Nathaniel's Gift: A Submissive Series Holiday Novella Page 4

  “I seem to be without a date as well, since you ran mine off.” He gave me a wicked smirk. I was glad I was sitting down. I doubt my legs could have supported me after his next words turned them to jelly. “That was a very naughty thing to do, Abigail.”

  6

  Nathaniel

  Her eyes grew dark with arousal at my words. She wasn’t the only one. Fucking hell, watching Abby take that obnoxious woman down a few pegs was one of the hottest things I’ve ever witnessed. The unknown woman had appeared at my side only three seconds after I sat down to wait for Abby. I’d flashed my wedding band a few times, but if she saw it, and I’m not sure how it could be missed, she didn’t seem to care I belonged to someone else.

  I hadn’t been prepared when Abby appeared. The two of us hadn’t role-played in a long time. Longer still was the last time we role-played in public. When my wild and wonderful wife sat down by my side and pretended not to know me, it was the exact kick in the pants I needed. Her reaction to my extension of her act, the way her breath caught in surprise, and how I could almost see the submissive inside her melt?

  I gave serious thought to canceling our dinner reservations and taking her back to the chalet. To go on and give in. To take both her and the pleasure offered me.

  But that would be too easy for both of us. So much better to draw out the anticipation and have her on edge for most of the night. Her unintentional addition of the role-play would only increase her need.

  Perfect.

  “If that’s the case,” she said, recovering from her shock quicker than I’d expected. “I offer you my most heartfelt apology. I didn’t intend to be naughty.”

  “Perhaps not,” I told her. “But that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, now does it?”

  Her eyes simmered with a heated need. “No.”

  I tilted my head. “Try again.”

  “Try what?”

  I leaned close to whisper in her ear. “Address me correctly and we’ll go have dinner. Continue the petulance and we’ll leave right now and take care of that spanking you desperately want.”

  “I think that’s an awful forward thing for you to presume, Sir.”

  I grinned at how she said Sir in a tone that made it both a form of respect and an insult at the same time. “Yet you presumed I had no interest in the woman talking to me. I can therefore only presume that you did so because you knew I could handle your ass the way you crave.”

  Her face flushed a pink. “Do you have reservations already, Sir?”

  I took her avoidance of the question and attempt at changing the subject to mean she recognized the futility of arguing with me. And that I was right about the spanking. “I do, and it’s almost time. Will you come have dinner with me, Abigail?” I held out my arm.

  “How very gentlemanly of you, Sir,” she said, allowing me to help her off the stool.

  “Don’t let the manners fool you,” I warned. “There is nothing gentlemanly about the plans I have for you tonight.”

  “I certainly hope not,” she quipped, as we made our way out of the bar and up the stairs to the floor where the restaurant was located. “That would be a bore and a half.”

  Dinner was lovely. That particular restaurant was one of our favorites and we hadn’t been in a long time because even though Elizabeth and Henry are typically very well-behaved children, they were, in fact, children. Could they sit through a long boring dinner in a space decidedly not designed with children in mind? Perhaps. But why put them through it?

  Whenever we were in Switzerland, we were on vacation. If the four of us were there, it was a family vacation. No kid under ten I know of wants to spend any time dining for over an hour with adults. That goes times one hundred for a kid on vacation.

  We hadn’t been able to keep up our play during dinner. Once we were seated and handed menus, Abby recognized they had the entrée items we’d ordered at our first visit on our honeymoon. The menu had changed the last time we ate here, and they’d taken them off.

  “I wonder if it’s seasonal?” I asked her. “The last time we were here alone, it was summer. Before that, we usually came around this time of year.”

  “Yes,” Abby said. “But always after Christmas.”

  Exactly, because that would be in time for our anniversary, but that wasn’t why she mentioned it. I narrowed my eyes at her. “You aren’t bringing that up again, are you? Because if you are, I’m going to take my earlier threat seriously.”

  I was only half joking. I would never dream of Abby not feeling safe enough to tell me when she didn’t like something. But hell, we’d beat that horse to death, and no CPR in the world would bring it back to life.

  “No,” she said. “I only meant this was the first time we’ve been here alone before Christmas.”

  She was right. A few years ago, we’d spent a few weeks before the holidays in Switzerland with the kids. Christmas Day, however, we were always at home at our Hampton Estate. That way we could spend time with family.

  “And Santa knows where to find us,” Henry would say, not believing his older sister no matter how many times she told her brother Santa would know where they were, regardless.

  But the kids were far from our minds at the time. We’d video chatted earlier in the morning because we knew time would be tough tonight with Abby at the spa and our dinner plans. They were both having lots of fun with Linda and their cousins. Linda told us she didn’t have any difficulties getting them to bed because they were so exhausted by bedtime, it was all she could do to get them through baths and teeth brushing before they fell asleep. Linda joked that she went to bed herself shortly thereafter.

  We spent some time after dinner walking through the village, window shopping and simply taking in the holiday decorations. I made it a point to ensure our plans for when we made it back to the chalet weren’t far from her mind. The way her breath would catch as I brushed my fingers along her nape or how her body subtly shifted toward mine when I placed my hand lower than what was socially acceptable at the small of her back, told me they weren’t.

  I remained silent on the drive back home, knowing that doing so would send Abby further and further into her submissive mind frame. My intuition proved correct when she went to her knees seconds after we stepped inside. I locked the door.

  The sight of her offering herself to me in such a way never failed to move me. “Very nice, Abigail,” I said, slipping back into the stranger at the bar persona. “But surely you know it’ll take more than that.”

  She remained quiet, head bowed.

  “I’ll be in the bedroom in ten minutes,” I said, and walked away.

  7

  Abby

  My heart pounded in my ears. The thump, thump, thump sent my blood racing, heating my body. He’d spoke less than ten words and had turned me on more than I had been in a long time. I breathed in the heady mix of anticipation and arousal. His. Mine.

  The sound of his footsteps from the kitchen reminded me I only had a short amount of time to get into place. Without waiting a second longer, I stood to my feet and hurried up the stairs. My first stop was the bathroom. I undressed quickly, hanging my dress on an empty hook, but leaving my shoes and underthings in a pile on the floor.

  Once I finished washing off the best I could with a washcloth, I brushed my teeth. Nathaniel had never requested that I clean my teeth prior to a scene, but I couldn’t help but think minty fresh breath was the best way to go if you had the choice. Everything on my list completed, I looked over myself in the bathroom mirror. I’d, thankfully, been able to book an appointment with my preferred waxer days before we left. That being one thing Nathaniel insisted on.

  A quick check of the time told me I had less than three minutes remaining to get into position. I took a deep breath, smiling in anticipation, and kneeled on the soft bedroom carpet to clear my mind, prepare myself mentally for the time to come.

  There were very few gray areas in Nathaniel’s mostly black and white world. When he told me he’d be
in the bedroom in ten minutes, I knew he’d either step into the room at ten minutes exactly, or else he’d intentionally make me wait. I hoped tonight wasn’t a time he decided to delay entering.

  Fortunately, it was only a few minutes later I heard his footsteps coming up the stairs. I hid my smile. Apparently, Nathaniel wasn’t in the mood for delayed gratification, either. His footsteps grew closer until they stopped right where I envisioned the bedroom door to be.

  Normally, he’d walk into the room and speak to me. I had no reason to think tonight would be any different. Which was why my heart jumped to my throat when the lights went out. Had the power gone out? I didn’t lift my head to look, but it seemed darker than normal. There didn’t appear to be any light coming from the windows.

  It was also eerily quiet. We had black-out curtains in the bedroom, but we didn’t put those down until bedtime. Was it possible Nathaniel had put them in place early?

  I couldn’t think of anything else to explain the absolute darkness.

  Nathaniel chuckled from a position much closer than I’d imagined him.

  “I can’t even see you all that well,” he said in the darkness. “And I can tell your mind is spinning. Are you wondering about the darkness? I thought, why should we do things the same way we always have?”

  He took his time walking around me while he continued to speak. “I realized a few weeks ago that I’ve been rather boring lately and decided I needed to change things up.”

  There were so many ways he could change things up, I didn’t even attempt to determine his intentions. The darkness was new. Like a blindfold because it was so absolute, and I wasn’t able to see anything, but yet, still different.

  He placed his hand on my shoulder. In years past, the move might have caused me to jump at the unexpectedness, but not now. Not usually.

  “When I touch you, it’s almost as if can feel your body hum with all the thoughts running through your mind.” His voice was low and soothing. A bit at odds with the darkness, but if I looked at it another way, I could see how the lack of light was calming.

  “What’s it going to take to settle your mind, Abigail?” he asked, giving my shoulder a light squeeze.

  At that moment, I realized what I needed. I needed him to settle my mind. For him to take me completely, to take control so I had no choices to make. Until all that existed was me and him, and I could rest in his power, allow my mind the freedom to not think, to not decide, to simply be.

  “You,” I replied in a whisper, stunned by my epiphany. “I need you to do it, Sir.”

  Only silence replied. The air in the room stilled. I no longer felt Nathaniel’s presence, but he had to be nearby. There had been no sound to indicate he'd left the room. I resisted the urge to turn around to look. For one, it was too dark to see anything. Most important, however, was that doing so would disappoint Nathaniel.

  “I’ve taken your sight away,” he said from behind me, but further away than before. “And that didn’t help.”

  Silence returned, but this time it didn’t feel odd like before. Knowing Nathaniel stood nearby in the same quiet darkness made the room welcoming. I inhaled and then exhaled, picturing myself letting go of all the worry and stress, all the unhelpful and detrimental thoughts that tended to build up in my head. I took another lungful of air in, this time breathing in peace, stillness, and surrender.

  “Yes, my lovely,” Nathaniel whispered. “That’s what you need to do.”

  I repeated the exercise a few more times until I felt refreshed, almost empty, but more than anything, craving the renewal I knew would only come from my Dominant. For the first time in what felt like forever, I surrendered myself to him, closing my eyes, and waiting.

  The air moved around me, and he was at my side. The warmth and strength of his body was the beacon I needed. He ran his fingers through my hair and even though it wasn’t a new revelation, it always moved me that I was his beacon as well.

  “Your trust never fails to humble me,” he said, his voice heavy with emotion. His fingers brushed my cheek, and I felt more than heard him move away. I kept my head still, even as I heard what sounded like him sitting down on the bed.

  Before I could come up with any reason he’d walk away from me at the beginning of a scene, he spoke again, “I want you to stand up and walk to me. Follow the sound of my voice. I vow to you, Abigail, there is nothing to impede you. Nothing in the way to trip you.”

  I stood, shocked at how my legs shook. It was curious. His request was a simple one. Why did my limbs tremble? I squinted, trying to see anything, but the darkness was complete and unrelenting. What if —

  “Follow the sound of my voice, my lovely,” Nathaniel said, interrupting my downward spiral.

  I shut down the voices in my head trying to tell me the task was impossible and Nathaniel out of his mind for suggesting such a thing. My heart overruled my brain. My heart knew the truth. It wasn’t a man out of his mind asking me to do this thing. It was my Dominant, my Master, my lover, and my husband. He held me as his most valuable, most precious, most beloved. He would do nothing to harm me. Not only was my body safe in his keeping, but my soul was.

  I closed my eyes even though there was no need. Somehow it seemed important that I do so. I didn’t think, but turned to where his voice came from and walked.

  It was as if our souls were connected somehow. Once the decision to walk had been made, my feet moved on their own accord. Quickly and without fear. Nathaniel had told me, had given me his vow, I would not come across anything to impede my way, and I could trust him without question.

  The walk across the room took only a few beats of my heart. One second I stood alone in the middle of the room cloaked in darkness, and the next I was in his embrace, his lips at my ear, telling me how proud he was and how my submission stunned him with its beauty.

  I’ll admit, it caught me off guard when he gently lifted me in his arms and pulled me further up the bed. From what I heard, he was undressing.

  “Something wrong?” he asked, obviously picking up my unasked question.

  “It’s nothing,” I said.

  “Abigail,” he said in a warning tone, even as he dropped his head and nibbled my neck.

  “It’s just… this isn’t the way I thought the night would go.” It felt stupid once I said the words, but he didn’t act surprised at all.

  In fact, he gave a little laugh. “Is that so?” And without waiting for me to answer, he continued. “It wasn’t the night I had planned. But something about you kneeling in the bedroom, waiting for me in the darkness, struck me. I had to change my plan.”

  His admission was enough to render me momentarily speechless. That made it twice in a number of days, he'd changed his mind. I wouldn’t go so far as to say he never changed it, but it was rare when he did. Was it possible I wasn't the only one needing to get away from everything to recharge?

  Holding himself steady above me, he took my silence to mean something else entirely. “Are you not wanting this?”

  “What?”

  “My alternative plan to make love to you and worship your body until you can’t breathe from the pleasure I give you?”

  “I have no problem with that,” I said in a whisper.

  “But if you’d rather I spank your ass and get it good and red before I bend you over the closest piece of furniture and fuck it good and hard, I can do it now instead of tomorrow. Tomorrow being my alternative plan for what I’d originally thought to do tonight.”

  There was little I loved more than Nathaniel working my ass over. In the years we’d been together, he’d made me into somewhat of an anal sex fanatic, but there was something to be said about being tenderly loved by your other half that was just as appealing.

  I looped my arms around Nathaniel’s neck. “I’m so greedy I want them both, but at the moment, I’m all wrapped up in you and I’d rather stay right here in your arms. Let me enjoy your adoration tonight and tomorrow I’ll show you how kinky I am and how much I
enjoy it when your rapture turns to ravishment.”

  8

  Nathaniel

  In my twenties, during the first few years of exploring my sexuality as a Dominant, I would often look at those around me who I dubbed as vanilla and wondered if they honestly enjoyed their sex life. Did they have any idea what they were missing? Sex was great, yes, but kinky sex? Fucking hell, nothing better.

  As time went on, my experience and confidence as a Dom grew. By my early thirties, I had accepted that any sexual relationship I had would have BDSM element. I was fine with that, or so I told myself. Truth was, when I watched my vanilla counterparts, I couldn’t help asking myself why couldn’t I find contentment without the kink? Was there something more I was missing out on?

  I was thirty-four when Abby came into my world, turned it upside down, ripped it to shreds, and put it back together so that anything made sense. She was my submissive match in the bedroom, yes, but it was more than that. With her, non-kinky sex became more than the vanilla experience I’d looked down upon years prior. Because with her, it was more than just sex.

  Which is why I changed my plan mid-scene. I could have continued with my original plan and been fine. I mean, we both would have enjoyed ourselves. After it was over, I would have pulled her into my arms, we’d talk for a bit before drifting off to sleep, with her head on my chest and my fingers in her hair.

  But when I saw her waiting for me, and then again when she stood to her feet and walked toward me with no hesitation in the complete darkness, a hot scene wasn’t what I wanted.

  It took a few minutes to get her on the same page, but once she was, I lowered my head and kissed her softly.

  Loving Abby was such a huge part of me. So much of myself was entwined with her, not only my life, but my very existence. I wasn’t sure we’d be able to function apart from the other. I knew I couldn’t. The kids were a big part of our lives at the moment, and they always would be, but we were both aware they would only be under our roof for a small period of time. When they grew up and left the house, it would be right back to the two of us.