His Julie. He really shouldn’t think of her like that yet; it was much too soon. But all he had to do was remember her sighing into his touch, bending to his will, and the look of amazement that covered her face when she discovered something new, and he knew it was a lost cause. He was already thinking of her as his.
He walked around the apartment, making sure everything was in place as he had requested. The locks and alarms, call buttons and phones. He checked them all. But he kept one eye on the couple in the kitchen. They were sipping coffee and talking intensely about something.
“Everything looks good, Grandma,” he said, walking into the kitchen. “What are you two ladies discussing?”
“We’re talking about men. You in specific.”
Julie raised an eyebrow at him. “Stories of your childhood. How you used to torment your sister.”
He placed his hand on his heart and sat down at the table. “Me?”
“He was awful. Just awful,” his grandmother said. “But just when I thought they’d be enemies forever, they’d crawl under the table and he’d read to her.”
“Shel Silverstein,” he whispered. “I remember that.”
“The poems, yes.” His grandmother’s forehead wrinkled. “Wish I remembered where those books got to.”
“I have a set I can bring you,” Julie said.
“Oh, no, dear. I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking, I’m offering.”
His grandmother lightly patted Julie’s arm. “You’re such a fine lady. Now, Daniel, you treat her right.”
“He does, Mrs. Covington, I promise.” Julie’s face was the tiniest bit flushed. Her breathing just a bit hitched.
“He better. You let me know if he doesn’t.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Julie said, and then turned the conversation to the upcoming spring season, suggesting a few flowers she thought would work well in a patio garden.
While she talked about it, Daniel had the most vivid picture of Julie working in his garden naked. He decided he was particularly ready for spring to come as well.
• • •
“The next group meeting is the weekend after next,” he said hours later, when they were back at his house, lounging on the couch. “Will you go with me?”
“Can I wear a red bracelet?”
His heart threatened to beat out of his chest in happiness. He’d wondered if she would want to turn in her white for red, but thought it best it was her idea. He circled her wrist with his fingers. “If you show up with me, wearing a red bracelet, everyone will assume you’re my submissive. Will that bother you?”
She leaned back and he could tell she was thinking through her response. He was glad she took time to ensure her answer was honest and didn’t spout off what she thought he wanted to hear.
“No, it won’t bother me,” she finally said. “I’m realizing I am a submissive, so it makes sense I’d wear red. And I’m not interested in being with anyone other than you, so I don’t mind if people assume I’m yours.”
His Julie, his grandmother’s words came back to him. But now he added his own: his kitten. “I do enjoy your rational side.”
Her eyes grew dark. “I’m sure if given enough time, you’d enjoy all my sides.”
“Trust me,” he whispered. “I plan to.”
She sank deeper into his arms. “Can I think out loud for a bit?”
“Of course.”
“Sasha said she thinks Peter wants to collar her. I guess I’m just worried for some reason. She’s never had a collar before.”
He ran a finger along her neck, unable to stop himself from picturing her wearing his collar. “For me, it signifies the bond between Dominant and submissive. When I have a collared submissive, it represents my commitment to her, and hers to me. I would hope it holds the same meaning for Peter and Sasha.”
She was silent. He imagined she was thinking about Sasha. As far as he knew, Peter had never collared anyone before. His own thoughts were so focused on Peter and Sasha, her next question surprised him.
“How many submissives have you collared?”
His finger dropped from her neck. “Three.”
“Is that a lot?”
“I was too young when I collared the first. Didn’t know enough to know what I didn’t know. I waited a few years before the second. We were together the longest, but she moved away. Job promotion.” He paused, remembering her words that she couldn’t pass up the opportunity. It wasn’t until later he realized it was for the best. “The third wanted something more permanent than I was willing to offer. We went our separate ways two years ago.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a yes or no to my question.”
“I’m not sure there is a yes or no to your question.” He twirled a strand of her hair around his finger. “Some Doms have more, some less. Some have more than one.”
“Would you? Have more than one?”
“No.” He gave her hair a tug. “That wouldn’t work for me. When a submissive wears my collar, I want all my attention and care dedicated to her. I’ve never been one to share my affections.”
“Yet you haven’t collared anyone in two years.”
He had not. He hadn’t found anyone he wanted to collar. Not from lack of offers. Several submissives in the group had subtly expressed their interest. His response had always been a kind but firm no.
That was all before Julie, though.
“No, not in two years,” he said. “To echo what a smart woman told me earlier, perhaps I’ve just been waiting for the right person.”
SEVEN
For Julie, the next two weeks were some of the happiest she had ever experienced. She spoke with Daniel every day and they met for lunch several times a week. Friday nights were spent in his bed and Saturday in his playroom.
She looked forward to that time in the playroom, when she became his and he introduced her to the pleasure to be found under his control. On her knees waiting for him to instruct or tease her, she discovered she never felt more at ease. It seemed the world and all its problems floated away at the sound of his command or the touch of his hand.
Thursday night she was at home, researching new distributors for the floral shop business, when a knock on the door interrupted her.
Puzzled, she got up and looked out the peephole.
Daniel.
She unlocked the door with a huge grin on her face. “Hey, you.”
“I hope you don’t mind me stopping by.” His smile was easy and light.
“Come in,” she said. “Is everything okay?” It occurred to her maybe something had happened to his grandmother, but surely he wouldn’t be smiling so if that were the case.
He followed her into her living room, shrugging out of his coat and draping it casually over his arm. “Everything’s fine. I was just hanging out at home when something hit me.”
“Sit down.” She waved to her couch. “What hit you this time of night?”
He glanced at his watch. “Nine o’clock. It is a bit late. I’d apologize, but I’m not sorry at all.”
She loved the way he could combine a gentle tease with the honest truth. “I never said I wanted an apology. Unless, of course, you want to apologize for not stopping by this time of night before.”
He cupped her face and gave her a soft kiss that whispered of more buried just under the surface. “Trust me, kitten. If I didn’t have to be at work so early, my nights wouldn’t be spent jerking off to fantasies of you. They’d be spent with my c**k inside you in any way possible.”
Damn, what he could do to her with a few softly spoken words. Just like that, he could make her visualize everything he said. And more than that, make her want it.
But instead of moving forward, he pulled back. “Before I forget why I came here, the group meeting is tomorrow night.”
Due to their schedules, time together beforehand would be limited. He would be picking her up right after she closed the shop and they’d drive to the meeting, where she would be seen by most people in the group as Daniel’s submissive. Afterward, she would spend the night with him and in his bed, and she would once more act as his submissive.
She couldn’t wait.
“I brought you a little something,” he said. “Thought it might be a good idea for you to have it for a while beforehand. Get used to it.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a red bracelet.
• • •
Daniel left not long after giving her the bracelet. She tried to convince him to stay, but he insisted he had to get up early for work and promised he would make up for it the following night. She watched the taillights of his car disappear and then turned off her computer, knowing there would be no more researching distributors in her current state of mind.
The red band dangled from her fingers and she spun it around, taking in what it meant. The following night she would put it on and attend a meeting where it would identify her as a submissive. Not only that, but she would show up with Daniel and everyone would know she submitted to him. When she spoke to him, she would have to address him as “Master Covington.”
The thought made her knees wobble and she dropped into a chair.
“Master Covington,” she said out loud, to test the words. She found she liked them a lot.
She took the band and slipped it over her wrist. The red looked so vivid against her skin. No one would have any trouble seeing it. Probably wouldn’t be a good idea to wear it to work; she’d never noticed Sasha wearing hers. But she decided she’d wear it to sleep.
She’d just taken the bracelet off to shower when her phone rang.
Probably Daniel.
But an unknown number flashed on the display. She answered with a frown. “Hello?”
“Julie Masterson, please,” someone said, speaking over a large amount of background noise.
“This is Julie Masterson.”
“Ms. Masterson, this is Hope from Northeastern General Hospital. You’re listed as the emergency contact for Sasha Blake.”
She pressed a hand against the wall to steady herself. Sasha. “Is she there? Is she okay?”
“She’s been admitted and is currently listed as stable.”
“I’ll be right there. Where’s she at?”
“In the Emergency Department, waiting for a room.”
Julie whispered thanks and hung up with trembling hands. She had to get to the hospital. Where were her keys? She fumbled in her purse, repeating over and over again that Sasha must be okay, because the caller said she was stable.
It wasn’t until she was halfway to the hospital that she remembered Sasha had said she was spending the evening with Peter.
• • •
They’d moved Sasha to a room by the time Julie made it to the hospital. Running around, first to the ER and then up to the floor to Sasha’s room, left Julie feeling harried and even more upset. Turning the last corner, she stomped to the room they told her Sasha was in and took several deep breaths to calm herself before pushing the door open.
It took her eyes a few minutes to adjust to the dim light and when they did, they settled on the blanket covering the fragile-looking bundle in the middle of the bed. Sasha. But her positioning looked odd and it took Julie a second to realize it was because she was on her stomach.
Julie wondered for the two hundredth time what had happened. She tiptoed forward, unable to tell if her friend slept or not.
“Sasha?” she whispered.
The bundle shifted slightly. “Jules?”
She rushed forward and stopped only when she saw Sasha’s red-rimmed eyes and wet cheeks. “What? What happened?”
A silent sob shook through Sasha’s frame and she hissed in pain. “I can’t . . . not yet . . . just sit with me?”