“Kit…” He laughed, gripping my chin and tilting my head so he could look at my jaw. “I told you to stay where you were.”
Shame washed through me. I’d gone against his orders and acted on my own whim. I knew better, but I would never regret taking that pain for him. I would take whatever punishment was given to me for my insubordination.
“I’m sorry, Sir. I couldn’t just sit there and watch that happen. I have far too much respect for you.”
“And I appreciate that. So why don’t we keep this between you and I? I never saw you, and I never gave that order.”
“Sir?”
“I’m not asking you to lie, Kit. I promise, I alone will think of a way to punish you, as it was my order you ignored. However, I will not allow you to take more because of me. What you did was incredibly brave and stupid, but you knew you could take whatever he had to give. I saw your reasoning as soon as you stopped Jared from reacting.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“And I have to learn not to shit where I eat,” he grumbled, smiling at Jared as he opened the door waiting for us to come in.
“It’s advisable, Sir. This isn’t the first time it’s happened, is it?”
“No, not the first, but I’m hoping it will be the last.”
So was I. Asshole or not, that guy knew how to hit, and when the adrenaline finally wore off, I knew that the pain would settle in like an old friend – just without the satisfaction of knowing I’d earned it.
It wasn't until much later that night that the severity of what I'd done finally hit me. I had not only disobeyed an order; I'd implied that a dominant man, with years of dominance under his belt, was weak. Had it been Jared standing there instead of him, I would have stayed where I was behind that tree. I'd have had faith in his ability to take care of the problem himself.
Charles was a seasoned Dom, and from the stories he'd told me, not only could he take care of himself, but he was capable of beating the tar out of anyone else, too. It was his age that had made me react. It wasn't done intentionally, but disrespect had been expressed all the same.
I sat upright in the huge bed, startling Jared beside me as the need to beg forgiveness spurred me forward. I was jumping off the mattress and pulling on a robe before Jared could so much as blink, his eyes following my every move.
“Kit?”
“You need to come with me, Sir,” I murmured, unable to look up from my feet as I headed to the door. “You need to understand.”
“Understand what?” he asked as I pulled open the bedroom door and headed down to where I knew Charles' room was. “Kit!”
Jared was still pulling on his pants as he chased me down the hall, unable to catch me before I knocked on Charles’ door and waited to be granted access.
“Kit, talk to me. What's going on?”
Charles called out for me to come in before I could respond, and I burst through into his room, fleeing to his bed and kneeling beside him. I could almost feel his bewilderment as he placed his hand on top of my head, his feet swinging from the mattress.
“Jared, what's going on? What happened?”
I didn't give Jared a chance to respond. I leaned in against Charles' leg, my tears falling freely.
“I'm sorry, Sir. So very sorry for what I did. I should have known better, but my instincts took over and I insulted you.”
His finger and thumb closed around my chin and pulled my face up to meet his, but I couldn't meet his eyes. Shame and guilt weighed down my conscience with such solemnity that a sob broke free from me before I had a chance to control myself.
“Katherine, look at me.” The timbre of his voice hit me hard and the command was evident. My eyes met his, pleading for forgiveness as Charles looked between Jared and me. “What is this about?”
“I... I implied you were... were weak, Sir. My actions today were unforgivable and my Mistress should be made aware of the situation immediately. It was unforgivable, Sir.”
Charles sighed, his fingers moving to push my hair away from my face, the heels of his hands stopping at my jaws. The ache of the one that had taken the punches turned to a throbbing pain, but I swallowed the whimper of sound.
“I've been waiting for this to come about, you silly girl. I'm not upset with you, nor should you be upset with yourself. I'm not as young as I think I am. You did a good thing, whether I want to admit it or not.”
“But, Sir—”
“No ifs, buts, ands or maybes, Kit. You may not have saved my life as such, but you stopped a month's stay in the hospital and years worth of pain. I will not punish you for that. I can't. You have a big heart and your instinct is impeccable.”
“Grandfather?”
Charles started explaining to Jared quietly as I wept into his pajama leg, my tears dampening the material while his finger brushed through my hair, just like Mistress Kayla would have done. Even with his forgiveness and thanks, I couldn't get past the fact that I'd broken an unspoken, yet cardinal rule of submission. To imply that a Dom was weak in any way... I should have been crying over strips of skin being whipped from my hide.
Jared's body pressed in behind me as the room fell silent. He was gentle and careful as he eased me out of my hysterical state. I didn't deserve that kind of care, not after what I'd done. Yet, I accepted it all the same, clinging onto him as he cradled me in his arms and pushed to his feet.
He settled me in bed, sliding under the covers with me until his naked body pressed against mine and slowly chased away the last of my tears, his hands brushing over my exposed skin. He whispered to me quietly, the words soothing even though they made no sense at all.
“I didn't know,” he finally said quietly, once my sobs had subsided and my breathing had calmed.
“About what, Sir?”
“How much all this means to you. I mean... I had an idea yesterday in the car when you panicked about the wind, but... this is how you live. With all these rules.”
“It's not rules.” I sniffed, taking the tissue he'd pulled from the box and wiping my nose. “It's standards I set for myself more than anything. I want to make people proud, to earn the praise and the gift of being mastered. I want to earn the pain that I'm rewarded with for giving my trust. Breaking a rule like this goes against who I am. I may have helped, but at what cost?”
“There is no cost, Kit. Just rewards. My grandfather said it best. He's not as young as he used to be. If that dickhead had pushed him to the floor, he could have broken a hip. You saved him from that humiliation and vulnerability, even if you did break a rule in the process. Being in the hospital would have forced him to realize he's getting old, and it would have taken his one joy away from him.”
I closed my eyes and tried to imagine Mistress Kayla at that age, her body betraying her. Jared was right; the humiliation of having their strength taken from them would have been exponentially worse than having someone defend them. There was no one but the redneck to witness what I'd done. No one would ever have to know. As logical as it was, it didn't take away that sense of wrong.
The feeling didn't go away, either. Even as the first full day of being submissive for Jared commenced, the worry stayed with me, burning away at the back of my mind as I followed him and knelt at his feet while he worked from Charles' office. This in turn made me feel guilty, because all of my attention should have been on Jared, not what I'd done the day before.
It was only that evening at dinner that I finally snapped out of it. Charles was at the table, telling Jared his stories about years of dominance. I watched the expression on Jared's face from under my lashes as he absorbed every piece of information he was fed. It wasn't just a story to him; it was learning. That realization alone put me back on track.
“Have you ever had a live-in sub?” Jared asked, his mind distant as he tapped his lips, his other hand twirling my hair gently as I leaned against his leg.
“Only one.”
“Is there a reason for that?”
Because he was in love with her
, I answered for him in my head. I felt the stare Charles aimed in my direction and kept my body still. He'd confessed it to me, but would he be upfront about it now?
“Because it hurt to let her go.”
Jared's hand never faltered on its path as it stroked over my hair, and I wondered if he'd pieced things together.
“You loved her?”
“Very much. I still do. I couldn't keep her caged any longer, Jared. Even if our relationship had stepped back into the bedroom only, I was still holding her back from who she was. Much longer, and she would have resented me for it. I still had subs, women who came to stay for the weekend and went back to their lives on a Sunday night, but I couldn't bring myself to have a more permanent relationship. I couldn't bring someone into my life under the guise of love. So it was kept physical.”
My hands twitched in my lap as an idle tear fell. There was so much pain and longing in his voice. It was easy to see that he was lonely, that he missed the connection with the one person on the planet he'd bared his soul to – a Domme, someone who couldn't be tethered in place. Someone he wouldn't have tied down because he'd known it would go against her nature.
I followed Jared to the room I'd been given that night and stood still as he undressed me. There was a quiet solemnity between us that didn't need words. We were here to bond and build trust, and that's just what we were doing. Beyond all reason, I trusted him. Something that had never come easily to me in the past, but I knew he would never deliberately hurt me or make me go past my own boundaries. I could close my eyes and know anything he did would ultimately bring pleasure to us both.
“Kit?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Your Mistress gave me rules for this week. It's a bonding experience so touching is allowed, but there's to be no penetration.”
“Yes, Sir.” This didn't surprise me in the least. Jared was covering the rules he’d been given by my Mistress. As gentlemanly as I knew Jared to be, we both had instincts. I'd felt his body respond to mine several times in the last few days, but he'd never acted on it.
“I want to touch you, explore you, but I will stay within the rules set for me. Are you okay with that?”
My smile curled my lips as I nodded demurely. Excitement and anticipation were running through my veins. My mind was taken back to Friday night at the club and the two men trying to find the subs’ weak spots without pushing into their bodies, and I found myself curious about how well Jared knew me, and my reactions. He'd watched me with such intensity. Had that paid off?
“Very, Sir.”
His responding chuckle kept the smile on my lips as his fingers trailed over my arm lightly, my flesh pebbling at the feather light touch paired with the gentle brush of his lips on my bared shoulder.
He took his time as he worked, the pads of his fingers and eager mouth moving over every inch of my skin, swirling and nipping until the sweat beaded on my flesh and my legs tried to scissor in need. Every new discovery he made, his eyes moved to my face, watching intently, waiting for the reaction.
He ran his fingers under the swell of my breasts then up gently in a semi-circle before trailing down over my ribs, his fingers moving sporadically like rain, until he found the spot that made my body betray me. He saw the change in me immediately, lingering over that same spot as my breaths came raggedly. He needed no more guidance than that, and his free hand pulled my arms over my head before his mouth covered the spot where his fingers had been.
The build-up was exquisite, each nip and pulse of his tongue making the muscles in my abdomen tighten as my pleasure grew. My head fell back against the pillow, and I was no longer able to control my own motor skills as he nipped and sucked, his warm, wet tongue laving over my flesh where his fingers met my heated skin.
“Sir?”
His hum was the only response I got, his fingers now circling the taut skin of my nipple that felt every breath of the cool stream of air from the air conditioner. He had no idea what I was asking.
“Sir, may I...” I bit my lip as his teeth grazed my ribs, my pussy tightening around nothing, while my legs trembled in their attempt to gain traction. “May I orgasm?”
His eyes flickered up to mine but his mouth continued its teasing path over my skin, the corners curling in wonder. He seemed to understand what I needed and nodded, his mouth opening and sucking what skin he could between his teeth, then biting down.
My body buckled, folding in on itself. The flash of pain, infusing with the intense pleasure, had my thighs rubbing together as my back arched and my climax took control of me. My fingers grappled at anything as my hips rose to ride thin air, my clit pulsing with the frenetic pounding of my heart. My whimpered cry disturbed the call of atmospheric sounds I'd come to associate with the room, the mental silence ringing in my ears as my vision flared.
That was the first orgasm I had that night but it wasn't the last, and never once did Jared venture anywhere near the apex of my thighs. He didn't need to.
It was Thursday and my first week with Jared was almost over, and Mistress Kayla was finally home from New York. I'd been kneeling at Jared's feet when the call had come in, his finger tracing my spine at the nape of my neck as my mind drifted to his mouth exploring that particular part of my body. We'd ended the night with him giving himself an orgasm while his other hand fondled my breasts, my aching nipples sensitive to his every touch.
When Charles said her name, I consciously had to fight the urge to look up. Tomorrow night, Jared and I would be heading to the city and staying with Mistress in her home as she instructed him on the more physical aspect of dominance – like how to work with my body to give us both the outlet we needed before the actual sex. For so long, he'd done it inadvertently. His need to give pain infused into the sexual act, his instincts taking over as they had with me that night. It felt like a lifetime ago now that I'd managed to get to know him so well.
Charles had opened the conversation with his pride in my behavior and my head ducked further, giving Jared the opportunity to run his short, stubby nails into my hair. A shiver rode down my spine, just before he put pressure on my vertebrae with his thumb to intensify the sensation. In one night, he'd discovered a lot about my body. He knew the pressure points, the secret spots that made me react, the places that took me out of pleasure and into pain, and, regrettably, my ticklish spots. I had cherished every second of it.