There was a pause. Was that a moan in the background? She heard a door open and close, and then the sounds stopped. She didn’t like the idea that he was with someone, but she listened. “I can afford a hotel,” he said. “We can meet there for two hours every afternoon. When you walk into my room, you will be mine. When you leave, you can go back to your normal life, and I’ll enjoy being a tourist in DC. If we manage to get some time on weekends, I’ll treat that as a bonus.”
No strings. But still intense, to be his every afternoon. And yes, much more than a one-night stand. “If the hotel is close, we’ll have more time.”
“If you’re willing to send me your address, I’ll get a nearby hotel.”
She hesitated. For herself, she trusted him. But she had her kids to consider whenever she took a risk. The silence lengthened and felt awkward.
“Or you can do the research and give me a few nearby options,” he said. “But if you’re uncomfortable about me, the best thing to do is to give my name to a friend of yours. I’m not hard to track down, and if anything were to happen, your friend would give my name to the police.”
In the time since she met him, she’d read his books and remembered him suggesting similar schemes as a way for people to protect themselves. “You’ve done this before.”
“I’m not going to apologize for my past, and I hope you can benefit from my experience.”
“And I’m not going to apologize for being a protective mom.”
“Good. Because that’s a good thing too.”
Sweet talker. She didn’t see how it was a good thing for him, but maybe he’d rather just have two hours, anyway. Still, she didn’t much like the idea that he’d be free to see other women every evening if he wanted to. “Are you just visiting me, or are there other girls on the agenda?” she asked. She hadn’t decided if it was a deal breaker or not.
“I was actually going to propose that we both get ourselves tested tomorrow—I get myself tested regularly anyway—and that we be exclusive while I’m there.”
Simple. If she trusted him. Oddly, she did. Not because he couldn’t get another woman easily enough, but because he probably had little need to inveigle any of them with lies. Recent tests were all fine and good, but some things took a while to show up. “Have you had unprotected sex with anyone since I met you?”
“No sex at all, actually.”
Maybe she’d misjudged. “I find that hard to believe.”
“I’ve been working. And I have played with people. I’m at a play party right now, and I just stepped out. But I actually go long stretches without sex. I might tie people up, I might beat them with a flogger, but for sex, I want something more than a one-off date.”
That sounded more credible to her than the idea that the man who wrote those books just decided to go completely without. She couldn’t help but be jealous of the women he’d played with, however. “Where are you? Are you going to play tonight?”
“I’m at a club. And it depends on whether you say yes or not.” He chuckled. “If you do, I’d rather save my energy for you.”
It was almost blackmail, if he knew how much she suddenly didn’t want him touching anyone else. But maybe he didn’t know she was jealous. And it sounded honest to her. She took a deep breath.
I won’t know until I try.
“Yes. That’s your answer. Yes.”
“I’d like to send you a contract. It’s not set in stone. We can negotiate it. But it will detail what I expect as your dominant and what you can expect as my submissive for the duration of my visit.”
“And at the end of the visit?”
“Then I’ll go back to my life, and you’ll go back to yours. I’ll put that in the contract.”
“No, Colby.” She used his name deliberately, remembering how she had used it to show respect at the ranch. At the same time, she had to say no.
“Hmm?”
“I don’t want that in the contract.”
“I always put it in my contracts. And I especially should in this case. I don’t live out there, and neither of us wants a long-term relationship, right?”
“I don’t think so. Although maybe seeing you occasionally could be pretty good. I don’t know. That’s the point—I don’t know. I know one thing about the future, and that’s that it’s in the future. I want it open-ended.”
Just in case there’s more to us than we know, I don’t want to doom us from the start.
He waited for a moment for her to finish before speaking. “I find that open-ended leads to trouble and confusion, and I want to take better care of a submissive than that.”
She was thinking. He seemed to know everything about BDSM and have everything figured out. He had way too much experience, and she had too little. Surrendering to him was one thing, but the fact that he knew so much more than she did was an imbalance that made her uneasy. And even though she was in no position to have anything more than just a bit of him for a short time, she wanted there to be possibility. Hope. Options. She made up her mind. “I’ll sign a limited-term contract. But not for the whole time you’re here. For one week. For that one week, I’ll give you more than two hours a day.”
And I’ll stay up late getting my work done. For a week, I can do it.
“Acceptable?”
“With a possibility of negotiating another week or two after the week is up?” he asked.
“With a possibility of negotiating whatever we like, after.”
Silence.
Too open-ended for you? Tough. A week will be hard enough on my heart. Even though parts of me are already getting wet looking forward to it.
“Acceptable,” he said at last.
Chapter Seven
Sophia gave Lana a kiss as she dropped her off. Jack was in middle school and walked. He was becoming an independent kid, which was supposed to be a good thing, but part of her missed her little boy. Lana, at least, still liked cuddles. How much longer would it be until she started wanting to be all grown up too?
She drove two miles to the Regent Hotel where Colby was staying and parked on the street where the parking was cheaper. Looking around to make sure no one was staring at her too intently, she slipped her hands underneath the short blue denim dress she was wearing and pulled off her panties. Then she opened the door, held the hem so that it wouldn’t ride up, and got out of the car. She didn’t want to flash anyone. Heck, she didn’t even want anyone seeing the tops of her stockings. Well, most of her didn’t.
She had done as he suggested and left a sealed envelope with her friend Melanie. It was slightly more complicated than a call, but it would work. If she wasn’t there to pick Lana up, Lana knew to go to Mel’s house, which was just a block from school—that had been standard procedure for the last three years. And if Lana showed up, Mel knew to open the envelope, which would tell her to send the police to Colby’s room. Sophia didn’t want Melanie knowing any more than necessary.
Feeling a little self-conscious, her heartbeat fast with excitement, Sophia went to the hotel clerk and asked for the key, which Colby had promised would be waiting for her. The clerk checked her ID and handed the key card to her. She took the elevator up, her heart beating madly.
I could simply knock and have him let me in. But that’s not what he asked me to do. And him being in charge turns me on.
She got off on the fourth floor, walked down the hallway to room 415, and slid the key through the slot on the door. She heard the
click
and saw the green light go on. She twisted the door knob and let herself in before closing the door behind her.
He was lying propped up on the bed, reading a book. His shirt was off, but he wore the same leather pants he’d been wearing when she’d first seen him. She’d forgotten just how strong he looked, how broad his chest was and how thick his biceps were. She gave herself a moment just to watch him. He set down the book to look at her. She wanted him to rise and gather her up in his arms, kiss her perhaps, but she knew he wasn’t going to. Not with the instructions he’d given her. She deposited her purse on the small table near the entryway.
“Hello, Sophia. It’s very good to see you.”
At least he spoke. She smiled back at him with a bit more bravery than she thought.
A whole week. Why does that seem so daunting?
“It’s good to be seen,” she said. It was a lie. She’d much rather watch him than have his gaze on her. Especially given what he’d ordered her to do next.
She hesitated. He waited.
She’d practiced a few times in the mirror. The dress had metal buttons up the front, riveted securely on. She grabbed it and pulled.
Pop, pop, pop. I hope he didn’t expect a slow striptease.
In a second, every button was undone, and she shrugged the dress to the floor.
His eyes widened.
She’d bought the garter belt she wore partly because she knew she’d feel silly standing there in just her bra. And he’d been very specific she wasn’t to wear panties, and that she was to shed all her outer clothing the moment she entered. She took a step forward to get off the tile that was at the entryway, and then she knelt on the carpet, as instructed. She wanted to be perfect for him.
He got off the bed and walked around until he stood in front of her. “You’re beautiful, Sophia. Even more so than I remembered. You may stand.”
She took his offered hand and rose. Immediately he enveloped her in his arms and kissed her hard on the lips. She kissed back, opening her mouth for his tongue. Soon she felt his hand on her throat, pushing her back until she felt the wall against her ass. For a moment, she felt weak, and then his grip relaxed. She breathed.
“Colby,” she said. “Sir.”
“Not for this week,” he said. “For this week, I am your Master. And you are my slave. You belong to me, to do as I please as long as I can release you whole when our time is finished.”
Finished.
She didn’t want to think about that. Not when it was just starting.
It was my idea to make it a week. Maybe I was foolish.
Still holding her against the wall, he slid his hand down her belly. She parted her legs for him, yearning for his touch. “You waxed,” he said as he encountered her silky smoothness.
“You like?”
You better, because it hurt, and I did it for you.
“I do. Very much so. I feel like rewarding you.” Without further warning, he grabbed her hips and picked her up. She knew she wasn’t a light woman, but he acted like she was a feather. He tossed her onto the bed, which took the wind out of her.
Sturdy bed.
She wasn’t sure where exactly he grabbed rope from, but suddenly he was on top of her and tying her wrist. The knot he was tying looked complicated, but it only took him a few seconds before both her wrists were tied to the bedposts. And he still had rope left over.
“This is my reward?” she asked.
“Part of it.”
Actually, it sounds good to me.
He moved off her and grabbed an ankle, tying that to a corner too. She decided she’d play hard to get with the other one and moved her foot as he tried to grab it.
He chuckled. “Really, my little hedonist? The time to try to get away is long gone. You don’t have a chance with only one foot free.” Sure enough, by the time he’d finished talking, he’d caught up with her foot, and no amount of yanking was going to dislodge her foot from his grasp. He tied it efficiently, and she found herself spread-eagle and unable to move.
“Well, hello,” she said. Had it been just a few seconds ago that she had walked into the room and seen him for the first time in months? But at least they’d talked. On the phone and a couple of times on video chat. They’d negotiated the rules. And now he could use her however he wished.
“The walls are kind of thin,” he said.
“I’ll be quiet.”
He shook his head. “But I want to try my best to make you scream. Which I know you do, under some circumstances.” He got off the bed and walked over to a bag that was halfway across the room. When he turned back, she saw what he was holding. Bright red ball, black leather straps. A gag. In his other hand, he had a metal ball.
“I don’t need that.”
How is he going to make me scream? With pain? With orgasms? Both? My God, what have I gotten myself into?
“We’re using my judgment today. Not yours.” He straddled her again, supporting his weight on his knees rather than on her stomach.
She knew he was right. That was what they’d agreed to. But for some reason, the gag scared her. “
I hate the sound of your voice.”
That was what her husband had said. Thoughts of him had a way of coming up at the worst times. She tried to clear that out of her mind and address more real concerns. “What if I need to say something?” she asked.
“I’ll give you something to hold that you can drop to get my attention.” He put the metal ball into her left hand, and she closed her fist around it. “Drop it, and it will make a sound like a bell. I’ll undo the gag and see what’s wrong.”
So really, it’s kind of under my control.
She wasn’t sure she wanted the control, although it did ease her fears. “Maybe I don’t want it. Maybe I want you to make all the decisions.”
“Maybe. But I’d need to know you a lot better than I do to be willing to play without some kind of safe word. I’d need to know what your every response means. So right now, my decision is that you’re going to hold that ball. And stay holding it, unless you really, really need to drop it. So if you want me to make the decision, that’s it. Hold it. And open your mouth.”
She grinned at him mischievously. “Make—”
Me.
But she never got the second word out of her mouth before the rubber ball was pushed between her lips. He pulled the strap tight.
“I do know what some of your responses mean, and you grin like that every time you intend to be a brat, Sophia. Discussion over.”
Yes, Sir. Yes, Master.
“And now, your reward for waxing your pussy.” He got off her and off the bed.
He’s getting some devious toy.
“Close your eyes.”
Blindfold me.
But she couldn’t say it, and probably just as well. She’d been bratty enough. She closed her eyes, but it took effort to keep them closed. The next thing she felt might be a riding crop. Or a clamp. Or something she hadn’t even imagined existed.