Steps

by Bea Paige

  Finally, there’s Ivan.

  Standing here in front of me is the man who started all of this. Who, without even realising it, opened the door to a whole new possibility of living. I see how he teeters on the edge of understanding his whole heart, and whilst what he told me was the only truth he understands, it isn’t the real truth of him.

  Ivan has spent his life dominating women, ruling over them, breaking them, but there’s a part of him that wants to be dominated. I see it in him now. I see it in the way he casts his eyes downwards, I felt it in the way he kissed me and in the constant battle within him. He’s so used to being the man who holds all the cards, who controls what happens to whom and when. But I also see that he’s desperate to give it up, to let someone else take control. And I can do that for him.

  I want to.

  You see, the demon I harbour in my heart isn’t dangerous because it wants to dominate, to switch, to submit. It’s dangerous because it hasn’t been allowed to.

  And I’m done fighting.

  In these men, I’ve found a place to belong, and with me they’ve found a way to be set free.

  They just don’t know it yet.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Ivan

  “Get on your knees,” Rose demands.

  It’s such a sudden order, so out of left field that I can only stare at her in dumb shock, my brain trying to figure out what the fuck she’s asking of me.

  “I said, get on your knees, Ivan.”

  Something in her voice registers in my brain. A tiny part of me subdued for so long begins to burn bright. Despite everything I’ve ever known, ever understood, I react instinctively, falling to my knees. She stares at me for a long moment, the dampness of the ground seeping up through my trousers as I wait.

  “I will never submit to you. That isn’t how it’s going to work for us. From this moment on you are mine, Ivan. The only orders I will take from you will be to do with work and the running of Browlace Manor. Anything outside of that, I’m in control. Do you understand?”

  I nod my head, then cast my gaze downwards, already falling into the role of Sub. Knowing Rose has control over me in the only place it counts, lifts a burden I didn’t know I was carrying. A heavy fucking weight that has been intent on destroying me for years now.

  “Good.” Rose steps close to me, reaching down to grasp my chin in her hand and bringing my gaze to hers. “What’s the password, Ivan?” she asks as her thumb pulls gently on my lower lip. I want to lick it, but she hasn’t given me permission to do so, so I don’t.

  “Speak,” she adds.

  “Domination,” I respond, the word falling thick and heavy in the air around us.

  When I’d changed the password, I had every intention of dominating Rose. It was my way of trying to creep into her psyche, of breaking her down. And yet, the opposite has happened. Somehow, she’s crept into mine.

  A smile pulls up her lips.

  “In a moment we shall go back to the office. You will tell me what I need to do for the day and we will remain professional. No touching, no hot stares or snatched glances. From eight until four, we work. At lunch we shall remain friendly, civil, but that’s it.”

  “Yes,” I respond, relief flooding through me. The turmoil I’d felt every second around her slowly falls away and in its place a sense of peace, contentment even.

  “And tonight, I will return at eight. You will show me the room behind the locked door. You will invite one of your women and you will show me how you dominate her. Then once you’ve got it out of your system, I will show you how to submit to me. From that moment on, there will be no other women. Is that understood?”

  “Yes.”

  My whole body begins to relax at the soft cadence of her voice, the firmness of her fingers grasping my chin and the warmth of her body heat as she moves her hand to cup my cheek. “Now all we need is a safe word, Ivan. This time, you get to choose.”

  I know immediately what it will be. Wetting my lip with my tongue I smile at the gift she’s given me. “Red,” I say.

  “Then Red it shall be.”

  Rose lets go of my face and moves a step backwards. “Let us get back to work.”

  On shaky legs, I stand. Rose waits for me to get a hold of myself. It takes me a good few minutes to calm my racing heart and to fully comprehend just what has taken place, but once I do, I feel a peace unlike any other. Years of turmoil and self-control fall away as I walk in step beside her.

  In a matter of days, Rose has managed to do something no woman before has ever succeeded in doing. She’s tamed the demon within and we haven’t even started yet.

  Four o’clock comes around quickly. Rose and I have worked together peacefully now the boundaries have been set. She spent the morning filing away the rest of my mess and after a pleasant lunch where we talked about my business dealings, I dictated a couple of letters to some associates of mine and a lengthy email to the Freed brothers following up on our meeting in London a few days ago.

  All in all, between us we got a lot of work done.

  It’s funny, now that I’m free to view her as an employee, a friend, rather than just an object of possession, I see Rose in a new light and I know that she’s going to become an integral part of my business… and my life. Hopefully.

  “It’s four o’clock, Rose. Do you need to call a cab home?”

  “Almost four,” she says looking at the watch on her wrist. She sits perfectly still, her eyes downcast. A few seconds later she looks up. “Now it’s four.”

  As she stands and walks towards me, the change in her whole countenance is astonishing. Her spine snaps straight, her nipples pebble beneath the thin silk of her shirt, and her cheeks tint with a sexy pink hue. Instinctively, I cast my gaze down.

  When she reaches for the middle drawer of my desk, I know immediately what she’s about to do and despite myself I let out a low moan, my cock already straining against my trousers.

  With my head bowed, I can see Rose grasp the length of silk and pull it out of the drawer before she shuts it once more.

  “You’ve washed it,” she says, and even though I can’t see her face, I know she has the length of silk bunched in her hand and is smelling it.

  I don’t answer. She hasn’t given me permission to. But she’s correct, I have washed it. I washed it the moment I knew she’d found it. Even then, subconsciously, I’d wanted to wash away the women who’d been in my life before Rose.

  “Good. From this moment on, the only person you’ll smell on this piece of silk is me.”

  Rose pushes firmly against my thigh as she urges me to give her space. I roll the seat backwards just enough so that she can take her position between my parted thighs. I’m acutely aware of the power play here, the fact that Rose is mimicking what I’d done earlier, and despite everything I’ve ever known, I give up control easily.

  I welcome the release.

  “You can look at me now, Ivan,” she says, her voice firm, demanding, but still beautiful to hear. My eyes roam slowly upwards from her tweed covered thighs to the dip of her waistband and the silk covered peaks of her breasts before finally trailing up the delicate skin of her décolletage until I finally meet her gaze.

  “Take it all in, because this evening, once you’ve finally let go of your need to dominate, I will show you just how freeing it is to submit completely to me.”

  I watch, barely able to breathe as Rose slides her hands over her hips, her fingers curling up under the hem of her skirt. She lifts the material so that it bunches at her waist. Underneath she’s wearing stockings and garters. The creamy white of her thigh stark against the black of her suspender belt and stockings; lace black panties cover the mound of her sex.

  In such close proximity to Rose, I can smell the heady scent of her desire and my lips part on an involuntary moan. God, how I want to bury myself in her sex. I crave it.

  I crave her.

  Rose holds out the length of silk to me, dropping it into my hand.

/>   “I want you to take that, and I want you to mark my scent upon it,” Rose says, resting her backside on the desk and leaning back on her elbows. Her legs come up either side of me, her feet propped up on the armrests.

  “You’re free to speak, Ivan,” she murmurs this time, her eyes never leaving mine.

  I nod my head, not trusting myself to say the right thing. I’m not sure I even have the words to describe how fucking turned on I am.

  “What are you waiting for?” she asks, a smile pulling up her lips.

  I slide forward in my seat and, with shaking hands, pincer the end of the length of silk in my finger and thumb. With the back of my hand, I press the very top of the silk against her lace covered pussy. A little sigh of pleasure escapes Rose’s mouth at that simple touch. That sound alone has my balls twitching and precum beading on my cock.

  If this can make me almost come, fuck knows what tonight is going to bring.

  “You need to cover the whole length with my scent, Ivan, because every time you get the urge to use this on another woman, it’s me I want you to remember.”

  “Yes...” I reply.

  “Yes what?”

  “Yes, Mistress?”

  “No, not Mistress. I’m not your bit on the side, Ivan. Choose something else, something fitting.”

  My hand shakes as I hold the length of silk in place as I think of what to call Rose. Then it comes to me on a rasping breath.

  “Yes, Domina,” I reply, the title perfectly fitting for the woman who owns me now.

  Rose nods her head, before allowing it to fall back. I take that as permission to finish what I’d started.

  Holding the back of my hand firmly against her sex, I pull the length of silk upwards until every inch of it has passed over her molten core. The sound that releases from Rose’s lips is intoxicating and even though the old me would have buried my head in her pussy, the one that’s under her rule refuses to do anything without her instruction.

  When the final inch of silk has been released, I drop it onto the desk beside her leaving my hand in place.

  Then I wait.

  I see Rose’s chest rise and fall rapidly as the warmth of her core heats the back of my hand. She slides her hips closer, so that her pussy is just mere inches from my face. My hand is still in place as she begins to rock her hips up and down.

  “I want you to fuck me with your fingers, Ivan. I want you to slide my panties to the side and I want you to make me come,” she pants, the cadence of her voice dropping lower as she uses me for her own pleasure.

  “Yes, Domina,” I murmur, barely able to speak.

  “Do not disappoint me. If I don’t come, you’ll be punished later. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Domina,” I repeat.

  I’ve no intention of leaving her wanting. Rose has given me a gift today, and I intend on fulfilling her demands completely.

  Flipping my hand over I cup her pussy, allowing Rose to gyrate her hips against the palm of my hand. I can feel the smoothness of her skin beneath the lace, and a thin strip of clipped hair that leads to the bud nestled between her folds. With my forefinger, I slide her panties to the side, exposing her to me.

  She’s as beautiful as I imagined she’d be. The plump outer lips, the same colour as her creamy skin. Within the folds, her skin darkens from a lush pink to a berry red right at her opening. I trace the edges of her lips, my fingers committing to memory the feel of her as much as my sight is committing this moment to memory. Even if she were able to keep her moans under check, the slickness and heat of her beautiful cunt tells me how turned on she is.

  With two fingers, I find the tiny nub that has the ability to give her indescribable pleasure and press against it gently, circling my fingers in a gentle motion and with just the right amount of pressure. After a minute of gentle caresses, her back arches forcing me to adjust my hold as she cries out in bliss. She hasn’t come, not yet, but she’s close enough to reveal her pleasure with the melody of her cries.

  It's a beautiful sound, one I want to hear over and over again.

  Using the moment to move with her, I slide my fingers to her opening turning my palm so it’s facing upwards then push gently into her wet heat. Her back slams onto the table, her hips rocking upwards as my other hand holds her in place, the pad of my thumb finding her sensitive nub.

  With one hand resting on the lowest part of her belly, my thumb pressing more firmly against her clit, I pick up the pace of my fingers moving inside of her. As those two fingers slide in and out in a steady motion, my thumb circles her nub, alternating the pressure between feather touches and firm strokes. Around my fingers I feel her muscles tightening, her body telling me that she is close to release. Pushing further inside her molten core, I seek out the delicate spot of tissue that, caressed in just the right way, will make her come long and hard.

  Just as Rose’s pants become quicker, her cries louder, I find the spot I’ve been searching for and press against it firmly, one finger remaining still whilst the other moves back and forth quickly. And then, like a damn bursting its banks, a groan releases from her throat, her internal muscles clamping around my fingers as she rides the wave of her orgasm.

  I wait until Rose’s orgasm has ebbed away before gently removing my fingers from her and adjusting her panties back in place. My first instinct is to raise my fingers to my lips and taste the essence of her, but Rose hasn’t given me her permission, so instead I sit back in my chair, rest my hands in my lap and wait.

  Eventually, Rose sits up, her feet falling away from the chair as she rests them back on the floor. Two bright spots of pink sit high on her cheekbones and her eyes have that post-orgasm haze about them as she focuses on me once more.

  Standing she adjusts her skirt, pulling it back over her hips and sliding it into place, then reaches over to grab the length of silk I’d placed on the desk earlier. She hands it to me once more.

  “This is yours. Tonight, you will keep it on your person, but you won’t use it on the woman you choose to invite. When the time comes, I intend to use that on you, and when I do you’d better be ready to give up control and submit to me completely. Will you do that, Ivan?”

  I gaze up at her, my eyes locking with hers. The heady scent of desire thick in the air around us. She only needs to look at me to know the answer, but I reassure her anyway.

  “Yes, Domina, completely and utterly, I will submit to you,” I murmur, knowing with every part of my being that this is the one truth I can give freely.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Rose

  A thread of excitement scatters over my skin as I sit in the back of the cab. It’s almost eight o’clock. Twenty-four hours ago, like Ivan, I had been in turmoil, not knowing how to control my desires, not understanding what I needed in order to be free. Now, as the car rolls up the driveway, I know exactly who I am, and what I want; the men of Browlace Manor.

  As I step out of the car, acceptance settles over my skin. Tonight, I am Domina, tonight I shall own Ivan, as much as he will own me. I shall see him at his most dominant and then I will see him at his most submissive, the place where he’ll finally find freedom, peace.

  Whether Ivan is aware of it or not, there is a power in his submission. To give yourself over to someone so completely, trusting them implicitly is a gift. To me, to himself.

  I intend to honour that gift tonight.

  “Have a good evening, Miss,” the driver calls as I walk towards the door.

  “I intend too,” I murmur under my breath, heat infusing my cheeks at the thought of Ivan serving my every whim whilst I free him from the shackles that have bound him for so long.

  As I enter the house, the cab driver pulls away, the sound of the car’s tyres crunching over the gravel drive as he leaves. The house is quiet when I enter, the only sound is the ticking of the grandfather clock as I walk across the floor.

  “Evening, Rose.”

  I stop, twisting on my feet at the sound of his voice. “Good eve
ning, Anton,” I respond, lifting my gaze to meet his.

  I expected to see him tonight. He hadn’t turned up at all during the day, but I knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away for long.

  “You’re here to see Ivan, aren’t you?” he asks, pushing off the wall and padding over to me silently. His bare feet barely making a sound as he approaches. He holds a paintbrush between his finger and thumb, spots of bright colour scattered over his hands and trousers. At least this time he’s wearing a t-shirt. I’m not sure I could cope with seeing him topless given what I’m about to do with Ivan. Anton bare chested and beautiful would be one distraction too many and tonight I owe all my attention to Ivan.

  Tonight is for Ivan, and Ivan alone.

  “Yes,” I respond. My eyes trail up the thick, corded muscle of his arms covered in the same tawny hair that is pulled up in a loose bun on his head.

  “But he has company…” Anton’s voice trails off as he realises the potential harm his words could cause me. A few days ago, they might’ve, but not tonight.

  “I know that. I asked him to invite her.”

  I don’t know who the woman is, and I don’t want to know. This isn’t about including another woman in our relationship. Tonight is about Ivan letting go of who he once was and becoming who he’s always meant to be. This woman, whoever she may be, is just a tool to do that.

  Anton cocks his head, a strand of hair falling over his face. “You did?”

  He seems surprised by that.

  “Yes. Ivan and I have come to an understanding, one that will be beneficial to us both, I believe.”

  “An understanding? You make it sound like a business transaction,” Anton replies, a shade of anger in his voice and an undercurrent of desire that is more than a little enticing.

  “No, you misunderstand. It isn’t like that. Ivan and I need something from each other. We’re both willing to see where this goes. I won’t hurt him,” I add, needing Anton to understand that.