The best thing to do, she knew, would be to look away, so she did.
“What a mouth she has,” Lady Samms said. Then she turned her attention back to Ethan. She started talking about safe words, and how they made sure the security officer in the room knew the sub’s words so he could stop things if it turned sour.
“I suppose you have the same policy,” Lady Samms said.
“We do,” Ethan said. He turned to Cecily, and his head tilted just a little. “Tell Lady Samms what your safe word is, Cee.”
Her throat tightened. “Um, I won’t need it, Master Ethan.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “I swear.” This is really going bad. He’d not been happy with her when she’d chosen her word, and now she knew why. It wouldn’t be good for anyone else to hear it, because it made him look bad.
“It’s salt,” she said, and then she shrugged.
“You little liar,” Ethan said. “Tell her the real word you picked out.” The tone of his voice told her that if she didn’t, she would pay for it.
“Jackass,” she said.
“Excuse me?” Lady Samms’ eyes widened. Then she laughed so loud that people around them turned and stared. “I’m totally amazed at your gall, young lady. But something tells me Master Ethan needs a sub like you.”
“And what type is that?” Cecily asked, her tone more than a little disrespectful. Add what she’d just said on top of her earlier words, and she knew she was in trouble. Big trouble.
“Watch your tone, Cee,” Master Ethan said. “You’re skating on thin ice already.”
“Excuse me, Sir.”
“Not to me,” he said.
She turned to Lady Samms. “Excuse me, Lady Samms. I apologize for being insolent.”
“It’s a very good word for your attitude tonight,” Lady Samms said. “What I meant was Master Ethan is a strong man, and he needs someone who won’t lie down. He wants the challenge you represent.”
Cecily glanced at Ethan.
“And, there is the obvious fact the two of you are in love with each other,” Lady Samms said. “It works the same for me and my husband. Both of us dominant, both of us wanting to be on top.”
“But I don’t want to be on top,” Cecily said.
“Maybe not, but you like to put up a fight, so to speak.” The Domme turned to Ethan. “Shall I book time for you on the big stage? I’m sure we can work you in. Would you like me to look at the log book?”
“Yes, please,” Ethan said. He glared at Cecily. “I would like at least forty-five minutes, if at all possible.”
“I will return momentarily,” Lady Samms said.
“Hero, come with me.” Randy motioned her forward. Hero did as he asked, and they walked away with Dylan and Amanda.
“I’m sorry,” Cecily said when Ethan moved beside her. “For some reason she grates on my nerves. I provoked it, I know.”
“We’ve been under a lot of stress lately,” he said. “But you did step way over the line.”
“Which looks bad on you,” she said.
“I don’t care enough about Lady Samms to really care if I look bad,” he said. “But I do care about you, and I wonder what made you jump on her like that.”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I apologize.”
“Don’t apologize to her again,” he said. “But please don’t egg her on. If we’re going to have a club in this town, I’d like to have a good relationship with all of the other club owners.”
“I understand, Master Ethan,” she said. “I hope I haven’t screwed it up.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make it right,” he said. “Your ass will pay the price, and you’ll be screaming before the end of the evening.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said.
He flashed her a wicked grin that made her juices flow.
“Don’t worry, I’m not planning on you wearing any weights or clamps this time.” He put his arm around her waist and held her close to him. “I want you to concentrate on one thing, and that’s the whip.”
“Yes, Master Ethan,” she said. “I will do as you say.”
“I’m very glad to hear that.” He put his lips against her ear and said, “It’s such a novel idea.”
“You’re being mean to me,” she said.
“Keep up your bratty attitude,” he said. “It will make the whipping all the more fun for both of us.” He tugged on the chain, and it pulled on her clit ring.
“Don’t come while we’re here,” he whispered.
“As you wish, Master Ethan,” she said.
He moved his head and looked her in the eye. Cecily decided he must like what he saw, because he nodded. She felt she owed him obedience in this matter, since she’d opened her big mouth earlier to have words with Lady Samms. Oh, whom was she kidding? As his submissive she owed him obedience in all their dealings. But she wasn’t doing very well at it recently.
“I’m sorry, Master Ethan,” she said. “I haven’t been holding up my end of our relationship lately.”
“We’ll work on that when all this is done,” he said. “Right now I want you to promise you won’t come. Work on it as hard as you can.”
“As you command, Master Ethan.” She lowered her gaze to the floor.
“The big stage is yours for thirty minutes,” Lady Samms said as she joined them. “We are booked solid tonight. Your time starts in seven minutes.”
Those seven minutes passed like one. Cecily found herself, still dressed, trussed up like a holiday turkey, tied to a frame in the middle of the stage in the main room. Her arms were stretched above her head, and her ankles were tied to the frame. As she’d walked by the people in the audience, she’d wondered what they were thinking. After all, she was sure this club attracted the same group of people over and over, and they were new. The audience would be excited to see something new, which added to her anticipation.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Doms and subs.” Cecily looked over her shoulder to see Ethan standing off to her left. He was rolling up the sleeves of his button-down shirt. The whip set on a table off to the side.
Cecily turned her gaze to the people standing in front of her. A man smirked, as if he was happy to have a front row seat to her pain. It took all her self-control not to stick her tongue out at him. Then, to her amazement and deep gratitude, Randy showed up and waved his hands at them all.
“I’m afraid Ethan has asked me to clear this area.” He swished his hand from side to side. “He likes to have the space in front of his sub free so he can work here, if need be.”
The man frowned at Randy, and for a moment she thought he would object. But then another man showed up. He was muscular and mean looking, and Cecily had no doubt he was a bouncer.
The unknown man, who didn’t seem like a Dom but wasn’t wearing a collar, actually growled at her. It made her wiggle against her bonds. She watched him as he walked away, and she tried to get Randy’s attention in an effort to tell him what had happened.
Why would that man growl at her?
“Randy, Randy,” she called out. He turned his head toward her, and she said, “That man, check him out.”
At first, Randy frowned, and then realization dawned, and he took off after the unknown growler. Cecily thought about using her safe word just so she could go help Randy catch up with the man before he made it out the front door. But she decided he wouldn’t leave. If he was friends with Miranda Stoddard, was there every chance she was here, too? Did she know they would be here tonight? Or was there still some sort of tracking devices on their vehicles?
She needed to talk to Ethan about this, and she needed to do it now. Even though Randy was going after him, she wanted Ethan to do it, too.
“Master Ethan,” she said, and she realized she’d tuned him out; whatever he was saying in preparation for the start of the scene had passed her by. His words, she knew were just as much to get her ready to be whipped as it was to get the crowd, and get him, in the mood.
“Master Ethan,” she rep
eated, a little louder. Seconds later the whip sounded behind her. It was the warm-up time. It kept sounding, as he cracked it repeatedly. Each time he did, Cecily jerked, expecting to taste the leather on her skin. The more he teased her, the more the growling man disappeared from her mind.
She wiggled against her bonds as her desire to taste the whip took hold of her. When Ethan’s lips touched her ear she jerked. His hands were on her hips, and she wiggled as he started to move the tight leather up over her hips.
“My naughty girl,” he said. “Remember what I said. Fight your orgasm as hard as you can.”
“Master Ethan,” she whispered, “there was a…” Cecily stopped speaking when she realized he was gone. The whip started to move again, cracking around her, making her jolt. When it kissed her ass she cried out, and the crowd clapped.
The new whip stung as it hit her once again. Ethan moved faster this time than he had in the past. The whip kissed her skin, then cracked around her body. It went back and forth, back and forth. Cecily forgot about the growling man, she forgot about the road rage incident, she forgot about being pushed down in the crowd in front of Tate’s.
Her body started to heat, her clit twitched, and her nipples tingled. “Master, Master,” she whispered. The whip struck again and again, harder and harder. Cecily fought to keep herself under control, to do as Ethan had ordered, which meant she needed to concentrate on not allowing herself to explode. The room spun, and her brain buzzed as if she’d drunk a whole bottle of tequila in one sitting.
Then it stopped, suddenly. She jerked against her bonds, and when Ethan stepped in front of her she gasped.
“Change of plans, you sly little fox,” he said. “That’s my new name for you, sly fox.” He attached a weight to her clit ring. “I want you to come for me but do it on the sly. Actually, don’t just come… soar.”
He stepped behind her and started whipping her again, harder than he ever had before. Cecily swayed against her bonds, the weight pulled and swung along with each strike.
The room started to spin again, and her body felt as if it might burst into flames. It was as if the room around her had disappeared. She was in the clouds, the air swirling around her. There was no one here but Cecily, Ethan and the whip.
Ethan struck her harder, and harder, and when she came, everything around her disappeared except for the strikes that continued to slap against her ass. When the strikes slowed down, and started to land in the air behind her, Cecily was gasping for air.
“Shush, shush, shush,” Ethan whispered in her ear. “Easy, my sly fox, my love. Easy.”
Sly fox. He’d named her, a name only he would use. It made her feel as if there was nothing more in the world, nothing mattered except the two of them.
“I love you,” she croaked out.
“And I you, sly fox,” he said. “I’ve asked for a private room so I can tend to you. I’m afraid this was the toughest one I’ve done yet.”
Cecily nodded, her head whirling. She had something she should tell Ethan, but damned if she could remember what it was. All she could think about was the fact her ass stung like hell and her clit pulsed. It took her a moment to realize the weight was still attached to her ring.
Someone, she wasn’t sure who it was because Ethan still had his arms around her, was undoing her bonds. She slumped into Ethan’s arms and he picked her up, carrying her across the stage and down the steps. She nestled her head against his shoulder.
The room buzzed in sound that she couldn’t quite make out. There was a noise around them, and seconds later she was on her side on a mattress. Ethan stroked her side, and someone said, “Here you are.”
“Yes, I’m here,” she wanted to say, but she closed her eyes and savored the soft, gentle feel of her master’s hand against her skin.
“I love seeing you fly,” he said. “You are the most perfect woman for me.”
Perfect. Woman.
“Savor the feeling, my sly fox,” he said. “Stay in place.”
Seconds later cool cream hit her hot skin and she hissed.
“I know, easy, my fox.” He continued to minister to her ass. The burn started to cool, and Cecily closed her eyes and almost fell asleep. But as she settled down, as the world came into focus again, she turned her head.
“Man,” she said before she cleared her throat. “There was a man watching. Randy went after him.”
“Then Randy can handle it,” Ethan said. She could hear the tension in his voice, though. “Right now you’re the most important thing to me.”
Ethan continued to minister to her, and almost as an afterthought, he put his hand between her legs and took away the weight. She tried to turn toward him, but she groaned in pain. The movement was too much for her ass and thighs.
“How many welts do I have?” she whispered.
“Many,” he said, then he kissed her butt cheeks. She rolled onto her stomach and he continued to kiss her, first one, then the other. He put his lips on her thighs, and she moaned softly. It meant a great deal to her that he didn’t want to leave her to track down the growling man, to find the man that might connect them to Miranda Stoddard.
“He could be the man who killed your wife,” she finally said.
“He could be,” Ethan said. “Or she could be. Right now I am more worried about keeping you safe, and about helping you to come back down to earth.”
He chuckled, and she turned her gaze to him. “Thank you.”
“Thank me?” He stroked her arm. “Thank you, my love. I had hoped this would take your mind off things for a few moments, but it didn’t work out that way, did it?”
“On the contrary,” she said. “There for a while all I could think about was you and the whip.”
“Then it succeeded,” he said. “I’m glad I didn’t know about the man before the whipping. That allowed me to concentrate only on you.”
“You should go find Randy,” she said.
“We should stay here until you’ve recovered,” he said.
“That’s going to take a while,” she said with a laugh. “I’m going to have to wear padding on my ass for a week.”
“Only a week? I must be slipping.”
They both laughed.
She cocked her knee to show him her heels. “I told you my knee wasn’t as bad as you guys thought,” Cecily said. “You guys worry too much.”
Ethan chuckled, then his phone buzzed.
“Go ahead,” she said. In one swift movement she shifted her weight, groaning as her ass came into contact with the mattress. Seconds later she was facing him.
He picked it up and checked the screen. “It’s a text from Randy,” he said. “The guy got away, but Lady Samms has security cameras. They checked them and made stills from the screen. She said she’d never seen the guy before.”
“Another thing for Dawson to look at for us,” she said.
“Another step closer to putting it all together,” Ethan said. He lay down next to her and pulled her into his arms, and then he kissed her.
Once again, Cecily felt the world spin, and she savored the feeling as he held her close.
He’d named her. She was his. In all ways.
It was the perfect evening, and she would savor every memory of it.
Chapter 12
“Let’s go over some bullet points so we’re on the same page.” Ethan gripped the steering wheel as they headed toward Henderson, where Cecily’s parents lived.
“You mean so we tell the same lie?” she asked from the passenger seat.
He took his eyes off the road long enough to glance at her. “Are we lying?”
“Aren’t we?” She shifted in her seat, and he was sure she was in pain from last night’s whipping. He might have been rougher with her than usual, but she’d achieved subspace, which made the night perfection in his eyes.
“Feeling a little itchy today?” he asked.
“A little,” she said, but she flashed him a smile that made his nuts tingle.
“
I should have had you suck me off before we left the tree house,” he said.
“Find a dark alley and I’ll take care of it for you,” she said.
“Not on your life,” he said. “I’d actually like to keep this feeling for the whole lunch. Now, about those bullet points.”
Cecily cleared her throat. “First, we don’t tell my parents about the problems we’ve had with Miss Stoddard.”
“Definitely,” he said. “We don’t want to worry them.”
“But then again I worry that she might go after them,” Cecily said. “So there is part of me that worries we should warn them.”
“She hasn’t gone after anyone else except you,” he said. “She doesn’t want to hurt you by hurting someone you love. She wants to hurt me by hurting someone I love.”
“And we still don’t know why.” Cecily put her hand on his thigh and squeezed. “I hope Dawson can find something else. His report last night was very lackluster.”
“Lackluster?” Ethan chuckled. “He didn’t have any new information for us, and he was surprised when we gave him the security photo of the growling man. Maybe we’re not paying him enough.”
“I think he’ll come through for us,” Cecily said. “He did say he thought Miranda Stoddard was an alias, and he was searching for her real identity.”
“What are the chances of him finding that?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I’m not a cyber geek,” she said.
Ethan tightened his grip on the wheel. “Let’s forget about that for now and get back to our bullet points. “We’re not going to mention her, or recent events to your parents.”
“Right,” Cecily said. “That’s bullet point number one. What’s bullet point number two?”
“Our marriage,” he said. “Do we want to tell your parents we’re getting married? Or should I take your father aside and ask him for your hand?”
Cecily’s giggle made him smile.
“No good?” he asked. “Remember I’ve only met your father twice. I don’t really know him.”
Ethan’s NaughtySubmissive: Silver Creek Resort Book Three Page 14