McKenzie, Cooper - Taming Blaze [Club Esoteria 8] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Cooper McKenzie

  “Why not?” he asked, a frown of concern crossing his face as he easily held her still and kept her from falling to the floor

  “Because I scene at the club, not at my house.”

  Giving up the fight, she crossed her arms under her breasts and tilted her head a bit to the left. Lifting one eyebrow in a look that in the past had frightened seasoned police officers twice her size into backing down, she tried her best to intimidate Master Z into releasing her.

  Without a word, he met her gaze squarely, his own face expressionless. He did not look the least bit affected by her back down or else expression.

  “I am taking you home, kitten. I won’t come inside unless you invite me to, but I will to make sure you get home safely tonight. But if you try to top from the bottom again, especially when it comes to your health or safety, a discipline session of sensual torture without release will be in your future.”

  “You wouldn’t,” she sputtered.

  The hand wrapped around her back slid up to the back of her neck. He held her head securely and brought her face up to within an inch of his own.

  “Try me,” he said before closing the distance and kissing her.

  Chapter 5

  “It’s the third driveway on the left,” Blaze said, just over an hour later as he turned onto her street.

  Since he had sent away the ride she had arranged for before arriving at the club, she had grown quiet. Too quiet. She’d answered his questions, but using only one- or two-word answers and without volunteering anything further about herself. It was as if she was afraid.

  As he eased down the road to her driveway, he automatically scanned the neighborhood, the protective firefighter instincts kicking in. While it was not the best neighborhood in town, he saw that there was a streetlight directly across the street from her driveway and a fireplug at the end of the block. Though he wanted to question her about how good her locks were, he bit the inside of his cheek instead.

  Turning into the driveway, he stopped just behind a silver sedan that in no way looked like it should belong to a woman like Blaze, who was so full of life. Through the dim light provided by his headlights and the streetlight, he quickly looked at her house. A light was on in the window next to the front door. It was a tiny house, but with a wild garden thriving across the front of the house even though it was only March. It made him think of a fairytale cottage.

  “Cute house,” he said, hoping to break through the icy barrier she had set in place.

  “Thanks. It’s not much, but it’s all I could comfortably afford.” She looked from her house to him and shrugged before reaching for the seat belt latch. “Thanks for the ride, Sir.”

  “Andy,” he corrected, wanting to hear his name on her tongue at least once before the evening ended. “Andy Zimmerman when we’re not in the club or scening.”

  “Andy Zimmerman,” she repeated, her voice soft.

  Her eyes met his, and in the half-light of the truck’s cab, she looked so damn desirable. He wondered if there was enough room in the backseat of his extended-cab truck to take this to the next level. His cock jerked and, in painful seconds, extended to full length and stiffness.

  While he would have loved to pull her into the backseat and fuck her until neither of them could move, that was not what his kitten needed. She had to be able to trust him to take care of her when they were alone outside the club as well as he had while they were in the main room under many watchful eyes. Sex in the back of his truck under a glowing streetlight was not the way to earn her trust.

  “Come on, I’ll walk you to your door,” he said instead, releasing his own seat belt.

  She shook her head and looked away. “No, that’s okay. I can get there myself. Thank you for an, um, interesting evening.”

  Before she could escape, Andy reached out, grabbed her hand, and pulled her back toward him. He shifted to face her, and sliding his hand up her arm, he bracketed her shoulders and pulled her close enough to kiss over the center console that separated their seats.

  He was surprised when she relaxed and immediately parted her lips under his, brushing the tip of her tongue against his before retreating. He tilted his head farther to the right and dove deeper, kissing her as he had wanted to earlier, hoping that she understood by his actions that he was a good guy and not like the men in her past who had taught her to only expect pain when dealing with a man.

  When he finally released her, they were both breathing hard, and he was so close to release he was afraid to move as he met her eyes. He was so aroused that he had to clear his throat and swallow twice before he could speak.

  “What are you doing Sunday afternoon?”

  He smiled when Blaze blinked and looked surprised at his question. “Um, I don’t have anything planned. Yet.”

  “Good. I’ll pick you up at one. Wear jeans and boots if you have them.”

  “Where are we going?” she asked, still sounding adrift from the kiss.

  “It’s a surprise, but I think you’ll like it,” he said, not wanting to ruin the surprise. “Now go inside and sleep well. I’ll see you Sunday.”

  “Okay,” she said with a shrug, as if she was not sure she wanted to figure out what he had in mind.

  He waited until she was inside and peeking over the top of the café curtains that covered the bottom half of the window next to the door. Only then did he start the truck and back out of her driveway. He could not stop grinning as he drove across town to his own apartment.

  Blaze Richards did not realize what she had gotten herself by accepting him as her Dom, but he would teach her that there were other things in the BDSM lifestyle than just pain.

  * * * *

  Blaze climbed out of the truck Sunday afternoon feeling equal parts fear and excitement. Master Z, no, Andy as he insisted she call him since they were not at the club, had refused to explain where they were going when he picked her up. Instead, he began asking questions about her life and work and openly answered hers.

  For most of the twenty-minute drive during which he asked conversation-starting questions that exposed more of her than she was comfortable with, Blaze wondered if they were on a date. Being unsure she really wanted to know the answer kept her from asking the question aloud.

  Her nerves had begun the moment she’d entered her house early Saturday morning, and she wondered why she had not immediately turned Andy’s request for a meeting outside of the club. She never met people she met at the club out in the real world on a social basis. Club Esoteria was sacred to her, and she kept that part of her life completely separate from the rest of her life.

  As Andy slowed and turned off the road, she looked around at the horses, goats, and a single cow in the fenced-in pasture near the story-and-a-half-tall barn where they parked. After parking the car, Andy handed her a neatly folded, orange bandana.

  “Stick that in your pocket,” he said, slipping a red one in his own back pocket.

  Blaze wondered, but did not ask why. After all, he was the expert here. Once she climbed from the truck, she walked around the front to where Andy waited. She felt out of her element, but a seed of arousal and childlike excitement took root and sprouted in her spirit.

  “Where are we?” she asked when Andy interlaced their fingers before leading her toward the back of the barn. His callused hands felt warm against her own and sent a pulse of electricity up her arm to spread throughout her body before pooling just behind her clit.

  “My friend’s horse farm. I come out here and ride whenever I have a free afternoon,” he said easily, his thumb rubbing back and forth over the base of her thumb.

  Blaze swallowed as excitement pushed out the fear. She had not ridden a horse in a dozen years, and not until this moment did she realize how much she missed it.

  “Can I ride, too?” she asked, hoping she did not sound like a little kid asking for ice cream.

  “Of course. Have you ever ridden before?” he asked as they rounded the back of the barn and found an old man stand
ing near two horses who were all saddled and ready to go.

  “I took lessons as a kid, but haven’t ridden in years,” she said.

  Andy made casual introductions. “Hey, Mack. This is my friend, Blaze. Blaze, this is Mack. He owns the place.”

  The old man nodded politely, so Blaze did the same.

  “Andy, you’re riding Jack today. And, missy, I put you on Leroy here,” the old man patted the yellow palomino he stood beside. “He’s old as the hills and gentle as they come.”

  Blaze returned the man’s smile. “Thanks,” she said as she slowly walked up to the horse, stopping beside his head. Looking him in the eye, she said, “Hello, Leroy.”

  The horse blinked and lifted his head as if to see her better. She lifted her hand and held the back of her fingers to his nostrils, allowing him to smell her. He sniffed her fingers then nudged her hand in a demand that she recognized as pet me. Smiling with a soul-deep happiness she had not realized was missing from her life, Blaze ran her hand up and down his nose as she talked softly to him.

  “Enough flirting, kitten,” Andy said a few minutes later as he stepped up behind her. “Let’s ride.”

  Blaze grinned over her shoulder at him. “Jealous?”

  Andy met her gaze and lifted an eyebrow before dropping a quick kiss on her nose. At the same time, he ran one hand down the front of her body until he cupped his fingers over her pussy.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. I want you to whisper sweet nothings while rubbing me with that contented look on your pretty face.”

  Blaze’s grin widened further. “Give me a good ride, and maybe I will.”

  “Be careful of what you ask for, little Blaze,” Andy murmured as he canted his hips forward, pressing his erect cock firmly between the cheeks of her ass.

  “Oooh.” Blaze arched and pushed her hips back more firmly into his. “Seems somebody is happy to be visiting the farm.”

  Instead of answering her snarky comment, Andy stepped back. “Can you get up there, or do you need some help?” he asked after clearing his throat.

  Blaze moved down the side of the horse and put her left foot into the stirrup. She tried several times to jump and pull herself over the back of the animal, but just did not have the strength and leverage required to do so.

  “Help, please?”

  “Okay, Blaze.” Andy wrapped his hands around her waist. “One, two, three.”

  On three, he lifted her high enough that her left leg was straight. All she had to do was swing her right leg over the horse’s back and settle into the saddle. Mack checked her stirrups while Andy climbed onto Jack, a beautiful chestnut-colored gelding.

  Once Mack confirmed her stirrups were adjusted properly, and she appeared comfortable in the saddle, he walked away.

  “We’re going to walk up to the ring and ride there,” Andy said. He took Jack’s reins in one hand and set the horse into motion by apparent magic.

  “Okay, Leroy, let’s go,” Blaze said as she picked up the reins and tried to position them as she vaguely remembered.

  Her horse dropped his head forward and jerked the reins out of her hands.

  “Now Leroy, that wasn’t very nice,” she said, squeezing her heels into his sides after she picked the reins up again.

  Still, Leroy just stood there. She made the kissing noises she remembered making as a child, but he just shook his head and took a step backward.

  “Having problems?” Andy asked, having circled back when he realized she had not followed him away from the barn.

  “Leroy decided he doesn’t want to be ridden today,” she said, feeling awkward and like she had forgotten everything she had ever learned about horses.

  “He’s just being stubborn. Come on, old man. Let’s show the lady a good time.”

  Andy took hold of Leroy’s reins near his mouth and then clicked at Jack, who responded immediately. Leroy had to move with them or have his head pulled off, so he started walking.

  After a few steps, Andy looked back at her. “Think you can manage him now?”

  Blaze shrugged. “I’ll try. Just stay close, okay?”

  “As long as you’ll have me,” he said with a mysterious expression on his face.

  Once in the ring, Blaze rode Leroy around the large oval several times under Andy’s close supervision. He only made a few corrections, mostly reminders to keep her heels down, her elbows in, and to relax her shoulders.

  “You’re real good,” he said when she reached the gate after twenty minutes of riding.

  “I guess it’s like riding a bicycle. You never forget,” she said, her face sore from grinning for so long.

  “Think you can handle a ride outside the ring?”

  Though her backside was starting to grumble, Blaze nodded. “Sure, let’s go.”

  He turned his horse toward the opening in the fence then waited until she came up beside them. Only then did he nudge his horse into motion again. They headed away from the barn, behind the exercise ring, then toward the tree line a dozen yards away. Blaze saw an opening in the brush and figured that was their destination.

  As they walked, Andy started asking questions again, as if he had memorized a first-date guide of conversation starters. Blaze was relieved he did, as it kept her from having to come up with questions of her own. While she wondered about the man, she also had yet to figure out where the boundary between first date, Dominant/submissive, and Blaze-is-being-too-nosy-for-her-own-good was. Instead of stumbling on a topic that might trip her up, she forced herself to only answer his questions then listen closely when he shared information about himself.

  As they rode, she relaxed and focused more on the man beside her than where they were going or what was going on around them. Her attention was jerked back to what she was supposed to be doing when Leroy jerked the reins from her hands again then took off running down the path.

  She squeaked in surprise as she grabbed the saddle horn with one hand and reached for the reins with the other. The thin leather strap draped over the horse’s neck was just out of her reach. Leroy picked up speed as he went along, until he was outright galloping through the woods.

  “Andy, help!” she screamed, which only set Leroy to running even faster.

  A long minute later, Jack caught up with them and eased just ahead. Andy reached over and took hold of Leroy’s reins. Once he had them firmly in hand, he slowed his horse, forcing Leroy to a stop as well.

  As soon as the horses stopped, Andy was down off Jake. Before she knew what was happening, he had pulled her from Leroy’s back and hugged her tight. “Are you okay?”

  Blaze melted at the strong, secure hug and could only nod her head up and down in response. She mewed a soft protest when he released her and took a step back. But he did not go far, just far enough to look her up and down to confirm her condition for himself.

  Once he seemed satisfied she was in one piece, he closed the distance between them, this time with one hand sliding around the side of her neck. His touch encouraged her to lift her face, which she did, and she sighed when his lips came down on her.

  The kiss went on and grew deeper until their tongues teased and tormented each other and breathing became an afterthought. Her pussy gushed cream, and her nipples grew painfully hard as they pressed into his chest. She slid her arms around his back to hold on as her knees went weak. She leaned into him and was grateful that he had the strength to hold them both up and steady.

  When he lifted his head, she tried to follow to continue. Instead of kissing her again, he turned his head away to scout the small clearing where they had stopped. He stared at something behind her for a long time before releasing her and taking two steps back.

  “Give me your bandana, kitten,” he said, his voice soft, but with that thread of dominance running through it that she remembered from Friday night.

  Chapter 6

  Kitten. He had called her kitten. The nickname he had gifted her with at the club sent a heated thrill through her, followed imme
diately by a cold chill.

  She had never played BDSM games outside the club before. She may have been a little reckless in some areas of her life but this was not one of them. Though she hesitated giving in, the steady look in his eyes softened her defiance, but did not melt it completely.

  “Sir?” she said as she dug the square cloth out of her back pocket but did not hand it over immediately. She needed answers first.

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t scene outside the club,” she said, dropping her face to stare at the toes of her sneakers.

  Since she did not own a pair of boots without four-inch stiletto heels, Andy had approved her choice sneakers as an alternative. The flat shoes made her even more aware of how much bigger he was since he wore cowboy boots with a walking heel.

  “Look at me, kitten,” he ordered gently then remained silent and still until she lifted her gaze to his face again.

  As her eyes traveled up his body, she could not help but notice the prominent bulge pushing at the zipper of his jeans. So, she wasn’t the only one aroused by their ride. When she met his eyes, they were amber with heavy lids, again shouting he felt as wound up and needy as she did.

  “I know you think scening only in the club is safe, but you take things too close to the edge of physically harming yourself. I won’t hurt you, and we won’t do anything you won’t like. But I want to push your boundaries in a different direction. I want to play out here while we’re alone. No one will see us except Leroy and Jack, and I promise they won’t say anything to anyone.”

  Blaze debated with herself for a minute. On the one hand, he had not caused her harm to this point, and he had brought her more pleasure Friday night than she had ever felt before at the club. On the other hand, they were out in the woods alone, and if she allowed him to tie her up again, she would be at his mercy if he decided to get psycho on her. Would Mack hear her screams from the barn? Would he bother to come investigate?