She sobered and added. “I caught myself turning dinner down a few nights ago because I didn’t want to have to deal with who would pay. When I paid the waitress tonight you looked as if you wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it.” She stretched taller and pulled him down a few inches so she could reach to kiss his chin. “It’s a problem we need to resolve, and this is my solution. If you have a better idea that lets me pay half the time without making you so uncomfortable, I’m all ears.”
Ethan smiled. “All those years I looked for someone submissive in bed, but in control of the rest of her life.” He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I had no idea you’d be such a willful, stubborn, headstrong pain in the ass.” He kissed her forehead. “I love you, Sam. It’s a good solution. I’ll agree to it if you’ll agree to wait to have checks printed after your name includes mine.”
“You’re such a caveman.” She rolled her eyes back at him as she smiled and added, “I’m good with that. It may be Friday afternoon before I’ll have a chance to meet you at the bank to open the account, this week is crazy busy.”
Chapter Ten
As the playroom equipment was built they spent more and more time at Sam’s, with only the occasional night at Ethan’s. They were generally together three or four nights a week, and rarely did a day go by they didn’t see each other.
It was mid-March when Ethan broke the news he’d need to be out of town for about a week. “My general manager in Atlanta is good, but I want to go over all the tax information before it goes to the accountant. I’m planning to drive to Atlanta late Sunday evening and stay until I’ve been through everything. It may take most of the week.”
Sam tried not to show the disappointment she felt as she said, “It’s a good idea to go through it, and it’ll probably be good for the men down there to see you around. The day trips you’ve made to keep your hand in things have let you meet all of the new hires, but this will give you more of a chance to see them as they arrive in the morning and return in the evening, when they aren’t necessarily on their best behavior.”
“I know, but I’m going to miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too.” She paused cutting the zucchini to look up and smile. “I’m sure we’ll both survive, and I’m positive you’ll come up with a creative homecoming celebration.”
He nodded. “Of course. But that’s next weekend, and we still have this one to look forward to. It works out for this to be your weekend off, so you can eat whatever you want. I won’t be going up a size on anything this weekend, which will make it easier for you to keep to your schedule next week.”
“Won’t that put me behind in my training?”
“Nope. You’re ahead of schedule and I think maintaining this week instead of stretching will do you some good.”
Sam felt her brow wrinkle as she said, “What are you not telling me?”
He dried his hands and walked to her, took the knife out of her hand, placed it on the cutting board, and turned her towards him, caressing her cheek as he said, “When I come back, I’ll want to reclaim you — to remind us both who you belong to.”
Her insides ignited and her breath caught as his words sank in. He was warning her it would be rough next weekend, and he somehow thought taking it easy on her this weekend would make up for it.
She reached behind her, grasped his hand, and pulled it around to kiss his knuckles. “I’m fine with you reclaiming me next weekend, but I don’t want you to take it easy on me this weekend to try to balance things out.”
He stepped back and she returned to her vegetables and began slicing again. He watched her a few seconds and resumed rinsing the food prep dishes and loading the dishwasher.
“I’d rather have some marks next week while you’re gone.” She said. “Something to remember you with?”
“Oh, that’s easy enough to arrange.” He gave an evil chuckle. “I only said I was giving your ass a rest by not moving up to the next size.”
They had a busy weekend, with a long bike ride Saturday and a morning of hiking and bouldering Sunday. He kept up her normal weekly maintenance schedule to be sure she didn’t lose any ground, but he stayed true to his word and didn’t push her any farther.
Sunday evening he took her far into subspace and used his belt and a leather paddle to make sure she had bruises and welts to remember him while he was gone. He lay with her until she was asleep, and locked up on his way out the door.
* * * *
Tuesday evening she had a good workout at the dojo, though it seemed odd without him. As a matter of habit, she checked her phone in the locker room to see if anything had come in during her workout, and found a text from Ethan letting her know he missed her and was on his way back. Her heart did flip-flops at the idea she’d see him soon, and she admonished herself for being such a girl. It’d been less than forty-eight hours since she’d seen him, and they’d talked for almost an hour the night before via Skype! Still, she was glad he’d finished faster than he’d originally thought, and she stopped to buy some rocky road ice cream on the way home to celebrate. She already had some of her favorite, but wanted to surprise him with his.
She hadn’t cleaned the kitchen from breakfast that morning, and she tossed everything into the dishwasher. It was full, but she thought she could fit their ice cream bowls in, so decided to wait until later to start it.
Settling into a comfortable seat in the living room so she could see him pull into the driveway, she pulled her laptop into her lap to get some work done while she waited. When his headlights finally appeared she saved her work, closed her laptop, and met him on the front sidewalk, jumping into his arms as he neared, and attacking him with a kiss.
When she finally came up for air she realized her legs were wrapped around his waist. Thank goodness it was dark, so the neighbors weren’t likely to see. She hugged him tighter and buried her face in the side of his neck, muttering, “Wow, you feel good. I hadn’t realized how much I missed you until you said you were coming home. You finished earlier than you thought?”
He walked up the steps with her wrapped around him, got them through the door and closed it behind them. Sam’s heart skipped and everything between her legs throbbed as he gently lowered her to the floor and pushed her shirt up to latch his mouth onto her nipple.
He pushed her yoga pants to her knees and slowly ran his fingers up her thigh. Gentle fingers stroked her pussy lips until she moved her hips, and he moved his mouth to her other nipple as he drove two fingers into her.
She used her feet to pull the yoga pants off so she could spread her legs, and she pushed up, meeting his fingers with every thrust.
She was close to coming when she realized something was missing, and her heart sank. “Ethan, I don’t have anything in my ass!”
He rose off her nipple a brief second, and his fingers stilled as his gaze met hers. His eyes were fierce as he said, “We’ll make an exception to the rule for our homecoming fuck. Come as often as you want, just tell me when you do.”
He jammed three fingers into her, and Sam reached for his shirt and began pulling it up. He removed his fingers from her long enough to let her pull his shirt off, but reinserted them with a snarl, forcing her open, daring her to tell him he was too rough.
She opened her legs wider, showing him she was fine, she could take it, and he added his pinky and drove in hard, holding as he looked into her eyes, pressing her open.
“I want you, Ethan. Not your hand. You. Please.”
He withdrew his fingers and stood abruptly. It took him only a few seconds to shed his pants and underwear, and he was back on the floor, between her legs. She’d grown used to the size of his cock, but it was still huge every time it entered her.
He lodged his cock at her entrance and stopped. His hands were braced around her head on the floor, his elbows locked and his eyes squeezed closed, and she could tell he was holding onto his control by a slim margin. He took a breath, his body frozen, and Sam stretched her hand up to cup his ch
eek. His eyes opened and she saw the wildness in their deep green depth.
“It’s okay, Ethan; I can take it. Use me. Take what you need. If you were never gentle it would be different, but you’ll be gentle later, and we both want it rough now.” She stroked his cheek before symbolically stretching both arms above her head along the floor and pulling her knees higher in invitation.
His gaze pierced hers for several long seconds before he nodded and then drove into her in one brutal shove. He moved his hands to wrap them around the top of her shoulders to hold her in place, shifted so his weight was on his knuckles beneath her, and pounded his huge cock into her.
It was all she could do to take him at first, but within a few minutes her body met his with every thrust, and minutes later barely managed to tell him she was going to come before she was writhing under him, twitching and convulsing around the hard length and width of him. He didn’t relent during her orgasm, just kept driving away, and when she opened her eyes, his were focused on her with an intensity that set her off again. She mouthed she was coming again, as she couldn’t draw in more air, and her entire body rippled and shuddered as Ethan’s thick length continued to piston in and out of her.
Sam lost track of how many times she came, but she recognized the signs of Ethan getting close, and she held off her final orgasm until she heard his grunts and felt him releasing inside of her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and curled sideways into his wrist as she came the final time, and he made feral noises above her as he finally released.
He collapsed beside her and rolled to his back, pulling her with him as he turned, and tucking her into his side as he caught his breath.
Sam recovered first and laughed as she realized they’d only made it a few feet inside the front door. Lucky she had a nice decorative rug here, or they’d have been on hardwood floor. She pushed up to lay on top of him, their stomach’s touching, and her head using his chest as a pillow.
“I bought rocky road ice cream to welcome you home, but I like your idea better.”
He chuckled beneath her and rubbed his hand in slow circles on her upper back. “I’m not finished. I’ll need to get up early in the morning and drive back, but I missed you.”
She raised her head to look into his eyes. “Really?”
His mouth formed a half smile and he looked a little embarrassed, so she pushed up to kiss him, opening his lips with hers and driving her tongue in. He let her have control for several long moments before he flipped her over so he was on top, and he controlled the kiss. She happily let him take his power back, though she reached up to fondle the back of his neck as they kissed.
He ended the kiss and rose to stand in one smooth move, and then leaned to help her up. “We should stop before I take you on the floor again. Ice cream sounds perfect. C’mon.”
They each dipped their own bowls, and Sam smirked as she watched him pile his bowl full and then put a big scoop of her Mint Chocolate Chip on top of his Rocky Road.
They sat at the island to eat, chatting about nothing important as they played footsies, as if they couldn’t bear to be close without touching. Ethan finished first and carried his bowl to the sink, rinsed it, and opened the dishwasher. He looked at it a few seconds and began rearranging it, his bowl still on the counter. He lifted several of the glasses on the counter into a straight line by size, to make an empty spot on the rack, and then arranged all of the glassware in the dishwasher by type and size, pulling the items on the counter down as he made it to their type. As he worked, the center opened up, and he lined the bowls down the center, finally moving his ice cream bowl down as he worked. He reached to the bottom rack and brought the bowls down there up, and then worked the remaining plastic items he’d pulled out into the space between glasses and bowls. He worked quickly, and within moments the top rack was perfect.
She was careful to keep her voice neutral to avoid showing the irritation beginning to develop around seeing her dirty dishes organized perfectly whenever he’d been over.
“What are you doing?”
He glanced up briefly before focusing on his task again. “If you think about how you load it you can get about twenty percent more dishes in per load. It’s a lot like loading a moving truck — figuring out how to pack it for maximum efficiency.”
She was quiet as she watched him work, and within a few minutes he’d organized everything on both racks. Sure enough, it was about twenty percent empty now, with room for a good many more dishes.
She shook her head and said, “Here’s the thing, Ethan.”
He looked up sharply, apparently realizing by her tone of voice there might be a problem.
“I’m not going to start organizing dirty dishes to save…what? Maybe five dollars a month in electricity and water? I only run it once or twice a week.” She waved towards the perfectly organized racks and said, “Admittedly, it was full, and now it’s about eighty percent full. Without using a calculator, I think that would allow me to run the dishwasher maybe two less times per month, possibly only once.” She shook her head again. “Dishes have their place in the cabinets, where they’re stored, but…the dishwasher? It’s not worth it to me. I’d rather just put items in wherever.”
He wrinkled his brow. “That’s okay. I don’t mind rearranging it.”
She wrinkled hers back at him. “Are you being deliberately obtuse? It bugs me to put dishes in only to have you take them out and move them.”
“Really? Because it bugs me to have them in there all helter-skelter.”
“Well, it’s my house and my dishwasher, so just leave them be. Please.”
Ethan slowly closed the dishwasher and stood for a couple of seconds with his back to her, his hands resting lightly on the edge of the counter. His voice was quiet as he said, “And what about once I move in. Will it still be your house and your dishwasher?”
His words hit her like a punch to the gut, and her heart fell to her feet. “Shit. No. I’m sorry. I guess I was thinking in terms of right now, when we each have our own dishwasher. You’re right, of course. It will be our house and our dishwasher, and we’ll have to figure out how to make both of us happy.”
They were both quiet a moment and she said, “Are we really having this serious of a conversation over how the dishwasher gets loaded?”
He finally turned to face her, his head tilted and eyebrows raised. “It would appear so.”
Sam turned sideways in her chair and pulled her feet into the seat so she could wrap her arms around her knees. “And we’re at an impasse? Two hard-headed alpha personalities fighting over how the dishwasher is loaded?”
He didn’t say anything and she threw her arms in the air and stood, exasperated. “Well, if you’re waiting for me to find a compromise, my solution is to make the dishes your job from here on out. If you don’t like the way I load the dishwasher, it can be your job. Permanently.”
He tilted his head again and said, “Promise?”
Sam had been working up a steam, and his single word shocked her. “What do you mean?”
“Do you promise to leave the dishwasher to me?”
She sat back down as she thought about what he was asking. She answered slowly. Unsure if he were serious. “Once you move in, sure. Until then, I can’t just leave dirty dishes in the sink until the next time you’re here.”
He didn’t respond and she tried to display curiosity without antagonism as she asked, “Why is this so important to you? They’re just dirty dishes.”
“Call it a pet peeve.” He shook his head. “I don’t know, maybe it’s even an OCD kind of thing. It’s one of the reasons the moving business is such a good fit for me. I love organizing things, seeing the pattern in my head of how it can all fit together to get the most into a small space. I just need you to understand I literally can’t see the dishwasher the way you load it without fixing it.”
Sam laughed as she got a vision of the two of them fighting when they were sixty, and her messing up his perfectly organized s
hoes to irritate him. She grinned and asked, “How bad is this OCD thing? I mean, you aren’t going to start rearranging my closet, right?”
He shook his head. “No, your closet is organized just fine. Whoever designed it did a great job.”
She’d been joking, but he was dead serious. She tilted her head as she thought about his cabin and remembered his perfectly organized sock drawer. Her socks were only folded together in pairs because the laundry service did it for her.
Testing the waters, she asked, “And my sock drawer?”
He winced and she had her answer. She leveled her gaze and said, “I’m willing to concede the dishwasher as long as you’re willing to take responsibility for it, but I’m not good with the entire house having to be perfectly organized.”
He laughed and quick-stepped to her, lifting her from the chair as one would a toddler, and bringing her face to his so he could kiss her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he transferred his hands from under her arms to wrap them around her. “I promise I’ll leave your sock drawer and the rest of your closet alone.” He paused a moment and added, “Assuming you don’t run out of room. If you need more space my OCD will kick in and I’ll probably rearrange everything.”
He looked so sheepish as he said it, Sam burst into laughter and kissed his cheek.
“I tell you what. I’ll concede the dishwasher, the playroom, and the garage. You leave my closet and the workout room alone. If you feel the need to move something in those areas, talk to me first, get my input on it.”
He looked like he wanted to say something else, and she said, “Out with it. Now, while we’re all set to find compromise.”
He glanced sideways at the cabinets and looked back to her. “Can I put the plates and saucers where the drink bottles are, move the spices where the plates and saucers are, and put the drink bottles where the spices are?”
Safeword: Matte - In Training Page 14