“So am I,” Diego said.
“Well, then.” Valerie grinned. “Have fun. But I’m taking the lantern, so if you guys want to be able to see going down the path…”
“Wait.” Something Valerie said didn’t sit right. “Was this all a set-up? You told Diego when to come down the path, and everything?” It was worse than the trick with the mirror. How could she consent to anything when she didn’t know what was going on?
“Um, no.” Valerie bent down and picked up the lantern, seemingly in no hurry to answer. She grabbed her toy bag in her other hand.
“No what?” demanded Emma, impatiently.
“No. Diego wasn’t in on it. We just made sure we knew where he was and that he’d come walking by. Keith wasn’t in on it either. If you want to be pissed at someone, it’s me, Sue, and Alex. Our shoulders may not be as broad as Diego’s…” She giggled. “Actually, those shoulders would look pretty bad on us. Anyway. Be pissed at me if you want to be.” Valerie shrugged.
Emma slowly smiled. “I’m not pissed at you, Valerie.” She looked up at Diego and pushed gently on his chest to indicate she’d like to be let go. “May I?”
“Of course.”
She walked over to Valerie and gave her a hug. It felt a little funny to hug naked. Stranger still when Valerie gave her butt a quick grope. Val winked as she let go. “Be good, Emma. Or be very, very wicked.”
“Will you have some time still for some wickedness, yourself?”
Valerie grinned. “I’ve never had any difficulty finding trouble.” Swinging the lantern saucily, Valerie turned and headed down the path.
When Emma turned to look back at Diego, she discovered he’d gotten his pants back on. He’d also picked up her clothes and the rope and had tied them in a neat little bundle. He handed them to her.
“I’m not going to walk back naked!” she protested, looking at the receding lantern with dismay.
“Just hold those.”
She held the bundle, wondering what was coming next. Diego scooped her up. She almost let go of the bundle when the ground left her feet.
“No! I’m too heavy!”
“Just right, I’d say. You feel good in my arms. Now hang on to those because if you drop your clothes, we aren’t coming back for them until morning.”
For a moment, she forgot she was still naked, because she felt so protected in his arms. The cool air of the evening reminded her. They trailed behind Valerie’s lantern by about thirty feet, but Diego seemed to have no trouble keeping up despite carrying her. He wasn’t even breathing heavily.
As they entered the dungeon, she noticed that it was full again. Every station was occupied by a couple or in one case a foursome. A man screamed. A woman laughed. Another moaned. Constance was leaning back against one of the X-frames, her breasts once again decorated with the little jeweled clamps. A brown-skinned woman with a strap-on was pounding a pale man tied to the spanking bench.
“You two can use the room, if you wish,” Valerie said as she turned off her lantern. “If I come in to sleep, I’ll be quiet. Assuming you’re staying the night, Diego.”
“I’m staying the night.”
Isn’t anyone going to ask me? But there was something sexy about him deciding. Emma knew she could object if she wanted to. Hell, she could safe word. She knew now, for sure, that he’d honor it. There was no sense in protesting what she wanted anyway.
Then she frowned. It was the last night of the weekend. It was one thing to have a last chance for a fling and decide to take it. But she didn’t want to have a last night with Diego. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
Enjoy the now, she told herself sternly. But she knew already it would be a challenge.
Diego kept walking, carrying her to her room. He tried the door.
“I make a point of locking it now,” she said.
He grinned. “That’s a very good idea. I hope the key didn’t fall out of your pocket during the walk back.” He set her down on her feet. “I’ve already broken and entered once this weekend, and it didn’t work out well.”
She bent down, wondering what kind of view she was giving as she rummaged through the tied-up bundle of clothes. At least Diego was the only one in the hall.
She found the key. But before she could straighten, someone came from the other side. Alex and Dylan, she saw. Alex was dressed in nothing but a gold thong and pasties and a golden collar. Dylan, on the other hand, was overdressed, wearing a frothy white shirt, a brocade waistcoat, and a velvet frock coat.
Emma felt the color rising in her face.
“Nice outfit,” remarked Dylan.
“Master.” Alex’s voice held a low, warning tone.
“I was talking to Diego!” Dylan protested.
“Riiight.” Alex winked at Emma, and the couple continued on.
Emma put the key to the lock, but as she opened the door, she heard Alex’s voice drift back. “I think those two make a lovely couple.”
The problem was, it was all too temporary.
Chapter Six
Diego watched the rise and fall of the covers over Emma’s chest as she snored softly. She was sleeping peacefully after an hour of mostly vanilla sex. He should be doing the same. He’d come twice, besides the time out in the woods. He’d lost count of how many times she had.
He’d left his toy bag out of the way in the dungeon when he’d walked off to stare at the fire. It was still there as far as he knew. Hopefully no one had stolen it, but if they did, nothing there was irreplaceable. The tendency to trust people at Bondage Ranch had become habit, continued even in the face of evidence to the contrary. Well, one bad apple did not change that, and the sort of person who would steal expensive jewelry probably wouldn’t bother to steal well-used floggers.
His thoughts kept going to an object in the bottom of his toy bag Diego hadn’t used in two years. It was handy and functional, with three nice O-ring attachments and a steady leather strap. But he’d learned the hard way that even if it was intended just for play or just for the evening, the act of putting a leather collar around a submissive’s neck sometimes meant more to them than it did to him. He wasn’t even sure why he had it in the bag. He didn’t want to mislead anyone about the attachment a collar symbolized for so many, however sexy he thought a collar looked around a woman’s throat. Now, his gaze rising to Emma’s throat, he kept thinking of how sexy it would look on her.
We’ll go home, to our respective places. I’ll go to Baltimore. She, presumably, to somewhere near Philadelphia, since she’s a friend of Valerie’s. It’s not a long drive though. I could head up there for a weekend. Or she could come down. This doesn’t have to end here.
It felt weird sleeping at Bondage Ranch. He always slept on the couch in Consuela’s apartment and woke up to enjoy breakfast with her. He’d texted her to let her know where he’d be and had gotten back a text in return: *giggle*. His daughter was a bit too worldly wise for him sometimes. Of course she knew what was going on. And the strange thing was, rather than covering up, he had half an inclination to drive Emma into town when she woke up and introduce her. Which was crazy. He needed to get to know Emma better first.
I will get to know her better.
He studied her and noticed that while her chest was still rising and falling rhythmically, she was breathing silently now. Her eyes were only almost closed, and they shut a little too tightly when he looked at them.
“What are you thinking, little treasure?”
“Hmm?” She fluttered her eyes sleepily, blushing. She obviously knew she’d been caught. “I’m not a little treasure. Those jewels of Constance’s, those are a treasure.”
“You have no idea. I wouldn’t trade you for them.”
“Silly man.”
He wished he had something like that to give her. But he didn’t. The collar in the bottom of his bag crossed his mind again. He shook his head.
“What are you thinking?” she asked. “I just noticed you were awake and started to wonder. Are you—d
o you want to leave?”
“Far from it. I want to explore with you more.”
“You have a good recovery time. Especially for a man.” She giggled. “But I’m up for it. Boy am I going to be sore in the morning.” She slipped her hand down to his cock and covered its softness with her hand. It twitched in response.
He laughed. “Maybe not that good.” He slipped a hand under the covers and caressed her breast.
“In the morning then. Maybe you should get some sleep.” She gave his balls a gentle squeeze before sliding her hand upward through the fur on his chest.
“And after that?”
She pursed her lips and then hid her face in his shoulder for a moment. He waited. She rolled onto her side to face him better and gazed into his eyes. “Maybe you should tell me. Aren’t you always telling me how it is? What to do? Whether to go or not?”
“Yes, but the last time I did that, you threw me out of your room.”
“No. Not the last time. The last time you invited yourself back in. Unless you count the time you told me to get on my hands and knees, so you could enter me from behind, or the time you told me to put my hands behind my neck and keep them there, or the time—”
“Okay. I get it.” He took a breath. Faint heart never won fair lady, and all that. “I’ll see you next weekend. I’ll drive up to you. I assume you live somewhere in Philadelphia? I know Valerie is from there.”
“Yes, I live near Philadelphia. Just south, in Chester.”
“I’ll see you Friday night, around ten.”
“Hmm. Maybe I have plans?”
He grinned at her with a confidence he only partly felt. “They couldn’t be as good as what I plan to do to you.”
“And what’s that?”
“I’m not telling.” He chuckled. “I haven’t made it up yet, in detail.”
“Still.” She paused and looked like she was thinking. He waited, his heart hammering in his chest. “I suspect you’re probably right.” Her eyes flashed, and he got the distinct impression that the pause was just to tease him. “And you should be recovered by then.” She patted his package and then closed her eyes. Her content smile was beatific.
He rolled her over so he could spoon her from behind. She snuggled up, and they both fell asleep.
He woke up first in the morning and moved to get out of bed. Emma stirred and moaned. “I’ll be right back,” he told her. “Promise.”
“Okay,” she mumbled. “Promise.”
He pulled on his jeans and glanced over at Valerie’s empty bed. Valerie had made other arrangements, apparently. He thought he would have heard her if she’d come in, but he had slept very soundly. More soundly than I have in a long time. Yeah, I want more of this.
He went to the dungeon. A few people were there, grabbing some breakfast or having a last chat before they left. There wasn’t anything wrong with playing on Sunday morning, but most people didn’t. Constance’s confections had all been eaten, and what was there instead were boxes of doughnuts and bagels. They will have to do. There was coffee too. He wished he knew whether Emma was a coffee person. He had a lot to find out about her, and he was looking forward to it.
He picked up his toy bag first. Right where I left it. It felt about the right weight, but he peeked inside to confirm that everything was there and that nothing had been added. He decided he probably should have been more concerned about the latter, after what had happened with Constance’s nipple clamps being planted in Emma’s room. He zipped it back up, slung it over his shoulder, and returned to the breakfast table. He smothered the inside of two bagels with cream cheese, piled them on a plate with two doughnuts, and then filled two small glasses with orange juice. Balancing the plate in one hand, he spread his fingers to manage the two glasses in the other. He didn’t feel like making two trips, although he might if Emma needed caffeine.
“Can I carry something for you, Sir?” a perky, cute woman about Conseuela’s age came up to him and asked.
Normally, he would have said yes. But this time he shook his head. “No thank you. I’ve got it.” He wasn’t sure exactly why he refused her help. It didn’t come with strings attached, and he suspected the young submissive could see that he was carrying a double portion, implying he was taking them to someone else. Many people enjoyed performing little services, and there was no good reason to refuse them. Hell, maybe she was just feeling helpful. Emma wouldn’t know, and if she did, she probably wouldn’t mind. But he didn’t want to be distracted even for a moment by another woman.
He thought he normally did a pretty good job of being focused on his partner, but he felt a little foolish when he got to the door of the dungeon and didn’t have a hand free to open it. He looked sheepishly back at the young woman, who was still watching him. She chuckled and got the door.
“Thank you very much.”
“You’re welcome, Sir. Treat her special, Sir.” Then she put her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry for making assumptions. Is it a her, Sir?”
That’s a lot of Sirs. He smiled. The girl was new but meant well. He hoped she found someone who was good for her. Maybe she already had someone. “It’s a her.”
“I hope I didn’t offend.”
“Not at all.”
He had to set down the toy bag and the food to open Emma’s door. When he entered, he found her sitting up, the bed sheet demurely pulled over her chest and held in place in her small fist.
Emma looked cute like that, but he wanted to see more of her. “Drop the sheet, and I’ll feed you.”
She dropped the sheet. Her breasts looked perfect for the caress of rope, and her pink nipples begged for the pinch of a clamp. Or his fingers. Or his mouth. Food first.
She gratefully took one of the glasses of orange juice from his hand, and he set the other one down. He sat on the bed next to her, the plate in his lap. Doughnuts and bagels weren’t his idea of romantic food, but he did his best. Figuring the doughnut would be better as a treat, he held the bagel to her mouth. He smothered a chuckle as she bit into it and had to tear it with a jerk of her head. Then she giggled, and he couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore either.
“Maybe it would be better if I fed myself,” she said. “But I will still keep the sheet dropped.”
“Hmm. Don’t say I never let you get your way.”
“Just don’t count on it happening very often?”
“Correct.”
“I meant to ask you, did you want coffee?”
“Not badly enough for you to go get it.”
He rose, thinking he should get it anyway, but she shook her head. “Let me get my way one more time, please, Sir. Stay.”
He stayed. He loved the way she said Sir.
“So,” she asked when she’d finished. She was a slower eater than him, but that was okay because it gave him a chance to enjoy the sight of her naked loveliness. “Where do we go from here?”
He put the plate on the floor. He’d been dodging the question in his mind. The feeling of having lost her had hit hard. Now he knew he wanted to keep her. He didn’t want to watch anyone else play with her. He didn’t want anyone else playing with her without him watching either. Don’t ask, don’t tell? Not his style.
She was watching him for an answer. Of course, if he wanted faithfulness from her, he’d have to give it back. He knew people who had relationships that were asymmetric that way, and if he didn’t enjoy a little asymmetry, he’d not be a dom in the first place. But as far as he was concerned, if one partner was to be exclusive, they both should be. He didn’t want her to worry.
Time to put it all on the table.
“I would like you to be my sub and I your dom. I want to push you, show you new things, learn what you like. Train you in what I like. And I’d like to focus on you, just you, and I want that focus back.”
“You want us to be exclusive?”
“Yes.” Did that bother her?
Emma shrugged. “It’s not like I’m seeing anyone anyway.”
> Not exactly a ringing endorsement. She must have realized it from his face, because she put her arms around him. “I mean, yes! I’d love that. I’m—well, not great with words sometimes. I didn’t expect it. And I’m a bit overwhelmed. But you’ll have to visit often.”
“Because otherwise you’ll be tempted?”
“Because otherwise I’ll figure you will be.”
That made a twisted kind of sense to him. He kissed her lips and then looked into her eyes. “What about you? Where did you want to go from here?”
“Well. I was actually just asking about what we do after breakfast. Stay in? Go out? I’m driving home with Valerie. I imagine she’s going to want to get on the road by two or three, but that gives us a few hours.”
Oh. He hadn’t had to try to define the relationship at all. He could have let it float and find its own level. Keep his options open. But given the result, he was happy he had.
“Let’s go to the dungeon, then. And play. We’ll have plenty of time to explore each other in a bed, but being able to play on the bondage furniture and in public is a bit rarer. And I know you like to be seen.” Was she going to deny it again?
She blushed. “Yes, I do like to be seen. Is that bad?”
“No. It’s wonderfully you. And that’s one of the things I’m going to do for you, is get you in situations where you can indulge that. Safely. Sanely. Consensually, for all involved.” He kissed her.
She shivered. “That would be wonderful actually.”
“Starting now. Let’s go, then.”
“Like this?” She looked at him. “I’m not wearing anything.”
He grinned. “That’s allowed here. But there is something I’d like you to wear. It won’t cover, but I am hoping it will make you feel safe and protected.”
She tilted her head, curious, her eyes asking the question.
He unzipped his toy bag and slipped his hand underneath the ropes and the floggers. At the bottom, nestled right where he expected it to be, his fist closed around the leather collar. He pulled it out.
She saw it, and her eyes widened. “For me, Sir?”
Bondage Ranch 5: His Little Treasure Page 12
