Page 22 of Wild Ever After
Bella sat in the center of the bed. She was supposed to be asleep, but she couldn’t. Her mind wouldn’t shut up. Her heart wouldn’t stop thumping. Her pussy wouldn’t stop throbbing.
Her leather play collar lay in her lap, heavy against her naked flesh. The metal ring in the center, cool to the touch.
Her permanent collar, the one that never came off, was on her wrist. Stainless steel with elegant scroll work could only be removed with a small hook key. Harry had that key. Harry kept it in their safe back home.
She shifted on the mattress, grimacing at the tender of her bottom. Ninety-five spanks. Harry’s palm must be tender as well. One wouldn’t be able to deliver all those blows without some measure of discomfort afterward.
“What are you going to do now, Bella?” She whispered to herself. Only she had no answer.
Harry leaving was the best thing. Even should admit that. Their verves, both his and hers, were working overtime. Clear heads were needed for what was to come in the morning.
She was ready to face the truth, whatever it happened to be. Her heart knew Harry hadn’t been the one to betray her, betray them, break their agreement.
Living in the middle of not sure and what the hell do I do now was taking too much of a toll on her.
For over two decades, she was a state senator’s wife. She had her public life of service to local school districts and her private life of service to her husband. It was the only way she could survive. She had few friends and never shared more than necessary.
She was raised a private person, to keep confidences close.
She married into a family built on the ruin of others.
What a life she chose. But after meeting Harry, there really was no choice at all.
She loved him the second she saw him.
She’d known nothing about the things he’d been into, but she learned to love the freedom of restraint, the peace of boundaries, the connection of something deeper than herself.
Submission made her stronger. She had no idea how that had happened to her, but then when young and in college, most everyone felt they were stronger, more invincible than they really were.
She’d wondered this past year if her easy slide into kink at the impressionable age of nineteen had kept her from finding independence and a different kind of strength, if it had somehow hampered her ability to stand on her own, think and do the best for herself.
Without the limitations and guidelines that had been part of her life for at least half of it, she found that living without them was not only possible, but rather easy. Only… After several months of making her own rules, her own schedules, her own choices, she slid back into the way her life with Harry had been structured.
Maybe if she’d never been his submissive…
Maybe if she’d only had herself to consider earlier in life…
So many maybes and what ifs. The truth was, she went willingly into a structured, disciplined life and preferred it to complete chaotic freedom.
She made her own money, her own friends, her own fashion decisions. Harry would comment or not if he did or didn’t like something, but he never told her she had to look a certain way. Said if he wanted that, he’d have bought a blow-up doll.
He was right.
She said yes.
Not only in marriage, but to his collar.
There was no out.
Okay… There was. She simply had to ask for it.
Falling back on the bed, her leather collar in hand, Bella ran her fingers over the metal studs that lined it on either side of the center ring. She eased onto her side and burrowed into the covers. Tomorrow and all its answers would come soon enough and Harry would know if she’d slept or not.
* * * * *
Less than eight hours later, Harry stood at Bella’s hotel room door. This time, he arrived bearing food and coffee. It wasn’t going to be as warm and delicious as it could’ve been had they been able to eat immediately, but he hoped the old adage about the thought counting would garner him some brownie points.
He knocked on the door with his foot. It was all he had that was unencumbered. His heart raced then slowed then sped up again while he waited for his wife to answer the door.
