by Diana Hunter
“I don’t know who’s more grateful today’s the last day of the court order, you or her,” Jill told him while piloting him over to the counter with the bowls to get him out of her way.
“She misses me?”
Jill rolled her eyes at Phillip’s insecurities. She hadn’t seen him when Tamara left but from what Will had told her, it had been a messy breakup. Jill had met Phillip only a few years ago and in all that time he’d been a polite, pleasant and mostly cheerful person. Occasionally, however, she had caught glimpses of the loneliness he hid. She didn’t see it much when he was visiting them. No, she saw it almost always when there were couples involved. He’d get a sad look in his eyes when he thought no one was watching or those magnificent shoulders of his would droop a little as he turned away.
Since he’d met Sarah, however, she hadn’t seen any of that occasional black cloud. And the night at his cottage when the whole gang had gotten together? Jill hid her smile as she remembered the show they’d put on for Sarah and how Phillip had beamed all night.
Now, however, he fretted and it was just about driving her crazy. He wandered from their place to Lady Aleshia and Anton’s like a lost puppy. It was almost as if he didn’t want to face being alone without her. Jill understood. Keeping busy kept the demons at bay.
“Yes, you big lout. She misses you. I told her you’d pick her up after work tomorrow, since she’s not driving yet.”
Phillip held the bowls as Will ladled the vegetable soup. “You expect me to wait until five o’clock?”
Jill shook her head. Men. Did they have to be so dense? “Of course not. I expect that you’ll be over to her apartment at 12:01 tonight. Well, tomorrow morning…”
She didn’t expect the sudden kiss she got from Phillip. He bussed her right on the mouth. “Jill, you’re a genius!”
Will laughed and Jill gave him a “come-hither” smile. “It isn’t rocket science. Sarah told me to make sure you’re there right at 12:01. She doesn’t want to be kept waiting one more minute than she has to.”
“I’d say that means she missed you,” chimed in Will, enjoying Phillip’s sudden animation. “And I’m thinking you might want to take a nap after dinner, since I’m pretty sure you’re not going to get much sleep tonight…”
* * * * *
Once back at the cottage, Phillip tried to nap but found his mind racing. Would Sarah look any different? How many changes can a person go through in three weeks’ time? The last time he’d seen her, she was bruised and bloody. That image haunted him and he had nothing to replace it with. He tried to remember how she felt when he held her or the sight of her naked and in cuffs but each time the image was quickly supplanted by his last view of her in the emergency room.
By eleven o’clock, he couldn’t stand it anymore. Although tempted to throw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, he decided he wanted Sarah’s first impression of him after three weeks to be one of self-control. He might be coming unglued in the privacy of his own home but he didn’t need to show that to the rest of the world. If he had realized how much Will and Jill had seen, he would have been mortified.
Blissfully unaware of his friends’ perceptive natures, Phillip mastered himself, forcing himself not to speed down the country roads on his way to the city expressway that would take him within blocks of Sarah’s apartment. This was not the time to be getting another ticket.
She lived in an old two-story brick building with not much in the way of parking. Sarah’s space was open and Phillip knew her car would never occupy it again. He slid his winter rat into her spot and checked his watch. Five minutes and not a cop in sight. Chuckling, he got out of the car, knowing the courts and law enforcement weren’t really watching him and wouldn’t care about him being early.
He bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time and knocked only once on her door before it flew open and she stood there.
For several seconds, he stood drinking in the sight of her like a thirsting man gulps water. Her hair, always at shoulder length, seemed a bit shorter. Her face, still pixie-like and beautiful, glowed with hope. Her left arm, protected in a white sling, hung across her naked body. Phillip chuckled.
“Good thing it’s me at the door. Or were you expecting someone else?” He gestured to her lack of clothing.
She laughed and Phillip knew he’d never heard anything sweeter. “Get in here before I lose my nerve entirely!”
He stepped over her threshold, shutting the door and twisting the lock. Prolonging the torment, he lifted the chain and put it in place before turning back to her. She looked so vulnerable, so alone. Phillip stepped forward and scooped her into his arms, picking her up and holding her tightly to him, being careful of her arm and shoulder. How long they stood there, he didn’t care. His arms felt filled again.
Phillip had only been in Sarah’s apartment a few times to help her move out some boxes but he remembered the way to the bedroom. She weighed nothing as he carried her along the short corridor.
Because Sarah had been packing for the move to his place, the room held only a double bed and an almost-bare dresser. Scattered boxes, some of them open with clothes hanging out the sides, were a testament to her efficiency. Before the accident, she’d packed everything with an eye toward moving within two weeks. Three weeks later, the boxes had been reopened and the clothes worn. He kicked one out of the way and set Sarah gently on the bed.
“I missed you,” she murmured against his chest, not willing to let go. Her arms ached from the need to hold him. He slid next to her, keeping her close and she put her face up, wanting his kiss.
Phillip saw the unshed tears in her eyes and brushed her hair back from her face. “I missed you too.” Her lips beckoned and he bent down to claim what was his.
He took his time, savoring every nuance. It had been so long. A mixture of spices filled his nose and he drew in a gentle yet deep breath, memories of her stretched body beneath his awakened by her perfume. Her lips, soft and pliant, opened and he took her invitation to taste deeper, his tongue swirling around hers in a dance of desire.
Sarah felt herself relaxing for the first time since leaving his cottage that fateful Monday morning. Phillip was here. He would take care of everything. She broke the kiss, the words tumbling out of her like water falling off a cliffside. “I missed you so much,” she said again, only this time it sounded like a cry of loneliness. “You can’t know how it is to have someone in your life all day and all night and then suddenly have him not there. You do all these things together, make decisions together and then you have to do it all yourself. And you know you can. You have to, you don’t have any other choices. Well, you do but curling up into a ball and wailing is only allowed for a little while.”
She couldn’t stop the words and didn’t even realize the tears had escaped and now cascaded down her cheeks. “So you go on. You get yourself up every morning and you force yourself to go to work. And you find every excuse not to come home at night because you can’t stop thinking at night. There’s no one but you and four walls and insanity.”
She took a breath to sniffle and Phillip caught her chin in his hands, tilting her head up toward his. “Insanity. Exactly.”
He understood. She should have known he would. With a sob, she threw herself into his arms and let the pent-up tears fall. Soaking his shirt, she didn’t stop until every last ounce of tension had released.
“You’ve been holding that in all this time, haven’t you?” He handed her a tissue from the box on the floor.
Sarah nodded. “Three weeks. I don’t see how you can sit there, so calm and self-assured while I fall to pieces. It isn’t fair.” She looked at him with a hint of petulance. “And it isn’t because I’m a woman and you’re some macho kind of man.”
Although tempted to tease her, Phillip didn’t. He couldn’t. Not after his own breakdown at Maxi’s. Everyone needed a knight-protector sometimes. His had given him welts of forgiveness.
But that wasn’t what Sarah needed. He
pulled her close, the softness of her body as it melted into his reminding him how long it had been since he’d felt her skin next to his.
Laying her back on the pillows, Phillip looked down at his injured slave. He wanted her and he would take her tonight. Beneath him, she looked so fragile with her broken arm no longer in a cast, but still bound with an elastic bandage and encased in a sling. Above her, he unbuttoned his shirt, his eyes never leaving hers as he prepared to make this a night she would never forget.
She loved watching his shoulder muscles ripple as he took off his shirt. God, how she’d missed him. Having cried out her frustrations, his presence filled the empty spot in her life that had been there for the past few weeks. It wasn’t that she needed someone to take care of her but now that he was here, for the first time in far too long, she felt whole once more.
Her eyes drifted down as he unzipped his pants, smiling as she realized he hadn’t even taken the time to put on underwear. His cock, semi-hard already, poked out from the dark hair surrounding it. Soon it would grow and she would reap the benefits. Grinning in anticipation, she squirmed up onto the pillows, pushing down the covers with her one good hand.
No grin answered hers. “Here, let me get those.” Phillip took the sheet and blankets from her and pulled them all the way to the bottom. “I want nothing in the way between you and me.”
His dark eyes smoldered and Sarah shivered. For ten days after her accident, she had been a good girl, stifling all erotic thoughts as her body healed. After that, without Phillip to guide or fulfill her, she had depended on her own fingers, the one unpacked vibe and memories to reach her sexual climaxes. Those paled now in comparison to the hunger she saw reflected in his eyes. Had he, too, come since they’d seen each other last? Somehow the thought of him alone in the cottage, masturbating in the dungeon, set her blood pounding in her ears.
She shifted again and winced as she moved her arm wrong. Phillip’s eyes narrowed. “Looks like I need to find a way to keep you still, slave.”
The word ran like electricity through her veins. Her eyes flashed and a slow, sexy smile spread across her face as the slut inside awakened. She watched him rifle through a box against the wall, coming back with a silk scarf and several pairs of pantyhose.
“Sit up, slave.”
He helped her to rise and she sat cross-legged on the bed.
“Cradle your cast with your good arm.”
Sarah did so and tried to remain patient while Phillip fashioned a second sling out of the scarf. Using the pantyhose, he tied her arm to her body, effectively preventing her from moving either one. Looking satisfied, he laid her down with her head on the pillows and stood back to survey his work. The heat grew inside her and she spread her legs suggestively.
He didn’t laugh. Her actions didn’t even bring a smile. His cock stood fully at attention and Sarah longed to feel him enter her. Not even a full month had passed, yet she felt as needy as she had that first night she had allowed him to take her to his place. He simply stood, his hand seemingly absently running over the length of his cock as he stared down at her.
“Master, please…touch me.” Her pussy creamed as she gave him his title and settled deeper into her own submissive sexuality.
“I like the way you beg, slave.”
If she’d had hands available, she doubted she could have remained still. Her eyes focused on the object of her need—his cock. Thick veins wove over its length, bringing life and strength. The swollen tip, dark purple with blood, would be soft and velvety if she ran her tongue over it. Although she couldn’t see it, she knew his pre-cum had already collected in the cloven spot and her mouth watered with the desire to taste it. She gave up more of her self-control and begged again even though she couldn’t decide where she wanted it more, her mouth or her pussy. “Oh, please, Sir. Please let me feel your cock. Please?”
To be so near her and yet have to be so careful of her tormented him. Phillip wanted to give the monster inside him full rein and ravage her body, yet knew he needed to be careful. Her words, her submission, her bound body all combined… He mounted the bed, kneeling between her spread legs.
“Those pillows need to be somewhere else, slave.” He reached up and took them from behind her raised head, his cock brushing her thigh in the process. Schooling himself, he refused to let her see the shock that shot through him. After three long weeks without her and with the animal rattling his cage inside him, Phillip knew he needed to master both if he didn’t want to hurt her arm while seeking his own satisfaction.
Slipping the pillows under her ass, he raised her pussy and saw the cream gathered there. For the first time since he had walked into the bedroom, he smiled. “You are a very horny slave, aren’t you?”
She nodded vigorously. “Yes, Sir, I am. I’m so damn horny, I could fuck a wine bottle! Now take me, damn it! Please?”
He laughed and the world settled back to rights. He wet his cock with the moisture from her pussy. “Nice begging, slave.” His voice was dry but her words inflamed him. Supporting himself on his hands, he didn’t hesitate further but pushed himself against her, forcing her pussy lips apart. Under him, she closed her eyes, her body relaxing.
“Yes, Sir…that’s just right.”
She didn’t speak again but sighed and moaned as her body moved under his, pulling him in deeper with each push he made. Phillip watched her, unable to take his eyes off her. He had almost lost her in that accident and then, through the mistake of an eager officer, had been unable to comfort her all that time. The least he could do was to give her bliss to make up for it all.
He kept his rocking deliberately slow, even though it pained him to do it. The tightness wanted to explode but he held back. This was his gift to her. He gasped for air with the exertion and when her pussy muscles contracted around his cock and her moans became cries of fulfillment, he, too, groaned and let the tension go, to flood out of his cock and into her body in wave upon wave of pent-up deprivation.
And when he was spent, he pulled out and gathered tissues to clean her before cleaning himself, the tissues sticking to his cock. He grinned. There was plenty of time for a shower in the morning. For now, he pulled the pillows from under her ass and threw them to the floor. Reaching down, he pulled the sheet and blankets up over them and pulled her still-bound body into his arms.
“I love you, Sarah-my-slave.”
“And I love you, Phillip-my-Master.” Her good arm slipped around to gather him closer.
“Wait, I tied that arm…”
“Poorly,” she chuckled. “You were trying to be too careful of my broken arm and the knots were loose.” She snuggled into him. “I don’t mind. Just more proof that you really do love me.” He heard a muffled snort. “I’ll even tell ‘em that in court.”
He leaned away so he could look into her eyes. “You’re not my accuser, so you don’t really need to be at the trial.”
She looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “What are you talking about? Of course I’m going to be there. I kept trying to tell them at the hospital, and that detective who came ‘round asking me questions—I told him too. You didn’t beat me up and I didn’t want that stupid order of protection.”
“But I did beat you up.”
“Only because I wanted it. And it wasn’t really beating. There’s a difference.”
“Not in the eyes of the law.”
“Yes, in the eyes of the law.” Sarah set her jaw. Phillip had seen that determination before. His slave was no doormat, that was for darn sure. She pulled off the scarf and pantyhose ties and Phillip helped her as he let her continue her tirade. Obviously this, too, had been building for a while.
“The key word is ‘consensual’. I wanted it…they can’t punish you when I asked you to cane me.” She glowered at him. “You bet yer booties I’ll be at that trial. Right at your side.”
He pulled her close and kissed her and when it ended, his eyes twinkled. “I couldn’t have a better champion.”
; She didn’t answer but only snuggled deeper into his arms. Feeling content, he wrapped his arms around her in protection, even though he wasn’t sure who was protecting whom at the moment. He drifted off to sleep, finally at peace with the world.
* * * * *
Celebrating, Sarah and Phillip went out to breakfast after their first night together since the order of protection had been lifted. The small diner wasn’t crowded so they had the entire end of the place to themselves. The sun hid behind the clouds and rain threatened to fall. In the soft light from the window, Sarah gazed across the booth at Phillip, her gaze drinking him in. In truth, she was half afraid this was another fever-induced dream and that he’d disappear into some drugged-out haze.
She loved the way his dark hair curled around his ears giving her just enough to run her fingers through. She loved how his eyes could twinkle with mischief or darken with desire, sometimes changing in a flash. And she loved his quiet strength, not only physically represented in those wonderfully broad shoulders of his but also living deep in his soul. Not being able to protect her these past few weeks had been torture for him and she understood that.
Still, what he had just told her had rattled him, she could see it in his eyes. “So let me get this straight…” Her own eyes narrowed as she rephrased and digested his latest piece of information. “The court wants you to plead guilty to some misdemeanor charge, pay a fine and be done?” She looked at him askance. “Why? Not that I’m not grateful they don’t want to throw the book at you,” Sarah hurried to qualify her question. “But it doesn’t make sense to me.”
“Ray says he thinks it’s because they know they don’t have a strong case. They can subpoena you and put you on the stand but apparently that detective you talked to doesn’t think you’ll help their case. As soon as you claim what we did was consensual, he thinks the jury will find in favor of us…of me.”
“It was consensual. Does this lawyer of yours think you ought to plead guilty to this lesser charge? Why, if he’s sure you can win in court?”
