Page 33 of Reclaimed

He came in soon afterwards with a huge tray of food and seemed happy to see me there, as if he’d expected me not to be.

“Hungry?”

“Starving.”

“Good. But before we get started…” He set the tray down on the side table and leant in to give me a deep and glorious kiss. His hand went to my waist, and I felt him undo my robe. I tensed slightly – I hadn’t expected him to try something else so soon.

“It’s alright,” he said, pulling back. “I just needed this.” He held up the long silk tie that had been holding my robe closed. “Put your hands up to the headboard.” I smirked. He was definitely winning the war for my willpower. The feelings of warmth and desire that spread through me when I realised what he wanted to do to me were unrestrainable.

I obliged, and he tied my hands to the bed railings behind me before giving me another kiss.

“Don’t worry, I’ll feed you plenty.”

And he did. I noticed when he brought the tray over that he’d only brought one plate, which was piled high with enough food for both of us, and he cut off bite-sized pieces of bacon and toast and egg and fed them to me, a bit at a time, with sips of juice through a straw in between. Afterwards, he untied me and pulled me into his chest, pulling the covers up over both of us.

“Let’s just stay here all day,” I said.

Ray laughed. “I want to give you some time, Callie, but I don’t think I can spend all day in bed with you and not have sex with you again.”

“Oh, right, yeah.”

“But I know what you mean. This is what I’ve missed.”

This was dangerous. I felt so comfortable and safe with Ray in that moment. He seemed so human, so normal. But which was the real Ray: this one, or the one who’d given me a black eye for refusing to call him Master? Maybe if I just stayed agreeable, he’d stay calm and affectionate like this, and we could manage fine, until I found a way to escape.

I wanted to doze, but Ray insisted that we get up. He went to shower, and I was tasked with finding some clothing to wear that wouldn’t hurt my back too much. There was a linen dress in my wardrobe that was suitably loose. I looked good in it, but it felt strange to see myself in it, like I was dressing up for Ray, or trying to tempt him. I could tell he approved when he raked his eyes over me.

“You look stunning.” He made me turn slowly for him so he could examine it from all angles. “Almost perfect,” he said, and then went off to fetch something. He came back with a hair tie. “Wear your hair up. I want to see this.” And he stroked the highest mark on my back which I hadn’t realised was visible above the fabric of the dress. I knew I should have felt wary when he said things like that, but it just made me excited. I knew that he would get off on seeing the marks just like I did. At least we were both as unhinged as each other.

“From tonight, you will sleep in here with me. You can move all your things in too.”

“Okay.” Just smile, and don’t fight anything.

“Come here.” I walked over to where he was sitting on the bed. He put his hands on my hips and leant his head against me. “You’re very cooperative this morning.” I smiled and rested my hands on his shoulders. “Maybe I should beat you more often.”

“I hope not to need it often.”

“Hmm. We’ll see.”

I told myself I was only being this passive to lull him into a false sense of security, but really, my submissive side was getting a major kick out of him being so pleased with me. The feeling was addictive, and I was starting to get used to it.

“Can I make us some tea?”

“Good idea.”

Being submissive felt like my autopilot. All the noise in my head drained away, and the only thing I had to think about was pleasing Ray. I made tea for us, cleaned up all the breakfast things and accepted his embrace readily when he came downstairs to find me.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying this new obedient Callie, but I know you’re still not okay.” He squeezed me tighter momentarily before pulling back to look at my face with that searching look that made me feel as though he could see every thought and feeling and memory inside me.

“I am okay.”

“You know you can’t fool me, Callie. I know you better than that.” My safe submissive spell was broken, and I felt suddenly fragile again. Ray wasn’t going to accept my submission when he knew it was a lie, and he always knew when I was lying – sometimes even before I did.

“I’m not going to punish you for having mixed feelings about last night. But we need to talk about this before it happens again, and it will be happening again.” I knew he wanted me to open up, but I couldn’t trust him to hear my true thoughts and not get angry, but then equally, I didn’t know how to refuse him without that also making him angry.

“I’m not trying to defy you; I just don’t think I can talk to you about it.”

Ray sighed. “Okay. I have an idea. You put the kettle back on; I’m going to go and get something.”

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