Switch (A BDSM Romance Novel) (17 page)

No, her cats knew where their little boxes were.

The vase was old, faded and far too out of place in her living room. In her newly-cleaned kitchen however, it fit in fine, and filled Jenna with a small sense of satisfaction, that in some small way she was changing.

She smiled, a small smile, but a smile nonetheless, as Jasmine let herself back in, gently closing the door behind her.
They seated themselves at the table, Jasmine placing a plastic bag of goodies onto the table as she pulled off her coat.

“So, Aaron would absolutely love the furniture, and I have offered to take it over to him this afternoon. He has just had the place carpeted, and is ecstatic at the thought of your awful furniture. Particularly,” She added. “If it means that you will visit more often.”

Sternly, she looked across the table. “Have you been neglecting them, Jenna?”

Jenna flushed. “I’ll go round later.”

“Make sure that you do.”

Ignoring the urge to tell Jasmine just how ironic it was to hear such things from her judgmental and often
self-centred sibling, Jenna nodded and pulled open the bag to peer at the foil take-out packages. Aaron’s didn’t advertise take-out, simply offered it to their more regular customers. It wasn’t a quick stop-in and leave again place, and they didn’t want to give that impression, but the take away did help their business. Without bothering to get out cutlery and crockery lest she untidy her kitchen once more, Jenna pulled one of the toasties towards herself, pushing the other to her sister. They ate quietly, Jenna’s stomach rumbling as she realised how hungry she had been. She was full quickly, and waited until Jasmine was done before binning the remnants and running yet another cloth over the surface.

Jasmine tactfully avoided the topic of Henry, and of the sad situation that Jenna had once again allowed herself to fall into, and Jenna found herself genuinely believing that her sister had truly
begun to think through her words, and not become involved too greatly in other people’s business, that she no longer needed to be a part of it.

She was wrong of course.

At two o’clock, Jasmine opened the door for the man that she had hired to take the furniture over to Aaron’s and left with him soon after, the furniture with her and only a few screeches from the cats in protest. She saw them off with only a niggle of loss; the same as a child giving anything away. Something that she knew she had grown out of, didn’t want and secretly hated but clung onto regardless. Within days she’d have forgotten her attachment for it.

She shut her door, but did not lock it
, not worried about anyone entering. If the handle turning was heard earlier than expected then it was Jasmine, returned quicker than Jenna had thought. It could not be anyone else. Anyone else would knock.

“Jasmine?” She called. “Are you back already?”

She scurried out of her bedroom quickly, coming to a standstill at the sight that awaited her.

Tall, thin, dark haired and beautiful… Henry fit so wonderfully into her home,
his
home, her heart still argued.

“Well, my name is not Jasmine.
And I wouldn’t say
already.
It’s been a while.” His lips were upturned in his small signature smile, her smile, and his arms swung loosely at his sides, his clothing casual. He looked tired, his skin sallow. “I’m sorry for entering your home unannounced. Hope I’m not intruding.”

Jenna flushed, crushed immediately with merely a few words.

“I’m sorry.” He told her quickly. “That was petty.”

“Yes, it was.” She whispered, crossing her arms across her chest as she tried to disguise her hurt. “How did you even know I was in?”

“Jasmine. I met her at Aaron’s earlier.”

“I thought you had a job now?”

“I do. I took the morning off to repay Aaron a miniscule amount.”

“Aah. You carpeted his store.”

And immediately warmth followed, a happy spark that filled and contained her.
Along with a slightly pushed aside feeling, a naïve rather ridiculous idea that this proved her and Henry’s place together, and that it couldn’t be coincidence, or mean anything else.

Henry inclined his head. “I did. And you then furnished it.”

Jenna blushed, and smiled with infatuated embarrassment. “Do you want to sit down?”

Henry nodded, and the pair moved into the kitchen with far more awkwardness than they had ever done before.
They sat woodenly, their hands mere centre meters away from each other, clasped on the table. “What were you doing at my flat?” He asked.

“I… wanted to see you. We didn’t talk properly before.”

“And I told you that nothing would happen, so why were you there, and why were you knelt by the bed?”

“I thought that if I explained then you might change your mind.”

“Why were you knelt by the bed?” He asked again, emphatically, his eyes searching her deeply.

“I…” Jenna sighed, swallowing thickly as she forced herself to look him in the eye as she replied. “I wanted to offer myself to you completely.”

“You wanted to offer me your submission?”

“Yes.”

No words were shared for the longest moment, and Jenna felt the horror sink in at what she had told him; the man who had already told her that he didn’t want her, that they couldn’t be together, she couldn’t be trusted. He’d been with another woman…

“Do you still?”

“Of course!”

Henry contemplated her again, and Jenna wilted back into her seat once more, desperate now, more than ever, for him to speak. “Do you know why I asked you to write that essay?”

“No.” She hissed in confusion and Henry let out a sound of quiet amusement.

“Because I was going to have that discussion with you if I decided, from your essay, that you were well suited to me, and to submission in general. In all honesty, I would have clearly told you that I wanted you regardless, just used the essay to nail out any differences. It can be difficult, as a dominant, to get a clear picture of your wants and needs, because you want to please me. The essay was your opportunity to share everything with me, and I mean literally everything. Instead of baring your soul, you searched through my diary. Have you learnt what was wrong with this?”

“I betrayed you, and broke your trust. I showed myself to be an inappropriate partner, and awful submissive. I can’t promise that I’ll be different from now, ever, because I want to please. But I can promise that I will try.”

“Really?”

Jenna nodded.

“Good.” He whispered. “Now who was that bloke you were speaking to at
Amelia’s?”

“What?”

“I went there, as promised, a little while ago, only to find you in rather enrapturing conversation with someone else. You didn’t seem to be lacking in company.” His face was hard, cold, and made Jenna gasp loudly.

“What? Andrew?!”
Jenna cried, her face crumpled in disbelief.

“Whoever he was.”

“He was a friend of Amelia’s who she tried to set me up with!”

“And?”

“And it didn’t bloody work! I didn’t want him. I only want you! I want to belong to you, and you alone! Besides, what about that woman that you took back to your flat? It certainly didn’t look like you were just having a friendly chat.” Jenna trailed off mockingly, a sneer on her lips as she fired up her defence.

“She means nothing. I only saw her because I thought that you were seeing Andrew.” He snarled the name, and swept to his feet hungrily. “And if you are not, then I think you should be naked, don’t you?”

Jenna giggled in response. “Yes, Sir!”

Unable to supress a grin, Jenna waited ‘patiently’, the put-on patience of a happy, excitable woman who had been counting down the last couple of hours until her husband came home.
No longer naked, too far gone in her pregnancy for that, Jenna knelt in a sheer red teddy, her hands clasped behind her back, impatient fingers running along her ring finger as she waited. Her hair was braided tightly back, looped intricately out of her face and away from the black leather that lay around her neck. Her breasts and stomach had started to notably increase in weight, and with her back straight and chest forwards, Jenna could feel every ounce of it.

As per usual, Henry did not hurry to her, instead making her wait longer as he placed his bag aside
, removed his polished silver cufflinks and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, discarding his blazer onto the sofa. Without them, his watch and wedding band were his only jewellery, the only excess items that he wore. The undeniably expensive suit fit him like a glove and Jenna couldn’t help but allow her eyes to flitter up his legs instead of remaining downcast.

“Eyeing me up, are you?” Henry asked, an indulgent note in his voice that Jenna immediately picked up on.

“Yes, Master. You’re looking exceptionally delicious today.” She grinned happily up at him, bouncing on the balls of her feet as her libido surged again. It seemed to know no bounds, these days. “I would love to take a bite.”

“The only person doing any biting here is going to be me.”

At a complete contrast to his words, Henry stooped to kiss her, gently brushing his lips against her own. Jenna knew that for all his talk, he wouldn’t play, afraid as he was of putting her under any stress. They’d been skimping on play for months now, and Jenna was becoming really far too restless.

“Nine weeks.” She reminded him, and Henry laughed in amusement.

“I don’t think you’ll feel the same in nine weeks’ time.”

“We’ll see.”

She sang the words so happily, and Henry looked at her tenderly as he stroked his finger along the hair that was bound out of the way.
His kissed her once more, lifting her into his arms.

The room was new, in a house bought by both of them for their new family.
They’d decorated together, and the cream walls were complimented beautifully by the dark wood furniture and leather sofas. It was tidy, for now, due to Jenna’s activities while Henry had been away. Everything was neatly straightened, a pile of baby clothes, two roses encased in glass and that one, beautiful picture hanging on the wall the small splashes of colour, of familiarity and warmth and love and everything that could be called home.

“I love you.”