The Picture of Submission Read online

At first the Bartons had assumed she’d be back in a few days, but then it was a week and then a month and then two, and Maggie had started to hope that her mother wasn’t really coming back.

  She’d been painfully shy when she arrived, shrinking from them when they’d tried to hug her, especially Mr. Barton. Looking back, she knew they’d suspected abuse, but she didn’t have a bruise on her. They even took her to Max’s pediatrician, but there were no physical signs of abuse. She learned later that he had offered to call Child Protective Services so they could take Maggie, but the Bartons said no. She was family, and she would stay with them, at least for now.

  Maggie had heard them talking late at night. She’d sneaked out of the bed in their spare room and had crept downstairs to listen. She was only four, but she knew that it was an important conversation and she wanted to know what was going to happen to her.

  She was so engrossed in the conversation trying to understand what they were talking about that she hadn’t heard Max until he sat down on the step beside her and whispered in her ear. “You’re my sister now, and I’m not letting them give you back!” he announced fiercely before continuing down the stairs to the kitchen and announcing the same thing to his parents, who looked on in shock and love.

  When her mother had finally returned in six months, her boyfriend Troy still in tow, Maggie had shrunk from them, hiding behind Max and clinging to him tightly. Reluctantly, the Bartons had had no choice but to let her go over Max’s vociferous objections and Maggie’s hysterical tears.

  When she’d been dumped with them again not even a month later, they’d taken her back. They tried to get her to talk about the time with her mother and Troy, but when she became hysterical, they’d called their lawyer.

  When her mother had returned yet again, the Bartons were ready. Maggie’s mother and Troy left without Maggie and several thousand dollars richer. It wasn’t until they had returned several years later looking for more money that she realized that her mother had basically sold her to the Bartons, and for that she would always be grateful. She was now legally a Barton.

  She’d met Aly, Jen, and Rebecca on the first day of the second grade. They lived in a growing area, and finally a new school had been built, with students coming together from various overcrowded schools in the area. They’d sat together at lunch the first day and had been best friends ever since. They told each other everything, but there was one secret that she and Max kept, and that was her adoption. She was a Barton now, and she wanted to forget that she had ever been anything else.

  Because they were distantly related, they definitely shared a family resemblance, including their coloring, and Maggie had, from the first day of school, called Max her brother and he had never contradicted her. She’d seen her mother and Troy a couple more times as she grew up. They mostly were after more money, but the last time, when she was twelve, Troy had come alone and he was looking for more than money. Again, it was Max who had saved her. He was only sixteen, but he’d attacked the older man with the fury of the righteous, and the older man had backed off and she’d never seen him again.

  Max was her brother in all but blood, and there was no one in the world she loved or trusted more. In fact, he was the only man besides his father, her adopted father, that she truly trusted.

  This was the first time they were getting together since Max and Aly had returned from their honeymoon on Libertine Island, where they had also gotten married. Maggie and their friend Jen had gone down for the wedding, with Maggie photographing it as her wedding gift to them.

  Their friend Rebecca was already there, living and working on the island along with her two boyfriends, lovers, Masters, whatever. Maggie wasn’t exactly sure what the correct term was, but she was happy for Rebecca because she was so happy. In fact, it was Rebecca’s job on the island that had sent Aly down there along with her then-ex Max to see if she was okay after they’d received an anonymous communication that she was being held against her will. It was all nonsense, and Rebecca was blissfully happy with her men. The trip had worked out well for Aly and Max, though. They’d gotten back together after an eighteen-month split and were now married.

  Also happy and still on Libertine Island was their other friend Jen, who had gone down with Maggie for the wedding. She’d fallen for the resort doctor Caleb and had ended up involved with him and his lover Rey. It was looking pretty serious for them as well. They had apparently decided to move to Chicago and live together once Caleb’s contract at the resort was over, which it would be very shortly when the new island doctor arrived and got situated.

  It was all very complicated, too complicated, really. Even Aly and Max’s relationship was impacted by Max’s status as a Dom, which made Aly his sub as well as his wife. What was it about her three best friends that had resulted in them all becoming subs? What were the odds? Or maybe it was that trait in their personalities that had drawn them together so many years ago?

  Whatever it was, Maggie was the exception. She was a strong and independent woman with total control over her own sexuality. The thought of permanently submitting to a man, or men, did not hold any real interest for her. She’d watched her mother bend down under Troy’s will to the point that she’d abandoned and then sold her only child.

  Of course, that didn’t mean she couldn’t have some fun with it. She sighed as she hurried down State Street to the restaurant where they were all meeting. She did have fun with two of the three Hayes brothers, playing at submission while she was on the island, and the final night ménage had blown her mind.

  She did, however, force away the thought of what it might have been like with all three of them. Damn Chris Hayes for putting that thought into her head. She’d had hot sex with two hot guys who devoted an entire night to seeing how many orgasms they could give her. She was pretty sure she’d passed out from the pleasure at one point. It was the sexual high point of her entire life, and she wouldn’t taint the memory of that night with thoughts of Chris.

  But as much fun as they had had, it was just that, fun. She’d enjoyed playing the submissive for them because it pleased them, and because it pleased them, they worked that much harder to please her. She’d masturbated many a time to the memory of that night. After taking turns going down on her while the other kissed her and played with her tits for what seemed like hours, they’d finally untied her and had her kneel and suck off one while the other took her from behind and then reversed positions. For the big finale when she’d rode Carter while Dalton had taken her ass. The orgasm from having both of them inside her at once had been the one to make her pass out.

  They’d woken her up with their mouths on her breasts and then had taken turns fucking her good-bye. It had been an amazing experience, and she couldn’t wait to repeat it. In fact, she had high hopes of being able to do it again very soon. While she was on the island, she’d learned about not one but two photography jobs up for grabs and figured she had the inside track. She took a bunch of test photos on the island itself that should be more than enough to prove that she was the one that they wanted.

  She was pretty sure she’d get the job to take photos for the new island brochure. Hell, from her few days there, she already had almost half of what she would ultimately need.

  She also had her fingers crossed that she’d get the job of doing the photo illustrations for Jillian Madison McClain’s book on what it meant to be a submissive. When she’d first heard about it at dinner the first night, it was another job opportunity, but then when she’d expressed interest, she’d been given the foreword and the first two chapters of The Strength to Submit to help her plan the photos she wanted to submit for consideration.

  After she finished reading the material she’d been given, she realized that she really wanted to be the one to do justice to Jillian’s beautiful prose. Hell, she really didn’t believe that it took strength to submit. Submissives were doormats, everyone knew that. But her friends Rebecca and Aly weren’t doormats. She didn’t understand how such strong
women could suddenly kneel before a man, or men, as the case may be. Hell, Aly was kneeling for Maggie’s own brother, a man she could have said before was a champion of women’s rights, a man who loved and respected women, who had always protected her. She would have sworn he was someone who would never hurt a woman, but she’d seen for herself how he used his belt on Aly’s bare ass, and even more puzzling, she seemed to enjoy it.

  Maybe she could photograph the book, and in doing so, she would understand her brother better as well as getting inside the heads of these women. Through her photos, she hoped she could understand what they found in submission, what they got from these relationships. Maybe she could even understand herself better and finally banish these feelings she sometimes had late at night when she was alone in her bed and which had gotten worse since the island. She’d thought that since she’d taken charge and topped from the bottom to use the BDSM terminology, that she wouldn’t feel such a craving to serve a man. She was a strong, independent woman. She would kneel for no man. Except in her dreams. Her fantasies.

  Hell, she reluctantly admitted to herself, it had gotten worse after her time the island. She’d lapped up the praise that Carter and Dalton had given her as they’d tied her up and spanked her and given her the most sexually satisfying experiences of her life. She dreamed of repeating the experience. And she dreamed of Chris joining in with his brothers to dominate her no matter how hard she tried to banish those thoughts.

  Well, she would hear soon. She knew her photos of the island were good. And she knew the test photos she’d taken of Duncan and Andie during a scene in their private playroom were great. They’d agreed to let her take the photos with the understanding that the only people who would ever see them without Duncan and Andie’s express permission were the evaluation committee.

  Duncan managed the resort, and Andie was his wife and sub and also the bookkeeper. Maggie had felt like a voyeur watching them at play. It was clear that Andie had quickly slipped into some kind of altered headspace and had forgotten her presence, and Duncan was too focused on Andie to think about Maggie. She’d watched as he slowly built up the sensation, spanking, caressing, strapping, fucking, using his hands and mouth and vibrators and even a paddle to push Andie to a state of ecstasy that awed Maggie, before he finally pushed his cock inside her and rode her hard until they were both shouting out their completion. When they were finished, he’d tenderly wiped down Andie’s sweating body with a damp towel he’d prepared beforehand, and then he released her bindings and wrapped her in a blanket. When Maggie left, Duncan was holding Andie tightly as she sat in his lap, her head on his shoulder, both with expressions of such love and devotion and satisfaction, Maggie felt the tears prick her eyes as she slipped out to give them their privacy. She did cry when she reviewed the photos. She hoped she’d captured what she’d seen and done it justice, done them justice.

  She’d picked out what she thought were the five best photos and sent them along with five shots she’d taken off the resort off for consideration to Jillian and the evaluation committee. Because the photos for the book would be taken at the resort, the Libertine Island owners were also involved in the selection of the book photographer as well as the brochure photographer. She didn’t want to be overconfident, but she was pretty sure she had both jobs in the bag.

  And now she could see Tempo Cafe just up ahead. She’d thought that walking would be faster than the train, but maybe she should have cabbed it. She was now ten minutes late, and she knew it would bother her for the rest of the day.

  * * * *

  Chris Hayes sat behind his huge desk, which fit the image of the construction mogul suitable for the president of Hayes Construction, the company his father had left him and he had built into a Midwest force to be reckoned with. It really wasn’t his passion. It was his father’s pride and joy, and he’d trained Chris since childhood to be his successor. He’d hoped Chris’s younger brothers would also be interested and was saddened when they weren’t, but he had consolation in his oldest. Chris was saddened, too, because he really had no interest in being a construction magnate. He was an artist at heart and painting was his passion.

  But he couldn’t disappoint his father. He’d studied engineering and gotten an MBA and learned the business, and when he took it over, he grew it. He also hired good people and was gradually turning the day-to-day running of the business over to his number-two man. In fact, he was considering making him a partner. Hunter Sheehan loved the construction business, and he’d do a good job running it, freeing Chris to concentrate on his art.

  Right now, though, it wasn’t art or construction that was on his mind. It was Maggie. He’d regretted turning her down the minute she’d turned and walked away from him. He’d regretted it even more when she turned up for breakfast with his brothers and it had been clear what they’d been doing all night.

  But he also knew it was the right thing. He’d been attracted to her from the moment he’d first seen her shocked expression when he’d emerged naked from the pool. Hell, he’d timed his exit so that he could get a good look at the hot brunette, and she hadn’t disappointed. He’d known who Maggie Barton was. Max had shown him her website once he knew that Chris and Duncan, the General Manager of Libertine Island, were looking to redo the brochure in conjunction with the expansion that Chris’s company was carrying out.

  He’d seen her art photos and they were beautiful, but it was her photojournalism that touched him deep inside. He wanted to get to know the woman who could take these hauntingly beautiful, sometimes tragic photos and make the viewer feel like they were glimpsing a private, special moment.

  And when they’d met in person, he fell hard, but she didn’t even seem to notice or care about anything except his cock. Being naked for their first meeting had probably not been a good idea because now she didn’t seem to regard him as a person but just a potential conquest. When he complained about this to his brothers, they teased him for becoming a girl, but he was adamant. He was not going to have casual sex with her. He wanted a relationship, and he felt that meant they needed to get to know each other better before fucking like bunnies.

  His brothers also felt an attraction to her and agreed with him that she could be the woman they’d been waiting for, the one they could have a permanent ménage with, but they felt no need to hold off on the sex. They’d argued about it. She was vanilla, and they’d have to teach her what it meant to submit since any permanent relationship would involve Domination and submission. He wanted to talk about it before they got into something with her and got their hearts broken if she couldn’t submit. They thought that a better strategy was to tie her to them by giving her the best sex of her life and then gradually introducing her to submission.

  They agreed to disagree on approaches, and in the end, she’d left all three of them. But Chris wasn’t giving up. His brothers were stuck down on the island where they worked, but he lived and worked in Chicago where Maggie was based, and he intended to pursue her now that they were both back home. Or rather, he had planned to. Work being what it was had thrown several crises his way, and Hunter just happened to be on vacation, but today was Monday, Hunter was back, and Chris was ready to go after Maggie.

  He just had this one conference call to get out of the way.

  Maggie had submitted some of the photos she’d taken on the island to the Libertine Partnership hoping to land the contract for the new brochure for the island. She’d also learned that there was a search on for a photographer to illustrate Jillian Madison McClain’s book on submission. She’d convinced Duncan and Andie Rider, the island General Manager and his wife, sub, and Assistant General Manager, to let her photograph them during a scene on the condition that the photos were used only as test shots to show to Jillian.

  Duncan and Serena had agreed and the shoot was done two days before Maggie left the island. They’d scened in a private room to make sure no one was caught on film who hadn’t agreed to be photographed. Not everyone wanted the world
to know that they vacationed at a BDSM resort.

  Chris had been watching from the security booth. For the safety of all involved, all of the resort areas except for the hotel rooms and villas had cameras. Whether a couple was playing in the public dungeon or using one of the private rooms, they were always being observed, particularly if they were not well known to the staff. It was for the protection of both the Dom and the sub as well as just good practice for the owners of the resort.

  Chris, Jillian, and her husband and Master Joshua had gathered in the security office to watch the scene play out. For Jillian and Joshua it was to help them judge the finished photos. For Chris, it was a chance to see how Maggie reacted to Andie being flogged and more by Duncan before he fucked her brains out.

  He hadn’t learned much, though. Her demeanor had been so professional that he couldn’t tell if she was turned on by what she saw or not, because the security camera was focused on the couple and not the photographer.

  Now he was being asked what he thought of the finished product. Also on the call were Jillian, Joshua, Adam, Duncan, and Max, Maggie’s brother.

  The photos really were beautiful, both the ones of the island and the ones of Duncan and Andie. She was extremely talented. There was no doubt that she should be the one to photograph the resort for the new brochure. The current one didn’t do it justice, and now with the expansion planned, they needed new advertising. Based on these sample photos, they’d be beating them off when a stick when the BDSM community got a look at the new brochure. Of course, since many in the community were masochists, they’d relish the beating, and the sadists would offer to carry it out.

  The other assignment was more problematic. Chris was good friends with Joshua, Jillian’s husband and Master, so he was one of the few Doms who’d been sent a draft of her book to read. It had also been sent to several subs, and they’d all raved. Jillian had totally captured the sub’s viewpoint, interviewing a number for the book, and it was a wonderful counterpart to Joshua’s book, The Dominant’s Guide to Owning and Training a Sex Slave, that had captured popular imagination. It was the provocative title that drew people in, but once they read it, they understood that it was actually about relationships and how couples could mutually decide how they could add spice in the bedroom and gave clear advice and instructions. The photos for that book were taken by noted photographer and Dominant, Adam Cameron, but he couldn’t do Jillian’s book. They had all agreed that it needed a submissive’s touch behind the camera to show both the beauty and power of submission.