The Marine's Pet Read online

  “You’re sure?”

  “I’m sure I don’t want you driving in your current state,” he said. “Come on, we’ll take my car.”

  Sarah’s relief at having found Nunu was severely dampened by sitting next to Austin as they drove over to Matilda’s house. It was only twenty minutes away, but it felt like an eternity. He was stony-faced next to her, his eyes firmly on the road. For her part, she didn’t know what to say. She’d fucked up massively and he’d seen her in a way she had never wanted him to see her.

  Matilda was glassy-eyed, but thoroughly amused at her mistake. She had Nunu wearing a little sweater, God only knew where she’d gotten that from, but he was wearing the pink and orange garment with some serious aplomb.

  “Nunu!” Sarah called him and he came running, bounding and bouncing, tail wagging as he hurled himself into her arms. “I was so worried.”

  “Sorry,” Matilda said. “I really did think he was my handbag.” She included both Austin and Sarah in her next comment. “You know how it is.”

  Austin’s jaw tightened. “I can’t say I do, ma’am,” he said politely. “We need to be getting on, thank you for looking after Nunu.”

  Sarah wrapped Nunu in her arms and picked him up. “I am never going to let you out of my sight again,” she promised the little dog, who rewarded her for her promise of vigilance with a lick to her nose. It was the first and last good thing that happened that day.

  *

  After driving them all home, Austin stopped the car outside her gate.

  “Thank you,” Sarah said. “And I’m sorry. For everything.”

  He nodded, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as if he was thinking about something. “I’m sorry too,” he said. “Why don’t you go and get some rest. You need it.”

  “Yeah,” Sarah said. “I’ll do that. Thanks again.”

  She slunk inside, her nonexistent tail between her legs. After making sure Nunu was secured inside, she set to cleaning the place up. Her head was still pounding and she couldn’t stop the tears flowing as she pushed general debris into an oversized garbage bag. Though her body was aching, she didn’t stop cleaning until the floor was clear and vacuumed, every surface wiped down, her home brought to an order she hadn’t experienced in years.

  Only then did she drop down on the couch, pull her favorite crocheted blanket down over her, and collapse into sleep with Nunu at her feet.

  *

  She didn’t hear from Austin for the rest of the day, or the next day, or the day after that and she was far too ashamed of herself to make contact with him herself. Things were over. The best, most intense relationship she’d ever been in was over.

  Sarah went into a strange decline. It was a very dry decline. She made sure not to do any drugs or drink anything; in fact, she cleared her house of anything that might remotely resemble an intoxicant. She would not allow those substances to destroy anything else. Even if she never painted another damn thing again.

  Nunu was sympathetic to her plight. He spent most every moment with her, lying on the couch in their strangely tidy home, his head on her chest as she watched the ceiling and wished things had been different.

  On the third day after the party that had ruined her relationship, a knock at the door roused her from her misery. She opened it to find Austin standing there, even more handsome than she had remembered.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to come back to you.”

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I get it.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  She looked at him, feeling completely hopeless. “You’re done with me, aren’t you?”

  He reached out, took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and locked eyes with her. “Sarah, I haven’t even started with you yet.”

  Tears began to brim in her eyes. She couldn’t believe what he was saying. “I saw the way you looked at me. You…” She had to press her lips together so as not to start crying at the memory.

  “I was upset with you,” he admitted. “It’s not easy finding someone in the state I found you. I expected you to act up while I was away. I didn’t expect you to damn near destroy your life. That was dangerous, Sarah.”

  “It really…” She trailed off when he held up his hand.

  “May I come in?”

  “Sure.”

  She stepped back and let him come inside. He stepped into the living room and his brows rose.

  “Wow,” he said. “I’ve never seen this place so clean.”

  “I’ve been trying…” she said, losing her voice along with the sentence.

  Nunu stayed on the couch, giving just a couple of experimental wags. He seemed just as cautious of Austin as she was.

  “Why don’t you have a seat next to the dog,” Austin suggested, slash ordered.

  Sarah did as she was told. Austin stood in front of both her and Nunu, hands behind his back like a sergeant inspecting his troops as he looked the pair of them over.

  “First things first,” he said grimly, focusing his attention on Sarah. “You have terrible friends. They trashed your house, stole your dog, and left you for dead. You will not see them again. If I find one of them in this house, I’ll remove them myself and I won’t be gentle about it. Understand?”

  Sarah nodded. She couldn’t disagree with him there. There had been some crazy parties in her time, but the last one truly had been the last one.

  “Yes,” she said softly. “I’m sorry.”

  “We’ll deal with your sorriness soon,” he said. “First, I have an apology of my own. I wasn’t as kind to you as I could have been,” he admitted. “And I’m sorry for that.”

  “You were upset with me,” she shrugged. “I get it. You don’t want to be with somebody like me. You’re too good for me.”

  “Sarah!” There was sharp reprimand in his tone. “Don’t talk about yourself that way. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you.”

  “Yes, there is,” she replied, her eyes downcast. “You looked at me like… like I was scum.”

  “I looked at you as if I was worried about you, which I was.”

  “You were so cold…”

  “I wasn’t happy,” he said. “We need to talk about what’s going to happen going forward. I want to be with you, Sarah, but we have to come to an agreement on how this is going to work.”

  “What… do you mean?”

  “I mean that you need someone to keep an eye on you. To help you change the habits you’ve allowed yourself to fall into. You’re a brilliant woman. You’re smart, and you’re talented. I’ve never met anyone like you—and I don’t intend on letting you go just yet.”

  She gave him a shy little smile. “Really?”

  “Really. But we’ve got to make some changes, and I need a commitment from you. Nothing is going to change unless you really want it to.”

  “I want it to,” she reassured him. “I almost lost Nunu and you over this. It can’t go on this way. I don’t want to find myself burned out and alone in ten years with half my brain cells missing.”

  “Then, my pet, it’s time we began your training in earnest.” He pointed to a spot on the floor by his feet. “Come and sit.”

  Sarah slunk down onto the carpet, feeling self-conscious and nervous, but the moment his hands slid over her shoulders and eased her gently against his lower leg, she felt herself relax. Sitting at his feet was like coming home. She was protected there, under the bulk of his body.

  Austin ran his fingers through her hair gently. “I’m going to be asking a lot of you from here on out,” he said. “You may not like all of it, but I want you to do your best to obey when I ask it. We can discuss it later.”

  She nodded wordlessly. There was a freedom in becoming his pet. She did not need to speak, for pets did not speak. They showed their emotion in their eyes and their body language.

  “Good girl,” he said. “Now I want you to listen cl
osely. There will be no more alcohol, no more drugs, no more parties…”

  She let out a little whine at that.

  “Your home is a sanctuary,” he said. “And look what you allow people to do to it. They come in here, trash the place, leave you passed out in the middle of it all. There’s no care or friendship in that.”

  She knew he was right. Her friends weren’t really into caring for one another so much as they were into one upping each other with artistic antics and deep soul torture. In her circle losing one’s mind was a badge of honor, not a cause for concern. Matilda would be soaking up the praise for weeks after taking Nunu.

  “Most people set sensible boundaries themselves as they grow older. You seem to have missed the memo.” His eyes crinkled warmly as he spoke and Sarah was struck by how much he really genuinely seemed to like her.

  She went up to her knees, ran her hands along his thighs and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. Austin seemed surprised by it.

  “What was that for?”

  “You,” she said, smiling shyly. “You’re so nice.”

  “Nice, huh?” He smiled back at her. “Let’s see how nice you think I am when you hear the rest of what I have to say. Tomorrow, I’m going to spank you.”

  She gulped. There was something ominous about the way he said it. It didn’t sound like a fun, playful swatting. It sounded like it might be something she wouldn’t enjoy. At all.

  “You’re just going to tell me that and make me wait until tomorrow?”

  “Mhm,” he said. “I am. I want you to think about it.”

  “Oh, you want to torture me.”

  “A little self-reflection won’t hurt you at all,” he said, pointing his finger back toward the floor. “Down, please.”

  She sank back down to her knees, a pout firmly established on her face.

  “Tomorrow won’t be your only spanking,” he informed her. “You’re going to have your bottom warmed whenever I see fit.”

  “But that’s not fair.”

  “It’s very fair,” he said. “You seem to be in real need of preemptive discipline.”

  “That preemptive thing was bullshit when the president said it and it’s bullshit now,” Sarah grumped.

  “Language, please.”

  “Italian, German, Spanish… those are all languages. Is that what you wanted?” She smirked up at him, taking refuge in being a smart ass. He could discipline her if he liked, but she didn’t have to take it without any kind of push back.

  “Keep behaving this way and you’ll have a hot bottom before bed,” Austin warned her.

  “Bed? It’s ten in the morning.”

  “Don’t think that means I won’t send you to bed.”

  “I heard of being sent to bed without dinner,” Sarah replied. “I never heard of being sent to bed without breakfast.”

  “Really? Go to your room.”

  Sarah screwed up her face. She wasn’t going to go to her room just because Austin said so. She wasn’t going to slink off with her metaphorical tail tucked between her legs. She wasn’t… “Ow!”

  Austin’s thumb and forefinger clamped hard against her ear, giving her no choice but to follow his movements as he drew her up and then propelled her toward her bedroom.

  “Bend over the end of the bed,” he instructed, his tone devoid of anything besides firm authority. Sarah found herself sinking into the vulnerable position without argument. He lifted up the hem of her skirt and placed it over her back, then slid her panties down under her bottom. There was a curious ritual nature to his movements. He was calm as he prepared her for what she knew was going to probably be quite a sound spanking. After all, she had just agreed to be disciplined by him after messing up so badly she still couldn’t quite fathom she’d done it.

  Austin’s palm settled low on her back, then his other hand swung down in a powerful arc and made contact with her left cheek. The result was an immediate sting that was quickly emulated on her right cheek. Back and forth he spanked her for several minutes without a word, until she was squirming in place due to the discomfort of her heated bottom.

  “Stay still,” Austin instructed. “Keep your bottom high for me.”

  He gave the orders so naturally, as if there were nothing strange at all about a grown woman bending over to have her bottom warmed. Sarah found it hard to believe that she was submitting to the punishment quite so easily, but she really was already quite contrite about her mistakes and the fact that he was spanking her did alleviate some of the guilt.

  “Spread your legs,” he instructed.

  Sarah spread them a little.

  “More.”

  She whimpered as she parted her thighs a little more. The elastic of her panties was pulled tight as her pussy was left entirely exposed. Austin did not touch her there, however; he simply continued spanking her bottom, making sure his palm caught every inch of that sensitive spot low on her buttocks and where her thighs met her butt. Sarah could feel her clit tingling in response to the treatment. It was exciting in the most intimate of ways. With little gusts of cool air propelled by his swatting palm teasing the soft golden down between her thighs, Sarah was caught between the very real soreness of her bottom and a growing excitement.

  “Slide a little up the bed,” Austin said.

  As she moved up, he hooked his fingers in her panties and drew them down her thighs, leaving them on the floor.

  “Keep moving up,” he said, swatting her bottom lightly until she was lying on the bed naked from the waist down, her legs spread wider than before so he could see every part of her pussy and bottom.

  “How do you feel?”

  The question caught her off-guard and heat suffused her face as she attempted to find an answer. How did it feel to be so exposed and so spanked and so completely under his control? She didn’t have words for it. A little whimper had to suffice in their stead.

  “Is your bottom sore?” He smoothed his palm over her cherry-red cheeks as he asked the question.

  “Yes,” she said in a small voice.

  “Mhm.” He caressed her gently. “And is your pussy a little wet?”

  “Yes,” she admitted in an even smaller voice.

  Austin slid two fingers over her lips, one on each side of her entrance. He used his index and ring fingers to spread her labia and held her like that for a few moments before sliding his middle finger slowly right into her clenching wet opening.

  Sarah let out another whimper, but this time it was of excitement. Austin’s finger was penetrating her, swirling gently inside her.

  “It’s time I took you again, my pet,” he growled, the head of his cock sliding along the oh so wet slit of her pussy. She lifted her hips, welcoming him in and little by little he pressed his cock up inside her, taking her with devastatingly slow thoroughness. She could feel every inch of him as he sank into her, his teeth on the back of her neck, sharp reminders of his dominion over her.

  The last inch of his cock slipped inside her and then his hips were hard against her heated cheeks, his grip on her neck unabated as he held himself there, letting her body adjust to the thick intrusion of his hard, bare cock.

  Panting and moaning, Sarah was pinned in place. Unable to move, unable to do more than whimper. All she could do was take him deep inside her. As he began to thrust, she felt the walls of her pussy clinging to him with need. Austin took his time with her, making long, slow strokes inside her quivering body. Her wetness slicked him, made him glide inside her and when he reached one hand down to swat her bottom and began to thrust harder, that wetness turned to the unmistakable sound of a wayward pussy being firmly fucked.

  Austin let go of the back of her neck and rolled to the side, pulling her with him so she was arched against him, her body spread wide as his hips continued the pounding motion that speared his cock inside her time and time again. The hand that had been on her bottom slid over her hip and his finger brushed against the hard nub of her clit, sending tremors through her body.

  He
took her with a thoroughness she had never experienced, his cock plunging into the deepest parts of her over and over while her body thrilled to his touch. He took her on her back, and on her knees, and finally from beneath, her sweat-shined body writhing above him as he locked her hips in place with his hands and drew her up and down along the length of his manhood.

  Sarah’s clit and nipples were hard, nubs of the nexus of her desires, each given attention by his fingers and tongue until her hips bucked and her pussy clenched and she came around him with a wild cry. He held her close, her arms locked behind her back as he thrust up between her spread legs and shot his seed deep inside her needful pussy.

  “Austin!” She cried his name as they both came, the word torn from her like a war cry. Her pussy was pulsing around him, milking every bit of his essence. When there was no more she remained atop him, locked in position by his strength as his cum sank inside her. “Oh, my God… oh, my God…”

  “Are you alright?” He asked the question with surprising tenderness given she was still very much being held in place. She could not have moved away if she wanted to; his hands had hers pinned at the small of her back and she was still impaled on his hard cock.

  “I think you should get yourself checked, because I think you’re a drug,” she panted. “I feel… I feel fucking high!”

  Austin’s mouth claimed hers passionately as he let her slide off him and curl up by his side. Moments later, she gasped as he slid his hand down her body and pressed his fingers inside her again. He ground his fingers in and out of her pussy, sliding his palm against her clit as he pushed his thick digits inside her.

  “Austin…” she moaned softly. “It’s tender.”

  “I know,” he said, sliding his fingers in and out of her soaking pussy. His cum was mixed with her juices and was rubbed into her lips and clit with every stroke.

  “You came inside me,” she said. “That’s not careful. You didn’t even ask me if I was on any kind of birth control.”

  “I didn’t, did I,” he said, moving his fingers a little faster. “What does that mean?”

  “It means… there’s a chance… mnnghhh…” Sarah was coming close to climax again. “That you just…”