Love Unbound

Cat loves her husband. He’s a sweet, tender
man and a great father. Their sex life is fine. With the kids and
their careers, they don’t have as much time as she’d like, but she
really can’t complain. She is used to being in control –at home, at
school –but lately some of the books she’s been reading make her
wonder what it would be like to surrender for a change and give
control to the man she loves.

When Owen overhears his wife’s book club, he
gets a “shade” more than he planned on. How is a sensitive, equal
opportunity man supposed to dominate his strong, competent wife?
Using his scientist’s mind and some careful planning, maybe he can
turn his Cat into a kitten—at least for the weekend.

LOVE UNBOUND

An erotic novella

Book One of the Studio 1247 Series

by

Evelyn Adams

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Evelyn Adams

All rights reserved

The distribution of this work without the
express permission of the author is illegal and punishable by law.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not
participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted
materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

.

“You don’t really like the tie me up and
spank me stuff, do you?”

Owen froze on his way to the refrigerator.
His wife’s book club met once a month. This month was Catherine’s
turn to host. The women arrived a couple of hours ago, and he and
the girls had made themselves scarce. His daughters had gone
upstairs to wear out their cell phones. He’d closed himself off in
the study to give his wife and her friends some privacy.

He didn’t usually pay attention to Cat’s book
club. It seemed like more of an excuse to get together, laugh and
drink wine than to explore great literature. So far he’d managed to
avoid contact with the women, but he really wanted to know who’d
asked the question. He was afraid if he peeked into the dining
room, he’d get caught. Instead he stood in the middle of the
kitchen and listened.

“No really,” the voice went on. “We’ve talked
about character development and literary themes, but you have to
admit the reason the book – hell the whole series – is so popular
is because of the sex.” Owen heard the women laugh like they did
when most of the wine bottles were empty. “So I want to know if the
spanking thing turns you on.”

“It’s not just the spanking.” He recognized
his wife’s friend, Anne’s voice. “It’s the way he dominated her,
you know forced her to feel things that was so sexy. He treated her
like some kind of precious sexual object – buying her clothes, even
arranging to have her waxed. I mean I know we’re not supposed to
want it – I don’t think I would in real life – but that control is
kind of sexy. The punishments were just part of it.”

Owen’s jaw dropped open. What kind of book
had they read? He took a step toward the dining room, willing to
risk being spotted to get a glimpse of what was going on inside.
The next question stopped him in his tracks.

“What about you, Cat?” teased a voice that
might have belonged to the woman who’d introduced herself as Mary
when he’d taken her coat. “Do you want to be tied up and
spanked?”

The women laughed again and then went silent
waiting for Cat’s response. Owen leaned closer, waiting, too.

“No,” she said after a long moment. “Well,
not exactly.” The smug smile died on his lips. What the hell did
she mean not exactly? His straight-laced school teacher wife could
not possibly want someone –him –to spank her, could she?

“It’s not the spanking.”

At least she didn’t think so. Although if she
was being honest, she had to admit that she wondered what it would
be like to be spanked. None of the hard stuff, no canes or even a
belt like they’d read about, but maybe a strong rough hand on her
naked butt. There was no way she’d tell Owen that though. She
couldn’t imagine her sensitive, gentle husband doing anything as
brutal as taking his hand to her.

“Look, she’s thinking about it. You can
almost see it,” Mary teased.

“You’re curious, too. Or you wouldn’t have
suggested the book and asked the question in the first place,” said
Anne, jumping to Cat’s defense.

Mary raised her almost empty wine glass in
mock salute. “Yes, but I’m not taking credit for the book. You all
wanted to read it. Hell, everyone’s reading it. I see women reading
it everywhere I go.”

“I took Jack to the doctor’s the other day,
and there was a woman reading it in the waiting room.” Diane, the
fifth and youngest member of their book club, chimed in.
“Spanking’s gone mainstream.”

“Fine, I’m curious,” said Cat. “But that’s
not what really interested me.” She glanced over her shoulder at
the door to make sure they were alone. “It seems like the
punishment thing could get too weird too quickly. And I know I
don’t want my girls thinking that’s the way men are supposed to
treat them. You’ve seen it at school.” She nodded to Ann and Beth,
both teachers at the high school where Cat taught. “They’re already
too eager to give their power to boys.” The other women murmured
their agreement. “But I like the idea of a man taking control –
deciding everything, doing whatever he wants to me as long as it
feels good. I get so tired of managing everything. I want someone
else to make the decisions for a change. Take my choices away and
just know how to give me what I need even if I’m not sure of it
myself.”

As she spoke the room got quiet and Cat
worried she’d said too much. Before she could explain herself, Beth
jumped in.

“Exactly. I’m so used to controlling
everything; I have a hard time letting go when Brad and I have
sex.”

“But you guys have been married for what –
like fifteen minutes?” chided Mary. They’d been married for five
years, but compared to Cat and the other women, all of whom had
been married for almost twenty years, they were practically
newlyweds.

“I’m serious. Don’t get me wrong; the sex is
still good. I love Brad. I just have a hard time surrendering and
really giving in to the pleasure. Even when he’s going down on me,
I have a hard time not thinking. When was the last time I shaved?
Do I taste okay to him? I mean I know I don’t taste like an
exquisite peach the way you read about in some books, but I want
him to like it, too.”

The women erupted in howls of laughter, and
Cat stopped worrying that she’d said too much.

“Honey, if I could get Tom to go down on me
more than once a year, I damn sure wouldn’t be worrying about
whether I’d shaved.” Mary raised her glasses and wiped the tears
from her eyes even as she started to laugh again. “Exquisite
peaches.”

Beth looked at Mary doubled over and started
to laugh herself. “I’m serious,” she said when she managed to stop.
“I need help getting out of my own head.”

Cat saw her opening and seized it. “Okay,
I’ve got an idea. Shhh,” she hissed as Mary continued to laugh.
“Let’s read one of the Shadowlands books next.”

Cat stumbled across the books a couple of
months ago and devoured them. The BDSM club described in the books
excited her almost as much as the Doms the author created. They
were practically mind readers, and they pushed their partners to
higher and higher levels of pleasure. They also pushed their
boundaries, exposing them literally and figuratively to experiences
the women hadn’t consciously admitted they wanted to try. She’d
wanted someone to talk to about the books, but she couldn’t talk to
Owen. She didn’t want him to think she wasn’t happy with their sex
life.

She loved him so much. He was a fantastic
father and a great husband. If sex had become routine, so what?
They did everything else so well together. There was no way she
could ask her sweet gentle husband to tie her up and use her for
his pleasure even if it was for hers as well. Talking to her book
club was as close as she was likely to get to experiencing
dominance and submission.

“Next month’s our overnight gathering,” said
Anne. “Are you sure you want to talk about sex on the weekend we go
away without our husbands?”

“I’m game,” said Mary.

“Me, too,” echoed Beth.

Owen closed the file and set the tablet on
his desk. Holy crap. That was what his wife fantasized about? How
the hell was he supposed to do that for her?

He’d overheard her tell her book club the
title and heard the excitement in her voice. She’d definitely
sounded interested in whatever they did in that book. Before the
women left for the night, he’d gone back to the study, bought the
book online and started reading.

He’d also done a little bit of research about
BDSM on the internet, but most of that struck him as more scary
than sexy. Some of the Shibari, the Japanese bondage, was beautiful
especially when they used ribbons. Other parts made him shudder.
The images of women bound with coarse ropes, their breasts turned
into painful balls, was something he wished he hadn’t seen. It made
his stomach uneasy to think that might be what Cat wanted. He
didn’t think he could hurt her like that.

He’d been relieved when the book turned out
to be more about giving pleasure than inflicting pain. The Doms
seemed completely focused on making sure their partners felt
intense pleasure and on pushing their boundaries. There was some
exhibitionist stuff and some spanking but nothing too extreme. He
didn’t think he could handle the sharing bit. He hated the idea of
another man touching Cat, but the rest of the stuff sounded
exciting.

He loved the idea of Cat splayed open and
restrained for him to use however he wanted. He wanted her
trembling under him, hungry and aching for him while he took
charge. Hell, he’d been hard most of the time he’d been reading,
just thinking about it.

The problem was the Doms in the books she
liked were hung like stallions and had Vulcan mind tricks to tell
what their partners were thinking. He was just an average guy. No
woman, including Cat, had ever had her eyes go wide with fear or
anticipation when she saw his erection. He hadn’t had any
complaints, but it definitely wasn’t equine. And after seventeen
years together, he was only now learning what Cat meant when she
said “Fine.” Half the time he got that wrong. He didn’t want to
think about what his success rate would be like if he had to guess
how she wanted to be tied up.

He was a scientist, damn it. He could figure
this out. If he kept a hand on her wrist or his fingertips on her
neck he’d be able to tell if her pulse raced, and there were the
obvious ways to tell if she was excited. He reached for the tablet,
shifting in his chair to accommodate the erection he’d had since he
starting thinking about restraining his naked wife, typed
how to
tell if she’s turned on
and hit search.

~~~~~

Cat closed the door on her mother-in-law and
the girls and sighed with relief. Finally. She practically sprinted
to Anne’s waiting car. She’d never needed a weekend away this
badly, even if it was just an overnight with her book club. Her
kids at school seemed to manage to forget as much as they learned,
and the girls challenged her every night. Owen had been working
late a lot, and the girls seemed intent on pushing her buttons. Now
that they were teenagers, he had so much more patience with them
than she did. On top of everything, Owen got called away on
business, some kind of university lecture. Since when did
physicists get called away for emergency lectures? And he’d been so
weird this past month, closing himself in his study the few nights
he made it home before nine.

They’d barely had sex lately, not that they
usually had a lot of time or energy for sex—but still. Something
was off. If it was anyone other than Owen, Cat would think he was
having an affair. Owen wouldn’t do that. She knew he wouldn’t, but
didn’t most people say they had no idea when their spouse
cheated?

Great, now she was worried about Owen,
undersexed, and on her way to spend the weekend talking to a group
of women about an imaginary BDSM club. She hoisted her overnight
bag into the backseat and climbed into the car.

“What?” Cat stared at her friend, and Anne
grinned back at her, her blue eyes shining with anticipation.
“What?”

“Nothing.”

Cat rolled her eyes and watched as Anne
continued to grin. “Something’s up.”

Anne pressed her lips into a tight line, and
Cat finally gave up and sat back, wondering if everyone around her
was acting strange or if it was her. When the car came to a stop in
front of one of the old brick buildings by the railroad tracks, she
decided it wasn’t her.

“What are we doing here?” Since real estate
was cheap in this part of the city, some of the buildings had been
remodeled as artist studios or storage space. Even more still sat
empty. It wasn’t exactly scary. Even in their disrepair the
buildings had a certain charm, but it wasn’t the kind of place to
be stuck after dark. It certainly wasn’t where the book club had
agreed to meet for the weekend.