Dare Me
Chapter Nine

Summer finished helping the kids pack up for the day, once again noticing Hannah separated herself from the group. Her heart ached for the little girl. She'd spoken to her mother about support for military families, but Summer also realized Hannah was a sensitive soul, and it may take her a while to sort out her emotions.

The kids filed out for the bus, and Hannah slowly loaded up her Hello Kitty pencil case into her backpack. A gentle knock on the door turned her head.

"Hello, Ms. Preston."

She pursed her lips at his very proper address, wondering if she should trade in her catsuit for her classic teacher outfit. Yeah, seems her sub needed a very proper spanking for his brattiness. God, she loved it. Yet....

Their relationship was still a secret. He hadn't introduced her to his brothers, and liked to keep their interactions separate from his real life. At first, she'd understood, knowing they were exploring the sub/dom dynamics, and wasn't sure if they'd be able to take the relationship further than a few play sessions.

Over the past weeks, though, Summer had fallen in love with him. She sensed he felt the same, but held back, even during some of their intense sessions. Summer had brought up maybe visiting a club together and making some friends in the BDSM community. He'd quickly squashed the idea, saying he wanted them to keep it private. Rafe was still terrified of having his brothers find out. He kept her in a locked, dark corner to play and satisfy his sexual needs, but Summer didn't want the same type of relationships she'd had in the past.

She wanted to be with Rafe in a public relationship. Wanted to meet his family and his friends. Wanted to explore similar type people in her community.

Summer wanted it all.

Unfortunately, she didn't think Rafe wanted the same things.

Pushing back her heartache, she motioned him in. "Mr. Steele," she greeted back. "What a surprise. Have you come for our tutoring session?"

He cocked his hip out and regarded her. She loved the way he dominated in the daytime, and how deeply he surrendered for her at night. "Depends. If I get an A on the test, do I get a reward?"

A little voice chirped up. "Ms. Preston says the best reward for doing good in school is knowledge." Hannah frowned behind her glasses. "Knowledge is power. You shouldn't need lollipops to learn." Summer pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. "Hannah is right, Mr. Steele," she scolded. "Perhaps you need another lesson to remind you?"

He cut her an amused look, then walked in. "Your name is Hannah right?" The little girl nodded. "My name is Rafe. I'm a friend of your teacher's."

"Nice to meet you." She slipped on her backpack. "I'm ready to go, Ms. Preston."

"See you tomorrow, Hannah."

The little girl stopped by the doorway. Rafe lowered to his knees so they were face to face. "You know; I was in the military for a number of years." Summer sucked in a breath. What was he doing? She jumped up from her desk. "Umm, Hannah, you better go and-"

"My daddy's in the military," she said seriously. "Did you go away?"

Rafe nodded, never taking his gaze from her face. "Yes, I was in Afghanistan. Have you heard of it?"

She nodded. "Daddy's there. He'll be there for a whole year. I'm not going to see him."

"Yeah, that's really tough. I missed my brothers and my parents a lot when I was in Afghanistan. But you know what really helped me?"

"What?"

"I'd think about them doing really good at their jobs, and having fun, and being happy, and it made me happy. If I thought they were sad, or doing bad at work, that would've made me really sad." Hannah ducked her head. "But I don't want to have fun when Daddy's away. That would be bad."

Rafe shook his head. "No, Hannah, it's not bad. It's exactly what your Dad wants. When he calls or Skypes with you, or visits on holidays, he wants to know you're having fun, and trying really hard in school, and playing with your friends and stuff. He doesn't want you to worry about him or be too sad. Sure, you're going to miss him. But knowing you're enjoying your life at home, taking care of your mom and your siblings, that helps him a lot. Does that make sense?" Slowly, Hannah nodded. "I guess. You think my Daddy will come home okay like you?"

"Yes. I do. He has many great teammates making sure he's going home to you and your Mom. Your job is to help him not worry when he's over there. Have you been doing your homework and stuff? Playing with your friends? Talking to your mom about how you feel?"

"No. I've been too sad."

"I understand. But if you try to do those things, it will be better for everyone. Okay? Ms. Preston wants to tell your mom you're doing great in school. That will make everyone happy. Will you try?"

Summer pressed her hand to her mouth, waiting. The little girl seemed to consider his words seriously. "Yes. I'll try." "Thank you, sweetheart." He smiled at her and unfolded his legs to full height. "Now, you better run for your bus."

"Bye!"

She disappeared. Rafe shut the door behind him and headed toward her desk. "I'm sorry if I was out of line. I just wanted to try and reach out and what the "

Summer flew into his arms. Pulling his head down, she kissed him, not able to express how deeply she felt for him. For his beautiful heart, and his generosity, and his kindness. For everything, he gave her, inside and outside the bedroom. For being the man she loved.

He kissed her back as fiercely. When she finally broke away, he looked a bit dazed. "What was that for?"

"I love you."

Shock flickered over his face. Rafe took a jerky step back. "What did you say?"

Summer pushed her hair back and groaned. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said it like that. I should've given you warning. I love you. I've been feeling like this for a while now, and I know it's probably still too soon, but it's how I feel. I love you. That's it." "That's it, huh?" Rafe grinned and shook his head. "Should've known even a love confession would come out like a Dominatrix."

"I'm sorry." Misery shook through her voice. This was so embarrassing. Why couldn't she be the type of woman to wait for the man to say it first? "Thank you for helping with Hannah. I got carried away."

He closed the distance between them and frowned. "You're welcome. You're not taking it back, are you?"

Her cheeks flushed. "No."

"Good. Cause I love you too."

She gasped. Then looked at him suspiciously. "Are you sure? This isn't just a pity response, is it?"

He laughed, grabbed her, and pressed a hard kiss on her lips. "I don't say I love you to a woman just because I feel bad," he growled. "I'm crazy about you, Summer. Been falling in love with you a while now."

Joy bloomed. Everything seemed to slide into place and she babbled with excitement. "I'm dying to meet your brothers! Maybe we can do a dinner together and I can meet Sloane and Tara? Oh, and I know you've been a bit wary about this but I found out a casual friend of mine is a Sub and goes to this fabulous club, Chains. It's very discreet. I thought maybe we could go for an orientation. See if it fits us?"

"Wait a minute." Rafe interrupted, concern flickering over his face. "I told you I don't do clubs. I never will. I'm not putting my reputation at risk."

"Oh. Well, maybe we can discuss? I know their confidentiality agreements are air-tight."

"No, Summer. That's not something I'll ever do." A strange distance emanated between them. "And why don't we wait a bit longer before meeting my brothers?"

The joy of finding out he loved her faded into a faint dread. What was going on? He loved her, but he still didn't want her involved in his life fully.

"Are you ashamed of me, Rafe?"

"Of course not! I just don't want details of our personal relationship to spill over and be discussed. My brothers wouldn't understand. I just want to keep things private until we feel like we're ready."

Coldness laced her tone. "Are you afraid they'll suspect I'm a Dominatrix just by having dinner with them? Our sex life is private; I'm not looking to push you on that issue. I just want to meet your family because they're important to you." "I understand. I want them to meet you too, eventually. I need more time. They're used to dealing with submissives."

Her heart squeezed. "I have nothing to hide. Do you?"

His dark eyes shot anger. "Yeah, I do, Summer. Sorry if I'm not as open as you, but I already said I wasn't comfortable with certain things. I love you. Isn't that enough? Things are going well. There's no reason to rock the boat."

Her gut lurched. Oh, God, it was happening again. He may love her, but not every part. He still thought they'd play at this dom/sub thing a bit and go back to a normal type relationship. Rafe didn't want to accept this was her true self. She craved dominance in the bedroom, and it wouldn't go away. The longer they pretended they were something they weren't, the harder it would get when the truth finally revealed itself.

Summer wouldn't go through that again. It had been too long a journey to be happy with the woman she was.

As fast as the joy had hit, now a deep-seated ache settled around her heart. "Rafe, I don't think you understand," she said softly. "I'm never going to change. I want to be a part of a club and community. I want your brothers to know who I really am, and who we are together, as a couple. I don't want to hide anymore."

"I'm not asking you to hide. I'm asking you to keep our sex life private."

She shook her head. "No, you're not. You're hoping I'll change into a more normal woman you can bring home to your family. You want permission to hide who I am, and I will not give you that. Take me the way I am or not at all." "You're twisting my words," Rafe said forcefully. "Let's talk about this later. We just said I love you, which means I completely accept you. Just because I don't like the idea of anyone knowing I get on my knees to you, doesn't mean we can't work this out."

Grief overtook her. Summer wrapped her arms around her body for warmth. "You're beautiful on your knees, Rafe," she said brokenly. "You humble me with your submission. You're the one with the real power, don't you know that? Not me. You give me a gift I want to honor and keep safe. I want to give you back as much as I can, but when you deny what we are in the bedroom, you deny who we are as a couple." She stepped back, the distance growing between them. "I don't want that for either of us. I've come too far to step back now."

His eyebrow shot up. "So, that's it? We go from loving each other to breaking up because you think it has to be all or nothing?"

"Yes," she said simply.

He shook with pent-up anger. His voice lashed like a whip. "If you can't give me more time, maybe you're right. We were doing fine. I don't know why you want to walk away from something this good, just because I need to take it slow." "You never intended on committing to be a sub in this relationship, did you?"

His silence was his answer. She understood now. In a way, the past weeks together was a mission for Rafe to try to wring submission out of his system. He figured with enough time, it would get boring and he'd be able to go back to his normal type sex life. Maybe he thought she'd agree with him, and they'd change back to a nice, vanilla couple.

"I can't live like that anymore," she said. "I'm sorry. It's not going to work between us, after all."

"You once dared me to take a chance on this relationship," he said furiously. "Well, I'm asking you to do that now. Take a chance on me."

Summer blinked past tears. "I already have," she whispered.

The silence blistered with unspoken hurt and accusations. With pain. "If this is what you want, so be it," he said.

The door closing behind him was the last sound in the room.