While he couldn’t actually confirm the submissive part yet, his gut told him the truth. She’d been studying BDSM for so long there was no doubt in his mind there was a hidden ache behind her research. And he refused to entertain the alternative of her being a top. That didn’t match the Maggie he knew from high school at all. Sure, people changed. He certainly had, but the fundamental core of who you are and what you need on a cellular level doesn’t change in adulthood.
He’d bet every last dollar that Maggie possessed the heart of a true submissive, longing to take her place at her Master’s side and he’d waited her out long enough. Her reappearance eight weeks ago had sparked more than gossip. Something inside him akin to hunger had unfurled and dug in with razor sharp claws and refused to let go. His recovery had taken a very long time. Too long. Now he needed to rejoin the world, engage in a healthy if somewhat temporary relationship and he’d chosen Maggie to do it with. She didn’t know it yet, but he was coming for her.
*
Maggie tightened her hands on the steering wheel and held on for dear life. Flakes the size of dollar coins attacked her windshield as she struggled to see the road. Why had she not listened to the news reports when they’d warned the coming storm would be serious? Instead she’d ignored everything around her and stayed at the coffee shop until the roads turned white and her latest chapter had been edited to perfection.
Another chapter in her first book wouldn’t do her much good if she didn’t survive the drive home. She narrowed her eyes. Her visibility was shit and she still had several miles to go. Not to mention the hill. A rough groan formed at the back of her throat. Her decision to come to the lake for the winter really had been a very bad idea. As far as she was concerned, Dorothy had it all wrong. No place like home was nothing but bullshit created by some Pollyanna who’d never made a mistake in her life. Small town America held a grudge when one of their own made a spectacle of themselves in the public eye.
Maggie turned the wheel to hold her course on the road and blew out a hard breath. Focus on the road and worry about your life later, dumbass.
With her turn coming up, she slowly pressed the brake pedal and turned on her signal. This was it. The hill that stood between her and home. At about ten miles per hour she navigated her small sports car across the road and made her way to Miller road. So far so good.
Her car crested the hill and the long descent loomed below her. “Slow and steady,” she chanted over and over again. Her teeth ached something fierce from clenching her jaw, but she couldn’t stop if she wanted to. Driving in the snow terrified her. It had been years since she’d tried, but it took nothing to recall the tree that had mangled her parent’s SUV the last time she’d attempted to drive in the white stuff.
After college she’d moved from North Carolina to Florida where her chance of snow turned to zero and the sun shone almost every day of the year. Not to mention the lack of hills.
Red lights flashed in Maggie’s vision and her heart clenched. There were two cars nose to nose in the middle of the road. She slammed on the brake to stop her car and nothing happened. Shit! In the back of her mind she vaguely remembered being told to never slam on the brakes in snow or ice because her car would lose traction. In a weird sort of slow motion her car continued to slide slowly down the hill toward the cars blocking her passage.
Maggie’s stomach trembled as she pulled the wheel in the opposite direction. Her car swerved to the left, but not enough. As the seconds ticked by and her windshield wipers ushered the snow from her window as quickly as it fell the pit in her stomach grew.
At the first sound of metal scraping against metal, Maggie cried out. The momentum of the hill propelled her vehicle forward bouncing from one vehicle to the other before finally rolling to a stop. With her heart in her throat and her pulse beating wildly, Maggie tipped her head forward and leaned against the steering wheel. Grateful she’d kept her speed low, Maggie undid her seat belt and opened her door. To her surprise, both cars had begun to move and were making an attempt to get the rest of the way down the hill without a care in the world whether she was all right.
She stood in the glow of her headlights, her mouth agape and watched them slide. Slowly but surely, they traversed their path down the hill and eventually their rear red lights winked out of view. Alone in the dark, cold shivered through Maggie. She pulled her sweater tighter and cursed herself for not wearing a heavy jacket when she’d left the cabin. She didn’t spend much time outdoors but any idiot knew to be prepared for inclement weather.