by Lauren Dane
She’d just fastened some pretty earrings when she heard her doorbell ring and with trembling hands, she smoothed down her skirt. “It’s going to be all right, Lucas. Right?” she asked herself in the mirror before moving to get it.
Checking to be sure it was someone she knew, she opened the door and his presence hit her, tightening her entire body. He stood on her doorstep in a black turtleneck, jeans and boots. So damned sexy she wanted to skip the dinner part and go to the sex part.
Instead she smiled and motioned him to come inside.
He brushed a kiss over her lips as he passed. “You look beautiful tonight, Tegan.”
She turned to him after locking the door. “Why thank you. You look quite handsome yourself.”
He looked around the room at the pictures and art hanging up. “Wow, this is amazing.” He indicated a painting hanging over her fireplace.
“It is, isn’t it.” She smiled. “It’s my brother-in-law Sid’s work. He’s a very talented artist. He gave that to me as a wedding present.”
Shit. Well, she hadn’t planned to tell him about Lucas right then and certainly not like that but he was a cop and she knew he hadn’t missed what she’d said. Especially when he looked her in the eyes.
“You were married before?”
“Yes. He died, four years ago.”
His face softened. “I’m sorry. How?”
“He was an army ranger like Lex used to be. He was killed in action in Afghanistan.”
Ben whistled low. “Wow. He must have been young.”
“Twenty-three. He’d just gotten through ranger school about eight months before. He loved it.”
“How long were you two together?”
“Four years. I was twenty when we mated. He was nineteen.”
“So young. I’m sorry for your loss. I really am.”
Looking into his face, she knew he meant it. What a genuine man he was. So totally different looks and personality wise from Lucas, who’d been a wiry blond who was always moving and joking.
“Well, I didn’t mean to bring the date down right off. Sorry about that.”
In three steps he was on her, his arms around her waist, forehead against hers. “You didn’t bring the date down. You were sharing about your life. Now, are you hungry?”
“Starving. It’s been a crazy twenty-four hours, let me tell you.”
“I heard part of it earlier. We can talk about it later. Does Thai sound okay with you? Lotus?”
“Love it.”
Keeping his arms around her, he moved his mouth to hers. Kissing her slow and sweet. His body was hard and warm against her own and there was no ignoring the brand of his cock through the denim of his jeans against her stomach.
When he pulled away, she was lightheaded and need for him pulsed through her. Each taste she got of him made her want him more. The raw nature of that need edged her senses.
“You do something to me,” he murmured, stepping back.
She nodded and they walked out the door without commenting any further. What else could she say? It was true but she couldn’t just let it go. She wanted more of it, more of him.
Dinner at the small Thai place in Wallingford was nice. Just a few miles from her house, the restaurant was one of her favorites.
“So how was your day?” Tegan asked, liking the way his sweater stretched over his upper body.
“The usual in the human crime world. An assault, car theft. All the excitement came after I got a call from Lex.” He spoke quietly but not in a whisper that would get attention.
“Yes. It’s been a very busy day. Nina is pissed at Lex for putting extra security on her. We had a very long meeting this afternoon about the new teams.”
“I know what it means to pull a double shift. Would you like to call things a night early so you can get some sleep?”
She slowly shook her head. She knew what she wanted and it wasn’t sleep. Not then. Not for hours she hoped.
“Well, perhaps I can help relax you.” There was a question in his eyes and it wasn’t about a massage.
Tegan watched him for long moments. She’d never really submitted to anyone other than Lucas before, except for the hour-long play sessions she’d engaged in a few times at the club. She knew, watching this man and the determined way he handled everything from ordering food to flogging, that he was not a man of casual appetites. If she took this step, she’d be taking a step with him above and beyond a few hours of slap and tickle.
And one couldn’t submit if one didn’t trust the dominant. Tegan was a woman who went by gut instinct. It served her well and kept her alive during the time she’d spent as one of Lex’s Enforcer guard. And her gut told her two things. One, that she could trust Ben Stoner with her very life and two, taking this step would mean something monumental. He was not merely a date if she let him top her. He’d see her as more and she would see it that way too.
Something about the man called to her, made her respond in a way she hadn’t in a very long time. And she didn’t want to ignore that.
“I’d like that,” she said at last, taking a leap and hoping like hell she wouldn’t be sorry.
“Good.” He smiled warmly.
After dinner they decided to skip a movie and go back to her place. Once inside, they sat on her couch and he turned to her.
“Tegan, I don’t top anyone casually. I don’t play outside a club unless I’m sure the woman is going to be a regular person in my life. And me in hers. I think it’s important to say all of this up front so you know what I need and I expect. And so I know what you need too.”
“Okay.”
“So laying it all out—I’d very much like us to see each other regularly. And exclusively. Some doms can separate the sex from the play but I can’t. Leaving you last night without being inside you was very difficult. Is that what you want?”
“A relationship with you? Exclusive?”
He nodded.
“I haven’t been with anyone other than Lucas. Not as a submissive anyway. I dated before I met him but I was twenty when I mated and then after he died there was no one. Not until you. I’ve dated a few times in the last three months but nothing serious. I’ve played three times at the club but none of it was anything approaching how it felt last night. So yes, I’d like to see you exclusively.”
“Good. We can work out your limits as we go. You have a safeword and I expect you to use it if you’re in trouble or overwhelmed. We can also work up to new levels of things we do. I’d love to see you in my collar but it’s something I take very seriously so I wouldn’t collar you until we’d been together a while and I knew you were truly willing to submit to me.”
“Okay, that sounds appropriate.”
They spoke for some time, outlining boundaries and expectations. Tegan liked that he seemed to place so much importance on open communication. D/s wasn’t something to be taken lightly in the context of a relationship. She was relieved to see he thought so too.
“Now, I don’t have any desire to top you twenty-four hours a day. I only want your submission in the bedroom.”
“Good. Because I don’t take orders except there.”
He smiled in a way that promised very wicked things.
“I want you to get up, remove your clothes and then lead me to your bedroom.”
Standing on somewhat shaky legs, Tegan leaned over, pulled her boots off and slid out of her skirt. The sweater followed and Ben looked her over as she stood in her bra and barely there panties.
“My God, you’re so beautiful.” His voice was smoky and hoarse, it stroked over her senses and soothed her even as it seduced.
One hand popped the catch between her breasts and her bra fell to the ground. She stepped out of her panties as she walked from the room, feeling absolutely gorgeou
s. He made her feel so beautiful and sexy just by looking at her.
Once in the bedroom she stood next to her bed, waiting.
He came in and dropped the duffel just next to the bedside table and walked around her body. “Let’s get warmed up, shall we?” He turned her body so that she was facing the bed and stepped away.
Moments later she heard him unzip the bag. Leaning around her, he laid several items on the bed in her view. Wrist restraints. Rope. A fuzzy-lined blindfold. A flogger and a paddle.
Standing behind her, he pressed his body against her back. “Do any of those tickle your fancy, Tegan?” His breath was warm against her ear. “I know you like the rope. I saw your face last night, heard your gasp. Did it make you wet? Imagining it against your skin?”
He leaned down and she watched his hand, wondering what he’d pick up. The wrist restraints.
“Hands behind your back, Tegan.”
With the warm honey of subspace beginning to brew within her, Tegan moved her hands, clasping them at her back.
The restraints were lined and slipped on easily. He tightened them just shy of pain. “Is that too tight?”
She shook her head.
“Good. Now bend forward. I’ve got your wrists.”
He grabbed the restraints and helped her bend forward, her upper body against her mattress. The paddle and flogger were in her line of vision and he picked the paddle up. She took a deep breath.
The edge of the paddle drew a line down her back where she heard him twirl it in his hand just before the first crack sounded and the surface hit her square on the ass. Over and over the blows rained down, each in a different place until a warm glow covered her skin and the heat built up toward her clit with each smack.
The paddle came back to the bed beside the flogger and he leaned over and blew across the stinging skin of her ass and thighs.
She felt him go to his knees behind her, pushing her thighs wider.
“So wet. Your pussy is pink and pretty and glistening.” His thumbs pulled her labia apart and she cried out when his tongue took a long lick, dipping into her gate and then back to swirl around her clit.
Her fists clenched at her back where they were restrained and she pressed back into his mouth as he feasted on her pussy with expertise. It had been so very long since she’d felt a tongue on her pussy she’d forgotten how good it felt.
One of his hands shifted, and his thumb slid into her pussy as his middle finger stretched up to stroke over the tight pucker of her rear passage. A moan ripped from her lips.
“Please,” she gasped.
He stopped, pulling his face back and she whimpered.
“Please what, Tegan?”
“Please make me come.”
“Why?”
Confused a moment, she was silent. “I need it. God, please, I need it.”
And he went back to her, the combination of tongue and lips and hands, even the scrape of his teeth against the sensitive nerves of her clit all went into synchronized overdrive until she began to come so hard she saw stars against her eyelids. Pleasure washed through her in wave after wave, knocking her down into a place where all she could do was feel good.
His hands petted and caressed her as he stood, undoing her wrists. The paddle and flogger went back into the bag and he looked at her and she nearly came again at the look in his eyes. Intent, raw and naked there. Intent to take her places she’d only dreamed of the last four years.
All she could do was nod slowly and say, “Yes.”
“On your feet then, Tegan. Undress me.”
She stood on slightly shaky legs and he put a hand to her arm to support her. Once she was standing and looking at him, knowing he’d be naked soon, she began to feel much more solid and the hands that reached to take his sweater off were sure and steady.
His upper body was hard and wrapped in tight muscle. Not bulked-up muscle but he clearly worked out and used his body in his job. Her palms smoothed over the hard planes of his chest and abdomen, through the salt-and-pepper hair there. She laid a kiss on his chest, over his heart, and dropped to her knees, her hands going to his waistband.
The jingle of his belt buckle made her pussy clutch with need and the pop, pop, pop of the buttons on his fly skittered down her spine.
When she pulled the jeans down, his cock sprang free, so hard it lay flat against his belly. No underwear. Good gracious the man was sexy. Grabbing the denim, she pulled the jeans off and he stepped out of them, having already taken his boots off when they’d come back from dinner. His socks were the last thing to go and then he stood before her, gloriously naked and incredibly masculine.
His scent made her lean in and rub her cheeks over his thighs. She’d thought she’d never burn for a man as much as she had Lucas and it felt almost like cheating that she craved Ben’s touch so much.
“Stay on your knees.”
He pulled the coil of rope off the bed and let it hit the ground but for the bit in his hands. The dull thunk made her moan softly.
“Get comfortable.” He tossed her a pillow and she put it beneath her and clasped her hands at her back. “Mmm. Now there’s a sight. I like that very much.”
He began to wind the rope around her body, slowly and methodically. The feel of the hemp rope against her bare skin was heaven and shivers broke over her. He fit it snug, creating an upper body rope corset that framed her breasts and pinned her upper arms and down around her wrists.
The familiar heaviness came over her as her body released serotonin and ropespace hit her like a warm cloak. She felt what he was doing but within the confines of the rope she felt as if she were floating.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he finally straightened and stood back. Her hands throbbed in time with the beat of her heart and his cock was right there, within reach of her mouth.
“Fuck. I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight than you tied up and on your knees before me. Are you with me, Tegan?”
Looking up from his cock and into his face she nodded, licking her lips.
“Good. Suck my cock.” Taking a step forward, he held himself at an angle where she could take him into her mouth.
His taste burst through her, lighting up all her nerve endings, making her feel so alive it was shocking. She had to have more of him. Eagerly she rocked herself back and forth, taking as much of him into her mouth as she could, over and over.
“Yes. Oh yes, Tegan. Your mouth is so good. Keep me nice and wet. Oh yeah, that’s the way.”
She fell into a dreamy rhythm as she sucked and licked his cock, wanting to bring him as much pleasure as he’d given her.
Ben looked down at Tegan and while she might have been the one physically on her knees, she’d taken him emotionally to his. The sight of her here—bound for his pleasure, her lips wrapped around his cock, that gorgeous hair tumbled about her shoulders—spoke to him.
He was forty years old. She wasn’t the first beautiful woman he’d topped or been with naked but he’d never, ever felt this level of intensity for anyone before. Not even Sarah had made him burn this way.
A deep, nearly feral need burned within him for this woman and he had no idea where it came from but he could not get enough of her. The taste of her honey still coated his lips and hands and he wanted more.
When her eyes opened and she rolled them up to catch his gaze he sucked in a breath and pulled away from her, delighting in her disappointed pout.
“I need to be inside you, Tegan. Are you still with me?” He wanted to be sure they were on the same page. Later on he’d rely on her use of the safeword more but he wanted to know her better first, know her limits and her likes and dislikes. It would take a while for them to both get comfortable with each other completely.
“Oh God, yes. Please.”
He smile
d. “Let me help you up. I want you to ride me with the ropes on.” He helped her to stand and then got on the bed, taking her weight as she got on after him and moved to straddle his body.
“Wait, let me get a condom.”
She shook her head vehemently. “No. You don’t need one. I’m not at my fertile time and we don’t carry STDs. Please.”
Like he was going to argue with that?
She straddled him and he held the head of his cock so she could sink down on him, and each let out a long, shuddering moan as he filled her completely.
He watched the muscles in her thighs bunch and flex as she pulled her body up his cock and then ease back down. Her breasts swayed slightly with the movement, nicely framed by the rope. His hands burned to touch her and he gave in, sliding his palms up her thighs and belly, over the rope to her nipples, pinching and rolling them until she writhed on him.
“Such sensitive nipples. I’m tucking that away for next time. I wonder if I can make you come just from licking and playing with them?”
Her only response was a desperate whimper.
But he was already close from paddling that ass to a pretty shade of pink, seeing her honey rain down her thighs. And he’d eaten her sweet pussy until she’d come screaming into the blankets. By the time she’d undressed him, his cock literally throbbed for her. The forty minutes he’d taken to bind her had sent her right into ropespace and he’d gotten off just watching, feeling the rope in his hands, against her skin, listening to her breath slow. And then she’d sucked his cock like she was starving for him.
Ben was quite sure he’d never been so fucking turned on in his entire life. Wetting two of his fingers, he found her clit, still swollen and begging for attention. Slowly but surely, he teased it with the tip of his finger, adding a bit more pressure each time until she rocked forward, grinding herself against him. When he gently plumped her clit between his thumb and forefinger, her head fell back and she bit her bottom lip as he felt her pussy begin to clutch and flutter around him with orgasm.
He took over then, thrusting up into her, holding her hips as he did to get as deep as he could until climax burst through him with blinding intensity as he emptied himself deep into her, naked cock to naked pussy.