The Collar (The Submissive 6)

He dropped his head and gave me a soft kiss, but his lips didn’t linger. Pulling back, he brought his finger to my mouth. Without being told, I sucked it inside and licked, tasting myself and cleaning him.

When I finished, he kissed me again. “Very nice, Abigail.”

I sighed and Nathaniel tightened his arms around me. The pounding need to have him inside me

was still there. Yet it was tempered by the knowledge that he would reward me once we were home. Or, more to the point, when we were back at the hotel we were staying in for the weekend.

A few months ago when we had been in Wilmington, Delaware, for a conference that Nathaniel was speaking at, we fell in love with the area and the people. According to him, the tax rate was wonderful, so we decided to buy a place. Initially, we’d looked at the coast, but we soon discovered that most of our time was spent in Wilmington, and it only made sense to buy there.

I loved our new house. It was from early in the last century and filled with character. But more than that, it would be the first place we’d live in as a family that Nathaniel and I had bought together. He’d inherited our Hamptons estate from his parents, and our New York City penthouse he’d bought when he was still a bachelor. I owned a chalet in Switzerland, which he had given me as a wedding present, but we only ever visited there. I was excited to have a space that was “ours.”

Wilmington, Delaware, was also where the Partners in Play BDSM group was. One of the group’s core Doms, Jeff Parks, had rescued me one night from a raunchy nightclub I’d made the mistake of going to with a friend and without Nathaniel. Another Dom, Daniel Covington, was a colleague of Nathaniel’s. That was how we’d met the group. In the last few months, I’d become friends with both of their submissives. Dena was now engaged to Jeff, and Julie had moved in with Daniel a few months ago.

A phone call from Jeff a week ago had led to our visit tonight. Jeff wanted Nathaniel to attend because there had been trouble within the group lately. Namely with two relatively new Doms.

Nathaniel took my hand, and we left our little corner of the garage. I was tempted to look around and try to locate the man who had been observing us. Without much thought, I decided not to. Sometimes, the fantasy was better than the real thing.

Nathaniel squeezed my hand. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Yes, Master.” And sometimes reality was better than fantasy.

Nathaniel and I made our way into the kitchen, where we greeted a few people. He took a bottle of water from a cooler, and we walked into the living room.

He nodded to the floor, and I sat at his feet while he sat on the couch. We were experimenting with different levels of protocol to see what we liked and what worked for us. Sitting at his feet was something we’d been trying lately, and I was surprised to discover I liked it. In that position, I felt protected and secure.

He opened the bottle and pressed it to my lips.

“Thank you, Master,” I said when I’d had my fill.

The door to the room’s left opened, and Cole and the red-headed submissive stepped out. He spoke to her softly and stroked her cheek. She left him with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.

Cole was still somewhat of an enigma to me. According to Dena, he’d broken up with his long-term girlfriend several months earlier. He usually traveled for his work, and I gathered the breakup was his reason for coming back to Delaware. He was a journalist and a good one; I’d read some of his articles. I wrote for a national news blog, and since he was a writer, I was interested in getting to know him better.

Cole spotted us and headed our way.

“Master West,” he said, shaking Nathaniel’s hand.

“Master Johnson.”

Cole inclined his head in my direction. “I haven’t been formally introduced to your Abby yet.”

I wasn’t allowed to interact with Doms at a party unless Nathaniel gave me permission, so I remained where I was.

“We must correct that.” Nathaniel smiled at me. “Come meet Master Johnson, Abigail.”

I moved to my feet and waited to be introduced.

“Master Johnson, this is my Abby.” Nathaniel lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles. “She is my everything.”

I didn’t miss the subtle lift of Cole’s eyebrows or Nathaniel’s slight nod. Granted permission to touch me, Cole held out his hand.

“Very nice to meet you finally, Abby.”

I shook his hand. “The feeling is mutual, Sir.”

“I understand you’re a writer,” he said.

“I just write a blog for WNN, Sir,” I said, slightly taken aback that he knew anything about me. It wasn’t a secret, of course. It was just that he was a writer writer.

“You express yourself through written words. You’re a writer.”

“And a damn good one,” Nathaniel added.

The corner of Cole’s mouth lifted in what could only be called a devilish grin. “I know. I’ve read her blog.”

“You have?” I nearly squeaked and then remembered where I was and composed myself. “I mean, you have, Sir?”

He chuckled. “Yes.”

I wanted to return the praise. “I’m really enjoying the series of articles you’re writing based on your time in India, Sir.”

All traces of joviality left his expression and darkness covered his face. I wasn’t sure what I had said to upset him, but now I wished I hadn’t spoken at all.

“It was a very unique experience,” he finally said.

“It’s a very unique county,” I said.

“Yes. There are parts that are breathtakingly beautiful, and I met some incredible people. But I think—” He looked pained. “I think I won’t be going back.”

I was momentarily stunned since his articles seemed filled with a real love for India, but fortunately I was saved from any long, awkward silences by the appearance of Jeff and Dena.

“There you guys are,” Dena said. She was holding hands with Jeff, and they both looked so happy, I couldn’t help but smile along with them. I spared a quick look back at Cole, but whatever had upset him was forgotten. The devilish grin had returned.

“What’s going on?” Cole asked.

Dena spotted Daniel and Julie in the hallway and waved them over.

“What’s happening?” Daniel asked.

“I’m wondering the same thing,” Cole said.

Dena looked so excited, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d started bouncing up and down. “We set a date!” she finally said.

“A date for what?” Cole asked, and Dena’s smile temporarily deflated. Nathaniel thumped him on the shoulder. “Just teasing, you guys. Congratulations!”

“I love weddings,” I said. “Tell us when it is.”

Jeff replied with a date less than two months away.

Dena held up her hands as we all started speaking at once. “I know it’s short notice, but it’ll be small. We thought about just having the Justice of the Peace do it, but since our collaring ceremony was private, we thought better of it.”

Jeff slipped his arm around Dena and kissed her forehead. “I was the one pushing for a private ceremony.”

“Thank goodness she didn’t go for your idea,” Daniel said. “I’ve been waiting on this day.”

“But if she had,” Jeff said, “we’d be married already.”

“There is that,” Daniel said.

Dena had stayed with us at our Hamptons estate recently. Jeff had been out of town, caring for his terminally ill father, and because she’d been getting threats from a stalker, we’d offered for her to stay with us. She was a prosecutor, and her father was a prominent politician, and no one was sure who was threatening her. That was all in the past now, but Dena and I had become good friends during the weeks she’d stayed with us, and I knew exactly how happy she was to be marrying Jeff.

I didn’t know Jeff quite as well, but I’d actually met him first, and one of the things I’d picked up on was an underlying sadness about him. There was no sadness now. Only joy and, as he gazed down at the woman who wore both his collar and his engagement ring, love.

It made me a bit nostalgic for the early days of my relationship with Nathaniel, when everything was so new and we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. Of course, we still didn’t want to, but it was harder to find time to ourselves. I hoped the move to Delaware would mean more time at

home for him and allow us to reconnect.