Reclaiming His Submissive

Reclaiming
His Submissive

Eliza
Gayle

After
fifteen months of blissful submission in the arms of her Master,
Harper Allison fears the honeymoon period of their relationship is
over. In the midst of their last scene several weeks ago she blurted
out the three little words Alex wasn’t ready to hear. Now he’s
finally summoned her to his penthouse apartment and she’s
decided there’s no choice left for her but to ask for her
release.

Alex
Woodman has been making plans. His life is complicated and his desire
to keep his business and family separate from his life with Harper is
closing in on him. To gain the commitment he desires something has to
give. When his feisty submissive removes her collar without his
consent, his need to set things right goes into overdrive and leads
to a thing or two that might be considered illegal in the state of
New York.

One
of these days Harper will learn that what Alex wants—Alex gets.

Don’t miss the previous
book,
Sweet Submission
that started Alex and Harper down this path.

eBooks are not transferable.
They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement of
the copyright of this work.

RECLAIMING HIS SUBMISSIVE

Shades of Naughty Collection

Copyright © 2013 ELIZA GAYLE

Cover art by Amanda Kelsey

Edited by Trinity Scott

ISBN: 978-1-936387-62-5

All Romance eBooks, LLC Palm
Harbor, Florida 34684 www.allromanceebooks.com

This is a work of fiction and any
resemblance to persons, living or dead, or business establishments,
events, or locales is coincidental.

All Rights Are Reserved. No part
of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles and reviews.

First All Romance eBooks
publication: May 2013

Chapter
One

Harper Allison stared up the full
height of the metal and glass twenty-five story building towering in
front of her like a bearer of doom. She imagined Alex hidden away in
his elegant home office with his Bluetooth headset glued to his ear
as he handled the myriad details someone in his position took care
of. As CEO of some corporate conglomerate she didn’t begin to
understand, he spent an inordinate amount of time conducting business
on the telephone. In between today’s business calls he’d
attempted to reach her more than once.

Her hand tightened on the cell
phone she’d yet to answer for fear she’d say something
she couldn’t take back. Not that seeing him in person would
make any of this any easier but she owed him more than a phone
conversation. The insistent buzz of another voicemail vibrated in her
hand, shredding her nerves even more.

Like it or not, this night had
been coming for weeks now. Tonight she had to take off her collar and
ask her Master to release her. Tears burned at the back of her eyes
and the constant pain in her chest tightened. The thought of telling
the man she loved that she didn’t want to see him again made
her sick to her stomach.

Although not as sick as the night
she’d confessed her true feelings to a room that turned so
silent when she spoke the ill-timed words, she could have heard a pin
drop. Harper growled in frustration and wiped frantically at the lone
tear that had escaped onto her cheek. No. This wasn’t going to
happen this way. She had more backbone than that.

Somewhere.

The scene Alex had prepared for
them that night had gone perfectly. Her Master had an obsessive eye
for detail and he’d gone all out for her first time with a
whip. An elegant meal hand fed to her, no cell phones to interrupt
them, and a hungry look in her Master’s eyes that made her want
to fall at his feet.

Her eyes slid closed as the
memory overtook her. She barely remembered the song that played in
the background, only that her nude and shackled body had swayed to
the rhythmic beat, getting lost in the energy. The soft glow of the
candlelight had filled the now fully furnished dungeon in Alex’s
penthouse condo.

As much as he’d reassured
her that he’d take the scene slow, fear had kept her muscles
tight with anticipation until the first light kisses of his whip on
her shoulders had taken her breath away. Not because they were
painful. On the contrary. She’d expected a much harsher bite
the first time he struck her skin. His whip had felt like a million
butterfly kisses erupting across her skin, which eventually morphed
into enough pain to send her flying.

With the soft scene music weaving
through her mind, the strikes were timed perfectly with the beat and
she’d quickly succumbed to Alex’s masterful touch. As
with most of their scenes, time had stood still and she’d spent
several hours as the sole focus of his attention.

Her shoulders sagged.

If only that were the case beyond
the scenes.

In the early days of their
relationship it had been shiny and new for them both. He’d
barely allowed her out of bed long enough to run her bakery. But as
months passed and some of the newness wore off, so did Alex’s
attention.

Not that she blamed him per se.
Running businesses that size came with heavy responsibilities that
left a man like him with little personal life. In the beginning she
hadn’t minded. Her bakery had taken off pretty quickly and
she’d had her own fair share of growing pains to contend with.

In fact, not long ago she’d
finally hired a business manager to help her maintain her small chain
of three New York stores. Business was surprisingly good and she had
no complaints in that regard. Now she had the opportunity to take
some time for herself.

Harper wrapped her arms around
her stomach. Lately her thoughts had turned toward more than just
business. The thought of getting married again and starting a family
had begun to haunt her. She loved him and with the treasured way he
treated her when they were together she’d dropped her guard.
Despite all her best efforts not to let it go too far, she’d
begun to believe in something more permanent. That last night with
Alex had turned all of her perceptions upside down.

These days her emotions were all
over the map, leaving her irritable and exhausted. The idea of
getting away for a while had begun to get under her skin and after
tonight she planned on at least a week-long vacation somewhere nice
and warm. She already had the ticket in her purse. A small deserted
island sounded ideal, but a quiet resort with a limited number of
other guests at one of the small Florida Keys would have to do.

It was somewhere she could get
over Alex.

She sighed. The idea of that
happening anytime soon seemed impossible. At night when she lay in
bed, her mind conjured the sound of the whip cracking close to her
ear. It didn’t take much to imagine the whoosh of air through
her hair as the whip flew through the air behind her.

The scene that would not be
forgotten had heightened her emotions to the point of confession, but
the feelings she’d expressed had been a long time coming. In so
many small ways Alex treasured her as his submissive. There were
stolen moments when she least expected them, phone calls because he
just wanted to hear her voice, gifts for no good reason, and on the
nights they spent together he held her in his arms with her ear
pressed to his chest so the sound of his heartbeat lulled her to
sleep. He’d understood the comfort she needed and provided it
in spades on nights like those.

Harper wiped more tears from her
face and sucked in several deep breaths in an attempt to control the
threatening flood. For months she’d held back from telling him
what he meant to her. There was something about the way he purposely
skirted certain conversations that told her the truth would not be
welcome. Like his family. He never wanted to talk about them so
everything she’d learned had come from gossip magazines and
business publications. So far she hadn’t liked what she’d
read and prayed they were more than what they appeared on paper.

Time had marched on while she’d
suffered in silence as they grew apart. His company related trips,
her business emergencies. They’d both had their fair share of
reasons why they hadn’t seen each other. All of it taking a
toll.

Until tonight.

Harper wanted to stomp her foot
and curse. They were both mature adults, so this not talking about
the growing elephant between them had to end. Up to now, her
cowardice had run rampant roughshod over her psyche, taunting her
with the very real possibility that he didn’t have the same
depth of feelings she carried. Even now fear paralyzed her. The very
thought of Alex allowing her to walk away made her chest ache with
dread and her instinct to turn and run shook through every limb.
Harper tightened her sweater across her chest and shivered against
the cool night air.

“
Ms. Allison, are you all
right?”

The sound of someone speaking her
name finally dragged Harper from her maudlin thoughts. On a slow
exhale she returned her gaze to ground level and came eye to eye with
a very concerned Charlie, Alex’s doorman. She’d been so
lost in thought she’d missed him coming out of the building and
walking up to her. She glanced around, relieved to see no one else
had noticed her.

“
Hi, Charlie.” She
stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the portly man who’d
faithfully offered her a smile every time he opened the door for her.
For a second he went rigid in her embrace before she felt his muscles
relax and his arms come around her shoulders for a quick hug. “I’ve
missed seeing you. I hope life is treating you well, kind sir.”

“
It’s wonderful to
see you here again too, Ms. Allison, and yes, life is good. I love
the city this time of year. Early spring is the perfect time of
renewal.”

Charlie’s ability to savor
the small things in life brought a smile to her face. She’d
have to send him over some cupcakes tomorrow and hope she didn’t
cry on them when she realized this might be her last time seeing her
favorite doorman.

He held the door open for her and
she swooped into the meticulous lobby of Woodman International, one
of Alex’s many real estate holdings in the city. In the silence
of the large space her heels clicked along the gray marble floors
much like a drum march to the guillotine. Any other day she would
have been swept away by the grand space with vaulted ceilings and
gorgeous crown moldings. But today no amount of space and elegance
made up for the suffocating sensation of her world falling apart.

The first time she’d met
Alex she’d walked through a similar lobby with the same sick
feeling in the pit of her stomach. Except then she’d been on
her way to a secret Valentine’s rendezvous in a BDSM club with
a man she didn’t know. The man she now loved and to who even
after the break-up, she’d forever be connected.

The elevator doors slid open on
the top floor and Harper reluctantly left the safety of the car
behind as she approached Alex’s front door. Before she could
press the doorbell, the door swung open and he was there, pulling her
into his arms and enveloping her in his heat and comfort. Weak and
needy, she breathed deep, inhaling the familiar masculine scent of
her Master. The man who’d gotten so deep inside her she
wondered if she’d recover after tonight. Despite the turmoil in
her head, her body reacted by instinct. She melted against him and
soaked in the man who made her feel everything no matter how small or
big.

“
God, kitten. I’ve
missed you.”

His breath shivered across the
shell of her ear. New tears welled at the edges of her eyes again.
“I’ve missed you too.” It certainly wasn’t a
lie. These weeks without him had been some of the hardest of her
life. She had her business to keep her busy, but that’s not all
she wanted to define her life. The desire for family had come on
strong and out of the blue after her confession.

“
How come you haven’t
answered my calls today?”

When she hesitated he pulled back
and held her at arms length, his eyes narrowed and from the look on
his face she’d swear he knew exactly what was going on in her
head.