Master (14 page)

"Look, I'm sorry.
Cade
.
I'm trying, but damn, I have to get my head around all the
things I've been denying for the last god knows how long. Cut me some slack,
please."

"Please, Sir," he replied in a level tone.

"Please,
Sir,"
Anna parroted. Her tone bordered on insolent. Why wasn't he meeting her at
least halfway? Suddenly weary of it all, Anna bowed her head again. Not to be
subservient, but so
Cade
wouldn't see the tears that
were forming.

Her chin was lifted up by one elegant finger.
Cade
hunkered down in front of her and stroked her face and
neck.
"Hey, why the tears?
You don't have to do
this, you know."

"Ha." Anna sniffed and took the tissue he offered
her. "I do, you know. Because let's face it, this, this great big 'oh what
if' is hovering over me like a storm cloud. It's just I feel stupid."

The moment she'd spoken, Anna knew the words were the truth.
She did feel silly. "I'm watching myself, kneeling on the floor like this
and thinking 'he's not
interested,
what an
arse
I look'.
 
Oh and
as well as that, instead of being full of anticipation, I'm watching the door,
scared shitless it's going to open. I certainly don't feel turned on, more the
opposite. This isn't going to work."

His grip on her neck tightened for a second, and then
relaxed. "Let's start again, love. I'm not behaving properly, and that's
remiss.
So, open and honest, and as ourselves?"

That sounded promising. Anna allowed a faint thought of hope
to warm her. She nodded. "I reckon."

Cade
stood up and held out his
hand for her to take.
"
Upsadaisy
then.
This is not the place to start."

Anna let him pull her up and for one short second she was in
his arms, before he straightened. The brief contact had her pulse jumping. He
still had the power to move her. Surely that was a good sign?

"Where are we going?” Anna grabbed her handbag and
jacket as
Cade
picked up her shoes and ushered her
towards the door. Thank goodness she hadn't got any further than trying to
unzip her
skirt,
and her blouse was still buttoned up.

He shut the door behind them and turned to an astonished
Stephan. "That's us away for the day.
Aiden
and
Melissa will be in within the hour. Will you hold the fort until then?"

Anna thought Stephan answered
Cade
,
but she was outside the room and following him down the corridor so fast, she
almost tripped.

"Hell,
Cade
, slow down, will
you? I've not got any shoes on."

He glanced down at her bare feet, and the next thing Anna
knew, she was in his arms.

Cade
kicked the door to the car
park open.

"No time. I need to get us somewhere private. Then I'm
going to make love to you until neither of us can move. After that, we'll talk.
Here, use this for me." He gave Anna the fob to open the car. "I
don't want to drop you."

Well, she didn't want him to either, especially as his
erection was pressing into the cheek of her butt. She could feel its power and
heat through the material of her skirt. Anna fiddled with the fob and heard the
door lock open. That was a good start.
Cade
lowered
her into the passenger seat and walked around to the driver's side. Once he was
in his seat, Anna passed him the fob.
Cade
grunted
his thanks and set the car in motion.

"Before you ask, and I can see your mind buzzing, we're
going home.
Our home.
To kill all the bad memories and
make some new ones, I hope.
Oh, and to learn how to interact,
and do what's right for us both."
He turned off the road they were
travelling
on and onto a dual carriageway before he
increased the speed of the car. He shot Anna a quick glance before looking back
at the road. "Talk to me, Anna. Tell me what you want. Let's start with
basics, and be honest about everything. Tell me, love, where do you want to
start?"

 
That was throwing the
responsibility to her—or was it? Anna twiddled with her hair as she tried to
formulate her words. "I think I want to start from scratch. As if I'd
never been in the lifestyle with you, as if I'm a newbie, investigating my
needs and wants. I…" She hesitated. It was harder to put her thoughts into
words than she'd imagined it would be.
Cade
didn't
look at her but concentrated on the road ahead. "I liked some of what we
did, but not if other people saw," she said in a rush. "I hated that.
So, I want to find out what I do and don't enjoy. Hell, it's been so long, I
might hate everything." What she did hate was the way her voice wobbled.

"And you might love everything and ask to go further.
Stop pre-empting yourself. Okay, I can go with that, but you have to give me
one thing, love."
Caden
indicated to turn up a
drive that she had never forgotten. The last time she'd seen it, it was through
the rear view mirror of her car, and that view had been blurred by her tears.
"You have to give me truth and trust. No negotiation."

That seemed reasonable.
"As long as I
get it back?"

The look he gave her could have felled a lesser woman, but
Anna stared back at him. She had to say it, and now felt one hell of a lot
better.

"That goes without saying." He'd stopped the car.
"Hold on while I open the door then I'll carry you over the gravel."

 
At least he didn't say over the threshold.
Anna admired the way his
denims molded to his butt and thighs. When he turned and retraced his steps she
saw the way the soft cloth outlined his cock.
 
Very nice, can I hope he feels
like that because of me?
Cade
had seen where she
was looking, and laughed.

"That's what you do to me, and we've not even started
yet. But we can do, very soon." He lifted Anna into his arms again and ran
his hand up her thigh to the top of her legs. She wriggled as he straightened
and saw the moment something major registered.

"Holy hell, if I'd known you were
knickerless
earlier, we'd never have got out of my office."

"The very reason I didn't mention it," Anna said.
"It was in the details I had sent to me.
Knickerless
and no hair.
That gave my beautician friend the best laugh she'd had for ages. I was told I
acted like a two year old on her first haircut." She giggled. "Well,
in one way it was my first."

His finger stroked her bare mound and circled her clit. Anna
hardly dared breathe. The gentle touch sent a flare of heat through her. She
clenched her muscles, and
Cade
laughed.

"You like that." It wasn't a question. His finger
moved closer and rubbed against the sensitive tissues. Anna moaned, as the
flare became an inferno. Her juices gathered, and she was ready to come.
 
Oh
god, I'm moaning and groaning like I don't know what, and about to come and
we're standing on the drive.

 
Caden
walked toward the door. "Let's get this clear," he said in a
conversational tone. "You don't come unless I say so. You're ceding your
decision-making process over to me."

 
Anna thought about
it. That was three steps too far. "No, I'm not. I'm ceding nothing yet. We
need to talk."

The scrunch of gravel under
Cade's
feet was loud, as he said nothing. Anna rushed into speech as he put her down
on the doormat and unlocked the door.

"I need baby steps,
Cade
, not
giant ones."

 
"You need your
ass paddled until you stop thinking and just enjoy,"
Cade
said as he stood back to let her pass inside. "That's your trouble, Anna. You
can't let go."

 
Anna sniffed. He
might be correct in his assumption, but just saying it wasn't going to change
the way she felt. She stalked past him and stopped dead.
Cade
bumped into her, and his cock, ready as ever, pressed on the crack of her bum.

Anna did her best to ignore the insistent pressure and the
shivers and tingles that ran over her skin. Her nipples were so hard and tight,
she feared for the lace of her bra. Her channel was so wet, even the most
liquid-collecting kitchen towel wouldn't be enough to hold it all.
And now this.

"Oh wow." The once stark room oozed comfort and
warmth. "This is gorgeous. What's the rest of the house like?"

"Let's go and take a look,"
Cade
suggested. He put his hand to the small of her back. Anna thought the imprint
would be outlined on her skin.

"Why upstairs?" she asked as he urged her toward
the wide wooden staircase. Her skirt chafed her pussy and did nothing to
deflate her excitement.

"Why not?"
Cade
asked her. His tone was bland and gave nothing away. "We'll be spending a
lot of time up here. My playroom is on the first floor, remember?"

That was something she was trying hard not to remember.

Cade
chuckled. The carefree sound
surprised her. "Ah, Anna, love, you're so transparent. I heard you, baby
steps. I just want to show you round and see if you like what I've done. After
all you'll be living here, so I want it to be to your taste."

Anna preceded him up the stairs. "Well, it sure as hell
won't be if you still have that rope contraption above the bed. The thought of
it still gives me nightmares. In fact the thought of our bedroom gives me the
heebie
jeebies
. More like a
gynecologist's office than a room for rest and relaxation. If you expect me to
be able to stop thinking and just feel, then that's not the place." A
frisson of something akin to fear slithered down her spine. She'd never ever
been vocal about
Cade's
preferences before, and she
was worried about his reaction. However, Anna had made herself a promise before
she'd returned that she wasn't going to suffer—or enjoy in silence.

"Remember, safe, sane, and consensual.
Especially the consensual bit.
Think what you want. Here,
will this do?"
Cade
pushed open the door to what
had been their bedroom, ropes and shackles included. "Open your
eyes." He barked in a staccato manner.

 
Anna hadn't realized
she'd screwed her eyes closed as the door opened. The command had her eyes wide
open and staring at him. She hoped to hell she didn't look as wary as she felt.
He made her feel like a virgin about to be deflowered by a dragon. Not that she
was technically a virgin, but Anna had her doubts if anything could find her
pussy, let alone make its way inside. It had been so long since she'd felt
anything other than her vibrator; her channel would probably put a no entry
sign up if a cock dared to go near it.

"Look at the room, love, not at me." Again his
voice was steel.

 
Anna took her gaze
off him with reluctance and stared around. She sagged with relief and delight.
If she hadn't taken hold of
Cade's
arm, Anna was sure
she'd have sat on the floor with a thump. Without knowing it was the room that
held so many bad memories for her, Ana wouldn't have believed it. Gone were the
wrought iron bed and the ropes above it. Instead there was a deep mahogany
sleigh bed, the patina of the wood glowing in the sunlight. She saw her dresser
still sited in the deep bay window and smiled. When she'd left she daren't take
it with her. It held too many memories.

Pencil sketches of her replaced the ugly modern blocks of
color
Cade
had favored for pictures… Anna let go of
Cade's
arm and walked across the room to examine the three
small pictures.

"These are me," she said. "Naked
me, me with wax on, and me
tied up. Who did them?" Her
stomach was churning again. Anna decided she needed to buy some Milk of
Magnesia, super economy size. How could he let someone portray her like that?
In the one depicting wax play, she looked to be in subspace, her head bowed and
her eyes closed, and in the one of her tied she had her head thrown back in
ecstasy. She gripped her hands together to stop herself ripping them from the
walls. Even the straightforward nude showed her in the throes of passion. The
artist had made her skin glow.

"Who did them?" she asked again.

"I did."

He did?

"But why?
And how?" Anna was at a
loss to understand why
Cade
needed them. She'd been
gone fifteen years, for goodness’ sake. Lord, she hoped a succession of subs
hadn't seen them.

"To remind me of how it had been before it all went
wrong.
Before you ran.
To try to understand why it
went wrong when I remember you like this. Why, Anna? Please help me understand
so I can try to fix it."