Writes of Submission (31 page)

“Don’t even bother,” he murmured in her ear. “He’s no doubt got his own system and we’d just be in the way. He’ll ask if he needs us to do anything. Besides, he won’t want to take a chance on you falling—and neither do I, although for slightly different reasons.”

“We’re happy to do it,” Wulf said. “We have our own business so we don’t need to worry too much about being outed. Nobody who knows us will be surprised by the pictures.”

Brad took two plates from Allie as she bustled into the room and put them down on the coffee table. “You have kids, don’t you? Do they know you’re kinky?”

Bunnie laughed. “Oh, yes, they know. Our daughter is perfectly fine with it. I think she’d join the community herself if she wasn’t freaked out by the idea of seeing us there doing a scene. Our son is the one who doesn’t approve. I think he’s going through a prudish phase.”

Her Master snorted. “That phase has lasted nineteen years so far. I can’t imagine how someone so uptight came from us.”

Bunnie giggled. “Well, I didn’t fool around with Rush Limbaugh, as Wulf accuses me of whenever they’ve been fighting about politics.”

Dante snorted, but Karl motioned him over to help organize the equipment. “What kind of shots do you think will work best?”

“I think we need some shots that show not only the hierarchy but also the connection,” Dante said after a moment of consideration.

“Good idea.” Karl turned to Wulf and Bunnie. “What would you say gives you the best connection?”

“Bunnie is a very service-oriented submissive,” Wulf said thoughtfully. “I’d get a few poses of her serving food if you want to show that. But if you really want an ecstatic look, let me wrap some rope around her. She’ll be in her happy place in no time.”

Bunnie’s eyes lit up and she gave a little shiver of anticipation. “Rope, Sir?”

Karl laughed. “Should we do that first, then, to get her into the right headspace?”

Wulf took a length of bright pink rope from his bag. He brushed his wife’s cheek softly with it, smiling as she closed her eyes and let out a long, happy sigh. With his free hand, he grasped a large handful of her hair and pulled her so that she was on her tiptoes, pressed against his body, her face tilted up toward his and her arms behind her back. He waited until she opened her eyes before saying softly, “Who do you belong to, Bunnie?”

“I belong to you, Sir.” Her voice was completely different now. It was lower, breathy, and so soft that Dante could barely hear it.

There was a click and a flash as Karl began taking pictures, but the two in the middle of the room didn’t seem to notice. They stared at each other, completely engrossed. Wulf very slowly bent down and kissed his submissive, ignoring the sounds and flashes from Karl’s camera. When he broke the kiss, he turned her gently around and tied her hands together behind her back, then wound the rope around and around her, under and above her breasts, between her pinned arms and her torso, almost too fast for Dante to follow. He felt like he was watching some kind of magic trick. Karl moved around them, taking photo after photo, and within two or three minutes Bunnie was encased in a chest harness, a blissful smile on her face.

Wulf took a position behind her with one forearm around her throat and pulled her head back by her hair until it was almost at a ninety-degree angle. He bent his head and began whispering in her ear, apparently tightening the arm that circled her neck.

She gasped a little, but made no move to struggle. On the couch, however, Nikki made a restless movement, as if she was considering intervening in what was happening in front of them. Dante perched on the arm, putting a hand on her shoulder. When she turned an anxious face toward him, he mouthed, “Wait,” and nodded reassuringly. Surely she could trust Karl and Brad to interfere if the scene got out of hand. Instead, Karl continued taking pictures and even Allie smiled indulgently from the doorway. Nikki pursed her lips together but settled back into the cushions, her hands twisted nervously in her lap.

Then Wulf stepped around Bunnie and pushed her to a kneeling position. It looked rough, but Dante could see one hand clutching the rope, making sure her descent was quick but perfectly controlled.

Bunnie’s eyes flew open as her knees touched the pillow resting on the floor. She would have toppled over if Wulf hadn’t been holding her up, but she didn’t seem worried at all, simply allowing him to position her the way he wanted.

Wulf looked up at Allie. “Do you have some of that food?”

He took a strawberry from the plate she brought him and held it in front of Bunnie’s face, leisurely inserting it between her lips as she gradually opened them. The sexual symbolism was perfectly clear. There was a standing, obviously dominant man, inserting a dripping, juicy object into the waiting mouth of a kneeling, bound female. Dante felt his cock harden at the sight of Bunnie’s submissive acceptance of the fruit, her eyes fixed on her Master’s face with a look of adoring acceptance. A few drops of red juice dribbled onto her chin and Wulf wiped them off with a finger, allowing her to lick it clean.

Nikki shifted again, but this time Dante suspected her agitation wasn’t based on concern for Bunnie’s safety. Her hands were still, but they gripped her thighs almost convulsively.

Wulf helped Bunnie to her feet and removed the chest harness, even quicker than he’d put it on. Once it was off, Bunnie shook herself a bit as if she’d been in a light trance.

“Are your knees okay for a little more kneeling?” Wulf expertly re-bundled the pink rope as he gave her a concerned once-over.

She nodded. “Not too bad yet.”

“Very good.” He took the tray of fruit from Allie and gave it to Bunnie, who had repositioned herself on the floor. She took it without question and held it up as if offering food to her Master. Karl’s camera began clicking again as they went through a small ritual. Wulf picked out a piece of fruit, tasted it, then held it down for Bunnie to take a bite. They did this several times, then he took the tray with one hand and held it for her to choose a piece, his other hand resting protectively on her hair.

Then suddenly, having apparently noticed something in her face, Wulf set the food aside and helped her back to her feet. He studied her expression for a moment, a wordless communication passing between them, until she nodded. Then he turned her toward the door with a resounding slap on the ass.

“Go get me a cup of coffee, please. Allie, is that a problem?”

“Of course not.” Allie whirled around and the two women went toward the kitchen.

“I’ll go help,” Nikki said suddenly, pulling herself up off the couch. She waved away Dante’s offered hand and left, a thoughtful look on her face.

Dante stared at the older man, confused. If he was concerned about his wife, why would he immediately send her off to wait on him?

He was debating how to ask when Karl spoke. “Are her knees getting worse?”

“Yes.” Wulf nodded, looking toward the doorway Bunnie had gone through. “She can only kneel for a few minutes before she has to get up and walk around to loosen them back up. But she tries. She’d stay there all night if I didn’t monitor her reactions.”

“Can I ask you a question?” Dante found himself approaching the older Dominant, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Nikki was actually out of earshot.

“Of course.” Wulf nodded gravely, and Dante suddenly understood why Bunnie became so still when her eyes met those of her husband. He had a way of focusing on whoever he was speaking with, as if his attention was some kind of laser beam, singling them out of everyone else on earth. He had no desire to be submissive to Wulf, but the man definitely had some kind of presence.

“What’s the trick to that?” Dante said, feeling as if he was a petitioner asking the Dalai Lama the secret of life.

“The trick to what? The rope?”

“No, I mean the whole—” Dante gestured helplessly. “The whole dominance thing. How do you learn to have that kind of… authority, I guess.”

“Ah.” Wulf nodded, his Masterful persona fading to a more human smile. “You fake it.”

Dante blinked at him. “You… what?”

“You fake it until you have the confidence to feel it.” Wulf clapped him on the shoulder and they both sat on the couch while Karl readjusted his lights and checked his equipment. “It’s all in the connection. When you’ve been with someone for a little while, the excitement can fade. You know what I mean? So then you have two choices. You can start sniping at each other to keep the sparks going, or you can find a healthier way to keep your relationship interesting. Bunnie and I discovered that we like the energy of a Master/slave dynamic.”

“The energy?” It seemed an odd way to put it.

Wulf nodded. “It’s so easy to lose intensity in a ‘normal’ relationship. I’ve always paid attention to how other couples treated each other. The ones that joke and tease a lot tend to eventually forget that they’re just teasing and really start picking each other apart. The ones that are based mostly on sex usually start going their own ways and generally lose sight of their partners at some point. We didn’t want either of those things to happen to us, so we searched for a means to stay focused on each other, in good ways. That’s one of the most positive benefits of D/s. You have to put some effort into it, but if you establish rituals and make sure your goals are in sync, it can be a great way to structure the household so that everyone feels appreciated and connected. Being dominant isn’t about bossing people around. As a Dominant, I make the decisions, but I have to make sure they’re the right ones. It’s not all about what I want.”

“Thanks.” Dante sat back as Wulf stood and went to discuss some point with Karl. What Wulf had said made a lot of sense, but he wasn’t sure how to go about it. Normal relationships were hard enough, but this sounded like ten times the work. Still, he had to admit that he was a little envious of the way Bunnie looked at her Master. That just might make the extra effort worthwhile.

Chapter 26

Nikki sat at the table, staring at Bunnie while she chatted with Allie, who was making coffee.

“Can I ask you a question?” Nikki asked finally.

Bunnie turned and gave her a friendly smile. “Of course, dear. What do you want to know?”

Nikki struggled with herself. “I don’t want to be rude, but do you—I mean, what about women’s rights? Feminism?”

Bunnie sat down at the table, regarding her thoughtfully. “Do you mean because I’m a slave, that I can’t be a feminist?”

“That’s not what I meant, exactly.” Nikki felt her face flush hot. It sounded so condescending when Bunnie put it like that. She tried to rephrase it in a less rude way, but somehow there just didn’t seem to be a way to ask if someone was a feminist slave.

Bunnie smiled at her confused frown. “Admit it, it doesn’t sound possible, does it? But think about this. What is feminism all about?”

“Well, equal pay, equal rights, and…and choices, I guess.”

Bunnie nodded. “Choices, exactly. I believe that women should be free to choose the kind of life they want. My parents would have preferred that I marry someone from our church, preferably someone who wanted to be a preacher. But I knew that kind of life would never suit me, and so I went out to find the life that did—and I found it. If I choose to be submissive to a man, that’s exactly what it is. My choice. Women haven’t always had these kinds of choices. We should be grateful to the feminists for making it more acceptable to live alternative lifestyles, whatever those are.”

Nikki was fascinated. “So are you—did you always know you wanted to be a… slave?”

“Oh, no.” Bunnie laughed. “Believe it or not, I was actually a lawyer once. I practiced law for almost fifteen years before I got sick of it and we started our own business. In the vanilla world I can be as cut-throat as the next bitch. I’m not a hundred percent submissive all the time, even at home. Wulf and I have had our share of knock-down, drag-out fights. But the structure we’ve chosen keeps us focused on how we want our lives to be, and it gives us the tools for making it that way. Being a slave isn’t about giving up who you are. It’s about being more than you were before.”

“Coffee’s ready,” Allie announced. She poured two cups for Bunnie and Wulf. “Would you and Dante like some?”

“Um, I guess so. Thanks.” Nikki watched Bunnie expertly fixing their drinks. It seemed so much different than a simple cup of coffee. She was showing her appreciation and her devotion to her Master and it was a beautiful thing. “Bunnie, one more question, if you don’t mind. Besides the structure, what do you get out of the relationship?”

Bunnie winked at her. “I get to know that I’m taking care of Wulf in exactly the way he wants to be taken care of, and in exchange he shows his appreciation in the ways he knows I enjoy most. We both get what we want because we are completely focused on the other’s needs.”

At Nikki’s silent nod, Bunnie picked up the drinks and led the way back to the living room.

Allie handed Nikki two mugs. “One with just cream for Dante and cream and sweetener for you, right?”

Nikki looked down in surprise. “That’s right for me. How did you know that?”

“By observing.” Allie picked up two more mugs and gestured toward the door. “Once you get in the habit of waiting on people, it kind of becomes second nature. It can seem like a lot of work, but when you know that you’re appreciated, it really is extremely satisfying.”