Her Master's Kiss 5 Read Online Free Page B

the young woman with her eyes, and watched as she spooned in coffee and sugar. Then, as if drifting into a trance, Tink stood perfectly still and stared out of the kitchen window for long dreamy seconds –humming the tune of a song while she waited for the water to boil.
    When Tink came back to the table, Renee was frowning at her thoughtfully.
    Tink tilted her head, an expression of puzzlement that made her look almost childlike, and Renee caught herself admiring the girl’s fresh and genuine beauty. She wore no makeup, and yet her skin glowed with a healthy radiance that defied cosmetics. Her short blonde hair was tousled and ungroomed – and yet somehow she looked stunning. Not fashion-model stunning – more beautiful than that. It was something intangible – something that Renee had never noticed before. Something that….
    “Oh… my God!” Renee breathed suddenly, her own woes forgotten in an instant. Her hand reached out across the table and snapped tight around Tink’s wrist. She stared at the young girl, studying her eyes, searching her expression. “You’re in love!”
    Tink flinched – recoiled guiltily – and her eyes widened with feigned innocence. Then she suddenly began to smile until the smile became a grin and finally a throaty joyous laugh that sounded like bells ringing.
    Tink nodded her head and lifted her eyes to the sky as if in prayerful thanks. “I am in love,” she admitted. She squeezed Renee’s hand tightly. “Master Peter told me that he wants to collar me.”
    Renee gasped in excitement. “When?”
    “Last night.”
    “What did you say?”
    Tink looked shyly away for just a second, and when she turned back to Renee there was a teary glitter in her eye. “I told him I would let him know today. I wanted to speak to Stefan first.”
    Renee frowned, bemused and incredulous. “You made him wait for an answer?”
    Tink nodded slowly. “Just until after I spoke to Stefan.”
    Renee shook her head again. “Why? What does Stefan have to do with your decision?”
    Tink shrugged. She was suddenly embarrassed and self-conscious. She sat back in the chair and stared down into her coffee cup for long moments. When she looked to Renee again, there was a single tear hanging like a drop of morning dew from her eyelashes.
    “You and Stefan are the only people I know as family,” Tink said softly. “I know my real family is somewhere in the world – but I don’t know who they are. You and Stefan saved me from Larry Madden. You’re the closest people I have to a big brother and sister. And… and I wanted to ask Stefan’s permission…”
    Renee’s first impulsive reaction was to laugh, but she could see the heart-felt emotion in Tink’s eyes, and she sensed the significance of the gesture. Tink saw Stefan as her unofficial guardian, and – just as if Peter had proposed marriage – Tink had wanted to seek Stefan’s approval. It was kind and sweet, Renee decided, and such a disarmingly innocent gesture that she could do nothing else but lean across the table and hug the girl.
    “Stefan will be honored that you think of him so highly,” Renee said softly. “He’s working in the downstairs room. Why don’t you go and share the good news with him…. and I’ll get back to you about the visit to the BDSM club.”
     
     
     
     
    Six.
     
    Tink sat on the bottom step of the staircase and quietly watched Stefan working.
    He was wearing jeans and his old painting t-shirt, hanging shelves in the downstairs room with a grim expression on his face. Tink drew her knees up to her chin and watched on, admiring the physique of the man – but admiring even more the way he seemed to do everything in his life with such intensity – even hanging shelves.
    So she was caught off guard when she finally spoke and he showed no sign of surprise. She had thought she had been watching him unobserved, but it seemed that Stefan saw everything.
    “I want to tell you something – but first I need to ask