Ten minutes later, I was rocking and squeezing my thighs together.
Colin, please come back. Please!
As if he’d heard me, Colin walked back into the room from a hallway and sat on the
couch, laying a stack of papers on the coffee table before him. He’d changed into
jeans and a tight blue tee shirt, and in his hand was a leather collar.
“Come here, slave,” he said, pointing to the floor beside his sneakers.
Shivering in reaction to his overwhelming presence and more aware of my nudity now,
I moved quickly to obey. At his command, I held up my hair while he fastened the collar
around my neck and locked the little padlock. Its presence would take some getting
used to—I’d never been one for necklaces or turtlenecks because my neck was so sensitive.
His eyes lingered on my nipples, which had tightened to hard points, and then he said,
“Here’s the contract. I emailed it to Julian and he’s approved it. I want you to read
every single word and make sure you understand what you’re agreeing to before you
sign it. Nod if you understand.”
My eyes widened. There had to be at least twenty pages there, and I needed to pee
badly.
“I don’t see your head moving, slave. Is there something about my instructions you
don’t understand?”
I hesitated again and then nodded.
“Speak then.”
Relieved he’d phrased it that way, I said in a rush, “I really have to go to the bathroom,
Sir.”
His eyes narrowed. “That’s not a question about my instructions, slave. Apparently
I’ll have to be more specific in my language. If you understand my instructions, then
begin reading. If not, ask me for clarification.”
Dismayed, I stared back. He really wasn’t going to let me go to the bathroom before
I read the contract?
“Read, slave. And don’t even think about pissing on my carpet or I’ll rub your nose
in it and beat your ass.”
Steeling myself, I picked up the pages and began to read quickly. The first two pages
were a lot of stuff about his rights and responsibilities as master and mine as slave.
It certainly seemed like he had a lot more rights and I had a lot more responsibilities,
but that was nothing more than I’d expected. His only responsibilities were my only
rights—basically, he had to keep me alive and reasonably healthy, not maim or permanently
disfigure me, not damage me emotionally, and not jeopardize my career. While that
list was somewhat reassuring, it left a lot of room for extreme discomfort on my part.
The ensuing pages contained a detailed explanation of Master/slave etiquette, detailed
descriptions of postures, a detailed list of required reading with synopses for all
the books, and an extensive list of websites, along with a description of every page
I was to visit at each.
“No skimming,” Colin barked. “Read every word.”
God
damn
it, how had he known? “I’m a fast reader, Sir!”
“Did I give you permission to speak, slave?”
My eyes closed. Oh hell.
“No, Sir.”
“Stand up. Now.”
I obeyed. Figuring I was going to be punished anyway, I rushed on, “Colin, please,
I’m going to have an accident if you—”
“Quiet! No more talking, slave. Bend over the arm of the couch and put your hands
on the cushion.”
Whimpering with frustration and anxiety, I started to bend over and then paused. What
was I doing? There was no way I could live like this for a week.
I straightened and crossed my arms, looking him in the eye. “No, Sir. I’ve had a UTI
before and it wasn’t fun. I refuse to suffer through another one just so you can get
your revenge. Now show me the bathroom or get out of my way and I’ll find it myself.”
His scowl turned ferocious, but not before I saw a flash of amusement in his eyes.
“Topping from the bottom is not a good way to start out the week, slave.”
I didn’t budge. “I’m not topping from the bottom, Sir. I’m asserting my right to a
healthy urinary tract.”
“Very well,” he said in a clipped tone distinctly reminiscent of Julian. “Come with
me then.”
Right on his heels, I followed him to the sliding glass door and out onto the hot
flagstone patio. I looked around quickly to reassure myself there were no neighbors.
As far as I could tell, there was no one around for miles. Was my room in sort of
guest house? I hoped it wasn’t too damn far because it was hot out here and I was
seriously about to burst.
He led me across the yard to a wire strung between two tall trees probably a hundred
feet apart. Attached to it by a snap hook was a thick nylon cord that reached the
ground, and I froze when he picked up the snap hook at the other end.
It was a dog run.
When he went to hook the cord to my collar, I jumped back several steps. “Colin!”
“Rachel!” he mimicked, holding up the hook with his brows raised in expectation.
My heart thundered. That was
my
Colin shining through the mean-ass master act and I wanted him back.
“I’m not a dog,” I finally said.
“No, you’re a beautiful surgeon who’s being introduced to puppy play.”
Puppy play? Really?
Stiffening my spine, I stomped forward. “Fine. But I’m only doing this because I love
you, Colin Carter.”
He attached the hook under my chin and then yanked me forward, kissing me hard. I
didn’t have time to melt into him before he lifted his mouth and stared at me with
blazing blue eyes.
“I’m only doing this because I love you too, Rachel Anne. You’re mine now.
Mine
.” He tugged on the hook to emphasize the point. “Everything about you is mine, and
you will keep no part of yourself from me. Ever. Do you understand?”
Stunned, I nodded. All the bone in my legs had turned to wobbly gelatin. “Yes, Sir.”
He held onto me for another few seconds and then let go of the hook and stepped back,
spreading his feet and crossing his arms, obviously prepared to wait as long as it
took.
Submission poured over me like thick, warm syrup, sliding slowly down my skin in the
hot sunlight. The sensation triggered a critical need, and after a quick check to
make sure I was facing downhill, I squatted on my toes and released my bladder, keeping
my eyes on the ground.
The relief was almost orgasmic, sending chills over my skin in spite of the heat,
and I couldn’t hold back a soft moan.
“Good girl,” Colin said.
I gave him a wry look from under my lashes. Like this was something every person on
the planet didn’t do several times a day.
“You’re not even blushing, Rachel.”
I wasn’t, was I? “Because it’s you, Sir.”
“I know. And now
you
know.”
“Yes, Sir. Would you really have rubbed my nose in it if I couldn’t hold it?”
His lips quirked. “That’s something you’ll have to find out for yourself.”
“God, I hope not, Sir,” I said with feeling. I looked around. “Am I supposed to use
a leaf?”
“I wouldn’t, unless you’re sure you know what poison oak and poison ivy look like.
You’ll have to drip dry. Just give it a good shake. That’s what I do.”
I sighed with penis envy.
When I straightened, he stepped up and unhooked me from the line. Then he reached
behind him and pulled a leather leash out of his back pocket, and I sighed again.
“Really, Sir?”
“Shh. No speaking unless spoken to now, slave, or I’ll make you crawl back.”
Feeling as though I were on much firmer ground now, I let him lead me back into the
house and returned to my spot by his feet to read the contract. When he told me he’d
emailed me a copy of everything and I could go over the reading and website lists
at my leisure, I sent him a narrow-eyed look. The devious Dom had set me up with that
big bottle of water, extended wait, and long-ass reading assignment, hadn’t he?
He grinned. “Get used to it, Rachel. I learned from the master of mind-fucks.”
After I signed the contract, he gave me a tour of the house, still leading me by the
leash. There were two lovely guest rooms on the second floor, each with its own bath,
but he didn’t say anything about either being for me and I wasn’t taking anything
for granted. There were two other doors at the end of the hallway that he said were
his room and Julian’s, but we didn’t go in those. Instead, he took me back downstairs
and showed me the laundry room. I cheered inwardly when he told me it was there if
I needed it but they had a housekeeping service that came out twice a week to take
care of laundry and other household chores.
I held my breath when we went down to the basement. As expected, the stairs opened
onto a torture chamber—one filled with strength training machines, a treadmill and
a stationary bike. Yay.
“I hope you’ve been keeping up with your workouts,” he said severely. When I grimaced,
he shook his head. “You’ve been a very bad girl then, Rachel. We’ll have to do something
about that.”
At the other end of the room was a locked door to which Colin had they key. When he
opened it and turned on the lights, I was unsurprised to see a dungeon, heavy on medical
technology and light on BDSM furniture. The carpeted section of the room was a mini-dungeon
with a single cross, a padded metal sawhorse, some kind of metal crossbar thing on
the floor, and a tall, shallow cabinet that I assumed contained toys. At the back
was a seating area with a leather couch and a few chairs.
But it was the coldly tiled medical area that captured my attention and made my stomach
flutter with excitement. If that wasn’t the exam table from Bangenschloss, it was
an exact duplicate. And beside it was a dental chair of some sort, accompanied by
a rolling cart with the same e-stim machine I’d seen my first night at the castle.
The countertop along the wall held lots of equipment I hadn’t seen before and had
no idea what it was for.
Colin hummed with amusement. “I suspect somebody’s getting a little wet right about
now.”
I flashed him a coy look, glad for once that I couldn’t speak.
“Go bend over the exam table, ass facing the cabinets,” he ordered.
My tummy twisted with nerves but I obeyed, leaning over the side of the exam table
and recoiling slightly when my breasts landed on the cool vinyl. I heard a door slam
behind me, followed by the opening and closing of a drawer and the snap of a rubber
glove. Then I jumped when Colin spread my butt cheeks with one hand.
“Look at that wet cunt,” he tutted. “You’re such a slut, Rachel.”
I couldn’t help smiling. Being a slut for Colin was so much better than being lonely
and miserable in Seattle.
Cold gloved fingers slid into my butt and spent a few minutes twisting and tugging
while my breath stuttered in my throat. God, I’d missed him and his anal fetish. I
almost cried when he pulled out.
“This one has to be big to stay in properly,” he warned a second before something
cold and hard began pushing into me. After stiffening instinctively, I relaxed and
tried to let it in. Just when it became painful, the stretching eased and the plug
settled into place. He quickly swiped me up, forward and back, with what felt like
a disposable wipe. I appreciated that very much after my adventure in the yard.
Then something soft twitched back and forth across my thighs and Colin chuckled.
“Very nice, little slut-puppy,” he murmured.
Oh hellfire and damnation. He’d given me a tail.
* * * * *
Walking had never been so disconcerting and uncomfortable, and it was a relief when
the tour finally ended at the first-floor home office. In the center of the huge room,
two large desks faced each other, and behind each were built-in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves
filled with medical and science books. To my left was a bank of filing cabinets. And
on the opposite wall, under the wide, sunny picture window, sat a long, low wrought-iron
cage with a thin mattress in the bottom and a tasseled throw pillow at one end.
I wasn’t surprised when Colin tugged me directly to it and opened the door at the
end.
Unhooking the leash, he said, “In you go.”
Offering him a long-suffering look, I crawled in, wincing when the door clanged shut
behind me.
“Good girl,” he said, crouching beside the cage to smile at me while I found a comfortable
position sitting gingerly on one cheek. He reached between the bars and touched my
face with his fingertips. “You always look beautiful, slave, but you look exceptionally
lovely as a puppy.”
When I grimaced, his grin widened. “Accept the compliment gracefully or I’ll put the
puppy hood and mitts on you. A lick or kiss of my hand will suffice, since you don’t
have permission to speak.”
I quickly kissed his long, sensitive fingers, and then licked them for good measure.
When he didn’t withdraw, I kept licking, watching his face as he watched my tongue
slide over his skin. He looked mesmerized. And hungry.
“
Very
good girl,” he said roughly before pulling back and standing up. “All right, slave,
I have to work for an hour or so and then if you’re nice and quiet, we’ll have lunch
in the kitchen. Take a nap if you wish. You probably could use the sleep.”
He sat at one of the desks and went right to work on his laptop, so I laid down on
my side with my head on the pillow. For a long time, I just watched his beautiful
face as he frowned in concentration and occasionally smiled or chuckled at something.
Did he have any idea how thrilling it was to be able to do that after all the misery
of the last six months?
Sometime later, I woke to the feel of something tickling my foot and jerked my leg
up, banging my knee on one of the bars. “Ow.”
“Time for lunch, slave. Did you have a good nap?”
“Yes, Sir.” Rubbing my knee, I sat up and realized he’d covered me with a soft throw
while I slept.
“You looked beautiful but a little chilly.” When I backed out of the cage and stood,
he pointed at a ceiling vent. “That vent blows right on the cage, which I enjoy, but
I run hotter than you do.”