Free Taken (Dark Grove Plantation) by Julia Sykes Page B

to her went beyond the purely physical .
    Last weekend had been a Hail-Mary as he attempted to force her inner submissive out from behind her tough exterior.  He could sense it, could smell it like a hound catches the scent of the fox.  And he had become determined to pursue his quarry , to hunt her down and take her.
    But his attempt to trap her had backfired, and she had used her get-out-of-jail-free card to force him away.  He had never dreamed that she would resort to using a safe word, but apparently using dirty tricks wasn’t beneath her.
    He couldn’t help grinning at the memory, though.  She was such a little spitfire.  It would make bending her to his will all the more satisfying .
    As a landscaper, Brandon loved watching things grow, shaping and pruning them until they reached their full beauty.  He felt the same way about women.  He savored coaxing the submissive out of them, teaching them the pleasures of giving their will over to him.  In their bondage, they were freed completely, freed f rom all thoughts and worries .  His lust was ignited by watching a submissive blossom as she embraced that side of herself, reveled in it.  He loved to see the unadulterated joy that he brought them through his temporary control of their bodies and minds.
    And he would do the same for Ella.  He could see her discontent in the stiffness of her shoulders, the tenseness he could detect in her bearing.  She needed that release, even if she didn’t know it.
    Slow down there, he warned himself.  You haven’t even so much as lured her into a conversation yet, much less into your bed.
    Somehow - he didn’ t know how yet - he would have her.
    I’m enjoying this.  I am, Ella told herself as she watched the red stripes appear on Charlie’s thighs as she caned him.
    “Thank you, Mistres s !”  He cried out with ev ery stroke, just as she had ord e re d him to do.
    She experienced a hint of that heady feeling she got from dominating someone, from taking complete control.  But something was wrong with her tonight.  She felt as though she was chasing the high, and the harder she tried to attain it, the more unattainable it became.
    But she stayed in character; Charlie deserved that.  He was a good submissive, and she had been Domming him for a little over a year now.  They had even had a few private sessions at her house.  He was clearly infatuated with her, so she tried to keep him at arm’s length, careful not to show him any excessive affection beyond what her Domme - ly duties dictated.
    On the next stroke, he was silent, forgetting to thank her.  She knew then that he had entered his submissive headspace, and it was time for her to stop.   She removed the cuffs that held him spread-eagle on the bed and then gently turned him ont o his back.   She lay there with him, languorously running her fingers through his short blonde hair, tracing her nails across his defined abs.  It once would have given her pleasure to reflect on the fact that she had reduced such a stro ng man to a simp ering mess .  She tried to summon up some o f the joy that she usually felt , but then Charlie muttered something that utterly shocked her.
    “I love you, Mistress,” he murmured in his stupor.
    Ella’s eyes widened.  Oh no.   This wasn’t at all what she wanted.  She suddenly felt co ld all over as guilt and shock came crashing down on her like a tsunami.   She had just been questioning if she even liked playing with Charlie anymore, and now he made this startling admission?
    Ella wanted to draw away from him, to recoil.  But he was still coming back up, and she didn’t want him to drop if she abandoned him.  Maybe he wouldn’t remember saying it and they could move on.
    But she knew then in her gut that she would have to break things off with him, never play with him again.  It just wasn’t fair to him for her to string him along when she had no feelings for him other than fond affection.   She was suddenly