Tamed

by Stacey Kennedy

  —

  Four weeks. Twenty-eight days. Six hundred and seventy-two hours.

  That’s how long Porter had to get inside Kenzie’s mind and soul. Personally, he had always liked her, even when he had known her from Chains back in the day. Her fun personality was infectious, and she never seemed to take life too seriously.

  Though he also remembered Kenzie when she was younger, in her early twenties, he never had any interest in playing with her before now. He’d been in a relationship back then and hadn’t looked to other submissives for play. Her behavior was bratty even back then, which he had no interest in dealing with when he was younger. He had preferred well-behaved submissives. Now, Porter’s being thirty-five, his cock twitched to play with this submissive, eager to show her who’s in charge.

  The question remained heavy on his mind: Had he excelled in the dynamics of Dominance and submission enough to gain the compliance of the sassiest submissive? Perhaps it was his manhood talking, but he quite liked the idea of going up against the strongest sub he’d ever known. It made the moment a little more playful, and definitely more exciting.

  Even so, after one conversation with her, he’d assumed breaking down the walls she kept up against others wouldn’t be an easy task. Kenzie’s game was to throw everyone else off theirs, and she was a pro—which compelled him to understand why. To find out what made her act the way she did. More important, to be the one Dom whom she couldn’t throw off.

  Staring into her pretty light hazel eyes that were more green than brown, he didn’t know why she made life difficult for Doms; he guessed it was just her nature. When he had seen her play with others, she was a submissive, of that he was sure. Yet at times the things she said and did would make one believe she’d be better off as a Dominatrix or a switch.

  While he wanted to explore earning her submission, he also reminded himself that Club Sin members needed to witness his skill as a Dom. The task of showing Dmitri, the Club Sin Masters, and the other members that he deserved the title of Club Sin Master was hanging over him.

  He’d known all the Club Sin Masters since they entered the lifestyle around the same time and were playing at Chains. Porter had as much experience as Dmitri, and being on uneven ground with them in Club Sin wasn’t a position he preferred.

  Recognition. Respect. Pride. They mattered to him.

  He kept Kenzie’s chin in his grip and regarded the soft lines of her face to her strawberry-blond hair that sure as hell matched her fiery personality. His choice to take her as his sub was partly because he hungered to get deep inside her. Both mentally and physically.

  The determination in her eyes amused him. He excelled at teaching young submissives at Chains, as he’d done with his ex, Cora. Since her, he’d hadn’t taken on any other submissives full-time, simply because he was damn tired of love turning into friendship, which was exactly what had happened with Cora. Their relationship had lasted a year, and while he’d thought he had found love, it had turned out to be a fleeting romance. Now Cora was married to Aidan, and Porter was happy that she’d found whatever it was she’d been looking for, even if it hadn’t happened with him.

  After Cora, he had made the decision that until he found the woman who sparked an intense passionate love inside him, he wouldn’t open himself up that way again. His choice not to date and to keep things casual simplified his life, which also now led him to play with the firecracker Kenzie. Go figure.

  Examining Kenzie in his hold, he considered his next steps with her, knowing he had to always stay ahead of her. He had purposely placed himself right in her space from the get-go. Judging from the scenes he’d watched her participate in, he saw that she preferred to keep people at a distance. Even now, he noticed her level of discomfort at his nearness. She shifted on her feet and had trouble looking into his eyes. Compelled to continue touching her, he ran his finger up her arm, and her lips parted.

  When silent, Kenzie was absolutely beautiful. Freckles covered her shoulders and the bridge of her nose, with just a faint dusting on her cheeks. She was feminine, with a small, slender frame and lovely round breasts, and an ass that looked perfect in a pair of jeans.

  To test her, he moved a bit closer, and her gaze fell to his chest. He pinched her chin, forcing her eyes on him. He stayed quiet, as Kenzie had had too many scenes where words were exchanged, and he wanted to avoid her smart mouth. He might find her cleverness amusing, but he didn’t deserve her insults. Irritation would do him no good. From what he’d seen of her, it was exactly what she wanted. He didn’t pretend to understand why she pushed against Doms, when surrendering was clearly something she enjoyed. Now he needed to rise above the words she spat and teach her a different way toward submission.

  Voices and movement surrounded him, and he assumed playtime was continuing after the collaring ceremony, but he paid no attention to it. He stayed focused on Kenzie, and continued to trail his finger up and down her arm. Then he traced over her collarbone, grinning at the hitching of her breath.

  I’ve got you now, little one.

  Seeing her respond to his touch, he softened his fingers, drawing them up the front of her neck. Her eyes blazed and she snapped, “What are you doing?”

  Porter ignored her curt tone and her not addressing him as sir, pleased that gentle touches unnerved her. Certain things he’d punish. Other things he would not. Kenzie pushed to irritate him. He let it slide off his back. “Touching you,” he said softly.

  She snorted. “Clearly.”

  Her brisk response didn’t surprise him, as it showed her discomfort. Though it shocked him she hadn’t moved away. She had the power to step out of his hold, but she didn’t. Her submission all but poured out of her, and it piqued his interest.

  Why so snappy with your mouth but so willing with your body?

  Kenzie always had been a confusing little thing, and while this was an agreement between them, he did want to know all things about her. He would earn her submission by the end of their month together—that he was determined to achieve. To do so, he needed to understand her in every way—mind, body, and soul. He was also in no rush to do that. Force wouldn’t get him inside her head, patience would.

  He slid his knuckles over her cheek, and she huffed. “You know, touching other parts of my body is a lot more fun.”

  Remaining silent, he continued to introduce her to his touch. The sass couldn’t sway him. Her body told an entirely different story. That is what he’d learned about Kenzie during his time studying her, which he’d done purposely to learn more about her before they played—her body and what came out of her mouth weren’t connected. In fact, he’d come to discover she was the most disconnected submissive he’d ever set his sights on. He wanted to fix that.

  He trailed his hand on her face, and she leaned in to him, not moving away, contradicting her words. Interesting and unexpected. Her reaction instantly told him intimacy was the path to getting to that submissive part of her. A breath of relief nearly escaped him, as a month of dealing with her bratty behavior didn’t interest him in the least. But a month of showing her the way to true submission elated him.

  Kenzie wasn’t just a test subject, she was a beautiful woman and special.

  His focus went to her pouty lips, and he anticipated her heated kisses. That mouth had been haunting him. It’d also been in his thoughts a few times when he’d jerked off in the privacy of his bedroom. He had wanted this moment with her, had craved the battle of wills. Yet he was well aware of the attitude that would follow.

  He glided his hand into her hair, and she proved him right by growling, “I don’t know about you, but this is what I’d call boring. Are we going to scene now?”

  “Quiet,” he murmured.

  Her brows rose in surprise. Porter imagined she wasn’t used to Doms’ using gentle advances toward her. Perfect. From what he had observed watching her in Club Sin, he knew he had to keep surprising her. He wouldn’t allow her to treat him as she’d treated others. Nor would he all
ow her to not offer him complete submission.

  Kenzie’s close relationship with Dmitri was the only thing keeping her in the dungeon. From what Dmitri had told Porter, most Doms refused to play with her anymore, and even Club Sin Masters Sawyer and Miles had difficulty with her. A disrespectful submissive wasn’t fun, especially when a Dom felt that the sub wasn’t giving herself over to his mastery.

  Porter had noticed something in her that he wondered if others missed. Signs of submission were evident with her body’s actions, and that was why he had taken his time studying her. Something he doubted that no one before him did. He’d always intended to play with her, eventually. The agreement just forced his hand to learn as much as he could about her in a short time.

  While she often showed those beautiful submissive signs during an intense scene, he was seeing them now. That would be his sole focus with her for the next month, bringing those reactions forward and building trust so that she felt safe enough to let go with him. But he also believed these tender touches were annoying her, tampering with her self-control.

  He tangled his fingers in her curls, loving the silkiness sliding along his hand. She came up to only his breastbone, making him feel entirely masculine. His hand was quite large next to her face, and he liked how tiny she was—the femininity she portrayed.

  Her glare intensified as he slowly brushed his fingers over her lips. He ignored that response and continued brushing over her mouth. She snorted. “This is your plan, then—looking at me and touching my mouth?”

  He didn’t reply.

  Porter knew why she was getting snappier—Kenzie wasn’t in control. It became glaringly obvious she didn’t like it. Nor was she used to a Dom not giving her what she wanted. And what she’d become quite good at obtaining.

  Tonight things would be on his terms, under his rules.

  Soon she would discover that, and accept it.

  Club Sin had certain rules and hard limits that were nonnegotiable: No fire play. No catheters or enemas. No breath play. No urination or defecation. No knives, needles, piercing, cutting, or blood. Porter had received Kenzie’s hard and soft limits from her Club Sin agreement. She had no soft limits, or play that would warrant caution, and that didn’t surprise him—she was a brave little thing and quite daring. Her hard limits of play were only that she received pleasure before pain and that she didn’t want aftercare with her Dom. But she did allow her Dom to sit near her while she rested alone on the couch.

  Porter didn’t even pretend to understand the latter. Who didn’t want to be held? Though it only stirred curiosity about why she would make such a request. He had more questions than answers at the moment, but by the end of their time together tonight, he hoped to gain more clarity into her. And by the end of their month together, he would gain her full submission—of that he was sure.

  Another minute passed before she huffed and folded her arms. “Great. The next month is going to be exciting if this is all you do.”

  He chuckled.

  She glared…again.

  A few more minutes passed, and once her facial expression finally softened, he closed his fist in her hair and tugged her forward, not with the force she was used to, but intimately pressing her body against his. Holding her as passionately as he could, he dropped his mouth to hers. Her lips instantly parted, yet he lifted his mouth off hers and kissed her neck, feeling her tense beneath him. He tasted the salty sweat off her flesh and inhaled her fiery cinnamon scent. His cock twitched, ready to take her.

  Once she relaxed in his hold, he returned his lips to hers. Her mouth beneath his was softer this time, but not indulgent enough for his liking. He ground his hard cock against her stomach and felt her rough breath across his face. Angling her head, he kissed his way to the other side of her neck, sometimes nibbling there, other times licking.

  She moaned, and he heard her plea, so he brought his mouth to hers. He kissed her, not with the force of a Dom, but with the intimacy of a lover. Something he thought Kenzie needed to experience, since all she’d done was push everyone away from her. Her body became willing and she gave a moan filled with yearning. Now she followed his movements, not in a demanding way, but accepting. He grunted at how amazing she tasted, and he licked the outer part of her lip. She opened further for him, inviting him inside. Her tongue swirled with his, and his stomach clenched against the surge of desire.

  Her kiss was perfection. Her mouth divine. Her taste delectable.

  Holding her face in his hands, he sensed Kenzie completely relax in his arms. The submissive kissing him was not the typical Kenzie, and he wondered why a submissive who gave herself so completely in her kiss refused to do that at any other time. In fact, he’d wager that he’d never met this other side of her, the woman he now held. Not once had he ever seen her kiss anyone in this way—so passionate, so packed with emotion.

  Surprised by her, he broke the kiss, wanting something he hadn’t expected—to demand more kisses from her. Her beauty was amplified after his kiss. She was a fireball of passion that seemed all too perfect under his hold. Her eyes fluttered open and softness rested in their depths, almost as if she was allowing him right into her soul. The intensity of it sucked the air from his lungs. The pull to her that soared through him was most unexpected.

  She leaned in to his hand for a split second before she jerked away and snapped, “That is not how Doms kiss at Club Sin, with all that”—she glared at him—“you know what you did.”

  Porter leaned down into her face, now wondering if accepting her as a submissive was the best decision he’d ever made. There was something between them—something real and raw. Intense chemistry that he didn’t recognize at first, not until his mouth touched hers. Not until he felt the real Kenzie, the woman beneath the tough armor. The soft submissive who’d handed him her soul in a single kiss. The perfection that wrapped him in a spell, making his muscles tighten and his eyes clear to the beauty before him.

  She scowled. “Why did you kiss me like that?”

  Locked in her heated stare, he was consumed by the woman who kissed him as if she’d dropped all barriers she’d put in place. Something shifted inside him, as he looked to her not as a casual submissive that he was hunting, but as a conquest his heart needed to explore.

  He slid his finger over her perfect, pouty lips and grinned. “Because I wanted to.”

  Chapter Two

  What in the hell was that?

  Kenzie’s world spun around her and there seemed to be no place to land. Porter’s kiss was not a kiss from a Dom. That was a kiss from a lover. A kiss that Kenzie had never experienced before in her life, and usually made sure to avoid. Porter, though, gave her no choice. Sure, some might think it was weird that she was twenty-five and had never been kissed so intimately, but that was her intention; she didn’t need or want this level of play.

  During high school she had vanilla boyfriends, but even they were not as educated as Porter was in the ways of kissing. She couldn’t recall a single time she’d ever been kissed like that in her life—raw, passionate, purposeful; her knees wobbled.

  His kiss was as deadly as it was dangerous. And uncalled for in the club.

  Her heart banged against the walls of her chest and fell right into the pit of her stomach, and her limbs morphed to mush. She remained trapped by Porter’s potent study of her, wondering if he always kissed like that. This was one Dom she’d never kissed before, and now she wondered if maybe that was a good thing. Was he simply a Dom capable of creating chemistry with any of his subs? She breathed a sigh of relief when he finally lowered his hand from her chin and stepped back.

  “Follow me” was all he said.

  She forced her legs to move as he headed toward the bondage table in the right corner of the dungeon. While his black T-shirt was stretched over impressive muscles, and Porter had many things going for him, what made him sexy were his masculine features and the strength he exuded. She passed among the tables, weaving herself around the other members of
Club Sin, who were either quiet in aftercare or chatting among themselves, and she concluded it was Porter’s stride that made him radiate sex. He commanded attention. His shoulders were high and his stride was smooth but purposeful. If there was danger in front of him, she didn’t doubt he’d walk with that slow gait, posing an equal threat.

  Her body hummed in a foreign way as he approached the table. Then he turned to her, and under the playful edge she could see in his eyes, her heart tripped. It appeared she amused him, and that wasn’t at all what she intended. She never amused Doms. She irritated them to get her way. She was very good at it.

  Fuck!

  As she stepped closer to him, he offered his hand, and she placed hers within it. The slow, sensual music surrounded them, and a harsh buzz erupted through her. The corner of his mouth arched as he pulled her in to him. The heat from his body encased her, swallowing her whole. He dropped his head and his mouth rested mere centimeters from hers. “Anything you’d like to say before we start?”

  She swallowed the added moisture in her mouth. “No.”

  “Very well.” He ran his knuckles over her cheek and, shocking her, he placed a gentle kiss directly on her forehead.

  A swell of emotion struck her hard in the chest. That kiss…God, he made her feel special and protected. Rejecting the thought, she allowed him to tug her toward the table. She’d dealt with many types of Doms, but Porter was getting under her skin.

  She didn’t like it.

  He looked over his shoulder at her, and she realized it was those spirited eyes that dropped the ground out from under her. His gaze reached right into her soul, past all her defenses, making her feel entirely naked. Almost as if he knew her better than she knew herself. What troubled her more was her reaction to him, as she sensed she could bare it all and he’d somehow take care of her.

  She hastily reminded herself that this was a test. Porter had never asked her to be his submissive before now. He was only playing with her tonight and for the remainder of the month, because it meant he would receive Club Sin Master status. Remembering that, she shut down all emotion and lifted her chin. “Are we starting now?”