To Love and Submit (20 page)

She leaned across to the table to pick up her glass and felt her body protest as a sharp shot of pain reminded her of her tender bottom. Adam smiled knowingly, but didn’t say anything—he didn’t need to.

“Have you always been a Dom?” she asked, taking a generous sip of her wine.

Adam nodded, looking thoughtful before he answered, “Yes. Even as I child I was always accused of being a control freak. I always wanted to be in charge—captain of the football team, class rep, even in the Boy Scouts I assumed the role of leader, much to our actual leader’s bemusement.”

Rachel gave a little snort of laugher. “You were a Boy Scout?” She couldn’t stop laughing as a picture formed in her head of Adam as a young boy in a Scout’s uniform, telling the leaders how to run the group.

“Don’t you dare laugh at me,” he said, with humour creasing his eyes. “I’ll have you know I was a very good Boy Scout.”

“I bet you were a really cute kid. So when did you realise you were more than just a bossy control freak?”

Adam squeezed her knee and slid his hand up her skirt, instantly waking her body up again with a start. “Well, I suppose it was at university. A group of us decided to go camping one night and get drunk around the campfire. There was a girl there, Liz her name was, who I fancied like mad and, to cut a long story short, I ended up tying her to a tree in the middle of the night and told her I’d only release her if she agreed to kiss me.”

Rachel, who had been about to take another sip of wine, nearly dropped her glass as laughter ripped through her. That sounded so like the Adam she was getting to know. Just as she was trying to get her giggles under control, he set her off again when he added, “She did!”

“What? Kiss you?”

He nodded. “Yep, and more. That’s when I got my first taste of being in control and it just grew from there.”

“Have you ever had a vanilla relationship?”

Adam pulled a face. “Yes, it was a disaster. I dated another girl in university for two weeks. I tried, I really tried to do things her way, but she was like a bloody ice cream sundae, full of vanilla ice with lots of sugar-coated sprinkles and fluffy cream. It just didn’t turn me on.” He shook his head as he thought back.

“What about your wife? Was she a sub?” Rachel wasn’t sure if asking about his failed marriage was such a good idea, but her curiosity was fully aroused now, a bit like her body was, and she couldn’t stop the barrage of questions bursting to come out.

She soon wished she hadn’t asked, though, when Adam’s face darkened. He took her chin firmly in his hand and turned her head until she was forced to look into the icy depths of his deep blue eyes. “No, Rachel,” he said, his voice husky and dark. “She was my slave.”

Chapter Eighteen

“Slave?” Rachel felt the blood drain from her face as she took in what Adam had just said.
Did he really just say his wife had been his slave? Fuck!

Adam let go of her chin and laughed at her reaction. “I didn’t lock her up and force her against her will, you know.”

“What exactly did you mean then?” She couldn’t stop staring at him in shock, eyes wide and mouth open.

“A Master/slave relationship is similar to a twenty-four-seven Dom/sub relationship. Well, sort of. A slave gives up total control willingly at the moment of collaring, and will submit completely in every aspect of the lifestyle, at all times. A twenty-four-seven submissive will also submit full-time, but there may be exceptions which are agreed at the beginning, although it always extends outside of the bedroom. A sexual submissive only submits in the bedroom. Outside of that the pair are equals. Karen was a sexual submissive, but after we married she told me she needed more and that she wanted to be my slave in a Total Power Exchange. I wanted her to be happy so I agreed.”

“So you controlled every aspect of her life?” Rachel was incredulous. How could anyone give up their freedom like that and, more worryingly, how could anyone want their partner to be a slave?

He nodded, studying her closely. “I chose her clothes, what we ate, where she went and with whom when she wasn’t at work.”

“So you did allow her to work then?” Rachel spat, sarcastically. “How generous of you.”

Adam sighed and took her hand. “Like I said, Karen was my sub when we married and it was she who wanted to move our relationship on to the next level. I was happy with the way things were, but it was what she wanted. It worked for a while, but then she started to rebel against my control and it was ultimately that which destroyed our relationship.”

“Couldn’t you have gone back to a normal D/s relationship when you realised it wasn’t working?” Rachel was trying really hard to understand, but she found it uncomfortable and desperately wanted him to say that it was he who hadn’t wanted the Total Power Exchange.

But he shook his head. “No, it was too late for that. I think she saw it as an excuse to break free from our relationship. Oddly enough, the split was a relief. I think we both realised that perhaps we’d never loved each other enough to make it work, and accepted that we just couldn’t meet each other’s needs anymore.”

“Do you still see her?”

“Sometimes.”

Rachel really didn’t want to ask the next question, but she knew she had to know the answer, whether she liked it or not. She didn’t want to be presumptuous about their relationship, but they seemed to be getting on pretty well and he did say at the weekend that he wanted to collar her for real one day. Swallowing nervously, she asked, “Adam, are you looking for another slave?”

“Why, are you offering?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

She nearly choked on her drink and stared at him in shock. Before she could think of any kind of answer to that, he spoke again. “I’ll accept nothing short of your complete submission,” he said, with a smile playing on his lips. “Come to think of it, I think I’d rather enjoy having you as my slave.”

What? Fuck, she wished she hadn’t asked now. He must have seen her dismay because he took her head in both his hands and looked at her with his stern Dom eyes.

“Rachel, I don’t know where we’re going with this relationship yet, but I do know that I like you. A lot. And I also know you feel the same way, so let’s just take this one day at a time and enjoy it. If and when the time comes for something more serious and permanent, we’ll discuss it then. Okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

The thought that this might develop into something more serious scared her shitless. She adored Adam and didn’t doubt for a moment that her feelings for him would grow deeper, but that meant addressing issues she didn’t want to face. Like trust, for one. She remembered his words about trust in a D/s relationship and felt her stomach tighten into a hard knot. Every time she had trusted someone, they’d let her down, leaving her drowning in a pool of betrayal and guilt. But Adam was right, it was early days and they should just take it slowly and enjoy themselves.

Without realising it, she frowned. How the hell did someone like him even consider having a relationship with someone like her? He’d soon get tired of her and dump her, so the future of their relationship was irrelevant anyway.

“What are you thinking about, sweet thing?” Adam’s voice broke into her thoughts and she refocused her eyes, pushed the dark thoughts from her mind and smiled.

“I was just wondering what on earth you see in me, to be honest. I’m not beautiful or glamorous or particularly clever and you’re… Well, you’re Adam Stone.”

His eyes narrowed, and for a minute she thought he was actually going to smack her. “Don’t ever let me hear you say that again. Rachel, you’re gorgeous, inside and out, and I happen to know you’re far more intelligent than you give yourself credit for.” His eyes flashed with anger and he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close. “If I hear you put yourself down like that again, I’ll take the paddle to your arse so hard you won’t be able to sit down for a week. Do you understand?” The threat in his voice sent a chill through her that settled unnervingly in her groin.

“Yes, Sir,” she whispered, melting under his dominance. How did he do that to her? God, if anyone else dared talk to her like that, she’d be mad as hell, and yet she practically lay down at his feet like a bloody lapdog when it came from him.

He released her hand and the warmth returned to his eyes. “Are you free this weekend?”

A little flip in her stomach made her catch her breath and she knew that even if she had been planning on having tea with the Queen she’d have cancelled everything to be free for Adam that weekend.

“Yes, Sir.” She tried not to sound too keen, but she couldn’t stop that stupid grin from stretching across her face.

“Good.” He returned his hand to her thigh and crept it up under her skirt, stroking her very lightly. “I have something special planned for you at Boundaries on Friday, and after that you’ll come home with me. Bring an overnight bag, but don’t put too many clothes in—you won’t need much.”

“Yes, Sir,” she said, breathlessly. Her heart was hammering hard as she tried to contain her excitement at going home with him after the club on Friday.

“Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night?” he asked, running his finger softly up her thigh again.

“I’d love to.” She smiled, attempting to look casual, although his teasing touch was making it bloody hard to keep a straight face.

Adam removed his hand, stood up and pulled her up into his arms. “Good. Rob will pick you up at seven thirty sharp. I won’t be around much tomorrow.” He raised his eyebrows at her in mock admonishment. “Which I’m sure you’ll be aware of if you’ve checked the diary.”

Rachel laughed. “Yes, Mr Stone, I’m fully aware of your comings and goings.”

“Good. By the way, you’ve made quite an impression on our Finance Director.”

“Really?” She couldn’t think why.

“She said the errors you pointed out this morning were very difficult to spot and only someone with an excellent head for numbers would have picked up on them. Well done, I knew you were a clever little thing.”

Rachel was thrilled. Joanne Baker was known for being nearly as hard to please as the great boss himself, and she felt a warm sense of pride at Adam’s praise, although she wasn’t so sure about being called a ‘little thing’.

He took her arm and led her out of the bar. She stepped out into the chilly evening and decided that she would quite like to walk home. It might help her to cool down after Adam’s teasing hands had left her feeling horny as hell.

Rob was waiting by the car and she wondered how the hell he knew where they had been. “Hop in, I’ll drop you off,” said Adam, leading her towards the car.

“Oh, that’s okay, I can walk.”

“Get in,” he snapped.

“You’re so bossy,” she grumbled, but got into the car anyway.

“Yes, so get used to it.” As the car pulled away, Adam turned on the little light in the ceiling of the vehicle and leaned towards her. She thought at first he was going to kiss her, until she felt his breath on her ear whisper. “Take your knickers off.”

Oh God, she was so horny, but in the car? She stared at him, half expecting him to laugh and say he was only joking, but one look at his stern, dark eyes told her that he definitely wasn’t.
I suppose I should be getting used to this by now
.

She hesitated and looked nervously at the windows. “They’re tinted,” said Adam, obviously anticipating any excuses she might make. Adam was clearly not going to take no for an answer, so with as much grace as she could muster she wriggled, managing to pull her knickers down below her knees, and slipped them off as discreetly as she could.

Adam reached out and took them from her. “I’ll take those. Oh, and for future reference, you are banned from wearing the damned things unless I specify otherwise.”

“What? Even in the office?”

He grinned wickedly. “Especially in the office.”

He leaned over her and took her mouth, hard and possessively. His kiss was brutal as he forced his tongue into her mouth and demanded her surrender. Her body flooded with delicious, tingling arousal and she kissed him back with complete abandon. When he ran his hand up the inside of her thigh and up to her pussy, she groaned as her muscles clenched with anticipation.

Eventually, he pulled away, leaving his hand stroking her naked mound. “Is your arse still sore?”

Rachel could barely manage to get the words out as she struggled to answer him. “Not really, Sir.”

“Really? I’ll have to remedy that.”

Oh shit, why did I just say that?
It wasn’t another spanking that bothered her so much as the possibility that he might do it here, in front of Rob. The memory of Luke making her masturbate in the car told her that she shouldn’t be too shocked by the idea of being spanked in front of the driver. But still. Adam pulled his hand away and sat back. “Over my knee.”

Absolute horror took over Rachel’s mind. He couldn’t be serious, could he? “Adam, please, not here,” she pleaded.

“I won’t say it again. Get over my knee,
now
!”

With her face burning with humiliation, but her clit throbbing traitorously with excitement, she turned her body, climbed to a kneeling position on the seat next to Adam then lay across his lap. He moved his left hand up her back, pushing her down so she couldn’t move, and with his other hand he pulled her skirt up to her waist and gently rubbed the slightly tender flesh.

“Hmm, still a little bit pink, it won’t take much to get it glowing again.” Then without further warning, his hand came down hard on her right buttock and she squealed with the shock of the impact.

“Oh God,” she cried, as her clit ached with delight at the fresh sensations blistering her arse. He hit her again and again, reigniting the embers that had been slowly dying on the skin of her buttocks and it didn’t take long for her body to tense up as a powerful orgasm began to build inside her.

“Please, Sir, may I come?” she begged, as her body started shuddering.

“Yes, sweet thing, come now.” Adam’s deep voice was all it took to send her over the edge as wave after wave of pure unadulterated bliss tore through her. Her arse was burning again, but that only added to the intense pleasure as another wave crashed through her body.