by Diana Hunter
Practically bounding out of the car as soon as she parked beside the house, Sarah drew in a huge breath, filling her lungs to their utmost with fresh air untainted by harsh city life. Closing her eyes and letting her head fall back, she spent a moment enjoying the sun’s warmth on her face.
Phillip watched her from the porch, stepping out of the cottage as soon as he heard Sarah’s car turn into the drive. Watching her now, when she was still unaware of his presence, brought a smile to his lips. When they had first met, she’d been so guarded and careful, so concerned lest she frighten him away with her incredible passion for life. And now she stood in his driveway, soaking in nature’s peace, her soul bared for all the world to see. How could he do anything but love her?
She slowly turned in the sunlight and he gloried in the sight of her long brown hair unbound now and cascading over her shoulders to fall free. He loved it when she draped that silky curtain over his cock, teasing him to distraction. And he loved it when she was bound, unable to move or have her way at all. Both giving her free rein and reining her in had unique advantages.
She turned to face the cottage, opening her eyes and his heart quickened at the sudden joy that leapt into her face. With a bounce and a skip, Sarah crossed the space between them and he gathered her into his arms, burying his face in the soft tresses of her hair to drink in her perfume as moments earlier he had devoured the sight of her. Crushing her to him, he held her tightly in his arms, never wanting to lose the precious gem she had become.
And when he mastered himself and stepped back, he was again undone by the soft sensuousness of her heart-shaped lips—lips made for being kissed. She looked up at him with eyes half closed with lust and his body responded. Bending down, he captured her mouth in his kiss, first gently tasting, then ravenously devouring her as the wild animal banged at the cage inside.
The birds twittered in the trees and a chipmunk paused in its mad dash across the clearing but Phillip and Sarah didn’t even notice. After a week apart, with only emails to sustain them, they reveled in the sense of touch.
Phillip pulled back with a stern look. “See what you do to me, woman?”
She grinned. “I almost thought you might take me on the front steps again, my dear Sir.”
Phillip cocked an eyebrow at her. “You liked that, as I recall.”
Sarah nodded. “Yes, Sir, I did.” She paused and a naughty twinkle sparkled in her eye. “A lot.”
He laughed and the chipmunk skittered away. “A far cry from the time you walked the deck naked!”
Sarah colored and Phillip bent to kiss her again. Pulling the inner wanton out of her took patience, but patience he had in plenty. He loved testing her limits and finding her boundaries, knowing the journey was always more fun than the destination.
A gentler kiss this time. This one filled with promises of what was to come. He wondered if she would like the new toy he’d bought? Okay, maybe toy was the wrong word, even if he was going to have some fun playing with it. Them, he corrected in his mind.
Taking her hand, he led her toward the house. Sarah paused at the door, as she often did. One of these days, he’d have to ask her why she did that. This time, she looked up at him, a question in her voice. “Phillip, once we get married and I’m living here all the time, will you still greet me like that? Won’t you become used to me? If I come home to you every day instead of every weekend, it won’t be as special anymore.”
Phillip took both her hands in his. “It will be special, but in a different way.” He could see she was truly troubled. He set his plans for the evening aside for a few moments so he could ease her fears. Long ago he’d learned that small concerns could blossom into huge problems if ignored. That previous relationship had ended in disaster because he hadn’t learned the lesson fast enough. Phillip was determined not to repeat the same mistake. “Come on over and sit down for a minute.” He led her to the porch swing he’d put in two weeks ago so they could enjoy the sunset together. They sat and he started them swinging as he answered her questions.
“You were married before and you know passion flames brightly and burns quickly. What’s left once the passion is gone?”
“That one’s simple. Love.” She reached over and took his hand. “The passion Tom and I shared was nowhere as intense as what I feel with you, though.”
“It doesn’t matter. Passion has many faces. There’s an elderly couple I know who still hold hands when they sit down. Both need walkers to get along or I’m sure they’d hold hands even when they’re walking down the hall. Their kisses are small but no less intense for all the infirmities of age. Their passion isn’t as violent as ours can be, yet flames just as brightly after all their years together, wouldn’t you say?”
Sarah nodded. “That couple has love to back them up, that’s why.” She shifted on the seat. “I loved Tom but our relationship was…quieter. The fireworks died early and life became…well…comfortable. More like an old sweatshirt or a favorite-pair-of-sneakers-comfortable.” She laughed. “Something tells me that’s not the kind of relationship we’re ever going to have.”
Phillip grinned. “Oh, I think you’ll be surprised. There’s something wonderful about putting on your favorite sneakers in the morning.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “And there’s also something to be said for putting on nothing but a pair of cuffs!” She waggled her eyebrows toward the door. Phillip took the hint. Sarah only wanted her concerns noted and verified, not solved immediately. Apparently his intended was far hornier than worried.
“All right, you minx. If that’s the way you feel.” He paused to pull her to her feet. “Off with your clothes!”
“Right here?” She looked around in shock.
“Right here.” The long, curved drive cut off all view from the road. No one would see her strip but him and that was just the way he liked it. He would share her beauty with others, but others of his choosing. Strangers had no business looking at her wonderful body. His cock stirred at the thought of Sarah on display for his friends to admire.
She wore a scarlet blouse today, with a full black skirt that fell below her knees. The severe cut of the blouse, coupled with the freedom of the skirt finished off with heeled sandals, gave her a look that crossed between carefree hippie and confident businesswoman. A look that showed she was not afraid to make her own statement in the world.
Phillip approved. He loved her independent spirit and the fact that she expressed it through her clothing. As she more and more became his sexual slave, he needed to be sure to allow her this freedom of expression.
In the soft light of the setting sun, Sarah unbuttoned her blouse. With a quick look around, she let it fall off her shoulders, revealing a sexy red pushup bra beneath. The blouse had been buttoned too high to show her cleavage, which, now revealed, showed like a dark line between two beautiful hills of white. The scarlet of the bra only accentuated their paleness, though it beautifully matched the color of her blushing cheeks.
He crossed his arms and leaned against the pillar of the porch as she unzipped her skirt and stepped out of it. Instead of pantyhose, she wore garters and hose with a thong covering her shaved mound. His cock rose, straining the fabric of his pants and he shifted his weight to ease the pressure.
Her seductive smile teased. “You like these?” Turning on the porch, she modeled her sexy underwear. He amended his description of her—carefree hippie mixed with confident businesswoman mixed with a healthy dose of wanton underneath.
“I like them very much, slave. Now take them off.”
Phillip absolutely loved the way the color came up in her cheeks when he commanded her. Just as he expected, she took off the least-revealing item first, unsnapping her stocking from the garter and rolling it down her long, shapely leg. She’d draped her blouse and skirt over the porch railing, now she balanced the rolled-up stocking on top before bending and taking off the other. Once that joined its mate, she slid the garter belt down and off, then hesitated. Phillip grinne
d as she tried to decide which would embarrass her least…the bra or the thong.
A truck roared past the end of the driveway just as she unclasped her bra. With a start, she jumped and looked toward the road as if she expected the driver to magically appear in the small clearing. Phillip watched with amusement as she realized it was already long gone. Her shoulders slumped in relief.
“You will be naked in front of others soon, you know.”
Sarah looked up, her eyes wide. Yet her voice was steady when she spoke. “I know. I’m almost ready.” She grinned, her composure coming back. “The truck just surprised me, that’s all.”
Phillip nodded to the north. “Just my neighbor, who drives a big, souped-up truck to prove his manhood to the world.”
With an enigmatic smile, Sarah just nodded. She pulled off the bra, then pushed down her thong almost as if she wanted to get the ordeal over with. Phillip recognized the signs. Whether it was something he’d said or just that she thought she’d almost gotten caught, he wasn’t sure. But Sarah’s sudden rush to get undressed and stand before him naked told him she wanted to be indoors. Fast.
Stepping to the door, he held the screen open for her as she gathered her clothes and brought them in with her. Pushing her to the edge of the cliff without pushing her off tended to be a delicate balance sometimes. Wondering what had suddenly turned her off and hoping he hadn’t pushed too far, he followed her inside.
Chapter Two
Limits
Sarah set her folded clothes on a chair just inside the living room door, then took the stance Phillip had taught her. Legs slightly parted, her hands clasped behind her back, her chin up and her gaze straight ahead and waiting. A slave’s position.
Her nipples stood out in the cooler air inside the cottage and little goose bumps crawled along her arms, making her shiver. She shook herself and took a deep breath, mentally putting away the stresses of the week, relaxing into the role she loved. The questions in the back of her mind could wait until later. After they’d had wonderful sex. Her pussy twitched. Definitely after.
“Your cuffs are on the dining room table. Go put them on.”
“Yes, Sir.” Stepping lightly, she crossed through the small arch that separated the two rooms and saw the four leather straps lying in a neat row on the table. Four tiny golden locks glinted beside them.
Taking one of the cuffs off the table, she paused to inhale the scent of the leather deep into her lungs. The scent of her submission. She let the aroma settle her deeper into her mindset. Bending to circle her ankle with the cuff, she knew she exposed her pussy to him where he stood in the doorway. She didn’t try to hide the naughty grin this time as she closed the lock. As she stood to pick up the cuff for her other ankle, she shifted her position slightly so Phillip could get an even better view. The small snick of the metal going home and locking the leather never failed to send a little shiver along her skin.
Standing again, she kept her legs apart as she picked up the shorter strap of leather designed for her wrist. The left cuff went on easily, fitting snugly. Each click of the little locks pushed her further and further along her weekly journey as she shed her public persona, allowing Phillip more and more control over her body and mind. She didn’t even know where he kept the keys to these—and she didn’t want to know.
The right cuff gave her trouble, however, as it often did. Being right-handed, using her left hand felt awkward and clumsy. Each time she pulled the cuff tight enough but then felt it loosen as she tried to thread the arm of the lock through the D ring that would secure the leather around her wrist.
“Here. Let me help.”
Phillip was there, his fingers assured and comforting. Sarah smiled up at him, loving the way he knew just when she needed help. The soft light of the autumn sunset came in through the screen on the front door and lit the highlights in his dark hair making him look like an angel with a halo of golden light. The last vestige of the everyday mask she wore slipped off, baring her true nature to the only man she had ever trusted to handle it.
“I am yours to command, Sir.” Her voice trembled with suppressed anticipation.
Phillip took her chin, tilting her face so he could look into her eyes. He weighed her, as if debating his course of action. Sarah put her now-cuffed arms behind her back, trying to wait patiently. When he spoke, his voice was deceptively soft.
“Each week you come and give so much of yourself to me, my slave. Soon you will live here all the time. Will you be so willing every night when you come home from work?”
“Every night?” Sarah thought of her unchanged, normal days juxtaposed with nights in sexual servitude and her heart beat a little faster. She thought about pushing aside the multitude of questions that had arisen throughout the week. But Phillip only ever wanted the truth from her, no matter how hard it might be to deal with. With regrets, she realized the sex would just have to wait. He knew her too well and wasn’t going to let her off easily.
Taking a deep breath, she admitted, “I do want to serve you, however you need me. Every day and every night.”
“But?”
All her concerns came out in a headlong rush. “I’m just not sure how. You see me at my best every weekend. All week all I can think of is what the weekend will bring. And I do the laundry and the dusting and I shave my legs and…” She hesitated only a brief second before plunging ahead and saying the word on the tip of her tongue. “My pussy. And I make myself as pretty as I can for you so that when you see me on Friday, you see me at my best.” Her cheeks turned red but she didn’t dare stop. This was too important and she needed him to know.
“But after we’re married, I won’t be able to hide all that from you. You’ll see me when I’m grumpy and stressed during the week and you’ll see me when I’m bloated and feeling fat. I won’t be able to keep anything from you and I’m worried you won’t like me when I’m…not at my best.”
“All right, Sarah. Come here.” Phillip took her hand and led her to the couch. Using her name instead of the endearment “my slave” had become his signal to her he wanted to talk to her as an equal. When he indicated that she should sit next to him rather than kneel on the floor, she knew she was right.
She tucked a leg up underneath her and sat facing him, her hands in his. He reached up, tucking a lock of her hair back behind her ear, running his hand down along her cheek to cup her face and she couldn’t resist turning to place a kiss in the palm of his hand. He didn’t begin until they held hands again.
“Sarah, when you were married to Tom, did he see you in all sorts of moods? Good ones and bad ones?”
“Yes. But that was different.”
“How?”
Sarah tried to explain. “Tom and I had a more…well, equal relationship. We made all our decisions together, discussed plans for our future together, even decorated our apartment and then our house together.” She shrugged and ducked her head as she always did when talking about sex out loud. “As far as the bedroom, well, we were young and both of us virgins. Neither one of us really knew what we were doing, so mostly we just acted from instinct and without a lot of imagination.”
“And you think that’s going to be different between us?”
“It has to be!” Sarah frowned. “I mean, I’m going to be your slave!”
“My sexual slave.” Phillip’s hands tightened around hers. “Sarah, you are an independent woman who has moods and thoughts and wonderful ideas all of her own. I am not out to squash that.” He paused to look at her with a warning in his eyes. “And I don’t want you squashing that either.”
“You’re my Master, though. When I come here on the weekends, I submit to you. Completely. Even to making you breakfast and sitting at your feet while you eat first.” She remembered how angry that had made her the first time he’d asked. But then she’d understood the reasoning behind it and hoped to be able to serve him like that again every once in a while.
Phillip’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, Sarah. What is it th
at’s really on your mind? Something tells me you’re skirting around an issue.”
She opened her mouth to deny it and gave a wry chuckle instead. Her shoulders relaxed, making her wonder when she had gotten so tense. “Yes, Sir. You got me. I am dancing around something.” She tried to explain. “I mean, what we’ve been talking about is really important too, but…” She sighed. “But, well…I want to keep my job.” There. Blurting it out wasn’t graceful but the issue was now out in the open.
Phillip looked puzzled. “Why wouldn’t you keep it?”
“Do you want me to?”
“What difference does it make if I want you to?” Phillip shook his head. “Sarah, haven’t you been listening? I love you. I want you. All of you. Your mind, your body, your spirit…everything. That means accepting you with all your good qualities and all the not-so-good ones as well. That also means accepting you with your strong independent streak. I’m not some monster who wants to beat that out of you. Your submission is a gift you give me every weekend. Once we’re married, it will be a gift you give me every moment of every day. That doesn’t mean you stop being a feeling, thinking human being!”
Sarah shook her head. “I just am not sure where the lines are. This is all so new to me.”
For answer, Phillip pulled her into his arms, his voice soft against her hair. “I know, Sarah-my-slave, I know. I’ve made mistakes in the past, mistakes I won’t repeat this time. Remember, this is a power sharing we’re trying to find our way through. We’ll find all our answers together.”
Sarah leaned back, looking into his eyes, searching for signs of the power-hungry male she once thought all dominant men to be. Of course, Phillip had shattered that stereotype the very first night he tied her up. She had since learned he would not demand control over her. She had to willingly give it to him.
