by Katie Ashley
William effortlessly carried me over to the jeep. He somehow managed to still hold me while opening the door. He sat me gently down on the seat. When I eased my arms from around his neck, his cheek brushed against mine. The feel of the stubble made me think about what it had felt like against my thighs.
“Okay?”
Although I was far from it, I replied, “Yes. Thank you.”
William nodded before climbing into the back of the jeep. Once we were inside, the ranger cranked up, and we started down the road. “Sure is a good thing you two were running together. I always tell people not to run alone in case of an accident. People don’t realize that most places on the mountain have really bad cell reception.”
“We aren’t together,” I blurted before I could stop myself.
With a grin, the ranger glanced over to me. “Well, then, a story of a Good Samaritan, huh?”
“Yeah,” I murmured.
“Who knows, it could be a story to tell your grandchildren of how you two met.”
When I glared at him, he waggled his eyebrows at me, which caused William to snicker in the backseat. “How do you know I’m even attracted to men?”
“By the way you were looking at him when he carried you.”
“And just how was I looking at him?”
“Like he was your hero.”
I snorted. “Just because I appreciate him being nice doesn’t mean I want to marry him.”
“I think the woman does protest too much,” William teased.
I whirled around in my seat. “The quote is actually ‘the lady doth protest too much’.”
William merely grinned at my correction, which under Domme circumstances would have earned him a hefty punishment. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. I would be a pretty shitty English teacher if I didn’t know my Shakespeare, especially Hamlet.”
A curious expression came over William’s face. “You’re a teacher?”
“Not yet. I mean, I will be when school starts.”
“I see.” I knew he wanted to ask more, especially about my new job and 1740, but instead, he pressed his lips together and eased back in his seat.
We reached the Visitor’s Center. “Where are you parked?” the ranger asked.
“At the end of this row.”
He nodded and drove us down the line of cars. He slid the jeep into park. “Well, here’s where we part company.”
“Thank you for the ride,” I said.
The ranger smiled. “You just take care of your ankle, and be careful when you come back.”
“I’ll try.”
William hopped out of the back of the jeep and opened my door. Once again, he swept me into his arms. This time I was careful not to look at him for fear of giving off any alleged lovesick vibes.
“Thanks again,” William said.
“No problem. Have a good one.”
The jeep drove off, leaving behind a foul-smelling cloud of exhaust behind. “Listen, I’m going to need to put you down to let down the gate.”
“Okay.”
He eased me down onto my feet but was careful not to let me go until he was sure I could stand alone. After digging in his pockets, he produced a key fob. The lights and horn beeped on a black truck so shiny you could see yourself in the reflection.
“That’s your car?”
“It’s a truck, but yes, it’s mine.”
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion at him. “Just exactly how does an educator afford Escalade pickup?”
“They’re not as expensive as an Escalade SUV.”
“You didn’t answer my question. And now that I think about it, how do you afford membership at 1740?”
William continued to evade me by laying down the gate of the truck. “Let’s get you up here, so I can wrap your ankle better.”
“Not until you answer me.”
He met my inquisitive gaze for a brief moment before placing his hands on my waist. With barely any effort, he hoisted me up to sit down. “You need off that foot.”
“Would you answer me if I had a flogger in my hand?” I demanded.
“No because I’d want you to hit me,” he replied with an impish grin.
“You’re infuriating.” And sexy as hell. Let’s forget about my ankle and have a quickie in the back of your truck.
He didn’t answer me. Instead, he reached into the silver toolbox on the truck’s bed and pulled out the first aid kit. When he came back, he set down the kit and then looked me straight in the eye. “A good Mistress always reads her sub well, and you certainly hit the mark with me. I am a trust fund baby.”
“But you said—”
“I know what I said because it’s the truth. I do work in education, but I also happen to have a father who is a lawyer and a mother who came from a very wealthy family.”
“I see,” I murmured.
William untied my shoe and then eased it gently off my foot. “My father would tell you I refused to become a lawyer like him as a way to punish him for leaving my mother.”
“The divorce was bad, huh?”
William’s hand stilled in unrolling the Ace bandage. “Yeah, it was hard for me. But it was worse on my mother.” He glanced up. “She took a bottle of sleeping pills when I was six.”
I gasped as my heart instantly went out to him. “Oh, William.”
“She loved the bastard way more than she should have.”
Reaching out, I placed my hand on his cheek. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you.”
“Knowing all that, I don’t blame you for telling your father to fuck off.”
A smile played at the corner of his lips. “I didn’t actually tell him that in so many words.”
“You should have.”
“I just more or less told him I would rather be a janitor scrubbing shit stains off toilets than work for him and his cronies.”
“Good for you.”
“Then when he refused to pay for my college, my mom’s parents stepped in. They pretty much raised me after she died. She was an only child like me, so I became their world.”
“And I guess it’s safe to say that’s where you got the trust fund.”
He nodded. “I might’ve been born wealthy, but I never wanted to sit around on my ass. I wanted to do something noble with my life.”
I had to smile considering he’d chosen to go into teaching for the same reasons I had. “You’re a sub with a heart of gold and some fat change in the bank,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.
William chuckled. “Whatever.” He clipped the bandage in place on my ankle. “There. All done.”
Eyeing his handiwork, I said, “Thank you.”
“I have some Ibuprofen you should take for the pain and inflammation.”
“Okay.”
He went around the truck again and this time brought back some Advil and a bottle of water. After placing two on my tongue, I washed it down with the water. “Once again, thank you.”
“You’re more than welcome.” He jerked his chin at my foot. “You need to put some ice on that.”
“Yes, Dr. William, I’ll do that when I get home.”
“Actually, you need to do it sooner than that.”
“You don’t know where I live, so how do you know how quick it will be?”
He grinned. “That was actually a lead in for me to ask you to breakfast.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why would you want to do that?”
“Um, I don’t know. Maybe because you need to ice your ankle, and we both could use some food after our run.”
“Look, William, I really appreciate your help, but I don’t think breakfast is a good idea.”
“Food is always a good idea.”
“Call me crazy, but I’m not used to accepting dates from men I don’t know.”
William leaned in closer to me. “I would think the fact you’ve seen me naked and made me come means you know me in the biblical sense.”
“I
think the biblical sense involves penetration,” I countered.
“If memory serves me correctly, there was penetration…with my tongue.”
His words, coupled with the naughty imagery they provoked, sent heat straight between my legs. “I suppose you do have a point there.”
“There’s also the fact the club does a pretty extensive background check, so the odds that I’m a serial killer or rapist are pretty slim.”
I couldn’t help laughing at the fact he was bringing up all the points I had earlier about letting him take me down the mountain. “You know, you’re being awfully pushy for a submissive.”
“But as you pointed out, we’re not in the club and you’re not my Mistress.”
Damn if he didn’t have me there too. When my stomach growled, my resolve faded slightly, and I began to imagine what it might be like to actually take him up on his offer.
As if he sensed I was starting to relent, he said, “It’s just breakfast, Sophie. I can pretty much assure you that there’s nothing illicit about some pancakes and eggs.”
“You must not be into food play, huh?” I countered with a smile.
He laughed. “Considering I like bondage and pain, I don’t find a piece of sausage very threatening.”
With a smirk, I replied, “It might be if it was shoved up your ass.”
William winced. “Anal play is one of my hard limits, remember?”
“Yeah. I remember.” I winked at him. “But you enjoyed the vibrator, didn’t you?”
“Externally, yes.”
“I still can’t help but think about how nice your ass would look with a vibrating butt plug.”
After hesitating a moment, William appeared slightly intrigued. “For you, I might test my limits.”
“My, my, aren’t you full of surprises?”
“With the right Mistress, a sub likes to test his boundaries.”
“And with the right sub, a Mistress likes to test her boundaries.”
William’s eyes flared, and I knew he was remembering how I relented to let him go down on me. The air around us became charged with electricity. Jesus, what was it about this man that enabled him to push all my buttons?
After exhaling a deep sigh, I said, “Okay, okay, you’ve worn me down. I’ll have breakfast with you.”
“Wow, you only made that sound slightly horrible. I’ll try to pretend it’s the pain talking and not you.”
I laughed. “I’m sorry. I really, really want to have breakfast with you.”
“Better. But there’s still just a hint of sarcasm.”
“Whatever.” When I started to slide myself off the truck bed, William reached forward to help me. “I’ve got it,” I snapped a little too forcefully.
Holding up his hands, he took a step back. When I put pressure on my foot, I winced. “Hurts pretty bad, huh?”
“It doesn’t feel great.”
“It’ll feel a lot better once that Ibuprofen takes effect and you ice it.”
“I sure hope you’re right. I start my new job on Tuesday, and the last thing I need is to be limping around, especially when the students arrive. Considering they can smell fear, they would immediately see my foot as a weakness.”
William laughed. “That’s a pretty good summation of teenagers. But don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll be fine by then.”
I furrowed my brow at him. “How did you know I was going to be teaching teenagers?”
“It was a lucky guess considering you were quoting Shakespeare.”
“I see. So where are dragging me to for breakfast?”
“There’s a little French café that has the best crepes and croissants.”
I knew exactly the place he was talking about. Although I’d passed it several times, I’d never stopped. “That sounds great. I love crepes. My grandmother used to make them all the time from her family’s recipe.” I smiled at the memory of being in her kitchen and helping her. “From one Sophie to another,” she would say in her thick French accent. I’d even been named after her.
“When did she come over?” William asked.
“She met my grandfather during WWII when his unit was liberating France. He married her over there and then brought her back home with him.”
“That sounds awfully romantic.”
I couldn’t help smiling when I thought of the way my grandparents used to look at each other when they told the story of how they met. “Yeah, she was singing in a nightclub that the GI’s liked to hang out at. It was love at first sight.”
“So they met in a club like us.”
With a snort, I replied, “I hardly think you can make any similarities between the two.”
“You never know. Like the ranger said, we could be telling our grandchildren about how we met.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m pretty sure the actual story would send them straight to therapy.”
“We could save some details for ourselves. Every family has a few skeletons in their closet.”
“Whatever. I’m beginning to think you and the ranger were getting a little too much fresh air. You’re talking out of your head.”
“Better than out of my ass,” William quipped.
“I’m leaving now.”
“Wait. Let me drive you.” When I gave him a skeptical look, he grinned. “Can’t you give up control for the ten minutes it’ll take to drive down the road to the restaurant?”
Rolling my eyes, I replied, “Yes. But it’s more about the fact that my foot needs the rest.”
“Whatever it takes.” William opened the passenger side door for me. When I had a little trouble getting up into the cab, he took me by the waist and hoisted me onto the seat.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
As he walked around the front of the truck, I closed my eyes and inhaled. The cab smelled of a delicious mixture of fresh leather and William.
“What are you doing?”
“Enjoying the smell of the leather.”
“A typical Mistress.”
“Actually, it’s more about the fact that I’ve never had a new car.”
“Never?”
“Nope.”
“Why is that exactly? I mean, you have to make pretty good money at the club.”
I gave a nonchalant shrug. I sure as hell wasn’t about to tell Mr. Trust Fund Baby about how everything I earned went toward tuition and helping out my dad. Even though he had a real world job, he still wouldn’t have a clue what it was like to desperately need every dime.
“Honda’s are good cars, so I really don’t need a new one,” I finally replied.
“That’s true.”
With a smirk, I asked, “Driven many Hondas, have you?”
William grinned as he drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. “No. Actually I haven’t.” He cut his eyes over to mine. “I’m guessing you want to hear something like my maid drives one.”
I laughed. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“You know not all wealthy people are pretentious, unfeeling assholes.”
“I never said that.”
“You alluded to it.”
“I guess I’m being unfair by stereotyping.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Then I’m sorry.”
William flashed me a smile. “Wow, admitting you’re wrong and an apology. This is a momentous occasion.”
“Ass.”
We pulled into the packed parking lot of Café Lumiere. Glancing down at my clothes, I asked, “Are you sure we’re dressed for this place?”
“Saturday mornings are pretty casual.”
Before I could get my door open, William was already around the front of the truck to get me out. “Are you always this way, or is it just because you’re buttering me up in hopes I’ll spank you again?”
William chuckled as he eased me down out of the truck and onto my feet. “I’m always this way, but normally my Dommes don’t have a problem with it.”
Inwardly, I bristle
d at the mention of his other Dommes. Although I had no right to feel possessive, I didn’t like the thoughts of him with Calla or any other women for that matter. “I’m not your Domme.”
He ignored my comment and offered me the crook of his arm. “You can lean on me.”
Since my foot was hurting and I was tired of arguing with him, I slipped my arm through his. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.’
The wait stand was outside at the front door. “Would you prefer inside or outside?” the hostess inquired.
William raised his brows at me. “Outside.”
She led us to a somewhat secluded table. “Enjoy,” she said as she handed us two menus.
Ever the gentlemanly sub, William pulled the chair out for me. I bit my tongue to keep from arguing that this wasn’t 1950, and I wasn’t his Domme. Instead, I picked up my menu and starting perusing the contents.
Our waiter appeared with two glasses of water. When he got a good look at William, his eyes practically bugged out of his head. “How are we today?”
“Fine,” I answered, even though he didn’t give two shits about what I had to say.
“Actually, could I bother you for a bag of ice for a hurt ankle?” William asked.
The waiter batted his eyelashes at William. “Of course. I’ll be right back.”
When he scurried off, I snorted. “I guess you get that all the time.”
“Get what?”
“Fawned over by both women and men.”
He grinned. “Like you don’t have the same problem.” Leaning forward in his chair, William said, “I bet you have a horde of men and women wanting to submit to you at the club.”
“The club is one thing while real life is another.”
William gave me an odd look. “Aren’t they the same?”
“Not for me.”
The waiter returned with an ice pack intricately wrapped in a linen napkin. William graciously thanked him and then handed it to me. The waiter’s expression instantly soured when he realized it wasn’t for William. With a sigh, he took out his leather envelope. “What can I get you guys this morning?”
“I’ll have a mimosa and the strawberry crepes,” I said.
William met my eyes. “I’ll have the same. But I’d also like two eggs scrambled.”
The waiter nodded. “I’ll be back with your drinks.”
