The night was brightly lit by the moon. It cast deep shadows across the valley floor, but it was more than bright enough for the women in the hot tub behind the house. It seemed perfectly natural to Maria to strip off her clothes and climb in with her two friends. So natural in fact that she had forgotten about the new scars she had gotten since she was last naked with these women. Of course it was Melissa who spotted them.
"My God, Maria. Did he do this to you?" she asked, meaning Joseph.
Maria shook her head, and her two friends knew she had a story to tell. Once they were all settled, the water warm and bubbling against their naked skin, Maria began to tell her friends a little of what had happened to her.
She told them of her arrival at the Kennel after a few months of drifting around the country. She touched on how Joseph had adopted her and how he had taken care of her. When Melissa heard how Maria had gotten into another BDSM relationship, she started cursing Joseph for taking advantage of her. But Maria insisted that Joseph did anything BUT take advantage of her. He gave her what she thought she needed, bondage wise, and there was no doubt that he was the one in charge. But he took great pains to make sure that Maria adjusted properly and wasn't pushed any farther that she could go. Melissa calmed somewhat when Maria told her about her seeing a shrink. Joseph caring for Maria's mental health like that seemed to make it easier for Melissa to trust Maria's judgment of the man.
Then Maria started to talk about Hiro Atamo, and both Lisa and Melissa listened wide eyed as Maria told them about her kidnapping and consequent rescue. She finished up by explaining Joseph's injury to them. When she was done, the three of them sat quietly in the swirling water.
Then Melissa moved forward and gave Maria a hug. "You've been through a lot haven't you." she said. "I'm glad you're home."
Maria smiled. "Me too. And I'm happy to see that the two of you are still together." All three women smiled.
"That looked like an interesting bondage position you were in today, Lisa." Maria said, attempting to lighten the mood. Lisa smiled. For a while during dinner she had remained flush from her time in the barn. The heightened state of arousal she had finished up in had taken it's time to abate. Melissa had forbidden her to do anything about it either, much to Maria's amusement.
"Do you play bondage games as much as you used to?" Maria asked them.
"Sure!" replied Lisa. "It's usually just the two of us, but we try to play as often as we can."
"Just the two of you?" Maria raised her eyebrows.
"Er..." Lisa faulted.
"It's nothing." said Melissa, jumping in. "She meant that we both play together rather than just one of us doing bondage by ourselves." Maria doubted that. There was something they were keeping from her.
"Anyway. I had better get to bed." Lisa said, standing up in the water. "I have to open the Diner in the morning. Breakfast starts early." Maria and Melissa bid her goodnight, and they watched her naked form until she disappeared into the house.
"Well..." said Melissa.
"Well..." said Maria.
"I'd better get to bed too. She might need the help in the morning. Business has been pretty good lately."
Maria nodded. Although she hadn't expected her relationship with Melissa to just pick up where she had abandoned it a year ago, she found it unsettling that Melissa would lie to her about something. They had always been honest with each other.
"Do you mind if I stay a little longer? I'm not ready to go back just yet." Maria asked.
"Sweety, its your home. Alan left all this to you, remember? You can stay as long as you want."
Maria nodded, and stared at the water, avoiding her friend's face. She didn't watch as Melissa climbed out and followed her lover into the house.
After a while, Maria climbed out herself, and stood naked next to the tub. The wind was calm, and the trees silent as they stood vigil. She felt an urge to take a walk, and without going inside to dress, started down one of the many foot trails that ran back and forth across the valley.
As she walked, she couldn't help but think of past times when she had traveled these trails naked. She smiled when she remembered how often she had been dragged along, her hands bound together, attached to the saddle of Alan's horse, Nelson, with a long rope or chain. That got her wondering where Nelson was, and she made a mental note to ask when next she saw her friends.
She kept walking, the feel of the ground beneath her bare feet invigorating, the freedom of walking completely naked intoxicating. She held her arms out and began to dance down the trail, laughing and crying. Everything seemed so right, so good. Almost as good as...
She stopped.
For the first time in a long time, she had been able to think about Alan without that overwhelming sense of guilt that accompanied his memories. It came as quite a shock to her, and she wondered if she was ready to give up mourning for Alan.
She looked around at the hills and the trees that surrounded her, there was a flickering light in the distance on the other side of the valley, but otherwise nothing she could recognize. The hills at this end of the valley were tall and very steep, and from where she stood she could see nothing that was man made, not even on her own body. Here was the valley in it's purest form. Could a mere walk through it's embrace calm her to the point where she could address her issues without fear? She wasn't sure. She felt the urge to call her therapist, but fought it.
Pushing the thought back she continued on, and soon she reached the fence. The fence divided Alan's (No, Her's. She thought) property from the more public land beyond. About a mile downstream, as the crow flies, was the town where Joseph now slept in their motel room. Maria looked back along the trail for a moment, and then out beyond the fence.
An evil thought was pushing it's way into her mind. The walk back to the house was actually farther than if she walked to the hotel, yet from here on there was a much bigger risk of her being discovered naked if she chose to head for Joseph. Still, she thought, it was the middle of the night, who'd be about?
With a sense of playfulness that she hadn't felt for a long time, Maria climbed over the fence and proceeded through the trees that followed the stream. As she went, she could feel her heart pounding. She began to wonder what the hell she was doing. This wasn't like her, she liked things safe and easy.
Yet there was an excitement building that she couldn't deny. The trees thinned out to just low bushes and she covered the ground quickly until she got to the bridge. The road was deserted, but well lit by the moon, if she followed it she would have little cover in case she had to hide, but that didn't deter her. As she stepped out onto the pavement, she remembered the last time she had been naked and alone at this bridge. She wondered if the boy who saw her had told all his friends about the strange woman who had disturbed his fishing. Maria actually laughed at the memory, and if Joseph had been there he would have been amazed at how this little adventure had brought a glow to her cheeks.
She crossed the bridge and began walking along the road, turning every so often to make sure that no cars were coming up behind her. She felt really good about the walk and didn't feel a all nervous about it until she came to the town limits. Now she had to be a little more careful. She only had to go a couple more blocks, but the road was lit by street lights the whole way. Still, it wasn't a residential neighborhood she had to pass through, just a bunch of business's.
She got off the road and instead walked through parking lots, ducking behind cars whenever she thought she saw someone. She never did, and it was almost a disappointment to her when she got to the hotel without seeing anyone the whole trip. She thought she could get into the hotel via a side door, but when she tried she found it locked. A little sign on the door said that it was locked at night but that a room key could open it. That's when she realized that she didn't have a key. It was in her car back at the house. Maria faced a moment of indecision, but no fear as yet. She either had to go all the way back, a walk that had taken a long time already, or figure out a way of getting not only into the hotel, but also into her room.
Deciding to explore the second option a little more, Maria crept around behind the building and tried each door she came to. All were locked until she tried one of the doors to the indoor pool. Someone had stuffed a rag between the door and the frame so that it wouldn't shut, and Maria looked around nervously in case that person was nearby. She still seemed alone, so she opened the door, which squeaked loudly, and slipped in. Most of the lights were off, but she could see well enough to note that the hot tub was running, it's surface stirred to a froth by the jets. She saw a towel lying next to it and was reaching for it when she heard the squeak of the outside door. Without hesitating she jumped into the hot tub and sunk down so her naked body was hidden by the froth. She turned to see who it was who came in.
It was a young man, she saw, naked as she was, and carrying a phone. He appeared to be looking over at the lobby entrance to the pool as he walked, and didn't see Maria in the tub until he was almost standing on her.
"Oh! Shit!" he yelled when he saw her, quickly placing the phone over his groin. Maria was amused to see that it wasn't up to the job.
"Hi!" she said, smiling sweetly at his discomfort. Even though it was her trapped in the tub without any clothes, she felt that she was the one with the upper hand here. The young man looked over at the pool entrance and then back at her. He looked like he was about to bolt.
"It's okay," Maria said in an effort to calm him down, "why don't you slip into the water, you'll feel more comfortable." He looked at the white froth that hid all but her head from view, and a moment later climbed slowly in. The tub was a lot smaller than the one she had at home, and he couldn't help brushing his leg against hers. He almost jumped right back out of the water again.
"I'm sorry!"
"It's okay." Maria said calmly.
"Where did you come from, I thought I'd locked all the doors?"
"I have a room here. Do you work here?"
"Er...yeah. I work the night desk." He shifted around nervously.
"Look, you won't tell anyone will you? It could mean my job if my boss finds out I'm walking around naked at night."
Maria smiled, and decided to take pity on the guy. "Don't worry about it. Your secret is safe with me. In fact, I'll let you in on one of mine." She leaned closer to him and whispered "I'm nude too." She could see him blush as he realized he was sitting naked in a tub with a woman who was also nude. She tried to keep a straight face.
"Er..." was all he could manage to say.
"What's your name?" Maria asked.
"Tom..Thomas."
"Hi. I'm Maria."
Tom grinned, but it was more one of desperation than of happiness.
"Do you often work naked, Tom?" she asked him.
"Yes...no. I...er. No, I don't work naked, but..."
"But what?"
"I...well, most of the time I never see anyone at this time of night, and sometimes I get the urge to...well...stand outside naked. You know, get back to nature?" Maria nodded. She knew what he was talking about. Thomas seemed to relax a little more when he realized she wasn't going to laugh at him.
"So, where do you go?" Maria asked him.
"Not far. I can't take the phone out of range, in case I get a call. Sometimes I just sit in this hot tub for a little while."
"Do you do this at home too?"
"No." he said disappointedly. "I live in an apartment and it's way too busy to get out naked there. Here is the only chance I get."
Maria took pity on him. "I know a place where you could go if you wanted to. You could run around naked as much as you like there."
"Where? the closest public land with any kind of cover is over twenty miles from here."
"Wells Valley." Maria answered, using her home's official name.
"But that place is private. Has a fence all around it. Besides, the owner got shot there last year. The new owner has never been around but the place is occupied. No one knows what is going on there, but that's nothing new. The last owner was pretty tight about letting anybody on his land." Maria's face tightened a little at the mention of Alan's death, but Thomas didn't notice it.
"You won't have a problem with the new owner." she told him. Puzzled, Thomas asked why.
"Because you're looking at her."
Thomas's mouth dropped open. "You're Maria...Er...I'm sorry, about what I just said. I didn't mean to offend."
Maria's face relaxed back into a smile, which brought a nervous smile to Thomas's face too. "It's okay. No harm done. You can use the valley for your, nature walks, anytime you like. Just stay away from the house and yard, at least until I pass this on to the other people that live there."
"Sure. Thanks. Look, I don't want to seem ungrateful, but if you own Wells Valley, what are you doing here?"
"A fair question." Maria acknowledged, and explained to him about Joseph's disability and the need for them to stay at the hotel. Thomas nodded his understanding and the two of them sat in silence for a moment.
"Could you do me a favor, Tom?" Maria said sweetly.
"Er...what?"
"I locked myself out of my room, and I don't have a key. Could you get me another one?"
"Sure. I can do that. Why don't you wait here." Tom reached for the towel, but Maria grabbed t first."
"That's okay. I can come with you."
Tom stared at her for a moment, but all Maria did was smile. So, figuring that she had seen everything he had already, he pulled himself out of the hot tub and padded naked and wet toward the lobby entrance to the pool. He heard Maria get out of the tub behind him, but he hesitated too long before looking back and she had already wrapped the towel around herself. With a shrug he unlocked the door and with a quick look around the lobby to make sure it was empty, he ran behind the desk and grabbed another towel off a shelf. His clothes were in the back office, he'd get dressed after he dried off. Maria walked casually up to the desk, also looking around but feeling more secure now that she had the towel.
"What room are you in?" Tom asked her. She told him and he found a key for her. "You said you wouldn't tell right?" he said as he handed her the key.
"Don't worry. Here, I think this belongs to you." She pulled off the towel and threw it over his head in one swift motion. By the time he pulled it off all he could see was her back as she walked toward her room. He stared at her naked body until she was out of sight.
Maria forced herself to walk at a steady pace until she reached her room, although the way her heart was racing she felt more like running. She let herself into the room quietly and dried herself quickly with one of their own towels before slipping into bed next to Joseph. She thought he was asleep, but he opened his eyes as she pulled on the covers.
"You were gone a long time." he said.
"I...had a long trip back." she replied, and told him about her walk back from the valley and her encounter with Tom. By the time she finished Joseph was smiling, a warm smile that she hadn't seen on him for a while.
"It sounds like you are more like your frisky self." he commented.
Maria nodded, "It does feel good to be back, better than I thought."
Joseph laughed. "Well, it seems to me that you have a little too much energy for this time of night, we'll have to do something about it. Go get my bag will you?"
Intrigued, Maria climbed back out of bed and fetched his carry bag. He dug in it for a moment and pulled out two sets of handcuffs and a blindfold. Immediately, Maria's heart started beating faster. It had been so long since they had last done anything like this.
"Put these on your ankles." he asked, handing her the slightly larger pair of cuffs. She did as he asked, quite willingly. "Lie on your front." he ordered. Maria did so, and Joseph managed to get up on one elbow to cuff her hands behind her back. Then, rolling over slightly, he got the blindfold on her and lay back. Maria pulled against the cuffs at her hands and feet, and felt a sexual wave flow through her body. She was ready for this.
Joseph rolled the other way, his back to her. "I left a wake up call, you can get it when it rings."
It took a few seconds for Maria to register the fact that Joseph wasn't going to do any more than he had done already.
"What?" she asked him. "I thought..."
Joseph grinned, although she couldn't see it. He knew quite well what she thought. "Good night, Maria."
"But..."
"GOOD NIGHT, Maria."
Maria heard Joseph laugh quietly as she pulled once more at her bondage. Horny and frustrated, yes she really had come home.