Chapter Nine

The drive to his ocean front property in Long beach, took a little longer than he hoped for with the evening traffic. They stopped at a store to get a few items before heading to their destination. Mason only got out here and stayed at his beach-front property a few times a year, so there wasn’t any food in the house. He never cooked when he was out here. Even though the kitchen came fully supplied with every kind of brand new cookware one might need, it had never been used.

“Do you drive out here often?”

Mason slid his eyes off the road and over to Stella. She looked different outside the club. He had only seen her wearing jeans and a T-shirt or her leathers at the club. Today she had surprised him when he picked her up and she came strolling out in a cute little black and white polka-dot sundress and sandals.

She had pulled her hair into a braid and tossed over one shoulder and her black-framed sun glasses were firmly in place over her eyes. She looked like she was ready for a day at the beach.

“I have a condo downtown I stay at more than I can make it out here. By the time I get out of the office and deal with traffic, it’s too late to enjoy the house. It’s easier to stay in the city where I’m a few miles from the office. I don’t make it out here as often as I would like. I thought about selling the house since it seems to go to waste, but I like the idea of having it ready when I want it.” He tossed her a smile and watched her nod before she turned to watch the view go by.

A few minutes later, he pulled his car into a familiar driveway and rolled to a stop under the carport that opened into the sun room he used to house all his beach gear. Grabbing both their bags from the back of the car, he unlocked the house pushing the door open as he motioned for her to walk in first. He followed, pausing behind her as she stopped to look around the sun room.

Do you surf?” She nodded toward the surf boards that were anchored along the wall.

“I used to. Don’t have the time any more, and we don’t have great waves here. I lived not far from the water when I lived in California, and in college, we would spend weekends in Malibu learning the waves. Here, we have to wait for the weather to act up before we can get good riding waves. I haven’t had a good surfing session since I lived there.”

“Malibu, huh? Are you sure you were just there to play in the water, or did the bikini wearing girls have something to do with that?”

“Between school and work, I had no time for girls besides the occasional fuck.” The words sounded harsher than he had meant them to. And even though they were true, the look on her face confirmed the realization he should have censored his words.

“How long ago was that?”

He moved over to the other locked door that would lead them into the kitchen as he answered, “I moved here from California ten years ago.” He followed her inside the house and dropped their bags in the hallway before heading back to the car for the other bags. He watched from the corner of his eye as she followed him back to the car.

“Is that where you were born?”

He grinned as he shook his head. “It’s where I ended up after college.”

“Oh, yeah? What college did you go to?” She took the grocery bags from him and carried them into the kitchen to start putting the food away.

He stepped up behind her pressing his chest into her back as he leaned over her shoulder. “Do you quiz everyone like this? Or am I just special?”

She tossed a smile toward him from over her shoulder. “I just like to know things about you while still respecting your request to leave your past behind you. Unless you don’t want to discuss your college either?”

He leaned forward and kissed the side of her neck just under her right ear. Her head tilted to the side giving him better access to the tender skin along her throat. A small moan escaped her.

“I see we’re getting off subject.” She twisted out of his reach.

He saw it as a sign that he needed to back off a little. Hell, they just arrived fifteen minutes ago and he already wanted to claw his way at her. He needed to give her time to settle in or at least put the damn groceries away.

“I attended UCLA. After college, I stayed in the city looking for work. I landed a crap job at the time. I kept applying to better, well-known companies. With Finch and Finch at the top of my list as dream employers, and they hired me three months later, forcing me to move up here.”

She handed him a bag of food to put away then grabbed her duffle bag from the floor and half turned toward him. “Where are the rooms?”

Shit. He was unsure about the sleeping arrangements. Did he show her into his room? Did she need a room to herself? Would she even want to share a room with him?

“Down the hall. There are four bedrooms to choose from. Mine’s at the end of the hall.” He would let her sort it out on her own. This way, he wasn’t the one making the decision, leaving it up to her.

She left the kitchen a few minutes later with her bags making him wonder what room she would find to her liking. He was still in the kitchen gathering ingredients for their dinner when she strolled back in. “You can cook?”

Her question brought his gaze over to hers. “Yes, I know how to cook. It’s one of the only things I ever learned from my mother.”

“Was she a good cook?”

He shrugged his shoulders not sure how far down this path he wanted to go. “She was a great cook when she felt like being home.” Feeling the familiar bud of irritation rising, he quickly changed the subject. “I thought we could grill chicken for dinner then maybe after we eat we could take a walk on the beach later.”

A smile spread over her mouth lighting up her beautiful face as she nodded. “Sounds great. Maybe after that we can get some work in. I have you only for a few days and trust me, I’m not about to waste a minute of our time together. Who knows when I’m going to get any time after we get back?”

That was true. If it wasn’t for his boss forcing this little vacation on him, Mason sure as hell wouldn’t have taken it. Once he served his time and relaxed enough to please his boss, it was back to the grind. He didn’t understand the forced break to begin with since he only would have to work double time to catch up with all the accounts he missed out on.

Once their dinner was prepped and cooking, Mason opened a bottle of red wine and offered her a glass. He wasn’t much of a wine drinker; however, he learned a little something while wining and dining his clients. He figured it would be a nice little touch to go with their dinner.

“Do you drink?” It surprised him a little that after all they had shared together, he still had to ask because he had no idea what she liked. This woman who he had sex with and who had punished him by whipping his naked body—he didn’t know the first thing about her. Other than she owned and worked at a sex club. A sex club where she didn’t have sex with her clients…except for him.

She nodded as she took the glass he offered her and took a sip before placing it on the countertop where they were waiting on the cooking food. “Thank you.”

He poured himself a glass then turned his eyes back to hers. “I guess this would be the perfect time to play the getting to know you game.” Jesus, he sounded like a fucking idiot. He felt a bit out of his element right now; it was the first time he ever cared about getting to know someone. This was all still too new to him. He shook his head trying to shake some of the nerves away.

“Sorry. It’s been a long time since I’ve done anything like this. Guess I’m a little rusty.”

“Done anything like what? Talk? Converse with a friend?”

“Is that what we are, Mistress? Friends?”

His eyes followed her glass as she brought it back to her lips taking a slow sip of the red liquid. The cords of her throat bobbed up and down as she swallowed. It was growing almost impossible for him not to stare at her.

She lowered the glass from her mouth and smiled. “I like to think of us as friends. If that weirds you out, we can keep our relationship strictly to our roles of Dom and sub.”

A flicker of emotion entered her eyes as she once again offered him an easy out. He didn’t think he imagined the glimpse of panic in her gaze before she looked away. What could she possibly have to worry about? Could she be concerned he would choose the path that left them strictly business partners? He wasn’t sure how it would make him feel if she did expect more from him. That arrangement wasn’t supposed to happen, and yet, all he could think about was that she didn’t sleep with her subs, but she had with him.

He set his wine glass on the counter next to hers and leaned forward. He could smell the perfume drifting in the air from her body. The same scent he recognized as hers. The same aroma that made his dick twitch.

“I think you like the spell you cast over me. The spell you have cast over many different men.”

She tossed her head back and laughed. “A spell huh? Are you going to accuse me of being a witch next? What is this, a witch hunt?”

“I don’t know why you have a hold over me like you do.” He had spoken his thought instead of keeping it in his head where it belonged.

“That’s all part of submissive behavior. As a sub, one of your jobs is to make your Dominant happy. To please her or him. That hold you’re referring to is the internal need you have to please me. It’s how we sort out the true subs from the ones who just play.”

“It sounds like the Dominant has all the good parts of the relationship.”

“Not always. A good Dom will want to return the favor. It’s our responsibility to make sure our subs stay safe, sane, and play is consensual. Our submissives look to us to help them with their wants and desires. To help them find pleasure in everything we do together. We need our subs to feel they can turn their free will over to us and it will be safe in our hands. That’s a lot of pressure. “

“And yet you do it?”

She nodded and finished off her glass. “I do. I love it. I love that I can help a submissive find who they truly are and help satisfy them. It’s a beautiful thing.”

“Is that what you’re doing with me?”

She smiled. “You need a whole lot more than an orgasm. You need to find peace with yourself and let go of the stress you’re carrying. Why is it you feel you have to push yourself so hard in your work? Where does that drive come from? The one that compels you to stay at the office fourteen to fifteen hours a day?”

No one ever asked him that before. The question brought him close to a part of his life he wasn’t ready to talk about with anyone. It would be better for him if people thought he was just money hungry. He could be okay with people thinking the worst of him.

He pushed himself off the kitchen stool and headed toward the sliding door where the barbeque sat just off to the side. He partly answered her as he checked the chicken.

“This is going to make me sound like an asshole but the truth is, I like the money.” He pulled the meat off the hot grill and placed them on a plate to take them inside. Stella moved around the counter to dump the contents of a mixed salad together in a bowl.

“It doesn’t make you sound like an asshole. It makes you honest. Most people won’t admit it, but the truth is, isn’t money the reason everyone works? I mean who would put in long hours if they didn’t need the money, right?”

He set the plate of chicken down next to their glasses and refilled their wine. “When I got my first pay check from the job I’m in now, it was like nothing I had ever seen before. I’d never in my life had that much money all at one time, and it felt like a rush to have it. Being young, single, and rich looked better with every paycheck that came my way. I spent every dime of that check before the end of the weekend. I bought new suits, took some friends out to a costly dinner and drinks to celebrate, and…it hooked me. I wanted more. I needed the rush. It felt like getting high but without the drugs.”

Mason caught himself staring off lost in thought as he realized that was the first time he ever admitted to another person, including himself, he was a workaholic.

“The rush you feel, do you only have it with money? Is there anything else that makes you feel all those endorphins coursing through your body?”

She piled salad and chicken on her plate then turned to do the same to his.

“Now that I’m thinking about it, I guess the only other time I have felt anything close to that would be the other night when you…um…” He shook his head. Why did it bother him to say the words?

Her gaze lifted to his and waited, giving him all the time he needed to continue.

“The other night when you…um…when I got my punishment. It felt pretty close to the same thing to me.”

His gaze dropped to his food as he picked up his fork and moved the chunks of salad around on his plate. Embarrassment washed over him for telling her that. It felt awkward to relive the moments of his punishment.

“That’s good. That should prove to you that you need me. You need my help to find the relief you require. Money is great and all, but what price are you willing to pay for it? Don’t you want to have a wife and children someday to share all this with?”

A wife, no. Children? Hell, no. He wasn’t cut out to be that kind of person. To be a family man. Afraid of having more of his parents in him then he wanted to admit kept those thoughts away. No way in hell he could ever put an innocent child through the hell he had been put through.

“Nope. A dog maybe, but other than that, I like the single life.”

They finished out the rest of their dinner in muffled sounds of eating. Once their dishes were placed in the dishwasher, he grabbed the half full bottle of wine and his glass, motioning for her to do the same. “What do you say to a walk on the beach?”

“Hold on a minute.” She disappeared for a moment into the next room returning with a long-lensed camera in hand. She shrugged a shoulder when he gave her a questionable look. “Just in case I see something I want a picture of.”

He led the way out the back door, which opened just shy of the sand dunes. Taking her hand in his, they walked over the dunes to the beach beyond.

“Wow. It’s so empty out here. The weather’s so nice, you would think there would be a lot of people out on the sand this time of summer. It’s not like we have too many nice days like this.” She stopped in her tracks to raise her camera pointing the lens toward the water. He could hear the sound of the camera’s shutter snapping the shot.

He looked out toward the ocean and down the beach. “There would be if others were allowed here. This beach is privately owned. There’s no public access. The only way you can get to this beach is by boat or if you’re coming from one of these houses,” He pointed back to his house and a few others that sat off to the side of his.

“Lucky for us, my neighbors are never here at the same time. All these homes are vacation houses to a few pro athletes who should be away at training this time of the year. Other than major holidays like fourth of July and Christmas, we seem to come one at a time.”

“Nice. You own your own beach.” She smiled. “There’s lots of things about you that keep surprising me.”

“Is that a good thing? To be surprised?” He followed into step as she began walking toward the water’s edge. They stood there for a moment as the waves rolled toward them. White caps overlapped each other racing to the sand.

Stella slid her sandals off her feet so the water could wash over her skin. Smiling down at the cool waves, she tore her gaze from the water and turned to face him. “Yes and no. I mean, it is for you, but not for me. As a submissive, you want to continue your openness to different ideas and things, but as your Dom, surprises can be difficult to handle.”

Setting her wine glass on a bed of sand, she raised her camera once again to her face, but this time her lens pointed toward him. He heard the snapping before she looked at him from over the equipment. “You don’t mind, do you?” She raised the camera in the air to indicate she referred to taking his picture. He shook his head and she raised the camera again.

Mason moved to her side retrieving her glass from the sand and refilled it with wine. “Would it be rude if I were to tell you I find you to be completely different outside the walls of Sublime?”

“Depends if the difference you’re talking about is good or not?” Her laugh sounded light and airy as she shrugged her shoulders. “Not a lot of people get to see me out of my element. Sublime is my element. Count yourself lucky.”

He smiled. Lucky was an understatement. “Oh, I do.” Taking a step closer, he moved up behind her wrapping an arm around her waist laying the flat of his palm across her stomach to press her back into his chest. Her tight little body fit perfectly snug against his. Bringing his mouth to the side of her face, he ran his nose against the smoothness of her skin inhaling her scent of soap and lavender.

But instead of embracing him as he held her, her body stiffened. “What do you think you’re doing?” She asked covering the hand that covered her stomach with her own. He expected her to push him away but instead she let her fingers linger over his for a few seconds too long before she turned in his arms.

He peered down into the caramel eyes that gazed back at him. “Nothing that we haven’t already done.” He watched her facial expressions change to concern and she pulled away from him. Her face quickly changed from the fun-loving girl she had been all day to the Mistress he was getting used to at Sublime.

“Friend time is over for the day. I want you to head back to the house and wait for me in your bedroom.”

He was speechless. Was she being serious? The shock of her statement forced him to take a step away from her. “Are we training?”

She nodded. “Why wouldn’t we be? It’s the reason I’m here, isn’t it?”

His body stiffened as her words sunk in. Of course, it’s the reason she’s here. He didn’t have time for her otherwise. He told himself the only people in his life who mattered were the ones who were making him money. Not that she made him money but to him it was the same. He had no time for attachments. Reminding himself of that made it easier to hold the hard wall around him. Emotions only got a person hurt.

“Are you coming back with me?” he asked, turning to face her.

Her sexy little grin curled up on one side of her mouth. “I’ll be along. I want to give you a chance to follow directions and get comfortable.”

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and let out a breath of air. “This is so awkward.” He paused as he pivoted on his feet. Looking away from her toward the water stretched out in front of them, denying to meet her gaze. “What will happen if I refuse?”

“You will need to use your safe word or go through another punishment for disobeying your Mistress again. Training’s not going to stop because we’re on a beach instead of the club.”

Without another word to her, he turned and headed back to the house without her. He felt ridiculous leaving her on the beach so he could go get naked and wait for her. Just thinking about it made a hint of heat spill over his already reddening cheeks. If his high-priced clients could see him now, he would never be taken seriously again.

He still had his safe word. He could use that word and end this humiliating night for good. He needed to make sure that ending their play completely was what he wanted and that he was prepared for her to walk away from him if he used it.