Submissive Desires (9 page)

“I know you didn’t.” She said, with noticeably more hope than conviction.

Simon put his burger down, using his napkin and asking gravely, “Is there anything else I can do to help you trust me?”

Maura continued to eat, only because it gave her something to do with her hands - not that she was tasting one bite of what she was diligently chewing and swallowing - so that maybe he wouldn’t notice how badly they were shaking. She shook her head. “You’ve gone above and beyond the call, believe me. And I appreciate it. It’s just gonna take a little time, I think.”

“I can wait,” he said, and she took a modicum of comfort from it, but then he went and spoiled it.

“But not forever.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to wait forever for anyone. But that doesn’t mean that you’re going to jump me all of a sudden, correct?” She watched his face carefully as he answered.

“No, of course not. Just that I’ll step up my noodging you until you’re more settled with me.” He’d finished his food in an inordinately fast amount of time then just sat there and watched her. “Is there someone in the restaurant right now that knows you?”

Her eyes involuntarily wandered to a booth that was kitty corner to them and her two friends who were alternately eating and watching her anxiously. “Yup.”

“Good girl.”

For some stupid reason, beamed at his praise. “Yeah, well, I’m only mildly paranoid.”

“You should be. Unfortunately, this world is no longer safe for a woman who is not blatantly under a man’s protection – and even then . . .”

39

She chuckled. “That sounds so medieval.”

“Works for me.”

“I can just see you in your shining armor, victorious on the battlefield.”

His smile was rueful at the picture she was painting. Minus the armor, it would have been fairly accurate at one time in his life. He’d never been defeated by an enemy, or he wouldn’t have been here to talk with her. “Of course.”

“You would have been the black knight – not the favorite of the crowd, but winning every tournament anyway.”

Her astute observations had him pegged quite nicely, if five hundred years ago. He was a loner who had no need for adulation, and he played to win at whatever he attempted – jousting or espionage.

By the time the dishes from the meal had been cleared away, Maura appeared at least a little more relaxed than she had. “Feel better?” he asked solicitously, again extending his hand palm up on the table in invitation.

She’d long since reclaimed her hand and patted her tummy with it before placing it in his much less reluctantly than before. Simon’s fingers closed slowly, carefully over hers – which were much warmer.

He was glad she’d apparently decided he wasn’t going to axe murder her in the restaurant.

“You set up a friend that you’re going to call when you get home so someone is expecting you to be home at a particular time?”

She couldn’t help it. He was almost more paranoid for her than she was herself, and it made her eyes roll, which earned her a sharp scowl. “Yes.”

“When are you supposed to call?”

Glancing at her watch, she was amazed by how much time had gone by. “One-thirty.”

Upon hearing that, he rose, and held out her chair. “Well, I’d better get you on the road then.”

Her heart nearly stopped when he popped the next question. “How soon can we do this again – how about dinner Wednesday?”

Maura was taking a last drink of her ice water and nearly did a spit-take. “You want to see me again in four days?” She was smiling broadly and blushing again.

“I want to see you again tomorrow, if I thought you’d agree, but I figured I’d give you a little space to breathe for a while, and maybe you’ll be less nervous next time and we can maybe catch a movie?”

The idea of sitting next to him in a darkened theatre made her shiver, but she found herself nodding anyway.

40

Simon had walked her out to her car, touching her for the first time on the elbow when he helped her into it then shut the door, leaning against it with his big arms folded over the rolled down window.

“There.” He frowned. “Put on your seatbelt, honey. I don’t wanna lose you.”

Maura frowned up at him. “You do realize that seatbelts kill as many people as they help, and that the state laws were only pushed through because of lobbying by insurance companies?”

Nothing. No expression on his face at all.

With a sigh, Maura reached for her belt, latching it dutifully. “Are you happy?”

“The next time I tell you to do something, don’t respond with an argument against doing it. I don’t care how it became a law. I’d have you wearing it whether it was law or not. Anything to keep you safe.”

She blushed again – it seemed to be a habit around him. “Thank you. But I find them to be a pain in the neck.”

A bushy eyebrow rose. “Did I ask? You’d better never let me catch you not wearing your seatbelt, Maura. You wouldn’t like the consequences.”

“Yes, Sir.” It felt so strange to be saying those very submissive words as he watched her every movement.

“So, Wednesday night?”

Maura wasn’t sure what to say – for some reason she was feeling very hesitant about seeing him again. “My appointments are all on the computer . . . I don’t think I have anything scheduled. Can I call you?”

“Sure,” he answered, his eyes narrowing, wondering why she still seemed so hesitant. “Are you okay?”

She tried to slough off any awareness he had about how tentative she was feeling. “I’m fine. How are you?”

“Don’t do that.”

She couldn’t meet his eyes and even begin to lie to him. “Do what?” she asked the steering wheel.

“Gloss over your own feelings in favor of asking me about mine. I want a straight answer to my question, Maura, and I want it now.”

The timber of his voice rumbled its way right to her heart and her clit, sitting there like a lump in her tummy and a physical hand cupping her pussy possessively. Maura turned and looked him in the eye with a “get-real” look that, later in their relationship, would get earn her a swift swatting. “I’m fine, really.”

He eyed her closely, as if judging the sincerity of her reply. “After you call your friend and let him or her know that you okay, call me on my cell so that I know you got home in one piece.”

Her eyes flitted nervously to his and fell in there, unable to look away.

Simon reached in and tilted her chin up, as if he was going to kiss her, but he didn’t. “I don’t think you’re as fine as you say you are. If we had more time together, I’d get you to tell me exactly what you’re thinking.”

Maura swallowed, having absolutely no doubt that he would do exactly that. It was how he’d do it that worried her . . . “I – “

“Shhhhhh.” Firm, but soft. He pressed a finger over her lips to prevent her from saying anything.

“Drive very safely, and stay in that seat belt unless you want to feel an entirely different type of belt against your skin. Understand?”

So incredibly full of him, even from such a platonic exchange, all Maura could do was nod.

He straightened, towering over her little sports car. “Don’t forget to call – your friend, or me.”

41

“I won’t.”

And then he was gone. Mostly just to give her mind something else to do besides force her eyes to follow his every move in an embarrassingly drooly manner like some star-struck teenager, she backed out of the space and was on her way towards home without so much as another look between them, although her panties became more and more soaked as she drove.

When she called – barely remembering to, frankly – he pinned her down about whether or not she was going to be available on Wednesday, and it turned out that she was. In her mind, she was wondering whether or not she should have a second date with him . . . he was so . . . he was too . . . he was almost too much – she had considerable concerns about whether or not she could handle him in an intimate situation.

But at the same time, Maura found him almost irresistible – the firm, sure way he handled himself, and her

. . . she was certain there couldn’t possibly be an indecisive bone in his body.

But, of course, she couldn’t resist him, and the tingles he inspired in various areas of her body, and they made another date for dinner and a movie. Immediately after hanging up the phone her mind began to question the intelligence of her decision, although her body was already halfway to paradise, and he’d barely touched her.

He’d praised her – calling her “good girl” – for remembering to call him as he’d asked. She didn’t want to know what he might do if she hadn’t . . . or did she?

Wednesday night’s outing lead to regular dating – albeit casual. It was almost as if their relationship was split into Internet personalities and dating personalities. It was glaringly obvious to Simon that Maura felt much more comfortable discussing various intimacies over the computer than she did while he was sitting across from her, or next to her. Although he enjoyed doing it, every time they were together and he mentioned anything sexual, she turned a beet red.

Maura was amazed at the extent of his patience. She wouldn’t have pegged him as that laid back, but she made it quite obvious – when they weren’t on the computer – that she wanted to take the physical side of things – especially since it was highly likely to include some sort of painful activity directed at her –

as slowly as possible. And he minded his manners to the T, keeping his hands scrupulously to himself except to give her an always searing kiss goodnight.

For about three months.

Then one night, while escorting her back to her car after they’d seen the latest action flick, he neatly trapped her against the drivers’ side door before she’d even noticed it. After clicking open the lock with the remote, Maura reached for the handle to the door, and found she couldn’t pull it open because one of his big hands was leaning on it. She turned around quickly, startled to find him much closer than she’d expected. Her turn had put her exactly where he wanted her – up against him, between his legs.

Simon’s head dipped forwards, and her body automatically craned back, until she was plastered against the whole of his unforgiving body in the front and the car in the back. Her hands came up to his shoulders to steady herself, resting very lightly against his shirt, feeling his tightly leashed strength beneath the benign cotton. “Simon?”

She barely got the questioning word out before his lips took hers – and there was no other, more accurate way to put it – he was taking possession of her as surely and blatantly as she could feel his rock hard erection pressing into her lower belly. Their lips melded together – Maura had had no chance to prepare any defenses against him; he had caught her completely unguarded and vulnerable. His lips seared hers as they slid across, deftly coaxing and commanding her mouth to open beneath the pressure of his.

“Uhmmmm – “ Neither could she suppress a groan of pure, unadulterated pleasure that slipped into his mouth as his tongue delved boldly. Simon gathered her to him, his hands splayed on her back as hers clenched his arms, almost but not quite pushing him away, as if she couldn’t decide whether or not she should protest the fact that he was taking liberties with her that she had not expressly offered . . . but 42

then thought better of it. He had been a tame house cat for longer than she had really expected, letting her set the pace of their physical relationship, which must’ve seemed positively glacial to him.

But now, he was apparently no longer willing to wait. At least, that was how Maura interpreted this very dominant, very demanding move. Simon cradled the back of her head with his hand, holding her in place for his passionate kiss, leaving no room for her to move away from him in any manner, caught as she was at the waist, neck and head.

Not that she wanted to move, anyway, though. She had known it would be like this – like a tidal wave of heat-seeking sensations that settled at the hottest part of her – between her legs – with a vengeance and smoldered there, building and spreading and licking fire into every part of her, forcing her nipples to hard points that bore into his chest, chafing against the confines of her bra and shirt, begging to be let loose only to be captured by the same masculine mouth that was continuing to feast on her lips.

The fingers that were not buried in the mass of her hair began to slowly move up her body, following her natural curves upwards until they discovered a turgid bud, stroking over it almost, but not quite, roughly, his thumb and index finger framing it and squeezing firmly then twisting, the soft fabric of her shirt making his fingers glide more slickly over her, softening his touch the slightest but not the pressure he applied. “Simon,” she breathed into his mouth and he pulled back just a little at the sound, gazing sharply down into her eyes, trying to gage what her response, where she was in her head.

Had he come on too strong? Was he being too dominant? He’d been a lapdog for longer than he’d ever been with any other women – he wonder if she realized just how leashed he’d kept his sexuality to keep that scared look out of her eyes . . . Simon wondered why Maura was so free when they chatted online, or even on the phone, but when they were together, she was so reserved and uptight he was beginning to wonder if she had hidden a more sensual, sexual twin at home.

His lips millimeters from hers, he asked huskily, “Are you all right?” catching her eyes for just a second before she lowered them to his Adam’s apple.

“Y-“ her voice failed her for a moment, but she cleared her throat and started again. “Yes. I’m okay.

I’m just not sure that the middle of a cinema parking lot is the best place to do this.”

He tipped her chin up with a finger that had been actively involved in worrying her nipple until a few seconds ago. “Do you want to get a room?”

The immediate alarm in her eyes gave him an answer before she said anything, but she did manage to surprise him anyway. “No, not tonight I don’t.” His face revealed nothing about how he was feeling at having been turned down. The man’s poker face would have been admired by an android.