Jane slumped like a doll in his arms. Like this, she was most vulnerable. Emptied out. Possessiveness filled him to the core. Jacob gathered her close, guided her to the waiting armchair. He sat down and placed one possessive arm over her waist, careful of the fresh welts on her ass. The cane always drew fresh blood, but he’d take care of that later. Jane slid into his lap, hardly weighing a thing. She wrapped her arms around his neck so tightly as if she was terrified he’d disappear.
He murmured words of consolation in her ear while stroking the fine lines of her back. “That’s my good girl, my brave girl.”
Jacob wondered if she understood how proud he was of her, how much he loved her at that moment. He knew she feared and hated the cane, and yet he used it on her anyway. Jane trusted him, expected him to push her to her limits. Tonight, she’d shown him once more that despite her misgivings, she was willing to leave her comfort zone behind.
She rested her head against his chest. Jacob tugged off the hair tie, letting her silken hair loose. He brushed a finger over the leather collar locked around her neck, taking in every little detail. The way she shivered, how she crept closer to him, lured by the comfort of his warmth. The promise of safety.
They sat there for a long time but even eternity didn’t feel like enough. He cherished every moment with Jane but this part, the aftercare, was his favorite part of every session.
“What time is it?” she asked.
She still looked unfocused and hesitantly brushed her fingers over his arm. She seemed reluctant to leave. Jacob understood. He felt the same way. He wanted to keep her here forever. Lock his Little Sparrow away for good, steal her from the eyes of the hungry public always clamoring for more of her creations. She’d exist for his pleasure alone. An indulgent thought.
“Close to midnight. I think.” Jacob didn’t have a clock in the room.
“Then it’s time for me to go.” She tried to slip from his lap, but he rested his hand on her left thigh and gave it a warning squeeze.
“Stay the night.” The words slipped out of his mouth without warning.
Jane blinked several times, looking more alert now. His offer shocked the both of them because it was a first. She always left after the aftercare. He always offered her to drive her, but she always insisted on taking a cab back home. She didn’t know this, but after seeing her off, he would head right to his car. He’d tail the cab driver just to make sure she arrived safely home.
“Are you sure, Master?” she asked, looking bothered.
“Does the thought scare you so much?” he asked, point-blank.
Jane shook her head quickly. “No. I’d like that. I’m just the kind of person who doesn’t take well to sudden changes. Surprises.”
“I know.”
Once, he watched her fall apart on live television when the interviewer started to pry deeper into her personal life. He’d wanted nothing better than to throttle the life out of that lowlife, but he settled for another solution.
Jacob sometimes introduced new elements to their play, even if it rattled her. He wanted to change her mindset, to help her become adaptable. That was also the reason he gave her the impossible task of mending his baby blanket every single time. It was a lesson, a reminder there were some things she had no control of. She still didn’t understand why he gave her the same assignment but eventually, she would.
Jane let out a laugh, a musical sound he’d never heard before. He yearned to hear it again. “I guess you do.”
“Let’s clean you up. I also want to apply ointment to your welts,” he said.
“You never told me what’s in that ointment,” Jane said and got off his lap. Certain she wouldn’t slip from his grasp, he held out a hand to her. She took it, letting him lead her out of the playroom and back to his living room.
Jacob noticed her looking at her discarded clothing in the hallway, but she fixed her gaze back at him. She looked a little lost to him, uncertain, so unlike the strong, confident women in her interviews with the media. Jacob told her flat-out that he didn’t give a single damn who she was outside the playroom. He’d lied. Jacob had watched every interview she did and read up all the articles on her in print and online.
He nudged her into his bathroom. “Stay still,” he ordered. They were no longer in scene, but she obeyed his commands like it was the most natural thing to do. “Hold up your hair.”
Jane looked at the floor as he unbuckled her collar. Jacob didn’t miss the disappointment that flashed briefly through her eyes. He set the collar down and entered the shower with her. He kept the water pressure light. She let out a little gasp as he let the water run down her body, her welts.
Seeing the liquid streaming down the sensual swell of her breasts, the metal in her nipple rings catching the light, and down her stomach and between her legs, a groan escaped him. Newfound hunger assaulted him. It had been a mere hour since he exerted his dominance over this woman, reminded her who owned every last inch of her. She was sore, hurting, but he wanted to sink his dick inside her tender pussy again. Re-exert his claim over her.
“M-master? Jacob?”
Hearing his name on her lips snapped him back to reality. She stared at his cock, which hung thick and ready for her.
“Would you like me to—?” Jane didn’t finish her sentence. Jacob gripped her arm when she was about to go on her knees.
“No. You’ve done enough for tonight.” His voice came out harsh and she flinched. He needed to remedy his words before it turned into a misunderstanding. “We tend to your welts first.”
Jane nodded, looking relieved. She tensed at first when Jacob pulled her into an embrace, but she relaxed against him. The sensation of her wet breasts rubbing against his chest did little to help his erection. Jane closed her small fingers over his dick, surprising him again. He let her work his prick.
“Faster, apply more pressure,” he said, and she complied.
A groan of appreciation rattled from his chest as he came, painting her stomach with his jizz.
“Naughty little sub,” he told her. “Thank you.”
Heat danced across her cheek, making her seem so much younger. It was endearing. They finished showering and then Jacob toweled her off. He made her lie on his bed after, on her stomach so he could apply the ointment over her welts. Tending to his sub always felt therapeutic. Relaxing. After the ointment came the medical bandage. There. Fixed.
Neither of them spoke as Jacob kept his medical supplies and the ointment. Would awkwardness come next? They never quite reached this stage before and it felt odd but good. Their relationship was a hundred percent BDSM-centric so this was new territory.
Hearing her stomach rumble, Jacob laughed. Thank God for small favors. She burrowed her face into his pillows. Was she embarrassed? Cute, he decided, reaching out to stroke her right calf. Not an adjective he ever imagined using to describe her, but there it was. It struck him that they had so few moments like these. Normal, non-kinky moments.
“I’ll make us some dinner. Wait here.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Jane whispered those words as if she didn’t want him to know she uttered them, but he heard them anyway.
Jacob put on some boxers and headed to his kitchen. He was a chef by profession, so he fixed up something quick. He still had some leftover prawns from the night before and some parsley and fresh garlic. Jacob made spicy prawn aglio olio spaghetti. He served them on two plates, about to grab a bottle of wine when he noticed Jane watching him from behind the kitchen counter.
“It smelled so good, I got curious,” she said.
She’d found one of his old jogging shirts. It was two, maybe three sizes too big for her and fell to her knees.
Noticing his stare, she gripped the hem of his shirt. “Sorry, I should’ve asked if—”
“It looks good on you,” he said. He pushed one of the plates toward her, handed her a fork, and opened the wine. He poured them each a glass.
Jane twirled her pasta onto her fork and took a bite. Her blue eyes widened. “This is really good.”
Watching her devour her pasta was a pleasure, Jacob realized, sipping his wine. She was done before he was.
“Oh, my God. I must seem so greedy,” she murmured, glancing at his half-eaten plate and then her own. “Do you make this, at your restaurant, I mean?”
“Not yet. It’s a new dish I’m experimenting with.”
“No wonder I haven’t seen it on the menu.” Jane pressed her lips together as if she realized she’d revealed more than she should.
“You’ve eaten at Arianna’s?” He couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice.
“Twice. A client once took me there. Second time, I went alone.” Jane fiddled with the last bit of parsley on her plate. In a small voice, she said, “I really love the calzones there.”
They told each other about their professions before, but they didn’t include the details. Jane looked horrified, as though worried about how he might react.
“Are you mad?” she finally asked him.
Jacob felt the exact opposite. He had become completely obsessed with her to the point it was a little unhealthy, so this accidental revelation gave him a measure of relief. So she was curious about him, too.
“Not at all. Next time, tell me beforehand. I’ll make you something special. Something not on the menu.”
“You’re not … freaked out?” she asked.
“Not at all,” he said, smiling.
“Who is Arianna? It’s just, I’ve always wanted to ask.”
“My mother. She died when I was young but my earliest memories of her are in the kitchen. She loved to cook.”
“That’s wonderful,” she murmured. “Not about her being gone but naming your restaurant after her.”
Jane seemed awkward again. Jacob wanted to keep talking, to continue this conversation, the first real one they had about their lives and each other, but she spoke again.
“I should um, wash the dishes. You already did all the cooking.”
Another time then, he decided. He touched her arm. “Leave them. I’ll take care of them tomorrow. It’s late. Let’s head back to bed.”
She must be tired, he realized.
They returned to his bedroom. Jane slipped into his bed and looked tiny, lost in the dark-blue silk sheets.
“Just need to check some emails,” he said, seeing the lighted screen on his phone. He went to the opposite side of the bed and looked at his phone. Jacob couldn’t really focus on his email with Jane there. For the longest time, he’d slept alone. He didn’t realize how lonely it had been. He set down his phone. She lay on her side, facing him.
“Same time next week, Master?” she asked in a sleepy voice. Her eyelids drooped.
“Yes.” He gave her ass cheeks an affectionate pat. She lifted her lips to a smile.
Jacob’s answer sounded hollow, but she didn’t seem to have noticed. She had fallen asleep, judging by her closed eyes and the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Tomorrow morning, he had a feeling she’d be gone before he woke up. She always started her day early. He remembered her mentioning that once.
He would be left with his empty apartment, dirty dishes in the sink and toys in the playroom he needed to clean. He wasn’t complaining but already, he felt restless. Uneasy.
One entire week.
Jacob didn’t think he could wait that long.