If You Dare

by Sandy Lowe

  Lauren cupped Emma’s cheek, brushing her thumb back and forth gently like Emma was a priceless heirloom. “I have one more question.”

  Emma leaned into the touch, blinking hard and swallowing past the emotion expanding in her throat. “What’s that?”

  “How will I know you’re having a good time?”

  Were her senses in a jumble and somehow her watery eyes had affected her hearing?

  “Didn’t we just go over the safe word stuff? If I’m uncomfortable, I’ll use it,” Emma said.

  “It’s important you feel comfortable using your safe word, so I’m very glad to hear this.” Lauren stroked her cheek, her hair, across her brow, and down the bridge of her nose in tender sensual caresses. Caresses that, if Emma thought too hard about it, she’d have said were loving. “But how will I know you’re experiencing pleasure when you may choose to behave as if you’re not enjoying things. Consent isn’t just defining boundaries. It’s not just agreeing. Consent isn’t limited to a single ‘yes.’ It’s an ongoing process of checking in, connecting, and making sure your partner is experiencing pleasure throughout.”

  Emma pulled back and stared at Lauren. If she were a cartoon character her head would be exploding in puffy animated smoke clouds. Her mind was blown. Her body was blown. Her heart was blown. Whatever else existed within her to be rocked to the core, it was all fucking blown. “You’re amazing.”

  Lauren frowned. “Of course I’m not. Anyone would ask.”

  “No, they wouldn’t. You’re amazing.” She brushed her lips against Lauren’s. “You’ll know because I’ll be wet.”

  Lauren squeezed her pussy. “Wet. Got it. What else?”

  Emma shifted, heat on her cheeks a constant warmth. “Even if I say no, or stop, or don’t, if I’m experiencing pleasure, I won’t be able to be quiet.”

  A smile curved Lauren’s mouth. “What does that mean?”

  Emma poked her. “You know exactly what it means. You just like me to say dirty things out loud.”

  “Guilty. Say dirty things out loud, please.”

  Emma squirmed, but had to smile. Lauren made her want to be all kinds of dirty. “Moaning and gasping and cursing and possibly the screaming you keep promising me.”

  Lauren’s fingers clenched around her pussy and Emma gasped, punctuating her point perfectly. “Not quiet sounds deliciously sexy. So, if you’re wet and swearing like a sailor, I’ll know you’re turned on and fully present?”

  Emma nodded. Gratitude and wonder and a little bit of something scarier closing her throat. Of course Lauren would seek specific cues to be sure she consented when they role-played. She should have expected it—Lauren was just being Lauren—an experienced and caring dominant. Natural for Lauren, maybe. But for her? Nothing short of a revelation. Not just because she’d failed to do any of this during her first sexual encounter, but because no one ever had. Sure, everyone knew you asked for consent. You got the standard yes before stripping down and going for it. But it was rare for a lover to check in mid-romp and no one had ever asked about her experience of pleasure before. No one had ever cared about the signs and the signals and making sure she was pleasured and connected throughout the experience.

  Lauren was eleventy million different kinds of amazing and each one was sexy as hell. She pulled Lauren closer. She wanted nothing between them now—not even air. “I want this. I want you. Please.”

  Lauren kissed her. “Remember your safe word and close your eyes.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Emma closed her eyes. She was ready for whatever Lauren asked her to do. Hell, Lauren would likely know her limits before she did, and if she didn’t, well, there was the safe word.

  Lauren pulled her closer, her breasts pressed against Lauren’s shirt, her legs spread to accommodate Lauren’s thighs, and her pussy hostage to Lauren’s hand.

  Lauren leaned down and whispered directly into her ear. “I’m going to tell you my fantasy. Let’s see if you like it as much as I do.”

  Lauren’s whisper was on loudspeaker, reverberating in Emma’s brain. They’d agreed to do this, but the shock that Lauren was willing to share this fantasy with her was a punch in the gut that burned all the way down to her clit. Darts of pleasure pinballed through her, and she prayed to all the gods that Lauren would stroke her while she talked. Getting naked in front of someone wasn’t easy, sex always took trust. But fantasy? That was the ultimate gateway into what really turned you on.

  No rules.

  No boundaries.

  No judgment.

  All the things that make you come.

  “You’re driving some tiny tin can girly car on a deserted country road in the middle of nowhere. It’s bucketing down rain, visibility is zero and you don’t see the giant pothole until you slam right into it. You’re going too fast and get a flat, forcing you to pull to the side of the road. You don’t start to panic until you realize there’s no cell service on this empty stretch of bumfuck nowhere. You have no idea how to change a tire, and even if you did, you don’t actually have a spare, let alone a jack. You flunked Girl Scouts. Your AAA membership is worthless. There’s no way to contact anyone. No one’s expecting you at home. You could be stuck here all night.”

  Emma’s breath hitched as the images flashed behind her eyes. The truth was, she actually didn’t know how to change a tire and could totally see this happening to her.

  “You hear a distant rumble. It gets closer and closer, and when you see headlights, you realize it’s a truck about to pass you on the road. Before you can think better of it, you jump out of the useless car and flag it down. Your T-shirt and jeans are instantly drenched and you’re shivering. You have no choice but to hope the driver can help you. It’s a risk you have to take.”

  Emma’s fingers curled into Lauren’s shirt. She knew where this story was heading, it shouldn’t be arousing, and yet…

  Remember Lauren’s words. You choose the no, Emma.

  “I pull the truck off the road and jump out. The glare of the truck’s headlights cast my face in shadow, making it hard to tell in the rain if I’m a man or a woman. I ask what’s wrong and you try to explain your predicament, but the rain is roaring down making it difficult to hear. I motion to the cab of the truck. You hesitate. You don’t want to follow me inside. Every instinct tells you it’s beyond stupid to get into a stranger’s car, but what choice do you have? Even now, before I lay a single finger on you, I have all the power.”

  Emma didn’t think she was breathing. Part of her knew she was siting naked on the circulation desk with Lauren whispering in her ear, but her senses were fragmented—distant and yet so fucking present. So attuned to the sound of Lauren’s voice, she didn’t dare move and risk breaking the spell.

  “You get in the back of the cab, expecting me to get in the front. You jolt when I slide in beside you. You sit on your hands so I can’t see them shaking. Why didn’t I get in the front? Was it just an innocent assumption that conversation would be easier like this? Or are my intentions darker? Your heart starts pounding so hard you’re sure I can see it beating in your chest. I control everything now, even the beat of your heart.

  “I’m soaked too, my shirt plastered to my chest, my hair dripping water. I smile, but the look isn’t friendly. It takes about half a second for you to settle on calculating, and your stomach roils. Panic fogs your brain. You grab for the door handle and pull, only to find it child locked.

  “You have to fight your way past me and back to your car. But I haven’t done anything. You tell yourself you’re overreacting. Anyway, where are you going to go? You’re at least five miles from the closest town. You shrink back in the seat. I haven’t laid a finger on you and already you’re trembling. I lay out my terms for giving you a lift.

  “You’ll be a good girl won’t you, and say thank you? It’s not every day I happen upon such a pretty helpless little thing. I’ll be your knight as long as you show your appreciation. As long as you keep paying when the price goes up.
You have to admit, I’m a Good Samaritan helping you out like this. Without me you’d be stuck here all night, cold and alone. All I’m asking for is a little gratitude. That’s hardly unreasonable, is it?

  “You could start by stripping off that wet T-shirt. The heat’s on and you’ll warm up faster without it. Take it off so you don’t catch a cold. I only want to see your breasts. Just take off your shirt and then I’ll drive you anywhere you want to go.”

  The only sound in the library were the shallow gasps slicing from Emma’s throat.

  “What do you say to me, Emma?” Lauren asked.

  Somehow, she found her voice, “Just my shirt, right? Then you’ll help me?”

  “You take off your shirt and I stare at your tits like a hunter stares at prey. I’m sure your bra was modest in a past life, but wet with rain, it clings to your curves, not concealing as much as enhancing them. You stare at me insolently, trying to be brave, but your bottom lip won’t stop trembling.

  “I ask you to take off your bra and you shake your head. I’d promised you just the T-shirt, hadn’t I? Sorry, beautiful, inflation’s a bitch. Lose the bra before I lose my patience, or you’ll be on your own. You strip it off, your face flaming, and I cup your breasts and run my thumbs across your nipples. I’m too close now, crowding you, my breath against your cheek, my thigh hot on yours. So close that I could do anything I wanted.”

  Emma made a choked sound, like a sob being squeezed out a small hole. Her belly dipped. No matter how much she inhaled, she couldn’t manage to catch her breath. Her brain was alive, like Lauren had chopped through a bunch of live wires in her head and now everything was charged, spitting and sparking and burning inside her. “No. Stop. Don’t. You’re not being fair.” Please. Please. Yes.

  “Oh, come on, beautiful. It’s not as if I’m hurting you. It’s not my fault your nipples are hard and begging to be touched. You can tell yourself it’s the cold, if it makes you feel better, but we both knew what would happen when you got in the truck. Why play coy now?”

  “I didn’t know,” Emma protested, her words breathless, with a trace of I’m so turned on belying her statement. “Please. Can’t you just drive me to the closest gas station?”

  “I lower my head to suck your nipples while I consider your request. Of course, I could drive you anywhere you wanted to go. But I’m having too much fun to stop now. You’re squirming and pretending you want to get away, but your nipples are so hard under my tongue and you can’t stop gasping.

  “Almost casually, I push you horizontal on the bench of the cab and pin your arms over your head. I’m lying on top of you, holding you down, enjoying the way you struggle and beg me to stop.”

  Lauren wrapped her fingers around Emma’s chin, so their eyes met and locked in a connection so potent she felt the sizzle all the way to her toes.

  She shook her head. “No. Please. If you stop now I promise I won’t tell anyone. Just let me go and I won’t tell a soul.”

  Lauren swirled her fingers in the ridiculous amount of wetness between Emma’s thighs. “No, and please, and please no. You make denying sound so much like begging, beautiful. No one would blame me for misunderstanding you.”

  Emma let her head tip back as Lauren stroked her clit, capturing it between her fingers, teasing and caressing. The pleasure, the sheer enormity of how goddamn good it felt, had Emma arching back. She stared at the ceiling as Lauren worked her. Her head, her body, every bit of her whirled and seized and flew off to distant corners of the room—all of it building and building inside her, sensation layered on top of sensation, stacking until she was sure she’d burst from all the pent up…everything.

  “You’re trapped under me. I’ve unbuttoned your pants and I’m three seconds from discovering just how wet and hot you are. You shove the thought away, unable to face it. You try to kick me, but the leverage is all wrong and you barely make impact with my shin. I laugh, my grin mocking as the truth that you can’t stop me settles into your brain. This is going to happen. There’s nothing you can do to prevent it. You’ll struggle, but you’re too weak to do much more than squirm. Squirming just turns me on.

  “I lean my weight fully onto you, pinning you down, and you close your eyes and tell yourself that you’ll just check out. That’s what you do when things get too much, isn’t it, beautiful? You can pretend to be somewhere else as I tug off your jeans and slide your panties down to your knees. My pants are rough against your bare skin and you whimper. I stroke your hair and tell you to hush, there’s no need to fight how much you want it. Underneath the good manners, at the very core of who you are, we both know you crave being fucked.

  “You want to be held down so you can convince yourself you had no choice.

  “You want me to cover your mouth, so you don’t have to hear your own moans.

  “You want my hand around your throat, as the ultimate sign of my control.

  “But primarily, predominantly, more than anything, you want me to fuck you. Fuck you, and fuck you, and fuck you until you come so hard you pass out. Until you’re absolutely wrecked with no hope of being put back together. Knowing how much you need it makes me want to fuck you even harder.”

  Emma groaned softly as Lauren swirled fingers around her opening, gathering up the evidence of her arousal. “Oh God, please…I need…”

  “Begging for it already? You’re supposed to be fighting me.”

  “Then stop being so gentle.” Emma’s nerves stood no chance against the fantasy Lauren had created. No longer censoring her emotions, her desire, she was right there, spread out under Lauren in the back of the truck, Lauren’s hips pinning hers, Lauren’s hand scrunched in her hair, or ripping at her shirt, or around her throat. Lauren was fucking her hard, pounding into her relentlessly, taking and taking and… Stroking her pussy far too softly.

  It was everything and too much and not enough all at once.

  “Please, Lauren.” What did she care if she was begging now? She was too far gone.

  “Emma.” Lauren ground out her name like it was nails in her throat, raw and painful. She opened her eyes. God, she was so turned on she didn’t know which way was up, let alone have the sense to ask for what she needed. What they both needed. But Lauren was holding back, and the time for tiptoeing around each other had passed. Lauren wanted vulnerability? Emma was there. She was so there she was basically the blue dot on the GPS map. She was ready to trust, and damn if she was going to let Lauren use kid gloves.

  Lauren had made her helpless, made her powerless, made her so fucking wet and now she needed to follow that up with some action, damnit. “Fuck me. Show me exactly what you plan to take from me. We both know I want this.”

  “It can be intense.” Worry was a living thing in Lauren’s eyes.

  Emma was done asking. She thrust her fingers into Lauren’s hair and kissed her hard and urgent. Kissed her until Lauren surrendered in her own way groaning and clamping her hand around Emma’s pussy, her grip stronger now. Surer. Harder. Just a little bit mean.

  “I force your legs open with my knee, and you know I’m about to start fucking you. You’re going to spread your legs like you’re begging for it. Your head starts to whip back and forth and tears sparkle in your eyes. ‘No,’ you tell me over and over again like a benediction. ‘No, no, no.’ I ignore you and thrust inside you so hard you can’t breathe for a second. Just for a second it hurts, one brilliant flash of pain before all you feel is pleasure. Exposed and helplessly wet under me with tears tracking down your cheeks. You tell yourself you’re crying because you don’t want this, but the truth is just the opposite. You’re so hot. So ready to come you feel depraved and perverted. You can’t control the way I’m making you enjoy it, can you? It’s not your fault that I’m making you want it. I smirk at how wet you are. I could tell just from looking at you that a woman as needy as you would want to be fucked relentlessly. I like that you proved me right.”

  Lauren gave her no further warning, just grabbed Emma’s hips to posi
tion her on the circulation desk and thrust inside her hard. Emma’s groan started in her belly and gained intensity as it gathered in her throat.

  She really, really didn’t want to come. Not yet. Not until it was no longer just a story. The time for stories had ended. She wanted the real role-play.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” She bit back a moan as Lauren began to move inside her, fucking her slowly, letting her adjust, her fingers driving so deep Emma wished she had a strap-on. Swelled with need for it. “You’re not going to get away with this. I’ll report you. You’ll go to prison.”

  Lauren’s laugh was half a sneer. “You think so? Who’s going to believe a woman did this to another woman? Not the cops.”

  “Fuck you.” Lauren was right. There was no one to help her.

  “Already doing that. Quite effectively from the way you’re clenching around me. So wet already, aren’t you? Are you going to tell the cops how you came so pretty all over me, beautiful? Will they be adding that to their official report? Reading it out at the morning briefing so all their buddies can laugh?”

  Emma sucked in a breath, more a shudder than air, and blew through the need that wanted to send her spiraling into the stratosphere. Hold on just a little longer.

  “You say no, but you mean yes. So, I tell you all the things I plan to do to you as I fuck you, pumping my hips into yours, relishing the slap of skin, the gasp of your breath, the grimace of pleasure on your face as you close your eyes and try to block me out. Block out how fucking good this feels, that I’m the best you’ve ever had. That all those namby-pamby equal-opportunity chicks you’ve slept with in the past have never rocked your world this hard. That this is what you’ve always wanted. Fear and pleasure spin inside you, twirling around each other, until you can’t tell one from the other.

  “I drag your panties all the way off your legs and get comfortable. If you don’t stop protesting, I’m going to shove them in your mouth and tape it shut. It would get me off to know you can taste the evidence as I fuck you. To see you shake your head and pretend you weren’t into it with your mouth stuffed full of your own desire. But a bigger part of me wants to hear you scream when you come.”