The One Worth Finding by Teresa Silberstern

know how to protect myself. She
can blow me up like a landmine with a single word.”
    “What will you do now?”
    “ Try to get close to her outside
of the club. I have to sneak behind her defenses, show her that I’m
more than a convenient fuck buddy. I guess she’s not 24/7, so she
would have to love me for more than great, spectacular,
earth-shattering, manic, out-of-the-orbit sex.”
    Grace chuckled faintly.
    “That good, huh?”
    “ Actually, I have no words for
it,” Aaron sighed, “but it’s more than that, Grace. She can read my
mind. She is right there, in my very soul. She knows exactly what I
need. She makes me want to obey her, desperately. She has a
flawless command voice that makes me her willing slave. She is not
hot on punishment, but on pleasure. She’s sweet and funny and
compassionate. She doesn’t even wax her pussy! It’s as if somebody
crawled into my head and designed my perfect Domme. My perfect
woman. No wonder I fell in love like an untried schoolboy. Why
can’t she accept me? What baggage is she carrying?”
    “ Come home, Aaron,” Grace tried again,
her voice small and begging. “Let us protect you before it’s too
late.”
    “ I can’t, Grace,” he whispered,
“even if she can’t give me more than crumbs of her affection. I’ll
take what I can. Don’t worry, I’m afraid I’ll be home soon
enough.”
    Grace almost whimpered with her desire to
hug her sweet, selfless friend who so deserved to be loved, for
god’s sake, and not to be kicked into the dirt.
    Aaron had always been there for everyone.
He had always brightened the club with his contagious good temper,
his funny pranks, his friendly, altruistic sweetness. Nobody could
resist his charm, his clever mind, his irresistible smile. She
wanted to throttle this woman for not realizing that she would
never meet someone like him again.
    “ Aaron,” she
sighed , “take
care, will you?”
    “ Good night, kitten,” Aaron
murmured, resignation audible in his quiet voice, “I know it sounds
mean, but I’m glad you worry about me. It feels good that somebody
cares.”

    Tara hadn’t been inside a church
since Jeff’s death. But after leaving the club, she’d realized that she
didn’t have a single friend in the world. She’d lived a recluse’s
life after losing her husband, unable to let anyone near her.
People scared her. Obviously, she scared them, too, given the
reactions of the younger subs at the Fever Pitch.
    Not ready to face the cold loneliness
of her sterile apartment, she’d come here, quietly enjoying the
echo of every tiny sound in the huge, empty space of St. Michael
Lutheran church. There were people walking around the aisles, but
she hardly saw them. She just bathed in the discreet noise that
surrounded her, and let the tears fall.
    It felt relieving to finally be able
to cry. Her mind was like an open wound, and she released the tight
control she usually had in heaving, painful sobs.
    In a perfect world, she would
collar Aaron Harte faster than he could say “Yes, Ma’am”. But she
wasn’t alone, wasn’t free. She had her husband to think of, and
there was no way to get rid of the guilt she was
c onstantly
feeling. Just a week ago, she would have laughed at anyone who told
her she would fall in love again. Now that she had met Aaron, she
knew that she had only a few days with him to enjoy this feeling,
one more time. Love.
    But the feeling wouldn’t go
away. She would love him for the rest of her days, torn
betw een two
men, one dead, one gone; unable to leave Jeff’s memory alone for
her own happiness. Jeff had given everything for her! She had been
his whole universe, he had put his heart at her feet without
hesitation. She had loved him so much. He deserved her monogamy,
deserved to be the only man in her life until the day she
died.
    She closed her eyes, the tears hot on
her face.
    She so longed for the warmth of Aaron
Harte’s body, for the impact of his beautiful smile,