Charlotte's Master Read online

  “Did you know he has a real dungeon in one of the bedrooms?” Charlotte asked.

  Nina smiled. “Yeah. I haven’t seen it or anything, but Jack said he was putting one in. Have you seen it?”

  “Yeah. He showed it to me. It’s kind of intimidating. I mean I don’t know if I can handle whips and crap,” Charlotte said.

  Nina’s eyes grew large before she shook her head. “I know I wouldn’t be able to. Just take it slow and see where he leads you. If something bothers you, tell him. Open communication is essential in any relationship but especially one like that where you’re trusting someone with your safety.”

  “He’s made a lot of changes to your house since he’s been there. I love the bathroom. It’s a lot like the one I put in at my house,” Charlotte said, changing the subject.

  “Yeah. I’ve seen it. If Jack hadn’t already updated his house, I was going to have to make him. Love the kitchen he put in,” Nina said.

  They chatted for another thirty minutes and then left the restaurant to go shopping. Charlotte needed the outing. She’d been cooped up inside ever since the attack and needed some time away from Baxter. He’d been super sweet, and that was part of the problem.

  Since Neal hadn’t been able to make bail, Charlotte hadn’t felt threatened any longer. Baxter had warned her that he might get off with a light sentence already served. She knew she’d have to deal with that if it happened, but for now, she felt safe enough to do a little power shopping with Nina.

  They spent the next two hours trying on clothes and sifting through sale racks. She hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long time. By the time they’d exhausted themselves, she was ready to head back to Baxter’s house.

  “Want to cook out tomorrow afternoon?” Nina asked her.

  “Sounds good. Tonight, I want to talk to Baxter about our situation. I have a feeling that will take a while.”

  “Yeah, remember to be completely honest with him. Even if you think it might not be what he wants to hear, you need to tell him the truth about how you feel,” Nina said.

  “I will. I don’t want there to be any questions between us.”

  They split up at Nina’s drive with Charlotte carrying her bags toward Baxter’s place. To her surprise, he wasn’t home. She checked the garage and found his bike was gone. She sighed and spent the next half hour putting away her new clothes. By the time she’d finished, the sound of a motorcycle pulling into the drive alerted her that Baxter was back.

  He walked into the kitchen seconds later. “Have a good time?”

  “Yeah. It felt great to get out and spend some time with Nina. I was thinking about cooking a meatloaf for dinner tonight. Sound good to you?” she asked.

  “You don’t have to cook, babe. I can cook, or we can go out to eat.”

  “I want to cook. I like cooking, Baxter. You never let me do anything around here.”

  “I don’t like you wearing yourself out trying to take care of the house and work, too,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

  “I won’t. It doesn’t take all that much energy to cook or clean up after myself. We really need to talk after dinner tonight. I feel like something’s changed between us.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “You’re different than before Neal attacked me. You don’t treat me the same way you did before,” Charlotte said.

  “I don’t want to push you too hard, baby. You had a nasty shock when he attacked you. I figured you needed time to work through it.”

  “Well, I’ve had time, and it needs to stop,” she said.

  “We’ll talk after dinner then. I’ll help with the meatloaf. I like being in the kitchen with you, babe.”

  Charlotte smiled. She liked it when they had spent time cooking together. Deep down, she really liked Baxter as a man and as a friend. It was only the sex part that she wasn’t sure about. How hard core was Baxter into the D/s relationship and what would he expect of her? She wasn’t one to kneel and crap like that. She might not mind the spanking and maybe even some bondage from what she’d read in her romance novels, but whipping? She couldn’t imagine that that could be sexy or feel good to her.

  She’d spent several long afternoons since she’d moved in with Baxter reading on her e-reader books concerning BDSM and found that a lot of it was titillating to her. She was curious about some of it and a little frightened about other parts of it. She might not mind experimenting with the areas she wasn’t sure about. First, they had to have that talk though.

  Once the dishes had been rinsed and put into the dishwasher, nerves fluttered like electrified butterflies in her belly. She kept wiping her sweaty palms on her pant legs as they straightened up the kitchen.

  “Want to sit in the living room to talk?” Baxter asked.

  “Yeah. Maybe I could use a glass of wine,” she suggested.

  “One glass. I don’t want you to agree to something you might not have because of the alcohol,” Baxter said.

  She waited while he poured her a glass of her favorite white zinfandel and took a cautious sip as soon as he handed it to her. Charlotte curled her feet up on the couch and watched as Baxter settled at the opposite end, pulling her feet out from under her to rest in his lap. He gently massaged them as she slowly relaxed.

  “What did you want to talk about?” Baxter asked.

  “Us. Where we’re going in this relationship.”

  * * * *

  Baxter drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was a conversation they needed to have but one he wasn’t keen on. As long as they didn’t talk about it, nothing would change, but once they broached the subject of their future together, everything could be over in an instant.

  “Tell me what you want from me, Baxter.” Charlotte clasped her hands together in her lap as he continued to gently rub her feet.

  “I want to introduce you to the D/s lifestyle. I’m not looking for a slave or someone to wait on me hand and foot. That’s not my thing,” he told her.

  “Then what do you like?”

  “Bondage, a little pleasure/pain.”

  “You want to hurt me?” she asked with a gasp.

  “No. Not like that. Remember when I spanked you? You enjoyed it. It made the sex even better for you, didn’t it,” he said.

  “Yeah. I liked it, but that wasn’t really very painful.”

  “What about when I bump your cervix during sex? You like that, don’t you?” he asked.

  “Well, yeah. But what has that got to do with you causing me pain?” she asked.

  “I don’t want to just cause you pain for the hell of it. I want to mix it up so that you enjoy yourself. There’s a place you can go in your head that’s called subspace that is peaceful and pleasurable when you are stimulated in the right way. Some people can get there with a little spanking. Some people need the sting of a whip called a single tail. It all depends on the person. I want to experiment and see what gets you there.” Baxter used his thumbs to press deeper into her instep while he talked.

  “What do you get out of it?” she asked.

  “The satisfaction of knowing that I helped you get there. It arouses me to watch you when you succumb to pleasure like when you climax. I like watching how your face changes and your eyes glaze over as you come.”

  “What if I can’t handle any of this? What happens then?” she asked.

  “We experiment to see what you enjoy, and that’s where it stops. I’m not into causing pain for the sake of pain, Charlotte. I love using the whip and the floggers, but if you don’t enjoy the pleasure they can give you, then I won’t enjoy it either. Everything depends on you, babe. You hold all the power. If you say stop, it all stops.

  “I want to give this a try, Baxter, but I’m scared,” she told him.

  Baxter felt the first thrill of excitement stir in his balls. She wasn’t nixing the entire thing without giving it a try.

  “It’s okay to be afraid of something new as long as you don’t let it stop you from trying it. We’l
l talk through each action before it happens, so you are aware of what to expect. You’ll have a safe word so that once you use it, everything stops.

  “Like green, yellow, and red.”

  “Someone has been exploring,” Baxter said with a chuckle.

  “I like to read.”

  “You can use that or choose something else. It’s entirely up to you.”

  He watched as she seemed to mull it all over in her head. He liked that she thought things through before making a decision. The fact that she didn’t jump into things without considering the consequences was one of the things he liked about her.

  “I like the idea of having a slow-down word so red, yellow, and green are good for me.” She sighed. “I don’t like the idea of wearing a dog collar or walking around on my knees either.”

  “No dog collar or walking on your knees. Not a problem, but if we work things out with our relationship, would you consider wearing a necklace signifying that you’re my submissive?” he asked.

  “A necklace? Well, I guess so. I’m not so sure I’m submissive material, but we can talk about it later,” she said.

  He could tell she was still a little confused on the entire submissive part of the relationship. It would take time and showing her before she’d see that despite her strong personality, she was still a submissive at heart. It showed in how she wanted to do things for him and make him happy. Just the fact that she was willing to try his lifestyle proved she had a submissive streak in her psyche.

  “Look. I need to tell you that my ex-husband was really into this, and I was young. He didn’t really give me a lot of choice, and it scared me. That’s pretty much why I ended up getting a divorce. I didn’t like most of what he wanted, and he didn’t want to stop when I said no. I’m willing to try some things now that I didn’t want to before, but it doesn’t mean I’m a submissive just because I agree to play a part.”

  “He obviously was an amateur. A seasoned Dom would never force anyone into that kind of relationship who wasn’t willing. He was also a fool to have married you without talking about it beforehand. I’m sorry he treated you so callously. I won’t do that,” he assured her.

  “I thought you should know that it wasn’t the first time I’d been around the whole submissive thing, and it didn’t work out for me then,” Charlotte said.

  “Just give it some time, and you can decide on how you feel as we go along,” Baxter said. “Are you willing to try things with me like the single tail?”

  She shivered. “I’m a little afraid of that. Can we work up to that and see?”

  “Of course. I’m going to mention some things, and you tell me if you know for sure you don’t want to try it and why. Okay?” he asked.

  “Um, okay.” She pulled her feet back from his lap and crossed them on her side of the couch.

  To him she was shoring up her defenses as if she thought he was about to ask her to do them right then. They were only talking so far. He was pretty damn stoked that she’d brought it all up for discussion without him having to broach the subject.

  “Have you ever had anal sex before?” he asked.

  “Uh, no.”

  “It takes a lot of preparation. Would you be willing to try it?” he asked.

  She cocked her head as if thinking about it. He waited for her to speak.

  “You sort of played with my ass the other night when we were on that ride. It felt sort of good, so I don’t mind experimenting some. You’ll stop whatever you’re doing if I say red, though, right?” she asked.

  “Absolutely. If it doesn’t feel good to you, then there’s no need to continue. We’ll talk more about that later then. There are some things you’ll need to know about it.” Baxter moved on. “What about bondage? Do you like to be tied up or restrained?”

  “Yeah, I think I would enjoy that. If I say to let me up though, you will, right?” she asked.

  “You use your safe words, and you’re free. I will always honor your right to say no, Charlie. Always.”

  She gave him a soft smile. Seeing her willing to give things a try warmed him. Now that he knew her background, it meant even more that she was willing to trust him with everything. She had good reason to never want to experiment again if her ex-husband had been such an asshole as to try to force her into the lifestyle when she wasn’t ready for it.

  “Have you ever been flogged?” he asked.

  “Um, yes. It really didn’t do anything for me. I mean, it didn’t hurt or anything either,” she said.

  “There’s a method to flogging that delivers just the right amount of sting without hurting. Would you be willing to try it again?” he asked.

  “Sure. That doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the whip does,” she said.

  “What about a crop?”

  “Um, maybe. That looks like it would really hurt. Makes me think of when my mom would use a switch on us as kids. That shit hurt.”

  “We’ll hold off on that until you’ve tried other things. What about paddling with something other than my hand?” he asked.

  “I guess I could try that. I don’t know. I know I don’t like belts.”

  “How about hot wax play?” he asked.

  Her eyes got wide. “Really? Wax? How does that even work?”

  “It’s a sensual thing. You use special wax for it and not just any candle you want to buy at a store. You don’t want to blister the skin,” he explained.

  “Sure. I’d like to try that.”

  “I think we’ve talked about just about everything for now. We can always talk more later, and anytime you want to stop and talk about something we’re trying, you just use your safe words to let me know where you are.”

  She smiled and leaned against the back of the couch. “Are we going to try something tonight?” she asked with a grin. “I’ve missed you.”

  “What do you mean you’ve missed me?” Baxter frowned. They’d had sex every night since the incident.

  “The way you were before Neal,” she said. “I miss the kind of bossy way you took charge of things. You’ve treated me like I’d break, and I’m tired of it, Baxter. I want what we had before.”

  Baxter smiled. “Baby girl. You’ve got me. I was afraid you needed time to recover from the bastard attacking you. If you want me bossy, you’ve got it. Go strip and lie on the bed for me.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Charlotte’s stomach dropped and then rolled over like a dog waiting on a belly rub. She jumped off the couch and strode out of the living room toward the bedroom. A warm thrill raced down her spine at the thought of what Baxter might have in mind. Since they were going to be in the bedroom and not his playroom, she was confident that she could handle whatever he dished out.

  She stripped out of her clothes and left them in a pile by the door, and then climbed up on the bed to wait for him. She felt a little self-conscious sitting there naked and found herself covering her breasts with her crossed arms.

  Baxter walked into the room carrying something that he dropped by the foot of the bed. He smiled at her and then narrowed his eyes.

  “Don’t try to cover yourself from me, Charlie. I want to see all of you when I come in here. Understand?” he asked.

  She nodded and slowly uncrossed her arms, letting them fall to her sides. It took a bit of effort to keep them there though.

  “Lie back and spread your arms and legs so that you form an X for me,” he said.

  Charlotte hesitated but then did as he asked. She felt super exposed now. Why would he want her like this unless he planned to stare at her? It was unnerving, but then he picked up something from the floor and walked over to the head of the bed on the right side. He held up a length of rope.

  “I’m going to tie you to the bed, Charlie. Want to have you completely at my mercy to give you as many orgasms as I can. What are your safe words?” he asked.

  “Red for stop, yellow for wait and talk, and green for everything is fine.”

  “Good girl.”

&nb
sp; She watched as he tied her wrist to the bed frame and then moved around to secure her other wrist, as well. He tied her legs last, making sure each time that the ropes weren’t too tight as to cut off circulation.

  “Where are you, Charlie?” he asked once he’d finished securing her to the bed.

  “Green. I’m good.”

  She tested the ropes to see if she could get free but found that she couldn’t. She wasn’t really worried. She trusted Baxter. He wouldn’t really hurt her. She was positive of it.

  “Good. Use your safe words if you need to, babe. Be sure to let me know if you lose feeling in your hands or feet or if you get a cramp anywhere. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  She watched as he slowly removed his shirt, boots, belt, and unfastened the top button of his jeans. Then he stretched out next to her on the bed. For the longest time he just looked at her, from her feet up her legs to the juncture of her thighs then on up to her breasts then her face. It made her acutely aware of her body.

  “You’re beautiful, Charlie. I love looking at you. I can’t wait to touch you, but I’m putting it off until I just can’t wait any longer. See, you’re not the only one being denied something they want. I’m making myself wait to have you,” he said.

  She drew in a deep breath and tried to keep her heart from racing. She wanted him to touch her. Somewhere, anywhere. She needed to feel his hands on her body before she started squirming on the bed.

  He finally stroked a single finger from her belly button ring up her abdomen to trace around her breasts before trailing back down to outline her sex.

  “I want to get you waxed, babe. Can you do that for me?” he asked.

  “You mean down there?” she asked.

  He grinned. “Yeah. Down there. I want to be able to lick and suck every inch of you and the hair keeps me from doing that. Plus, it’s so much more sensitive when you’re waxed.”

  “I can do that. I used to get a bikini wax for years and just got out of the habit. I guess I can do that.” She shivered at the thought of waxing her nether regions.