by Marlee Wray
I’m asleep within moments.
Chapter Ten
Zoe
When I wake, I feel amazing. I slide my robe on and walk out, expecting to find only Connor, but the three of them are around the table. C, Trick, and Anvil are drinking and playing cards. There is a stack of cash in the center of the table.
“Sorry,” I say, backing up.
“Nothing to be sorry about. Come here, Zoe,” C says.
I’m naked under the robe and my hair is wildly curly. I do not belong in a room full of dangerous men and their drinks.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” I say.
“Last hand for me,” C says.
Cards are flipped. Anvil grins and drags the money to him.
C stands and stretches, then he picks up a leather bag and leads me into the bedroom. His sleeves are rolled up, revealing his strong forearms.
“Should I dress for dinner?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “We’ve got some things to talk about first.”
“About this morning,” I say, launching into my apology. “I’m sorry for not getting up right away. You could have warned me though that we had the drive and everyone waiting.”
He studies me.
“But I am sorry,” I say.
“Done?”
I hesitate. “Yes?” After a beat, I add, “I mean, yes.”
“You wanted us to make an appointment to talk about us. Let’s do that now. What do you want to say?”
“I guess just that I’m uneasy with how fast things are moving, considering how complicated they are. This is changing my life completely. I need to be able to maintain my friendship with Rachel, and I don’t know how I can do that if everyone knows I’m dating you.”
“I’ve got no problem with Rachel. Does she have one with me?”
“No, you know that’s not the problem.”
“Do I? She and Frank are close now. That makes me the enemy.”
“That’s not it.”
“If you say so. You know her better than I do. So what’s the truth? I guess, like you, she’s worried how Frank will react to you and me being together?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a valid concern. Frank is powerful and spiteful. A bad combination. If she’s willing, she should move away from here. I’ll take you to visit her.”
On one hand, the way he promises to protect my friendship with Rachel by taking me to see her warms me, and, deep down, I love the implication that C and I will be together long enough for that to happen. On the other hand, I’m just not sure how much control I want him, or any guy, to have over my friendship with Rach. “That’s part of the problem,” I say. “She and I don’t want to have to have our visits curated.”
“Well, that’s how it has to be until the war’s over.” He walks to the clock and turns the radio on. “It’s time to deal with the consequences of this morning.” He sits on the end of the bed and pulls me to stand between his knees. He slide a hand under my robe and rests it on my thigh a few inches below my ass. His thumb caresses my skin, sending tingles into my flesh and causing my heart to beat faster.
I look at him, but say nothing. I’d had an idea that we weren’t done with this morning, but didn’t want to ask in case he was going to let it slide.
“I don’t want you to spank me with Trick and Anvil in the suite.”
He removes his hand from my leg and pats the bed. I sit, but he stands. Then he leaves the bedroom.
I cringe and want to rush after him. What is he doing? Will he tell them to leave and tell them why? My face is hot with humiliation.
When he returns, I shoot to my feet.
“What did you tell them? Specifically?” I demand.
He levels his gaze on me, and there’s no regret or guilt in his expression despite the recrimination in my tone.
I try again in a softer voice. “Will you tell me what you said to them?”
“We’ll talk about that later,” he says, grabbing the small leather bag he brought with him. He sets it on the bed and unzips it. “You can challenge me whenever you want to, Zoe. I like your spirit. But if you act like a brat for silly reasons and that brattiness affects other people or my business, I’m going to punish you sternly enough that you’ll think twice about picking the wrong moment to be a pain in the ass.”
“You didn’t communicate with me,” I accuse. “I had no idea your business meeting was in Boston and that—”
“I know we didn’t have time to talk last night, and that I didn’t warn you that you’d need to get up and get moving as soon as I asked you to today. For that reason, I’m not going to take this punishment as far as I would’ve.”
I blink and tilt my head. “If you want to spank me, I won’t argue with you. I—” I take a deep breath in and exhale. “I wasn’t at my best this morning. But since I didn’t know what was going on today, I think you should just accept my apology and let me off with a warning.”
He smiles. “There’s zero chance of that, beautiful.”
I push my newly trimmed curls with their tremendous bounce away from my face. I shake my head at him, and curls fall back over my eyes. “I need a clip for my hair,” I say, starting to turn.
“No, you don’t,” he says, catching my arm and pulling me back. “Not during this.” He tugs the tie and my robe opens. His right hand drops down, and his knuckles graze my shaved pussy.
My belly tightens. He conveys so much with a light touch and a look. This is mine, he seems to say without words.
He takes off his shirt and hangs it in the closet. I see that there are several things hanging in plastic garment bags that weren’t there when we arrived. His other suit is still in the same position it was in when it was brought up from the car. He removes his trousers too, so he’s wearing only black boxer briefs. He’s got more bulk than a dancer, but his muscles are no less defined. I love his body, especially his bulging arms and his pecs. And I’m glad he’s stripped down. I guess that means we’ll be having sex after the punishment, which is a good sign.
“Take off your robe,” he says, sitting on the end of the bed.
A wave of nervousness crashes over me. Even though this isn’t the first time I’m letting him do this, it feels different. More like I’m choosing it.
I roll my shoulders so the robe slides from my body. His hungry look gives me a certain sense of satisfaction and a little bit of power. If the rumors are right, and I have every reason to believe they are, he doesn’t usually have a girlfriend. The kinky games are normal for him, but I don’t think bringing someone along to a hotel business meeting is. It makes me feels special to him, which I love. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of women who would endure anything to be with him, but I actually enjoy the adrenaline rush I get from anticipating what he might do to me.
I lie down over his lap, pushing my ass up in a move that’s part acceptance and part defiance.
“Relax,” he says, and then I hear the sound of liquid being squeezed from a bottle.
I look sharply over my shoulder and find that he’s coating a sex toy with lube.
“What is that?”
“Guess,” he says, gripping an ass cheek and pulling it outward to expose me.
He touches the slippery metal bulb to my ring. I suck in a breath and lurch off his lap and onto the floor.
“Wait,” I say, holding out a hand from where I’m crouched on the carpet. “Just—wait.”
He wags a finger for me to get back on his lap.
Feelings of desperation and arousal war within me. I lick my lips.
“C, I need you to talk to me. I—I want to know what you’re going to do.”
“I’m going to put this in your ass for your spanking. And depending on how you do, I may switch it out for another one afterward.”
“I don’t think I’m ready.”
“We’ll find out what you can handle by trying things.” He gestures to his lap. “Don’t stall. Lie back over my lap with your ass in position f
or punishment.”
My heart hammers in my chest. This is the darker side of his dominance. I want to protest, but I also want to explore. My nipples are tight and my pussy’s moist. I would never let most men talk to me the way he does, but Connor McCann isn’t most men.
I rise and then lie back across his hard thighs. I will myself to relax. I remember listening to two other dancers talk about anal sex. One liked it. The other hated it. What had been the advice of the one who liked it? I couldn’t remember.
A drizzle of oil slithers down the crevice of my ass to pool over my cringing asshole. C massages the ring and penetrates it with his fingertip. It’s such a filthy touch, but it causes my belly to tighten and my pussy to throb.
“Good girl,” he murmurs. Then the cool metal is against me. A firm pressure causes my ring to give, and it pushes into me. The small muscle is stretched around the toy’s neck, causing an ache.
My hips twist and I pant from the discomfort.
C rubs my lower back, soothing me through the worst of it.
“Is it supposed to be uncomfortable?” I ask, afraid I know the answer.
“It’s supposed to stretch you, so yeah, it’ll be uncomfortable at first. Try to relax your muscles,” he says, pressing a thumb into pressure points between my shoulder blades.
I concentrate on relaxing. I’m partially successful.
“This spanking is punishment and so is that plug. If this was just about training your body, so I can use it the way I want, I’d turn the training into foreplay,” he says, a strong finger rubbing my clit for emphasis. He withdraws the teasing digit, and I growl in frustration.
“You’re such a bastard,” I hiss.
“Sometimes,” he agrees remorselessly. “I’m going to warm you up with my hand and then the punishment will start. Do you want me to talk you through it?”
“No!” I snap. “Just hurry and get it over with.” Now that I know this isn’t going to lead to great sex, I’m impatient and angry.
“Another five strokes for your bad attitude,” he says.
I curse.
“Ten.”
I bite my lip, shaking my head violently.
“Silence is safer,” he says, waiting. Then his hand comes down. The first slaps on each globe immediately warm my ass and send currents of arousal through my ass to my pussy.
What’s wrong with me? Why am I so attracted to a man who could do this to me? And why do I want him to keep doing it, faster, harder?
The slaps give way to firmer smacks on each cheek. He pauses, massaging my low back and buttocks. He twists the toy in my ass too and I let out a strangled protest. I was just getting used to it. The movement rekindles the burn.
He hooks a leg over mine and pins my arm in my lower back. I stiffen, taking these moves as warning that things are about to get more painful.
And they do.
* * *
Connor
Zoe’s fierce. She struggles, whimpering when she can’t escape, but she doesn’t beg or balk verbally.
I have a leather paddle that delivers a wide area of stinging pain. It’s halfway between a whipping and a paddling. I wield it with moderate force, the warm skin of her round bottom becoming increasingly red.
Her silence quickly gives way to small shrieks. She rears up, stiffening all those impressive dancer’s muscles. I love the way she moves, even in distress. And the more she moves, the more I can see the plug take effect, her cries sometimes sounding like moans.
When I pause to rest her, she collapses over my lap, her head dangling, the tips of her curls dragging over the carpet. She cries softly, and a part of me wants to lift her off my legs to comfort and hold her.
I tip my head back, trying to steel myself against stopping too soon. She’s not screaming for me to stop, but I know what it’s like to swallow down pain in silence. She might not be capable of telling me she’s hit her limit.
I release her wrist and rub her back.
“You can choose, Z. You’ve got twenty strokes left, but you don’t have to take them. You can stand naked in the corner for thirty minutes instead.”
“No, finish,” she rasps with a catch in her voice.
“All right,” I say. I’m not brutal, but I make them count. The flaming heat of her ass is perfect.
She twists and kicks a little, but also spreads her thighs and raises her hips with restless hunger. I’m not sure she realizes what she’s doing; on a primal level her body’s reacting to this with sexual heat. I love that my doing dirty things to her turns her on. I’m ready to do a lot more.
I lift her up and stand. There are tears streaming down her face. I don’t try to kiss her, but I do pull her into my arms. I hold her tight against me until her body melts against me and she lets go, crying hard into my chest.
I stroke her soft curls. “It’s all right.”
After a few minutes, she stirs against me. I release her, and she turns and falls face down on the bed, burying her face in one bent arm and reaching back to feel her ass experimentally with long cool fingers.
“My ass feels like it’s twice as big as normal. And it’s normally big enough!” she says through tears.
“Spanked or un-spanked, your ass is perfect.”
“Take this thing out,” she says, tapping a fingernail on the flat handle of the plug.
I bend over and plant a wet kiss on her left ass cheek. She jerks and pushes my shoulder to get me away from her.
“Don’t you dare, C.”
I smirk and sit next to her. “That ass is mine,” I say, teasing her. “I can do whatever I want to it.”
She turns her head, her deep brown eyes snapping dangerously. Her tear-streaked face is so beautiful that, for a second, it takes my breath away.
“I’ll let you rest,” I say.
She rubs her tears away and then rests her face against the mattress. “It’s as intense as performing. More so in some ways because I never know what to expect,” she says.
“We can talk about it. I can tell you what to expect.”
She holds out a hand and shakes her head. “Not right now.”
My hand really wants to knead her ass, to enjoy the heat I put there. But she seems to need time before she’ll be ready to be touched. Despite my raging hard-on, I hold back from fucking that sublime body.
I reach in and fist my cock. I stroke up and down, while I admire the way she looks face down and chastised in my bed. The plug peeks at me from between her cheeks and that tightens my balls. Soon I’ll be able to fuck her pussy with plugs and vibrators in her ass. Soon I’ll be able to fuck her in the ass too, while she reaches back with her pretty fingers to hold herself open for me.
That’s all it takes for me to spray cum onto her naked ass and thighs. I groan, the pleasure ripping through me.
She turns her head to watch me with open curiosity. I shove my boxer briefs down, so my cock dangles free. I kneel on the bed and then drop onto my palms.
“Suck me clean,” I say.
Her gaze locks with mine. This push-pull between us is such a fucking turn-on. I want to know what she’ll let me make her do. I want, too, to feel the white heat of her anger on me if I go too far. Mostly, I realize, I want her full attention. All the fucking time.
She opens her mouth.
I smile and drag her head up at the same time I lower my hips. She sucks the cum off my cock and swallows.
I pull my cock free and kiss her on the mouth before wiping the taste of myself from my lips. I stand and pull up my briefs.
“Where are you going, C?”
“Nowhere. Out to the suite. You want a drink?”
“You’re forgetting something,” she says, raising that gorgeous ass. “You put it in there. Take it out.”
I realize she doesn’t want to do that herself. I stride over and spread her cheeks.
“Relax,” I say.
She hisses, slapping one long leg against the bed, when I pull the plug free with a gentle tug. She clenches her
buttocks and closes her legs. I get the message. That area is off limits right now.
I toss the toy in the bathroom trash and wash my hands. When I emerge, she’s lying on her side, giving me a great view of her pretty tits and flat belly.
“There are clothes in the closet for you to choose from,” I say. “Take a look and try things on. Whatever you don’t like, hang in the closet next to the suite’s front door. Whatever you like, leave there with my suit. And the handle bag with the tissue paper is full of lingerie.”
She’s quiet a moment. “So what am I? A kept woman?” she asks with dry amusement.
“In bed, you’re whatever we decide. But out there, beyond this suite, I’m the king and that makes you my queen.”
She blinks.
“I wear a suit to send a message to the world. You can dress like a college kid or a broke dancer if you want to, but that’s not the way I see you. I don’t think it’s the way the world should see you either.”
“Jesus, Connor,” she says, her eyes filling with tears.
“What?” I say, taken aback. I wasn’t criticizing her. She’s got great natural style; she just hasn’t had the money to upgrade until now.
She uses the heel of her hand to wipe her tears away. “A queen?” she demands. “Get out of here before I fall in love with you.”
Ah, I think. Don’t forget that, I tell myself. She likes when you give her permission to act like the superstar she is.
Chapter Eleven
Zoe
I dress in a shimmery topaz blouse and taupe skirt, asking myself what I’m doing. I’m crushing on C so hard right now, when I know I should be running away. Fast and far.
A man like Connor McCann has expectations, and they’ll only get worse the deeper I get. I have plans for my life that are nonnegotiable. Not that he negotiates. I touch my ass gingerly. It’s sore in a way that causes my pussy to throb, but my body is an instrument. Expecting to spank me for displeasing him is just one more way that our lifestyles probably aren’t well suited.
I shouldn’t be wearing thousand-dollar outfits he’s bought for me. I can’t let myself get caught up in his world, no matter how much I love the way he makes me feel.