Subordination:Chronicles of a Domme(10)
“Try not to sound so excited about it, okay?” It was hard to be mad at him when he looked so cute with his teasing expression. He rose off the ground. “First thing we have to do is get you off the mountain.”
“You’re not seriously going to try to carry me?”
“Of course not. I might be built, but I’m not that strong.”
“Excuse me?” I huffed.
William chuckled. “I’m only teasing you.” He dug his phone out of the pocket of his running shorts. “I’m calling in the rangers.” After looking up the number for the park ranger station, he dialed it. “Yes, I have a runner down with a potential sprained ankle. I need some assistance to get her to her car.” He paused. “Yes, thank you.” When he hung up, he smiled. “Someone’s in the area, so it won’t be long.”
“That’s good.”
Amusement sparkled in William’s eyes. “Man, I must be pretty horrible if you’re so ready to be out of my presence.”
“That’s not it, and you know it.”
“I’m glad to hear it, Juliette.”
I shook my head at him using my name from 1740. Although I probably shouldn’t have, I decided to give him my real name. “Actually, it’s Sophie.”
“Sophie. You know, I like that much better.”
“Don’t I look like a Juliette?”
He smiled. “You do. But I like Sophie better. It’s a very sweet and feminine name.”
“Sweet and feminine, huh? I’m not sure how very well suited that is for me, least of all for a Domme. I guess it was a good thing that most Dommes use aliases or initials.”
“Why go with Juliette and not Mistress S?”
“Well, Mistress S is just a pain in the ass to enunciate, so I thought since I was at Club 1740, I might as well go with something Marquis themed.”
William eyed me curiously. “And you chose to go with one of his most depraved heroines?”
“You’ve read Juliette?”
“No. But I do know about the Marquis’s works.”
“Because of the club.”
“Because I was once a history teacher.”
Now it was my turn to eye him curiously. “You were?”
“You act so surprised.”
“It’s just I never imagined you were a teacher.”
“I told you earlier I coached football. Aren’t football coaches notorious for teaching history?”
I laughed. “Yeah, I suppose they are.” Shaking my head, I countered, “You just don’t seem like the teacher/coach type.”
“Just what type do you see me as?”
“White collar—”
“But teachers are white collar,” he argued.
“You didn’t let me finish.”
William held up his hands. “By all means.”
“I was going to say white collar but extremely white bread. You have the air of a trust fund baby.”
A bark of a laugh came from William. “If I’m a trust fund baby, then I obliviously have a useless look to me.”
“You and I both know there’s not a useless bone in your body.”
“Is that so?”
“Considering you’re built like a brick shithouse, that’s right.”
William grinned and shook his head at me. “You’re really something.”
“I could say the same thing about you.”
The roar of a jeep interrupted us. A wiry ranger with salt-and-pepper hair hopped out and came bounding over to us. “How’s it going?”
“It was going pretty well until I busted my ass,” I answered honestly.
At the ranger’s surprised look, William laughed. “We’re okay. How are you?”
“Fine, thanks.” He eyed me on the ground. “Want me to get one arm and you get the other?”
“Thanks, but that won’t be necessary.” William then proceeded to bend over. After sliding one arm around my back and the other underneath my knees, he hoisted me up. I squeaked in surprise as I flung my arms around his neck. “Easy there. I got you.”
Staring into his handsome face, my heart actually fluttered. Oh yeah, he had me all right. He had me feeling like an utter and complete fool.
William effortlessly carried me over to the jeep. He somehow managed to still hold me while opening the door. He sat me gently down on the seat. When I eased my arms from around his neck, his cheek brushed against mine. The feel of the stubble made me think about what it had felt like against my thighs.
“Okay?”
Although I was far from it, I replied, “Yes. Thank you.”
William nodded before climbing into the back of the jeep. Once we were inside, the ranger cranked up, and we started down the road. “Sure is a good thing you two were running together. I always tell people not to run alone in case of an accident. People don’t realize that most places on the mountain have really bad cell reception.”
“We aren’t together,” I blurted before I could stop myself.
With a grin, the ranger glanced over to me. “Well, then, a story of a Good Samaritan, huh?”
“Yeah,” I murmured.
“Who knows, it could be a story to tell your grandchildren of how you two met.”
When I glared at him, he waggled his eyebrows at me, which caused William to snicker in the backseat. “How do you know I’m even attracted to men?”
“By the way you were looking at him when he carried you.”
“And just how was I looking at him?”
“Like he was your hero.”
I snorted. “Just because I appreciate him being nice doesn’t mean I want to marry him.”
“I think the woman does protest too much,” William teased.
I whirled around in my seat. “The quote is actually ‘the lady doth protest too much’.”
William merely grinned at my correction, which under Domme circumstances would have earned him a hefty punishment. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. I would be a pretty shitty English teacher if I didn’t know my Shakespeare, especially Hamlet.”
A curious expression came over William’s face. “You’re a teacher?”
“Not yet. I mean, I will be when school starts.”
“I see.” I knew he wanted to ask more, especially about my new job and 1740, but instead, he pressed his lips together and eased back in his seat.
We reached the Visitor’s Center. “Where are you parked?” the ranger asked.
“At the end of this row.”
He nodded and drove us down the line of cars. He slid the jeep into park. “Well, here’s where we part company.”
“Thank you for the ride,” I said.
The ranger smiled. “You just take care of your ankle, and be careful when you come back.”
“I’ll try.”
William hopped out of the back of the jeep and opened my door. Once again, he swept me into his arms. This time I was careful not to look at him for fear of giving off any alleged lovesick vibes.
“Thanks again,” William said.
“No problem. Have a good one.”
The jeep drove off, leaving behind a foul-smelling cloud of exhaust behind. “Listen, I’m going to need to put you down to let down the gate.”
“Okay.”
He eased me down onto my feet but was careful not to let me go until he was sure I could stand alone. After digging in his pockets, he produced a key fob. The lights and horn beeped on a black truck so shiny you could see yourself in the reflection.
“That’s your car?”
“It’s a truck, but yes, it’s mine.”
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion at him. “Just exactly how does an educator afford Escalade pickup?”
“They’re not as expensive as an Escalade SUV.”
“You didn’t answer my question. And now that I think about it, how do you afford membership at 1740?”
William continued to evade me by laying down the gate of the truck. “Let’s get you up here, so I can wrap your ankle better.”
“Not until you answer me.”
He met my inquisitive gaze for a brief moment before placing his hands on my waist. With barely any effort, he hoisted me up to sit down. “You need off that foot.”
“Would you answer me if I had a flogger in my hand?” I demanded.
“No because I’d want you to hit me,” he replied with an impish grin.
“You’re infuriating.” And sexy as hell. Let’s forget about my ankle and have a quickie in the back of your truck.
He didn’t answer me. Instead, he reached into the silver toolbox on the truck’s bed and pulled out the first aid kit. When he came back, he set down the kit and then looked me straight in the eye. “A good Mistress always reads her sub well, and you certainly hit the mark with me. I am a trust fund baby.”
“But you said—”
“I know what I said because it’s the truth. I do work in education, but I also happen to have a father who is a lawyer and a mother who came from a very wealthy family.”
“I see,” I murmured.
William untied my shoe and then eased it gently off my foot. “My father would tell you I refused to become a lawyer like him as a way to punish him for leaving my mother.”
“The divorce was bad, huh?”
William’s hand stilled in unrolling the Ace bandage. “Yeah, it was hard for me. But it was worse on my mother.” He glanced up. “She took a bottle of sleeping pills when I was six.”