Part 11 The Lake House
When my eyes opened again Katherine was just pulling off of the highway. I blinked, feeling groggy. I'd been asleep for a couple of hours, at least. She looked over at me a moment as she stopped at the bottom of the exit ramp.
"Good morning, sleepy head," she giggled. I laughed too.
Katherine turned left onto Route 119. I looked out the window, taking in the surroundings, never having been up this way before. Route 119 rose further up into the mountains, winding around gently. The trees were a bit shorter and scrubbier than at sea level, with more evergreens. Sharp walls of rock where the road had been blasted out years ago were common.
Mid-afternoon was starting to give way to late afternoon; I rolled down a window. It was brilliantly sunny, but up here spring hadn't fully taken hold yet. The breeze that came through the open window had a definite chill to it. I shivered and rolled the window up again and sat back, enjoying the ride as we slowly rose, Katherine turning after 10 miles or so onto a road that went more steeply up for a while, then leveled out. Long meadows interrupted by occasional stands of mixed evergreen and hardwoods on either side of the road drank in the sun as we drove along. Then up gently again for a while . . . steep rocky slopes dropped quickly away from the sides of the road, and the trees were more closely spaced.
Gradually the road narrowed and flattened out. I could feel we were pretty high up; my ears popped a bit. Big glimpses of the mountain lake were visible in the distance, the water a rich blue on this bright day.
Katherine slowed the car as the road became very twisty and turned after a bit down a narrow lane that would've been easy to miss if one weren't looking for it. This "lane" went sharply downhill for a bit, then leveled out. I looked to my right and saw a house, nestled into the side of a hill and realized that this was in fact Katherine's driveway. The car came to a stop.
She turned off the car and smiled at me. "Mmmmmmmm we're here, finally, slut. I don't really mind the drive up here but it feels so good when it's over." I was going to agree then remembered I'd slept through half of it. I laughed sheepishly.
We got out of the car and I grabbed my little bag, and her slightly larger bag from the back. Katherine had me set the bags down and took my hand. "Come along," she said.
We walked across the lawn, obviously well-maintained. We stopped just before we reached the few feet of sandy shoreline, and then that blue expanse spread out, almost over our entire field of vision. The lake was huge. Katherine stood behind me, her arms around me, as I took in the beauty of it. My eyes moved around the edges of the lake, seeing the shoreline, ringed by hills, houses here and there dotting the landscape, some lower down, almost at the water level, others higher up with narrow wooden stairways leading down to the shore. I could see docks at every house, boats gently bobbing on the water here and there.
I let it all wash over me, luxuriating in her warm embrace, feeling the peace, the beauty, and the seclusion of the place settling in deeply. Mistress kissed my cheek and whispered "so beautiful, isn't it?" I could only close my eyes dreamily, feeling her lips and the sun on my face.
"Yessssss Mistress . . . amazingly so."
I felt as though I could stand there in her arms forever. Gently she let go of me.
"Come on, pet . . . let's get settled in. We have lots of time to enjoy the lake." I smiled, reminded that we were here for maybe two weeks. I followed her back to where we'd left the bags. I picked them up and we went to the door. Katherine let us in and we stepped inside.
I dropped the bags, mouth open, somewhat awestruck. The entry opened into the great room; rough-hewn beams crossing the high ceiling. A huge fireplace dominated one wall; the furntiture was warm, inviting, and obviously expensive. A mix of natural and modern. Designed, but not "decorated." The overall effect was enticing, enthralling . . . the place casually but definitely drew one in immediately upon entering.
Katherine showed me around the downstairs. The kitchen was huge and modern, with top of the line appliances. I felt as though I were looking through the pages of a magazine.
She opened her purse. "This is as good a time as any." She pulled a leash from her purse and snapped it to the ring on my collar. The sound stuck in my mind like a fencepost. My eyes traveled up the length of the leash to her hand, where she held the handle end. That weird feeling, that this was perfect, correct, and natural, swept over me. I was about to swim in the feeling when a tug on the leash pulled me out of it.
"Come along, slut." She led me up the stairs. I watched her as I followed at the end of her leash, seeing how natural she looked holding it, the confident calm way she moved.
She showed me the upstairs, then more of the downstairs . . . her room, the guest rooms, the location of the washer and dryer were, etc., but I was more focused on how it felt to be led around on a leash by her. There was nothing overtly sexual about it; in fact there was nothing sexual going on at all, and yet I found myself wet, throbbing, tingling.
Katherine either didn't notice my reaction or more likely did notice but wasn't paying any attention to it. She conducted a very thorough tour of the house; that she was leading me on her leash while she did so seemed to just be a fact in the background, something that was there but of no particular significance to the tour itself. And that realization made me even more excited.
Katherine moved to the sliding doors in the back and slid one open, leading me out onto the large deck. I shivered, a little from the chilly breeze off of the lake, but more from being outdoors on her leash. Even though rationally I knew that there was no one around, and that the nearest house was hundreds of yards away, I still felt incredibly exposed. I could feel the heat on my face as I turned beet-red.
Mistress continued with the tour of the grounds in her casual, unhurried, totally natural fashion. The deck was huge, and overlooked not only the lake but the spacious yard as well. Mistress led me down the stairs and into the yard. I was a little surprised, but quite pleasantly so, as we turned to our right and saw a large swimming pool and a hot tub. Mistress laughed. "That lake's too cold for swimming nine and a half months out of twelve."
We moved around the yard, then down to the boat dock. A new and expensive-looking speedboat was moored there. The sound of the water gently lapping against the hull was nearly hypnotic. Mistress tugged the leash and we moved back towards the house.
She led me back up the stairs and inside again. We both were shivering a bit from the short walk outside in the late-afternoon chill. I looked out the big windows – the ball of the sun was close to sinking into the now dark-blue lake.
I felt her unhooking the leash from my collar. She gestured towards the fireplace. "Get a fire going, slut." She walked over to the little bar area and started to fix herself a drink.
I knelt by the big fireplace, grateful that the wood-holder was well-stocked with kindling and logs. I assembled the kindling, then some smaller logs, and lit the fire with a long fireplace match. I smiled, feeling the sudden warmth on my face and chest. It caught easily, and I added some bigger logs. I watched it a minute more, then stood up again, satisfied that we had a good fire going.
Mistress sipped her drink, smiling with approval. "Mmmmmm . . . good girl. Now, just outside the front door there is a large storage box. Take this key, open it up, and bring the contents in here."
I took the key, feeling that familiar surge I felt when she said "good girl," and went outside. I unlocked the storage box and found a number of packages inside, obviously shipped from various places. It took me three trips to get them all inside, piling them in front of where Mistress was sitting.
She looked at me. I was feeling very warm now. The fire was starting to really pick up in intensity, in addition to the heat being on. "Take off everything you have on, slut."
I nodded and immediately stripped. Her commands were already like second nature to me. My clothes lay in a pile on the floor next to me.
She looked me up and down a long moment, eyes obviously savoring the sight of me. Standing there, clad only the in collar she had locked on me, feeling her eyes simply, silently surveying what she owned, for as long as she liked, made a chill go up my spine, despite the warmth of the room. Finally she spoke.
"Take all of your clothes and toss them into the fire, slut, except for the sneakers. Put those outside the front door."
After packing up every piece of clothing I owned to be given away, burning these last few items didn't seem like much of a hardship. I went to the fire and tossed my clothes in, wrinkling my nose a bit at the odd smell they made as they burned. I took the sneakers and quickly opened the front door, set them outside, and closed the door again, scurrying back to her. She watched me, then inclined her head. I understood the silent command to kneel, and did so.
Mistress had me hand each box up to her. She opened each one, handing me excess wrapping to be burned and neatly set each box down on the other side of her. I couldn't really see what was in the boxes. My curiosity was overflowing, but I steadied myself by focusing on the procedure. Hand her a box. Receive boxes and paper to be burned. Go and burn them. Return. Hand her another box.
