by P. Stormcrow
“Good girl.” Jacob set down his own fork and slid off his seat. “Now, for the treat.” He returned with two smaller dishes and the last Tupperware box. He opened it without ceremony.
Two flaky golden-brown pastries sat inside. Despite all the food she’d packed away, Luna salivated and she let out a small whimper.
In response, Jacob chuckled as he placed one on each dish. “Apple pocket pies. Homemade versions of the turnovers you like so much.”
Why did she ever think being with Jacob was a bad idea again? She would gladly do whatever the man wanted if it meant he kept feeding her. She might have trouble still reconciling how much she desired more of that mind-blowing sex she had with him but she had no problems owning up to the fact that he had her by the stomach and sweet tooth.
“Silly pet,” he murmured and held a forkful to her mouth. It was only then that she realized she was spacing. With a sheepish smile, she parted her lips to accept the first bite and moaned, her eyes closing to savor the taste. Heaven.
“Maybe I should have waited until later to feed you dessert,” Jacob muttered. When her eyes fluttered open, she saw his darken and felt heat coil across her core. With a soft sigh that sounded a lot like reluctance, he held out her fork to her.
Luna took it and began to dig in herself, taking the time to relish each bite. She tried her best to not make any more noises but the occasional mm-m still escaped. The pastry was just right and she couldn’t help but scrape her fork over it at least once to hear that crusty sound, a technique she’d learned from watching Gordon Ramsay in action.
Soon, they both pushed their dishes away. As Luna moved to clean up, Jacob shook his head. “Leave them for now. I’ll help you clean up later. Come to the couch with me.”
Once settled, Jacob reached out to take her hand in his. “Tell me, Luna. What’s on your mind? What do you want?”
She had prepared what she was going to say beforehand. She really had. Wasn’t that why she’d called him over? But one look into his warm brown eyes, so soft with tenderness, and all semblance of coherence fled.
He waited as she tried to reassemble her brain. At last, she closed her eyes and dug deep until she found the right words. “I want to be with you—not just exploring.” She opened and her cheeks warmed. “I mean, I get that we still have a lot to learn about each other. That, in some ways, we’ll never stop exploring but…” She was babbling and not making much sense again. Luna inhaled once more to steady herself and tried again. “I want to serve you on a more formal basis. I want to learn…if you will have me.”
“Are you sure you want me to take you on formally?” Jacob’s voice was gentle. “I don’t doubt your willingness, but have we addressed all your earlier concerns?”
“Do you mean am I letting what happened with August warp my judgment?” There was no bite to her words. It was a valid question. “I can’t say that it hasn’t affected my decision. The truth is, I don’t know what I’ll think in three years, but I know what I feel now. It doesn’t mean I don’t accept those terms, but it does mean that I don’t want to lose sight of the now—and I’m willing to take the risk.” She smiled. “That’s the best I can do.”
Jacob nodded. “That’s fair. And I can promise you this. In three years’ time, whatever happens, I’ll be there. We’ll deal with it together. I won’t just drop or abandon you, okay?” He gave her hand a squeeze and, in return, she nodded.
“Okay.”
He let go of her hand and rose from his place to walk to his bag by the counter. Luna sat there, following his path as she once more toyed with the feather charm, the movement becoming a habit. She found that it brought her comfort.
As he returned with an envelope in hand, Jacob smiled, dipping his head toward her hand in acknowledgment of the fact that she was wearing his gift. When he resettled on the couch, he held it out to her. “I had a feeling.”
She steadied herself before taking it in hand, flipping the flap up. It was obvious what it was but it didn’t lessen her anxiety any less. With a trembling hand, she tugged it out.
She inhaled again as she unfolded each sheet of paper. There it was. The contract consisted of standard wording, similar to templates she had seen online, but the clauses were specific. It listed general ones that applied to both parties first—commitments to trust, respect and take care of each other, prioritizing a healthy lifestyle, including eating and exercising right. There was a specific statement on open communication and respect of hard boundaries. For the Dominant, there was a promise to lead, to protect and to cherish and to train and teach with patience. For the submissive, to follow and ask when there were questions and to seek permission before certain actions such as play with others. Most was common sense.
“Do you have questions?”
If Luna didn’t know better, she would have thought he was nervous, with the way he smoothed his hands over his jeans, up and down, and how he studied her expressions as if he was trying to discern her thoughts.
“No… It’s just that I thought the contract would be more specific?” The last word held an uptick in tone as she cocked her head to one side.
“Ah, that could end up making the contract a book thick,” Jacob replied with a chuckle. “We’ll discuss the details as we go along. Like you said, we’ll keep exploring and figure out the right level of submission for you, especially since you’ve mentioned that you’re interested in submitting outside of the bedroom.”
Luna dipped her head in acknowledgment before she continued to read. At seeing Jacob’s signature on the line for the Dominant already, her stomach did a funny flip. Without looking, she groped for a pen on the coffee table. “What about you? Would you be interested in being served outside of the bedroom?”
“I don’t want a fifties housewife, if that’s what you mean.”
Luna snapped up her head in horror and Jacob chuckled. “Yeah, I didn’t think you were interested in that either.”
She dropped her shoulders with relief and shook her head with a wrinkle of her nose.
Jacob spoke. “Submission comes in many forms and sometimes it’s subtle. Every relationship, every contract is different. We’ll settle into our own rhythm and it’ll be a good opportunity for both of us to learn.”
Her gaze drifted back downward. They were just words on a page. Nonetheless, there was a power to them, something that had nothing to do with social constructs or expectations. By the sheer act of signing, the symbolic commitment would bind her to him. And, at last, she was ready.
The line above the submissive called to her and, with a last small intake of breath, she scribed her name on it with a wobbly flourish. When Luna tilted her head back, the smile she found on Jacob’s face warmed her down to her toes. With slow, deliberate movements, she folded the paper and tucked all the pages back into the envelope. “Now what?” For some unfathomable reason, the signing did little to calm her racing pulse.
Jacob leaned forward, taking the envelope from her hand and setting it aside without ever breaking away. He was so close that his lips brushed by hers as he spoke. “And now, I get to take care of what is mine.” With that, he pressed forward, sealing her lips with his in the most tender kiss.
A kiss that promised the beginning of everything.
Epilogue
“Part your legs a little farther for me, little one.”
Luna struggled to keep another moan from escaping from her lips, even as she followed his instruction, her skirt already hiked up to her waist. Jacob’s new black Jeep with tinted windows situated them high above the other cars, ensuring that no others on the road would see her compromising position, but she blushed still with a heightened sense of vulnerability that only seemed to send her arousal into overdrive.
Jacob had balled up her panties and stuffed them into one of his pockets. A souvenir, he’d called them. She was going to have to buy more, the way he’d been collecting them over the last three months. They had come a long way, growing more intimate in their pl
ay. She had even gotten an IUD put in at her doctor’s office the previous month.
He rested a hand on her knee, stroking up to her inner thigh, but he made no further move to touch her. He glanced at her as she’d complied but had turned back to the road. In the darkness, it would be hard for him to discern much, but by now, he already knew her body enough for his mind to fill in the gaps. That man was one of the most imaginative she had ever known in bed.
“Good girl.”
Luna locked her fingers together over her stomach in an attempt to not touch herself. “Where are we going?” She hardly recognized her own voice, breathless with need.
“You’ll see. It’s a surprise.”
A brief light from an opposite car passing by illuminated the carriage and Luna caught a quick glimpse of Jacob. Only the white knuckles on the steering wheel and the set jaw betrayed the effect she was having on him. She deepened her breathing to steady herself.
He moved his hand up, brushing featherlight touches against her slit. In response, her hips pushed upward to increase and prolong the contact, only for her to whimper as he withdrew with a chuckle. “So wet already.” He paused as he made a turn then merged onto a highway. “Not long now. But keep yourself ready. Play for me.”
She swallowed hard. Wasn’t that what she wanted? But still she found it hard to unlace her fingers, her natural shyness still inhibiting her, even after so long. It took another thirty seconds before she crept her hand down to cup her own mound. Unable to hold back any longer, she let out the low moan that had threatened to escape earlier.
“That’s my girl,” Jacob murmured, approval in his voice. “I want you to take your middle finger and slide it back and forth. Keep your touch light. Don’t penetrate just yet.”
Oh dear God. He was going to talk her through it. Her wetness dripped down her thighs. She was going to leave a puddle in his car soon
“That’s it, sweetheart, back and forth. Just imagine if it was my cock, pressed hard against you. That’s right, a little harder now. Press in just a bit.”
She closed her eyes. It wasn’t until she noticed her seatbelt strap tightening over her shoulder that she realized that she had begun to rotate her hips in little movements.
“Stop.”
She did, holding herself still, but she whimpered again in protest.
“Mm-m, take both hands now, and I want you to part yourself. Circle a finger around that tight entrance of yours.”
His commands had already set her body aflame. His control over her, the words he uttered, set her mind on a path straight to insanity. She parted her lips, a steady stream of small moans filling the air. When they hit a patch of bumpiness on the highway, designed to help keep drivers awake, the shaking in the car caused a new vibration that made her gasp.
“You make the sexiest little sounds.”
Her stomach clenched. She had drenched her fingers.
“Drag your finger up now. I remember those nails. Scrape one upward until it’s on your clit.”
She was not going to last. When she reached the hardened nub, she bucked, pinned down only by the seatbelt.
“I’m… I can’t,” she gasped out.
“Faster now. Circle and rub your clit. Put a finger inside. I want to hear you.” His hand returned to her bare leg, running light scratches along her inner thigh. It was one of the many things she’d discovered she loved in the short time they’d been together so far.
Her mind raced. He hadn’t given her permission to come and yet he was instructing her to drive herself to the brink. Her moans grew louder, even as she grew so wet that she could hear a small slick squelching when she paused her groans to suck in more air through her mouth. Her face reddened in pure embarrassment and she slowed to tiny perceptible motions, trying to hold back her body’s enthusiasm.
“Pet…” There was a warning growl in his voice. His stroking stopped and he squeezed her knee in warning, just once. “Don’t stop. Let everything go.”
She began to move a little faster, hesitant. It got easier as he made a turn off the highway. Roads changed in no time to trails, and all semblance of civilization fell away. In the darkness that enveloped them, she began to lose her inhibitions and soon, she was riding her own hand with abandon, pleas to be allowed to climax spilling like a litany from her lips.
He remained silent, as if deaf to her begging. There was no permission for release, nor was there mercy in letting her ease her pace. She bit her lower lip hard, trying to use pain to keep the orgasm at bay. She would not fail him.
“Sweetheart, look at me.”
She snapped her eyes open. The car had stopped. Soft, dim light filled the car, sourced from a single light by the rearview mirror. Outside was only blackness. But she refocused as his face filled her vision, his eyes darkened with lust. He cupped her hand, his lips a hair’s breadth away.
“So close.” His voice was thick with desire. “Come for me, sweetheart.” With that, he pressed his hand harder against hers, tightening the friction against her clit as he slipped a finger inside, next to hers.
She exploded against their hands, letting out a long cry of pure ecstasy. He covered her lips with his, drinking in the sound as he held both of them still, letting her ride her climax out until she slumped into the seat, sweat coating her forehead.
“Good girl.” He stroked her hair, smoothing it back even as he withdrew his other hand, her wetness coating his finger. When she began to focus, he held his finger up and darted his tongue out to lick his finger clean. “So sweet.”
She swallowed hard and sank deeper in her seat, conscious of her thighs still coated with her own orgasm. But everything felt too floaty for her to move.
From somewhere, he produced a water bottle and helped her take a sip before pushing a dark square of something past her lips. Bitter sweetness flooded her senses and she moaned for a different reason. Dark chocolate.
“We have to keep your energy up for the rest of the night.”
When her vision began to clear once more, she pushed herself up. “Where are we?”
His smile was enigmatic as he reached back to grab a heavy-duty flashlight, switching it on, then he turned off the car light overhead. He opened his door and slipped out then made his way to her side, opening the door and holding a hand to her. “Come find out.”
Luna placed her hand in his and, with wobbly legs, stepped out of the car.
“Watch your step. The terrain is rough out here.”
The autumn air sent goosebumps across her exposed skin. As if sensing the chill, Jacob wrapped a blanket around her and made sure it was secure around her shoulders before he led her off what felt like gravel and dirt to a more grassy area, but then he tightened his grip, indicating for her to stop. Over the course of the last three months, she had learned his subtle signals, especially as the noise on the first floor of The Playgrounds was sometimes too loud for speech.
She stopped, even as her eyes began to adjust to the dark beyond the few feet of visibility that the flashlight allowed. There was a stillness but she could make out little sounds of night critters awakening and a faint breeze rustling the trees above. They were in the middle of a forest and no woods were ever that quiet.
Jacob switched the light off. At the same time, he leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Look up.”
A million stars scattered across the sky. The view was nothing like she had ever seen, not in person, having been a city girl all her life. She tightened her grip around his hand, drawing the blanket close as she pulled the fresh night air deep into her lungs.
“Thank you.” She could not tear her eyes away.
“A reward, for how well you’ve done and how far you’ve come.” He positioned her until he could wrap both arms around her, her back against the warmth of his chest, even with the blanket between them. “I’m so proud of you, Luna.”
His words made her tremble, as deep yet-to-be-named emotions washed over her. Rather than over-analyzing them, she let them co
me, let them rock her back to lean further against the man who would take care of her, would hold her safe.
They stood for a little while longer, gazing upward at the stars. At some point, Luna tilted her head back, her gaze turning toward her Dominant instead. Yes, she could call him that now. The word still tasted wonderfully strange, even in her head.
“So, was it yours or my fantasy that we try sex under the stars?” He wasn’t the only one that could tease.
She felt as much as heard his laugh rumbling in his chest. “Yours. But mine is to have you on the car hood, so I think we can check both off the bucket list in one go.”
Luna was grateful that, in the dark, her flush would not be as visible. But the shiver that shot through her body was enough for Jacob to give her a light squeeze.
“I think someone likes that idea.”
“I can’t help it if we like the same things,” she muttered and shook her head. Then practicality took over. “Besides, only if we’re sure no one else is around.”
“I’m sure. Look.” Jacob switched on the flashlight again, aiming toward the car.
He had driven the car into a small clearing, off even the dirt road that had led them here. A circle of old growth shielded the clearing from prying eyes while the Jeep blocked any other vehicle from entering, with its hood angled inward.
Grasping her shoulders in both hands, he spun her around. He cupped her cheek, stroking her cheekbone with the pad of his thumb. “Beautiful.”
“The stars?” She understood what he’d meant but she wanted to keep the moment light.
He growled in return. “Don’t play innocent.” He nipped at her lower lip with a playful grin then began trailing kisses down her jaw to her neck.
There were no more words as he began to stoke the fire in her once more. He traced the curve of her hips before circling to grasp her rear, kneading, drawing her closer to him. “Mine.” With that single word, he bit down harder to mark her once more, drawing her cry.
