I’m being silly. Maybe he needs some space. He’s a quiet guy, and I’ve been monopolizing him. Was probably just poker night with the guys or some such, although he should know he can tell me that straight out.
He knocked on the door. She started running, then slowed down. I should play it cool. Not let him know I’m insecure. She measured her steps. She opened the door.
He was dressed in jeans and a polo, and he had a Frisbee in his hand. Is he going to spank me with that? She had a giggle at herself about that being her first thought when she saw an object. Then she remembered her plan. “Oh. Hi,” she said, as indifferently as possible.
He stepped in and set the Frisbee down on the bench near the entryway. “Hi,” he said, tilting his head slightly to fix her with a quizzical look.
Maybe he’s insecure too. But she wasn’t going to back down and try to mother him. He’d have to explain himself first.
He moved forward, and she suddenly found herself looking up at him. He was well inside her personal space, but she wasn’t going to back away. He gathered her hair up in his hand and tugged, holding her in position, face tilted upward. Then he kissed her, taking her breath away. Her nonchalance forgotten, she kissed back, her tongue intertwining with his in a sensuous, wet dance. His hand on her head reminded her that he would decide how long the kiss lasted and that he was in control. It made her feel weak in the knees. As he kissed her more deeply, she found herself getting wet. I’m too easy.
At the same time, the kiss reassured her. There were probably people who could fake a kiss like that, but she didn’t think Craig was one of them.
He let her go. “I have a day planned for us,” he said.
She loved that he planned. But a part of her was still annoyed. “Want to tell me what you did last night?”
He shook his head. “No.”
She glared at him.
“But you will find out,” he said.
Well, that’s different. He’s not planning on never telling me. Maybe he’s even trying to make me curious. It’s working.
“It’s a beautiful day, and it’s going to get hot later. Get your tennis shoes on, and let’s go out for a walk. We’ll change later and go out to eat at Village Green.”
She turned from him and got her shoes.
Village Green was a very expensive restaurant. Now he had her curious. It was the sort of place people went to for special occasions. She’d been there once, ten years ago, for someone’s thirtieth birthday party, and it seemed almost too formal for that. It was both expensive and a long-drawn-out process getting dinner, and if she was completely truthful, she didn’t like it that much. As a gesture, it was beautiful. As dining, it took too long to get the food.
Clearly, though, he had something planned. And he was being all mysterious. She decided to focus on the laces of her shoes and the fact that her very short shorts were riding up to give him a view as she bent over.
She was not going to ask. He’d tell her if he wanted to, but she didn’t want him to know how curious she was.
They walked to the same park where they had hiked in the early days of their relationship and stumbled across a softball game. The field was empty now, however, and they walked into the outfield and threw the Frisbee back and forth. There was no outfield fence. The weather was perfect. It was odd, Alicia thought, to be doing something with him and yet be so far out of his reach.
The wind caught the Frisbee Alicia threw and carried it in a broad, high arc away from the field. Craig sprinted after it. One of the things she loved about him was that when he did things, he put his whole energy into them. She tried to call out a warning but she was too late. The disc flew over a small embankment, and Craig, stretching out for it unaware, went tumbling. Alicia waited a moment and then ran full tilt, her heart pounding. Craig had disappeared over the edge, and while it was only a six-foot drop or so, and the slope was at forty-five degrees, he was still out of view. Once she could see him, all she could tell was that he was lying on his back and not moving. She became more alarmed when she saw a blotch of red near his hip.
He turned his head toward her as she arrived and held up the Frisbee with a wry grin. “Oops. I should have let it go.”
She knelt down next to him. “Are you okay?” She looked at his hip more closely and saw that the red blotch wasn’t blood, but a loop made of leather. A toy of some sort, probably.
“Just had the wind knocked out of me, and then thought what a nice place this would be for a snuggle.” He grinned, tossed the Frisbee aside, and pulled her close.
“You scared me!” She didn’t resist, but she didn’t help either. She was annoyed.
“Well, it wasn’t the intention. I was still catching my breath.”
“Ah, fair enough.” She snuggled up, pressing her chest against his side, knowing he would be instantly aware of her breasts. She stroked her finger idly over his broad shoulder and remembered the loop. She pulled back, catching him by surprise, and tugged at it. Out it came, and with it a small white jewelry box. “So, what’s this?”
The moment she asked, though, she knew. The leather loop had a buckle and holes for the buckle and an O-ring in back. Shiny red on one side, soft black suede on the other. A collar.
He sat up. “It was a surprise.”
“For me?” It was starting to sink in, and she was getting excited.
“Of course for you.”
“But what does it mean? Is it just for play? I mean, I can’t wear this to work—well, I suppose I could. I have a pretty permissive workplace. But people would talk. I—”
“Calm down, Alicia.” He took the collar from her hands. She realized she’d been talking fast, and he knew how to read her when she got nervous. “This is for play, yes, but I don’t mean it lightly. It means—you realize this is all going totally not according to plan, don’t you?”
She nodded, chagrined that her impulsiveness had ruined whatever he’d intended.
“But maybe this is better. It’s a beautiful day, with lovely weather, and we’re shielded from the kids playing up top by this embankment. Kneel.” He grabbed the white box and scrambled to his feet.
“Here, Sir?”
“Here.”
Her heart beat faster. A lot of the time when she knelt and he was standing, she ended up sucking on his cock, which she loved, but they weren’t that safe from people watching. She knelt anyway, trusting him to be sensible, half wishing he wouldn’t be. Or that he didn’t have to be.
“Hold your hair up, and look at me.”
“Yes, Sir.” She grabbed her hair and bunched it on top of her head.
“What this means, Alicia, is that I want to be committed to you as your dominant, and you to me as my submissive, for a very long time. I want to keep exploring all that we have been exploring. And this is a symbol of that, which you can wear whenever we are alone together, or at a club, or at a play party. Anywhere people will understand. It means you are mine and will obey and accept my leadership but also that you will use your safe word if you need to, and that I will honor it and protect you, always.”
She nodded, not moving. She could already imagine how it would feel. She’d read about slaves being collared in books, but felt that only now was she understanding the emotional impact of it. In a way, this moment changed nothing. She was already his. He already honored her safe word. And he was already protective of her. But maybe it was because of all those things that she could make a commitment to him and take his commitment seriously.
And it was also why she could kneel there tongue-tied and not say the yes, yes, yes that was going through her brain, and he still knew it was okay to wrap the leather lovingly around her neck and fasten the buckle.
He hooked his finger through the loop and tugged her to her feet. Only then did she find her voice. “This is the best moment of my life, Sir. Thank you. Thank you for collaring me and making me yours.”
“There’s more. Because you can’t wear a collar like that all the time.�
��
Alicia grinned. “People would talk.”
He opened the box. The white-gold ring inside was covered with rubies, except where a small hoop dangled. It was a miniature representation of the collar, she realized, even though it was adorned and the collar was plain. “Would you wear this, Alicia, and never take it off?”
She smiled. “It’s beautiful.”
He stared at her.
I didn’t answer him. Of course the answer is yes, but he doesn’t know that yet. She smiled mischievously. He always seemed so confident, and even more so lately, but for a moment, she saw fear in his eyes. She was tempted to make him ask again.
But I’m not a sadist. Neither is he, really. She took the ring from the box. She wasn’t going to wreck this moment. “Put it on my finger, please?”
He slipped it onto her ring finger. Like the collar, it fit perfectly. I shouldn’t be surprised. He clearly planned this, although I don’t know when he managed to measure my finger. She thought back to a time when she was blissed out on the St. Andrew’s cross at Knotty and Nice. She didn’t think he could do it unnoticed when she was asleep, but maybe when she was high on a flogging.
“Yes, Sir, I will wear it always. It’s perfect.”
“So are you. You make me feel like a man. I’m not saying I didn’t before, or a man isn’t a man without a submissive partner. But the way you make me feel is extraordinary, and I don’t know how else to put it. Like I’m ten feet tall.”
“You are pretty tall, Sir.” She had to look up at him, as usual. “Thankfully not that tall. Although I could blow you standing up then.”
“Not here, girl. Besides, maybe I like you on your knees.”
“Maybe I like to be there.” She was tempted to kneel again when she heard laughter. A couple of teenagers were coming down the path that went to the softball field. Sartre was right—hell is other people. Or at least they can be a speed bump sometimes. Oh, screw it.
She started to kneel when he wrapped his arms around her. “In the privacy of our home,” he said. “One of our homes. Yours. It’s closer.”
“Yes, Sir,” she said, appreciating his better judgment. She knew she had gotten carried away for a moment. As he took her hand to walk back with her, a couple of thoughts hit her.
“The ring and the collar—those were what you were out doing last night?”
“Yes.”
“And you planned to collar me at the Village Green?”
“I have a private room reserved, and yeah, that was the plan. Sorry it didn’t turn out that way.”
“This was perfect. So now we don’t need to go. That will save you some money.”
He chuckled. “I’ll still take you.”
Darn. I guess I need to be more direct. “Sir?”
“Girl?” he asked back. They regained the path.
“I don’t like the Village Green. I’d rather eat burgers, honestly. I know that makes me uncultured, but it’s the truth.”
He laughed. “I don’t care. If you don’t like it, it’d be silly to go there. I’ll call and cancel. Where would you like to go?”
“Honestly?”
“Of course.”
“I’d like to stay in and spend the rest of the day naked with you, putting on clothes only to answer the pizza delivery guy. Or better yet, there’s a Thai place that delivers.”
He grinned at her. “Maybe I’ll use the money to buy us a violet wand instead.”
She grinned back. “Now that’s my idea of how to celebrate. I love you, Sir.”
“And I love you.”
She reached up and caressed the leather band around her throat. I am his. And he is mine.
Loose Id Titles by Sindra van Yssel
A Haunted Romance
Blonde and Owner
Blue Desire
Dom and Domme
In the Middle
Purple Passion
Red Lust
Secretary for Two
Submissive by Moonlight
Take Me With You
The Barbarian and the Witch
* * * *
The BONDAGE RANCH Series
Roped In
Pushing Limits
Moving On
His Little Tart
His Little Treasure
Taming the Mistress
Sindra van Yssel
I’ve been writing all my life, but I published my first book in 2009 and since then have published over twenty romances, all with some element of BDSM in them. Along the way, I’ve received five star and top pick reviews from a wide variety of sources, and have had the pleasure of hearing from many readers.
I write about hot, dominant men and strong, submissive women. I have a soft spot for happy endings but I love torturing my characters. It’s fun to watch them overcome obstacles, and enjoy some hot kinky sex along the way. Hopefully you’ll enjoy watching them squirm as much as I do.
I’ve developed a passion for rope and all its kinky uses, and have enjoyed visiting play parties, clubs, and munches—all in the name of research, of course! It all helps to make my books as authentic and as sexy as I can possibly make them.
When I’m not writing, I enjoy playing disc golf, and board games with friends. I’m a fan of Australian rules football (go Eagles!) and travel to Australia occasionally. I’m also a big fan of European soccer, especially the English Premier League. I don’t like my men in helmets. I currently live in Virginia with a son who is just about to go off to college, and work a day job in the public library.
Having readers is what makes writing worthwhile. I still get a shiver out of knowing that readers are reading my books.
For more about me, check out my Web site at http://www.sindravanyssel.com/.
Take Me With You Page 12
