The Drake Restrained Compete Collection: Part 1 - 4 (The Drake Series Book 7)
Page 10
"Sure." I stood, finishing the last of the coffee in my cup. "You set up a meeting." I reached into my pocket and left a couple of dollars as a tip for the waitress. "Call me and I can slip out between surgeries. I usually have an hour off at three."
"Thanks," Lara said and smiled at me. "You won't regret it. She's really smart and will likely have some good questions. I sent her a link to your website so she could read your letters. That's probably get her so worked up, you'll have no problem getting her to sign on the dotted line. You'll probably really enjoy it."
She stood and I walked out of the café with her, my arm at the small of her back. We stopped outside on the street and she eyed me up and down as if assessing me.
"I think she'd probably be right up your alley. You might end up with a new sub after all if you put in the effort, so try to seduce her a bit. "
"Try to stop me," I said and grinned. I leaned in to kiss her cheek and we parted ways.
Lara called to set up a meeting with the young woman who wanted to interview me about the lifestyle, but even the prospect of seducing someone new didn’t fill me with the usual excitement. In the middle of the afternoon, after I had finished my first surgery after lunch, I pulled my lab coat over my scrubs and left NYP to make the short walk to the café where Lara and I met.
I entered the café and saw Lara immediately – she was hard to miss, with her platinum blonde hair and expensive tailored business suit. I started towards the table, curious about the young woman, whose back I saw through the window, when I realized who she was.
Katherine.
Katherine McDermott. The woman I’d been fantasizing about despite my best attempts to block her memory from my mind. I saw her face full-on when she turned to the door where I stood and I was struck once more by how pretty she was. She wore a creamy sweater that made her breasts look even more enticing – if that was even possible. Her hair was down and silky, falling around her shoulders, her features petite and pretty.
I stopped up short, frowning when I saw her with Lara, wondering if I had somehow got it wrong. I glanced around the deserted café as if in confusion, thinking that perhaps Lara knew Katherine and was meeting with her for coffee and that I had the date wrong.
Lara stood and waved me over to the table.
"You’re late," Lara said, air kissing my cheeks when I arrived as if she'd been expecting me.
Then it became obvious why Katherine was there, and the truth registered as a shock of adrenaline surging through my body.
Katherine was the researcher.
She was the young woman who wanted to interview me. To interview a Dom because, as Lara said, she was curious, but was too afraid to do it for real.
The young woman Lara thought I could love…
"Oh, God," Katherine said, glancing away for a moment, her face blanching. I stood there like a total zombie, confusion and elation battling inside of me for ascendance. I didn’t know whether to laugh out loud with glee or act apologetic, still not entirely certain that I was right.
"I have to go." Katherine pulled on her coat, gathered up her bag and put on a pair of sunglasses. She walked away, her body stiff.
She was horrified that it was me she was supposed to meet.
"Kate!" Lara called out, but Katherine was out the door and on the street hailing a taxi before Lara could get to the door.
We stood at the open door and watched as Katherine hailed down a cab.
“You know each other, I take it?” Lara said to me, her arms crossed.
“Yes,” I said, my heart pounding. I was just about to go after her, but Lara grabbed my arm and stopped me.
"Let her go," she said, her grip firm. "She's obviously freaked out. I take it there's some reason she's upset that you're the one."
"I’m very close with her father, who was my dad’s best friend. We finally met about a week ago.”
I watched as the taxi drove off. My instinct was to follow her, but I listened to Lara. I exhaled heavily and gave in. This would only end well if I handled it – and her – with utmost finesse.
Lara and I went back into the café and sat down once more at the table. The waitress brought me an espresso, and I shot it down, needing the buzz to calm me. Lara ordered another espresso and then we sat looking at each other.
“So,” Lara said, hesitantly. “What do you think? Are you still interested in doing the interview?
Interested? I was fucking ecstatic.
"I am," I said, keeping my voice calm. "I actually like her."
"Oh, oh." Lara smiled at me over her espresso. "By her reaction, she likes you as well."
It was then I realized that she did, despite her response. "This could get complicated."
"Only as complicated as you let it get. You're the one in control."
I looked to the street where Kate had caught the cab. I want to follow her, talk to her. Make this right between us. Traffic was pretty heavy at this time of day, and given the recent rain, it was even slower, but she was long gone.
"Poor Kate,” Lara said. “To find out you're the Dominant I was going to introduce her to. How embarrassing for you both."
"She's probably really upset that I know she's interested in BDSM. It's quite the change from famine in West Africa."
"It is. She's completely fascinated with the lifestyle but doesn't want to admit it to herself. She'll be a tough nut to crack."
"They always have the sweetest meat, once you do crack their hard shell, though." I smiled at Lara. She knew exactly what I meant. Submission, when a strong-willed person finally gave in, was even better than one who succumbed too easily.
Their eventual submission was total, their sexual response unrestrained.
"I should call her," I said, reaching into my scrubs pocket to retrieve my cell. I held it in my hand, indecision filling me. "Try to calm her down. Do you have her number?"
“She'll never answer your call. Let me see if I can salvage this,” Lara said and took out her own phone. She entered Katherine’s number but she didn’t answer.
"You take it," Lara said, handing me her cell. "Try again."
I took Lara's cell and connected to Katherine’s number.
"She's seriously freaked out," Lara said. "She wants it – and maybe you – bad."
I couldn’t help but smile. "I'll try again."
I redialed and this time, Katherine answered. Before I could say anything, she spoke, her voice breathless, almost panicked.
"Before you say anything, I want you to remind Dr. Morgan that this was purely academic. This was research – nothing more. No matter what you think Lara, I'm not interested. This was nothing personal—"
"Kate, Kate, shhh," I said, keeping my voice soft. "Don't worry. I know. You’re a serious student. This is just research. If anything, it's me who should be embarrassed."
She hung up.
I pulled the cell away from my ear and looked at Lara, who raised her eyebrows.
"Boy, does she want you," Lara said and finished her espresso. "Real bad. I think if you push a bit, she'll be signing a submission contract for real."
"I won't give up, then." I checked my cell for the time. "I better go. I've got a lot of paperwork to go over. I may pay a visit to Kate's apartment later this evening. Give me her number."
"Should I give it to you, Drake?" she said and eyed me from under a frown. "You sure about this? Is this manageable?"
"Never been more sure," I said, waving my hand in dismissal. "We already have a history. That will mean the walls are already crumbling. I know how to manage someone like her."
"I don't mean her."
I checked Lara’s face to see if she was kidding.
"Lara…" I cracked a grin. "You know me better than anyone. Me not control myself around a sweet little girl like Katherine? I'll bend her to my will easily. I'll have her eating out of my hand in no time…"
"If you say so."
"I say so," I replied, and then I leaned down to peck her on the cheek
. She rose and put on her jacket, then walked with me out of the café into the cool Manhattan afternoon.
We stood facing each other on the sidewalk and she had this strange expression on her face – part disbelief, part amusement.
She gave me a look. “I thought rule number one was to keep your life completely secret, apart from anyone in your personal life. Don’t tell me you’re going to go through with this…”
I smiled and walked backwards for a few steps, filled with elation.
“Try and stop me.”
End of Part One
DRAKE RESTRAINED 2
S. E. LUND
Copyright by S. E. Lund 2014
CHAPTER ONE
Knowing someone is interested in trying out kink is one thing; actually getting them to let you bind, blindfold and dominate them sexually is quite another.
I had no idea how I was going to get Kate into my bedroom so I could gain complete control over her mind and body, but I knew I had to. As I raced up the street to New York Presbyterian to finish my afternoon office appointments, it was priority number one.
Every fiber of my being focused in on my new mission – get Kate to submit.
The panic in her voice when she thought she was talking to Lara on the phone said everything I needed to know. She found the idea of being my submissive – my submissive – both terrifying and absolutely undeniably desirable.
The very thought of Kate as my submissive made me hard as rock. I was a little breathless, my gut and groin filled with an ache of desire as I imagined her naked, her lovely skin pale against my dark grey bedspread, my leather cuffs around her wrists and ankles, my satin blindfold covering her beautiful green eyes...
I had to do everything in my power to focus back on my cases so that I gave each patient my undivided attention. Usually, I compartmentalized exceptionally well. It was my forte. But every so often that afternoon, while I read over patient files or dictated notes, my mind wandered to Kate. Fantasies of her lying naked on my bed, her mouth open as she panted with desire, plagued me. I had return to the present and remind myself that soon enough, if I played my cards perfectly, Kate would be on her knees before me, naked, blindfolded, her hands restrained, her willing mouth pleasuring me.
I called her cell phone several times that afternoon, but as I expected, she wouldn’t answer. Still, I left encouraging text messages in the hopes of assuaging her fears.
Kate, please answer. We have to talk.
It’s okay, Kate. This is between you and me. No one but Lara will know…
Kate, seriously. You have nothing to fear from me. I won’t do anything you don’t want. I won’t get you in any trouble…
When she hadn’t answered one single call or text, I decided to take matters into my own hands and visit her apartment. Inaction was driving me crazy. My office hours could not end soon enough and I was thankful that I had a light surgical load that afternoon so I could leave my office earlier than usual.
“You seem unusually eager to leave early tonight, Dr. D,” Janice said, the joint practice’s administrative assistant. She winked at me as I removed my lab coat and threw on my jacket. An older nurse who had to give up the OR due to bad knees, Janice loved to tease me. “Hot date with a new lady?”
“Not yet, but,” I said and winked back at her, smiling like a child, “I have hope.”
“You don’t need hope,” Janice said and slipped a paper into a file. “Just talk to her in that deep voice you keep for anxious patients. She won’t stand a chance.”
“I have hope,” I repeated, not wanting to sound too sure of myself. I wasn’t sure of myself. Kate was going to be difficult, but I was up for the challenge. Hell, I was a little hard once more even thinking about it.
I grabbed a turkey sandwich from the coffee shop before walking to my car in the staff parking lot, eating on the fly because I intended to stop by her apartment on my way home, see if I couldn’t weasel my way inside and start my seduction of my very reluctant very new submissive.
That’s the way I was going to think of Kate from that point forward – as my new submissive. Even though she wasn’t, I had to think like a conqueror or else I wouldn’t display the kind of dominance that attracted her to me. I had to wipe away our shared social life, forget whose daughter she was, and erase all the ties between us in the vanilla world – Doctors Without Borders, Columbia University, and most of all, Ethan. When we were together, we would be Master and submissive, not Drake and Kate.
Ethan could never know what I was and what Kate and I would have together. Maintaining the separation between my professional life and my personal kink was absolutely necessary to keep my practice as a neurosurgeon. Kate would be worried that Ethan would find out about her desire for kink but so was I. It would be a secret that would tie us together even more firmly than if we were two complete strangers. Secrets had a way of making everything more intense, and living this secret life, as Master and submissive, would be all the more meaningful for Kate, if only she would let me in.
I intended to make sure she did – let me in. Into her life. Between her thighs and as deep inside of her as I could get.
My first problem would be getting into her apartment.
Kate’s Harlem neighborhood was pretty standard – street upon street filled with old Brownstones broken only by the occasional apartment block, school, corner store or coffee shop. I arrived as the street lights flickered on and was lucky enough to find a parking spot across from her building. I crossed the narrow road, threaded through double parked cars and climbed the steps to the entry. She’d never let me in willingly, but fortune smiled down on me. A piece of cardboard had been slipped between the door and the jamb so that I could enter without her buzzing me inside. It was a bit sneaky in a slightly stalkerish way, but we knew each other. I reasoned to myself that I was just going to surprise her.
I climbed the creaky old stairs to the third floor and stood outside her door, hesitating before I knocked, wanting to calm down a bit first.
I glanced left and right down the hallway. There were apartments on either side of the hall and a fire hose and alarm on the wall outside the stairwell. The building smelled musty and old. The flooring was faded, the once plush Oriental carpet now a muddy brown.
Kate came from a wealthy family with old money. Why did she live this way?
Finally impatient with my own indecision, I took in a deep breath and knocked on her door. I listened to see if she was in, and heard the creak of the floor behind the door. At the same time, the door to the apartment across the hall opened and I turned to see a pair of very old blue eyes with thick wiry gray eyebrows staring back at me. I turned back and leaned in to the eyehole but could make out nothing on the other side except a subtle dimming of the light as if someone – Kate – were peering out at me.
I smiled to myself. Was she debating whether to speak with me?
"I don't want to talk to you, Dr. Morgan," came Kate’s voice through the door.
A surge of adrenaline went through me. She didn’t try to pretend she wasn’t home. That was a good sign. Now, if only I could convince her to let me inside, I felt certain that I could get her to at least consider being my submissive.
"Kate, please, considering everything, call me Drake. And trust me. I have no interest in revealing anything about this to anyone. You, Lara and I are the only people who will ever know anything about this."
"Good," she said. "Thank you. Let's just forget this ever happened. All of it."
"No, no…" I said, unwilling to give in just yet. Not by a long shot. "No need for that.” I frowned, trying to think of something to stall her. Then I remembered she was doing a paper on the lifestyle. If I could convince her to interview me, I felt confident I could convince her – eventually – to go out on a date. And then, she’d be mine. “We can still do the interviews. You want to research the lifestyle and I'm happy to help in any way I can."
"No way," came her voice and I could hear the hint of regr
et in it. "I can't. Just forget about it."
"Seriously, Kate," I said, trying to keep her talking. I remembered what Janice said and lowered my voice. "There's no need to call this off. I'm quite happy to teach you anything you want to know about," I said and lowered it even more, conscious of the pair of old eyes watching me from across the hall. "About submission. I'll even take you to a fetish night. Lara said you wanted to go. You could wear a mask, and no one would know who you are. I teach at Columbia in the department of medicine. I love teaching…"
"No. It's completely out of the question. It's totally embarrassing."
"Kate…" I said, my voice trailing off. "I understand your interest in this completely. I have a lot of experience. You don't have to be embarrassed with me."
"You're kidding, right? You don't think this is mortifying?"
I smiled. Every extra word she said was a victory. Every extra moment I spoke to her meant I was one more moment closer to her giving in and inviting me inside. If she did that, game over. I’d try my best to calm her, reduce her fear. She had to know that it was a risk for me that she knew I was a Dominant. I tried self-deprecating humor in the hopes of making her smile.
"For me, yes. For you, no. I'm the one who should be mortified, not you. Here I was, hoping to impress you enough that you'd go out with me for a drink some night and you discover I'm a Dom. You're just doing this for a research paper, after all…"
"I'm changing topics," she said, her voice sounding unconvincing, as if she had just made that up on the fly.
There was a pause.
I decided to play along. "What are you going to write about instead?"
"I don't know. Maybe the Administration's failure to act on climate change."
I couldn’t help but smile at that. I had no doubt that Kate was interested in climate change. It was one of those liberal causes that someone like Kate would support without thinking, but it would pale next to sexual politics. "Sounds pretty boring in comparison to exploring why women are so excited by the prospect of submitting to a dominant man who knows how to release their inhibitions…"