Author: Tara Sue Me
Her body relaxed under his words and touch, which made him feel better.
“That’s right,” she said, though he realized she spoke more to herself than in response to him.
He took her hand and led her from the room. “Come with me. ”
For the next few hours, they bundled up and he showed her around his property. She didn’t seem to be suffering any lasting effects from either the spanking or the playroom. In fact, she seemed more at ease around him.
He took her by the pond he’d spoken of earlier, showing her the place he would fish as a young boy. He pointed out his guesthouse and explained that he hosted play parties there. He even spoke of his parents, which was something he rarely did with anyone. How his mother died after giving birth to his sister and how his grief-stricken father had taken off and never come back.
He knew that, having lost her own parents, she understood. She simply took his hand and commented on how now it was even clearer why his grandparents were so dear to him.
Before she left, they made tentative plans to meet for lunch midweek and for her to come back to his house on Saturday. He wanted to ask her if she’d bring an overnight bag, but decided to wait until they met for lunch.
• • •
Sasha, of course, knew as soon as Julie walked in the door on Monday that something had happened.
“Tell me all about it, don’t leave a thing out. ” She was hopping around the shop, way too hyper for a Monday morning.
Julie shrugged and tried to act all casual as she put her purse behind the counter. “We had dinner. It was nice. I spent the night. ”
“Did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Get your kink on?” Sasha said with a waggle of her eyebrows.
“Must we discuss every detail of my sex life?”
“Yes, we must. Every detail. So spill. Now. ”
“Not until I’m properly caffeinated. And what’s gotten into you?”
Sasha talked while Julie prepared the coffee. She had rarely seen her friend so animated. Her eyes glowed and her entire body seemed energized. “I think Peter’s going to collar me. ”
“Whoa. Really?” At first, Julie felt surprised to hear her friend was ready to take what she’d learned was such an important step. Although thinking about it, she realized Sasha had been with Peter longer than any other man in recent history. Which wasn’t saying a lot, but still. Julie couldn’t remember her ever wearing a collar.
“Yes! He hinted at it this weekend and I ended up staying at his place all day yesterday. And he’s building a playroom, it’s not anything like Daniel’s, but it’s still a room, right? And he’s—”
“Damn, take a breath. ”
“Sorry. ” Sasha climbed onto the stool next to her. “It’s just . . . I’m ready, you know?”
Julie nodded and took a sip of coffee. She was starting to understand. “How does that work, being collared?”
“Peter likes playing the entire weekend. ” Her forehead wrinkled. “I’m not sure about that. It seems like a lot, but we’ll work it out. Besides, you’ve had coffee now. ”
“Half a cup. ”
“Surely that’s enough. Now spill. ”
She wasn’t sure she was ready to spill; she rather wanted to keep it to herself a bit longer. To take the memory of being on her knees before Daniel and examine it, piece by piece, until she unlocked the secret of why it felt so good.
But she knew Sasha wouldn’t let it drop.
“He spanked me. I slept over. Had a mini freak-out in his playroom. ”
“You played in his playroom?”
“No, he let me look around. ”
“Okay. Whew,” Sasha said. “I didn’t think he’d play with a newbie in his playroom. Not Mr. These-Are-the- Rules-and-You-Will-Follow-or-Else. ”
“That’s what you think of Daniel?” She couldn’t reconcile it with the man she’d spent so much time with the last few days.
“I don’t know Daniel. I just know Master Covington. ”
Master Covington.
She would put that away to inspect later, too. Why the sound of it made her insides feel all wobbly.
Sasha was watching her closely. “What caused the freak-out?”
“And here this whole time I thought you’d ask about the spanking. ”
“We’ll go there next. ”
Julie swirled her coffee. “The thing is, I’m not ready to talk about it. It made me feel things I didn’t expect and I need to process that first. ”
Her words had the desired effect on Sasha; she straightened up a bit. “Sure, I get that. It’s been a while for me, but I remember being new. ” The bell above the door chimed and Sasha went to greet the customers. “Just remember, I’m here when you’re ready to talk. ”
Julie took longer than normal lingering over her coffee. Daniel had said he had the need to dominate only in the bedroom and the playroom. The playroom made sense to her, but how would it be to always give up control in the bedroom? Could she do that?
She thought back to the hotel, when she’d slept with Daniel before knowing he was a Dominant. No matter which way she looked at it, the night had been beyond anything she’d ever experienced. Well, at least until the night in his bedroom.
Perhaps, she decided, that was her answer.
• • •