by Jo Davis
“Flogging?” she croaked, attention riveted to the “punishment” section of the document. “Time and place to be determined by the master?”
“Yes. Though we can amend it to read that all punishments for breaking a rule will be rendered in private.”
“I’d prefer that, yes.” She frowned. “Wait a sec—I thought you said I could use a safe word!”
“Except during punishment,” he said gently. “Consequences are doled out for a reason and are not fun for the sub.”
“But that’s not fair!”
His reply was patient. “It’s not fair to be punished when you break a rule you agreed in writing not to violate? Present a good argument, and I’ll strike the whole section.”
She swallowed hard, mind scrambling. After a few moments of struggling to come up with a valid reason, her protest deflated. “I can’t, and you know it.”
“I’d never truly hurt you, Emma. That’s part of the trust you want to develop with me.”
“I know. This is all going to take quite a bit of adjustment for me.”
“Anything worthwhile isn’t all roses and sunshine.”
She glanced up, and an encouraging smile took the harshness from his words. “True.” Straightening, she laid the papers on the coffee table, took the pen, and heaved a deep breath. “Well, this all seems to be pretty straightforward. Don’t make me sorry.”
“Don’t make me sorry, sir.”
“Don’t push it, buddy. I haven’t signed yet, and even if I had, we’re not in a scene.”
“You’re a fast learner. Excellent.” His impish grin kick-started her pulse.
“Humph.” She shot him a disdainful look simply to remind him she was no pushover, which only made him laugh. Annoying, sexy man.
“Speaking of the safe word, you need to choose one. Something you wouldn’t be likely to say in ordinary circumstances that I couldn’t possibly mistake for anything but ‘stop the scene.’”
She thought a moment. “How about . . . peppermint?”
“That’ll work. Fill it in the blank on page one, amend the punishment to be rendered in private, then sign if you agree to all the terms.”
Once the deed was done, she presented the papers with a flourish. He took them, a glint of heat in his golden eyes.
“I’ll put these away and then give you a tour of the playroom.”
“Okay.”
Recalling her last foray to the basement, and how badly his revelation had gone over, she couldn’t help but feel a little sad. But they were moving on now. Right?
Blaze returned and took her hand, leading her down the stairs and flipping on a dim light as he went. The cavernous space was just as she remembered it—well, what little she’d seen before they’d had it out and she’d fled like a rabbit being chased by a pack of hungry hounds.
Leather harnesses, whips, clamps, handcuffs, and a wide assortment of glittery, eye-popping gear were neatly arranged on black-painted walls for maximum effect. Designed, she suspected, to immediately put a sub into the proper headspace.
Nothing could possibly say “this is my domain and I’m the master here” more than this room.
“Come here.”
Her gaze snapped to his at the tone she’d never heard him use before, meeting an expression on his handsome face she’d never seen, and the change was mesmerizing. She was about to be treated to this man in all his powerful Dom glory, and suddenly her entire body was spring-loaded. A live wire ready to be tripped and sizzled.
With a start, she realized she’d hesitated, and she quickly obeyed, walking over to stand in front of him. The musky, manly aroma of him teased her senses, and the sight of him in his tight faded jeans and blue T-shirt, dark hair brushing his broad shoulders, made her pussy tingle.
“Undress,” he said.
“Completely?”
A raised brow was her only answer. Okay, stupid question.
She stripped and stood before him, refusing to look away, though it wasn’t easy. They’d been lovers before, but this was a level of sensuality she’d never experienced.
For the very first time, she understood that the word naked meant far more than simply wearing no clothing.
Reaching out, he touched her cheek and sent her a half smile, telegraphing warmth and reassurance. “I’m going to start you out with something easy,” he said in a low, soothing voice. “Raise your arms over your head and cross your wrists. Reach as high as you can.”
Face flushed, she did as she was told, wondering what was so easy about feeling exposed and vulnerable. Stretching, she was surprised to touch something dangling above her head. Her heart galloped as he reached to her wrists and she realized what he planned to do. A protest formed on her lips but didn’t find a voice.
Working swiftly, he bound her wrists with what felt like strips of leather. As he stepped aside to survey his handiwork, she tilted her head back to do the same and gasped at the sight, not to mention the idea of the picture she must make in his eyes.
The leather was secured around her crossed wrists and tied to a silver horizontal bar suspended from the ceiling by chains. The setup wasn’t complicated yet was no less impressive, filling her with fear and anticipation.
He moved away for a few seconds, then returned to kneel by her feet. “Spread your legs, feet a bit wider than your shoulders. Easy, baby.”
A metal circle clamped around each ankle, and her attempt to sound demanding came out a pathetic squeak. “What are you doing?”
“This is called a spreader bar, and its job is to restrict your movement. It won’t hurt you. Nothing I do will cause you anything but the good kind of pain. Deep breaths and relax. I’ll be back in five minutes.”
“Wait! Don’t leave me here,” she begged, hating that she sounded like such a wuss.
“I’m not really leaving you, so stay calm. Five minutes, no more.”
She could do nothing but listen to his footsteps ascend the stairs and disappear. Had he done this on purpose as part of the trust building? The man never did anything by chance, so she figured he had. Leaving her trussed like a Christmas goose was all part of his grand plan, and the only thing missing was the stuffing.
Oh, God. Now, there was a double entendre that made her wet as hell and caused her nipples to pucker to the consistency of armor-piercing bullets.
“Dammit,” she muttered, trying to wiggle. It was no use—she was going nowhere until he chose to release her, and maybe not even then.
To her staggering relief, his footsteps returned. When he circled to stand in front of her, her mouth dropped open, and lust shot to every nerve ending.
The man was a black-clad dream, hips and long legs encased in soft, supple leather down to his boots. Instead of a shirt he wore some sort of crisscrossed leather harness decorated with silver studs, emphasizing his muscles and making him look like some modern-day Pancho Villa gone kinky, the only items missing, a pair of pistols and the sombrero.
“Holy freaking shit,” she whispered. “You’re beautiful.”
“Me? Thanks, but that honor goes to you, my girl.” Turning, he picked up a scrap of red cloth from a nearby table and proceeded with her lesson. “One of the most effective teaching tools of my trade is sense deprivation. Take away one or more of the senses, and the others will heighten, sometimes to the extreme, depending on the action taking place. Have you ever been blindfolded before?”
“Just as a kid when we played children’s games, like Pin the Tail on the Donkey and hitting a piñata full of candy.” A shaky giggle escaped. “I don’t think that counts.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that exactly,” he said, moving to stand behind her. “When a person can’t see, there’s a certain level of trust involved. When you played those childhood games, you trusted your friends not to let you run into something and trip, fall, and hurt yourself. As an adult who is also bound for my pleasure, the stakes are considerably higher. Scarier. You can’t run or hide, and your friends aren’t here to help you
.”
The cloth covered her eyes with a whisper of silk and was tied behind her head. Rough palms skimmed down her raised arms, slowly, and she could swear she felt every ridge in the pads of his fingers, each callus. Then her breasts were cradled in those gentle hands, thumbs teasing her nipples, making her gasp. His touch moved to her hips and buttocks, and she practically held her breath, waiting for a hand to slide between her legs. When he moved away, she whimpered, tried to arch back, but was held fast.
In moments, she heard him return, but he didn’t speak, didn’t give any indication of what he planned to do. The fear crept in again, mingled with a rush of expectation, of desire. He’d said he wouldn’t hurt her, and she believed him, but not knowing what would happen—that one grain of uncertainty—tweaked the dark, illicit corner of her mind she hadn’t known existed.
A tickle on her breasts caused her to jump and pull on the restraints, to no avail. Lightly, like a dozen spidery fingers, sensual little wisps kissed her skin over and over. Her nipples and stomach. Between her spread thighs, a ghost of touch tormented her clit, making the nub throb for even more attention.
“Blaze—I mean, sir! Please ...”
“I’ll let you slip this once, sweet baby. Remember the rules, or I’ll have to punish you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell me what you want.”
That was easy. “I want you to touch me, and fuck me hard,” she breathed.
“Now tell me what you need.”
“I ...” Was that a trick question? “What do you mean?”
“What a sub wants and needs are often two very different things. Do you really want to give in to the desire so quickly, see it flame bright and then burn out?” His tongue traced the shell of her ear, lips nibbling as if on a tasty delicacy. “Or would you rather I draw out the pleasure as you hang there, knowing you can do nothing but ride the wave until you scream with the force of your orgasm?”
“Oh, God! What are you doing to me?”
“Just what you want me to do, baby, nothing more and nothing less,” he whispered. “What you’ve been missing your whole life. Now tell me what you need.”
Taking a deep breath, she let go. “I need to lose my inhibitions. Forget everything. Forget my own name.”
“That’s my girl. Don’t think, just float.” As he rummaged for something he kept talking. “Imagine your inhibitions are tied to your body with a few dozen strings, holding you back from what you need. Got the picture in your head?”
She imagined it: strings wrapped around her body like a cocoon. Smothering. Stifling. “Yes.”
“Now picture them being snipped one by one, drifting away on a sea of pleasure, helpless to keep you bound any longer.”
The idea was ironic considering that she was literally restrained, but somehow it worked. She understood exactly what he meant and cleared her mind of everything except being freed from the prison string by string, flying off into space.
The feathery instrument of torture vanished, and clever fingers plucked her nipples, keeping them at attention. Suddenly, one nipple was seized with something small, and she let out a cry, arching into the slight pain.
“Wh-what are you doing? What is that?”
“I’m giving you what you need,” he said, his tone firm but patient. “Trust me to take you there.”
“It hurts,” she whispered. Little needles were biting into the vulnerable flesh, making her squirm in a futile bid to get away. “I don’t know if I like it.”
“That’s a normal reaction, baby. Take a deep breath for me and let it out slowly.”
Breath hitching, she did as he asked. As she exhaled, a rough palm skimmed her side, soothing.
“Good girl. The pain should be easing some. Push your mind past that, and tell me how it feels now.”
“It’s better. Feels . . . tingly. Sensitive.”
“And this?” He flicked the tormented nipple with a finger, rubbed it back and forth.
She gasped, unable to believe the electric sensations shooting through her body. It was as if the nerve endings there were directly connected to her clit, causing both points to throb in tandem.
Needing.
“It’s good,” she said hoarsely. “I don’t understand ...” She couldn’t articulate what she meant, but he seemed to know.
“You don’t understand why it’s good?”
“Yes.”
“Pain is followed by a nice rush of endorphins.” His laugh was soft and seductive as he teased and lightly pinched the second nipple. “In short, your body is attempting to make itself happy again, and it’s working. You’re even more receptive than I’d hoped.”
“But I don’t—”
The remaining nipple was gripped in an identical set of small teeth, and she couldn’t help the wave of fear that washed over her, eclipsing the pleasure. “Stop!”
“I can’t do that.”
“I don’t like it!”
“You will.”
He seemed so arrogant, so confident. Anger joined the jumble of confusing feelings, making her want to do what came naturally—push back. “Let me go!”
“No.”
“I mean it, Blaze,” she growled. “Let me go, now!”
“No. Use your safe word, and it ends. We quit. Is that what you want? What you need?”
“I ...” She grappled with the word. Peppermint. Just say it, and this ends. The scariness of the unknown, the fear that you’ll fail.
But the pleasure ends, too. I’ll let us both down.
“Emma? Do you want to use your safe word?”
“N-no,” she admitted quietly. The anger drained, and her body went lax in the restraints, stopped fighting.
“All right.” He kissed her temple. “We’ll continue. And when I’m finished with this scene, I’ll have to punish you. Do you know why?”
Her heart stuttered, and her mind scrambled to think what she’d done wrong. “Oh. I called you by name instead of ‘sir.’ I’m sorry—it won’t happen again.”
“Apology accepted, but it won’t get you out of taking your consequences.” His voice held a trace of humor. “I’m not easily manipulated.”
“I wasn’t trying to do that, sir!” She wasn’t. Was she?
“Perhaps not, but the lesson must be taught, or I’ll fail you. And failing you isn’t an option. Now take another deep breath, and exhale slowly.” He waited while she complied. “That’s it, relax. You really are doing well for your first time. Just feel.”
The praise warmed her, and she settled down with renewed confidence. A tinkle of something small and metal reached her ears, and she felt a tug on each nipple, right before the object was released. It was a chain, she realized, with some sort of weight dangling in the middle, which tugged the hardened points without mercy.
Moaning, she wriggled against the delicious assault, but it was no use.
“Beautiful. And think how much more so when we get them pierced.”
“Oh, God.” She knew better than to think he was kidding. He owned her body now, and unless she exercised her one out, he’d do whatever he wished with it. Few acts were as intimate as marking another person’s flesh, and he’d no doubt planned this as a challenge.
By submitting to him in this, in so many new things, perhaps they both won. The epiphany was astounding, but she didn’t have time to mull it over.
His fingers brushed between her thighs, rubbed her slit. “So pretty. You’re wet and ready for more, aren’t you?”
She was beginning to recognize his tones, and knew he required an answer. “Yes, sir.”
As she struggled to get used to the wonderful, strange sensations, her master moved behind her, murmuring words of soft encouragement. His hand smoothed over her rear and her ass cheeks were parted. Cool liquid dribbled on her hole. So exposed, letting him toy with a place she’d never allowed anyone to see before, and yet she wasn’t afraid anymore. She floated, knowing that all she had to do was utter her safe word and he’d sto
p.
She didn’t want him to stop, and he’d known that all along.
A broad finger slowly pushed into the tiny entrance, allowing no resistance. Stretching, preparing. The burn was a completely new feeling, uncomfortable but not unbearable. He seemed to know when she’d gotten used to it and added another finger, pumping her ass, gradually morphing the weirdness to oh shit and fuck yeah give me more.
She might’ve moaned those sentiments aloud but wasn’t sure of anything except his fingers disappearing and her whimper of protest. Then something round and hard replaced his fingers. Began to push inside. A dildo? If so, it was a damned big one roughly the size of a baseball bat.
“Oh, God!” she yelled as the monster pushed inside.
Showing no mercy, he held her flank to steady her while he worked the rod in and out of her ass faster and harder until she was mindless. Her entire being consisted of nothing except her ass, clit, and nipples. She was owned, yet freed.
“Oh, yes, yes!”
“Come for me, baby,” he growled.
Her orgasm exploded, shattering her into a million pieces and bringing her back together again, leaving her more whole than she’d ever been. Her body twitched in the aftermath, coming down in increments, leveling off into a state of euphoric bliss.
The object was removed from her rear, and immediately the bulbous head of his cock parted her slick labia. Pushed inside, inch by inch, until he seated himself fully with a tortured groan.
“What you do to me ... You’re mine now.”
“Ooh, yes. I’m yours. Love you inside me.”
He began to thrust, big palms gripping her hips, spearing her deep. A second orgasm built with surprising speed, rising as he pounded himself into her channel. Took her by storm, propelling them higher and higher. Over the edge.
“Fuck, yes!” With a shout, he stiffened and emptied himself into her, filling her with heat. She joined him, vibrating until she hung limp, thoroughly exhausted.
Through the haze, she was vaguely aware of her ankles being released, then her wrists, and the blindfold was gone as well. She melted into her master, was boneless when he lifted her into his arms and issued a quiet, loving command.