Master (16 page)

"So, the darkness is all right, and I'm not? I'm
gutted." He seemed to have recovered his humor.

"Oh, you're my friend.
More
than."
Anna swam to the edge of the pool and rested her arms on the
rim. "Join me?" She looked up at him. Dickens had given up on the
water droplets and was stretched out a few feet away, ignoring them.

He shook his head. "We both know what'll happen if I
do." He rolled his trousers up to his knees, sat down and dangled his feet
in the water. "I'll just hang round until you're finished. I can't help
it, love. I need to know you're safe."

Anna studied his face. She could see the tension lines on
his forehead and around his eyes. He'd aged ten years in three months. It
worried her.

She made her mind up. "I know we do." Anna put her
hand on his ankle and tugged. "And yes, I know you do, and it's
appreciated." She knew his love for her was always there, even when she
was being a pain. She grabbed the other ankle and lowered herself backwards under
the water.

****

Cade
grinned and let
himself
fall into the water next to her with a splash.
Somehow, he managed to snag her bikini bottoms and untie them as he went down.
They drifted away. There wasn't a top to bother with.

She giggled and tried to wrestle his sodden trousers off. It
was so like the Anna of old,
Caden
could have punched
the air with joy. The sound was music to his ears.
Trite but true. I wish it were always like this.
He sucked in his
breath, and Anna lowered his zipper and drew the two sides of the material
apart. His ever-eager cock poked out of the gap, and she rubbed the length
before turning her attention back to the linen covering the rest of his lower
body. He felt the familiar and well-loved tightening of his body and the flare
of heat that spread through him as his prick responded as per usual and waved
to get attention.

"Impatient, are we?" Anna flicked his nipple with
her fingernail.

As the material moved ever lower,
Cade
let her maneuver him through the water to where shallow stone steps fanned out
into the pool. He sat on the third step so his dick just showed above the
waterline. She bent her head and took the tip into her mouth. The warmth
enclosed him. As he gripped the edge of the steps in an effort not to grab her
head and let his cock move further inside, Anna smiled up at him with the look
of a
houri
.
All knowing.
Without loosening her hold on the head of his prick, she pulled his trousers
off and threw them toward the edge of the pool. They caught on the rim and sank
slowly under the water.
Cade
watched them in
detachment. Something else for the gardener to sort out tomorrow, tonight he
was up—literally—for anything Anna wanted.

His cock was loved as Anna alternated between sucking the
head and laving the hard length.
Cade
groaned. "So,
good, oh so fucking
good
. At this rate I'm going to
come here and fill the pool."

Her lips tightened, and then she lifted her head off him.
Cade
experienced an unexpected sense of loss. Tiny pulses
of pain hit him, and he went to touch her. She swam backwards and waggled her
finger at him.

"Ah-ah, no … this is my time." She stood up, and
her expression changed from playful and teasing to uncertain.
"Um, if you don't mind.
No Sir or anything?"

Mind?
Cade
thought
he'd mind if she didn't show him what she wanted to do.

"No Sir, just
Caden
and
Anna," he reassured her. "I'll follow your lead. You're in
charge." For what seemed like minutes Anna just stared at him as if he'd
uttered a particularly nasty epithet. Was it so unusual?
Shit, yeah it is.
He couldn't remember the last time he stood—or
lay—back and just enjoyed. Then she gave a short decisive nod as if she'd
decided up something important, and swam the few yards toward him.
Cade
hoped it was to continue with whatever she had in
mind.

"Do I need a safe word?" he asked, half joking.
Anna jerked back as if she'd been stung.
Oh
fuck.
He pulled her back and held her close so his chest touched her
breasts. Her nipples were hard little nubs as they rubbed his skin
. So she's not unaffected then.
 
"Anna, love.
It’s
a joke. Okay, not a good one, I admit, but a joke nonetheless. You need to
lighten up. My lovely, vibrant, kick-ass Anna's disappeared. We need her back.
Come on, love, show me she's still here."

Even under the water he could see her hands clench into
fists. Well, at least it was a reaction.

"Fuck you,
Caden
." He
didn't have time for a smart comeback. She dove at him, her mouth latched onto
his,
and her tongue slipped inside his lips to mesh and
tangle with his own. Her hands were tight around his cock as she pumped him.
Cade
felt his control fast leaving him. He arched his body
forward, but Anna would have nothing of it. She moved one hand from his cock to
his chest and pushed him hard.

"My turn, my rules," she panted. With a swift move
that any synchronized swimmer would be proud of, Anna lifted herself, and
Cade
experienced the sweet pleasure of her impaling herself
on him. "Now,
Cade
, fill me, come for me.
Nowww
."
The last word ended on a scream as she convulsed around him, her body shaking.

It was enough for
Cade
. He
shuddered as pleasure and heat sped through him, and he came with an exultant
shout. By the time the roaring in his ears had stopped, and his heartbeat was
back to normal—or as normal as it ever was with Anna near him— Anna was almost
asleep in his arms. She was snuggled in and holding on to him tightly as if to
be sure he didn't let go of her.
Cade
smiled to
himself as he stood up and carried her toward the house. If he had his way he'd
never let her go again.

Anna muttered something incoherent as he began to climb the
stairs. "
Shh
, love, I have you. It's too cold to
sleep outside. I'm taking us to bed."

She opened one eye and blinked at him. "
Cade
?"

"Hmm
hmm
?"
He bumped the bedroom door
open. "That's me, love."

She stroked his cheek in the way that was particularly Anna.
A soft, featherlike touch from his eyebrow to his lip that
filled him with warmth and contentment.
Her fingers lingered on his
mouth for a split second.

"
Cade
, I do love you.
So very much."

Cade
kissed the top of her head.
"I know, love, and I do you." He kicked back the covers on their
overlarge bed and crawled onto the mattress without letting Anna go. She rolled
into him and leaned her head on his chest.

"Nice," she murmured and put her arm tight around
his waist.

He knew the moment he woke up she'd gone.

Chapter Twelve

Anna listened to
Cade's
even
breathing and slid off the bed. Somewhere in the kitchen, where she'd left them
when she'd emptied the tumble drier, were clean jeans and a t-shirt. They may
not be ironed, but they'd do. As silently as possible she left the room and
made her way down the stairs. Her hand lingered on the smooth, curved wooden
bannister
. She'd always loved the house, even if she'd
hated what was in it.
Cade
had let her have full
rein
in redecoration and refurnishing when she'd returned
and watched with pride as she created a home. Now she was leaving. The word
again hovered in her mind.

Not once had
Cade
bemoaned that
there was no playroom now and never had he decried her lack of enthusiasm in
certain aspects of his lifestyle.

But Anna had known. She'd seen his inner light dim. She'd
tried and to a certain extent succeeded.
Until…
She
blocked her thoughts. No more, not yet, and maybe never. That was one thing she
daren't think about. Even if she did sort herself out, it might be too late.

She didn't turn the light on until she shut the kitchen door
behind her. Dickens stretched and got out of his basket in front of the
Aga
. Anna groaned. She'd have to take him with her, and an
Old English
Sheepdog—
even a puppy—in a sports car
wasn’t easy. Nevertheless she'd manage. His carrying cage just fit. She stroked
him and looked about her. Neatly folded on the work surface was the pile of
washing she'd dried earlier. It was unusual for Anna not to take the freshly
washed and ironed clothes and put them away.
A Freudian slip
maybe?
She picked up a plain blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans. No
undies
,
Cade
preferred her
without them, and it seemed she'd not had any in that basket of washing. On the
floor by the door to the garden were her gardening
clogs,
and Anna thrust her feet into them. Thanking all the gods available that she'd
left her handbag on the work surface, Anna grabbed Dickens's lead and snapped
it on to his collar, before she left the house with him walking sedately behind
her. Without a noise they walked across the lawn to her car.
Caden
slept at the rear of the house, and she hoped he
wouldn't hear the engine. Once she was away from the house she'd text him. It
wasn't an exercise in worry or piss
Caden
off; it was
one in sort Anna out, she mused, as she drove out of the driveway and along the
lane. If at the end of it
Caden
didn't want her back,
she'd have to pull on her big girl panties and deal with it. Anna acknowledged
she might have a fair way to go to get to that point.

After a quick stop to withdraw some cash from the bank
machine, Anna drove, her mind darting from one thing to another. She had her
own bank account and money, and for that she was thankful. If she was sorting
herself out, then
Cade
shouldn't be involved.

A few minutes later she came to a T-junction. Which way?
Resolutely, Anna turned away from
Scotland
and her friends. When
Cade
discovered she'd gone, she didn't want any of her
friends to have to lie on her behalf. Several miles on
she
drove into a
layby
next to a lake and picked up her
phone. At any other time the sight of the sun as it rose over the water and
gilded it with soft hues of blue and green would have her reaching for her
camera. Now she just glanced at it absently and wiped her damp hands over her
thighs. Her throat was tight, and she took a gulp of water from the bottle
stashed in the car door pocket.

Dammit
and this is just to send a text. Get a grip.
Before she had time to think too much,
Anna typed in a brief message.
'I love
you, and I'm going to sort myself. I'll keep in touch by email once a week.
Please, if you love me, let me do this my way.'
She pressed send, switched
the phone off, and put it back into her handbag. She needed to drive, not keep
one ear open for a text or voicemail.

****

Several hours later she pulled into a parking space outside
a tiny house and grinned. Her one call from the pay phone at the service
station where she'd filled up with petrol had been positive, and she was now
the tenant of a smart three-bedroom cottage overlooking an estuary in a pretty
village. She couldn't be much farther from her house in
Scotland
without leaving
Britain
. Why
she'd remembered seeing the email from a friend about this she had no idea, but
she blessed the fact she had. She hadn't even had to involve anyone other than
the letting agent.

Anna got out of the car and stretched as she looked at her
new home. It was nothing remarkable, but it was a neat and tidy building with a
lane between it and its garden. To her delight, the garden backed onto the
riverbank. Anna let Dickens out and grabbed her handbag, eager to explore her
new abode. She wasn't disappointed.
A quick look around
discovered two of the bedrooms downstairs and the lounge upstairs overlooking the
estuary.
The kitchen had the same glorious view.

With a sigh Anna took out her phone. She knew she couldn't
put off the moment any longer. If she'd won the jackpot on the slots there
couldn't have been more noise.
Voicemails, emails and
thirteen—
thirteen—
texts.
Not
all from
Caden
. It seemed he'd contacted every one of
her friends he knew and then some.

She tackled the voicemails first. Half an hour later, Anna
felt like she'd run a marathon. The worry in
Caden's
voice almost had her turning around and going straight back to him. Only the
thought that it wouldn't resolve anything kept her where she was. She'd
negotiated by text with
Caden
over a contact email.
He'd demanded once a day. Anna had eventually said twice a week or he could
have none. She could almost hear his frustration in his text. Satisfied she'd
done what she
could,
Anna put Dickens in his makeshift
kennel, a large and roomy shed, and went shopping in the small town across the
river.