“Hey.” He stepped to her and pulled her to his chest, enveloping her in his arms. “You didn’t ruin us. And I don’t want to hear any more about the car. I’ll either fix it or I won’t. It’s just a car. It’s you I care about.” He ran his hand down her bare back, soothing away some of the tension. “Now, get ready for work and I’ll drive you on my way into the shop.”
She nodded against his chest but didn’t move from him.
“We’re going to get through this.”
“Does it have to be at Dark Lace?” she asked, sounding more pitiful than she intended. But with her mouth scrunched up against him, it couldn’t be helped.
“Yes. It does.” He said firmly. There wouldn’t be any further explanation, and she wasn’t ready to push the line just yet. She still had some time to talk him out of it, if she found the nerve.
He placed a kiss to her forehead and gave her naked ass a hard swat.
“Get ready to leave in twenty minutes.”
Chapter 5
The club was brimming with people. The holiday season didn’t slow business down at all for the popular BDSM club.
Thomas stood at the table set up beside the St. Andrew’s cross, laying out his arsenal. Susan hadn’t come out of the locker room yet, but he wasn’t surprised. She’d tried several times over the past few days to convince him to handle her punishment at home. Playing in front of their friends and strangers was fine with her, but taking an actual punishment was something entirely different.
A fact he couldn’t argue with, but Garrick had been right. Even though his anger had fully waned away, whenever he thought back to that image of her hurt, his body tensed. He needed to make sure she was safe, and at the moment that included keeping her from the risk of him losing control. Just because it never happened before, he wasn’t willing to bet her safety that it wouldn’t happen now.
“Sir,” Susan’s soft voice drew his attention from the floggers lined up.
She stole his breath standing before him. She’d swept her hair up into a tight bun. He hadn’t asked her to, but at this point in their relationship- he didn’t need to. Her entire body would be exposed to her punishment, which meant keeping her hair away from her back.
The silk robe tied loosely around her body, didn’t hide the hardness of her nipples. Even knowing how hard this discipline session would be, her body reacted with arousal.
“Come stand at the cross,” he pointed to the spot he wanted her. She stood in position with her hands folded in front of her, waiting.
Leaving the implements on the table, he grabbed the wrist cuffs and joined her. Without prompting she held up her arms and he went about tightening the restraints.
“Take off the robe and face the cross. I want your ass first,” he kept his eyes from meeting hers.
He stepped back to let her have the space she needed and watched as the silken fabric fell away from her body. Full round breasts, generous curved hips and all the beauty in between became exposed to him, and he reminded himself this was punishment. Having kept himself from touching her or using her in any sort of sexual fashion until after this session, left him in a starved state for her body. But he would wait.
Once she turned around, showing him her deliciously plump ass, he took the robe from her and tossed it to the table.
“You are expected to use your safe words if you need them, do you understand?” He asked, taking her right wrist and hooking it up to the cross.
“Yes, sir,” she said demurely.
He moved to her left arm. “Other than your safewords, I don’t want any words. No begging, no apologizing. If you are ready to tell me why you drank what you did- you can tell me that, but that’s it. Do you understand?” He clicked the d-ring in place on her left wrist.
“Yes, sir.” She gave a hard nod. So sure she’d be able to take the punishment without having to divulge that? Well, he’d see.
He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “I love you, Susan.”
“I love you too, sir.” She leaned her head toward him, pressing against his forehead.
“You’ve earned the worst whipping of your life. Are you ready?” He asked in a low voice. Onlookers could watch, but they didn’t need to know every exchange.
“yes, sir.” She nodded and straightened her stance.
He patted her ass. “I doubt it, but I’ll help you.”
He walked around her, checking over her back and her ass. A creamy canvas that needed marking. Deserved the lash. Grabbing a heavy flogger from the table, he made his way back to her.
“Tell me, Susan, how many drinks are you allowed when I’m not with you?” he asked, flogger raised.
“One, sir.” She answered at the same time the flogger connected with her ass. She took a deep breath but remained still. He brought it down again harder in the same spot. Her ass wiggled from the impact. Fuck, his cock was hard.
“And how many did you have?”
She let out a harsh gasp after another lash of the flogger struck the same spot. “A lot more, sir,” she said on a breath. Her ass was starting to turn a nice shade of pink, so he moved to her back, aiming across her shoulder blades.
She rose up to her toes and let out a little squeal. Music to his ears.
A crowd formed around them; word had gotten out what they were doing. But he wouldn’t let them interfere. They weren’t there to put on a show. They were there to mend the hole.
“Should you have gotten in the car?” he asked, walking over to the table to exchange the flogger for a long handled wooden paddle.
“No, sir,” she called to him over her shoulder. He glanced at her, seeing her eyes widen when they landed on the next implement to be used.
“Please…” she whispered and dipped her head forward again.
He rushed to her back, grabbing hold of her bun and pulling her head back. “What did I say about begging?” He growled with his mouth against her cheek.
A tear slipped from her eye, rolling onto his lips.
“No begging.” She said roughly.
“When I get the cane out next, you can thank your little slip up for it.” He released her hair and went back into position. Her shoulders rounded forward. The cane was always going to be the third implement. It would be the worst as well, but she needed to know her actions had consequences even in the middle of a punishment.
She remained silent when he pressed the round paddle against her asscheeks. It was large enough to cover her entire ass, making it less work for him, and a nice impact for her.
“Ass out.” He patted the paddle against her.
She walked her feet back and arched her back, forcing her ass into position.
He pulled his arm back and unleashed the first swat. Giving her only a moment to feel the burn of it, he continued to rain down the spanks. After the third smack her feet started dancing and by the sixth, she was crying out with each blow.
The image popped in his head of her leaning against her window, blood rolling down her face.
He stopped. Stood straight and stared at her.
He almost lost her.
He could have lost her.
“Five more.” He decreed after making sure his emotions were in check. Although the memory was still intense, it didn’t rule him. The spanking would continue.
Her ass reddened beneath the paddle and she screamed after a particularly hard smack, but he wasn’t finished. He’d said five and he had two more to deliver.
She stumbled forward a step after the next smack, and he waited for her to step back in position. Her shoulders shook and he could hear the sobs softly falling from her lips.
The last paddle swat landed directly on the upcurve of her ass and she lost her footing again, stepping forward two steps. Thomas heard a harsh gasp from the crowd behind him. To a stranger, it could look as though he didn’t care how rough he was being. He didn’t care about them though.
He tossed the paddle onto the table and grabbed the thickest cane he owned. It would still
hurt like fucking hell, but better than the thin rattan cane he’d originally planned to use.
Thomas rounded the cross to stand in front of his wife. She raised her chin, bringing her gaze to meet his. Her eyes fiery red from crying, her cheeks puffy and tear stained, even with the tormented look in her eyes, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“Five strikes of the cane, Susan,” he said while wiping her bangs from her forehead. A thin layer of sweat had trapped her hair, and he knew how much she hated when that happened.
“Yes, sir,” she said in a ragged whisper. She could take more. His wife loved the sting and pain of a long play session. But this wasn’t play time, and the emotional toll of her punishment tired her.
He brushed a kiss to her cheek. “Five more,” he said, hoping to encourage her to take them without any further additions. “It would have been four” he added as he walked around the cross.
For the cane, he liked to crouch beside her. Bring her ass to his eye level to be more precise in his strokes. Once in position he lightly pressed the cane against her red cheeks. A small purple splotch formed on the lower part of her cheek. He would avoid it.
He snapped the cane across her ass.
Chapter 6
Susan howled from the fire lit across her ass. But her husband wasn’t finished, and he wasn’t slowing down. There would be no mercy until the punishment was complete.
Another rapid fired smack with the cane, and then another. Two more. Or one? She’d lost count already.
“Ass out, Susan, or we can start again,” he tapped the cane across her thighs. She arched her back more. The throbbing would never end. Her ass would never heal. She’d be standing for the rest of her life.
And she deserved it.
Her actions had been so careless. So thoughtless. So selfish. And she still hadn’t explained it to him. Their marriage didn’t work that way. She needed to divulge everything to him. Give him all of her worries.
Submit to him.
That’s how their marriage thrived.
She arched her back deeper. All in.
“Two more.” He said just as the cane landed again. She clenched her eyes closed, squeezing tears from them.
One more.
She could do that.
It would be the worst.
He always made the last one count.
She screamed up at the ceiling when the sharp pain burst across her ass. Jumping forward, she straightened her back and cried as the last bit of the burn seeped into her skin and the remaining ache in her chest unleashed.
With the last stroke given, Thomas was quick to unshackle her from the cross and pull her into his arms. Cradling her to his chest, he ran his hands over her back, careful to keep his hands above her waist.
“I’m sorry. So sorry,” she cried into his shirt, soaking the black cotton with her tears.
“I know,” he kissed her cheeks. “I know.”
“I thought I was pregnant.” She blurted.
He pushed her away from his chest and looked down at her, his eyebrows raised, and his lips parted in shock.
“I’m not.” She added quickly. “I thought I was, but I got my period. That day. That’s why I drank too much.”
“You thought you were pregnant and didn’t tell me?” he asked softly.
“I wanted to be sure before I said anything. I was late, just a few days, but…well, then I got it, so I wasn’t. And I realized how much I had wanted to be.”
He drew her into his arms again holding her even tighter than before.
“An entirely different talk is needed.” He muttered.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you- “
“No, not about that.” He pulled her back again and touched his fingertips to her cheek. “I think it’s time we talk about trying. But not now, not tonight. Right now, I’m going to snuggle you until you’re ready to go home. And then, I’m going to fuck you until you can’t breathe. Then, tomorrow, after I’ve fed you a big breakfast, we’ll talk about it.”
Her chest unclenched.
“I like the fucking part.” She smiled weakly. Her legs were wobbly, but she’d manage well enough once they were home.
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to that, too.” He kissed her; a hot, possessive kiss that helped her forget the throbbing ache in her ass for a moment. “If you ever do something so reckless again- “
“Tonight, will be a cakewalk in comparison. I know,” she nodded.
“I’m not even going to think about it anymore.” He shook his head. “let’s get your robe on so you can sit down. I need to clean the rig.”
She nodded and let him walk her to the chair he had set up next to his implement table. Normally, she’d help him set up and break down, but her job after a punishment was to consider her actions.
She’d entered Dark Lace worried and anxious about the punishment. And although it was the harshest he’d ever given her, knowing it washed their slate clean. Feeling every bit of the love return to them, and the balance restored, eased away the physical pain.
In the morning, she would have bruises and welts and her ass would look a horrid mess. But her heart would be whole. Her marriage would be the loving, safe haven it was meant to be.
The world was righted.
Epilogue
“Wait! No!” Susan ran across the lawn to where Thomas stuck the shovel into the ground.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, blocking the sun with his hand. The summer heat was brutal, he wanted to finish putting in the garden bed and get back into the air-conditioned house.
She bounced over to him wearing her cherry red swimsuit, her hair pulled up into a high ponytail.
“I thought you were going to the pool with Patty,” he said once she reached him.
“I was. I am. I don’t know.” She waved a hand between them.
“You want to take the Porsche.” He laughed. She had that mischievous grin about her, she only used it when she wanted something. And since he’d finished the repairs on the Porsche, between him and his staff at the shop they’d managed to get it back in order, she’d been skirting the issue of driving it again.
“What? No.” She shook her head. “I never want to touch that car again,” she surprised him by saying.
“Okay…then what?” he rested his hand on the shovel handle and the other on his hip. “What’s up with you?” He laughed at the excitement bubbling out of her.
“It worked.” She clapped her hands together and bounced.
He tilted his head. It was too hot for riddles.
“What worked?”
“I’m pregnant!” she yelled with both hands in the air.
He let go of the shovel, letting it fall back into the dirt.
“So, you can’t put a flower bed here. We need this space for a sandbox, or a playset, or well, something not dirt related.” She pointed to where the shovel had fallen.
“You’re pregnant?” He looked to her belly. Not a single curve.
“I am,” she laughed. “Stop looking at my stomach. I’m only six or seven weeks, I won’t have a fat stomach for a few more months.” She shoved at his shoulder.
“You’re pregnant.” He announced with a wide grin stretching his lips.
“That’s what I said, yes,” she laughed. Such a pretty sound. Light and loving.
“You’re not going swimming.” He picked up the shovel and grabbed her arm. “You’re taking a nap.”
She pulled out of his grasp once they were in the kitchen and spun around to hug him.
“I will go up to bed with you now if you promise to make it worth my while, but I’m not spending the next eight months napping.”
He leaned the shovel against a counter and scooped her up in his arms.
“You won’t have to nap for eight months.” He carried her to the stairs and paused at the top. “Maybe for three. We’ll see.” He pinched her ass and hurried into the bedroom.
They were going to have a fa
mily.
Good thing he finished building the stocks for the club. He’d be able to get to work building a crib. Or the playset.
Whatever the hell she wanted.
“I love you, sir.” She said, peeling down the top of her suit.
“I love you more,” he shoved off his shorts. “Now no more talking, get that suit off and spread those legs. I have a lot to do if I’m going to make this trip to bed worthwhile.”
She placed a hand on her flat stomach.
“You already have.”
* * *
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BEAST
CHAPTER ONE
“Not again.”
Ellie Stevens stepped off the bus and into the thick humid air of the city to find a group of people milling around the entrance to The Café, her father’s coffee shop. She pushed her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose and made her way through the crowd.
“It’s locked again, Ellie,” Jason, their full-time cashier, informed her as she reached for the handle of the door. The lights were still on, and the We’re Open sign hadn’t been turned off.
Which meant her father was inside.
And, if the door was locked, he wasn’t alone.
“It’ll be just a minute.” Ellie pulled her saddlebag forward, unzipped the leather pouch, and dug out her spare key.
“I’m not sure you should go in there. Those guys work for Ash Titon,” Jason said.
“Who?” Ellie asked, finding the key among the array of colored pencils littering her purse.
Club Dark Lace: Complete Dark Lace Series Page 27