Chapter 31: Bond of Completion

After drying off, I simply wrapped a towel around myself and went out to find out what Renée had meant.

Erin came out of the master bedroom of the suite and stopped me before I could go in. "Not yet."

I couldn't help but grin, ideas of what was being planned making me feel giddy.

Erin smiled back. I had seen her smile when happy, smile simply to be pleasant and even smile when she didn't want to — usually helping a customer who was being a complete pest — but this time her smile seemed sad, and that made my grin falter.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She ran her hands over my chest, looking away from me.

I reached up and held her hands, regaining her attention. " Talk to me, please." I thought.

She looked up at me again. Her emotions were both happy and sad. The mix was very confusing. "I know how much you're looking forward to this. I can feel it."

I waited, not wanting to imply anything by thought or causing further confusion.

"I believe what Michael said may be right. She may be your Soul Mate... " Again, she looked away and I could feel the pain of depression spreading through her.

"You're afraid that once she and I bond, like you and I did, that I'll leave you?" Pulling her chin around to look into her eyes, I thought, "I'm not leaving any of you. I said I was going to marry all of you. I meant it. Sally will be included in those plans I'm sure, but nothing else will change."

"What if you don't have a choice in this? What if your bond with Sally breaks the bonds you have with the rest of us? What if... "

I stopped her by kissing her. "Shhh ... No more 'what ifs'." Pulling her to me fully, I kissed her deeper. "I sincerely do not believe what you suspect will happen. The only change that may occur, is we will finally, all, feel complete with Sally joining with us."

Erin pulled back to look me in the eyes again. "Joining with us?" She smiled, and though there was a touch of sadness in her expression, it was coy. "This is your first time with her Ral. This should be special. Just the two of you."

"My choice of pronoun wasn't exactly meant for that. I want my first time with Sally to be special, just the two of us. But, what I do mean, is that she is joining our family. She's going to join us."

Erin blushed. "Oh..."

"Will you be okay while I'm in there?" I considered what she might go through while waiting for Sally and me to finish.

She patted my shoulder. "I've waited for you while you were with the others. This won't be any different."

"I think it will be, just not the way you're thinking."

Erin didn't say anything else, but smiled again. She was still worried and after hearing what she was worried about, I was too.

What would I do if securing the bond with Sally caused some sort of loss of the others? What would they do? The bonds had made all of us happy and brought us together in ways I never would have imagined. Thoughts about the wedding ideas that I had shared with them ran through my mind again. I didn't want to wreck that. I didn't want to cause problems.

I kept those thoughts to myself. Time had taught me how to project what I wanted and keep other thoughts quiet, just like talking. The girls had learned that instinctively when it started, but it took practice for me. Now, I was glad I knew the difference.

I looked at the bedroom door where Sally was waiting for me. Erin turned and looked as well, almost like she expected it to open or for Sally to call out to me. Neither happened.

Finally, Erin went in. A moment later, she came back out and looked at me. That sad smile was back. So badly I wanted to reassure her.

"She's ready," she said. Then her smile brightened. She was being brave so she wouldn't dampen my mood. "Ral, she's beautiful. Go to her."

With that, she all but floated to me and kissed me again. Just as quickly, she pulled away and went into the bathroom.

Looking at the door, I hesitated. Sally was waiting for me. My girlfriend from high school. My first love.

"I wouldn't keep her waiting too long," Charlotte said behind me.

I turned and looked. She had put on one of the oversized terry cloth robes the hotel provided. "Erin has a good point," I said.

She nodded. "She does, but did Michael tell you what would happen if you bound Sally to you?"

I shook my head. "We didn't get that far in our discussion about it."

"Then how do you or Erin know the bond you form with Sally will cause ours to break?" She looked down at her chest, my mark glancing out through the soft looking material. "We still have a bond and you're already bound to Sally. So, I seriously doubt this will make any difference."

I nodded. "You're right."

She reached out and pushed my shoulder, egging me on toward the bedroom door. "Go to her. Join with her. Make her a real part of this family."

Again I nodded and finally opened the bedroom door.

Sally was sitting on the foot edge of the bed. She looked up as I came in and her whole body blushed.

Erin had said she was beautiful. To me, there was more than just beauty. This was the young woman who had been my first, real friend. She had helped me to open up and become more than I had been while in school. To me, she was more than just an addition to my family. So much more.

There was a mixture of eagerness and uncertainty coming from Sally. How could I tell her whole body blushed? Because she was wearing only a dark red, see-through lace bra and matching panties. Her skin looked a touch pale against the material and with the sunlight shining in through the windows.

Looking at me again, she smiled, and I felt the warm radiance of her in that one act.

Quietly, I stepped forward. She scooted over on the bed, the movement of her hips catching my attention in a way she had never done before.

At that moment, I saw Sally, the woman, not the teenage girl I had dated. My heart grew with emotion for her that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Love, lust, and something else were all there, mingled together. This was something I had wanted for some time, I realized, and from what she had told me back at the store, so had she.

She watched me sit next to her, and the way her eyes roamed over me made me weak in the knees. Had she looked at me that way before? Were there times, while we had dated, that I had missed that simple, subtle glance?

Most likely.

"I have to apologize," I said softly.

She looked up at me. "Why?"

"For not seeing you before," I said simply. She looked confused but smiled. I tried to explain. "You told me about what you felt, how you yearned for more than what I had given you while we were dating..."

"Ral..." She started to interrupt.

I waved her down. "No, I have to say this." I took her hands and simply held them in mine. "You felt so much more for me and I didn't exactly return the favor, or try until it was too late." I let my eyes roam over her, taking in her smooth skin and the soft blush remaining. "But I see you now. I see the beautiful woman you've become..." She smiled and I continued, "Coupled with the friend that I care so deeply for. I had always been respectful of your personal space, careful not to do anything that might offend, but I had never taken into consideration what exactly that constituted. I never asked you what you wanted or didn't want. I made that decision without asking you and that is what I have to apologize for."

She shook her head, her hair moving elegantly with the motion. "You don't have to apologize..."

"I've learned where I went wrong. I've learned even if I may have someone's best intentions at heart, they may not want it. I want to make that up to you."

Sally let out a sigh. "You do know you're messing up again, right?"

It was my turn to be confused. "How?"

She pulled her hands free of mine to reach up and pull my head down for an ear popping kiss. After a moment, and relaxing into it, she broke free and said, "You're talking too much."

I couldn't help but smile at her and then pull her in for another kiss.

Slowly, gently, we lay back onto the bed. I slid my arm under her and with no effort, lifted her up enough to move up onto the bed more.

"Erin said you were strong..." she said with mild surprise.

"Was there anything else she mentioned?"

Sally raised her knee, running her foot up the back up my leg. "She hinted at other things too, but said that I would find out more for myself."

I smiled. "Good thing you didn't ask Chloe. She would have reeled off everything she knows."

Sally cocked her head to side with that curious kitty move. "Why does she call you Master? I thought you said you don't treat any of your girls that way."

After letting out a sigh, I said, "That's the relationship she desires. I told you that I had learned to not try to give what I thought you should have but simply give you what you want. She's the one who taught me that."

Sally's smile seemed to glow. Without saying anything else, she pulled me down for a deeper, more passionate kiss.

The feel of her body moving under mine, the kissing, the scent of her perfume, all of it was having the normal affect on me. To say the least, the towel offered token resistance.

With one leg hooked behind me, Sally brought up her other between my legs. She rubbed against me and the motion freed me from the loose confines of the towel.

She never stopped kissing me as her hand moved down to my hip, and then brushed against the head of my hardness.

Breaking our kiss, Sally looked down. Her hand took firm hold of me and her eyes all but bugged out of her head. "Oh, my god!"

I wasn't sure if her shock was based in excitement or trepidation.

Rolling over, I allowed her to see me fully.

She moved with me, looking intently at what she held. Her hand looked utterly tiny wrapped around me. She was able to close her grip but only just and I worried that she might shy away from what we both wanted.

Finally she looked up into my eyes, a touch of fear running through her.

"You don't have to be afraid," I said.

"The only thing I'm afraid of is asking for more than I can handle," she retorted. "I am not afraid of you. I know you're a gentle loving man. I'm only afraid that I may not be able to do everything with you I wanted to."

I smiled gently, ideas of what she might have dreamed up floating through my mind. "Whatever you want to do, just say so and we can."

She blinked at me as understanding hit her. "The others can do what they want... ?"

I nodded.

"Is there anything you haven't done with them?" she asked softly.

Having lived with so many women, I had noticed potentially troubling questions. That was one of them.

Reaching down and stroking her cheek, I said softly, "Too much honesty can be brutal. I'll just say that of anything I've done, it will not be the same as doing it with you."

She smiled, and a warmth spread through her that resembled both love and happiness. "Are you just saying that?"

I tugged at her arm, and guided her up to lay with me, her body along mine. Once she was comfortable I said, "It's the truth. And we have these bonds to thank for it."

She glanced down at my chest. "I keep forgetting that you're not exactly the same as I remember."

"I'm still the same, or at least try to be. What I said is true though. No matter what they ask for, it's not the same with any two of them. It won't be the same with you."

There was no pain in her, no concern about how I may feel for the others. "It all sounds so flattering..."

"All I'm saying is that this can be special for you too."

She looked up into my eyes. "You're the one who said too much honesty can be brutal. So you tell me."

"I think you were right."

"About what?"

I rolled her over, my face hovering over hers. "I'm talking too much."

There was nothing I could say that would prove what I meant. Sally had to experience it for herself, and there was only one way for that to happen.

Kissing between us came easy. Both of us also felt heat from the other that we had never felt before. Our higher brain functions, such as worry and plans, took a back seat to what our desires filled us with.

We moved forward with our needs, groping each other, touching in ways we had only teased each other with previously. Barriers fell away. Emotions rumbled and rolled. Touch was all consuming.

In all the kissing and movement, Sally had spread her legs, wrapping them behind me. I was pressed against her, but her panties impeded that last bit of contact. Her bra held up against me like a security fence.

I wanted to reach down and push away her panties, and to find the clasp to release the fabulous globes she had flaunted earlier. Part of me, the part that still worried about how she might react, held out and kept me from doing as such. Apparently my kissing and groping suffered from it as well.

Sally pushed against my chest, breaking our kiss. "What's wrong?"

I just looked at her. The way her hair had already fallen from its elegant waves to the disheveled look my other girls had whenever we were finished with a good tussle in bed. Her breathing was heavy too, her chest heaving.

Something in my eyes must have given me away. Sally relaxed under me, took my hand and pushed it down to her hip where I met her panties.

Softly she said, "Take them off."

Permission was what I sought with her. Why? My other girls never had to give me permission to have my way with them. Did they?

I sat up. Sally brought her legs up and together in front of me. Her hands were touching mine as I gripped the sides of her panties and began sliding them off.

This was it. This was really it. We were going to, finally, be together.

As I pulled her panties off her feet, I held them, looking up in time to watch her spread her legs again on either side of me.

Had I always been so anticipatory? Was this that much of an epic moment?

With my continuing policy of being honest, the answer was yes.

Sally reached up and began unhooking her bra while watching me. I knew there would be many opportunities after this to watch her tease me, but this time, this day, I would do the unveiling.

Leaning forward, I placed my hand on hers. "Let me," I said softly as I leaned over her and gently pulled the clasps apart.