Odalisque

Constance laughed and reached out to him. “Yes, I wanted to ask you for help. But I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea. And I felt silly.”

“Silly? Why?”

“Because.” Constance squirmed again, feeling put on the spot. “Because...” Because now that she might actually have the means of putting her plans into action, she felt scared. “No one will listen to me,” she signed. “I can’t talk.”

“You can talk. You’re talking to me right now. You write spectacular speeches. Why don’t you give some of them?”

Constance shook her head in horror. “No!”

“Why not? If you feel strongly about, say, runaway kids, put your voice out there in the world. I know it takes courage to try, but you’ve fallen in with a family of real crusaders. Once you see what you’re capable of, you’ll wish you’d tried sooner.”

“What if I get up to give a speech in sign language and no one listens? I mean, signing isn’t the same as speaking.”

“Who says?” Kai stilled her hands. “You speak louder than anyone I’ve ever known in my life. Well”--he rolled his eyes--“except for Satya, maybe.”

“Do you think Satya will ever recover?” Constance asked. “From crashing the scatter party that night?”

“She thinks we’re all reprobates, but that’s nothing new. She’ll get over it. Don’t try to change the subject,” he said, tweaking a still-sore nipple. “From now on, I want to know all your dreams. Our contract days are over. Now I want it all, free of charge. Your body and your mind. And in exchange, I’ll give you whatever you want. Whatever I can do to fulfill you.”

“Take out the butt plug, and let me sleep untied tonight?” Constance signed hopefully.

Kai shook his head. “Anything but that.”

Constance nuzzled her forehead against his chest in a kind of affectionate frustration. Or frustrated horniness. “Are you going to sleep in here with me?” she signed.

“Yes. Or we can sleep in my bedroom. I want to sleep with the woman I love. Is that okay? I don’t think I snore.”

Constance looked thoughtful. “It’s going to feel strange, not being your odalisque anymore. No occlusion, no emotional distance.” She caught his speculative gaze. “I mean, it’s fine, but I really liked some parts of the code.”

“What parts?”

“Being naked all the time. Playing in the saray. And serving you on command...”

The worry in his eyes turned to something warmer and a lot more seductive. “I liked everything about the code except the occlusion and the emotional distance. The cockslavery was a pretty fine thing.”

Constance laughed softly. “Were you to untie me, Master, I could serve you. A willing cockslave. I think that will never change.”

Constance saw Kai’s jaw tense, and imagined he probably groaned. She snuggled closer to him, feeling his cock rise against her hip. He fumbled with the knots holding her wrists. As soon as she was free, she eased down the bed and took him in her mouth, savoring every inch. He twisted his fingers in her hair, urging her on.

He was her Master, her lover, her friend. He owned her heart now, not just her body. Constance was pretty sure she’d prefer it that way.

Chapter Twenty: Eighteen Months Later

Kai smiled at Constance as she fussed with her hair and pulled at her stylish linen jacket. A late spring breeze rustled the flowers of the meticulously landscaped courtyard.

“You’re more nervous today than you were at our wedding.”

Constance shot him a look. “Our wedding was just a handful of close friends,” she signed. “And I was really sure about what I was doing at our wedding.”

Kai put a hand on her lower back, a gentle touch that steadied her. “You’re not sure about what you’re doing today?”

Constance scanned the large crowd gathered in front of her Center for Youth in Crisis. The new CYC spanned nearly half a city block, comprised of a series of dormitories, living spaces, medical and rehabilitation clinics, combined with recreational and educational facilities. First she and Kai had reclaimed the buildings, hiring contractors to remodel the ramshackle shells into useful spaces. Then they had worked together with experts to plan and staff the center, a mission that had taken nearly a year. The object wasn’t just to give kids a safe place to stay, but to give them a new lease on life. Job training, rehabilitation for addictions. A sense of purpose to carry back out into the world.

Constance clutched at her stomach. It was her dream made reality, but she still quailed under the weight of the responsibility. “It’s just...so many people are depending on me. Depending on this facility really working for kids.”

Kai shrugged, strikingly dapper as always in his bespoke business attire. “Well, if the concept fails, you can always turn it into a training facility for odalisques.”

Constance slapped him playfully. “Bastien wouldn’t take kindly to the competition.”

Kai grimaced. “That bonehead. I still feel the overwhelming urge, every time I see him, to plant my fist in his face.”

Constance poked a finger at him. “Don’t forget, Bastien brought you and me together.”

“Yes, against his better judgment, he told me later. If you really want to thank someone for bringing us together, you’d do better to look over there.”

A few yards away, Jeremy Gray and Mason Cooke were deep in conversation. Mason and Jeremy had both stood with Kai at the wedding, with Ms. Dresden and Satya on Constance’s side. And Bastien, bless his bonehead heart, had walked her down the aisle like a proud father.

“Listen, love,” Kai said, rubbing her shoulders, “everything is going to go fine. You’ve worked hard for this. I want you to enjoy it.” He gave her a direct look. She gazed up into his insistent amber eyes.

“Yes, Master,” she signed discreetly with a shiver of pleasure.

“Is your speech ready? All practiced and ready to go?”

Constance felt another frisson of sickening nerves. “Yes. Yes, I’m ready. I think.”

“You look like you’re going to be sick,” said Satya, ducking her head into their private conversation. “Oh, Lord, did my brother already knock you up? You know, this center is proof there are too many kids in the world who need a home, so if you want to have a family you would do better to--”

“Adopt. Yes, we know.” Kai held up a hand. “Satya, please. She’s nervous, not pregnant.”

Mason came charging over as soon as he saw Satya talking to them. “Constance is pregnant?”

Constance rolled her eyes. Mason nudged her and winked. “Married life suits you,” he said. “You don’t look pregnant. You look excited. Vivacious. Happy.”

“Constance looks vivacious and happy because she’s married to my brother and they’re sickeningly in love,” teased Satya, smiling between them. Like Mason, Satya had suffered a heartbreak in the previous year. Constance had a sudden thought, watching the two of them together--Satya’s bright eyes and Mason’s easy-going smile.

She turned to Kai and signed, “Why don’t Mason and Satya get together? You can tell by the way they act around each other that they’re halfway in love.”

Kai raised an eyebrow and looked between Mason and his sister.

“What did she say?” asked Mason.

Kai brushed at a spot on the lapel of his suit jacket, smothering a smile. “She said she thinks you guys would make a great couple.”

Mason and Satya both started making barfing, choking motions in a simultaneous show of disgust.

“Ugh,” said Satya. “I grew up with Mason. Or should I say Darwin. It would be like hooking up with my brother.”

“Incest,” Mason agreed, pretending to barf again.

Constance turned to Kai with a daunted look that had him laughing out loud. He put an arm around her shoulder.

“Well, if your disastrous matchmaking attempt hasn’t completely demoralized you, it’s about two o’clock.”

Panic clutched at her chest, but Constance pushed

it down. “I’m ready.”

“I’ll be right there with you,” Kai said. “But you’ll be fine. You’ve been preparing for this your whole life.”