Going Home [Party on the Prairie 1] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Redrae Gunn

  Kira laughed as she rinsed off in the shower and then joined Rock in the Jacuzzi.

  “Miles likes your music,” Rock said as Kira leaned her head back and sighed at the ceiling.

  “Miles enjoys life,” Kira said. “He likes things that he doesn’t know. He wants to experience things that he hasn’t and he has promised himself to die without regret.”

  “That’s noble,” Rock said.

  “Pops and I agreed to the same thing.” Kira laughed.

  “How so?” Rock asked, suddenly very curious. Kira was opening up about her past and it intrigued him. She hadn’t offered much about her youth or her past.

  “Live life with no fear, live without regrets. Someone else has dealt the cards, but we have placed the bets,” Kira quoted a poem. “I saw your no fear tattoo and I looked at you differently. You don’t display it. You don’t show it off. That’s how I felt when I wrote that poem for grandpa.”

  “You wrote that?” Rock asked.

  “It’s something that sounds in my head at least once or twice a month,” Kira admitted. “Since I’ve been back home, I remind myself of it probably…three times a week. Then you came along.”

  “And?” Rock asked.

  “It has quieted,” Kira whispered.

  “You’ve never had a roommate?” Rock asked as he sipped on his beer.

  “I rarely lived alone unless I was between roommates because I like having someone to talk to and confide in. Plus it’s a safety thing, you know,” Kira said. “But aside from Papa, you are the first male roommate I’ve had.”

  Rock didn’t hide the surprise on his face. “I am the first man you have lived with.”

  “Well, kind of,” Kira said. She felt the blush creeping into her cheeks. She knew better than to lie. Rock wouldn’t tolerate her lying to him. “It’s complicated. A lot of things are complicated when you’re a submissive. I mean, I had a Dominant in Phoenix and he was out of town through the week but on weekends I was at his home, spending the night. It worked out great for my roommate because that’s when her Domme would come to our place.”

  “But you never lived with a Dominant?” Rock asked. Kira shook her head fiercely. “So why then, little flower, did you decide to rent a room to me?”

  “That’s more complicated,” Kira said as she took a long drink from her wine glass. “I had made up my mind that I wanted the shop. I love this place and know my neighbors. I knew that if I wanted to have clients come out, because trust me, a lot of my clients want to test drive the merchandise, then I needed to consider rooming with a man.”

  “So you met me and decided to go for it?” Rock asked.

  “The way you sat at the table, watched me leave the café, and you paid for me,” Kira said. “I actually knew when you sat down that you were a Dominant. I was trying to control my breathing and hoped you didn’t see my eyes widen.”

  Rock laughed as Kira drained her wine glass. She looked at Rock and he nodded his head so she happily refilled her glass. He held up his empty beer bottle and Kira took it from him. Then she grabbed a fresh beer, took the cap off, and then handed it to him. Rock nodded his approval and Kira relaxed again in the tub. Their legs touched under the bubbles and Kira smiled while shaking her head.

  “So every city that you have lived in,” Rock began, lowering his tone and adding a fair amount of firmness. “Every city has had a fetish club.” Kira nodded. “Have you ever tried to have just regular, normal sex?”

  Kira looked down at the bubbles in the water. When Rock cleared his throat she looked up again. She’d forgotten that he really liked eye contact and she smiled despite the tears forming in her eyes.

  “Tell me,” Rock demanded. His voice was soft but still commanding. When Kira shivered, Rock smiled at her and waited.

  “I worry about so many things,” Kira sighed. She didn’t want to tell him this. “Where do my hands go? Should I touch him? Am I moving enough on bottom that he thinks I’m enjoying it? If I’m on top does he really think it feels good? Then there is doggy style.” Kira rolled her eyes at a memory. “Give a girl a reach around for the love of all things sacred. A smack on the ass would be fine, too.”

  Rock laughed and he shook his head in sympathy. Of course Kira would worry about those things. No wonder she had looked for structure and control.

  “You need immobilization,” Rock said and Kira nearly panted at the word.

  “At least a little,” Kira admitted and blushed.

  “It quiets your mind,” Rock said and smiled when Kira closed her eyes and swayed back and forth just a little. “You don’t have to think about that part of you anymore and you can just let yourself be still.”

  “That’s exactly it.” Kira’s eyes flew open. “Being still. Being in harmony with the world. Being quiet and at peace. Being still. Yes. That’s how I like to feel.”

  Rock stood from the Jacuzzi and offered his hand to Kira. “Come, flower,” he said softly extending his hand. “There are two signals that I would like you to learn immediately. The first is so that when we are in a crowd of people, perhaps the grocery store and we are separated, I am able to call you to me without anyone else knowing.”

  Kira followed Rock out of the tub and set her glass down on the counter. She was already focused on Rock and ready to learn more.

  Rock smiled at Kira’s attentive gaze. With his left hand he pointed to his right hand. His right hand was at his side. The thumb and forefinger were curled into his hand but his other three fingers pointed at the floor.

  “You did that in the kitchen when you wanted to put those earrings on me,” Kira said. When Rock smiled an approving smile at her she nearly melted. She knew that she had been tuning into him more and more often. She hadn’t realized that she had been doing it. She smiled back at his smile.

  “That means that you are to come to me, not necessarily immediately, but as soon as possible,” Rock said.

  Rock watched as Kira nodded her head and came to him. The determined way that she came to him and stood next to him, invading his personal space, was comforting.

  “This is the other,” Rock said and pointed directly at the floor.

  Kira kneeled without hesitation.

  “That is the correct response,” Rock sighed his approval. “No one else will ever see me give you that command. Unless of course we go to a club together. That is why it is direct and forceful.”

  Kira nodded her head, keeping it down.

  “One other thing,” Rock said as he gripped her chin. “You will always try to maintain eye contact. Even if you are kneeling. You don’t need to strain your neck but at least have my hands in your view to recognize signals. Do not look at the floor.”

  Kira nearly fell over backward at the intensity in Rock’s eyes. The brown eye had turned greener and the green eye was nearly all blue. She nodded her head in his hand and looked at him.

  “You are always allowed to speak to me, without permission, unless I have taken away that privilege,” Rock said. “Respectfully is always in your best interest. I don’t like bratty and I don’t tolerate much sass.”

  “Why eye contact?” Kira blurted.

  “I like looking into your soul,” Rock said honestly. “If I can’t see your eyes, I can’t tell what you are feeling. Just like your beautiful body, you will not hide your feelings or emotions from me.”

  “I can ask you questions, too?” Kira asked.

  Kira didn’t want this to be a one-sided arrangement. It was going to be awkward enough with her owning the house that he was now suddenly commanding.

  “I like conversation,” Rock said.

  Kira relaxed a little. She was nervous and she certainly didn’t feel comfortable on her ankles. She kept trying to find a comfortable position with her butt on her ankles.

  “What should I do with my hands?” Kira asked and looked down at where her hands rested on her thighs. She was acutely aware of the tiny scars she had on her hands from welding, leather work, and smashing her finger
s between hammer and metal.

  “Grab your ankles,” Rock said.

  Kira gripped her ankles and relaxed. That was a perfect place for her hands. Now she didn’t worry about them. She smiled and looked up at Rock. He smiled his approval and Kira felt her breath deepen. She still couldn’t believe that this type of a Dominant was in her home.

  Kira looked at Rock’s erection.

  “No mouth,” Rock said as Kira licked her lips. “Only hands.”

  Kira grasped Rock’s cock with both hands. She was nearly worshiping the appendage and Rock moaned responsively under the attentiveness of her hands. All she wanted was to make Rock happy. He had made her more than happier earlier in the day and she wanted her debt paid. She stroked the velvety shaft and sighed. He was so soft, so smooth, and so hard.

  Kira was ready to devote her entire night to his satisfaction when he tapped her on the head and then exploded onto her neck and chest. She resisted the urge to stick out her tongue and taste him but he had said no mouth.

  Rock throbbed in Kira’s hands and she milked his balls and cock for every last drop. Rock looked down at Kira and tapped her on the head again. “That means that I am going to come so you should cover the head.” Rock grinned at Kira as she looked down at her chest.

  Rock handed Kira a washcloth and glanced out the window. The snow was starting to pick up. “I suppose we’ll need to get the tractor closer to the house.”

  Kira nodded her head. “Leave the water in the tub,” Kira said. “We’ll need it later.”

  “For what?” Rock asked.

  “We aren’t on city water,” Kira smiled sadly. “When the electricity goes out, the pump won’t work. We’ll need the water to flush the toilets.”

  “Furnace?” Rock asked.

  Kira shook her head. “It’s a monster and the thermostat is electric.”

  “The stove? Oven?” Rock asked.

  “Both gas,” Kira said. Rock sighed with relief. “But they both have electric starters and thermostats. So that’s a negative there, too.”

  “Generator?” Rock asked trying not to hope for a minor miracle.

  “Yes,” Kira said and shook her head. “But not enough to run the house.”

  Rock rubbed his goatee. How had she and her grandpa survived out here during the winters when the power went off? What had they eaten? How had they killed the boredom? Had they communicated with the outside world? How did they keep the pipes from freezing and how had they been able to sleep without worrying about dying from hypothermia?

  “I tell you what,” Kira said, trying to keep the edge out of her voice. Did he really think that she was completely helpless? How did he think that she had survived out here? She managed to keep her dying grandfather alive during the previous winter. Keeping Karl alive through the past winter had been no small task since he had constantly begged Kira to just let the temperature in the house fall so he could die peacefully in his sleep. “Why don’t you bring the tractor up to the house and I’ll worry about making sure we survive the blizzard?”

  “That sounds fine with me,” Rock said stiffly. He needed to get some air right now. He didn’t want to play rescue the damsel in distress.

  Rock went to change into warm clothes and when he came back downstairs he was surprised to see Kira in insulated sweatpants and matching insulated hoodie.

  “I can easily do all of this myself and you can go to bed. Just pull back the rug on the floor and you will see that there is an ornate circular vent, left over from a previous coal burning stove, in the original part of the farmhouse. The vent travels from the living room into your room. The warm air traveling up will heat that room to a sauna if the power goes out tonight.” Kira said as she pointed at the list she had in front of her. “However, if we split the chores, I would appreciate it.”

  Rock looked at his little flower. She wasn’t being rude, or mean, or sassy. She was telling him like it was. She was clearly prepared to take on all of the chores by herself. But she had asked him for help. He allowed a slow smile to spread across his face. He wasn’t sure how she was going to manage it but he reminded himself that a Dominant needed to trust his submissive. A tenant also needed to trust the landlord.

  “What first, my lady?” Rick bowed deeply and laughed as Kira shrieked covering her mouth.

  “That is soooooo not you.” Kira giggled, throwing her head back as she laughed. “Don’t do that again.”

  “Yes, my queen,” Rock said, chuckling.

  “Enough,” Kira said, raising her voice and standing firm. Rock looked up at her and raised his eyebrows, nodding his head. Then Kira walked over to Rock and rubbed her head against his bicep. “See. That’s not me.”

  “I know,” Rock replied and he kissed her forehead. “Trust me, I know.”

  Chapter 6

  Rock maneuvered the tractor in front of the house. He thought that perhaps he might be done with his outdoor chores but then Kira asked him to go to the barn and load up a toboggan full of wood. She said to get the sled as full of wood as he could without dumping the load.

  Rock had some words to say to her about dumping a load. He was a professional driver, had been for a couple of decades, and had never once dumped a load. Kira had seductively rubbed her chest. Rock had shook his head and smiled at her. He reminded her that the load he dropped earlier, on her chest, had arrived at its predetermined destination, just as the client had requested.

  Kira uncovered the wood burning stove. Her grandpa had hated the thing because it reminded him of when he was growing up with ten other siblings in a two bedroom house. Kira had even purchased a new wood burning stove with the glass front, so it looked more like a fireplace but grandpa had still wanted it covered when it wasn’t in use.

  Kira looked at the stove, now uncovered, and loved it. She had added the gothic cage around it so if she cooked on it she didn’t have to worry about pots falling off the top. It was still vented out the side of the house, just like the old one. She had kept it covered, just like her papa had liked. Now she looked at it and smiled. It was her home now and it no longer needed to be covered. She felt a little less of the weight on her shoulders as she made the decision to never cover the stove again.

  Rock knocked on the sliding glass door and Kira pulled the toboggan across a coarse rug that scraped the snow off of the bottom. She slid the toboggan across the carpet and stacked the wood into her handmade rack.

  “One last thing,” Kira said and she pointed to a stack of five gallon buckets. “Can you please set those in a nice row against the deck?”

  Rock didn’t question her this time. She knew exactly what she was doing. He stacked the buckets as she had instructed and then came inside. The temperature was still hovering at ten degrees but the snow had picked up. He noticed that a shovel had been set against the inside of the entry door, ready for use. The handle had been decorated with smiling flower stickers. Obviously another one of Kira’s ways of seeing the sun while dealing with the snow.

  He came into the living room and looked at where Kira was busy with moving some blankets off of a rack in the corner. Rock laughed when he saw that the blanket rack was actually a spanking bench in black leather.

  Kira looked at what Rock was looking at and she grinned at him. “Functional furniture,” Kira said.

  “Camouflage,” Rock said.

  Kira nodded her head. “My clients have friends, kids, parents,” Kira said. “Normal people like their kink, too.”

  “So you design the world’s sturdiest duvet holder,” Rock said smiling.

  “Same with the round cages,” Kira said. “Stick a couple of plants in them and they are no longer just a good place to store a submissive. They instantly transform into a conversational living room accent.”

  Rock laughed hard and looked at Kira. For the first time since he’d met her he saw her exactly as she was. Beautiful, no doubt, confident, had a passion for her work, cared about her clients, and she needed him. Probably needed him more than she had n
eeded anyone else in her life, aside from her grandpa.

  “So what will the generator power?” Rock asked.

  “Four outlets in this room and one of the electric heaters in either my bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, and the downstairs,” Kira said. “So it’s a constant vigil to keep the pipes from freezing upstairs. I open the cupboard doors in the bathrooms and kitchen. I rarely use the heater downstairs because it hasn’t dropped below 48 degrees in the basement since I’ve been alive.”

  “So what is being powered by these four outlets?” Rock asked.

  “This ancient TV,” Kira said as she pointed to a box with rabbit ears. “We can only get one local channel during the storms but, it’s better than nothing. The hot plate.” Kira pointed to the plate that was resting on a wooden stool. “One outlet is devoted to the fan behind the stove, to keep the heat circulating through the room. I was hoping to keep the tree going so when we aren’t using the hotplate we can charge our phones.”

  “Where do we sleep?” Rock asked. He judged Kira’s reaction to the suggestion that they sleep together and the blush on her face was just enough to show that she had the perfect combination of anticipation and nervousness.

  “We can sleep in your room,” Kira said. “I told you that with the vent open it gets really hot in there. Or we can move the mattress from my bed out here.”

  “Once the power goes out we will move your mattress in here,” Rock said. He was still holding on to the hope that the power would stay on and the storm wouldn’t get as bad as the meteorologists were predicting.

  Kira went into the kitchen and started shutting of the lights. She checked the door and Rock pulled on his boots. “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “Making the rounds,” Rock said as he pulled on his jacket. “I make sure the pump is off to the fuel pumps, check the garages, your shop and the Quonsets.”

  “No offense, but that isn’t very smart to do at night,” Kira said. “Wild dogs, coyotes, mountain lions, skunks, raccoons, badgers and the list goes on.”