A Leap of Faith
Page 4
Anxious to steal another kiss before he left again, Faith hurried into the living room. “What did you forget?” She rounded the corner at the end of the hall and staggered to a halt, mouth gaping open.
A gorgeous, platinum blonde woman in a flowing white blouse, form-fitting leather pants, and a pair of killer black stilettos stood in Richard’s foyer. A medical bag draped from her manicured fingers. The beautiful stranger produced a plastic smile. “Well, hello there.” Cool blue eyes scoured Faith from head to toe. “You must be Richard’s newest toy. I’m Melody Weatherwax. Not a toy.” She waved the bag. “I’ve just stopped in to grab a few things I need to borrow from Richie.” She glanced around the empty apartment. “Is he here?”
“Sorry no, he just left. I’m surprised you didn’t see him in the elevator, actually.”
Melody waved a dismissive hand. “No matter. I can get what I need without his assistance.” She swept past Faith in long, graceful strides.
Confusion rattled around Faith’s brain. The woman obviously had an access card for the elevator, and one for the front door of Richard’s apartment. But why?
Who the hell is she?
She frowned, came about, trailing after Uppity Leatherpants. “Can I help you with something?” No sign of the woman in the hallway. Certainly she hadn’t just barged into Richard’s bedroom. His office, maybe?
Ms. Leatherpants emerged from the private, locked room at the end of the hallway where Richard kept the bulk of his BDSM toys, a room Faith had only seen the inside of once. She closed the door behind her and stalked toward Faith, the manufactured grin still plastered to her brightly painted lips. “Pity I missed him. It’s really been too long, and he was always such a good lay. Not to mention easy on the eyes.” Without breaking stride, the woman swept by her again, leaving Faith behind in a cloud of expensive perfume and self-doubt. Who was she to Richard?
“Oh, well. Gotta run. A pleasure, dear.” She waggled her fingers over her shoulder and dipped around the corner, out of sight.
Whoever the whirlwind of a woman was, she certainly moved fast. By the time Faith tracked her to the living room, Ms. Uppity Leatherpants was gone.
“What the fuck?” She wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the door, dumbfounded. Did she really know how Richard was in bed? Or had she just been mindfucking her? Uppity obviously wasn’t perturbed to find Faith there in nothing but Richard’s bathrobe, so she couldn’t be a current girlfriend. Could she?
After a few moments, when Faith was sure the woman wouldn’t come traipsing back in, and no other strangers came crashing through, she rolled the tension from her shoulders, tore her gaze away from the door, and went in search of what was probably at that point a rather tepid cup of coffee. Anything to distract her from the tiny needles of jealousy trying to attach themselves to her fragile psyche.
* * * *
Faith spent the morning with her tumbling thoughts, a spectacular view of Rockefeller Center, and the New York Times. She’d cleaned up the remnants of the previous night’s dinner, while replaying some of her favorite highlights of their evening in her mind. The silver pet dish she’d blindly eaten from had been washed and placed lovingly outside the door to Richard’s locked playroom. It had been her intent to put it inside, but while it seemed the mysterious Ms. Leatherpants was granted a key and full access, Faith was still locked out.
When she’d tired of pouting over that particular affront, Faith got dressed, donning one of Richard’s crisp, white, dress shirts and a pair of silk boxers. She was thusly dressed, and curled up on the sofa with the vanilla yogurt and the newspaper when Richard finally returned from his trip to the office.
Hercules bounded in first, drool hanging from his jowls, evidence of his recent exercise.
Richard trailed behind, his briefcase in one hand and the end of the leash in the other.
Faith jumped up from the sofa, rushing to greet him.
He set the briefcase down by the door, unclipped the leash from the dog, and set it on the side table.
Hercules rumbled into the kitchen.
Smiling green eyes took her in from top to bare toes. “You look ravishing, pet.” He gathered her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Did you miss me?”
She greedily inhaled his familiar spiced scent while he held her. “Terribly, Sir. You had a visitor while you were gone,” she added, her curiosity about the strange woman getting the better of her sense of timing.
He stepped away and moved into the living room. “I did?” Reaching the bar, he grabbed a rocks glass and tossed a few ice cubes into it before glancing over his shoulder at her. “Who was it?”
Faith wrinkled her nose, drawing a complete blank on the woman’s actual given name. All her mind would conjure was the nickname she’d gifted the woman with. “Uhm… Uppity Leatherpants? Very well dressed, blonde, leggy. Had her own keys. She didn’t stay long.”
He poured himself a scotch and came about, brow raised. “Melody Weatherwax?”
A light bulb went on. “That’s the one! She’s a fast mover, that one. She came swirling in, went into your locked room with her little black bag, and a few seconds later, she was gone. Who is she?”
Faith tried to ignore the smoky tendrils of jealousy weaving through her subconscious.
Richard settled on the sofa with his drink and patted the space beside him. “Just a friend. Well, an ex. She’s a professional Dominatrix here in the city, now. His eyes narrowed. “Who did you think she was?”
Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. “No idea. I just hoped she wasn’t your girlfriend.”
He belted a laugh. “I’m not boyfriend material. That sort of relationship has no appeal for me.” His captured her gaze with his. “You do know that, right? I’m not like most men you’ve met.”
That was an understatement. She’d never met anyone who made her feel the way he did. She looked away, studying her fingernails while her teeth grabbed at her lower lip. “Yes, Sir. I do.”
“Look at me, Faith.”
She lifted her chin and was drawn in by the dark intensity of his eyes.
“I told you before we had some unfinished business to discuss, and now is as good a time as any to discuss it. I have an offer for you to consider.”
Her heart skipped faster. “What sort of offer?”
“You’ve occupied my thoughts since our time together over the holidays. I haven’t spent a night free of wishing you were lying beside me, and last night only showed me how much I still want you. I’d like you to consider moving in here on a full-time basis. It’s my wish to train you in the lifestyle and I want you to accept my permanent collar. I know the last time we were together, I told you it would take time for us to get to this step, but I’ve changed my mind.”
Her eyes widened. Live here? With him? Permanent?
He raised a cautionary finger. “But, make no mistake. I was speaking the truth when I said I wasn’t boyfriend material. If you say yes, you’d belong to me. You’d be agreeing to be my submissive, not my girlfriend.” His warms hands wrapped around hers, pulling them into his lap. He searched her face. “How do you feel about that?”
How did she feel? Flattered. Terrified. Excited. Completely turned on.
Faith withdrew her hands from beneath his, grabbed his drink from the coffee table and drained the entire contents of the glass in three gulps. The strong liquor burned its way down her throat to set fire to her stomach. “What happens when you get bored with me?”
He laughed as if what she asked was absurd. “If I thought that would happen, I wouldn’t make this offer in the first place, but your question is fair. We would enter into a legal and binding contract to ensure you are well compensated should we decide to part ways.”
“What about my apartment? Am I supposed to keep it?”
“No. You would have to give that up. I’d also expect you to quit your IT job and switch from part time studies to full time. I travel often, so you would have plenty of time to devot
e to your studies. I’m a man of rather substantial means. I’d like to use those means to help you with your career goals, Faith. While you lived here as my submissive, I would fully finance your education, cover your expenses, and provide for your every material need. In addition, you would be given a modest monthly allowance to spend as you saw fit. Any other questions?”
Despite the abundantly generous carrots he dangled before her, she had to be insane to even consider his offer. Sure, she’d always been a people pleaser. That was just who she was, but there was a marked difference between that and training to become someone’s complete submissive. Giving away all your rights and placing your life in someone else’s control. Sheer madness. But, it felt so good to be under Richard’s command, so natural. There was no denying when she wasn’t with him, she was thinking about him.
The more Faith tried to convince herself of the insanity of his proposition, the more appealing the idea became to her, and the more she thought she would have to be an imbecile to turn her back on what he offered. She imagined more nights like last night, like their wonderful Christmas holiday together. Richard Halstead had proved he was nothing like Sebastian, that he found her anything but boring and deserved her trust.
She set the empty glass on the table and lifted her gaze to meet his. When their eyes locked, all the beautiful and loving words she’d planned to say disintegrated from her mind, leaving behind the only ones she managed to utter in response. The only ones that really mattered.
“I’d be honored, Master.”
The End
www.rbrennan.weebly.com
Other Books by R. Brennan:
www.evernightpublishing.com/r-brennan
If you enjoyed this book, you may also like:
Falling for Sir by Cat Kelly
Dance to a Different Beat by Raven McAllan
One Night with the Billionaire by Jenika Snow
Evernight Publishing
www.evernightpublishing.com