Page 51 of Bound and Branded

He wants to keep me.

My heart soars with hope. With need.

He wants to keep me, and I want to be kept. There are so many other things that I want too, but he’s the one that made me realize I was stuck.

He’s the one that made me realize I needed this.

He takes me down from the apparatus slowly, lowers me to the ground, but he doesn’t cut me free from the ropes this time. No. It’s a slow unwinding, as much a part of the process as the tying. Then he gathers me up close, like he has so many times before. But he doesn’t rush to get me a blanket. He holds meagainst him until his heart rate returns to normal. Until mine does. And then he picks me up off the ground. And carries me out of the playroom. And into his bedroom.

Chapter Twelve

Caleb

I’m breaking all my rules for her.

I’m bringing her into my bed, into my room. Into my life. But I realize then that this is what has to happen. I realize then that this isn’t just a game that we are playing on an app, it isn’t just another Dom/sub matchup, a chance to play a few scenes before we part.

It’s not just me training another sub and showing her how BDSM works.

I can never give her to another Dom.

I can never give her to anybody.

She’s mine.

With her, I found something different inside myself. I want to take care of her. I want to take a chance with her. I have never believed that anyone would ever stay with me. It’s hard for me to believe that she might. That there’s something in me that she’ll think is good enough for her to want to keep me.

But it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter because I would take every risk for her. That’s how it’s been, from the moment I first saw her. When I found out that her father was going to lose the ranch and I bought up all those acres to mitigate it.

From the beginning, I’ve been doing it for her. At first because I saw something mirrored in her that I saw in myself. But now because I see her. In all her lovely, perfect state. This woman with the wonderful capacity to give, who needs someone who won’t take advantage of that. Who will give to her. Who will lighten her load. Honor her power by testing his own against her.

I have everything. Money, power, and it’s a cliché, but the one thing I haven’t been able to buy for myself is love. But now there’s her. There’s her, and as I feel her against my chest and hold her in bed, I know that I’ll do whatever I have to in order to keep her.

Chapter Thirteen

Avery

When I wake up, he’s holding me. I cover his hand with mine, and I close my eyes. I think about us. About our lives. About the way we’ve been treated. About the people who have left us, used us. The people who are lost to us. We don’t have to keep choosing that. We don’t have to keep modeling our abandonment over and over again.

“You’re awake,” he says, his voice gruff against my cheek.

“Yes,” I say.

“I have some things I need to say to you. I’ll pay for you to go anywhere in the world. To go to any school you want. To do any rodeo circuit you want. I’ll buy you a new horse, a new trailer. New clothes. Whatever you want. Whatever you need to go do with your life, I want you to go do it. Do you need to try another Dom for a while? Whatever you need. Nothing will disqualify you from being with me. There is nothing that you can do to lose me.”

I jolt against him. “Are you serious?”

“Avery, I love you. I think I’ve loved you for a long time. I love the way that you’re made for me. My perfect woman, my perfect submissive. Sweet and feisty and you fit me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Only you. You’re twenty-four, and I don’t want you to feel trapped. My dove is not meant to be in a cage.”

I put my hand on his face, my heart beating hard. “I don’t feel like I’m in a cage. The freest I’ve ever felt is when you tie me up.”

He growls, kissing me, deep and unrestrained. There is no protocol. There is no dance. No choreography. He’s just over me, and in me, and claiming me with all the need between the two of us.

When he finishes, we’re both breathing hard, my throat raw from how many times I’ve screamed out my orgasm in the last two days.

This is not going to be a quiet life.

I don’t want one.

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