Free Christmas With Nathan by Alice Raine Page A

anticipation, I stood on the doormat trying, and failing, not to squirm as I slowly began to count from one to twenty. I had got to six and Nathan was almost at the top of the stairs when he paused, his shoulders tensing. ‘I said, stand still .’
    How the hell did he know I was moving? He hadn’t even turned around to check on me. Clearly Nathan knew me well enough to know that I was impatient and would fail on the first attempt at remaining motionless. Which I had. Damn it. Bloody man was too smart for his own good.
    It was months since we’d done any scenes as Dom and sub; surely he would give me a small allowance for being a little bit giddy about the idea now? Because I was giddy with excitement at the prospect. Really frigging giddy.
    As if reading my mind, Nathan turned his head, his dark gaze meeting mine as he maintained a seemingly impassive face and shook his head oh-so slowly back and forth. Uh-oh.
    ‘Stand still means stand still, Stella, not wriggle on the spot. You already earned yourself one punishment earlier, now this makes two. Continue to squirm if you wish for that number to increase further. Understand?’
    I didn’t have a clue what he meant when he said I had already earned one punishment, but I didn’t question him on it, instead, swallowing loudly, I nodded my head. As his eyes narrowed, I winced, rapidly remembering how much Nathan hated that gesture and then quickly found my voice instead. ‘Yes, Sir,’ I whispered, deciding that this situation definitely required use of his title.
    Giving me a satisfied nod, he flashed me a quick wink to reassure me that this was all just part of our scene, and then turned back to the stairs. ‘Start again, and this time do it as I asked.’
    It was ridiculous just how much I wanted to please Nathan, and so I tensed my entire body until I was as stiff as a board. I’m not sure I’ve ever stood as still in my entire life. Even when he turned the corner at the top of the stairs and disappeared from view, I still remained like a stone statue, barely even daring to breathe. Arousal was thumping around my system, almost making me light-headed, but I focused my mind on the task of slowly counting from one to twenty, using it as a mantra to keep me still and calm.
    Once I reached twenty, I remained unmoving for an extra few seconds, just in case I had counted too quickly, and then broke from my statue pose, giving myself a shake and drawing in a deep breath as I turned towards the kitchen.
    As I entered the bright space, I looked around for the instructions Nathan had mentioned, but on first glance nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. I’d assumed I was looking for an envelope or piece of paper, and so it took me several moments to notice the single red rose on the counter by the window. Walking towards it curiously, I saw a small paper card was attached to it, carefully pierced on one of the thorns so almost seemed to hover on the stem.
    As I reached the counter, my heartrate rocketed when I saw it was one of the vouchers I had given Nathan. Wow. This was the first time he’d used one, and I felt a tingle of excited expectation stir in my belly.
    Licking my lips in anticipation, I felt my cheeks heat with excitement. Leaning down slightly, my eyes widened and throat dried as I read the title of the voucher he had chosen to use, although given his earlier behaviour in the hallway, it really shouldn’t have been a surprise to me.
    ‘I, Stella Jackson, the giver of this voucher, will submit to your every wish and desire.’
    Gulping at the images the mere words caused in my mind, I looked down and saw the date on the voucher had already been filled in with Nathan’s neat script as today’s, and where there had been a blank space for time and place to be added, I saw six simple words: ‘Our bedroom. Ready position. Right now.’
    My eyes widened at the brusque instructions, but not wasting one more second, I turned to hurry up the stairs.
    Let the