Bondage Ranch 6: Taming the Mistress (10 page)

Pretend?
He never regarded anything he did as “pretend.” Especially not at Bondage Ranch. It was real, in the moment, physical, tangible. And he didn’t much appreciate the word
impossible
either. The line from
Hamlet
popped into his mind: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” He took it as a challenge.

Another kiss seemed like a good place to start. She responded enthusiastically, matching his hunger. But when they parted there was sadness in her eyes.

“I think,” she said, “that you should untie me. I’d like to get dressed before Laera or Bruce check in on us.”

He thought of telling her they’d already been but held back. If she was embarrassed to be seen naked, he should respect that. They hadn’t negotiated the way the scene would end, but he’d known it wouldn’t go on forever. He shifted her in his lap so her back was to him and went to work on the knots. But he couldn’t resist making sure the back of his hands brushed against her nipples when he unwound the rope. When she shivered in response, he smiled.
This isn’t over yet, Sue. Not by a long shot.

Sue got up when he finished, and opened one of the drawers in the chest of the room. She pulled out a thong but didn’t put it on. She bent over to grab the flannel shirt she’d worn the day before from where it was stuffed in a plastic bag. He wondered if she knew what a lovely view of the pouting lips of her pussy it gave him when she bent over. Mistress Sue was probably very aware of every move she made, but right now, submissive Sue seemed flustered, vulnerable.

“Nice view,” he said, unable to resist and wanting to see her reaction.

She turned around and stuck out her tongue, which made him wonder again what she’d intended. She pulled the thong on, then turned so she was in profile and slipped on the shirt. She buttoned a few buttons, enough to be decent without completely concealing her breasts, and only then looked at him.

“That,” she said, “was very nice. Thank you.”

“You’re well aware the pleasure was mutual.”

Sue giggled. “I kinda noticed.”

“I tend not to hide.”

She smiled slightly and made a point of looking over his body. “You have good reason not to hide anything.”

He stood, partially to give her a better view, but mostly because he wanted to cross the room and take her into his arms. But she shook her head.

“I think I need to do some thinking,” she said softly. “Maybe I’d be best doing that alone.”

“Tomorrow’s the last day.” The Bondage Ranch experience, lovely as it was, didn’t last forever. He’d often felt recharged, ready to go back to dealing with congressmen and trying to make the world a better place. This time, he wasn’t so sure he’d be ready for it to end.

“I know.”

Do you want to see me?
But he didn’t want to hand her all the power by asking so plaintively.
We could sleep together tonight
. Usually it was the woman who wanted to sleep cuddled up after sex. He always liked it too, but he also knew letting a woman sleep with him tended to create more of a bond than he wanted. At Bondage Ranch, in a tent, with the obvious excuse of warmth? Hell, he’d done it with women he hadn’t even had sex with. But this was different. It would be the second night in a row, and in a warm bed. It would almost be like sleeping with a woman in his house, and he never made exceptions at home.

“Okay.” He stood there, waiting. Sue stared at him, maybe wondering why he hadn’t gone. He wasn’t going to chase her down for a hug, but he wasn’t going to leave without either.

Finally, she stepped forward to meet him. She hugged him tightly and looked up into his eyes. Their lips met. He fished in his pocket for a business card and tucked it into the waistband of her panties while they kissed. The card had just his first name, his e-mail, and his cell phone number.

They let go. She helped him gather up his rope. “I usually braid mine, and you like to coil, so I’ll let you.”

He smiled. “I find putting it away properly is a way of reflecting on what we’ve done. A sort of aftercare for the top, if you will.” Usually he waited until he was alone with a pile of rope, his sub having left for home. He looped the rope several times over his hand, then cinched the loop with a few perpendicular wraps and a knot before putting it back in the oversize pocket.

Sue met him at the door with another hug. The kiss with it was brief but sweet, and the feeling of her soft body in his arms was intoxicating. He wondered if she had any idea how attractive she was to him in a shirt and underwear. For all the severe sexiness and enhanced cleavage of her dominatrix outfits, this drew him in more. There was a reality to it as well as a softness.

He wondered, not for the first time, if he was more his real self in a kilt or in a business suit. A little of both, perhaps. Maybe it was the same with Sue.

“Good-bye for now, Dane.”

For now. Good enough
. Although he thought she would do better with some cuddling and some aftercare.

“I don’t think I should leave you alone right now.”

“Don’t make me say the word, Dane.”

He knew what she meant.
Red
. Safe word. There was nothing wrong with her saying it, but clearly she didn’t want to, and he didn’t need to force it. Maybe Sue knew what she needed. His instinct said no, but he’d have to respect her decision. “See you around, Sue.”

And then he left.

He wandered down to the dungeon, not sure whether he would stay or go through it to get back to his tent. He wasn’t used to feeling a drop after a scene. Not much anyway. He was dimly aware of a naked woman being flogged, and another being led past him on her hands and knees and on a leash. Valerie was using a strap-on to sodomize a man. Normally he would have at least taken a moment to observe, but he felt like he was in a fog. Which was probably why he didn’t notice as Bruce came behind him and clapped him on the back. “May I have a word with you?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

Bruce gestured to the side of the room. Laera was there, arranging two chairs at a table. Bruce had apparently changed her ropes. She was wearing a white dress now, on top of which was tied a harness in purple rope that created an interesting diamond pattern over her body. It was a simple tie beginners learned to do, but it was totally symmetrical. That was harder than it looked, and the sign of a perfectionist.

Dane nodded and walked over. He sat down on the chair. There was no chair for Laera, but maybe she was expected to kneel on the floor. Still, he would have expected Bruce to at least provide her with a cushion. Bruce sat down too.

“Do you wish me to stay, Master, or should I let you two talk?” asked Laera.

“Give us a few minutes, if you would, love,” said Bruce.

“Yes, Master.” Laera leaned over and exchanged a kiss with Bruce. Then she straightened and curtsied to Dane. “Sir.”

“It’s just Dane. Save titles for people who have earned it.” Dane’s response was reflexive. Possibly, however, Bruce had a protocol he liked Laera to follow. “Unless your Master wishes you to do otherwise.”

Bruce chuckled. “Like I could control what she says.”

Laera made a face at Bruce and then left to talk with a friend. Dane waited for Bruce to talk.

“I’m concerned about Sue,” Bruce said.

“She’s a big girl. She can take care of herself.”

Bruce shot him an annoyed look. Dane supposed he wouldn’t be too happy with that answer either, although he meant it with respect for Sue. The woman was neither a pushover nor a child. Still, it was the sort of thing someone would say to justify being an asshole.

“She hasn’t submitted to anyone for a very long time,” said Bruce.

“Are you sure?”

“We keep in pretty good touch. Sure? No. But enough to make it a statement.”

“She’s kept that side of her locked up, then.” Dane said. He wasn’t going to kiss and tell, but he knew Bruce had seen him and Sue, so there was no use pretending.

“Yes. Tightly. Too tightly.”

“That, too, is her call.” The big brother act was starting to get on Dane’s nerves. He appreciated Sue having a friend who thought she was worth protecting. Hell, he might do it himself, and Bruce was second-guessing the same things about Sue he’d second-guessed.

“It is. But if she lets loose, it better be with someone who gives a damn besides wanting to be the one who wants to make a mistress kneel. I’m not questioning
her
decisions. Do you know what you’re doing? Are you going to be there to pick up the pieces after you’ve cut through her armor? Or are you going to leave that job to me?”

Fuck. How many times have I provided aftercare to subs whose doms couldn’t be bothered after a one-off play session?
He knew exactly what Bruce was saying, and he didn’t know what to say back.
Fuck you
was tempting. He held it in.

“You being here now and not with her is not a good sign.”

“Send Laera to talk to her,” Dane said. “She didn’t want to have me there, so I gave her a hug and a kiss, and I left. As you said, neither of us are questioning her decisions. No, that’s not true. I question her decision. But it’s still her call.”

“Who’s the dom, anyway?” asked Bruce.

Dane shrugged. “I could have pushed it. She was ready to say red if I did. What would be the point? There’s a time to take control, and sometimes you have to realize you can’t. If she wants me there, I’ll hold her all night long.”

Bruce nodded and waved to Laera, who was off talking to another female submissive, a thin blonde woman. It took him a moment to get her attention. Laera excused herself and came over.

“Could you go check on Sue for me, please?” asked Bruce. “And tell her I’ve got Dane here if she wants him.”

Dane raised an eyebrow at Bruce deciding he was going to stay. Still, he had nothing better to do. And Bruce knew Sue.
I might be able to pump him for information and learn more about what makes her tick.

“Yes, Master. I like that better than you going and being alone in a room with her,” Laera said.

Bruce frowned.

Laera shrugged. “I trust you. But damn. An ex-girlfriend. I’m not perfect.”

Dane raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
An ex-girlfriend, hmm? And I’m pretty sure Bruce wasn’t the submissive one in that arrangement.

Bruce nodded. “No one is. I won’t make you suffer. Go see Sue.”

Dane studied Bruce as Laera left. Bruce was lost in thought but not upset.

“You’re taking that well.”

“Laera loves me. She’s, well, attached. And attachment comes with a certain amount of suffering. That’s understandable.”

“Buddhist philosophy?” He’d heard Bruce called the Zen master, often with some amusement. “But without attachment, without passion, what’s the point?”

Bruce smiled. “Oh, Laera has helped me understand that side of things too.”

Chapter Seven

Knock, knock
. It didn’t sound loud enough for Dane, so Sue ignored it. She didn’t want to play with a sub tonight. She wasn’t sure what she felt. Her emotions were confusing her, and she wished she could sort them out. Dane was incredibly attractive to her. But everything she’d been building up for herself since Bruce released her said that Dane was exactly the wrong kind of man.

Laid out on the bed before her was the last dominatrix outfit she’d packed: tight leather pants and a killer black corset with a ton of buckles. The sprung-steel boning of the corset was so hard, it felt like a suit of armor. She usually had someone lace it up for her, but she’d learned to do a halfway decent job of it herself. If she could find Laera, maybe Laera could give it the extra pull of tightness that would squeeze her stomach in and make the most of her cleavage.

A suit of armor would be good right now.

And yet she felt so soft with Dane. And that felt good too.

Well, I’m not going to go out in undies and a shirt. I don’t have anything soft to wear. Or submissive. Not that I want to go out in public looking like a slave girl. Especially not without Dane at my side. So the armor it is.

“Sue?” Laera’s voice came from right next to her and made her jump.

“Laera! How the heck did you get in here?”

“Um, you gave me a key, remember?”

“Well, you’re too late. Dane has left.”

Laera smirked. “I’m not too late. I peeked in on you then too.”

Sue blushed. What had Laera seen? It had seemed like a good idea at the time. A safety measure.

“I never thought I’d see you tied up,” Laera went on. “But it looked like you were enjoying yourself. You looked blissed out. And Dane…”

“What about Dane?”

“Well, he’s certainly a nice piece of eye candy.”

Sue grinned. That he was. And Laera hadn’t even seen his cock—or had she? “You didn’t see us when we were, um, um…”

“Whatever it is, I’d expect you could talk about it,” said Laera. “Didn’t you once give a public talk about cock and ball torture? Really, what has you blushing?”

Sue harumphed. “Fine! Sex! When we were fucking!”

Laera shook her head. “Nope. Sorry I missed it.” She bit her lip as if suppressing a giggle.

Sue’s eyes narrowed. “So if you’re not here for that… Oh, that was you knocking. But why’d you let yourself in?” It was in invasion of privacy, at best. What if she’d been masturbating or with a sub?

“Master Bruce seemed to think it was urgent I check on you. And you know, what Master wants, Master gets.” Laera’s eyes danced with mischief. “I just follow orders like a good girl.”

Sue rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whenever you feel like it.”

“Which is almost always. And no, not whenever I feel like it. If he really insists. Because I do trust him.”

“For good reason. I don’t know anyone as aware as your Master, Laera.”

“Do you trust Dane?”

“To play safe? Yes. Or he wouldn’t have been in my room.”

“There’s more to it than that, Sue. Unless all you have going in is a mechanical, Top/bottom, he does stuff to you and you go
oooh
kinda thing, I guess.”

Sue chuckled. It was only a few years ago Sue had been mentoring Laera after Laera was cast adrift by Bruce. Sue had gotten the two back together by using her knowledge of how to push Bruce’s buttons. Now Laera was trying to teach her. “No, I don’t think it’s a mechanical, Top/bottom thing. There’s a connection there. I’m trying to figure it out.”