Terraformed Skies

by Anna Lewis

  It was one of those days, on a Wednesday six months after her first day in the office, that Shawna sat on Eric’s lap, her panties around her ankles, trying to keep her wits about her as his fingers worked her into a frenzy and they went over her investment portfolio.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Eric said after he’d brought Shawna to orgasm, then held her close as she came back to earth. “I know that’s a dangerous thing, but hear me out. I’ve been thinking that your portfolio would look a lot better if you weren’t wasting money on an apartment that you haven’t seen in five months.”

  It was true, but Shawna still balked at the idea. His words yanked her out of the haze she’d been trapped in and she shook her head.

  “I don’t know about that. I’d feel weird not having a place of my own, just in case.”

  “Not that you have anything to worry about, but even if you did, you have enough money to buy a home outright and pay all your utilities for over a year.”

  “I do?”

  “You do. You’ve invested almost all of the three-hundred-thousand you’ve made since you started, and that money has more than doubled in aggressive stocks and investments. You could liquidate it all today and walk away without issue. If you wanted to.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “So you know that holding onto the apartment as a backup plan isn’t necessary. Even if you had an emergency, the fifty thousand or so that you keep in your checking account is enough to get you through the day while you wait for your investments to liquidate.”

  Shawna looked at the computer where the information was displayed, shocked to see the number on the screen. She hadn’t been paying attention to the numbers; she had invested percentages. A certain percentage of each check went to different investments and anything she made accompanying Eric on the weekends went into her checking account. She hadn’t realized that she’d already made more than half a million dollars, and the information took her breath away.

  “This seems like a dream,” she said in awe.

  “I’ve felt that way for a long time, Eric said, smiling at her when she turned to him with a startled expression.

  “Somehow, I don’t think you’re talking about the money.”

  “I’m not,” he said. “I’m talking about you. Move in with me, Shawna. If you want your own private room for your things, I have plenty of rooms. I love waking up to you every morning, and I would love it even more if it didn’t feel temporary.”

  “I’ve been there for six months.”

  “And you still keep most of your things at your apartment. It’s not the same.”

  “Are you asking for a commitment?” she asked, surprised that he was even entertaining the idea. “I thought this was just for fun.”

  “It is, but it’s something more to me.”

  His expression was neutral, but Shawna had plenty of practice reading his eyes. Eric was waiting for her to tell him how she felt and his heart was on his sleeve.

  “Do you love me?” she asked, shakily.

  “I’ve said it enough,” he chuckled softly. “Don’t you believe me?”

  “I do,” she said, her hands beginning to tremble. She’d closed her heart off to protect herself, not even realizing what she’d done. “I guess I didn’t want to get my hopes up and let myself believe that you meant it. People say a lot of things in the heat of passion, and I didn’t know—”

  “I only say things I mean,” he said.

  “I was afraid I would get my heart broken if I read into what you were saying to me.”

  “And now?”

  She stared at him, not sure what to say that would make him understand how she felt about him. After an eternity, she finally just decided to come out and say it.

  “I love you,” she said softly. “I have loved you for a long time.”

  She was still sitting on his lap, skirt hiked around her waist, his hand resting between her legs. The moment couldn’t have been any sweeter.

  “I love you,” Eric said, kissing her gently.

  When she finally pulled away, she searched his eyes before she spoke.

  “So, what now?”

  “Honestly? I would be happy with you moving your stuff to the ranch and letting someone else live there.”

  “And what about the long-term?”

  “I didn’t want to push you too fast,” Eric said. “But if you’re talking about marriage, it’s been on my mind for a long time.”

  “I was thinking more about my dream of owning a horse ranch,” she said. “I’m not ready for marriage yet.”

  “You can still buy a horse ranch if you want. Or, you can buy a horse and keep it in the barn. I have five more stalls.”

  “But that would be on your property.”

  “If you move in, it would be our property.”

  “I would like that, but it would still feel like it belonged to you.”

  “Then buy a place and we’ll move there.”

  “Really?” she said, a bit shocked. “I can’t begin to buy anything near as big as your place.”

  “So? Who needs a sprawling property when I can’t have the woman of my dreams close. It’s way more land than I need anyway.”

  “What if you sold part of it to me?” Shawna asked, surprised by the words that tumbled out of her mouth before she could change her mind. “If I owned part of it, I think I would feel less like a visitor.”

  “I could do that, but I have a better idea,” he said, his smile wide, the pinched, stressed look gone for the first time since he had broached the subject.

  “You do? By all means, tell me what this great idea is.”

  “I do, but I’d rather show you.”

  Intrigued, she stood up, bending over to get her panties, but Eric got to them first.

  “You don’t need these,” he teased, putting them in his pocket and helping her straighten her skirt before grabbing his keys and taking her hand in his.

  She felt almost giddy as she followed him onto the elevator and into the parking garage. She got into the passenger seat of the Audi SQ5, and when his hand rested on her thigh, she opened her legs to him. She watched him smile, his eyes on the road, but his hand already roaming upward.

  ***

  Shawna got out of the car, following Eric to the low fence that surrounded the property and hiking up her skirt to step over the knee-high railings.

  “This place needs a lot of work, but it’s the right price and a decent-sized piece of land.”

  There was a For Sale sign, with a little informational pamphlet held by a push pin. Eric removed the pamphlet and handed it to Shawna as he spoke. She skimmed the listing her eyes widening when she saw all the details.

  “Eric, this place is two hundred acres,” she said. “That’s not ‘decent-sized’, that’s huge.”

  He shrugged.

  “If you like it, it’s been on the market for almost a year. I’m sure that you can talk them down.”

  “This is amazing,” she said, looking at what she could see of the property.

  “It gets better,” Eric said, pointing at a line of trees. “There’s our property line. On the other side of those trees is my house.”

  “Really?” she asked, a little too loud in her excitement. She laughed, then lowered her voice. “Who owns the little forest?”

  “That would be you,” he said, smiling.

  “Oh Eric, this place is amazing.”

  “Do you want it?” he asked.

  “I do,” she said.

  “It’s going to take a lot of work to make this place into something,” he said. “The fence is bad, the land needs work and there’s a lot to be done.”

  “I know,” she said, feeling giddy. “I can work on all that while I decide what I want to do with the land.”

  “There’s no hurry,” he said, pulling her into his arms in front of him.

  She leaned into him, staring out at the land, enjoying the moment in the sun, his strong arms holding her tight.<
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  “I guess I’ll have to stay with you while I work on this place,” she said, teasing him. “And there’s really no reason to keep my apartment if I have a place of my own.”

  “That’s true,” he said.

  “And I’m going to need a horse to ride around the property while the work is being done. Maybe two.”

  “And a truck and trailer.”

  “Those, too,” she said. “This is perfect. Thank you for showing it to me.”

  “Do you want to call the realtor?”

  “Yes,” she said, excited.

  She took out her phone and called the number on the sign, and within thirty minutes, a woman pulled up in a nice pickup truck, clad in boots and black jeans.

  Eric kept his distance, letting Shawna haggle on her own, and after a few phone calls, her offer was accepted and the realtor left with a promise to email Shawna the paperwork by the end of the day.

  Shawna watched the woman drive away, and as soon as she was out of sight, turned and threw her arms around Eric, hugging him tightly.

  “I can’t believe this is going to be mine,” she said, peppering him with excited kisses. “We should celebrate,” she said, smiling.

  “What did you have in mind?” he asked.

  She winked at him, and she saw him take a deep breath. She knew instantly where his mind had gone, but she shook her head.

  “I don’t want to make love on this spot until it’s all mine and the deal is final,” she said. “But I do want to go to my old apartment and get my things.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to rush you.”

  She shrugged.

  “I was thinking about it long before you brought it up. I just needed a little push in the right direction.”

  “That seems to be the way things work for you,” he teased, kissing her neck and chuckling when she shivered.

  “I never said I was perfect,” she chided.

  “You’re perfect for me,” he corrected.

  He took her hand and they made their way back to the car, and Eric headed toward his house.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Our place first,” he said, and his words sent her heart to fluttering wildly.

  “Why?”

  “Shouldn’t we figure out where you’re going to put your stuff before we move it?”

  “I guess,” she said, a little disappointed that that was his only plan.

  “We can celebrate later, after you move your stuff in.”

  His voice held the promise of something spectacular, and she perked up.

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “I’m thinking a trip to Vegas is in order.”

  Her skin tingled at the thought, and she couldn’t wipe the huge smile off her face. They hadn’t been to Vegas since that first weekend, and she was dying to go again. She shook her head inwardly. Why hadn’t she just asked him to go to Vegas? He said it all the time; if you want something, ask for it. But somehow, Shawna was always hesitant to ask for the things that she really wanted. It was a habit she had to break, and something she committed right then and there to work on.

  “That smile,” he said. “It’s like a window into your thoughts. I wish I knew what you were thinking right now so I could make you smile like that all the time.”

  “I was thinking that I have been wanting to go to Vegas for a long time, and I should have spoken up sooner. I decided to be more vocal about what I want.”

  “I like that,” he said.

  “Can we leave tomorrow? I know it’s only Wednesday, but I think we both deserve a long weekend.”

  “We can leave tonight if you want.”

  “What about moving the contents of my apartment?”

  “There are some perks to being rich,” he said. “We’ll go take care of paying off your lease and signing any paperwork your landlord wants you to sign, but the actual moving will be done by movers. You don’t have to lift a finger and I’ll have someone at the house to make sure that they put it all in the right place.”

  “That sounds amazing,” she said. “I never even thought of doing that. As for the lease, there’s no need to pay it off. My lease is up at the end of next month and I didn’t renew my lease.”

  This earned a surprised look from Eric.

  “You didn’t renew your lease?”

  “No. I have until the end of this month to decide, and I wasn’t sure how to broach the subject.”

  Eric pulled into the driveway in front of the house, putting the car in park, then turning to look at her.

  “Wait a minute. You made me go through all of that, and you were already planning on letting the apartment go?” He laughed, shaking his head then kissing her impulsively. “You’re something else.”

  She smiled.

  “I didn’t know whether I was going to keep the apartment or not. I have three weeks left to decide, and I was trying to figure out how to bring it up without seeming clingy.” She shrugged. “But, really, why shouldn’t you be the one to bring it up. I know you’re always saying that if I want something, I should speak up. But this time, what I wanted was for you to tell me what you wanted. I get that the sub is the one with all the power, but sometimes, all this sub wants is a man that takes control and goes after what he wants.”

  He reached out and grabbed her then, pulling her onto his lap and wrapping his arms around her for a long, passionate kiss.

  “I’m more than happy to be that man for you,” he said, kissing her until he took her breath away, then opening the door and standing up with her still in his arms.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, her arms going around his neck.

  “Well, you said you weren’t ready for marriage for a while, so I’m taking control of the situation and I’m starting a new tradition. Today is your official move-in day, and I’m carrying you across the threshold.”

  “You’re such a romantic,” she said, her voice dreamy. “How in the world did I get so lucky?”

  “I’ve asked myself the same thing a dozen times today.”

  “You ask yourself how I got so lucky?” she teased.

  He laughed, shaking his head and setting her down in the entryway.

  “No Ma’am,” he said, letting his Texas drawl come out full force and tugging at her heart strings. “I ask myself every morning when I wake up next to you and at night when I go to sleep with you in my arms what I did to deserve a woman like you. You’re one of a kind, Shawna Jones. And I am one lucky man.”

  ***

  Shawna was a bundle of nervous energy when she stepped out of the hired car in front of the hotel, taking in the bright lights of the sign and the beautiful architecture that made the hotel stand out in its place at the end of the strip. Off the main road and just a little out of the way, it was still super busy, and Shawna felt her excitement growing. Reading the sign, she realized that she had never even asked the name of the hotel.

  “What does Sur le Bord mean?” she asked Eric quietly.

  “It means, ‘on the edge’.”

  “And that’s how people know what kind of hotel this is?”

  “No,” he laughed. “I list it quietly on BDSM websites, and that’s why I have the main lobby set up like a regular hotel so we can quietly redirect those that find their way here on accident.”

  “I’m glad no one redirected me,” she said, laughing.

  “I wouldn’t have let them if they tried. You look beautiful tonight,” he said, kissing her cheek as they paused to let the doorman open the door for them.

  “Thank you,” she said, smoothing the flowing dress down with shaking hands.

  She wasn’t scared, but she could barely contain her excitement at the night ahead, and she was hoping that Eric enjoyed the surprise that she had for him. So much had been leading up to this night, and she was so ready to take this next step and let herself just be who she was.

  If Eric noticed her excitement, he must have chalked it up to being in the hotel again, and nothing mor
e than that. He bypassed the lobby, his key the same one that he always used for the full floor suite that was solely for his use. The clerk at the desk smiled at him, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge his presence.

  They went straight to his suite and ordered room service while they sat on the sofa and sipped wine from the chilled bottles that had greeted them when they arrived.

  Their meal arrived quickly, and they sat together at the formal dining room table, enjoying the decadent meal and talking about their hopes and dreams together. The memories they had made here filled Shawna with a pleasant familiarity and she found that she was enjoying getting to know Eric on a deeper level just as they had when their love was first new. She made a mental note to make a trip to the hotel in Vegas at least once every few months, and knew that the ritual would keep their love fresh and new for years to come.

  “I’ve been thinking about that room off your bedroom,” she said when the last of the meal had been consumed and the room service tray had been taken away. “I think it’s time you showed me what was hiding behind that door.”

  He looked across his wine glass at her, his expression one of pleasant surprise.

  “I had forgotten that you didn’t get to see what was in there,” he said. “It wasn’t that I was hiding it so much as I was afraid that you would be overwhelmed by it.”

  “And now?”

  “And now, I guess I don’t know if I’ll be able to get you out of the room once you go in.”

  “Sounds wonderful,” she said, standing and setting her half-finished glass of wine down. “How about now?”

  “Now is as good a time as any,” he said, the slow smile spreading across his face.