Masters at Arms - By Kallypso Masters Page 0,14

slipped out the front door, hoping no one would notice. He needed some air. The jacket did little to keep the wind out. But, compared with the crowded, overheated house, the air felt good. After he’d walked a few blocks, the frigid wind began to seep into his still-aching bones and muscles. He’d known Chicago was windy, but when the gusts were fifty miles an hour and the air temperature barely twenty, it was god-damned frigid.

He didn’t know where he was headed until he arrived. Standing on the shore of Lake Michigan, the wind blowing ice crystals from the lake onto his face, Adam braced himself against the gusts. Gray clouds hovered over the surface, much like they did over Lake Superior.

He and Joni hadn’t had much money when they’d married and all he could afford for a honeymoon was an off-season cabin rental at a park along Superior. It had been colder than a mother that November, too. Not that they’d wanted to venture out much. They were too busy exploring their newfound mutual interest in sexual bondage and each other’s bodies.

Adam got hard picturing Joni tied spread-eagle and blindfolded as he tortured her tits with ice and a feather. She had the cutest damned giggle. He’d tried to use his stern Dom voice, but knowing she couldn’t see him, he’d grinned every time she let out her little-girl giggle.

Damned wind was making his eyes water. He reached up to wipe the moisture from them, then his mind returned to the cabin. After two days of nothing but sex and sleep—maybe a little food, he couldn’t remember—they’d bundled up and ventured out to walk along the icy shore, down to the lighthouse.

Joni was curious about everything and they’d probably spent two hours talking with the lighthouse keeper. Adam accused her later of shirking her wifely duties by delaying their return to the cabin. Her screams of outrage as he reddened her ass during her first erotic spanking had turned them both on so much, they didn’t leave the cabin again the rest of the week.

Cold wetness on his cheeks brought him back to the present. He wasn’t sure if they were brought on from the wind or his sorrow. He didn’t care. No one was around to see him cry. For the first time since learning he was going to lose her, he just let himself feel the gaping hole in his chest where his heart had once been.

Joni had given his heart a safe harbor all these years, but he knew now it was time for him to haul anchor, reset his compass, and shove off into unchartered waters.

“Safe journey, little subbie. We’ll meet up again someday.”

The wind whipped the words away from him. He hoped they made their way to his dear, sweet Joni, wherever she was. He didn’t dwell much on spiritual matters, but knew in his heart he and Joni would reunite one day.

Adam drew a ragged breath and pressed his thumb and forefinger against the bridge of his nose. He now knew he was ready to resume his duties at Pendleton or wherever they sent him. While he’d never forget Joni, he’d be able to compartmentalize the memories and pain so they didn’t take his focus off the mission at hand. He would never put his units in jeopardy because he couldn’t let go of the past. Until this moment, though, he hadn’t been sure he would be able to do that.

A sense of peace came over him. He almost thought he felt Joni’s lips brushing his cheek, the way she did before they curled up with each other and fell asleep. Then he became aware of the icy pellets pounding his face as a lake-effect squall whipped up. He turned around to make his way back to Karla’s house.

Standing a few feet away from him, as if on guard duty, shivering inside her coat, stood Karla.

“What the f…heck are you doing out here?”

Her teeth chattered as she tried to answer. He took off his jacket and put it on her to give her another layer of warmth, then wrapped his arm around her, hoping to infuse some heat into her thin body. “Let’s get you back home.”

“N-n-no, Adam. I have to tell you something.”

Adam just pulled her along toward the house. “We’ll talk when we get you out of this squall.” She tried to dig in her heels, but he’d have none of it. Damned fool kid needed a caretaker.

He’d been dreading going