Possessing Bella Ch. 15

"I understand. I will email you the details of one in particular I have in mind," she smiled mysteriously. She placed her hand on a spreadsheet still open on the table. "Wow, Dad. Are you sure these figures are right? There seems to be far too many zeroes for a girl who hasn't been out of university that long."

They packed up and went into the meeting with Rob, Kurt and the company lawyers. Having her father on hand and with the knowledge about her position he had given her, Bella engaged in the afternoon meeting with more confidence than she would have prior to this. She listened carefully to all that was said and asked questions where the legal jargon became murky for her. She was happy for Kurt to retain the proxy vote of her stake in the company. She knew she wasn't ready to become involved in every aspect of the running of it. With the business more or less concluded Rob halted the proceedings.

"Before we set anything in stone," Rob leaned back in his chair and winked at Bella before turning his attention to Kurt. "I noticed that Dianne is positively glowing lately. Is she on a new diet? New beauty treatment or something?"

Kurt seemed lost for words for a moment before narrowing his eyes at Rob, "She's eating better, I suppose," he said warily, "I'll tell her you said so."

"Hell, call her in and I'll tell her myself. I wanted to ask her when she was due. Apparently Rosie had been nagging poor Bella about when she would have to have the booties knitted by," Rob said as if everybody knew the news.

"How would... I mean we never..." Kurt stammered in shock at Rob's words. "How did you find out? We weren't going to tell anyone until we were past the first trimester." Kurt was puzzled and admitted the truth.

"No one knew for sure, but Rosie said she could tell, and we believed her, didn't we Bella," Rob was laughing.

"Oh no, don't you bring me into this. I was content to wait until they were ready to tell people themselves," Bella said but couldn't help smiling. "Congratulations Kurt." She beamed at him. A round of backslapping went on amongst the men and Dianne was called into the room where she was hugged and fussed over. Once the group had settled once again around the table, Rob sat forward with his hands on the table.

"Kids are an expensive business," Rob lamented shaking his head. "You better gift ten percent of my stake to the new Daddy so he doesn't stress so much he has a heart attack and expect me to take over his job," Rob said easily.

"As if you could do my job," Kurt guffawed, thinking he was joking and laughing along with him.

"I didn't mean here. I mean Dianne. That's too much beautiful woman for me to handle," he pulled a face, making Kurt laugh more.

Stuart Williams, the chief business lawyer, cleared his throat. "In that case we will redraft these papers and meet back here say... Friday to sign the final copy?"

"I am not sure I can make Friday but email me a copy and I will go over it before Bella signs," Joe suggested rather than delaying the signing to a time more convenient to him. "Now gentlemen if we are all done, I have a beautiful woman waiting in a hotel room for me," he got up to leave. "Bella walk me out, please." He extended his hand as the lawyers began to pack their folios away into leather briefcases.

"Wait! You were serious?" Kurt looked incredulously at Rob.

"Sure, you do all the work around here anyway," Rob loved getting one up on Kurt. He was enjoying the moment with a real sense of love for the man who had stepped up to fill Mel's shoes. Not just here at the company but in his life as well. Theirs fast became a firm and deep friendship.

"Fuck! I don't know what to say," Kurt was stunned.

"I find at times like this a simple thank you has always worked for me," Bella grinned and took her father's arm to walk him from the office. It had been a long and drawn out afternoon, and she was glad it ended on a high note.

*****

Bella had finished work early and gone to have an early dinner with her parents, unsurprised that Stephen was already at the restaurant with her mother. They had walked hand in hand after farewelling her parents, and Bella began to let herself believe that her thoughts of that morning could all come true. She could have her unique lifestyle and a master who loved her for both her submission and her strength.

Dianne and Kurt had not wanted to make their announcement public yet. Bella accepted that and had reassured them that it would go no further until they were ready. That night though, as Stephen nudged walls to open hidden recesses and even a moderately sized safe, she began to explain what had happened at the end of the meeting.

"So as I see it, Rob will still maintain the majority share but with my proxy Kurt can run the company on his own. He would only need to bring us in on the big decisions and acquisitions," she explained out loud as she still worked through all that had happened.

"Rob's more business savvy than he likes to let on. Mel was a genius at it, but Rob is no slouch. He may not want to be stuck in a high-rise office all day but you can be damn sure he knows exactly what is going on in both the company and the club at any given time," Stephen's voice rumbled.

"When I think of Master Rob, I don't think of a business savvy millionaire," Bella giggled.

"True, he doesn't flaunt his affluence and possibly only those close to him would know of his philanthropy and what he does outside the club," Stephen nodded. "Make no mistake though he is one of wealthiest men you or I might ever meet. All of the wealth that Mel distributed among a great many people in his will, Rob has equal the assets and the influence that goes along with it."

"It seems so unfair that over the last year you have all been such a big part of my life that I consider you family, and I barely know anything about your real lives," Bella said thoughtfully. "I probably know you and Dorothea better than anyone else. Rob is almost like a second father figure. Except for that whole flirting and kissing thing," she blushed deeply. "It's weird and hard to explain how much I love him for everything he does for me."

"A lot of girls seek out that father figure in the lifestyle, just look at Sera and Charles," Stephen said cautiously, sensing something in her blush but not wanting to ask the direct question. He watched her chew her lip, her mind working over what he had said as her blush remained colouring her cheeks.

Bella could hear the caution in his voice and looked at him. He had been honest with her about his feeling and intentions. While admitting she wanted to know him better because she loved him in her own way, she had not made any real commitment to him because of her current circumstances. She realised at that moment that he probably felt the same uncertainty about their relationship that she had always had until he voiced his intentions.

"I want to tell you about what happened with Master Rob and me when I returned from the beach house," she said quietly. Stephen nodded, but his face became blank as a wall went up around his feelings for her. Bella slid from the couch where she had been sitting beside him to kneel at his feet. Then she sat back on her heels before daring to look up into those dark eyes that took in every move she made.

"I don't kneel before Master Rob anymore," she began, "Nor Master Kurt for that matter but for entirely different reasons." She paused as what she wanted to say jumbled in her head. "It's not that I don't respect them as dominant men, as Masters, I do but I have moved beyond the role of a submissive with them. With Kurt, I am a partner in the company and as such need to be able to meet him on a different untried level. One where he and I can exchange ideas while still understanding and respecting our roles in each other's lives. The last time he was furious with me on a personal level, it was you who disciplined me because he couldn't. I think it's a new kind of relationship for both of us. He still has that power and control but in an altered way." She tried to explain some of the difficulties and confusion she had experienced with the men in her life during the last few months.

"That was to be expected to some degree," Stephen acknowledged. In truth, he had not considered her changing relationships at work because he always saw her within the lifestyle. The relationship with her assistant Andrew was the only one he had given due consideration to the challenges of a submissive in a role above her usual station.

"I want to be totally honest with you because of my feelings for you and the feelings I hope you still hold for me," she took a deep breath.

Stephen reached out and stroked her cheek, letting her lean her head into his hand. "My feelings and intentions remain unchanged," his voice lacked the emotion he felt at that moment as he waited for her to speak further.

"I first met Master Rob just after I had begged for Mel's collar. He had ridden in from the beach house that very night with the collar. He was dressed in his biker leathers, and his long hair was tied back, his face was covered in a rough stubble. And when I first saw him, it was like he had stepped straight out of one of my fantasies. His whole demeanour and everything about him just made me weak at the knees. Like a school girl crush," she admitted, not daring to look up into Stephen's dark eyes as she told him of her feelings for Rob.

"As you know, Mel and my relationship started on rocky ground. He left me alone often. I know now why and that he was protecting me and seeking out whoever was causing problems at the club and company. I panicked more than once and fled from Mel and on those occasions it was Rob who was there to save me. He had gotten quite angry with me the last time before I ran home to my parents. He was always my white knight, my hero, especially after the accident. I was so naïve and silly," she shook her head.

"I transferred all the love I felt for Mel onto him in my grief. So much so that when I came back from the beach house," she paused unsure of how to put what had happened into words. "I asked Master Rob to take me as his and train me himself." Bella blurted out the last half of the sentence and looked up to see the look of surprise on Stephen's face.

"He rejected me but in the nicest way so I didn't feel the sting of it so badly. Mel looms quite large between us. Discovering who and what Lucifer was had also given him the closure he needed with Kitty and he couldn't have borne the burden of my grief as well as his own," she explained further. "So we have had to find a new way of loving each other and mourning the people we lost. He is my hero like a Daddy is to any little girl, and I am his favourite brat. That is the best that I can describe it. The love between us will never be that of real intimacy even though we may play at it sometimes. I like to sit on his lap and wiggle my ass to hear him groan, but we both know it won't go any further." She couldn't help the small smile that came to her face when she thought of Rob.

"I have to admit I am jealous," Stephen said slowly. "I am unsure whether to thank Rob for not collaring you on the spot or just be grateful that he is a good man who loves you and didn't take advantage of you in that situation." He tilted her face up to his with a finger under her chin. "I could never have been that strong if you had come to me with that request."

"Three months ago you barely even knew me, and you were so angry with me for what I had done at the beach house," Bella said, surprised by his admission.

"Mel was so much more than my mentor. He was my friend and ally. An older brother even. We come from the same family, you and me," He smiled and kissed her gently. "I have been watching over you since the first night you stepped foot in the club. Jake and I both owe almost everything to Mel, and when you came back from Italy, we became your guardians along with Rob and Kurt. I have known you far better and for far longer than you give me credit for. I have seen you grow into the beautiful woman you are today. It has been in the last couple of months though that I realised I had fallen in love with you and that I want you to be mine, in all the ways you possibly could be. I want you as my friend, my family, my lover, my confidante and as the most precious and treasured of submissives. "

He kissed her deeply then and growled deeply but softly into that kiss. "I want the ladylike business woman, the princess who flirts and teases to get her own way and I want the gloriously amazing pain slut that feeds my darker desires and needs."

He sat back and looked down on her. "Now you can have the truth behind those words from me," he said his voice regaining its timbre. "I do not like to play with new girls down in the club, and those that I have occasionally played with in the past have been in the lifestyle for some time." His eyes remained locked on hers to gauge her reaction, and he noted the sucking in of her lip as she thought about what he was saying.

"From my perspective, in my role at the club, I get to see a great many girls come and go. I try to help them avoid making the mistakes so many newbies do and learn from them when things go awry. There are many pitfalls to being an uncollared submissive, particularly accepting a collar too fast in the heat of the moment," he saw the look of anguish on her face and amended his statement.

"The majority do not have well-known, experienced men who will take the time to groom them into the ideal, as Mel began to do with you. Most rather get sucked into dubious relationships that come with large risks," he let a small smile tilt the corner of his mouth to soften his words. "It takes probably six months of steady play and teaching for a new sub to finally come to terms with the physical and psychological effects of BDSM. Then and only then, are they capable of making a rational choice to be collared to a particular Master. What you did was not wrong, of course. Had Mel been here to continue to guide you, things would be very different. In my mind, this training you insisted on has probably been for the best, as much as I have not enjoyed seeing you go with other Dominants."

"You are naturally a people pleaser and follow the rules, it's in your nature. You have come such a long way in such a short time. I can only believe that Mel had been grooming you subtly for a long time," Stephen turned her face to look up at him again. "I think we are both ready to explore more of each other as we move towards having a committed relationship in the future." He would have preferred the here and now, but he knew she was not ready for that yet.

Bella's eyes widened and he could see the uncertainty there as she whispered, "I need to finish..."

"Your commitment to the training schedule and you need to be sure of me. You have already surrendered your body to me if not your heart though, and it is more an exploration of exactly where your limits lie that I was suggesting. It is probably the facet of our relationship that is the newest and least explored and one I am keen to work on as those who you have been sent to for training do." He pulled no punches in admitting that he wanted more of a sexual relationship with her now that it had tentatively begun back in Gor.

Bella blushed at that, but he was right. She had been more intimate with men she barely knew in the last few months than she had been with this man who she believed she could love whole heartedly. "You are right," she murmured. "Maybe that is because this feels so very real to me, and suddenly I am aware that I cannot give you the commitment you want, well not yet anyway. So I am tentative about surrendering to those feelings and, in turn, you completely."

"It is real because there are very real emotions involved," Stephen agreed. "It would only seem fair that you would want the same training you are receiving from men in various other lifestyles from a man you are considering in the long term future."

"This apartment is not set up for that sort of training," she blushed thinking of all the hidden recesses, "Well not fully anyway."

"The playroom remains intact," he said softly, unsure of how she would take the suggestion given that she had only just purged her memories of Mel from this apartment. He was aroused though, and he wanted this beautiful young woman body and soul.

Gnawing on her lip, she nodded. She always knew it was there, and she hadn't been sure what to do with it. The truth was she had only been in a small section of the massive room, and she had no idea what was in fact in there aside of one or two pieces of equipment that she remembered.

"I would like very much to take you in there. Are you up to that?" Stephen asked in a soft tone so that she didn't feel pressured. "You can say no and I will not think badly of you for it."

"May I have a safeword before we go in, please," Bella took a deep breath to steady herself as the first flutter of nerves hit her stomach. "What if...what if she couldn't live up to his expectations, what if she panicked and used the safeword before she could show him what she was capable of," she wondered. The thoughts swirled in her mind as he picked her up and walked to the semi-hidden door in the bathroom that entered the room from the apartment.

"Choose your word," Stephen said standing before the door, his voice husky with desire.

"Fruitloops," she said sounding more confident than she felt and smiling awkwardly as he suppressed a chuckle at her choice.

"Fruitloops it is then," he grinned as he carried her through the doorway and placed her on her feet. Kissing her softly, he moved away. "Come," he commanded and walked towards the large armchair she remembered. Some things are never forgotten, and Mel's conditioning had taught her the rules of this room and similarly the main room of the yacht were to be obeyed at all times. In here she was a slave to the Master's desires. She dropped to her hands and knees without even giving it another thought and crawled after him.

"Well then," he said as she stopped before him, "What a very good girl you are." He petted her hair and smiled down at her showing his genuine pleasure, making the butterflies in her tummy react with anticipation rather than dread.

"Now stand and undress for me," he commanded and she slowly got to her feet. He sat forward as she slowly began to unbutton her blouse. Each piece of clothing was removed and folded carefully, and put on the floor beside his chair. She was meticulous, remembering her former training. Finally, she stood naked before him, turning slowly for him to inspect her before she stilled her movements, her head bowed and her hands clasped behind her back.

He stood up, and slowly he circled around her, touching and inspecting her body as if for the first time. She could feel his warm fingers as they stroked up her spine to rest at the back of her neck. Such a familiar feeling. His other hand came brushing up her belly to lightly cup a breast. She closed her eyes as his thumb grazed across her erect nipple. She heard him chuckle softly and then murmur, "Your body is certainly responsive to a gentle touch. Now let's see how you respond to..." His voice trailed off as the fingers that had been so lightly and teasingly playing with her breast suddenly pinched down on the nipple.

Bella's eyes flew open at the sudden onslaught of pain. She breathed in deeply and relaxed into the sensation, letting the tendrils of pain flow through her breast and into her body, relishing the sensation. He stepped in front of her, still holding her nipple painfully tight between thumb and forefinger. His eyes caught hers, and his steady gaze became her focus as she surrendered completely to him and the painful pleasure he chose to give her. He slowly relaxed his hold on her breast. She had not moved a muscle during the painful touch and could see in his eyes that he was very pleased with her.