by KB Alan
The movements were mostly one-handed, though occasionally she used both, awkwardly. When she pulled out the cheese and grater, he made sure he was looking at the ereader, not the kitchen, though he could see her from the corner of his eye. It only took a minute for her to come to his side and kneel beside the chair.
“Yes, Petal?”
“Sir, can you—” She broke off, then started again, speaking more slowly so her words were clearer through the gag. “Sir, can you help me, please?”
“Of course.” He smoothed a hand over her hair and waited while she stood and led the way back to the cheese grater. He held the handle at the top and she used both hands to push the block down and up, several times, until there was a small mound of cheese. She looked up at him, with a question.
“That’s enough for me, but don’t you want some?”
Her eyes widened and she looked back at the mound, and prepared to grate more.
“Just kidding, that’s plenty.”
She rolled her eyes at him and he kissed her nose. He returned to the table and she used her bound hands to rub a bit of saliva that was escaping from her lips.
She used both hands to put the skillet on the stove, then turned on the flame. He watched carefully as she poured the eggs in and let them set for a minute, then used a rubber scraper to stir them. The skillet was heavy enough that it didn’t move under her careful stirring.
When the toast was buttered and the eggs were ready, she turned off the flame and used the scraper to slowly spoon the two portions onto their plates.
He got up and poured them each a glass of orange juice, and brought them to the table while she brought first his plate, then hers. Then she knelt at his side. He knew some Doms would make her wait until he’d finished eating, but cold eggs were gross and he wasn’t a sadist.
He unbuckled the gag, disconnected the link between her cuffs, and nodded at the chair next to him.
When she sat, she used a napkin to clean the saliva from her lips, and worked her jaw for a minute while he forked up some eggs. They were tasty and he tucked in, as did Natalie.
“How are you feeling, Petal?”
She swallowed. “I’m good, Sir. Thank you.”
“How are your nipples?”
She blinked and looked down at the little jewels hanging from her breasts. “They’re okay, Sir.”
“And your ass?”
“I’m worried that the plug will fall out when I stand up,” she confessed.
He grinned. “That would not be a good move on your part,” he warned. “Thank you for making breakfast, it’s delicious,” he added before she could say anything.
“You’re welcome, Sir.” It was a little more grumbly than her usual response and he had to work not to laugh.
They finished their plates and worked together to clean everything up. Despite her fears, she managed to keep the plug where he’d put it. When they’d finished, he put his hands on her waist and boosted her onto the counter so that her breasts were at his eye level. He widened her knees and stepped between them.
“Offer your breasts to me,” he ordered.
The little line between her eyebrows appeared. She pulled her shoulders back and straightened up tall.
“Use your hands,” he advised.
Understanding dawned and she cupped her breasts and presented them to him, pushing them together slightly. He pressed his nose between the cushions of flesh, breathing deeply, then turned and nibbled his offering.
“Squeeze for me,” he said.
He watched her fingers dig into her skin and licked around and between them. When he’d explored both globes, he pulled back and observed. She continued to squeeze and knead, her breaths shallow.
When he reached forward, she stopped, started to drop her hands. He shook his head and her fingers dug in again. He moved the bead on one of the nipple clamps, releasing the loop from around her flesh. He replaced it with his mouth, sucking and tonguing the darkened skin, enjoying the feel of the hard nub against his tongue. He repeated the actions on her other breast, and slid his finger into her pussy. Wet heat gripped his finger and she gasped.
He thumbed her clit, working her, building her up. Her legs had wrapped around him, squeezing him tight. When he judged that she was close to coming, he released her nipple and watched her face.
“No coming,” he said.
He saw his words penetrate the haze of her need. Her eyes went wide, then squeezed shut, because he hadn’t pulled his finger from inside her or stopped working her clit. He eased up, leaving his finger and thumb in place, but not moving them. When her muscles relaxed a little bit, he resumed pushing his finger in and out. She whined, which brought a smile to his face.
He kissed her nipples, then her chin. Her eyes had opened back up. Cloudy with desire and need and a tiny bit of desperation that he found sexy as hell. His version of sadism, he supposed.
He bent down and tongued her clit, wrapping his arms around her butt to pull her closer to the edge of the counter. She squealed, but didn’t resist him. He enjoyed teasing her for another couple of minutes until he was pretty sure she couldn’t hold back any longer, then pulled back with a sigh.
With his arms still around her, he picked her up off the counter and let her legs drop down to the ground. A small thud alerted him that she’d dropped the anal plug again. His smile was, he supposed, a little bit evil.
Natalie didn’t even realize what had happened until Noah smiled. She looked down. The little plug had fallen right out. Again. But she’d held it for longer than before. Although, this time she couldn’t blame the release on her orgasm, because the bastard hadn’t let her have one. Which, all right, was one of those Dom things, but he’d been the one pushing her to the edge!
One part of her knew that was totally the point, but the other part couldn’t believe Noah had done this to her. For the first time, she kind of wished he’d put the gag back in so she wouldn’t have to work so hard not to glare at him.
He kissed her forehead and removed the chest harness, wrist and ankle restraints. He took her face in his hands so that they were eye to eye. She was pretty sure he was perfectly clear of what she’d been thinking.
“Go clean up. Don’t forget the plug. You can put the wrist and ankle cuffs in my bag, but no looking into it. Put on your robe and do your journal and then we can go swimming, if you’d like?”
“Yes—that sounds good. Ought to cool me off.” She’d almost said Sir, but was glad she’d caught herself. And even more glad that he laughed.
She made quick work of the cleanup, put on her robe and curled up on the couch with her journal.
There was a lot to catch up on. The previous night hadn’t seemed like a lot while they were at it, but now that she’d started writing, remembering, it seemed like so much. Her first butt plug. Making dinner. Her first Noah orgasm, and holy hell, that had been something else. And then to step away from all that and go for a walk in the woods, learn more about the man she’d known for years without knowing much about him at all.
She bit her lip. Maybe she’d ask him about that. Ask him what he’d thought about his best friend’s sister’s best friend. They’d only had a handful of conversations, always in a room full of other people. She’d thought he was handsome and confident and so far from what she was looking for in man. But she’d watched him dance with his girlfriend at the wedding. And she’d turned away. Had she recognized his dominant tendencies and stayed away on purpose?
Maybe.
She wrote about sitting at his feet. And falling asleep. It had just been so damn boring. Part of her was embarrassed. The idea was that she’d be thinking about him, about his needs and happiness. That hadn’t quite worked out, which had led to the spanking. She still couldn’t believe—or quite understand—the little panic attack she’d had. Nothing like that had ever happened to her before. But he’d been so good, so careful, and yet he’d taken her at her word when she’d said she wanted to continue.
And she was really glad he had. Otherwise, she might have built the spanking up to something scary in her head. Instead, it had been…interesting. Not quite fun, though she knew it could be, when punishment wasn’t the point.
Her hand was getting tired. It had been a long time since she’d written things out with a pen, rather than on a computer. But she didn’t hate it. It was an interesting way to gather her thoughts about what had happened. The weekend kept threatening to be overwhelming, there was just so much, but she didn’t know if Noah was pacing himself, or he had a knack for knowing what would be enough for her. Maybe both. Because she never thought she needed a break until after he told her they were taking one.
It was comfortable in the cabin, but she knew it was hot outside and the idea of taking a swim was appealing. Noah was in the kitchen making chicken salad sandwiches and she could hear him humming, though she couldn’t quite identify the tune. She watched as he added a dollop of mayonnaise, then stirred, tasted, nodded, and went for the salt and pepper.
He was so sexy. He’d always been this sexy, but she’d never imagined he’d turn his attention to her. Not like this. Of course, the idea of this would have freaked her out a few years ago. She needed to remind herself that he was doing this as a favor to her. Not that he didn’t want to, she was absolutely convinced he was enjoying his time here as much as she was. But he was here to help her through something, to come to some decisions, not for her to fall for him.
She just needed to keep reminding herself of that. Especially when he looked up and caught her staring, and gave her that devastating grin. Bastard. Her lips twitched at the ridiculous thought.
“Done with that?” he asked.
“Five more minutes,” she told him. She had no idea what she was going to write for five minutes, but she needed to get her thoughts under control before he put on a bathing suit and got all wet and fuck. She focused on the paper in front of her and began to write.
I will not fall in love with Noah Tucker. I will not fall in love with Noah Tucker. I will not fall in love with Noah Tucker.
With a sigh, she closed the book and took it into the bedroom. She’d brought a one-piece and a two-piece. He’d done a shockingly good job at convincing her he enjoyed her body no matter how little she was wearing, so she went ahead with the bikini. But she did put a coverup on. Grabbing her flip-flops and sunscreen, she found him ready to go with two towels and a bag with the food.
The heat greeted them the second they opened the door. It felt good, for now, and she liked knowing that they could cool off in the water. It was fun having their own section of the shore. There was a small dock and he told her that there was a canoe in a shed they could get, if they wanted to.
“I think I’d rather jump in. If you’re sure it’s safe to swim.”
“It is. You said you used to be on the swim team?”
He’d asked about her swimming abilities when they’d made their plans to come out here. “Yes, all through high school. I love the water, but I don’t make the effort to get to a pool very often. I tried the gym, but the best time to go and expect to get a lane was before work and that wasn’t fun for me.”
“Not a morning person?”
She laughed. “Not usually. You?”
“It’s not my best time, no. I’m more of a night owl, I guess.”
He set their towels on the dock and they kicked off their shoes and walked to its end. “Is this where you guys fish from?” she asked.
“Sometimes. Or we wade in, or bring the camp chairs to the shore. We’ve tried all the different areas.”
She leaned back, soaking in the sun for a minute, then sighed. “I better put my sunscreen on or you won’t be able to figure out what’s red from sunburn or what’s red from your hand. And I know you want to know,” she teased.
“Smart girl. I’ll be nice and help you, since it’s to my benefit anyway,” he teased back.
“Oh, wow. Gee, that is so nice. You’re going to rub your hands all over my mostly naked body, as a kind gesture from a friend.”
“Exactly. I’m a giver.”
She pulled off her coverup and opened the lotion, pouring it into the hand he held out. She didn’t flinch when the cool lotion and his warm fingers started on her shoulders. She was used to his touch now, to giving in and experiencing whatever pleasure he felt like providing. She’d come to trust him so quickly, she mused.
His hands worked every inch of her body that wasn’t covered by the skimpy suit, his finger sliding under the edge to be safe, he told her. Considering he’d left her on edge not too long ago, you’d think her body would be warned to not get her hopes up. And rationally, she knew he wouldn’t do anything out here, in full view of whoever might pass by. In fact, they waved to a couple who paddled by not too far out from them.
She knew, because she’d put a hard limit on it. And he would respect that. He put the lotion bottle down and sat behind her, pulling her back into his chest.
“Share it with me, now,” he teased.
“I’d be happy to actually put it on you.”
“This is more fun.” He nibbled the top of her ear. “Except you taste like sunscreen.”
“I wonder if they have edible sunscreen, like they do lube.”
He laughed. “Probably not, because I’d lick it all off, and you’d still end up burned.”
“Damn, I was thinking we could make a million off that idea.”
“Do you want to be rich?” He rested his chin on her shoulder.
She thought about it. “I mean, I wouldn’t say no, obviously, but I don’t want to do the things that people generally have to do to become rich. I don’t want to work that hard, give my all to some business idea. I’m putting as much as I can into my retirement accounts for now, until I feel like there’s enough that they’ll start making more money than I can add in myself. Then I figure I’ll upgrade to a better apartment, or take some better vacations, that kind of thing.”
“Interesting. Get the compounding going and then take a bit of a break.”
“Right. I’ll keep investing, but not as much a percentage of my salary. What about you? Would you want to be rich?”
“I’ve thought about trying to grow the nursery into something bigger, in the future. Opening multiple locations. Or adding in a landscaping business. Right now I’m on track to buy the nursery from the owners in five years. It’s the deal we made when I became the manager. Part of my pay is toward ownership so they can retire. I’ve done some things to increase business, especially with online marketing, social media, that kind of thing. But I think I’m pretty happy with where it’s at, for now. And I don’t see myself going full mogul.”
She couldn’t quite reach her toes to the waterline, and it was getting hot. “Want to go in?” she asked.
He stood up and pointed. “It’s more than ten feet deep over here, off the end of the dock. Then it gets shallow pretty quickly.”
He winked at her and made a shallow dive into the water. His muscled back and tight ass were a lovely sight. Then he reappeared, shaking the water from his hair.
She bit her lip. I will not fall in love with Noah Tucker.
Chapter Twelve
Noah was glad Natalie had suggested getting into the water. Because he’d been sitting behind her, reminding himself that she needed a bit of a break from the intensity of what they were doing, and ravaging her on the dock, even if it wasn’t a scene, would not be giving her a break.
Not that he would really have done that, but the thought was giving him all sorts of ideas about what he could do, and it was just best that he dunk his head. Both of them.
She dove in and came up grinning. “That feels so good.” Then she disappeared back under. He stayed where he was, treading water, until he heard her behind him. Turning, he found that she was about a pool’s length away already. She waved and dove back under. He was surprised she had this much energy, he thought, as he floated on his back.
She made it back to him quic
kly, and floated at his side.
“I forgot how different it is from a pool. And I’m trying really hard not to think about worms and fish and other things.”
“Better than chlorine,” he said.
“Hmm.”
Laughing, he used his hands to lightly paddle himself toward the shore, while still floating, Natalie keeping pace. When he was close enough, he stood and held out his hand, anchored her shorter body to him, turned her toward the dock. “I could put you in my collar and bring you out here tonight, when it’s dark. I could tie you to the posts there, so half of you was in the cold water, and half of you was in the warm air, available to me to touch and tease however I wanted.”
He kept one arm around her waist but brought the other up and tugged lightly at the little bit of fabric that stretched between her breasts.
Her pulse was beating wildly. He was pretty sure she knew that what he proposed wasn’t technically feasible, but she was certainly getting the picture he painted.
“So, anyway,” he said lightly, hauling her toward the shore. “Let’s eat, I’m hungry.”
She sputtered and planted her feet, so he let go of her, and wasn’t at all surprised when she splashed water at his back. Grinning, he turned and threw her over his shoulder and hauled her to the shore. He put her down, then went to get their stuff from the dock. They toweled off and sat on grass to eat. It was a beautiful day. Hot but clear and not terribly muggy. After eating the sandwiches he’d made, they applied sunscreen to each other, then lay back and soaked in the sun.
“I love living in Boston, but it’s nice to get out of the city like this once in a while.” He’d pillowed his head on his arms, lying on his stomach, face turned toward her. He loved that she’d gotten over her body shyness so quickly, seeming perfectly content to be lying next to him in the sun, the tantalizing white and navy striped suit drying quickly. She’d bunched the coverup under her head and was also turned to face him.