"I love you, Master. I love you very much."… that what she had said last night as she was falling asleep. The words surprised him. He knew she had feelings for him - he had feelings for her as well. You can't have a relationship like theirs without developing strong feelings. D/s relationships are built on trust, honesty, loyalty, and respect.

These things go hand in hand with deep caring and a measure of devotion. He understood all that. But he knew of her past and he knew that she had been hurt–badly hurt–by previous relationships, starting with her own father. So saying "I love you" to anyone was a major step for her.

He lay there for a couple of hours thinking about what she said… digesting her words and trying to find the meaning behind them. Why did she say that after all this time? Why did she say it after what he had put her through? His slut had never before called out her safeword.

He didn't really think he put her through anything more than usual. So why did she call out Camaro this time? It was all very strange and it troubled him. Was their relationship changing and he hadn't noticed? He was Master–he was supposed to notice changes in his submissive… how did he miss this?

The next morning the subject still rattled around in his brain. He had to know what she was thinking… what she was feeling. He was up before her once again and when she came downstairs, he was in the dining room hunched over a cup of coffee, so lost in thought that he didn't hear her coming.

"Good morning Master," she said, in her usual perky manner.

"Morning," he said, absentmindedly.

"What would you like for breakfast this morning, Master?" she asked, smiling.

"I don't care. whatever," he said, not even raising his eyes from the table.

She looked at him. This wasn't like him, but she shrugged her shoulders and figured if he wanted her to know what was on his mind he would tell her. She looked through the refrigerator to see what she could find. She found some eggs and bacon and decided that would do. She poached the eggs sprinkling some shredded cheese on top and cooked up some bacon just like he liked it. She made some toast and poured a couple of glasses of orange juice. A good breakfast, if she thought so herself.

She set the breakfast down in front of her Master and then at her place. She stood at the table waiting for him to seat her for a few minutes but he didn't move. So she sat down puzzled at his odd behavior this morning. She ate her breakfast in silence not knowing what to do.

"Master? Are you going to eat?" she asked as she ate. He hadn't touched his food at all.

"Huh?" he asked looking up finally. "Oh yeah, thank you," he said as he began eating. She finished breakfast and began clearing the dishes away. He had finished and went into the living room without saying goodbye or anything to her–very unusual for him. She got the kitchen clean and breakfast dishes washing and went into the living room. She found him in his recliner just staring at the blank TV... it wasn't even on!

She knelt at his feet. "Master, are you okay? You are acting very bizarre!" she asked.

He raised his eyes to look at her. "Yeah I'm fine, why?" he said.

"Master I know you. There is something bothering you. Did I do something wrong?" she asked.

"What? No, slut… not really," he said.

"Then what is it? Please tell me, Master."

"Come up here," he said patting his thighs indicating he wanted her to sit on his lap. She stood up and straddled him sitting facing him on his legs.

"Now tell me, Master. Please… this is scaring me."

"Rebecca, I want to talk to you, no Master slut stuff, just you and me."

"Oh my God! David what is it–you never use my real name! Are you breaking up with me? What did I do? What's going on? Please tell me!" she said, the panic obvious in her voice.

"No, no, it's nothing like that. Yesterday I put you through the mill… so much so that you called out your safeword, Camaro, on me. You have never called out your safeword before, in the four years you and I have been doing this Master submissive thing. Why did you use your safeword yesterday?" he asked, concerned.

"I don't know. It wasn't that it hurt all that bad. It just… felt heavy. I know that doesn't make much sense but I was just a little overwhelmed, I guess. I handled the paddle fine, I handled the belt okay too. The crop and the ginger root were a little more difficult after the other two things.

But when the whip came out, I don't know, I guess it was just more than I was prepared for. It's okay, I am sore today, but nothing that won't go away in a few days."

"I see. Well, maybe it was a bit much. I'm glad you felt it was okay to call out your safeword. That's what it's there for. I'm sorry I pushed you so hard." he said.

"Oh, Master, please don't apologize. Yesterday was a punishment–I was supposed to feel it. You didn't go too far. Besides you cared for me so sweetly and so tenderly afterward," she said.

"That's the other thing I wanted to talk about. Last night as you were falling asleep you said something that surprised me… that's what I've been so preoccupied with."

"What was it? Oh God what did I say?" she asked, panicked.

"You said ‘I love you, Master. I love you very much.'" he said. He looked her in the eyes as he quoted her.

She sat there on his lap just looking at him, afraid to say anything, afraid to breathe or move.

"Did you mean what you said, Rebecca?" he asked. "Do you love me or was that just the ramblings of a half-asleep, worn out mind?"

She looked down at his lap. "Yes," she said in a whisper barely discernible.

"What? Rebecca, look at me," he said. She looked up tears forming in her eyes.

"Tell me. Did you mean what you said last night? Do you love me?" he insisted.

"Yes, David. Yes, I love you! I have for some time now. I wanted to tell you before this but I didn't know how you would react. I still don't, but I opened my big mouth last night so there it is. Please don't be mad, please. I just let it slip out and…"

He put his finger to her lip to silence her. As soon as she stopped talking he pulled his finger away and looked at her. The tear in her eye had begun rolling down her cheek. He stopped it with his finger wiping it away. Then he pulled her into a kiss… not just any kiss, either. This was THE kiss.

He put his arms around her crushing her to his chest as his mouth devoured her. At first she stiffened, but she quickly understood and she melted into his embrace. He kissed her longer and deeper and with more passion than she had ever been kissed before, taking her breath away and giving her his own.

After several wonderful moments, he broke their kiss and she came up gasping for breath but she didn't seem to mind. She looked into his eyes again darting back and forth between them as she searched for her answer to the same question.

"Rebecca, my sweet sexy slut, I love you too. Like you, I have wanted to tell you but I know your past and I wasn't sure if you were ready or even wanted more than just our Master submissive thing. I didn't want to scare you off or pressure you into something you weren't ready for. I was letting you tell me what you wanted and needed."

"Oh, David! I've dreamed of hearing those words from you for so long! I love you, I love you, I love you!" she said, as she kissed him over and over.

They just sat there kissing and holding each other for a long time. Finally, a thought occurred to her and she sat back.

"David, what does this mean for our Master submissive relationship? Are you still going to be my Master?" she asked.

"Well, I don't know… do you still need one?" he said.

"Yes! I don't want that part to change. I still want you to be my Master and I still want to be your slut," she said.

"Well then, I will still be your Master. But one thing will change… you are now MY slut - so you don't need to go out looking for someone else, understand. You are my property now so when you have the urge be slutty, you are to come to me and be MY slut.

You will not have anyone but me, and I will be all you need," he said with a smile.

"Yes, Master. You always have been all I need, it's just that you weren't always around," she said.

"Well, that is going to change too. I want you to come live here… where I can keep an eye on you!"

"Oh, Master! Yes! Oh, I am so happy! I will be the best slut/whore/submissive I can be! I will do anything you say, be anything you say! Oh, Master, I love you so very much!" she said gleefully.

They moved to the table and began making plans for their new life together as Master and submissive.

"Now I know that you have a good job and you enjoy what you do. I don't want to get in the way of that. So you will continue to work as normal for now. But if working, taking care of the house and your chores here and being my slut gets to be too much for you to juggle, you will quit your job and concentrate on your duties here at home. Your first responsibility is to your Master. As long as I am pleased with how things are going, I won't change them. Understand?" he explained.

"Yes, Master."

"As for your apartment, When is your next month's rent due?" he asked.

"Well I am supposed to pay it on the first of the month Master," she said.

"That is two weeks from today. Okay, you will give your landlord notice Monday that you will be vacating the apartment at the end of the month. During the next two weeks, we will move some of your things over here and then I will have a moving company bring the bigger things. I will get a storage unit to store your furniture until such time as you decide what to do with it. This place has about as much furniture as it can handle already," he said.

"Yes, Master, but I really don't have much furniture. And what I do have isn't worth really storing. I can just sell it or give it to friends or something. I have a girlfriend who has been wanting my easy chair and the rest we can give to the local Goodwill or something. You have very nice furniture and my old stuff would just clutter up the place," she said.

"Well, we will see what you have. I have never been to your place so I don't know what you have for furniture but if there is something you want to keep, we will find a place for it. As for your clothes and things, we will set you up in the guest bedroom. It is closest to the bathroom so you can keep your clothes there. Of course, OUR bedroom is the master bedroom - the guest room is just for your clothes!" he said.

"Yes Master," she giggled, "I'm glad you said that… for a moment I thought you were going to say the guest room is where I would be staying!"

"Oh no, slut! I am not bringing you here to be a guest. I want you right there in bed next to me… I might get a sudden urge in the middle of the night and walking across a cold floor would ruin the mood!" he said.

"I suppose so. Besides, I like being handy for you!" she said.

The next thing is now that we are going to be a "couple", you and I will be seen a lot together in public. Before this, our time together has been pretty private, just being here together at home. But we will now be going out in public and that requires some new rules be set," he said.

"What kind of rules, Master?" she asked.

"Well, the ‘Master' thing for example. When we are here at home or in private someplace, you will use the term Master to refer to me. But when we are in public, at the store or eating out or whatever, where others might hear us talking, you will use Sir or my name. Outsiders may not understand our life and our relationship and it would cause undue questions and concerns if they knew I was your Master," he said.

"Yes, Master. I will call you Sir, then if that's all right with you. It still shows respect without causing problems," she said.

"That will be fine. And I will call you by your name in public… and slut and whore here at home," he said.

She blushed and smiled coquettishly, "Yes, please, Master. I like being called those names."

He continued. "The next matter is that of public behavior. By that I mean there we will have to establish rules of conduct for you and me for when we are in public. And we will start off with these. Rule number one is that you will not touch a doorknob when you are with me. It is my job to open doors for you. Car doors, building doors, whatever - as long as I am by your side you will wait for me to open the door.

Rule number two is that you will ask permission to be excused from my presence. If we are at a restaurant or a party or something, you will ask to be excused when you need to leave my side. This way I will know where you are going and when to expect you back, in case you need me for some reason. My job is to look out for you and this allows me to do that.

Rule number three is when we are eating at a restaurant, you will tell me what you would like and I will order for us both. You will wait for me to seat you when sitting and I will seat you first then myself. When the food comes, you will wait for me to take the first bite then you can begin. You do these things here already so transferring them to the outside won't be difficult for you.

There will be other rules and some may be eliminated in time, but we will deal with them when that happens. I don't want to throw too much at you all at once. Just keep in mind that your appearance, behavior, and attitudes reflect directly upon me. If you act like a lady, are polite, and well mannered, it looks good for both of us. If you are a loud, boisterous, obnoxious gutter slut, then it will look bad for me mostly.

Now other men will like you that way–wolves always go for the easy meal. But they won't look highly on me; I call myself a Master and yet I can't keep you under control. So just conduct your in a manner that brings honor to us both and you will do fine.

To me, you are my slut, my whore my submissive. To them, you are a lady. You make other men jealous of me, and I will make the other women jealous of you," he said.

"Yes Master," she said, smiling at his words.

After they had discussed this new relationship a bit, she stood up. "If we are done talking, Master, may I be excused? I want to go get ready for today," she said.

"Very well slut," he said. "But be quick about it."

She hurried off to the bathroom and take a quick shower and put on her makeup and get ready for him. She wanted to look good for him - she always wanted to look good for him - so she took a few more minutes than normal to make sure her makeup was perfect, just the way he liked. When she was satisfied with her looks, she came back into the living room. He had moved from his chair to the sofa, so she came up to where he was sitting knelt between his legs and sat there with her head lowered.

"I am back, Master, and ready to begin the next part of my punishment," she said.

He used his fingertips under her chin to raise her face. "Look at me slut. I've been thinking about your punishment and the idea behind the whole plan was to keep you from going out whoring anymore. It is true that I had planned on whipping your tits raw today and tomorrow giving kitty a good sound thrashing as well.

However, this new turn of events today has caused me to rethink my plan. Since the ultimate goal here is to keep you from frequenting the bars and back alleys looking for a cock to suck or fuck, I think that your living here with me where I can keep an eye on you and you can get all the cock you want and need will go a long way towards that goal.

I'm not saying that you won't ever get in trouble living here - there's no guarantee of that no matter where you live. But I don't think it will be necessary to continue with the rest of this punishment. I did work your ass over pretty good last night and I think that, plus your new living arrangements will do the trick. We can just save the rest of your scheduled punishment for the next time you screw up good," he said.

"Yes Master, I understand. Thank you for your mercy and kindness," she said.

"Well, I can't very well tell you I love you and then turn around and beat you in the same breath. Even though you know why I was doing it, it just wouldn't be right," he said.

"You are too good to me, Master. Thank you for being my Master and for taking me into your home," she said.

"Our home, slut. This is your home now too," he said.

She smiled and laid her head on his lap. He stroked her soft hair and she nuzzled into his lap, purring happily. She felt a bulge in his lap that she rubbed her cheek against, feeling it getting bigger. She raised her head. "Master can I ask something of you?" she asked.

"What is it slut?" he replied.

"Would you take me to the bedroom and use me? Please… I want to belong to you completely. Please take me into the bedroom and use me however you wish. I want to serve you as a good slut should," she said.

He stood up and offered her his hand. He pulled her to her feet and he led her back into the bedroom to begin their new life together properly.