Tymber Dalton - Cardinal's Rule

“On a first date,” he said, “I’m always a gentleman.”

She didn’t miss the strong, dominant undercurrent in his voice, the sensual timbre normally not there when on his knees at her feet.

“What if it wasn’t our first date?” she gasped. “What if it was, like, our fifth or sixth date?”

“Do you want me to tell you or show you?”

She swallowed hard. “Show me.”

The corners of his mouth curled in a sexy smile. He stepped in, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. He didn’t maul her, he tenderly brushed his lips over hers until she really wanted to drag him inside and fuck his brains out.

Then he lifted his head. “I’m not going to push my luck and ask if you’d like to see what I’d do if we really got to know each other better.”

She laughed, letting her head rest on his chest.

A nice broad, strong chest.

He kept his arms around her, actually holding her and not just politely resting there. She took a minute to enjoy the feeling before stepping back and fishing around in her purse for her keys.

“Bob, thank you for tonight. I really appreciate it. I had a wonderful time.”

He took her keys from her, unlocked her door, and pushed it open before handing them back.

“Thank you for letting me take you out, Tilly. I hope you’ll let me do it again.”

For once she let her instincts dictate her next statement without the filter of her super-cautious heart getting in the way. “If you could say something to Tilly right now, not Mistress Cardinal, what would it be? A total freebie.”

He smiled and reached up, gently brushed a finger over her cheek and along her jaw. “I know

Mistress Cardinal runs a business and I respect that. But I would love to spend more time with Tilly, outside of work. I hope Tilly finds me worthy to trust me enough to let me in more often, because I think she is a beautiful woman with a spectacular heart. If Tilly ever tells me who the hell hurt her and destroyed her trust…” His face darkened. “I’d love a shot at punching the fucker. I would hope that Tilly and Mistress Cardinal both know me well enough to know that I am not a violent man.”

Her breath caught. His eyes had never left hers. She threw her arms around him again and kissed him, hard, wanting more but sensing he wouldn’t let her rush tonight.

She let him come inside to get his collar. She started to put it on him, then hesitated. “I have a new client coming tomorrow for an initial evaluation at five. I’ll be free after six. If you’re not busy, would you come pick me up and then let me buy you dinner?”

“May I make a suggestion?”

She nodded.

“How about I bring stuff over to make you dinner?” He smiled. “Bob can cook dinner naked as well as any boy can.”

She started laughing. “Wanting to mix business and pleasure?”

He laughed with her. “Okay, sorry. How about I cook for you and we have a nice dinner and discussion, and then, your choice, Bob or boy can clean up the kitchen?”

“You won’t let me buy you dinner?”

He shrugged. “I’m old fashioned. Maybe once you get to know me better like that, then I’ll feel more comfortable. For now, I’d prefer to buy dinner. I can afford it.”

He was cute, a gentleman, and so far the weirdest thing about him was that he collected

Hallmark ornaments.

Well, besides the kinky shit, and that she could handle.

“What’s the dark secret in your closet?” she asked, all teasing gone. “Seriously. What is the worst skeleton in your closet that would blindside the hell out of everyone if people found out about it in the future?”

He took her hand again and kissed it. The passionate, sensual kiss of Bob, not boy. “Mistress Cardinal.”

They agreed he would come over at six. Normally she would schedule a window of decompression after an appointment, but if she had him coming over it would discourage Landry and his slave from hanging around.

Truth be told, she looked forward to Bob making her dinner.

She stripped and went to bed, her mind spinning and a smile on her face.

She wouldn’t—couldn’t—call it love. But she wouldn’t deny liking the feeling she got when she closed her eyes and realized she could now clearly picture Bob’s face in her mind, especially his beautiful blue eyes.

Naked except for his leather collar, the slave knelt on the hotel room floor all morning while his Master took care of business. He listened as Landry talked on the phone and coordinated with others while referring to his laptop. When housekeeping knocked, Landry invited them in. The maids apparently fought for the right to clean their room now. Landry handed them each a twenty without bothering to pause his phone conversation.

The women grinned as they stared at slave kneeling on the floor.

He felt his face heat but he didn’t move, didn’t speak.

Master knew he despised humiliation, but slave wouldn’t fight back. He’d take it.

When Master went out the day before, he didn’t say where he was heading. When he returned from his lunch appointment, he wore a smile but didn’t reveal any details. Since then, the slave had the distinct impression Master had a plan of some sort that he wasn’t privy to.

Landry stepped outside to continue his phone conversation while the maids vacuumed the room.

Slave remained in position, on the floor around the far side of the bed so he wasn’t visible through the open room door.

What seemed like hours later, they finally finished and left and Master returned. He sat at the table and called slave to him.

He stood and walked over to the table.

Landry pointed at the other chair, which surprised slave.

He sat.

In the month since his discovery of the information, Landry hadn’t shown slave the slightest bit of affection. Normally his sadism was tempered with equal or greater amounts of tenderness.

None of that since then. Not even a “good boy.” No kiss goodnight.

No sleeping in the same bed.

No “I love you.”

His Master had mercilessly used him for his own pleasure, blow jobs or fucking his ass, without allowing the slave any release. Even in public his Master treated him without any respect whatsoever, going so far as to refer to him as “slave” in front of others they didn’t work with.

This was the first time since the revelation, other than in professional situations where he had to maintain appearances, that Master had treated him remotely as an equal.

“You have an appointment today, slave,” he said. “Apparently in all these years, nothing I’ve done has made a dent in that thick damn skull of yours. Maybe seeing a different point of view will help you understand.”

His heart seized, already knowing where this was heading, horrified by the prospect.

“No, Master, please! No!”

Landry smiled, without mirth. “Oh, yes. You have two options. You go to this appointment, or you can pack what little things you have, leave me right this second and I’ll buy you a one-way ticket home, where you’d better not be when I return from this trip. Those are your only two options. No negotiations.”

The slave closed his eyes and swallowed hard, but didn’t reply.

“Since you’re not packing I take it that means you’re going to obey?”

“Yes, Master,” he softly replied.

“You brought this on yourself. On all of us. You’ve disgraced me by your actions. If you’d told me the truth at the start, we wouldn’t be here.” He stared at his slave. “Open your fucking eyes and look at me when I’m talking to you.”

The slave did. He hated the disgust on his Master’s face.