The Collar Read online

  tonight. And she didn’t call the police. And she didn’t tell me about it until after I punished her for being late, dressed, and the multiple ‘fuck yous,’” Jeff said before she could continue.

  She cut her eyes at him. “I’m sorry, Sir. I thought you wanted me to tell what happened.”

  Jeff shrugged. “I’m an impatient bastard.”

  Her mouth opened as if she was going to say something, but at the last minute, she closed it.

  “Learned your lesson, I see?”

  “I decided I’d prefer flogging, subspace, and screaming orgasms as opposed to just screaming. Sir.”

  “You’re assuming my hands will be on you again in the future.”

  “I assume nothing.” But her eyes had darkened and her nipples grew hard under his shirt.

  He fisted his hands, and his cock hardened at the subtle suggestion. He was fighting a losing battle. As long as he stayed in Delaware, he knew it would be only a matter of time before he took her again. Unfortunately, plans had changed in the last few hours.

  Daniel cleared his throat. “I’ll let you guys stay in the guesthouse tonight so you can work this out privately, but can we go back to the note?”

  Dena’s head snapped up as if she’d forgotten other people were in the room. “I have a pretrial Monday morning. The only thing I’m working out this weekend is opening arguments.” She narrowed her eyes at Jeff. “And I’ll do it privately.”

  He walked to where she sat and looked down at her. “This from the woman who two minutes ago said she assumed nothing.”

  “That was in regard to you and me.”

  “As of two hours ago, anything pertaining to you also pertains to me.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  He turned and spoke to Daniel. “Since Dena doesn’t want the police involved and planned on hiring me Monday for security detail, I’ve decided to respect her wishes. Assuming, of course, she moves in with me until the threat has passed.”

  Daniel and Dena both spoke at once.

  “So you aren’t going to—”

  “Have you lost—”

  Jeff held his hand up and addressed Daniel first. “No, I’m not. I’ll be staying for the foreseeable future.”

  Then he turned to Dena. “I assure you I have full control of my mind. You may not agree, but your apartment is a security nightmare. You don’t want to call the police, fine, but you play by my rules, and that means staying with me. I know my place is secure and safe. And the second thing is, you don’t tell your father about my involvement.”

  She crossed her arms. “I hate it when you go all Dom on me outside the playroom. When you act like I can’t make my own decisions.”

  “First of all, you love it when I go all Dom on you in the bedroom. And I don’t think you would have come to me if you didn’t trust me to take control of this situation, too. Say otherwise and I’ll make you lift that shirt, spread your legs, and say it again while I prove what a liar you are.”

  She crossed her legs, and he forced himself not to smile.

  “Second, I recognize you’re an intelligent woman, fully capable of making your own decisions. But the fact is, when it comes to security, I’m the expert, and if you don’t want me to call the police, we’ll go about this my way.”

  “Just a minute,” Nathaniel said. “I know it’s not any of my business, but why wouldn’t you want the police called?”

  “Because the media would get involved, and they’d drag my dad into it, making it an even bigger mess.” Dena sighed. “I worked my ass off for years to break the association with my father. Or as much as I could anyway.”

  Nathaniel frowned. He didn’t appear to like Dena’s answer, but he glanced over to Jeff and his features relaxed. “I’ll leave it to you and Jeff, then.”

  “That’s the …” Abby started and then stopped.

  “That’s the what?” Nathaniel asked when it became clear she wasn’t going to finish her thought.

  Abby’s gaze bounced between Jeff and Daniel. “I’ll tell you in the car.”

  Nathaniel gave a curt nod. “We do need to be leaving. We’re meeting with the Realtor early tomorrow morning.”

  They said their good-byes and left after promising to touch base with everyone the next day.

  Dena ran her fingers through her hair. “I have a ton of stuff I’ll have to pack if I’m going to your house.”

  “Not a problem,” Jeff assured her.

  “I have a cat.”

  “The dogs will look after it.”

  “I still don’t cook.”

  “I still do.”

  “I’m scared.”

  He knew she wasn’t just talking about the note. She was worried about moving back in with him. He understood and shared those worries. After all, he was the one who’d planned to move to the other side of the country in an attempt to escape the hold she had on him.

  So what kind of fool was he to insist she move in with him?

  He wasn’t sure he wanted to answer that.

  Instead, he looked her straight in the eye and told her the truth. “I’m scared, too.”

  Daniel sneaked out of the kitchen after Abby and Nathaniel left. He didn’t think Jeff and Dena would notice he’d left anytime soon. When they did realize he wasn’t in the room, they would show themselves out. They probably wouldn’t take him up on his offer to stay in the guest room. If he knew Jeff, he’d have Dena in his house tonight. Humming slightly, he jogged up the stairs, anxious to get to his bedroom. He’d come back downstairs and lock up in a bit.

  He didn’t bother to knock, but swung the door open and closed it behind him after he stepped inside.

  Julie rolled over in bed, propped up on an elbow, and gave him a seductive smile. “Well?”

  He pointed to the floor. “Come greet your Master properly, kitten.”

  She scurried out of bed and dropped to her knees before him. She was naked; the only thing she had on was his collar. He unbuttoned his jeans and kicked them and his boxer briefs off with a few shakes of his legs.

  “I’ve had a hard-on for the last four hours. All I’ve been thinking about is fucking you.” He tapped her chin. “Open up.”

  He slid inside her offered mouth, sighing in pleasure as her warmth enveloped him. He wasn’t going to last long, not after observing others for the last few hours. That paired with the barely contained tension between Jeff and Dena would have him climaxing within minutes.

  Fuck.

  Especially when Julie did that with her tongue.

  Oh well. He’d come quickly this time, cuddle and talk with Julie, and then he’d have her again. Slower.

  He fisted his hands in her hair. “Don’t miss a drop.”

  She tightened her grip on his thighs, her nails digging into his skin, and the sharp pain pushed him over the edge.

  “Fuck,” he said, releasing into her with a grunt.

  Sated, he withdrew from her mouth and grinned when she dropped back to her heels and licked her bottom lip. A devilish smile danced on her expression.

  “You aren’t going to throw up on me, are you?” he asked.

  She laughed. “I can’t believe we pulled off that lie about me being sick.”

  He stripped off his shirt and climbed into bed, holding up the sheet so she could scramble in beside him. Once she had her back to his chest, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the back of her head.

  “No one had any reason to doubt me. I was always such an upstanding guy before you.”

  She snorted. “Sure, blame it on me. The vomiting was your idea.”

  “Stomach flu can strike anyone at any time. And because it’s so nasty and dreaded, no one’s going to examine it too closely.”

  “Dena will kill me if she ever finds out.”

  “Jeff will kick my ass.”

  She ran a finger down his arm. “But if it goes the way we plan, they’ll be thanking us. All we did was work it out so they had to play together. It’s not like
we tricked them into getting married or something.”

  He held her quietly for a few minutes. It never crossed his mind to keep the note from her. He required honesty from her, and it was only fair he gave her the same. She was silent as he told her, but when he finished, she turned in his arms to face him.

  “She told me a few weeks ago that she’s been getting a lot of prank calls: someone calling and not saying anything or just breathing heavy. I didn’t know about the note.”

  “You knew about the phone calls?”

  “Yes, and she made me promise I wouldn’t tell. She didn’t want it getting back to Jeff.” She sighed. “I wish I had told you.”

  “Me too.” But he understood the importance of keeping a friend’s confidence. “Jeff’s having her stay at his place and has postponed his move.”

  She was silent for several minutes, thinking. “I probably could have done the demo after all.”

  “You’ll have plenty of opportunities in the future. Though Dena’s ass probably wishes you’d done the demo tonight.”

  “What? Why?”

  “She showed up late to the demo tonight. Because of the phone call, but no one knew that at the time. She got mouthy to Jeff. Told him to fuck off.”

  “She didn’t.”

  “She did.”

  “Damn.”

  “Let’s just say the consequences were swift and unforgettable.”

  She giggled. “Ouch.”

  “They worked it out. They were all but making out when I left them.”

  “I hope we did the right thing.”

  He rolled her onto her back. “Too late to worry about that now. We’ll just have to see how it plays out.”

  “Speaking of playing out, I’ve been lying up here all night thinking up all the naughty things we could be doing while you were at the guesthouse being dungeon monitor.”

  He captured both her hands in one of his, pulling them above her head. She stretched under him, her back arching in anticipation.

  “Me too,” he said. “Why don’t I show you a few of them?”

  Dena would have squirmed in her seat in Daniel’s kitchen if doing so hadn’t hurt her backside so much. She’d admitted the day before that she’d walk to work uphill both ways if she could live with Jeff again, so what was her problem? It didn’t take a lot of thinking to know:

  He was doing it only to protect her.

  It wouldn’t really mean anything.

  She wouldn’t be wearing his collar.

  But she felt better knowing he had reservations as well about the new arrangement. Somehow knowing the great, unflappable Jeff was scared made her feel less so. Both of them would be going into this situation knowing they were walking into a minefield.

  “We need rules,” she said. “Expectations. Lines.”

  Rules, expectations, and lines would create boundaries not only for their lives, but she hoped for her heart as well. Part of her knew it was wishful thinking. When had a heart ever listened to rules? But as unrealistic as it was, she felt she had to say it.

  “There’s too much history between us,” she continued. They’d lived together for more than three years. “Too many memories in that house.”

  His jaw tightened, and she knew he was struggling to stay in control of his emotions. “You think I don’t know that? Hell, I live there, Dena. I live there.”

  She’d never given much thought before to how Jeff had been able to stay in the house they’d shared. He was a man, and she realized she’d assumed the memories didn’t bother him. Seeing him now, dragging a hand through his tousled hair, grief etched into the lines on his face, she knew she’d been wrong. She reached for the empty juice glass and spun it slowly in her hands.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Of course you know. It’s just hard for me to picture myself going back.”

  She’d imagined returning to him, but it’d never been under circumstances like this.

  “I get that, but I won’t apologize for doing what’s necessary to keep you safe.”

  “I still think you’re overdoing it, but I know you well enough to know you aren’t going to change your mind.”

  He gave her the smallest of smiles. “And I know you well enough to know you had to speak yours. I always appreciated that.”

  “Appreciation.” She nodded. “That certainly explains the sore ass.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Before we travel down that road, I think we should go back to what you said earlier about boundaries and expectations.”

  “Should we write this down?”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

  “First things first,” she said. “I’m going to make a wild guess and assume telling you to fuck off is a definite no-no.”

  He shook his head. “Damn it, Dena.”

  “I know. I know. You’re not ready to joke about it yet. It just helps me.”

  He’d been right months ago when he’d told her they were their best inside the playroom. Outside, they just butted heads.

  So why did she still want him?

  Because part of her loved submitting to him when they were playing together and then giving him hell outside when they weren’t. But she had to admit, they’d gotten to the point when they started doing more than butt heads. It’d almost seemed as though they had tried to hurt each other. When it became unhealthy and the hurts could no longer be ignored, he’d taken his collar back.

  Which had been the biggest hurt of all.

  “Why don’t we discuss boundaries when we get back to my cabin?” he suggested.

  “Because I’d like to have everything ironed out before walking into your place.”

  “It’s late and we still have to go by your apartment so you can pull your stuff together.”

  “Then we can stay in Daniel’s guesthouse tonight and get my stuff tomorrow.” He could push all he wanted. She wasn’t going to agree to go to his place until they both knew and accepted what would happen when she got there. Besides, who knew how long she’d be with him. It’d take her longer than ten minutes to pack.

  He crossed his arms in his typical stance. He probably thought he looked commanding and unmovable. All she could think about was how hot he looked in the short-sleeved T-shirt with his biceps stretching the sleeves.

  Probably she was borderline exhausted and just needed to sleep.

  You get punchy when you’re too tired, she told herself. Watch it.

  “We’re not staying in the guesthouse. We’ll go to my house and you can get your stuff tomorrow,” he said. “We can talk in the car.”

  “I’d rather talk here.” And not just so she could stare at his arms. “I want everything worked out before we head to your place.”

  “Why? Because you might change your mind?”

  No, she wouldn’t. Even though it wouldn’t be the same as when she wore his collar, she’d still be at his house. That was more than she had two days ago. Already they’d spoken more than they had in the last few years put together. If she went she could still hope that, forced to live under the same roof, he might decide he wanted her back.

  “No. I’m not going to change my mind. I just want us both in agreement as to what will and will not happen once I’m at your place.”

  “You keep saying that.” He leaned against the countertop. “What are you so worried about?”

  “Before, when I was …” she began. She lost her nerve, then