with her, meaning they didn’t see—but they heard—the sickening sound of a collision.

  They were too busy landing in the six inches of muddy water.

  And not being dead.

  Tony’s pulse pounded, and he was afraid to move at first, afraid to get off her, wanting to shield her body with his. “Are you okay, pet?”

  She nodded. “Are you?”

  “Yeah.” They finally sat up and took inventory, realizing they were both unharmed other than now being covered with stinking ditch water and mud.

  Shaken, they climbed up the embankment to find one of the cars upside down in the ditch on the other side of the road, and one spun out and facing the wrong way, but its front passenger side was smashed.

  The impact had knocked the Pilot off the jack, which wasn’t the biggest problem.

  The front driver’s quarter was smashed.

  At least traffic was stopping in both directions, and people stopped to check on them, as well as pull the little teenaged assholes out of the other cars.

  Uninjured, of course.

  Enraged, Tony started toward them but Shayla grabbed his arm and hung off it, literally digging her heels in to try to hold him back.

  “Sir, no, please?”

  “They could’ve killed you!”

  She tugged on him. “You, too!”

  He looked back, meeting her gaze, realizing nothing good would be served by him killing the two little assholes.

  Especially when he had witnesses.

  He turned, pulling her into his arms and holding her.

  Two hours later, they’d changed clothes and cleaned up as best they could. They’d retrieved all their belongings from the Pilot and sadly watched as it was driven off on the back of a flatbed wrecker.

  A deputy drove them and their luggage to a hotel in the closest town. Fortunately, they had a room available, and Tony had Shayla go ahead while he and the deputy brought all their luggage up.

  “It’s not the worst place,” she said when he finally closed and locked the room’s door behind them.

  He walked over to the tiled area by the sink and vanity to kick off his gross sneakers and strip. Fortunately, they’d had a plastic grocery bag to stash their muddy, disgusting clothes in. Those Shayla pulled out and rinsed off in the shower to keep them from getting ruined, along with their shoes.

  Then, as they stood in the shower, Tony pinned Shayla to the wall and fucked her, desperate to reassure himself she was okay.

  It’d been a close call.

  His lips closed over hers as he fucked her hard, her arms tightly wrapped around him, clinging to him and fucking him back just as hard as he was fucking her.

  He needed to center himself, assure himself she was really okay.

  She was his world, his life. If he’d lost her…

  He shut off that line of thought and nipped her lower lip. “Come for me, baby,” he whispered. “Be my good girl.”

  He couldn’t fix this shittacular day, but he could take her mind off of it for a few minutes.

  God knew he needed to do the same.

  He pulled out and dropped to his knees, grabbing her ass to hold her cunt pressed against his mouth as he licked and sucked on her clit. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she held on tightly while he ate her out.

  He needed to hear her come, needed to taste her, needed to reassure himself she was safe, that he hadn’t lost her.

  That they were alive and uninjured and had missed a horrific potential.

  He made her come over and over again, despite his knees hurting and the aches and pains he was already starting to feel elsewhere in his body from their adventure. He teased her swollen clit and finger fucked her and as every sweet, juicy drop flowed from her pussy over his tongue, he celebrated they were alive, and together.

  Only once he knew he’d wrung every last ounce of pleasure from her did he stand and again notch his cock against her pussy, shoving in easily. His mouth closed on hers once more, her arms draping around his neck. She eagerly kissed him back as he fucked her, this time taking his time, grinding into her and slow-stroking her with his cock as the steam flowed around them.

  His orgasm finally pulsed through, his balls emptying a load of cum into her as she muffled his cries with her mouth and her fingers tangled in his wet hair.

  “We’re okay, Sir,” she whispered. “We’re alive and fine. I love you.”

  He closed his eyes as he held her tightly pressed against him, even as his cock grew soft inside her. “I love you, too, pet. Goddammit, I fucking love you so much.” He choked back his tears. “I don’t know what the hell I’d ever do if I lost you.”

  She nuzzled her face against him. “That makes two of us, Sir. Let’s hope we never find out.”

  When they finally collapsed into bed later, he heard her speak in the dark. “Can we go home, Sir?”

  “Yeah,” he hoarsely said. There was a rental car place in town, but it was already closed for the night. They could get one in the morning.

  But as he lay there long after she’d fallen asleep, he seriously considered looking into that exorcism.

  Chapter Ten

  Tony’s sneakers were still wet the next morning, so he threw them into a plastic bag and wore the flip-flops he’d tucked into the suitcase just in case. They checked out of the hotel and took an Uber to the rental car place.

  All they had available for a one-way rental was an older vehicle that had seen better days, a four-door Chevy that looked like it’d been used for a backyard driving range target.

  “Hail damage,” the clerk told them. “They want it down in Florida to send to an auction there. We can give you ten dollars off the regular rate.”

  “Does the AC work?” Tony asked.

  “I think so.”

  “Sold,” Tony wearily said as he slapped his bank card down.

  The clerk took it, then looked uncomfortable after swiping it. “Um, I’m sorry, but this card’s been decl—”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Tony muttered even as Shayla started giggling next to him. He dug out his Amex and slapped it down. “There.”

  Fuck it, he’d pay it off when they got home, and hopefully this guy wasn’t running a skimmer on his ancient credit card machine.

  Home never looked so fucking good as it did when they pulled into their driveway late that afternoon. Tony shut the car off and looked at Shayla and started laughing.

  She smiled, then started laughing with him, both of them sitting there and fucking howling.

  “I never thought I’d ever have to call red for a vacation, Sir,” she finally gasped as they started getting themselves under control. “That was too much excitement.”

  “Yeah, I’m an excitable boy, but I like my excitement a little less exciting. We still have twelve days to ourselves. What would you like to do?”

  “You mean besides shopping for a new car?”

  He sighed. “Yeah, that.” Because they’d still have to do that. They were back to square one on that front.

  “I say we open a GrubHub account and not leave the dang house,” she suggested.

  “That, my dear pet, is a fantastic fucking idea. Go unlock the house, please. I’ll start unloading our things.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He slipped his flip-flops on, then popped the trunk latch before he climbed out. He walked around to the rear of the car and opened the trunk.

  When will this fucking curse go away?

  He grabbed the large suitcase handle and hauled it out, but halfway the handle broke, and before he could grab it with his other hand, it came down hard on the top of his left foot, wheel-first, making him howl with pain.

  “Goddammit! Motherfucker!”

  Shayla turned. “What happened?”

  He hopped on one foot, finally leaning against the side of the CRV and rubbing his foot as she hurried over. “Get the house unlocked, please,” he said, trying to flex his wounded foot.

  “What’d you do?”

  He pointed at the suitcase. “The handle broke and the wheel landed right on top of my foot.”

  She winced. “Let me help you inside, Sir. You might have broken it.”

  It was already swelling. “Goddammit.” He tried to put weight on it, wincing and realizing that, no, he really couldn’t.

  “Okay, Sir,” Shay said, her voice growing firm. “Let me help you, get some ice on it, and get it elevated. I will unload the car. Come on.” She got his arm around her and although he hated leaning on her, he managed to hobble inside to the couch, where he lay down and she grabbed throw pillows to elevate his foot.

  She leveled a finger at him. “Stay.”

  “I’m not wearing a butt-plug for you, pet. Not even if you tell me my ass is gorgeous.”