I look into those golden sand eyes, and I know what I have to do. I’m willing to die if I have to, and I think I can trust Hightower—he’ll let Shawnie go if I tell him to fuck off. But the longer this goes on, there’s no chance for Shawnie to recover again from this unless I give her a chance to make a clean break for herself. “Fox, can you do me a favor? Bring me my pants? They’re probably in the wardrobe.”
Fox shrugs and gets the pants I was wearing last night, where inside my wallet, I find the key that unlocks Shawnie’s collar. Painfully, I gesture her over, wrapping my fingers over the lock as I look into her eyes. She blinks, unsure of what’s going on. “Master?”
“Shawnie, my sweet Angel, you pledged to obey me. And even though some might say you were a little too aggressive at times, you’ve served me well even if it is just over a month since you called me Master for the first time. Watching you transform with the power of our love, I knew we’d achieved our goal. You’ve become the superior woman I have always seen you as. With that, though, I can’t compel you to keep doing this. I’m setting you free. You don’t have to call me Master any longer. You have total freedom to choose whatever life you want to have.”
I reach over, unlocking her collar, but I feel like a damn fool doing it. If you love something, you let it go, a poet said once. If they are meant to be . . .
Shawnie gets out of her chair and painfully gets on her knees, her forehead and hair just visible over the edge of the mattress. She reaches up and takes the lock back from me and puts it back around her collar, the small catch clicking home as she seats it before turning it around. She bows. “And I’m choosing to serve you. I love you too, and this is my choice.”
Rafe’s exhausted. Even men like him need rest after getting shot in the shoulder, so we leave him to get his rest.
“You must be a remarkable woman to have caught not just the attention, but the heart of Rafe Meyers,” Hightower says as he walks me back to my room. “I’m one of the country’s leading experts on the Meyers Program, and I’ll tell you that someone like him falling in love is rare. But I guess Superman found his Wonder Woman. That’s good. I never did like him dating Lois Lane all the time.”
“I’m no Wonder Woman,” I protest, then stop, leaning back and realizing that’s the old me talking. Not what I am now, and not the words of a woman deserving of my Master. “But maybe some day, I can be.”
Chapter 28
Shawnie
With our conditional releases secured, the hospital sends us home to recover. Rafe is back on his feet in no time it seems, but it takes me a little longer before the pain is totally gone from my ribs.
The day that I get my clearance from the hospital, I come home to find Rafe having come home early, surprising me again in his best suit. “What’s this?”
“Dinner reservations for us in a nice little bistro and a gift for you in the bedroom. Go get changed.”
I immediately go to our bedroom, where I find a beautiful wine red gown waiting for me. I take a moment to admire it, amazed at the luxurious feeling until I see the Vera Wang label, and I pull it on, my skin humming at the texture. It’s backless. My wings are fully visible in the mirror as I put the matching high heels on and pin my hair up quickly, coming out to find Rafe pouring a glass of wine for me.
I must make an impression, because the bottle chatters on the rim of the glass he’s filling when he sees me, and he takes a moment to pause before he fills the small glass and we toast. “You look beautiful tonight, Angel.”
“I feel beautiful tonight. And I have a clean bill of health. I know . . . well, I know your ankle will need a little more time before you can run again, but I was thinking . . .”
“I know what you were thinking, because I was thinking the same thing all day during my office hours,” Rafe says with a chuckle. “I was thinking that you’d look great spread out on my desk at work.”
“I was thinking more . . . under the desk. Or maybe under your lectern while you give a class,” I tease, biting my lip. “But I just want you. I’ve missed you.”
“After dinner. It’s Friday night. We can take our time,” Rafe says, taking me by the hand and leading me to the car. We drive to the bistro, which is close to our house and feels intimate. The music is quiet violin that adds to the atmosphere while four other couples are engaged in their own conversations.
“This place is nice. Do we get to choose the menu this time?” I ask, smiling and thinking about the place he’d once taken me before. Rafe shakes his head. Instead, he pours me another glass of wine, a beautiful red Malbec that should go great with the soon to come lamb that I see everyone else eating.
“I already ordered for us when I made the reservations. Shawnie, I have a few questions that have been on my mind ever since the hospital, and I thought this would be a good time to ask them.”
I get nervous, wondering what he could want to ask. “Whatever it is, you know I serve you.”
Rafe takes a deep breath. “Angel, are you happy living in my home?”
“Of course I am, Master,” I tell him immediately. “Can’t you tell?”
“I just want to make sure this is what you want, for you to know that you can take that collar off if you want. I released you, but it didn’t even take you ten seconds to take your lock back. I wasn’t breaking up with you.”
“I know,” I reply, taking a moment to sip at my wine before I answer. “I think . . . okay, when you told me that you were a monster, I gave you a quote about evil being fought with a different kind of evil. Do you remember?”
He nods. “Of course I do. I love that movie, by the way.”
“Well, it’s truer now than ever before. You might think you’re a monster, but if you are, I’m a monster too. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to be monsters together and have our little monster babies, and who the fuck knows? Maybe the Meyers Program does reach its pinnacle in our baby monsters.”
I don’t know what I’m saying. I’m just going with the flow. I get out of my chair, coming around to Rafe’s side, and get on my knees. “Since I let you put this collar on me, I’ve let you make many decisions, even when your decision has been to let me make my own decision. I have submitted to you, given you my whole life. I have never regretted one instant of it. So I declare right now, in front of everyone . . . Rafe Meyers, you are my Master, and I will serve you the rest of my life. I love you.”
Rafe wipes his lips with his napkin as it seems that everyone in the bistro falls silent. Faces turn toward us, and I can see some people leaning forward, caught up in the moment as well. He pushes his chair back and gets on the floor, kneeling in front of me, nodding. “My Angel . . . my life is complete with you in it. And I vow to be the best Master I can for you. But I have something else I want you to be.”
My heart catches in my throat as he reaches into his jacket pocket and takes out a box, and I realize that maybe I jumped the gun a little, but that’s okay, because Rafe was thinking the same thing I was. “Master?”
“Shawnie Holliday, would you do this man the honor of becoming my wife?” he asks, opening the box. Inside is a beautiful ring made of the same material as my collar, but this time, instead of a golden lock, there’s a diamond in the top. I can barely swallow it’s so beautiful, and I nod. Rafe takes my hand and puts the ring on, pausing before he seats it all the way. “Well?”
“Huh?” I ask, then realize that I never said my answer. “Oh, of course I will! I love you. Yes, Rafe . . . I will marry you.”
We kiss on our knees and the bistro explodes into applause. I hear a comment in a Midwestern accent about only in California while someone else pops a cork of champagne, and when we get up off the carpet, two flutes have been poured for us, compliments of the house.
Dinner is nothing but a delicious blur, and by the time the dessert plates are cleared away, my mind is thinking of just one thing. I can see it in Rafe’s eyes too, and it’s a miracle we don’t actually crash driving home. As so
on as we get inside, I’m in his arms, our lips and bodies pressed together through the frustrating millimeters of fabric, his hands roaming over my body while I try to peel his suit off him.
“You had a surprise for me all dinner,” Master says when his hand runs over my hip, not feeling anything under my gown. “Did I tell you that you could go pantyless?”
“No, Master,” I purr, feeling his cock stiffen in his pants against my hip, “but it’s a Vera Wang. Panty lines would screw up the flow. I decided to be a little playful.”
“Good girl. Keep being the Angel who saved my life and keep being the woman I love,” Rafe says before his lips find my neck and he sends warm threads of desire through me. He pulls the straps of my gown to the side and it falls off me, leaving me in nothing but my stockings and high heels.
“Mmm, Master . . . I love your strength.”
He carries me past the play room and to our bedroom, laying me on the soft surface. I mewl in desire and a little disappointment, making him chuckle. “We have all weekend, Angel. You might be cleared by the doctors, but I doubt they expect you to be bound and spanked the very first time.”
“But I like it when you make my ass burn,” I tease, growling. “Still . . . we do have all weekend.”
Rafe strips out of his suit quickly before pausing and teasing me by taking off my high heels and stockings himself, his fingers leaving trails of electricity up my legs before he takes them off, kissing the toes on my right foot and licking up the sole. He’s never done this before, and the sensation as he sucks each toe into his mouth, his tongue running in between, is both amazingly erotic and tender.
He kisses my big toe before switching. It’s like my feet are somehow connected directly to my pussy, and I’m throbbing, aching for his touch when he lets my foot down, his eyes dark blue with desire. “Fast or slow?”
“Slow,” I moan. “But Master . . . this way please?”
I turn over, presenting myself to him, and he hums in appreciation, a strong hand running over my wings and down my back to smack my ass lightly, making me gasp. “Making love this time . . . but I’m so going to punish you tomorrow for not wearing panties tonight.”
Just his words send a deep red ribbon of desire coursing through me, and I push back into his hand as he brings it between my legs, lightly rubbing my lips as he reaches around with his other hand to gently squeeze my left breast. “Mmm . . . so good.”
His fingers and his hand work together while his body brushes against my back to stoke the fires inside me. He kisses my wings and tastes the salty sweat on my skin until I’m gasping, caught in a wave of pleasure as he slips two fingers inside my pussy. “Master!”
“It’s okay, Angel,” he whispers in my ear. “You can come as many times as you want tonight. Tonight isn’t Master and Angel, or Rafe and Shawnie. It’s about us. Something new, unnamed yet. And I love you.”
I turn my head and kiss him, rolling to my side as he takes his fingers out of my soaked pussy to savor my essence. His eyes gleam as he sucks his fingers slowly. “And you wonder why I love licking your pussy.”
I laugh lightly as he strokes my hair, and it’s my turn to lean down, kissing his neck and tasting his skin, kissing down to his hard chest muscles before sucking on his tight nipples while my hand finds his cock and pumps it slowly. He moans softly, and I have to giggle, biting his nipple lightly and making him jump even as he gasps in pleasure. “You’re definitely getting punished for that one . . .”
I kiss back up to his lips, finding them and kissing him with all of my emotion and desire, our bodies merging naturally. He’s right, this time there is no top or bottom, no Master or Angel, and even the idea of Shawnie and Rafe just disappears as our bodies, souls and hearts become one.
The feeling of his cock slipping inside me is both breathtaking and totally natural, just the next step on this new life we’re building, and as he thrusts in and out, my body and heart cry out with pure, unmitigated joy. The pain, the loneliness that went back even further than California, all of it falls from my shoulders, and instead, I can see the future. I can see staying by his side, the planes we’ll design, the family we’ll raise, the love we’ll make.
Our bodies move faster, his cock sliding in and out of me faster, and I start to drive myself back into him, giving as much as I’m taking. Maybe to someone who doesn’t understand us, it might look like we’re angry, the growls and sounds of our bodies growing more and more animalistic and powerful, but that’s who we are. His hips pound into me and I love it. My fingernails scratch at his back and he loves it. Our sweat makes our bodies slide against each other, my breasts squashed against him as we push harder and harder.
We’re kissing when it happens, the supposedly mythical simultaneous orgasm, his cock exploding at the same instant that my pussy clenches and our minds are carried away in a wave of joyful ecstasy. Everything goes white, my vision fading, and I don’t care. He’s in my arms, I’m in his, and that’s all that counts. Even as the whiteness fades and I realize that both of us are tumbling into unconsciousness, I’m safe and secure in his arms.
Chapter 29
The Counselor
To say that this appointment is happening the way it’s happening is pretty unexpected. It's been years since a patient was escorted to a session by an armed man in a black suit. Actually, I've never had that happen before.
Sorry about that. It has to be this way, though. They’re still working on the exact terms of our release and so they’re being a little paranoid. We have to submit our daily schedule to them and our phones are tracked. Kinda sucks, but that’s okay. I’d hate to tell them I’ve told you everything about our work on the secret alien UFOs.
Very funny. So this is our last time?
I think so, at least as a patient, although if you’ve got some free time, maybe we can get together for coffee. I mostly wanted to have a chance to say thank you and to give you a little bit of an update. Rafe and I talked about it, and I realize that you may think you didn’t help me. Truth is, you've done your best to help me through the darkest days, and you should get a chance to know more about everything. By the way, sorry about that with the whole you can't take notes this time or use any recording devices thing. They weren't too much of dicks, were they?
No, they were actually quite professional. Surprising, but not a problem. So tell me what's happening?
Well, the parole is kinda weird, but for the next six months or so, we’re going to be working at a test facility, so it’s not like there’s going to be that much to do besides work anyway. Rafe’s taking a one-semester sabbatical while I’m just getting credit for my PhD work. When we come back, I’ll finish up my PhD, and then, we’re testing the waters as to whether we want to stay in the academic world or if we’d like to see if maybe we can start our own aircraft design company. But first, we’re going to take a little vacation if they’ll get the damn paperwork done in time, and then . . . well, Vegas is sort of nearby—it’ll work in a pinch.
On that, by the way . . . congratulations. You look happy about it.
Of course I am. I mean, in the weeks since he asked, my entire life has been turned upside down and inside out, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Still have the perfect GPA, by the way. But really though, it’s been amazing. It’s funny. I think everyone thought I was going to ask him when I got down there, and then he just took over so perfectly. But at that moment, on my knees in that restaurant, I was the happiest I’ve been in my whole life. How many submissives can say they’re happy when their Master gets on their knees for them?
Not too many. Then again, I don’t think either of you can be constrained by the terms dominant or submissive anymore. You’ve transcended any sort of labels, at least the way I see it. And now that you’re fully healed . . .
We’ve done things that . . . well, even I’m still rocking and reeling from it.
That’s great to hear, but I have a feeling you didn’t come in today to tell me that.
&n
bsp; No, like I said, I just came by to tell you how much help you’ve been. And to tell you I’ve finally come to a realization about something.
A realization about what?
Well, I realized the first time that Rafe told me that he loved me . . . that the demon isn’t dead.
It isn’t?
No. Neither is the woman I am now. The demon is part of me, it’s that side of me that was ashamed of what happened to me in Georgia. I overcame it, and I think I’m a better person because of it.
I’m sure you still wish it never happened, but I’m glad you’re in the place you are now. So what now?
Well, we’re going to get married, of course. And we’re going to make some kick-ass aircraft together. What do you think about that?
It sounds like you’re happy and you’ve made your decision. I’m happy for you.
Thank you. Thank you for everything. You busted your ass seeing me in my darkest days, and I’ll never forget it.
You thanked me enough by coming out of that darkness. Enjoy your marriage and your new life, Shawnie. And if you get a chance over the next few months . . . drop me a line. Just to tell me that you're doing fine, or maybe if you get a chance when you get off the testing ground, stop by. We can share some popcorn and talk.
I think I’d like that. I'll see what I can do. Thanks again.
Good luck, Shawnie. So what are you doing for the rest of the day?
I’m going wedding dress shopping.
I'll say again. Good luck. You deserve it after all that you've been through.
Epilogue
Shawnie
Dear Doc,
I promised you that I'd try to keep you up to date on how things are going, and I just wanted to send you a quick note.
No Limits: A Dark Romance Page 19
