While she waited for him, she tried to calm herself by counting her heartbeats. The rhythm sped up and slowed back down with the sound of each passing car. "651, 652, 6-," and then she felt the rumble of his cars engine approaching the driveway even before she heard it. She felt the vibration of the motor even as she heard the engine growl on its way to her, and to home.
He had been gone for eight months. She had broken discipline, broken training and given him back his collar, for reasons that were justifiable in a marriage; almost noble. But she had never stopped missing him; the sound of his voice, the feel of his hands, and the smell of him when she made slow progress over his body, pleasing him, belonging to him. So when he walked into her office nonchalantly that day and reached behind him and locked the door, she had slid to her knees as if she had been waiting to do it all her life.
He had lifted her face to him and looked at her thoughtfully, penetratingly, his eyes looking through her soul which to him was glass, and he knew that she was past it all, past the hurt, past the anger, and that he was forgiven. His own soul turned in that look, and he remembered it all, the way they began, the way they had loved and the way that ultimately, they had thought they hated. He slipped his hand into his pocket and the silver of her first collar, the braided one, caught the light. "Are you ready to be taken back?"
Her eyes misted with a fog that seemed denser than tears and then the fog spilled down her face.
"Yes."
He slipped the cold metal around her neck dragging it over her flesh slowly, and the sound of the clasp closing was as final as a door closing. He pushed her to the floor and parted her legs without grace or preamble and fucked her silently and quickly, marking his ground again. When it was over he touched her face lightly and stood up. With only a slight glance at her he said, "Be ready when I get home tonight." And then he was gone.
She had been a sleepwalker the rest of the day; finishing work, driving home, tending to their children, arranging to have the house empty for them that night. She bathed carefully and in terror, the terror growing as she dressed. She dressed as she knew he would want her dressed, and used his favorite perfume, the scent bringing a cloud of memories, both good and bad, into the room. She let her hair curl in its own way spilling over her shoulders in the way he loved, but which made her feel too wild and out of control. She looked into her own eyes as she put on her makeup, and her own fear looked back at her. Why was she doing this? Nothing had really changed, had it? He had written over the months, telling her he was sorry, a thing nearly impossible for him to say, but she had not believed him; not wanted to risk another fracture of her spirit. Why was a look, the feel of his hands so significant after everything that had happened to rupture them?
She lit a fire in the fireplace just as she knew he would like her to do, and stared into it for a few minutes, her body sliding into position naturally, as if she hadn't tried to forget all of the rituals and scenes of their past life over the last few months. He loved her in a half kneel when he entered the room, the curve of her back to him as he approached the fireplace. But tonight she knew he would want more surrender than that implied. She slid forward dreamily; her arms stretched in front of her until her forehead touched the floor. She settled her body into a small graceful fold, her breasts pressed against her thighs, her heart fluttering like a moth caught in a lamp. Her hair fanned out around her and she waited.
"651, 652, 6-," and now here he was. She began to shake slightly, her heart speeding up, the hot blush spreading from her face to her feet as she heard his footsteps on the polished hardwood floor behind her. The sound softened as he stepped onto the rug where she was poised, in a position that only feigned repose; everything in her wanted to run, but she was still except for the slight shaking.
He looked down at her and his heart ached with the abjectness of her position. He knew that he had nearly broken this fragile thing at his feet, and he felt the absolute enormity of her fear and his responsibility. He took her in with his eyes for a moment longer, wanting to remember this moment of sacrifice always. "Rise to a kneel," he said with a firmness that belied the tenderness in his heart. There was no room for tenderness yet, that was not the way they loved.