In Time for Love (Timeless Love Book 1)
Page 1
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
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In Time for Love
A Timeless Love Book One
Kessily Lewel
Blushing Books
©2018 by Blushing Books® and Kessily Lewel
All rights reserved.
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Kessily Lewel
In Time for Love
EBook ISBN: 978-1-61258-551-2
Print ISBN: 978-1-61258-595-6
Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design
This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books' or the author's advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.
Contents
What’s Inside
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Kessily Lewel
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What’s Inside
He seemed to be drawing things out to make her more nervous. One arm settled across her back in a firm weight that pinned her down. The other came to rest on the back of her panties, and she shivered. "I know what you're dealing with right now is hard, Katherine, but you're going to get through this. And someday, you're going to look back on this time and be glad you went through it, because it will make you stronger in the end," he said with a quiet assurance to his voice, like he knew with absolute certainty that he was right.
She wished she was that sure, because, right now, things felt sort of hopeless. She'd had such a good time with him today, but once he'd left, she'd been reminded that this was only a temporary fix. In a week, she'd go home to her empty apartment and have to decide whether to quit her job so she wouldn't be forced to see her ex every day. She wanted to hope things would eventually make sense, but right now, she just couldn't.
He didn't wait for her to reply and continued the lecture. "In the meantime, you need to take care of yourself. You are capable of making the right choices without someone guiding you, if you would just believe it. But if you're going to do dangerous, childish stuff in front of me, like what I just saw outside, then I guess I'm going to have to help you," he said firmly.
She still didn't reply, though the guilt welled up inside of her and she shifted across his lap, feeling miserable and embarrassed. "This is your last chance to change your mind, Katherine. I think we both agree you need this and deserve it, but you can still stop it. Once I begin, I will carry it through until I decide you've had enough. Do you understand?" he asked
"Y-yes, Jack," she whispered. The feeling of nervous dread in her stomach increased, and she stiffened in preparation for the punishment. She felt the oddest urge to thank him, though, for caring enough to punish her, but it seemed weird to thank someone who was about to blister your ass for doing something stupid—at least, in advance. Afterward, it felt like part of the ritual to thank them for the lesson and not strange at all.
"And you're sure?" he pressed. His hand tightened across her rump, fingers pressing into her flesh.
"Y-yeah, I deserve it and…just do it, please," she whispered in a choked, hoarse voice. Please don't drag it out any more, she added silently.
He seemed to approve. "Good girl," he said as his hand swept up. There was the slightest warning of movement and then it cracked down hard across the center of her ass, causing her to buck in surprise. It was unexpectedly painful! Of course, spankings were supposed to hurt, but Christopher always started off light and easy. This was something else, entirely. Before she could even process the burning pain, his hand had slapped down again; the loud crack echoed through the room, and she made a small sound of panic and clapped both hands over her mouth.
The intention had always been to play during this trip, and the suite had been carefully chosen, since it shared only one common wall, and that was in the bathroom. So, hopefully, the noise wouldn't carry, but adding cries of pain to rhythmic slapping wasn't going to go over well if it did, so she kept her hands firmly over her mouth as he continued to spank.
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With Gratitude
I've never written a dedication before, so I think it's probably time. There are a lot of people who keep me going, far more than I could name, and I appreciate all of them. Novels don't happen without a lot of background support, and there are some amazing people who make the magic happen behind the scenes.
For Kat, who has been my champion, friend, writing partner, and personal editor for so long I've lost track. She's been there through magazines, short stories, and now books, with hardly a complaint about the number of times she's had to fix the exact same error. Without her, I probably never would have dared to make the jump to novels and there's a good chance she had to proofread this dedication and fix at least one thing in it.
For Kiki, my navigator, who offered what I needed the most and helped me find the right path during a rough patch when I couldn't see my way through. Always ready with an encouraging word and positive reinforcement, she somehow quietly manages to out-stubborn me when I get stuck and provides a calm place for me to regroup. Also, she can fold origami dinosaurs, which makes her pretty much perfect.
For Wenchy, my captain, who actually is helpful despite signs indicating otherwise. R
uthless when it comes to ripping open plot holes, she's also the one who sits down to help plan out the needed fixes afterward. She would fearlessly steer us right into a hurricane just for the sheer adventure of it, laughing at the danger while Kiki plotted our course to safety. They balance each other perfectly, and there is no other ship I'd rather crew.
And above all, for my husband, Shaughn, who fell in love with me the first time we met and for some reason has never changed his mind since. He drags me off the computer and makes me interact with the world way more often than I'd like, constantly pushes me to try new things, and is always my inspiration to create because there's a little bit of him in almost every character I write.
Chapter 1
Katherine stood at the rail, staring out across the water. Her hands were clenched around the smoothly polished wood as she swayed to the gentle rhythm of the moving ship. She hadn't quite gotten her sea legs yet and still found the rolling a little dizzying, but that wasn't the reason for her tight grip. That would be the happy people walking the decks behind her, chatting and laughing while they enjoyed their vacation. Envy clawed at her as she tried to ignore them. She wanted to be one of those happy people; she'd had every expectation of enjoying this trip and had looked forward to it for months.
Who wouldn't enjoy a week sailing the Caribbean? Nothing but sun, too much food and not a worry in the world other than avoiding getting too badly burned. At least, that had been the plan, but all of her expectations had been toppled a week ago. For the trip…and for her whole life.
Tears sprang to her eyes and her fingers tightened to the point of hurting. It took her a second to realize that the physical pain was coming from the head of a screw that jutted out of the underside of the rail, digging into her hand. The emotional agony that was clouding her mind had blocked it out at first, and she let go of the beam with a hiss and shook out her hand. Peering intently at the red indentation that had come close to ripping her skin, she frowned.
"Damn it," she muttered, but she wasn't really upset. The pain had shaken her out of the mood drop that had started. She had to watch herself every minute these days, if she didn't want to end up a sobbing mess in public. Everywhere she looked, she was reminded of Christopher and their plans. Maybe coming on the cruise alone had been a bad idea; she just hadn't known what else to do with herself. She already had the time off work. Of course, she did, because he'd arranged it, and everything was paid for, so she'd come—alone.
But now that she was here, all she could think about were the things they'd talked about doing on the trip, the adventures they were going to have while they sailed through a series of island ports. She'd never been on a cruise before, but he had, several times. He'd laughed and called her a virgin and she'd blushed, because it was yet another thing that he'd promised to show her. His world was so vast, and hers had always been so small.
She wasn't sure when it had happened, when he'd become such a focus in her life. It hadn't been that way in the beginning. She'd been shy and uncertain, dragging her heels at every step, while he tugged her along impatiently. She'd given over the reins of her life inch by painful inch until, finally, he'd taken over everything. She'd let him do it because submission had always been her biggest fantasy—a deep dark secret that she'd never shared with anyone, though he'd once told her it had been obvious to anyone with eyes.
She supposed he was right about that, though it galled her to know how blatantly it must show. She'd always been the one to back down in any argument. She avoided confrontation, and people with strong personalities rolled right over her like an iron, flattening her until she stopped fighting and let them have what they wanted. She did have a strong independent streak, though, and an introvert's need for space and alone time. He hadn't cared much for that side of her.
The harder he pushed to have every piece of her; mind, soul and body, the harder it had been for him to pin her down. He'd mistaken her submission for weakness, and she understood why he'd think so, but it simply meant she fought in other ways. She'd read some book once about martial arts, and it had talked about a style of defense based on water, and for some reason, it had stuck in her head. Water could be slow and gentle; it yielded to larger objects, but over time, it exerted enough pressure to wear away stone. She wanted to be like that. She wanted her submission to be seen as a kind of strength instead of a weakness, but when she was with Christopher, somehow…somehow, she always ended up giving in.
It hadn't been like that in the beginning, or maybe she just recalled it differently. She remembered her first day of work and the way he'd been so kind, helping her get situated. A real gentleman, she'd thought, and on first impression, the nicest boss she'd ever had. Of course, working in an office, even as a file clerk, was a step up from the minimum wage jobs she'd held before and during college. She'd expected people would be nicer in a white-collar environment than in a fast food restaurant, but still, the way he kept coming over to check on her was so sweet.
She'd only been working there about a month when he'd asked her out for dinner. She'd hesitated, sure there was some rule about dating your boss, but he just looked at her questioningly and she'd said yes, of course. That was the beginning of his courting her. It started mostly in small ways—coming into work and finding a simple carnation on her desk with no note, but she knew who it was from. There was only one person in the office who knew it was her favorite flower.
Sometimes, he bought her lunch, and she was grateful, not just for the break from work, but also because she didn't make very much yet and, soon, she'd have to start making payments on her student loans, now that she had her degree. He took her to expensive places she'd never be able to afford on her own, and often, she was able to bring home leftovers to cover her evening meal, as well. If sometimes the meal went over her allotted half-hour lunch break, the fact that she was with the boss meant no one was going to complain about it. Still, she was careful to work extra hard afterward, to make sure no one thought she was getting extra privileges.
This was something she worried about constantly, since it seemed like it had to be so obvious to everyone else in the office that he liked her. But no one said anything unkind, so, either they didn't care, or they hadn't noticed. She hoped it was the latter because she liked most of her coworkers and wanted them to think well of her. She wasn't a gold-digger; in fact, she did try to refuse many of the small gifts or expensive rendezvous that he suggested over the next couple of months, but that wouldn't stop them from getting that impression.
A whole year of her life she'd given to him, more, actually, since they'd begun dating just shy of her twenty-third birthday, and now she was well into her twenty-fourth year. So much time to have wasted for nothing. She swallowed hard, taking a deep gulp of sea air as she struggled to pull out of those thoughts. If she continued through their whole relationship, she'd have to follow it to the end, and then she'd have to face the fact that she had no idea what she was going to do with her life from this point forward.
Go back to working for him as though he hadn't become her whole world? See him every day and know that she no longer belonged to him? She wasn't strong enough for that, not when so much of their personal life had spilled over into office scenarios after hours—and sometimes during the work day, too, if they were discrete enough.
He was a dominant, and where he led, she followed. If he snapped his fingers and told her to kneel by his desk, then she would hurry over and drop to her knees without protest, though she always made sure the door was locked first. A knock would send her heart racing in a panic and she'd look up at him, pleading for permission to stand before anyone guessed her secret. No, she wasn't going to be able to handle the change of circumstances, and that meant that there wasn't even one corner of her life that would be left unturned.
Because he'd dumped her. Without warning, without discussion, he'd simply dismissed her. She wasn't sure how she'd failed him, not really, because he hadn't given any explanation beyond, "I think it's time
we ended this." It was funny, really, because when he'd said he had something important to discuss with her, she'd had the silliest idea that he might ask her to marry him. Wasn't that what they'd been building towards over all those months? Progressing from dates to weekends and, finally, to a week-long vacation together, which he'd paid for.
She'd tried to contain her excitement as she waited for him to pick her up for dinner. Dressing oh-so-carefully in his favorite slinky black dress, making sure her make-up was perfect and her hair swept up off her neck as he preferred. They'd ordered dinner and a bottle of wine to be served immediately, but between the pouring and the meals' arrival, all of the happiness went out of her life.
"You're welcome to take the cruise anyway, of course, Katherine. I really think you should. It's paid for, and you deserve the vacation. I'm sure everything will be easier for you after you've had some time alone to think things over," he'd said kindly. 'Without me' was unspoken, but she understood.
And so here she was, on a giant ship sailing through crystal clear waters toward a beautiful island paradise with a bunch of happy vacationers. But things weren't feeling any easier yet, and she didn't expect they would any time soon. Of course, it was only her first full day on board, maybe…just maybe…there were some distractions to be found. She'd heard these ships were like floating cities with no end of things to do, and she hadn't had a chance to do any exploring at all yet.