Kelly put out her hand and beckoned him to sit beside her on the hay bale. When he sat she took one of his big hands in hers and just held on.
“By the time I graduated from law school and began taking over the family businesses, soon to be joined by Jamie when he graduated, my father was really out of it, and he died in an institution a few years later. I think a taste for the kinkier aspects of sexuality was hardwired into both Jamie and me at an early age. However, in our defense, I have to say that both Jamie and I are adamant that our activities adhere to the ‘safe, sane, and consensual’ premise of BDSM. Neither of us goes in for the really extreme practices or for anything that is dangerous or unwelcome to our partners.”
“Justin, I doubt BDSM is carried in the genes. You really should consider that you are not solely the product of your heritage. You have to look at what you have made of your own life, which looks to me to be quite a lot,” she said as she placed a tentative kiss on his cheek for encouragement and let him continue.
“Alexa was a dark, damaged soul when I met her. I went back to the Plantation to look through her belongings for some evidence of the sexual abuse she had told me about, and as I went through her things, I had time to think about our relationship, remember the good and the bad, and I hope, to finish grieving for her. Anyway, I found what I needed, and I’ve brought her diaries to Jason. Now we have to see how that plays out. You are so different from Alexa. Your soul is all sweetness and light. I had no business involving you in my lifestyle or emotional problems.”
Justin turned and looked deeply into her eyes. He was on edge hoping that she would be receptive to the description of his family background and the explanation of his actions. He knew his hope for a happy future rested with this woman. “Do you think you can forgive me and we can see where this relationship goes? I don’t want to scare you with protestations of undying love or anything at this point, but I think I know pretty much how I feel about you. If you can’t accept the Dom/sub aspects of our relationship, I would be willing to go straight vanilla if you would give me another chance.” He would do anything and give up anything for a future with Kelly. He didn’t want to jump the gun and cause her anxiety with a premature proposal, but a design for an engagement ring was starting to circle in his head.
* * * *
“I’m not a saint, Justin,” she said. “And I’m sure not all ‘sweetness and light.’” In fact, I’m still pretty damn pissed off right now. “I’m just a girl who was blessed with good parents and a normal family life. But you will recall that I asked you about the D/s thing. You did not force it on me. I have healthy self-esteem and would never allow myself to fall into an emotional abyss like Alexa. Not even for you.”
“Nonetheless, I should not have…”
“Don’t interrupt me when I’m on a roll. This story is a lot to take in, Justin,” she said carefully. “I would be willing to give this another try. As I told you before, I can’t promise that the D/s stuff will be for me, but I want to see what happens. And of course, as I said before, I reserve the right to opt out if things get out of hand or become more than I can handle.”
Justin grinned with relief and unceremoniously pulled her into an empty stall bedded with fresh pine shavings, closed the door to the stall, and said, “Strip, sub!”
Kelly laughed delightedly. “You are too much, Master!” She giggled as she started to unbutton her shirt.
“Disrespect will be severely punished, sub.” He growled as he took her in his arms and fell to the floor of the stall on his back, cushioning her fall with his body. “I might find it necessary to give you a real spanking this time.”
“Oh, I think the last one was ‘real’ enough for me!” she responded, as she ran her hands down his chest and pulled his shirt from his jeans. She ran her hands up under his shirt and pulled it off over his head. You are so beautiful, she thought. And hurting so much. I hope I can help with that.
He looked at her with adoration in his eyes as she removed the rest of her clothes, and helped him pull off his jeans and boots. I have missed you so much. He kissed her ear and ran his tongue down her throat to gloss over the tops of her breasts, the nipples beaded in anticipation of his touch as her pussy clenched. He ran his hand down her belly and over her eager pussy finding her wet and willing. He looked into her eyes and said, “Oh, baby, I…”
Just then Jester trumpeted a mighty bellow as he smelled the sex pheromones in the air. “Jester, mind your own business! This is my woman, not yours!” Justin said as he rolled Kelly under him. He raised her arms over her head and, restraining her hands in one of his big ones, he thrust the blunt tip of his throbbing, marble-hard shaft into her waiting pussy with a sigh of relief and homecoming as she shifted her hips to accept his deep penetration. A bolt of electricity shot through them both as he held himself deeply imbedded in her hot pussy. He began to pump in earnest, thrusting harder and faster until he brought them both to a shattering completion. She felt the hot spurt of semen jet into her willing womb and welcomed it in ecstasy as her body convulsed around him. He collapsed on her in a nerveless heap, thankful for the cushion of the deep pine bedding in the stall.
* * * *
After they had both come back to Earth, he said sheepishly, “I really had not planned for our reunion to be in a stall.”
“I can’t think of a better place,” she responded.
She’s so open and trusting. Oh God, don’t let me screw this up. Hopeful for the first time in two days, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her again as though his life depended on it. Which in a way, it does, he thought. His tongue pillaged her eager mouth as she gratefully lost herself in his kiss.
Chapter Twenty-Two
On Friday morning, Justin met Jason at his office. They were to meet with the opposing counsel and Alexa’s father for a pretrial conference. They were ready. Pertinent passages from Alexa’s many diaries had been photocopied, and the original journals were stored in the firm’s safe.
“Well, are you ready to meet with this son of a bitch?” Jason asked. He had been outraged by the content of the diaries. The fact that Calleigh was newly pregnant made the whole scenario even more disturbing to him. “Try to stay calm, say as little as possible, and let me do the talking.”
“I’ll try. It’s not going to be easy to say nothing to that bastard. But the final outcome is the most important thing.”
Jason’s secretary brought a tray of coffee to the conference room. “Mr. Williams and Pastor Davis are here. Shall I show them in?” she asked.
“Bring them in, Carol. We’re as ready as we’re going to be,” Steele said.
When the two men entered the conference room, Jason shook the opposing counsel’s hand and invited them to sit down. He obviously neglected to shake the pastor’s hand. “This is my client, Justin Devereau,” he said. “We have some discovery materials to share with you. You will find them in those two folders.”
The two men picked up the folders and started to read them. The childish handwriting was hard to decipher at first, but they quickly got the gist.
“How do we know these are authentic?” attorney John Williams asked. “This could have come from anywhere.”
“No, actually, we have all of Alexa’s consecutive diaries starting from when she was ten years old through the date of her death. The handwriting in the journals has been authenticated by an expert in handwriting analysis against various exemplars including handwritten bank checks, greeting cards, tax returns, and other items that are beyond dispute. Our expert is fully prepared to testify,” Jason continued. “Of course, you can get an expert of your own to verify the handwriting. That would mean one or more persons would see the diaries.”
The attorney quickly said, “I need to speak to my client privately.”
Pastor Davis, red-faced and furious, blustered, “Never mind that! You can’t threaten me. I can ruin you! Do you know who I am? I have a national audience. I will have that horse returned to me, or we will see you
in court.”
Justin stood up, raised a hand to Jason who tried to silence him, and said, “Over my dead body, you old pervert. I’ve had years of experience dealing with bullies like you. You use your pulpit for your own gain—and not to glorify God. Believe me, if this got out, contributions to your television ministry would dry up in a heartbeat. You can only control a helpless child with your threats. Alexa wouldn’t want you to have Jester or any proceeds from his sale, of that I am absolutely sure.”
Jason interrupted his tirade. “The only concern I have is that these are Alexa’s private thoughts, and we would like to keep them that way. However, I am sure she would rather make the diaries public than let you win this suit. Other than that, if you want to bring all of this out in open court, we couldn’t care less. And be assured, the trial would be very public, and all of the results would be public records, open to inspection by the media. Your celebrity would be a hindrance in this case, not an asset, Pastor Davis.”
“May we please have some privacy to discuss this?” John Williams asked quietly.
“Certainly, John,” Jason said. “We’ll be in my office when you are ready to continue with the pretrial conference.”
Jason and Justin could see the angry exchange between the attorney and Pastor Davis though the glass walls of the sound-proofed conference room. “Looks pissed!” Jason said.
“I’m sure he is. He probably has had a handsome offer for Jester from some dressage rider. Alexa was making a name for herself at the show last year, and the accident received a lot of coverage in the local press.”
Shortly thereafter, Jason’s secretary buzzed his intercom, “They are ready to continue, Jason.”
Jason picked up a folder containing a dismissal of the lawsuit, bill of sale for Jester, and general releases that he had prepared for signature and ushered Justin back to the conference room. “This time I really mean it. Let me do the talking!” Jason said.
“What have you decided, gentlemen?” Jason inquired with a blank expression. He didn’t want to inflame the situation by appearing too confident.
“We feel at this time it would be best to dismiss the suit,” John Williams said.
“I had prepared some documents in anticipation of that result. Here are general releases, a bill of sale for Jester returning him to Justin, as well as a dismissal of the lawsuit with prejudice for your review.”
After reading the documents carefully, John Williams looked pained. The dismissal “with prejudice” meant that the suit could not be filed again at a later date, and the broadly worded, reciprocal general releases meant that no further suits could be brought between the parties for any reason.
“I will advise my client to sign these. I think this is the best result we could hope for under the circumstances,” John said.
After the documents had been signed by John Williams and Pastor Davis and witnessed and notarized by Carol, the opposition left. They looked somewhat less confident than when they had entered the office an hour earlier.
Jason turned to Justin and said, “It could have gone another way if you hadn’t found those diaries. Getting witnesses to testify to abuse that happened years ago and may not have been disclosed to anyone could have been a problem,” Jason said. “I’m glad we had a good result and didn’t have to go to trial.”
Although the process had been painful, and Justin had had to face the possibility of losing Jester, he was grateful that it had forced him to confront his demons and his feelings and grief for Alexa. He had also been able to realize and act on his deepening feelings for Kelly which were growing daily. She was an oasis of calm and peace after the turmoil of his life with Alexa, and he found her endlessly delightful. All in all, he felt ready to move forward.
“Good job, Jason. Thanks for all your help. It’s finished and over with, and I’m very glad to be done with this whole mess. I want to get on with my life and let Alexa rest in peace.”
Epilogue
Four months later at the Winter Equestrian Festival horse show
In February, on the anniversary of Alexa’s death, Justin and Kelly took Jester to Wellington for an exhibition of Yoseikan Bajutsu. The performance at the showground would be a memorial to Alexa and a final good-bye. Jason, Calleigh, Trent, and Paula accompanied the trio for moral support and also just to enjoy the Wellington equestrian show, which was world famous and drew international-level riders from around the world.
Between freestyle musical tests, the announcer briefed the crowd on the history of Japanese mounted martial arts. He told them that Jester had belonged to Alexa Davis, a dressage competitor who had died in a car accident the previous year. The announcer further advised that the exhibition was in Alexa’s honor, on the anniversary of her death. It would be performed on her horse, Jester, an eleven-year-old Friesian stallion, by Justin Devereau of Ocala, Florida, Jester’s current owner, who held an advanced rank in Bajutsu of fourth dan. The announcer explained that samurai warriors needed an excellent seat to remain in the saddle while fighting with a sword or bow and arrow. They rode at top speed while controlling the horse with their legs and body weight. He also stated that Bajutsu was currently gaining in popularity as a sport in Europe.
Dressed in an antique suit of Japanese body armor, Justin rode Jester into the arena to the strains of traditional Japanese music. Jester was similarly clad in protective, lightweight armor of leather and steel with a steel forehead plate. They were an extraordinary sight and something the crowd had certainly never seen before. Justin wore his sheathed, gleaming katana sword, and carried a short, curved Mongolian bow and arrows.
Justin circled Jester around the arena displaying Jester’s impressive gaits and Grand Prix-level dressage movements. He turned and, spurring Jester into a gallop, rode toward the three targets set up at the end of the arena. He very quickly shot three arrows at the three targets, hitting each one dead center as he steered Jester around the bottom of the arena with his legs. The three targets traditionally represented the three kingdoms of Korea, but to Justin, today, they represented past, present, and future. He brought Jester to a stop in front of the judge’s stand, executed a formal bow, and cantered out of the arena to the thunderous applause of the crowd, not a few of whom were crying. A number of the crowd remembered Alexa Davis and her stunning routines from last year’s show, especially her moving freestyle musical rides. However, most were touched by the beauty and power evident in the performance of Justin and Jester and also by the emotion apparent in Justin’s poignant good-bye.
I really needed to do this, to formally affirm Alexa’s importance in my life and to say good-bye in a manner she would have appreciated. It was a fitting tribute to Alexa and a formal end to Justin’s grief over her death. Now he, Kelly, and Jester could move into the future. When Justin dismounted outside the dressage arena Kelly joined him, and he kissed her to the resounding applause of the crowd and said, “Will you marry us?”
“Us?”
“Jester and I,” he said with a grin. “It’s a package deal!”
“Absolutely! I couldn’t imagine having one without the other,” she said as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a sparkling, three-stone diamond engagement ring which he put on her finger.
Kelly was thrilled. She had been sure over the past months that Justin was making good progress in dealing with his grief and guilt over Alexa, but today she saw the certainty and the love in his eyes as he put the ring on her finger. His moving performance on Jester had put the icing on the cake. She was sure the relationship they were forging would be strong and lasting, and something on which to build the future.
To Justin, the three stones represented their yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It was a trilogy in memory of the past, of appreciation for the present, and of hope for the future, all expressed in the sparkle of three of the hardest stones in the world circling the finger of the person in the world most important to him.
The crowd went nuts.
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I was born in New Jersey and grew up an only child on a small farm in the “Garden State.” My father grew acres and acres of flowers for commercial florists and various produce such as tomatoes. My high school years were spent at Wayne Hills High School, where I was not one of the popular preppy kids or one of the hoods, which kind of left me in limbo as I wasn’t one of the brainiacs either. Weekends were spent going into “the City” and Greenwich Village with my friends and doing a lot of things I probably shouldn’t have—don’t tell my grandkids!
After attending the Katharine Gibbs School in Montclair, New Jersey, I began a career as a legal secretary and then a paralegal. I moved to Florida and currently live in Davie, Florida, with my dog, Snickerdoodles, and my cat, Mimi. I was married for eight years but have been single for many years. My major addiction is jewelry, but any kind of shopping will do for a fix!
After my longtime job as a paralegal was ended by the economic downturn, I decided to turn lemons into lemonade and finally write the stories I’d had in my head for many years. I had always wanted to write romance novels, but my family and job kept me too busy.
My major interest aside from my family and friends is horses. I enjoy putting an animal character into my stories if possible. I am extremely “low tech” and probably should have been born in the 1800s as I enjoy driving a horse and buggy for fun. I also enjoy horseback riding, but the ground has gotten harder and further away over the years.
Michaels, Skye - Kelly's Challenge [Le Club 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 9
