“Master Donald was good to you, wasn’t he?”
Her smile was radiant, and even as tears swam in her eyes, she nodded. “He was so good to me. There were times I thought he could read my mind. Serving him was bliss.”
“Knowing that about him, do you think he would want you to suffer alone? If he could, he would send someone for you, wouldn’t he?” She nodded. “I miss my friend, too, Jade. You know that, don’t you?” After another nod, he continued. “And you know I would stand in for your Master, to bring you to another man who could be your Master in his stead?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good. Now, I’m not asking you to commit to Master Blake. You haven’t known him very long, but I have. He is a good, considerate Dom, Jade.”
“Yes, Sir. I saw that last weekend. But every time I began to enjoy our time together, I would see Master’s face and hear his voice, and I felt…disloyal.”
“Unfaithful.”
She nodded. “Unfaithful.”
“Can Master Donald come back from where he is now?”
She shook her head.
“Then you are a widow, aren’t you? And you should be grieving. Only you’re not.”
His words sank in, and she flinched as if he’d struck her. Each breath came faster than the last until she was panting and her face was flushed. Her lovely face shattered, and her sobs came loud and broken, her face red and her nose running. “I want him back, Sir. I want him back!”
He stroked her trembling, chilled hands with his thumbs, wishing he could do just that. “You can’t, Jade, you can’t. And you can’t give up either. You have to go on, and you must receive the gift you have been given from him. The gift of searching without guilt for the One meant for you, for this chapter of your life. What if you deny Master Blake this chance and discover later you were meant to be his, only you wouldn’t because you missed a Master who is gone permanently?”
“That would be terrible. I wouldn’t want that.”
“I’m not telling you to swoon at Blake’s feet. I’m telling you that your view of the situation is clouded by pain and grief you won’t acknowledge. You can’t stay in the in-between anymore. You must live your life and please Master Donald in the only way you can now, by finding fulfillment while you’re still here on this Earth. He would want that for you. Did he ever enjoy seeing you crying or hurting for no good reason? I don’t recall him being much of a sadist.”
“No. He wasn’t that way.”
“How would he feel about his currently very stubborn, stiff-necked, procrastinating, argumentative submissive? Hmm?” he asked, using a tone that was purposefully resonant of Donald’s.
Goosebumps rippled over her skin, and she made a soft, shocked sound. “I wouldn’t be able to sit for a month.”
Joseph cleared his throat in a stern fashion, and Jade sat back, and her tearstained eyes were a little clearer.
“Sir.”
“There is a Dom sitting in my office, being kept waiting, and wondering where you are right now. Go. Spend time with him, here, tonight. But I have an assignment for you.”
“Sir?”
“You must sit down and tell him about yourself. Tell him about your parents and your upbringing. You will be honest with him, this time, and explain to him how you came to this lifestyle. You will tell him what you want in a Dom, and what you need. Once you have done these things, then you may engage in light play. I will let him know what your assignment is, and I will be displeased if I discover you have not been honest with him, and yourself.”
She blinked and wiped her cheeks on her shoulders again, not pulling her hands away because she hadn’t been released. Such a good sub.
“You will also go on a date with him, one night this week, Jade.”
Her posture straightened. He expected her to say a flat-out no, but she paused, another huffing breath on her lips, and then she said, “Yes, Sir. If you wish.”
Damn it. “This is for you, Jade, not me. I want for you to take it slow with him. He will accept that.” He’d already been over all of this with Blake, and the Dom had understood the need for patience. It was obvious he was quite taken with Jade and understood her prolonged grieving needed to be dealt with and that they would need to go slowly.
“I have also made appointments for you for grief counseling sessions.”
“But—” She looked around the grounds.
“Online sessions, Jade, with a counselor who is well-versed with our lifestyle. She will be able to help you. She will also visit you here at the mansion as her schedule allows. I want you to begin a journal devoted to thoughts about your time with Master Blake. He deserves the same consideration you gave to Master Donald in the early days.”
“Yes, Sir. I can do that.” She nodded. “I’ll start it tonight…afterward.”
“Good girl.”
“Mr. Hazelle?” Hughes called from the French doors.
Sighing at the interruption, he replied, “Yes, Hughes?”
“I’ve seen your guests to their suite, and Miss Carrigan is here to see you.”
“Thank you, Hughes. I’ll be right with her.”
Mr. Hughes nodded accommodatingly and smiled indulgently at the luscious redhead who stood in the shadows of the lounge, waiting her turn. He squeezed Jade’s hands and gazed down at her.
“Blake is waiting in my office. Now, I have to take a spunky sub on a dungeon tour, if you’ll excuse me.”
Jade let out a huffing breath and looked down, mutely.
Joseph chuckled. “Anything else you’d like to say? Or is her cheekiness rubbing off on you, too?”
“Never, Sir!” Jade said sharply, rising as he did. Softening her voice, she said, “I will do as you asked, Sir. And Sir…” She looked around him at Bunny and then looked up at him. “Sir, it was me who set off the fire alarm.”
“I know, Jade. I’ve seen the surveillance camera footage.”
“There are cameras in the kitchen?”
“Yes, Jade. I guessed that you would tell me with time. I only wanted to know why.”
Her cheeks flushed and she looked down at her clenched hands. “I was jealous, and I didn’t want her here because I had hoped I might find a place in your heart, if given time. I found her…boldness intimidating, but I see you enjoy her challenging nature and that she makes you happy. I’m sorry for causing trouble and for being dishonest. I still don’t think she knows the first thing about submission, but I will do everything I can to make her welcome, or at least stay out of her way. I want you to be happy.”
“Thank you. Be well, Jade.”
She looked up at him and gave a small shake of her head, and he wondered how much of what they’d talked about would make it from head knowledge to heart certainty. Donald had been a good man and an excellent Dom. It would disturb him to know she hadn’t made progress in her grieving.
With head lowered, she walked back to the French doors. Bunny opened the door and smiled at Jade as she went through. She spoke softly to her, and Jade paused to share a brief conversation with her, the effect of which he saw in Bunny’s expression. She smiled, nodded, and patted Jade’s shoulder. At the last second, Jade gave Bunny an awkward sideways hug and then excused herself, leaving Bunny standing there alone. Concern filled her eyes as she looked at Jade and then out the doors at Joseph.
She pointed behind her. “Jade just said…”
“She apologized?”
Bunny nodded. “Is she all right?” she asked, and he heard the timbre of sympathy in her voice.
“She will be.” I hope. “How are you this evening? Nervous?”
Bunny nodded, her eyes sparkling.
He leaned against the doorjamb, looking down into her beautiful face. When she was happy or excited, she seemed to almost vibrate with it, and she was bobbing on the balls of her feet. Her beaming smile erased the tension in his shoulders and eased the ache in his chest and simultaneously created one a little lower.
Cupping her chin, he leaned
down slowly, enjoying the anticipation in her posture and her expression as she lifted on tiptoe and pressed her full warm lips against his. She kept her hands behind her back, and he took advantage, gently grasping her upper arms to press her plush breasts against his chest.
If comfort could take the form of a person, it was her. Just with her presence.
“I have a confession to make, Joseph.”
This must be my night for confessions. “Yes?”
Bunny nodded as she studied his face. The receding rays of sunlight glinted on her red hair, and he indulged himself by gathering a thick lock of it into his fingers. It was heavy and silky, sliding through his fingers. “I was watching you with her, when Mr. Hughes came upon me. I told him I didn’t want to interrupt you, but the truth is I wanted to watch. Not because I’m jealous or possessive,” she murmured as she looked away for a second, biting her lip before turning her warm gaze on him. “Okay, I was a little jealous until I saw how upset she was and I realized you were being a Dom, doing…Dom things. I saw the way you held her hands and how she submitted.”
“Did you?”
She stared at the buttons on his dress shirt as she nodded. “She’s in a lot of pain. I understand now, and I think she’s lucky to have your help. There was a time when I needed help, too, and I was lucky to have Grinnie to talk to. I hope Jade will be all right.”
Joseph cupped her shoulders, relieved she’d been honest with him and pleased she hadn’t let possessiveness blind her to the pain of another person. “I hope she will be, too. I’d like to hear about the events that led to you needing ‘help,’ as you refer to it.”
She averted her gaze. “It’s in the past. Remember I told you Grinnie was a guidance counselor with the school district before she retired? She was good at talking to young people and she helped me work through my…stuff.”
“Tabled for now, evasive one. Eventually you’ll trust me enough.”
Bunny grinned and shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe…Sir.” Her soft utterance of his title stirred a sensation deep in his chest. She was so tender, so yielding, and yet so strong. She gestured at her work attire. “I brought my change of…clothing because I came straight from work.”
He paused. “Everything is set with your grandmother and your brother? No trouble there?”
Bunny shook her head. “No, Sir. I checked in with her before I came out here, and she said everything was fine at home. Tristan is busy with Legos, and they were planning to watch a Walking Dead marathon. Grinnie said to tell you hello.” Although she looked away, he saw in her expression that something troubled her.
“Honesty, remember?”
Her smile was instantaneous, and her dimples appeared as he held her chin in his hand. “Grinnie has known me all of my life. She likes you just fine, Sir. She just doesn’t want to see me hurt.”
“Understandable. You and I have the entire night, fiammetta. Club members won’t start arriving for another hour, so I can give you a tour before you change your clothing.”
“You mentioned you were having special guests tonight. Is that who Hughes referred to?”
“Yes,” Joseph said as he took her hand and led her to the main corridor that would take them around to the west wing where the club and dungeon were located. “Hector and Juno and a friend of theirs are all upstairs in their suite, getting ready. Juno is expecting a baby soon, and she was feeling tired and needed to lie down for a bit.”
“I’m nervous,” she said as she took the stairs in light, rapid steps with him.
“About visiting the dungeon?”
“No, about meeting your mentor. I’m afraid I’ll embarrass you.”
He unlocked a door on the second floor and pulled her into the dim expanse of the dungeon. The soundproofing absorbed the echo of their voices, and he paused as the scents of leather and wood, overshadowed with the sharp tinge of an herbal-scented disinfectant, enveloped them.
Lit by the muted glow of the red sconces on the walls, uncertainty dampened her usually ebullient features. Normally he didn’t mind fear in a sub’s eyes all that much, because it was fear he controlled. When Bunny showed fear, it was usually justified. The first time had been on the night of her unfortunate introduction to BDSM during the most recent fantasy weekend. One of his friends and a trusted Dom, Conrad, had mistaken her for the sub sent to him, and he’d chased her down, as prescribed in his fantasy. Bunny hadn’t reacted well to being taken to the floor, gagged, and bound. The look in her eyes then had been one of rampant fear. And then there was the sheer terror in her eyes when she’d nearly fallen from the third floor roof. Just thinking of it gave him an unwelcome jolt of adrenaline. Standing with him in the dungeon right then, her expression was more a look of misery, certainty that she’d fail him.
He was asking a lot of her to be here, but he wanted her here, badly. At his knees, bound to his cross, submitting to him and trusting in him—looking up at him with challenge and good humor in her beautiful blue-green eyes.
“Bunny, I’m not giving you a litany of instructions because I’m concerned you’ll trip yourself up trying to remember all of them. I want you to be the Bunny I’ve come to know and”—love—”care so much for.”
“Oh,” she chirped, reclaiming some of the cheekiness he was beginning to adore. “So I don’t have to worry about my butt getting blistered tonight? That’s awesome—”
With a chuckle, he shook his head. “Oh no, your ass is still mine if you get into trouble.”
She gaped, and her eyes popped open, and even under the red glow of the lights, he could see her cheeks seemed to grow darker. He grinned. The lustful images of him doing more wicked things to her lush little ass than just spanking it made his cock tingle into awareness.
“Sir!”
“Oh, yes. That too, fiammetta. You’re giving me ideas.”
“Shit—shoot!”
“Too late. That one counted.”
“So that was one?”
Joseph chuckled. “I think not, sassy subbie. I’m still counting from last night.” They’d been in his sports car so he’d had nowhere suitable to deliver the kind of spanking he wanted, and that she needed. So he’d been saving up for tonight, anticipating the luscious reverberation of her firm, abundant derriere under his hand. His palm tingled at the thought.
She rubbed her ass and chuckled. “So, we’re at what? Twenty?”
Appreciating her good humor, he shook his head. “No, you wised up after about eight.”
“Your nickname shouldn’t count, though—unless you give me a Sadie Hawkins freebie and I get to spank your nice, tight buns,” she said as she bit her lip and reached around him to caress and squeeze his ass with both hands.
The cheek of the woman!
He roared with laughter, right there in the middle of his empty dungeon, and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her to him.
“This should be an entertaining night.”
“Good, I could do with a little fun.”
He kissed her temple and then directed her to the corner to show her the first station. “Fiammetta, keep that smart mouth and those wandering hands under tight rein unless you want to be the one providing the entertainment.” He tugged her along with him, anticipation growing for the night ahead.
She giggled and then came to a sudden halt when she saw where he was leading her. “What in the world is that?” She pointed at the mechanized fucking machine, complete with enormous double dildo attachment. He turned it on and increased the speed to a relatively moderate level and said, “This is for very, very naughty subs—or very well-behaved subs, depending on the situation, the infraction, and the sub, of course. I’d love to see you strapped securely to it, with no way to escape.” He added an evil chuckle and rubbed his hands together as her eyes grew round as saucers.
“I’m gonna be so good you won’t even recognize me.”
“Right. If you’ll listen, I’ll give you a chance to see all the equipment, and even to demonstrate how you would be
restrained in them.”
“Nuh-uh! Not in that thing.” She pointed at the machine with its appendages still pumping and grinding.
“You wanted a tour.”
“Sh—oooot. Okay.”
Chapter Fourteen
Bunny stood in the opulent bathroom of Joseph’s private suite. The part of her heart that wasn’t experiencing mild panic at the spectacle she made in the mirror was enjoying the revelry of being in his domain, his private space.
Her mind was awhirl at the contraptions he’d shown her in the dungeon, and she’d thanked him before they’d gone upstairs, telling him it wasn’t nearly as scary as she’d imagined it would be.
He’d caressed her chin, his pewter eyes dark with secrets. “It will be much scarier later when the club is at full capacity and you see them actually in use. Behave or you could experience one of them firsthand.”
She’d clenched her nether regions as she’d glanced back at the doctor’s exam table. “Sir, yes, Sir!”
Afterward, he’d gone with her to collect her overnight bag and her apparel for the evening from her truck, parked big, red, and bulky next to his BMW. He’d teased her while they were out there, telling her he bet he could find all manner of bondage “pervertables” in her tool boxes and the back of her truck. Every man needed a hobby, she’d told him. His laughter had made her own heart light.
“Do you have everything you need?” he asked from the other side of the bathroom door.
She took a deep breath and assessed herself one last time in the mirror. The pink-and-purple striped socks were pulled up to just above her knees and secured with garters made of frilly pink satin ribbons with big bows on the sides. She’d altered another garter so she could wear it as a headband, the pink bow resting at the side of her head.
She’d brushed out her hair, giving it a soft, silky wave extending down to the small of her back, and she thought the effect with the headband, holding it back from her face, was pretty. She patted the other bow that formed a part of her costume and hoped her creativity would be appreciated.
Bunny and the Beast [Divine Creek Ranch 22] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) Page 16
