In the Middle (17 page)

She moved, deciding to say with her body what she couldn’t put into words. She knelt, spreading her knees, putting her wrists behind her. Naked, yielding.
What am I saying? I want him, but I can’t accept his collar? I’ll submit to him, but I can’t do what he wants?
She had to hope he understood.

“Daniel?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“You won’t be complete with him, Louise.”

“I wouldn’t be complete without him, either.”

A smile quirked his face. “Who would think that after all these years I’d finally fall in love with a switch? I can’t let you go without telling you I love you.”

She nodded. She supposed she knew that already. He wasn’t the sort of man to tell her he wanted her love if he wasn’t going to return it. “I love you too.”

“Dammit.”

“Yes, Master.”

When she saw the hurt in his eyes, she wished she hadn’t said the word “Master.”
Maybe I never had the right to, and I should have always used “Sir” or something more neutral. Water over the dam now.

“I’ll get the car for you. Let’s go get your dress.”

She never thought she’d object to getting to wear clothes in a public place, but she almost did. Instead, she nodded. She didn’t want to be demanding with him. It would spoil part of what was special. He got up, and she waited.

“Permission to rise, Louise,” he said after a moment.

She stood up, her heart heavy. He led her back to the door. A few minutes later, she was in a limousine, clothed again. “Aren’t you coming too?” she asked.

“I’ve got some thinking to do. Tell the driver to go wherever you want to go. I’ll find my own way home.” He smiled as if to tell her everything was going to be all right, but she knew better. He closed the door, and almost immediately the limo moved, taking her away from Rob. Away from the man she wanted. She wondered if she’d made a mistake, if she’d just thrown away the best offer she’d ever get. She sighed. She didn’t want to go anywhere. Tears welled up in her eyes. She pressed the intercom button and told the driver her address. She tried to tell herself that it wasn’t the end, that when Rob said he needed to think, it was just that and not good-bye. But the tears flowed anyway.

Chapter Eight

Louise leaned back in her chair and smiled. It had taken time to get used to having a gorgeous naked man around the house much of the time, but she had persevered and managed to adapt. The chair itself was exquisitely comfortable, with a black walnut veneer and wine velvet cushions. Daniel had bought it for her. He was not allowed, nor did he wish to be allowed, to sit in it. A giant cinnamon-scented candle, her favorite, burned in its stand on the dining room table. He’d bought that for her too. He’d have showered her with presents if she would let him, but given that he was paying for the house and almost everything in it, she had kept careful notes of how much he was spending on her and had tried to invest a similar amount of money on things that would please him. Fetish wear mostly, since he so clearly appreciated the effort. Which was why she was wearing thigh-high boots with five-inch spikes and a tight vinyl minidress. She hadn’t quit her job despite his offer. It was tempting, but she didn’t want to be that dependent.

He was kneeling on a velvet cushion in front of her, naked. She’d taken to having him remove his clothes when he got home. She rather enjoyed the fact that he couldn’t hide even the slightest hint of arousal from her. Ogling his backside when he walked wasn’t bad either. Watching his muscles as he flexed. Saturday mornings, however, she had told him he was allowed to wear what he liked. She had even made a point for the first few of wearing jeans and a T-shirt to try to make him feel comfortable being “off” for a few hours, but he showed up naked anyway. She’d invited him to pull up a chair, as usual on Saturdays, but he declined, also as usual.

“So, Daniel, do you have anything you wish to bring up? Any difficulties with this week, or changes you’d like to see in the way we do things?”
Maybe I should order him to wear clothes and sit on a chair. I want him able to bring things up, not be so deeply into his role as a sub that it’s “yes, Mistress” for everything.

“I’m having a wonderful time, M—Louise. Thank you. No complaints.” He grinned at her, but she sensed something behind the grin.

Should I push?
“Out with it, Daniel.”

He blinked.

“I demand complete truthfulness from my sub at all times,” she said.

“But as I understand it, I’m not your sub until we finished checking with each other on Saturday mornings?” His eyes danced.

She laughed. “Very clever. And even then not if we decide to do yard work or something unerotic. What am I to do with you?”

“Whatever you wish, of course.”

“Only after we’re finished checking in. Maybe I should insist we continue this discussion throughout the weekend?”

“As you wish.”

Good God, he’s perfect. So why am I not completely satisfied? There must be something wrong with me.

“There is one other thing, Louise.”

“Ah-ha! I thought so.” She leaned forward. “What’s wrong, love?”

“You get this look in your eyes sometimes. Like now. Of sadness or wistfulness. Or like you’re forcing it, trying to be the good mistress but not really into it. You know you don’t have to give me attention all the time, don’t you?”

She nodded. “I do know that.” She was glad he didn’t ask what was bothering her. She was trying to make things work with Daniel, and mostly they were working fine.
I’m just greedy
. She couldn’t forget the nights with Rob, but she wasn’t interested in finding anyone else to top her.
I don’t think anyone else would measure up. And I can’t be what Rob wants me to be.

“You miss him, don’t you?”

“Huh? Who?” She was a horrible liar and Daniel was used to ferreting out untruths, but she thought she’d try.

“Rob. Randall X. Do you?”

She frowned, hesitating between lying and evading.

“I demand,” Daniel added, “total honesty from my lover.”

She stared, trying to remember the last time she’d heard Daniel demand anything. She’d seen him with his staff or in court. He could be plenty demanding. But never with her. Never.

He stared right back, with no give at all. She turned her head to avoid the heat of his gaze. “Some,” she admitted. “Doesn’t mean I’d choose him over you.”

He nodded. “You never really chose at all, did you? He chose for you, by insisting you had to make a choice.”

She made a face. “
I don’t want to share
,” Rob had said. That was pretty clear. Daniel was awfully close to the truth, but she didn’t want to admit it.

“Yes, in other words,” said Daniel.

“You know, I’m not sure I like you bringing your cross-examining skills to bear on me.”

Daniel nodded. He didn’t move from his position. “I know I don’t like you hiding your desires from me, or your regrets. Even for my own good. How can I serve you if I don’t know what you need?”

She smiled slightly. “I’ll get by, lover. I have everything a girl could ask for, really. Beautiful house, sexy man. And I’m not going to have you dominating me again. We know that doesn’t work well for us.” She moved her foot to tickle his scrotum with the toe of her boot. “We know what does too, don’t we?”

Daniel gulped. “Um, yes, we do.”

“We’re done with check-in, now, Daniel. Time to play.” She ran her toe up his rapidly hardening cock, angling it until her heel spike made contact at the base. “I see your cock agrees.”

For a moment, she thought Daniel was going to argue with her. She was breaking her own rules, after all, not letting the whole discussion run its course. But then he put his hands behind his back. “Yes, Mistress. It does. Very much.”

She suspected he was hiding something from the look on his face. It was all too easy. But she wasn’t going back to that conversation if she could avoid it.
I really should be satisfied. In any case, some good sex will chase away those doubts. Shall I make use of his talented tongue or his big, thick cock? Or both? Either way, I want him hard.

“Remember those cock cages in the store we went to, Daniel?” she asked.

He shuddered almost imperceptibly. “Yes, Mistress.”

“I don’t really like them much. I mean, I really don’t see the point.” She smiled as he visibly relaxed. He was so easy to tease. And it aroused him when she teased him, which was half the fun. “I mean, they make it hurt to try to get an erection, right? So what, you learn to be soft all the time? That’s not what I like. Now if they had something that made it so you’d be hard all the time, that would be great. Would you like to be hard all the time, Daniel? For me?”

His eyes shone. “Yes, Mistress. I’ll do my best.”

“I’m sure you will.” She pressed harder with the spike of her boot, not enough to damage anything but enough to know he’d feel it. “Otherwise there will be consequences.”

He gazed at her adoringly. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Good boy.”

The interchange was amusing her, arousing her even, but it wasn’t an aching-nipple-sopping-wet-pussy kind of arousal, more of a gentle glow. She wondered if she would enjoy topping him more if there was balance in her sex life, but that avenue was closed to her now. Sex with Daniel would have to be good enough. It
was
good enough. Not quite mind-blowing, but maybe sex was never meant to stay mind-blowing. He, on the other hand, was plenty hard. She suspected sex was still amazing for him, even when she wouldn’t let him come.

Fuck the games. I know how to have him get me off
. She lifted her skirt and wiggled until she was bare-bottomed on the chair. She’d been keeping her pussy hair trimmed because she kind of liked the feeling of having it bare, but without Rob to insist upon it, it didn’t feel quite the same. She crooked her finger at Daniel, and he moved forward. When his head was almost in her lap, she laced her hands behind it and pushed it down onto her pussy.

“Eat me, boy,” she said, knowing it was rather redundant. And for a while, his skilled tongue did make her forget what she was missing. His technique kept getting better and better. He really was eager to please.

“I love you, Daniel,” she murmured and pressed on his head to keep his mouth going at her pussy instead of responding. “I really do. Watching you get off on this stuff makes me want to be the best mistress ever.”

Except, of course, when I’d really rather be the one kneeling.

“RANDALL ELECTRONICS.”

Daniel recognized the voice from the hotel. It was Rob all right. He had given the snippets of information Louise had shared to a private detective who had done jobs for him in the past. Now he knew he had a match. He’d cleared the afternoon for himself by buying Louise some time at an elegant salon and spa five miles away from their house. He put the phone down. Some things were better done in person.

Thirty minutes later, he strolled into Randall Electronics in Tysons Corner. The sign was new, and a variety of wires and connections and gizmos lined the shelves. A gangly kid with spiked hair was the only person behind the counter, but there was an office door behind it. Daniel sauntered up and moved around the counter, waiting until the kid opened his mouth.

“I’ve got an appointment with Rob Randall,” he said, cutting him off. He kept going to the door, and the kid moved aside.

“Uh, okay.”

Daniel opened the door and walked in. There was an office desk, but also a workbench, and Rob was sitting there with his back to the entrance with goggles on and a soldering iron in his hand. He wasn’t so absorbed that he didn’t turn at the sound, however.

“How the hell did you get in here?” asked Rob, flicking the soldering iron off and putting it angled on its stand. Daniel waited to answer until Rob had his goggles off as well.

“Just walked right in. People don’t stop me much when I act like I know what I’m doing.”

Rob swiveled his chair back to the desk. “I imagine they don’t. I guess a better question is
what
you’re doing here.”

“Louise needs you.”

Rob cocked an eyebrow. “Does she now? Tell Her Imperial Highness to come herself, then.”

Something in the man’s smug expression made Daniel’s blood boil. He reached down, grabbed the man’s shirt, and hauled him up. Unexpectedly Rob didn’t try to throw a punch or pull away. Instead, with Daniel’s attention focused on his upper body, he kicked the desk, hard and with follow-through. It hit Daniel’s knee and knocked him off balance, forcing him to let Rob go.

“Tell her to come herself,” Rob repeated. “And if you came here looking for a fight, there’s a service alley out back. I’m a little rusty, but I think you’ll find I’m a challenge.”

It was tempting, but Daniel took a breath and composed himself. His knee didn’t hurt too much. No harm done. And he knew he’d been out of line. The alley was tempting, but no.

The door from the shop opened. “Everything okay?” asked the kid.

“Yeah. Daniel’s helping me with some redecorating. Moving some furniture around. We’re almost done, I think.” Rob grinned. “Thanks for checking, Sid.”

“Uh, sure.” Sid eyed the desk doubtfully and backed out, closing the door behind him.

“Well?” asked Rob.

Daniel thought he saw what Louise saw in the man. He thought well on his feet, and he had a way of taking charge of a conversation. But it was time to take charge back. And sometimes, that was best done from a less dominant position. He sat in the yellow leather chair across from the desk. It was obviously for business clients. “My mistress,” he began, wanting to establish his relationship with her clearly, “doesn’t know I’m here. She’d never have sent me, you know. She’s too caring, too unselfish. I’m sure if I suggested it to her, she’d have forbidden it. So I didn’t tell her.”

“I see.” Rob chuckled. “You’ve got balls, I’ll give you that. You were ready to ride to the rescue that one day, weren’t you? And now you’re here. Huh.”

Daniel let him chew it over for several seconds before continuing. “I wouldn’t be here if she didn’t need you. But I can see the wistful look in her eyes sometimes. And I understand her need. I can wish she didn’t have it, but I understand it very well.”