Safeword: Matte - In Training (24 page)

Sam raised her face to look at him, terribly
uncomfortable in the position, and not sure where he was going with
the conversation. She was drawing a blank, so she said, “I don’t
think so, Sir.”

“I’ll get you started, the
British call it
buggering
, don’t they?”

“Oh, yeah. And there’s sodomy, sodomizing,
fudge packing, anal intercourse, ass fucking.” She stopped and took
a breath. “Can I stand up now, please? Sir?”

He set his phone down, walked to her, and
circled her twice — so slow she wanted to complain again, but she
kept her mouth closed and stared at the floor.

He bent down behind her, so he’d have a good
view of her asshole stretched around the plug. “Okay, stand up
slowly. I want to watch your asshole close. Do it so I feel like
I’m watching a slow-motion replay on television.”

Ethan had a way of hammering home his
ownership of her sexuality while making her do the most simple
things. She stood slowly, aware of his attention to her most
private part, with no way for her to hide from him as she went up
the plug millimeter by millimeter.

When her ass finally came off the plug,
Ethan pulled her into his embrace. “I’m pleased, Samantha. Your
reduced schedule seems to be keeping you in good shape, and you
should have no problems accepting my cock when I bugger the living
daylights out of your ass.”

Sam gave a nervous laugh and he caressed her
back. “I promised a reward, and you’ll get it in two parts. I’ll
give you a full body flogging with your favorite flogger, and when
you’ve had three orgasms, you get to decide which position you want
me to fuck you.”

He leaned back, put his finger under her
chin, and lifted her face until their gaze met. “You can come as
often as you want tonight, just give me a two-second warning.”

Sam wondered if he knew how hard it was to
give a two-second warning. She had to be right at the edge and
ready to go, give him the warning, and then hold onto it for two
seconds before releasing it. She was grateful to be able to orgasm
without permission, but it still took a great deal of control.
Still, she thanked him, and then followed him out to the great room
in anticipation of the flogging he’d promised.

Chapter
Thirteen

Two days later Sam opened her door to Ethan
and his grandmother, and was pulled into a bear hug by the small
woman.

“Hi Grams, it’s good to see you. Justin got
you here safely and in one piece, I see.”

“Yes, dear. There’s a sorta computer
somethin’ downtown he want to attend. A slicer convention,
mehbe?”

“Hackers, Grams,” said Ethan. He looked to
Sam and shrugged, “He’s white hat, but hangs out with the black
hats some, to stay on top of things.”

Sam extricated herself from Grams’ arms and
guided her inside. “Ethan will bring your bags upstairs and we’ll
get you settled in. We have about an hour until we need to leave,
to meet my parents at the restaurant. Do you want some time alone,
or would you rather sit and visit?”

“I’m fine, dear. After sittin’ in de car for
two hours, how ‘bout we go for a walk?”

Sam looked at Ethan for guidance, as she
didn’t know what his elderly grandmother was capable of. He saw her
questioning look and said, “The roads around your house have some
steep hills, why don’t we take her across the Walnut Street
Bridge?”

Grams was a trip, and she loved the
pedestrian bridge over the river. Sam hoped to be as spry and happy
when she was that age, and said as much.

“Are yea callin’ me old?”

“I, uhh, no, ma’am.” She looked to Ethan for
help, and he and his grandmother burst into laughter.

“It’s okay. I
am
ole.” She eyed her
grandson, “I thought a lawyer’d be quicker on her feet.”

“Oh, she is, Grams. She’s just trying to be
polite.”

Grams looked back to Sam, appraising her.
“Polite, eh? Tell me about yehr parents.”

“Oh. What do you want to know? My dad’s a
logistics engineer, which is pretty impressive, but my mom likes to
pretend he has a much more prestigious job. He makes good money,
but it isn’t glamorous.”

“And yehr mudda?”

“My mom’s a media liaison for the City of
Chattanooga, which doesn’t pay well, but is pretty glamorous, I
guess.”

“So, your mudda, she is more about
appearance than substance.”

“You haven’t even met her yet,” Sam said
with a wistful smile, “and you just nailed her.”

“How does she feel ‘bout colored
in-laws?”

Sam looked at Ethan and he tilted his head
as if to say, “Can’t get anything by her.”

“You’re pretty smart, Grams. My dad adores
Ethan, thinks he’s perfect for me, and doesn’t give a flip about
his racial make-up. My mom…” Sam sighed. “She likes Ethan,
but…”

Grams pulled her into another bear hug. “It
alright, dear. We’ll win yehr mudda over. You’ve enough to wearry
about, don’t add this. Yehr weddin’ will be perfec’.”

“Well, I’m marrying the perfect man, so how
can it not?”

“When he first tole me he was in love with a
divorce attorney, I worry for him. But as soon as I met you, I knew
you were perfec’ for ‘im. He tells me the two of you go to the same
karate place, and work out together? And you run with him? And ride
bikes up de mountains with ‘im?” She shook her head. “All my
grandsons are over achievers. I don’t know how any have managed to
find women who’ll put up with them, but Ethan’s done good. I’m
happy to claim you as a granddaughter, dear. Now, let’s go meet
your parents and have dinner. I’m starvin’.”

Dinner with her parents went off without a
hitch. Grams truly did win her mother over, and the two made plans
for the next day. Sam had fretted about not being able to take the
day off to babysit them, but when she heard plans for arranging
flowers and devising a seating arrangement, she was much happier
spending the day at work. If left up to her, everyone would sit
where they wanted.

Sam noted that Gram’s accent faded and her
grammar improved while talking with Sam’s parents. She didn’t want
anyone to feel as if they had to act different around her family,
and it bugged her.

“Martha, I’ll bring my tablet tomorrow, and
show you the family. I have the best grandsons ever, and believe it
or not, Ethan isn’t the biggest. Justin, the one who drove me up,
is two inches taller, but his muscles don’t bulge like this one’s
do. His twin, Dustin, is in the Marines and I saw him fighting with
Ethan — not real fighting, but practice fighting — and it was scary
to watch, even though they weren’t tryin’ to hurt each other.”

Sam looked at Ethan. “Any chance we can
arrange a sparring session for me? What style does he use?”

“Samantha!” Sam’s mom looked horrified.
“Ladies do not discuss such things.”

“Well gee, mom. Last time I checked, I had
all the required girl parts, and I’m discussing it, so…”

“Men don’t want their women asking to fight
their cousins. Don’t blow this right before the wedding.” She spoke
in a low voice, as if it would keep the rest of the table from
hearing. Sam shook her head, but Ethan spoke before she had a
chance.

“I’m not most men, and I love how Sam sees
an opportunity to learn something new and grabs onto it.” He turned
to face Sam. “I’ll see what I can work out, but I don’t actually
want you bruised up before the honeymoon, so maybe a full-on spar
can wait for the next time he’s in town. He’s studied a lot of
styles, and the Marines seem to have a specific form they teach, so
he uses a mish-mash.”

Grams touched Sam’s mom’s arm. “It’s funny,
both twins work for de govehr’men.” She sat up, seemed to remember
her accent and grammar, and continued. “But in completely different
ways. Dustin is a Lieutenant Colonel in de Marines, and we all
think he’s some kinda special forces, but he won’ tell us. Justin
graduated from MIT, and when de government calls he gets on an
airplane and goes to Washington. He’ll only tell us it is about
America’s cyber-security. When he’s home, he works on artificial
intelligence, and People Magazine listed him as one of the top five
brains in AI in de country.”

Gram’s accent was stronger now than when she
first met Sam’s parents, but her grammar was still near
perfect.

Sam’s mom looked to Ethan, and it was
written all over her face that he hadn’t lived up to his cousins.
Grams smiled as she said, “All I want for any of my kids is that
they be happy. Ethan competed in this big cage fighting thing, with
hopes of winning a national title. He lost at a regional
competition, and he tells me he’s helping to train the man who beat
him.”

She looked at Sam with a mischievous smile.
“He tells me it is mostly because of you that he did not win?”

Sam’s mom looked horrified once again, but
Sam laughed. “Well, yeah. I studied videos of his old fights and
gave Tom pointers on how to beat him.”

“Grams,” Ethan said, “my helping Tom isn’t
completely altruistic. I intend to compete again, and by standing
beside Tom on his way up, I’ll learn more about how to help myself
next year.”

Sam rolled her eyes. “Don’t let him kid you.
He’s going way beyond mere helping him out. He could learn as much
by just hanging out with us, but he’s helping Tom with some pretty
intensive training.” She smiled. “Ethan is good enough to win a
national title, and with my help next year, he just might.”

“Are you still helping this Tom with
strategy?” asked Grams.

“Yes, ma’am. Tom’s a good friend. He was
there for me when I competed for a national title. He trained me,
coached me, and even doctored my bruises and injuries when I let
him.”

“Grams, Sam was part of a group of high
level fighters when I met her. They’ve graciously invited me into
their group, and if I were jealous of every man she’s close to, my
skin would turn green and I’d look like a comic book character.” He
glanced at Sam. “Though, thankfully, she was only romantically
involved with one of the guys, and I know why it didn’t work out,
and he’s in a healthy relationship with someone else now, so I have
no reason to be jealous, anyway.”

“You competed in dis bloody cage fight
thing?”

Sam’s mom sighed under her breath. “Here we
go.”

Sam glared at her mom and
smiled at Grams. “No ma’am. I competed regionally, and fought my
way into the national Kung Fu tournament. It’s on mats, not in
cages, and has a
lot
more rules than the cage fights.”

Ethan rubbed her shoulder. “She won, Grams.
She was the National Women’s Kung Fu champion. I thought I’d told
you about it.”

“I wish you’d all stop talking about it,”
Sam’s mom said. “It isn’t something a proper lady should do. I
tried to set her up on a couple of dates, but once the men looked
her up on the internet, they weren’t interested.”

“Idiots,” said Ethan, and he wasn’t smiling
at Sam’s mom when he added, “Why would any man in today’s world
want a woman not capable of taking care of herself? I get why it
was popular a few generations ago, but today? When women are
encouraged to get an education and make something of
themselves?”

He shook his head and reached to put his arm
around Sam. “Only a man with no self-esteem would prefer a woman
who needed him, instead of wanting him. Sam isn’t with me because
I’m a successful businessman who can support her, she isn’t with me
because she can’t open jars and needs a strong man around the house
for that sort of thing, nor is she with me because she’s afraid to
be alone. She’s with me because she loves me, and wants to share
her life with me.” He looked at Sam and smiled. “She wants me. She
doesn’t need me, but I need her in my life more than words can
express.”

Sam leaned towards him and he bent to give
her a quick peck on the lips before looking back to her mom.
“There’s nothing wrong with your daughter, Martha. You and Doug
raised a strong, smart, independent woman. She’s every bit a lady,
and she’s exactly the type of woman I want to share my life
with.”

Ethan hadn’t needed to come to her defense,
but it warmed Sam’s heart that he had. She remembered his comment
about the white spouse taking more offense than the non-white
spouse when racist remarks were made, and understood it a little
better. She was used to her mom’s constant comments about her lack
of lady-like behavior, and they rolled off her back. But, they
irritated Ethan, and he’d finally spoke up.

Sam’s mom looked pissed, and was deciding
how to answer when Grams said, “My granddaughters are growing up in
a different world than the one I grew up. I was raised to believe
the best job I could ever get would be cleaning houses, and I’d
never need to go to school beyond elementary. When my husband
brought me to the United States I took night classes for my GED,
not because I wanted a job, but because I wanted the same education
other Americans take for granted.”

“Mom,” Sam said. “I don’t believe I told you
what Grams did, before she retired.”

Sam’s mom shook her head and Ethan said,
“Grams worked for the United Nations. After she got her GED she
went to law school — not to become an attorney, but to get the
education she’d need to work for human rights in Jamaica and other
Caribbean island nations.”

Sam looked to Grams. “I read your book on
human trafficking, and cried my eyes out during parts of it. I’m
horrified the human race can still stoop to such atrocities.”

“I wrote that book nearly twenty years ago;
I’m surprised you found a copy to read.” She shook her head. “I
wish I could say the problem is gone, but it isn’t.”

“Grams is writing a follow up,” Ethan said
to Sam’s parents. “She got permission for Dustin to accompany her
to Jamaica next month, to act as a sort of bodyguard.”