Official Description:
My mind is trapped in circles, my loneliness pressing in. Unable to speak, I reach for her spark. In her eyes, I find my partner. In her command, I find my freedom. Together, we open our lives to something more. AU/AH, D/s, male sub.
Word Count: 169,425
Don’t miss the extras: Our Lives Unbound Extras!
Our Lives Unbound is a sensual journey through sexual discovery for our dear Edward and Bella.
You get the impression early on that Bella is a bit more experienced in things than Edward, and this is definitely the case. It’s actually one of the details of this story I loved the most – an empowered, intelligent, sexually-confident (usually!) Bella. She embraces Edward and all of his awkward nervousness, and never once questions their connection.
We meet Edward after a series of terrible dates, on a blind date with Bella. They connect and agree to talk more, and see each other again. After another great date, full of conversation and flirting and then some, they engage in a smoldering hot dry hump in Edward’s car. Then, Bella slays me (and Edward) with:
“Please,” I beg, and her eyes are dancing, a teasing smile flirting at the edges of her face as she lowers her hand to my mouth, sliding slick wet Bella across my lips, watching as I lap at it greedily before sucking her fingers into my mouth.
“You want to lick it all up next time?” she whispers, and I groan, the image of her pussy hovering over my mouth almost enough to make me hard all over again. I nod, too entranced with her taste and with the promise of more to come to speak.
She pulls her fingers from my mouth and smirks. “You’d better earn it then.”
Earn it indeed. This now-complete story is 36 chapters (plus outtakes!) of exploration, growth, love, fucking, some heartache, and journey. My God, the journey these two go on… I could write for days about it. Theladyingrey is so poetic in her writing it’s easy to just get lost in this story. I never felt like it was over-the-top with drama, or any particular facet, the pacing and tone even and just perfect.
If you’ve ever wondered about any aspect of yourself, you will love this fic. I hate to even mention that there are BDSM themes in it, because like all great love stories, this isn’t about the flavorings sprinkled in, this is about the meaty main dish of two people falling in love and figuring out how to make it work together.
Theladyingrey42 herself can attest to the fact that I am horrible at leaving her reviews, because after each chapter of hers, I am generally left in such a stupor that all I can say is “wow.” Since I can honestly say this is my favorite fic of all time, and I respect the hell out of Theladyingrey42, I will attempt to say more than just “wow” here.
“Our Lives Unbound” is not your typical BDSM fic, but not only because Edward is the sub. Many of the BDSM stories I’ve stumbled upon in the fandom have a dynamic where at least one of the protagonists have some kind of experience with D/s relationships. As the story begins, we learn that Edward and Bella are fairly inexperienced, having both dealt with years of stifled needs and unanswered desires.
Edward is frustrated by all aspects of his life, his own self-loathing nearly keeping him prisoner. His family, his stutter, even his own thoughts seem almost a physical burden to him, tying him down and stopping him from being able to interact with people. He feels like a failure in so many ways, especially when it comes to women. He is desperately lonely, searching for connection, for fulfillment, but he has always been unable to find it.
And while it may seem in the beginning that Bella is coming from an entirely different place, appearing so strong and confident, in reality, she is scared and vulnerable, suffering from the fallout of all her own past relationships.
As they come into their budding relationship at the beginning of chapter one, the reader is immediately enamored by their attraction to one another, coupled with the very real feeling of being haunted by ghosts of their mutual pasts. And from their very first encounter, standing on Bella’s front porch after their first date, I was hooked.
Then I am falling. Lips and mouths and a secret taste of flesh as I obey. As I kiss. The wet muscle of her tongue tastes the salt-venom of my spit. I fall into the inferno of her lips, untroubled that this is our only point of connection, right up until
her body is pressing into mine, soft curves fitting to hardened flesh, and we are so exposed in the shadow of her entryway.
I want her to take me, to strip me bare, and I am desperate for her to fuck me.
As if she can sense it, though, she chooses that very moment to pull away.
Our lips part wetly, her cool fingertips making a brushing line against the slickened corner of my lip.
“Perfect,” she whispers, her hand still lingering. I feel like a petted animal, like this is a modicum of approval intended just to tame me.
And I lap it up.
Though they never expressly state their obvious needs before the first lemon, it all falls into place perfectly between flirtatious innuendo and slips of citrus that leave the reader just as desperate as Edward. And when they do finally come together, it is glorious.
“Please. Please. Please.” I whisper it again and again into her lungs, my hips circling without leaving the mattress, without trying to touch myself to her for all that there is nothing I want more that to feel my body taken, slick and perfect inside of her. “Please.” I lave over her neck and face and anything else I can reach with my mouth, sucking and spreading her liquid across her skin with my tongue, panting into her ear when she lowers her face down closer to me.
“Please.” It’s a murmur now, an intensity of feeling and need that surpasses anything I have felt in my thirty years. There’s been nothing, absolutely nothing I have ever wanted so badly.
The intensity of their first smutty night together is just a taste of what is to come in this story, and their eventual discussion of safe words and limits a pre-cursor to just how much these two will grow to care about and need one another. It is during that conversation that Bella’s vulnerability is exposed, the dialog exchanged between them an interesting twist on canon.
Her voice, so deep and so self assured, shrinks. And even in the body that was so lithe and powerful as it hovered over me, she curls inward and becomes so small. “Before. Ages ago, really. Anybody else I’ve ever just been me with … they always run.”
The vulnerability on her face is terrifying as she pleads, “I don’t want to scare you away, Edward.”
While OLU is my go-to fic for lemons, poetry, and general inspiration on life and love, I find it hard to narrow down sections that will draw a reader to it – there is too much I love about it to fit into one little review! However, I do have to mention chapter eight, not only because it includes one of the most delicious bits of smut Theladyingrey42 provides us with, but also shows how their relationship is deeper than just sex – how they help one another, how they change each other’s worlds.
When she is done, she kneels before me, and while my gaze is still unfocused, I can see the vulnerability on her face. The second-guessing.
The fear.
And I know that, even as she has been taking care of me, she needs to be treated with care now, too.
Closing my eyes, I reach for her numbly, still too affected to speak coherently. But I need her to know that it’s not because this has been too much for me. Even though it has.
I need her to know that it’s because she is simply the best thing to ever happen to me.
Shaking, I pull her into my arms, just resting with her in my embrace and feeling the comfort of her arms wrapping themselves around me reciprocally.
And then, against her hair, I whisper the only words that I seem to be able to speak. “Thank you.”
Over and over again, I murmur it, with my breath and with my kiss. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Throughout the story, Edward’s need is so intense, pouring off every page from every exquisitely placed word. Theladyingrey42’s style is more art than writing, a poetry woven in through the threads of her prose, making it feel organic and alive. This is a beautiful story of love, honesty, trust and finding peace in oneself – again, one of the best stories I’ve ever read. And, after having met Theladyingrey42 IRL, I can tell you that she’s one of the nicest, down to earth and coolest people I’ve ever met as well.
There. That was more than “wow,” wasn’t it? 
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