“All traces of ginger gone,” he said, walking into the living room. “Jeff, can I get you something to drink?”
Jeff stood up and I wasn’t sure, but he looked relieved he didn’t have to reply to my question. “No, I better be on my way.”
I stood to walk with him to the door. Nathaniel came alongside me and put his arm around my waist. I sighed in contentment.
Jeff shook Nathaniel’s hand. “It was an honor being invited this afternoon. Thank you.”
“I’m glad it worked out for you to join us.”
Jeff smiled at me. “Abby, it was a privilege and thank you for the lessons you taught me.” He winked. “And by the way, you’re no lightweight.”
We said our good-byes to Jeff and Nathaniel led me to the bedroom. Apparently, when I’d been talking with Jeff, he’d been busy. Soft piano music greeted me when he opened the door. He’d pulled the shades so the room was dim and one of the trays that had been delivered earlier was in the middle of the bed.
“Looks like you did more than wash your hands, Master,” I said, taking note of the pillows piled on top of the bed.
“You never got to eat,” he said, pulling me forward. “And I wanted to give you time to talk with Jeff.”
“You never ate and you didn’t climax.”
He turned me so we faced each other and he pressed his forehead to mine. “You worry about me too much, Abigail. You need to focus on doing what I ask and leave the rest to me.”
“I love you; of course I’m going to worry.” I pressed my lips to his in a soft kiss. “Besides, you need to keep up your strength.”
He smiled against my lips. “Trust me. When it comes to you, I have enough strength for half a dozen men.”
“Half a dozen, Master?”
“Maybe a dozen.”
“That seems more likely.”
He pulled away and I was struck anew by the love and desire in his eyes. “Now come with me and we’ll have a little picnic in bed. And if you’re really worried about my strength, you can feed me a bite or two.”
I felt almost giddy climbing into bed. He propped me up on the pillows and fluffed a few around me. I felt like a princess.
“Take the robe off, Abigail.”
Okay, I felt like a naked princess. But I shrugged out of the robe, just slightly peeved that he kept his clothes on. Not that I minded being naked; I just wanted him to be naked, too. I enjoyed looking at his body, imagining all the things he could do to me, remembering the way he tasted.
“Are you with me?” he asked. “You look like you’re someplace else.”
“I’m imagining you naked.”
“I’d rather be naked, but you had an intense afternoon and you need some rest.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I feel fine.”
He lifted the dome off the tray and started filling a plate with almonds and blue cheese. “You don’t know what I have planned for tomorrow.”
That was enough to shut me up and he laughed at my shocked expression. “Don’t look so scared. You handled today—you can take tomorrow.”
His mention of the next day reminded me of a question I had. “I was thinking, if you didn’t have other plans for me in the morning, that I’d call Julie and see if I could interview her for the blog.”
“Julie, Daniel’s submissive?” He fed me an almond.
I chewed, then said, “Yes, she’s new to the lifestyle and recently collared. I thought she’d make a nice contrast to my normal posts.”
“You mean since you’re a veteran and have been collared forever?”
I took the block of cheese he handed me. “Something like that.”
“I don’t have a problem with that. I can arrange what I had planned for another day.” He took a sip of wine. “In fact, I think that’s a great idea and will mesh nicely with what I have planned.”
“I don’t even want to know, do I?”
“Probably not.”
I met Julie late the next morning at a café not far from the hotel. She’d obviously been at work at her flower shop; she wore a pink polo shirt with PETAL PUSHERS embroidered on the front.
“Love the name of your shop,” I said, sitting down in a plush brown chair.
“Thanks. We wanted something people would remember.” She took a sip of her latte and sighed. “Mmm, that is so good. We’ve been so busy this morning, I didn’t even get a chance to make a pot. And I stayed at Daniel’s last night and we got up late … Well, it was late when we got out of bed. We actually woke up early.”