Here comes... awww, what could be better than a nice, strong, devoted alpha-male submissive? :)

Lizzy watched Darcy's arms flex under the weight of the boxes. He had sent the movers away as soon as they arrived at the penthouse, determined to haul her belongings himself. It pleased him to be the one to serve her, and Lizzy was more than happy to oblige. His rolled up jeans clung tightly to his behind every time he squatted to pick up a box, and he was topless, the lean muscles on his back decorated in small beads of sweat. She felt like she could eat him whole.

My delicious slave.

Lizzy liked how that sounded. Liked how quickly he put down the box and came to stand next to her when she summoned him to the kitchen. Liked how humbly he bowed his gorgeous head, awaiting her command, before she pressed the glass of refreshing lemonade into his hand. She was surprised how very much she liked being this man's Domme.

When he completed the moving job to his exacting standards, they wordlessly moved to the dining room table. He made a move to seat himself on the floor at her feet, but Lizzy sternly motioned to the adjacent chair.

"We are not playing, Will, we are discussing. As equals."

"I doubt we'll ever be equals, Elizabeth. I am yours whether you'll have me or not."

She sent him a withering glare. "Stop it, right now. Your pretty words might be damned good, but we are doing this properly now or not at all."

He bowed his head. "I am sorry, Mistress."

"So which will it be, Will? Are we going to discuss this arrangement as two consenting adults, as equals, or not at all?"

"As two consenting adults, Mistress."

"Lizzy."

"Pardon me?"

"While we discuss our arrangement as equals, you will call me Lizzy."

"Elizabeth," he countered. Damn, will this man never stop pushing my buttons?

She sighed, frustrated but giving in. "Fine; Elizabeth. Whatever you want, Will."

God damn it, why must he have such a delightfully boyish grin?

She forced her brain out of the gutter and back to their purpose. "So, Will, what would you like out of our relationship?"

He answered immediately, without a moment of hesitation. "To be your slave, utterly and completely. I want to serve your every command, to be used for your pleasure and to be punished whenever -"

She interrupted before he had a chance to continue spewing any more of his fantasies. She felt the dampness on her panties, but one of them had to remain in control of their senses long enough to complete the discussion. "Do you wish for specifically designated play times or a twenty-four seven arrangement?"

She saw that he was taken aback by the calm, collected demeanor, and by her informed inquiry. I know how to do my research, Mr. High and Mighty Demigod.

"A twenty-four seven."

It seemed that her self-possession had finally gotten them on the right track. "For the days when you are here," she clarified.

He hesitated. "I would still like to feel like I belong to you when I am in Cali. Perhaps we could schedule daily calls, as well as texts and emails? You could send me commands that way, and I would send you prove of my obedience. Should I misbehave, you can tell me how to punish myself."

Lizzy thought this over. The thought of controlling Will Darcy from three thousand miles away was fucking hot, so she nodded her agreement. "Very well, we will have a twenty-four seven D/S lifestyle, long-distance when you are away." She paused before speaking sternly. "In a play as serious as this, it is especially important to discuss limits and guidelines. I have a checklist so that we can each put our soft and hard limits, but those things are never exhaustive. Are there any specific concerns you have? Or any particular desires you would like to have met in our arrangement?"

He thought her question over, studying her with a pensive expression. "I suppose I have already revealed most of my feelings in that regard with the contract we signed back in the office, one-sided as it was. Did anything we have there strike you as unpalatable?"

She thought over it.

Corporal discipline on Will Darcy's sexy bum? Check.

Will Darcy naked on his knees worshipping my feet? Double check.

Owning Will Darcy's glorious cock so that he may not cum without my permission? Triple, quadruple, n-tuple fucking YES check.

Will Darcy maintaining said glorious cock neatly shaved? Mmmmmmmmmm yes.

Allowing Will Darcy's glorious bare cock to cum at least once per week? I suppose that's only fair, with such a virile hunk of a man. Plus, not like I could resist him for that long anyway...

Having the freedom to engage with other men as I please? Yes, thanks.

"In a consenting environment," she was pleased to see him blush with shame at the subtle rebuke, "I find the things in that contract quite amenable. Although other than corporal punishment on your naughty bottom, it did not specify how I may and may not discipline you. Do you have any preferences and restrictions?"

"I suppose I alluded to some of them yesterday. I would love to feel your ownership stretch my behind with a plug or a strap-on, or any other way you might wish to remind me of my place as your submissive slut. Being made to use my tongue to clean the floor as a punishment or to clean up my own mess, or to clean your cunt after you have had intercourse, either with me or with another man are all certainly acceptable. Being punished in front of others, like you did with Mr. Reynolds, is an effective way to correct my behavior. It would be especially humiliating to be disciplined in front of your lovers. In fact, I thought..." Here he blushed, coughed, shifted uncomfortably, and fell silent.

"Darcy, spit it out."

"I - that is... if I behave very badly, you might want to have one of your lovers administer your naughty boy's spanking. It would be mortifyingly humiliating, but it would certainly put me back in my place."

"Are you serious?"

"Only for the very worst offenses, if nothing else works," he hurried to add.

"Let's hope it does not come to that," Lizzy said quickly, and moved on to the soft and hard limits checklists.

She was pleased to find that their preferences were quite compatible. While she owned his cock, Darcy would not hear of her sharing him; intimacy with any woman other than his Mistress was a hard limit, which pleased her greatly. Neither of them was into any kind of meaningful pain. Blood play, wax, cigarette burns were all among their shared hard limits. It seemed that Mr. Darcy was not really a masochist. He did not seek pain, he sought only a sense of belonging, a way of pleasing, utterly and completely, a woman worthy of being pleased. He was more into humiliation than she was; the fact that he had actually considered being made to present his bare backside for punishment to another man whom she fucked was still fantastical and incomprehensible. It was not something Lizzy wished to do, and she inwardly doubted that Darcy would truly like it, in practice, either. The man certainly had an active imagination, though.

"I have one more request, Elizabeth."

"Yes, Will?"

Darcy looked down shyly. "Will you collar me?"

"You mean for our play sessions?"

"No, I mean twenty four seven, like our arrangement. I would like to wear the sign of your ownership proudly at all times."

Oh my, I wonder if the man can small my arousal. There must be a puddle in my panties by now.

"Do you have a collar, Darcy?"

"I do, that is, I had one made." He quickly stood and went to the servant bedroom. Upon his return, Darcy placed the retrieved object on the table before her. It was the same collar as he had worn in the picture he sent her. "You may get any other one, of course. It was not my place to acquire my own collar..."

"Darcy, you're rambling. This one will do, as far as I'm concerned. But isn't it a little too... visible?"

Darcy smirked. "And isn't that the point, Elizabeth? Your sign of ownership."

"Well, I mean... You do manage a giant corporation, and frequently appear in the media." She was becoming distressingly self-conscious. She hated those moments, when she would be starkly reminded of this man's extensive power and influence. Of the fact that this man, when he was not on his knees before her professing his complete submission, dealt every day with sums of money greater than her entire net worth. That he was known throughout the country, that he gave nationally broadcast interviews and had been on the "top bachelors" lists for a decade. That he wielded enough sway to destroy her career at the flick of his fingers. That not so long ago, he had threatened to do just that.

"Oh, that? I do not mind. While my personal life is none of my employees' or the media's business, I would relish the thought that the entire world knows me to be your submissive. I do understand that you might not wish to deal with the attention, however, and would avoid giving your name for as long as you wish. You shall be known only as my mysterious Mistress, E.B."

She sighed and nodded her acquiescence. The idea of claiming this paragon of manliness, even anonymously, was far too alluring to resist. "Kneel."

His eyes shone brightly as he eagerly slid to his knees. "Yes, Mistress. Thank you for finding me worthy to serve you and collaring me as your slave. I will not disappoint you." He bowed his head, awaiting the collar.

"Your safewords are going to be Cotillion and Scottish Reel. Use Cotillion if you are uncomfortable, and Scottish Reel if you wish for me to stop whatever I am doing. Is that agreeable?"

"Yes, Mistress." Then the supple, expensive leather was clasped snugly around his strong neck. "Thank you, Mistress."

Now that she had him collared, in a twenty-four seven arrangement, Lizzy was at a loss as to what to do. Everything she had read pertained more to specific play sessions than a constant arrangement. Even the material on twenty-four seven lifestyle rarely strayed beyond teasing the man and having him perform menial chores. Surely, that couldn't fill the entirety of these couples' days? But the rest was naturally too boring to be put to paper in full detail, so she had never read an account of those other hours.

Perhaps I should just go about my day as normal, with the understanding that I have Will Darcy by my side doing my bidding? Ha! Well, that certainly sounds far from "normal."

She decided to try.

"Do you have any plans for today, my pet?"

"No, Mistress, nothing except to serve you." He was looking at her so expectantly.

Too bad, Darce, I don't think it would be wise to jump straight to sex, however much I might want to. If we're going to do twenty-four seven, then we need to start with twenty-four seven, including all those twenty-three hours a day that will not feature mind-blowingly hot sex.

"I noticed that the fridge is quite empty, and the kitchen is not really stocked."

"I am sorry, Mistress, I should have thought about that. Please forgive my oversight."

Oh God, does he think I am using this as an excuse to punish him? Insufferable, insatiable slave.

"I did not say that to chastise you, slave. Only to inform you that we are going to do some shopping." The disappointment in his eyes was almost comical.

She stood and flicked her head towards his room. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go shower and get dressed. I want you to look presentable when you are out in public with me."

He hurried to comply.

Out in the upscale grocery store a few blocks away, they garnered quite a few curious looks. Lizzy could well understand the intrigue. It was not often that one saw a gorgeous man in clearly expensive clothes and a discrete but noticeable leather collar around his neck trailing after a much less elegantly dressed young woman.

Lizzy paused in the produce aisle, ready to select an assortment of fruit. She turned to Darcy:

"You will be making eggplant parmesan and caesar salad for dinner tonight. Go procure the ingredients."

"Yes, Mistress."

As he walked away, she noticed the young blonde next to her shoot her daggers. Jealous much?

Feeling playful, Lizzy addressed the scowling woman. "You know, if you like eggplant parmesan so much, you can come over for dinner. I would be happy to tell my slave to make enough for three. He'll make a damn fine naked waiter, too. But intimacy with other women is a hard limit for him, sorry hon." The blonde huffed and walked away.

A few minutes later, she had stacked a two boxes of strawberries next to the bags of peaches and mangos, and was idly flipping through D/S sites on her phone for inspiration, while she awaited her submissive's return with the ingredients for dinner.

"Lizbeth? What an unexpected pleasure! You haven't answered my texts."

Jared. Oh crap, I had completely forgotten that he lives a few streets away. So much for a normal, quiet afternoon. Damn my luck.

"Jared, hi. How have you been?"

"Not too bad, but missing you," he enveloped her in a hug, and pressed his mouth against your left year, "and your tight little pussy."

"Um..." She had not had the chance to form a sentence before whatever it was that she would ultimately say was swallowed by Jared's hungry kiss.

Her first thought was of the man a few aisles away getting parmesan. But she recalled Darcy's strange fascination with leaving her sexual freedom intact, and dismissed her worries. Lizzy had been horny all morning, and the release was welcome. Despite her flash of annoyance at Jared's manhandling of her, she returned his kiss with a passionate assault of her own.

When they broke apart, both were flushed and panting.

"Damn, Lizbeth, I need you. Can we return to this shopping business later? Please. I live only three blocks away."

It was at that moment that Darcy chose to make his return, calmly rolling a cart with the requisite ingredients.

"Mistress, I took the liberty of also selecting the things needed to make you pancakes for breakfast. I hope you do not object." He looked from Lizzy's flushed cheeks to Jared's equally disheveled appearance, and continued as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "Unless of course you would prefer that I make something else. What would you care for, my Mistress?"

Jared narrowed his eyes dangerously at the newcomer. It was comical, the similarity of his expression to that of the young blonde who had glowered at Lizzy. Jared was a handsome, athletic twenty-five-year-old, rugged and quite attractive. But the juxtaposition of him with the adonis who had approached them left no question as to the better-looking man. What was more, Jared's heated gaze was met with a perfectly unperturbed one from Darcy.

"What the fuck, Lizbeth? Who is this man?" Apparently, her casual boyfriend of six weeks was getting possessive. And defensive. Neither was an attractive quality on a man.

Before Lizzy had a chance to answer, Darcy extended his hand. "William Darcy. And you are?"

Jared grit his teeth, and squeezed the proffered hand roughly. A silly move if your opponent is a man half a foot taller than you, Lizzy thought. "Jared Marlow. Lizzy's boyfriend."

"Ah. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Marlow."

"I cannot say that the pleasure is mutual, Mr. Darcy. May I know what you are doing out shopping with my girlfriend?"

Oh God, I did not realize that Jared was a jealous type. We hooked up six times in as many weeks, for fuck's sake.

"Mistress's apartment does not have much in terms of food, so we are picking up the necessities and enough for me to cook her desired food for dinner," Darcy responded matter-of-factly, as if his answer were the most obvious thing in the world.

"What the fuck? Mistress? Lizbeth, are you having an affair with this guy?"

Lizzy was getting seriously annoyed with Jared's behavior. "Jared, please, you are making a scene," she tried to speak calmly. They had indeed attracted a small audience in the produce aisle, including the pesky blonde from before, looking on in gloating satisfaction.

"Damn right, I'll make a scene! My girlfriend is out shopping with some big-shot guy who openly acknowledges that she's his mistress! I'm not going to stand for this bullshit."

"Jared -"

"Don't you 'Jared' me, Elizabeth! You're the one who's been whoring around."

"Enough." Darcy's spoke in a carefully controlled tone that did not fully disguise his displeasure. His eyes were regarding Jared with an expression of simultaneous rage and disgust. "You will not speak to her that way."

"I will do as I please, you son of a bitch! I'm her fucking boyfriend."

Darcy smirked. "And I am her submissive."

Jared's anger was now mixed with consternation. "Sub-submissive? What the -? Wait, is she your 'mistress' in that way?" There was an audible wave of sounds from the gathered onlookers.

"Yes, Miss Bennet is my Mistress."

"Damn, Lizbeth, not only are you a cheating cunt, but a fucking pervert too?!"

Darcy had by this point come face to face to Jared, and look a firm hold of the shorter man's shirt collar. "This will be the last time I repeat myself. Take care not to disrespect my Mistress again."

Jared was visible shaken, but not ready to back off. "Fuck you! How long have you been with her?"

"While your attitude has certainly not earned you the right to expect any answers, I will indulge you. Miss Bennet has collared me as her full-time slave this morning."

"Has she fucked you?"

"My Mistress has used me for her pleasure once, two months ago."

The store security closed in on the two men. Took them long enough.

"Gentlemen, is there a problem here?"

Instead of responding to them, Darcy turned to Lizzy.

"Mistress, would you like to forgive your boyfriend for his disrespect and continue speaking with him, or would you rather see him thrown out of the store?"

"I have no wish to ever speak to this man again," Lizzy answered with certainty. Jared's attitude was quite a revelation, and far more than she had thought she bargained for with their casual relationship.

Darcy withdrew an impressive stack of hundred dollar bills from his shoulder bag, and handed it casually to the security guards. "Please see that this man is removed from your premises. He has offended a lady."

There were a few awed murmurs in among the onlookers in the ensuing silence. After a moment of hesitation, the security escorted Jared out of the store.

Darcy came over to Lizzy and bowed his head in a sign of submission.

"Mistress, are pancakes agreeable for breakfast tomorrow? And is there anything else you would like me to pick up for your kitchen?"

"Pancakes are great, let's get out of here."

Did Will Darcy just completely stake his claim over me in front of my so-called boyfriend, while behaving as a perfect submissive the entire time?