Come Back to Me (Bound to You Book 2) Read online

  “Put the computer down and come here, bonita,” he instructed in a low, even voice. Slowly, she obeyed, placing the laptop on the sofa next to her. Standing, she went to him, dragged her feet like a naughty child expecting a scolding, or worse.

  “Kneel, Meredith,” he ordered.

  She obeyed. Oh, God! Was he going to punish her?

  Swallowed, her thoughts swirling, stomach in knots, she fell to her knees in front of him.

  “How did you know?”

  He smiled as he reached an index finger out, looped it around a curl, and tugged. But he didn't answer. Instead, he asked a question. “Whose job is it to look after you?”

  “Yours?” she asked.

  “Is that a question, or an answer?”

  She felt another tug of her curl.

  “Look at me,” he instructed.

  She lifted her eyes back to his.

  “When I address you, I expect you to maintain eye contact.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Now tell me whose job it is to look after the other,” he said.

  She frowned. “Isn't it both of ours?”

  A slow smile spread across his face. “In a way, yes. Allow me to phrase it another way. Who has the authority in this relationship?”

  Her eyes widened. Oh, gosh. She'd never really thought of it that way before. Her eyes went down to her hands, but the tug on her curl was sharp this time, causing her to yelp, as he pulled her eyes back to his.

  “Look at me,” he said, his dark eyes narrowed.

  She nodded. “You,” she stammered. “You're the one in charge. I'm sorry I looked away.”

  He gave a curt nod. “You'll catch on,” he murmured. “I'm the one in authority. So I'm the one entitled to watch over you. That means everything of yours is subject to my approval. Do you understand that?”

  Her eyes widened, but she nodded, her heartbeat racing in excitement. Where was he going with this?

  “Your messages. Your e-mails. Your chat, online activity, the books you read. For me to be in charge I need to know what's going on in your mind. Is that clear?”

  Unexpectedly, she felt tears spring to her eyes. Part of her said yes, yes, this! while another part of her wanted to pull away, close her eyes, and lock him out. Another tug of hair made her jump.

  “I asked you a question. Do you understand what I'm telling you? Look away one more time, Meredith, you go over my knee.”

  “I understand,” she whispered, her fears swirling in her mind, her heart racing with the threat of a spanking. What would it be like to hide nothing? What if he didn't approve? What if she didn't want him reading everything she wrote? But he had a point. She wanted his leadership. She wanted his guidance. She wanted his dominance.

  So didn't it stand to reason, then, that he would have to know what was going on with her?

  “How did you know I was looking at your posts?” she asked.

  He smiled. “It's my job to watch out for you.” He showed her his tablet, where the forum was open, and in the upper corner a small link that read “see users.” He clicked on her name and next to it were the words reading Mr. Brookstone's posts.

  “Oh my gosh! It tells you what people are doing?” She felt a faint flush creep on her cheeks.

  He nodded. “Yeah. It's not very detailed, but will tell you what people are doing. And I'm cool with you reading my posts, but I don't like that you felt you had to sneak around to do it. Got it?'

  She nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “Good,” he said with a smile. “You're free to go back to the forum now. But no snooping. I see Little Lady has just logged onto chat. Why don't you see if she's up for a talk?”

  Meredith smiled, warmth spreading through her. “Thanks, honey. I'd like that.”

  He gave a curt nod and she stood, went back to the couch, and retrieved her laptop. She opened up the chat window, feeling excited but nervous. She was dying to chat with her friend.

  Meredith would have to tell Little Lady… everything. She wasn't sure what she already knew. And on top of that, Paolo could read anything she'd said. She frowned. Maybe this whole submission thing wasn't what she hoped it was. But a white box popped on her screen, and she smiled when she read it.

  Bonita!!!! Oh, wow, how I've missed you! What's going on?

  Little Lady. She smiled as she typed.

  Hello, my friend. A real lot is going on! Do you have a minute?

  Absolutely! I have permission to be on here an hour before I need to go. So type fast!

  Meredith smiled as her fingers flew over the keyboard.

  So… did Mr. Brookstone say anything to Master Winston? She typed.

  You mean about Xcavator?

  Meredith frowned. About who?

  Um, no. I have no idea who Xcavator is. I'm not talking about the forum. I mean...about us.

  A pause.

  About you two? No! Oh gosh! Do tell!

  Meredith swallowed. Time to fill her in.

  I decided… I wanted to find out if I was submissive. So… the opportunity came up for me to… well…

  This was harder than she thought.

  So you agreed to be submissive to Mr. Brookstone?

  Meredith sighed. Yes.

  Wow.

  Right. So… we tried it out for a few weeks.

  Did you tell your husband?

  Uh… yeah, my husband knows, but he didn't at first.

  Was he okay with it? Meredith smiled to herself as her fingers flew to respond.

  Little Lady. Mr. Brookstone IS my husband. He took on the role of my dom without me knowing who he was. And we worked out how we were going to do this before I knew who he was.

  No waaaaaaaay!!!! Yiiikes! Hang on! I have to tell Master Winston. Oh, wait! Is that okay?

  Meredith looked up at Paolo across the room.

  “Honey? It's okay if Winston knows you're Mr. Brookstone, right?”

  Paolo chuckled as he flipped the channel. “You girls are so cute. Winston knew I was Brookstone from day one.”

  Her jaw dropped. “Are you kidding me? You two!”

  Paolo, still smiling, raised an eyebrow. “Are you scolding me?”

  She dropped her eyes. “No, Sir. I just can't believe…”

  Paolo chuckled again. “Yeah, babe, it's okay for you to tell Little Lady and Winston everything.”

  Little Lady! My husband says your husband already knows!

  There was a pause before Little Lady responded. I just asked him. You know what he just said?

  Meredith grinned, the whole thing striking her suddenly as very funny. What?

  Meredith's cheeks flushed at the response that popped up on her screen.

  He says, “I hope he punished her soundly for agreeing to obey another man without his permission.” Eep. Men! Sorry, he made me type that!

  Meredith squirmed. You can tell him he can rest assured I've been summarily dealt with.

  He says good. And now I am going to very politely and respectfully turn my back to my husband so I can continue our GIRL CHAT.

  Meredith grinned. Good! But P—she paused, just realizing that she'd accidentally begun to type “Paolo.” She looked up at Paolo. “Honey, am I allowed to use our real names with Little Lady and Master Winston?”

  His eyes immediately darkened as he looked over at her. “Absolutely not.”

  Meredith's eyes widened at his tone. “Okay.”

  “No telling them anything private like that. Or anyone on the forum. Not now, anyway. I expect your total obedience in this. Understand?”

  She nodded, somewhat deflated, confused about his sudden sternness, as she turned back to the screen. Mr. Brookstone says anything I type here is subject to be read by him.

  Well, sure. That's kind of a given.

  It is? You'll have to help me learn the ropes here.

  Anytime, sweetie. So he punished you, huh?

  Meredith swallowed.

  Yes. Put me over his knee, and spanked me good and hard for sneaking an
d being dishonest. He said, “forgiveness lies over my knee.”

  Oh, wow. And how do you feel about this?

  Meredith paused. How did she feel about this? She thought a moment before she replied, and when she began typing, it felt good to process it all, to put it all out there in the written word, to feel it and think it through like this.

  I'm grateful that he's willing to do this. Eager to obey him, but sometimes it makes me mad, like I want to smack him! I don't like to do everything he tells me to, but at the same time, part of me wants him to make me ask permission for everything! Is that crazy?? Like, I wanted to stomp the floor when he said he was reading my emails and things like that, but at the same time, the idea of having to ask permission and having more rules is sooo appealing to me. I don't know how I feel. I do know this. It felt totally right to lay over his lap and be punished. I mean, I was really really nervous and also kind of excited, and maybe even embarrassed? But at the same time, when he was done, I felt like it was just so right. I felt so close to him, like I loved him more than I ever did before. Does that even make sense? Oh gosh, I'm sorry I wrote a novel here.

  Little Lady responded immediately. Please, my friend, don't apologize. Of course, that all makes perfect sense! All of it. Just because you have the desire to submit doesn't mean that actually doing it is always easy. In fact, most of the time, you'll find it isn't. That's kind of the beauty of it.

  It is?

  Sure. Yes, it takes great strength to submit. And when you do that, when you voluntarily allow him authority over you, you reap the rewards of your obedience. You're beginning an amazing journey, bonita. The road ahead is going to be difficult. But I have no doubt you're up for the challenge.

  Meredith paused. She wasn't so sure herself. Thank you.

  Of course. It's an honor that you confide in me like this. I hope I can be a good friend to you.

  Meredith warmed at her friend's words. You already have been. Gosh, it feels so good that you get all this and you've been there!

  I understand. It's hard when what you want or what feels right is so contrary to what many people accept as normal and healthy.

  Yes!

  I'm so glad you have Mr. Brookstone to guide you. You are a lucky woman, bonita.

  Meredith looked across the room at Paolo, who was turning his tablet back on. She smiled to herself.

  That I am.

  She started when she heard Paolo swearing under his breath.

  “Fucking hell,” he said, his dark features clouding over. “This fucking asshole. What the hell is he playing at?”

  Meredith raised her eyebrows. She typed a quick message to Little Lady. I'll be right back. “Honey, what's the matter?” she asked Paolo.

  “This guy on the forum,” he said. “A couple of them are no good. This one's been hitting on girls in chat for weeks now, and he's out of control, but he technically hasn't broken any rules. So there's nothing Winston can do about it. He has all the information he can get, which isn't much, just the guy's approximate location and online activity. Now he's in chat with Winston, and he's out of line.”

  “What a jerk!”

  “Yeah, no kidding. Listen, no forum when I'm not here.”

  Meredith frowned. It seemed a bit of an overreaction, but Paolo was dead serious.

  “All right, honey.”

  “I'm serious, Mer. I mean it. I don't trust these guys.”

  “I get it.”

  Paolo gave her a piercing look.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He nodded, glancing back at the tablet.

  She turned back to her chat window with Little Lady.

  Sorry about that. Mr. Brookstone has some concerns about some of these guys on the forum.

  No worries. Yeah, so does Master Winston. He says I'm not allowed to chat or anything when he's not around.

  That's what Mr. Brookstone said! I'm so glad you're being bossed around, too!

  LOL. Believe me, the feeling is mutual.

  Meredith grinned. Another message from Little Lady popped up.

  So, Mr. Brookstone is your dom, and you're easing into this whole thing. That's awesome. But how are you feeling about everything now?

  Well. That's the funny thing. At first, it was really exciting but kind of nerve-wracking. And he's being really good about everything, you know? Talking over rules. I've only been punished twice, but sometimes he spanks me anyway, which… well, you know, I like that. But today, I feel off. In fact, that's the reason I logged on today.

  What do you mean you feel off?

  Well, how do I say this? What I mean is… I don't want to be punished. It's not really that? I mean, I'm really glad that I haven't been and I don't want to do anything to make him punish me. I don't feel like that at all. Then why do I feel so off? Why do I keep…

  “Mer, log off the screen. Tell Little Lady good bye. Now.”

  Meredith paused, mid-sentence. She looked at Paolo and blinked. “Why?”

  “I said now.”

  She cleared her screen, swallowed, and typed I need to go right now. I'm sorry to cut this short. Good bye.

  She clicked the “x” on the screen and shut her laptop, staring at Paolo. She frowned, anger rising. Yes, she wanted to submit to him… didn't she? Wasn't that what this was all about? But she wasn't his plaything. Didn't he have any concern about what she wanted to do? She clenched her fists, trying to keep her temper in check. He was staring at his tablet angrily. He shut it off, put it in his lap, and turned back to Meredith.

  “Why?” he repeated.

  “I'm sorry,” she stammered, realizing her mistake, and hoping not to make him angry with her. “It just took me by surprise. I didn't expect such an abrupt instruction.”

  He gave a curt nod. “I understand. Eventually, you'll drop the 'why' when I ask you to do something. And eventually, if you don't, you'd wish you had.” Her pulse quickened. “For now, the only reason I'm giving you is 'because I said so'. When the time comes, I'll explain more. Now go get ready for bed.”

  She glanced at the clock. It was barely an hour before she normally went to bed and she felt nowhere near ready to go. Her emotions conflicted. She was fighting the urge to push back, claim her own decisions, and ask him why he was pushing. But the novelty of his pushing her to obey was still fresh, and curiosity got the best of her. What would he ask her to do? She stood, and without another word, started to leave. As she reached the threshold, his voice stopped her.

  “Come here, baby,” he said, his voice softer now, though there was an edge that made her halt. She swallowed.

  Shut it off. Get ready for bed. Come here. It was almost too much, and she felt she needed a few seconds to process. She blinked, focusing herself on obeying him. Taking a deep breath, she made her way over to where Paolo sat. He reached for her hand when she got close to him.

  “Much better, bonita,” he murmured. “That pleases me, you know. When you make the choice to be my good girl.”

  She felt her stomach melt.

  My good girl.

  “When I come to our bedroom, I want you in your nightie, no panties. And I want you kneeling by the bed, waiting for me. We have a few things to talk about.” He paused, and his eyes darkened as his voice dropped.

  “It's time I gave you more rules.”

  She smiled at him, an eager, yet nervous excitement bubbling up.

  “Yes, sir,” she whispered.

  Turning to leave, she focused on doing what he said.

  Get ready for bed.

  Nightie.

  No panties.

  More rules.

  Shit.

  ***

  Paolo opened up the laptop as Meredith went to their bedroom. He'd told her he'd check up on her, and he had every intention on doing just that. He scanned to see if Meredith had posted anything to the forum, but saw nothing but an open chat window where she'd talked with Little Lady. Curious, he clicked it open.

  His lips twitched in amusement as he read over their conve
rsation and learned of Little Lady's shock to learn that Mer's husband was Mr. Brookstone. He chuckled as he read Meredith's assurance that she'd been “summarily dealt with”, and his eyebrow rose when he read Meredith confessing that she'd wanted to smack him when he bossed her around. They were cute, these two. And he felt intuitively that pushing her to that point where she wanted to fight back—but didn't—was something she needed from him. What benefit would it be if he didn't? There was nothing to be gained if he didn't challenge her, bring her desire to do things her own way to the surface and teach her to obey him. He didn't want to break her will. He loved the fire in her eyes, and though he wanted her to obey him, he wanted her to still be the girl he'd fallen in love with.

  What did he want? He frowned. He thought of her over his knee, surrendering to him, and he grew hard at the memory. He thought of the look she'd given him, trusting and full of hope and wonder. Yes, that. He wanted that. He wanted to take that trust, hold it in his hand and shelter it, like one might cushion a fragile piece of fine china. He wouldn't abuse her trust.

  But he knew he had to earn it.

  How?

  He sat working his jaw, looking to the vacant doorway, where she'd stood just moments ago. He inhaled, and looked back at the screen.

  I've only been punished twice, but sometimes he spanks me anyway, which… well, you know, I like that. But today, I feel off. In fact, that's the reason I logged on today.

  He frowned. He could tell she'd been teetering on the edge of uncertainty. Her eyes were uneasy when she'd hesitated to obey him.

  Why hadn't she come to him? Why hadn't she told him she felt “off”? She'd confided in her anonymous friend online, but Paolo had rules for Meredith, and the first one he'd given her was one he'd insist she learn.

  In all fairness, though, it would take time for her to learn to become transparent. She'd forged habits, after years of shouldering things on her own, and the trust she'd given him was only the beginning He wouldn't punish her for confiding in Little Lady instead of going to him. Hell, for all he knew, the unsettled feeling she had was only beginning to surface, and she likely was trying to get a handle on her confusing feelings.