Page 137 of At Her Will

“We do this first. So it might be easier.” He drew her into his arms until her head was on his shoulder, face to his neck, and his voice was above her ear, like soothing thunder during an easy rain. “You tell me if it’s too much.”

Her other hand moved to his biceps, held, as he pressed his forehead to hers. That third eye contact, instinctive betweentwo souls reaching for one another. Trying to reconnect, and realizing that, too, was a fragile thing, something that couldn’t be forced.

“Walk with me in the garden,” he said.

He understood. She nodded, and they walked hand in hand around the outside of the church, through the cemetery, to the garden archway.

“I stopped at a church that night,” he said. “After I left the hospital. Spoke to a Reverend Dana, and she helped take the sword from my heart. She was…like me. In your world. Our world. Submissive.”

The way he said it sent a welcome spark of sexual electricity through her. “Yes,” Vera said. “She is.”

“You know her?”

“The BDSM community isn’t large. Dana is married to Peter Winston, operations manager for Kensington & Associates. They’re a client, and Matt Kensington and Ros are good friends.”

“Is Dana a friend of yours?”

“As a matter of fact. There’s a ‘Faith is Universal’ event each year. Cyn calls it the FU conference.” Vera’s eye roll made him chuckle. “It started as a small get-together in Audubon Park, a collaboration between a Buddhist monk and a Catholic priest. Dana and I have shared a booth there. And a hot chocolate afterward.”

Rev nodded. “I talked to Christophe, one of our Sunday school teachers. He been taking seminary courses online and wants to be an assistant pastor. We gonna split it up, the services and pastor duties, and let other active church members share the responsibility. A church is way more than just one person.”

“Sounds like you won’t have much time for anything else.”

“Everything I plan builds in time for you, Mistress.”

The bright sun caught the golden brown in his eyes and lit them up with all the heat and life he carried within. She saw hisdesire to dive deep into her, and the wish that she herself had. Standing in the garden, with beauty around them and sunlight on their shoulders, she would let the right feelings course through and strengthen them, bring them forward on a path together that would never split apart.

“What you did with Witford and Tisha was the right thing, Rev. It was the thing a strong man, a just man, would do.” Because of how fragile the place inside her was that the words touched, she said it slowly, carefully. “But I’m also glad that Lawrence, Mick and Tiger followed you. You’re mine now. You’ll have a care with yourself, and think about that before you walk into situations with bulls and bad people. Understand?”

His lips twitched. “Yes, Mistress.”

“I want to say something to you, too. About that day.”

She had him sit on the bench near the stern but kind angel statue, but instead of sitting next to him, she sat down on his lap, sliding her arms around his shoulders. He put his around her hips, his eyes warm and curious.

“I remember you there, Rev. In my soul, my heart and head. I know I was leaving my body. You reached out and held on, telling me to come back. I felt it, the Divine power flowing through you, winding around me. I looked into your eyes and saw your soul. Do you remember that?”

“Not entirely.” His sheepish look had her raising a curious brow. “What I do remember…it might be the first time I wasn't sure if I let God speak through me, as much as I spoke my own mind, and asked God to please take my wishes into account. I maybe asked Him a little more forcefully than I should have.”

She kissed him. A sweet glide into pleasure, the two of them holding onto one another. When she drew back, she gave him her best reproving look.

“Since a Mistress has to hand out the right kind of punishment to help a sub feel better about taking the leadwhen he shouldn’t, maybe God will leave that to me. Given the circumstances and all. Plus, I plan to do terrible, evil things to you for putting me up in the front pew like that without any warning. In those circumstances, a woman likes to make sure the back of her hair looks as good as the front.”

“I promise to remember that in the future,” he told her solemnly, and patted the back of his short hair. “It important to me, too.”

“Wise ass.” She stroked her nails along his nape. “Do you want to come to the handfasting? Jasmine did invite you.”

“Yes. I’d like to see it done. I been looking through your ministering books, about that, and some other things.” His expression became more intent. “Once you ready to go home, I’d like to do something with you I been thinking about. Will you trust me on that, without me telling you much about it ahead of time?”

“Does it involve spiders or reality TV?”

“No ma’am.”

“Then yes.” Her eyes held his. “I trust you, Rev.”

Once they reached her house and entered her kitchen, he slipped her purse from her shoulder and asked if she would go out into the backyard and relax on her bench while he prepared. Showing that his request hadn’t been a spur of the moment thing, he’d had her stop at his place so he could retrieve a box of things to bring with him. He’d asked her to wait on him in the car, and when he came out, the box was closed.

As she sat on the bench, gazing at the falling water and dancing girl, she felt a mix of things. The emotions of the day,of the past weeks, were powerful. She worried she’d never be the same person again.

---