Testing The Limits by Harper Cole Read Free Book Online Page B

mean well, and it was unfair of me to take it out on him. My own emotions were too raw, in too many ways, at this moment.
    "Forgive me. I speak out of turn. Shall I tell him that you called for him?"
    "Er… thanks. No, no, don't do that."
    "As you wish." He sighed, and I knew he was thinking, if she doesn't want him to know she's been here, then something is wrong in their relationship.
    My old doubts came crowding back as I descended the steps to the sidewalk, and began to look around for a cab to take me home again.
     

Chapter Nine - Andrew
     
     
    I did not care what that man - my father - said.
    I did not care what he did.
    I did not care.
    He dogged my thoughts and my dreams. I caught glimpses of him on the street - snatches of almost-familiar figures that turned out, on a second look, to not be him at all.
    I cared nothing.
    Yet I could not stop going over and over it in my mind.
    It made me furious. How dare I let him have so much influence over my feelings! I had seen that trite image online about how staying angry with someone was like letting them live, rent-free, in your head. I scorned it yet the sentiment was all too true. He was squatting in my mind, mocking me.
    Why should it be so? I didn't need him. I supposed that I never had. I was not beholden to him for money, or lifestyle, or any such thing. So why was I bothered?
    Damn him.
    I cautioned myself against taking it out on Jasmine. She had problems of her own, and it pained me that I could not simply click my fingers and make it all better for her. The issues with her family angered me. Partly, of course, because it split her attention - attention which I felt ought to be focused on me.
    So I left her alone for a few days. I did not want a repeat of the time I'd gone around and simply used her body. I was learning, little by little, about my responsibilities if I were really to call myself a "Master". Her Master. All my previous play faded in comparison - it had been nothing more than "A bit of slap and tickle." With Jasmine, I was in new territory. She fought me and she humbled me, and that was a whole new thing.
    No other woman would have dared. And I didn't want just any woman - one who didn't dare. It was a revelation to me.
    But it was a fine line, too. I'd spoken with others at that munch, and corresponded by email with one or two, since. One, a beautiful Domme called Nicola, told me that Jasmine held the power. It was a sentiment I'd heard before, of course, but I felt it didn't really cover all the nuances.
    There were no nuances, Nicola tried to persuade me. Jasmine's boundaries were not to be crossed.
    And I saw what she meant, but she failed to see that Jasmine chose me to help her explore those boundaries. That was what it was about, in my mind. Pushing Jas was all part of it.
    Mulling all this over had stirred my lust. Yes, I wanted to see her. I would keep a tight rein on my own anger, this time, and pleasure her instead.
    I would devote myself to her. That would improve my mood. I called her as I left my house - two words - "Be ready."
     
    * * * *
     
    She answered the door absolutely stark naked but for high heeled shoes and a black velvet choker. Her curls tumbled around her shoulders. Her skin glistened and I saw a trail of damp footprints on the carpet behind her; she'd evidently dashed into the shower to prepare herself.
    "Too tacky?" she said, her eyes large with worry as she fingered the choker.
    "Not at all. Never," I said, grinning. She made me feel a real, and deep, joy; a genuine flutter in the pit of my stomach. This was one image I'd file away in my mental store and draw out again from time to time.
    "I am going to make you come, and come, and come," I told her.
    "Come in," she said, and then giggled at the weak wordplay.
    This was another side to her. I realized, in that moment, what a privilege it was to see the mean businesswoman like this - naked, vulnerable, and almost coquettish. I would have laid money on the fact that