Love Unbound (8 page)

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have; I know.” Her
voice caught and she lifted her hips as much as his weight would
allow, trying to give him better access to her sex.

The movement opened her to him and he pressed
his thumb against the tight ring of her anus. He didn’t penetrate
her, just kept steady pressure on the opening while his fingers
stroked her swollen clit. Her trembling increased and she pressed
her hips back into his hand.

“I tried to fix it.” Her voice shook a little
and when he gave the string holding the beads a gentle tug, she
groaned in pleasure. “See,” she said, breathless. “I put them back
in.”

He bent over her and tasted the soft skin
behind her ear, all the while keeping one hand on her sex. “I see.”
He slid his fingers in small circles and pressed with his thumb.
Her gasps turned into soft whimpers. “But there is still the fact
that you went out of your way to make poor Sam uncomfortable. He
was trying so hard to do what I’d asked him to.” He bit gently at
the back of her neck. “No, kitten. I’m still going to have to spank
you.” Her hips jumped and she thrust back against hand, her
reaction surprising both of them. “Come lay across my lap,” he said
with a chuckle. “I’m afraid this is going to be more of a
punishment for me than it is for you.”

Cat draped herself across Owen’s lap and
waited, not sure what to expect. His erection pressed into the soft
mound of her belly and she wriggled, deliberately trying to torment
him. That did it. His arm stretched across the small of her back
and he gave her ass a soft smack with his other hand. It didn’t
hurt, but she had a feeling he was just warming up.

He stroked her cheeks, sliding his palm up
and down her curves. He slipped his fingers between her legs along
her wet slit and gave the string a tug, pulling out one of the
beads. She gasped and pressed against his hand. His cock
practically twitched against her stomach.

“Hold still.” He brought his hand down,
harder this time, on the smooth skin of her ass. She danced around
on his lap, too aroused to stay still and if she was honest with
herself, trying to torture him a bit.

He tugged on the string and two more beads
slipped free. Oh God, almost there. She wriggled again. This time
the smack on her ass stung and she tried to twist around.

“Hold still, dammit!”

Smack.

Crap, that one really stung. Her ass heated
and she wriggled in earnest, not sure herself if she was trying to
get closer or scramble away.

“Would you hold still and take your
medicine!”

She couldn’t help it. He sounded so
frustrated and the whole thing suddenly struck her as funny. She
giggled. He brought his hand down twice, once on each cheek. Her
ass stung with the blows but she couldn’t stop laughing. The
absurdity of trying to figure out whether she liked being spanked
or not made her laugh and when she thought of poor Owen trying hold
onto her and make her take her “medicine” she giggled harder.

It was little like being tickled. Her ass was
hot and she wanted him desperately. She couldn’t catch her breath.
There was no way she could hold still. Two more smacks, and he gave
up trying. She felt him start to laugh, too.

“Fuck it.” He tugged out the beads and tossed
them aside. With one quick movement, he flipped her over onto her
back and plunged inside her. She arched, crying out for him. He
lifted her hips, holding them tight in his hands, letting him sink
deeper into her. She reached for him and drew him to her. When he
bent over her to claim her mouth, she pulled off his mask and
stared into the face of the man she had loved for most of her
life.

He smiled down at her and his face mirrored
all the love that she felt. His gaze never leaving her face, he
started to move, slowly sliding in and out of her swollen channel
in long smooth strokes. The pleasure built as he drove them both
on. Cupping her head in his hand, he tucked her against his chest
and thrust, sinking into her as deep as he could go.

Sensations swamped her. The tenderness of his
hand holding her and his punishing thrusts, forced her to feel more
and more as he rode her. She licked the skin at the base of his
throat and felt his groan against her mouth. When she bit him, he
growled.“Baby, I’m not going to last.” He reached between them to
stroke her clit. That was all it took to send her careening over
the edge.

As she screamed his name, she felt him fall
with her, his cock jerking as he spent his seed against her womb
and she spasmed around him.

“Oh God.” She breathed the words as they lay
tangled together on the bed. “That was…” She struggled to find a
word big enough for what she was feeling.

“I know.”He pulled her tighter, cradling her
against him. “I love you, Cat. Forever and always.”

Tears pricked her eyes. “I love you, too.
Forever and always.”

Epilogue

It finally arrived. Cat set the FedEx box on
her desk, practically dancing in anticipation. She ripped open the
cardboard box and tore away the bubble wrap, revealing a plain
green cloth bound journal. She flipped open the cover and her
breath caught in her throat.

It turned out better than she imagined. She
turned page after page of the glossy photos Sam had taken.

After their weekend together, Owen had given
her the SD card. He told her the pictures were for her and she had
the only copies. She’d tucked the card away and waited until she
could look at the photos by herself. It felt too vulnerable to look
at them with him. The first chance she’d gotten, she loaded the
images on her laptop and sat, mesmerized.

They were beautiful. She was beautiful.
Although it was still hard to admit that it was her in the
photographs. The woman in the pictures was gloriously naked with
jewel toned ribbon woven in intricate patterns around her ivory
skin. Her heavy breasts were rosy tipped and the dark curls,
covering her sex, glistened.

Only one of the pictures was from far enough
away to see the straps holding her wrists and the spreader bar. All
the rest of the photos were close ups, concentrating on the layers
of ribbons and curves of flesh. With the pretty beaded mask
covering her face, she wouldn’t have recognized herself if she
hadn’t known it was her.

She’d clicked through image after image,
freezing when she got to the pose with her kneeling. Owen’s face
hidden behind the damn Zorro mask filled the screen. The photo must
have been taken the second he released her nipple. His mouth was
softly pursed and her nipple, wet and stretched, looked like it was
straining towards him. She hadn’t realized Sam had taken a picture
of that. Her womb still tightened and she got wet remembering the
sudden shock and feel of Owen suckling her sensitive flesh.

The next image was the three quarter angle
with her kneeling. Ribbons wound through her braided hair and
continued the pattern down her arms to her wrists. The way she was
turned captured the delicate mask and the edge of her jaw. The
tight bud of her nipple just peeked out from behind the edge of her
bound arms. Amazing. Sam really was an artist, and Owen was going
to flip.

God, remembering the whole thing made her wet
and achy. It was better than she could’ve imagined – than she had
imagined. He’d been amazing. She still had a hard time believing
he’d put all that time into making her fantasy come true, and she’d
been looking for a way to repay him.

She’d finally decided on the journal. She’d
picked the best photos and sent them to a company on the other side
of the country to have them printed and bound. That had been weeks
ago. Now that it was finally here, she couldn’t wait to show it to
Owen.

She pulled a plain black mask, a spool of
purple ribbon and a thick, creamy white card from her desk.

You are the only one that can do this to me –
that can make me feel like this. With you I am unbound. Yours,
only, forever and always.

Love,

Kitten

Cat laid the mask and card on top of the
album, grabbed the ribbon and started to wind. Ten minutes later,
she slipped the beautifully bound present into Owen’s briefcase and
went downstairs to find the man who still held her heart.

When they first got together, Max and Julie
couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. They’d climb on the
back of his motorcycle and look for places to make love. Hidden in
the woods. At night, naked in the lake and wrapped around each
other like seals.

That was sixteen years and three children
ago. They still love each other, but they’ve let themselves be
buried under their roles – wife, mother, caretaker, husband,
father, provider. Lovers rarely makes the list anymore.

The responsibilities and obligations come at
a cost. They are both struggling to remember who they are and who
they want to be together. When Julie’s parents offer to take the
kids for a couple of days, Max and Julie have a chance to uncover
what’s been missing and find a way back into each other’s arms.

Julie scooted to the edge of the dock and
lowered her toes into the water. The cool water drew out some of
the heat of her anger, and she tugged the legs of her jeans up so
she could sink her feet in farther. Below the top couple of inches,
the water felt even colder. It was early enough in the season; it
hadn’t had a chance to warm completely. She flexed her feet and
spread her toes, watching their pale shapes under the water.

Oh God.
One minute they’d been talking
– really talking – for the first time in forever and the next
minute she’d been flying down the path to the lake in a full blown
rage. She was so tired of feeling like this. Like simmering under
everything was this quiet despair. Her life was good. She loved Max
and the kids. Why couldn’t she just be happy with what she had?

But she wasn’t.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d
felt unabashed joy. Most of the time what she felt was overwhelmed.
When she and Max were pulling in the same direction it was okay.
They could ride the challenges out together. Lately, she felt so
isolated, like she was alone in a boat, waiting for the wave that
would finally sink her.

It wasn’t what she wanted for any of them.
She used to love things. Simple things like being outdoors or
watching the sunset. She loved to read, to dance to the radio and
sing along. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done
something she wanted to instead of something she was supposed to
do.

Whose fault was that? No one asked her to
martyr herself for them. The kids certainly weren’t happy with her
snarling at them and if today was any indication, Max wasn’t any
happier than she was.

Swinging her feet slowly through the water,
she looked out over the lake and watched the reflected moonlight
dance on the surface. Light from the sliver of a moon kissed the
tips of the ripples and the peepers chirped, punctuated
occasionally by the deep chirrup of a bull frog.

She didn’t like herself anymore. It felt
awful. This was her life – the one she got, her gift from God, and
she wasn’t living it the way she wanted to. Her eyes drifted closed
and she breathed in the still night, praying with each exhale.
Please God. Please God. Please God.
Unsure of what to ask
for but absolutely certain she did not want to feel like this for
one minute more.

She heard a noise behind her and felt the
dock move. Opening her eyes and shifting on the rough boards, she
could make out Max barely visible as he stepped onto the dock. As
she watched, he stripped off his t-shirt. Even his olive skin
looked pale in the moonlight as he shucked off his jeans and
briefs. By the time he reached her he was completely naked.

“What are you doing?” Her voice sounded small
in the darkness.

“Come swim with me, Jules. Like we used
to.”

The “no” sat on the tip of her tongue ready
to reject him, but in the stillness a small quiet voice inside her
said “why not?” Why shouldn’t she? It was so dark. She wouldn’t
have to worry about how she looked, and she used to love to swim at
night, floating under the stars. She nodded, unable to squeeze a
response past the tightness in her throat and stood.

“Good.” Max grabbed some of the kids’
Styrofoam noodles from the boat house and tossed them into the
water. He planted a smacking kiss on top of her head, let out a
whoop and dove in after them. He came up spluttering and gasping
for air. “Holy Christ, it’s cold!” Laughter bubbled out of her and
some of the tension between them dissolved. “Come on in. The water
is fine,” he said doing his best Delmar from
O Brother Where Art
Thou
.

“I can tell.” She laughed. Still grinning,
she shimmied out of her jeans and panties. Without giving herself a
chance for second thoughts, she stripped off her shirt and
unclasped her bra, freeing her full breasts. Her nipples pebbled to
tight buds in the cool night air and she shivered both from the
cold and the shock of standing naked under the stars.

Unable to bring herself to dive into the
dark, she climbed down the ladder, gasping as she slid into the
water.

“Over here, baby.” Max waved a noodle at her,
and with swift smooth strokes, she swam the short distance to him.
He pushed two noodles at her, and she wiggled one under her butt,
making herself a floating chair. The second one went around her
back and under her arms. She leaned back buoyed by the noodles and
the smooth dark water and sighed completely content for the first
time in as long as she could remember.

Her breasts floated, pale orbs in the dark
water. She could just make out the shapes of her feet deep in the
water below her. Letting her head fall back, she stared up at the
stars. Max floated over to her in his own improvised chair and
touched her fingertips with his.