But how would Master R react? His expression didn’t tell her anything. She bit her lip. “Um.”
He nodded as if her hesitance totally confirmed his suspicions. “Why?”
She huffed out a breath. Dammit. “In the hospital, your family warned me about you, saying what you’d supposedly done to your ex, only…that’s just not you. It bothered me. Worried me. Last night, I, uh, checked around.”
“You asked Sally.”
Whip or not, I’m not going to confirm that. “After I finished my research”—that sounded nicely vague—“I talked with your mom and sister, and now they know Alicia is a liar and a bottom-feeding, skanky bilge rat who slept with her—”
“Kimberly.”
Kimberly broke it off—the scum-sucking bitch—and sweetly added, “I simply explained what consensual means.”
Raoul shook his head. It had been the gatita who’d fixed everything.
All these years, alienated from his family because of a vindictive woman’s lies. He frowned. “I wonder if Alicia spread those lies in the BDSM community.” Not in the Shadowlands, since Z was a walking lie detector, but elsewhere.
“She sounds like she’s enough of a blowfish.” Kimberly frowned. “The Overseer always acted like he thought you were like him.”
“It’s probably why I was accepted as a buyer so quickly. And why I was there to buy you that night.” His arms tightened. Kimberly might have been bought and disappeared forever. Any buyers not picked up at the auction would hide their slaves forever…or dispose of them.
One little submissive in exchange for three years of not speaking to his family. His lips curved. Maybe he’d send his ex a thank-you note.
Kimberly was biting her lip again, still worried about her interference in his life, his generous-hearted gatita who had healed a wound that had lasted far too long. He ran his finger over her cheek. “Thank you, mi amor.”
Her soft lips turned up in a happy smile. “You’re welcome.” She gave him a mischievous look. “Your sister called before we left Gabi’s house—I’m supposed to come to Sunday dinner with you.”
As Master R laughed and hugged her, Kim sighed in relief. In perfect contentment, she lay in his arms, listening to the waves roll in and the sound of gulls in the distance. Even the voices from the party up the shore didn’t disturb her—she was part of them. “So did I pass the test?”
He ran his finger over her lips. “You know you did. Before we go further, do you have questions, some negotiating?”
Oh. Hmm . She’d worried over so many things, and somehow most of them no longer seemed that important. “Will I live with you?”
“You will.”
“So I’d move here and get a job?”
“Do you want to keep working?” He kissed her. “You don’t have to, you know.”
“I want to.” She wrinkled her nose. “Housework is past boring.”
His laugh bounced her head on his chest. “This is your decision, gatita. And, before you ask, your money is also your own. I have enough trouble with my own finances.”
Her breath eased out. “You’re being awfully easygoing.” Disappointment, worry tightened her chest. Wasn’t he going to stay in charge?
“Now and then. I’m also making one very big concession, chiquita,” he murmured. “You will have a small part of the day to call your own…although I may take that away eventually.” Master R considered her, his eyes narrowing. “You like rules and schedules, so…in the morning, from arising until noon—or at your job—you are in charge of yourself.”
One worry…of being constantly monitored …disappeared. But…I want him in charge.
“The rest of the time, you submit completely to me,” Master R said. He leaned forward, holding her eyes. “For sex, for clothing, for food and exercise. As we lived before. You are mine.”
Her breath huffed out as the tightness in her chest eased into warmth.
His hand fisted in her hair, pulling her head back so she stared up at him. The love in his eyes did not conceal the determination, the sheer steel of his character. “That is the point, is it not, chiquita?”
“Oh yes.”
He kissed her so thoroughly that she felt owned right down to her soul and beyond, then smiled, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “Lunch has been and gone, so this is my time, no?”
A tremor went through her as amusement lit his eyes. Uh-oh. “Yes, Master R.”
“Lie across my knees.”
A spanking. Her back and bottom still burned from the whipping and flogging. But…but. From the look on his face, she knew better than to beg for lenience. “Yes, Master.” Slowly, as if maybe he’d change his mind—had that happened yet?—she went stomach down over his lap. “Good girl. Now hold still.”
She tensed. Something cold drizzled over her skin.
Ointment, she realized, and then his ruthless, hard hand rubbed it over her back and bottom. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Unable to help herself, she squirmed.
“Stay still.” He set a heavy hand on her lower back to pin her like a bug as he treated every stripe and welt and sore spot. Every damned one. He ignored her wiggling and whimpers—and actually laughed a few times. Sadistic bastard dom.
When he finally finished, everything throbbed with pain. He set her on her feet, rose, and with a grin, lifted her chin to kiss her sullen lips. “I take good care of this little body that is mine, no?”
His good humor was contagious, and her mouth curved up as she grumbled out, “Thank you, Master.”
He picked something up, then turned toward the patio and gave a shrill whistle.
She saw he held the collar in his hand. Oh my God. He was really going to do it.
The Shadowlands people gathered quietly along the edge of the patio. Kim saw a teary-eyed Gabi holding Marcus’s hand. Jessica was tucked under Z’s arm, and the Shadowlands owner was smiling. Andrea and Cullen had equally big grins. Dan with Kari wiping tears from her cheeks. On left end of the line, Sally beamed. On the right of line, the FBI agents had satisfaction in their faces. Sam’s eyes met hers. He nodded, his expression pleased and a little haunted.
And the rest of the people… She knew she’d have time to get to know them all. Unable to show how happy she was, she could only grin up at everyone.
Then she turned to Master R. Her heart hammered in her chest as it had done so often this past month, only her hands were warm, her lips were curved in a smile, and her body wasn’t filled with fear, but joy.
He glanced at the ground.
She knelt with perfect grace and bowed her head.
He raised his voice. “Kimberly, I promise to hold you and keep you safe, to support you and guide you, to be honest and open with you. You have trusted me to tend to your happiness, health, and well-being. I will never break that trust.” His voice was rough, his eyes so, so warm. He held up the collar, the engraving gleaming in the sunlight. “Do you accept this collar as a symbol of your submission and devotion?”
She wanted special words to give him back but could only manage, “I will wear it proudly.”
He touched the buckle. “The lock is missing. At the beginning of the new year, if we are of the same mind, then we will have a formal collaring—and locking—ceremony.”
Under the murmuring of approval, he whispered in an amused voice, “That means I’ll get to whip you again.”
She choked, trying not to laugh. Relief mingled with joy. He understood that her mind and emotions weren’t as yet all her own, and would give her time to finish healing, to let her enter into a formal relationship with a whole heart.
He fastened the collar around her neck, checking that it was loose enough, and the feeling of belonging shook her whole body. His eyes crinkled. “That’s exactly the right reaction, sumisita mía,” he murmured.
When tipping over backward into the ocean during a scuba dive, she’d always have a moment of disorientation before everything turned clear and the ocean turned to an embrace. She’d plunged, and now here she was, right where she wanted to be. “Master, have I mentioned how much I love you?”
To the sound of applause, he lifted Kim to her feet, his hands warm and firm on her arms. His eyes met hers, serious, burning with his own love. “Not nearly often enough. Please work on that, sumisita mía. ”
“It will be my pleasure, Master.”