Three Hard Lessons

by Nikki Sloane

  “Lean forward and put your hands on the headboard.”

  Dominic’s hand skimmed down my arm and guided me to the wall. This position was awkward. I had the palm of one of my hands against the headboard and the tennis ball clutched in the other, and my back was arched as I bent forward, my ass in the air. The chain between the clamps was heavier in this position, too.

  “Stay exactly like this.”

  I wanted the headphones gone so I could focus on that throaty, gravel voice I loved.

  “Next time you count them out loud, but tonight you count in your head.”

  The headphone was put back in place and for a split second I thought about using my shoulder to knock them off my ears. No. If I did that, he was likely to stop, and I was way too into it. A warm hand settled in the small of my back and I felt his thigh against mine like he was kneeling to the side of me. What was I supposed to count?

  A hand smacked my ass and I sort of laughed. He hadn’t spanked me any harder than he’d done the few times before. Given everything else we’d done tonight, this seemed so tame and playful.

  That’s because it was one. Two was less playful. Maybe laughing had been a bad idea. Three. Four. I sobered completely when I realized what was happening. As his spankings got harder, my body flinched and this made the chain sway, tugging painfully on my nipples. I had to hold still.

  Five. Six. I swallowed hard as the skin on my ass began to burn. The slap of his open hand seared across my skin. Seven. I jumped on the eighth one, and the hand in the small of my back pressed down, commanding me to stay still. Nine. It stung, but I fought against it. I wanted to do this.

  I bit down on the ball in my mouth as he smacked me so hard it took the last of my breath. Ten.

  He moved on the bed and got behind me. His hands caressed the places he’d just spanked me. My ass had to be red, it felt like it was on fire, but it was a weirdly good pain. This touch now was soothing and erotic, and fingertips skated down through the crevice of my cheeks, holding me open.

  I moaned when something wet touched me. It swirled and teased my asshole where it felt so fucking dirty and good. I don’t know how he did it since he had both hands on my ass, but he gave a sharp tug to the chain and the clamps tightened when I tried to press back against his face. I corrected my position immediately, bracing myself on my shaking arms. I wasn’t going to be able to support myself much longer like this.

  His tongue dipped down and slipped into my pussy, then moved back up again, licking a straight line through my valley. I was going to burst into flames. Or maybe fall forward flat on my face. My arms and legs were jelly.

  How was he so good at this? I’d never get bored with this man. He constantly surprised me. Dominic. I wanted him. I needed that connection to him like I’d never needed anything before. Even more than the orgasm that was rapidly approaching –

  Oh, shit! My left arm went weak and I fell forward, ready to slam into the bed and crush my nipples under my weight where they’d surely explode in pain. Hands wrapped around my arms and stopped me, holding me in place.

  What. The. Fuck? I jerked against them. Dominic’s hands were on my hips.

  These hands belonged to someone else.

  chapter

  NINETEEN

  The hands tilted me upright onto my knees and were gone as the bed rocked. What the fuck was going on? Should I drop the ball I was holding? The headphones came off and I heard them thump to the carpet.

  “I’ll explain in a minute, but I need you to stay still. Okay?” Dominic said.

  I nodded, though my brain twisted with confusion.

  Two pairs of footsteps left the room. It was a lifetime before one pair returned. A hand brushed my breast, loosening the tension on the clamp. Shit, it fucking hurt. Then, he did the other, loosening it as well. Blood began to flow back to my nipples, and I sucked in a sharp breath. He had to take the clamps off in stages. His fingers caressed my clit, probably in an attempt to distract from the pain.

  When that was done, the buckle on the gag was worked loose, and he pulled it away. I rolled my jaw around and wiped the drool from my lips. The gag had been interesting, but I was glad it was gone.

  I waited for him to say something, but it was quiet.

  “Who the fuck was that?” I asked.

  “He’s gone now.”

  “He?” Dominic had given me plenty of hints at his possessive nature. It was stunning that he’d allowed another man in the room.

  “It’s a long story. Let’s hit the pause button on it and finish this first.”

  I felt dizzy from how I’d been ripped from the moment. I turned to face his voice. “I don’t know how–”

  “I told you not to move.”

  And I was right back under his control. He threw me belly-down on the bed and climbed over me, trapping me beneath him. Boxers still clung to his hips, but everywhere else his warm, bare skin pressed against me. I shifted so my handcuffed wrists weren’t pinned under me, and when they came out, Dominic stretched them up with a firm hand, holding them against the sheets.

  His uneven breath hovered close and rolled over my skin. His cock prodded between my legs. I moaned. Yeah, I didn’t care about the guy, whoever he was, now. All I wanted was this connection.

  “Do you want me?” Dominic whispered into the nape of my neck. “Do you want all of me?”

  I shivered. “Yes.”

  He shed his boxers and used his knees to widen my legs. He lowered himself so the smooth skin of his chest pressed against my back. The naked tip of his cock touched me, and inched forward. I was quaking and wild.

  “Oh, please,” I cried. “Give it to me.”

  His cock sank inside and he gave a primal groan that was so sexy, my pussy clenched on him.

  “Payton,” he moaned.

  He rocked his hips once. Then, a second time and I gasped. Sex with Dominic without a condom? It was like taking the restrictor plate off of my pleasure. I could feel everything. While his body was pleasing me below, his mouth was doing the same above. He pushed my hair out of the way and kissed my neck. He nibbled on my ear. His hands were over mine, lacing his fingers through my grip on the sheet.

  I wasn’t going to last long. “I’m already close,” I warned.

  “Come for me. Right now.”

  I shouldn’t have said anything. I wanted to wait. I wanted him to hold me at that edge forever, but once the words tumbled from his mouth there was no stopping it. I would do anything for him.

  My fists tightened around his fingers while I burst inside, heat spilling all over. It pumped through my veins like lava. As it rushed out of my center, it caused spasms. Coming with him deep inside sent me into oblivion.

  “Mine,” he whispered.

  He’d drained my mind of anything else and only this thought remained. “Yours,” I whispered back.

  A sharp noise of surprise rang out, followed by silence. One of his large hands untangled from mine. It slipped beneath the band on the blindfold and pushed it up on my forehead, and then his palm held my cheek, my face turned to his.

  It came out like a question instead of a command. “Kiss me.”

  I blinked against the brightly lit room and he came into focus. Those blue eyes searched my face. I was more than willing to obey his order. That spark between us surged when I claimed his mouth.

  Instead of thrusting, he ground his hips into me. I bit down on his bottom lip gently. It made him do it again. And again.

  I broke the kiss. “Let’s do this all night.”

  Dominic gave a short half-laugh. “All night? Just like this?” His hips swiveled and I moaned. Then that cock slid almost all the way out and eased back inside. “You don’t like that?” he teased.

  It all felt better than anything I’d had, so I wasn’t about to be picky.

  The air in the room got hot and thick as he fucked me. It was a struggle to suck air into my lungs when Dominic found a rhythm that walked the line of agony and ecstasy. His hand cupping
my face tightened and his forehead pressed against my temple as his orgasm approached. His heavy breathing, occasionally punctuated by groans, filled my ear.

  “I’m gonna come.”

  “Come,” I said. “Come for me. Right now.”

  His cock hardened to steel. The muscles in his upper body went rigid, locking into place as he went to the brink, and then over the edge. The deep, throaty moan was almost as sexy as the feeling of him releasing inside me. No boundaries holding him back. His climax lasted a lot longer than anything he’d had with me before, and I grinned listening to him fall apart. He stilled and his hurried breathing began to return to normal.

  We lay like that, him inside me, holding my head in one hand, the other still tangled with my fingers, for a quiet moment. It was as if he didn’t want to leave. Didn’t want to end that connection, and I sure as shit didn’t, either. Everything about tonight had been . . . spectacular. I couldn’t find any other word to describe it.

  He nuzzled me with his nose just by my earlobe. A soft, sweet gesture that disarmed me.

  “Payton . . .” he whispered. “I love you.”

  The world tilted and threatened to throw me off. I couldn’t breathe. He was crushing me. Too much.

  I . . . I had to escape.

  He was looking for me to answer back with those three words, but I couldn’t find them. I could only find one.

  “Jaguar.”

  chapter

  TWENTY

  Dominic slid out of me and backed off the bed. Heavy footsteps pounded off, telling me he’d fled the room. Fuck. This was a disaster.

  I hurled the blindfold off my head, annoyed that I couldn’t get off the handcuffs. I was annoyed at everything. This stupid bed where I’d had the best sex of my life. My response to Dominic’s confession. And I was annoyed at the man in the kitchen who’d just driven me face-first into an emotional wall.

  I rolled over onto my back. His form darkened the doorway, a large blue bottle in one hand.

  “Akira said I’m not supposed to leave you alone or you might experience sub-drop.” His voice was nervous. “Can I come in?”

  I scrambled to sit and pulled my knees up to my chest. “It’s your bedroom.”

  “Please don’t be like that.” He watched me like I was an unpredictable, wild animal as he entered.

  “What’s that?” My handcuffs rattled as I pointed to the bottle. He set it down on the nightstand and picked up a key.

  “Truth serum.” He sat on the bed and undid the handcuffs. “We need to talk about why, after everything else, you would bust out the safe word then.”

  He tossed the handcuffs aside, unscrewed the bottle top, and handed it to me. It was freezing.

  “Drink up.”

  His truth serum was vodka and I choked a few mouthfuls down. “Who’s Akira?” It was an attempt to deflect. “The man who was here?”

  “Yeah. He’s a Master.”

  I blinked and took another sip of the vodka that burned all the way down my throat. A Master at domination. “You said you would explain. So, explain.”

  Dominic got into bed beside me, throwing the covers over his lap, and sat back against the headboard. “When you told me you wanted to try this, I started reading stuff on the internet and realized I was in, like, way over my head.” His expression was serious. “I didn’t want to hurt you, and everything I read said an inexperienced top can do a lot of damage. I needed to talk to someone, just to tell me where to start . . .” His cheeks flushed. “I found Akira through a message board. I met him last week during my lunch break, which was awkward as fuck, but, whatever. I told him what I needed help with.”

  I took another sip of the vodka, and when I was done, Dominic tugged the bottle from my grasp.

  “He was cool with me being a Gaijin. He’s taught other Doms and subs, and said I should train with someone in the room. And he offered.”

  “You weren’t worried I was going to be pissed when I found out?”

  He gave me a slight smile. “You, the exhibitionist? No, I wasn’t. And you weren’t supposed to find out, you know, not until after.”

  I ran a hand through my hair and leaned back against the headboard. That was when I noticed the welts on my legs. I stretched one leg out, then the other. There were faint pink marks on my right leg where he’d used the band, but my left? I could see the two red, raised lines of puffy skin. It was weird. I felt a rush of heat at the sight. I liked Dominic’s marks on me.

  He must have noticed what I was looking at.

  “Do you want some ice, or Advil?” His voice was quiet and his eyes wouldn’t meet mine. I liked an embarrassed Dominic, but I didn’t like an ashamed Dominic at all.

  “I’m fine. It doesn’t even hurt.” It wasn’t a lie. The skin was irritated and hot, but not aching.

  “Okay, that’s good.” He took a hesitant breath. “Can I be honest? I didn’t think I was going to like it.”

  “What? Then, why did—?”

  “Because you wanted to try it, and I wanted to give you . . . whatever you want.”

  That affected me much more than it should have. “Okay, so you didn’t think you were going to like it. But, you did?”

  He looked conflicted. “Yeah. I shouldn’t.”

  “Why?”

  The aqua eyes gave me a plain look. “I hit you.”

  “You spanked me. There’s a difference. If you hit me, we wouldn’t be having a conversation right now. You’d be dead.” This whole thing was silly. “Don’t feel guilty about it. It’s good you liked it, because I really liked it, and I’m going to want to do it again.”

  His arm went around my shoulder and pulled me against him. I felt weirdly clingy and needy, so I wrapped an arm around his waist.

  “How was he as a teacher?” I stalled some more, worried the next time we lapsed into silence he was going to start digging. “What was it like?”

  “He was good. I was kind of nervous bringing him in here. I mean, he said he was going to be hands-off, but I was sure he was going to take one look at you and go crazy. I fucking do.” Dominic’s hand stroked faint circles on my arm. “Turned out he was way more focused on helping me than anything else. I think he liked the control.”

  That made plenty of sense, for a Master to want ultimate control over the scene.

  “He warned me,” Dominic said, “you couldn’t hold that position, but I was distracted. Too busy thinking about what I wanted to do to you next.”

  It got quiet again. “So, I fell and he caught me. Then what happened?”

  “He told me how to take off the clamps so it wouldn’t hurt and to try to get back into the scene as quick as possible. Then, to stay with you afterward.”

  “But what was he like?”

  Dominic’s grip on me hardened. “I know you’re avoiding it, but I told you, we have to talk about you using the safe word. That truth serum should start kicking in soon.”

  I tried to pull away but it wasn’t allowed. “I told you, I don’t do love.”

  “That’s total bullshit, but tell me anyway why you think that.”

  My lips were starting to get numb from the vodka, and I was tired from what we’d just done. I was weak. “My family.”

  I felt his heart pick up the pace. “What about them?”

  “We’re not the hugging, emotional type. Growing up, my parents were strict. They didn’t show affection or do anything to make me feel like they cared about me.”

  Dominic’s face contorted into disbelief. “And that’s why you don’t do love?”

  “I’m just giving you the setup here, Dominic. Give me a fucking minute.” God, I could not be more uncomfortable right now. “Once I hit high school, I was all confused by affection and attention from guys. I craved it. I, like, needed it. You understand what I’m saying?”

  “Yeah.” He sounded sad for me, but I didn’t want his pity.

  “My sophomore year at Northwestern, I met this guy named Ian. We hooked up at a party, and then again
a week later. . . And suddenly we were dating.” It didn’t seem like Dominic was going to let me sit up, so I put my cheek against his chest. “I don’t know how or why it happened, but I fell in love.”

  “Wait a minute—”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I lied to you about that.” I let him digest it for a moment. “Ian was a total mindfuck. One day he’d tell me he loved me, and the next he’d blow me off. I always got over it and took him back. He said he loved me and I needed that.” Just recalling it now made the old anger burn again.

  “He went home to Texas during Christmas break, and I couldn’t get ahold of him, like he fucking ceased to exist, and he comes back at the beginning of the spring semester acting like nothing happened. He just wanted to pick up right where we left off.”

  My brain was getting that hazy, tipsy feeling. Thank god. The words were coming easier now.

  “I told him to knock that shit off. He said he loved me, and I was the only girl for him, and he told me all the lies guys say when they want to keep getting pussy.”

  Dominic’s mouth dropped open. “Payton, that’s not why—”

  “I bought it all. There wasn’t a shred of doubt in my mind, so when I found the engagement ring a week before spring break, I was so happy.”

  My statement hung in the air.

  I would remember that moment forever, the shock and excitement as I opened that blue velvet box.

  “Oh, shit.” Dominic’s voice was hushed. “The ring wasn’t for you.”

  “Nope. He’d gotten his high school girlfriend pregnant over Christmas break. I had to hear about it from his roommate when Ian didn’t come back to school. He never answered any of my calls.”

  A shift went through the body holding me. “Where’s this fucker now?”

  “It doesn’t matter, and I don’t fucking care. That week when I thought he was going to propose and instead he vanished? It destroyed me.” The only person I thought truly loved me, abandoned me. “I don’t do love. It’s just a lie.”

  Dominic’s hand curled under my chin and forced my eyes up. “No, it’s not. I love you. That’s real.”

  I stared into his eyes. Since Ian, I’d become the human lie detector, and I didn’t see any tell that Dominic was lying, but my damaged heart refused to accept it.