Bound By Fate
Lee Rush
ISBN 0-9774682-4-0

Contemporary BDSM
140 paperback pages
Multi-format ebook $3.99
Paperback $10.95
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Chapter One

Christiane looked out over the fairgrounds and wondered
which way she should turn next. The sounds of different
interpretations of jazz melded more than clashed as they
filled the air. She knew from the articles she had read that
the jazz festival drew people from all over the country and
even some from other countries. The different accents and
languages she heard proved that. The soft southern drawl,
the twang of the Midwest, the French accents, and Spanish
were melodies of the world's voices as the people milled
about between various venues.

And the smells! She didn't need to look around to know
that she was getting close to the food courts. Her nose was
assailed by so many known and unknown smells. Some odors
brought delicious food to mind. Others hinted at new and
wondrous things to try. Cajun spices mixed with the rich
scent of thick barbecue sauces, the homey smell of southern
fried chicken, and the sweet unmistakable smell of marvelous
pralines so well known in this city.

Jostled repeatedly by the moving throng, she managed to
move further down the fairway before giving up and moving
to the side where she could look over the program again.
When she had decided which group she wanted to hear, she
looked up to get her bearings, then looked at her watch. They
wouldn't be starting for almost an hour. The way her stomach
was rumbling and her mouth was watering from the myriad
smells, she decided to check out the food court in earnest
before making her way to the performance stage.

The Cajun food smelled wonderful but she had a feeling it
wouldn't do much good for her stomach. At her age the
pralines would add a pound or two so they were vetoed as
well. Another short walk down the fairway as she tried to
decide. Port of Call, the sign was at the right side of the
fairway. She stopped suddenly, causing the people behind her
to run into her and mutter about tourists. She couldn't even
voice an apology as she stood there, staring at the sign, her
heart rate rising. She didn't even realize that she had been
nudged to the side of the walkway. Port of Call was a popular
restaurant from town. She recognized it immediately as one
she wanted to avoid. The restaurant reminded her too much
of the man who had made her familiar with it for her to want
to eat there.
They had met online and gotten acquainted slowly over a
few months. The chats were few and far between and mostly
innocuous in the beginning. He told her about his life ... his
marriage that left a great deal to be desired, though it had
gone on for many years and had been maintained for the
"honor and responsibility" and because he had given his word
before her death from cancer.

They had talked about his avocation that had become his
life's work and the things he had found on the web and how
they influenced his current situation. They had talked about
his interest in a way of life based on a series of books that
appealed to his way of looking at the world around him.

She had told him about her husband who had been so ill,
so close to death and the changes his illness had wrought in
their relationship. She had shared the details of her current
situation and her hopes for the future that had somehow
looked so dim.

She remembered the tantalizing talk of shared showers,
the late night chats over "cheesecake and coffee" and found
herself falling into a growing affection for him, despite her
self-made vows not to get involved in that manner. The
relationship with her husband had been a good one until his
health issues changed him so much, as to be almost
unrecognizable as the same man she had loved.

This new man showed her a different world. He was
basically living out most people's dreams. He lived on a
beautiful and semi-remote island, diving on ancient ruins not
for fortune but to gain knowledge. He told her stories of
things and places she had only read about.

She had kept a copy of all the chats they shared and had
read them so many times they were engraved on her mind,
almost word for word. The first time they engaged in cybering
was three and a half months after they met online. They had
begun with the coffee and cheesecake scenario they had
indulged in before but then he'd had to leave to attend to
"real life" matters. He promised to return as soon as he could.

She had been disappointed, but stayed at her computer,
playing solitaire until he returned. His first words when he
came back echoed in her mind.

"What do you want from this, kitten," he asked, using her
screen name.

"I don't know, really. I do know that I am attracted to you
and I want this to continue. Is that enough of an answer for
now?"

"And I'm attracted to you. I have been since we met. As
long as you understand where I'm going and what I'm looking
for, I think we can make this work."

Then he had gone on to explain the tenets of this new
"world" he had found and wanted to enter. The world was
based on books and the ideas conveyed therein. As he
continued to explain, she felt a sadness creeping into her
heart. The things he was saying ... if that's what he really
wanted, she knew it wouldn't be with her. It couldn't be ...
not the way she had been brought up. Men and slaves ...

exciting thoughts to play at but in real life? She had become
too independent over the years to see herself in that role.
Then the words she had longed to hear: "In the meantime,
if you would like to cyber, scene ... I'm up for that. I've
always had visions of pouring chocolate syrup over you and
then licking you clean."

She had giggled and blushed as she read his words.
"That sounds so yummy. Can I tell you something?"

"Listens, while gazing at the lovely lady."

"I said I was attracted to you. This feeling ... I can't really
explain it."

"Listens, carefully."

"It's ... I don't know what to say, I just feel like I need to
say something here. There's only been one for me ... and
right now, I just feel like I'm losing ... I can't explain it. I'm
not saying this to make you feel bad, or elicit sympathy or
anything, simply stating facts. It feels like part of my heart is
tearing ... or ... I don't know, I can't find the words and I
should be able to. I'm sorry."

"Kitten, that's why I asked. I have no intention of playing
foot loose and fancy free with your feelings.”

"I understand, James, thank you for that. I can give you
part of me, but not all of me ... if that makes any sense to
you, not now at any rate."

"As long as we both understand that. I wanted to clear this
up before we went any further. I will never trash or trample
on your feelings. In my humble opinion, online is too near
real life and boundaries tend to blur quickly."

"I know they do. I know somebody who met somebody
here. She left her husband ... a man who was a minister and
her childhood love ... and ran away to be with him. The last I
heard she was pregnant and abandoned some place in
upstate New York."

"Not a happy ending," his words flowed across the screen.

"No, it wasn't, for either of them. Her husband was
heartbroken and didn't understand any of it."

"No, unless people get involved in online activities, they
don't understand it."

"I know that I let my boundaries blur sometimes, but I do
know where they lie. I've met some wonderful people here
and gotten to know some I would never have had the chance
to meet. Like you. Just stating the facts here," she typed.

"We needed to do that."

"Yes, we did. I'm better now ... I've got a grip on myself."

"Smiles, knowing where I'd like to grip you."

Her heart had almost burst then. The idea that he wanted
this with her, even if only online, brought her so much
happiness. She had been without for so long because of her
husband's medical problems. The words on the screen sang to
her lonely heart, filling some of the darker spaces with a
shining light.

She remembered the way she had stood quietly in that
cyber room while he ripped her clothes off and then walked
around her, inspecting that which he now "owned". She
remembered the way she had typed that she quietly
trembled, looking up into his steel blue eyes, her legs shaking
as he walked around her. In reality, she had tried to be
serious, tried not to giggle and seem too silly, but she was so
happy, it was difficult to keep it out of her words as she
typed. His words indicated his desire to just take her without
any preamble, and then he had leaned in and whispered, his
breath ruffling the hair above her ear.

"Such a sexy woman that wants to belong to me."
He held her close in the cybering, murmuring about
months of pent-up desire being released at last. He brushed
her hair back and she turned her head to nuzzle his hand. He
entwined his fingers in her hair and pulled her even closer.
More words from his sweet lips against her ear.

"Unimaginably happy, sweet woman."

She had gazed at the screen filled with his words that
touched her heart and made her body feel warm and
wonderful. She was enveloped in a happiness she hadn't felt
in a long time.

Her arms slid around him as he held her and her head
dropped back to look up into his eyes again, a soft smile on
her lips, her heart pounding with happiness. Then he kissed
her passionately and she moaned in the kiss ... actually
moaning as she sat there at the computer, her hands poised
over the keys, waiting for his next words.

"Months in coming ... so very, very sweet."

"So long to wait, Sweet Man ... and such a reward for
waiting."

His hands had moved over her body, exploring every detail
of her warm flesh. She had reveled in the words he typed and
had answered in kind. She clung to him, enjoying the warmth
of his hands on her skin, pressing close as his hands moved
down. Her mouth nibbled at his lips as his hands moved to
her thighs, her ass, the very tips of his fingers lingering on
her ass. She whimpered against his neck after the kiss broke,
her back arching hard to his hands. His words of reality ...
they had waited this long and all he wanted to do was just
take her then and there ... no ifs ands or buts about it. Her
answer had been hissed between clenched teeth ... a simple
'yesssssss'.