“Her Master’s Kiss 3”
Vivien Sparx
Copyright © 2012 Vivien Sparx
All Rights Reserved.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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When I finished ‘Her Master’s Kiss 2’ I thought it was the end of Renee and Stefan’s story. Then, when the book was released, fans began asking for a third part. I had no idea where the story could go until a friend gave me the inspiration for this concluding story line. For that reason, this story is dedicated to Sam Stettner, with my sincere thanks and gratitude.
Her Master’s Kiss 3 continues Renee and Stefan’s story six months after the events of Her Master’s Kiss 2.
One.
The sun rose over the edge of the land and painted the treetops with golden light, drawing back the darkness and enlarging the circle of their vision with every passing moment.
Then a small breeze swept the morning mist off the mountain’s slope and Renee turned her face to the warmth of the sunrise and felt it wash over her.
Through the binoculars Stefan studied the nearby trees. The woods were thick and lush with green spring growth.
“Do you see anything?” Renee asked in a whisper.
Stefan shook his head without lowering the glasses. He shifted his weight slightly, taking the strain off his haunches.
“What if they don’t come?”
“They will,” Stefan whispered. “They will.”
He flexed the cramping muscles in his legs and beside him Renee came up onto her knees in silent expectation. Stefan put a hand on her arm.
“Quiet!” he breathed.
With exaggerated care Stefan traversed the binoculars from left to right and then suddenly froze. Renee felt the light touch of his hand on her arm, but there was excitement and tension now in the way his fingers gripped into her.
“Two!” Stefan breathed triumphantly. “Male and female.”
He handed the glasses to Renee and pointed to a nearby tree. “Where that big gnarled branch forks off from the trunk,” he whispered.
Renee put the binoculars to her eyes and made a slight adjustment to the focus. She saw the two birds, perched on a leafy twig. They were small birds, grey and white, with flashes of yellow on their crown and wings, and black patches on their cheeks and throats.
“The female is the duller colored one,” Stefan said.
Renee felt Stefan moving against her and she glanced at him. He had the birds in his sights, adjusting the long barrel… and then he fired – thumbing the button on the camera as it clicked and whirred off a dozen shots.
Stefan rolled onto his back and scrolled through the images in the big camera’s viewfinder. “Got them,” he said. He bounced to his feet and dusted the dirt from his jeans. “We can go now.”
He reached a hand out to Renee.
“That’s it?” she asked.
“Yes. We can go on,” he pointed up towards the mountain’s crest.
“We laid in the dark for thirty minutes… so you could spend one second taking photos?”
“Yes.”
“Of birds?”
“Renee,” Stefan sighed. “They’re not just birds. They’re Golden-winger Warblers, and they’re rare for these parts – especially in woodland as dense as this.”
Renee shook her head. She brushed dirt and leaves off her clothes. Stefan was already ten paces ahead of her and she ran a few steps up the slope to catch up to him.
“Tell me again why we’re doing this, Stefan?” she asked. “Why are we walking up this hill?”
Stefan stopped and turned to Renee patiently. “Because I want to show you something,” he said. “And it’s not a hill – it’s a mountain.”
He turned and pointed up the slope. “This walking trail was once twenty feet wide,” he kicked at the dirt under his feet. “See how the saplings and the bushes give way to denser, older trees on either side?”
Renee nodded.
“That’s because this whole mountain was once used for logging,” Stefan said. “Trees were felled and dragged down the mountain to where our housing estate now stands. That whole area used to be a logging mill and timber yard. Oxen and horses were used to drag the logs down into the valley – and then it was transported to Bishop’s Bridge.”
“Fascinating,” Renee said dryly.
Stefan made a face. “Understanding history is important, Renee. Knowing our history means we can avoid the mistakes of our past.”
Renee brushed loose tendrils of hair from her face. “But do I have to climb the mountain to learn about its history?”
Stefan laughed. “We’re not climbing the mountain,” he said. “What I want to show you is just a few hundred paces further up this rise.”
Stefan turned and walked on. The trail was narrow and winding, climbing higher and higher up the slope. Renee trudged on behind him losing a little distance as Stefan’s long strides carried him swiftly over the broken ground.
Suddenly the trail veered away towards the edge of the slope and Renee quickened her pace to where Stefan waited for her under a grove of low scrubby trees.
“It’s through here,” he said and then went on.
Renee stepped through a curtain of overhanging foliage and onto a rocky plateau baked warm by the sun; a ledge that hung out over the land far below.
Here the ground was flat and hard. Renee propped herself against a huge rounded boulder. Stefan was standing near the edge with his back to her, hands thrust into his pockets.
Renee stepped up behind him – and the view took her breath away. Stefan lifted the camera from where it hung round his chest and took a photo.
The ledge was a huge natural shelf; a rock platform that jutted far out beyond the face of the mountain, giving a panoramic view back down into the valley, and then all the way to the blue-misted horizon. Renee gasped.
“Drakesburg,” Stefan pointed at a distant glitter of sunlit rooftops. “And that’s the interstate.”
The air was clean and fresh and clear. Renee picked out the road to Bishop’s Bridge, snaking like a dark grey ribbon through the rolling wooded hills to the north.
“This is what I wanted to show you,” Stefan said, and his voice sounded small and haunted. “I used to come here to talk to God,” he said. “I would sit here for hours, asking Him why? Why Tiffany? Why us? It’s a special place for me.”
Renee said nothing. She turned slowly to look up at him. He was staring out over a landscape that rose and fell like the swells of the sea: a tree-covered undulating vista – but all he saw was memories and ghosts.
“I thought He would hear me from up here,” Stefan said. “It was as close to Heaven as I could get.”
Renee stood silently by his side and her hand felt tentatively for his and found it. She could sense the sorrow and despair in his voice, not raw and open like a fresh wound, but as a scar that would be with him forever. She locked her fingers into his and they said nothing for a long time, absorbing the beauty of the scenery and recognizing the silence of the moment.
“It’s called Picnic Rock,” Stefan said at last. “Once upon a time the loggers used to bring their families up here on Sundays.” He pointed back to a tree they had passed. “See.”
Renee went to the tree and ran her hands over the roughened trunk. It was a giant redwood tree, and its girth was wider than the span of her outstretched arms. Carved into the tree were people’s initials.
There were hundreds of them from the height of her knees to well above her head. She ran her hand over the carvings. Most of them were old, like worn lettering carved into ancient headstones. Others were newer, deeper, fresher.
“After Tiffany died I came here a lot,” Stefan said. He still hadn’t turned from the edge of the plateau. It was as if he was talking to the clouds. “I came here to cry, and to shout – and to heal.”
Finally he turned. Renee was standing subdued. “And now I’ve come here to share this place with you.”
A sun-warmed breeze came writhing through the valley like a warm breath. Stefan looked up at the sky. The wind fluttered his shirt against his chest and rustled through the trees.
Renee came to him then with tears in her eyes. The wind caught her hair and it streamed across her face in a flickering tangle. He reached out for her and she clung to him, small and warm against his hard body, feeling the muscled resilience of him, and he could taste the saltiness of her tears on his lips.
“Thank you,” she said softly, and her voice was thick with emotion and understanding. Now, at last, she felt she truly knew her man. Now she felt there was nothing more between them. “You are like this mountain to me,” Renee said. “You’re unbreakable, you protect me and shelter me… and you’re rugged and rough around the edges,” her arms went around his neck and she pulled his face down to hers. “And I love you, Stefan. I love you with all my heart.”
Two.
The walk down from the ridge was much faster than the ascent, but more precarious.
Renee quickly lost all sense of direction, for Stefan lead her in unpredictable directions. They twisted and turned through the woodlands, sometimes able to move quickly down the slope, at other times walking obliquely like skiers trying to control the speed of their descent.
In places the path seemed to slide away beneath Renee’s feet and she was forced to flail for a nearby tree to keep her balance. In other places the dirt track was completely overgrown with grass and was as slippery as ice. She kept her eyes on Stefan’s back as he led her down off the mountain, marveling at how different everything appeared.
The sun was now high overhead, dappling the woodland floor with patches of light and shadow. The warm air, trapped beneath the canopy of branches, was heavy and Renee felt sweat trickling down the back of her shirt. She stopped for a moment, clinging to a redwood sapling to maintain her balance on the slope, and gulped down two mouthfuls of water from her bottle.
“Can we stop for a moment?”
Stefan looked back over his shoulder. He shrugged. “There’s no hurry,” he said.
Renee cut off the path a little way and slumped down in a small grassy glade with a sigh. Stefan backtracked to her and fell down on the ground beside her.
“You’re supposed to be the healthy and fit one in this relationship,” Stefan said. “I’m the old man. You’re still young.” There was a sheen of perspiration above Renee’s top lip and her cheeks were rosy red with color.
“Clearly, sir, you have worn my body out and are making me old before my time.” She kicked off her joggers and wiggled her toes.
He propped himself on his elbow and smiled down at her. “Clearly, madam, you are in need of more practice,” and there was a wicked gleam in his dark eyes.
She looked up into his handsome face and giggled. Stefan’s hand snaked down the flat of her stomach and rested lightly at the top of her thigh. Her eyes widened a little.
“Really?” Renee asked, suddenly breathless for an entirely different reason. “Now? But I’m hot and sweaty…”
There was a flash of arousal in Stefan’s expression. “You will be hot and sweaty by the time I’m finished with you anyhow.”
The giggle died abruptly in her throat as Stefan’s mouth came down to cover hers and his fingers began to unfasten the button and zipper of her jeans.
* *
Afterwards, when they lay in the soft green grass facing each other, Renee reached out and touched a jagged scar on Stefan’s chest. “You look like you’ve been in the wars. What happened here?”
“Elephant tusk.”
“And what about this one?” she traced a thin white line on his abdomen.
“Tiger.”
She chuckled. “This one?” She pointed to his arm.
“Zombies.”
Renee sighed contentedly. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe we have known each other for almost a year now,” she said. “It’s gone so fast.”
Stefan nodded. “You haven’t changed.”
She laughed. “Well you certainly have!”
Stefan sat up suddenly. “In a good way… or in a bad way?”
“Oh, in a very good way,” Renee said. “I like that we have a real relationship now. I like that you’re not my Master anymore.”
Stefan raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think it makes me less ‘manly’?”
Renee giggled, but now suddenly Stefan’s expression was more serious. “I mean it.”
She studied his handsome face for a long time before she spoke. “Stefan, someone once told me that anyone can carry a big stick and shout threats at people… but the real man is the one who speaks softly and carries a big stick.”
“And…?”
“And that’s what you are,” Renee smiled. “You don’t need to bark orders to be in control. You don’t need me to be your submissive to make me obey you. I know you let me get away with things I never would have before, but I also know they’re things that aren’t really important. I also know that you’re still every bit the alpha male – you just don’t flaunt it anymore.”
Stefan settled back in the long grass. Renee put a hand on his chest. “I used to obey my Master. It was like respecting the title. Now I respect you – the man. I like that so much more.”
A sudden flicker of movement and a glint of color caught Stefan’s eye and he pointed into the leafy branches overhead. “One of the Warblers,” he murmured lazily. “It’s the male. That’s supposed to be a sign that rain is on its way.”
Renee lifted her head from the bed of grass. She watched the bird for a moment as it hopped along a thin branch and fanned its wings. The bright yellow markings on its wings and head flashed in the speckled sunlight that split the canopy of foliage above them and fell upon the bird like a spotlight.
Renee sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. A small breeze came down off the mountain and rustled the leaves overhead. Renee felt the caress of the cool air against her naked skin. The hairs on her forearms came erect, and her nipples stood out stiffly. She shivered.
“I think it’s time we went home.”
She tugged on her jeans quickly. Morning had become early afternoon. The shadows began to lengthen, and the woods seemed to fill with the calls and cries of birds as the humidity of the midday sun was swept away and the woods came alive.
Stefan picked up the camera and took candid shots of Renee as she dressed. “They’re for my private collection,” he winked.
Her skin was lightly tanned and flawless, her breasts large but still firm, her figure trim and athletic. The hourglass symmetry of her narrow waist, and the elegant scoop of her flanks down to the flare of her hips was taut with athletic muscle.
She turned on him then, her expression aghast. “Stefan, no!” She made a half-hearted attempt to snatch the camera from him and then flung her hands up to cover herself. “Let me take photos of you in the nude!”
He raised an eyebrow in mock defiance. “Certainly,” he said. “But you will need to stand a lot further back… if you want to fit everything into frame.”
She slapped at him playfully. He swayed back outside the arc of her arm, and then leaned forward, catching her wrist and pulling her off balance towards him. Renee felt her hardened nipples graze against the abrasive muscles of his chest, and her breath caught in her throat sounding like a sob. She felt his strong arms lock around her waist.
She looked up into his face and her eyes widened. She recognized the h
ungry look in his eyes for she had seen it not an hour earlier. “No,” she gasped softly. “Again?”
His hands reached down and cupped the firm weight of her breasts, feeling them bulge warm in the palm of his hands.
“But it’s getting late,” she said. “Do we have time?”
“There’s plenty of time,” Stefan murmured. “And we’re already half undressed…”
* *
They were hungry when they finally reached the foot of the mountain and when Renee caught a glimpse of their back fence in the distance she gave a small sigh of relief.
“Everything looked so different coming down from the ridge,” she said. “I thought we were lost.”
“There are several trails up to Picnic Rock,” Stefan explained. “On the way down, I took us on a different track. We went up the slow way, and came down the fast way.” And then he corrected himself. “Well… it would have been the fast way, if you hadn’t lured me into the grass for wicked pleasure.”
“Pleasures,” she corrected.
They showered together and then while Stefan attended to phone messages and dressed, Renee sliced cheeses, sticks of carrot and celery and cubes of tomato, and arranged them on a wooden platter with crackers and bread rolls.
They sat on the living room floor with a picnic rug underneath them and ate. Renee fetched a bottle of wine from the fridge.
“I need to go into Bishop’s Bridge and run some errands,” Stefan said and then bit hungrily into a mouthful of cheese and cracker. He poured wine for Renee and handed her a glass.
“You’re not drinking?” she asked.
“No. I have to drive. I’ll drink when I get home.”
“Me too,” Renee said. She drank water instead and Stefan watched her tip the wine back into the bottle with bemused, quizzical silence.
“You look tired,” he said at last.
Renee smiled wanly. “I feel tired.”
“Maybe you should get some rest.”
“Maybe I will be able to,” she smiled “– with you out of the house.”
Her Master's Kiss 3 (Erotic Romance) Page 1