I wonder where Aiden is. To my shame, the mere thought of the big vampire makes my heart beat harder. It’s almost like I’m infatuated with him, which of course, is ridiculous. I just met him yesterday—he’s practically still a stranger.
A stranger you bared yourself body and soul to. A stranger you told your most embarrassing secrets, whispers a little voice in my head. Trying to shut it up, I flop back down and pull my pillow over my head. As I do, I stretch out my arms and my fingertips find something thin and smooth that crackles when I touch it.
I sit up again and look to see what’s in my hand. It’s a piece of paper covered in bold, flowing script—a note.
My Darling Emma,
I trust that you slept well after your exertion last night. I will be waiting for you in the dining room when you awake. Please wear what I have left out for you—you will find it on the dresser. Wear this and nothing more. I look forward to continuing your education.
A.
“Controlling bastard, aren’t you?” I murmur to myself as I read over his dressing instructions. Then again, I suppose that’s part of the whole Master gig. My heart skips a beat when I see the last line about continuing my education. Goddess, what does he have in mind for me today? “Only one way to find out,” I murmur and hop out of bed.
After a quick but refreshing shower in the master bathroom, which has marble everything and is bigger than my living room, I wrap myself in a plush crimson towel. Then I wander back out to the bedroom to see what kind of outfit my new master has chosen for me.
“What the hell is this?” I stand in front of the large mahogany dresser with its ornate, oval mirror and stare at the 'outfit'. Only it’s not an outfit at all—it’s a collar. A lovely one, to be sure—it’s been made to look a little like a necklace with a ruby charm dangling from the front—but a collar just the same. It even has a buckle instead of a clasp. Seriously, he expects me to wear this? This and nothing else?
“I don’t think so,” I mutter to myself. I might be willing to wear the collar, since we’re playing this dominance and submission game. But there is no way I’ll prance around naked with it on. Letting Aiden see me nude is one thing. Walking around with no clothes in a house made of glass walls is something else entirely. It’s not going to happen.
I’ll just wear what I had on last night, I tell myself. But when I go to search for them, my blue halter top and peacock colored skirt are gone. Well, crap. It doesn’t look like Aiden is leaving me many options.
But I’m not going down without a fight. If I can’t find my clothes, I’ll have to wear some of his. Opening the mahogany wardrobe at the far end of the room, I begin rummaging through the rows of clothes. Hmm, it smells wonderful in here—like cedar and some kind of dark spice—Aiden’s personal scent, I realize. I’m tempted to burrow in among the hanging suits and dress shirts and just breathed him in. Maybe I can find the entrance to some magical land where animals talk and nobody expects you to submit and wear a collar. But I sense I’ve kept my master waiting long enough.
I pick a deep red, long sleeved shirt and put it on. Aiden is so big his shirt falls to my thighs, making a suitable, if somewhat short, dress. I have to roll the sleeves up almost to my elbows and then I look at myself in the oval mirror.
Not bad. The crimson shirt contrasts nicely with my pale skin and makes my mousy brown hair almost blonde. My mother had the same pale skin but her hair was raven black and fell to her waist. I sigh, wishing that I’d inherited her hair color and not just her skin tones.
The shirt looks good but what about the collar? Reluctantly, I decide I’d better wear it. I’m already disobeying Aiden’s orders about not wearing anything else. Maybe seeing that I also slipped on the article he left out for me will appease him.
I buckle it around my neck and am surprised when it fits perfectly—almost as though it was made for me. It doesn’t feel constrictive and it doesn’t choke me. Instead, the smooth black leather seems to mold itself to my throat, like a second skin. The ruby pendant nestles in the hollow of my throat resembling a drop of blood, glittering when I move. I’m glad I chose the red shirt because they definitely go together.
Finally I’m ready to leave the room. I let myself out of the bedroom and start walking but soon I find that the house is kind of a maze. There are hallways branching into hallways, sitting rooms, bedrooms, a study lined with leather-bound books, even a professional looking kitchen hung with burnished copper pots—but no dining room that I can find. The glass walls everywhere makes it seem like a mirror maze at the carnival—I’ve always hated those things. Even worse, I start getting the weird, creepy feeling that someone I can’t see is watching me.
Just as I’m about to get really weirded out, I turn another corner and find myself in a large, formal dining room. There, sitting at the far end of a table that could easily seat sixteen, is Aiden. He has a laptop open beside him and is going over a thick sheaf of paperwork but when I come in he looks up.
“Ah, finally.”
“Sorry, I got a little bit lost.” I come over to the table, very aware that he is staring at me without blinking. Goddess, suddenly wearing his shirt—when he expressly forbid me clothing—seems like a bad idea. “Do you like my outfit?” I blurt at last when he still doesn’t say anything.
“You look very fetching in my clothing,” Aiden rumbles, frowning. “But as you well know, Emma, you’re not supposed to be wearing anything but the collar.”
“I am wearing the collar, see? I shake back my hair, baring my neck for him, making sure he can see the ruby winking in the hollow of my throat.
“Yes, and it looks lovely on you. But why are you also wearing my shirt?” Oh crap, he sounds so stern.
“I…uh…” I swallow hard, trying to think of an excuse. “I thought I might be cold?” I say weakly.
Aiden frowns. “The house is kept at a constant seventy-five degrees during the day, Emma. And with all the sunlight coming through the windows and walls, there’s no way you could be too cold.”
“Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?” I snap, suddenly angry at his unreasonable demands. “Maybe I don’t want to run around nude in a house that has mostly glass walls. What if some pervert was peeking in?”
“That’s impossible,” he says flatly. “I value my privacy highly and I pay well to make sure it stays intact. No one will see you, Emma. Remove that shirt right now.”
“I don’t want to,” I whisper, clutching the crimson fabric to my chest. “I…I feel safer with it on.”
“That’s exactly the point,” Aiden says patiently. “How can I break down your boundaries when you feel safe? You need to be out of your comfort zone.”
“Maybe I like my comfort zone,” I say mutinously.
He sighs. “Do you really think I want you naked just to discomfort you? I have other reasons as well. I want you to make friends with your body.”
“Make friends with…what?” I stare at him incredulously. What the hell?
Aiden must see the skeptical look on my face because he raises a hand and says, “All I mean is that you need to spend some time in your own skin in order to realize how beautiful you are.” His eyes roam over me from top to toe, making me feel hot all over. “To see yourself as I see you.”
“That sounds like some kind of crazy therapy,” I say but I can feel myself blushing from the way he’s looking at me.
Aiden shrugs, his broad shoulders rolling under the expensive gray suit jacket he has on today. “Call it what you will but until you learn to love yourself, until you’re completely comfortable with your body, you can’t submit to me properly.”
I sigh. “I still don’t understand why you need my submission so badly. Is this the way you augment your power?”
“Something like that but it’s not what you think at all. This isn’t just for me.”
I look around. “Are we doing it for someone else? Are they watching?”
Aiden laughs. “No, Emma, it’s nothing like that.�
�
“Then what is it like?” I demand.
He sighs. “I will tell you all in the fullness of time. For right now, please remove the shirt so we can eat.”
I can tell he’s not going to let this go. And he’s already seen me naked last night—this should be no big deal. But somehow it is, it really is. It’s much harder to take off my clothes in the broad light of day than it was to slip them off last night in the warm, forgiving lamplight of the bedroom.
I unbutton the shirt slowly, trying to put off the moment of complete nudity. Aiden watches me, his gaze roaming over my body as more and more of me is revealed.
“Lovely,” he growls softly when I reach the last button and the shirt hangs open around me. He pushes back from the table and beckons to me. “Come here, Emma.”
Not knowing what else to do, I come to him and stand where he indicates, right between his legs. He’s so tall that, though he’s sitting and I’m standing, we’re still eye-to-eye. “Master?” I whisper softly, hoping to appease him—wondering what he’s going to do.
“So beautiful. Such full breasts.” He palms one of my breasts gently and thumbs the nipple until it’s a stiff little peak. I have to bite back a moan—Goddess, his touch sets me on fire. “I love the way you look like this, with your nakedness framed in crimson,” Aiden murmurs, cupping the other breast and giving it the same treatment. “I’ll tell you what, Emma…”
“What?” I whisper as he continues to stroke and tease my breasts. He seems to like pinching my nipples until I gasp and then circling their aching peaks until I moan.
“I’ll let you keep the shirt on,” he murmurs, looking up at me. “As long as you keep it open, just as it is now, and don’t try to hide your body from me. I want to see you every minute—looking at you is a visual feast.”
No one has ever said anything even remotely like this to me before. I’m stunned for a moment but then I realize this is the best deal I’m going to get. I’d better take it quickly. “Yes,” I nod. “Yes, Master, that would be nice.”
“Very nice,” he murmurs. “But I’m afraid you’ll still have to be punished for disobeying me.”
“What? But I thought we had a deal,” I protest.
He frowns. “A deal you forced me to make when you came out here dressed instead of nude, as I required. That kind of manipulation from a submissive is called ‘topping from the bottom’ and I won’t have it.”
“What…what are you going to do to me?” I ask. “Bend me over your knee and spank me again?” I’m ashamed to admit the thought of that, of being held down and punished by him, is making my pussy wet. Goddess, what’s wrong with me?
“Nothing would give me more pleasure,” Aiden growls, his gray eyes flashing silver for a moment. “But I have much to do today and I’m already running behind.” He looks at the heavy gold Rolex on his wrist and frowns. “However,” he looks up. “I do have a means of punishment here that I think will be appropriate.”
Before I can ask what it is, he is pulling what looks like two little alligator clips from his pocket. They have black rubber tips and are attached with a length of fine, golden chain, which coils in his palm like a pet snake.
“What are those?” I ask, looking at the clips apprehensively.
“You’ll see soon enough. Come here.” He beckons for me to get closer, which I do, even though it puts my breasts right in his face.
Aiden doesn’t seem to mind in the least. He palms one of my heavy breasts and sucks the nipple gently into his mouth. I gasp as he takes me into his wet heat. His tongue plays with me—circling my sensitive bud, then lashing it until my legs are so weak I feel like I might fall down. It seems like each new sensation of pleasure goes straight to my pussy, making it wet and hot and ready for him. He sucks me hard, taking as much of my breast as he can into his mouth at one time until I moan. Then, slowly, he pulls back, eyeing my fully erect nipple approvingly.
“Very good,” he murmurs. “And now that you’ve had your pleasure, it’s time for punishment.”
“What kind of punishm—” I begin but that’s when he clamps one of the black rubber alligator clips to my nipple—the nipple he just finished sucking, the one that’s still so sensitive even the soft breeze from a nearby window feels too intense.
I yelp and try to jump away but Aiden holds me still. Swiftly, he sucks the other nipple until it too sticks out. Then he puts the second clamp on. When I look down, I can see the fine-link golden chain swaying between my breasts. It feels like someone with mean fingers is pinching my delicate buds as hard as they can.
“It hurts,” I protest, wishing I dared to take the damn things off my nipples. One look in Aiden’s gray eyes tell me there’s no way I can. Not without incurring his wrath and an even more severe punishment.
“They’re meant to hurt,” he responds calmly. “Take a deep breath, Emma. Relax into the pain.”
I try to do as he says and I find that I can manage—a little bit. The pain in my sensitive nubs isn’t quite so intense now—it’s more like intense squeezing. And I have to admit, to my shame, that every sensation I feel in my breasts is going straight to my pussy to make me wetter and hotter than I have ever been before. Am I getting off on the pain? Or the fact that it was Aiden who inflicted it?
“Better now?” he asks, searching my eyes.
I nod shortly. “A little.”
“Good.” He strokes one tortured breast gently. “Tell me something, Emma—deep down, do you like the way it feels? The bite of the clamps?”
I can feel myself blushing. It’s almost as though he’s reading my mind—but there’s no way I’ll admit it. “No,” I say hastily. “No, of course not. Why would I like it?”
“Because you’re a natural submissive,” he murmurs. “I could tell it the moment I touched you. You don’t want to acknowledge it, but giving yourself to me, however reluctantly, arouses you greatly.”
“No, it doesn’t,” I lie, trying to keep a straight face. “Not at all.”
“Oh?” He raises an eyebrow at me. “So if I was to finger your soft little cunt right now I wouldn’t find you wet and hot for me?”
“No, I…I don’t….don’t think so.” I shift uneasily in front of him. Goddess.
“You don’t think so?” He frowns at me sternly. “I think we’d better find out for sure. Spread your legs and open your pussy for me.”
“I…do I have to?” I whisper. I know what he’ll see if he forces me to do this. He’ll find out how hot and wet I really am. How the punishing clamps on my nipples are causing my pussy to cream for him.
Aiden twists one finger in the gold chain hanging between my breasts and gives it a sharp tug. I yelp as the clamps bite even harder and a fiery mixture of pleasure and pain jolts through me, causing fresh wetness between my legs. “Do as you’re told,” he says sternly.
“Yes, Master,” I say through gritted teeth. Part of me hates the humiliation of what he’s demanding I do. But there is another part—a part so deeply buried I never would have found it without Aiden. That naughty little part of my psyche loves the feeling of hot helplessness, of giving control of my body over to someone else. Someone bigger and stronger who can do anything he wants to me. I try to push that part away—it’s sick and wrong to be turned on by this treatment, isn’t it? I am no longer sure. All I know is that my master is watching me, waiting for me to obey. Every second I delay I am risking more punishment.
Taking a deep breath, I spread my legs for him. Then, (and this is even harder) I reach down and part my pussy lips with my fingers, holding myself open so that he can inspect my wet, pink interior.
“Lovely,” Aiden murmurs, cupping my open pussy in his hand. I can’t quite stifle a moan as his warm palm comes in contact with my slippery inner cunt. I can feel the heel of his hand rubbing my throbbing clit even as two thick fingers sink deep inside my pussy. He looks up at me. “And not just lovely—very wet and hot. You do like this, Emma. Even if you don’t want to admit it to yourself
.”
“I…I…” It’s impossible to answer when he’s pumping slowly into my pussy with those long, thick fingers. Goddess, I haven’t even had breakfast yet and he’s about to give me an orgasm.
“Wet and hot but so tight,” Aiden says, still pumping. Goddess, I’m so close. If he would just rub my clit a little harder… a little faster… “We’ll have to do something about that after breakfast,” he continues. Then, abruptly, he withdraws his hand.
I’m left standing there alone, bereft, unfulfilled. I make a little sound of protest but Aiden seems unconcerned.
“You may sit now, Emma,” he says, indicating a plush dining room chair adjacent to his. “Breakfast will be served at once.” He picks up a small crystal bell I hadn’t noticed earlier and rings it sharply.
To my surprise and embarrassment, a door on the far side of the room opens and an elderly human man with thinning white hair and watery blue eyes shuffles in carrying a tray. Oh my Goddess, has he been watching? Has he seen everything that Aiden was doing to me? Quickly I try to cover myself with the crimson shirt but Aiden stops me.
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “Don’t worry, Emma. Barnes won’t look at you.” Barnes, presumably, being the old man.
“But…” I have never felt so naked. I’m still itching to cover up, even though the servant’s watery blue eyes are pointed discreetly away from me.
“It’s my wish that you remain bare,” Aiden growls softly, his eyes flashing. It’s clear he’s not going to bend on this.
Reluctantly, I stop fiddling with the crimson shirt and let it hang open by my sides. My clamped nipples throb fiercely and my pussy feels incredibly wet and naked. My cheeks are so hot I feel like my face is on fire. Yet I sit there quietly, on display, while the elderly servant serves out scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and pancakes.
He puts a steaming plate in front of me and I pick up my fork and start eating, not sure what else to do. I’m sure the food is delicious, but I can’t taste a thing. All I can feel is how embarrassed I am. How I wish I could sink right through the floor and never return.
The Sacrifice Page 6