This time I can’t stop myself from reaching between my legs. I’ve never had a man do this to me, but I have to confess it’s a turn-on to watch the Dom going down on his submissive while she’s tied and helpless on the bed. I spread my pussy lips with my index and ring finger and stroke rapidly over my throbbing clit, my middle finger flicking lightly but firmly over the center of my desire. I pump my hips too, feeling the phallus shift within me, fucking me. Goddess but I’m so hot…so close…
“Emma, what did I tell you about touching yourself before I left this morning?”
I nearly jump out of the seat at that cold, commanding voice. Aiden! Where is he? I look wildly at the door of the study but it’s still closed, just as I left it.
“Look at the laptop,” he says dryly.
I look again and there, at the bottom right of the screen, just below where the Dom is licking his submissive out, is a three by three inch square. Aiden is visible in this screen-within-the screen and he looks extremely displeased.
But I’m sure he wasn’t there a minute ago! I think wildly. How long as he been watching me?
“I’ve been watching since you first opened my laptop,” he says, with that uncanny ability he seems to have of either reading my mind or guessing my thoughts. “I was hoping you might continue to abide by my orders, even if you were snooping in an area that doesn’t concern you. But now I see that you’re incapable of obeying even the simplest command.”
“You…you set me up.” My voice is a hoarse croak. “You left the laptop out in plain sight and put a hot movie on it you knew would turn me on to try and trick me.”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “On the contrary, I had no idea it would ‘turn you on’ as you put it. Although I suppose the fact that it did proves we’re not wasting our time. The movie is actually for my own viewing pleasure.”
On the screen, the Dom has the blonde submissive’s legs over his shoulders and is slowly guiding this thick cock into her pussy. She moans wordlessly as his flesh slides into hers, filling her to the limit. I feel my cheeks heating with embarrassment. “Can…can you see what’s going on in the movie from where you are?” I ask in a small voice.
“No. But I can see that you’re still touching yourself when you were expressly told not to.” His stern gray eyes flick down and I realize that I’m sitting there with the shirt open and my fingers spreading my pussy, almost like I’m putting on a show for him. Oh Goddess, what’s wrong with me?
Quickly I snatch my fingers away and pull the crimson shirt closed tight around me. But it’s too late—the damage has obviously been done. “I just wanted to check my e-mail and tell my professors I wouldn’t be in class tonight,” I say miserably. “I didn’t mean to…to disobey orders…Master.”
His eyes soften when I use his title but only slightly. “Whether you meant to or not, you’ve violated the rules I set for you, Emma,” he says sternly. “And for that, I’m afraid there will have to be a punishment.”
“A punishment?” I squeak, remembering the way he put me over his knee and spanked me the night before. My ass is still a little tender from that and I’m in no hurry for more.
“Did you really expect anything else?” he demands.
I drop my eyes. “No, Master. I…I guess not.”
Aiden seems mollified by my submissive answer. He nods and looks at his watch. “Good, since I can’t eat with you this afternoon, I’ll have Barnes bring a light lunch to your room. Afterward, may I suggest a cooling swim in the pool. It might help you keep those hands where they belong.” His eyes flick over my hands, curled into anxious fists in my lap.
Actually, a swim sounds lovely and I want to see the pool. “But I don’t have a suit,” I protest.
“You don’t need one,” Aiden says sharply. “For the last time, Emma, no one will be watching you.”
“But your uh, butler guy—Barnes…”
“Is legally blind.” One corner of his sensual mouth quirks up in a rare smile. “He finds his way through the house by touch and manages by being familiar with everything.”
“What?” Now I’m pissed. “And just when were you going to tell me that?” I demand. “You knew how uncomfortable I was this morning at breakfast when you made me go naked in front of him. You—”
“Careful, darling,” he says softly. “You’ve already earned yourself one punishment today. Don’t make it two.”
I bite the inside of my cheek and cross my arms over my chest. “Fine.”
“That’s better.” Aiden nods at me. “And the reason I let you believe he could see is that I need you to be ready to display yourself when I ask you to. You weren’t willing to do that last night at the ceremony; I needed to see if I could break down your barriers enough for you to do it this morning.”
“But why?” I can’t help asking. “Why would it be necessary for you to…to show me off like that?”
“For my pleasure. You’re a very beautiful woman, Emma. It might please me to share your beauty with others sometime in the future.”
“What?” I’m suddenly cold all over. “You want to share me? Huh-uh, no way! That’s not in my job description.”
His eyes turn cold again, so cold I can almost feel the frost coming out of the computer screen. “Your job description is whatever I say it is,” he growls softly. And then his tone softens. “But when I say share, I mean in the visual sense only. I will never tolerate another man’s hands on you. Just the thought of it…” He shakes his head, his eyes flashing fiercely. “It doesn’t bear thinking of.”
I feel a little better now—at least he’s not thinking of making me take on the starring role in a gang-bang orgy or something abhorrent like that. Still, the idea of being naked in front of other people makes me unhappy. I guess it’s something we’ll have to take up another time.
“I see,” I say, as neutrally as I can.
Aiden cocks his head to one side. “Do I detect a hint of defiance, Emma?”
“Why would I be defiant?” I give him my best wide-eyed innocent look. “I don’t want to risk earning another punishment, right?”
“Ah yes, your punishment.” He leans back and gives me a cold, thoughtful look. “I’ll be home precisely at five. When I get in, I expect to find you completely naked, wearing only the collar, clamps, and harness.”
“But…but what about our deal?” I clutch the red shirt around me like a lifeline. “You said I could wear—”
“If you can’t obey orders, you forfeit your privileges, Emma,” he says. “As I was saying, I want you naked and bent over the bed with your bare ass in the air, ready to take your punishment. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”
A thrill of fear and something else goes through me. “Yes, Master,” I whisper, unable to say anything else.
“Very good. I’ll see you at five.” And then the screen abruptly goes blank and the little box with his face in it disappears.
Chapter Eleven
I spend the rest of the day in a haze of worry and dread. What is Aiden planning to do with me? Probably spank me—but with what? His hand? A cane? He won’t really hurt me, will he? I mean, the spanking was a little painful but not in a life-threatening kind of way. But he’s a vampire and they’re not usually known for their leniency.
Barnes, the blind old servant—now I feel guilty for thinking he was creepy—brings a tray to my room at noon. It has creamy, mild goat cheese, some crisp wheat crackers, and a delicious assortment of fruit. There’s a white wine spritzer to go with it, which I gulp down though I usually don’t drink. But at this point I’ll take anything to calm my nerves. Hell, I wish I had spreadable valium to go on my crackers instead of cheese.
Lunch is delicious but I really don’t have much of an appetite. My stomach is tied in knots by the pictures my brain keeps showing me. Pictures of me spread out naked while Aiden does whatever he wants to me. Goddess, I have got to get hold of myself!
An hour after lunch I find my way to the pool. It’s in an enclosed atrium
with tropical flowering plants all around. Beautiful. A glass skylight above lets in the sunlight, warming the pale blue water to perfection.
I remove my collar because I’m not sure if the ruby is real or not. If it is, I better not risk losing it at the bottom of the pool. Then I look down at my harness. I want to take it off too but I’d probably better not press my luck. I dive in with it on, trying to ignore the feeling of the phallus moving within me as I stroke through the water.
After forty minutes of laps I feel a little more calm and clearheaded. I exercise regularly in my futile attempt to lose weight and while physical activity doesn’t seem to do much to budge the numbers on the scale, it does do wonders for my state of mind.
After my swim I shower off the chlorine in the shower stall, placed conveniently and unobtrusively in the corner of the atrium, and dry myself on a large, fluffy towel. There’s a whole stack of them on one of the lounge chairs beside the pool and I use another on my hair. I take special care to dry the harness but it seems to have taken no lasting damage from the water. Maybe the leather has been specially treated to withstand it? I don’t know and don’t care—I just want to be sure Aiden can’t accuse me of taking it off for any reason.
All the swimming and obsessing I’ve been doing over my upcoming punishment has worn me completely out. I know it seems strange, but I’m actually sleepy. A glance at the clock on the wall shows it’s still hours before Aiden comes home. Plenty of time to relax in one of the lounge chairs and stare at the pool for a while. Maybe I can let my mind go blank and stop thinking about what he’s going to do to me when he comes home…
I wake up with that hazy, confused feeling you get when you mean to just lie down for a power nap and wind up sleeping away the entire afternoon instead. What am I doing here? Why am I naked in a lounge chair by a strange pool? I blink at my surroundings uncertainly. Then suddenly the silver hands of the clock catch my eye. Hmm, it’s ten ‘til five.
Holy crap! Ten ‘til five! Alarm bells start going off in my head. Aiden is going to be home soon—very soon! And what if he’s early?
I stumble up out of the lounge chair and run out of the pool atrium and back into the house in a blind, naked panic. Which way is my room? I turn down a long mirrored corridor that looks vaguely familiar but ends up in a part of the house I haven’t seen before. Crap. I waste precious minutes backtracking, trying not to get more lost. All the time I can almost hear the clock ticking. Aiden said he would be home precisely at five and I bet it’s only five ‘til now. If I’m not in the position he told me to be in…But I don’t even want to think about that.
Finally I find the right hallway and make a mad dash for my door. Outside the house I hear the crunching sound of tires on the crushed shell driveway. Oh no, he’s home! I make it to the bedroom and tear open the door. Rushing for the dresser, I grab the nipple clamps and clip them in place. I’m so worried about being on time that I barely feel their bite as the fine golden chain swings between my breasts.
With just seconds to spare, I run to the foot of the bed and bend over it, placing my hands on the cool satin coverlet and pushing my ass out into the air. I breathe a sigh of relief—whew, made it! My hair is flying everywhere, looking positively wild, no doubt. I wish I didn’t look so disheveled from my haste, but at least Aiden can’t give me another punishment because I’m not following orders. I—
Suddenly I realize I am missing something.
I don’t feel the butter-soft leather band around my neck or the weight of the ruby pendant in the hollow of my throat. Almost too horrified to look, I turn my head slowly to glance at my reflection in the old fashioned oval mirror over the dresser. Oh my Goddess, I don’t have on the collar! The very first thing he gave me to wear and I lost it!
No, not lost—I took it off to swim. It’s just down by the pool. I can still get it—
But just then Aiden stalks quietly into the room, ending my fantasies of zipping down to the pool, grabbing the collar, and getting back to the bedroom just in time to assume the position. “Hello, Emma,” he says and his voice is so cold I feel like I swallowed a pound of ice cubes. “Are you ready for your punishment?”
“Y-yes, Master,” I somehow manage to croak out. I keep my body bent over the bed, trying not to shiver under his keen gaze. Now I’m actually glad for my fly-away hair. Maybe it will hide the fact that I’m not wearing the collar. My stomach clenches in fear—how angry is he going to be if he finds out?
“You seem agitated,” he remarks, which is the freaking understatement of the year. “Have you been that worried about taking your punishment?”
I think about my hours of anxiety and obsessing, wondering what he is going to do to me, and my pulse races. “Uh, you could say that,” I admit in a low voice.
“Emma, that has to stop.” He sounds as though he is frowning but I don’t dare raise my head to see. “Punishment is part of your life now. You can’t submit properly if you fear it so much.”
“How am I not supposed to fear being beaten?” I demand, jerking my head up to glare at him.
He looks offended. “I am not going to beat you. There’s a difference between physical abuse and corporal punishment, you know. I’m simply trying to train you to submit. A process you’re making infinitely more difficult by—” Suddenly his eyes narrow. “Emma,” he says in a low, dangerous voice, “Where is your collar?”
Shit! My heart pounds out a frantic rhythm and my mouth is too dry to talk.
“I asked you a question—where is it?” He’s still speaking softly but the cold rage in his voice would be enough to freeze anyone in place. “Did I not tell you that I wanted you naked, bent over the bed, wearing the collar, the clamps and the harness?”
“Y-yes,” I manage to get out at last.
He takes a step toward me, looming over me, glaring. “Then why did you disobey me? Are you deliberately trying for another, much harsher punishment?”
“No, all right?” I burst out at last. I stand up and cross my arms over my chest protectively. “I just forgot it. I left it by the pool—I took it off so it wouldn’t get ruined while I was swimming. Then I…I lost track of time and I had to rush back to the room only I got lost because y-your house is s-such a freaking m-maze…” The lump I felt earlier while talking to Lexy is suddenly back in my throat and this time I can’t swallow it down. I try to go on but whatever I was going to say ends in a sob. I do my best to hold back the tears—I don’t want to cry in front of him. It’s stupid and girly and weak and it will probably just reinforce his view of me as a dumb little sex slave but I can’t help it—the tears just come.
I don’t know what to expect from Aiden—maybe he will bend me over the bed by force and spank me again? Or give me a look of cold disgust and then leave. Vampires aren’t known for being warm and fuzzy and he doesn’t exactly strike me as the hearts and flowers type.
But he does neither of these things.
Instead, he gathers me into his arms and sits on the edge of the bed and just…holds me.
“All right, darling. It’s all right,” he murmurs, pillowing my head on his shoulder. “Everything is going to be fine.”
“I…I don’t see how,” I say, trying to get myself under control. I don’t want to, but I have to admit I like the feeling of his strong arms around me. And his scent, the smell of cedar and dark, masculine spice, is comforting somehow. “This isn’t going to work,” I tell him miserably. “I’m just…I’m not the girl you want. This is all a big mistake.”
“Look at me, Emma.” He lifts my chin until our eyes meet. “I did not make a mistake when I chose you,” he says softly. “You absolutely are the one I want—the only one I want. I don’t know how to make that any clearer.”
“But you want a woman who knows how to submit, to do this kinky S&M thing with you,” I protest. “And I…I’ve never even had sex at all, let alone kinky sex. How am I supposed to do this?”
“With my help, every step of the way.” He strokes my cheek.
“Please believe me, Emma, I wouldn’t demand your submission if I didn’t have to. But I do—a great deal is riding on it.”
I frown. “I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to,” he assures me. “Not right now, anyway. But it’s important for you to know that I’m here for you—I’ll help you. But you have to do your part—you have to at least try.”
“Why should I?” I ask mutinously, swiping at my eyes. “Why should I try so hard to get past my comfort zone and break down my boundaries just so you can dominate me and turn me into a good little submissive?”
“Because you want to.” His voice has gone deep and soft and dangerous again—his Master tone. “Because it makes you wet to submit to me—it arouses you as much as it arouses me to see you being submissive.”
“What?” I shift uncomfortably in his lap, suddenly very much aware of my nakedness. “I…what are you talking about?”
“Don’t try to deny it, darling.” He strokes my cheek again and this time his touch sends slow fire dancing through my veins. “Tell me something, what part of that ‘hot movie’ did you enjoy watching the most? Was it when the Dom blindfolded his submissive…or when he tied her to the bed?”
My breathing is suddenly shallow and tense and my skin feels too small for my body. “I…I don’t know what you mean.”
“Come now, Emma.” He is beginning to sound stern again. “Don’t waste your time or mine by lying to me. You yourself admitted you found the movie arousing. And even if you hadn’t admitted it, I caught you with your hand in the cookie jar, so to speak.”
I feel my face heat as I remember how he caught me touching myself. Goddess, I’ve never done that in front of anyone before—it’s such an intensely private act. The fact that he saw me, even for a few moments, makes me want to die of shame.
“Emma,” he says warningly and I know he’s waiting for my answer about the movie.
“Fine,” I whisper, looking down at my hands. “I…I liked all of it, all right?”
The Sacrifice Page 9