by Sherri Hayes
“Always.”
I took the body wash and began spreading it over his shoulders and arms. We were going back tomorrow to our lives . . . to reality. He would go back to work and so would I.
“What’s wrong, Lily?” he asked, placing a hand under my chin.
Shrugging, I shook my head. “I was just thinking about tomorrow.”
“Ah.” Logan rubbed his thumb along my cheek and then cupped the back of my head with his hand. He bent to kiss me, trapping my hands between us. “We can do this again anytime you want.”
“What if I want it every weekend?” I asked, putting it out there.
He hesitated and I started to grow nervous. I didn’t want him to feel as if I was pushing him into this. This weekend was supposed to be an experiment. Even though he’d seemed to enjoy it, that didn’t necessarily mean he’d want to repeat it on a weekly basis.
I was about ready to tell him to forget I’d said anything when he spoke. “We’d have to talk about specifics.” I opened my mouth, but he cut me off. “Not now. After we get home. I’ll need some time to think about things and you do, too.”
Knowing Logan, he’d also want to talk things over with Stephan. If that meant we got more time like this when I could let go and focus solely on him, then I was all right with that. “I think that’s a good idea.”
Logan gave me another kiss and then picked up the body wash with a smirk. “My turn.”
After our shower, Logan found the extra set of sheets and blankets he’d requested and we changed them out. For the remainder of the evening we lay in bed drinking the rest of the white wine he’d opened earlier and talking.
By the time my eyelids began to droop, I was more content than I ever remembered feeling before. Logan was behind me, his arm draped over my stomach. I could feel his slow, even breaths fanning my hair and the comforting rhythm was what finally lulled me to sleep.
The sun woke me the next morning. That and featherlight kisses to my stomach. I opened my eyes to see the outline of Logan’s head underneath the covers.
I shifted a little and it must have been enough for him to know that I was awake because the next thing I knew, he was between my legs. Within minutes I was coming. I didn’t know if it was due to all the activity yesterday or not, but it hadn’t taken much to get me there—not that I was complaining.
“Good morning,” Logan said, burrowing out from beneath the covers.
“Good morning, Sir.” I had to remember that technically we were still in Dom/sub mode.
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he kissed me long and slow. Morning breath was forgotten as he took me with a slowness that had me begging.
“I don’t want to leave,” I said afterward as we lay there touching.
“We can come back.” He kissed the top of my breast and slid a possessive hand down to my hip. “Maybe we should make this an annual tradition.”
“Hmm. I’d like that.”
Eventually our stomachs began to protest, demanding food. We made our way into the kitchen and this morning Logan had me make eggs and bacon . . . something I could make that was edible. He sat at the table and watched me cook.
I brought our plates over and set one in front of him before taking my seat. He picked up his fork and scooped up some eggs. “This week I want you to write down what you liked about this weekend and if there was anything you didn’t care for. I’ll do the same. We can sit down next Saturday and discuss it. Then we’ll decide if it’s something we want to move forward with.”
Smiling, I took my fork and dug into my breakfast. “Yes, Sir.”
He left me to clean up while he went upstairs to pack our things after breakfast. I made sure everything downstairs was the way we found it. If we did end up making this a yearly thing, we didn’t want to leave such a mess that the owners banned us from the property.
Logan came down the stairs carrying our bags. He set them by the door and then walked over to where I was putting the last of the dishes away in the kitchen. “About ready to go?”
“Yes.”
He kissed me on the cheek. “I’m gonna take the bags out to the car.”
I nodded and watched as he disappeared out the door.
As much as this felt like an ending—saying goodbye to this place and our weekend—I knew it was only the beginning. Logan and I had a lot of weekends ahead of us. They might not all be like this, but the important things would be there.
Logan strolled back into the cabin as I was folding the dish towel and placing it on the counter. I smiled and went to him. He rested his hands on my hips and took a last look around. “We’ll be back.”
I grinned and circled my arms around his neck. “I certainly hope so.”
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First Chapter Of Slave
Stephan
Geno’s was a small Italian restaurant about a mile from my office. They had good food and a cozy atmosphere, which made it a great place to have an informal meeting with an old friend.
The hostess greeted me at the door and let me know that my party had already been seated. She escorted me through a maze of tables to a corner booth in the back.
The restaurant was busy, but not packed. Still, getting the back corner booth with no one sitting at any of the immediate tables surrounding it told me either luck was with Daren today or he’d pulled some strings. My bet was on the strings.
Daren, my college roommate for two years, had called out of the blue this morning, asking if we could have lunch. He introduced me to the lifestyle I’ve lived for the last five years. Although he’d graduated a year ahead of me, we’d kept in touch through e-mails and the occasional phone call. Until I ran into him last month at a BDSM party, I hadn’t seen him since his graduation day.
My mentor was always more social than me, so seeing him at a party wasn’t exactly a shock. I just wasn’t aware that he had moved back to Minneapolis. It had been a pleasant surprise.
After sitting down across from my friend, I took the menu from the hostess.
“Kelly will be around to get your drink orders in a minute.”
I thanked her, set the menu down without looking at it, and faced Daren. He was nearly my exact opposite. Where I had brown hair, he had blond. His eyes were a baby blue, whereas mine were a vivid hazel. I was tall and lanky, even though I’d buffed up some since college. Daren, on the other hand, was four inches shorter and could have easily passed as a body builder.
Today he looked nervous, which was rather unusual for him. Not unheard of, but definitely not common either. Needless to say, it piqued my curiosity.
“So do you want to tell me what’s up?”
“I will in a minute,” he said, looking over my shoulder. His behavior gave me an uneasy feeling. “Do you know what you want, Stephan?”
“Yes. I come here all the time.”
“Good.” He sounded relieved.
And then Kelly was there asking for our orders.
As soon as she left, I raised my eyebrow in question, but he ignored me. “You’re still running the family business, I see.”
“Yes,” I said, not sure what he was getting at. I doubted it had anything to do with why he’d called me. “I’m still head of The Coleman Foundation, but since it’s a not-for-profit, I’m not sure you could say it’s the family business.”
He waved it away. “Same thing.”
I waited, but he didn’t continue so I decided to play along. “You’re still consulting?”
Daren released a sharp breath. “Yeah.” He leaned toward me. “Are you still looking to collar a sub?”
So that’s what this was about? “If I find the right one, yes.” I noticed his shoulders relax, and he sat back a little. “Wha
t does that have to do with anything?” I asked, truly confused.
The subject that I did not currently have a submissive came up during our conversation last month at the party. I hadn’t played with anyone in the last six months. No one had struck my fancy, and most of them reminded me too much of Tami.
Daren had been with his submissive, Gina, since college. They were well matched in likes and dislikes and were much more open in their relationship than I personally preferred. I did not share my submissives, nor did I play with others when in a relationship. Many did, like Daren and Gina, but I’d never found it to be appealing. What was mine was mine.
Kelly came back with our drinks, so Daren waited for her to leave again before answering. “Because I found a girl for you.”
“Daren,” I warned, shaking my head. This was another no on my list. I didn’t enjoy being set up. Logan, my best friend, and his girl, Lily, had tried to set me up more times than I could count. I wasn’t interested.
“Hear me out. She needs your help.”
This aroused my curiosity. “What do you mean she needs my help?”
“I know how much you like to help people, Stephan. I mean, look at what you do.”
I was in complete disbelief. “Helping fund medical care for those who can’t afford it is a little different than taking on a submissive. Is she already a trained sub? Is she looking for a Dom?”
“She’s a slave.”
A slave. I didn’t have a problem with that, fundamentally. It was a complete power exchange. Slaves gave up all control of their lives, their bodies, to their Master or Mistress. Some women, and even some men, chose to be slaves. For most slaves it was a comfort to have someone else make the decisions in their lives for them, to give up complete control to someone else. That didn’t sound like the case here if she needed my help.
“Okay,” I said, drawing out the word, still not quite sure where Daren was going with this.
“I was at a party Saturday night. She was there. Her name is Brianna, and she belongs to Ian Pierce.”
I knew of Ian solely by reputation. I’d never met him personally. He was well-known in the community, but from what I heard, he was into pain and humiliation. And he already had a slave. “What happened to his other one?”
“Oh, she’s still there. Alex was at the party as well. Brianna is a new acquisition.”
“And you don’t think she wants to be?”
“No,” he said firmly. “I don’t.”
“Maybe she’s into what Ian does.”
“Trust me, she’s not,” he said, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t have come to you otherwise. And if you had seen her Saturday night, you would know it, too.”
I considered this bit of information. There was no doubt in my mind that Daren believed what he was saying. If this girl didn’t wish to be Ian’s slave, I couldn’t sit by and do nothing. How to help her was the problem. My options were limited.
“What do you want from me exactly? It’s not like I can call the police and have them storm the place just on my word. Or yours for that matter.”
He leaned in again, clasping his hands in front of him, but had to pull back when our food arrived. Daren took a bite, and then looked me straight in the eye. “I have a collared sub, or I’d do it myself. Plus,” he said with a smirk, “you have more money than I do.”
It was then I got it. “You want me to buy her.” It wasn’t a question, and he didn’t deny it. The thought of “buying” a woman turned my stomach, but if what Daren said was true, I couldn’t just leave her there.
I needed more information and ignored my food as it grew cold on my plate. “What makes you think he’d be willing to part with his property?”
Daren gave me a devilish smile. This was the Dom I knew. He could be quite twisted when he wanted to be. “I asked,” he said with a shrug. “In fact, I told him about you. Said you might be giving him a call.”
“You what?” I nearly shouted. I couldn’t believe he’d told this man I might be interested in anything without talking to me, let alone the purchase of another human being.
Daren looked around us, and I followed his gaze. Everyone in the restaurant was looking at us. That was something we definitely didn’t need, so I lowered my voice to almost a whisper. “Explain.”
“Look, when I saw the girl, I thought of you. She has brown hair and blue eyes. I know how much you like brunettes.”
I scowled, but he ignored me. “She’s really pretty, and scared to death from what I could see,” he said pointedly. “So I simply asked Ian if he was planning to keep her now that she was fully trained. He asked if I was interested. I told him no, but that I knew of someone who might be.” He shrugged. “I didn’t tell him you’d be looking for a submissive, though, Stephan. If you do this, you’ll have to go in acting like you’re looking for a slave.”
My mind raced. If I did buy her, what would I do with her? What would she be like?
I couldn’t just leave her there—that was certain, not if she was there against her will. It just wasn’t in me. If I could help, then I had to.
Could I do what needed to be done? Could I treat a woman like a piece of meat? Buy her?
But how could I not, given the alternative?
“Okay.
What happens next?
Don’t wait to find out…
Go to my website and download Slave, the first book in this heartwarming series, for FREE and start reading today!
Sneak Peek Of Change
Brianna
My heart was pounding in my chest as I raced around the house checking to see if everything was perfect. I needed to calm down.
It had been a little over a month since we’d moved from Minneapolis to our new home, and I was still getting used to the space. That wasn’t what had me frantically looking over every surface, checking to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, though.
The reason I was plumping pillows and straightening books was because Stephan was on his way home with Lily and Logan. It would be their first time at our new house since we got settled and I wanted it to be just right.
As the thought popped into my mind, I heard Stephan telling me to breathe. Even when he wasn’t here beside me, I could still feel him near.
I lifted my hand to cover the necklace I wore around my neck. My collar. With the tips of my fingers I traced the infinity symbol entwined with the heart. It was a symbol of our commitment to each other and our relationship. He was my Dom and I was his submissive.
The muscles in my shoulders began to relax a little and I took a deep, cleansing breath. Everything would be all right.
I placed the book I held in my hand back on the coffee table. Our new house was bigger than Stephan’s condo in Minneapolis. It had a huge kitchen, something Stephan had insisted on when we were looking for a new home. He claimed it was so I could spoil him with even more delicious meals.
My gaze turned to the kitchen. Every surface was clean, and everything was in its place. A salad and some cut up fruit I’d made to go with dinner were sitting on the large island that separated the kitchen from the dining room. Stephan had said to keep it simple, and it didn’t get much simpler than roast chicken with salad and fruit.
The sound of car doors slamming drew my attention and I rushed to the foyer to greet Stephan and our guests.
Anticipation curled in my belly as I waited the couple minutes it took for them to make their way inside. The door opened and I couldn’t help but smile as I saw Stephan cross the threshold. He closed the distance between us before Logan and Lily had made it through the door.
The moment he touched me, I melted into him. Warmth surged through me as he brushed his lips against mine and his fingers caressed my cheek. His scent surrounded me, instantly comforting me. “I missed you, sweetheart,” he whispered.
His eyes were full of love as he met my gaze. “I missed you, too, Sir.”
“Something smells good,” Logan said, breaking the spell between Stephan and me.<
br />
Over the last three years I’d gotten to know Logan. He didn’t frighten me like he once had. That didn’t mean I was completely comfortable with him, but it also meant I didn’t want to run and hide when he walked into the room either.
“I made roast chicken.”
Lily sighed. “I miss your cooking. It’s not the same without you two in the city.”
Stephan guided us into the dining room, keeping me at his side. “We’re only an hour away. It’s not as if we moved across the country.”
“Yes, but I can’t pop in whenever the mood strikes me anymore.”
Lily was pouting, which seemed to amuse Stephan. “Explain to me again how that’s a bad thing?”
Logan chuckled, while Lily’s mouth twisted. I knew she probably wanted to say something but was biting her tongue. It was the weekend, which meant she and Logan were playing. If she were disrespectful to another Dom, there would be consequences.
Instead of commenting, Lily took the seat Logan offered her.
“I’ll help you bring everything to the table,” Stephan said, placing a hand on my lower back.
Because I’d kept things simple, it didn’t take more than a few minutes to bring the food into the dining room. Stephan carved the chicken while I got everyone something to drink.
Stephan held my chair for me, and then skimmed his fingers along my neck, sending shivers down my spine before taking his own seat. He sent me a knowing grin as he reached for the salad bowl and began loading salad onto my plate. I lowered my head and felt heat creep into my cheeks.
“So, how did the board meeting go?” Logan asked as he piled chicken onto his plate.
“Good, I suppose. Donations are up, but so are costs.” Stephan let out a frustrated sigh. “I wish I could do more. I don’t like sitting on the sidelines.”
Guilt nudged at me. Stephan had to resign because he’d saved me. It wasn’t right. I wished there were something I could do to help but considering I still hadn’t completely convinced my childhood friend, Cal, I didn’t have much hope that I could persuade the general public.