Her Master's Collar (On the Hunt) by Sara Brookes Page B

someone.” She set her empty glass on the table, folding her hands in front of her. “But if I listened every time it screamed at me to go to my knees…let’s just say what happened was a one-time thing. It can’t happen again.” She held up a hand. “No, correction—it won’t happen again.”
    His glass joined hers on the table as he shifted closer. The heat of his body pressed against hers, making it extremely hard to maintain a firm grip on her sex drive. Jesus, did he have to be so handsome and addictive? After everything he put her through, she should not want this man. Her breasts shouldn’t swell inside the cups of her bra. Her panties shouldn’t feel good rubbing against sensitive places that grew wetter the closer his body got.
    “Maybe you should let go of your restraint and listen to your body for once. When is the last time you gave in to your desires?”
    Ice ran through her veins, eliminating the arousing heat that had nearly filled her to bursting. Talk about a sobering moment. “The night you left me.” Swallowing the thickness in her throat, she stared out at the gathering audience. Looking at him right now would break her. “For a very long time, I thought it was my fault. I thought I was the reason you left. I wallowed, throwing pity party after pity party. I even grew to hate you because you made me into a weepy mess of a woman.”
    “Korene—”
    “I’ve started now, Roland, let me do this.” She gathered her composure, feeling strong and secure now that the dam had burst. Ten years of pent-up emotion poured from her. “We met and you swept me off my feet. You turned my world upside down so I didn’t even know where the sky ended and the ground began. In truth, I didn’t care. Perhaps it was silly to let myself get caught up so young, but I loved you so much. Then we discovered the whole mutual interest in dominance and submission…I swear, my life was never the same. For the first time in my life, I was truly, happily, free.”
    “Then I left,” he added solemnly.
    His touch withdrew, a signal her words had caused him pain. His misery couldn’t possibly come close to the anguish she’d suffered. “Yes. You showed up at the house so serious, so damn commanding. I loved that about you. I thought you loved me too.”
    “I did. I still do.” He stood, yanking the privacy curtain to close them off from the loud murmuring of the audience before kneeling in front of her. A subservient position for a man who was the epitome of command. His hands were warm as they closed around hers. “Don’t you understand? That’s why I let you go. That’s why I freed you. I thought I wasn’t going to come back—that I would die out there. God knows I tried hard enough.
    “I didn’t want to perish out there in the field and leave you all alone. I uncollared you because I love you. I couldn’t die on Mars, knowing you were bound to me on Earth. Nor die, knowing you would mourn the loss of both your man and your Master. Maybe it was the coward’s way, but I had to do it. You have to understand, I thought freeing you was the only way I could go on loving you. Our relationship was always the one thing right with my life. I may have hurt you when I freed you, but it devastated me on every level possible. Why do you think I still have your collar?”
    Her breathing stuttered. In all of her pain and anger, it had never occurred to her that he’d done it to save her. The agony of loss had blocked out solid reasoning. It certainly helped to ease the ache, even if it didn’t answer all her questions. “I want to be with you again, but—”
    “You’re afraid I’ll leave.”
    She studied him for a long moment before answering. “Yes.”
    He dipped his head, pressing his warm lips against her thumb. “How about one day, one step at a time? See if we can find our footing. It’s there somewhere. You know it as well as I do. That was apparent the moment you went to your knees for me