Nothing Denied

by Jess Michaels

  She caught her breath. In some odd way, this was him asking her permission. She thought of what he had said earlier, that in some way she had the higher power in this relationship, not only because she could stop it with that one word, but also because his main duty as her master was to take care of her needs. To protect her from harm and give her great pleasure. If she was obedient, she could have it. And so much more.

  “I understand,” she forced past dry lips and a tight throat. “And I…I trust you— my lord.”

  His eyes widened at that difficult admission, but then his mouth came down to cover hers and she slipped under his spel . His tongue breached her lips, fil ing her with heat and the taste of whiskey and mint combined. She groaned. God, just his kiss was such pleasure. It was unfair that he could make her come undone so easily. She had never been one to surrender and yet his touch forced her. Already, she was his slave, at least with her body. She might not be ready to admit it, but she would do anything, everything for this. He drew back and stared at her. “Don’t come.”

  Before she could respond, his mouth moved down her body and he covered one aching breast with his lips. He suckled her breast slowly, languidly and final y lewdly by lapping his tongue al over the sensitive flesh. Beatrice squirmed, but her binds kept her from moving too much. Al she could do was wait and feel the tormenting pressure and power of what he was doing. The heat of his mouth moved through her bloodstream, it fil ed al her senses and it settled in a throbbing, pounding need between her legs. Her clit tingled and she tensed her sheath as she tried to ease the pressure.

  She couldn’t. With his every touch she grew more ready and wild with desire.

  “You are so responsive,” Gareth murmured as he slid lower, tasting her stomach, nibbling her thigh. “I cannot wait until I can make you come just by looking at you the right way.”

  “You could do that?” she gasped in wonder, forgetting her role as slave to his master.

  He looked up as he took a position between her thighs. His dark eyes flashed with heat. “If you surrender to me ful y, if you are mine in every way, I wil do such things to you that when you think of them, you’l tremble.”

  She licked her lips, unable to stop herself. “L–like what?”

  He didn’t answer for a moment, busying himself instead with peeling the lips of her dripping sex open with his thumbs. He looked at her ready body and she strained for his touch even though she knew she shouldn’t.

  “There is so much I could do, Beatrice. One day, I wil make you come in carriages, behind screens and in gardens at bal s. I wil pleasure you under tables at suppers. You’l find yourself thinking of my mouth and cock while you have tea with your friends. And you wil ache for me and want to relieve that ache in any way you can, even if it means touching yourself in public in a ladies’ salon.”

  Beatrice heard a moan and was shocked to realize it was her own. The images he was creating in her mind were shocking and should have been distasteful. Instead, she longed for those days. She wanted to be his plaything. She wanted to be so attuned to him that a look could bring her to completion. She wanted to feel owned and beautiful and alive, just like she felt right now.

  “You’re so close,” he growled as he once again examined her wet and weeping sex. “This wil be difficult for you. You cannot come, Beatrice. I don’t want to punish you, but I wil .”

  She nodded as he glanced up at her briefly. She forced herself to think of other things, but it was nearly impossible when his fingers came down to her center and he pressed one to the soaking entrance of her sheath.

  Beatrice’s body offered no resistance as Gareth slipped a finger deep within her. In fact, her body tugged at him, welcoming him inside her wet heat as she groaned in ecstasy. He had meant to lick her, suck her clit, but he could tel she was too close to release. The moment he pressed his mouth to her heated flesh, she would explode and he would be forced to mete out punishment.

  As her master, it was his duty to help her, so he avoided her shining, hard clit and instead stroked within her with his finger. She struggled to meet his gentle thrusts, but she was bound tightly enough that she could hardly lift her hips to match his strokes. Stil her sheath squeezed, holding him tightly inside and giving him so many images of feeling his cock held the same way, cradled within the protection of her warm and wil ing body.

  He ignored the shining temptation of her clit and instead glided another finger inside her sheath. She opened for him, stretching to accept him as she cried out in pleasure. She trembled as he stroked her, but he could feel her struggling to hold back, to keep her orgasm at bay just as he had asked her to do. That fact made his desire for her swel .

  Despite herself, she was making every effort to submit and from the way she thrashed her head against the soft cushioned table, she liked it. Just as he had always hoped, he had found a woman who liked the struggle for control. One who would bow to his wil and take pleasure in the act of giving herself over to him.

  Beatrice couldn’t stop herself from moaning, crying out as Gareth invaded her with a third finger. Her sheath stretched and felt so ful , yet it wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, it was delicious. Especial y when he curled his fingers ever so slowly. The tips rubbed the top of her sheath with increasing pleasure and then he hit upon a new spot.

  Intense, explosive pleasure shot through her and she tensed, lifting against the binds with al her might as she fought to hold back the tide of pleasure his unexpected touch brought. She wanted to find release, but if she did, she was ful y aware of the consequences.

  But then the pressure was gone as Gareth withdrew his fingers. She watched as he lifted them to his lips and licked her juices clean. Her stomach clenched and she sighed out another moan in response.

  “It’s too much,” he murmured.

  She nodded. “Yes, my lord. But it was so good. So good.”

  “Then later I wil do it again and again.” He leaned over her and his eyes glittered in the firelight. “Later.”

  She moaned. If this was how intense al their lovemaking sessions were to be from now on, she would likely not survive. But at least she would die a happy death, in the arms of this man who could give her such pleasures like she’d never known before. He moved away from her, crossing the room until she couldn’t see him from her place on the table. She heard him moving, the swish of fabric, and then he returned, carrying some kind of slanted pil ow. He set it aside and loosened her ankle restraints until she had a bit more movement in her hips.

  “Lift up,” he said softly.

  For the first time, Beatrice didn’t prickle at the order. Instead, she lifted her hips obediently and awaited whatever would come next. Gently, he slipped the pil ow beneath her. She was surprised that it wasn’t soft, but more formed to keep her at an angle, hips lifted ever so slightly. But with the support at her back, she didn’t find the new position uncomfortable.

  “Perfect,” he breathed as he adjusted her ankle restraints again and stepped away. “You are offered to me like some pagan ritual.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. This room was like a place of sacrifice, the table an altar of pleasure. She supposed that made Gareth the god and she the virgin given to appease him.

  “She smiles.” He chuckled as he moved a chair to the foot of the table so he could sit at the edge, right in front of her open sex and clenching bottom.

  “Should I not, my lord?” she asked, ful y playing along with his game now. “Would it please you more if I frowned?”

  “If I asked you to, would you?” he asked, and now he seemed more serious.

  She understood what he was asking. In this room, in this place, when they were making love, he needed to know that she would do as she asked and trust that there would be a reward at the end. Even if the action he demanded seemed frivolous or frightening, he had to feel that she would do it with no question. No hesitation.

  But could she?

  She nodded, almost against her wil . She wanted this. And with her bod
y, she found she did trust him. Her reward was the quick brush of his mouth against her clenching sex. He deftly avoided her swol en clit and she could see that was a reward, not a punishment. She was so close to the edge, to disobeying his order that she not come, even if she didn’t mean to do it. If he touched her there, in that aching bundle of focused pleasure, she would find her release and there would be no way to stop it. He withdrew and his gaze snared hers again. “Trust me,” he whispered.

  She didn’t reply, she didn’t have to ask him what he meant. Gently he moved his fingers, stil wet from his mouth and from her sheath, down to the apex of her body until they slipped around and suddenly he was gently caressing the rosette of her bottom. She tensed and tried to slide her hips, but the arched pil ow and restraints kept her firmly in place.

  “Shhh,” he soothed. “I’l be gentle.”

  She again thought of that word that would stop this. She had only to cry out wicked and she could make him end this shameful new exploration of her body. She opened her mouth to say it, but found the word wouldn’t come. His wet fingers gently circled the opening there, pressing the tight flesh with the right pressure and she was shocked that after the surprise of it wore off, she found that forbidden touch to be… pleasurable. The word died on her lips and she went limp, shutting her eyes as he seduced her in yet another new way. He was infinitely gentle as he swirled his finger around and around, wetting her with the juices that now drenched her sheath and trickled onto her inner thighs. She tensed because each time he returned his fingers to her bottom, he pressed harder, sliding into her bit by bit before letting her grow accustomed to the breach, then withdrawing. She found her breath was coming in hard, harsh pants as he dipped his finger into her sheath and then placed it back against her tight bottom.

  This time, when he pressed forward, he let his finger go al the way inside to the second knuckle. She let out a cry at the twinge of pain at the invasion and squirmed a little in an effort to get away. Or perhaps get closer. She wasn’t certain anymore. Al the pleasure, al the new sensations, were beginning to addle her mind and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be free or to be given more.

  “Let yourself relax,” he murmured, his rough voice soothing. “Know I’l do nothing that isn’t meant for pleasure.”

  She swal owed back another cry as she thought of the first time they made love. Then there had been some pain, as wel , and a strangeness to being fil ed. And yet she had grown used to it and now she craved making love to Gareth.

  She had trusted him in that moment when he promised the pain would pass. She had to do the same now.

  With effort, she relaxed her body one tense muscle at a time. She focused on only the pleasure around her and let go of the pain. By the time she was finished, al that was left was a faint discomfort and strangeness.

  “You are so lusciously tight,” he muttered and she wasn’t certain he had meant to say it out loud, which gave her a swel of triumphant power. Even tied down, a slave offering to him, she could affect him.

  “I’m going to move now. Gently.”

  She wanted to tense, but kept herself stil and relaxed, trusting him to make this experience good for her. His finger glided back and she held her breath, but to her surprise the pain she had felt had faded substantial y, replaced instead by a new and intense pleasure unlike any she had ever felt. There was something about this forbidden, new act that made her sheath clench at nothingness and her clit tingle with a desire to be touched and toyed with.

  He stroked within her over and over, always gentle, but never stopping. She found herself gasping for air, her hands fisting above her as she uselessly reached for more pleasure, for more intensity.

  And as if he read her mind, he gave it to her. As he continued to press his finger in and out of her tight bottom, he lowered his mouth to her sheath and pressed his lips to her throbbing clit.

  She couldn’t withhold her cry of relief. She had been waiting for his touch there for hours, probably since they made love outside earlier in the day, and now that he did it, it was like heaven. And combined with the feel of his finger endlessly stroking in and out of her clenching bottom, she could feel herself coming to the edge of release.

  She tried to stave it off, but it moved on her with steady purpose.

  Final y she thrashed her head against the table and cried out, “I don’t want to disobey, but I wil come if you keep on like this!”

  His head jerked up immediately and the rush of warmth and desire slowed. Slowly, he eased his finger from her and stood up. She lifted her head with a whimper. Had she been wrong to alert him of her impending orgasm? Did he intend to punish her for speaking out of turn?

  Her fears were al ayed as he reached for his wrinkled shirt and tugged it over his head. She almost sobbed as he next unfastened his trousers and kicked them away to reveal the thick, ready length of his cock at ful attention against his bel y.

  “You have been very good,” he whispered as he moved over her on the table. “And I’l give you what you seek if you can wait a little longer. Do you trust me?”

  She nodded as his mouth came down and claimed hers in the same moment he slid his cock deep within her clenching, aching body. She gave a garbled groan against his rough tongue. With her hips elevated ever so slightly by the pil ow beneath them, it felt like he was even deeper inside of her than ever, that he could reach new places with every stroke of his hips. Each time he fil ed her, it felt like he stole more of her control. But “steal” wasn’t the right word. She didn’t feel taken advantage of, despite her trussed-up position and orders to cal him “my lord” and do whatever he asked without question.

  No, it was something better. She felt like she was safe enough to give him that control. To offer it and herself in a way she had always been too afraid to do. His fingers tangled with hers and he showered her lips with hot, wet kisses that enveloped her in his world and his body and shut every other thing away. In that moment, he was everything to her. And better yet, she was everything to him.

  He must have sensed her shift because he leaned around and gently kissed her earlobe before he whispered, “Come for me, Beatrice. Let go and give me your pleasure.”

  Her response was instant and highly intense. After withholding her pleasure for so long, now the intensity of it was multiplied. She thrashed against his body and her bounds, sobbing out relief and pleasure as her sheath was wracked with shuddering waves of release.

  Although she was wrapped up in her own explosion, she was faintly aware that his hips had increased their movement, his neck strained. Just as her orgasm slowed, he let out a guttural, animal cry and fil ed her with his essence before he col apsed down on her sweaty naked body and held her.

  She wasn’t certain how long they lay like that, tangled in each other. But after some time, Gareth moved slightly and began to untie her hands, sweetly kissing the red marks where she had struggled too hard and bruised herself.

  When she was free, she moved to her side and wrapped her arms around him, loving the feel of holding him when she had been unable for so long. Their breathing merged as exhaustion and sated pleasure washed over her. Her eyes grew heavy and her muscles relaxed as he smoothed his hands over her back gently.

  But before she fel asleep, she made herself look at him. She smiled softly and whispered, “I think I understand, Gareth. And I want to know more. To do more. To be more.”

  As she slipped into sleep, she felt his lips come down on her forehead and his whisper reverberate off her skin.

  “I knew you were the one, Beatrice.”

  And then she was gone, away to dreams fil ed with pleasure and warmth.

  Chapter Twelve

  W hen Beatrice walked into the dining room the next morning, Gareth got to his feet with a smile of greeting that she immediately met with a nervous one of her own. As she took a plate and began serving herself, he couldn’t help but muse on how like the day was to the first morning they had spent together.

  Only today th
ere was less tension between them, less fear on Beatrice’s part. Last night had changed everything between them. That much was clear. Except, as she took her place beside him, Gareth found he was not yet satisfied. He had claimed the ultimate surrender of her body, but in truth he stil knew very little about her heart and the particulars of her closely protected past. Until he had taken down that final wal between them, he was stil hesitant to conclude their “test.”

  “You are quiet, my lord,” she said as she took a big bite of her eggs.

  Gareth chuckled, amused by her hearty appetite. After last night, he supposed she deserved it. And he liked that she could now be lusty in al her desires and pleasures. It meant she was growing more comfortable.

  “I think last night gave us each much to think about, did it not?”

  To his pleasure, her cheeks colored a fetching deep pink and her stare darted away. He found he was quite taken with the reaction. Beatrice was stil innocent enough that any reference to their actions in bed or his special room continued to fluster her.

  “I know I was not exactly…” She hesitated. “Right in al my behaviors.”

  He arched a brow. “You are stil learning, Beatrice. It is my job to teach you and I intend to take great pleasure in doing so. But tel me, did you truly enjoy surrendering yourself in body to me? Could you trust me to do as I asked without hesitation?”

  She set her teacup down and seemed to ponder the question for a moment. Final y, she whispered, “You and I both know that my natural inclination is not to surrender to anyone. And I admit to you that last night I had our special word, wicked, on my tongue more than once. But each time I held back, because I reminded myself that I could give you what you asked for and receive much in return.”

  receive much in return.”

  Gareth nodded. In some ways, knowing she had wanted to make him stop and yet had trusted him enough not to do so was more satisfying than if he’d possessed her surrender from the first moment.

  “Do you wish you had said it?” he asked, wanting to know that answer more than anything.