CHAPTER SEVEN
Kate arrived about half an hour later.
"There you are," she said and stood in front of me.
Despite being upset, my heart softened when I saw her looking so lovely, her green eyes wide.
"I wish you'd texted me that you were going out with Claire," I said, trying not to sound too upset. "I was worried something happened to you."
"I'm sorry," she said. "Claire was supposed to phone Michael. He was supposed to tell you."
"You could have texted me."
She shrugged helplessly. "My phone's battery was dead because I forgot to charge it. We let it charge in Claire's car. Then I forgot…"
She forgot. I didn’t say anything for a moment, trying not to over-react.
"So you went out to the Institute? You're out pretty late."
"I told you we went for dinner after. I thought we'd be back before you and Michael got finished at the hospital."
I nodded. "You look lovely."
"Thank you," she said and turned in a circle, holding out the skirt of her dress. "I wish you could have been there with us. Claire's fun, but she's quite a social butterfly so I spent a lot of time alone, looking at pictures by myself. But at the dinner, I did show some of the faculty my painting of you and got a few nice comments."
"Which picture of me? Not the full-frontal…"
"No," she said and sat on the couch beside me, leaning in close. "The more respectable one. I wouldn't want to make the male faculty jealous or the female faculty interested."
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. I brushed a strand of her hair back, then touched her collar.
"I was upset that you were gone when I got back here. I was really looking forward to seeing you."
Kate sighed audibly as if she were getting impatient with me. "Drake, I'm so sorry. I thought Michael was going to tell you I was out with Claire. I thought you two would be really late. Besides, I have to make a life for myself while you're busy at work."
"I want you to have your own life," I said and I meant it. I did want her to have her own life, but when we were a couple, we had to put each other first. "But how would you feel if the tables were turned and it was me who never called or texted you when I was going to be late? If you waited for hours to hear from me?"
She shook her head and I could see real regret in her eyes. "It was thoughtless of me. I was a bit intimidated by Claire. She has this way…"
I nodded. Claire was an alpha female. She liked to be in control. "When I'm free, I want you to be here,” I said and touched her cheek. “I don't want to wonder where you are. When I want you, I don't want to have to wait while you're out partying with people I don't even know."
"Drake…” she said, her voice trailing off. “It won't happen again. I'll make sure to send you a text if I'm going anywhere from now on so you'll know. My phone…"
I nodded and brushed my fingers over the tops of her breasts. "I feel like I should punish you," I said softly.
She bit her lip and I could tell she didn’t like that idea. Subs didn’t like being punished but that was the whole point.
“It wasn't my fault that Claire forgot to call Michael…" Kate said hesitantly.
"You could have called using the hotel phone and left a voicemail,” I said. “Or used your laptop before you left the room. You could have called me as soon as your phone was charged."
She exhaled. "Claire called and I was rushed…"
"It would have saved me worrying. I had these images of you having been abducted, raped, or in a car accident somewhere on the Mombasso Road."
"I'm sorry," she said again and cupped my cheek, leaning in to kiss me. I didn't kiss her back. "I didn't even want to go, but Claire has this way about her."
I nodded, for Kate was often submissive in social situations. "Sometimes, your submissive side extends beyond sex."
She sighed. "With really dominant people, yes. Sometimes it does."
"Maybe I should exert more control outside the bedroom."
She shook her head. "No," she said, adamantly. "I don't want that. You don't want that."
"I want us to work as a couple," I said, calmly. "Maybe you need me to take more control. Especially in a new place where nothing's familiar."
She stood up, and I could tell she wanted to escape this confrontation.
"I don't want TPE." She went to the patio doors and stood staring out at the sky. I didn’t get up, although I knew I should have gone to her. I wanted to see how this played out between us. We hadn’t had many tiffs and I needed to see how she responded.
"Our relationship can be anything we want it to be,” I said. “It doesn't have to be total. It could be partial power exchange, in some situations and settings. Or only in the bedroom. It's whatever makes us both happiest. Maybe you need me to be more in control. Not totally, but more. I feel like you should have thought about me first when you decided to go out. You should have called me. Left a message. Even if you'd left a damn post-it note on the mirror, I wouldn't have been so upset."
"I am not O," she said, her voice firm and a little petulant.
I shook my head. "Of course you're not O. You're Katherine Marie McDermott. Very complicated, passionate, talented. You're also turned on by sexual submission to a dominant man. You need it to feel safe and free. You need a strong dominant man who frees you to feel whatever you can without judgment. I won't judge you, no matter how much control you need to feel from me."
"You always said you didn't want a submissive woman. You want a woman who submits in the bedroom."
I exhaled. "I want you, Kate. Whatever you need." I stood up finally and went to her side, standing close to her so I could touch her. I stroked her hair, ran my hand over it and down her back. "I want," I said and pressed against the small of her back, pulling her against me. "I want you. You need D/s. Tell me it wouldn't make you feel insecure to top me."
She said nothing but sighed heavily. She knew I was right. She didn’t want to admit it to herself but that was the most important part of D/s. Honesty about your needs and wants.
"Am I right?"
She nodded but didn't say anything for a moment. She turned around.
"I thought we were doing really well,” she said, her voice sounding hurt. “I thought you were getting what you want from the relationship."
"Kate, this is what drives me," I said and took her face in my hands. "I want to give you as much dominance and control as you need to be happy. I want to be the man who fulfills you, whatever that means. If you need me to take more control, I will. Gladly." I stroked her cheek with a thumb. "Tell me what you need, Kate. I'll give it to you exactly the way you want it."
She inhaled a shaky breath, so emotional. "I don't know what I need. I only know I want you."
"You have me. But I don't feel as if I have you yet. Not completely."
"You do have me. I love you."
I shook my head. "If I had you completely, you would have done everything you could have to let me know you'd be out. You would have thought of me first, and left a note, left a voice mail. You would have called as soon as your phone was charged. Instead, you had excuses for why you didn’t."
She frowned. "I didn't even want to go out, but I did because Claire said I had to make my own life apart from you. That you’d be away so much that I'd become sad and feel neglected if I didn't. I went out with her because I felt I had to."
I went to the bar fridge in the kitchen area and took out a small bottle of bourbon and poured the contents into a glass. Then, I went back to the sofa and sat on it, my feet up on the coffee table. Kate followed me and stood beside me, waiting for me to say something.
I said nothing for several moments, sipping my drink.
"Say something."
"What should I say, Kate?"
"How are you feeling?"
I shot back the bourbon and placed the glass carefully on the coffee table.
"I'm upset," I said. "I'm upset that you went somewhere without telling me yourself. That you didn't make the effort. I'm upset that this whole evening has gone to shit and I was looking forward to spending it making you come several times."
"Don't be mad at me," she said, her voice low. "Me not leaving a note was thoughtless, but Claire was outside and I didn't want to keep her waiting. Then she forgot to tell Michael…"
She exhaled and I could feel her frustration from where she stood. "I guess we have to agree to disagree, then."
"I guess we do, but I still think I should punish you."
"No," she said, her voice edged with anger. "Our power exchange only extends to the bedroom and I haven't agreed to change it. This has nothing to do with our sex life."
"It does have something to do with our sex life," I said firmly. "I wanted to fuck you senseless, Katherine." I stood up and faced her. "I'm not fucking you senseless, am I?"
"You could if you weren't so mad over nothing."
Then I pulled her against my body, one hand tangling in her hair, gripping it, pulling her mouth against mine, my lips pressing hers open, my tongue finding hers, sucking it into my mouth possessively. With the other hand, I hiked up the hem of her dress, sliding my hand up her thigh to her buttock, squeezing it, pulling her against my groin, my erection caught between our bodies.
When my fingers slipped around under her panties and I found her clit, she moaned into my mouth. At that show of need, I turned her around and pushed her down so that she leaned against the back of the sofa. I spread her thighs roughly with my knee, lifted the skirt of her dress, pushing it up over her back. Then, I pulled off her panties and was inside of her, my cock completely sheathed in her silky wet warmth. I lay over her, my face next to hers, my cheek pressed against hers. I stroked her clit for a moment, letting her adjust to my size but she didn’t want to wait, and pushed back against me.
"I'm going to fuck you, Katherine,” I growled, “and you're not going to come, do you understand?"
"Then why are you touching me?" she protested, her voice breathless. "I need to come."
"I like to touch you. You do need to come," I said, deciding to deny her orgasm as punishment. "Your clit is nice and hard, and you're so wet. But you're not going to come, Katherine. I'm going to punish you for not contacting me yourself so I'd know where you were. I'm going to fuck you until I come inside of you and then, I'm going to deny you release."
She said nothing when I began to thrust, hard and fast. "You're not going to let yourself come, Katherine, do you understand?"
Still, she met every thrust with her body, tightening her muscles around me. I groaned, inhaling sharply when I felt her body contract around my shaft, teasing the head.
"Don't let yourself come," I said, trying to sound commanding but I was so close, my voice was shaky. Despite everything, she started to climax, her body tensing in that way I had come to know and anticipate when I fucked her.
"Don't come," I said, barely able to speak because I was so close as well.
"I can't stop…"
I could feel her cunt spasm around me and it drove me on, thrusting all the harder, until I felt the white hot pleasure as I began to ejaculate.
I grunted like an animal as I came, my eyes clenched shut, teeth gritted. When I was finished, I leaned over on top of her, my mouth on her shoulder as both of us recovered.
I had to stop from laughing out loud at what a fool I was, thinking I could deny her an orgasm.
"I'm going to have to find some other way to punish you," I said, smiling against her shoulder. "You're too damn responsive."
I kissed her shoulder and then slipped out of her body. I stood up straight and held her down so I could watch my come drip down her thighs.
She complied, waiting for me to release her. Finally, I let her up and she went to the bathroom to clean up.
When she started to undress, I stopped her and took over. I unzipped her dress and she hung it up in on the back of the door and then removed her bra. Her panties were still on the floor in the living room where I dropped them.
I stood in the doorway to the bathroom and watched her clean up then run a quick bath. She stepped inside the tub and started washing.
"You're not going to say anything?" I said, wondering what her mood was.
"That was good," she said rinsed the soap off her body. "I needed that."
I shook my head slowly while she got out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her body.
"What am I going to do with you, Ms. Bennet?"
She grabbed her clothes and brushed past me, smiling. "Anything you want."
I followed her into the bedroom and watched while she hung up her dress in the closet.
"Anything I want, hmm?" I said, amused.
"You're the Dom."
She dried off slowly, well aware that I was watching.
Before she could put on her nightgown, I grabbed her and pulled her over to the bed, then pushed her down onto her back. I lifted her farther up onto the bed so that my mouth was right over her pussy.
"What I want is to eat you and make you come again."
She closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands to hide her smile.
I made her come again with my tongue and fingers and it was only when she’d had her second orgasm that I felt relieved.
I was generous like that.
Later, we lay together naked, our limbs entwined.
I kissed her neck. "So, other than the fact that you should have called me sometime during the night, how did your evening go? Did you meet other students?"
Kate sighed as if she wasn’t all that happy with the evening. "It was OK."
"That doesn't sound like much of a ringing endorsement," I said, her response confirming what I thought.
She turned to look in my eyes. "To tell you the truth, it wasn't much fun. I felt uncomfortable a lot of the time."
"Why?" I brushed a finger over her bottom lip. "What happened?"
"Claire went off and was a social butterfly. I was stuck with this man who made a few strange comments and innuendo. I only wanted to come home and wait for you but I was trapped."
"What man?" I said, keeping my voice controlled, but the knowledge some strange man was bothering her upset me and brought out the green-eyed devil in me.
"Sefton deVilliers," she said. "He's the artist in residence at the Institute. He's offering an open studio course and offered me a spot but I don't know if I want to take the class from him."
"Why?"
"He made me uncomfortable. I told him I was engaged to you so he'd stop."
"Was he at the dinner, too?" I asked lightly, not wanting to show her how jealous I was.
"Yes," she said, and bit her lip. "He was a bit suggestive…"
"Suggestive?"
"He asked me if I was a submissive."
"What?" I frowned, tensing. "How did that come up? What did you say to him?"
"Nothing," she said defensively. She touched her collar. "He saw my choker and asked me what it meant. Do you think he was at the dungeon the other night and saw me, recognized my choker?"
"I don't know why else he'd think you were a submissive," I said, a rush of adrenaline going through me. "He must have been there." I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. "That was presumptuous of him and not acceptable. People in the lifestyle usually only meet through known contact routes—online websites, personals, or through friends who are in the lifestyle. You don't ask a stranger and even if you've seen someone at an event, you don't mention it unless you're close enough. It's respect for privacy. Besides, we were wearing masks. That means we don't want our participation in the event to be publicly known. He knew that if he was there."
"He's a buffoon," she said dismissively.
"He is." I said nothing for a moment, trying to figure out if he had been at the dungeon and what that might mean. "Did he say anything other than that?"
She shook her head. "No. He made a few comments when he saw my painting of you that at first I thought could be taken two ways." Then she glanced at me. “So I take it we were in a public room.”
"Why do you think that?" I said, but of course, that would be her first thought.
"Because if he saw us having sex, he would know you're big."
"I'm neither going to confirm or deny that," I said and shook my head. "He's not going to spoil the experience for you."
I inhaled deeply and stoked her hair as she lay beside me, her arm across my chest, her face pressed against my shoulder. It was such a nice intimate moment, but I felt angry that some other man was the one to reveal the truth to her about having sex in the public room.
"Might want to keep your distance from him," I said. "I'd advise against taking his studio class. Not because I'm worried you'll become involved with him," I said and turned to face her. I tilted up her chin so she had to look in my eyes. "I may get jealous, but I know you love me. Still, you don't want to feel harassed. You want someone to appreciate you for your talent and not because you are the most delicious bit of womanhood around."
I smiled briefly and kissed her. Of course, I figured if this man was a Dom and had been at the dungeon, he’d be interested in her. Of that I had no doubt. A submissive who was an artist? I was certain the man would want to eat her for breakfast.
"I'll check with Nial Mbuno, the Dean of the Institute, about other open studio classes."
I nodded and pulled her against me, glad that she was willing to take a different class. It wasn’t only that I was jealous. If this man was at the dungeon and was a Dominant, I felt certain that he would pursue her.
I didn’t want that to complicate things between us.
First, Sam showed up to make things difficult between Kate and me. Then this deVilliers fellow shows an interest in Kate. When we came to Kenya, I thought the culture shock and change of lifestyle would be the main challenge we faced. I had no idea it would be from two possible competitors, hoping to get between us.
With Kate in my arms, our bodies warm and relaxed, I soon fell asleep, even the thought of Sefton and Sam unable to keep me awake.