Uncovering You 6: Deliverance Read Online Free PDF

shower, now, Lilly. We have to go over the rules before we leave.” His hands tighten against my lower back, as he tugs me into him. The lasting effect of our kiss is very evident against my thigh. “The meeting will be short,” he tells me. “But, it is important that you know how to behave. It requires an enormous degree of trust on my side to let you go…” He pauses. One hand runs up the base of my spine, leaving a wave of goose bumps in its wake. “… uncollared.
    My breath hitches and I lose my nerve. Jeremy pounces in that moment, ripping his head down and sealing my mouth with a savage kiss. He takes control in my moment of weakness, thriving on the shift in the power dynamic between us and in my immediate vulnerability.
    Then, once more, he lets me go. I’m left dizzy, nearly stunned. My thoughts are both frantic and scattered. He considered having me go to the meeting wearing the collar? I thought he promised to remove it for good!
    Just the thought of having that vile thing back around my neck, even as a distant possibility, even as threat that has already passed, fills me with all sort of discomfort.
    “What… what made you change your mind?” I ask, breathless.
    “I did not change my mind, Lilly. It was just one of the available options to me to guarantee that things would proceed without a hitch. Ultimately I thought this meeting would better serve as a true demonstration of my trust in you. I was angry last night. I won’t deny it. I dislike having things out of my control. But, you must make exceptions for the unexpected. I did not intend for you to jump headfirst into this outside world. Not so soon. Not this fast. I intended there to be a series of steps that we would take together, each one progressively larger than the last, and each one building on the trust that we established before. Your behavior at each of those steps would determine how we would proceed, going forward.”
    He fixes me with an inscrutable look. “It was, in a way, meant to be representative of the TGB progression that I gave you earlier.” I flinch. He notices. “I know you do not like the term, Lilly. I know what those three letters represent to you. But for us… for you and me…” He tilts my chin up. I have to suppress a shudder when I glimpse the stark intensity in his eyes, “…to have any chance of moving forward, in the way I intend, we both have to acknowledge our past. Wouldn’t you agree?”
    “I . . . ” I blink, and have to look away. Suddenly, I wish very much that I were clothed. I curse whatever rashness possessed me to drop the sheet.
    “Yes,” I finish lamely. “I do.”
    “Good.” Jeremy stands back and turns away. “Now run and get dressed quickly, my Lilly-flower. You’ll find clothes waiting for you on top of the towels in the bathroom. I took the liberty of putting them there. I’ll give you six minutes. Don’t be late.”
     
    ***
     
    Exactly three-hundred and sixty seconds later, I burst into the living room, borderline frantic, with my hair obviously still wet.
    I find Jeremy leaning against the bar. He has his phone on the counter, and is engaged with something on the screen. He looks up at me. A smile flitters across his face.
    “Early by thirteen seconds,” he says. “I’m impressed.”
    “I had plenty of practice keeping time when you left me in the dark,” I say. The words don’t come easily to me. Talking about what he’s done in the past will never come easily. But, I force them out anyway, determined to show him that I will not balk at those topics again.
    It’s a resolution I made in my hurried shower. It’s all about power between Jeremy and me. If he sees that he can have more of it, just by virtue of being able to bring up topics that make me uncomfortable, his natural inclination—no matter what his other desires might be—would be to exploit it, to dominate me.
    I can’t and I don’t expect that ever to change. Jeremy is drawn to power like a moth