Stripped (3 page)

“Whoa there, tiger. Easy.” His
laugh washed over me as he looked down into my eyes. “You’re a little spitfire,
aren’t you? I can see why you needed discipline.”

He held me against him, his mouth
crushing mine, still holding my upraised arm. I realized this was the first
time he’d kissed me. And I kissed him back, hard. I wanted to devour him.

After a long time, he broke away.

“Abby…holy hell.” He brushed an
errant strand of hair from my face. “You’re insatiable.” He kissed my forehead,
then stood, pulling me to my feet.

“As much as I’d like this to
continue, I have other commitments.” He pulled up his jeans, doing the button
and zipper, then bent to retrieve my panties from beneath the chair. With a
flourish he handed them to me, a playful smile on his lips.

“My lady, your panties.” I had no
choice but to laugh. He handed me the rest of my clothes. There was a small
bathroom adjacent to the room we were in and I got dressed, taking a minute to
try to control my hair.

Chase led me back through the
club, down to the street to my car. He pulled me hard against him, pushing me
against the car door, his mouth giving me one last bruising kiss.

“Come out to the ranch this
week.” He spoke the words into my ear, slow and hypnotic.

“Fresh air does a body good. Come
out on Thursday. Give that backside a chance to stop stinging.” He attempted
another swat on my ass, but I dodged his hand.

I nodded, not really capable of
speech, my breath catching in my throat.

“Good girl. I’ll call you with
the directions. It’s not hard to find.”

***

I’d gone to the club straight
from work and on the drive home, my cell phone rang. I fished it out of my
purse, hoping against hope it might be Chase, just maybe asking me back to the
club.
Stop being silly, Abby.

It was Jake. My heart leapt into
my throat, as if he could see me, or know where I’d been.

“Jake. Where are you?”

“I’m in Minneapolis. Are you
okay? You sound upset.”

“I’m in the car.” My heart was
thudding against my chest.

“I’ll let you go then. Just
wanted to check in and say hi. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

And then he was gone.

Guilt flashed through my mind;
the last thoughts I’d had of Jake were of him spanking me in punishment, the
shame I’d felt, the pain but no pleasure.

And now, I’d been spanked hard,
and enjoyed every minute of it. My ass still stung, the pain brought back all
the memories of Chase, of his thick cock inside of me. I wiggled hard against
the car seat, the heat from my sensitive skin making me cry out, not only from
the pain but from the arousal that it triggered.

I realized that I wanted Chase,
not Jake, to be the one to give me release.

***

Leslie found me on Wednesday
afternoon. I looked up from a proposal I was working on to find her standing in
my doorway.

“Come on in. Have a seat.”

She hesitated, taking a step into
my office but not sitting down. “Is something wrong, Leslie?”

“No, well, yes.” She finally sat
down. “Are you mad at me?”

I frowned. “No. Why would you
think that?”

“I don’t see you anymore, you
don’t answer my messages or voicemails or go to lunch with me.” There was
obvious pain in Leslie’s voice.

“You’re not the same Abby.”

It felt like she’d slapped me. I
sat back in my chair. “Oh. Well, I don’t think I am the same person either
sometimes. This whole thing…experience…relationship…has changed me.” I looked
at her a moment. Leslie knew me better than anyone.

“Do you think it’s changed me for
the better or for the worse?”

“I can’t tell. I don’t see you
enough to know. And when I do, you don’t tell me anything anyway.”

“You know why that is. Look,
these relationships are complicated…”

“Relationships? As in more than
one?” Leslie sat forward in her chair. “You really have been holding out on me,
Abby. Who’s the other guy…or is it guys? Are you into group sex now?”

I sighed. When Leslie got the
scent, there was no getting her off the trail. “No group sex. I’m with Jake as
a submissive. He’s told me now that he loves me. I met another man at a bondage
club…he’s the owner. We’ve…um, I saw him Monday.” The words spilled out in a
rush. There was no other way than to just say them.

Leslie’s eyes went wide. “Abby!
Two men? You?” There was a beat of stunned silence and then she broke into
peals of laughter.

I looked at her in disbelief. I
really didn’t think my life was a laughing matter, but then again, I’m not
Leslie. Eventually she regained the powers of speech.

“Oh, I’m sorry. But you finally
sound like the rest of the girls I know. Too many men, too little time. And for
you, who always fell in love on the first date, I’m rather impressed.” She
leaned forward.

“Now, I want as many details as
you can give me. I’m sure between the two guys, there’s something you can
reveal. You don’t even have to tell me the other guy’s name.” She leaned back,
pushing my office door closed.

“I’m not leaving until you spill.”

***

Thursday was bright and warm, a
perfect day to spend in the country. Chase had given me complete directions,
even though the ranch would have been easy to find, and I was there by
lunchtime. I turned up the long driveway toward a sprawling house, big and
rambling, a combination of wood siding and impressive stonework across the
front. A porch ran the length of the front of the house and as I pulled up, I
saw Chase sitting in one of the many chairs arranged on the deep, shady porch.
He walked up to my car, opening the door for me.

“Welcome to my humble abode, Abby.
I’m glad you’re here.” His friendly manner put to rest the few butterflies of
doubt that had grown in my stomach on the drive out. I’d wondered, not a few
times, exactly what I was doing.

But seeing Chase’s warm sexy
smile made me very glad I’d made the decision to take the day off from work and
come see him, and a thrill of anticipation stirred the butterflies briefly.

I’d barely gotten out of the car
when he had me in a big hug, almost crushing me against his chest. I was
laughing when he let me go, slightly breathless. Before I could speak, he
brought his lips to mine, warm and soft, in a long lingering kiss that left no
room for any doubts about his intentions for the day. His body radiated sex
appeal, sent out signals to my body that were immediately picked up and
answered. When he finally let me go, I was a bit dazed, and pretty much
speechless.

“Like I said, I’m glad you’re
here.” The voice was honey over gravel. He looked down at me, his brown eyes
glinting, his lips curved in a sensuous smile.

“You want the penny tour? Most of
the place is presentable for company. You’ll see a few other people wandering
around. There’s ranch hands, plus a housekeeper here most days and the ranch
foreman, of course.”

Chase led me up the wide steps,
across the deep porch and through the open oak double doors, into a foyer.
Beyond that was a massive wood-beamed living room, complete with a two-story
stone fireplace. There were several groupings of large over-stuffed chairs,
covered in leather and geometric patterns, all in browns and reds and leather.
The overall look was upscale but comfortable and gently worn.

“This is the main room. There
have been so many wings and additions to the main house over the decades it’s
sometimes hard to keep it all straight.” Chase pointed to the left, past the
big fireplace.

“The original house was this
room, the small wing down there with a few guest bedrooms and out back, the
kitchen. The original kitchen building burned down sometime a couple
generations ago.” He turned me by the shoulders, facing me toward an open
kitchen area, dominated by a large industrial-grade cooktop and another
fireplace. The walls were covered in cream-colored stucco. Even though the room
was large, it still managed to look warm and cozy.

“So they built this wing, which
eventually was upgraded not too long ago to what you see here. There’s a dining
room that way…” Chase gestured to the right of the kitchen, where I could see
the end of a long, rough-hewn wooden table “…and a smaller den that way.” He
pointed to the left, down yet another hallway.

“It’s quite a place.” I was a
little awed by the size of the room I was standing in. It could have
comfortably held fifty people, with room to spare.

“There’s more. The master bedroom
is a separate wing upstairs, but we’ll save that for later. But not too much
later.” With a wink, Chase led me into the kitchen.

“Are you hungry? Rachel left us
some of her amazing pot roast and potatoes. There’s enough for two and fixings
for a salad. I think I can manage to put that together myself. She trusts me
with things she thinks I can’t make a mess of, like lettuce and a bowl.”

Chase parked me on a stool by the
wide marble counter. He dug into the refrigerator, coming up with an armful of
salad greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and a wedge of Parmesan cheese. With seemingly
minimal effort or mess, a salad appeared in front of me, dressed with a simple
balsamic honey mixture that made my mouth water. I realized I was hungry and
dove in.

We made our way through Rachel’s
pot roast and oven-roasted potatoes, exchanging stories, me telling my life
history, brief as it was.

“It’s a pretty boring story. I’m
just a girl on her own in the big city, with a BA in English Lit and a cat,
nothing as exciting as owning a ranch and a bondage club.”

Chase laughed. “I have a feeling
there’s far more to your life than just an English Lit degree and a cat. And
owning all this...well, sometimes it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Except for
the horses. I don’t think I would have stayed with it if I hadn’t started
raising horses. The cattle pay the bills, but the horses are my love.” He
pushed his plate away, tossing down his napkin.

“Come on. Let’s go out to the
barns. There are a few friends out there I’d like you to meet.”

***

The first friend turned out to be
a beautiful chestnut horse in a paddock near the house. Chase whistled and the
horse’s head came up instantly. He made those throaty noises horses make and
came up alongside the fence, his body shining in the sun. Chase had an apple
for him and he bit into it, snapping it in half with his big horse teeth. I
took a step backward as he thrust its nose over the top of the wooden fence,
curious to see if I had any apples, or if I was edible.

“Don’t be afraid. Chisholm is a
big pussycat. Unless you’re a mare in season.”

“I’m a city girl. These things
are bigger than my car. And I don’t know what ‘in season’ means.”

“It means receptive for
breeding.” Chase took my hand, holding it against the horse’s nose. It was
velvety smooth. I gave an experimental pat and the horse made a pleasant noise
in response.

“He likes you. He’s got good
taste in fillies.” He patted the horse’s neck. “Let’s go see my favorite girl.”

Chase took me into the barn. It
was a dim, dusty cool, smelling of hay and horses. We walked down the center,
stalls on either side. Most seemed empty, but down at the end I heard horse
noises, saw a sleek black head pop over the stall door.

“This is my baby. Celeste, meet Abby.”
The horse wasn’t the least interested in me. She nuzzled Chase, looking for the
apple he had in his pocket. He patted her neck and scratched her ears while she
chomped on the apple.

“Celeste and me go way back.” He
was looking at the horse with affection.

“She’s my best mare. She was the
first horse born here, the start of the whole thing.” He scratched her neck for
a moment longer, then looked at me.

“She’s the only female in my life
who’s never broken my heart.” Said by anyone else, without Chase’s easy grin,
it would have sounded like a bad country western song.

We wandered out the other end of
the barn, away from the house. There was a maze of fences and gates, and
several more barns. The furthest away seemed to have some kind of activity
involving horses. There were several pickup trucks parked beside it and I could
see various men coming and going, one holding the lead of a brown and white
horse, who stood placidly by a fence.

“They’re breeding one of the
fillies today. First time.” Chase looked at me.

“You want to watch?”

I wasn’t sure. But Chase had
already started down the lane that led between two fences.

We stood at the fence, watching
as a man led a huge gray stallion out of the barn. As soon as he was near the
filly, he began tossing his head, rearing and pulling against the lead. The
filly turned her head, watching as he approached.

“He smells her; he can tell if
she’s receptive by how she smells.”

I nodded, too engrossed in what
was going on to reply. There was an air of anticipation among the assembled
men, a general movement aimed at getting the two horses together, and a strange
undercurrent of excitement. Or maybe it was just my excitement.

And then I watched in jaw-dropped
awe as the stallion went through his paces. It came to me with a jolt that I’d
never seen any animals mate. To say it was primal would be an understatement.

One of the ranch hands had come
up to talk briefly with Chase after it was over and the horses had been led
back to wherever they go, I hoped for aftercare. I thought they’d certainly
need it. The stallion had, at one point, sunk his teeth into the filly’s neck, his
hooves thrashing against her back.

Chase took my elbow. “Seen
enough?” He was laughing gently.

“It’s always interesting to see
the reaction on someone’s face the first time they see a horse bred.”