Northern Proposals (21 page)

"I tricked you a few minutes ago."

"That wasn't the sort of laugh at me for being a fool type of tricking. But you could tell me to jump in naked, then not jump in after. I would be very hurt. That kind of tricking."

"I promise. Swim now?"

"Yes."

We got up together. I clutched at her as we stepped to the front of the boat. She lowered the platform we could climb out on,
then she looked around. "We haven't moved hardly at all. It's very deep here."

"Go in together," I told her. "I'll be okay once we're in the water."

So together we stepped to the edge of the boat, and together we took one step, leaning forward as we stepped off the boat.

The water was cold and shocking, and it woke me the rest of the way to my sense.  We treaded water together, and I turned to her and kissed her quickly before letting her go.

"Race," I said.

She laughed.

"If I win, I get a backrub tonight before bed."

"And if I win?" She asked.

"I'm not giving you a backrub tonight. I'm tired, scared, needy, and vulnerable."

"All right. If I win tonight, you will wear a collar I brought."

"Collar?"

"Yes."

"Is this collar symbolic?"

"Yes."

I thought about it. "I'm not ready for that in front of others."

"At night when we're home alone, for a week, until morning. It locks. You'll need me to take it off you."

"All right," I agreed. "I want a one lap head start on a four lap race."

"That's a big head start."

"I'll get tired sooner than you will."

"Three fourths of a lap. So we aren't jostling just when I get started."

"Agreed." We moved to the front of the boat. "Race from this pontoon," I said, touching the one I'd swim around first. "You start when you see my first splash near that one."

"Go whenever you're ready," she told me.

I took two breaths and began swimming slowly around the boat. Once I rounded the back, I started to speed up and was swimming full out when I turned the front. She was right in front of me, and I brushed her feet with my hands once, but then she started to pull away. She was a lot faster than I was.

When I finished the second lap and turned into the third, she was already out of sight. My lap advantage was now under a half lap.

By the time I finished my third lap, I knew I was going to lose. I was slowing down. Halfway down the boat during my fourth lap, her hand brushed my foot. I gained slightly going around the back, as she had to swim wider, but she was beside me before I'd gotten very far on the last half lap.

She made it to the front of the boat and beat me by a body length at the end.

She was breathing hard when I got to her. We panted at each other for a while. Finally I had enough breath to say, "You weren't this winded after the last race."

"I really wanted to win
this one. I was looking for an opportunity to collar you." She smiled, still a little breathless. "I'll give you a little pampering when we climb into bed though."

I reached for her and pulled her into a hug. "If the collar is itchy or uncomfortable, you have to find something else."

"You already agreed," she told me.

"If it's uncomfortable, I'll resent it, then I won't take more wagers."

"If it is uncomfortable, I will give you the choice of wearing it anyway or satisfying me in some other fashion. You will be allowed to pick."

"All right. I'm cold."

"Me too."

She helped me climb out and followed me. We dried off quickly and put our suits back on, then she started up the boat and headed in the direction of Marcy's cabin.

* * *

The collar didn't itch.

The back rub was very nice, and I fell asleep in her arms. I'd never been happier.

We woke early the next morning, facing each other. She looked into my eyes, then down to my neck, and her look was one of pure joy. She reached up and fingered the collar. She took on a faraway expression.

"You're trying to come up with a new wager."

"Uh huh. But not for today."

"What do you want?"

"I'm not ready to tell you yet," she said. "But I will."

"Time to get up. Shower. Get dressed. Buy a cabin."

She smiled. "The collar is washable."

"Honey," I said with a small whine.

"For me. Wear it for me until it's time to leave. Please."

"All right."

* * *

Before I got dressed, she made me bend over the bed. "Relax, honey," she said.

I bent over, my chest resting on the bed, my legs on the floor and spread. She made me clasp the bedspread. "Raise your butt as high as you can for me."

"I don't think it's fair," I said. "You set me up."

"Yes, I did." She started pressing something against my anus. "Relax now."

"You relax!" I said as I felt something begin to slide into me. "
Ohh..."

"
Shhh," she said. "It will feel good."

She hadn't let me look at the plug. I
only knew it wasn't the one I'd seen before. Slowly, she slid it in, filling me.

"Relax," she said. "Surrender, Jade."

I wriggled a little.

"There you go," she said. "Good girl." She continued to slide it into me, filling me, until finally I felt her press it home.

"See? How does that feel?"

"Please don't make me wear this," I said.

"Jade. This is important to me."

I looked over my shoulder at her. "Please, Jade. It's important to me."

"It's going to slide out in some embarrassing fashion."

"No it's not. Face forward. If you turn around, I will punish you."

I looked at the far wall. She left me. "Don't move," she said. And then she was rummaging through her bag of toys. She stepped back to me and reached under me. She wrapped a belt around my waist, then she reached between my legs. When she was done, there was a strap pressing snugly against me from front to back. She bucked everything.

"You can't be serious," I said. "What is it?"

"Chastity belt. It doubles as a means of holding things in place. Stand up."

I stood up. She turned me to face her,
then she applied a lock to the buckle.

"You're not serious. You locked me into this."

She smiled at me, looking into my eyes. "I won't do this to you very often. Just once in a while. Please, Jade, let me have this. I promise you'll enjoy what happens when I take it off. And you are going to be so amazingly horny."

She pulled something out of the gym bag and pressed a button. I almost jumped out of my skin when the plug began to vibrate. She only let it vibrate for a few seconds before she stopped it again.

"Please, Jade," she said. "I promise I won't embarrass you."

"I'm going to walk funny."

"I did tell you that."

* * *

Karen met us at the door to her agency, unlocking the door for us. We had arrived a few minutes early. We had dressed professionally for this. So had she.

Jessica had hit me with the vibrating plus three times while I was getting dressed and twice more in the car, the last one lasting a long time once we pulled up in front of the realty agency. I was already squirming from it. Jessica was smirking about it.

"Hello Jessica," Karen said, shaking hands. "Jade. I am so excited."

"So are we."
In more ways than one.

She ushered her into her office.

"Before we get started, may I ask a personal question? It has absolutely no bearing on what we do, and you don't have to answer."

"You can ask," Jessica said.

"Are you two a couple now? Your dynamic seems different."

"We weren't when we met with you the first time," I said. "We are now. Is that a problem?"

Her smile broadened. "Are you going to be open about it up here?"

I looked at Jessica. She answered for us. "Karen, I don't know. There are a lot of bigots in this town. I don't know if I want to deal with them. Is it a problem?"

"No. It's just."

"You're gay," I blurted out.

She began blushing. "No one knows. If you're out, maybe I could be."

"It will cost you business," Jessica said. "It shouldn't, but it will."

"The people who wouldn't do business with a lesbian don't do business with a woman, either," she said.

I turned to Jessica. "I don't want to hide. We don't have to announce it in the paper, but if I want to hold your hand, I'm going to hold your hand."

"There is your answer," Jessica said.

"Thank you for answering," Karen told us. "My girlfriend is threatening to dump me. She is tired of hiding and she wants to move in with me."

"Call her right now and tell her yes. We'll wait," I told her.

"Email is better. She can't talk at work." Karen turned to her computer. She spoke aloud as she typed. "Honey. May I hold your hand at dinner tonight? I thought
O'Callahan's sounded good. My treat. Yours. Karen."

She looked up at me and I nodded.

"All right," she said. "The Benson property, the cabin I showed you. I've told the selling agent I am writing an offer this morning. He is expecting a call from me by eleven and will fax the papers to the daughter in California. She is expecting them. Depending upon the strength of your offer, we could have a completed purchase agreement today. Have you decided what you will offer?"

Jessica and I looked at each other. "I can't believe we talked about everything else, but didn't discuss the offer."

"We spent the entire car ride talking about what we would do once it was ours," Jessica told Karen. "And not once did we talk about the purchase process. Do you have a recommendation?"

"Do you feel the current price is fair?"

"Should we tell you that?" I asked her.

She smiled. "I am here representing you," she said. "I want you to buy the property you want at
a price you think is fair." Her expression grew serious. "I do not enjoy presenting offers I consider unfair."

I turned to Jessica. "Full price, but she fixes anything terribly wrong found in an inspection, except the shed. We're going to tear it down anyway." I turned to Karen. "I want a full inspection including well and drainage field. If the furnace is in bad shape, I want it replaced. You get the idea."

"You will have to pay for the inspection," Karen said.

"Of course."

"Shouldn't we at least offer something under full price?" Jessica asked.

"It's a cabin," I told her. "There's always something wrong. She's going to have to spend money." I turned to Karen. "It was furnished. Are the furnishings included?"

"If you want them. They aren't worth much, and the owner would donate them to charity if you didn't take them. She doesn't want them, and it would cost her money to haul them away."

"We'll take the furnishings then. So everything on the property is included?"

Karen nodded. "She's already taken away the things that mattered to her."

I turned to Jessica. She asked me,
"Are you sure?"

"It's a good price. She'll walk away happy. We'll know we got a solid cabin. We can afford it. And really, how much could we knock off?
A few thousand? I promise you she's going to have to spend something. I don't know on what, but something."

"All right," Jessica said. She turned to Karen. "What do you think?"

"I think it's an excellent offer. And Jade is right. Cabins always have something wrong. But this was a house, not just a cabin, and it's in good condition as far as I can tell." She looked away for a moment, staring into space, before looking back at us. "I'm not an inspector. They always find something."

After that, it was just a matter of doing all the paperwork. It was all automated, but she had to enter the information into the computer, then print it out and go over it with us. We signed everything then she asked for an earnest check.

"Half from each of us, or do you need one earnest check for the entire amount, and we deal with it?"

"Either is fine."

We each pulled out checkbooks and wrote a check.

It was a few minutes short of eleven by the time we wrapped up. "I'll walk over to the selling agent. We could have an answer very quickly."

"We're going to O'Callahan's for lunch," Jessica said. "You could call or stop over there. We'll make sure we're near phones this afternoon."

* * *

Outside, we hugged fiercely. As soon as we were in the car, she hit me with the vibrating plug and kept it going during the three block drive. O'Callahan's was a nice restaurant on the shore of one of the other area lakes. She turned off the plug once we parked. It took me a minute or two to stop panting.