Temporary Master (7 page)

“I
hate to disagree here, but it does. Other than the pleasure you’ll receive by
helping me, why are you willing to let a complete stranger tie you up, Ms.
Johnston? What are you hoping to obtain?”

“I
want to find out if the myths are true.”

He
arched a brow at her. “What myths?”

“About
subspace.
I’ve heard other submissives talk about it in hushed tones. I’ve even paid a
Dom to bind me all in hopes of experiencing it. But so far it’s been elusive.”

“Have
you ever thought perhaps bondage is not what will take you there, but it may be
you need something different?” He leaned forward, his expression thoughtful.

Shaking
her head, she ran a hand through her hair. Finally giving into the need to dip
her head to the left, she did so then sighed. “I’m not into extreme pain, nor
am I into humiliation. But the thrill — even satisfaction — I get from the
ropes…” she paused trying to find the words to express what she experienced in
the past. “…it’s humbling yet erotic. There’s a bit of peace but with the
possibility of more. It’s that ‘more’ which I’m after.”

When
he didn’t respond right away, she wondered if she’d fumbled her explanation.
Raising her gaze, she was captured by his stare.

“In
exchange for helping me with my demonstration at the Kinkfest, I’ll help you
find this ‘more’ while agreeing to your stipulations. We’ll have our first
session on Friday afternoon, if it’s agreeable to you?”

She
nodded dumbly, numb now that he’d agreed to her terms. She didn’t have classes
on Fridays. It would work.

“Good.
I expect you to meet me at my home at four and rest assured I will hold myself
to the same standards as you do.
”
A smile tugged at his lips. “Not to
worry, however, Davis and I share a home which is on the same property as the
club. Bring Lauren if it’ll make you feel more at ease, but I’m sure my partner
will be around.” He rose gracefully to his feet and turned as if to leave. He
paused by the door. “Sabella, I’m a man of my word. If and when you decide you
want more from me, you’ll have to tell me. I won’t assume. You’ll be safe.”
Letting it sink in, he slipped out of the room, leaving a very stunned Sabella
standing in the middle of her boss’s office.

“That’ll
be all, Dolly.” Ethan shut his office door behind him, carrying the requested
file he’d asked for back to his desk. It had been a long day of seeing patients
for him, and he still had one more to go before his appointment with the lovely
Ms. Johnston. He couldn’t remember ever having such a hard time getting through
his schedule. In fact, he loved many things about his job, especially being
able to help others. It all had to do with Sabella. She had preyed on his mind
ever since he’d met her earlier in the week. She had been everything he hadn’t
expected. From the top of her dark hair to the dainty toes peeking out of those
silly, impractical Birkenstock sandals, she’d stirred him. Roused him in a way
he hadn’t felt since before Tamiko had died.

Sinking
back down into his leather chair, he couldn’t help but think about her, when in
reality he should be prepping himself for his next patient. He’d finally gotten
the arrest records and statements from the Chicago P.D. and he really needed to
go over this new information on his patient, but he found he didn’t want to
think about it. No, he wanted to focus on the submissive
who
was going to save his hide for the Kinkfest in March. She surprised him with
her outspoken nature.
She hadn’t “hemmed and hawed” as Davis
was fond of saying.
No, she’d been articulate but still respectful. At
times during their discussion, she’d seemed to fight her nature. One which he’d
  been
almost certain was submissive. He’d been
rewarded when he pressed a bit harder, and she’d finally dipped her head in
submission.

The
sight of her, standing in front of Kaleb’s desk with her head turned to the
left, her neck bared with her hands tucked behind her as she’d slipped into the
Leasha high position without a single word from him had pushed all of his hot
buttons. If the circumstances had been different, he would’ve taken the
position as an offer on her part to accept his leash and anything he chose to
do with her. He stilled as his dick rose to press against the front of his slacks.
Even without seeing her nude, he had a feeling her lush curves would drive him
insane with lust. It was probably a good thing that for the demonstration, all
of her important bits had to remain covered. The loud chime of the clock as it
struck half past the hour made him realize he had less than thirty minutes to
prepare himself before his last client arrived

Flicking
open the folder, he scanned the information a Chicago Detective Sean Anderson
had put together. Skimming through the incident report detailing how a Rena
MacCallister had filed charges against Louis Vayarti, he jotted down a few
important facts. The fact the man had traveled from New York to Chicago seemed
a bit stalker-ish. Then there was evidence not only had he pursued her while in
Chicago under the guise of convincing his mother to give up a relationship with
her younger lover, he’d also bought the apartment building where Rena had
resided. The sinking in the pit of his stomach as he continued to read left a
bitter taste in his mouth. The tall man who’d been in his therapy room last
week, had not only violated his submissive’s safeword, he’d forced himself on
her. It wasn’t acceptable by anyone standards — let alone the BDSM community.
When a sub safeworded, all play stopped.
It was the core of
the community’s regulations, and the fact Louis Vayarti seemed to be picking
and choosing what rules suited him, rubbed Ethan the wrong way.

Even
as he finished reading the report from the incident of his client’s victim, her
lover and his client’s involvement in a physical altercation, he didn’t know if
any amount of therapy would help the man. He was still honor bound to try and
give the man the guidance he needed. Flipping the police report up, he had just
finishing reading the document under it, a court transcript detailing Louis’s
subsequent arrest and court-mandated therapy, when Dolly knocked on his door
once more.

“Yes?”
He paused in his reading to jot down the therapist’s name and number. He wanted
to get another doctor’s opinion on Louis, even if the doctor could tell him no
more than what his basic impressions were due to the H.I.P.A. rules. He was
pleased, however, to see Louis had continued his court-ordered therapy once
he’d returned to New York. Scanning the documents, it looked as if there hadn’t
been any follow up by the Chicago P.D. with the N.Y. P.D. Whether or not it
meant anything, Ethan didn’t know. But he did know he would be asking Louis
about it. One of the steps to healing was to own your part in what happened.

“Mr.
Vayarti has arrived, Dr. Tremaine. Should I place him in the therapy room?”
Dolly stuck her platinum blonde curls inside the office.

“That’ll
be fine. Please assure him I’ll be with him shortly.”

“Very
good, sir.”
She paused. “Mr. Davis asked me to tell you he’s running behind and not to
start without him.”

“I’ll
take that into consideration.” Humor slowly died as he focused on the file in
front of him once more, after Dolly closed the door behind her.

* * * *

Louis
was seething as he left the therapy session with Ethan. He couldn’t believe he
was still having
to go to a damn psychiatrist when he had
done nothing wrong. After all, he’d given Rena nothing other than what she
deserved. Just because they’d had a spat didn’t mean she got to walk away from
their contract like it was worthless. A man or woman was only as good as their
word as far as he was concerned. But when he’d explained that to Ethan, he’d
thought the slender Asian man would be willing to listen to him, if not agree
with him, for handling it the way he had. In fact, after his first visit with
Dr. Tremaine, he’d done his own research and found out the man was not only a
working psychiatrist, but also the co-owner of the up and coming BDSM club New
Beginnings. In addition, he’d found out the club was actually only a stone’s
throw from the house where he went for his “therapy” sessions. Evidently the
man had come over from Japan nearly five years ago, opened his head-shrinking
business while working on the conversion of one of the old wine cellars and barn
into an adult playground which would put some of the clubs he’d frequented in
New York to shame.

But
it’s obviously too much to ask for the good doctor to take my side in the
matter, especially when I’ve done nothing wrong.
But instead of agreeing with him,
Ethan seemed to be disappointed in his behavior.
As if that woman’s equality
shit has any place in BDSM. It puts the woman right where she belongs — under
my heel.
He still found it hard to believe the gall of the man. He actually
wanted him to write down why he thought his actions were wrong, and what should
have been the appropriate response to Rena’s refusal to come to heel.

“Like
fucking hell, I will, Dr. “Holier than thou”. It was her fault this shit
happened to me. If she would’ve accepted her due as my slave, and not thrown a
fit about me fucking that little submissive before Sabella, none of this shit
would’ve happened.” Stalking down the flat stones lining the walk, he had just
stopped next to his car, and was fumbling with his keys. He’d just slipped the
key into the lock when he heard another approaching car. Keeping his head
ducked with his back to the car, he hoped the person wouldn’t recognize him.
While he was more prominent on the East Coast, there were still people on the
West Coast who recognized him. The last thing he needed to was some busy body
or notorious gossip to spread around the small town of Napa how a renowned
stockbroker, one Louis Vayarti, was seeing a shrink who just happened to live
not even a stone’s throw from a real live BDSM club.

As
the small, maroon ragtop Volkswagen Beetle passed him, he caught a glimpse of
dark hair and a feminine profile. There was something familiar about the tilt
of the head, he thought as he slid into his car. Sticking the keys in the ignition,
he waited a moment out of curiosity, wondering if he’d actually get a clearer
view of the woman. But he grew frustrated when the woman took the drive on the
far side of the house and her car disappeared from view. He was tempted to
casually drive up the long winding drive which led to the private side of the
house and even had the key in the ignition to do just that, when a silver
S.U.V. pulled into the lot a moment later. His eyes widened. Judging by the
size of the guy driving, Louis didn’t want to have to explain why he was on the
wrong side of house, especially when the drive was clearly marked private.

He’d
just bide his time, it wasn’t as if he wasn’t coming back for another session,
despite what he wanted.
Damned court-appointed therapy.
Once I get Ethan to sign off on the papers, I’m going to go and find a
submissive and ride her long and hard.

* * * *

Sabella
was just getting out of her car when a silver S.U.V. pulled up next to her. She
smiled as she recognized the driver. When Davis hopped out of the truck, she
greeted him.

“Why
am I not surprised to learn you drive a huge, honking vehicle?” Pushing the
strap of her purse up higher on her shoulder, she followed him up the walk to a
side door.

He
eyed her as he stopped to hold open the door. “It’ll be a cold day in hell
before I try to squeeze into a tin can of a car like you drive.”

“I’ll
have you know Thea is my baby: she’s a mint condition 1966 Volkswagen Beetle
with white leather interior with only sixty thousand miles on her. She’s a classic!”
She tried to sound affronted but failed, when a giggle escaped her at the idea
of him squeezing his six and half foot frame into her tiny car. Now Ethan on
the other hand would fit perfectly. She rather enjoyed the fact he was a few
inches
under
six feet. It gave him a slender grace,
disguising what she was sure was an inner core of strength. Entering the
hallway, she sighed as the warm air wrapped around her. It was only late
November but already the temperatures were plummeting into the low forties at
night, and the weatherman had said it was only going to get up to sixty-one
today. But she hadn’t been able to resist the soft sunshine of the late
afternoon and lowered the ragtop on her car.

“Well,
don’t let Ethan see it. He’ll try to steal it from you. He’s…”

“Steal
what?” Ethan stepped through a doorway on the right, looking immaculate in his
linen trousers and salmon colored button down shirt with a slim leather belt
around his waist with his dreads flowing over his shoulders.

“Her
car.
You got to see
it, Ethan. It’s a….”

Eyes
widening, and feeling just a bit mischievous, Sabella elbowed Davis, who gave a
startled grunt. “Don’t tell him! He can’t have Thea.”

Cocking
his head, a puzzled expression crossed Ethan’s face. “Now you’ve roused my curiosity.”

When
he moved to pass her, Sabella darted in front of him and shook her finger at
him. “No stealing my car. I restored her with my dad and Lauren during high
school, and I won’t give her up.”